Today I walked through a closed-off Bedford Avenue for the last day of Williamsburg Walks, where people were doing crazy things like covering their heads in string and playing four square. I chronicled these events through the power of photographs. Behold!
When did Williamsburg become Berkeley or St. Marks Place? Where the hell did all of the crusties come from? Is there a big ratty T-shirt and old camo shorts sale that I don't know about? Have Trustafarians been replaced by actual Rastafarians? Look, a squatter! No, I don't have any spare change. Uh, I guess anarchy is okay. Listen, I don't have anything to give to your dog, I gotta go ...
This is pretty disturbing. A Greenpoint woman was on the L train when her pug got sick; she took the dog out of its tote bag and started carrying it in her arms when she was stopped by a police officer who tried to give her a ticket. Things turned ugly and the woman claimed that police officer Joel Witriol "punched me in the back (there are bruises), he handcuffed me, and in the scuffle grabbed my breasts and pinched them."
The rest of the story [via Gothamist]:
They took my pug and he told me he was taking him to the pound where he would be "put down." I was taken to the J stop headquarters. I wasn't allowed to call a lawyer and I was put in a cell with handcuffs on with two other women who spit on me and hit me in the head, because they weren't in handcuffs and I was crying so much it bothered them. I was given 3 tickets: failure to produce ID, disorderly conduct, and failure to have dog in a container. I have a court date in August. I asked for a pen to write the badge numbers down before I left and they refused to give me a pen and covered up their badges. My pug was returned. They had him behind their desks and were playing with him."
Thanks to FREEwilliamsburg for the heads up on this one. Don't let the cops off the hook. I believe this would be the 94th precinct's territory; their phone number is (718) 383-3879 and their address is 100 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11222. Write, call, whatever. Community meetings are held every third Monday of the month at 7:30pm at 807 Manhattan Ave. Do I smell a protest brewing?
Correction: A helpful commenter pointed out that this is probably the jurisdiction of the NYPD Transit Bureau. You can call them at (718) 694-4050; their office is at 130 Livingston Street, 3rd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11201.
Miss the UnFancy Food Show on Sunday? Check out my recap over at The Feedbag!
... from Jelena Vukotic on Vimeo.
Allo, French New Wave nerds. Truffaut's second greatest film, Jules and Jim, plays tonight at the Rubin Museum for their weekly Cabaret Cinema event. It's free with a $7 bar tab, 9:30pm, at 150 West 17th Street in Chelsea.
Jonathan Toubin is back, and he's brought his soul-tastic dance party with him to Glasslands!
Sat, May 23: Soul Clap and Dance-Off #22, Glasslands
Gallery (289 Kent, Williamsburg), $3: Free Beer 11pm – Midnight/1AM
dance contest: Imagine hundreds shakin’ and quakin’ to the
most exciting soul 45s of all time in the charming subcultural confines
of the Glasslands! Welcome New York Night Train Soul Proprietor Mr. Jonathan Toubin
back home from his west coast DJ tour tonight while he twirls explosive
45s spanning late-r&b to early funk but centering on mid-60s
burners - exclusively for your get-down pleasure at this legendary
Glasslands rager. A monthly Brooklyn institution, heralded everywhere
from the Village Voice “Voice Choices” to Time Out to Flavorpill,
includes one of the city’s wildest and most unusual DANCE CONTESTS at
1AM (get in it! winner gets 1/2 the door after paying the door guys -
which has been as much $460!) hosted by the lovely MC Laura Leigh and judged by five neighborhood celebrities! Plus, get there early for FREE BEER FROM 11PM – MIDNIGHT. Don't fight it - feel it!
The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls is pretty much the coolest non-profit ever. According to its website, it is a "music and mentoring program that empowers girls and
women through music education and activities that foster self-respect,
leadership skills, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration." And now they need your help! They are holding four benefit shows featuring 20 bands, all in the name of teaching our young women how to rock.
Unemployed? Get a job flinging PBRs to the noble and majestic hipster, right here in Williamsburg, USA. The Brooklyn Bartending Academy is opening soon, like next week maybe, and will take place at Artland on Grand Street. It's like getting a degree from Arizona State, but better. Plus they'll provide you extra insight on how to be a disaffected chick/dude magnet:
In just 12 hours you too can become like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, except that instead of flipping bottles around in the air and creeping people out you will just sit around and ignore customers and creep people out. Sign up with the Brooklyn Bartending Academy today!
Sometimes the interwebs is actually home to something other than vitriolic anonymous commentors, pornography and gossip-mongering neighborhood blogs. Sometimes it helps people, people like YOU. Enter Kickstarter. It allows you to post a project with a set fundraising goal. People then contribute, sometimes with incentives and sometimes out of the goodness of their hearts, and if the goal is reached by the set time, the project creator keeps the funds and can finally start the Battlestar Galactica fan fiction literary journal he's always dreamed of starting ever since he first saw the show five months ago and became obsessed with it. MMM, it feels warm and fuzzy, like watching kittens play together while listening to "If You're Feeling Sinister" for the very first time.
Hrrrrmmmmmm. Yesterday the L train wasn't running past Lorimer Street due to a sick passenger on one of the trains. Today I read that a school in Bushwick was closed due to a case of swine flu. YOU do the math, pointdexter! We're all doomed, doomed I say, dooooooomeeed. I guess I picked a good time to stop greeting people with sloppy, open-mouthed kisses.
Oh noes, what happened to Kanye?
It's 78 degrees! Celebrate by rocking out! Tonight at 8pm, come out to Union Pool (484 Union Ave) for the North Brooklyn Story Project Benefit Concert. Suggested donation is only $5, all of which goes to funding the oral history project. Here's all the info on the bands:
The Blue Album Group play Weezer's Blue Album straight through, note for note, with all
the vocal harmonies, ripping guitar solos, and cardigan sweaters
intact (or should I say undone?).
For more information, go to:
http://thebluealbumgroup.com
Rebecca Schiffman was born in 1982 in New York City. She studied cello and piano
from a young age. In 2000, while attending The Cooper Union School
of Art, Schiffman began to play bass guitar for the pop-punk band
Pearl Harbor, which featured Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Rival
Schools) on drums, Ryan Stratton (Walking Concert) on guitar, and
Masayoshi Nakamura on vocals. Schreifels began producing
Schiffman's recordings and in 2003 her first album "Upside Down
Lacrimosa" was released on Some Records. In 2008 she recorded her
second album To Be Good for a Day with Mike Musmanno in DUMBO,
Brooklyn.
Vice recently dubbed that album their "Album of the Month."
For more information, go to:
www.rebeccaschiffman.com
The Roulettes were born in an Oberlin, Ohio basement, where they practiced on
borrowed equipment next to a leaky washer/dryer combo. They grew up
playing basement and living room parties to crowds of adoring fans
and a few aghast fools who didn’t get their jokes. After
moving to Portland, the Roulettes met up with label Lucky Madison
to create the first ever LM release, a self-titled EP recorded at
Portland’s Jackpot! Studios with engineer Larry Crane
(Sleater-Kinney, Stephen Malkmus, etc.). The Roulettes EP finds the
band bouncing from the pressing issues of yesteryear (film students
with dinosaur-sized egos on “Crabs”) to love as seen
from a creaky Ferris wheel (“Motorcycles in the Mist”)
to straight up hot shit dance tracks (“Hot Ticket”)
faster than you can pour another bourbon.
For more information, go to
http://luckymadison.com/pagetheroulet...
About The North Brooklyn Story Project
The North Brooklyn Story Project (NBSP) is a new initiative of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG), a community organization that has been serving North Brooklyn since 1994. The project was developed to encourage residents to come together and help build a vibrant and friendly North Brooklyn community. NBSP is raising money for recording equipment that will be used to document, share and store the stories of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents.
NBSP is looking for people with stories to share about the community and people who can listen to and record these stories. For more information, or to become involved with the project, email: Gregor ( g.nemitzziadie@gmail.com) or Rachel (rachtree@gmail. com).
About Neighbors Allied for Good Growth:
Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (formerly Neighbors Against
Garbage) is a volunteer-based community planning and environmental
justice organization that has been performing grassroots
organizing, advocacy and outreach/education to the North Brooklyn
waterfront community of Williamsburg/Greenpoint since 1994.
For more information, go to:
www.nag-brooklyn.org.
Facing eviction? Rent too high? No Heat?
Come hear community leaders speak about the future of your neighborhood (and the history too!)
Join Us Saturday April 25th
Greenpoint-Williamsburg Housing Forum
Featuring a keynote speech by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (NY-13)
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
10 am-4:30 pm
Boricua College, Northside Campus
186 North 6th Street (between Bedford & Driggs)
Continue reading "Greenpoint-Williamsburg Housing Forum Saturday" »
Do you know what you'll miss out on if don't come to the North Brooklyn Story Project Benefit Concert (only $5 suggested donation) on Tuesday, April 28th, 8pm at Union Pool? This:
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