the red hook
UNIQUE COVERAGE
2019
STAR REVUE
AUGUST 2019 INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
FREE
THE NEW VOICE OF NEW YORK Special “FIND THE PRESIDENT” issue plus
Mystery of Beard Street and
Who Stole Good Cause Eviction and finally
Red Hook Shipping News
1
2 LIVE Music Every Friday and Saturday Award Winning Burgers Great Wings 317 Columbia St. Brooklyn, NY jalopytavern.biz
3
Brooklyn is all about blending cultures. We’re all about blending Global Cuisine at Jam’It Bistro
367 Columbia St Brooklyn, NY 11231 (929) 298-0074 jamitbistro.com
NYC’s Number One Folk and Traditional music venue Featuring amazing Live Music 5 nights a week! 315 Columbia St. Brooklyn, NY jalopytheatre.org
the red hook
STAR REVUE
THE NEW VOICE OF NEW YORK
JULY 2019 CONTENTS
Section 1
Section 2
News & Views
Music & Art
Jeffrey Lewis, Anti-Folk Hero..................33
Community calendar............4 Meetings, festivals, trivia nights.
Guitarist Scott Sharrard..........................34
Letters............5
Angry readers debate YIMBYism and TV’s Dead to Me
Hanks Saloon gone again........................35
Opinion: Micromobility for all............5
Wilko Johnson, by Mike Morgan..............36
UPS plans giant hub in Red Hook............7
Bathe, by Roderick Thomas....................37
Give e-scooters to the people.
At least our packages might start showing up on time.
More Prince, by Kurt Gottschalk.............38
Who killed Good Cause Eviction?............9 How one major piece of the new rent laws went missing.
More Italian Jazz Guys, Mike Fiorito.......38
Gowanus cleanup: summer schedule….10
Lots of Clubs Calendar.......................41,42
It smells even worse in hot weather.
Arts Calendar...........................................43
Local businesses part of a crawl............10 Red Hook has plenty to eat and drink.
BAMS' Women's Film Festival..................44
Facts about Beard Street flooding............11 A deep dive into a major local nuisance.
Legion Review by Will Drickey................45
Viewpoint: Trumpism is all over....14
Midsommer review by Caleb Drickey......46
An ugly incident xposes liberalism’s contradictions.
Red Hook's Peninsula Gallery.................47
The Left likes its chances............15 A rundown on the 2019 Left Forum.
Fairview...................................................48
Column: Can we really have it all?............17
Bellingcat.................................................48
How Modern Monetary Theory can solve the debt crisis.
Nino Pantano............................................49
Capitalism, schools, and grades............22 Economist Richard Wolff says the meritocracy is a sham.
Shopping in Red Hook..............................50
11 education destinations ............23 School isn’t the only place to learn.
Books.......................................................51
Teachers question Regents............26
Silliness by Joe Enright...........................52
Educators speak out against standardized testing.
District 15 school rezonings............29 A push for diversity may mean changes.
Damned old party............32
Presidential elections aren’t everything
HOTD0G AND MUSTARD BY MARC JACKS0N
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IS THERe A RiGHT ANSWER TO THAT
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THE RiGHT ANSWeR iS ‘NO, H0TDOG, I W0ULD N VER DO THAT’!
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YURK!
UMN... IS THeRE A WRONG ANSWeR?
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MUSTARD! HAVE YOU USeD MY T0OTHBRUSH?!
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Red Hook Star-Revue
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©COPYRIGHT 2019 MARC JACKSON AND WEiRD0 COMiCS
August 2019, Page 3
the red hook
STAR REVUE 481 Van Brunt Street, 8A Brooklyn, NY 11231
STARREVUE COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS email george@redhookstar.com to list your event. For more listings, check out our online calendar at www.star-revue.com/calendar
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EDITOR & PUBLISHER George Fiala ARTS EDITOR
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MUSIC EDITOR
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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Brett Yates REPORTERS
Nathan Weiser Erin DeGregorio
DESIGN
George Fiala
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SUMMER INTERN
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The Red Hook Star-Revue is published every month. Founded June 2010.
Community Numbers: Red Hook Councilman
Carlos Menchaca (718) 439-9012 Red Hook Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (718) 492-6334 State Senator Velmanette Montgomery (718) 643-6140 Gowanus Councilman Brad Lander (718) 499-1090 Park Slope Councilman Steve Levin (718) 875-5200 CB6 District Manager Michael Racioppo (718) 643-3027 76th Police Precinct, 191 Union Street Main phone (718) 834-3211 Community Affairs (718) 834-3207 Traffic Safety (718) 834-3226 Eileen Dugan Senior Center (718) 596-1956 Miccio Center (718) 243-1528 Red Hook East (718) 852-6771 Red Hook West (718) 522-3880 NYCHA PSA 1, 80 Dwight St. Main Phone (718) 265-7300 Community Affairs (718) 265-7313 Domestic Violence (718) 265-7310 Youth Officer (718) 265-7314 Red Hook NCO police Damien Clarke, (929) 287-7155 Jonathan Rueda, (917) 941-2185
Page 4 Red Hook Star-Revue
August Events Sunday, Aug. 4th
Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, Flushing Meadows Park. Come see a race of 170 dragon-boat teams on the very big Meadows Lake, in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. In addition to the race, there will be traditional dance, martial arts, music, folk art, and Chinese food.
Tuesday Aug. 6
Mysteries in the Midnight Zone with the New York Aquarium. Dive deep into the midnight zone as they will explore the hidden ocean habitat and the mysterious animals that live there. They start their journey amst 100 years ago when explorers boarded the Bathysphere to descent 3,028 feet. The Red Hook Library, 7 Wolcott Street. 2:15 to 3:15 pm.
Wednesday Aug 7
The New York City Parks Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presents an update on the cleanup and reconstruction of the ball fields at the Red Hook Park complex. The meeting will begin at 6:00 pm at the Miccio Community Center (110 West 9th Street). Hot Wood Arts (481 Van Brunt Street, 9B) will have their monthly First Wednesday’s figure drawing session from 7:00 until 10:00 pm. The cost is $10.
Sunday, Aug 11
Portside's Second Sundays Tanker Time from 6:00 pm until midnight. During this free event you will be able to enjoy the main deck of Portside’s historic ship, the tanker Mary A. Whalen. You can read books from the maritime library and immerse yourself in their maritime ambiance. At 10:00 pm, Mediterranean music starts and goes until midnight.
Tuesday, Aug 14
Pioneer Works monthly Community Lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. this one will feature DeVonn Francis of Yardy. Check in at Pioneer Works before heading over to Coffey Park. Lunch will include a beverage and vegetarian and gluten-free options will be available. The lunch ticket is $5 at the door. Yardy is an event and production company with Caribbean origins, focused on making meaningful stories through food and art. Their desire is to create a stage experiences that recognize the dinner table as an indelible site for artistic and social engagement. 159 Pioneer Street
Thursday, Aug 15
The Red Hook Recreation Center's back to school party for kids and parents from 11:30 am until 5:00 pm at Coffey Park (85 Richards Street). There will be the annual basketball tournament, carnival games and field day activities.
Nathan Weiser and Will Jackson
Outdoor Festivities for children 5 – 12 years of age, health testing, health education, technology, health information, Back To School Fashion Show, storytelling, children’s entertainment (daily performances showcasing sporting events, face painting, dance, step shows, hiphop, music, poetry, vocalist, etc.) arts and crafts, new technology information & children’s programs.
Thursday, Aug. 22
At Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 Harbor View Lawn, Movies with a View will show the movie Selma (2014), which chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. The evening begins with a DJ set by Miss Hap and a short film Emory Douglas: Art of the Black Panthers curated by BAMcinematek. Music starts at 6:00 pm, movie begins at sundown. Burgers, dumplings, pizza, Venezuelan street food, ice cream, beer and win from Smorgasburg will be available all night on the promenade.
Thursday, Aug. 22
Boyz II Men with En Vogue will perform at the Ford Amphitheater at the Coney Island Boardwalk (3052 West 21 Street). The concert starts at 8:00 pm and the doors open at 7:00 pm.
Friday, Aug. 23rd
U.S. Open Tennis Tournament Begins, Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Come see the biggest stars in tennis such as Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic battle it out for the U.S. Open Championship. The tournament lasts from August 23rd through September 8th and includes plenty of events for children as well as the opportunity to see the stars on the hard court.
Saturday, Aug. 24
Pioneer Works presents the fifth annual Red Hook Regatta, which will happen at Valentino Pier from 1:00 until 5:00 pm. The Regatta is produced in partnership with youth and staff from the Red Hook Community Justice Center and Red Hook Initiative who also participated in their 8-week 3D Printed Boat Program. This is a community event where hundreds of spectators will gather to watch homemade boats navigate the rough seas of New York City’s shipping harbor. The event will feature free catered food and halftime entertainment including DJ sets by Red Hook Record shop owner Bene Coopersmith, a dance performance by Cora Dance and activations by Pioneer Works artist and staff.
Thursday, Aug 29
Pioneer Works will host their community happy hour at SuperSmith (125 Dikeman Street) from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Pioneer Works staff, artists-in-residence and friends will attend. Each event spotlights a local chef or culinary organization, this one features Jenny Kwak of Haenyeo. Haenyeo is on the corner of 5th Ave. and Carroll Street. Ryan Sutton of Eater New York calls Haenyeo “a knockout of a Korean hangout in Park Slope.” It is a seafood restaurant serving up dishes in a comforting, home-cooked Korean style.
Ongoing
The Red Hook Boaters offer free kayaking from Louis Valentino Jr. Pier Park at the end of the Coffey Street. After being fitted with a PFD, the kayaker will get safety and paddling tips and then will be able to paddle inside the protected area. Walk up kayaking is on Thursdays from 4:00 until 6:00 pm and on Sundays from 1:00 until 4:00 pm. Team up to Read will happen every Tuesday (3:00 pm to 4:00 pm) of August at the Red Hook Library. This is a free interactive series designed for children ages 5-9 and their caregivers to help improve reading skills with tips and fun activities, all while encouraging a lifelong love of reading. The Red Hook Library will offer free summer meals for ages 18 and under on weekdays at 1:15 until August 30. No registration, documentation or ID is required to receive a free lunch. There will be no lunch offered on July 4 or August 12. On Wednesdays, at 12:00 pm, the Red Hook FamStand will be in front of the Miccio Center. They will have vegetables that are grown at the Red Hook Famin clean soil, using organic practices. There will be special deals for NYCA residents. Every Wednesday Jalopy Theatre and School of Music will have Roots n Ruckus from 9 pm to 11 pm This is a night of folk, old-time and blues music. Every Thursday at Rocky Sullivan’s (46 Beard Street), Broadly Entertaining will host trivia night. The free trivia will start at 8:00 pm and go until 10:00 pm The first-place winner will get 50 percent off their tab. Every Monday from 8:30 to 11:00 Open Mic Night at Jalopy Theatre and School of Music (315 Columbia Street). Each performer will get two songs or eight minutes. Every Wednesday, the Red Hook Community Justice Center (88 Visitation Place) host Healing After Violence from 5 until 7 pm. This is a support group for women who have experienced violence in a relationship. Join to speak openly about your experience and to begin the healing process after experiencing partner violence. Call 347-404-9017
Friday, Aug. 16th
Intrepid Museum’s Summer Music Series, Intrepid Museum Watch amvie on the ship’s flight deck, under the stars! Enjoy views of the Hudson River and city skyline while you watch some old and new favorites on the big screen. Admission tickets (free of charge) will be distributed first-come, first-served before the show. This show will be Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. Foot of 42nd St. NYC
Saturday, Aug. 17th
NYC Children’s Festival, Howard Bennett Playground – West 135th St.
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August 2019
LETTERS NYCHA indifference
Hope you are well. Reaching out as I am so sad to say that after 12 years of personal financial contributions and countless hours of labor all provided by my wife and myself to transform this abandon lot in Red Hook, Brooklyn leveled in one morning. Without any warning, contact or headsup, NYCHA rolled over all our hard work . I began the farm because I enjoy gardening and wanted to do something positive for the neighborhood. Everything from the flowers to the produce were donated to the community—and NYCHA gave us ZERO warning that the space was needed or that a demolition would occur. Granted there are some serious problems affecting the residents that live in NYCHA all over the city. From lead paint, broken elevators no heat or water even at times. I do not want to upstage these serous systemic problems that tenants have to endure but I can say I see first hand the dysfunction,
lack of communication and overall mismanagement. In summary I hope a made a small impact on this tiny footprint in the city and I wish for better a stronger and more resilient community. We feel this story needs to be heard as it is a disservice to all in the community. Thank you.... Seth Brody Editors Note: This was the well tended garden across from the Post Office on Clinton Street. I noticed it for years and wondered about it, and always meant to write a story. Seth, I am very glad you wrote to us, and I’m sure if we asked the NYCHA press office about this, we’d get some dumb answer that would answer no questions. It is no consolation, I know, but thanks from the Star-Revue for all your work.
YIMBYS forever
“preserving the existing character of the neighborhood” was the rational behind the racist red-lining practices of the 1950s and 1960s. The NIMBYs of today are their direct descendants. - Joe Fodor
send them to george@ redhookstar.com or post on our website, www.star-revue.com.
Maybe not
This is a good article. Check out this essay in the Brooklyn Rail about the YIMBY movement and the real estate shills behind it. https:// brooklynrail.org/2019/07/ field-notes/Accentuate-thepositive - Nathan Ward
Theater review
A well-deserved write-up of Brave New World’s production of The Hook, which was quite an achievement. Although the article accepts Miller’s account of the genesis of On The Waterfront (it actually began life as a movie about NY Sun reporter Mike Johnson’s “Waterfront Jungle”), it digs deep enough to try imagine the hard world that inspired these memorable works of protest by Miller, Kazan, Schulberg and others. Good for the Star-Revue. - Tim G
YIMBYS again
I hate to break it to you, but social housing is constructed by (shudder) developers, and we have lots of social housing in NYC. In fact, Brad Lander led a social housing NFP, the Fifth Avenue Committee, for
COLUMN BY YATES:
Micromobility for all
F
or the Star-Revue’s August issue, I wrote a feature about Revel, the moped-sharing app whose Vespa-style scooters have overtaken parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Because most of Revel’s media coverage had taken the form of first-person essays by reporters who combined press-release info with descriptions of their own pleasant or terrifying experiences on the scooters, I felt emboldened to take the same approach. I tried out the mopeds. I figured that a first-person account would leave some room for my own reflections more somewhat questionable value of Revel’s addition to the New York transportation landscape than would fit into an ostensibly neutral story about a new company in the area. I tried not to turn the article into a rant, but I still sought, at least implicitly, to caution New Yorkers not to give in to the notion that tech companies could ever resolve the city’s public transit crisis by bringing us new, compact, shareable modes of trendy individualized transport. The whispered, perhaps even unconscious promise of Revel, as well as the e-bikes by JUMP and Motivate and
Red Hook Star-Revue
the scooters by Lime and Bird, is of an environmentally friendly patchwork of convenient, for-profit transportation services that, along with Uber and Lyft’s less virtuous cars, will one day allow wealthier New Yorkers to fully opt out of the crumbling MTA. A hierarchy of personal mobility devices will eventually develop to address different consumers’ “freedom of choice”: a fleet of robot-pulled rickshaws for the rich, a scattering of janky GPS-embedded pogo sticks for the poor. It’s a grim prospect. The New York City Subway (when it works) is not only the best, fastest way to get from Upper Manhattan to Lower Manhattan; the really wonderful thing about it is that everyone rides it together. This is also what some people hate about it. The MTA must fix its subway and improve its buses. That’s the main thing. But the truth is that, to the extent that “micromobility” services don’t pose a threat to public transit, I mostly like them. My own vehicle of choice is a regular old bike, and even if the subway here were the best in the world, I’d still ride it, but not everyone has the health or inclination to pedal all day. E-bikes and electric scooters offer alternatives.
a decade. And guess what one of the main blockages to social housing is… zoning entitlements! - Mike
Bingeworthy
People watch shows like “Dead to me,” because they enjoy escaping into a layered, surreal and suspenseful story-line that is easy to follow and has characters viewers can identify with. The author’s title “Dead to me is Dead to me,” seems poorly chosen considering she doesn’t present a cogent argument as to why the show is unworthy of viewership. Although the relationship between Jen and Judy may, at times, be a “closed circuit,” the window the show gives us into the intimate details of their struggles is like a trainwreck that viewers cannot turn away from. Similarly,
Occasionally, journalists suggest the notion of a conflict between cyclists and scooter riders, but in reality, they travel at about the same speeds and share the bike lane easily. In fact, as a cyclist, I would like many more companions in the bike lane: the busier it gets, the likelier cars are to notice it and respect it, and the less likely they are to kill me because they’re not considering the road’s non-automobile occupants. A constant stream of bicycles, motorized skateboards, and selfbalancing unicycles on every street sounds good to me. When I lived in San Francisco, I rolled my eyes at some of the techies on their e-scooters – they looked dorky to me. Even so, pretty much anything beats a car. We may soon resolve their carbon problem, but cars will continue to take up too much space in cities and inspire hostile, alienating urban design. Cities across the country are now in the process of determining whether to legalize personal transporters and how to regulate them. They must consider the potential safety hazards for riders and the possibility of nuisance for pedestrians if dockless e-scooters should crowd their sidewalks. But many lawmakers also recognize their upside. Unfortunately, these lawmakers tend to see their choice in limited terms – in short, whether or not to open a new market to Silicon Valley. Their highest hope is to establish rules to circumvent public health hazards while
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the author’s claim that the show’s strongest attribute is its “affirmation of the power of female friendship” entirely discounts the high-quality character acting and contributions of supporting actors that make “Dead to me” highly binge-worthy. Overall, this review misses the mark because the author’s analysis does not seem to support her conclusion that viewers are left struggling to “understand why Jen and Judy lean so heavily on each other.” It seems obvious that they have entered into a co-dependent friendship- one that Jen and Judy both pursue as a means towards abating their guilt feelings about Ted’s death. David G.
“THE REALLY WONDERFUL THING ABOUT THE SUBWAY IS THAT EVERYONE RIDES IT TOGETHER.” private operators reap the profits. If we deem today’s personal mobility devices worthy as new forms of urban transportation and are willing to make room in our cities for vast new sharing networks centered upon them, we should consider their potential as a public service instead of automatically assenting to their current yuppie-only status. Governor Cuomo still has not agreed to sign the bill legalizing e-scooters and throttle-assist e-bikes that the New York State Legislature passed in June, but if he does, a new opportunity will emerge, if anyone spots it. We could do better than we did last time. When the New York City Department of Transportation developed a bikeshare program some years ago, it decided, like most American cities, to hand over portions of its public streets and sidewalks to a private company
continued on page 8 August 2019, Page 5
Page 6 Red Hook Star-Revue
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August 2019
UPS plans giant hub in Red Hook
T
he United Parcel Service (UPS), which opened a 1.2-million-square-foot facility in suburban Atlanta last year, is preparing a similar regional hub in Red Hook to serve the Northeast. In a press release announcing the Southern facility, UPS had said: “The new Atlanta sortation and delivery center is part of an expanded network of regional hubs designed to improve efficiency, service levels and reliability. The Atlanta hub will process approximately 100,000 parcels per hour via a highly orchestrated series of conveyors, chutes, belts and ramps, into waiting trailers for transfer to another UPS location, or into package delivery vehicles bound for area businesses and residents.” The Atlanta facility consists of large central buildings which house a giant system of conveyors that sort the boxes as they move from entry to exit points, and a large room with lots of computer screens that manage the largely robotic sorting system. As package delivery increases exponentially each year, especially next day service, these facilities are springing up all over, with ever advancing technologies replacing manual sorting of boxes. Similar UPS facilities are opening in: Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; Phoenix, Ariz.; Salt Lake City, Utah and Indianapolis, Indiana, according to the press release. The land purchased in Red Hook includes 19th- and 20th-century era industrial buildings on the west side of Red Hook. The 19th-century buildings were former manufacturing facilities, and another was built in 1950 by the Daily News, last occupied by Snapple. They also bought the large parking lot previously use to park Haddad film rental trucks.
Hello Red Hook! UPS finally introduced themselves to its new Red Hook neighbors at a town hall-type meeting hosted by Jim Tampakas at his new catering place at 120 Hamilton Avenue. It was led by Councilman Carlos Menchaca and Laura Lane, who represented the delivery company. The immediate reason for the meeting was the partial demolition of one of the buildings purchased by UPS – one that faced the local park and beach,
by Nathan Weiser Valentino Pier. The unannounced demolition awoke the sleepy Red Hook community, to the changes that were coming, and sparked an outcry demanding preservation of the old waterfront buildings. There are very few landmarked buildings in Red Hook, despite a treasure trove of Brooklyn maritime history that resides here. About a hundred neighbors showed up to hear UPS explain that the building in question could not be repurposed by UPS because of asbestos problems and other issues.
Estate Four There had been a previous plan for the building in which asbestos was not addressed. This was a project to create a “Red Hook Innovation Hub,” by the Milan-based developer Estate Four. Their proposal repurposed the abandoned building for a new use. Unfortunately for the buildings, Estate Four’s plan didn’t pan out, and they sold off the property to a leasing agent, who then turned around and sold it to UPS.
“Being close to the water is an opportunity for us to utilize the waterways and avoid a lot of road traffic.” - UPS Remembering by emulating The one large graphic image UPS displayed at the meeting was a proposed idea to emulate the original building façade and incorporate it into their new building. This would present an old-fashioned image to the parkgoers
Looking south on Ferris Street. The UPS property is on the right. (photo by George Fiala)
across the way at Valentino Pier park. UPS says they are cooperating with some local architects to come up with something to satisfy residents. Someone from the audience asked why UPS chose Red Hook. “First of all, there has to be property available,” responded Axel Carrion, UPS’s Director of Public Affairs. “There is not that much property available in New York City that works for a logistics type of network. Access to highways is also very important. Being close to the water is another point because it is an opportunity for us to be able to utilize the waterway to avoid a lot of the road traffic.”
Changes coming to Red Hook With Red Hook facing two or three additional new warehouse facilities, plus the possibility of a giant storage facility being built next to Pioneer Works, the idea of using the waters for receiving and delivering goods makes perfect sense, in a retro kind of way. Red Hook used to be called the city of warehouses, with package boats docking on our waterfront delivering flour, coffee and goods from all over the world.
Jobs The heads of the Red Hook Houses Tenant Associations attended the meeting, making their usual demands for jobs for local residents. By all appearances, UPS has an excellent record of hiring locally and diversely. Quoting from the UPS press release on the opening of the Atlanta facility: “UPS created more than 3,000 new jobs for Atlanta residents at the new site. The company utilized its Hiring Our Heroes veteran employment program, and partnered with The Center
for Working Families and the United Way to recruit and hire employees. The Center for Working Families developed an innovative program, now called the UPS Community Recruitment Initiative, which acts as a centralized talent pool for ready-to-work job candidates who live near the new facility. To further serve the thousands of employees from the surrounding communities, MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) installed its first public transportation bus stop on private property at the new UPS site.” Laura Lane said at the Red Hook meeting: “We know the opportunities we can provide for many of the people who live in the housing authority. We want to provide great jobs. Every one of our people that is part of our UPS family are union, teamsters, machinists. We make sure we give good benefits, so they can provide for their families. This is what we are going to bring to the Red Hook community.”
Environmental concerns Lane also spoke about resiliency, a subject dear to the heart of some in the audience. “We are a company that believes in sustainability,” Lane said. “We are committed to being green in this community. We are going to use the waterways because if you take it on the water you can minimize your carbon footprint and take more of the trucks off the road so it’s not adding to congestion. There are a lot of ways we want to make this facility not just jobcreating but green.”
Left: The new UPS Atlanta facility occupies the same amount of buildable space as here; Center: A proposal for recreating the 19th century industrail building that faces Valentino Pier Park; Right: The previous plan for the site, as was envisioned by the Italian developer Estate Four.
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MICROMOBILITY (continued from page 5)
(now owned by Lyft) for the installation of docking stations. Today, they cover a swath of New York City between Sunset Park and 130th Street in Manhattan. A 30-minute ride costs $3 (or $5 for an electric bike, once they return from recall). Lyft, which receives no direct subsidies from the city, has to make money here. How many more New Yorkers – especially those who live too far to walk to a subway station – would benefit from Citi Bike if they could instead use their MetroCard to unlock a bike at the rack, ride it to the subway, and then swipe again for a free transfer? Because most Citi Bike users also use the MTA, the former service primarily works for those who can afford to pay for transportation twice. The feud between Cuomo and de Blasio would present an MTA compatibility hurdle for any transit project initiated by the city, but for the future, it’s not so hard to imagine an integrated system of public micromobility in New York City. Like Citi Bike, Revel’s mopeds end at Sunset Park. A publicly owned version of the app could serve all neighborhoods, not just the ones that are attractive from a business perspective.
But I don’t think it was really the scooters that they hated – I think it was the breezily entitled people riding them. More importantly, it was the social malady that their demographic represented as they whizzed past San Francisco’s homeless encampments and dodged overcrowded Muni buses: inequality. The meaning of new technology isn’t fixed; it depends in part on whom we give it to. We could give it to everyone.
Rec Center Bash On Thursday, August 15th, the Red Hook Recreation Center is hosting a Back to School Bash in Coffey Park. From 11:30 am to 5 pm the annual basketball tournament, carnival games, field day activities and entertainment will prevail. Free.
Ballfield Update The Parks Department and the EPA will hold another community meeting on the cleanup and reconstruction of the ball fields and other areas of the Red Hook Park complex. It will take place on Wednesday, August 7, at 6:00 pm at the Miccio Community Center, 110 West 9th Street. For more info email bkspecialevents@parks.nyc.gov or call 718-9656991.
sp a to ac be e
Last year, at the peak of Lime and Bird usage in the Bay Area, angry Californians picked the dockless e-
scooters up off their sidewalks and threw them into the Pacific Ocean in protest. Others lit them on fire. San Francisco ended up banning them, at least for a while.
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Page 8 Red Hook Star-Revue
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday 7:30 am-6:30pm Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner!
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August 2019
Who killed Good Cause Eviction?
T
he tenants won, and the real estate lobby lost. But the tenants didn’t win everything.
Signed into law on June 14 amid widespread celebration, the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) expanded and strengthened New York’s system of rent stabilization and offered a host of new benefits to tenants across the state. It suffered, however, from the absence of key provisions proposed by freshman State Senator Julia Salazar’s Good Cause Eviction bill that would’ve kept more renters in their homes. The mere possibility of Good Cause Eviction – an anti-displacement measure unprecedented in New York State and a rebuke to price-gouging landlords – owed to the tenant unions and activist groups that formed the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance in 2017. The 2018 election, which – thanks in part to progressive candidates boosted by housing activists – gave the Democrats full control of the State Legislature, brought significant momentum to the Alliance’s Housing Justice for All campaign. With New York’s rent laws nearing expiration, countless rallies, letters, phone calls, tweets, and sit-ins generated awareness and put pressure on lawmakers. During a June 4 demonstration, Albany police arrested 61 protesters. Housing Justice for All promoted a suite of nine Democrat-sponsored bills under the banner of “Universal Rent Control.” Ultimately, eight of them made it – in some form – into the final package of rent reforms passed in June. The one that didn’t was Good Cause Eviction.
What Good Cause does Like all Upstate renters, New York City renters who live in buildings constructed after 1973 or with fewer than six units don’t enjoy the advantages of rent stabilization, which include the right to a lease renewal. The Good Cause Eviction bill sought to extend protections to most of these tenants. As the law stands, when their leases expire (or if they don’t have a lease), their landlords can quickly and easily obtain a court order to kick them out. The court doesn’t ask for a reason. With some exceptions, Good Cause Eviction would have guaranteed lease renewals even to tenants outside of rent stabilization – or, if a landlord wanted to evict them instead, they would have had to establish “good cause,” such as nuisance behavior by the tenant or the need to recover the unit for personal use by the landlord. But if they simply wanted
by Brett Yates to flip middle-income housing into luxury rentals, they’d have to wait until tenants moved out willingly. Nonpayment of rent would have been another acceptable reason for eviction – but, crucially, not if the nonpayment was the result of an “unconscionable” rent increase. According to the text of the bill, “it shall be a rebuttable presumption that the rent for a dwelling not protected by rent regulation is unconscionable if said rent has been increased in any calendar year by a percentage exceeding one and one-half times the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the region in which the housing accommodation is located.” In other words, Good Cause Eviction wouldn’t technically have prohibited landlords from putting major rent hikes into their lease renewals, but supporters of the bill believed that it would have made such hikes far less common by safeguarding tenants unable or unwilling to pay them. It would have given them a chance to argue for fairer, more affordable terms. (The word “rebuttable” still left some room for judges to authorize large increases if the landlord could, perhaps, cite a rise in property taxes or an expensive roof repair.) Prior to 2019, the Democrat-controlled New York State Assembly had passed various rent reforms that had subsequently withered in the Republicancontrolled Senate. Legislators had already seen versions of nearly all the bills supported by Housing Justice for All. But until the Democratic Socialist Salazar unseated longtime incumbent Martin Malave Dilan in Bushwick, no such bill as Good Cause Eviction had entered the legislature.
Property owners resist “There was a lot, a lot of controversy around that bill,” acknowledged Shakti-Robbins Cubas, community liaison for State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, who represents Red Hook. Montgomery cosponsored Good Cause Eviction, which Pamela J. Hunter of Syracuse introduced in the Assembly. Balanda Joachim works at the Carroll Gardens Association (CGA) on behalf of the Southwest Brooklyn Tenant Union, which fought for Universal Rent Control. “With Good Cause, what I believe is that it really questioned people’s sense of morality. Hence the name ‘good cause’: having landlords need a really good reason to evict you,” she said.
The State House in Albany (photo by George Fiala)
this very emotional reaction to the idea of being unable to retain property rights. At a conference this weekend, I ran into a self-described small landlord – she has over 700 tenants – and she felt very passionately that she should be able to sever the tenant-landlord relationship on a whim if it just didn’t feel right. Where we were able to fight back against the real estate industry’s messaging on all our other bills, it was this emotional piece that we just kind of ran out of road in moving beyond.” To Garrard’s surprise, Salazar’s bill’s eviction protections, rather than its soft cap on rent increases, had turned out to be the sticking point. Although many of its detractors appeared to regard Good Cause Eviction as a Marxist takeover of the housing business, she stressed the moderate nature of the proposed legislation. “We really do believe it’s a baseline bill in that it provides a ton of leeway for a property owner to evict a tenant. All it does is force a property owner to prove that there is a reason to evict a tenant,” she asserted. “That’s really all it does. And it also attaches a rent increase limit that still allows for profitabil-
Statewide Housing Organizer Rebecca Garrard of Citizen Action of NY explained further: “There was
(continued on page 20)
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Gowanus Canal cleanup schedule: summer 2019 edition by Erin DeGregorio Just because the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group voted in June to take the summer off for their meetings, doesn’t mean that cleanup constructions and plans have taken a hiatus too. Here are the current projections as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moves forward with the project: Construction of the Fulton Manufactured Gas Plant cut-off wall (from the top of the canal to Union Bridge, on the eastern bank of the canal), which will prevent tar from the former Fulton Manufactured Gas Plant site from contaminating the canal. Mobilization in the canal for this project will begin this month. EPA expects
Local businesses part of a crawl by Erin DeGregorio
An event that publicized Red Hook and raised money for charities and the sponsor, took place on July 28. The Red Hook Crawl, created by a company called Tastes of Brooklyn, featured foods and drinks from 13 neighborhood establishments. Attendees paid a minimum of $20 for samples from the participating venues which included Fort Defiance, Mark’s Red Hook Pizza, Red Hook Winery, Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies, Sunny’s Bar, The Copper Pot,
completion of the wall by mid-summer of 2020.
Beginning of dredging in the main canal in late summer of 2020.
Construction of several bulkheads in the upper canal (RTA1), during the same timeframe as above, by private owners under consent orders with EPA for the purpose of supporting the dredging and capping of the upper canal.
Continuation of dredging and capping in RTA1 through 2020 and 2021 and anticipated completion of dredging and capping from the top of the canal to the 3rd Street bridge by early 2022.
Construction of a dredge support bulkhead in front of the New York City pumping station property and the Flushing Tunnel discharge outlet by the potentially responsible party group under EPA’s oversight.
Elías Rodríguez, the acting chief of the media relations branch at the EPA’s Region 2 Office, did mention1 that all Superfund site cleanup work schedules are subject to change.
Completion of the design of the Combined Sewer Overflows retention tank at the top of the canal in the fall of 2019.
Van Brunt Stillhouse and Widow Jane Distillery.
to Tastes of Brooklyn’s partnership with the Red Hook Art Project.
Businesses donated their food and beverages for the event. For example, Wet Whistle Wines, which was the first place asked by promoter Nancie Katz to participate, offered tastings for pairing wine with cheese. Brooklyn Icehouse offered their pulled pork sandwiches, and Rocky Sullivan’s served spiked iced coffee. Jam’It Bistro had their popular Jamaican sorrel juice, and the new San Pedro Inn offered tacos and drinks. It was also a great opportunity for kids to play free soccer, view art displays and go on a scavenger hunt for a few hours, thanks
HISTORY Katz said she originally fashioned the crawl after the Taste of Tribeca Festival, which she helped at years ago when her children attended school in Manhattan. She founded the Tastes of Brooklyn Food Festival outside Borough Hall in 2011. Katz revisited the notion in 2014 when she noticed old Italian businesses disappearing from Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, where she lives. She wanted to help keep small businesses like those alive, and reached out to D’Amico Coffee, Caputo Bake Shop
and others to participate in her first Tastes of Brooklyn Crawl in 2016. Future crawls are scheduled for: Columbia Waterfront District, Sept. Cory from Wet Whistle 14 ; Prospect Wines was a particiLefferts Gar- pating merchant dens; Sept. 15, Gowanus; Sept. 21 and Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill on Oct. 5.
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August 2019
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE BEARD STREET FLOODING BY BRETT YATES
I
n early July, contractors for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) dug up a section of Beard Street east of Van Brunt Street, prompting speculation as to whether the project (marked as a “sewer repair” on the adjacent noparking sign) signaled the beginning of a new effort to mitigate the persistent flooding just down the road at the Richards Street intersection. “DEP is out there now making some repairs to the sewer line in the area as well as some of the catch basins. This should help to improve drainage in the area,” explained DEP spokesperson Edward Timbers. Workers at the site, however, asserted that the purpose of the job was to improve the sewer in advance of possible development at 280 Richards Street, despite owner Thor Equities’ admission in February that it had dropped its plan to develop a massive office park on the vacant property. Taking a break in the afternoon heat, they noted that they’d heard that residents in the surrounding area already were dealing with sewage backups.
Not the sewers But the flooding, the workers said, was a whole different problem. That owed to drainage, and expanding sewer capacity wouldn’t help. Red Hook has a combined sewer system for stormwater and wastewater, so to some degree, drainage and sewage are interconnected issues. But by the majority of accounts – based on the smell – the floodwater on Beard Street is rainwater, not wastewater, although some residents disagree. The prob-
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lem here, as most see it, is that, after a storm, the water won’t go down, not that it’s being spit back up by the storm drains.
ing on Beard Street is not, perhaps, that the city hasn’t resolved it. It’s that the city hasn’t even determined why it keeps happening.
Affecting local business
Councilman Carlos Menchaca agrees. “It’s deeply frustrating, and frankly totally unacceptable, that Beard Street continues to flood regularly. The Red Hook community needs to know yesterday what is causing this so we can fix it. We cannot live like this, especially knowing that climate change is going to make this worse one day,” he said.
The Beard Street flooding has plagued Red Hook for years. It occurs after every major rainfall. “I’m actually amazed at how bad it is,” said David Alessandro Gonzalez, a bartender at Rocky Sullivan’s at 46 Beard Street. David from Rocky's Rocky’s is the business closest to the problem area, and in Gonzalez’s view, the inundation cuts the bar off from customers. “It becomes a factor when no one wants to go past this flood, and it’s really deep. Pedestrian traffic is blocked. Smaller cars won’t go through it. Cars literally turn around and leave.” On bad days, if Gonzalez has to pick up limes from Fairway for the bar, he retreats one block back to Van Dyke Street instead of taking the direct route. If the DEP was cleaning out the catch basins closer to Van Brunt, would it make a difference at Richards, where the agency had already cleaned the catch basins last year? Gonzalez didn’t have high hopes. “I saw them dig a hole. I saw them putting in concrete. I’m not there 24/7, but I didn’t see anything that had to do with water remediation,” he commented. The surprising thing about the flood-
The underground stream City agencies’ indifference has made sleuths of the local citizenry, and today, theories about the source of the flooding abound. Red Hook Civic Association President John McGettrick believes that the water owes to a natural stream below street level, which has existed since the days when Red Hook was a tidal marsh. “There was, in fact, a creek – and still is, but now it’s underground – that ran pretty much along Richards Street down in this direction. A long time ago, people would John McGettrick be referred to in Red Hook – I guess well over a hundred years ago – as Pointers and Creekers,” he related. “And the Creekers were on the public housing side, and the Pointers were going toward the Van Brunt side, indicative of the fact that right on Rich-
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ards there was a creek.” In McGettrick’s opinion, the problem began with the construction of the IKEA at 1 Beard Street, which filled in Erie Basin’s old graving dock (or dry dock) – now a parking lot. According to McGettrick, springwater had escaped into the harbor through the graving dock every day. He wonders whether paving it over may have “truncated the flow.” Graving docks are massive tub-like structures that fill with water, allowing ships to enter, whereupon the water is drained, leaving the ship on blocks where it can be repaired. Carolina Salguero, the founder of the maritime nonprofit Portside New York, spent time in the graving dock as a photojournalist and knew the site well. “It just so happened that where they located the graving dock was near an underground stream,” she recalled. “It was roaring water, and they had to have pumps running to keep the graving dock dry.” Before the IKEA was built, consultants had to submit an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the city. The 2004 EIS took note of the graving dock operations. “During the ship service period the dry dock must be maintained ‘dry.’ The dock extends approximately 42 feet below grade which corresponds to approximately 34 feet below the groundwater table. Groundwater infiltration and rainfall into the dock is dewatered/removed from the dry dock using stripping pumps and discharged
(continued on next page) August 2019, Page 11
The mystery of the Beard Street flooding (continued from previous page)
into Erie Basin. For each day that the dock is maintained in dry mode, approximately 12 million gallons of dewatering is required,” the document observed. The EIS shows that IKEA was aware of the situation, which in turn suggests that its engineers would have at least attempted to find a solution for the planned parking lot outside of damming the formidable gush. “I Carolina from PortSide saw how powerful that stream is, so if you put fill on top, it’s going to blow its way out,” Salguero said. In the end, the company filled only a portion of the graving dock, permanently flooding the southern section, which has become part of Erie Basin. According to Salguero, the spring had entered the graving dock at the southern end, beyond the boundary of the present-day IKEA property. No one is sure whether the stream that emptied into the graving dock was an offshoot of the creek on Richards Street, an instantiation of the creek itself (which may have been diverted eastward at some point), or a completely independent spring. Whether or not the two phenomena were related, Salguero, like McGettrick, also remembers what “old-timers referred to [as] the ‘Richards Street spring.’”
Thor Equities’ new bulkhead The stream on Richards Street became a concern again after Thor Equities secured permits in 2015 to install a new bulkhead at 280 Richards, the site of Red Hook’s old sugar refinery, surrounded on three sides by Erie Basin. Most Red Hookers now put the bulk of the blame for the Beard Street flooding on Thor Equities, claiming that the problem either started in earnest or grew far worse when the developer began to prepare the site for new construction. The old bulkhead on the pier had been, in McGettrick’s words, “totally porous.” Onlookers hypothesized that the new interlocking steel sheets bounding the property had blocked the former course of the water now gathering on Beard Street, which once had drained into the harbor through the bulkhead. Perhaps here had been the terminus of the underground stream. At the same time, Thor Equities embedded two new outfalls on the shoreline on either side of the pier. From the outside, they look like useful points of discharge into Erie Basin that might balance out any loss of drainage from the new bulkhead. But neighbors claim that they don’t serve any purpose at all. Stephen Kondaks lives nearby and followed the construction closely. By his
Page 12 Red Hook Star-Revue
account, the outfalls “go about eight feet into the property, and then they’re just capped off with some plywood.” They don’t connect to a storm drain. Last year, a Thor Equities representative insisted that their engineers had devised the outfalls according to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) specifications. Kondaks speculated that Thor, whose property’s future remains uncertain, had stopped halfway through the installation process. “It’s not finished. The land is not completely developed,” he pointed out. Outfalls that link up to sewers or storm drains include, in their internal workings, a one-way trap that permits water to exit without coming back in. One Red Hook resident near Beard Street surmised that the incomplete outfalls may lack this piece, allowing surge from the harbor to wash inward and possibly to rise up through an adjacent manhole cover, a phenomenon she said she’d witnessed herself. In April 2018, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery sent a letter to the commissioners of the DEC and the DEP, urging them to investigate 280 Richards, Stephen Kondaks which she’d flagged for “excessive flooding conditions in the area” as well as other concerns. Last month, spokesperson Rodney Rivera asserted that the DEC had found “no evidence” that the “new bulkhead contributed to flooding issues on Beard Street.” The DEP didn’t offer comment on the matter. Between 2016 and 2018, Thor Equities earned notoriety in Red Hook by leaving massive piles of loose dirt at 280 Richards after digging up the pier’s old bulkhead. Menchaca organized a meeting to give community members an opportunity to air their grievances, which included the flooding. The developer brought along a civil engineer, who declared that, based on old maps, the area had no underground streams and that, because the new bulkhead was not watertight, it could not have caused the Beard Street flooding. The engineer freely admitted that he himself couldn’t fully explain the flooding, although he observed that “it’s a very low-lying area” and that the sewers nearby were clogged. Gita Nandan, co-chair of Resilient Red Hook, replied, “If those sewers are clogging and they weren’t clogging before, I suspect that your soil is running offsite and even that the water ought to be tested at your property line to see what the particulate matter is. If that’s running into the sewers, the sewers have no ability to take out particulate matter.”
Before Thor Equities tore it down, this is what was next to Beard Street.
Soon after, the DEP cleared out the clogged catch basins leading into the sewer on Beard Street. Nothing happened. The flooding remained. Melissa Cicetti, an architect whose office overlooks 280 Richards, thinks the engineer was wrong about the bulkhead. “It changed a pattern of flow. Even though it does allow the tide to come in and out, it’s not the same rate,” she said. “The equilibrium that was there that prevented it from flooding to the degree it floods now disappeared.” She clarified, “It’s not that what they did is bad. They had one of the best civil engineers in New York City designing the work. It wasn’t like it was done by a bunch of idiots.” Still, she believes that the alterations may have created hydrostatic pressure, affecting the groundwater table and prompting water to “percolate up from the center of the site.” At the meeting with Thor Equities, she told them that, from her observation, water doesn’t only flow in from the street toward the bulkhead. It also “flows from your site out.”
At Rocky Sullivan’s, Gonzalez also attributed the flooding to the parking lot, but for different reasons. The sign on the lot’s fence identifies the operator as Tri-State Towing, but nearly all of the vehicles inside are large trucks and buses. Gonzalez believes that their weight has compressed the portion of Beard Street just beyond the lot through constant use, creating a moat for rain-
“Most Red Hookers now put the bulk of the blame for the Beard Street flooding on Thor Equities.”
The illegal parking lot Cicetti also places at least a small piece of the responsibility for the flooding on the parking lot at 60 Beard Street, across the street from 280 Richards. Years ago, she observed a slapdash paving job on the former dirt lot. Blacktop covered the previously permeable surface, channeling rainwater into the adjacent street. Per city regulations, parking lots are “supposed to have catch basins and drywells,” she complained. “You’re supposed to prepare the soil underneath.” The Department of Buildings responded to an inquiry regarding the possible code violation at 60 Beard: “DOB inspectors performed an inspection of the site today, 7/24/19, and found it is being improperly used as parking lot contrary to City records, which indicate the property is vacant land. DOB inspectors issued a violation for the illegal use, as well as a violation for a fence that has not been properly maintained.” Rachels’ Island, LLC, has owned the property since 2004.
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water. He pointed to the necessity of the durable concrete bus pads now implemented at most city bus stops. While the true cause of the flooding remains somewhat unclear, the solution may not be. The Red Hook Integrated Flood Protection System (IFPS), promised since the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, will raise and regrade Beard Street in order to facilitate the installation of a floodwall. The problem is that no one expects the IFPS for a long time. In the meantime, absent a full-scale hydrology study by the DEP (which community members have demanded), the Beard Street flooding is likely to remain a subject of speculation – and, of course, frustration. “I feel strongly that a forensic investigation is needed in order to know what happened and how it can now be remedied,” advocated Richards Street resident Andrea Sansom. As of late July, the flooding continues.
August 2019
New electric generating plants planned The Astoria Generating Company (AGC), which owns the piers at the Gowanus Generating Station in Sunset Park at the foot of 26th Street, is proposing to update their power plants with a greener facility. John Reese from AGC presented the plan at a July meeting of Community Board 7. “These are 50-year-old units,” Reese said. “We don’t think it makes a lot of sense to invest in technology that is inefficient at this point.” The plan at Gowanus – which is the world’s largest floating power plant – would result in a megawatt rating of 610 MWs, about 30 MWs less than the older but less efficient units now operating. The two new power barges – with four combustion turbines on each barge – are proposed to be nearly twice as efficient as the existing 1971 technology, reducing price and emissions New York City wide.
Movement A majority of materials, including the barges and combustion turbines, would be constructed offsite and delivered via water. Combustion turbines will be connected to existing fuel/electrical infrastructure at the Gowanus site with minimal modifications and installed in a short amount of time.
Public Comment Concerns The Sierra Club pointed out that AGC doesn’t acknowledge the planb's environmental opportunity cost.
by Erin DeGregorio
“The proposed facility must be evaluated for what it is: a large new fossil gas plant that would displace renewables and storage and generate harmful emissions for decades to come,” they explained in their comments. “The proposed plant must be assessed on its own merits and not in conjunction with the retirement of two existing plants that must control emissions by 2023-2025 in any event.” AGC acknowledged the above and responded, “The repowered facility, with substantially cleaner pound-permegawatt-hour emissions, would displace other higher emitting, less efficient fossil fuel units within the City, and will meet reliability and resiliency needs of the community.” They said they will provide a detailed analysis of air pollution impacts and a complete environmental justice analysis, as required. UPROSE, an organization that promotes sustainability and resiliency in Brooklyn is advocating for energy storage. “We would like to see any gas-powered plant shut down, and would like to see energy storage in place instead,” UPROSE Executive Director Elizabeth Yeampierre said. AGC noted in the preliminary scoping study that it’s exploring an energy storage project at the Narrows facility, outside the Article 10 process in conjunction with the Con Ed Request for Proposal for Battery Storage (released on July 15), which solicits up to 300
THE REBIRTH OF THE COOL
This is a photo of the existing power facility.
MW of storage projects.
What's Next AGC addressed a multitude of comments that were submitted in June by the Department of Public Service, the Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Justice, UPROSE and the Sierra Club. The next step is the stipulation process for detailed studies. Those scientific assessments include: communications; land use; cultural resource study; public health, safety and security; transportation; terrestrial ecology and wetlands; electric system; water resources and aquatic ecology; socioeconomics; geology, seismology and soils; and more.
Law, an application must evaluate fully the impacts of NYS power plants on the environment and health within communities designated as potential environmental justice areas under regulations of the Department of Environmental Conservation. According to AGC, the project is not anticipated to impact the Gowanus Canal’s planned remediation. For more information about the project, visit repoweringbrooklyn.com. To submit questions or concerns, call 833-617-9547 or email info@repoweringstation.com.
Under Article 10 of the Public Service
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VIEWPOINT: A little bit of Trump can be found even in the melting pot by Roderick Thomas
“Just because you’re bunched up on a train or Uber Pool, I think we believe we’re a lot more progressive than we actually are”- Michael Arceneaux, author of I Can’t Date Jesus.
N
ew York’s liberal values are a particular point of pride for her residents, as they should be. Liberal is part of this city’s character. For most of the country and arguably much of the world, New York City is the place to be your fantasy self, or true self, at
“What was supposed to be a moment of Instagrammable LGBTQ awareness turned into an unfortunate misunderstanding.” least much of the time. Most people (transplant or not) meld their identities to the vibrant nature of the city enough to be a New Yorker —rent, ethnic diversity, MTA delays, sexual freedom, bodega cats. Anything is possible here and we love that about our city—mosaics of subcultures within subcultures.
Yet, NYC is also a very cozy home to complicit culture, social blind spots and hashtag-deep social awareness —yes, I said it. Minimally vetted satisfactions with inclusivity and multiwhatevers allow many in the Big Apple to be ignorant of their own biases, prejudices and the work to be done in New York CITY, not just the Bible Belt. When I first came to NY, I arrived in Chinatown from Georgia, on the ChinaBus. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t the main character in a coming-of-age film—this city rushes and glows day and night. NYC took me out, got me drunk, gave me dollar pizza and sent me home at 5 am in a Lyft, or on the subway (depending on my level of broke). On World Pride weekend, I walked with a couple of friends in the Village, by Christopher Street. Outside the historic Stonewall bar was a scattered crowd of partygoers. My friends stopped to take a picture of the bright red sign that read Stonewall. However, a shirtless man stood blocking the iconic sign, and behind him was his buddy, vomiting (oh New York). They politely asked the gentleman if he could step aside. What was supposed to be a moment of Instagramable LGBTQ awareness turned into an unfortunate misunderstanding. The gentleman thought they were trying to take videos/pictures of his friend my friends tried to explain. I hadn’t said much, but then the gentleman turned aggressive, especially toward me. Let me paint the picture as vividly as possible. I, Roderick Thomas, am black (not ambiguous), my friends are two men, one a Southern-European looking (stereotypically speaking) or ambiguous Puerto Rican-American and the other a tall, slender African-American man (not ambiguous). The now aggressive and shirtless gentleman is white. I saw the way this enraged man looked at me. I’ve seen that look before. If I’d been in that bar with him hours ago I may have been an object of sexual desire, but now, I’m the target. “I’ll headbutt you,” he said, darting his eyes at me and then to my friends as
we walked away. As he and his stumbling pal were leaving, he screamed, “go back to Africa!” This is not an anomalous incident for NYC. On World Pride weekend we’re in front of the historic Stonewall, a place where black transwomen fought for LGBTQ freedoms; you’re a white queer man, standing in front of your barfing friend who is of East Asian descent, yelling at two black American queer men to “go back to Africa!” The irony, toxic masculinity and racism jumped out that night. I remember the first time I was called a nigga in the workplace. While in front of 8 or 9 company partners, my boss at the time says to me, “Speak up, nigga.” As I tried to get the attention of the room, I felt like my soul had left my body. I called my mom the next day in anger and tears. “It is 2017 and I still have to shuck and jive!” This didn’t happen in North Carolina or Texas, this is NYC. Eric Garner, The Central Park (and Exonerated) Five, Trump, this is all part of liberal NYC. The same man who yelled at me to “go back to Africa!” is probably patting himself on the back for “protecting” his Asian friend. He probably doesn’t see color, most days.
None of what I’m saying is to discredit this city and the many social freedoms it offers. The point is when we see Donald Trump and supporters spewing racist rhetoric, like the recent “Send Her Back!” or previous “Bad Hombre,” let’s remember, he came from New York. If our beloved, free city produces him and those like him, understand what we’re up against as a society. We aren’t battling Trump, we’re battling our collective mindset. A lot of New York liberal culture feels like getting a B plus in an intro to equality course, but acting like you just ended apartheid. We need to stop patting ourselves on the back for doing the moral minimum. We need to stop saying, “This isn’t the America I know.” Where have you been then? This is America, good and bad and we need to face ourselves with honesty, deep and heavy honesty. I think the standard has to be elevated; you’re not Coretta Scott King or Bayard Rustin because you are on a subway next to someone different from you and manage not to explode. Our society needs more empathy. We need to be brave about confronting all of who we are, and not glossing over the realities and complexities of inequality and ethics because they are too hard to truly think about.
“Once a tough, gang-infested South Brooklyn neighborhood and home of legendary crime boss Al Capone, Red Hook has ascended to expensive cool. Along with art galleries, restaurants and funky bars, you also have great shopping. Red Hook has welcomed popular sprawling Fairway Market on Van Brunt as a keystone in its redevelopment and nearby IKEA is busy all day long.”
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Page 14 Red Hook Star-Revue
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August 2019
THE LEFT LIKES ITS CHANCES by Frank Stipp The cities are toxic. The subways are seething. The carbon is cooking. The forests are burning. Siberia’s melting. The ocean is rising. South Asia’s flooding. Our cells are half plastic. Miami’s a puddle. They site nuke plants on rivers. The war is raging. The money is talking. The radio’s braying. The TV is barking. The press has got to be joking. The fossils are fueling. The wealth is concentrating. The rent’s too damn high. The copters are filming. The police dress in armor. The weapon’s on autopilot. The music don’t rock. The tribes don’t dance. The kids are all wrong. Informants are trending. Integrity’s fleeing. Dignity’s dying. Courage is fleeting. Art says too little. A poet can’t make a living. Big Brother is watching. Sex needs a museum. Love is on wifi. Don’t fucking touch me. Everyone’s back aches. Inflammation is chronic. Your sisters’ on opioids. Cigarettes are electric. Mental health comes in pill form. Votes are in petro dollars. And, oh yeah, Trump’s in the White House
BUT THE LEFT LIKES ITS CHANCES. The annual Left Forum conference had filled a prison-sized classroom complex known as John Jay College of Criminal Justice with intellectuals, sociologists, identity enthusiasts, panelists and lecturers for half a decade. So when the event was downsized to a more human scale at LIU last month, questions arose. Had the recent arrest of Julian Assange discouraged attendance? asked one neighboring business owner. Was the Left summering at the Pensacola Riviera? speculated another. Had the average lifespan of a radical gone that far past retirement age? Just the opposite, cited LF impresario Rick Wolff. While preparing a conference along the usual lines — hundreds of presentations, thousands of attendees — John Jay administrators demanded the school both govern the event and retain the proceeds. [An ongoing investigation into allegations of a long-time prostitution and narcotics ring at John Jay (N.Y. Times 9/22/18) was cited for the university’s change of heart]. “We smiled and said thank
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Had the recent arrest of Julian Assange discouraged attendance? you very much,” said Wolff. The Conference quickly booked the downtown Brooklyn campus. “We had to scramble, and it’s smaller,” he added, but the alternative was unacceptable.
CONVERGENCE Dr. Frederick Mills of Bowie State University, a frequent Left Forum presenter, also insisted the condensed gathering was no reflection on a weakening of the Left. Just the opposite, explained Mills, a professor of philosophy with a specialization in Latin American governance. Instead, he asserted, “we are experiencing an awakening. A convergence” of disparate groups and voices into an amalgamation of like agendas. He listed the Answer Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, LGBTQ entities, immigrant rights groups, Never Again, and many others. This dynamic is complemented by recent direct action accomplishments. These include the precedent-setting protection of the Venezuelan Embassy from occupation by Washington-backed anti-Venezuelan government forces for 37 days; immigrant rights groups’ blocking of ICE raids against suspected ‘undocumented’ immigrants outside targeted apartment complexes in Chicago and New York; Never Again (an anti-racist Jewish movement against concentration camps) in alliance with immigrant rights organizations turning out across the country at immigration facilities, following nationwide revulsion against breaking up families, mistreatment of children, and the operation of federal detention and concentration camps on US-Mexico borders and across the country.
Mills further emphasized that the disintegration of the centrist character of the Democratic Party is well underway. After a closed-door meeting between left-leaning Democrats: Occasio-Cortes, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib – and House Speaker Pelosi — which House leadership originally called for to reign-in the quartet for its public call to address intraparty differences — leadership was forced to argue The Four’s censure resolution against the White House for racist statements.
REST IN PEACE Author Chris Hedges, who also addressed the conference, notes in his book Death of the Liberal Class that what we’re seeing is the ‘center’ coming apart. Establishment Democrats are beholden to corporate funding, yet want to pretend to be progressive.
“Liberals created the US system of mass incarceration, the war on drugs, the re-colonization of Latin America, etc.” added Mills, “not just Republicans.” These are sharply distinguished from programs favored by those who see themselves as progressive. “The Left recognizes that (this schism) is structural , not just one individual in the White House and the growth of White Nationalism.”
BET THE FARM “The tide is already turning,” said Wolff. “In Fairfax, Virginia, Lee Carter, a politician in the mold of our own AOC, beat the leader of the Virginia State House, running openly as a Socialist.” With such opportunity in the offing – or at least some glimmer of understanding of who’s on which side — “it’s sad if we don’t grab it.”
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August 2019, Page 15
Reporter's Notebook: Going to the races by Erin DeGregorio
Sports have always been a passion of mine, whether it was playing them growing up, catching recaps on the late night news or going to games in person. So whenever I have the rare chance to cover sports as a reporter, it’s always exhilarating. I’ve been lucky enough to see international Olympic medalists ice skate in Manhattan; speak with Team USA Winter Olympians, Paralympians, hopefuls and veterans; and, most recently, watch the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team celebrate their World Cup win at City Hall. So covering Formula E – a motorsport that was totally new to me – as they finished their 2018/19 season right here in Red Hook, was both daunting and exciting. I spent 16 hours working in the area that housed the 1.44-mile long, 14turn street circuit over two days during the NYC ePrix doubleheader weekend. Friday was designated Media Day, where I represented this paper and was among teams of international digital and TV outlets. I read up on Formula E in a 101 fashion, of course, but immediately recognized that I knew nothing compared to outlets that had been covering every race since December. They had game plans and multiple people out covering different aspects with their equipment. I attended the pre-event press conferences, had my questions ready for the participating drivers and the important company executives I planned to meet and speak with, and got great shots of the electric cars (that, mind you, whir by in the blink of an eye at 174 miles per hour) at all different angles and sections of the track. It was a lot on my plate, but I was ready for the challenge – because that’s part of the job description. I did all of the above, and then some, and felt good by the time I left Red Hook that night.
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Come Sunday, the final day of the season, it was a whole new world compared to how I left it about 38 hours earlier. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal area was buzzing with fans, making it harder to get from Point A to Point B with my bags and camera (all while also coordinating with reporter Nathan Weiser, who was doing his own assignments at other areas). The heat index was 94 by 1 pm, and my only refuge for shade and constant cool air was in the media center for press members by Turn 11. But I zipped around, much like the cars I was assigned to photograph, going to whatever fan-free spaces I could find along the track. I hadn’t applied for the correct photography credentials, so getting closer to the track and the teams posed a challenge I hadn’t anticipated. Towards the end of the day I felt defeated that I wouldn’t be at the podium ceremony to see the winning drivers because I didn’t have the proper pass. But I happened to be at the right place at the right time as an event employee told fans sitting in the air-conditioned eVillage that the track would be opening up to the public in moments. I jogged, weaving in and out of walking groups of fans, to a pass-only area. I wasn’t close enough to see the sweat dripping off the drivers’ faces, but I was in the area to get decent shots as best I could. I’m grateful that I was able to attend and cover this event, which is returning to New York in late June 2020. Should I happen to help with coverage again next year, I definitely know what I’d do the same and what I’d do differently. And you never know – you may just see me whizzing by to get to a particular place along the track next year while you’re enjoying the eVillage activities or heading to your seats in the Grandstands.
August 2019
Column: Can we really have it all? by George Fiala
I have a friend who watches MSNBC regularly. The other night, a vaguely familiar face filled the screen – someone who was not the usual liberal face you find on that network. It was a politician from South Carolina known for something that remains forever etched in my mind. If not for that something, I wouldn’t have remembered him. He started a real estate leasing company after getting an MBA in 1988, made some money and at the age of 35 was elected to Congress. At 43, he ran for governor and won. He married an heiress who was a Georgetown graduate and Lazard Frères banker, and who helped launch his political career with her money and smarts. They had four children together. Jenny Sanford was the first lady of South Carolina when one day her husband, governor Mark Sanford, went missing in action. After beat reporters inquired as to his whereabouts, his office issued a statement saying he had been hiking in the Adirondacks. In fact, he had flown to Buenos Aires to be with a girlfriend. That ended his marriage, but not his political career. He returned to Congress in 2013, and served until the 2018 midterms, when his campaign was foiled by a Trump tweet supporting his opponent. He’s now back in the public eye with a message. His message is that unless somebody does a major intervention, debt will doom us all. He was clear that neither party, including Republican Trump, has any thought as to cutting government spending in order to solve this coming disaster. The next day, Trump supporter and
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longtime Republican propagandist Rush Limbaugh, defended the president: “Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore. All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as it’s been around.” So what to think? Is the man onto something or is this simply another hike in the Adirondacks? Until the Civil War, the US often ran a surplus. World War I saw heightened government spending, and debt, but led to a decade of prosperity. Then came the Great Depression. Most people believe that what got us out of the Depression was the next war. Many of those who say that simply so not want to credit FDR with good ideas, but the fact is that he was able to get as much money as he wanted to fight the war from both Republicans and Democrats, and that indeed did give everybody jobs.
for one hiccup in 2008, the economy has continued to grow, with more people working and hardly any inflation.
The big fear during the war was that as soon as it ended we’d be back in Depression. But a combination of government welfare-type programs for returning soldiers, plus a continuation of military spending on the new Cold War helped keep the economy booming.
Finally, almost a hundred years after Keynes, reputable economists are starting to make a mainstream case which could eliminate debt as a constraint to growth.
Ronald Reagan got us out of a bad economy by cutting taxes and boosting spending, something that onetime rival George Bush called voodoo economics. Bush himself got upended by raising taxes, although Clinton did a little raise and the economy boomed. He spent the rest of the 1990s doing the Republican thing by paring deficit spending, which ended up in the dot com crash, which another Bush rescued us from by cutting taxes and increasing the deficit. Since 9/11, which precipitated a few more wars, debt has gone from about $6 trillion to about $22 trillion. In other words, in less than twenty years we have borrowed more than twice as much as in the previous 225 years. And except
Mark Sanford appearing on MSNBC
The famous British economist John Maynard Keynes helped get the world off the notion that wealth could only be reliably stored in gold. He showed that the finite supply of gold prevented the natural growth of the world economy, in which capital is the blood supply.
It has always been difficult for the average person to believe that what is good for a family is not necessarily good for a sovereign country. Too much debt keeps people poor. Even the then-radical Keynes said that while countries should print gobs of money to cure an ailing economy, in good times taxes can be raised to pay back the treasury. But now we have politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria OcasioCortez maintaining that government can definitely provide universal health care, education and a Green New Deal without going broke, and Sanford on the other side sensationally raising the specter of an economic disaster unless government quickly cuts back all spending, including Social Security
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and Medicare. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has been gaining momentum as a new idea that could explain the massive increase of debt and economic growth without the expected increase in inflation, as would be expected in orthodox theory. This theory could open the way to government spending without guilt. The Democrat plans to clean the environment and care for its population would work regardless of cost because, first of all, we print our own money, and second, since the money would be spent on unfunded but needed things, additional deficits would have no impact on inflation, or the price of money. Mark Sanford calls Democratic proposals political ploys to win elections. Yes, who wouldn’t want to have their college debt paid off or be able to get sick without going broke. But MMT takes the politics out of the argument, basically saying that the wealthy can keep their wealth despite the less wealthy living more securely. While it would be something if Ocasio-Cortez and Rush Limbaugh would form some sort of alliance in the achievement of these ends, I’m not holding my breath. I’m just pointing it out.
August 2019, Page 17
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Krok delights the palate with delectable Thai cooking
L
ocated in the Columbia Street Waterfront District, stop by Krok at 117 Columbia St. for delicious Thai Esan street food. The inside of the restaurant is colorful and exotic with a bar that has wine and beer. Krok’s unique menu offers a variety of options including beef, chicken, seafood, soups, salads and desserts. If you love spicy foods, Krok is must-try, but the goal is to cater to customers, so the spiciness of dishes can be adjusted upon request and there are also non-spicy options. Many gluten free options are also offered. Krok is well-known for offering dishes with their own sauces and sea-
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by Brian Abate soning that can’t be found anywhere else, including tamarind chili dip, homemade sweet chili sauce, and many more. One of their most popular dishes is the Tom Zabb Leng, a Thai soup with spicy Esan pork rib in Thai bird chili broth. It is a rare Thai Street Food, that goes well with beer and is gluten free. Other specialties include Som Tum Thai, a spicy green papaya salad Gai Yang Buriram, a chicken based dish, Weeping Tiger, Krok’s unique fish sauce wings, and Khao Soi Gai, a curry dish. Serving family-style dishes, this is a great place to bring loved ones and share a wide range of food in a ca-
sual, easygoing environment with friendly service. Generally, each person eating will order their own food, but meals are shared amongst friends and families. Krok offers authentic food from all regions of Thailand, where most dishes are served with sticky rice or jasmine rice.
phasis placed on using fresh fruits and vegetables.
In place of chopsticks, Krok encourages you to use your fork to push your food onto a spoon. In addition, some dishes are traditionally eaten by hand, including grilled meats and sticky rice.
Krok is open from noon to 10 p.m. every day and also offers delivery from noon to 9:45 p.m. Order online at www.k-r-o-k.com and using the code KROK10 to receive 10 percent off your order. Credit cards are accepted. Reservations can be made by calling Krok at (718) 855-8898. All catering is approved.
Thai cuisine is a blend of four seasonings (salty, sweet, spicy, and sour.) Most dishes combine all four of these tastes. There is also an em-
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Prices range from $10 to $42 and all dishes are served family-style, so they can be shared amongst parties. You can order traditional Thai beverages and try Khao Hneaw Sung kha ya, a traditional Thai dessert.
August 2019
More funding for community centers by Erin DeGregorio
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson came to Gowanus to announce new funding for two NYCHA community centers there. They will receive nearly $9 million which will allow the Gowanus Houses center to be permanently reopened. It has been shut for 14 years. The neighboring project, Wyckoff Gardens will receive part of that money to renovate their center. “We’re here today to make good on a promise that the city made to residents here at Gowanus and Wyckoff years ago – before I became a council member almost 10 years ago,” Councilman Stephen Levin said at the photo-op in front of the Gowanus Houses Community Center. Johnson spoke about his experience growing up in public housing in Massachusetts and emphasized the importance of the centers. “Community centers are one of the backbones of our communities and of our neighborhoods,” Johnson said. “We need them for after school programs, for senior gatherings, for socializing, and for so much more.” This announcement also comes after months of local organizations and NYCHA residents demanding more investment in public housing before the impending Gowanus rezoning is finalized.
Wyckoff Gardens Currently, the center offers afterschool youth programming and senior services. Expansion plans include a new kitchen and classrooms for further skills and job training. “The houses are out here today. One win for us, just one, means all of us have won,” Charlene Nimmons, the former president of the Wyckoff Gardens Resident Association, said at the podium. “I’m getting emotional because we fought hard.”
Gowanus Houses The Gowanus center once had a kitchen, billiards room and a mirrored wall where girls would take dance lessons. Though most of the building has been closed, the Gowanus center currently offers some senior service programming and is a warming and cooling center.
Timetable Lander said the Gowanus center would continue to remain partially open throughout construction. “Starting right away it’s going to be possible to have some programming in here while we’re waiting for the design to get done and the construction to start,” Lander said.
we are open!
However, some voiced their wariness since specific construction timelines hadn’t been announced yet.
Come Celebrate Our 10th Anniversary Year!
“We have heard about announcements of funding in the past, at least three times,” S.J. Avery, a Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice member, said while addressing the politicians and their representatives. “What we are looking for now are start dates. We need to know when, where, and how. That’s the next step and we’re sure you can help us make that happen.” It took over five years for the Red Hook Senior Center to be renovated, making a lie of the original promise of two years. Theresa Davis, the vice president of the Gowanus Houses Residents Association, said that community input for the design should be considered. “It’s a long time coming. We have the money, but we also want to sit down when the negotiations come in how the center is going to be built,” she explained. “We don’t want to be left out of that picture. We still want to be included in everything that’s going on in our community center.”
Downtown Brooklyn students race E-car drivers
Brunch Starting in July!
LOBSTER WEDNESDAY
by Erin DeGregorio
George Westinghouse Career & Technical Educational High School students were among other tri-state area students to go-kart race against Formula E’s Geox Dragon team last month. They travelled to Jersey City on July 11 for an opportunity to meet the drivers and see Formula E technology firsthand.
1½ LB Lobster DiNNer $28.00
Mon-Thurs 11:30-10
José María López and Max Gunther, the team’s drivers, later raced in the New York City ePrix, as part of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, on July 13 and 14. They were the only all-American team on the grid. Before the race, the kids asked the professional racers questions about their job and their cars. “It’s really about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get up close to a Formula E driver, and [the students] can see how engineering, innovation and all the technology manifests itself into an automobile,” Grose said.
Fri 11:30-10 Sat 11-10 Sun 11-10
International specialty insurer Argo Group, which helped make the event possible and sponsors the Dragon Racing team, donated $15,000 to the G-House Pirates First Robotic Competition Team 354, a Farmingdale high school’s robotics team and a Queens step team. The money will help with the advancement of their school’s STEM education programs.
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August 2019, Page 19
State rent law bill not quite complete (continued from page 9)
ity while allowing carveouts to recoup your money for any investment made above and beyond that profitability. Is it a cap on profitability? Sure, but it’s an inherent profitability, and it’s not tied to the structure – it’s tied to the tenant, so if the tenant moves out, you can reset the rent to whatever you want.” Michael Carter, Salazar’s director of communications, pointed to a recent overseas precedent: “Actually, the entire UK passed a version of Good Cause Eviction under its current Tory government this year, intended to deal with their housing crisis, so the concept of not allowing landlords to evict for no good reason is starting to become more common.” In April, a statewide poll by Data For Progress showed that 68.1 percent of New Yorkers supported Good Cause Eviction, and only 17.4 percent opposed it. Even so, the perceived radicalism of Good Cause Eviction in New York may have improved the chances of the other housing bills. “One of the things that the Good Cause bill was able to do was just move the terms of the conversation,” Carter observed. “At the beginning of the session, people were saying, ‘Oh, we’ll get rid of vacancy decontrol, and that’ll be the most radical thing we can do.’ But what started to happen is, basically, we were able to advocate for this policy that does have research behind it, has other locations that utilize it, and there really isn’t a good straightforward policy reason not to support Good Cause, so it put us in a position of being on the offensive instead of the defensive. The lobby was able to kill Good Cause, but because Good Cause was on the agenda, we were able to get so much into the final bill.” The final bill – the HSTPA – passed largely along party lines. Four Democrats from Long Island (John Brooks, James Gaughran, Anna Kaplan, and Monica R. Martinez) voted against it in the Senate. Six Democrats in the Assembly (David Buchwald, Simcha Eichenstein, Sandy Galef, Amy Paulin, Steve Stern, and Carrie Woern-
er) did the same. Half of them came from Westchester County; Brooklyn’s Eichenstein represents Borough Park. Three other Assembly Democrats didn’t vote at all, marked by an ER (“excused with reason”) on the official tally. The floor vote, however, did not reflect the full extent of the opposition to housing legislation within certain parts of the Democratic Party. Some of the lawmakers who approved the final package had worked to weaken its protections. The HSTPA was an omnibus; its constituent parts – the individual bills – never received public votes, and the process by which legislators excluded Good Cause Eviction took place behind closed doors. In Carter’s recollection, it was a close call for Salazar and her allies in the legislature: “We were pushing Good Cause until four or five days before the session ended, so right up until the end it was still alive.”
Heastie scuttles Good Cause The roadblock was the Assembly. In April, Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat from the Bronx, announced the lower chamber’s housing agenda for the legislative session; it consisted of all the Housing Justice for All bills except Good Cause Eviction, but he left open the possibility that the Assembly could incorporate at least some of its “elements” later on. Just six days after NY1 reported that the Senate wouldn’t be able to muster enough votes to pass more than three of the bills, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat, announced on June 4 that the Senate had secured support for all nine. Four days before that, Heastie had stood beside her in a joint promise to pass “the strongest rent package ever.” Throughout the legislative session, activists had pressed both the Assembly and the Senate to leave New York’s business-friendly governor out of the rent negotiations. But on June 5, the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance alleged that Heastie had secretly con-
sulted with Andrew Cuomo on ways to water down the proposed tenant protections. Many of the Assembly Members had doubts about Good Cause Eviction, but in the view of Housing Justice for All Campaign Coordinator Cea Weaver, Heastie was the crucial factor. “If he liked the policy, I don’t think that their opposition was so strong that it wouldn’t have made it through.” “In the past, it was easy for the Assembly to support things because they knew a lot of the stuff would just die in the Senate. So they had an opportunity to look good without having to do much,” commented Marcela Mitaynes, a Sunset Park resident who works for the nonprofit Neighbors Helping Neighbors. According to The Real Deal, the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) donated $153,000 to Assembly Democrats in 2018 and the first half of 2019, with another $367,000 coming from individual landlords and developers. The activist Garrard put the bulk of the blame on Upstate Assembly Members
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The world of New York City and the landlord-tenant relationship is fundamentally different from other parts of the state.” Carter, Salazar’s staffer, spread the blame more evenly across the state: “I think the opposition was not limited to one area. On the one hand, Upstate folks have a tendency to be more conservative, but on the other hand, New York City folks have a tendency to be connected with the real estate industry.”
City legislators who voted no
Sunset Park Activist Marcela Mitaynes
for the loss of Good Cause Eviction. Outside of New York City, housing was a newer issue both for legislators and for political organizers. Meanwhile, Downstate activists had been working on the problem for years and had already managed to elect a number of officials who had sworn to eschew real estate dollars. “Every single Assembly Member from Buffalo was a problem,” Garrard recalled. She also characterized Albany’s Patricia Fahy and John T. McDonald as “virulently anti-housing-legislation.” Weaver fingered Didi Barrett from Dutchess and Columbia counties and William B. Magnarelli from Syracuse as major obstacles.
(L-R): REBNY Chairman Rob Speyer, REBNY President John Banks, and Governor Andrew Cuomo at the 2016 REBNY Gala. Photo Credit: Jill Lotenberg Photography
State Assemblywoman JoAnne Simon
Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, who represents Carroll Gardens and cosponsored Good Cause Eviction, hinted at the same dynamic but showed more sympathy than Garrard: “For a lot of the state, this is the first time that they would’ve had any regulation at all, so that was kind of scary. And there are parts of the state where they don’t have a housing shortage.
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According to insiders, at least eight Assembly Members from New York City, besides Heastie, opposed Good Cause Eviction, though they may not have said so openly: Erik Dilan (Bushwick), Vivian Cook (Jamaica Estates), Michael Benedetto (Co-op City), Helene E. Weinstein (Sheepshead Bay), Peter J. Abbate Jr. (Bensonhurst), Michael G. DenDekker (Jackson Heights), Inez E. Dickens (Harlem), and Tremaine Wright (Bedford-Stuyvesant). All eight have accepted donations from the real estate industry. “Tremaine Wright just didn’t support any of the bills,” noted Joachim of the CGA. “I remember a specific conversation where I was at the table with Tremaine Wright,” fellow organizer Mitaynes recounted. “While she made it very clear that she wasn’t interested in the Good Cause bill, she was interested in trying to see if there’s a way that landlords can evict tenants faster. And just the idea of that was so insulting.” Mitaynes had brought renters affected by New York City’s housing crisis to Albany to lobby for reforms. She knew that “it really was the tenants and their stories that were going to allow for these changes. The experiences that they shared as to the way that they were suffering were going to change the mind of a politician into wanting to vote in favor of this.” Back home in Brooklyn, she struggled to help them with their problems, which she believed Good Cause Evic-
(continued on next page) August 2019
TENANTS (continued from previous page) tion would mitigate. “They’re suddenly being told that they have to vacate after they’ve been living there 10, 15, or 20 years,” she described. “All we could do was provide information as to what the process was going to be like. Tenants would come in, and I would have to tell them, ‘Yeah, this is a 30-day notice. Your landlord’s getting ready to sue you, and there’s nothing you can do to fight this. The only thing you can do is go to court and ask for time to move. Eventually, you are going to be evicted.’ That’s really heartbreaking.” Mitaynes explained that, in Sunset Park, kicking out low-income tenants is often built into a landlord’s business plan when they buy a new property. “Excess greed is what happened here,” she opined. In South Brooklyn, Joachim remarked upon the prevalence of small apartment buildings, which don’t fall under rent stabilization. Salazar’s bill would have covered four- and fiveunit buildings. “Good Cause, especially in this area and in Red Hook, it would’ve been really good, even just for a start,” she concluded. Meanwhile, Laura Felts, a court advocate at United Tenants of Albany, repudiated the notion that Good Cause Eviction was unnecessary outside of New York City: “In the city of Albany, there’s thousands of no-cause evictions every single year in our little city court. It’s really tough here because we have seriously decaying housing stock
in the city of Albany, so we need tenants to be secure and feel safe when they’re calling code enforcement and making complaints to their landlords. The way the retaliatory eviction law functions right now, it’s just not enough, and the Good Cause Eviction bill really would’ve given tenants that safety we want them to have.”
The future of Good Cause Salazar has promised to take up the Good Cause Eviction bill again in the 2020 legislative session. “The movement continues,” Carter declared. Simon, however, doubted its immediate prospects: “We just shifted dramatically the face of the earth on the landscape of housing in the state. My sense is that, coming back with aspects of the Good Cause Eviction bill too soon, when there’s no history or track record of how the current law is working, we won’t have any basis to know whether additional protections are needed. If in fact people are not experiencing housing stability, we’ll find that out, but we don’t know that yet. I think that the stomach for making additional changes will probably not be there right away.” Garrard, on the other hand, vowed to keep fighting, and she likes her chances. The Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance has only gotten stronger; 66 organizations participated in its Housing Justice for All campaign. “I expect that elected officials will hear from their constituents more consistently, more clearly, and I think the message will be more direct, especially with next year being a primary year going into an election year, that
the narrative that was said to them last year – that housing is not an Upstate problem – is not one that will be tolerated in the next legislative session,” she warned. “Every single zip code in this state, if you walk into a community, can tell you that housing is a problem. So that line that was repeated over and over in newspaper article after newspaper article, on the floor of both chambers, that ‘this just isn’t a problem in my district’ is just simply not going to hold water anymore.”
State Senator Julia Salazar says wait til next year. Felts has hopes for rant of eviction on the table.” even stronger protections. She supports the Good Cause Eviction bill but On behalf of Salazar’s office, Carter believes that it puts tenants in a “de- affirmed that if the senator makes any fensive posture” when faced with an changes to Good Cause Eviction next eviction or an unconscionable rent year, they’ll only make the bill stronger for tenants. increase. “To be able to assert your right to not “This bill is important because we behave to face that kind of a rent in- lieve that housing is a human right, crease, you’d have to fail to pay it, be and right now in New York State and petitioned to court for nonpayment of New York City, we are using our limrent, and then assert why you didn’t ited space and our limited land and pay it,” she said. “But if you lose, then our limited housing stock for building you’re homeless. So it feels more like profits for people who don’t invest in there should be something proactive our communities,” he stated. “With that stops that rent increase from hap- Good Cause, in combination with pening at all, or that, once it happens, other measures like it and with the the tenant could bring a separate right rent laws of 2019, we can start to banof action to have that be looked at dage the wounds that were created without there necessarily being a war- by years of irresponsible speculation leading to gentrification.”
“With Good Cause we can start to bandage the wounds that were created by years of irresponsible speculation leading to gentrification.” Swim your laps at the Red Hook Pool (but don’t get blocked by the camps) Behind the Red Hook Recreation Center lies a fabulous swimming pool, owned by the city and free to the public. It’s open from the end of the school year through Labor Day. But it may be best to avoid the middle of the summer because the Red Hook Pool – or at least a significant portion of it – has been purchased for most of the season by private summer camps.
for the space.” A call to the Parks Commissioner’s office met with confusion that any private group could pay to get into a pool: “Programs at the pools are free. We don’t get money from camps.”
“I have to enjoy it the first week of summer,” said Charles, a regular daytime swimmer, “because after the first week the camps start.”
According to Anessa Hodgson at the Parks Press Office, Parks allows permits only to licensed day camps and childcare providers. Along with the $25 fee, groups pay $1 per child per day. Camps must provide their own lifeguards. Only at Red Hook and Astoria, due to the large volume of campers, do pools block off space for them.
If you ask the employees what’s going on with the camps, they’ll tell you the schedule comes from the city. One pool worker told me, “I could get in trouble for talking to you,” as if pool permits were NSA secrets.
Camps with permits for Red Hook are the Park Slope Day Camp, Young Judaea Sprout Day Camp, Camp Gan Israel of Brooklyn Heights, Bonjour New York Day Camp, and Marks JCH of Bensonhurst Day Camp.
A phone call inquiring if anyone can reserve a spot received the following reply: “What, like a private group? No, you can’t do that.” When I asked about the camps – which are private groups – the operator said, “Those camps have paid
The camp which dominates Red Hook is the Park Slope Day Camp, which offers camps Monday through Friday, July through August, at a rate of $1600 for two weeks from 8:30 am to 2:30 ($26 an hour if you think of it as childcare)
Red Hook Star-Revue
by Anne O’Neil
with discounts for multiple weeks, siblings, and early-bird signups (along with additional fees for late pickup at 4:00, still much earlier than most professionals leave work.) No mention of scholarships can be found on the website, but over the phone they claim to have them, although application dates have passed. In addition to swim lessons, the camp offers many other activities, so on many days the campers don’t come to the pool, although the area remains blocked off for them. This camp has locations in Bay Ridge, Carroll Gardens, North Slope, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace, along with free busing from corners in these neighborhoods, but it has zero locations or bus pickups in Red Hook. The city offers free swim lessons by lottery, but sign up early: the last lottery closed on July 31. While Sunset Park and the McCarren pool have been updated and modernized with beautiful, clean, functional locker rooms, showers, drinking foun-
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tains, grassy knolls, skate parks, and even volleyball courts, the Red Hook Rec Center remains neglected. At the opening of the pool in 1936, Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia promised Red Hook an “up-to-date recreation center,” yet over 80 years later, Red Hook lags behind many other New York City rec centers. Even so, in the last three years, attendance at the Red Hook Pool has grown by 10,000 people a year. In 2017, the rec center closed for two weeks for upgrades in equipment. Several new weight machines were installed, but no improvements were made to treadmills, locker rooms, showers or toilets. For all its problems, the Red Hook Pool remains a giant fun place: one side dominated by children practicing underwater summersaults or playing Marco Polo, and the other by swimmers getting fit doing laps. At 330 feet by 106 feet, it’s so large that even on a crowded day there’s plenty of room for camps, swimmers, and those who just want to cool off.
August 2019, Page 21
STAR REVUE Capitalism, Schools, and Grades
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he capitalist economic system has major failures. It generates extreme, socially divisive inequalities of wealth and income. It consistently fails to achieve full employment. Many of its jobs are boring, dangerous, and/or mind-numbing. Every four to seven years it suffers a mysterious downdraft in which millions of people lose jobs and incomes, businesses collapse, falling tax revenues undermine public services, and so on. If these (and others among capitalism’s) failures were widely perceived as such, the desirability and thus sustainability of capitalism itself might vanish.
Capitalism therefore repeatedly tried, for example, to stop and reverse its tendencies toward extreme inequalities of wealth and income. When that occasionally happened – usually after and because of social explosions triggered by those inequalities – it never lasted. The underlying tendency toward inequality always reasserted itself. Likewise capitalism tried to overcome its cyclical downturns (recessions, depressions) by developing countercyclical monetary and fiscal policies, Keynesian economics, and other strategies. However, they never worked either as the cycles continue. The latest in 2008/9 was, in fact, the second worst capitalist collapse on record. The so-called “lessons” learned from the Great Depression – celebrated for decades afterward – proved incapable of preventing another extremely destructive capitalist crash. Capitalism’s particular failures have thus been compounded by a general failure to overcome them. How capitalism survived can best be explained in terms of ideology. The system produced and disseminated interpretations of its failures that blamed them not on capitalism but on other altogether different “causes.” Institutions developed mechanisms to anchor such interpretations widely and deeply in the popular consciousness. One key example of the “blaming another” interpretation of capitalism’s failures is the concept of “meritocracy.” Schools are a key institution teaching and practicing meritocracy via the mechanism of grading. From primary school through the completion of my doctorate, I suffered the imposition of grades (A, B, C and so on). Having then become a professor I was constantly required (to this day) to assign grades to my students: for papers, exams, class performance and so on. I believe we all know firsthand what we are talking about. Grading took much of my time that could have been better spent on teaching or otherwise directly interacting with students. Grading had little edu-
Page 22 Red Hook Star-Revue
by Richard Wolff cational payoff for them. It disrespected students as thinking people. And finally, it served chiefly employers but often in ways that were not much good for them either. In short, grading was and remains an immensely wasteful, ineffective, and largely negative aspect of education at all levels: primary, secondary and “higher.” Let’s start from the teacher’s perspective as grader. When I read a paper or exam, I can see when a student presents a reasonable version of what I intended in my lectures or what I found worthwhile in the assigned readings. But of course, I cannot be sure whether such a presentation measures mostly his or her short-term memory and repetition of whatever I stressed in class. Maybe the student genuinely understood in the sense of grasping and internalizing key points as part of the student’s own intellectual formation, his or her knowledge. Without much more time and interaction with the individual student than schools enable or allow in 99 percent of cases, I cannot know which it is when I assign a grade. When I see that the student did not understand, the possibilities become more numerous. Did the student understand the material differently from me in ways not reducible to matters of right and wrong? After all, every piece of verbal or written material is subject to perfectly reasonable multiple different interpretations. Education is not well served by insisting on one as right and alternatives as wrong. Such insistence is more like indoctrination than education; it undermines the sort of creative, critical thinking that contributes to human progress. Or did the student’s understanding reflect poor teaching more than poor learning? Education in schools is, after all, a relationship between people: a relationship to which both persons contribute. Grades reflect and represent the power of one side in that relationship over the other. Grades students get from teachers affect their mental development, their school and work careers, and major dimensions of their self-esteem or its absence. Most students never assign grades to their teachers. The few that can know full well how much less power their grading of teachers wields than the grades imposed on them by teachers. Moreover, teachers and students disagree over their relative responsibilities for “poor performances” by either. I was present in countless faculty meetings where teachers bitterly and defensively blamed students 100 percent for the poor grades they “had achieved” (i.e., teachers had given them). Should teachers have the compensated time carefully to read, listen to, or watch multiple presentations and
responses by each student? Should teachers have the compensated time to explain to each student how each teacher approached and evaluated each student’s work? Would not education be best achieved when students and teachers together discuss, compare and debate their respective interpretations of questions, answers, issues, and analyses? If all that were done (very rare in the US educational system today), why also assign a grade? It would add little of substance. Today’s economic system precludes teachers engaging so carefully, repeatedly, and thoroughly with students. Capitalism’s private and public educational enterprises – driven by their shared employer-vs.-employee structures and financial constraints – cannot afford the extensive and intensive interactions among teachers and students that real education requires. Beyond docile acceptance of the second-rate education they can offer, most schools exonerate the system from all responsibility. While capitalism’s imposed limits explain, they do not excuse grading: a very poor substitute for far superior educational practices thereby foregone. Grading is not only a mechanism designed to save money spent on “education.” Grades also function as a major foundation and support for the meritocracy. The merit ideology functions as a crucial defense mechanism for capitalism given its failures. The US idea of meritocracy asserts that one can quantitatively rank individuals’ qualitative capacities. Each individual’s work skills, production capabilities, contributions to output – but also their intelligence, discipline, social skills, and much more – can be ranked. There are some individuals who best or most possess such qualities; some who possess the worst or least of them; and many who occupy rankable positions between those two quantitative extremes. Within the framework of meritocratic ideology, employers seek to hire the best employee and are willing to pay such individual workers more than they pay workers with less merit (ranked lower on some scale of productivity). In meritocratic logic, those offered no jobs can only blame themselves: they have too little merit. Workers learn in school to seek to accumulate merit, achieve higher rankings along the scales that count for employers. Coalitions of educators and employers have inserted the educational system into this merit system as an important place to acquire and accumulate merit that employers will recognize and reward. Better jobs and rising pay reward rising merit acquired through more education as well as “on-the-job” training, learning
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"Capitalism’s private and public educational enterprises cannot afford the extensive and intensive interactions among teachers and students that real education requires." by doing, etc. Schools not only enable the consumers of education to acquire and accumulate merit, their operations also exemplify the merit system they support. Harvard University conveys more merit, per credit, than Kentucky State University. Schools can charge students more the more merit is signaled by the degrees they confer. Among schools, within each school, and within each classroom, merit rules. Meritocracy and the educational system’s key place within it are important because capitalism’s survival depends on them. The merit system organizes how individual employees interpret the unemployment they suffer, the job they hate, the wage or salary they find so insufficient, the creativity their job stifles, and so on. It starts as schools train individuals to accept the grades assigned to them as measures of individual academic merit. That prepares them to accept their jobs and incomes as likewise measures of their individual productive merit. Your grades, jobs, and income are all appropriate and fair: rewards proportional to your individual merit. That leaves little room for any systemic criticism. Grades and grading are not blamed on an inadequate educational system unable or unwilling to fund high quality mass schooling. Unemployment, bad jobs, insufficient incomes, and an inadequate educational system are not blamed on the capitalist economic system. Had they been so blamed, both systems could well have come under criticism and opposition and died off long ago. Meritocracy redirects the blame for capitalism’s failures onto its victims. Schools teach meritocracy, and grading is the method. Richard D. Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York City.
August 2019
STAR REVUE 11 Alterna�ve Educa�on Des�na�ons in New York City
2019
door. The proximity to the renowned chess players in Washington Square Park might entice you to try and hone your skills against them but we suggest you stay away unless you’re already a pro: they are, indeed, chess pros that play for money.
behind an auto repair shop and a gas station, aren’t on the cheap side but they sure will bestow an education not easily found elsewhere.
By Anna Ben Yehuda Rahmanan An authentic New York education should go beyond mathematical formulas and dissections of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital (albeit both essential lessons, of course). Here, learning is a multidisciplinary endeavor that requires creativity, because to survive amongst a myriad of high-strung New Yorkers requires a deep-dive into a culture defined by more than school: music, art, literature, science and, yes, even physical prowess are called upon on a daily basis. From mom-and-pop shops selling all things chess related, alcohol-free bars that teach of the importance of flavor over the power of liquor, consider this your alternative education guide to New York City. Because learning how to navigate the subway system (read: how to avoid the most dangerously hot stations) is an education as endemic to the city as Descartes’ rule of signs.
Learn how to cook at Sur La Table World War II history at the Museum of Jewish Heritage
36 Battery Place, New York, 646-437-4202 Always worth exploring, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City is currently home to the largest exhibition about the Holocaust to ever hit North America, “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” On display through January 3, the exhibit sheds light on the atrocities that defined the Holocaust and World War II, whose ripples have been affecting global societies ever since. Sure, history is learned in a classroom but, here, visitors revel in a more intimate experience that will bring them face to face with relics that include a prisoner’s jacket from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and fragments of an original prisoner barrack from the Auschwitz III-Monowitz camp.
Various locations Hosting classes all over the United States (in New York alone, you’ll find six different cooking schools), Sur La Table is more than a kitchen-related store selling super useful and funky products. The staff here truly appreciates the art of cooking and spreads that passion through a variety of courses. Kids between eight and 17 (split into two groups, depending on their age) are taught how to cook and bake by professionals. Adults, on the other hand, can opt for artisan Italian pasta making courses, classes centered around fried chicken or steak cooked the French way, cupcake workshops and what seem like endless more options.
Develop a taste for mocktails at Getaway Bar
Become a DJ at Scratch DJ Academy Learn from the masters at the Chess Forum
219 Thompson Street, New York, 212475-2369 At the heart of the West Village, the Chess Forum is a relic of old-time New York both in form and function. Filled with all sorts of chess-related products—from one-of-a-kind sets to clocks—the space is home to seven tables ou�itted with rudimentary boards accessible by anyone interested. Kids get to play for free and, on Saturday afternoons, the store offers chess training sessions for children 4 to 12—completely gratis. But the real education comes courtesy of Imad Khachan, the owner since 1995, whose chess knowledge is rivaled only by his life lessons, which he imparts with little prompt as soon as visitors step through the
Red Hook Star-Revue
Try your hand at neon bending at Brooklyn Glass 142 13th Street, Brooklyn, 718-569-2110 Learning how to work with your hands, especially in a city as physical as New York, is just as important as the knowledge imparted by books. At Brooklyn Glass in Park Slope, folks can sign up for an eight-week course or a one-day workshop to learn all about glassblowing, flameworking and neon-related classes. Did you know that the art of bending neon is centuries old? That restaurants, cafés and shops all over town use neon signs to add character to their spaces? The classes, held in a warehouse
writing for adults while teenagers (13-17) get to pick from an even wider range of courses. More than a workshop, the space functions as a global community of sorts intent on deepening relationships between students by hosting events across the city, including write-ins (come, listen to the prompt and write for two hours among fellow wordsmiths) and free happenings, like classes held in Bryant Park, Pete’s Candy Store and McNally Jackson Books.
32 Cooper Square, New York, 212353-0970 If guitar and piano lessons don’t cater to your musical itch, opt instead for DJ classes. Founded by Jam Master Jay of Run DMC fame back in 2002, the academy welcomes longtime rave enthusiasts and curious beginners alike. Students will learn about the art of DJing (yes, there’s much artistry involved in the process) alongside music production techniques during lab hours and more.
Unleash your inner author at Gotham Writers Workshop
444 Eighth Avenue, #1402, New York, 212-974-8377 For nearly 26 years, Gotham Writers Workshop has helped established and emerging writers hone their skills both in person and online. Classes range from fiction writing to memoir, screenwriting, poetry, comedy, song and even video game
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158 Green Street, Brooklyn, New York, 929-337-6025 As the recent trend involving alcoholfree bars has taken over the country, drinkers and non-drinkers alike should take time to understand what has propelled the craze. What better way to uncover the fascination with sober drinking than actually visiting an alcohol-free bar? The relatively recently opened Getaway in Greenpoint smells, looks and feels like a traditional drinking hole—elegant furniture, beautiful bar and knowledgeable bartenders included—but offers something more: a well thought-out menu that goes beyond the classic mocktails. Indulge in the Smallbluff (Seedlip spice, lemon juice, fennel shrub, celery bitters) or the spicy That’s Just My Face (mango and jalapeno pureée, lime, elderflower tonic, black sesame)—whatever your poison of choice, sit by the bar and chat with the cocktail gurus to learn more about how each recipe was developed.
Grow greens in a lab at Farm.One 77 Worth Street, New York, 646-883-3276
(continued on next page) August 2019, Page 23
11 Things
(continued from previous page)
Believe it or not, there is an underground farm smack-dab in the middle of the Tribeca neighborhood (who says New York City isn’t green?). Using hydroponics, over 200 culinary plants have been grown here without the application of pesticides or chemicals. What’s more, the process requires 95 percent less water than a traditional farm. As restaurants all over town— the likes of Marea, Daniel and Eleven Madison Park—place daily orders and include the edible flowers and herbs on their menus, sign up for a onehour tour of the space to learn about the special farming process and actually get to taste some of the plants.
Discuss books with your neighbors at the New York Public Library
Always wanted to join a book club but can’t commit? Can’t stand discussing assigned readings in front of your peers in class? The New York Public Library hosts weekly book discussions across all of its branches throughout the year—and they’re all open to the public. Focusing on classic reads, new best-sellers, graphic novels and more, the discussions are a great way to uncover yet-tobe-discovered aspects of a work of literature and an even better way to get to know other folks from the neighborhood. Those still perfecting their English are also catered to with specific classes organized by levels.
Become a swimming pro at the 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, 212-415-5500 The uptown cultural center offers a whole lot of “alternative” education courses: from wellness and health-related talks to discussions with famous politicians, celebrities and authors, and a slew of classes of both intellectual and physical nature for youngsters and adults alike. One likely not found elsewhere? Deep-water swimming. Perfect for swimmers who’d like to take it a notch above, these courses are offered in bundles and held throughout the year. Already a professional swimmer? Opt for the lifeguard training session instead. Remember: in New York, always try to pay it forward.
Learn all the languages at City Speakeasy
Multiple locations Home to what is likely the grandest pool of languages around the world, New York City is more than a melting pot of immigrants: it is a playground of opportunities to learn new tongues and put that knowledge into practice. One of the best places to do so is at City Speakeasy. With two locations in Manhattan, the company offers group, corporate and private classes in Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin,
Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Opt for the group events and expect to do more than simply memorize renowned phrases in Italian (“ciao bella!” included): each session ends with a “social immersion” complete with food, drinks and sometimes even salsa dancing. Since there is no better way to learn a language than to actually speak it, a final suggestion: venture to the nearest bar after your class, we guarantee you’ll find at least one native speaker to practice your chops on.
Various locations
Reading help at the Red Hook Library by Nathan Weiser
TEAM UP TO READ is a new summer program at the Red Hook Library. It is a free and meant to enhance comprehension and fluency in reading among kids ages five to nine.
Help Your Child Love to Read and Write Literacy Tutoring with Eleanor Traubman Bank Street College of Education Alumna with 25 years of experience available to help your K-2nd grade child develop more ease, confidence and joy as a reader and writer. Eleanor Traubman Tutoring www.EleanorTraubman.com etraubman@gmail.com facebook.com/brooklyntutor
Page 24 Red Hook Star-Revue
“This program is designed to reinforce the reading skills that kids have picked up by the end of the school year ,and by reading over the summer they can come back stronger in the fall,” Kimberly Grad of the Brooklyn Public Library said. According to Grad, summer reading is essential toward tackling what is known as the summer slide. The August sessions include Tuesday, August 6 (Be Curious theme); Tuesday, August 13 (Making Connections, art focused); Tuesday, August 20 (Interactive Storytelling) and Tuesday, August 27. Sessions are from 3-4 pm. The instructor of Team up to Read (Kat Savage in Red Hook) either chooses from a collection of books that Grad has sent or can choose appropriate books on their own. During each session a book will be read aloud and then that will be followed by discussion and a project.
Some suggested books for Team up to Read include Draw! by Raul Colon, It’s Only Stanley by Jon Agee, Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton, Puddle by Hyewon Yum, Quackers by Liz Wong, A Different Pond by Bao Phi and Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith. During Interactive Storytelling, the kids will make puppets based on the characters in the book and then they work on retelling the story using the puppets. During the Be Curious session of Team Up to Read, the kids ask questions about the book. The program leader uses the questions to gauge their comprehension. “They also talk about their own reading experience where they might talk about where they like to read or who they like to read with,” Grad said. “That becomes another type of artistic response.” Team Up to Read is designed to be a fun and interactive program that encourages a lifelong love of reading. Parents or caregivers of the kids are encouraged to attend as well.
“For the Interactive Storytelling session, we look for books that have a strong story line but also characters that the kids can use in forming their own storytelling experience of the book,” Grad said.
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August 2019
Laying the foundation for success from day one.
School Directory compiled by Will Jackson
Red Hook:
BASIS Independent; Private School, PreK-12; (917) 473 1615; 556 Columbia St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Head of School Ms. Hadley Ruggles P.S. 15, Patrick Daly School; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 330 9280; 71 Sullivan St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Principal Peggy Wyns-Madison Red Hook Neighborhood School; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 330 2238; 27 Huntington St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Principal Priscilla Figueroa PAVE Academy Charter School; Charter School; K-8; (718) 858 7813; 732 Henry St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Elementary Principal Hannah Prussin; Middle School Principal Geoffrey Fenelus South Brooklyn Community High School; Public School; 9-12; (718) 237 8902; 173 Conover St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Principal Latoya Kittrell
Park Slope:
P.S./M.S. 282; Public School; PreK-8; (718) 622 1626; 180 6th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217; Principal Rashan Hoke P.S. 321; Public School; K-5; (718) 499 2412; 180 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Liz Phillips P.S. 39; Public School; K-5; (718) 330 9310; 417 6th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Anita de Paz Millennium Brooklyn; Public School; 9-12; (718) 832 4333; 237 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Kevin Conway P.S. 107, Public School, K-5; 1301 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; (718) 499 2054, Principal Eve Litwack M.S. 51; Public School; 6-8; (718) 369 7630; 350 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Greg Stanislaus
At BASIS Independent Brooklyn, a PreK–grade 12 private school in Red Hook, students are inspired to learn at the highest international levels in a STEM-focused liberal arts program. ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR FALL 2020
Learn more at basisindependent.com/star-revue B1907_045 BIB_Red Hook Star v2.indd 1
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P.S. 10; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 965 1190; 511 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Laura Scott P.S. 133; Public School; K-5; (718) 398 5320; 610 Baltic St. Brooklyn, NY 11217; Principal Foster-Mann St. Saviour; Catholic School; PreK-8; (718) 768 8000; 701 8th Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Susan Walsh Poly Prep; Private School; PreK-5; (718) 768 1103; 50 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Head of School Audrius Barzdukas P.S. 118; Public School; K-5; (718) 840 5660; 211 8th St. Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Elizabeth Garraway M.S. 88; Public School; 6-8; (718) 788 4482; 544 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215; Principal Ailene Mtchell
Carroll Gardens:
P.S. 58; Public School; K-5; (718) 330 9322; 330 Smith St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Principal Katie Dello Stritto Brooklyn New School; Public School; K-5; (718) 923 4750; 610 Henry St. Brooklyn, NY 11231 P.S. 32; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 222 6400; 317 Hoyt St. Brooklyn, NY 11231; Principal Denise Watson-Adin
Cobble Hill:
P.S. 29; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 330 9277; 425 Henry St. Brooklyn, NY 11201; Principal Rebecca March P.S. 261; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 330 9275; 314 Pacific St. Brooklyn, NY 11201 Success Academy; Charter School; K-4; (718) 704 1459; 284 Baltic St. Brooklyn, NY 11201; Principal Alissa Bishop
Dumbo
The Dock Street School; Private School; K-8; (718) 780 7660; 19 Dock St. Brooklyn, NY 11201; Principal Dr. Melissa Vaughan P.S. 8; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 834 6740; 37 Hicks St, Brooklyn, NY 11201; Principle Trish Peterson P.S. 307; Public School; PreK-5; (718) 834 4748; 209 York St, Brooklyn, NY 11201; Principal Stephanie Carroll;
Red Hook Star-Revue
build community
inspire discovery
Red Hook Playgroup provides a communitybased preschool education for young learners. Learn more about our warm community, flexible schedule and tuition assistance program at www.redhookplaygroup.org.
Tours for the 2020-2021 school year begin soon!
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August 2019, Page 25
New York teachers question Regents
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by Brett Yates
ast month in Albany, Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa announced that, in the fall, she would assemble a commission to evaluate the possibility of dropping the Regents Examinations as a graduation requirement for high schoolers in New York State. New York remains one of 12 states that require students in public high schools to pass standardized exit exams in order to earn their diplomas. This number has dwindled from 25 in 2012, owing to scholars’, activists’, and legislators’ contentions that the tests lower graduation rates without offering measurable benefits or accurately predicting college success. Implemented in 1878, the Regents exams represent the nation’s oldest statewide system of standardized testing and possibly its most rigorous and most extensive, currently comprising 10 exams, of which students must pass five before graduation. While readymade, nationally available tests like PARCC and Smarter Balanced passed into and out of fashion among other states during the No Child Left Behind era, New York held fast to its own longstanding program, albeit with Common Core updates. Apart from occasional parental rebellions, the Regents hadn’t seen a major challenge in decades before now. That doesn’t mean that all teachers have always liked them. Because the exams tie directly into required classes in New York high schools like US History and Algebra I, they can play a considerable role in determining the day-to-day activities in the classrooms of the instructors who administer those courses. As the national debate over the merits of standardized testing continues to roil, local teachers have expressed frustrations about the Regents, criticizing the exams for their content, format, and inflated role in public education. Jared Goldsmith teaches algebra at Discovery High School in the Bronx and has come to see the Regents, at times, as a one-size-fits-all solution that constrains his ability to reach a diverse student population. “An issue we run into a lot is that the tests are not at an appropriate level for our students,” he explained. “At a certain point, I want to teach them where they’re at. I feel like that would be most beneficial for them. If you’re at a sixth-grade or seventh-grade math level, but you’re in ninth grade, I kind of want to start where you are and build you up from there.” The relatively high benchmark set by the Regents exam, however, forces Goldsmith to fast-track his students’ progress, sometimes leading him to find shortcuts around the core prob-
Page 26 Red Hook Star-Revue
lem of their innumeracy instead of using classroom time to help them with elementary arithmetic or basic concepts like fractions, which some freshmen don’t comprehend. “To be a citizen of the world, it helps to have an understanding of how fractions work and what they represent,” he said. “But to pass this exam, you don’t really have to know what a fraction is. You just have to know how to type it into the calculator.” Goldsmith clarified that he doesn’t “explicitly teach to the test, where the questions we do in class are exact test questions, until the end of the year,” but he teaches “with the test in mind the entire year. There’s even a website for math that collects all the Regents problems that have been given based on topic, so if I’m about to teach a certain topic, I’ll go online and see what types of questions have been asked.” The database influences his lesson plan, steering him toward material that generally reflects the testmakers’ priorities and away from the sorts of problems that he can “maybe leave out or deemphasize because they don’t show up on the test as much.” The administration at Discovery High School “cares a lot about Regents,” Goldsmith said. “I know in New York City, it’s definitely a major factor in your school’s reputation and your school’s standing.” He’s never seen a teacher get in trouble on account of their students’ Regents scores, but he still feels “some indirect pressure. I want my Regents scores to be as high as other teachers’ Regents scores, even though I know there are so many other things: that I have these positive relationships with my students, that I saw them grow, that they became better people. At the end of the day, I definitely put some value on the Regents scores.” Goldsmith’s colleague at Discovery, history teacher Molly Willner, emphasized the tension on both sides of the classroom: “There’s a lot of anxiety for both teachers and students around the Regents exams. Especially among freshmen and sophomores who might be first-time test-takers for the Regents exams, it’s definitely a stressful experience.” The Regents’ status as a graduation requirement forces students to take them (and their corresponding courses) seriously, but Goldsmith
noted that this can bear the unintended consequence of leading kids to devalue classes where they don’t necessarily have to worry about passing a Regents exam afterward. As Goldsmith sees it, one “can’t really blame them” for reducing their level of effort in some cases: for struggling students, it makes sense to put first things first. Willner voiced concerns regarding the content of the Regents exams. “It was my first time teaching US History this year, and I thought it was really important to do the first unit on indigenous populations, pre-Columbian and pre-colonization,” she recounted. “And that’s not privileged on the Regents exam, so that put the pedal to the metal toward the end of the year to make sure we covered content later in history that is privileged on the exam.” Willner also teaches Global History, which she considers a misnomer within the Regents curriculum. “The way that the test is written, the majority of what is tested is on European history,” she lamented. Sometimes, the Regents exams’ presentation of historical concepts conflicts with the way she’d like her students to understand them. She recalled, on the test, a document-based
I often think about whether there are ways to standardize the content and the skills that we’re testing the students on without necessarily standardizing the format in which they’re tested on them.”
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question “on the ways in which imperialism was a positive for imperialist nations, and I think that definitely was not the correct way to frame that issue.” Mary DiNapoli, an English teacher from Upstate New York at Cazenovia High School, observed that the ELA (English Language Arts) exam favors “argumentative writing, and while I appreciate the rhetorical skills evaluated in this portion, I really wish that the [New York State Education Department] would develop assessments of media literacy, or teaching students how to evaluate the truth and reliability of a source. This seems to be one of the most important skills that students are lacking, and now more than ever, it’s critical. My guess, though, is that a focus on media literacy would be deemed ‘too political.’” For Providence Ryan, a science teacher who has worked for the New York City Department of Education for three years, the Regents curriculum has occasionally restricted her ability to engage her students’ natural curiosities. “A part of the Living Environment curriculum is about homeostasis in the human body and human body systems, and it is a very, very small part of the curriculum,” she described. “Homeostasis is an extremely important part of the curriculum, but the specific body systems themselves play a very minimal role. But that is the content that my kids are extremely interested in every year. So it creates this weird thing where I want to spend all this time on this content that the kids are extremely interested in, but also I know there’s other content that we need to get through before the end of the school year.” Goldsmith pointed out the additional problem of cultural bias on the exams: “I know that last year on the algebra exam there was a question about bicycles and tricycles, and it was necessary to know for the problem that a bicycle has two wheels and a tricycle has three wheels, which seems completely obvious, but really, I have some students who have not been in the country and speaking English very long, and they should be able to succeed on a math test without knowing that the prefix bi in Eng-
(continued on next page) August 2019
lish means two.” For five of the 10 Regents exams, the Education Department offers translated versions in Spanish, Russian, Korean, Haitian Creole, and Chinese, but about 20 percent of English-language learners (ELLs) in New York City speak languages other than these. According to Goldsmith, most ELLs “will have both versions of the test” – original and translated – “in front of them. But my instruction is in English. When they learn a new math word, like quadratic formula, they’re learning that word in English.” For this reason, many ELLs prefer to use the English tests in spite of the challenges. Ryan also underlined the importance of English language skills across the Regents exams: “For the Biology Regents, a huge part of the test is just reading comprehension. You can do really, really well on that test if you’re a strong reader, regardless of how much content knowledge you have, and that poses a problem for students like the population I’ve worked with [in the Bronx], where they maybe really understand the content and can explain it to you backward and forward and upside-down, but maybe they’re coming into school with a lower-grade reading level.” Ryan continued, “I think the problem is that different kids need to be assessed in different ways. So I often think about whether there are ways to standardize the content and the skills that we’re testing the students on without necessarily standardizing the format in which they’re tested on them.” Willner echoed the sentiment: “My dream would be that the Regents would be not a test but kind of a guideline,” wherein the state would specify “the major topics that you should think about including in the scope and sequence of your curriculum” and then allow each teacher “to come up with some kind of assessment” to showcase their students’ mastery of those topics. “Students across the state would have the same content that they’re interacting with but then would have the individualized approach of teachers who are in the classroom every day and know what’s best for their students, what’s interesting for their students, and then would be able to use their own research and best practices to demonstrate their students’ knowledge,” Willner pictured.
1972 was the last time New York State openly considered leaving behind the Board of Regents’ standardized system of compulsory end-of-course exams. A task force appointed by the State Education Commissioner found, per the New York Times, that “in many classrooms success on the Regents examinations becomes the overriding concern of students and teachers and ‘creates an atmosphere which can only harm the teaching‐ learning process.’” A few months later, the board officially rejected the task force’s recommendations despite the outspoken anti-Regents attitude of member Dr. Stephen K. Bailey, who in the Times opined that the exams had “helped to impose unimaginative, standardized curricula upon massively bored teenagers.” Bailey, an educator, came up against fellow board member Theodore M. Black, a “Long Island publishing executive” who believed that canceling the Regents would be a capitulation to “the Age of the Slob” – a time of “slovenliness in personal hygiene,” of “immorality and obscenity publicly flaunted,” and of “a slothful, disinterested shoddiness in the performance of one’s tasks.” Supporters of state-issued mandatory exit exams in high schools tend to view them as a means to ensure that
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Many private schools choose to use the Regents anyway, but others, like Basis Independent Brooklyn in Red Hook, maintain that their own standards surpass those of the Regents. Some might argue that, in exempting private schools, the Board of Regents has made a class distinction in determining that wealthier kids don’t require the same level of monitoring by the state as low-income students in public schools. “While it feels unfair and unjustified, it unfortunately doesn’t feel surprising to me,” Ryan reflected. “There are kids who maybe struggle socioeconomically; they have a historically marginalized racial and ethnic background, and they’re being subjected to standardized testing that wealthy private schools get to opt out of.” In the public school system, the New York Performance Standards Consortium has since 1997 offered hope to some teachers who envision a world without standardized testing. The Education Department has granted a
waiver to the 38 constituent schools (all but two in New York City), allowing the Consortium to develop a common system of flexible performance assessments in place of the Regents exams. The exemption doesn’t extend to the Regents ELA exam, which students still have to take, but otherwise teachers evaluate them based on projects, essays, and presentations. They still earn the Regents Diploma, and college acceptance rates significantly exceed those of standard New York schools. Still, for many New Yorkers, school life without the Regents may be unimaginable. For Goldsmith, who believes that the Regents exams should at least be “changed or deemphasized” (possibly with more “alternative paths to graduation”), the test brings back memories of his own high school experience in suburban Albany. “When I took Algebra I, toward the end of the year we got a book with all the old Regents exams in it, and each day our homework would be to do another ten questions from the practice Regents exam. It’s been all Regents all the time since I’ve been in ninth grade and now as a teacher,” he said. “For me, I see it kind of as a necessary evil because I can’t really conceive of any education system where you don’t have the Regents exam. . . . I just don’t know anything different.”
Nestled in the heart of Red Hook, the Patrick F. Daly Magnet School of the Arts is a small community school with a STEAM focused curriculum, serving students in grades Prek-‐5. We are a diverse, inclusive, nurturing and vibrant community that provides a standards-‐based educational program including a Spanish Dual Language PreK-‐5 program and an ACES (Academics Careers and Essential Skills) program, that serves children with intellectual and multiple disability in both a small class and integrated classroom setting. We take a holistic approach to education that nurtures the whole child and offer a wide range of arts and community partnerships.
To this end, Ryan suggested “a project-based learning assessment, or something like portfolios at the end of the year, which may be a better alternative that’s able to be differentiated to meet students’ needs while also pushing students to achieve high standards.” Goldsmith maintained the importance of “accountability.” In order to preserve state oversight, a system of the kind imagined by Willner might require the Education Department to evaluate and approve each teacher’s method for making sure their students meet the Regents standards, instead of simply mass-distributing a single test for each course. “I feel like right now there’s a board that constructs these Regents exams, so I wonder if that workforce could be repurposed,” Willner mused.
schools hold all students – from rich and poor districts, white and black ones – to the same rigorous standard, thereby promoting equality. But in New York, private schools have no obligation to present the Regents Examinations to their students, who can graduate without them.
We are still accepting registrations for the 2019-‐2020 school year for a limited number of Prek-‐4th grade seats! Please call 718-‐330-‐9280 to make an appointment. 2019-‐2020 Open House Dates: November 13th, December 13th, January 24th, and February 28th All open house events begin at 8:30 AM in the PS 15 Library. For more information or to RSVP, please contact our Parent Coordinator, Melissa Johnson at mjohnson98@schools.nyc.gov.
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Back to School Bash
The Red Hook Recreation Center will be organizing a back to school party and parents and children are invited. The back to school party will take place on Thursday, August 15, from 11:30 am until 5:00 pm at Coffey Park (85 Richards Street). Community members will be able to enjoy the annual basketball tournament, carnival games, field day activities and other surprise entertainment. There will also be information tables for various educational opportunities in Coffey Park during the back to school party. This Rec Center sponsored event is free for all and is open to the public. For more information, you are encouraged to call 718-722-3211.
Democracy and the medium
The Star-Revue is beginning its tenth year of publication. Our anniversary is June 1, 2020. We hope that the country will be in the midst of a reju-
venation by then, with some alternate presidential candidate way ahead in the polling, as our current president is making government somewhat of a joke. Often, a friend of mine (the publisher) will ask why I persist in believing in having a print newspaper, since now everything is "online." There are actually two reasons (at least). One is that I grew up with radio and newspapers and still love both. To me there is nothing like finishing the paper and then waiting for it to come back from the printer. It's exciting each time, and, until the next one comes out, the greatest thrill. But the second reason is more important. In my lifetime, I've lived through the presidencies of Nixon, Reagan, two Bushes, and now Trump. Each seems to have been more regressive than the previous. I don't think it's necessarily the Republican party, it has more to do with propaganda. It has become easier to brainwash
the public one way or another, as it has become easier for people to selfselection what they pay attention to. It's an oft-told story that people might have been more open to new ideas back when almost everyone was getting their daily news from newspapers and one of the three main radio, and then television networks. The advertising industry has always been faced with the problem of targeting their audience for the companies they serve. In the old days, the big corporations would purchase ads knowing that a large portion of the people they were reaching would have no interest in their product. But they would do it anyway because some in the audience were their market. But starting with the cable news networks in the 1980's, and then the internet, prodded along with the ever invasive technology that can pinpoint user desires, advertisers had the ability to just advertise in the places that
attracted only people that might buy their products. So news outlets have become more and more specific, targeting a message with appeal only to the sorts of customers that would buy from their particular advertisers. That's good for the advertisers and the media outlets. One no longer has to feel uncomfortable at looking at things that impinge upon their sensibilities. There are outlets for war, for pets, for people who love diversity, and for people who favor a continuing status quo. What I am trying to say is that cable TV and the internet have not been the great democratizing influences. I believe that an actual physical paper, which has to be gone through page by page, is. So thanks for taking our monthly adventure with me - I'm working hard to make it better and better.
The Red Hook Star-Revue is the community newspaper that goes both ways. We work hard to present you with an information and entertaining package of news, events and advertising that makes living in Brooklyn a little more intimate and friendly. We are also here to listen to you. You can send us letters to the editor, that we gladly print, we accept op-ed submissions on interesting topics, and if you have ideas for stories or tips we can use, please let us know. If you happened upon this paper by chance and would like to be able to pick it up near you, drop us a line and we will get a stack of our free newspapers at a convenient location. You can stop by to see us if you like—we are at
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EDUCATION ROUNDUP: Beat the summer brain drain with these reading challenges by Erin DeGregorio When students go home for the summer, sometimes the excitement surrounding vacation trips and other plans might make them forget what they’ve learned in school all year. So, to beat the ‘summer brain drain,’ here are five summer reading challenges and activities – with prizes – that might give your kids the extra incentive to pick up a book and be transported to another world. 1. Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon’s sponsored Summer Read-
ing Challenge: Read for at least 15 minutes a day for a minimum of 40 days, and you can receive a NYS Excellence in Reading certificate. 2. Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge: Create an Scholastic account online and enter your summer reading minutes. Kids can unlock digital rewards as they complete weekly reading challenges, and access book excerpts, videos and other summer-exclusive content. The challenge ends on Sep-
tember 6. 3. TD Bank’s Summer Reading Program: Kids in kindergarten through 5th grade can receive $10 if they read 10 books, which can be deposited into a new or existing TD Simple Savings account. The program ends on August 31. 4. Barnes & Noble’s Summer Reading Journal: Children in Grades 1 through 6 can earn a free book (from a provided B&N list) if they read any eight books and record their favorite
parts and why in the journal. Bring your completed journal to a B&N store by August 31. 5. Brooklyn Public Library Summer Reading Challenge: Visit your local public library to learn more about the series of challenges you must complete. When the challenges are finished, ask a librarian for instructions on how to claim your voucher for two tickets for an upcoming event at Barclays Center during the 2019-2020 season.
BASIS produces good bassists! Lois Wang, a soon-to-be 12th-grader at BASIS Independent Brooklyn, scored a 99 of 100 on her cello solo at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Spring Evaluation Festival. She played on a Level VI performance level, which is the highest, most difficult level one can do, according to the school’s music teacher, Luis Ingels. An adjudicator noted her “wonderful dynamics,” “lovely phrasing” and “wonderful tone.” Wang participated in the festival over
the last several years, but this was her last one – ending her NYSSMA chapter on a very high note. She plans to enter cello competitions in the future. Ingels has built and shaped a modern band program at the school, which combines band, orchestra and guitar. “Music really helped me express myself in middle school and high school. I was really pretty reserved and shy in general, but being in a community of musicians helped me stand out in a
way that I wouldn’t have stood out in any other place,” he said in an article with his alma mater, Columbia Teachers College, in January. “I want to invite students to explore why music is so powerful and how we can express our emotions through different elements of song.” In other music-related news, the school band, led by Ingels, and school choir, led by Ms. Taylor, played at Disney World this year as part of the Disney Performing Arts series. Students
also perform in the annual Winter Concert, complete with band and choir performances, in addition to a Fine Arts Festival at the end of the school year. “Each year the events have grown bigger and better,” Jo Goldfarb, director of communication at BASIS Independent Brooklyn, told us. “Mr. Ingels has even started a pep band to play at some of our sporting events and a wind ensemble to allow cello players, like Lois, to shine.”
Catholics fill Cyclones Park in Coney Island Catholic elementary school staff members played a friendly, mini game of baseball at the Brooklyn Cyclones’ annual Catholic School Night. Prior to the start of the Cyclones-Aberdeen IronBirds game that night, “Collars and Scholars” from the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Queens took their places to see who the best was, outside the classroom and on MCU Park’s field.
The match-up was between some of the priests, nuns, school/academy principals and administrators. “What a tremendous turnout of students from Catholic schools and academies throughout Brooklyn and Queens. The spirit of Catholic education filled MCU Park last night, as our schools celebrated the end of this school year,” said John Quaglione, the
Diocese of Brooklyn’s deputy press secretary. “The Diocese of Brooklyn has many great priests, pastors, principals, and teachers, who have been blessed with many talents, including skill on the baseball diamond.” Ed Wilkinson, editor emeritus of The Tablet, served as the umpire for the pre-game baseball challenge. A bobblehead doll – created for Sister
Shirlee Tremont of St. Bernadette Catholic Academy, the 2018 MVP of the Scholars team – was distributed to fans with their ticket purchases. Sr. Tremont, Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez and Dr. Tom Chadzutko, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for Brooklyn and Queens, played. The final score was 2-1, with the Collars winning for the second year in a row.
Breaking down the proposed District 15 school rezonings by Erin DeGregorio and Nathan Weiser
A new school building is about to open in Gowanus, and District 15 is figuring out how they will use it. PS 32, at 317 Hoyt St., will have 436 new seats, early childhood and special education classrooms, a rooftop playground, and a new cafeteria and library come September 2020. The goal is to reduce overcrowding and waitlists. The current percentages for school utilizations at the following schools are: 83% at PS 15; 125% at PS 29; 76% at PS 32; 93% at PS 38; 132% at PS 58; 109% at PS 261 and 28% at PS 676 The Office of District Planning (ODP) has come up with two potential rezoning approaches to address imbalances. Both include changing zone lines and implementing admissions priorities for students in temporary housing (STH), multilingual learners (MLL) and students who are incomeeligible for free and reduced-price lunch (FRL) – the latter as a means to reduce demographic disparities across schools and increase equity and diversity in the segregated district. For example, 75 percent and 72 percent of students at PS 58 and PS 29 are white. But, at PS 676, all the students are either black or Hispanic.
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Proposed rezoning changes would mainly impact pre-Kers, kindergartners, and students new to the district in the 2020-2021 school year. However, sibling grandfathering will be a priority, meaning if entering students have an older sibling at a school that changes its zoning, they will be grandfathered into that same school. This proposal comes after recent changes in District 15’s middle school admissions process so that families can apply to schools of their choice instead. Admissions are determined by a lottery, with preference for 52% of seats given to STH, MLL and students income-eligible for FRL.
Approach One The seven schools that’ll be impacted in the sub-district are PS 15, 29, 32, 38, 58, 261 and 676. Approach One is about individual zones – where, if you live in that geographic area of the district, you have priority to that specific school. According to one of the maps from a June presentation, some schools would have their zone size increased; others would decrease and some would remain the same. For example, PS 15’s zone would increase to leverage existing capacity and promote diversity; PS 676’s zone would stay
the same; and PS 29’s zone would decrease to address overcrowding and promote diversity.
Approach Two Approach Two concerns a potential shared zone. Students would be entitled to a seat at one of the seven schools, but not at any one individual school within the area. The admissions process would be similar to what happens at the middle school level, with families applying to schools of their choice (and being placed in a lottery if that school receives more applications than it has open seats).
Parents’ feedback ODP’s been doing a lot of community engagement in recent months as they’ve presented information and listened to the feedback they receive. “The feedback is very hopeful towards creating a more inclusive environment. People are asking questions about, ‘What does that look like in PTA funding, in curriculum, in culturally responsive engagement, in terms of staff support?’” said Camille Casaretti, CEC15 president and CEC rep for PS 676, at a July meeting. Two concerns that have been consistently brought up are transportation and longer travel times. Other par-
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ents’ concerns mentioned last month included ODP not providing clearer definitions of what diversity means. Some also noted that ODP should do more to inform Red Hook families about the rezoning strategies.
Next Steps The DOE will present a draft proposal for zone line changes to the Community Education Council (CEC) at a public meeting in the fall. Factors taken into consideration when developing the proposed zone lines will include new residential construction, geographic barriers and travel distances. The CEC will vote on the framework within 45 days of the proposal submission. Parents and community members are encouraged to email the CEC (CEC15@schools.nyc.gov), District 15 Community Superintendent Anita Skop (askop@schools.nyc.gov) and ODP (brooklynzoning@schools.nyc. gov) – with the Brooklyn zoning address – with feedback. Comments will be collected on a rolling basis. The next CEC meeting will be on August 8 at 131 Livingston St. at 6:30 pm. ODP will do a quick overview of the latest zoning information and will take comments from the public.
August 2019, Page 29
The Healthy Geezer by Fred Cicetti
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Q. Do we lose our sense of taste as we get older? In general, sensitivity to taste gradually decreases with age. But there are some whose taste isn’t affected by getting older. The ability to taste food and beverages means a lot to seniors. Let’s face it; we lose a lot of the pleasures of our youth, but eating well isn’t usually one of them. Taste also has a major impact upon our physical and mental health. Our sense of taste is especially important if we have to stay on a diet. If food loses its appeal, we may eat improperly and put ourselves at risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Loss of taste can lead us to overeat, undereat, or add too much salt or sugar to our food. While taste is important, we recognize flavors largely through our sense of smell. Try holding your nose while eating. Smell and taste are closely linked in the brain. It is common for people who lose their sense of smell to say that food has lost its taste. This is incorrect; the food has lost its aroma, but taste remains. Loss of taste occurs less frequently than loss of smell in older people.
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When an older person has a problem with taste, it is often temporary and minor. True taste disorders are uncommon. When a problem with taste exists, it is usually caused by medications, disease, or injury. In some cases, loss of taste can accompany or signal a more serious condition, such as diabetes or some degenerative diseases of the central nervous system such as multiple sclerosis. There are several types of taste disorders You can have a persistent bad taste in the mouth. This is called a dysgeusia. Some people have hypogeusia, or the reduced ability to taste. Others can’t detect taste at all, which is called ageusia. People with taste disorders experience a specific ageusia of one or more of the five taste categories: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory. The most common complaint is “phantom taste perception,” which is tasting something that isn’t there. If you think you have a taste disorder, see your doctor. Diagnosis of a taste disorder is important because once the cause is found, your doctor may be able to treat your taste disorder. Many types of taste disorders are reversible, but, if not, counseling and self-help techniques may help you cope. If you cannot regain your sense of taste, there are things you can do to ensure your safety. Take extra care to avoid food that may have spoiled. If you live with other people, ask them to smell and taste food to see if it is fresh. People who live alone should discard food if there is a chance it is spoiled. All Rights Reserved © 2019 by Fred Cicetti
Page 30 Red Hook Star-Revue
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August 2019
Damned Old Party by Frank Stipp
I
t was 31 long months ago that the polls read conclusively that Hillary would lose and Sanders would win. Yet, thousands of New Yorkers saw their income projections safeguarded in her youthful chagrin. They crowded into the Jacob Javitz Center a few hours after the polls closed and waited for her to claim victory. But as Tuesday rolled into Wednesday their collective delusion melted. A last hope arose that she’d take the stage and claim plausible deniability over what Der Party hath wrought. She never showed. She called Trump from the hotel. The great, glass convention hall seemed to contract around the fashionable women and fragile male egos who identified with the larger of the two minority ballot lines – the US contained only 19% registered Democrats and about 10% Republicans in 2016 – the longest-ruling bipartite coalition on the planet. Together they comprised over a quarter of the US voting age population (and 100 percent of the Electoral College). However, the Hamilton-Jefferson model of two law firms representing the same client enjoyed a dearth of consent. More numerous than either party were those represented by the 2000 delegates who walked out of the 2016 Democratic Convention, but were not televised doing so. Between half the party's constituents and those who refused to endorse either party represented between 50 and 70 percent of the electorate. “Did you hear what President Bush said!” said one young student. I corrected him in passing: “C’mon,” I implored. “He’s not the . . . Pres-i-dent.” Time passed before I overheard it a few years later: “Did you hear what President Obama said?” “C’mon,” I entreated. “He’s not the . . . Pres-i-dent.” Of course, technically, whichever name most members of the Electoral College scrawl on their ballots
and deposit in the Congressional urn, wins the ok to be “president” of these United States. So, in one manner of speaking, our young heroes were guilty only of parroting the media. First Reagan, then Poppy, then Clinton, then Cheney. (On Donner on Dasher, Obama and Blitzen?) Presidents, elections and the hope that a yet unseen second major US political faction or movement will challenge l’america’s 250 year governing block does not ‘politics’ make. There were good old days when public participation was on the verge of creating upon the American continent a Normal Country. But secret wars, covert actions, and deceptive media saw to it that the master narrative of North America was not World War II or the Cold War, but the population’s failure to see what that narrative is. How often does a day pass when Americans fail to wonder ‘what happened to our kleptocracy?’ So why concern one’s self with who the president is? No one can guarantee that the ballot line collecting the largest number of votes will throw the election. However, the inclusion of local aspirants in another nationwide electoral contest allows the 18 month public humiliation to be conducted entirely within city limits: Brooklyn’s Bernie Sanders (Bernie the Red long ago became Bernie the Blue) and Bill DeBlasio of the Clinton Faction; Kirsten Gillibrand, (who shared the rostrum with Alfonse D’Amato at her Senate victory speech) of the D’Amato Faction; and Network Television, i.e. the Trump Faction. Newsday reported that neither deBlasio nor Gillibrand collected more than the one percent of respondents to any of three qualifying polls for the Mass Debates. Yet they both complied with informal ‘requirements’ for inclusion in the newly minted television serial of
the same name. (They both appear to be angling for the vice-presidential nomination under a much older Sanders or Biden). Before we start ordering in the artificial pizza, reconstituted chicken and near beer in anticipation of future two hour debate installments, note that it is one’s immediate surroundings that require our full attention and energetic participation. Unfortunately, in a culture of fundamentalist-grade materialism, there’s a builtin aptitude for citizens to project their responsibilities onto someone else. No matter whether the party regulars choose Biden, Sanders or Trump, what we see, hear, breath and aspire to depends on the time and the attention we invest in what we do, today. Every day. A Media Literate approach to our transistorized civilization insures that no long-running con risks disturbing one’s central nervous system. Don’t get bent outta shape by what the corporations/foundations report that the White House announced between midnight and five AM. Like everything else, if you ignore it long enough, it goes away. The moral of the story? There is little evidence presented to the viewing audience (nation) each quadrennium that voting has very much to do with who is appointed. Regardless of their individual or collective insignificance, 25 Dems have nominated themselves for the presidency of these United States. And judging from the consequences the past three contested elections (2000, 2004, 2016) the ‘Grand Old Party’ (Republicans) will likely continue to hold executive power over the federal bureaucracy while the Democrats (pretty damned old themselves) stand clear of the fray.
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August 2019
STAR REVUE
August 2019
SECTION T
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Jeffrey Lewis – Anti folk Hero & Comic Artist
here is great reverence amongst the British towards certain American songwriters. The cultural impact crater from the US musical asteroid stretches across genres and time, and I've been unfortunate enough to bear witness to its effect in drizzly pubs, enduring a dire British approximation of a Johnny Cash impression in an oversized cowboy hat. As much as we fetishize American music, we also tend to, somewhat paradoxically, cringe and squirm at its shiny, bombastic arrogance. I was lucky enough last month to witness a truly fantastic gig by American antifolk hero of the everyman, Jeffrey Lewis. In many ways, he's the antithesis of what we've come to expect from the cliché of an American artist; he's self-deprecating, cynical, neurotic, witty and dry, with a nihilistic worldview and enough social anxiety to sink the loftiest of egos. Perhaps that's why he seems comparatively more popular over here. Since signing to British label Rough Trade, his songs have been quietly tapping into the psyche of generations of cynical and neurotic Brits for nearly two decades now. They're funny and sincere, with consistent threads of optimism shining through the darkness. The gig, in Bristol, was quickly sold out. The atmosphere reverent. He smashed through classics “Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song” (about bonding with a stranger over the Leonard Cohen song, and a potential missed opportunity) and “The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane”, which descended into a wild psychedelic nihilistic rant on life's meaninglessness. “Broken Broken Broken Heart” perfectly juxtaposes a pop-punk melody with the struggles of heartbreak, and the hilarious and relatable “My Girlfriend Doesn't Worry” was a particular highlight. "My girlfriend doesn't worry About Mao Zedong's vision for China Was agrarian reform for the better? Or is cynicism part of our culture? These are massive, giant, troubling, consuming thoughts saturating my thinking But I think she’ll just think it’s annoying, so I won’t bring it up." A serial collaborator, Lewis has toured and played with fellow antifolkies Kimya Dawson and Diane Cluck, as well as Ex-Holy Modal Rounders violinist Peter Stampfel, to name a few. His backing band this time around, Los Bolts, complemented the simplicity of the tunes without smothering their spark. Whilst largely avoiding politics in his songwriting, a great feature of Lewis' shows involves a spoken word piece narrating the Complete History of the Soviet Union, usually performed to a flip-book of his illustrations on the subject - now upgraded to a projector screen. Drily introducing it with "there's nothing more rock and roll than a documentary film series", Lewis performed part seven of A History of Socialism in Cuba. As well as crashing on fan's sofas whilst touring, Lewis mans his own merch stall. I met him before the show, whilst pouring over his vast array of comics, posters and albums. We spoke briefly about his excellent illustrations and the differences and similarities between British and American culture. It's
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this modest accessibility which secures his cult status; yet his humble awkwardness belies his immense talent. He's probably too niche for most mainstream radio stations, which is a crime because he's truly one of the great American songwriters. Honesty in songwriting is an often overlooked trait, but I can't imagine Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan having enough sincerity or self-awareness to write songs like “Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror”, which lays bare Lewis' anxiety surrounding the measurements of success or failure - "probably Dylan himself too stayed up some nights wishing he was as good as Ginsberg or Camus."
drizzly pub, I hear a nasal approximation of one of his tunes drifting from the open-mic stool. We certainly don't need to hear Folsom Prison Blues again. For more information on Jeffrey Lewis, see his website: www.thejeffreylewissite.com Adam Whittaker, writer of this piece, is a guitarist, singer, songwriter for British busking band Slack Mallard.
Jeffrey Lewis seems to me to be, whilst still very much a New Yorker, a very British American songwriter. Yet, I'm still waiting for the day where, in a
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August 2019, Page 33
Talking to Guitarist Extraordinaire
Scott Sharrard by Michael Cobb
Scott Sharrard is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is perhaps best known as the former lead guitarist and musical director of The Gregg Allman Band, but his journey began long before that. Sharrard grew up in a musical household in Dearborn, Michigan. His father, also a musician, encouraged Scott from an early age by frequently taking him out to see live music. By day Sharrard studied music in high school; by night he got to see and eventually play with legendary performers including Stokes, Willie Higgins, Clyde Stubblefield, Buddy Miles, Luther Allison, and Hubert Sumlin. In the mid 1990s, Sharrard moved to New York City and met Atlantic Records executive Amhet Ertegun who mentored Sharrard’s then band The Chesterfields. Soon Sharrard was working with legendary drummer Levon Helm and, through Helm’s daughter Amy, scored an audition with The Gregg Allman Band, with whom he played for nearly 10 years. In 2017 Sharrard and Allman co-wrote “My Only True Friend” on Allman’s last album Southern Blood, which earned a Grammy nomination. Today, Sharrard continues to call New York City home and performs as a solo artist. I spoke with Scott in May 2019 before his gig at Bar Chord in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. How do you prepare for performances? I try to leave all the negatives of the business behind. I make the stage a sanctuary. I think it’s important that we protect the music, and it’s important that we give the fans a total escape, especially in this age of phones and distraction. If somebody is leaving their house to see music, that’s incredible. I owe those people an experience. I have to dig as deep into my heart as possible and play as truthfully as I can and hope that it resonates. Luckily, I’ve found a small contingent of people who support that, and really that’s the best you can hope for. What does it take to reach people in this age of digital distraction? I ask bars to turn off the TV, which pisses some people off, and I play really loud! (Laughs) But even if only half of the people are there to listen to music, the ones who are there appreciate it. What changes have you seen in the music industry since you first got involved? The industry has a well-worn history of dysfunctionality and insanity when it comes to uniting. It’s pretty consistently been a series of islands that don’t support each other. Another problem is musicians and companies that have success and create islands where you can’t foster new talent. Take Beyonce or Madonna. The
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first thing they do when they go multi-platinum is to leave their label. When they do that, they ruin the chance that somebody’s going to sign the next Miles Davis. If your goal is to be the Eagles or Michael Jackson, you should stop right now. Look, there’s no money left in selling records. Who cares? It’s all the live show, merch, and community. The best we can do is play the repertoire, like Yo Yo Ma. People want to hear him play Bach cello suites; that’s what’s really going to sell tickets. Making a living playing music has always been tough, but it seems harder than ever today. How do you do it? Education. I know the best jazz and classical players in the city. They are educators half to 75% of the year. They do not receive any of their income from record sales. I know a lot of musicians who seem successful, but I know they are running from one record deal to another, they’re in deep debt. Everyone’s scrambling to support themselves. Leonard Bernstein was an incredible artist, but he was not Mozart. He was not going to rise to that level. Bach, Debussy, Sati never saw success in their lifetime or made any money playing shows. They were all teachers. What’s the future of American music? The writing’s already on the wall. What sells? Tribute bands. Everywhere I play. Even when I was playing with Greg Allman in the biggest venues, half the time they were booked for tribute bands, which sell well at $40 to $60 a ticket. I’ve noticed that the whole industry, Live Nation and AG, have all moved this direction. There are artists like Chris Stapleton or Jason Isbell who are finding success, but their songs are not being disseminated the way a Bob Dylan song would have been back in the day. They’re not making their way into the public consciousness of a culture. They exist in a subgenre of humanity, which is not their fault. They’re making great art, but the culture is not geared towards that. Eventually the music is going to be institutionalized as an American art form. I’d put rock, blues, soul, country, etc., all under one umbrella: American roots music. That needs a home, and my plan is to be at the forefront of that. Leonard Bernstein did it for classical music and Wynton Marsalis did it for jazz because if it’s not institutionalized, it will not be saved. If Jimi Hendrix were 22 years old today, he’d be working at Google, he would not be playing a guitar. And if he were playing music, it’d be with a laptop. How do you balance doing cover songs with original material? The best example I can give is Leonard Bernstein’s “Young People’s Concerts” on Holst’s The Planets, which you can watch on YouTube. He does an
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incredible presentation on Holst’s work with a full orchestra, and at the end he incorporates one of his original improvisations at the end with Pluto. That’s the best beacon of hope in terms of disseminating information and be creative with it. What can you tell us about working with Gregg Allman? I auditioned in the summer of 2008 and sat in with the Allman Brothers. I met Derek Trucks and Warren Zanes and was a bit nervous, but they were cool. When I met Gregg, we just hit it off immediately. He reminded me so much of the old guys who mentored me as a kid. We spoke the same musical language. When we went out on the road together, he started to confide in me on the side. We had a personal connection that was tethered by being fans of music; we bonded and listened to music all night on the tour bus. After about four years, he told me that he wanted me to be the music director of the band, to cover one of my songs, and to write new songs together. He recorded my song “Love Vicariously” twice, and it was nominated for a Grammy. We got really deep creatively and personally. It was really a collaborative experience, and I can’t say enough good things about him. Do you have any particular future goals? We have to protect roots music the way they’ve done in New Orleans. There are so many people who want to protect and learn from it in the same way people used to want to learn classical music. Now they want their kids to learn to play like Jimmy Page. One of my ongoing projects is turning concert series and tours of American Roots music into educational experiences and eventually into a brick-and-mortar educational facility. I’ve got an educational video series I’ve done for My Music Master Class, Guitar Gate, and True Fire, which is probably the biggest online educational platform that exists. I’m filming a series for them this summer. And I do Skype lessons to students all around the world. Last question, if you could play with someone living or Dead, who would it be? That’s a tough question! Living: Tom Waits. Dead: Miles Davis!
August 2019
Hanks Saloon has left the building... again
H
by Jack Grace
ank’s Saloon, a century old dive bar, is gone. It tried to reinvent itself through relocation, but it ended in an ill-fated merger with a food court that could not sustain its own share of the bills. Hank’s was a part of a now-vanishing beautiful culture in New York where people from all economic backgrounds might meet, drink, be teased, enjoy a band from any genre, or just get sloppy, and somehow… you looked better doing it at Hank’s. Every year for several years Hank’s was supposed to close, as the owner of the building wanted to build something else.
In December of 2018 the day arrived. Hank’s was actually going down. An epic celebration of this legendary place began with bands and parties, but wait… a new home for Hank’s? Hill Country, a delicious but decidedly more corporate organization, stepped in. Hill Country would lease its own music space to Hank’s and there would be a food court surrounding it. This sounded like a strange partnership. They would trade some of their Bukowski and in turn enjoy a superior stage and sound system along with nice food options at the new location. Hank’s owner, Julie Ipcar, said, “The Hank’s 2.0 never claimed to be a dive bar—you can’t just create a dive bar—we just wanted to continue the music, keep our staff employed, and add to the growing residential community in a different neighborhood in downtown Brooklyn. In terms of ‘corporate stylings’ we did have to go from using just cash to learning a POS system, which was funny, but we really stayed as true to the feeling of the old Hank’s as possible.” Feb 2, 2019 was the first show at Hank’s 2.0. The Hank’s team brought in a one-of-a-kind bar crew and a seasoned talent buyer in Lee Greenfeld, who was motivated to take the music program up a notch with the new space’s bigger capacity. It sounded good. The essential space was the same, but it had some Hank’s attitude, the iconic Christmas lights joined by the newly updated Hank’s logo. There was lots of excitement with plenty of patrons and curiosityseekers coming through. They had some really big nights, some better than others, but it was working! Suddenly, just as they were solidifying their momentum in late May, the lease was gone. Hank’s Saloon had its final show June 14, 2019.The Hank’s team, patrons, musicians, and the community were left feeling like someone had just done a mob hit on old Hank. Marc Glosserman, founder and CEO of Hill Country, said, “I’m upset about it too, and I know we let a lot of people down. There is nothing harder in our line of work than having to close a place—and especially a beloved one at that.” Marc stated, “Opening a new Hank’s in our space on Adams Street was literally a chance to give Hank’s a new lease on life. Julie and I hit it off, and it seemed like a clear win-win situation. Hank’s needed a new home, and Food Park had a vacant bar space and live music venue. Our mutual appreciation and passion for a certain type of live music made us kindred spirits. Things didn’t work out as we planned, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. We poured a lot of time, resources, and passion into making Food Park and Hank’s a real hangout/clubhouse in the neighborhood. Julie and her team were great partners, but the success of Hank’s was not enough
to overcome the challenges of the location. I wish things had turned out differently.” It is an unfortunate situation and clearly everyone had the best of intentions to make the new Hank’s work. When a music venue closes, the hardest hit are often the music industry employees, the talent buyers, and soundmen. This type of work can be more difficult to find on short notice than other positions. Lee Greenfeld, Hank’s Saloon talent buyer, said, “I am currently unemployed though I am still booking shows through my company Dead Flowers Productions, albeit very infrequently at the moment. I just had a show this past Saturday at Littlefield, and have a killer bill coming up in August at Gran Torino. Soon I’ll start booking again on the regular but for the moment I am enjoying time with my just-born daughter. Despite the name, Dead Flowers cannot be killed!” Hank’s sound mixer and Rock & Roll philosopher Kipp Elbaum stated, “I am struggling to get back on track. I have found some fill-in work. I have never been fired from a job in my life; I didn’t get fired here either. But it was more devastating, it was losing a family.” One has to wonder, can Hank’s rise again or has the
momentum been thwarted? “Yeah, it was definitely thwarted but that was really unavoidable, I guess,” said Greenfeld. “And it was totally out of my hands. I am really proud of the shows I booked in the short time we were open, and was really excited about what I had coming up. Sadly, with the closure, I had to cancel over twenty shows.” When asked if she was enjoying the freedom of not having Hank’s to run this summer, Julie Ipcar replied, “This is the first time since 1998 I haven’t owned and ran a bar, so it’s really weird. When you own a bar, you’re always on call no matter if you have a manager or not, since something can happen at any moment at any time of day or night. So yeah, I am not really missing any 4am phone calls in my life. At least for now...” So, another storied New York institution bites the dust. Can you really try a third time to revive Hank’s? “I don’t have any plans right now for a new Hank’s,” Julie said. “I’m still recovering from how the last one ended and all the work and time and energy and trust and faith that went into it. It was definitely heartbreaking. But if anyone has any ideas feel free to contact me!”
“Julie and her team were great partners, but the success of Hank’s was not enough to overcome the challenges of the location.” Star-Revue Section 2
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THE THAMES DELTA IS YOUR OLD BACKYARD by Mike Morgan
On Wilko Johnson Bang! - The Unstoppable Force Meets the Immovable Object From Oil City Confidential I’m listening to the latest Wilko Johnson record called Blow Your Mind. A few years before that, I listened a lot to his previous album Going Back Home, a joint venture with Roger Daltrey, The Who singer. And way before that, I listened to his various Wilko Johnson Band efforts, the records made when he was a member of Ian Drury’s Blockheads, and his own outfit called The Solid Senders, going all the way back to 1977. But I started my Wilko listening journey before that even with the band Dr. Feelgood. So that’s where I’ll begin. Wilko Johnson is an English electric guitarist and a singer. He performs edgy rock and roll. Most of his songs are his own creations. He plays his instrument without a pick. Wilko’s major influences musicianship-wise were Bo Diddley and Mick Green. You probably know who the former is. The latter was the guitar player for a British band called Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. They had a hit song called “Shakin’ All Over.” Around 1971, Wilko Johnson teamed up with some neighborhood pals who were toying with the idea of forming a musical group. That neighborhood is Canvey Island, Essex. It is on the Thames River estuary, an off-the-beaten track wasteland then, southeast of London. Canvey Island was a holiday resort popular in the 1950s amongst London’s East Enders, mostly working people, the proverbial have-nots. It was a Redneck Riviera of sorts. It suffered a devastating flood in 1953. During Wilko’s formative years, Canvey Island was all busted up and broken, reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen’s Asbury Park after its demise as a carnival seaside town. Large oceangoing freighters and tanker ships were piloted up and down the channel. A still functioning oil and gas refinery with storage tanks stood across the creek. Its flare stacks burned night and day. If you would carry on walking east through the mud flats and they miraculously formed a bridge, you would wind up in Belgium. This is where Wilko and his bandmates grew up. They called themselves Dr. Feelgood. They played a hybrid brand of rhythm and blues with mucho gusto, replete with songs from the likes of Chuck Berry, Lieber and Stoller (especially Riot in Cell Bock Number Nine), Muddy Waters, Rufus Thomas, and their own Wilko-penned songbooks. Dr. Feelgood arrived at the time of the Pub Rock movement, an up-fromthe-bottom reaction to prog rock and the over-excessive production afforded bands whose members usually had double-barreled names like St. John. The original Dr. Feelgood lineup was Lee Brilleaux, the Big Figure, John B. Sparks and Wilko Johnson. The band all wore suits, the kind that locals referred to as “bastard suits” (wide lapels and flared trousers). One commentator of that period described them as a bunch of characters who might have come from “an unsavory faction of the army.” They could have easily been mistaken for English gangsters, stick-up artists or smash and grabbers, genuine spivs. But instead they were rock and rollers. Dr. Feelgood was a mesmerizing band and they took the London club and pub circuit by storm. Joe Strummer of the Clash recalls them as “like a fucking
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machine.” They sweated their way into the hearts of a disaffected young hungry audience, one that felt abandoned by the sheer pomposity and nonaccessibility of what surrounded them. No future indeed. Without Dr. Feelgood, there might not have been the Punks, who came soon thereafter and made a living out of rejecting the usual. The first three Dr. Feelgood albums, Down by the Jetty, Malpractice and Stupidity are gems that belong in any serious collection. Dr. Feelgood were gangsters all right, but of the Johnny Guitar Watson variety. They were Gangsters of Love.
In Oil City Confidential, Wilko and the other band members fondly refer to Canvey Island as the Thames Delta, a clever play on the Mississippi Delta, showing respect for the music created in that part of America. This is why I wanted to write briefly about Wilko Johnson and Dr. Feelgood. Out of the most unlikely circumstances, a force can be unleashed that can capture the mood and light a spark of hope amid some desperation. Bruce Springsteen proved this, so did Muddy Waters, and so did Dr. Feelgood. Red Hook might not have produced its own Dr. Feelgood but it sure used to look like it should have.
Julien Temple, the English documentary filmmaker, made a trilogy of movies about British rock and roll, namely The Filth and the Fury (about The Sex Pistols), The Future is Unwritten (about Joe Strummer and the Clash), and the final one Oil City Confidential (about Dr. Feelgood). Canvey Island features prominently in Oil City Confidential. I recently watched it again to brush up for this article. What stands out in the film, which is a vivid portrayal of that time, of those particular individuals, and of that place, is how much Canvey Island then resembled the Red Hook, Brooklyn, that I first laid eyes upon in the late 1970s.
Finally, Wilko Johnson is not going away in a hurry. About seven years ago, he was diagnosed with a near fatal form of stomach cancer. He had an almost three-kilogram tumor removed, survived, and is still hammering away. And while my knowledge of Game of Thrones can be written on the head of a pin with ample room left over for the Lord’s Prayer, I have been told that he acted the role of the executioner early on in the television series. Treat yourselves and give Wilko Johnson a listen. He’s earned it and you will not feel shortchanged but rather enriched instead. After all, he could have hailed from Red Hook.
That was during the lengthy in-between period for Red Hook, when the working harbor and dockside industry had turned into a rust belt. This was before a new generation with seemingly loads of money saw Red Hook as a real estate investment and an opportunity to transform the neighborhood to better serve their interests. It was before IKEA, Fairway, ferry boats to and from Manhattan, and the cruise ship terminal. Red Hook was pretty much a commercially derelict area then, with corner bars, diners and the odd bodega hanging on. Residents were longtime homeowners who lived where their parents used to live, some bohemians and, of course, the people in the housing projects. They are still there. The mud channels were all churned up, abandoned boats lay high and dry atop them, and empty warehouses and old railway bogey wagons spoke of a different era, one that had gone the way of the buffalo. To borrow from Julien Temple, “there was an underlying sense of violence and a lot of alcohol.” He might as well have been talking about Red Hook, not Canvey Island. Like Canvey Island, Red Hook had one way in. You had to use the same way in to get out.
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All of the seminal Dr. Feelgood records and the most recent Wilko Johnson ones too are available for purchase on the internet, as well as the film Oil City Confidential.
August 2019
New music from Brooklyn’s Bathe by Roderick Thomas There’s a new wave of black artists tearing down, and redefining age-old commandments and narratives about their identities with uncompromising honesty, voice, and talent. One emerging band aims to be part of this movement. Bathe is a Brooklyn based duo comprised of Corey Smith - West and Devin Hobdy, guitarist/producer and singer-songwriter respectively. They met in 2014 while in college, quickly became friends and over time the group emerged. Bathe immerses you in flashes of tranquil guitar melodies, steady percussion, and sultry vocals, all while giving perspective to ideas around masculinity, blackness, millennial culture and their various intersections. On their debut EP, I’ll Miss You, released on May 3rd, 2019 Bathe presents us with what they’ve described as “beach R&B.” While beachy R&B isn’t an entirely new concept, Bathe’s perspective gives their music undeniable distinction in today’s R&B scene. I don’t want to put pressure on these lads, but they give me hope that R&B’s mainstream future will be more than the prominence of blue-eyed soul, watereddown versions of blue-eyed soul, rarely acknowledged black R&B singers, and “in da club, sippin’ bub” records ---- I said what I said. On their most popular song to date “Sure Shot,” Devin’s vocals float between soft falsettos and chest voice, while the guitar melodically stutters into the background. His voice has a relaxing quality to it, like listening to an ocean breeze --- airy and velvety. “Sure Shot” is a story about black masculinity and the uneasy rubric young boys are given to follow from early childhood. “On Sure Shot, we’re talking about paranoia while simply walking home and trying to bury it in machismo, dealing with past traumas and growing up black.” - Devin The spotlight on black activism has gotten brighter in recent years, and with that has come new ways
The Sultan Room, NYC’s newest bad-ass music venue
to address community issues, but also more opportunities to profit from black narratives and position oneself as an activist. Much like the “influencer” or “public figure” label on social media, the title of “activist” these days is a bit watered down. However, there doesn’t appear to be anything contrived or “forced woke” about Bathe’s work. They seem to understand the importance of telling authentic stories and what that means to communities. “We’re trying to make great art that reflects our experiences. The most important thing to me is making something that will be around for a very long time, I hope.” - Corey Good songwriters are hard to come by and often, artists struggle with presenting nuanced topics like racism or masculinity as digestible. Bathe’s songwriting/composing is in a phrase, well-executed. It’s hard to fit nuanced perspectives into a 3-minute song, but the great artists know how to make you feel like you’ve escaped for a moment, even if in reality you’re being musically submerged in complex social issues --- now playing, “This is a Man’s World” by James Brown. The R&B duo also discusses romance and ghosting on songs like “Kimmi.” Interestingly, ghosting seems to be taking up real estate on albums and EPs from more and more artists. Despite dating being more convenient and accessible to people nowadays, it seems access hasn’t given folks more long-lasting relationships. Simply put, you can just swipe right on
by Stefan Zeniuk
is its distinctive kitsch design. The venue is actually a resurrected 1930s-era Wisconsin supper club. The restaurant closed some years ago, and Varun Katarina and Tyler Erickson, the owners of the newly constructed Bushwick hotspot (and Wisconsin natives) bought the unique, brightly-colored artifacts at auction.
A bright new venue has blessed the shores of Brooklyn this summer. The Sultan Room, (associated with The Turk’s Inn) is the newest exploration in creative venues to open in Bushwick. The multi-room space features takeaway doner kebab, a sit-down restaurant (The Turk’s Inn), and a beautiful music room, The Sultan Room. It’s impeccably thought-out, well-designed for both sit-down shows and dance parties. One of the most obvious aspects of the space
The vibe is somewhere between a kitschy, exotica take on Middle Eastern dining (through a Midwestern eye), and a ‘70s disco club. Bright colors and swirling lines abound, but the music programming is perhaps the most interesting part of the space. Booking experimental jazz, edge-blurring rock bands, world music, R&B, and more, they certainly fall well into the Brooklyn pan-genre embrace of musical panoply. There are two shows in August that I’m particularly excited for.
the next person. Ghosting: typically, in dating, is the act of abruptly stopping all communication with an individual without warning or conversation. “Even brief relationships can have long-lasting effects on you” - Corey While it’s reassuring to see these talented artists effectively tell their stories, without smudging over their life’s details, we still need more voices, more artists like Bathe who are unafraid to be honest, and tell stories many people experience, but rarely hear or see discussed in popular music. Be sure to check out “Sure Shot” by Bathe and their latest EP I’ll Miss You, on Spotify. On August 14th, Billy Martin’s World Beats features drummer Martin (famously of Medeski, Martin, and Wood), along with Min Xiao-Fen, Shahzad Ismaily, and Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz. Xiao-Fen is a virtuosic pipa player, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument (perhaps most similar to the lute), who has collaborated with Björk and John Zorn, and has been prominent in incorporating the music into contemporary jazz and new music. Multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily has worked with people from Tom Waits to Will Oldham to John Zorn. Of Pakistani descent, he is always able to bring a multi-cultural musical perspective, crossing genres seamlessly. Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz is a bassist and oud player. These grouping of musicians is broad, and this show will be sure to present a fascinating meeting of minds. On August 23rd, there is a “Summer Exotica Surf Party!” Really, this seems tailor-made for this unique music destination, and, quite frankly, a perfect NYC summer night! Frank LoCrasto will be playing music from his new album “Lost Dispatch”, which he describes as “getting lost in low-fi tones of the exoticized tropics.” Morricone Youth have been a NYC staple since the late 90s, dedicated to film music, both original and reinterpreted by them. Often, they perform with projections of films connected to the music they’re playing. And finally, the night will be blessed with the funky soul of Ryan Scott & the Kind Buds, whose new album, “A Freak Grows in Brooklyn,” kind of says it all. The Sultan Room (https://thesultanroom.com) is located at 234 Starr Street in Bushwick.
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Prince product keeps appearing by Kurt Gottschalk
The enormity of unreleased material Prince left behind him is the stuff of legend and the issues around making it available are complicated to say the least—from questions of ownership to the fact that Prince himself (as he made clear during his life) didn’t want his unfinished or abandoned projects made public. Even so, the late master’s heirs and his record label (neither of whom he had smooth relationships with) have played it more than safe—with, of course, an eye on profits—since his 2016 death. A triple CD reissue of Purple Rain was issued in 2017, including outtakes, remixes and a bonus live DVD. The following year brought Piano and a Microphone, an album of Prince alone in the studio, working through songs and playing stellar versions of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” and the gospel song “Mary Don’t You Weep,” famously recorded by Aretha Franklin. Earlier this year, 1999’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (perhaps his most lackluster record) was reissued with an album of remixes previously only available through his fan club. Now we have the fourth official, posthumous issue: Originals, which collects Prince’s demos of songs he gave to other artists. It’s worth putting these recordings into the timeline of the artist. Piano was recorded in 1983 and includes a take on the career-defining “Purple Rain,” that would come out the following year. And of course, the Purple Rain set is comprised of material from that era. With one exception (“Love … Thy Will Be Done,” later recorded by Martika), Originals collects demos recorded between 1981 and 1985. Prince battled with Warner Bros. about not wanting to simply recreate his greatest success. With him out of the way, the label is now free to do it themselves. And we’re free to reap the rewards. The songs on Originals aren’t his best and with a few exceptions they weren’t hits for the singers he gave them to. Since Prince produced and often played the instrumental tracks on the final versions, the demos aren’t terribly different from the released versions, either. That said, his 2½ minute “Make Up” has an assured
sense of cool that the group Vanity 6 couldn’t pull off. “100 MPH” is a thrill ride compared to the version by Mazarati. (Prince also gave them his 1990 hit “Kiss,” then took it back again.) And “Jungle Love,” written by Prince with Morris Day and Jesse Johnson of the Time, is a blast no matter who does it. The Bangles, on the other hand, best him with their “Manic Monday,” adding a brief bridge that seals the song with a kiss. The keeper is the 1984 demo of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a huge hit for Sinéad O’Connor in 1990. The song was first recorded by protégé band the Family, and Prince released a version sung by himself and Rosie Gaines in 1993. But none of them compares to the original. The tick-tock organ counting the seconds, the synth horns augmented by Eric Leeds’ real saxophone, and Prince singing a ballad in the lower register (something he rarely did) are just part
of what make the song so perfect. The other part is just that he was Prince. As enticing as the prospect is, there’s good reason not to go into the fabled vault and release things Prince didn’t want out there. It’s a thin compromise to release alternate versions of songs his fans already know, but it’s also a safer bet. Still, there are plenty of records Prince put out during his lifetime that deserve wider release: full fan-club mp3 albums that were never pressed to disc and The Truth, which would be known as one of his great albums of the ‘90s had it not been buried on a (sanctioned) 4-disc set of outtakes. Maybe Warner Bros. and the Prince estate will get around to honoring his memory by stepping outside the expected, as Prince himself did every step of his career.
Rhythm is Our Business - Part Two by Mike Fiorito
While the African American impact on jazz is recognized and well established, the contribution of Italian immigrants on jazz is not. Italians arrived in America playing mandolin, violin, guitar and piano. They brought traditions of Southern-Italian marching bands, opera and folk histories. Whether Neapolitan, Sicilian or Calabrese, they understood passion and romanticism in music. And the Italian propensity for humor and style contributed to the theater of early jazz. In addition to outstanding musicianship, Italian performers were also entertaining. So why do these facts go unmentioned in many mainstream jazz documentaries and literature? Ken Burns, for example, neglects to mention the impact of Italians on jazz in his popular “Jazz” documentary. He makes one mention of Nick LaRocca suggesting that LaRocca was one of the white musicians who got on the jazz bandwagon only when jazz became popular. However, Burns doesn’t mention that LaRocca wrote “Tiger Rag”
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and that he was one of the many influential New Orleans Sicilian musicians who forged jazz history. Even Louis Prima doesn’t get a mention. Although Burns features Benny Goodman’s version of “Sing, Sing, Sing,” he never tells us that Prima wrote it. Burns disregards the great fount of Sicilian jazz musicians that came from New Orleans and never explores conditions that put them in the creative center of the development of jazz. Consequently, people like Wingy Manone, Sharkey Bonano, Leon Rappolo, John Signorelli, Ted Fiorito, Eddie Lang, Adrian Rollini, Sam Butera and countless other Italian American artists who shaped the soul and direction of jazz in America remain obscure. My intention here is not to provide a comprehensive history about each artist or to enumerate a list of facts and dates. My objective is to offer my personal experience with their art and acknowledge the Italian contribution to American Jazz.
Sharkey Bonano Arturo Toscanini heard Sharkey in New York then hired him to come to a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic to play a few solo numbers for his
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orchestra. After Sharkey played, Toscanini berated his trumpet section at length because they couldn’t blow tones out of their instruments like Bonano. Also known as Sharkey Banana or Sharkey Bananas, he was a jazz trumpeter, band leader and vocalist.
Wingy was born in New Orleans in 1900. Like Prima, he was a dazzling trumpet player, often interspersing patter with virtuosic trumpet leads. Unlike Prima, he frequently played as a sideman on recording sessions, though he also performed as a bandleader.
Joseph “Sharkey” Bonano was born in the Milneberg section of New Orleans in 1904. Milneberg had scores of cabarets on the boardwalk overlooking the water. Here, white and black jazz musicians listened and stole each other’s performance styles and ideas. Bonano played lefthanded like Nick LaRocca. He amused his audiences with his shimmy dances and comical routines. Out of the many white New Orleans jazz musicians like Leon Roppolo, Tony Parenti, and Santo Pecora, Sharkey distinguished himself with his terrific tone and entertaining style. Riding out the Depression playing in small clubs around New Orleans, Bonano finally landed a residency at Prima’s Penthouse. When Prima’s Penthouse folded, he was lucky enough to attract the attention of a Greenwich Village tavern owner, Nick Ronge�. Bonano wrote a number of classic tunes like “Yes She Do-No She Don’t,” “I’m Satisfied with My Gal,” and “Wash It Clean.” He also recorded popular songs of the day like “When You’re Smiling,” “Panama,” and countless others. At the end of his career, Bonano returned to his hometown, New Orleans. He became a wildly successful tourist attraction. In some respects, he was at the height of his career at this point, well established in New Orleans jazz history. He never stopped his shimmying and stru�ng until the end.
Wingy Manone “Rhythm is Our Business” is the quintessential statement for Italians in New Orleans. Rhythm, virtuosity, style and theater describe the Italian American contribution to jazz as typified by Wingy.
At the age of ten, he lost his arm in a streetcar accident. Afterwards, he was cruelly called “Wingy” by the people he knew. Playing the trumpet with one arm, Wingy broke his teeth playing on Mississippi River Boats. He then moved on, playing in New York, St. Louis and Chicago. Like Prima and Bonano, Wingy was a highly skilled musician who entertained his audiences. Just listening to his recordings “Wingy Manone and His Orchestra 1935-1936,” and “Wingy Manone and His Orchestra 1944,” you hear the comic vocal style and humorous lyrics. For many years, Joe Venuti sent Wingy a single cufflink on his birthday as a practical joke.
Leon Roppolo When you listen to the early classic recordings of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, you hear the searing melodic solos of Leon Roppolo’s clarinet emerging from the fray of Dixeland band sounds. I personally find it magical that you can connect with 100-year-old sounds recorded on poor quality technology, and without the benefit of modern recording techniques. Roppolo’s clarinet rises like heat from the records. An ear that is not listening will not hear the powerful artistic genius of his clarinet. Someone who is listening will hear the brilliant high notes and the sheer energy
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projected across time, pushed out with explosive urgency. You can imagine Roppolo standing in front of a microphone twisting and contorting, playing with all of the intensity of a live performance. Recording was a relatively new art. Who knew how to arrange instruments and solos in the recording industry? “Make it sound live, give energy and vibrancy,” is probably the direction the players were given. Leon Roppolo was born March 16, 1901. Best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Roppolo also played saxophone and guitar.
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Italian Jazz Guys (continued from previous page)
Leon Joseph Roppolo was born in Lutcher, Louisiana near New Orleans. His family of Sicilian origin moved to the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans about 1912. Roppolo first learned music playing the violin. This is a very common Italian American phenomenon: bringing classical training and tonality into jazz. He was a fan of the Italian and non-Italian marching bands he heard in the streets of New Orleans and, as such, identified strongly with the clarinet. Bringing the knowledge of music, he developed from violin, Roppolo soon excelled at the clarinet. He played with his childhood friends Paul Mares and George Brunies for parades, parties, and at Milneburg on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. In his teens Roppolo decided to leave home to travel with the band of Bee Palmer, which soon became the nucleus for the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. The Rhythm Kings became (along with King Oliver‘s band) one of the best regarded hot jazz bands in Chicago in the early 1920s. Many considered Roppolo to be the star. His style influenced many younger Chicago musicians, most famously Benny Goodman. Some critics have called Roppolo’s work on the Rhythm Kings Gennett Records, the first recorded jazz solos. After the breakup of the Rhythm Kings in Chicago, Roppolo and Paul Mares headed east to try their luck on the New York City jazz scene. Contemporary musicians recalled Roppolo making some recordings with Original Memphis Five and California Ramblers musicians in New York in 1924. These sides were presumably unissued, or if issued, unidentified. Roppolo and Mares then returned home to New Orleans where they briefly reformed the Rhythm Kings and made some more recordings. After this, Roppolo worked with other New Orleans bands such as the Halfway House Orchestra, with which he recorded on saxophone.
In his later life, Roppolo, looking old and feeble far beyond his age, would come home for periods when a relative or friend could look after him and he would sit in with local bands on saxophone or clarinet.
Frank Signorelli Frank Sinatra sings a version of Frank Signorelli’s “I’ll Never Be the Same” that goes right into your soul. The melody hooks into your head. Eddie Lang recorded a guitar version of it capturing a different mood of the melody. In Lang’s hands it’s less melancholy and more playful. Signorelli also wrote “Stairway to the Stars,” and “A Blues Serenade” in the ‘30s. Sadly he was otherwise scarcely recorded. Frank Signorelli was born in 1901 in New York City. Like many of the musicians in this review, Signorelli was an important player behind the scenes and an accompanying pianist with several notable bands. Many of these musicians played in the same ensembles and backed bigger named artists on countless records.
Signorelli appeared on many classic records with Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, and Eddie Lang during the era, plus on a countless number of recordings with dance bands and backing commercial singers. In 1917, with Phil Napoleon, he was a founding member of the Original Memphis Five. Signorelli was briefly a member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1921. In 1927, he was in Adrian Rollini’s legendary New Yorker group. He played with a newer version of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1936-1938), worked with Paul Whiteman for a few months in 1938, and played regularly during the ‘40s and ‘50s (including at Nick’s with Bobby Hackett) and helped organize the revived Original Memphis Five. Mike Fiorito is Associate Editor for Mad Swirl Magazine. His most recent book, Call Me Guido, published by Ovunque Siamo Press, explores three generations of an Italian-American family through the lens of the Italian song tradition. As poet Joey Nicoletti (Thundersnow) writes, these are “the stories of relatives, potato farmers, performers, imagined aristocrats, and the ballads they sing.” John Keahy (Seeking Sicily) says, “This collection, in quick bites, informs, entertains, and surprises---a masterpiece of storytelling.” His short story collections, Hallucinating Huxley and Freud’s Haberdashery Habit, were published by Alien Buddha Press. Mike Fiorito’s writings have appeared in Ovunque Siamo, Narratively, Mad Swirl, Pif Magazine, The Honest Ulsterman, Chagrin River Review, The New Engagement and many other publications. For more information, please visit: callmeguido. com or email callmeguido2@gmail.com Part Two in this series will appear in the August Section 2 of the Star-Revue
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August 2019
REVUE MUSIC AUGUST Park Slope:
Union Hall, 702 Union St. 8/2 Whiplash, The
Scientists; 8/3 Picture This, DJ Bengy; 8/6 Nore Davis; 8/8 Dave Mizzoni; 8/9 Eliza Skinner; 8/10 Michelle Buteau, DJ Nina; 8/14 Outcast; 8/16 Open Flame; 8/23 Friends who Folk, Bardia Ali Salimi; 8/26 Backfat Variety
Prospect Park Bandshell 8/2 Nosaj Thing DJ
Set / Kimbra / Bells Atlas; 8/3 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / Lou Reed Tai Chi Day; 8/6 Mac DeMarco plus special guests / Ex Hex; 8/8 Ailey II; 8/9 Felicia Collins, Toshi Reagon, Siedah Garrett, Kecia Lewis, and others; 8/10 Bomba Estéreo / Delsonido
Freddy’s, 625 5th Ave 8/2 Knotshore Acoustic,
Correspondents, Sebastian O Live; 8/3 Fellaheen, Mercury Matinee; 8/4 Matt Philbrick’s Lyric Bowl - Acoustic; 8/8 Gabby Steinfeld; 8/9 Sea Reinas Music, Andy Bianco Trio, Funk-N-Soul Dance Party W Fred Thomas; 8/10 Songwriter’s Deathmatch With Host Dave Keener, Cherry Soul, Helena Jones; 8/14 Song-Writer Night With Ruby Rae And Friends; 8/16 ERC The Party, With The Electro Rhythm Collective; 8/17 Bushicks, Cherry Soul; 8/21 Humans Against Music Karaoke; 8/23 Jook Joint Friday, Fred Thomas Late-Night Funk-N-Soul Dance Party; 8/24 Traditional Music Session; 8/30 Taran And The Masses Sarovar Tour, Daniel Tortoledo
Barbes, 376 9th St
8/2 The Crooked Trio, Opera On Tap, Locobeach; 8/3 Brian Prunka, Robin Aigner, Banda De Los Muertos; 8/4 Ben Monder, Stephane Wrembel; 8/5 Brain Cloud; 8/6 MYK Freedman, Slavic Soul Party; 8/7 Andy Statman, The Mandingo Ambassadors; 8/8 The Pre-War Ponies, Ethan Lipton; 8/9 The Crooked Trio, Pedro Giraudo; 8/10 Brian Prunka, Spanglish Fly; 8/11 Ben Monder, Stephane Wrembel; 8/12 Brain Cloud; 8/13 Slavic Soul Party; The Mandingo Ambassadors; 8/15 MYK Freedman; 8/16 The Crooked Trio, Regional De NY; 8/17 Brian Prunka, Bill Carney’s Jug Addicts; 8/18 Ben Monder, Max Johnson’s Heroes Trio; 8/19 Brain Cloud; 8/20 Slavic Soul Party; 8/21 The Mandingo Ambassadors; 8/22 Arthur Vint & Associates; 8/23 The Crooked Trio, Big Lazy; 8/25 Ben Monder, Brian Prunka; 8/26 Brain Cloud; 8/27 Slavic Soul Party; 8/28 The Mandingo Ambassadors; 8/30 The Crooked Trio; 8/31 Brian Prunka, Tokala
East Village/ Lower East Side
Drom 85, Avenue A
8/2 Jah Divizion, MD & The Healers, Hot Rabbit; 8/3 Sangha Tierra, Rico Suave, D’marquesina; 8/6 Silver Arrow Band; 8/9 New Bojaira, Zorongo Blu; 8/10 New York School of Burlesque;
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8/13 CEG; 8/15 Atlas the Plug; 8/16 Azam Ali; 8/20 Silver Arrow Band; 8/23 Demir Demirkan; 8/24
Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St.
8/2 Meyru, Common Ground, SCR, Afternoon Men; 8/3 Andrew Belle; 8/5 Tom Walker; 8/6 Keane; 8/8 Let’s See, What Else?, Dulce, Sloan, Chris Distefano; 8/9 Yeek; 8/14 Avi Kaplan; 8/15 Mabel; 8/17 Slaughter Beach, Dog; 8/20 Alexander Howard; 8/23 Oso Oso; 8/24 Blonde Otter
Coney Island Baby, 169 Avenue A
8/3 THe Dollyrots, The Pink Spiders, Palmyra Delran; 8/4 Gesserit, Colatura, Sooner, Henry Something; 8/6 Astronots, Car Astro; 8/7 Cecile Maria, Bunny X, Beverly Girl; 8/8 The Veldt, Haunted Horses NYC, The 1865; 8/15 Preachervan; 8/22 Mark Rose
Mercury Lounge, 217 E Houston St.
8/2 Boot (EP Release), Marinara, Pom Pom Squad, Huck (Single Release), Mons Vi; 8/3 Bush Tetras Third Man Record Release Show, Hi-Rez; 8/4 Will Leet “Good Time Guy” Release Show, Taiwanese Waves Afterparty; 8/5 Craig Kierce “Parthenon” Single Release, DOG, Michael Wilbur, Bluffs, Lel; 8/6 Sir Woman, Hibou; 8/7 Andy Suzuki & The Method, Stalley; 8/8 BJ Barham, Control Top; 8/9 Anthony Raneri, E.N Young; 8/10 Sita Virgin, Petra, The Red Party presents SYZYGYX LIVE; 8/11 20 Years of Enema of the State by Blink 182, The Steepwater Band; 8/12 Frands, Apathy, Celph Titled; 8/13 Sweet Lorraine, Lion & Spaniel, Digital Frontier, Chompers; 8/14 Kill The Alarm, Tiger Darrow, Broke Royals; 8/15 Mutual Benefit, Tucked In, The Minute Before; 8/16 Bandits on the Run, Stereo League, Cold Weather Company, Evan Petruzzi, Last Night NYC: An Indie Dance Party; 8/17 Kitty, Bardo Pond; 8/18 Eytan Mirsky, Vaureen, LST, Triptychs; 8/19 Balast, Nour Harkati, Bedon; 8/20 Enso Taves, Patrick and the Swayzees, Small Boss, Kwaku, LYKMYNDYD, Oswald Fresh; 8/21 New Parlor, Tribe Friday, Tim Riehm, Eve Essex, NYOBS; 8/23 Swanky Tiger, Lily Jeanette, Brother Reverend, Kendall Street Company 2-Night Pass, Kendall Street Company; 8/24 Groove Collective, Kendall Street Company; 8/25 Lizzie No ‘Vanity’ Release Show, Gardenia, Brook Davis, The Bright Smoke; 8/26 Frank Bango, Red Widow, Elliot Lee; 8/27 Mames Babegenush, Slavic Soul Party, King Jane Album Release Show, Jack & The Beanstalk; 8/28 The Narcotix, Sheen Marina, Kevin Wynd; 8/29 Southern Avenue, Moon City Masters; 8/30 Jonah Matranga, KatMaz “Let it Go” Single Release Show
Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery 8/2 Mighty Brother,
Wreath, The Adam Douglass Triage, Live Well, Nose Dive, The Hungers, Bye Week; 8/3 Dylan Emmet, Joe Wood, Leah Kate, Amanda Jean & The Legends,
Drea, Casey Yugo, Doll XO; 8/4 Above the Din, I Am The Polish Army, Castle Black, Mora Tau, Beggars Banquet; 8/5 The Ricos, Tylerxcordy, Anna Shoemaker, Ricky James, Monica Riskey; 8/7 Sami Stevens & The Man I Love, Peaceful Faces, Joanna Sternberg, John Cushing; 8/8 Roses Grove Band; 8/9 Valipala, Aberdeen, Jose Santiago, Sonic; 8/10 CJ Ramone; 8/11 Mackenzie Leighton, Matchstick Johnny, Eric Sommer, The Company Stores, Ferdinand the Bull, Choirgirl, The Ben Mizrach Quartet, Supla, Victoria Wells; 8/13 Fire Letters, Dos Blanca Sellan, Mellodrone, Air Traffic Controller, Town Meeting, Emily Gabriele, Carolyn Weller Band; 8/14 Kai Roy’al & Friends, Shower Thoughts, Middle School, Epic Order Band, The Blue Jean Junkies, Turbo Goth; 8/15 The Fuzzy Underbelly, Pend; 8/16 Earthquake Lights, Where’s Tino; 8/17 Don’t Believe In Ghosts, Drive! Drive!, Sepoy, Raincoat, Wilmah, Soular T, Papa Bare, Prof, J, Young Jimmy; 8/18 Bathtub Gin, David Didonato’s Metropolis; 8/20 Sohlaroids, The Poynte, Winterwolf; 8/22 Un!ty, Tatiana Owens, Jennifer Denali, Soul Khan, Tyler-Marie, Lou Apollon Trio, Aleif Hamdan Group,
Friends
West Village
Mezzrow, 163 W. 10th St. 8/2 Wayne Escoff-
ery, George Cables & Ugonna Okegwo, Pianist Noah Haidu; 8/3 Wayne Escoffery, George Cables & Ugonna Okegwo, Pianist Jon Davis; 8/4 Solo Piano Salon with Spike Wilner, Saul Rubin Trio, Panas Athanatos & Friends; 8/5 Dave Meder & Miguel Zenon, Guitarist Pasquale Grasso; 8/6 Roxy Coss & Mike King; 8/7 Billy Test, Evan Gregor & Ian Froman, Pianist Isaiah J. Thompson; 8/8 Nitai Hershkovits, Peter Bernstein & Rick Rosato, Spike Wilner & Pasquale Grasso; 8/9 Kirk Lightsey Trio, Pianist Eden Ladin; 8/10 Kirk Lightsey Trio, Bassist Neal Caine; 8/11 Solo Piano Salon with Spike Wilner, Evan Arntzen, Jon-Erik Kellso & Mathis Picard, Guitarist Greg Ruggiero; 8/12 Roni Ben-Hur, Harvie S & Vince Ector, Guitarist Pasquale Grasso; 8/13 Marty Elkins, Steve Ash, Lee Hudson & Jon-Erik Kellso, Vocalist Naama Gheber; 8/14 Pianist Nick Masters; 8/15 Steve LaSpina, Luis Perdomo & Ron Affif, Spike Wilner & Pasquale Grasso; 8/16 Luis Perdomo & Rufus Reid, Pianist Joe Davidi-
Frank Bango has been quietly going about his business for the last 15 years, making some of the best and most original pop music that almost no one has ever heard. But while Bango has consistently remained further under the radar than just about any other artist of his caliber, he’s never let anonymity go to his head. Bango and longtime songwriting partner Richy Vesecky cite the golden age of The Brill Building as their primary influence. Monday, August 26, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street Grettch, Jason Abraham & The Message; 8/23 Hotbed, RFA; 8/24 Jimmy & The Band, Talay, Hannah Winkler, Missy Mcintosh, The MDG Crew; 8/25 Kay Dom, RY, Mizzy Dagreat, Benicio Boi, Grey Society, Kobe Jamero & The Family, Josiah & Esseye, HYF, SBA Productions, Ty Reezy, Young Evo, Kage of GOD, Andre Mae Gold, Swaviie Macc, Ni$ha, Sheem Papers, Loone Don AKA Mr. Get R, Arena & Ward, Jesse Maclaine; 8/26 Half Hadley; 8/27 Ess See, Christina Hart; 8/28 Aces Nation; 8/29 Ray And
an; 8/17 Luis Perdomo & Rufus Reid, Pianist Jon Davis; 8/18 Solo Piano Salon with Spike Wilner, Alan Broadbent, Don Falzone & Billy Mintz, Guitarist Chris Flory; 8/19 Jim Ridl, Steve Wilson & Jay Anderson, Guitarist Pasquale Grasso; 8/20 Vickie Burns, Art Hirahara & Sam Bevan, Vocalist Vanessa Perea; 8/21 Richard Johnson, Pianist Sullivan Fortner; 8/22 Cynthia Sayer, Charlie Giordano & Mike Weatherly, Spike Wilner & Pasquale Grasso; 8/23 Lawrence
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Fields, Pianist Tardo Hammer; 8/24 Lawrence Fields, Pianist Miki Yamanaka; 8/25 Mezzrow Classical Salon with David Oei, Ben Waltzer, Matt Penman & Gerald Cleaver, John Merrill & Friends; 8/26 Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz & Gary Versace, Guitarist Pasquale Grasso; 8/27 JD Walter, Julius Rodriguez & Ben Wolfe, Vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan; 8/28 Michael Valeanu, Jake Chapman & Julian Smith, Pianist Sullivan Fortner; 8/29 David O’Rourke, Jim Ridl & Lorin Cohen, Spike Wilner & Pasquale Grasso; 8/30 Ethan Iverson, Pianist Pete Malinverni; 8/31 Ethan Iverson, Pianist Greg Murphy
Smalls Jazz Club, 138 W 10th St.
8/1 Craig Handy Quartet, Alexander Claffy Quintet, Mimi Jones and The Lab Session; 8/2 Vince Ector: Organatomy Trio, Mike DiRubbo Quartet, Corey Wallace DUBtet “After-hours”; 8/3 Vince Ector: Organatomy Trio, Mike DiRubbo Quartet, Philip Harper Quintet; 8/4 Larry Ham/Woody Witt Quartet, Ralph Lalama & “Bop-Juice”, David Gibson “After-hours”; 8/5 Ari Hoenig Abarè Trio, Joe Farnsworth Quartet feat. Jeremy Pelt, After-hours Jam Session; 8/6 Eli Degibri Quartet, Justin Robinson Quartet, After-hours Jam Session; 8/7 Kirk Lightsey Quartet, Darryl Yokley Quartet, Julius Rodriguez Trio “After-hours”; 8/8 Kirk Lightsey Quartet, Brent Birckhead Quartet, Mimi Jones and The Lab Session; 8/9 Dave Schumacher: Chicago 3 +2, Robin Eubanks Quintet, JD Allen “After-hours”; 8/10 Dave Schumacher: Chicago 3 +2, Robin Eubanks Quintet, Wallace Roney Jr. “After-hours”; 8/11 Joey “G-Clef” Cavaseno Quartet, Steve Nelson Quartet, David Gibson “After-hours”; 8/12 Lucas Pino Nonet, Emilio Modeste Quartet, After-hours Jam Session; 8/13 Bruce Harris Quintet, Abraham Burton Quartet, After-hours Jam Session; 8/14 Andrew Hartman Quartet, Noam Wiesenberg Quintet, Charles Blenzig “After-hours”; 8/15 The Fabalous Eric Johnson Trio, Akiko Tsuruga Quartet, Malick Koly “After-hours”; 8/16 Philip Dizack Quintet, Darrell Green Quintet, JD Allen “After-hours”; 8/17 Philip Dizack Quintet, Darrell Green Quintet, Philip Harper Quintet; 8/18 Ned Goold Quartet, Jon Beshay Quartet, David Gibson “After-hours”; 8/19 Kenn Salters Haven, Joe Farnsworth Quartet feat. Jeremy Pelt, After-hours Jam Session; 8/20 Phillip Johnston & The Silent Six, Frank Lacy’s Tromboniverse, After-hours Jam Session; 8/21 Tom Dempsey/ Tim Ferguson Quartet, Harold Mabern Trio, Micah Thomas Trio “After-hours”; 8/22 Ben Allison & Think Free, Bill Goodwin Trio, Mimi Jones and The Lab Session; 8/23 Jed Levy Quartet, Lew Tabackin Trio, Corey Wallace DUBtet “After-hours”; 8/24 Jed Levy Quartet, Lew Tabackin Trio, Eric Wyatt “After-hours”; 8/25 Chris Byars Original Sextet, Aaron Johnson Quintet, David Gibson “After-hours”; 8/26 Ari Hoenig Trio, Giveton
Gelin Quintet, After-hours Jam Session; 8/27 Spike Wilner Trio, Josh Evans Quintet, After-hours Jam Session; 8/28 Fat Cat Big Band, Taber Gable Quintet, Charles Blenzig “After-hours”; 8/29 Harish Raghavan Quintet, Carlos Abadie Quintet, Malick Koly “After-hours”; 8/30 Rodney Jones Quartet, Jaleel Shaw Group, JD Allen “After-hours”; 8/31 Rodney Jones Quartet, Jaleel Shaw Group, Brooklyn Circle
Williamsburg
Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St.
8/2 Gadadu, Laura Lacy; 8/3 Joe Yoga, Patches, Tim Kuhl; 8/4 Mary-Elaine Jenkins, Stathi; 8/5 Biryani Boys, Charlie Schlinkert; 8/6 Katherine Redlus, The Cooler Heads; 8/7 Matt DeMello & The Significant Looks; 8/8 Tavo Carbone; 8/9 Marguerite Stern, Julian Yeboah; 8/10 The Tamps, Jon Moor, Rikki Will, The Mayberries; 8/11 My Dentist’s Son, The Winter Court, Russell Johnson; 8/12 Jon Ladeau’ 8/13 Keeping it Fresh; 8/14 Laura Danae; 8/15 Jessica Clinton, Monster Furniture; 8/16 Rue Snider, Pantaleon; 8/18 Lindsay Clark, Ruby and the Fox, Timothy Cleary; 8/19 Todd Caldwell; 8/20 Dougie Poole, Swamp People; 8/21 Andrew Victor; 8/22 Ghost Town, Satin Nickel, Dor Sagi; 8/23 Zach Nestel-Platt, Emma Bowers; 8/24 The Midoestes, Kira Metcalf, A. Harlana, Mississippi Cotten; 8/25 Donny Rosentrater, Charlie Rauh, Cameron Mizell, Alex Topornykcy Trio; 8/26 John Shannon; 8/29 Kristen Estelle; 8/31 Hayden Arp
Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe St. 8/2 John
Kadlecik, Marc Brownstein, Aron Manger, Mike Greenfield; 8/3 Ladies of the 2000s; 8/4 Rhyme & Reason; 8/7 Howlin Rain, Ryley Walker; 8/8 Marchfourth; 8/9 Thunderpussy; 8/10 Donavon Frankenreiter; 8/11 Uncle Ebenezer, Unspoken Tradition; 8/14 The Fatties, Shira Elias, Togetherness Orchestra; 8/15 Bonerama, Stooges Brass Band; 8/16-8/17 Galactic, Erica Falls; 8/18 Collier Trio; 8/21 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony; 8/22 Nels Cline, Vernon Reid, Brandon Seabrook, John Harrison; 8/23 Lost Bayou Ramblers, Poguetry, Spider Stacy, Cait O’Riordan; 8/24 Hieroglyphics; 8/29 Wigjam; 8/31 Frank White
Knitting Factory, 361 Metropolitan Ave
8/2 Thin Lear, Swimming Bell, Raised By Tigers; 8/3 Tilian, Landon Tewers, Brent Walsh, Rivals; 8/4 Lucid, Krish, Jovian, Corteez, Kash, Siickmiind, Vennessy, Daneil Lewis; 8/6 American Fever, The Poynt, The Living Strange, Melissa & The Mannequins; 8/7 Shawn James, Common Jack; 8/8 Legendary Shack Shakers, JD Pinkus; 8/9 Nevermind; 8/10 The Emo Band; 8/12 Tyler Cassidy; 8/13 Nappy Roots; 8/14 N.A.O. Quelly; 8/15 SAMOHT; 8/16 Straight To Hell; 8/17 Rose Garden; 8/19 Ronnie Baker; 8/20 BRKN Love; 8/21
August 2019, Page 41
REVUE MUSIC AUGUST ShwizZ, Deltaphonic, Chemeleonize; 8/22 Harry and the Potters, Glockabelle; 8/23 Spencer Sutherland; 8/27 SpicyJ*sus; 8/28 Slut Magic, Trick blue, His Sweatshirt, Hennessy
Thursday: Born This Way; 8/30 EXTRA: A Burlesque Revue; 8/31 Red Light Special: A Night Of Urban Burlesque®
Bushwick
Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N. 6th Nowadays, St.8/2 Cayetana; 8/6 Tom Cooper Ave
Walker; 8/9 Drab Majesty; 8/12 The Moth GrandSLAM XLVIII; 8/17 Electric Youth; 8/23 Alex Lahey; 8/24 Moon Hooch
Union Pool, 484 Union Ave.8/3 THe Giraffe’s;
8/4 Summer Thunder, Innocent, Sugar Life; 8/5 Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir; 8/8 Activity; 8/10 Spirit Family Reunion; 8/11 Summer Thunder; 8/12 Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir; 8/14 Ian Ferguson; 8/16 Devon Welsh; 8/18 Summer Thunder; 8/19 The Binky Griptite Orchestra; 8/25 Summer Thunder; 8/26 Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir
56-06
8/2 Analog Soul; 8/3 Beta Librae, Lena Willikens; 8/4 Justin Carter, Josey Rebelle; 8/6 Taylor Bratches; 8/9 The Bunker X with Mozhgan X Mike Servito and DJ Olive X Raz Mesinai; 8/10 Aurora Halal, Simo Cell, Raw Unkut; 8/11 Mister Saturday Night, Eamon Harkin & Justin Carter; 8/12 Clay Wilson; 8/16 DJ Python, DJ Nigga Fox; 8/17 Kode9, Lee Gamble, Akanbi b2b DJ Temporary; 8/18 Eamon Harkin; 8/20 Kiosk Man; 8/23 Levon Vincent, Olive T; 8/24 Physical Therapy, Blawan; 8/25 Honcho; 8/30 Eamon Harkin, Palms Trax, Roza Terenzi; 8/31 FNV (JT Almon and Michael Magnan), JD Samson and Amber Valentine
The Red Pears, Dances; 8/13 Molly Drag, Elija Wolf; 8/15 Lotion, Fuga, Stigmatism, Dollhouse; 8/25 The Western Den; 8/28 Gabe Goodman, Joanna Sternberg, Another Michael
Pitsiokos/Garcia Chris Pitsiokos - saxophone Violeta Garcia (Argentina) - cello
est II, Modern Color, Lurk, Soul Bend, Plight, Current Mood; 8/4 Reckoning Force, Boiling Point, Gel At The Footlight; 8/5 Who’s Mike Is It Anyway; 8/7 Lost Dog, Frankie Valet, Sailor Boyfriend, Toobin; 8/8 Loren Beri, Astral Bodies, Kate Victor, Emily Brown, Cory Sterling; 8/9 Merde; 8/10 The Ill Kata Debut, High Pony, Pocket ProtectorSpacer, 3Ft, The Black Black; 8/11 The Vivisectors, The Cameramen, Nightzoo, Ladd Franco Group; 8/12 Who’s Mike Is It Anyway; 8/14 Tetchy, Drug Couple, Looms; 8/17-8/18 Knuckle Down Records Fest; 8/19 Who’s Mike Is It Anyway; 8/24 Mars Motel, Heavenly Faded, Theadora Curtis, Gachette; 8/25 Turbo Goth, Good In The Dark, I Am The Polish Army; Veda Rays; 8/26 Who’s Mike Is It Anyway;
SUN 8/04, 8:30 PM Artemis Sextet Art Lande - piano Will Bernard - guitar Bruce Williamson - woodwinds Brian Drye - trombone Mike McGinnis - woodwinds Matt Wilson - drums
IBEAM 168 7th Street Footlight, 465 Sene- between 2nd and ca Ave 8/2 The (Not Too) 3rd Ave. Late Show; 8/3 Trashland Zinef- ibeambrooklyn.com
Windjammer, 552 Grandview Ave, (718) 456-5267 8/2
Practical Classics Playing Live! 8/3 The Cosmic Factory, Lackadazies, Hot Knives; 8/4 Crooked Ghost//Escrofula//Psychic Judge; 8/9 Ian Epps, Warren Ng, Post Moves; 8/10 The Piggies, The Jay Vons, Jacques Le Coque; 8/11 QWAM, Daddies, Nightcreature
The Haggard Kings are a 5 piece country band from New York City that plays classic country favorites and exciting new originals. This band keeps the tradition of the Bakersfield sound alive with originals like “Coffee and Alcohol” and “Empty Halls.” It’s good music from a simpler time. They also play bluegrass music with mandolin, dobro, guitar and upright bass that include versions of old classics and classic interpretations of new songs.
SUPERFINE, SUNDAY AUG. 11, NOON - 3
House of Yes, 2 Wy- Elsewhere Rooftop, ckoff Ave. 8/2 Mermaid 599 Johnson Ave
Lagoon, Luxury Summer; 8/3 Playa Style Costume Bazaar, Red Hot; 8/4 Rosa Perreo; 8/7 Amateur Burlesque Night, Hot Mess: Drag Competition; 8/8 Glitter Unicorn Sparkle Spectacular: Yas Gawds!, Dirty Thursday: Madonnarama; 8/9 Blunderland Variety Show, Flying High with 747 Big Imagination; 8/10 Blunderland Variety Show, Neon Dreams with H&G Creations; 8/11 Bikini Sundae Pool Party; 8/14 Dirty Circus - Anya’s Birthday Edition, House of Vogue; 8/15 The Get Down, Dirty Thursday: Summer Lovin’; 8/16 Foreplay, House of Love: Animal Nature; 8/17 Bordello, Bae Watch; 8/20 Idgy Dean Illuminati Initiation; 8/21 Cabronis: Latin, Caribbean & Afrobeat Night; 8/22 Art Brooklyn Battle, Dirty Thursday: Get Your Freak On; 8/23 Fully Operational Mothership: Burlesque & Live Music tribute to Parliament-Funkadelic, 8/24 EXTRA: A Burlesque Revue; 8/28 Funk You; 8/29 Dirty
8/2 MNDSGN, Salt Cathedral, Free At Last, Topshelf Tyson; 8/3 Spirit Twin, Silent Addy, Zeemuffin, The NY Fox, Eauxzown, Kleinfeld, Dos Flakos; 8/4 Akumandra Aire Libre, Sainte Vie; 8/7 Future Generations, Sipper + Harlan; 8/9 Jakob Ogawa, Virginia Wing; 8/10 Bedstudy; 8/12 Tayahna, She Wants Revenge; 8/13 Dinowalrus, New Myths; 8/14 Eighty Ninety; 8/15 Jak Lizard + Poetic Thrust, Hunx & His Punx; 8/17 The Bird And The Bee, Summer Cannibals; 8/19-8/20 Sidney Gish; 8/21 Laraaji; 8/22 Lil Kiid + Lil Gotit, Peel Dream Magazine; 8/23 The Misters; 8/27 Hypoluxo + Yohuna; 8/28 Gemma, mmeadows, Uni Ika Ai
Ridgewood
Trans Pecos, 915 Wyckoff Ave, 8/2 Mau-
no, Common Holy; 8/6 Snakeskin, Bleary Eyed, Hotline, Crosslegged; 8/8 The Grinns,
Page 42 Star-Revue Section 2
Message from Jaimie Branch
How did August get here so quickly? Summer may be slipping by, but there is still tons of good music to get out and see. Highlights include the (FREE!) Celebrate Brooklyn festival which concludes this month with another all star line up including: dance night with Nasoj Thing & Kimbra, a full performance of Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece What’s Going On lead by Felicia Collins, and a night of psychedelic cumbia with Bomba Estéreo and Delsonido. Over at Bene’s record shop catch excellent trumpeter Nate Wooley with young sax phenom Sam Weinberg and swing by Sunny’s to catch Smokey Hormel before he goes on summer vacay (last performances this summer on august 8/14). I hope everyone is doing well out there, remember music heals!Take care and see ya in the fall! - Jaimie Branch RED HOOK CONCERT CALENDAR AUGUST 2019 * critics pick
Bene’s RECORD SHOP 360 Van Brunt St. 718-855-0360 All Shows 8:30PM, unless noted. SAT 08/31* Wooley/Weinberg Nate Wooley - trumpet Sam Weinberg - saxophone Nace/Ewen Bill Nace - guitar Sandy Ewen - guitar
JALOPY TAVERN 317 Columbia St. 718-625-3214
jalopytavern.biz Every FRI, 9PM Jackson Lynch w/ Friends SAT 8/03, 9PM AVO WED 8/07, 9PM Frankie Sunswept & The Sunwrays WED 8/14, 8PM Nat Meyers THURS 8/15, 9PM Audra Rox’s 3rd Thursdays! TUES 8/20, 8PM Trip Henderson’s Honky Tonk Heroes SAT 8/24, 9PM Stillhouse Serenade
JALOPY THEATRE 315 Columbia St. 718-395-3214
jalopytheatre.org Every Tuesday Night, 9PM Open Mic Night, sign up by 9 sharp! Each performer gets 2 songs or 8 minutes. FRI, 8/02, 8PM Mississippi Cotten + Niall Connolly Band SUN, 8/04 6:00PM: Exceedingly Good Song Night (in the YARD) 7:00PM: Bruce Molsky, Tony Trischka & Michael Daves THURS, 8/08, 8PM concert, 10PM jam Brooklyn Raga Massive Weekly* Jake Charkey - cello BRM Jam starts at 10PM - open to all musicians with their instruments ready to play! FRI, 8/09, 9PM Golden Oak SAT, 8/10, 8PM Innocent When You Dream: The Music of Tom Waits Aaron Shragge - trumpet/ shakuhachi Ryan Anselmi - tenor sax Nico Soffiato - guitar Alexi David - bass Deric Dickens - drums + Katherine Ella Wood Group +\\Jean Rohe SUN, 8/11 3:30PM: Brooklyn’s Oldtime Slowjam 7:00PM: Michael Daves w/Laurie Lewis, Missy Raines & Tatiana Hargreaves SAT, 8/17, 7PM Cajun Dance + Jam with the Hi-Lo Aces! SUN, 8/18, 7PM Daves & Trischka w/ Jake Jolliff, Alex Hargreaves, Erik Alvar SAT, 8/24, 10AM-4PM CLASS: Your Body Sings with Paris Kern
www.star-revue.com
SUN, 8/25, 7PM Michael Daves & Andy Statman SUN, 9/01, 8PM Tuba Skinny (two sets)
LITTLEFIELD 635 Sackett St. littlefieldnyc.com
SAT, 8/03, 11PM Reggae Retro Dance Party FRI, 8/09, 8PM Elliott Smith at 50 a tribute benefitting Outside In Feat: Joanna Sternberg, Steve Hartlett, Rebecca Satellite and more! SAT, 8/10, 8PM Quicksilver Daydream (Album Release) w/ Rhyton (Thrill Jockey) & Swimming Bell FRI, 8/16, 8PM Back to the Mixtape 2 Pastel Noir, the Fatal Flaw, Frankie Sunswept, DJ Hoverboards SAT, 8/17, 11PM Be Cute Brooklyn presented by Matty Beats x Horrorchata SUN, 8/18, 7PM JigJam (Ireland) FRI, 8/23, 7:30PM Craig Cardiff FRI, 8/30, 8PM Alina Engibaryan w/ Gengis Don & the Empire, Alonzo Demetrius and the Ego *********
PROSPECT PARK BAND SHELL located in Prospect Park 718-683-5600
bricartsmedia.org ALL SHOWS FREE! (unless noted) FRI, 8/02, 7PM* Nosaj Thing DJ Set Kimbra Bells Atlas TUES, 8/06, 7:30PM $45 Adv/ $50 Day of Show Benefit Concert: Mac DeMarco w/ Ex Hex THURS, 8/08, 8PM Ailey II Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s exceptional second company FRI, 8/09, 7:30PM* What’s Going On feat. Felicia Collins, Toshi Reagon, Siedah Garrett, Kecia Lewis, and more perform Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece What’s Going On in entirety. SAT, 8/10, 7:30PM* Bomba Estéreo (Colombia) Electro-Cumbia from Colombia w/local Colombian expat’s Delsonido
ROCKY SULLIVAN’S 46 Beard St. 718-246-8050 rockysullivansredhook.com Every TUES, 8-10PM Irish Night EVERY SUN, 5PM The Open Mind (Jazz) FRI, 8/02, 9PM Red Hook Roxx Presents: Flyin’ J & the Ghostrobber La Coy The Upstart Crows SAT, 8/03, 9PM La Madrugada (Salsa) FRI, 8/09, 9PM Red Hook Roxx Presents: The Carvels Pepper Kings
Footsteps and Nobody SAT, 8/10, 9PM Algeba (Reggae) FRI, 8/16, 9PM Red Hook Roxx Presents: B Band Pink Cocoon The Right Offs FRI, 8/23, 9PM Red Hook Roxx Presents: My Three Dads EAT Chum FRI, 8/30, 9PM Red Hook Roxx Presents: Mojo Hand + TBA SAT, 8/31, 9PM Algeba (Reggae)
SUNNYS 253 Conover St. 718-625-8211 sunnysredhook.com
all shows 9PM unless otherwise printed. EVERY WED Smokey’s Round-Up* A late night Raucous Western Swing dance party with virtuoso guitarist, Smokey Hormel. Three sets. (Last Concert 8/14 before summer break!) EVERY SATURDAY TONE’s Bluegrass Jam Bring your axe! THU, 8/01 Ana Egge and the Balladears FRI, 8/02 , Colin Brown SUN, 8/04, 5PM, Driftwood Soldier MON, 8/05, 8:30PM Mara Kaye TUES, 8/06 Lord Youth THURS, 8/08 Jason Loughlin FRI, 8/09 Tubby SUN, 8/11, 5PM Paul Spring TUES, 8/13 Jon Ladeau THURS, 8/15 Ryan Scott and the Kind Buds FRI, 8/16 Doggy Cats SUN, 8/18 3PM: Harry Bolick Old Time Jam 6:30 PM: Honky Tonk heroes MON, 8/19 Elijah Miller WED, 8/21 Tubby THURS, 8/22 Doug More FRI, 8/23 Holy Hive SUN, 8/24 Tamar Korn TUES, 8/27 Max Johnson* WED, 8/28 The Loyales THURS, 8/29 Bill Carney’s Jug Addicts* FRI, 8/30 Rico Vibes
SUPERFINE 126 Front St. superfine.nyc
EVERY SUNDAY Bluegrass Green Chile Brunch / Evening Jazz and Americana Noon - 3pm / 6 - 8pm Unless Otherwise Printed SUN, 8/04 Maggie Carson and The Horse Eyed Men/Curtis J and Bette Smith 11 The Haggard Kings noon 3pm SUN, 8/18 Jackson Lynch and friends/ Kevin Vertrees and friends SUN, 8/25 Jack Grace band/Neha Jiwrajka Trio
August 2019
REVUE ARTS CALENDAR Childrens Activities: For us, air is an invisible force we perhaps notice most during a summer breeze. However, if you look a little closer, the air is teeming with tiny living things known as microbes that swim through the air as if it were thick soup. Join Pioneer Works and Genspace on Governors Island to catch some of these microbial species on kites and check them out up close with microscopes. Saturday, August 10, 12:00-4:00 PM. Governor’s Island, Nolan Park 8B. Free ($10 suggested donation), all ages.
Classes
In preparation for Labor Day (which is, after all, supposed to celebrate American Labor) Pioneer Works invites you to Governors Island to learn about
the history of protest tools,
from workers throwing shoes into machinery in the early 1900s to sophisticated contemporary technologies. The class covers common problems in the modern workplace, and how to generate tools to address these problems. Sunday, August 11, 1:00- 3:00 PM Governor’s Island, Nolan Park 8B. Free ($10 suggested donation).
Dance Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s second company
(that’s Ailey II to you and me) celebrates its 45th anniversary at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. Don’t pass up a chance to see one of the great American dance companies for free. Thursday August 8, Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th Street & Prospect Park
Star-Revue Section 2
West. Gates 7:00 PM, Show 8:00 PM. Free admission.
Film
Maybe you don’t associate the late rock icon Lou Reed with Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning martial arts epic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” but you’d be wrong! The Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival pairs the film with the first annual “Lou Reed Tai Chi Day,” featuring a performance by Reed’s former Tai Chi master Ren Guang Yi, set to Reed’s music. Saturday, August 6, Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th Street & Prospect Park West. 6:00 PM gates, 7:00 PM show. Free.
Galleries & Museums
As a bunch of New Yorkers who didn’t grow up with it, we’ve always found cheerleading to be a strange American ritual—a combination of undeniable athletic skill and veeeeery problematic gender politics. Apparently, so has artist Kat Chamberlain, whose show “C-O-N-T-E-M-P-T” plays at the Gallery at BRIC House. Chamberlain studied the training methods of competitive cheerleaders, and has constructed stainless steel armatures “that accommodate the female form to enact movements that instinctually elicit pain.” Yikes. Performance joins the artwork as uniformed cheerleaders will stretch and balance on the sculptures. Thursday, August 1. 647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn. 7:30- 8:30 PM. Free admission.
Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) hosts
several pop up shows each this summer. The last one will be Aug 3-4, and features works by over 100 artists working in sculpture, painting, and installations. This is in partnership with ChaShaMa, an artist-advocacy organization that pairs working artists with affordable spaces to work and present around New York. The 25,000 square footage at BWAC lets artists show multiple pieces, a rarity in space-cramped New York. 1-6pm, weekdays, 481 Van Brunt Street
“On the (Queer) Waterfront” closes Aug 4 after several
months at Brooklyn Historical Society. The landmark exhibit looks at the surprisingly vital, if hidden, history of queer communities around the waterfront from the early 19th century to end of WW II. Historian Hugh Ryan and artist/activist Avram Finkelstein co-curate. Wed- Sun, 12-5pm. Suggested admission is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and teachers, and free for members and students of all ages. 128 Pierrepont Street.
PortSide Museum welcomes everyone aboard its floating museum during “TankerTime” M-F from 10am – 6pm. It joins Pioneer Works for Second Sundays, Aug 11, and will be open for musical celebration from 6-12pm. Jenkins Johnson Gallery presents “A Thousand Plateaus,” a multi-artist show that uses works of collage and assemblage to explore the theme of identity. Through Aug 17. 207 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn. Monday-Friday, 11:00 AM- 6:00 PM. Aug 18 is the last day to see “Wilderness” at Peninsula Gallery. Our very own Piotr Pillardy
ny Mullen, in this issue. 352 Van Brunt Abrams Arts Center on the Lower East Side closes its residency art exhibition on Aug 22, the result of nine-month residencies for the artists American Artist, Emilio Martinez Poppe, Tuesday Smillie, and Sasha Wortzel. 466 Grand Street, Manhattan. Trestle Gallery in Sunset Park presents
“Nick Naber: Visibility is a Trap.” Naber has Brooklyn cred
(he went to Pratt!), and his paintings, made up of repeating geometric lines and patterns, look a bit like snapshots from some surreal, angular city from another dimension. Through Aug 25. Trestle Gallery, 850 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, suite 411. Wed/Fri 1:30PM6:30PM, Sat/Sun 12:00PM- 6:00 PM Ortega Y Gasset Productions in Gowanus presents “How Shallow,” a group exhibition with works by Sage Dawson, Meghan Grubb, Allison Lacher, and Edo Rosenblith, four of the co-directors of the artist-run space Monaco in St. Louis. Please refrain from singing that Lady Gaga song while in attendance. Through Aug 25.363 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn. Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 PM- 6:00 PM Red Hook’s own Waterfront Museum celebrates the men and women who keep New York’s harbor and coast vital, beautiful and safe with an exhibit called “Waterfront Heroes.” Learn about New York and Long Island’s baymen, ship captains, hunters, boat builders and environmentalists—even a Staten Island nurse who evacuated hospital patients during Hurricane Sandy. Through September 5. 294 Conover Street at Pier 44, Brooklyn, Open Thursday 4:00 PM8:00 PM, and Saturday 1:00 PM- 5:00 PM. Free admission.
Theater
Theater for a New Audience (TFANA) extends its run of the latest Pulitzer-prize winning play, “Fairview” by Jackie Sibblies Drury through Aug 11. $20 for students/under 30; GA is $55-115. (Check out our review by Ruby Hutson-Ellenberg in this issue!) If you’re around Fort Greene, be sure to pay a visit to the beautiful space, bookstore, and cafe. 262 Ashland Place In East Williamsburg, Brick hosts two intriguing festivals. The Trans Festival funs Aug 6-11 and features new work from local trans artists. From Aug 12-30, Brick then runs five Shakespeare plays: “Hamlet 90” and adaptation of you know who; “Othello” where all the male roles are played by females and vice versa; “R+J+T+C” a mashup of several plays; and “The Tempest,” a minimalist retelling of the original. GA is $20. 579 Metropolitan Ave. If you’re in a musical mood but don’t want to deal with Times Square, head to Narrows Community Theater. From Aug 16-24, the Bay Ridge Group runs a musical adaption of “Peter Pan.” GA starts at $15. 9728 3rd Ave. BrooklynONE productions, based in Bay Ridge, presents “Taming of the Shrew” on Aug 25 as part of the Brooklyn Shakespeare Festival. The company is known for experimental twists to their plays: be ready for anything. Call (347) 746-4002 for ticket information.
wrote about the show’s curator, John-
www.star-revue.com
August 2019, Page 43
FILM
Rip It Up and Start Again: BAM’s Exceptional Showcase of 1980s Women Filmmakers
I
f you take Hollywood at its word — and you absolutely shouldn’t — the last few years have been really good for female filmmakers. Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, was the third-biggest film of 2017, earning more than $412 million at the box office. That same year, Greta Gerwig set the zeitgeist ablaze with her exceptional Lady Bird. Ava Duvernay has capitalized on the success of her 2014 breakout hit Selma to move into blockbuster territory: her adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time flopped, but she has been tapped to helm The New Gods, a DC Comics franchise film to be released one day soon probably. This year, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart didn’t light up the box office, but it was buzzy and a kind of word-ofmouth hit. Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, meanwhile, is emerging as essential indie counterprogramming to another superhero summer. But let’s not forget that one of those comic book juggernauts, Captain Marvel, the second-highest grossing film of 2019 with close to $427 million, was co-directed by Anna Boden. So, women are making it happen! Hooray for Hollywood, right? Not quite. Despite some legitimate high-profile successes, gender representation has not only not improved it has worsened. According to a report issued by the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, “Women comprised 15% of directors working on the top 500 films of 2018,” a 3% decline from 2017. This erosion is distressing for a host of reasons — not least of which is that the number was so small to begin with — but it also contributes to a distorted narrative of American filmmaking: Men are the directors. Men are the visionaries. Men are responsible for the great cinematic stories. Directing is a man’s job, and only a select few women have what it takes — as if making a movie were the same as joining the Marines. BAM Film has worked to correct that misconception. Over the past 12 months, it has programmed series meant to restore women directors’ place in American film history. That effort began last May with “A Different Picture: Women Filmmakers in the New Hollywood Era, 1967—1980,” and was followed a couple months later by “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” which highlighted films from the silent era. “Punks, Poets & Valley Girls: Women Filmmakers in 1980s America,” the third chapter in what BAM Film programmer Jesse Trussell calls an “almost alternate history of films made by women in the 20th century in America,” begins August 7. Over a two-week period, BAM will screen more than two dozen features — narrative and documentary — and a handful of short films made by nearly three dozen women filmmakers. “This was a nice way to continue that project of saying there have been women at all these points in history making some of the most remarkable and forward-thinking work in all of cinema, and we don’t necessarily think of them as part of that narrative
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by Dante A. Ciampaglia
history of film,” Trussell tells the Star-Revue. “So we’re sort of rewriting history a little bit.” With more than three decades of hindsight, the story of ‘80s filmmaking in America is one of Reagan-era regressive politics, excess, and patriotic chest-thumping: hyper-macho action films like Top Gun and Sylvester Stallone shoot-em-ups; high-concept comedies like Ghostbusters and Back to the Future; franchises like Indiana Jones and Star Wars; John Hughes’ Brat Pack films. But the era was certainly not monolithic. Thanks to cheaper and lighter cameras and equipment, a burgeoning American independent scene began challenging the status quo, giving us filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise), Gus Van Zant (Mala Noche), and Alex Cox (Repo Man). Though they tend to be overshadowed (or ignored), women were just as central to this era, creating films that were as zeitgesty and groundbreaking as the guys who got all the attention. Amy Heckerling’s 1982 adaptation of Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a touchstone of the era and a star-making vehicle for numerous actors, from Sean Penn to Jennifer Jason Leigh. Martha Coolidge’s 1983 film Valley Girl was another hit, bridging punk, New Wave, downtown, and suburbia, and giving Nicolas Cage a breakout role. Desperately Seeking Susan, directed by Susan Seidelman in 1985, burnished New York’s downtown cool and confirmed Madonna’s megastar status. Penny Marshall’s Big, the fourth-highest grossing film of 1988, put Tom Hanks on the road to becoming a Hollywood icon. “Punks, Poets & Valley Girls” tracks this mainstream impact as a necessary corrective to the record of men-only box office domination. It also runs parallel to an impeccable survey of the non-Hollywood work being made during this time by women — often on various kinds of margins. There are grungy films like Seidelman’s Smithereens (1982), a landmark of downtown New York punk cinema, and Born in Flames (1983), Lizzie Borden’s No Wave feminist sci-fi fauxcumentary dissection of race and gender in ‘80s America. There are luminous indies like Kathleen Collins’ Losing Ground (1982), a recently rediscovered masterpiece of African American — of American — filmmaking, and Sara Driver’s Sleepwalk (1986), “a really neglected and fascinating downtown-scene movie,” Trussell says. There are shorts from the LA Rebellion collective, including Illusions (1982), an early work from Daughters of the Dust filmmaker Julie Dash. And there are documentary portraits of peripheral societies, like Penelope Spheeris’ chronicle of the LA punk scene The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) and Arlene Brown’s Navajo Talking Picture (1985), a groundbreaking piece of Indigenous cinema confronting and complicating our understanding of heritage and cultural assimilation. If there’s an organizing principle to the series — beyond simply exceptionally talented women making exceptionally good films — it’s that the DIY ethos
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“Gender representation has not only not improved it has worsened.” that we take for granted now, in an era of crowdfunding and carrying phones equipped with powerful 4K cameras, 40 years ago represented a sea change in how movies could be made. “Punk was about redefining the rules and breaking the rules,” Seidelman told Dazed in 2018. “Because there were no rules, no one could tell you not to make films, or that you couldn’t make films. It was so cheap to make movies, and the structure was so loose. And that was part of the aesthetic. People weren’t controlled by the power of money… It was liberating.” Forgoing the gatekeepers may have been liberating, but it also kept exceptional filmmakers out of the conversation — and thus easily ignored by the money. But as the conversation about representation intensifies, the filmmakers of the ‘80s are starting to get their due, from rediscovery through low-grade rips uploaded to YouTube to preservation efforts, retrospectives, and series like “Punks, Poets & Valley Girls.” “We’re trying to rewrite and expand canons,” Trussell says. “It’s important to not forget about the history of all these incredible women from all different sorts of identities that have been making work for so many decades. It’s not just starting fresh and new with the current, amazing generation of filmmakers coming up. Kathryn Bigelow was not the first female filmmaker just because she’s the first one that won an Oscar. There are decades of incredible films by incredible female filmmakers — including Kathryn Bigelow, who is in this series.”
Punks, Poets & Valley Girls: Women Filmmakers in 1980s America screens at BAM Film, 30 Lafayette Ave, August 7-20. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.bam.org/film/2019/ punks-poets-valley-girls.
August 2019
VIDEO ‘Legion’ wants to talk superhumans, not superheros
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f you could make everyone believe you were a good person, would you ever bother to actually be one? That’s the central question of the third season of creator Noah Hawley and FX’s “Legion,” a run-off of the “X-Men” series. What’s odd is that the question isn’t asked by the show’s protagonist, David Haller, who discovers his diagnosis around schizophrenia has more to do with his hidden psychic superpowers. The finale of season two found god-like telepath David (Dan Stevens) on trial by his peers for, in essence, the gaslighting and sexual assault of bodyswapper Syd (Rachel Keller). This season has David trying to undo what he sees is the cause of their troubles: his possession as a baby by Amahl Farouk (Navid Negahban), with the rest of the ensemble trying to prevent David from doing any more damage. Hawley isn’t interested in exploring the Nietzschean subject of whether power can make someone “above” questions of good and evil, but how someone can convince themselves that they are still good, in the face of mounting evidence against it. David wants to believe that he is good, and would rather change reality than face the possibility that maybe he isn’t. He begins with a cult, a house full of sycophants, but people now know what he’s capable of, and until he can change their minds, they are disposable. But David’s increasingly hollow mantra of “I’ll fix it” is beside the point, as are his increasingly frantic pleas for assurance that he is a good person, that he does deserve love. Even if he manages to undo his betrayal in the past, Syd points out, he’d still be the kind of person capable of it in the first place. The only difference is that she wouldn’t know the truth anymore. If he changes everything but himself, does that make it any less of a lie? By questioning the might-makes-right assumptions
Star-Revue Section 2
By Will Drickey
of its title character, “Legion” asks us to do the same of the other comic book media we watch. Helmeted, armored goons vanish with a flick of David’s wrist like they always have, but now that they work for our heroes, David’s cavalier attitude toward it starts to leave a bad taste in the mouth. They have faces and voices now, but what happens to them still matters so little to David that even he doesn’t know what exactly he does to make them disappear. When you don’t have the sort of save-the-world contrivances of other Marvel stories to justify the violence, but instead a messy interpersonal conflict, one has to ask (and timetraveling newcomer Switch does) if the ends really justify the means.
COMPELLING WITH COMPLEXITY
It’s surprising that Legion takes such a grounded approach to its conflict (an abuser’s mental gymnastics, blown up in scale), because everything else about it is so wonderfully unmoored. If you’re going to ask your audience to accept a world with superpowers, Hawley realizes, it verges on creative irresponsibility to just stop there. Every single episode of Legion is relentlessly creative, to the point that when the credits roll it can be difficult to remember exactly what happened, as if you’ve just woken up from a dream. When someone can control anything they see with their mind, is anyone really going to bat an eyelash at mustachioed androids, psychic dance-battles, or time-eating cat-things? As it stands,
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the show is a screaming rebuke to the timidity of so many comic book adaptations that came before it — “Legion” finds its characters interesting, and trusts that you will too, and so doesn’t need to get bogged down in explaining away all the magic. All this said, “Legion” could still go absolutely off the rails in the final episodes of this season. There are only so many ways to tell a time-travel story, and most of them have been done before and by other Marvel properties, too. Adding a time traveler could completely destroy the unplaceable surreality that makes the world of “Legion” world so fascinating, it could make the journeys the characters have gone on over the past two years totally pointless, it could railroad the show into a deeply uninteresting and obvious religious metaphor. But even if everything goes wrong, I’ll still be grateful that it exists at all, because “Legion” is the only thing out there that genuinely captures the weirdness that made me start reading comics in the first place.
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FILM
Midsommar should be better by Caleb Drickey Masked killers, demons from another world, Beasts of Unusual Size: these are the things that go bump in the night, the denizens of horror films. Terrifyingly unknowable and unknowably terrifying, these monsters live in the dark, emerging only when least expected to destroy whichever horny teens disturbed their slumber. As evidenced by the recent box office success of “It,” “Halloween,” and the “Conjuring” franchise, people love these films. Escapist fantasies at their most literal, they provide a low-stakes outlet for primal terror. For a few hours, the viewer forgets the petty anxieties of everyday life and instead becomes prey. Unlike those poor teens, the audience emerges unscathed, flush with adrenaline and secure in the knowledge that there are no nearby shadows in which a werewolf can skulk. “Midsommar,” the second film from director Ari Aster, is no such horror film. In Aster’s world, horror is not the unknown creature shrouded in darkness, but the thing bathed in sunlight, which we see and have always seen, but choose to ignore. Haunted by trauma, Dani accompanies her emotionally unavailable boyfriend and his graduate student friends to the north of Sweden. There, they hope to visit a small pagan commune, study its nine-day Midsummer festival, pop a few hallucinogens, and maybe
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seduce a Scandinavian babe or two. As in all folk horror movies, Dani discovers a savagery at the heart of the village and its residents, called the Hårga. Unlike in most conventional horror movies, the sun never sets. Aster cannot hide the Hårga’s wickedness in the darkness of a moonless night. Instead, he illuminates for the viewer a roadmap of physical and emotional destruction, then pauses at every landmark along the way. When two village elders stand at the top of a cliff above a waiting crowd, we know they will jump. When the camera lingers for just a moment on the man carrying an enormous hammer, we know he has no intention of striking nails. The ensuing violence is not worse than we could have possibly expected, but exactly as terrible as we feared. For perhaps the first time, neither Dani nor the audience can look away from the carnage around them. That said, all this talk of the grotesque does “Midsommar” a disservice. For all its wretched brutality, the film is an ingenious combination of craft and performance. No mere scream queen, Florence Pugh’s Dani slips from breathless wonder to choking horror, then from howls of anguish to shrieks of liberation. What’s more, Aster effortlessly incorporates the visual language of hallucinogens into his narrative. Eschewing the kaleidoscopic visuals and feverish editing favored by Stanley Kubrick, Aster’s psychedelic sequences blur the line between humanity and nature (we see trees breathe and grass grow through Dani’s feet), creating visions of harmony which the Hårga exploit to ingratiate themselves to their American
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guests. However, the intrusive images of an impending bad trip also infuse the otherwise gorgeous commune with an air of creeping anxiety. And the commune is gorgeous. Although hardly the first horror flick filmed mostly in sunlight, “Midsommar’s” palette of high-contrast greens, blues, whites, and reds more closely resembles “The Wizard of Oz” than “The Hills Have Eyes.” Aster also crafts tangible geography in his film; when Aster cuts between multiple characters, he provides glimpses or echoes of what’s happening elsewhere, and reveals where every character is in relation to each other. Despite the inherent absurdity of a murderous pagan cult, Aster grounds the film in a consistent and familiar world, which lends greater weight to the emotional and physical violence that the viewer might otherwise dismiss as empty spectacle. And yet, I feel conflicted about “Midsommer.” Steadier and more unflinching in its brutality than his 2018 debut, “Hereditary,” Aster’s tale of bad relationships and worse vacations fascinates and repulses me in equal measure. That said, film criticism is, to some extent, an exercise in consumer recommendation, and I cannot recommend “Midsommar” without caveats. Vicious, cruel, and deeply disturbing, Aster’s film argues that we must confront hard truths at any cost. A baby will not save a marriage; a toxic friendship cannot be salvaged; that persistent cough is more than a chest cold. To look away is to allow the foundations upon
August 2019
O
The vision behind Red Hook’s Peninsula Gallery
n a balmy Wednesday in July, I hopped off the B61 and walked over to the corner of Van Brunt and Sullivan mere moments before a powerful summer thunderstorm brought an unrelating torrential downpour. There, I was warmly greeted by Peninsula Art Space’s owner and director Eric Fallen. We stepped inside the gallery, and I experienced the current show, Wildernesses, for the first time. The group show, which explores the scientific concept of “wildernesses” and its associated fragmentation and disorder, pairs both paintings and sculptures by eight different artists residing in New York City and the surrounding area. It opened on July 14. After I had a minute to take in the exhibition, I sat down with Fallen in his back office to chat about Wildernesses, his work with visiting curator Johnny Mullen, and what the future holds for Peninsula. Fallen, wearing a monochromatic ensemble of a gray tee and jeans, tells me about the founding of the gallery in 2013 shortly after Hurricane Sandy left most parts of the neighborhood underwater. During this tumultuous period, the gallery was envisioned as a space to showcase emerging talent with the support of young, early-career curators. These early shows leaned towards conceptual works. Fallen himself doesn’t come from a visual arts background but from playwriting, which he taught as an adjunct professor for over 20 years. He grew up with art around him by way of his mother, who painted and purchased contemporary art. Fallen explains, “I came into this blindly, but to some degree, my lack of understanding of the art world was an asset,” which helped him break free of the restrictive silos and conventions inherent in the NYC art gallery sceneSince the launch of the gallery, Fallen has rotated multiple visiting curators instead of hiring one in-house. Currently, the curator is Johnny Mullen, who has worked in
by Piotr Pillardy
galleries for over 25 years and was formerly director of Chelsea’s Edward Thorp Gallery. Wildernesses marks the 5th collaboration between the two at Peninsula, which has involved primarily group shows since October 2018. (You can read a RHSR review of the Viel Feind, Viel Ehr February 2019 show at Peninsula, also curated by Mullen). The pair connected while Mullen was still with Edward Thorp at one of that gallery’s openings. Mullen was thinking about going to a different gallery at the time. “I gave him free rein,” said Fallen regarding Mullen’s Peninsula show curation, giving him more autonomy that he had at Edward Thorp. Over the phone, Mullen told me that this show came about by exploring the different subdivisions of chaos theory, including disorder and fragmentation, within the concept of “wildernesses.” The show, like others Mullen has curated, lacks labels describing the works on the walls. The curator believes that labels are aesthetically distracting. Mullen tells me that he and Fallen initially considered 16 artists for the show, which they then whittled down to eight. Each artist has two pieces in the show. The process of selecting the work was collaborative between the curator and owner/director, ranging from studio visits with artists as well as finding paintings in the Instagram artist community. Artists in the show share similar artistic careers and works that fit the exhibition’s theme, but they are from different generations — some artists are recent grads, others are in their 60s. For the installation, Mullen said it was important to take a day or two to focus on how the works interacted with one another instead of the architecture of the space itself to achieve the best possible installation.
to further define the gallery’s identity and begin representing artists and all that entails, including attending art fairs that align with the gallery’s vision. The two are discussing programming for the next year, including more solo shows as well as small group shows. From my conversations, it is clear that they both want to establish the gallery as an innovative community space open to a broad spectrum of different artists. Wildernesses runs through August 18 at 352 Van Brunt St. at the corner of Sullivan in Red Hook. Hours are Saturday and Sunday 12-7 or by appointment.
I noticed explorations of fragmentation when looking at works such as Cloaked and Yoked, 2019 by Amy Butowicz, made of sewn canvas, zippers, acrylic paint, foam, and thread. Placed slightly offcenter in the room, the colorful sculpture bifurcates the space and guides the visitor’s sequence in the gallery. Additionally, the three works to the immediate left of the gallery’s entrance, paintings by Michael Voss (N.DUBE, 2019), Ted Gahl (Hot, Hot, City, 2019), and Jenifer Kobylarz (So Far, 2019), create an impactful visual dialogue through their similarities starting with their color schemes. This interplay becomes even more apparent through their comparable scale and installation at the same height on the wall. Other works seemingly disrupt the binary of painting/sculpture, like Kelly Worman’s On Hold, 2019. The thick, impasto blue paint of the work flirts with the sculptural. The paint segments a field of pink dotted by imperfect yellow and blue squares. Looking forward, Fallen and Mullen plan
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August 2019, Page 47
THEATER An Uncomfortable Audience at Jackie Sibblies Drury’s “Fairview”
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he 95-minute play may technically be one act with no intermission, but it is divided into four distinct plots that pull the audience in quickly and easily, getting them invested in the outcome of a story line before switching the rules of the world existing on stage and propelling them into a new reality. Plot one shows an average American family, the Frasiers, preparing a birthday dinner for their matriarch. Along the way, it presents some relatable problems: two sisters, Beverly and Jasmine, who can’t stand one another. A husband, Dayton, who can’t tell the difference between a dessert spoon and a serving spoon. A teenage daughter, Keisha, who struggles with the simultaneous excitement and fear about her future in college. And the one thing they can all bond over: teasing the grandmother. Plot two mutes the players on stage as they recreate the movements from the previous plot, as a conversation among an unseen group of people plays over them. The topic of choice? If these talkers could choose their race, what would they choose. This leads to an almost unbelievably problematic conversation, so ignorant and racist it that elicits gasps from the audience. Eventually, we realize the unseen group is, like that evening’s audience, watching the story of the Frasiers on stage. That realization immediately elicits discomfort because it creates a distinct connection between theatergoers and this unseen group of talkers: we are all the audience. In plot three, the unseen group of talkers take the stage and the audience learns, for certain, they are all white. They have decided to test their theoretical discussion by standing in for the rest of the Frasier’s family and friends as the dinner continues. However,
by Ruby Hutson-Ellenberg
Keisha is the only one who notices the newcomers are not her family or friends, but rather strangers. Strangers who do not try to embody the true characters of the persons they’ve taken over, but instead act out horrible stereotypes, which they force the rest of the Frasier family to interact with. As the scene goes on, the stand-ins cause emotional destruction, making up lies about the original characters, eroding the true story of the Frasier family with plot lines they find more fitting. Their disruption builds until it breaks into a physical food fight with the stand-ins hurling things at one another, knocking things off shelves, and blasting confetti, literally ruining the initially pristine home and the family gathering. The story laid out in plot one will have no ending. The audience will never know if the grandmother is happy with her party, or if Keisha gains some autonomy from her mother, or if Beverly and Jasmine have some kind of reconciliation. The trajectory of the story has been halted by the presence of these
white stand-ins. And perhaps also by the presence of the audience, which is, as is typical at a New York theater, mostly white. Once again, an uncomfortable connection between the theatergoers and the standins is forged. Drury disrupts New York theater’s normally white space in plot four, when Keisha breaks the fourth wall and singles out white theatergoers, asking them to switch places with her, and go on stage so she can sit in the audience with other people of color. She specifies her motivation: until the roles are reversed, she cannot tell a true story.
MEDIA Citizen Journalism Pays a Visit to US
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he Human Rights Watch Film Festival comes to New York once a year. So when the director of the film ‘Bellingcat’ — a documentary about a popular European ‘citizen journalism’ site — strongly recommended it, we booked a seat. Citizen Journalism is widely believed to provide a cure for the corporate media model. The concept quite rightly implies that any human who can create content and chew gum at the same time can write articles or capture images that may be of interest to viewers. Such outlets generally employ staff editors, programmers and designers, and have become widely subscribed to, both in authoritarian and neoliberal societies the world over. Given near-unanimous disgust with the caliber of modern- day US media, the opportunity permits those whose interests are not entirely corporate, but include civic, cultural or social concerns, to enter this market. The lions’ share of the film follows Bellingcat members’ investigation into the downing over the eastern Ukraine of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lampur, killing all 298 passengers and crew on July 17, 2014. The plot follows the group’s correspondents and tech gurus as they collect open source data and images amassed from
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by Frank Stipp
such popular outlets as Paris Match, Google, RT, etc. with which to reconstruct still and video evidence of this crime and others. The correspondents and hackers successfully track the movement of a Russian ‘Buk’ anti-aircraft missile launcher across Russia’s Ukrainain border to where the wreckage landed. In addition to collecting publically accessible data such as satellite images from Google, amateur You Tube videos, etc., Bellingcat reporters interview witnesses on the ground. Our heroes occasionally exhibit the kind of courage, without which, competent journalism is difficult to carry out. Bellingcat (the name envisages mice hanging a bell from the neck of a particularly dangerous cat) also conducted an investigation of the bombing of a market in Syria, which pointed toward US involvement. The protagonist of the film, Christiaan Triebert, is shown matching grainy images captured at long distance with his own close-up reconnoitering among mosques and minarets at the scene of the crime. Following the groups’ announcement its above findings, Triebert was booked on Germany’s ZTF news network to debate his team’s conclusions against staunch exponent of US-style journalism,
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author Seymour Hersh. Triebert said he described to viewers in great detail how he and his team came to collect their raw material, the means through which they pieced together tiny bits of evidence, and how they eventually came to a careful conclusion many months later. Hersh, he explained, simply claimed his that source from the Pentagon said in effect that ‘it wasn’t us.’ “As if I should believe him,” said Triebert “on his beautiful blue eyes.”
August 2019
photo by Jen Joyce Davis
OPERA
Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance Presents a Sparkling Die Fledermaus
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artina Arroyo, Kennedy Award ceremony honoree, soprano supreme, who has been a beacon of light and pioneer since the 1960’s and 1970’s, a crossover classical singer with a delightful sense of humor still is in the game. She is a brilliant teacher “go getter”and nurturer through her Martina Arroyo Foundation. This gala event occurred at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College in New York City on Saturday, July 13th. Danny Kaye, (1913-1987) great entertainer and film comedian and his wife (songwriter-actress) Sylvia Fine (1913-1991) were both multi- talented Brooklynites whose names live on in glorious memory. Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) was known as the “Waltz King” and he put all that he had in his opera Die Fledermaus (The Revenge of the Bat). With its waltzes, folk tunes, choruses comedy and subplots, it has been a staple since its premiere on April 5, 1874. Die Fledermaus is set in Vienna in the late 19th century. The witty libretto is by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée. I remember a heroic tenor from the Amato Opera, Boris Cristaldi who was a wonderful big voiced hammy and funny Alfred some four decades ago. At one performance his mustache got stuck on Rosalinda’s cheek! I wished for some broader comedy this time around but Mr. Song certainly did well. I guess not everyone goes as far back as I. It was nice to be sitting next to Amato baritone, Nathan Hull who directs the Amore Opera, now the chosen replacement for the Amato Opera. As we were chatting, the effervescent Barbara Meister-Bender walked by. She of New York City Opera, sang with Groucho Marx and Helen Traubel in a television presentation of The Mikado. Barbara Meister-Bender, ever glamorous could still sing Adele to perfection! Dr. Falke was in the spirited countenance of Michael Parham. Mr. Parham’s bass is resonant and ear caressing. His singing of Bruderlein song in the second act was noble and with the ensemble it becomes sentimental and tinged with loving sadness. Nice job, Falke! I recall the excellent Falke of the Amato Opera some 40 or so years ago by baritone Walter Kavney. His partner, tenor Vincent Titone, was a staple at the Amato also for many years. Dr. Blind was admirably portrayed by Esteban Zuniga. This role was toned down a bit and became more of a comedic part rather than a disabled travesty. Mr. Zuniga, while not a Lou Costello, managed to be pleasantly humorous in a buffo role!
Star-Revue Section 2
by Nino Pantano
Prince Orlofsky, the androgynous host of the party, was superbly brought to vivid life by Elizabeth Harris. With her red topped military outfit and clump of hair, she looked like a combination of Harpo Marx and the chief soccer player currently in Sports Illustrated, Megin Rapinoe. Ms. Harris’s “Chacun à son goût” aria was marvelous and her “King Champagne” aria was exciting with her strong mezzo and the percussion collaborating and her eyes fixed on Adele. Her silent servant, Ivan was well done and always had a drink at the ready! Frosch, portrayed by Evan Julius Nelson was present but there was no comic interlude. Several years back, at the Metropolitan Opera, I recall the great Sid Caesar as a hilarious multi-lingual incomprehensible Frosch and Dom De Louise also funny, in a later production hiding, then stepping onstage and exclaiming “I’m finally out of the closet.” The party scene had WQXR radio host Robert Sherman speak and introduce several singers to entertain. At the old Met, on February 16, 1905, Enrico Caruso sang an aria as a guest at Prince Orlofsky’s party and Polish soprano legend Mme. Marcella Sembrich (Rosalinda) sang and played violin! Those were the days! The Marcella Sembrich Museum at Bolton Landing on the banks of Lake George, is open summers and well worth a visit! You will find Artistic Director and composer Richard Wargo eager to provide information about their upcoming events. 9) Nicole Haslett who amazed us with Nannetta’s “Forest aria - Sul fil d’un soffio etesio” from Verdi’s Falstaff made us realize how perfect this magical aria is. It was written in Verdi’s 80th year and brought to mind Prelude to Performances - splendid Falstaff last year, still flashing in memory. A “surprise” appearance by coloratura legend Harolyn Blackwell, sang Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” in a lovely soprano with diminishing pianissimos and all those special skills one associates with her name and claim to fame. Ms. Blackwell is a member of the Martina Arroyo Advisory Board. The sets were regal and sparkling with projections of old Vienna. Its wonderful costumes were so fine to see and the ladies evoked memories of Zsa Zsa Gabor and family. The gentlemen were in spirit, all like actor Kurt Kasznar or baritone Herman Prey and were perfectly attired. Thanks to Ianna Higgins, Assistant Stage Manager for the elegant smoothness of it all. Many people worked hard to make it look easy!
and “Brüderlein, schwesterlein” as always gave me goose bumps. Beautiful music gives one goosebumps not goosesteps! It was so nice to see great Metropolitan Opera Verdi baritone Mark Rucker and charming and gifted Sadie Rucker (publicity) and Administrative Director Deborah Surdi, whose dedication to the Martina Arroyo Foundation results in such perfect evenings. We greeted our friends from Opera Index Jane Shaulis, Joe Gasperec, Murray Rosenthal, composer Philip Hagemann, Linda Howes, with composer pianist, Steve Phebus and Bill Goodhue, opera manager Ken Benson, Career Bridges Barbara and David Bender, writer Meche Kroop, French diction teacher Susan and lawyer Arthur Stout, opera lecturer Lou and Kathleen Barrella, designer Rafael Sanchez and vocal coach Patricia Sheridan, stellar radio host Nimet Habachy and friend and opera lover Joan Gravallese, all “surprises” on this beautiful summer night. The famed filmmaker team of Powell and Pressburger, The Red Shoes (1948) and Tales of Hoffmann (1951) made Rosalinda (1955) with Anthony Quale, Ludmilla Tchérina and Anton Walbrook which updated Die Fledermaus to post World War II Vienna - well worth searching for! We found out later that a large part of New York City had a blackout with people stuck on trains and elevators for hours-but all was well at the Kaye Playhouse for a splendid production of Die Fledermaus! Here’s to next year with a toast to the great Martina Arroyo whose father Demetrio worked as a supervisor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to help with the cost of young Martina’s voice lessons. He often took Martina for baseball games (Brooklyn Dodgers) and delicious hot dogs at Ebbets Field.Thank you Martina’s Mom and Dad and thank you Martina for Prelude to Performance which gives so many young and talented singers such a great lift, enough to see the future, doing what they love. Bravo to all! A toast to Prelude to Performance from Prince Orlofsky and guests for giving us 15 years of such delightful evenings! Chacun à son goût! Judy and I add the” special flavor with toppings” to our Fledermaus memory bank that this treasured and fun night offered us from the great Martina Arroyo’s new arrivals at the opera scene in a very captivating and enchanting performance of Die Fledermaus and of course thank you to Johann Strauss II for this glittering masterpiece!
The chorus, managed by Dror Baitel, sang wonderfully
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August 2019, Page 49
SHOPPING There is no shortage of reasons to shop locally: investing in the neighborhood economy, convenience, better service. But in a neighborhood like Red Hook, staying local boasts an added benefit – curation. The recent retail revival boasts the best of the best reserved for brick and mortar. So hop on the ferry, ride a bike, or hedge your bets on the bus system. The journey is the hand-selected destination, so to speak.
WOODEN SLEEPERS, 395 VAN BRUNT STREET WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, 12-6 PM
One of the best men’s vintage shops in all of New York makes its home on the corner of Van Brunt and Van Dyke. Carefully chosen pieces ranging from home goods to sneakers line the walls. Shopping at Wooden Sleepers feels like browsing the closet of a well-dressed uncle you see twice a year or a flea market sans all the polyester and kitsch. It’s the perfect place to re-imagine your wardrobe through the talented curation of shop owner, Brian Davis, and the enduring power of classic clothing. Pick up a Wooden Sleepers Logo Gym T-Shirt ($50) to make even Saturday morning errands feel stylish.
ERIE BASIN, 388 VAN BRUNT ST WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, 1-6 PM
Tucked away behind an unassuming storefront lies a beautiful haven of new and vintage jewelry. The collection varies in prices and styles, but not in quality. Owner Russell Whitmore has an evidenced keen eye and knack for design, thanks to a background in art and years in the industry. An in-house line called EB reimagines vintage gemstones in a modern way, including several elegantly simple wedding bands starting at $475. Plus, the in-store selection surpasses online inventory, making a strong argument for stopping by.
Curated Red Hook shopping , by Erika Veurink CHELSEA GARDEN CENTER, 444 VAN BRUNT STREET SUNDAY–FRIDAY, 10 AM-7 PM SATURDAY, 9 AM-7 PM
Perfect for both desk plants and landscaping overhauls alike, Chelsea Garden Center has one of the largest plant selections in the city. With locations in Williamsburg and Red Hook, avoiding the harsh fluorescent lights of big-box home improvement stores has never been easier. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and happy to help. Inspiration abounds in this unexpected urban oasis. Stop by for a new plant, stay for a mini-vacation from city life. The Fish Hooks Senecio ($34.95) serves as the perfectly quirky start to any budding plant collection.
KEMPTON + CO, 392 VAN BRUNT STREET MONDAY-SUNDAY 11 AM-6 PM
Headed to a birthday party or out of town and in need of a hostess gift? Kempton + Co is the perfect stop on the way for a variety of occasions and price points. Consider the line of in house candles ($30-$55) or an impossibly sophisticated mini leather notebook with “Offline” embossed on the cover ($35). Plus, their collection of beautiful handbags and accessories makes getting there all the chic-er.
RECORD SHOP, 360 VAN BRUNT STREET WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, 12-7PM
Walk past this iconic shop on any given night and expect to be lured in by the scene unfolding in the warm light of the unmarked windows. It’s a neighborhood staple, the best place to stop for hard-to-find records, used books, musical instruments, and even Friday night plans. Thanks to the constant buzz of music and the venue in the back of the store, the Record Shop proves some things just don’t translate online.
PIONEER BOOKS, 289 VAN BRUNT STREET WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, 12-6 PM
There are bookshops to linger in, to lose an afternoon browsing through, and then there are book shops like Pioneer Books. The tiny shop houses books intercon-
nected with the mission of the Pioneer Works arts center, plus more inspiring covers per square foot than any other bookstore in Brooklyn. There might not be a more ideal way to wait for the bus than inside this artfully arranged neighborhood gem. Bonus, it’s the best place to stumble upon your new favorite independent zine.
BROOKLYN SLATE COMPANY, 33 BOWNE STREET MONDAY-FRIDAY, 11 AM-4 PM, BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.
Approved by both Bobby Flay and neighborhood antipasto enthusiasts alike, Brooklyn Slate company is home to, you guessed it, slate boards. Not only does farmers market fresh cheese photograph better against the cool surface, but the slate doubles as a drawing board for simple labeling with chalk. Plus, the store sells ceramics and boards (starting at $29) sourced in the Hudson Valley and Vermont and made to last. The Starter Kit (starting at $54) is the simplest first step to the perfect post-work soiree.
Grand Opening
718 643-2737 718 643-0741 218 Columbia Street, near Union
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August 2019
BOOKS “The Tiger’s Wife” author returns with a glorious tale of the American West
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by Rachel Aherin
éa Obreht’s new novel Inland is a triumphant sweeping epic that sets out across the American West following two narrators: Lurie, a stateless orphan turned outlaw trying to claim his place in the world, and Nora, a frontierswoman clinging to the community she helped build as her husband and oldest sons go missing. Thrown together by disparate circumstances in the Arizona Territory in 1893, grief and guilt run deep in each of their stories, which eventually collide most surprisingly. Complete with camels, ghosts, and a beautiful blend of magic and realism, Obreht’s highly anticipated novel is more than a worthy follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2011 debut, The Tiger’s Wife. It is a dazzling tale that unflinchingly examines the trappings of our outer and inner worlds, how the landscape shapes how we live, the relationships we devote ourselves to, and the decisions that each ultimately leave us to face. I’ll admit that Obreht’s reputation—National Book Award finalist, 2011 Orange Prize Winner, and international bestseller—preceded her reputation in the classroom, where I was fortunate to work with her as a student in Hunter College’s MFA program. In typical fashion, we peppered her with questions about her approach to the craft—how she decides which details to pluck from her research to achieve authentic realism, how she determines the right scale for a character’s arc, how she readies the reader for magical elements in a story, how she backs out of wrong turns in a draft. Like all good teaching artists do, she responded humbly, sharing insights about her work and the process of writing Inland, while always trying to shepherd us back to instances where we were answering our own questions in our work. Driving home the notion that most writers eternally struggle with similar issues, she often noted that what works for her may not work for us, hinting that she simply may not have all the answers. Except, of course, she has them. They’re exemplified in Inland. On removing from a story the scaffolding that is
Kate Atkinson’s Detective Jackson Brodie Returns in “Big Sky” by Ben Masten It’s been nearly a decade since the world heard from Jackson Brodie, the sardonic private eye at the heart of British novelist Kate Atkinson’s series of mysteries. He was probably glad to have a vacation. Brodie has been through a lot in the course of his adventures, not least a seemingly perpetual midlife crisis, which he wrestles with at least as often as heavies and thugs. The character’s appeal has always been as something of an audience surrogate, an everyman who finds the regular world quite confusing enough, even without the vast conspiracies and murders that make up his professional life. But now the sabbatical is over, and Brodie is back in Atkinson’s newest novel, “Big Sky.”
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research: it’s not just the make of the boot that a person wears, but the weight of it. It’s not just that the United States Camel Corps existed within the military, but the strangeness of a camel’s footprints seen across an American landscape or the bloom of their scent as you draw near the camp. It’s not just the fact that water is scarce, but that its scarcity leaves people on a constant search, one that seeps into every thought, question, and action. On marrying the real and the mystical: ghosts seem to have their own set of rules to follow about how and when they communicate with the living, and even in death, the spirits maintain their humanity, with ingrained needs laid so bare that they permeate ethereal boundaries. On setting as character: the hardpan of Obreht’s American West springs to life, shaping characters’ choices with as much force as their own desires. She deftly bends the shape of a Western to demonstrate how such an expansive landscape, especially for those out on the margins of society, is at once full of promise and intractably oppressive—an eloquent reminder that human nature does indeed mirror Mother Nature. What I found most striking as a former student was the amount of trust she placed in me as a reader. Thematically, this concern came up often in class— how to release enough information that a reader can see some things coming but still be surprised. Though Obreht’s keeps tight focus on her protagonists’ experiences, she leaves ample room for our own. Undeniably, the obstacles that Nora and Lurie face throughout the novel are familiar today—xenophobia and racism, sexism and misogyny, violence, dwindling resources, rapid technology changes, and even newspaper editorial wars bear down on them. Obreht trusts that we will grab hold of this repeating history and see it with fresh eyes, this time through the carefully crafted lenses of these two societal outsiders. They strive to endure the grim existence to which they are bound righteously—with stony humor, stoic resolve, and an unyielding devotion to those they love.
Téa Obreht
kind of seminal work that adds value to historical discourse. As an emerging writer, to have witnessed any part of its making was a sheer privilege, and the task of balancing Obreht’s influence on my work will forever remain a tricky—albeit enjoyable—one. But reading Inland has also been like opening a window back into her classroom, where so often she encouraged us to follow our instincts, worry less, trust more. In this way, the novel removes from her influence any burden, and serves as a reminder that stories worth telling are often simple in origin, but the emotions they evoke can readily cast them into our shared mythology. Through ambitious artistry, Obreht does just that in Inland, breaking and remaking the American West by weaving from the lives of two ordinary people a truly inventive and remarkable journey. Inland by Téa Obreht is published by Random House and available August 13.
In doing this successfully, Inland represents the
Atkinson, one of the most celebrated writers of crime and literary fiction in the UK, has been plenty busy during Jackson Brodie’s absence. Since 2010, she produced two Costa Award-winning novels (“Life After Life” and “A God in Ruins”) and a spy novel (“Transcription”). In interviews around the release of “Big Sky,” she’s allowed that she was worried about “writing herself out” and so gave Brodie a break. “Big Sky,” unfortunately, proves that Atkinson may have had the right idea. The novel has moments where it’s as gripping as Brodie’s earlier adventures, but in this fifth volume, it’s getting easier to see the similarities to previous installments. Loutish husbands behaving suspiciously, underappreciated wives with hidden depths, a nebbish-y innocent caught up with criminals quite by accident; the characters in the story’s web are a lot like folks we’ve met before. “Big Sky” is a bit like playing Jackson Brodie Mad Libs. As in other Brodie adventures, Atkin-
son take this sprawling, seemingly disparate cast and slowly reveals the invisible threads that tie them together. This time around, the bad guys are sex traffickers and pedophiles, subject matter not for the faint of heart. To her great credit, Atkinson handles the material in a way that is sensitive but pulls no punches; the horror of the crimes hits you in the gut. The story shows how acts of evil reverberate forward through the generations—it isn’t just the immediate victims of sexual abuse who suffer.
masterful at saving out one key detail that changes the context of everything you just read and leaving it until the end of a sentence, a chapter, or the whole novel. “Big Sky” isn’t Atkinson’s finest work, but only because that’s such a high bar.
But again, we’ve been here before. Jackson Brodie’s debut, Atkinson’s stellar “Case Histories” covered similar ground, and with a more intricate, surprising plot. Big Sky is a solid pageturner, but the freshness of Atkinson’s earlier efforts just isn’t there. In all fairness, a pretty-good Kate Atkinson novel is still better than most people’s great ones. Atkinson’s dry wit crackles on the page as freshly as ever—at one point Brodie muses that living with his teenage son is like “living inside an argument.” Atkinson is
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August 2019, Page 51
Presidential Jeopardy by Joe Enright ALEX TREBEK: Welcome to our three most recent Presidents, from right to left in reverse chronological order of their service: Donald Trump, Barak Obama and George W. Bush. Good luck to you all in our first round of Presidential Jeopardy. The categories to start us off are: American History, Holidays, Africa, and Westerns. And, as always, remember that all answers should be in the form of a question. President Bush, you go first, sir. TRUMP: I’m the President, I’ll go first, Westerns for… TREBEK: No, sir, you do not go first. Go ahead, President Bush. TRUMP: He’s not a president! Trebek, Steven Miller told me you’re here on a Cannuckian visa? TREBEK: No, I am a naturalized US citizen now. TRUMP: We’ll see. Let’s see how it all plays out. TREBEK: I will ask you to be quiet sir. TRUMP: No, you be quiet, Cannuckian! TREBEK: Please start us off, Mr. Bush. BUSH: Westerns for $1,000, Alex. TREBEK: These three brothers fought the Clanton Gang in the Gunfight at the OK Corral… (DING!) President Trump? TRUMP: What? TREBEK: Your answer? TRUMP: How should I know. Ridiculous question. TREBEK: You pressed the buzzer. I need a correct response or points will be deducted. TRUMP: Leakin’ Jim Comey and the Conflicted Robert Mueller. They were lovers you know, they were in so many pictures together, so that’s closer than brothers. TREBEK: That is a nonsensical answer, sir. TRUMP (Scowling at Trebek): Loser. (DING!) TREBEK: President Bush? BUSH: Who were Matt Dillon and Bat Masterson? TREBEK: No, we are going for three brothers here. (DING!) President Obama? OBAMA: Who were the Wyatt Brothers? TREBEK: No, we can’t accept that. It’s the Earp Brothers. So you’re all at negative $1,000. President Bush, pick again. BUSH: Alex, let’s try Westerns for $800. TREBEK: All right. This should be easier. Doc Holliday was a friend of this famous lawman who had two brothers at the OK Corral. Trump wanders in front of Obama and Bush, obscuring their view of the question. TREBEK: (DING!) President Bush? BUSH: Who was J. Edgar Hoover? TREBEK: No. (DING!) President Trump? TRUMP: What? TREBEK: You pressed your buzzer again. What is your response, sir? TRUMP: Yeah, it’s one of the 18 Angry Democrat pals of conflicted Robert Mueller. TREBEK: No. President Obama?...Sorry, time’s up. Wyatt Earp was the correct answer. We thought you folks would get that one in light of the previous question. Oh well. President Obama, by virtue of your silence on that question, you are now in the lead at negative $1,000. President Bush, pick once again. BUSH: Holidays for $200, Alex. TREBEK: All right, this holiday dates to an armistice that occurred on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…(DING!) President Bush? BUSH: What is 9/11? TREBEK: No…(DING!) President Trump? TRUMP: Inauguration Day. Mine had the greatest crowds of all time I’m told.
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TREBEK: No. And in the future please present your answer in the form of a question. TRUMP: That doesn’t make sense. (Scrunches face at camera) Why would an answer be a question? This guy’s a weirdo. TREBEK: (DING!) President Obama? OBAMA: What is Armistice Day, which was renamed Veteran’s Day in 1954 to recognize the sacrifices of not only the Great War but of World War Two and the Korean War as well, which has now unfortunately expanded to include veterans of Vietnam… TREBEK: All right, that’s enough, thank you. Pick a category. TRUMP (Leaning into the microphone): He’s a showoff and it was also a fake question. OBAMA: Africa for $200, please. TRUMP: Africa? Are you kidding me? Oh, this is rigged all right. TREBEK: This country has the world’s largest pyramid…(DING!) President Trump? TRUMP: Bernie Madoff! (Looking smug) Largest pyramid scheme ever. TREBEK: No, I said “pyramid” not “pyramid scheme” and besides we are looking for an African country. TRUMP: Not fair. He’s an African. Rigged. TREBEK: Anyone else? (DING!) Yes, President Bush. Remember we’re looking for a country here. BUSH: What is a Ponzi scheme? TREBEK: No! (DING!) President Obama? OBAMA: What is Kemet, the original name used by the ancient Egyptians, which means “black land,” so named for the dark soil along the Nile River in the northern… TREBEK: No, I’m sorry, we can’t accept Kemet. TRUMP: What does Kismet have to do with pyramid schemes? This is all rigged. TREBEK: President Obama, please proceed again. OBAMA: American History for $200. TREBEK: This June 1944 invasion turned the tide of a war that lasted 6 years…(DING!) President Trump? TRUMP: Saving Private Ryan. TREBEK: No. (DING!) President Bush? BUSH: Who was Hitler? TREBEK: No. TRUMP: Normandy Battle! TREBEK: No. Mr. Trump, you’ve had your turn, so I will ask you to be quiet, please. (DING!) President Obama? OBAMA: What was World War Two, also known as The Second World War which…” TREBEK: Yes, yes, all right, let’s… BUSH: Alex, I’d like to amend an earlier question if I may, to “What was Hitler’s War?” TREBEK: I’m sorry, President Bush, that’s not possible. And now because of the constant interruptions and long answers, we’ve come to our break…At present, everyone is in negative territory. Commercial. TREBEK (Standing near Bush podium): Let’s get to know our contestants a little. President Bush, I understand you spend your time painting? BUSH: That’s right, Alex. Oil-based. But I paint on canvasses, not on barns (laughs). TREBEK: Very impressive. Moving on to President Obama, is it true that you read two books a day now that you’re retired. OBAMA: Yes, on a slow day, Alex. TREBEK: Wow, that’s a lot of reading! Now finally, President Trump, I’m told you’ve sexually assaulted 19 women – do you want to tell us a little about that? TRUMP: Those women are all losers. Have you ever looked at them? Dogs, every one of them. I had to beat them away from my love pump with a stick. Not my
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type. TREBEK: All right, enough chit chat…Now let’s play Double Jeopardy. The categories here are Hit Songs, Famous Buildings, and Paintings. Presidents Trump and Bush, you both stand at negative $2,600, so once again, President Bush goes first. TRUMP: How come my election victory isn’t a category? You had Africa for the African, now I see Paintings up there, obviously favoring dumb Bush, but what about me? This is a fake game! TREBEK: Let’s move on. President Bush? BUSH: Paintings for a thousand, Alex. TREBEK: All right, here is the answer: A relative of Whistler is depicted in this painting… (DING!) President Bush? BUSH: Who is Whistler’s Mama? TREBEK: We’ll accept that. You and Barack are now tied at negative $800. Go again. BUSH: Famous buildings for $200. TREBEK: This building on 5th Avenue… TRUMP: Trump Tower! TREBEK: Sir, you cannot just blurt out an answer without pressing the buzzer first and you cannot speak until called upon and moreover, you have to wait until I finish talking! TRUMP: Trump Tower is on 5th Avenue, most famous building in the world people say. That’s what they tell me. TREBEK (Talking over Trump): I’ll repeat the clue: This building on 5th Avenue was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1931. Yes, President Bush. BUSH: The Waldorf Astoria. TREBEK: Good God, no. President Obama, help us out here. OBAMA: What is The Chrysler Building? TREBEK (Sighing): No. Moving on…Wait, I’m told we’re out of time. And all three of you have failed to accumulate any money to wager in Final Jeopardy. When that happens, we provide you each with $2,000. So when we return, the category will be: Presidents of the United States. Commercial TREBEK: All right, we’re back. Here is your answer: This President was the longest serving. Please write your answer on the tablet and the amount you are wagering. As seconds pass, Trump cranes his neck to peek at what Obama’s writing. Discrete at first but then is shoulder to shoulder with Obama as he peers down but Obama shields his answer. TREBEK: All right let’s see how we did. BUSH Displays Tablet: Wagered $2,000. Answer: Who was Ronald Reagan? TREBEK: No, sorry. President Obama? OBAMA Displays Tablet: Wagered $2,000. Answer: Who was FDR? TREBEK: Oh, I’m sorry, we can’t accept initials only. President Trump? TRUMP Displays Tablet: Wagered $2,000. Answer: Donald J. Trump. TRUMP: I ain’t leaving, folks! ICE Agents swarm stage. TRUMP (Pointing to Trebek): Yeah, take him. Smart ass! TREBEK: I’m a citizen since 1997! Obama and Bush attempt to intercede with ICE Agents. TRUMP (Smirking): That’s what happens when Cannuckians play games with me! (Waves to more ICE Agents entering stage) You guys! Yeah, you! Arrest those two guys (pointing at Obama and Bush) and check their IDs, especially the nigger. OK, let’s bring out Vlad and Rocket Man for Dictator Jeopardy.
August 2019
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