Red Hook Star-Revue February 2013 by George Fiala

The

Red Hook StarªRevue

Thru Feb. 22 2013

SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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The importance of Tyquan’s “hook”

by Nic Cavell yquan Carter’s black sweatshirt shrugs as he clicks down the wooden steps. In the basement’s nadir, he walks past brass cups, a power sander and toilet paper. He pauses, then dusts a canvas bag from the top before he can reach it: his pile of recording equipment—each piece fought for, each piece won. They include a Sony Handycam, a microphone, a filter screen for recording, a microphone stand, a midi keyboard, a full-HD Canon T2i, and an Mbox recording interface. Together with speakers and a laptop, they cost him over $1700, but he’s split the costs and distributed them over the past two Tyquan, who performs under the name “Haps,” has lived in Red Hook his whole life. He records his songs years. at Home/made. (photo by Cavell) When he has what he needs, Tyquan mounts the steps back into the restaurant where his he explains. mother, Judy, helps clean up. It’s 7:30 pm, While he peers at his songs’ multitudinous layers and which is well after hours. He sets the equip- their assorted sound levels, Tyquan’s voice disappears ment down. He nestles one large speaker from the conversation. From this angle, a green waagainst a green watering can at one end of tering can sprouts above his head and white quince the bar, and another against a chrome pot flowers bloom from spidery branches like synapses. several feet further down. He tilts them so For Tyquan—whose family’s home was destroyed by their vantages intersect with a third point: Hurricane Sandy—Van Brunt’s Home/made is a “good himself, seated at a wooden table and his studio, even if it’s not really a studio” for his rapping, beat-producing and video-editing. laptop. “This way, I get all the sounds coming into A Typology of Hooks me. I mix them down, tighten the song’s As Gary Burns noted in a 1987 Popular Music article, beat and then add some sounds to fill it up,” Delson’s Dictionary defines a “hook” as “that part of a

Hillary Chicken is one of four chicks who live in a clean coop at the Urban Meadow. Her roommates are named Black Betty, Chicky Menage, and Cookie Dough. Hannah (their owner) and the four were forced to relocate following Hurricane Sandy (photo by George Fiala).

(continued on page 3)

NYCHA a no-show at their own meeting by Nic Cavell

Jose Clavell, pointing at the flyer, identified himself among a contingent of residents who’d foregone the January 16 meeting for this one because of work obligations.

n January 30, about 50 residents of the Red Hook Houses gathered in the PAL Miccio Center for the next of the New York City Housing Association’s (NYCHA) biweekly meetings to discuss progress with posthurricane repairs. A few copies of the organization’s newsletter—now more than one month out-of-date—peppered tables in the lobby. In the auditorium, Miccio Center Director Tyrone Lewis had rows of chairs for the tenants set out at center court. Tables at which they could file personal complaints with NYCHA staff were placed in the back, just like they had been at the January 16 meeting.

Community members, blue with cold

“There are other places for [NYCHA] to be working. No one’s coming because they’re pretty much caught up with the repairs. There’s nothing more we can tell them,” she said.

This was the scene that housing residents saw when they entered the Miccio Center, January 30th for a scheduled meeting with NYCHA heads. (photo by Fiala)

from what they reported as on-again, off-again heating in freezing overnight temperatures, flushed with confusion and anger at what NYCHA Director of State & City Legislative Affairs, Brian Honan later called a “miscommunication.”

The Red Hook Star-Revue 101 Union Street Brooklyn, NY 11231

The only things missing were the NYCHA personnel.

Lillie Marshall, the Tenants Association President of Red Hook Houses West, quickly denied that the flyer was circulated by NYCHA staff, or that the organization had scheduled a meeting that evening at all.

Residents, including Henrietta Perkins, clutched flyers printed on yellow stock issued as reminders of both the January 16 and January 30 meetings.

Residents including Clavell and Irma Rivera demurred. “This is a joke—but really, it’s not even funny. When is the work going to be done?” Rivera asked. (continued on page 4)

Valentine’s Day (pages 9-12)

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The

Red Hook StarªRevue

January 2013

Happenings

Volume 4 No. 1NEWSPAPER SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13

Table of Contents

Industry City, 5th Floor Common Room, B Section 6 pm The Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC) and the East Williamsburg Valley Industrial Development Corporation (EWVIDCO) will present a tour of small food and light manufacturers. The organizations also plan to highlight openings in the Industry City real estate market and provide networking with the tenants of the neighborhood. Industry City is located at 220 36th Street. Call (718) 965-3100 x. 108 or email dmeade@sbidc.org for more information.

Community Calendar......... 2 Valentines...............9-12 Happenings ...................... 2 Crossword................. 13 EPA.................................... 5 Kentler Show............. 14 Police Meeting................... 7 Classifieds................. 19

Staff Kimberly G. Price.......................................Editor/Publisher George Fiala.......................................... Graphics/Publisher

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13

Nic Cavell.............................................................. Reporter

69 9th Street 6:30 pm – 9 pm Judith S. Weis, Professor of Biological Sciences at Rutgers University, will present the next in the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s Urban Ecology Lecture Series. Her talk, “Living in a Contaminated Estuary,” will take five species found in industrialized estuaries and examine how their behavior differs from the same species in cleaner environments. Call (718) 541-4378 or visit the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s Facebook page for more information.

Vince Musacchia..................................................Cartoons Erik Penney...................................................... Restaurants Eric Ruff............................................................... Calendar Daniel Alexander........................................................Intern

Contributors

Mary Anne Massaro, Mary Ann Pietanza, Brian Clancy,

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15

Kentler Gallery 6-8 pm The Kentler International Drawing Space welcomes Nancy Manter’s exhibit “Water Prayers” with an opening reception. A brochure featuring Stephen Maine’s discussion of Manter’s work will accompany the exhibit, which is free and open to the public. The Kentler Gallery is located at 353 Van Brunt Street. Call (718) 875.2098 or visit www.kentlergallery.org for more information.

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718.624.5568 - Editorial & Advertising 917.652.9128 News Tips 101 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 editor@redhookstar.com

Star-Revue Community Calendar Community Board 6:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16

Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Palm House 7-10 pm The Linnaean Libation League will hold the Black, White, and Evergreen Ball, whose concept is inspired by Truman Capote’s famous party of the 1960s. Wine, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be offered against the backdrop of fine garden greenery. Enter the Palm House at 1000 Washington Avenue. Call (718) 623-7241 or visit bbg.org/LLL for more information.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 The Commons 7 pm Join Ann Wright—who has served in the U.S. Army and State Department—and author Nick Mottern for a presentation and discussion about the pros and cons of drone warfare and its role in making the world a safer place. The talk is presented by Brooklyn for Peace. The Commons is located at 388 Atlantic Avenue. Call (718) 624-5921 or visit brooklynpeace.org for more information.

All meetings at 6:30 pm

Mon. Feb. 11 General Board Meeting: General Board Meeting, 6:30 pm, Cobble Hill Health Center, 380 Henry Street

Thurs, Feb. 21 Transportation Committee Meeting, LICH, 339 Hicks Street, Room A Mon, Feb. 25 Environmental Protection/Permits & Licenses Committee, Old First Reformed Church, 729 Carroll Street

Other Meetings Mon. Feb 11 EPA Community meeting re: Gowanus Canal Superfund Site 6:30 pm, PS 58 auditorium, 77 Sullivan Street, 330 Smith Street Tues. Feb 12 Boerum Hill Association Board Meeting, 7 pm, Bishop Mugavero Center, 155 Dean Street Wed. Feb 13. EPA Community meeting re: Gowanus Canal Superfund Site 6:30 pm, PS 15 auditorium, 77 Sullivan Street Wed. Feb. 13 NYCHA meets with tenants, 6:30 pm, Miccio Center, 110 West 9th St.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 PS 15 Auditorium 12-3 pm Falconworks Artists Group is calling actors for the cast of Enemy of the People—an adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play. Adults (18+) of any age, ethnicity and theater experience are welcome to attend auditions, but preference in casting will go to residents of Red Hook. Work is unpaid, lasts most weekends from March through August, and is glorious. Call (718) 395-3218 or email info@falconworks. com to sign up for auditions.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, MARCH 1-2; MARCH 6-9

Cora Studio-Theater 8 pm On February 28, Shannon Hummel and Cora Dance’s “down here” will premiere in an Opening Night Benefit Performance & Cocktail Party. On March 1-2 and 6-9, the piece will be performed again. Tickets to the opening, hosted by public radio’s John Hockenberry, are $100. Tickets to the later showings are $20 or paywhat-you-can. The theater is located at 201 Richards Street. Call (718) 858-2520 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/317542 to book tickets.

TUESDAYS - SUNDAYS thru MARCH 10

Wed. Feb. 27 Red Hook Civic Association, 7:00 pm, PS 15 auditorium, 77 Sullivan Street Every Sunday Carroll Gardens Greenmarket, 8 am - 4 pm, Carroll and Smith Sts.

Brooklyn Children’s Museum 10 am-5 pm Global Shoes combines cultural artifacts from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s stores with a variety of hands-on, feet-on activities. Children and their families explore global cultures by experiencing the museum’s fantasy shoe store and factory. Located at 145 Brooklyn Avenue. For ages 5-12; visit www.brooklynkids. org for more information.

Every Saturday and Sunday Free guided tours of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Meet at 1 pm at the Cherry Walk, adjacent to the Visitors Center, Eastern Parkway next to the Brooklyn Museum of Art

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January 2013

Reason, Audacity and Final Cut Pro (continued from page 1)

song, sometimes the title or the key lyric line, that keeps recurring.” To songwriters Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, hooks are “the foundation of commercial songwriting, particularly hit single-writing.” The latter writers also believed the best hooks contain one or more of the following: “(a) a driving, danceable rhythm; (b) a melody that stays in people’s minds; (c) a lyric that furthers the dramatic action, or defines a person or place.” Tyquan—who performs under the name “Happy” or “Haps”—has lived in Red Hook his entire life. He went to PS 15 and PS 142. He angles his way across Columbia Street, against the waterfront and through the Red Hook Houses when he shoots footage for his documentaries and music videos. He records at Home/made and performs at the Ice House. He calls this place his “block,” and his “home”—and now, through his audio and video projects—and through the constant accumulation of new skills—the 22-year-old attempts to understand these places’ variegation. Tyquan got his start in high school—at the Greenburgh Academy—when the raps he wrote with his cousin Benny Dorlisme netted an increasing amount of his classmates’ attention. In 2008, they wrote a song called “Business.” But it was Tyquan whom his classmates described as the school’s “best writer.” More of his raps solidified this title; and Tyquan’s name encrusted the title of a rap collective that appeared soon after. When “Tyquan’s Finest” began, other members had problems with the name. Why Tyquan’s, they asked, and not their own? If it wasn’t mutiny, there was at least thwarted ambition in the air—until Tyquan quelled it with a simple explanation: “If Jay-Z showed up to our sessions, we’d all be Jay-Z’s Finest. But right now, I’m the one with the name,” he told them. If his tack seemed Machiavellian, they were soon convinced otherwise. The work ethic surrounding Tyquan with his music—and the support he banded together for others—made it clear that he was interested in the success of not just the group he helmed, but each of its members as individuals. He just happened to be the most swashbuckling of the Musketeers. At ages 17, 18 and 19, he went online and into the streets promoting his group. Songs like “Flyin’ over airplanes” and “Can you get me one?” were firmly tongue-in-cheek, and went cheek by jowl with one of Tyquan’s teachers’ assertions that what he wrote was “fantasy.” Themes of money and women—the usual suspects in rap lyrics—really only worked because Tyquan’s lyrics held water and he knew how to use his voice. It’s a memorable voice—tense and tinny in a way that carries—capable of producing the type of compact melody required by the “hook.” But as Tyquan later found out, the rappers who only know how to rap don’t have many legs on which to stand. Rapping, he realized, had to go hand-in-hand with video-editing, beat-making and other audio-engineering techniques.

Red Hook Star-Revue

According to the songwriter Arnold Shaw, a “hook” is “an appealing musical sequence or phrase, a bit of harmony or sound, or a rhythmic figure that grabs or hooks a listener…a bit of music or words so compelling that it worms its way into one’s memory and won’t go away.” In his mind, Tyquan slashed out a plan for his next video. Instead of delegating the task to another student, and instead of relying on the prodding of a teacher who seemed at times uninspired—or at least unable to attend to each student’s project—he would place the brunt of the new work squarely on his own shoulders.

Tyquan sits at Home/made mixing vocals with his beat tracks (photos by Cavell).

Blotted Stars According to Kasha and Hirschhorn, the “hook” is also “what you’re selling.” Tyquan, who began rapping and making music for fun, was now realizing that everything about the process has a cost. He looked at his friends who’d signed with labels—some of them major ones— but were still getting pennies to the dollars they’d imagined earning. He reconsidered adages about record companies, where the rapper is the person who makes the least amount of money in a given company—because he’s merely an input, or a cog in a well-oiled machine. He looked up the numbers and saw how producers split off half the earnings for their work with a rapper’s lyrics. He found out that radio plays net a singer copper Lincolns, and not green Washingtons. Tyquan did not want to be pigeonholed. So parallel to his time finishing at the Greenburgh Academy—and parallel to the time he promoted Tyquan’s Finest— he turned up for an after-school internship editing videos at CityPark Productions in the Red Hook Community Center. At the onset, he remained unimpressed by video editing. He spent his time at the beat-making station that filled out the back end of the same room at the center. He planked out beats using a program called Reason. With a good microphone in hand, Tyquan recorded his voice with another program, Audacity. Competition among the students was his teacher. Benny was one. Something slipped. Tyquan faltered with the technologies. When he listened to Benny’s music, the difference was clear. “Why you better than me?” he couldn’t help asking.

ers off at a crisp 5:30 in the morning. He needed to leave by 6 am to make it to school at 8 am. He would walk from 417 Van Brunt to the Smith and 9th Street station for the F-train. From Jay Street-MetroTech, he took the A-train to 59th Street; from there, the 1-train all the way to 242nd Street for the 1-bus. And from there it was still a 40-minute-drive to Yonkers. Tyquan listened to music and crafted beats and songs in his head for the whole ride. He did the same on the ride home after leaving school promptly after the bell rang at 2:15 pm. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays he needed to make it back to CityPark Productions to enjoy what studio time he could before it closed at 8 pm. Often, the time was not enough for Tyquan. So he worked Saturdays in the studio. As his beat-making skills gained new dimensions, new barriers appeared on the horizon. At the presentation of the interns’ first projects, he sat entranced by a well-synced video shot and arranged by someone who was also a fine rapper. When his own video came on, his rap skill seemed to him entirely negated out by his half-baked video—a project he’d let another student take the lead on. The assertions that his work was “corny” wouldn’t go away. At the same time, he knew that if he didn’t develop his skills to the length that this other rapper and video producer had, he could only hope to be chaff with record studios—a blotted star who’d be bound to ink a lemon of a contract.

The Fruits of Reason

It was not as simple as he’d hoped. The work of shooting scenes and framing them with fewer lights than was adequate with a green screen was grating. When he edited, he had to learn the use of even more software—this time, Final Cut Pro. He had to chop up scenes, erase ones he cherished and stack their blocks in a flashy way. He forced deadlines out of his mind as he disappeared into this new virtual plane. New errors caused him delay after delay and it was over two months before the project was ready. He agonized because he “only” had two hours after school each day to work on it. The new video for “Can you get me one?” was worth the wait. As Tyquan puts it, it “showed growth.” Looking back at it now, he sees flecks and blemishes he dislikes— a lightning-like green stripe across the breast of his shirt flickered uneasily with the green screen behind the video—but the video showcases new ease with video technology, his evolving sound, and his glib clothes. Clothes and appearances, in general, are critical because they convey a rapper’s image. They’re part of “what you’re selling,” and Tyrone takes that fact just as seriously. In his videos, he sports jerseys, jackets, large watches and the ball caps that are metonyms for thug life, new money and gangster youth. The question “Can you get me one?” riffs on the materialism of girls dazzled by that wealth. In that video, Tyquan is wearing a large red cap with block letters spelling “ROOKIE” across the front. Seated in his makeshift studio in Home/ made, Tyquan is wearing a hat of similar style, but worked with comfortable black leather. The Yankees’ logo is stitched in the front. He says it’s part of the manufacturer’s “New Era” series. (continued on page 7)

If he confided his admiration for Benny’s music with him, he silently bristled at the criticism other interns spiked toward his music. “Your songs are corny,” they taunted. The challenge drove Tyquan harder. He developed his skills with Reason and Audacity and became harder to ignore both in the studio and at his high school. Tyquan’s house was in Red Hook, but the Greenburgh Academy was in Yonkers. So each morning, Tyquan threw the cov-

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Tyquan sets up his studio at night after the restaurant closes.

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NYCHA takes a night off

(continued from page 1)

On hand to step into the void—and into a familiar position—was Carlos Menchaca. With NYCHA absent, Menchaca, a community organizer who has been deeply involved with hurricane relief efforts in the Red Hook Houses, volunteered to coordinate the meeting himself. After gathering the chairs into a rough circle and calling the residents to seat themselves, a smartly dressed Menchaca asked them to take turns listing their complaints while he took notes. Before he began, Menchaca, who worked closely with NYCHA after the storm—covering their “blind spots,” as he later called them—dialed Brian Honan of NYCHA directly, asking him to speed over. The meeting, scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm, got off the ground a few minutes later. One by one, residents offered problems pre- and post-Sandy—cracked walls, mildew, grease, bathroom mold—into the bonfire of their discontent at the circle’s center. Ceaseless side conversations and the auditorium’s acoustics converted it into a ricocheting echo chamber. “Sandy is bringing everything to light, including problems before the storm,” Perkins said when it was her turn. Others continued to tick off lists of incomplete repairs or maladjustments to heating and cooling. Another young resident, Xiaoping Lin, described the growth in her hunting skills in the absence of NYCHA and proper extermination. “I’ve become a mouse-catching expert. I learned that when you chase it, a mouse is scared. But I’m not scared. When it jumps behind the shoes, I grab it and catch it,” she said. But sentiment most demonstrably coalesced around the fiery oration of Ulysses Bermudez. “Let’s cut to the chase. Enough with repairs—the board of directors and

[NYCHA Chairman] John Rhea need to be fired. They just tell us what they want to tell us. But it’s time to clean house and get them the hell out of here,” he said. “He said it all,” came assenting echoes among the residents. Brian Honan, seating himself after entering at 7:15 pm, was not welcomed. “You’re going to tell me the sky is green, and when I say it’s blue—you’re mad because I’m challenging you?” Sarah Chapman quizzed, accusing NYCHA representatives of neglecting maintenance problems that remain in the Houses. Honan, wary, took to the circle’s center after all residents had dislodged their complaints— and tried to put a positive spin on things.

“Honan was only committal about one thing—that the next meeting will occur February 13, at the same time as an Environmental Protection Agency meeting discussing plans for cleanup of the Gowanus Canal.” “Coming to this meeting is a good use of your time. Accountability is an issue that every agency faces. The federal government, the state government, and the local government are all to blame here. But I have to admit that NYCHA, even though we have no money for repairs, shares some of that blame,” he told the residents. “NYCHA’s properties house 600,000 people. That’s bigger than Miami, bigger than Boston, and bigger than Balti-

EPA will be in Red Hook to answer questions about the GOWANUS CANAL SUPERFUND SITE

Tenants show Lillie Marshall a flyer announcing the January 30th meeting. She maintained before the eventual meeting that the flyer was not an official flyer, and that she hadn’t seen it before that night (photo by George Fiala).

more. It would be the second largest city in New York State, but we just don’t have the funding we need for repairs,” he said, adding that NYCHA plans to have a new plan for repair funding within the next year and a half. Marshall, still in attendance, was among the first to attack Honan’s assertions about funding. After dispelling rumors about the flyers at the start of the meeting, she took the opportunity to grill Honan in front of the tenants. “There was recent work in 2008 with bricks. [The bricks] are fine, but because of people’s air conditioners, you’re spending all this money on worthless scaffolding,” she said, referring to the “sidewalk shedding” NYCHA has prioritized putting in place outside the Houses while it delays the step of actual construction. Problems with the air conditioners concerned their placement. Marshall identified two buildings—those at 82 Dwight and 135 Richards—in particular. Honan said existing legal frameworks “forced [NYCHA] to spend that money,” but acknowledged that “the money could be used better.” In the end, Honan—who continued to pledge he was “willing to meet with anyone who’s willing to meet”—evaded the residents’ full ire. After his explanations, they demanded that NYCHA send more personnel in addition to Honan to meetings so their complaints would reach more ears. The echo chamber of residents’ voices continued into the hallway, down the stairs and out into the cold. Honan and Menchaca remained in the auditorium conferencing. “It seems like they really need a place to come and, well, vent a little bit. Maybe we can come up with a board on which

we can write down all of these complaints,” Menchaca said. Honan was only committal about one thing—that the next meeting will occur February 13, at the same time as an Environmental Protection Agency meeting discussing plans for cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. In an email to Star-Revue, NYCHA said it had reduced the frequency of the meetings to once per month “when attendance significantly declined.” The organization denied scheduling a meeting place and either creating or distributing flyers. But the question lingered: where did those flyers the residents brought come from? As Menchaca described it, certain community members agreed to a design and forwarded it to him. He, in turn, passed it to acting president of the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID), Matthew McMorrow—who then paid for its printing at Park Slope Copy. If NYCHA participated in the “miscommunication” that the frequency of the meetings had changed, then LID and Menchaca—who recently filed to run for Sara Gonzalez’s seat on City Council—also did by preparing the flyer. Menchaca, though his timing was ripe to show up NYCHA by running the meeting himself, was also careful to show solidarity with Honan and his organization, whom he latently called to the meeting when it was clear no one from NYCHA planned to attend. Menchaca later stated that “a larger conversation about NYCHA needs to occur.” At the same time, it was not clear why NYCHA—an organization with which so many residents are so visibly discontent—decided to reduce the frequency of its meetings. About 100 residents attended the last meeting on January 16.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites you to attend a public information meeting to discuss the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal and its potential impact on the residents of Red Hook. Representatives from EPA will be on hand to answer questions you may have about EPA’s recently released Proposed Plan to clean up the canal. The meeting will be held on:

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 6:30 PM P.S. 15 (auditorium) 71 Sullivan Street Red Hook, Brooklyn Site related documents are available online at: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/gowanus

If you have any questions regarding the meeting or any other site related issues you can contact Natalie Loney, Community Involvement Coordinator at loney.natalie@epa.gov, (212) 637-3639 or toll-free at1-800-346-5009.

Khadijah Jones of the Addabo Center reading the Star-Revue accounts of the previous two NYCHA meetings. Carlo is in the background, frantically trying to call somebody to see what he should do (Fiala photo).

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EPA to gauge community opinion by Nic Cavell

track/ballfields

s reported in the StarRevue’s last issue, a contaminated disposal facility (CDF) at the Gowanus Bay Terminal (GBX) in Red Hook is under discussion. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed the stable repository for sludge in its plan for cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. The giant piece of concrete-like crust, or “monolith,” as Project Manager Ikea Christos Tsiamis describes it, would be constructed in water—not on the ground. As an ancillary benefit, the plan creates developable land for the GBX’s owner, John Quadrozzi, Jr. The land’s erie basin use would ultimately be the decision of Quadrozzi alone. However, the plan is subject to community acceptance following a public comment period, which is now extended through April 27.

Grain terminal building

Hess Oil tanks

The next public meeting in Red Hook is slated for February 13 at 6:30 pm at PS 15. At a similar meeting in Carroll Gardens on February 11, the plan is not expected to face much controversy, as that community has already largely approved the proposal. After their January 24 meeting, the EPA left many in Red Hook confused about what was at stake with the proposed plan and who its stakeholders were. Ahead of the February 13 meeting, both Tsiamis and Phaedra Thomas—a paid representative of Quadrozzi—made an effort to clarify the issues. “The fact is that these issues are technical. We understand that the community has questions, and we respond. Again, this is only one option,” said Tsiamis, who is the plan’s—and the CDF’s— chief architect. In a phone interview with the Star-Revue, Tsiamis emphasized that the CDF would only use soil dredged from the canal bottom that contains the lowest-grade, non-free-flowing contaminants. Those contaminants—potent atmospheric pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—would be coalesced into a solid mixture of sand, dredge and cement with a consistency akin to concrete. This mixture would resemble some PAH-laden varieties of asphalt deemed safe and used to build city streets. The concentration of PAHs in the material would be about 1/1000 of that found in some asphalts, Tsiamis said. That material would be housed in hardened walls of bentonite after being treated on-site at the GBX. And while the CDF lies in a flood zone, Tsiamis

Piers where EPA will add landfill said that the land it covers—and the water it displaces—at the edge of the Gowanus Bay is such that there is no increased risk of flooding. In a separate interview, Thomas added to these justifications the environmental benefits of keeping as much of the dredge in Red Hook as possible. “Transporting this material with thousands of trucks consumes an enormous amount of additional fuel emissions,” she said. Thomas said that Quadrozzi, if given community acceptance of the CDF, is considering plans to build a cement and concrete mixing plant as part of his Quadrozzi Concrete Corporation. He has also discussed the possibility of a community “visioning process” for an “eco-industrial park” on the plot of land created by the CDF, she said.

the CDF, meanwhile, will go straight into the pockets of the parties deemed responsible for the pollution, including the City of New York and National Grid. Tsiamis maintained that project savings are the “last consideration” for his team, and that they “do not impede our progress with the community review.” Beyond technical considerations, Tsiamis also emphasized the jobs that would be created in the community through construction and maintenance of the CDF. “I’ve been here for three years now, in dozens of meetings with the community. I’ve spoken with people living and fishing around Red Hook. I know the need for employment here,” he said. As far as a cement factory or an “ecoindustrial park,” Tsiamis said it was too early to guess the site’s future use.

While Quadrozzi will not be paid by the EPA for deposit of the sludge in the CDF, he stands to gain much liquidity from the increased property values of his assets at the GBX. According to Tsiamis, Quadrozzi’s fines from the State Department of Environmental Conservation for dumping material illegally into the Gowanus Canal “did not present any red flags.”

“A monolith is what [the CDF] is,” he said. “Once we construct the CDF, it’s up to the owner of the property. He can use it in any way he wants. But when it’s built, there will be restrictions—legal restrictions for things like digging and drilling in that area. And, for instance, restrictions like ‘you cannot build more than one story aboveground.’ For the life of the CDF, the EPA has jurisdiction there.”

The $37 million the EPA saves by treating and storing the material on-site in

Community Review “Science and engineering are important,”

acknowledged Tsiamis, but his team also “does not dismiss sentiment.” Through public meetings, verbal discussion and written comments, community members have the opportunity to voice their support for or dissent from the EPA’s proposed plan using any arguments they see fit. All comments are weighted the same, and everyone is a stakeholder. The EPA, which has already extended the comment period once from 30 to 90 days due to public demand, announced on February 8 it would extend the period another 30 days to April 27. The February 13 meeting is designed for more detailed explanations of the EPA’s proposed plan. Unlike the January 24 meeting, no stenographer will attend to transcribe formal comments. The EPA will still hold a question and answer period at the end with “no stricture on time—really only until they throw us out of the building,” Tsiamis said, encouraged everyone who could to attend the meeting and comment on the plan. “We’re miles ahead of the policies enacted by the former Soviet Union,” he said, referring to the EPA’s method of stabilizing PAHs in a CDF, which has been used for decades and most recently at Portland Harbor in Oregon. “But I’m not a city planner. We need to hear as many voices as possible.”

These photos show part of the GBX property, alongside the Grain Terminal building (Star-Revue photos).

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Star-Revue ®

News Briefs

Mapmaker Finds Higher Purpose

Red Hook resident and cartographer, Jim McMahon spent the night of October 29 mapping the progression of Hurricane Sandy’s floodwater in his neighborhood. Now, he’s pressing the city to install elevation markers based on his mapping system in Red Hook before the next storm. After his research revealed that 95% of Red Hook’s streets flooded during Sandy, McMahon realized that the area’s elevation may not be as far as many thought from sea level. Elevation signs would warn residents of the need to evacuate or move their possessions to higher ground. They would also warn prospective homebuyers of the inherent risks of flooding in different areas. McMahon, who draws maps and writes professionally for Scholastic Inc., has forwarded his elevation map to FEMA and the office of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez. FEMA is responsible for reassessing the gradation of the city’s flood zones, including Red Hook.

The Restaurant

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Sandy Brings Mini Library to Red Hook

Red Hook, look for orange! Urban Librarians Unite (ULU) has planted a mini-library in a bright orange newspaper box in front of the Red Hook Library on 7 Wolcott Street. The mini-library was formerly located in a FEMA trailer.

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The mini-library in Red Hook is one of five that has been put in place in Sandy-affected communities. Other mini-libraries can be found by libraries in Coney Island and Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn; and at the Broad Channel and Seaside libraries in Queens. Each mini-library shelves about one hundred books. ULU regularly makes the rounds to refresh that total with the over 22,000 children’s titles it received from donors nationwide.

Solidarity: From Brooklyn to British Columbia

Warm tidings arrive from the Canadian province of British Columbia. In a letter to the Star-Revue, visual artist and children’s programmer, Diane Moran of Port Coquitlam wished the community of Red Hook her very best. Students of Port Coquitlam’s schools continue to correspond with those of Red Hook’s PS 15 in artwork and letters as part of a pen pal project. On March 3, Moran plans to hold a local fundraiser called “Books for Brooklyn” to raise money for PS 15’s new school library. “One person can make a difference but when communities come together it makes a WORLD of difference,” Moran wrote.

DOT Pledges Free Safety Equipment

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) has teamed up with delivery.com to provide 1,500 commercial cyclists with free retroreflective vests, bells and bike lights as part of an ongoing effort to improve the safety of the city’s streets.

IKEA Brooklyn 1 Beard Street Brooklyn, NY 11231 Open daily 10am-9pm Restaurant Hours: 9:30am-8:30pm

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The safety kits are to be distributed to cyclists at a new series of eight forums in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

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Legal requirements for businesses which will be newly enforced come April include providing cyclists with helmets, well-equipped bikes, vests and ID numbers. Business owners employing cyclists must also hang a bicycle safety poster or face fines between $100 and $250.

SBA Opens Outreach Center

On January 29, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the opening of a disaster loan outreach center (DLOC) at the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church at 9719 Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie. The center seeks to provide assistance to homeowners, renters, and businesses affected by Sandy, including those from Red Hook. The deadline for business owners to return loan applications has been extended to February 27 by the SBA.

Closing schools for Chinese New Year

On February 1, some local politicians lobbied for the creation of an official holiday for the Asian Lunar New Year. The holiday, which is the foremost occasion for family reunion in Asian countries, currently counts as an ‘excused absence’ for students who celebrate it. Legislation would establish the Asian Lunar New Year in municipalities with relatively large proportion of Asian Americans, or about 7.5 percent of total population.

Officials Clarify Letter

In a January 31 letter, elected Brooklyn and citywide officials denounced the Political Science Department of Brooklyn College’s co-sponsorship of the student-organized event “[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)] Movement Against Israel.” In a February 6 follow-up to that letter, the officials responded to public pressure by clarifying their position and striking a more moderate tone. Although the officials believe the BDS movement to be a “wrongheaded and destructive one,” they supported the right of the college to allow a diverse range of views to be heard on the issue. They denied calling for the event’s cancellation or threatening Brooklyn College’s funding, and said the original letter responded to fears that the department’s co-sponsorship indicated the official position of the college. The list of officials on both letters included Congressman Jerrold Nadler; Councilman Brad Lander; Speaker Christine Quinn; Comptroller John Liu; Public Advocate Bill de Blasio; Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Congresswoman Yvette Clarke; Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez; Congressman Hakeem Jeffries; Senator Kevin Parker; Senator Daniel Squadron; Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs; Assemblywoman Joan Millman; Assemblyman Walter Mosley; Councilwoman Tish James; and Councilman Steven Levin. Assemblyman James Brennan and former Comptroller Bill Thompson signed the original letter, but declined to sign the follow-up document.

Thru Feb. 22, 2013

Schiff details police successes at monthly meeting by Daniel Gomez

n February 6, the 76th Precinct notched the belt of tradition with another Tuesday community council meeting. Topics included crime prevention and recent successful arrests, and Captain Jeffrey Schiff presided. Schiff began the meeting by awarding the “Cop of the Month” award to Officer Pena Marte, who saved the life of a man suffering a heart attack. With the ambulance still on its way, Marte plied the man with CPR and later assisted in medicating. For her service, Marte was also awarded a promotion to school commission’s team, which deals with crime and misdemeanors among youth attending the city’s schools. When the subject shifted to gun violence, Schiff was happy to report that shootings in Red Hook had declined. “It has been quiet when it comes to gun violence, thank God.” From there, the captain riffed on the precinct’s success of late. A drug bust at a building inside 34 West 9th Street was masterfully handled, he reported. After a month and a half of sustained investigation which included nightly stakeouts, a warrant was acquired; crack was found; and a man and a woman were arrested and charged with a felony each on January 31. The man in question is a two-time parole absconder with two active warrants against his name—one for attempted murder, and the other for parole violation. “This guy is off the streets for while, so we don’t have to worry about him,” Schiff said contentedly. Schiff said the bust was complicated by at least one delicate factor—an 11-yearold boy who lived in the same apartment. With intelligence from the stakeouts, police were able to first verify the apartment before carrying out the raid. “We decided not to execute the warrant until the kid was verified out of the apartment, until he went to school. We do not want to traumatize the kid,” Schiff said. Afterward, the captain did report on some worrying trends in the precinct. Namely, robberies and assaults are on the rise. On January 2, three attempted robberies all occurred between the hours of three and five pm. The assailants were identified as three black teenagers who intimidated their victims and then demanded property from them. The first of the robberies occurred at 610 Henry Street. The victim was an Asian woman who managed to evade her assailants when they demanded her phone. The same three teenagers demanded a white woman’s purse on Clinton and Bay Streets, and a 23-yearold black woman’s iPod on Clinton and Baltic. Schiff, again, had a success story to spin from the event. “We haven’t had a strike by this kind of team since January 2 and I can tell you why: because we have had a number of arrests that have been prolific and have

Red Hook Star-Revue

gotten around the neighborhood,” he said. Schiff pointed first to the example of Steven Rivera, a young Hispanic male who was arrested for robbing a couple in their car with the aid of an accomplice. At the intersection of Van Brunt and Coffey Street, the duo pocketed money and cell phones before fleeing to their own car. Because the victims heard Rivera’s nickname—“D-Block”—used in the robbery, Rivera was identified. His accomplice, however, remains at large. Schiff’s second example was Joshua Ramos, an 18-year-old male taken into custody at Bond Street on January 28 around noon. His arrest was made in connection with a reported robbery at gunpoint. The victim was assaulted by two attackers while making food deliveries. They took his cell phone and $40 before fleeing into Gowanus Houses. Both Ramos and his accomplice were taken into custody, where Ramos was discovered to have an outstanding warrant for grand larceny. “With these individuals off the street, these are the more prolific ones where they are using firearms. We have gotten them off the street, I think robberies will be coming down. We haven’t had one since the 31st—so it’s been five days, which is pretty good,” Schiff concluded. The captain then related the arrest of three individuals on January 16 in connection with an early morning robbery of a jeweler on Court Street. Anibal Cruz, Carlos Ortiz and Enrico Acevedo used tools to cut their way into the store before smashing display cases loaded with valuables. Although the authorities originally thought this was an isolated incident, they learned later that it was in fact linked to twelve other robberies citywide. When the trio returned a second time, officers of the 76th precinct arrested them. “These three individuals had the nerve to try to burglarize the place again, and they were caught red-handed,” Schiff said. There have been no jewelry store robberies in the neighborhood since. In January, 133 car accidents were reported in the 76th precinct, down from 139 last January. Injuries were minimal. The department issued a total of 1,043 summonses in the month of January, down from 1,167 issued in December. Careful research, Schiff said, was what the precinct had pinned their hopes on for further reductions in summonses.

Tyquan earned money for his equipment by working at IKEA.

Tyquan Carter (continued from page 3)

If Tyquan styles his clothes to match rap’s message, he also learned to hone that message by working as a salesman. For three years, while he continued his apprenticeship at CityPark Productions, he hawked IKEA’s sales floors for $8.77 an hour. “People would come up to me asking for the manager, and I would tell them— ‘What do you need to talk to the manager for? Maybe I can solve your problem and help you right here, right now,’” he explains, pointing at the ground as he does so—presumably at a thrown gauntlet.

Gathering Storm Gary Burns also discusses that the very word “hook” connotes being caught or trapped, as a fish skewered through its gills—or an addict hooked on a drug. Combined with repetition, you can make a “catchphrase” or “melody line.” About a year ago, Tyquan began a private internship with CityPark Productions. Under the tutelage of the studio’s head engineer, he’s pored through texts devoted to audio mixing and mastering and figured out to space the tense midrange frequencies of his voice from lower frequency beats and higher frequency melodies. His sound was becoming clearer, even if his themes continue to dwell on girls, money and his skills. But for the head engineer, the progress couldn’t come quick enough. His vitriol for Tyquan’s work literally “scared” him, but also spurred him to quick improvement. In the same period that Tyquan spun reams of engineering information into his head, he also managed to record in partial form a large quantity of songs. His song bank now rolls about 150 which he hopes to eventually release. But like all things in their course, Tyquan’s focus inward—his fixation on consolidating skills within himself in order to get the best record deal possible— was due for a correction. When Hurricane Sandy struck, his family’s home at 417 Van Brunt Street was eviscerated. The rubble of raw need lay bare. Against the grain of hurricane damage, Tyquan was struck not just by statistics, but by the amount of individual tragedies lining his home streets. “Everybody has unique dreams,” as he put it, of “birthdays” and “holidays” with their

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families. After Sandy, those dreams awoke to fresh obstacles. His own family had to trash all of their possessions, which were ruined by the storm. Much of their house had to be demolished; rafters and girders ripped out to the curb like refuse. Although they did receive grant money for repairs, the estimated time for renovation was about six months. Tyquan, his mother, his nieces and the rest of his family struggled. But in the rubble Tyquan also saw music—and saw stories. As part of his internship with CityPark Productions, he bent his footsteps back into the community to compile footage for a documentary. On the shoulders of their stories, on the strength of his mentors’ instruction, and on the weight of his own sadness, he arranged the copy for not just the documentary, but a song.

After Hours In Home/made these nights, he’s back to Final Cut Pro. He wants to make video and audio that are flawless, even if his skills remain rough. His imperative is not just to enrich himself, but to add to the dialogue of the community post-Sandy. And so he sits, cutting up accounts of life after life, mixing them in the order that makes sense. Shooting against a Red Hook instead of a green screen, certain errors resolve themselves: community activist Reg Flowers makes an impassioned appearance in a green sweater. I met Tyquan at a dinner celebrating the immense effort the community made when it consolidated upon itself in the wake of Sandy. He performed a rough demo of his thus-inspired song. It’s clear to me that Tyquan’s star has yet to rise. There are still three and a half months until his house on 417 Van Brunt Street is revived. But there are ways in which the allure of his story is impossible to resist. As he puts it in the first line of the song—and the first line to strike him while walking his streets after the hurricane damage: “You can spend your whole life listening to old news / I’m a man walking in my own shoes.” Walking in white sneakers, a black Yankees hat and a brown leather jacket with buttons embossed with a Phoenix emblem—“Haps.”

Thru Feb. 22, 2013 Page 7

Star-Revue

fore a new contract takes effect, however, local agreements must be reached and ILA members must vote to ratify both master and local agreements in their contracts.

News Briefs

Grimm Introduces New Homeowner Act

On Febraury 5, Representative Michael G. Grimm (R-NY) was among four representatives to introduce the Homeowner Catastrophe Protection Act of 2013. The legislation enacts tax incentives for homeowners and insurance companies that encourage them to prepare and respond more thoroughly to future natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy. The bill combines three separate initiatives under the same name. The first allows insurance companies to set up tax-deferred reserves of liquidity in anticipation of future disasters. The second legislates catastrophe savings accounts (CSAs) that exist to defray costs of events labeled “major disasters” by the president. The third initiates a tax credit for homeowners who take precautions to reduce the risk of damage to their home.

Cablevision Refuses Meeting with Council Members

Cablevision CEO, James Dolan has refused to meet with Brooklyn City Councilman Brad Lander and other council members, Lander’s office said in a statement released February 6. Although the corporation’s 285 technicians in Brooklyn voted to be represented by the Communications Workers of America union last year, Cablevision has halted those negotiations and taken

disciplinary measures against workers seeking provisions for unions within their contracts. In the most recent development, Cablevision fired 23 workers for requesting a meeting with management, which Lander’s office said was “illegal.” In their letter, the council members exhorted Cablevision and its CEO to “bargain in good faith.”

CBP Hedges Your Valentine’s Day Bets

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists have the job of inspecting cut carnations, alstromeria, roses, tulips, chrysanthemums and other bouquet flowers—an especially high volume ahead of Valentine’s Day. What they’re looking for are “pests”—insects and the associated diseases that might turn heartsickness into flu sickness. All in all, in 2012 CBP agriculture specialists inspected and cleared about 40,000,000 cut flowers from 30 countries for entry into this country’s romantic landscape.

Master Contract Approved

On February 3, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) tentatively succeeded in brokering a new master agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). Be-

“I know ILA members will be satisfied with the results of our negotiating thus far,” said ILA President Harold J. Dagget. He acknowledged that members must be “anxious” to hear details of the new master agreement. Those details will become available when the full contract package including both agreements is submitted for ILA members to approve and review.

EPA Extends Comment Period

On February 8, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would extend the public comment period for its proposed plan for cleanup of the Gowanus Canal an additional 30 days to April 27. The EPA continues to solicit community members’ opinions and suggestions with regard to the plan, via written and emailed comment. The next EPA meeting to discuss the plan will be held on February 13 at 6:30 pm in PS 15. To submit comments on the EPA’s plan, email Christos Tsiamis at GowanusCanalComments.Region2@epa.gov or mail him at Christos Tsiamis Project Manager Central New York Remediation Section U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 290 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10007-1866

CB6 Youth Awards Open for Noms

Applications for Community Board 6’s (CB6) Youth Acknowledgement Awards are now available to be either picked up from the district office or accessed from the CB6 website. Nominations are due before April 5 and will be presented at CB6’s May 8 general meeting. According to a release, the awards seek to honor “youth who have made a substantial contribution to improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods either through direct action or by serving as a positive role model for others.”

Job Opening with BGI

In a February 1 release, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) announced an opening for Program Associate. Qualifications include a record of planning and executing public programs. BGI, a nonprofit, said the position averages 35 hours per week and requires weekend and evening work along with “enthusiasm.”

Community Board Applications Close February 28

Roll of activists, hear their cry: Community Board 6 (CB6) is open for the applications of determined and committed community members. To apply for one of the 50 positions on the board, call the Borough President’s Office at (718) 802-3700, visit the CB6 website or contact a local City Council member by February 28. CB6 representatives have the unique mandate to disseminate information to the community about the initiatives and legislation that impact their lives. With only $209,000 in funding each year, CB6 thrives instead on the orchestrated energy of its members.

We are across from Coffey Park (718) 923-9880

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Thru Feb. 22, 2013

Happy Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day

Red Hook Star-Revue

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Thru Feb. 22, 2013 Page 9

Every flower has a meaning. And every birth month has a designated flower. Most even have two. Before you give that special someone flowers, find out what you are really saying to them. January

Carnation ~ Alas for my poor heart Snowdrop ~ hope and beauty

Here come s the Doe? This Valentine ’s day, a

Valenti ne Insuran ’s ce On Febru ar y

14, Japa men gifts, mainly cho nese women give colate. On their gifts a March 14 re suppose , February d to be rec double or ip e r o v e c n a te tr Violet ~ I’ll always be there for you d, iple fold evenly is a sign of dis . Matching a gift Primrose ~ I can’t live without you interest or This day is breakup. known as W hite Day. But for som e Japanes March e men, no any sweets t receiving from there Daffodil ~ unequalled love s w ia e ti e n t g m . So on ay be hum Jonquil ~ desire for returned affection ilto save the e Japanese compan y is here day. For men April who do n ot have a o ther or sec Daisy ~ I’ll never tell significant ret admire r, they can and pay a Sweet pea ~ goodbye go online bout $5.5 0 and ente address. r th On Valen tine’s Day eir work receive a May , th package, (from them ey will course), o Lily of the Valley ~ My life is complete with selves, of f chocolate s and a p message you e r s from the onalized self-profes Hawthorn plant ~ I want only the best for you named “Re sed beau iko.” ty

June

Rose ~ Red: love, derise Pink: perfect happiness White: innocence and purity Yellow: jealousy or decrease in love Mixed bouquet: sincere gratitude Honeysuckle ~ everlasting love

July

Larkspur ~ Pink: fickleness White: happy nature Purple: first love Water Lily ~ purity and majesty

August

Gladiolus ~ You pierce my heart with love Poppy ~ Red: pleasure White: consolation Yellow: wishes for wealth and success

September

Aster ~ powerful love Morning Glory ~ simple symbols of affection

October

Marigold ~ fierce, undying love Cosmo ~ order, peace and serenity

November

Chrysanthemum ~ Red: I love you Yellow: slighted love White: pure love

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ntin A NYC rs on Vale Jim Pynn, e v lo r fo orts. “tours erald rep wton Creek H y il a D the t of Ne nt, will be n a d n te nt pla Superin r treatme te a w te s Wa e. tour guid ly r will e v lo e th of the tou rs t h g li h ig igeste s the h Pynn say haped d s g g e t f flushian be the g own the foulest o lling e kd to rose sm rethat brea in m e th ning l also ables tur isitors wil V . s a g d n sludge a s. rshey Kis e ople H a e iv ce Some pe ? s k n ti s t idea ur was Think tha After the first to was . nd tour o c disagree e s a solid, booked added.

December

Narcissus ~ Stay just the way you are Holly ~ domestic happiness

Page 10 Red Hook Star-Revue

Paintings and words by Kimberly Gail Price

Chinese Zoo w most beloved. ill be marr yin Changmao, th g two of their e ram, and Ch a formal cerem unzi, the doe w ony complete ill have with wedding The two anim attire. als were raise d together in cause all herb the same encl ivores were ke osure bept together. C protective and hangmao was would attack a always ny buck that ca zi. Last year th me too close to e two were sep Chunarated after th with the zoo’s e ram fathered only female sh a lamb eep. Changm without Chunz ao became ve i. So the deer ry violent squeezed hers fence to be wit elf through a h h him. ole in the Tickets are on ly $10 to see their two celeb admission doe rate their love s not include a . Price of irfare.

Scattered, Smothered and Covered by candlelight

Not craving caviar? Several of your favorite artery clogging eateries are changing their appearance for that one big night. Waffle House, now taking reservations. What could be more special than your favorite grease-soaked hash browns served with candlelight and cloth napkins, all atop a fancy white tablecloth? They are even going to roll out a special menu. And the finishing touch couldn’t be more romantic, alcohol-free faux champagne. But don’t forget; you must have a reservation. White Castle is now taking reservations for candlelight booths. Tablecloths, flowers and table service are guaranteed with any reservation booked after 5 pm. To make it extra special, they will also be selling pink blankets to snuggle under and offering couples a chance to win matching his and hers T-shirts. Dessert for reservations is free. So, what exactly is for dessert? Chocolate dipped cheesecake – on a stick! Pizza Hut is offering price ranges. Dinner Box: Medium one topping pizza Bread stix for two Cinnamon stix for two Price Tag: $10 Tie the Knot Combo: Dinner Box A diamond and ruby engagement ring Flowers Limo service Videographer Photographer Fireworks show Price Tag:$10,010 C’mon Pizza Hut, throw the dinner box in for free! Chick-Fil-A will offer a prie fixe menu for two ranging from $20-25, depending on location. They will provide table service, a candle lit dinner, music and mood lighting. The lucky couples will also get to take home a special gift to always remember the evening of romantic fried chicken. Every pair will have the chance to have their picture taken with the iconic cow mascot. Dunkin Donuts is offering their first shaped donuts ever. Heart-shaped. Papa Murphy, home of the take your own pizza home to bake it, is creating heart-shaped pizza for one day only…

February 1-15, 2013

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Every birth month has a designated stone. Wearing one’s birthstone is thought to be good luck. Astrologers once even attributed special powers to certain stones January

Garnet ~ provides safe transport while traveling

February

Amethyst ~ strengthens relationships; gives courage. Greeks thought it could guard against intoxication. Also associated with royalty

March

Aquamarine ~ health; was once believed that drinking water that the gem soaked in would cure heart, liver and stomach diseases

April

Diamond ~ everlasting love; brings courage

May

Emerald ~ wisdom, growth and patience; associated with fertility, love and rebirth. One of Cleopatra’s favorite gems

June

Pearl ~ purity; believed to be hardened by Aphrodite’s tears of joy

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July

Ruby ~ love and passion; protects against evil. Ancient Hindus considered it to be the “king of gems”

August

Peridot ~ strength; when set in gold, protects against nightmares

September

Sapphire ~ purity and wisdom; once thought to guard against evil and poisoning

October

Opal ~ faithfulness and confidence; opal necklaces are believed to repel evil and protect eyesight

November

Topaz ~ love and affection; gives strength and intellect

December

Turquoise ~ good fortune and success; love charm. Believed to relax the mind and protect from harm

Red Hook Star-Revue Page 11

For that special touch, Make her Roses that won’t wilt

“Flower,” design and diagrams by Anna Katlunger, courtesy of the Origami Forum

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Thru Feb. 22, 2013

Supermarket Sweep Fairway, has been closed since Sandy is advertising their grand re-opening on Friday, March 1st. In addition to a complete renovation of the ground floor, they may be opening a cafe on the second floor. Pathmark was the first supermarket to reopen after the hurricane. However, they have been without their four self-service checkout stations since Sandy. Flood waters submerged the computerized machines. they are currently being replaced with Fujitsu models and should be operating by the end of the week. Fine Fare also suffered damage, along with their neighbors the 99 cent store and Sovereign Bank. But even before the storms, the location was facing difficulty. During a temporary shutdown, rumors on the street suggested unpaid sales taxes. While the neighboring stores are back in business, Fine Fare remains shuttered. The parent company’s website reveals no trace of operation in Red Hook - GF

The

Answer to previous puzzle 1

E N

A R

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53 55

36 39

N 57

S13

E E

N I

A P 43

M A

A 23

Y I

C 19

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38 41

22 24

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Add local media to your marketing plan. we will show you how advertising in The Red Hook Star-Revue can lead to increased profits. Call her today

718 624-5568

Red Hook StarªRevue

Star-Revue Puzzler #24 by George Fiala Across

1. Eat dinner 4. Jefferson Davis’ org. 7. Sulk 11. Axl’s group, with Roses 12. Sport fish 13. Contested by Israel and Syria 15. Led Zeppelin song (w/Achilles) 17. Too cool 18. Wide St. 19. Movie with James Caan 21. As of 22. “The” in Hamburg 23. Disney chairman 24. Foot part 27. Bank mach. 28. After the end 30. “Read the _____ act” 33. Armstrong or Sandler 36. Bugs and Porky 38. Digital camera (abbr) 39. Local institution (abbr) 40. Spit (var) 41. Yes day in Madrid 43. Sparkling wine city 45. Latin for “to be” 46. Dewey decimal is one 48. Kind of job 50. Got by 51. Look in the belfry for them 53. Buzz or hack follower 56. Cowboy’s honey 58. A shrill outcry (1830 spelling) 60. Computer video format 61. Permit 64. Removable porcelain part of a toilet 66. Annoyance 67. Padre first baseman 68. Lofty abode (var) 69. Brooklyn _____ (on Reade) 70. Evil guy

kimberly@redhookstar.com

Down

1. Debonair 2. Al or Del 3. West coast time zone 4. Large bank 5. Less nutty 6. On an env. 7. British sportscar

Red Hook Star-Revue

crossword

15 18 22

27 33

42 46 50

66 69

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 14. 16. 20. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 34.

11 14

31 37

40 44

48 52

45 49

47 55

Programming syntax (abbr) 35. Can do in the park (2 wds) 37. Simplicity 42. Delighted 44. Mark of shame 47. Catcher of butterflies or fish 49. Infatuated, old style 51. Puppy’s cry 52. Something to pick 53. Home for a wardrobe 54. Youth more likely to fail (2 words) 55. Give off light. 56. Safari sights 57. Hwys. 59. Mother of Horus 62. Disney film about a 63. boy and a dog (2 wds.) 65. Wee bit o’whiskey

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29 33

43 51

43 47

Partner of “ohs” Match bet in poker Had food Type of valve Norton and Sullivan Mil. branch Cheer for a diva Virgil’s work (var) Frugal one Company that make labels Gangly Opening Guiness or Baldwin Suffix with diet Eggs, to a biologist Charlotte’s home Clumsy one

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Art:

Hurricane-inspired “Water Prayers”

ancy Manter is flitting on sunken earth, and she doesn’t quite know it. In Maine, on the yawning expanse of Mount Desert Island’s (MDI) mud flats, she bends foot and elbow to sketch images in the suck of mud. Some regions are more stable than others. Later, she will hear of the quicksand whose maw has swallowed entire dogs here. Right now, it is the middle of the night; and she is alone.

to materiality and the body. She discovered the charts on which a cardiologist would graph the vitality of a heart.

But how liberating, Manter feels, it is to cull these images—to draft circle on circle in wavering lines with limbs shaking from the memory of disuse. With legs untrained by art school and undisciplined like nature. In the night, she creates whole histories in the mud and sand, photographs them, and then departs. They are histories that cycle into the suck or vanish into the whorls of seashells by morning.

In terms of artist influences, Manter notes the special import that fellow Mainer Marsden Hartley’s work had on her own. Many of Hartley’s paintings are richly re-imagined landscapes. Their unifying elements are the riots of their colors and forms—both of which nevertheless remain modern and trained— not abstract.

When Nancy Manter first stepped onto mud flats rich with creamy bloodworms 20 years ago, she hadn’t mastered their topography or meteorology. But perhaps, she admits, she was always “subliminally aware” of the danger that lurked beneath the dull mud. Subliminally aware that as she scraped away the fragile sediment, she was in a way a walking ghost—like an acute radiation victim who experiences a constellation of disintegration within her body but endures little to no pain whatsoever before death. The sketches she produced from her time in the mud flats began a deluge of work that is, in her words, more “fresh,” more “ethereal,” and more “direct.” The lineage between those sketches, her later work exploring weather and her new exhibit at the Kentler Gallery is similarly direct. “Water Prayers”—though inextricably linked to the specific trauma of Hurricane Sandy in Red Hook—is also about chaos, layers and Manter’s very long history as an artist.

Veins of Influence Manter’s mother, Margaret, was an experimental artist; her father, Will, a cardiologist. After meeting in New York, they decamped to join the 1200 inhabitants of tiny Veazie, Maine. Manter grew up with four siblings, a pig, several horses, and a score of ducks and dogs. Her parents were the first to introduce her to the blizzards of ski slopes and the thunder that sent boating trips shivering back to shore—starting when she was just six years old. In Maine, some storms seemed untamable. When she attended her mother’s mixedmedia exhibits, she entered a world of driftwood, pink granite, birds and plant life. But just as often, she would see profusions of ribbons and veins in watercolor and charcoal. She would see her mother’s brush sail into abstraction through ghostwoods out into tide cycles; would see shorelines delve into grottos. She drank of these a draught of inspiration, but added several parts of influence from her father. She read his medical books and applied this diagrammatic tack

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Her interest with the heart and her home state are ongoing. In the coming months, she’ll collaborate with scientists at the MDI Biological Lab for an exhibit on that lab’s regenerative research. The research involves the Indian zebra fish, whose ability to regenerate cardiac tissue has conceivable implications for human health.

Throughout Hartley’s work courses another unifying element. Taking inspiration from the writings of Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hartley viewed art as a spiritual quest. Manter, who describes herself as “more of a Buddhist…but really a Transcendentalist like Emerson and Thoreau,” has in some way followed suit.

“Water Prayers” navigates the space between the “autobiographical and the abstract,” according to one reviewer (photo courtesy of the artist).

spired to create art on unconventional surfaces including car windshields, roofing paper, glue and Buddha Board.

My Left Hand An artist’s development is slow. An artist’s evolution is like the drip of water through a roof. But sometimes, it takes something violent to punctuate the slogging equilibrium of daily work. When Nancy Manter left at night for the mud flats, she acted on a “subliminal” desire to escape her reality in the studio. Piles of her drawings burdened its cabinets and decked its surfaces. Each trail of papers led nowhere; her progress seemed to her morbidly slow. Looking back at the drawings, they seem, in her word, too “trained”—trained by art school and completed thoughtlessly.

When she began creating art in the mud flats, Manter noticed a trend in her work toward the more “ethereal,” “fresh,” and “dir e c t . ” When she She hoped to use the “ethedelved real,” “fresh,” and “direct” further art she created on mud and along the windshields as a crutch same vein when she returned to the to weather Weather map patterns of Hurricane Sandy studio. Perhaps the photoart, she are echoed in the white graphite sketches at graphs that lingered in her unearthed the base layer of “Water Prayers.” hands might lead her to capture the effulchildhood fears about water’s danger. gence of spirit she felt on the mud flats. On the coast of Maine, it’s known, all it takes are four minutes bobbing in the It wasn’t until much later, in 2011, that current to subdue a warm-blooded hu- Mount Desert Island gave Manter’s art the jolt she craved. But first, it took her hand. man heart. And yet to Manter, water symbol- On a foggy, dark weather day in autumn, ized beauty and the sublime. She drew Manter took her Bernese mountain dog, direct pleasure from the rush of rain- Luna, to the park. Among craggy outstreaked windows and horizontal trees. croppings, she came to that dissociative It was this divide that Manter sought point in the fog where its gauzy thickto reconcile—the fear and the thrill; ness folds direction back on itself. Manthe grandeur and sheer material terror, ter enjoyed the eye of the storm. Terror of weather’s lovely but temperamental struck a spooked Luna first; and all one qualities—qualities over which humans hundred pounds of Luna struck Manter. Casting for something to hold, Manter’s have no control. right hand reeled into cold, wet granite. Although ambivalent about religion, Manter believes in the strength of the Her doctors didn’t prove much help the word “prayer” to connote the healing first time around. They set the shattered power of communities. She believes bones in her wrist wrong, and so they that people will pray for the sake of had to shatter them again. They cut and praying—to whatever they can—when grafted the flesh above them, dancing they are brought to their knees by the around bundles of nerves. capricious omnipotence of weather. Manter herself is more inclined to the scalpel with which she can carve herself into the eye of the storm. In conditions of ice and mud, rain and wind, she’s con-

When Manter finally returned to her studio, she didn’t trust herself with the power tools she’d used before. It was too hard to mix up her glues and pigments, so she worked in black and white instead.

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At the onset, she even found it difficult to eat with her fragile right hand. Paradoxically, Manter’s grip on her art has only tightened in the wake of her recovery. Her studio work has gained dimension, navigating what one reviewer described as the distance between the “autobiographical and the abstract.” In that time, Manter has relied on something more capable than power tools— her untrained left hand, which has further galvanized her work from the traditional “foreground-middleground-background” in art. It has propelled her art into “a strange space” where she can approach the “idea of how one really sees.”

Weather’s Game Grid The building’s structure is sound, Manter thought. With her two feet she stood on the floor of room 48-G at the very top of the Brooklyner. She felt the building’s ribbons of steel and concrete shiver 48 stories up into her. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge tilted into view, and sometimes the whole of lower Manhattan leered incredibly. Rain lashed the windows. Because her own house was deemed unsound prior to Hurricane Sandy, she held “front row tickets” to the storm along with the rest of the Brooklyn residents who’d been moved into the Brooklyner. On the night of Sandy, Manter, Luna, a few other residents and dogs gathered in her apartment. The rippling steel did them in. Most of the residents bent over with seasickness. The dogs barked and swooned. One resident sat in a corner of the room straddling two windows to avoid nausea. Manter—no stranger to boat voyages—repeatedly warned, “keep your eye on the horizon line” in an attempt to level their perspectives. But she could not help feeling a rush amid the chaos. Wisps of storm brewed and gusted past, like in the Wizard of Oz. The subways were closed and barricaded. Beneath her, in front of the Brooklyner, lines of buses to Manhattan stretched for blocks. And yet, there remained for Manter an unwelcome parallel with the tragedy on 9/11. At the time, she lived just two blocks from Ground Zero and watched the explosions with a neck craned upward. Although she was looking down at the chaos this time—and in a safe

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spiral into Kentler Gallery building—disorder was a coin with two sides; one made her queasy.

human urge to take shelter from wind, rain and everything that storms bring.

The feeling continued in the hurricane’s wake. After 9/11, New York’s response had been swift; coordinated. After Sandy, she wandered from a completely flooded out Chelsea down to a Red Hook with its own heaps of garbage and debris. She walked just blocks away into the affluent sections of neighborhoods and discovered that, because the damage to them was less immediate, business continued “as usual” like a walking ghost.

It is on this “psychologically charged surface,” as one reviewer calls it, that Manter enacts, in the same reviewer’s words, “a meditation on the elements of nature.” Besides the white graphite ghosting out images in the background, Manter’s chief drawing material is acrylic gesso. Gesso, a fundamental presence in every studio, is most commonly brushed on a canvas to plant a pure white base. But not here: Manter dilutes and unravels it over the roofing paper with brushes, rollers, sticks and even her own hands and feet.

It seemed to her the extent of the storm’s damage was wildly underestimated. It didn’t help that it was so spread out— that the water was so diaphanously applied to some neighborhoods and not others; that it seeped into capricious fissures isolating the communities that could least stand the damage. It was like the water had “a mind of its own,” she says—like Sandy was playing with the boroughs “on a Ouija Board.” Puzzling over the disaster’s disparities and her own history as an artist, Manter returned to what made her passionate: art, which became her exhibit “Water Prayers.” The title follows another water-inspired collaboration of hers with the poet Stuart Kestenbaum. Behind art is the drip of process. When she set out to make “Water Prayers,” Manter knew she wanted the exhibit to radiate Red Hook, but lacked the right calculus to do so. To get off on the right foot, she looked at maps of Red Hook and maps of the hurricane. Studying diagrams was a lifelong affinity of hers. She felt new respect for the research leg of her process as it weighed against the untrained force of her left hand. She studied the meteorological patterns of Hurricane Sandy in relationship to other hurricane patterns. She pored over maps of the ocean’s jigsaw relationship with the coastal line. She schooled herself in the gradations of wind patterns, wave patterns and tide cycles. After osmosis imbibed each chart into Manter’s psyche, she would set the chart aside and draw what she recalled from memory. Sometimes she used a grid; sometimes she did not. Those foundation drawings—in white graphite—were completed over the near-black background of roofing paper. The material is appropriate as one of the substrates of house repair and community relief. Roofing paper is also symbolic as something that keeps moisture out— a metaphor for membranes and the very

Another “element of nature” is Manter’s reliance on her left hand to do most of the work. By channeling its stroke, she achieves a variety of atmospheric effects with the gesso that are further textured by charcoal and crayon. Some of the effects remind her of seeing water through a windowpane. Some of them press through that membrane and soak her, reminding her that our condition in this atmosphere is material, not virtual.

by Nic Cavell

When the hurricane struck, it seemed to many Red Hook residents that their community was singled out to be forgotten. Home after home was gutted and condemned, and the city’s official response to problems along Van Brunt, in the Red Hook Houses and elsewhere could be characterized as latent. And yet the community revived itself—ignited itself with red transfusions from the volunteers, community organizers and businesspeople in the Hook. It refused to simply vanish in the storm surge; and even now, the battle of recovery continues to be waged. Nancy Manter’s exhibit combines specific inspiration To Nancy Manter, who from Red Hook with her own history as an artist. does not live here, Red even if we do not seem to ourselves Hook symbolizes the “bowels of New religious. York”—its intestines, its guts. Walking If New York City is a walking ghost the streets after Sandy, she saw prized about business as usual after the

“She was in a way a walking ghost—like an acute radiation victim who experiences a constellation of disintegration within her body but endures little to no pain whatsoever before death.”

The title work of Manter’s upcoming exhibition at the Kentler is comprised of five pieces, or “shingles,” as she calls them. Each is of a different length, and they are placed at different heights to form an irregular top and bottom edge. If this alignment is symbolic of displacement, its contrapuntal touch is found in the strong, stormy swirls of circular gesso banded together and evocative of weather’s force. But they are also reminiscent of a community’s power to unify and stand together amid this displacement.

possessions that were hollowed out of houses and left on the streets as garbage. The image is harrowing, and it will remain in the community’s mind. But the true guts of the community remain in its members. “Water Prayers” addresses paradoxes— the thrill and horror of the storm surge; the material need for water to survive, but the need to escape it to do the same; the prayers we say in thanks and terror,

storm, Red Hook—its guts, its vital organs—seem unwilling to fade into cancerous oblivion. For Nancy Manter, Red Hook is a vivacious place. She sees its trees growing and sapping toxins sown well before Sandy from the soil. She sees a community that doesn’t pick its poison, but moves forward. The bones of her right wrist ache, especially in bad weather. The skin above it is a coiled intensity of scar tissue. As an artist, Manter continues to harness the resources at her disposal—like her left hand. She has a long history with the inventive use of materials stretching back to those early sketches on the mud of Maine. Red Hook, too, has its skin of wakefulness.

Sometime after Sandy, the seeming randomness with which disaster struck began to make more sense for Manter. If it’s difficult to talk about in daily life, the conversation exists within the space of “Water Prayers,” with five panels fitted asymmetrically yet perfectly into a puzzle. Some time ago, a friend of Manter’s gave her a German board game first played in the 19th century. In “The Endless Landscape,” up to 24 cards of landscape are laid side-by-side. No matter which way you put them, they fit together—for a total of 1,686,55 3,615,927,922,354,187,720 combinations of scenery.

“They’re like your art,” Manter’s friend told her. Thinking of “Water Prayers,” Manter acknowledges the parallel. In addition to five shingles of the title work, a secondary grid of smaller pieces The Kentler International Drawing Space, 353 will be included at the front of Van Brunt Street. This will be Manter’s third ex- the gallery. hibit there, the others appearing in 2006 and 2009. The Bowels of New York

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The

Red Hook StarªRevue SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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Star-Revue

Guide to area restaurants

Red Hook BAKED 359 Van Brunt St., (718)222-0345.

THE BROOKLYN ICE HOUSE 318 Van Brunt St., (718) 222-1865. Botanica 220 Conover St (at Coffey St), (347) 225-0147. DEFONTE’S SANDWICH SHOP 379 Columbia St., (718) 855-6982. F&M BAGELS 383 Van Brunt St., (718) 855-2623. FORT DEFIANCE 365 Van Brunt St., (347) 453-6672. THE GOOD FORK 391 Van Brunt St., (718) 643-6636. HOME/MADE 293 Van Brunt St., (347) 223-4135. HOPE & ANCHOR 347 Van Brunt St., (718) 237-0276. IKEA One Beard St., (718) 246-4532. MARK’S PIZZA 326 Van Brunt St., (718) 624-0690. New Lin’s Garden Restaurant 590 Clinton Street, (718) 399-1166 RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND 284 Van Brunt St., (646) 326-7650. ROCKY SULLIVAN’S 34 Van Dyke St., (718) 246-8050.

Ghang, 229 Court Street, 718-875-1369 Hana cafe, 235 Smith Street, (718) 6431963 Le Petite Cafe, 502 Court street, 718596-7060 Ling Ling Young, 508 Henry Street, (718) 260-9095 Marco Polo Ristorante, 345 Court Street, 718 852-5015 Mama Maria’s Restaurant, 307 Court Street, (718) 246-2601 Mezcals Restaurant, 522 Court Street, 718-783-3276 Natures Grill, 138 Court street, 718852,5100,

Nine-D, 462 Court Street, 718-488-8998, Oaxaca Tacos, 251 Smith Street (718) 222-1122 Osaca Restaurant, 272 Court Street (718) 643-0055 P J Hanleys, 449 Court St, 718- 843-8223 Palo Cortado, 520 Court St, 718-4070047 Prime Meats, 465 Court Street, 718254-0327 or 0345, Palmyra, 316 Court street, 718-7971110 Red Rose Restaurant, 315 Smith Street, (718) 625-0963 Sals Pizza, 305 Court Street, (718) 852-6890 Sam’s Restaurant, 238 Court Street, 718-596-3458 Savoia, 277 Smith Street, 718-797-2727 South Brooklyn Pizza, 451 Court Street, 718 852-6018

Stinky Brooklyn, 261 Smith Street, 718 522-7425 Sweet Melissa, 276 Court Street, (718) 855-3410 Tripoli, 156 Atlantic Ave, 718 596-5800 Vinny’s of Carroll Gardens, 295 Smith Street, 718 875-5600 Vinny’s Pizzeria, 455 Court Street, 718 596-9342 Vino y Tapas, 520 Court Street, 718407-0047 Zaytoons, 283 Smith Street, 718 875-1880

Gowanus

Michael and Pings, 437 Third Avenue, (718) 788-0017 Cotta Bene Pizza, 291 3rd Ave, 718 722-7200 Littlenecks, 288 3rd Ave., (718) 522-1921

Columbia Waterfront ALMA 187 Columbia St., (718) 643-

5400. CALEXICO CARNE ASADA 122 Union St., (718) 488-8226. CASELNOVA 214 Columbia St., (718) 522-7500. FERNANDO’S FOCACCERIA RESTAURANT 151 Union St., (718)855-1545. HOUSE OF PIZZA & CALZONES 132 Union St., (718) 624-9107. JAKE’S BAR-B-QUE RESTAURANT 189 Columbia St., (718) 522-4531. MAZZAT 208 Columbia St., (718) 8521652. PETITE CREVETTE 144 Union St., (718) 855-2632. TEEDA THAI CUISINE 218 Columbia St., (718) 643-2737.

Carroll Gardens/ Cobble Hill

Abilene, 442 Court Street, 718-5226900, Bacchus, 409 Atlantic, (718) 852-1572 Bar Bruno, 520 Henry St., 347-7630850, Bagels by the park, 323 Smith Street, (718) 246-1321 Bar great harry, 280 Smith Street (718) 222-1103 Bombay Dream, 257 Smith Street (718) 237-6490 Bourgeois Pig, 387 Court Street, (718) 858-5483 Brooklyn Bread Cafe, 436 Court Street (718) 403-0234 Buddy’s Burrito & Taco Bar, 260 Court Street, 718-488-8695, Buttermilk channel, 524 Court Street (718) 852-8490 Casa Rosa, 384 Court Street, 718-7971907 Chestnut, 271 Smith St., (718) 2430049 cobble grill, 212 Degraw Street, (718) 422-0099 Cobble Hill Coffee Shop, 314 Court Street, (718) 852-1162 Cody’s Ale House Grill, 154 Court Street, 718-852,6115 Court Street Grocers, 485 Court Street, (718) 722-7229 Crave, 570 Henry Street, (718) 643-0361 Cubana Cafe, 272 Smith Street (718) 718-858-3980 Downtown Bar & Grill, 160 Court street, 718-625-2835 Dubuque, 548 Court Street, (718) 5963248 Em Thai Kitchen, 278 Smith Street, (718) 834-0511 Enotica on Court, 347 Court Street, (718) 243-1000 F Line Bagels, 476 Smith Street (718) 422-0001 Five Guys, 266 Court St., 347-799-2902 Fragole, 394 Court Street, (718) 6227133 Francesco’s Restaurant, 531 Henry Street, (718) 834-0863 Frank’s Luncheonette, 365 Smith Street, (718) 875-5449

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Art & Community Calendar If you have an event you would like listed in the Red Hook Star-Revue calendar, please email event@redhookstar.com

the Greenland drawings of Zaria Forman. A climate change awareness exhibition held in conjunction with Al Gore’s “The Climate Project”.

Benefits

MUSEUMS

Cora Dance 201 Richards St (Coffey St /Van Dyke St ) #15 (718) 858-2520 Feb 28, 8 pm An evening with Cora Dance and John Hockenberry, host of the public radio The Takeaway. Benefit for Cora Dance $100 or what you can pay

CHILDREN

Bethel Baptist Day Care Center 242 Hoyt St (718) 834-9292 Black Hisstory Month, Fri 11 am Black History Celebration will be held during the 11:00 am worship service for the entire month of Feb. Sis. Natasha Campbell and Susan Payden, Program Coordinators. Kentler International Drawing Space 353 Van Brunt St (718) 875-2098, Water Prayers, Feb 15 - Mar 31 Opening Reception, Fri, Feb 15, 6-8 pm, Artist Talk: Sun, Mar 10, 4 pm; FREE Weekend Art Workshops for Families. Ages 4 & up. Every 1st & 3rd Sat. Noon-1:30 pm register in advance: sallie@kentlergallery. org Who’s On First? 46 1st Place, Clinton/ Henry (718) 243-1432 whosonfirstkids. com Daycare - emphasis on art. For children from birth to 7 yrs. Everyday Athlete 136 Union St (718) 852-6300 Tumbling for Kids now- until 4/5 Thurs 11-11:45 am tumble tots 18 months-3 years; 3:30-4:25 pm tumble cats/ bears 3-4 years; 4:30-5:25 pm recreational tumbling 6+ years; Fri. 3:304:25 pm tumbling lions 5 years, 4:305:25 pm; recreational tumbling 6+ years, 5:30-6:25 pm; into to cheer! 7+ years .

CHURCH/ SYNAGOGUE

St Stephen’s R.C. 108 Carroll St (718) 596-7750. Sun Feb 24th at 10 am Msgr. Guy A. Massie is installed as Pastor of Sacred Hearts - St Stephen Parish Visitation of Our Blessed Virgin Mary R.C. 98 Richards @Verona (718) 6241572 Every Thur 6 pm Choir Practice w/ Emiliana; in-Home Blessings and Masses, by appointment. Languages available: English, Spanish, Italian, German. Contact: Lori Burkhard (917) 971-5522;

CLASSES/ WORKSHOPS

Brooklyn Collective Gallery 212 Columbia St (Union/Sackett) (718) 5966231. The Brooklyn Collective Valentine’s Showcase Fri, Feb 8th at 6:00 PM Brooklyn General—128 Union St (718) 237-7753 brooklyngeneral.com Classes and Workshops for all things Sewing. Sat & Sun, Feb 9 & 10th @ 9 am-6 pm with Heather , Spinning on a Spindle :: Session A, class is open to all skill levels.: Thurs, Feb 21-Mar 7, 2013 @ 7-9 pm with Heather Love Carroll Gardens Association 201 Columbia St (718) 243-9301 FREE Computer Training Program 5:30-7:30 pm Every Mon & Tue through Feb 26. Fax (718) 243-9304 or info@carrollgardensassociation.com for registration. Jalopy Theatre and School of Music 315 Columbia St (718) 395-3214, Both Vocal Harmony Basics & Duos and Trios Workshop 2/10/13 Yoga Classes 201 Richards St #15 www.tessamwright.com /yoga. Join Tessa with morning yoga for everyone! Hatha style style for all levels. Mon @ 10 am. Suggested donation - $10.

Galleries

440 Gallery 440 6th Ave. (Park Slope) (718) 499-3844, Another Landscape Show, curated by Peter Gynd . Feb 21 - Mar 31, 2013 Brooklyn Collective Gallery 212 Columbia St (Union/Sackett) (718) 5966231 brooklyncollective.com Gallery hrs. Thurs - Sun 1 pm-8 pm through Aug 31 New Collections of Local Artists FREE. Look North Inuit Art Gallery—275 Conover St Suite 4E, (347) 721-3995 Polar Light: Greenland. The Greenland photography of Rena Bass Forman and

Page 18 Red Hook Star-Revue

Sweet Lorraine Gallery 183 Lorraine St (Clinton/Court St) (347) 409-8957 Neil Berger Paintings Feb 2nd to Feb 24

Micro Museum—123 Smith Street, (718) 797-3116 micromuseum.com . Above and Beyond, a three-year retrospective of the art of William and Kathleen Laziza, every Sat from 12-7 pm, refreshments from 5-7 pm, Evenings 5-10 pm through Mar 3. Inside Out. Sat. through Mar 2; Lucky 8s, 7s, 6s Admission by donation, suggested donation $2. Say you like “Red-Hook Star Revue” and get a free gift bag. The Waterfront Museum Lehigh Valley Barge No.79, 290 Conover Street. (718) 624-4719 ext. 11 www.waterfrontmuseum.org. Free boat tours & open hours all through the year. Thurs 4 - 8 pm and Sat 1 - 5 pm. Juggling For Fun Wkshp. Hurricane Sandy: a Photo Exhibit.

MUSIC

Bait & Tackle 320 Van Brunt Street (718) 451-4665 redhookbaitandtackle.com No Cover, All shows start @ 9 pm, unless otherwise noted. Sat Feb 16 Smith and 9th Ward; Fri., Feb 22 Derek Evry and his band of Misanthropes; Sat, Feb 23 Toughcats. No cover. Hope & Anchor 347 Van Brunt St (718) 237-0276. Every Wed. 7 pm, Jazz Jam w/The H & A House Band!; Karaoke every Fri - Sat. 9 pm-1 am. Issue Project Room 110 Livingston St (718) 330-0313, Tues Feb 19 Performance by ‘New Shorts’ featuring Hotel Elefant 8 pm tickets members $15, students $12 Jalopy Theatre and School of Music 315 Columbia St (718) 395-3214 Tues Feb 12 The Sweetback Sisters 8:30 pm; Wed. Feb 13 Roots & Ruckus 9 pm; Thurs Feb 14 Date Night at the Jalopy Tavern and Theatre 7 pm; Vevertise Brass Band with Special Guest, Eva Salina 9 pm; Fri Feb 15 Jennifer Milich Presents: Baby its cold outside- Benefit for NYC Coalition for the Homeless feat . The Luna Sisters, Love Fun 8 pm; Sat. Feb 16 Rolie Polie Guacamole 3 pm; Matthew Brookshire 9 pm; Kelli Rae Powell- Benefit show and CD Release! Recorded live at the Jalopy 10 pm; Sun Feb 17 Bulgarian Singing Workshop with Carol Freeman 3 pm; Harry Bolick Old Time Open Jam 3 pm; The Dove and the Wolf 8 pm;Jesse Lenat 9 pm; Mandolin Orange 10 pm; Thurs Feb 19 Radio Jarocho 8:30 pm; Whiskey Shivers 9 pm; Spirit Family Reunion 10:30 pm; Wed Feb 20 Roots & Ruckus 9 pm; Thurs Fe 21 Date Night at the Jalopy Tavern and Theatre 7 pm; The Homemade Super Show- Featuring Miss Tess, Alex Battles The Homemade Supper Show , 8:30 pm; Fri. Feb 22 Pat Conte and Joe Bellulovich 9 pm; The Whiskey Spitters 11 pm; Sat Feb 23 Songs With Friends 9 pm; Sun Feb 24 John Daley 7 pm , JC Hopkins Biggish Band 8 pm Tickets- $10;

TASTINGS

man Ft. Aracelis Girmay 8 pm The Star Theater Acoustic Jam & Hootenanny 101 Union Street (718)6255568 Every Monday 8-11 pm The Star Theater Electric Jam 101 Union Street, (Columbia/Van Brunt) Thurs - Dim lights and loud music - join your talented neighbors and make some great music with us. 8 - 11 pm BYOB.

Dry Dock 424 Van Brunt St (718)8523625 , Fri. Feb 15 McKenzie Bourbon 5:30-8:30 pm; Sat Feb 16 Sorel 4-7 pm; Fri. Feb 22 5:30-8:30 pm; Austrian Wines; Sat Feb 23 Compass Box, Scotch 4-7 pm

WALKING TOURS

A Tour grows in Brooklyn 1212 64th St (212) 209-3370 brooklynwalkingtour. com A historical walking tour of Brownstone Brooklyn featuring the childhood home of Al Capone, the history of the PUBLIC MEETINGS Williamsburg Bank, and the RevolutionBrooklyn For Peace, 388 Atlantic Ave, ary War battle site The Old Stone House. (718) 624-5921 “Drone Warfare - Is it Real Brooklyn Pizza Lunch included. Daily 10 am-1 pm $40 making the world safer? 7 pm.

Cracked water main floods Columbia Street by Daniel Alexander and Kimberly Gail Price

Residents and business owners awoke to rushing water on Tuesday, January 29th. During the early morning hours, temperatures dropped lower than expected, causing a crack in the main valve. The pressure from the main line burst the pipe, which created a massive flood across the entire block on Columbia Street. Four buildings were affected, including 247, 249, 257 and 259 Columbia Street. The former site of the Sokol Brothers Furniture at 251 Columbia Street has been under construction since June 2011. The property was bought by a Manhattan real-estate firm in November 2011 and is undergoing a major facelift. KSK is the major contractor for that development. Their plumbing subcontractor - whom they declined to identify - left a water main exposed overnight. Onat Ersoy, project manager with KSK, confirmed that this was “unforeseen conditions,” not negligence on the part of the subcontractors. The pipe reportedly had no prior damage to it. Icy temperatures caused it to crack open for the middle. The water main belongs to the building, but connects to the city’s water system.

Local firefighters from Ladder 101 arrived on the scene just before noon. They pumped water from the basements of the surrounding buildings and from the construction site. The electricity was shut off to ensure the safety of civilians. The structures of the surrounding buildings were determined to be uncompromised. However, President Food Corporation, a local deli, suffered other damages. Much of their inventory as well as their heaters and boiling system were in the basement. They will be closed indefinitely. Ersoy said it would be up to the insurance companies to determine who would pay for damages. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) served a three-day notice giving the property owner “three days to find a plumber to fix it,” according to an email from Mercedes Padilla, NYCDEP Communications and Intergovernmental Affairs. The Buildings Department has issued a stop work order citing a violation of section 28-105.1 in the Administrative Code of NYC. The order makes it “unlawful” for KSK to resume construction “until a written permit therefore shall have been issued by the

The now-idle construction site.

commissioner in accordance with the requirements of this code.” KSK has already appealed the decision, claiming the problem has resolved itself and was due to carelessness. According to Ersoy, they are in hopes the Buildings Department will lift the stop work order by the end of the week. But another work order that the site was issued last year ceased construction for more than a month and a half. He said that sometimes work can resume immediately; other times it has to be run through the system. For the time being, the stop work order is still in place and construction is at a standstill.

Rocky Sullivan’s 34 Van Dyke St , (718)246-8050 Wed.2/27 Last Wednesday Series Reading and Open Mike MC’d Lisa McLaughlin. Showcase event for published writers and as well as a showcase and peer review event for new and upcoming writers. Union Hall 702 Union Street (718) 6384400, Wed Feb 13 Dan Kennedy (The Moth, McSweeneys) and Ophira Eisenberg; Thurs Feb 14 The Muppet Vault: Valentine’s Day 7 pm & 7:30 pm; Love Bites: The Power Ballads Sing-Along 10 pm; Fri Feb 15 Jill Sobule + Special Guest 9 pm; Karaoke Killed The Cat Midnight; Sat Feb 16 Alex Battles & The Whiskey Rebellion, Tatters and Rags, Karen & The Sorrows Doors 9 pm; Sat Feb 16 Crazy Since Da ‘90s 11:30 pm; Sun Feb 17 Creaghead & Company 8 pm; Tue. Feb 19 The Jukebok Ft. Christina Finnegan, Lizz Winstaed & Victor Varnado 8 pm; Wed Feb 20 Nicki Turner & Acquaintances, Nicki Glaser, Colin Quinn & More! 9 pm: Thu Feb 21 John Hodgman: Secret Society 9 pm; Fri Feb 22 Andy Friedman 9 pm, Karaoke Killed The Cat Midnight; Sat Feb 23 Little Top Circus & Medicine Show 10 pm; Greg Johnson- Live: ONE NIGHT ONLY! 8 pm; Sun Feb 24 Creaghead & Company 8 pm; Mon Feb 25 Hampshire College Alumni Event- An evening of Readings & Conversation Hosted By Eugene Mir-

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Star-Revue Classifieds Help Wanted Freelance Writers: The Red Hook Star-Revue is looking for freelance writers for both the arts and news sections.We want to buttress our news as well as local theater and arts coverage.Email Kimberly @ redhookstar.com Outside Salesperson: The Red Hook Star-Revue seeks an ambitious person who likes to walk, talk and make friends in the neighborhood to sell display advertising.Commission to start - work around your

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The Red Hook Star-Revue publishes twice a month - classified advertising is one of the best and least expensive ways to get your message across.Special yearly contracts available for service businesses such as plumbers, electricians for as little as $500 annually.Email Sara@redhookstar.com or call (718) 624-5568

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For Sale “Large oil painting A contemporary work of approximately 6 by 8 feet.It is painted in a loose expressionistic style.The image is of a seahorse” with other images of sea life around it. The artist used complementary colors of blue and red.The painting is livey, colorful and joyful. $1,000.00 or best offer. Vall Sr. Rosanna at Visitation Church 718 624-1572

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