Park Slope's Punk Rock Past

I believe the reason this blog has been focusing on the past more than usual is because F.I.B is moving out of it's headquarters. After months of fighting my landlord against a "temporary relocation" (we all know where that leads these days - permanently relocated!) I'm moving seconds away from my current digs, just up the stairs! Despite my 12 step move I still have to pack and that involves going through 14 years of accumulation. I've mentioned before that F.I.B once had a zine and how I saw blogging as sort of extension of zine culture. My zine was completely handwritten and illustrated, as that was the norm in the pre-computer 80's. I have bins and bins full of great old NYC fanzines, amongst them I found a letter dated 1986 with an invitation to an event in Park Slope at a place called "The Living Art Space" which was located on 5th Avenue at 11th Street in Brooklyn. Performers that evening were David Huberman (creator of the INSOMINIACS poetry group), BUG, Robert Parody and get this TULI KUPFERBERG from the Fugs.

As I lived in Queens at that time and rarely step foot in Brooklyn except to go to Coney Island I did not attend. I had an experience in Park Slope as a teen going to a party where a dog appeared out of nowhere flung from a roof. SPLAT wasn't the word, kept me out of Park Slope for a while. Park Slope was tough at one time and kids knew when other kids weren't from their neighborhood, very territorial and Warriors like!This is what the "Living Art Space" is now. Photo quality bad I know but you get the idea. It's across from Timboo's. If ANYBODY out there has ever gone to this place, I would LOVE to hear about it!

Howl Festival - East Village * ALL Weekend

Hey I know this isn't in Brooklyn either but the happenings are too fab not to mention. After an absence last summer the Howl Festival has come back better than ever. Check out the schedule. It actually starts tonight with lots of poetry readings (including a reading of "Howl") and almost all events take place in Tompkins Square Park.

Highlights for me are: Jon Spencer's band Heavy Trash playing at 2pm. Judith Malina & "The Living Theater" being honored at around 4pm....and and and.....Mother/The Jackie Factory saluting "The East VIllage and the Bowery" with a performance/party with the theme "Low Life". If you are unfamiliar with the productions of MotherNYC, they continue the lost NYC nightlife tradition where glamour and creativity played a huge role, here's the blurb describing tomorrows event:

JACKIE FACTORY producers CHI CHI VALENTI and JOHNNY DYNELL create a brand-new spectacle - LOW LIFE - to crown the HOWL! FESTIVAL 2007, presented by FEVA. LOW LIFE showcases The East Village and its Bowery as the birthplace of Nightclub Performance traditions from Vaudeville to Neo-Burlesque. Expect period star turns from MICHAEL T, DIRTY MARTINI, SWEETIE as BOSS TWEED, ROBERT LA FOSSE and his BROADWAY B'HOYZ, MISS DELIRIUM TREMENS, VANGELINE THEATER, DUELLING BANKHEADS, VOLTAIRE, JESSICA RABBIT DOMINATION, DEAN JOHNSON, ACID BETTY, HEAVEN LEIGH DOMINATION, TRINA ROSE, DARLINDA JUST ARLINDA, JACKIE 60 MCs HATTIE HATHAWAY and PAUL ALEXANDER and chorine choreography by JULIE ATLAS MUZ.

Admission is FREE but we ask that you participate by observing the Suggested Dress Code: NYC demimonde evening glamour (1860-2010), Gangs of New York, Victorian/Edwardian rags, newsboy caps, B'hoy for Butch Women, corsets and vintage lingerie, Bowery Belle ringlets, Vampyre of Gotham, black parasols, Bowery Twink, velvet, 19th century Clownwear, Top Hats or Bowery Punk.

More Information is on our LOW LIFE page.

There is so much else going on, including a book sale with lots of alternative press representing...check the schedule, get out of the house!