Coney Island Film Festival #7 Wrap!

It was fitting that the Coney Island Film Festival opened last Friday night with a horror oriented documentary as Coney itself felt like the set of an eerie horror movie with it’s lights all off. No sound of the Cyclone and no Wonder Wheel lights, just darkness on Surf Avenue, the only things open were the bumpercars, a deli and Nathan’s.

The festival however was happening, particularly on Friday night. The sold out opening film American Scary took a fun look at television horror movie hosts from all over America. Apparently Ohio was the hotbed of these TV shows, and there were even some folks who drove all the way from Ohio to see this movie! I was fascinated with the interview with Vampira, who is now in her 80’s and living on social security in Hollywood. The producer, Sandy Clarke, graciously answered my barrage of questions about her later at the opening party. Did you know that Vampira is an ex-dominatrix that channeled Dostoevsky and Nora Desmond to get into her character? Well now ya do.

Oh yeah, the party! Lots of fun, great entertainment and a very chatty mix of people. Here's some photos……Actors from "King of Sorrow". They were in from L.A .(can ya tell?!) Kim Coates (center) told me he found the Coney Island Film Festival atmosphere as "nothing he had ever experienced in a festival before" when I chatted with him. I hadn't clue that he was a big budget Hollywood actor who was in "Black Hawke Down" and movies like that...Sandy Clarke, Producer of "American Scary".The Reverend Jen & burlesque performer "Pookie Patootie"Party host The Great Fredini in his street clothes, I apologize for not getting him in his fab black velvet rhinestone suit! ( F.I.B needs a camera that takes pictures indoors!) He is on the board of directors at Coney Island U.S.A and told me that they bought the building in August and next on their agenda is raising $600,000 to get heat and air conditioning installed. Art Auctions are starting to be planned to help reach this goal in the upcoming months. P.S- He told me "on the record" that he thinks Astroland will be leveled and barren next summer.

I went back on Saturday and saw many films, both features and shorts. Highlights for me were:

Celluloid #1” Steve Stasso. A beautifully filmed Warholian style feature about self-destructive celebrity (think Lindsey, Paris & Britney but with brains). Lots of dialogue, sex, drugs and mental unraveling but done with a sense of humor.

“Night of the Living Gay” Lola Rock’N’Rolla Hilarious John Waters style zombie movie starring the World Famous *BoB*,whom also performed at the opening party.

King of Sorrow Damian Lee. A dark and VERY disturbing film about a crack smoking cop. Not done with a sense of humor!

“Coney Island” Ramen Cromwell. Romantical film about a guy with a miserable home & work life who meets and then hangs out with a woman who he thinks is a mermaid for the day.

This festival closed out yet another fantastic (yet tumultuous) summer at Coney Island U.S.A . Rob Leddy, Film Festival Director and also of indiefilmpage.com co-presented this festival with Coney Island USA and all involved did a fab job supporting these underdogs and treating them like the stars that they are!

Out in the Streets*Atlantic Antic on Sunday!

Everybody and his mother knows that if you go to ONE street fair in Brooklyn towne, it better be The Atlantic Antic. It’s one of the only ones that has some neighborhood flavor left. The area between Court Street and Hicks is where it’s all happening as far as I’m concerned.

Magnetic Field Cocktail Lounge has once again put together a STELLAR lineup for their "4th Annual Rock and Soul Fest".

Original Queens bad girl, Mary Weiss of tuff NYC 1960's girl group (and my fashion role models) The Shangri-La's (Remember Walkin' in the Sand, Leader of the Pack) performs as well as the sensational Swingin' Neckbreakers and The Black Hollies with a few other bands, F.I.B is just partial to these!!!!

Also up a block up in front of the Last Exit Bar faux French 60's band, Le Sans Colutte are playing as they did last year with a bunch of go-go dancers and of course there is the fab live middle eastern music and belly dancing around that area as well.

* Magnetic FIled "Rock & Soul Fest" goes from 11am to 6pm. Mary Weiss is supposed to go on at 4pm
* Le Sans Collute go on in front of Last Exit bar at 2:30pm.

Found in Queens

In today's installment of "Found in Queens" I find my mother's old hair as I am clearing out my recently departed Grandmother’s apartment in Flushing, Queens. Yup, twelve years of her hair growth to be exact. I found it at the bottom of a cedar chest in her bedroom, carefully wrapped in tissue paper. I knew these long dark blonde braids were my mothers, because, like everything else in the apartment they were labeled and dated.Ernas's Braids-Cut 1946-Age 12 Years

My mother's response to me shrieking and running into the kitchen to show her?

"Get rid of them! I couldn't wait to get those cut off so I could look like everybody else!"

One of the stories my mother would tell about her childhood in the Bronx was about getting teased and getting her hair pulled. These braids are about two feet long. Now I understand why she was such an easy target!

I've never felt disembodied human hair before. It is an eery experience to touch them. The hair feels alive, it feels like what a twelve-year-old girls hair should feel like. It’s smooth, thick and shiny. It even has a little curls on the ends.

I asked my mother, "Is this normal?" She answered,"No! Just get rid of them!"

She had absolutely no interest and barely even looked at them.

I threw them in the vintage 1960's Pan Am flight bag which was found in some other cluttered corner of the apartment. The apartment is now looking more like a "pack mouses" apartment, it is slightly less cluttered. It took me four days to clear out one small closet, two dressers, two side tables and a chest. Four days!

And, by the way, she didn't want her old dolls or just about anything else to do with her childhood, so it all got toted home to Brooklyn in the Pan Am bag.

Related posts:
Note to self:Do not be a pack rat
The Pope

"Big Sky Brooklyn" on TV Thursday night

Big Sky Brooklyn is one of my favorite photo blogs. His photos are a homage to old industrial south brooklyn and he has a thing for cemeteries, factories, eccentric characters, irish bars and the contrast of old and new Brooklyn. I especially like his narrations, check out "Ode to the discarded air conditioner" or one of his many "Industrial Haikus".

Here is what Adam aka Big Sky Brooklyn has to say about the details:

Big Sky Brooklyn will be featured on the show Neighborhood Beat (on BCAT), September 27 at 8:30 pm.
The segment will include an interview with yours truly and a visit to some hallowed Brooklyn sites that appear on the blog (like Backhoe Gulch, the Ninth Street Bridge, and the Gowanus Canal).

The show can be viewed in any of the following ways:
- Time Warner Cable, channel 56
- Cablevision, channel 69
- Streaming live online (scroll to “Watch BCAT Live” and click #3)

The show will repeat October 10, 15, and 19 at 8:30 pm.

Coney Island Film Festival #7 this Weekend!

Yet another uber creative Coney Island event. Can someone please remind me just WHY this place is supposed to turn into a cross between Disney and Knott's Berry Farm? Oh yeah I forgot, greed. Please forgive me.

The Coney Island Film Festival starts Friday night with a film called "American Scary" which takes a look at the nation's tradition of horror hosting, from Zacherley to A. Ghastlee Ghoul. The film is immediately followed by an opening party hosted by The Great Fredini. Live performances by New York Burlesque Stars and performers from The Coney Island Circus Sideshow. Open Bar!

The Festival runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will be running short films as well as feature length films. Here is the full schedule of events.

Get your tickets soon as I noticed that the documentary on the N.Y Mets:"Mathematically Alive: A Story of Fandom" is already sold out!

The festival ends Sunday night with an Awards Presentation at The El Dorado Bumper Cars, 1216 Surf Ave @ 7:30pm.

7th Annual Coney Island Film Festival
September 28-30, 2007
Sideshows By The Seashore and The Coney Island Museum in the historic Brooklyn neighborhood Coney Island, New York!

Homework Assignment from C.O.R.D

I received an email from C.O.R.D (Carroll Gardens Organization to Respectfully Develop) saying that they need more help getting the word out to the proper local politicians regarding the "Moratorium" of building out of scale in Carroll Gardens and have assigned some "homework". If you haven't already, go to their website and there is a letter in which you can cut and paste along with a list of email addresses of the parties who need to get it.

C.O.R.D says:

Each of these individuals, in different ways, possesses the ability to speed up or to delay the “proper land use procedure” process, if they choose to do so. LET’S MAKE THEM HEAR US. We know that this is work for you, but, please…don’t give up yet!

"New York Calling" Reading * Wednesday * Luc Sante, Brian Berger, Marshal Berman

Fellow Blogster Brian Berger of the infamous Who Walk in Brooklyn Blog has edited a book of essays called "New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg" along with Marshall Berman about our towns' five boroughs. The book takes us back to New York City during what I like to call the "B.L.C(Before Luxury Condo) Age"; spanning from the 1960's to the early 2000's. Reflective essays written by the likes of Luc Sante, Kevin Walsh, Brian Berger, Tom Robbins, Armond White, Margaret Morton and C.J Sullivan, to name but a few! The personal accounts range from the enraging to the hilarious to the heartbreaking but all capture a piece of a cityscape that has vanished or will soon. Great photos too.

September 26 at 7 pm
Barnes & Noble Chelsea
6th Ave & 22nd St
Marshall Berman, Luc Sante, Robert Sietsema & Brian Berger

Here is the rest of the "Tour de New York"

October 4-- Book Court, downtown Brooklyn, with Tim McLoughlin
October 13-- Vox Pop, Ditmas Park (Flatbush),Brooklyn, with Tom Robbins
October 19-- Bluestockings bookstore, downtown Manhattan, with Tom Robbins & Margaret Morton
October 25‹ Spoonbill & Sugartown, Williamsburg, with Luc Sante & Tim McLoughlin
November 1-- Baychester Bronx Barnes & Noble, with CJ Sullivan, Robert Sietsma
November 6-- Gotham History Center (panel)-- with John Strausbaugh, Tom Robbins
November 13-- Lower East Side Tenement Museum (panel)-- with Phil Dray & Len Levitt
November 28‹ Fresh Meadows, Queens B&N‹ with Kevin Walsh & Robert Sietsema

Motorcycles, Tattoos, Bars and Beatniks

I went out to Coney Island today and checked out the "Motorcycle and Tattoo Show" and I have to say it was pretty tame. I went a few years ago and it was a much bigger and wilder scene. I guess all the bikers were riding around in the Catskills this weekend as the weather has been stunning.

More interesting was that I was in Ruby's having a cocktail with a friend and struck a conversation with Elly Simmons who is in NYC on vacation and happens to be the daughter of Richard Simmons who owns Specs' Bar in San Francisco. F.I.B did two years in San Francisco to see what it was like outside the tri-state area in the early 1990's, so I'm familiar with this historic bohemian/beat bar in North Beach located in an alley across from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's famous City Lights bookstore. Being a fan of all things beatnik, I was thrilled to make her aquaintance. Elly is in the process of making a documentary on her father and his historic watering hole, which, at the age of 78 he still manages, so watch out for it!

You have to love a bar that has cards for the ladies that say "SIR, THE LADY DOES NOT WELCOME YOUR ATTENTION." These cards are at Specs' not at Ruby's!

Found in Brooklyn

This fantastical glass daisy lamp was waiting for me on 1rst Street today. Why would ANYONE get rid of such a beautiful thing as this?!

Coney Island Tattoo & Motorcycle Show Sunday , Sept. 23rd @ 3 pm.........

Just because Astroland is closed doesn't mean nothing is going on out at Coney! Once upon a time tattooing in New York City was illegal, you had to "know someone" and it was usually tattooist Spider Webb or Jonathan Shaw. Otherwise you had to go to Jersey or Long Island. Anyway, it was during that time, 1986 to be exact, the first "Coney Island Tattoo & Motorcycle Festival" was held.

It's now in it's 22nd year and just for the record, Hot Rods are included too! There will be all kinds of judging. Judging of motorcycles (ugliest is a category), hot rods and tattoos. If you pay 5 bucks to enter the tattoo contest you get free beer.

It starts at the civilized hour of 3pm and goes till late.
12th Street & Surf Avenue is where this takes place.

Coney Boardwalk Strip Open Next Summer

I know it's common knowledge by now that Thor Equities allowed popular boardwalk businesses such as Ruby's, Cha-Cha's, Shoot the Freak and the Lola Starr Boutique to operate out at Coney Island next season. The verdict on the Astroland Amusement district still remains to be seen, but the general consensus seems to be positive. I sure hope so. It would be tragically stupid if it doesn’t happen. Why take away peoples joy when you can't build anyway? I have a friend who has a business (The Pina Colada Hut on Jone's Walk) in Astroland and all the while she has been telling me to not believe the hype. I think it's annoyed her that I am usually doom and gloom about Coney's future, it didn't help that I saw the Zipper leave on a truck on the last day! She will never comment ON THE BLOG and Desree, if you are reading this, I"M TALKING ABOUT YOU!!!! I am really hoping that you are right in the end! Read more details at the blog for all things Coney, Kinetic Carnival.

Fancy Mag Party w/ The Hecklers * Saturday

If you haven't noticed by now, F.I.B. loves her garage rock music. Take away my garage rock and I'm jumping off the Third Street Bridge in my go-go boots. You kids can keep your experimental, synthesized, retro 80's, beard rock music. Three chords still do me fine, especially if the lyrics are frustrated and snotty. I'm simple that way.

I just got wind that Fancy Mag is having a swinging party down at the Bait & Tackle in Red Hook on Saturday night. The Hecklers are playing and they are promising to show lots of amazing video clips. It's called a "Clip" party for that reason. Continue reading. Oh before you continue reading, read their mag. They cover music, fashion, art and all matter of pop culture and just in time for fashion week; a fascinating study of "Plumbers butt throughout the Ages" entitled "Exposed:The New Crack Epidemic" is featured in the current issue. O.K NOW you can continue reading, here's the dope...from the folks at Fancy.

Another Fancy Clip Party!

clip: v ('klip) to cut or cut off with or as if with shears

party: n ('pär-tE) a social gathering

Clip Party: n ('klip 'pär-tAY) a social gathering involving the consumption of alcoholic beverages while watching rare music videos, wacky movie trailers, short films and other pop culture tidbits (okay, non-drunks welcome too).

Where: Bait & Tackle Bar - 320 Van Brunt @ Pioneer St. Radical Red Hook, Brooklyn
When: Saturday night * September 22nd @ 9pm
Price: It's free baby it's freeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Important Coney Island Community Board Meeting * Wednesday @ 7PM

I got this message from the group "Save Coney Island" about a very important Community Board Meeting going on Wednesday night the 19th. Coney Island Residents are urged to attend.

Community Board 13 Meeting!! Please attend!!!

Please attend and voice your concerns and opinions about preserving the Amusement District in Coney Island!!

When: September 19, 2007 at 7:00pm.

Where: in the Second Floor Auditorium of Coney Island Hospital 2601 Ocean Parkway (near the Belt Parkway and Avenue Z).

All are invited to attend this Community Board 13 meeting. However, it is especially important for people who actually live within the CB13 (Coney Island) district to attend. The community board will play an important role deciding how Coney Island will be redeveloped!

This is your opportunity to have your voice heard and make a difference!

Found in Queens

I took another trip out to Queens where I spent the day attempting to clear out my Grandmother's apartment with my folks. I just want to say, everything that Queens Crap says about Flushing is absolutely true. I believe it all started 20 odd years ago when U-HAUL put their giant sign in front of the old clock tower building, obscuring the clock. You see it right before you go into the tunnel to Main Street and I curse it every single time. It's criminal. It's like Flushing's bad feng-shui beacon of doom.

Anyway, as I mentioned before about the situation at my Grandmother's apartment, the woman was a total pack rat. I spent about five hours in one corner of her bedroom. it looked a little different when I left, but not much! I didn't find an unused Merv Griffin ticket like last time but interestingly enough I found a postcard of my local beer supplier Thrifty Beverage Center in Cobble Hill. It's still there on Court Street & Kane. It looks like it's from the early 1960's. I am beyond asking why she had this or anything else in her apartment. I'm imagining she probrably was in Brooklyn for jury duty and took a stroll down Court Street. She saw the Thrifty Beverage Center and just had to go in and of course bring home a souvenir of her visit!Here are some other great postcards I found. She had tons. I imagine she went to these places on weekend bus trips or something.These are two of the "Three Little Bakers", that's Nick and Hugo, Al was probrably dead at this point if you are wondering why there are only two. They scare me a little, my grandfather was pastry chef and he never felt the need to incorporate baking and dinner theater!The "Famous" Smorgasbord at Woodloch Pines Lodge in Hawley, PA!This scene looks scarey and cold, note the mean looking woman is wearing a full on coat and fur hat.And of course, The Pope! I mentioned before that I was finding newspaper clippings and photos of the Pope everywhere. Didn't matter which Pope, as long as he was The Pope. There was definitely an obsession there. I guess if she were born in a different era she would she'd be worshipping rock stars instead.

FROGG Meeting * Tuesday * 6:30 pm

Things have been really heating up for the worse around the Gowanus Canal. With the talk of downzoning which basically means the building of developments on swamp land that will bring thousands of new residents into the canal area. An area which can barely handle the sewage of the residents who live here now.(check photo below!) It very well could be an enviromental disaster (which should be prevented!).

If these are the sort issues that you alarm you, the neighborhood group FROGG, Friends & Residents of Greater Gowanus are holding their monthly meeting Tuesday night to discuss and strategize.

Where: Smith & Vine : 268 Smith Street
Time:6:30 pm