Hey! You know that guy from that nutty blog Who Walk in Brooklyn who has a tendency to write about other areas of the boroughs that no one else touches like Midwood, Flatbush and my personal favorite "Rockapulco"?Well, his name is Brian Berger and along with Marshall Berman he has put together homage to the NYC of the 1970’s and 1980’s called “New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg”.
If you want to know or want to relive memories of NYC during this rougher and grittier time you will dig this book. It has been my top read of the summer. Contributors included in this fine tome are: Luc Sante, Jim Knipfel, Kevin Walsh, Armond White, Richard Meltzer just to name a few. Brian Berger also contributes and guess what his story is called? “ Who Walk in Brooklyn” of course! Hot topics are politics, music, crime, gentrification, the aids crisis, civil rights, it’s ALL here and written in the first person.
Personally it unearthed a lot of memories of people, places and things long forgotten which really shouldn’t have. Shame on me.
In bookstores everywhere.
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4 comments:
Hi, Lisanne. Funny running into you on the F train the other night. If you want to read an homage to your Brooklyn neighborhood of the 1970s, then you gotta read "Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem, which I'm reading right now. It's a murder mystery featuring a Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill detective with Tourette's syndrome. So good.
Read it years ago Joycie! Loved it!
txxx for the kind words, FIB. the only thing i'd add as editor is the book ALSO rocks the '90s & '00s, with some changes scorned & others celebrated. the idea at least was to put as many things in there to thrill, infuriate, enlighten AND amuse anyone-- old or young, natives or immigrants, hepcats & squares-- w/an interest in NYC as it really is, the layers, the beauties, the weirdness & the mess of it.
anyone curious about the book's scope & intent is advised to start at the back-- skim the photo credits & the 1964-2007 chronology. hopefully it will leave ya'll in awe of the TOTALITY (which any book can only limn, of course) of the city... most of which, even today, is ill-served by ALL media.
reporting live from East Flatbush-- not so-called "Carroll Gardens" (the inane naming of which I have a word of two to say)-- with gratitude,
wwib
p/s: seriously, we invite everyone to check it out w/enthusiasm & affection from the streets. we might meet here on the internet from time to time too but out there's still where the action is.
p/s-- a book suggestion in turn for Joyce (& everyone): "Night," by Vedrana Rudan. you can get an idea of how "badass" (sorry for technical language) she is here--
http://www.centerforbookculture.org/interviews/interview_rudan.html
enjoy!
wwib
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