Augusta Palmer, co-director of If You Succeed, which I discussed here, is screening the film at Embora on May 30 at 8pm, and May 31, June 6, and June 7 at 10pm. Catch it while you can.
Also, the Written Nerd has kicked off Stimulating Reading as a way to raise funds for a possible Fort Greene bookstore. Show some support if you’re able.
The best mixtape I ever received was so good that I still keep a Walkman around in order to listen to it from time to time. It was a 21st-birthday gift from Colin Brooks, a friend since high school and a drummer so talented that he was receiving press plaudits before he received his diploma (as I recall, one review in the Little Rock Spectrum appreciatively noted that he “pounds the drums as if they owe him money”). The mixtape, which includes treats such as Frank Black’s “Abstract Plain,” Elvis Costello’s “Welcome to the Working Week,” and the Stones’ “Tumblin’ Dice,” was not only a kind-hearted effort to ease my oppressive anxiety over misguided romances and looming wage-slavin’ but also an eclectic demonstration of Colin’s appreciation of smart pop tunesmithery wrapped in driving rock ‘n’ roll.
At the time he gifted me with the tape, Colin had already provided the backbeat for at least 10 Little Rock punk bands, including the Numbskulz and Substance; in the 10 years since, he has also served time with Skeleton Key, Sea Ray, The Stills, and now Dan Zanes & Friends. That’s right: Dan Zanes, formerly of the Del Fuegos and now the free world’s best hope for all-access music that doesn’t make you want to break the CD player after your child has listened to it 50 times. The group has won leagues of devoted fans and industry respect (including a Grammy Award); guests on their records include Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Aimee Mann, and John Doe. Still, I never quite foresaw the day when my grizzled friend would be surrounded by any bottles that didn’t contain beer, so I used the excuse of the band’s upcoming February show at BAM to pester Colin about exactly how it came to this.
Find out how Colin navigates the underbelly of rock stardom — y’know, the soft one that involves pajama parties and plenty of coffee — while staying true to his indie rock roots after the jump.
Last October 31, I awoke to find a leopard in my living room. He was stealthy and sly, and he had the eyes of The Scamp.
I’m more excited for Halloween hijinks than I’ve been since I was a child myself. For years I’ve watched the fun stuff that goes on around the neighborhood — including the Clinton Avenue haunted house — from the sidelines, but now that The Scamp is here and old enough for action, I can’t wait to make the rounds, check his candy for razor blades, and eat it all myself. There’s certainly no shortage of events happening in the immediate area:
Saturday the 20th
Still Hip’s Costume Swap from 1 to 4pm
Saturday the 27th
Fort Greene Park Halloween Festival from noon to 4pm
Wednesday the 31st
BAMboo! from 4 to 7pm
Children’s Halloween Walk from 5pm (pick up map at DeKalb Ave. and Hall St.)
Photo courtesy of The Hub.
Saturday, October 13
Pre-Holiday Craft Fair at 168 Lafayette Avenue
From noon to 5pm (+ Sun 14)
Admission $2 (to benefit the Fort Greene Association)
Bike-Friendly City at Fort Greene Park
From 2 to 3:30pm
Free
Meshell Ndegeocello at the Hiro Ballroom
From 8pm
Tickets $25
Grady “Naughty Number Nine” Tate at BAMCafé
From 9pm
Free
Sunday, October 14
Walk Don’t Destroy Brooklyn Walkathon
Sign in at noon, walk from 1 to 3pm
Free
Reggae in Symphony feat. Freddie McGregor and John Holt
From 7pm
Tickets $60-$110
Monday, October 15
Jonathan Lethem Selects begins at BAMcinématek
Through November 19
Tickets $11
Out of Fashion: The Absence of Color at NYPL’s H&SS Library
From 7pm
Tickets $15
Thursday, October 18 (+ Fri 19)
M.I.A. at Terminal 5
From 7pm
$old out
Saturday, October 20
It’s My Park! Day at Fort Greene Park
Volunteers needed from 10am to 2pm
Free
The Brownstoners’ 29th Annual House Tour
From 11am to 4pm
Tickets $20
Thursday, October 25
Rockers screening at Frank’s Cocktail Lounge
From 9pm
Free
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, my favorite place to meander with The Scamp is the Pratt Institute’s Sculpture Park. The park will be featured in this weekend’s OpenHouseNewYork activities, along with the Pratt Library, Higgins Hall, the Juliana Terian Curran Design Center, and the Caroline Ladd Pratt House.
The park’s curator, Professor David Weinrib, remembers that the first sculptures featured included a Louise Bourgeois piece and a “big cement nude in front of the engineering building.” More than 50 sculptures are now part of an ever-changing cast, and I asked Professor Weinrib about his selection process. Style-wise, “People think I’m trying to make a balanced situation,” he noted with a hint of bemusement. “I’m the sole curator and I just choose works that interest me, based not so much on style as much as quality. Some artists send me work, but most I go and find myself.” Bringing new works to the park is a wooing process, sometimes one that takes years. “Well-known sculptors aren’t after me,” he said dryly. It took 12 meetings with Mark di Suvero, for example, to get to yes.
As you might guess, taking care of the sculptures isn’t easy. “[Maintenance] is always a big problem,” Professor Weinrib said. Not only must the sculptures withstand the elements, they also must be protected from humanity. “There’s some hooliganism,” he acknowledged without dwelling on it. Luckily, he has an assistant, Jacques Zanetti, to help; he was repairing the blue pyramid as we spoke. You may soon have more insight into what it’s like to be the steward of one of the ten best college art collections: Professor Weinrib is writing a book about the experience of curating the park — A Curator’s Journal seems to be the working title — and he seemed hopeful that it would be published with the help of a small grant from the school.
Tours of the Sculpture Park will be given at 2pm and 3pm on Saturday, October 6. Keep an eye out for a couple of new pieces, one about the commodification of light in the city and the other about the 18 rules of tree installation in New York. Sculptors hoping to catch Professor Weinrib’s eye can write to him at 521 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011.
Friday, September 28 (+ Sat 29 and Sun 30)
DUMBO Dance Festival
Outdoor performances on Sun 1-3pm in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
Free (?)
See: Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution
Saturday, September 29 (+ Sun 30)
Coney Island Film Festival, incl. kid-friendly and hip-hop programs
Tickets $6 per program or $15 Saturday pass, $10 Sunday pass
José González at the Music Hall of Williamsburg
From 8pm
Tickets $20
Sunday, September 30
33rd Annual Atlantic Antic, on Atlantic Avenue btw Fourth and Hicks streets
From 10am to 6pm
Free
Monday, October 1
Girlfriends season premiere (directed by Debbie Allen!)
9pm
Tuesday, October 2
Eternal Ancestors opens at the Met Museum
Through March 2, 2008
Free (well, suggested donation)
Listen: PJ Harvey’s White Chalk, Siouxsie Sioux’s Mantaray
Wednesday, October 3
Gnarly Vines opening reception, 350 Myrtle Avenue btw Carlton and Adelphi
From 6 to 8pm
Free
Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings release party at BookCourt
From 7pm
Free
Friday, October 5
Making a Home: Contemporary Japanese Artists opens at the Japan Society
Through January 13, 2008
Admission $12, students/seniors $10, free for kids under age 16
Saturday, October 6 (+ Sun 7)
Open House New York weekend
Reservations often required for tours, workshops, and events
Free
Tuesday, October 9
Listen: Extra Golden’s Hera Ma Nono, Robert Pollard’s dueling records
Wednesday, October 10
Listen: Radiohead’s In Rainbows
Thursday, October 11
Kara Walker retrospective opens at the Whitney Museum
Through February 3, 2008
Admission $15 adults, $10 students/seniors, free for kids under age 12
Friday, September 14
Leonard Lopate Show: On Brooklyn and How the Mind Works, WNYC 93.9 FM
From noon to 2pm
Free
Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy
Through Sept 23
Free
Saturday, September 15 (and Sun 16)
Apple Picking at Prospect Park’s Lefferts Historic House
From 1 to 4pm
Free
Sunday, September 16
Brooklyn Book Festival, Brooklyn Borough Hall & Plaza
From 10am to 6pm
Free
Monday, September 17
Derek Walcott and Ishmael Beah at the 92nd Street Y
From 8pm
$18 for Walcott, $26 for Beah
Tuesday, September 18
Naomi Klein reads from The Shock Doctrine at Barnes & Noble, Sixth Ave. btw 21st and 22nd Sts.
From 7pm
Free
Listen: Thurston Moore’s Trees Outside the Academy; Eddie Vedder’s Into the Wild soundtrack
Thursday, September 20
Cinderella Samba on Myrtle Avenue Meadow at Fort Greene Park
From 10am
Free
The Brooklynites reception at powerHouse Arena in DUMBO
From 6 to 9pm
Free
Margaret Garner at the New York City Opera
From 8pm (Sat 22nd 1:30pm, Wed 26th 7:30pm, Sat 29th 8pm)
Tickets $16-$130
Saturday, September 22
Hawk Weekend at Prospect Park’s Audubon Center
From noon to 5pm (also Sun 23)
Free
New York-Tokyo Music Festival feat. MF Doom and Teriyaki Boyz at Central Park
From 2pm
Tickets $22-$25
Sunday, September 23
Design for the Other 90% closes at the Cooper-Hewitt
From noon to 6pm
Admission $12
Tuesday, September 25
House, M.D. season premiere
9-10pm
Listen: Foo Fighters‘ Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace; Chaka Khan’s Funk This; Habib Koite’s Afriki; Meshell Ndegeocello’s The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams; Jill Scott’s The Real Thing (bring it this time, Jill!)
*Make a note of it now:
Friday, September 28
See: Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited; Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution
Friday, August 31
Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art opens at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
$8 suggested donation
Monday, September 3
West Indian American Day Carnival, Eastern Parkway
From 8am to 6pm
Free
Wynton and Willie, live from Jazz at Lincoln Center on WBGO (88.3 FM)
From 6:30pm
Free
Tuesday, September 4
Notable new music: Just Jack’s Overtones and Manu Chao’s La Radiolina
Thursday, September 6
Yoga Inc. screening at Hollenback Community Garden
From 8pm
Free
Saturday, September 8
Salvage Fest at P.S. 11
From 10am to 4pm
Free
Fort Greene Fest feat. Talib Kweli, Claudette Ortiz, and more in Fort Greene Park
From noon to 10pm
Free
Tuesday, September 11
Notable new music: Kanye West’s Graduation
Friday, August 17 (through the 27th)
The Other Claude Chabrol at MoMA
Screenings usually from 2pm
Tickets $10 (applicable toward the $20 museum admission)
The Warriors / Superfly double feature at Film Forum
Showtimes 2:50, 6:25, 10pm / 1, 4:35, 8:10pm
Tickets $10.50 ($5.50 seniors and Film Forum members)
Saturday, August 18
Grand Avenue Block Party
From noon to 9pm
Free
Summer Literary Fest in Fort Greene Park
From 4:30pm
Free
Perhaps Love (peep: more Takeshi Kaneshiro) at BAM
Showtimes 2, 4:30, 6:50, and 9:15pm
Tickets $11
Friday, August 24
Lee Scratch Perry aboard the Temptress
Boarding 8pm, departure 9pm
Tickets $35 advance, $40 day of
Saturday, August 25
Beezu’s Back Yard Party
From 3 to 6:30pm
Admission $10 adults, $5 kids
Welcome to Nollywood screening + DJ Rich Medina at Fort Greene Park
From 5pm
Free
Sunday, August 26
Revenge of the Bookeaters at the Beacon Theatre
From 7pm
Tickets $35-$50 (826NYC benefit)
Wednesday, August 29
Midnight Cowboy / Panic in Needle Park double feature at Film Forum
Showtimes 3:15, 7:30pm / 1:10, 5:25, 9:40pm
Tickets $10.50 ($5.50 seniors and Film Forum members)
Thursday, August 30
Darfur: 20 Years of War & Genocide in Sudan exhibit opens at the powerHouse Arena
’til Sept 30
Free
Kid Koala aboard the Temptress
Boarding 6pm, departure 7pm
Tickets $25 advance, $30 day of
Saturday, August 11
Clinton Hill Co-ops block party (btw Myrtle & Willoughby)
From 11am to 7pm
Free
Dog Day Antidotes tasting at Thirst Wine Merchants on DeKalb Avenue
From 2 to 5pm
Free
African Festival feat. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Prospect Park Bandshell
From 2 to 9 pm
Free
Kids Art Party at Rubulad, 338 Flushing Ave. (btw Classon Ave. & Taaffe Pl.)
From 3 to 9pm
Free
Sunday, August 12
Soul Summit Music Festival at Fort Greene Park
From 3 to 9pm
Free
Friday, August 3
Global Feminisms Remix at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
Through February 2008
Admission $8 adults, $4 seniors and students
The Police at Madison Square Garden
From 8pm
$old out
Saturday, August 4
Annual Weeksville Family Day
From noon to 6pm
Free
Beyoncé and the singer/songwriter of that song you’ve heard bumping from every idling car in Brooklyn for the better part of the year at MSG
From 7:30pm
$old out
Sunday, August 5
Brooklyn Indie Market at Smith and Union sts.
From 11am to 7pm (every weekend ’til December)
Free
Tuesday, August 7
National Night Out in Fort Greene Park
From 5 to 8pm
Free
Saturday, July 28
Soul Cool Music Fest in Fort Greene Park
From noon to 8pm
Free
A Drama of Jealousy/Dramma della gelosia, starring the incomparable Monica Vitti (puttin’ the hurt on a couple of turkeys named Marcello Mastroianni and Giancarlo Giannini), at BAM
Showtimes 2, 4:30, 6:50, and 9:15pm
Tickets $11
Sonic Youth performs Daydream Nation at McCarren Park Pool
From 7:30pm
Tickets $34
Sunday, July 29
Social Dress New Orleans unveiled at Socrates Sculpture Park
Around 2pm
Free
TV on the Radio at McCarren Park Pool
From 3pm
Free (with RSVP)
Wild Style 25th Anniversary Reunion at Central Park Summerstage
From 7pm
Free
Wednesday, August 1
The Secret Science Club: “It’s Hot Hot Hot” at Union Hall
From 8pm
Free
“Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story” on WNET ch13 (NYC)
From 9 to 11pm
Free (viva public tv!)
Saturday, July 21
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on sale
at Unnameable Books
From midnight to 1am or so
Really Really Free Market at St. Mark’s Church, 2nd Ave. & 10th St. in Manhattan
From noon
Uh, free
Dan Zanes & Friends at Prospect Park Bandshell
From 5pm
Free!
Sunday, July 22
Benefit Block Party on Grand Avenue between Lafayette and Clifton Place
From noon to 5pm
Free
Monday, July 23
Animation Around the World program at BAM
6:50pm and 9:15pm
$10
So I stopped by Gallery Hanahou to pick up my beloved Assunta, and besides interviewing Kana and Gabe, I got a sneak preview of “Summer Sanctuary,” which opens tomorrow. Koko Nakano, Executive Creative Agent and Vice President of CWC International, guided me through the works, which were created specially for the show’s theme of imaginary summer escapes.
The illustrators include Chris Long, who uses Technicolor tones in his tropical scenes; Lotie, whose ink drawings feature nature teeming and rampant; Yuka Katagiri, who weaves intricate lines that seem to undulate as you study them; APAK!, a husband-and-wife team whose universe I’d love to escape to on a hot July day; and Marcus Oakley, whose works for the show include an irresistible owl. They’re all really great, but I think my personal favorites were Team Macho’s collage-like imagery (pictured above) and IMAKETHINGS’s killer skateboard decks (pictured below).
Tokyo-based CWC has been repping illustrators in New York since 1999, and it’s exciting to see Gallery Hanahou highlight an art that’s comparatively underappreciated in the U.S. Try to make it to the “Summer Sanctuary” opening reception tomorrow, July 19, from 6 to 9pm; rsvp to info@galleryhanahou.com. If you can’t make the opening, stop by before August 31 for a visual break from the steamy city.
Pictured from left to right: Gabriel Smith, Anna Hrachovec, Makiko Sasanuma, Koko Nakano, and Kana Togashi. Gallery Hanahou is at 611 Broadway, Ste. 730 (tel. 646/486-6586). Open Monday through Friday from noon to 6pm, Saturday by appointment only.