Amazing Interaction with the He-She of the Carroll Street Stop

 Ever wondered what the story was with the he-she who is always asking for money at the 2nd Street/Place exit of the Carroll Street stop? Well, someone stopped to ask him/her about their life. From Going Under NYC:

"There it was. I had broken the silence that was part of our relationship for the last year. I was talking to a stranger.

-Oh nothing, just away working on the masterpiece.

-The masterpiece? - I said, a bit curious.

-Yes, got myself a bit of a new face, don’t you notice it?

-I think I do, actually.

-Well, you better. Because that was about a year’s worth of standing here.

-huh?

-You see… I am on my way to be a woman, but those operations sure cost a lot. I don’t know how to do much –as a man, because I got plenty of plans when I become a woman- so I beg for money."

I will admit, I have been less than outgoing to this person, but this recanting of his/her story is very interesting.  I've seen him/her in Red Hook frequently, so I assume that he/she lives there.

Strip Club in Red Hook?

Unfortunately, not according to the proprietor. From the Brooklyn Paper:

"Paris Burlesque Club — which has not yet opened at 18 Commerce St. near Columbia Street — is set to replace the grocery store-sized party hall, Hello Brooklyn, where Sunday night crowds once spilled onto sidewalks and management was last year arrested for selling booze without a license.

Neighbors are already lining up to oppose the new owners’ bid for a difficult-to-get cabaret license, saying they prefer a good night’s sleep to a good night on the town.

“Everybody knows the word ‘burlesque’ is used to mask the words ‘strip joint,’” said Bill Sullivan, who has been fighting noise in the neighborhood for two years. “I can’t even tell you what a nightmare it’s been.”"

Why does Sunset Park get to have all the fun?

Christmas Tree Lighting on Columbia Street - This Friday

Neighborhood affordable housing development group the Carroll Gardens Association and the newly revived Union Street - Columbia Street Merchants Association are holding a tree lighting this Friday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm, at the Human Compass Garden at Columbia and Sackett Streets.

"Children (and adults too) could have their photos taken with Santa. Free food and refreshments will be offered by neighborhood restaurants and businesses.

The Tree Lighting event will kick-off a week-long promotion from participating local restaurants and bars offering a 10% discount. Participating restaurants include Lilla Cafe, Mazzat, House of Pizza and Calzone, Five Burros, Caselnova, Sugar Lounge, Margaret Palca Bakes, Jalopy Theatre, Iro, Alma and Old Brooklyn Wine & Liquor (wine only). The 10% coupon is printed in the Red Hook Star-Revue."

An Evening at the Bell House for George - Guest Post

N.B. Today's post is authored by a friend and contributor, Mike Benigno. You can find more of him over at Lines in the Street and On Your Fork.

The Universal Thump, named after an obscure line from the allegorical Melville masterpiece Moby Dick, is a collaboration of over 20 performers, songwriters and composers all from their own individual bands, who, under the leadership of musicians Greta Getler and Adam Gold, first started working six months ago to cover the classic George Harrison solo album, "All Things Must Pass" in its entirety. ATMP remains as true to a Harrison masterpiece today as it was when first released in 1970 as his first post-Beatles release. The Nov. 29th show at the Bell House marked nine years to the day since Harrison died, and the performance was both a tribute to his music, his spirit and the fund that bears his name at UNICEF.

 So, what did that look like? First, nothing but a stage full of wires, amps, mic stands and more. Then, a stage full of people - as many as 20 at one time, and no fewer than five or six at any given point - playing before rear-projected Harrison black and whites to an intimate crowd. The album was done cover-to-cover, beginning with the bang-up hits "I'd Have You Anytime," "My Sweet Lord," "Wah-Wah," and "Isn't it a Pity," in arrangements complete with a string and horn section, two drummers, several keyboard and guitar players, upright and electric basses and, of course, the pedal steel guitar. Arrangements of many of the complicated tunes were done with such dexterity that you'd wonder if these guys had been practicing for a lifetime, and, in a way, they probably have been. The program given out before the show - which was an impressive directory of talent - sums it up best:

In a year when band after aging band filed into America's Halls and Plazas of music to perform their "classic" albums in their entirety, to remind us all of a time when their albums were important, or when albums were important, it seemed a natural [idea]. "Why don't we pay tribute to a true classic? An album we all love?" And then, what would this band even look like on stage?... Most everyone seemed thrilled by the idea... Nine years to the day of George's death, and just days after the 40th anniversary of the three discs' original release. This was to be a tribute indeed, and an ambitious one.

What was the show like? It was like being at the tribute concert of your life, but, somehow, only a couple hundred people were were there alongside you. One performer after another came out, joining and re-joining those on stage, performing each piece with creativity and, more than anything else, reverence for the songs, their complexity, their underlying spirituality, their writer, and their legacy. John Wesley Harding stole the show with "Wah-Wah," but Carol Lipnik's "My Sweet Lord" was the be-all-end-all performance. Perfection. If you saw it live, you'd beg for a recording or video.

Performers included:
Corrina Albright
Amy Allison
Oren Bloedow
Zach Brock
Amy Correia
Therese Cox
Robert DiPietro
Lee Feldman
Pete Galub
Greta Gertler
Adam Gold
John Wesley Harding
J. Walter Hawkes
Art Hayes
Missy Higgins
Byron Isaacs
Courtney Kaiser
Dayna Kurtz
Gary Langol
Carol Lipnik
Jonathan Maron
Barney McAll
Rick Moody
Chris Moore
David Nagler
Rozz Nash
Clinton Newman
Phil Rodriguez
Sean Sonderegger
Leigh Sutart
PT Walkley
Shara Worden

Lines in the Street

On Your Fork

GaGa in CaGa?

According to Gothamist we may need to lock our windows and our doors, cause Lady GaGa be stealin' boyfriends from everybody up in here:

"Allegedly Gaga showed up at the couple's Carroll Gardens apartment, and begged her former fling to come back. He agreed, and next thing you know the two are drunk at a Mets game together."

Be on the lookout for idiotic outfits on Court Street?

Gowanus Canal

Help This Man Find His Pants!

Break out your inspector's hats people. There are some pants on the loose, most likely on Smith Street, between Union and President. From the New York Times:

"Rather than wear the suit to the audition, and risk getting it sweaty, Mr. Grossetti had decided to carry it with him and change at a friend’s place when he got out of the subway. He left his Union Street apartment, holding the suit over his shoulder, in that relaxed and confident manner of relaxed and confident men: One of his one-act plays was going on tour in Tasmania. 

When Mr. Grossetti took the suit out at his friend’s apartment, the pants were gone. They were his wedding pants, the suit pants he had worn in March when he and his wife, Chloe Walker, 36, were married in Central Park, on the Bow Bridge."

Hard-hitting journalism from the paper of record.

Could Rhazel Show Up in Gowanus This Weekend?

I usually try to refrain from posting too much about the hip stuff going on in Gowanus these days, but this is just too cool to miss. From the Brooklyn Paper, news of a human beatboxing competition!

"So on July 31, the World Beatbox Association throws its first American Beatbox Championships at Littlefield in Gowanus, where the best of the best here will show off their spitting skills. Throughout the weekend, the venue will also host the Sixth International Human Beatbox Convention, traditionally held in London.

“Overseas, it’s become so huge. I felt there was something that needed to spark the growth of the culture here in the United States,” said Chesney. “And it was really important for me for this to happen in Brooklyn. There’s just something about the grassroots style of community here. It would not have felt right for any place else to host the first US championships.”"

If your mother only knew...

"Brooklyn is Suburb Enough For Me" - Carroll gardens on "Film"

Noted for sometime, but now out with their first episode is a short show by Robin Reed called "Carroll Gardens". Here's how it is described on it's landing page:

"Within this little suburbanesque community politely at odds with itself exists a group of 30 somethings politely at odds with the fact that everyone is running away from one thing....becoming their parents!"

Although I take bitter offense to the characterization of this area as "suburban" (I guess that dense, walkable areas with great access to public transit and few mega-chains equals suburban to Ms. Reed), the short is cute, well done, and has many local places and characters (mostly in the opening segment). Check it out.



Carroll Gardens: The Pilot from Robin Reed on Vimeo.

Baroque Dancing? Ok....

From NBC New York:

"Sure, Baroque dance hasn't been popular since...oh, the reign of Louis XIV, but the performance troupe Company XIV is bringing this predecessor of classical ballet from the court of Versailles to Carroll Gardens. Only this time around the dance floor choreographer Austin McCormick is throwing in a few other things from the last four centuries of dance, theater and storytelling.

With music ranging from Vivaldi to Lady Gaga, McCormick's newest performance, Le Cirque Feerique, or the Fairy Circus, if you will, re-imagines classic fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers Grimm using a combination of flamenco, ballet, cabaret, and yes, baroque. The colorful costumery is elaborate enough for any of Louis' formal balls but also playful enough for, well,  the circus."

I guess if it's your thing, go for it.


Company XIV is the resident company of 303 Bond St. a 3,800 square foot rehearsal/performance venue located in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The space was converted from a tow truck warehouse with the addition of a state of the art dance floor, glass facade, and theatrical lighting.

Carroll (Beer) Gardens?

An interesting suggestion from Realty Collective:

"Just think of how nice it would be on a Summer night to get all of your friends together for some live music, bar b q and night air.  From a business standpoint I honestly believe it could be quite a lucrative venture for the right group of folks." 

Well, some would say the the Gowanus Yacht Club is a mini-beer garden, but does this neighborhood really need more watering holes?

Springtime Walking Tours of Carroll Gardens Announced!

Lost City blogger, Brooks of Sheffield, will be starting up his Springtime Walking Tours with a tour of Carroll Gardens at the end of the month.  Whether you've lived here six months, six years, or sixty years, I'm willing to bet that Brooks can shed light on some good neighborhood truth and particulars.

Click here for all of the information.    

More Kentile

Tan Tax hits em where it hurts: the skin

Of all of the initiatives President Obama has started, this is probably the best: a 10% tax on tanning. Now, this is one of the most non-essential things we, as a society, have come up with. Surely no one will have a problem with this, right? I mean, "The Situation" has already been interviewed in the neighborhood, we don't want to see any (more) Snookis roaming the streets, do we?

"“It’s just amazing how arbitrary it can be,” complains Robert Alimena, owner of The Tanning Room in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. “This is going to drive business completely the other way.”

“It’s just a bad idea. It encapsulates everything that’s wrong with Washington,” says John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, which apparently exists."

You stay classy, tanners everywhere. From the New York Post.

Kentile

Snowman!

Smith-9th Street F Station Drawn

Here's a video from the New Yorker of the Smith-9th Street station getting drawn


Pretty cool, huh? Well, here's an Urban Sketch of the same station, from a different angle.

A (Good) Baseball Team for Brooklyn?

The "South Brooklyn" area has a rich sports tradition. Gowanus was home to the Brooklyn (Trolley) Dodgers, and the Atlantic Yards will soon be home to the Brooklyn Nets.

What many people forget nowadays is that New York City used to be home to three baseball teams. And, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense; if St. Louis, with a population of 380,000, can support a Major League Baseball Franchise, why can't New York support three, or four, or five?

Now comes some chatter from various sources that it is a (very, very remote) possibility that the Tampa Bay Rays could look to move to Brooklyn. From NBC New York:

"That would also be the case for Brooklyn, a spot where you could actually see a groundswell of support for such a notion taking hold. At least, you could have seen it taking hold before the entire Bruce Ratner/Nets mess took away a viable location and turned into a boondoggle that no one wants to live through again. Maybe it's just that faux-nostalgia again, but the idea of a team in Brooklyn could have caught fire."

And the Brooklyn Bugle:

"Brooklyn may be too much of a hot spot Alper believes due to the Atlantic Yards quagmire.  However, we say in the words of Cher in Moonstruck -- SNAP OUT OF IT!

Sure the Mets will complain and try to block.  Naturally the Yankees will try to block it as well.  But ladies and gentlemen don't tell us that you don't get a little misty when the possibility of BROOKLYN facing the Yankees or Mets in the World Series.

The team? The time? We say the Rays move to Brooklyn, change their name to something far less lame and start kicking ass and taking names.  Are you with us?"

I'm with you. Who else is? And, for the new name, how about Brooklyn's Finest? Any other nominations?

We've Got the Biggest...

Courtesy of the New York Times Magazine Blog, we find out that The Invisible Dog (gmap), an art space in Cobble Hill, has a new installation called "Ant Colony".

"An enormous ant built of steel and nylon balloons, with a porkpie hat suspended above its head, “The Ant” refers to the childrens’ poem by the Surrealist artist Robert Desnos."

Hmm. This reminds me of something...




And, for the jazzy amongst us...


The Invisible Dog.

Analysis of a Brooklyn Theme Song

As anyone who grew up in Brooklyn from 1995-2005 can tell you, there is no more appropriate Brooklyn theme song than "Brooklyn's Finest", by Jay-Z with the late, great Notorious B.I.G. In the song, they go through a roll call of sorts of neighborhoods where they grew up or frequented. Have a listen:



Here is an analysis of the current state of the neighborhoods mentioned in the chorus of the song.

Whites' Homes:

Bed-Stuy

Bushwick

Fort Greene

Red Hook

Clinton Hill

Frank White's Home:

Marcy (Projects)

Crown Heights (But Frank could soon be leaving)

Brownsville

Flatbush

East New York

So there you have it. Almost 14 years after the release of Reasonable Doubt, half of the hoods that Mrs. Carter and Wallace were repping are now the home of hipsters, yuppies and urban pioneers (to themselves). To quote Biggie...

Also, did anyone else know that "Brooklyn's Finest" will soon be a movie starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke?