11/27/2008

See "London Cries" in Fort Greene at the Lafayette Presbyterian Church!

I went to see the performance by the Irondale Theater Company of London Cries last weekend with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Not only was the venue amazing, this Church, the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church is an amazing venue as it was the center of the Brooklyn abolitionist movement. Many noted people spoke there included Frederik Douglass and Charles Dickens. The church has a vibe which is perfect for this play/musical. I can tell a good thing when I actually pay attention, as I am apt to space out during things like this. I was forced to go to too many Broadway plays as I child (yes i saw Annie with Sarah Jessica Parker in the starring role!) and as result usually have no interest in"theater". Since I have always been a Dickens fan I decided to check this one out and i was RIVETED. Not only was the acting good, the music was too, the whole thing had an old music hall feel and the staging was fantastic (great boxing match!). If you are looking for something to do with family in town or even if they are not that is "special " for the holidaze I recommend this.

The details!

Based on Henry Mayhew's classic book London Labour and the London Poor . From the crumbling walls and recesses of an old London theatre the ghosts of yesteryear step forth to share with us their lives, their loves and the lilting melodies of a bygone Victorian era. Drawn from first-hand accounts of the traders and prostitutes, the sewer- men and flower-girls, the criminals and con-men who hacked a precarious living from the streets of the metropolis, LONDON CRIES speaks to us in words and music of the suffering but also the joys of London life as it was really lived.

The new musical London Cries by Di Trevis and Frank McGuinness has Music by Dominic Muldowney and thirty original songs from the London Music Hall. London Cries is directed by the Olivier Award-Winning Di Trevis.


Performances begin November 19th and run through December 20th, running Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM.

Tickets are $40/ $15 seniors and students and can be purchased by going to www.ovationtix.com or by calling 212.352.3101.

The Irondale Center is easy to get to at the historic Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford St, Bklyn, NY bet. Lafayette and Fulton Street

11/19/2008

Donald O'Finn Video Art Opening in Red Hook * Saturday

Donald O'Finn will be showing his stuff over at newish bar Botanica over in Red Hook this Saturday night. He is the mastermind behind those captivatingly bizarro videos on the TV over at Freddy's. The opening will happen upstairs and is free. The live music downstairs which includes Les Sans Cullotes and The Marvin Barnes TimeMachine has suggested donation and a portion of it will go to Develop Don't Destroy.

Here are the details as per the invite:

Video Art by Donald O’Finn will be on display at Red hook Bar, Botanica. Donald O’Finn’s video projections are compilations of strange and wonderful found footage, weaved and strained through his psyche into painterly narratives, and poetic loops. His work has been screened at the Hirshhorn Museum of Art in Washington DC., Anthology Film Archives in New York City, and Parkers Box Art Gallery in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Mr. O’Finn has twice been included in the Village Voice Best Off issues. (his videos have attained cult status from their constant display at Freddy’s Bar in Prospect heights, Brooklyn).
Live music provided by Les Sans Culottes and The Marvin Barnes Time Machine with special guest Paul Sullivan.


Bar Botanica, 220 Conover St. at the corner of Coffey St. in Red Hook. 718-797-2297

11/17/2008

Two Important Meetings This Week Regarding Gowanus Corridor and Toll Brothers Project.

Would you want to live here? The Toll Brothers project.
There are two very important meetings this regarding the development of the Gowanus Canal area.

FIRST MEETING, MONDAY:

The Executive and Landmarks/Land Use Committees of Brooklyn Community Board 6 are pleased to host A Forum with Amanda Burden, Chairperson of the City Planning Commission

An update by Commissioner Burden on the department's land use activities related to the Gowanus Canal corridor. Developed from January through July 2007, the Department of City Planning created a land use framework for the Gowanus Canal corridor. The framework is a set of guiding principles relating to issues including use, density, bulk, and waterfront access, intended to provide standards for formulating and evaluating proposals for future land use changes. in May 2008 the Department of City Planning shared its draft rezoning proposal for 25 blocks along the Gowanus Canal with Brooklyn Community Board 6 and the community-at-large. Commissioner Amanda Burden will meet with the community to give an informational update on the statusof the department's land use activities and address any concerns.

THE TOLL BROS PROJECT IS BASED ON THIS REZONING PROPOSAL AND WILL SET A PRECEDENT FOR IT – ANY CONCERNS YOU MAY HAVE REGARDING TOLL BROTHERS PROPOSAL CAN BE ADDRESSED TO THE WHOLE FRAMEWORK.

DATE: Monday, November 17, 2008
TIME: 6:30 pm
PLACE: P.S. 32 Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street, (between Union/President Streets) Brooklyn, NY 11231

This Toll Brothers rep is just SO excited to build build build on toxic land! Say good bye to that background cause it's gonna be all glass and steel if he gets his way!
SECOND MEETING, WEDNESDAY:

Brooklyn Borough President’s Hearing on Toll Brothers Project

The Toll Brothers ULURP application to change Zoning to allow their Gowanus Canal project is now at the Borough President’s Office for review (after passing CB6’s review). This is our chance for the community to be heard again. John Hatheway and I will be making an updated presentation making the case for an 8 story height limit. This will bring the building height below the horizon from most Carroll Gardens vantage points, and equally important allows enough sunlight into the Canal Esplanade to make it a viable park. Our proposal has the same floor area as Toll’s, same affordable housing amount, same possibility for high end units, same economics for union labor. It differs from Toll Bros in that it has very little impact to Carroll Garden’s skyline AND it provides much better sun to the canal park.

PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT OUR PROPOSAL OR VOICE YOUR OWN CONCERNS.

DATE: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
TIME: 5:30 pm
PLACE: Brooklyn Borough Hall
209 Joralemon Street Brooklyn, NY 11201

11/16/2008

Found on Union Street


Lots of cool muscle type cars are always around this strip of Union Street near 4th Avenue across from Holy Land Auto Repair. Most are for sale but I believe languish as they all have visual defects. Flat tires, no interiors, who knows maybe that's just a theft deterrent maneuver. They all have bitchin' paint jobs though!

11/14/2008

"Cop Bar": A documentary music video set in Red Hook.


You never know what will land in the F.I.B inbox! Most of the time I don't post it unless I know you, I like what you are doing or you put me on the guest list but this one made me laugh. It will probrably offend most of you but I am out of my mind hence my last post and am abandoning any concept i ever had about F.I.B. If I want to be Perez Hilton, Dee Dee Ramone, Andy Warhol or Ruth Gordon so be it.

Enjoy and let me know what you think...did it make you laugh cause the casting was DEAD ON or are you offended and will never look at F.I.B again?

The press release about this masterpiece in music video making...

Acoustic rock artist Jimmy Lloyd recently teamed with director Josh Durham to shoot a full length music video for "Cop
Bar", the first single release from the singer/songwriter's self titled debut album. Shot at the Moonshine Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Jimmy Lloyd called on cast members of the famous "Sopranos" series to make star cameos in the video. With appearances by Lou Martini Jr. ("Sopranos"character Anthony Infante), Danny Grimaldi ("Sopranos" character Patsy Parisi) and Louis Vanaria ("A Bronx Tale" character "Crazy Mario"), the "Cop Bar" video delivers a gritty, side-splitting punch as it introduces rock music¹s emerging star Jimmy Lloyd.

Attempting to place the creative spirit back into music videos, the screenplay for the video was completely created and written by Jimmy Lloyd."Cop Bar" is an uproarious look inside a gritty, tough NYC bar where a few "wise guys" (Jimmy Lloyd, Vanaria, and Grimaldi) find themselves as all hell breaks loose.

New Yawk, New Yawk, big city of dreams but you know it ain't always what it seems...

Still one hell of a town even though the Toll Brothers have the support of Community Board 6 to build on a sewer, read the dispicable details at the Pardon Me For Asking blog here....Yes I know I am quoting Grandmaster Flash here but to begin my Perez Hilton like post WHERE ELSE can you get in a conversation with a Baldwin brother (Billy) and the next day see Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers(apparently a Carroll Gardens resident) reading the New York Times on an empty 11pm F train subway car? Only in New York baby..only in New York.


BTW-the Baldwin chit chatted with a girlfriend and I in front of an art opening at Muoller-Snow Gallery (yes FIB has cultcha sometimes!) about the Obama party he was attending at "moby's" my friend said "at that TINY place?!" meaning the teashop or whatever he has and then it dawned on me.."his house M his house..." anyway he was nice and chatted for 10 minutes before bumming a smoke. The whole time we were half sure if he was who we thought he was and then it was the matter of WHICH of the 5 Baldwins was he? After googling the next day we figured it out, he was the "cute" one. Oh and later we saw Moby at this opening which was a throw back to the 1980's...a mixture of Gossip Girl style young socialites wearing floor length ball gowns (who knew people still wore those in THESE economic times??!), skaters, freaks, rich people, poor people and whoever happened to stumble in when they realized free wine was being served...later we walked the Bowery in horror, it all looks a dorm....but i guess if you have no memories of it before, it just don't matter.

11/10/2008

Brooklyn Election Stories 2008

Friend Sabine Aronowsky was out in the streets of Brooklyn with her video camera this past election day. Her doc opens with coverage of Brooklyn Obama Supporters making phone calls on election eve at B.A.M and then hits the streets. Although Obama has won it's distressing to find out that there was only ONE voting machine working in Brownsville and people got the run around to carry out what is supposed to be a basic right and duty as a citizen!


The details:

Watch Brooklyn Election Stories 2008 now AND on BCAT TV this Tuesday night at 8pm, on Time Warner cable channel 34 or CableVision channel 67, only in Brooklyn, also airing in Manhattan on Thursday night at 8.30 pm on Time Warner channel 56/17 RCN 83.

About this episode: Brooklyn Election Stories 2008

Protecting the vote & Obama celebrations in Brooklyn. Local coverage of Election Eve and Day, Nov. 3-4th, 2008 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights, Brownsville and Downtown Brooklyn. Kings County Brooklyn had the fifth highest total of votes in the nation for Obama! Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse salutes all those who worked to get out and guard the
vote. This historic win is thanks to you!

11/09/2008

Shirley Chisholm: Unbought & Unsold and From Brooklyn

F.I.B's reviewing films again over at Brian Berger's "Who Walk in Brooklyn" blog. This time around it's a documentary about Bed-Stuy native and 1972 United States Presidential nominee Shirley Chisholm called"Shirley Chisholm:Unbought & Unsold". Shirley's mantra was also "CHANGE!"

Read it here.

Kill some time! Peruse some of F.I.B's other film reviews!
The World's Greatest Sinner
Teenage Gang Debs
The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight
All Dolled Up

11/06/2008

Yes We Did! and Amanda Burden comes to Gowanus...

Lame picture I know but it is OF THE MOMENT!!!
Yes I am floating on a cloud that Barack Obama is our new President! Yesterday I heard a kid say in the school that I work in which is predominately African American and Latino that he "wants to be President when he grows up" and it really hit me. It's not just "a dream" anymore, it's a reality.I was at Freddy's the night of the election and was so glad to be out in the world. People were crying during his acceptance speech and they weren't even from America! Anyway I had did a post at 3am when I got home but it was so crazy basic juvenile that I pulled it, something I never did, but hey I am still feeling that "gee whiz" uber optimistic feeling I had that night. Walking home up 5th Avenue was an experience I will never forget. People celebrating on the corners and even the cops and the firemen were beeping their horns. Too bad my camera died but lately I have been taking less pictures anyway, as I feel that the world is getting over documentated! I just want to BE. And I say that with no pretention, just want to get back to living. Blogging was fun for a while but now I won't be posting as much. Long story.

BUT I do want to say that THE Amanda Burden of the NYC Department of City Planning is coming to PS 32 Monday night to discuss the development of the Gowanus corridor. Wish I could go, but grad school (one of the reasons I won't be blogging as much I am sooooooo in another headspace these days) calls me. Here are the details and if you go please make sure to let that woman know that the Troll Brothers condo is an environmental Love Canal boo boo just waiting to happen. But they don't care. Let's get Obama to help us!!! Cause Community Board 6 certainly WON'T!

The Executive and Landmarks/Land Use Committees of Brooklyn Community Board 6 are pleased to host.

A Forum with Amanda Burden,
Chairperson of the City Planning Commission

An informational update by Commissioner Burden on the department's land use activities related to the Gowanus Canal corridor.

Developed from January through July 2007, the Department of City Planning created a land use framework for the Gowanus Canal corridor. The framework is a set of guiding principles relating to issues including use, density, bulk, and waterfront access, intended to provide standards for formulating and evaluating proposals for future land use changes. Building upon the developed framework, in May 2008 the Department of City Planning shared its draft rezoning proposal for 25 blocks along the Gowanus Canal with Brooklyn Community Board 6 and the community-at- large. Commissioner Amanda Burden will meet with the community to give an informational update on the status of the department's land use activities and address any concerns.

DATE: Monday, November 17, 2008
TIME: 6:30 pm
PLACE: P.S. 32 Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street, (between Union/President Streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11231


Bring your neighbors! Bring your friends! Find out what's going on.


and P.S for those that know my personal traumas of the last 6 months, I'm home once again!

11/02/2008

Tell Your Story.....

Got this email, seems pretty interesting and they seem on the level, check it out....
The Civilians want to hear from you. Brooklyn is changing fast. We are creating BROOKLYN AT EYE LEVEL a theater show inspired by interviews about the transformation of Brooklyn and the controversial Atlantic Yards Project. If you have something to say about the communities surrounding the proposed project (Downtown, Ft. Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights & Park Slope), we want to listen. We want to talk to long-term residents, recent arrivals, players in the Atlantic Yards story, as well as those who work or live in the area. Eager to hear from all perspectives. If you want to be interviewed send us an email with a little information about yourself to Michael Premo, Project Coordinator: Premo(at)thecivilians(dot)org. For more information: Brooklyn at Eye Level . These interviews will be performed along with original music and dance by Urban Bush Women live at the Brooklyn Lyceum, December 4th – 7th.

Michael Premo

The Civilians
Project Coordinator
Brooklyn at Eye Level
p.212.730.2019
c.917.547.1292
f.212.739.2909
www.thecivilians.org