the red hook
THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE, PAGE 17
STAR REVUE
DECEMBER 2020 INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
FREE RED HOOK'S ONLY LOCAL PAPER
Susan of NY Printing always greets customers with a smile.
Tony Kokale manning Mark's Pizza wearing his mask.
Fort Defiance has added veggies to their repertoire.
Red Hook businesses adapt to hard times
L
ess than a decade after surviving Hurricane Sandy, our local businesses have had to deal with another disaster. Here are how some are faring:
Mark’s Red Hook Pizza:
Mark’s Pizza, which opened in 1991 has been a staple of Red Hook; however, the pizzeria has struggled during the pandemic according to owner Tony Kokale. “It’s been tough, rough, stressful, you name it, but I’ve never lost hope and I know my regular customers will support us, not all the time but at least once a week,” Kokale said. “I’ll support them back.” He’s lost a lot of business during the pandemic and had to let go of some employees but has still found a way to stay open. “Even before the pandemic we always made sure to stay clean and safe,” Kokale said. “It wasn’t something we had to be told twice about but this is differ-
by Brian Abate
ent. It’s tough to know who you can trust and right now, anytime someone coughs, you worry.” Employees are following protocols by wearing masks and social distancing and there is hand sanitizer for workers and customers to use. Still, it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk. “We’re living day by day, so right now there are no plans for the future,” Kokale said. “It’s tough because with the pandemic you never know what’s coming next and we hope that customers will come in and the phone will ring. I’m scared for the future… My landlord raised the rent so it’s been a very tough time but I’m very grateful for the crew and everything they’ve done.”
"Anytime someone coughs, you worry."
While Mark’s Pizza wasn’t as crowded as it usually is when I grab a slice or pass it on Van Brunt Street, there were a few customers who came in to get food and chat while we spoke. Despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, customers and workers were still able to share a laugh together and catch up. One woman asked how much her food cost, to which Kokale replied “eight dollars,” but when he saw her counting see if she had enough money added “or whatever you can afford.” The woman was able to come up with the eight dollars and also left a tip. “I love this neighborhood,” Kokale said. “There are lots of good ones, some bad ones, some crazy ones, just like any neighborhood. It’s small though, and everyone knows everyone. That’s what I like. Right now I can’t look ahead but I hope it’s going to be a very bright future.”
Wet Whistle Wines: While most businesses have suffered and struggled to get business during the pandemic, many liquor
(continued on page 7)
THE YUCK IS COMING UP
T
he sun was out, but the slanted light of fall did little to warm the small crowd gathered at the Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus the morning of November 16th. But despite winds that whipped bare hands and quickly chilled the hot cider they held in paper cups, members of Gowanus Dredgers, an organization that promotes waterfront stewardship at its namesake canal, needed no cheering up. They were celebrating the start of dredging works on the waterway, the culmination of two decades of advocating for the cleanup of one of the country’s most polluted places. Carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under a Superfund mandate, the dredging will remove the combination of tar and sewage known as “black mayo” that has accumulated at the bottom of the Gowanus Canal for well over a century. Once dredging is
by Jorge Bello
completed in 2023, the underlying riverbed, which has also been contaminated by the area’s industrial past, will be capped with cement and absorbent clays to keep pollutants from seeping back into the clean canal. The whole process is expected to take another decade to complete. Owen Foote, a founding member of the Dredgers, stressed the important role that raising community awareness and interest around the canal has played in finally materializing their efforts. “Without people knowing about this problem, this may not be happening today.” A similar sentiment was expressed by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez later that morning at a nearby waterfront esplanade, where EPA and elected officials gathered to mark the start of dredging. Velazquez credited commu-
(continued on page 5)
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WHAT'S GOING ON AT PS 676 by Nathan Weiser
A
fter opening on September 29, the city’s public schools closed again on November 18 due to the 3 percent threshold in the city.
Munir said. “Physical education has turned into a lot more of a social and emotional learning class with some fitness mixed in,” Munir added. “We still want to keep it fun for the kids.”
During the time period that schools were open, PS 676 had about 30 kids who were doing in-person learning and the rest were only remote. PS 676 did not have a hybrid model meaning that the remote kids stayed always with the remote option.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been a catch phrase in the Department of Education the last few months since it is important to help them deal with this unprecedented pandemic time period. According to Munir, this is especially true for elementary school kids whose routines have completely changed.
“Our school is run in person Monday through Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday are fully remote days for all kids except for pre-kindergarten,” physical education teacher Dawud Munir said. He has had the unique challenge of dealing with Covid restrictions while teaching kids sports and physical activity in person while also adapting the curriculum for the remote students. A teacher has never before had the responsibility of teaching at home and in person students. They can’t do the normal group sports activities in school due to Covid protocols so he has adapted instruction to help with overall fitness with the body and mind to help deal with adversity caused by the pandemic. “A lot of the hands on stuff we used to do is tough to do,” Munir said. “Teaching a lot of the skills, and teaching a lot of the sports, has kind of gone by the way side. We are doing a lot more fitness and really a lot more social and emotional learning work.” He has been concentrating on workbook activities, especially for the younger kids, focused on school core values such as respect and empathy that students can take with them when they interact with others. Another goal and a way physical education has changed for him is he has helped them adapt to being at home and the isolation of not really interacting with friends. “I am giving them some coping skills,”
“Going to school as an eight, nine, 10-year-old is like all you know,” Munir said. “You get up in the morning and you go to school. To have that routine interrupted, kids have to learn skills to be able to navigate around that.” For the kids who opted for in person, since there were so few kids in school, they were able to space out with each having their own piece of equipment. They were able to do basic individual skill development for those in school and be more hands on. For the kids who were learning from home, the sequence of skills were taught through the tablet. Mechanics were able to be corrected for those in person students but it was more of an obstacle for those at home. For the older 4th and 5th graders, their 50 minutes can consist of going outside and playing basketball, or having catch with an older or younger sibling. Another option was staying inside and practicing form shooting by balling up a sock and shooting it into the hamper. “As long as they are logging it and explaining what they are doing, then they are getting credit for it,” Munir said. “We are not necessarily doing a basketball, football or softball unit because it is too hard to do remotely.” However, he is able to teach the kids basketball over iLearn and instruct them on the mechanics of shooting a jump shot and then they can have
an opportunity to practice what they learned. Munir has had to adapt many of his lessons for the younger kids. He taught throwing recently to kindergarten and instead of using a normal ball, he taught them how to throw to a target via a small soft fuzzy ball. For all of the remote students, the DOENYC uses the iLearn platform but Zoom is basically what is used to interact live with the kids. Concentration and consistency are obstacles that Munir has had with the kids but overall the platform has worked well. “When you are dealing with elementary school kids, especially the younger they are, it’s consistency,” Munir said. “It is getting the kids online and keeping them attentive and making sure they have everything they need to do the class. An issue is making sure they have materials and making sure they are logged on is the biggest task.” Some kids do not have enough space so he can only see the top half of their body but he feels it is okay as long as he gets a general idea that they are doing the activity up to standard. Munir offers office hours for parents who have questions and for kids to bring up anything they don’t understand from what was taught. Munir is in his fourth year at PS 676. He taught in Bushwick the year before coming to Red Hook and he has also been a dean at a charter school. When the pandemic began and school went virtual, every student got a device. “Every school has Covid protocols where kids have to be distanced and they have to have masks on,” Munir said. “Just because we are in school, it does not go back to the old ways. I wish it was, but we still have to be distanced and everybody has to have their own individual stuff.”
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December 2020
we get letters Not too many letters last month. We got two in reponse to our commentary by George which spoke about the nascent mayoral campaign of our local councilman. We're not sure they are legit letters, they seem to be by someone (perhaps the same person) with a bone to pick, but we're printing them anyway because they are amusing. So please read them in that vein.
Not a fan I find it amazing how a Do Nothing Like Carlos has the nerve to run for Mayor. I was there on the first day of early voting. You couldn’t hear your-
self think with all those idiots there making noise. The Police asked them several times to move because they were not 100 feet away. Yet that Idiot Carlos Mr. Photo Op is a disgusting man. Red Hook looks like a huge Truck Depot because all he did was Yoga and walk his Dog. I can’t wait for them to tear him apart in debates. — Joanne Weissman
Agrees with Joanne Carlos, who the Hell is Carlos. What a waste of space. He’s been in office for 7 years and hasn’t done a damn thing. All he does is walk around acting like he cares, but all he really
SEND YOURS TO GEORGE@REDHOOKSTAR.COM OR POST ON OUR WEBSITE, WWW.STAR-REVUE.COM.
does is help certain individuals. The biggest Phony. I’m with you Joanne he has some dam nerve running for mayor and he can’t handle his own district. Every time you pass by his office it’s always closed and this is before Covid-19. I remember standing on the corner of Pioneer and Richards Streets when their was a fire in the tall buildings and he ran over like he was a volunteer Fireman. What a joke. Can’t wait for him to be out of office. —Jorge Gonzalez
ally did anything on City Council he started sponsoring worthless bills. Menchaca is probably the least productive council member. Imagine thinking this bill is a good idea in the aftermath of a pandemic. —David Alexandroff Editor's Note: This last item was actually a tweet following a story about Menchaca being one of the sponsors of a bill requiring expensive sprinkler systems on four story buildings. It became controversial following the write-up in the Brownstoner, and Carlos rescinded his two-year support of the bill the next day.
Also not convinced When he decided to run for mayor and needed to look like he actu-
Words by George I say that because in case you weren't away, George is me, George Fiala, who has been running this paper since I thought of it back in 2010. I very much enjoy the groove we've gotten into this year, with an interesting mix of people contributing each month. Nathan and Erin were each full time reporters at one point, but since March I've foregone with a fulltime staff, and both have happily stayed on as contributors. Jorge Bello has joined the news staff from the Columbia School of Journalism, also as a contributor, and is an important part of our local coverage. His article on the current state of things Gowanus in this issue is comprehensice and brings us up to date on this project that I've been watching since almost the beginning of Superfund. I look forward to one day strolling alongside a Gowanus Canal walkway named after the great Gowanus visionary, Buddy Scotto, who has been such an important part of that process since the 1960's. I've grown to depend on writers such as Joe Enright, Roderick Thomas, Dante Ciampaglia, Kurt Gottschalk, Piotr Pillady, Jack Grace, Michael Fiorito, Howard Graubard, George Grella and Dario Muccilli from Italy, who have all gravitated to this monthly project of their own accord, and who actually make it possible for me
to produce this interesting product. If the Star-Revue had by now grown into the publishing sensation I'd been planning, they would all be household words by now. I'm predicting that many of them will become household words after their graduation from this fun minor-league attraction. Anyway, I said that I had to figure out what to write. Since it's only once a month, I have 30 days or so to figure out my topic. Which means that during a month I plot out lots of different scenarios for a column. Originally, I wanted to start out with my monthly critique of our local City Council representative, who, in a fit of hubris, excitedly announced a run for Mayor of the whole city. This after he's barely learned how to administer his own district after eight years of learning at our expense. I originally thought that De Blasio would be unable to administer the whole city after his experience, which was mainly to run political campaigns, but he has actually surprised me, as things are still kind of working. Although, taking that a further step, our country is still kind of working, despite four years of completely amateurish governing from the top. Which goes to show that institutions do actually take a long time to fail thank God for that. Back to Carlos Menchaca, last month I wrote that he had called me to solicity a campaign contribution, which happened to be a rare communique
HOTD0G AND MUSTARD BY MARC JACKS0N H0TDOG, HAVe
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between us, despite the fact that I am responsible for disseminating news about his district to at least some of his constituents (that includes you). During the course of the conversation, he told me that he wanted to continue some of the great things that he has done during his stint in city government. I eagerly responded by asking him to send me a list of those great things. He said he would do so in time for the November paper. We're already at the December issue and I'm still waiting. As soon as I get that list, I will faithfully report it here.
I'm thinking about all the hard working bodega owners who are probably losing business, as well as the more well healed businesses who depend on food shopping, such as our own Food Bazaar, and the multiple Key Foods around Brooklyn where you can pick up copies of the Star-Revue.
But what that means is that I can't be writing about Menchaca for this column. So my next idea is about the newest growth industry - food pantries.
To me, a much better system would be a very enhanced Food Stamp program, which would not only keep people from starving, but provide income to all the food providers, as well as maintaining the freedom of choice for all food shoppers.
I'm constantly reading in the Red Hook Beg Borrow and Steal facebook group about the great work that certain locals are doing in funnelling free food to the needy. They are actually becoming more famous than my writers, and one of them is actually working on a project to replace Carlos Menchaca at his job.
I'm actually having another writer, Brian Abate, who put together our cover story this month about some intrepid local businesspeople, work on a piece for the January issue about the actual financial workings of our enhanced food charity industry. I'm pretty curious about how the farmers get paid, for instance.
However, I find out from Tron Retro, an ex hip-hop dancer, and marine, who staffs my other Red Hook business, that, at least in the places he patronizes, the free food is available to anyone. He's been feeding himself for free for a good reason, mainly that as my business has shrunk since last March, I've had to cut his hours. But
But back to food stamps, an enhanced and timely program would require our government to be operating quickly and efficiently during this times especially, and that of course is the problem.
DiNGDONG!
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MeRRY CHRISTMAS AND AN iNFINiTLY IMPROVeD NEW YeAR TO ALL READeRS!
Red Hook Star-Revue
the idea that somebody like myself, who lately inherited enough money to keep this paper going, could qualify for free food strikes me as somewhat out of kilter with the kind of economic world we inhabit.
M
Our government has mostly devolved
(continued on page 12)
WELL, I HOPe KN0CK, He’S H0USE-
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It's finally time for me to figure out what exactly to write in this column I have given myself.
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©COPYRIGHT 202O MARC JACKSON AND WEiRD0 COMiCS #21
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December 2020, Page 3
On Transit, by Larry Penner
Problems with the MTA threatened service cuts & fare increases
M
TA Chairman Pat Foye threats to include a 40% reduction in bus and subway, along with a 50% cut in LIRR and Metro North Rail Road service, have risks. One risk is fare increases above and beyond the previously scheduled 4% in 2021. This was part of the $51 billion 2020 - 2024 Five Year Capital Plan funding assumptions. Unless he receives $12 billion more in CARE COVID-19 funding from Washington, these increases could become reality.
Significant service cuts or fare hikes require a public hearing process. As a recipient of Federal Transit Administration funding, the MTA has to be in compliance with federal Title IV and other Civil Rights requirements. Service cuts can’t have an adverse impact on minority, low income and physically challenged communities. The process would require a series of public hearings in all five boroughs and surrounding suburban counties MTA service areas. This process would take the MTA several months from start to finish. It would be subject to FTA, City Hall and Albany review. These service reductions would require the MTA to update their FTA bus, subway and commuter rail fleet management plans. FTA would want to insure that the MTA still has the financial resources to maintain all assets, so they reach the intended useful
life requirement. If these service cuts were to take place, hundreds to several thousand of local and federally funded bus, subway and commuter rail cars might no longer be needed for passenger service. Reducing service by 40% in bus and subway, along with 50% in commuter rail implies, an equivalent reduction in equipment needed for rush hour service. Keeping 100% of the current fleets in service would result in excessive spare equipment. The various fleets have a spare ratio of 10% subway & commuter rail to 15% bus. This defeats the goal of cost savings. NYC Transit has a fleet of 6,400 subway cars. NYC Transit, Manhattan and Bronx Surface Operating Authority and MTA Bus have a combined fleet of 5,710 buses. Long Island Rail Road has a fleet of 1151. Metro North has a fleet of 1268 and Staten Island Railway has a fleet of 61 vehicles. Most of the NYC Transit subway and a significant number of bus and commuter rail fleets are federally funded. Federally funded equipment that is no longer needed for passenger service, as a result of major service reductions, would require the FTA permission to be temporarily mothballed in a safe and secure location. The useful life clock for equipment would be frozen. The equipment still has to be maintained. The useful life clock starts once the equipment resumes transit service.
Another option is transfer of equipment no longer needed to another transit agency to remain in transit service. This transaction would requires FTA grant amendments between the MTA and the new transit agency recipient for transfer of the federally funded equipment. Both transit agencies have to update their required Bi Annual Certification for Assurance of Federally Funded Equipment worth over $5,000 has been accounted for, is being maintained in transit service. This process takes several months. A third alternative based upon straight line depreciation determines current value of the equipment in question. The MTA would have to buy out the FTA for the federal share of the remaining value. The MTA would own 100% of the remaining value and would be free to sell this surplus equipment and keep the proceeds. The fourth option would be retiring any local or federally funded equipment, that has already reached useful life by mileage or age.
creases on all branches in December 2022. They are all 11 to 13 months away from start dates. The MTA Board has a legal and fiduciary responsibility to protect the interests of both commuters and taxpayers. Has Foye shared all this information with the MTA Board members along with city, county, state and federal elected officials? What about commuters and transit advocacy groups? Has Foye had any discussions with his local Federal Transit Administration Region 2 office (which is located at 2 Bowling Green in the Customs House just across the street from MTA HQ) or Washington on all these proposals to seek federal guidance before proceeding? (Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2).
A 50% reduction in LIRR service conflicts with promised increases. New service for the Islanders Belmont Arena in October 2022, 40% increase in rush hour service upon completion of the $2.6 billion Main Line Third Track and twenty four trains hourly during AM and PM peak supporting the $11.2 billion East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal, both in December 2022 There is also reverse peak service in-
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December 2020
Gowanus faces multitude of challenges during cleanup and rezoning processes (continued from page 1) nity engagement as the main driver behind securing a Superfund designation for the canal in 2010, a move she said was controversial at the time because real estate interests feared it would disincentivize investment. “That was so wrong. Superfund listing was the only way we were going to properly clean up the Gowanus Canal. By the way, I hate environmental noise, but today I welcome it!” said Velazquez, referring to the cacophony of heavy machinery coming from the waterway behind her, where dredging barges had already begun loading up with generous scoops of the black mayo. “We are on an ambitious timeline. We have a long way to go, but we are finally in full implementation of what we have planned for years.” "A ways to go with many inevitable hiccups," said Brad Vogel, a member of both the Dredgers and the Gowanus Community Advisory Group, which liaises with the EPA. "Moving forward, it will be important for locals to keep the various actors involved in the canal’s remediation accountable for their respective duties," Vogel continued. Members of the advisory group have expressed particular frustration with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which is tasked with the construction of two retention tanks that will capture sewage overflow into the Gowanus Canal. The EPA, to which the city must answer by law, rebuked DEP last summer for “significant non-compliance” with its obligations. The federal agency rejected an 18-month extension request submitted by the DEP in June for the construction of one of the tanks.
Cash poor city The day dredging began, DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza wrote a letter to Councilmen Brad Lander and Stephen Levin stating that accusations of non-compliance were “completely without merit.” Sapienza further stated that, against its better judgment, the city was proceeding with the construction of the tank at the EPA’s directive, despite the pandemic-induced budgetary woes it had cited as the reason for its extension request. As a consequence, Sapienza wrote, the Municipal Water Finance Authority now foresees an increase of 6.1% to New Yorkers’ water bills in order to make up the revenue gap. The estimated completion date for both tanks is 2032. Because nearly a decade will elapse between the canal cleanup and the tanks’ completion, recontamination from sewage overflows during that time will be inevitable. In the same letter, Sapienza refuted the idea that overflows have significantly contributed to the historical contamination of the canal, writing that such claims have “no scientific basis.” He also reminded the councilmen that the city will, in any case, perform a “maintenance dredge” on the canal once it
Red Hook Star-Revue
completes the retention tanks. “It’s bad planning,” opined Vogel about the timing, which adds an anticipated building frenzy to the mix. A clean, remediated canal is the tacit backbone of any plans vested interest groups have for Gowanus as part of the city’s rezoning proposal, which is slated to be certified in January. And yet, according to the Department of City Planning’s last environmental impact study, rezoning could bring a tenfold increase in sewage overflows to the canal, which locals like Vogel worry might imperil it anew. “I hope the rezone doesn’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”
Gowanus Green again While the neighborhood’s transformation will likely span decades once land-use changes are approved, the city continues to build on its designs for what is bound to be one of the waterfront’s defining features, the Gowanus Green public housing complex. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and a cohort of private partners revealed an updated vision for the campus, which will occupy the six-acre lot at the intersection of 5th and Smith streets, during a virtual presentation to Community Board 6 on November 19th. HPD’s new plan, touted as “100% affordable”, calls for half of the project’s 950 units to be set aside for low-income renters who earn less than 50% percent of New York’s Area Median Income, or around $51,200 for a family of three, with 15% of rentals reserved for formerly homeless households. Meanwhile, 40% of rental units will be dedicated to moderate income households that earn between $81,920 and $122,880. Sixtyseven apartments in the complex will be co-ops, allowing moderate and higher-earning households—those earning up to $133,120—to carve a path towards homeownership. Developers plan to make Gowanus Green more resilient—and greener. The six buildings that will make up the campus will be equipped with solar panels and all of its apartments will feature water-saving fixtures. The base of the buildings will also be elevated to flood-proof height—six feet above what is currently required by code— to account for rising sea levels, and the project will not contribute to sewage overflows into the canal thanks to a combination of green roofs, rain gardens, and bioswales that will capture stormwater. The complex’s towers, which will reach a height of up to 28 storys, will be flanked by a waterfront park and a public school. Construction of this new vision for Gowanus Green, however, remains contingent on whether the land it sits on, the former location of a highly toxic methane gas tower, is stripped of its public space designation and rezoned for residential occupancy in January. Attendees made full use of the chat
function available to them during the Zoom presentation, to express their reactions to the new proposal. Some raised questions about affordability, while others had safety concerns over the decision to build public housing on a polluted industrial site, where toxic coal tar is present in the soil to a depth of up to 150 feet.
reau’s 2019 American Community Survey, just around 37% of Gowanus residents were White, while 30% were Black, 19% were Latino, and 12% were Asian. Data for the same census tracts shows the average income per household in 2019 was $99,472, whereas the median income was $66,937, indicating large income disparities.
Jack Riccobonno of Voice of Gowanus, a community organization that opposes the rezone, voiced these concerns directly to the panelists. “Our group and the community have really serious safety concerns about this development plan.”
Racial issues
Ira Lichtiger of the Bluestone Organization, an HPD development partner, responded that there will be a management plan for Gowanus Green that will require monitoring and management of the site in perpetuity. These responsibilities will fall on National Grid, the utility giant grandfathered with fixing the results of Brooklyn Union Gas' pollution. The company plans to remove contaminated soil 22 feet down and then box in remaining pollutants with a cover layer and a bulkhead along the canal. Under the site’s management plan, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will require National Grid to perform any other necessary remediations before construction on Gowanus Green can begin. Bluestone stated: “The notion that you cannot build safely to a residential standard on a manufactured gas plant site is just not the case. We actually feel very comfortable building safely. The remedy that has been designed here has been used many times in the city,” said Licthiger, who pointed to Stuyvesant Town in the East Village as an example. Mark McIntyre, director of the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation, echoed these assertions, adding that remaining contamination at the site would be too deep to pose any danger to the public. This was challenged at a December 2 presentation by Christos Tsiamis, lead engineer of the Superfund project. Both in comments to presenters and in the chat, many attendees expressed support for Gowanus Green as a project that would address the city’s affordable housing shortage and promote income and racial diversity in the neighborhood. “We need every bit of affordable housing we can muster, and the 950 homes this rezoning offers is a great place to start,” said Will Thomas of Open New York, a prodevelopment advocacy group. “These affordable homes are particularly needed in White, wealthy Gowanus, where the median household income is well over six figures.” Many remained skeptical. “Gowanus isn’t majority White or wealthy,” wrote Nora Almeida. “Building a small amount of ‘affordable’ housing on a toxic site isn’t racial justice.” Almedia may be onto something. According to data from the Census Bu-
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The consequences of the proposed rezone on the demographic makeup of Gowanus is a recurring concern, with Voice of Gowanus calling for a racial impact study to gauge the effects. Such a measure would be in line with a bill introduced to City Council by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in December of last year. Councilman Lander, who also attended the virtual meeting, co-sponsored the proposed legislation, a fact that some residents repeatedly reminded him of in the Zoom chat. Lander doesn't believe the study is necessary in this particular case which occurs in his own district. Michael Sandler, director of neighborhood planning with HPD, declined to comment on any potential policy changes—like requiring a racial impact study—to the way rezones are evaluated, but he did direct attendees to the city’s recently released “Where We Live NYC” plan, which he said addresses the links between New York’s housing affordability crisis and residential segregation. “So we have done that analysis.” Lander was even less reticent, saying that a lot of the data that would be gleaned in a potential racial impact study will become available in the environmental impact statement the city will produce after it certifies the rezone next year. “Most of the people asking for the racial impact study want something that’s just a hurdle or a barrier to the rezoning and not an actual conversation about what would make the area more inclusive, integrated, and affordable,” he told the Star-Revue. “It’s a conversation that we’re eager to have with everyone. That is exactly what public review is about.”
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez has been a prime mover in the cleanup.
December 2020, Page 5
2020
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December 2020
Tending to cocktails at Seaborne.
Wet Whistle's Cory Hill has been staying safely busy.
Lobster Pound's Susan Raboy is always innovative.
Red Hook entrepeneurs are a special breed
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stores have seen increases in business, and that has been the case for Wet Whistle Wines.
even more during the holiday season, Hill is hoping that other shops start getting more business too.
In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, Cory Hill considered closing his store, but instead decided to keep it open with many safety precautions, including only allowing one customer inside at a time and keeping additional masks to give to any customers who needed one. He initially was the only one working at the store and came in every day for a total of 60 hours per week but now has a few workers including Eben Freeman, to come in and help out.
“We’ve been through this before,” Hill said. “I remember growing up, whenever we had to wash the dishes, my grandmother would boil water and poor it over the dishes. She did that out of habit because that’s what she had to do to survive the Spanish flu. A lot of people think we’ve never dealt with anything like this before but we have. We’re very resilient and I don’t just mean New Yorkers, I mean the human race. We’ll manage.”
“It was hard working alone but I’d rather work for myself than someone else,” Hill said. I thrive as an entrepreneur and looking at all of these fantastic wines makes me excited. Getting wine deliveries is like Christmas!”
Fort Defiance
Not only has Hill been able to keep his business afloat, he has thrived despite the challenges faced during the pandemic. “People have been staying at home and drinking and fewer people have been going to restaurants, which means more people are coming in here,” Freeman said. “The shop has been doing well and we’re moving towards the holidays, which should be busy.” Despite their success it’s still difficult for Hill and Freeman to see so many other places struggling. “My business is up but it has been bittersweet,” Hill said. “I used to work as a bartender and it’s tough to see bars and restaurants struggling.” Hill also spoke about his close ties with Red Hook and explained why he likes the neighborhood. “I’ve been in Brooklyn since 1987 and know this neighborhood well even though I’m from Park Slope,” Hill said. “I knew Sunny Balzano and started going to Sunny’s Bar 30 years ago. This neighborhood is awesome. People know their neighbors and stop to talk to each other. No one is in a hurry.” While Wet Whistle Wines has had plenty of business and is expecting
Red Hook Star-Revue
“Coronavirus changed everything for us,” said Nora Lidgus, a manager at Fort Defiance, located at the corner of Van Brunt St. and Dikeman St. in Red Hook. “But I’ve never seen someone adapt as well as St. John Frizell, the owner of Fort Defiance, did even though he was in a tough situation.” Fort Defiance opened 11 years ago and is known for being a cafe and bar but has changed direction during the pandemic. “In March we were closed for a couple of weeks but then St. John decided to open up the window so people could order and pick up food,” Lidgus said. “We have some chairs and tables outside so we could stay open in a safe way. Then people around the neighborhood starting asking St. John if he could order some vegetables so they could get their groceries and things snowballed from there. In June he decided to continue this way and become a grocery store in addition to cafe and bar.” Fort Defiance will soon be moving one block over to the corner of Van Brunt St. and Wolcott St., where there will be a much bigger home goods section so they will be able to continue to grow the grocery store. For now, Frizell has added more shelves to Fort Defiance’s current location in order to keep more items in stock. Despite all of the changes in the neighborhood, I still pass by people sitting outside the cafe who stop to chat and grab a bite, just as they did
before the pandemic. “For a moment after we first opened up again it was really quiet but I think people have been very safe here, and we’re seeing more people with the grocery store, because they can shop here regularly instead of just coming to the cafe or getting a drink,” Lidgus said. “We also can do personal shopping for people who are worried about coming in, which I think has helped and sales are getting higher every week.” Lidgus also spoke about Red Hook’s unique community and how that contributed to Fort Defiance’s ability to not only survive, but thrive during the pandemic. “I’m not originally from Red Hook, but this is where I feel a really strong sense of community, Lidgus said. “People stop to talk and know each other, which is different from a lot of other neighborhoods. With the grocery store, we see so many of the same people regularly.” In large part, it was the community reaching out to Frizell and telling him what they needed, which led him to start getting groceries and eventually led to Fort Defiance becoming a grocery store. After a rough stretch, Fort Defiance is once again doing well. “I think of it as an all-purpose store, instead of just a grocery store [because of the bar and cafe],” Lidgus said. “We’re also getting ready for Thanksgiving and we’re going to have a full menu so between that and getting ready to move and expand the grocery store, it’s an exciting time.”
Seaborne
Coronavirus created a lot of unforeseen problems for Seaborne, located on the corner of Van Brunt St. and Commerce St. In order to limit the damage done, Lucinda Sterling, who has owned Seaborne since it opened in January of 2016 acted quickly so she could stay open while keeping customers safe. “As soon as I found out that we could do cocktails to go, I was on it and we were able to avoid closing,” Sterling said. “We also applied for a permit
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for a patio and because we had everything necessary for the permit we were able to get that going right away too.” Despite acting swiftly and being able to stay open, Seaborne has struggled because of the pandemic. “We don’t have a true kitchen so we couldn’t go on serving food in the way we usually do and our menu flip flops regularly” Sterling said. “It has been very, very challenging and our sales were cut down to about 10 percent of what they used to be. There’s no real pattern to sales other than there’s more business on Friday and Saturday nights. I also owned a bar [Middle Branch] in Manhattan which had to close because of the pandemic.” Still, having Seaborne open has plenty of benefits for Sterling, who lives on the floor above Seaborne with her young child. “It has been really nice to not have to worry about commuting into the city during the pandemic,” Sterling said. “It’s also nice to have control over my hours and working here is definitely convenient. I also enjoy seeing the same people from the neighborhood, the regulars. Locals have been our bread and butter.” Sterling also spoke about her experience living in Red Hook and what the community means to her as well as her hopes for the future of Seaborne. “I’ve lived in Red Hook for the past four years and I love this neighborhood because it’s small and because of the mom and pop feel to it,” Sterling said. “It doesn’t feel so urban and it feels like people really know each other. One thing I want to let people in Red Hook know is that we’re a liquor store also and we had really high hopes for liquor distribution at the end of last year but still have plenty that we haven’t sold.” Sterling, who has worked as a bartender added that “Even though it’s been tough lately I still have hopes that it will pick up!”
(turn the page) December 2020, Page 7
BUSINESS SURVIVAL (continued from previous page)
Red Hook Lobster Pound
The Lobster Pound (on Van Brunt St. between Verona St. and Visitation Place,) a staple of the Red Hook community since it opened 11 years ago, was one of many restaurants hit hard by the pandemic. “Immediately after the pandemic we had to go to takeout only and that was really tough because we had to lay off most of our staff except for our managers,” said Susan Povich, co-owner. “It was really tough here at first but we made it through. We were always cautious and used masks even before they city told everyone to wear them.” Business improved for Povich and the Lobster Pound once they instituted outdoor dining. They have a 40 foot store front and the city has allowed them to add 20 feet on each side of the restaurant giving them 80 feet to work with. They set up a tent with tables, which brought in more customers and allowed them to bring back more staff members. “It was great for us during the summer,” Povich said. “We haven’t had all of the employees we used to have so we cut the menu down but business was up during the summer. Now things have gotten tough again though. Business is always down here in the winter but it has been so much worse because of the pandemic.” Due to the lack of business, Povich is planning on making changes this winter. “We’re going to just keep some tables
out in front of the restaurant instead of the big tent,” Povich said. “Hopefully we’ll get through this and then have a huge street front dining once the weather gets warmer. I’m really excited for that and I’m already starting to plan it.” Povich has also started a new business: the South Brooklyn Buying Club. “We have high quality organic products from different farms that can be picked up here in Red Hook or at a designated location,” Povich said. “Orders just have to be placed by 5 pm on Mondays and can then be picked up the following Saturday or Sunday. Right now we have about 50 regulars but we’re looking to get the word out to get some more. The winter is going to be tough so any business for the Lobster Pound or the Buying Club will make a difference for us.”
NY Printing & Graphics
NY Printing & Graphics (on 481 Van Brunt St., across the street from Food Bazaar) has been open for 18 years and survived Hurricane Sandy but has struggled with the new set of challenges posed by coronavirus. “We had to shut down for about 2 and a half months after the outbreak and followed all of the guidelines,” Susan Saunders, the business’ owner said. “It was hard not to come in to work everyday and it’s nice to be back now. However, since opening back up there have been a lot of small orders but not many big ones and business has not been the same.” A lot of the bigger orders came from nonprofits doing fundraising, big
Red Hook's businesses were last challenged in 2012/13 following the devestation of Hurricane Sandy. The Ice House was able to open the night after Sandy using candles and ice, as no electricity was available in much of the neighborhood for weeks.
companies hosting events and restaurants that needed menus. Coronavirus brought all of that to a halt, which means NY Printing & Graphics has been forced to rely on smaller orders to survive. “One of the reasons we were able to survive Sandy is not everyone was affected by it so we were still able to rely on some of our bigger customers,” Saunders said. “Everyone has been affected by this pandemic, which has made it really tough for us.” Right now, Saunders is looking to get through the pandemic one day at a time and hopes that better days lie ahead. “I started out working in Tribeca in 2002, just after 9/11, so we’ve been able to get through some tough times before but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Saunders said. “We’re not in a position to look too far ahead yet but
I’m really thankful just to be working again right now. Business has been slow but steady since reopening, so we’re hanging in there.” Originally specializing in large scale web and sheet-fed printing for artists and corporations, NY Printing has added new services in their large, loftlike space next to BWAC. They now offer silk screening of T-Shirts, hats and even masks, as well as embroidered designs and logos on shirts, hats and just about any sort of cloth. Despite the difficult stretch, Saunders is staying positive. “I hope that everything can turn around and that things will get back to normal soon,” said Saunders. “I’m so grateful for the business we’ve had during the pandemic because every little bit of business makes a big difference for us right now.”
ORDER ONLINE AT
WetWhistleWines.com FOR PICK UP OR DELIVERY OR DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP
Open Seven Days
WINE & SPIRITS
718-576-3143
357 Van Brunt St.
An arts and play space for children with disabilities and their families. Now offering free online play-based programming for the whole family! extremekidsandcrew.org | 347-410-6050
Page 8 Red Hook Star-Revue
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December 2020
Red Hook's new dance center hosts Brazilian workshop
A
common saying in Brazil is, Capoeira is for everybody, but not everybody is for Capoeira.
On the first Friday in November, World Arts East Red Hook (127 King Street) hosted a special action packed Capoeira workshop that was taught by Instructor Malandro, who is the founder and leader of Capoeira Terreiro da Lua. Malandro shared the history, basic movement and commonly played music of Capoeira. Capoeira is an AfroBrazilian martial art that combines dance, music and acrobatics. The workshop included instruction of the most common instrument in Capoeira called Berimbau, and three of the different kinds were played. This is a string instrument that comes in different colors and the size of the base of the instrument determines the sound. “The Berimbau all have a specific job to do,” Malandro said. “They all sound different. There are certain rhythms that dictate how they interact.” The Capoeira workshop included eight individuals, five who were in the instructor’s school who were wearing the white uniforms and three beginners who signed up to learn. There was a father and young song who eagerly participated as they were doing Capoeira for the first time and another beginner who was high school aged. The music of Brazilian musician Arlindo Cruz was playing in the beginning of the workshop as everyone was warming up for the 6:30 start time. The class started with a demonstration of a few different Berimbau as well as the drums. It was explained why each variation is unique and makes the sound that it does. The song of life was one song that was played in a call and response format. They went over few different traditional songs in this portion and the instructor explained that Capoeira is always one day at a time and ones skill level is not important, just the effort that is put in. “Capoeira is about being fluid, moving and always having options,” Malandro said. The history of Capoeira was explained. It is an Afro-Brazililan dance that had to be disguised since it was started in the plantations by African slaves. Their owners did not want them to learn how to fight, which is why they practiced in disguise and the movements are dance like. This dance/martial art was developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil at the beginning of the 16th century. It is now practiced all around the world. After the history lesson and sample of songs, they then went over the basic movements of Capoeira. One move that was part of the instruction was where everyone move side to
Red Hook Star-Revue
by Nathan Weiser
side with their arms in front of their face as a form of self protection. They then did a lot of full body movement extending one arm or leg and then the other. The practiced the ginga, which is the basic movement of Capoeira. It is all about being nimble and moving easily while shielding your head and moving one leg behind you and then side to side. It’s constant back and forth moments while switching arm movements. Esciva is another movement that was practiced, which is a lunge and then a dodge to prevent an attack and then a return to ready position. The person is ducking away from the oncoming kick. The instructor emphasized that it is okay if people mess up or don’t remember a move since the most important part is having a good time. After each year, and after a certain amount of progress is made, a participant earns a new colorful cord that is based on the Brazilian flag. Capoeira is all about working with partners and that is what the workshop did after the basic movements were introduced. They went through combinations of various movements and rotated partners to practice. According to Malandro, everybody comes to Capoeira for different reasons and can get different benefits from Capoeira. “Some people want to get in shape, some people want to learn self defense, some people are more drawn to the music, some want to learn to play percussion,” Malandro said. “Some might want to be part of something bigger and might be missing something in their life.” “You can treat it its a martial arts class,” Malandro said. “You can treat it as another way to have a good time and let loose. It’s a good way to relieve some pressure or tension. That is what Capoeira is here for, it is here for everybody.” Some people might not have Capoeira in their schedule at a given time, but it will always be there for anyone who wants to continue their journey.
duced her to Malandro. The self defense aspect of Capoeira is important because you will learn how to fall properly, how to execute a kick and how to evade kicks. There are other more broad ways it will have a positive impact. “To be creative, and learn and grow together and be a community, that is the number own thing,” Malandro added. “Capoeira helps build confidence. There might be people who do not feel comfortable speaking in public or don’t feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Capoeira will help people develop these skills. One of the woman from Malandro’s school who was in the class has been training for about 12 years on and off. She moved to NYC when she was 10 from Brazil. She is currently one level before instructor called monitora, but would like to be a full fledged instructor in the future. “It requires a few things before becoming an instructor that I have to work on,” the minitora said. “There are different rhythms of the Berimbau, and the instructor wants you to know all of the rhythms.”
They worked on offense and defense and kicking and escaping and concentrated on moving slow in the beginning to develop control. Then with the Berimbau paling in the background they could choose any movement they wanted to do.
She described some of the different styles of Capoeira.
Capoeira is about expression, unity, creativity and love.
The monitora said they don’t like to categorize themselves. They can do the slower paced one that is more playful but they can also do the traditional one that has more kicking and is more aggressive.
Towards the end, a circle was formed and moves were performed one-onone, and that was followed by a cool down. Everyone went around and introduced themselves with their traditional Capoeira nickname and spoke about their Capoeira background. Owner Erica Bowen practiced Capoeira at a cultural center when she lived in California and her instructor intro-
There is one that is slower paced, there is one called traditional which is very faced paced and then there is a mixture of the two. The school does both but some only do one or the other.
Capoeira has really grown a lot over the years and it has benefited so many people including Instructor Malandro. After moving around when he was younger, Malandro went to high school
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in the Lower East Side and in the beginning of his freshman year he fell in love with Capoeira. “I saw a guy walk in with a stick and coconut looking thing,” Malandro said. “He started playing it and I realized it was an instrument. A whole bunch of people ran into the room. They were doing kicks. I was like this is cool, I want to learn that.” He found out that he could take Capoeira as an elective instead of the typical gym class. Malandro was excited and decided to enroll. He was able to get a lot of attention because the first day 15 students were in the class and the second day he was the only one. Malandro was fortunate to receive one on one sessions in school until he graduated from high school, and then his passion turned into giving back and a career for himself as he has been teaching for 17 years. His high school teacher took him around to teach kids and give back to the community. He went to after school programs and schools in The Bronx, Manhattan and Queens and over the years he has taught all ages from pre schoolers to adults. “Capoeira is for everybody,” Malandro said. “There is no age limit, size limit, or flexibility limit.” “Capoeira was made for the weak to rise up against the oppressors,” Malandro said. “We are against oppression and are here for liberty and freedom.” Capoeira Terreiro da Lua is a group and school based in Queens, and Terreiro da Lua translated to English loosely means meeting place of the moon. The school was established in May of 2019. From 2006 through 2017, Malandro taught Capoeira to schools in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and The Bronx. In 2015, he received the Instructor rank under the teachings of Contra Maestre Omi of Ile de Palmares.
December 2020, Page 9
Dyker Heights lights still shine
T
he holidays are usually a time for large family gatherings and festive activities, but this year continues to look and feel different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dyker Heights, however, is still keeping its annual holiday decorating tradition alive.
Deck the halls The neighborhood’s Christmas lights have garnered national and international attention throughout the years, as tourists flock to the area and post pictures on their social media and travel blog posts. Homeowners decorate their houses and front lawns with twinkling lights, giant inflatables and oversized wreaths, which are on view from sundown to midnight. Though most displays can be seen between 83rd and 86th Streets, between 10th and 13th Avenues, houses along 10th and even 14th Avenues have joined the fun as well. The Frasca family, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than two decades, remained undeterred by the pandemic. They hired professionals to decorate their 81st Street home on Nov. 21. “We look forward to this time of year and putting the lights up,” the Frasca family said during the weekend of Thanksgiving. “Even though there’s a
Page 10 Red Hook Star-Revue
by Erin DeGregorio
lot of vehicular and foot traffic during December, it’s pretty cool that crowds of people take pictures of your house.” Their house – currently glitzed out with multi-colored lights that are wrapped around their lawn shrubbery, lamp post, Christmas wreaths, and window frames – was recently featured on the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Instagram page. Their picture received 1,185 likes within a single day, as well as comments like “Beautiful!” “Gorgeous!” and even “Brooklyn strong.” The Frasca’s decorations will remain up until January 1, 2021. The Dyker Heights Lights season usually wraps on Jan. 6, also known as Little Christmas.
A still bright holiday season B&R Christmas Decorators Inc., which has been in business for more than 30 years, is a local holiday decorating and professional Christmas light installation company. Residents and business owners often turn to them for help with their exteriors, which sometimes literally outshine others. B&R had already decorated houses in Dyker Heights and throughout the tristate area before Dec.1. “I think some people are really tired this year and want a break,” B&R CEO James Bonavita told the RHSR on
Nov. 30. “A few of my normal houses didn’t decorate their houses this year and I understand why. It was a very hard year, financially and emotionally. People lost loved ones and a lot of people lost their jobs.”
groups of three or four people were also out and about, taking selfies in front of the displays.
“But on the other side, people wanted to do the lights to get out of their own depression, try to enjoy the new year, and make it positive for 2021,” Bonavita said. “I want to help people feel better by helping them with their Christmas decorations.”
A number of international fans have shared their thoughts on the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Instagram page. Ingrid Coeckelbergh, who visited New York last Christmas, wrote a public comment under the Frasca house picture on Nov. 30. She said, “We were there last year … just one year ago … it was amazing! Thank you for this! Greetings from Belgium!!”
The neighborhood is not as extravagantly decorated, compared to last year, but residents wanted to provide some sort of normalcy as 2020 ends. As of Nov. 30, B&R was completely booked until Dec. 10 to decorate more houses and commercial spaces.
In October, Nicky Gregory from the United Kingdom remained hopeful that she and her family could cross this off their bucket list. They had already purchased plane tickets and were planning to walk around Dyker Heights on Christmas Day.
Diminished tourism
“Desperately hoping flights from the UK are running by then,” Gregory said. “We were booked to come for Christmas.”
Though tourism has declined in New York due to travel restrictions and lockdowns, people are still coming and seeing the lights – following New York State guidelines by wearing masks and socially distancing. The Star-Revue saw it firsthand on Saturday, Nov. 28, while walking around at 5:30 pm. There weren’t any huge crowds as experienced in years past, but parents with little kids walked down the most lit blocks, pointing at the lights. Young couples and small
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During the fall, an Australian woman named Leanne wrote that she was looking forward to enjoying the displays via social media, since she’s unable to travel. Though there’s nothing like seeing it in person, at least holiday cheer is still being virtually spread, from Brooklyn, for all to enjoy this year.
December 2020
Merry Christmas from the Star-Revue family!
Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
December 2020, Page 11
Green Stream Holdings Sets Sights on Potential Red Hook Location by Erin DeGregorio
On Nov. 9, Green Stream Holdings – an emerging leader in the solar utility and finance space – announced finance and real estate guru Eric Fain will serve as its new chief executive officer. Fain specializes in sales of luxury condominiums and development of new real estate ventures. Fain, along with other company personnel, intends to concentrate on high-volume projects in niche communities – beginning with a home base in New York. Pier 11 in Red Hook is the proposed facility site at the moment. The company’s proposal includes: a state-of-the-art recycling facility fea-
GEORGE (continued from page 3)
into another kind of sporting event, in which one side battles the other side in a sort of gladiator type event in which the spoils go to the victor. When I was growing up, the idea was for a political system to be defined by a consensus in which the whole society is the victor. Of course, the problem there was in how that was defined. The fact that free, white and 21 was how 'whole' was defined led to a host of other problems, which is where we stand today - fifty million diverse groups who all somehow survive, but not very happily, it seems. Our President-elect (amazing that even saying that is controversial to some), is even older than me, and I think he threw a lot of Americans for a loop when he right away said that his goal is to be the president for All Americans (not just those that voted for him). As someone of the Progressive bent (love me I'm a Liberal), I kind of think that goes without saying, but not to a majority of the Trumpists. To be fair, I was equally disgusted when a bunch of people who I thought were right-thinking, immediately trashed Obama for not being the radical Socialist they thought he would be when voting for him. Of course, my own industry bears a lot of blame for the extremes of our current situation.
turing renewable energy sources and recycled business materials; a green roof with rain collection and water retention systems; community walking, jogging and bike path; an urban café and urban farm; a community learning center; a facility to recycle singleuse waste plastic into premium building material; a not-for-profit recycling coalition; and local and municipal Support.
tive across New York to serve tens of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers. The effort encompasses seven service locations, or “Hubs,” in Jewish Community Centers across the boroughs, Long Island, and Westchester that will operate as a seamless network with program and service referrals based on individual client needs, with virtual appointments and trainings available.
Green Stream Holdings said more details on this project would be outlined in a future press release. When the RHSR inquired for updates on Nov. 30 or when information might be released, a company representative didn’t address the inquiry.
In Brooklyn, two Hub sites are available to the community, opened in partnership with SBH and Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst.
Green Stream Finance, Inc. is currently targeting high-growth solar market segments for its advanced solar greenhouse and advanced solar battery products. It also has a growing footprint in the underserved solar market in New York City where it is targeting 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of rooftop space for the installation of its solar panels.
UJA-Federation brings job training
In response to the overwhelming need for expanded social services and job training due to the coronavirus pandemic, UJA and several of its network partners have launched a multimillion-dollar anti-poverty initia-
The SBH Hub is located at its 425 Kings Highway office and offers increased workforce development, benefits assistance, mental health services, and case management for those who qualify. In addition, UJA partner New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) will offer probono legal counseling. Five full-time new staff have been added to support the community. The Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst site, located at its 7802 Bay Parkway office, will provide mental health services, client advocacy, legal consultations, emergency cash relief, benefits assistance, and expanded workforce development. The Jewish Board and NYLAG will be on site providing support. Three full-time new staff have been added to support the community.
and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst for their partnership in opening the Brooklyn Hubs and their invaluable work on behalf of the community,” said Eric S. Goldstein, CEO, UJA-Federation of New York. “Our goal is to go beyond helping people meet their basic needs and actually move people from crisis to stability, and we are thankful for all our partners in this effort who are truly the engine behind New York’s sustainable recovery.” “The global pandemic has destabilized hundreds of vulnerable individuals and families simultaneously in our community,” noted Alex Budnitsky, CEO/ED Marks JCH of Bensonhurst. “Through the generosity and in planning jointly with UJA-Federation, we can now expand our capacity to meet the growing needs on the path towards recovery.” "Serving our community’s needs throughout the deep and widespread impact of COVID-19 has been very challenging, but through the generosity of UJA and our donors, and through the commitment of our staff and volunteers, we were able to provide an uninterrupted and enhanced level of care to everyone depending on us. We are humbled and deeply appreciative of the incredible network of people that support our mission,” said Jack Aini, President of SBH.
“We are grateful to SBH and Edith
people like William Paley, who made his money from cigars, operated the news division of CBS as basically a public service. The rapacious nature of business would be tempered by his offering a news service that would offer real journalists a chance to do what they considered good in the world - exposing corruption and malfeasance while highlighting great things. Sometime in the 1960's, things called 'profit centers' became very important in business, and newsrooms became profit centers along with things such as the Beverly Hillbillys and Dynasty. When you watch a presidential debate these days, the idea of politics as a sporting event - replete with flags and dramatic music, becomes evident. In any case, I could go on and on, and I will next month, but I have to finish for now as my printer just called and said if I don't get this paper in right away, forget about getting it printed for the weekend. So I'll have to leave you with a photo instead. PS - thanks so much for actually reading this thing, and my sincere best wishes for a great holiday in spite of and maybe even because of, the ridiculous year we have all just experienced. Maybe things will get back to normal in 2021 and the Knicks might even field a contender!
In the old days (even older than me),
Page 12 Red Hook Star-Revue
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December 2020
Largest Landfill Transformation on Earth
T
he grasslands, hills, and prairies of Staten Island’s Freshkills Park project seems like something out of The Sound of Music, or a Midwestern nature landscape. While New York City may not be synonymous with nature, this lesser-known development could put a dent in that perception. Freshkills is developing into the largest park in New York City, even bigger than Central Park.
During the early 1900s, Staten Island’s Freshkills was a lush habitat of wetlands and swamplands. At the time, however, the value of wetlands was not truly understood. In the 1940s, the wetlands became prime real-estate for an initial 3-year residential and industrial development project, spearheaded by New York public official, Robert Moses. Moses’ Fresh Kills development project never found success. As New York City’s population grew and city landfills gradually closed, Freshkills found its wetlands transformed into the largest landfill in the world by the mid-1950s and the only landfill in the 5 boroughs by 1991. For many years, Freshkills’ landfill odors and windblown garbage were both eye-and-nose-sores. In 1996, legislation was passed to finally close the landfill, much to the satisfaction of Staten Island residents. Today, Freshkills is being developed into the largest park in the city, designed by NYC’s High Line designer, James Corner Field Operations. In an interview with The Star Revue, Park Manager Laura Truettner explains the value of wetlands and how the world’s largest landfill is becoming the largest park in NYC.
by Roderick Thomas RHSR: How big is the park exactly?
like us to know about?
Laura: The park is 2,200 acres, about 3 times the size of Central Park, and the largest park to be built in New York City in the last century. It’s hard to understand the expansiveness of it until you’re standing on one of the mounds.
Laura: I love this question. I think the infrastructure. There are these two big towers juxtaposed to the scenery of grassy slopes. When we take people to the grasslands, they can’t believe they are in New York City.
RHSR: How do you change the world’s largest pile of trash back to a valuable ‘natural’ ecosystem?
RHSR: Now, this park is huge. How is the park managing accessibility?
Laura: [Laughs] We work very closely with sanitation to close the landfill. So we have decades of knowledge behind us. It takes 7 layers of soil and geotextile fabrics on top of the garbage to create stability and the shape of the mounds.
Laura: Staten Island is just a different borough, so we’ve discussed many ways to help get folks to the park. We’ve rented buses for attendees for some of our events. We’ve even considered the park being a stop via the ferry.
Truettner explained that closing a landfill isn’t just covering garbage with soil. Geotextile fabrics, extraction wells, underground pipes, impermeable layers are all utilized to help create a habitable, thriving ecosystem. One of the by-products of landfilling is landfill gas. Gases from Freshkills are extracted, cleaned and used in Staten Island homes. According to Truettner, at its peak, Freshkills gas heated more than twenty thousand Staten Island homes.
RHSR: What are some of your favorite places in the park so far?
RHSR: What are some of the long term goals for the park? Laura: Our major goal is to continue building out park projects. We want to create regional and international green space for this generation and future generations to come. RHSR: How do park administrators see the completion of Freshkills as it relates to sustainability? Laura: Freshkills is such a significant platform for research and education on sustainability. We are learning a lot about how mother nature can rebuild itself on damaged land.
Laura: I’d say, on top of North Mound. It has an incredible view of lower Manhattan and New Jersey. I’d also say Main Creek, where we go kayaking. The implications for future tourism, artists, entertainment education, and NYC residents are certainly promising. In the near future, Freshkills Park will likely garner the same attention as Central Park, and certainly be a testament to sustainability. The pace of the park build-out is dependent on funding. Laura Truettner explains that funding for Freshkills will dwindle once the South Park project is completed, with the pandemic also affecting funding. More specifically, permitting, federal, state and city funding all affect the flexible 2036 completion date.
Roderick Thomas is an NYC based writer, filmmaker, and Host of Hippie By Accident Podcast. The completion and opening of Freshkills Park will (Instagram: @Hippiebyaccident, Email: rtrodRHSR: Laura, what do we know now about these occur in phases. Currently, there are 3 parks opened erick.thomas@gmail.com, roderickthomas.net) wetlands that we didn’t previously? Laura: Wetlands are important for controlling stormwater flow and filtering stormwater. During Superstorm Sandy, Freshkills experienced less damage because of the wetlands. They act as a buffer, especially if you have them on the coast. RHSR: How is the environment changing with the park’s development? Laura: We’ve been able to rehabilitate and transform an ecosystem. Birds and other wildlife are returning to Freshkills that haven’t been seen in decades – Grasshopper Sparrows, Sedge Wrens, etc. This idea that we can transform damaged land is a significant finding that can be applied to so many areas.
on the outside of the Freshkills boundary, the first of which opened in 2012.
Schmul Park, a neighborhood playground, Owl Hollow soccer field, and New Springfield Greenway, a pedestrian-bike parkway are all open to the public. RHSR: What phase are you in now? Laura: We’re in construction on the first interior project, North Park phase 1. This phase sits on twenty-two acres, with a parking area and a pedestrian-bike park area that leads to a wetland overlook and a bird tower. We’re looking to open North Park phase 1 in 2021, from there we’ll begin working on the South Park project.
When we take people to the grasslands, they can’t believe they are in New York City.
RHSR: What are some cool features of the park you’d
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December 2020, Page 13
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December 2020
My new Indigenous friend
I
first met Roman Perez through a mutual friend, Juan Carlos Pinto, a local Brooklyn
artist.
He invited me to the blessing ceremony of a mural he made in Newkirk Plaza. The mural decorates the inside of a tunnel connecting Newkirk Plaza to a pedestrian street.
“Come to my showing of the mural. And I want to introduce you to my friend, Roman; he’s a Taino Elder and Minister,” said Carlos. Roman Perez has studied his past and now lives it much of the time.
“What’s a Taino Minister?” I asked. “He’s a chief of a Taino tribe, the Maisiti Yukayeke Taino of the Indigenous people of the Caribbean.” When I arrived, Roman, dressed in a colorful feathered headdress, was blowing smoke from a shell with hot coals on the mural walls of the tunnel and chanting. And although our neighborhood is remarkably diverse, you’re more likely to see Tibetan monks and Rastafarians in native garb than Indigenous people. But the magic of Brooklyn is that everything happens here. I met Roman again at a ceremony to bless Pinto’s artist workspace on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, OYE Studios. This was all before COVID. Life was “normal.” This time, Roman stood up and spoke. “I invite the spirits of the Elders to bless this studio and this beautiful community of people that Carlos has brought together,” he said, stroking the feathers with his index finger and thumb as he spoke.
by Mike Fiorito
ing, then started going to powwows, learning more from other people, like a sponge.” I asked how he learned the language. “You have no idea how hard it was,” said Roman. “In those days, there were extraordinarily little resources. I found a dictionary that listed the Tainei words in alphabetical order, alongside the Spanish words. You couldn’t look up the Spanish words; you had to learn the Tainei words and try to memorize them.” The Tainei tongue is in the Arawak language family, spoken by Indigenous people in the Antilles, which includes the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti. Tainei was an oral language, never written down by the Taino people. The Spaniards translated the Tainei language into Latin, then into Spanish. The subtle pronunciations and sounds could never completely survive translation backwards into Tainei. It was eventually collected by Jose Arrom, a professor at Yale University in the 1980s and 1990s. There are other languages related to Tainei. One is called Lokono, another is called Careb (or Kalingo). Studying these languages helps us to piece together how Tainei may have been spoken. Many of the Tainei words documented towns, rivers, flowers, and plants. Many of these remain intact as the Spanish only changed the words of things important to them. Like other Indigenous people, the Taino are matrilineal, descent is traced through the mother. "Can you tell me about that?” I asked. “On a spiritual level, the male and female god begins with the Earth Mother, or Atabey. The mother is the maker. In the creation stories, the celestial god, Yaya, is considered both male and female. Then there is Yocahu Bagua Maricoti, the lord of the Yuca. The creation stories get extremely complicated. They might be hard to explain, as they come from an oral tradition.
I watched Roman with awe, as he addressed the gathering of fifteen or so people. He spoke with such confidence and intention, like a true leader. After his prayerful invocation, he led a chant. We all joined in. These were people associated with the OYE Studio community: artists and friends. People who are from Brooklyn, and people from all over the world who now live in Brooklyn. I felt truly blessed to be among this gathering of people from so many different places.
“Can you tell me about your community?”
Roman and I are from the same era in NYC when the boroughs were more tough than hip. He was born in the Dominican Republic and came to the United States with his family when he was five. He grew up in Sunset Park on 58th Street.
“Then, about twelve years ago, we formed Hawksnest Quest Native Church, which is involved with different communities. We are a collective of people growing food together and helping people spiritually. For instance, many people, some from other tribal traditions, come to us who have lost their way. We help them, I help them, get back to their consciousness, their heritage. We run sweat lodges and vision quests. Our church, based in upstate New York, is called Blossom Dell Sanctuary. We have a garden, provide a safe place to be in nature, plant in nature, and cultivate the medicine plants on our 125 acres of land.”
When I talked to him on the phone recently, we talked about his personal history and his practice. “How did you first come into contact with your Taino heritage?” I asked. “When I was a kid, I saw things at home with grandma, with the Elders. The tobacco preparation and rituals.” He paused for a minute. “But these things were hidden. Our people learned to conceal our culture. It could mean life or death. Tribal ways became very camouflaged and internalized.” “Were you raised Taino?” “I was raised Catholic. My parents went to church, so of course I did too.” “How did you learn about your Taino heritage?” “It was a calling. I accumulated the hints from my grandparents, and they resurfaced as I encountered people throughout my life. Then, when I went to museums as a kid, I became fascinated by tribal peoples throughout the world. Tribal ways and knowledge captured my imagination. I kept read-
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“Since 1992, marking the five-hundred-year quincentennial of Columbus, more and more Taino people have become aware of their heritage. In fact, in 1996, my family and I, in that same spirit, found a local Taino community which we call Maisiti Yukayeke Taino (people of the high corn village). Then, in 2006, I became the Chief (staff carrier) of the Maisiti Taino Tribal group. The community consists of about thirty to forty families.
catch the sun. No leaf sits directly over the next, so that each can gather light without shading the others. The bean twines around the corn stalk, weaving itself between the leaves of corn, never interfering with their work.” They also plant zucchini, radishes, melons, and other beans, using wires and ropes so the beans can grow. In addition, they grow herbs like parsley, peppers (jalapeno and others), potatoes, carrots, and root vegetables like beets. They also cultivate medicinal plants like sage, sweetgrass comfrey, peppermint, and lemon balm, tobacco, and others. And make compost for the gardens. “Planting is a form of listening; the plants communicate to us in slow and subtle ways. But we have to listen to learn. After all, plants have been on the earth longer than all other beings. Roman explained that Back to Nature helped his community to implement permaculture farming using the resources on the land to create selfsustainable growing. The folks from Back to Nature then brought buckets of earth, worms, and mycelium that came from a healthy ground. They dug down into the earth about ten inches, filling it with branches of fallen Ash Trees, leaves, hay, compost, poop, and dirt. “Before COVID we started planting,” said Roman. “When COVID hit, we couldn’t make it back upstate. After several months of the garden not being watered and taken care of, we came back to find the garden bursting with food. As of mid-October, we were still harvesting.” “I’ve read that one of the first things the European invaders did was try to cut off food supplies of Indigenous people. This was part of the plan to commit genocide on Indigenous people,” I said. “Sadly, this is true,” said Roman, pausing for a moment. “In addition, we want to eat healthy food, food that we’ve grown with our own hands. If you give to the earth, she gives back to you. This is part of our tribal tradition. And, let’s face it, with climate change impacting parts of the world, having a food supply may become an imperative. Perhaps we can be a source for more than just our community.” “What’s your next big project,” I asked. “We want to have a two-hundred feet long, twentyfoot-wide greenhouse,” said Roman, letting out a gentle laugh. As Marilyn Balana’ni Díaz, Puerto Rican Taino and principal abuela (grandmother) of another Taino community has said, “We are part of nature, we are not outside of it. We are part of the plants. We are part of the cosmos.” My friendship with Roman has only just begun. And more than just his friend, I am now his student, eager to better understand tribal traditions of gratitude towards the Earth and all things, living and otherwise. If you ask me, Indigenous wisdom will prove essential in our efforts to survive on this planet together. OYE Studios ; http://oyestudios.com/ , 834 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11239
“Using tribal ways, we plant vegetables that work together symbiotically. We call it the Three Sisters. You plant corn. When the corn rises six inches, you plant beans. When the beans start climbing on the corn, they pull nitrogen from the air and feed it to the soil. Then you plant squash. The big leaves of the squash plant act as a shade barrier and repels weeds and insects.” As Robin Wall Kimmerer, scientist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation writes about the Three Sisters in her book Braiding Sweetgrass: “the corn stands eight feet tall; rippling green ribbons of leaf curl away from the stem in every direction to
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December 2020, Page 15
Italy's students protesting the lack of in-school learning by holding sit-ins (while learning) in front of government buildings)
Online learning not popular in much of Europe
E
urope's reaction to the autumnal second Covid wave has been different nation by nation, revealing the priorities and the weaknesses of each country. Today the most discussed field where these differences break out is about keeping or not schools open. Countries like Scandinavian nations, Ireland,UK, Germany or France have decided not to shut down classrooms, even if cases have increased or if a total lockdown was imposed, like in France till November 28th. The reasons why these countries do so are different, but they are commonly based more on reasons of principle rather than data. “In person teaching at schools continues to have the highest priority. The right to education can best be guaranteed by learning and teaching face to face” declared Germany’s Gov. officials to The Local, while, following the same lead, Irish PM, Micheal Martin, stated during a national address: “We cannot and will not allow our children and young people’s futures to be another victim of this disease. They need their education”. This aim so widespread in northern Europe amidst the ruling classes has had to face many issues. Germany’s positive data suggest how only with a total lockdown opened schools may not be clusters, because even if in classrooms people respect maskwearing and personal-distance, travelling students are in danger to be infected, if the public transports are plenty of other people. That is why in Sweden, whose antimasks and anti-lockdown strategy is famous, cases are increasing a lot even in schools, where there’s no mandatory mask for pupils aged less than 16. Elsewhere, in France, where indeed a lockdown was imposed, students
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by Dario Pio Muccilli are obliged to go to schools although many of them do not want to, because of the relatively low distance possible to maintain in French classrooms. “Our class is packed, with students sitting side by side. They’ve tried to rearrange the tables but it changes nothing because there’s still 30 of us in a class” said to Reuters Jean, a pupil at Lycee Colbert in Paris, a city where roughly 75% of cases originated from schools. La Ville Lumiere even saw students clashing with the police, going on strike, to affirm their right not to be infected while attending lessons. But yet, in a twist, a country bordering on France has students demonstrating for the very opposite thing: turning back to schools after their government imposed 100% online teaching at the beginning of November for all the pupils aged more than 11. That country is Italy, where I, 18 years old, am one of the high school students obliged to do home-schooling. Many students in my city, Turin, but also in Milan or Rome, decided to demonstrate their opposition to online-teaching by attending online-lessons seated right in front of the governative palaces where the decisions to shut down schools were taken. This happens twice or even three times per week.
I’ve been amidst my mates to demonstrate last November 26th in Castle Square, Turin, but at the same time I›m aware that Italy did not reopen schools because the country has not enough money to increase public transports or to make the school environment safe. And even if sometimes there is money, it's often not spent in a good way. The ruling classes are more focused on helping the great industrial groups (Fiat Chrysler borrowed 6.3 bln Euros from Italy) than students or the smaller economical activities such as restaurants or retail shops that are still facing the financial consequences from the first lockdown in February. In this situation schools are totally forgotten by Rome and I understand who wants to reopen them, but in any case I think that whether the schools are opened or not, students cannot be left alone, like today it is happening in Italy, where there are those who can’t afford to buy a PC (two or three in larger families) or to face the psychological aftermath of online-teaching, that is causing an increase of panic attacks amidst teenagers through the country.
But yet students have been left alone also in France, as Jean’s words suggested, revealing how the question is not to reopen or to shut down, but about how little every government cares about the pupils. Today, under the siege of this gloomy pandemic atmosphere, there is no reasons of principle which can justify putting students at health risk, but at the same time, living in a world made up of values like education, society has to provide a real and effective instruction. This is not provided by Google Meet, where you can be silenced or expelled everytime the teacher wants. We need to reopen schools as we do not know when the vaccine will be inoculated massively and we cannot afford years of online-teaching to keep the factories open. However, we must be aware that, if we reopen schools, we must guarantee safety to all the pupils, because every single case in schools is a potential death for the future of the world. Pio, who lives in Turin, is our overseas correspondent. He can be reached at muccillidariopio@gmail.com
The students, and even some teachers or parents who believe schools must reopen, add as reasons the fact that when schools were opened only 3.53.8% of cases originated there, that distance was kept and few schools experienced massive contagions. Moreover they often look at the rest of Europe, especially Germany, as a model to follow, often quoting the European WHO director, Hans Kluge, who once said “What we know is that we can’t open societies without opening schools first”. This is absolutely true and that is why
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December 2020
The Godfather Coda Gives the Corleone Saga the Conclusion It Deserves
A
by Dante A. Ciampaglia cause he can. But Coda is that rare exercise where a re-edit is also a restoration, in the art-world sense of the word. Coppola has stripped away layers of varnish — filler sequences, elements of plotlines, three decades of studio-forced compromise and unearned notoriety — to expose the masterpiece hidden below.
rtists, when they reach a certain age, can feel the tug of legacy and revisit and tinker with their work. That’s as true for painters and sculptors as it is for filmmakers. George Lucas fiddling with his original Star Wars trilogy is the most notorious example, but Lucas’ old friend and patron Francis Ford Coppola has been in a contemplative mood for 20 years.
The effort took nearly a year to complete, Andrea Kalas, Paramount’s Head of Archives, told the StarRevue. Coppola “had a strong vision of how he wanted to make this a real ending to the trilogy, a real completion statement,” she said. “He had wanted to do this re-edit for a long time and had done an enormous amount of work on it and talked about it with other people that he trusted. By the time we got around to actually putting it together, he had a very strong idea of what he wanted to do and where he wanted it to go.”
Beginning with Apocalypse Now, which he recut and re-released in 2001 as Apocalypse Now Redux, Coppola has returned to a number of his films, either to restore and preserve them, as in the case of Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) and The Conversation (1974), or to make substantive changes to bring a film in line with his original intentions. He re-edited and re-released The Cotton Club (1984) in 2019 as The Cotton Club Encore; that same year he consolidated Apocalypse Now and Redux into Apocalypse Now: Final Cut. Coppola’s latest effort isn’t his heaviest lift, but it’s arguably the highest profile since Redux. The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, which will be released on Blu-Ray and digital services December 8, is a re-edit — and a reconceptualization — of The Godfather Part III, one of the filmmaker’s more notorious late-career films. And it absolutely salvages the final chapter in the Corleone saga. Released in 1990, the third and final installment in the Godfather trilogy is unquestionably a Godfather film. Crime family patriarch Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) tries to, finally, take the Corleone family legitimate; dark underworld forces conspire to retain their grip on the family; betrayal is everywhere; all family debts are settled in a bloody montage; and it’s all set on a global stage that includes a multinational real estate conglomerate, the Vatican, and papal assassination. But unlike its predecessors, Part III is shaggy, wandering, and less assured. At 170 minutes, it’s the shortest film in the trilogy, yet it feels interminable. Excellent performances, from Pacino to Talia Shire, returning as Connie Corleone, to Andy Garcia as Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son Vincent, are often overwhelmed, while Sofia Coppola’s now-notoriously bad turn as Michael’s daughter Mary can often feel excruciating and embarrassing. And with so much time on its hands, the script’s contrivances and hammy dialogue — all in service to laboriously recalling the first two film’s greatest hits — have way too much room to breathe and linger on screen. The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974) were bonafide, zeitgeist-altering masterpieces; the latter arguably the greatest piece of American filmmaking ever realized. The Godfather Part III, like its predecessors, entered the pop culture firmament — but for all the wrong reasons. It was ultimately nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but didn’t win any. Worse, by the time it was released a cinematic property once full of New Hollywood verve and audacity had become a creaky nostalgia act. It was a reality brought into stark relief by the other organized crime film released that year, GoodFellas, as much a mold-breaker as the first Godfather was 18 years earlier. And next to Scorsese’s jittery, hyperviolent, voyeuristic update on the mob movie, Coppola’s third crack at the Corleones felt staid, retro, and illconceived. To be fair to Coppola, The Godfather Part III was a film he had no interest in making. Dire personal financial conditions made the decision for him. And once work began, it was beset by problems ranging from Hollywood picayune — How much salary are returning stars worth? Does its release date getting pushed back mean it’s a turkey? — to the existential
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To realize Coda, Kalas and her team at Paramount leaned on a Godfather trilogy restoration completed in 2008. They used that version of Part III as reference when assembling Coda, while essentially reusing the restored soundtrack that came out of the project. “We couldn’t have done [Coda] without” the work done 12 years ago, Kalas said. — Winona Ryder, originally cast as Mary, dropped out after production began and replaced by Coppola’s daughter. And where the Coppola of the ‘70s, flush with leverage and vigor, could fight for every inch of celluloid, the Coppola making Part III, while still a considerable artist, was essentially a director for hire. He and Godfather novelist and co-screenwriter Mario Puzo couldn’t even give it the title they wanted. But time has a way of smoothing things out. Viewers can approach the film on its own terms, not those dictated by the cultural conversation. Home video allows us to watch all the films together, so the intentionality becomes more readily apparent. Behind-the-scenes conflicts are forgotten by all but the most committed Tinseltown gossip. And even if nothing can totally salvage Sofia Coppola’s performance (which is not her fault; she never wanted the part and doesn’t deserve the decades of scorn she has received from movie nerds), three decades later it’s hard to know what all the fuss was about. The Godfather Part III is absolutely the lesser of the three films; nothing could match the first two in intensity and influence. But it hardly deserves its reputation as a white elephant of a disaster, even if you have to slog through a lot to find the gem of a film buried in the thicket. The Godfather Coda is the machete Part III desperately needed 30 years ago. Besides giving it a new title — which is actually the old title preferred by Coppola and Puzo — Coppola gave Part III a new beginning and ending and made substantive cuts to the film to bring it down from 170 to 157 minutes. “In musical terms, a coda is sort of like an epilogue, it’s a summing up, and that’s what we intended the movie to be,” Coppola says in a new introduction to the film. “Many scenes have been repositioned, and the picture has been given, I think, a new life, which does in fact act as an illumination of what the two films meant.”
The biggest challenge was locating the best elements from the original shoot to accomplish the reedit. They needed new shots as well as different versions of moments that ended up in Part III, and they spent six months combing the archives and sifting through 300 trim boxes (containers of pieces of film collected during the editing process) at Paramount to assemble the pieces. Because Part III was shot only 30 years ago, the materials were in fairly good shape and nothing appeared missing. That allowed Coppola to realize the film he and Puzo set out to make three decades ago. To be sure, there are still problems. No amount of work can mitigate the problems with the script, the blunt-force symbolism and callbacks, or, yes, Sofia Coppola’s performance (it’s softened here, but she’s still too unprepared to be so important to the film). But The Godfather has always been operatic pulp, and in that way Coda feels a part of the Corleone saga in ways Part III didn’t. It’s fresh yet familiar, like the déjà vu of experiencing a dream in your waking life — fitting for a film haunted by the ghosts (on-screen and off ) of its predecessors. “When I saw [Part III] way back, it was like ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ It didn’t seem to do that well and the reviews weren’t great,” series co-star Diane Keaton recently told Variety. “But Francis restructured the beginning and the end and man, I’m telling you it worked.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Kalas, who upon seeing Coda for the first time said, “I really get it now.”
This kind of thing often smacks of vanity, a filmmaker recalibrating a work just be-
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December 2020, Page 17
Will The Real Q Please Stand Up? by Joe Enright
I
t was my toughest assignment yet, but George had faith I could pull it off. “Sure, it’ll be dangerous,” he said dismissively. “But you run fast. For an old guy, anyway. Plus, I’ve noticed you’re pretty quick at pressing that ESCape key.” And so off I dove into the Internet to unearth the identity of a man named Q.
Since October 2017, the oft-told story goes, someone claiming a governmental Q level security clearance has been posting anonymous online messages as “QAnon,” although his millions of followers simply call him Q. These cryptic messages, called “Q drops,” have been interpreted as revealing a plan to eliminate with extreme prejudice child-trafficking pedophile Democrats, Hollywood celebrities, George Soros, That Smart-Alek-Kid-Down-theBlock-With-His-Black-Friends, some Antifa guy in Jew York, the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort and the entire news media, including I presume the Red Hook Star Revue and its contributors. Gulp. This scum of the Earth would be rounded up by Trump – an event called “The Storm” – working in concert with…wait for it…wait for it…Robert Mueller. Yes, that’s right, Trump purposefully fired James Comey, knowing Mueller would be appointed Special Prosecutor, thereby giving the ex-FBI Director perfect cover to gather the law enforcement contingent needed for the round-up. But where to put them all? Well, Q had a plan for that too: only Walmart has enough square footage to lock up thousands of pedophiles. Duh! Given the overlap between Q’s idiotic pronouncements and Trump’s idiotic tweets, there has always been some consideration given by the QAnon crowd to the possibility that Q is actually Fuckface Von Clownstick himself. But then some astute observers pointed out that: 1) Q’s knowledge of the Internet extends far beyond Twitter; and 2) Q Drops were syntactically correct and contained no typos. Well, that ruled out Drumpf all right. At this point I could bore you with a wonky narrative of how I wandered from web site to imageboard, di-
gesting tales of depravity and Deep State treachery so foul, it would make even Clint Eastwood cry. But the Star-Revue is above all that…Oh, all right, let me give you a taste...Tom Hanks is mainlining adrenochrome, some sort of psychedelic derived from torturing children…Trump’s COVID tweet that he and Melania “will get through this TOGETHER!” was a code for Q’s followers TO-GET-HER, with the HER being Hillary because her name starts with the
same letter as HER. GET IT? (For QAnons reading this, take it easy! I did not just advise you to GET your IT guy, so stand down.) By the way, what “get” means for Q apparently varies from locking her up to putting her head on a pole, depending on whether you are a moderate QAnon disciple, a conservative, or Steve Bannon. But alas, so many of this cult’s interpretations and predictions have failed to be validated – at last count, 100%, including the prediction of a Trump election victory – that one is left to wonder: is Q a dropout from the Nostradamus Prediction Learning Academy? Or maybe a degenerate gambler looking to get his juju back after being blackballed by his bookie? Obviously, the Internet needs an en-
forcer who can take this loser out back and break some thumbs. Then, as I neared the end of my weeks-long decipherment of Q Drops, the mainstream press suddenly and unanimously outed Q’s identity: a pig farmer in the Philippines named James Arthur Watkins, an expat US Army vet who dishes porn to Japan. He’s an Internet nerd with no Deep State connections, leading on the clueless morons simply to gain profitable “hits” on his web site. Once again, the Trump-loving common man has been duped by a con man. But is it possible that Lamestream Media has gotten this all wrong? Is it possible that Q is Ben Whishaw, the ascendant British actor who appeared in the last three James Bond movies (Skyfall, Spectre and No Time to Die)? Whishaw also played a hedonistic gay man in London Spy (2015), fighting British intelligence to learn the truth about the death of his lover, an MI6 agent. He then went on to star in the miniseries A Very English Scandal (2018), dramatizing the downfall of Member of Parliament Jeremy Thorpe, a closeted homosexual who was the leader of…wait for it…the Liberal Party. Obviously, Whishaw is drawn to Deep State roles exposing sex-obsessed Libtards. And guess which role he played in the Bond films? The MI6 Quartermaster known simply as Q. Check please! I haven’t figured out yet why Whishaw is spending so much time posting comments about US politics instead of the UK but give me a break – I had a deadline to meet. However, I am proud to reveal here for the first time that Whishaw’s odd surname is a scrambled form of His Wash, a test tube preparation manufactured by Zymo Research for studying enzymes, thereby giving new meaning to “Q Drops.” Need I say more? I hope not because that’s as far as I got before the top of my head started to feel tender, allowing a seam for my soul to leap out and take a walk in the neighborhood. Would you be my neighbor? OK, OK, I understand.
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STAR REVUE December 2020
Music: Kurt Gottschalk Reynols Is the Most Important Band in the History of Rock
T
he Argentinian band Reynols wasn’t widely known even before they disappeared for some 17 years. They just don’t do the kind of music that gets a band known. That might change with the release of the new Gona Rubian Ranesa, arguably the most musical album they’ve put out, but really it won’t. Which is a shame, because Reynols represent everything rock pretends to be. The band has been around since 1993, although if you ask singer and frontman Miguel Tomasin, he might tell you that the band has been around since 1967 when, at age 3, he started banging on pots and pans in his mother’s kitchen. He might say something else, too, but he’s said that in the past. Tomasin is, by any definition, the visionary of Reynols. Without him, Reynols wouldn’t be the most important band in the history of rock. Rock has certain conventions—rhythm, instrumentation—that generally don’t vary all that much. But something more important that rock has, or should have, or at least pretends to have, is attitude. Rock is about the rise of the outsider. Rock is about breaking down power structures. Rock is about believing in yourself. And in that respect, Tomasin is a veritable rock hero. The fact that Tomasin has Down’s syndrome may or may not matter; We’d have to know what kind of band he’d have if he didn’t have Down’s syndrome to say for sure, and we don’t know that. But Tomasin
is a visionary and in Roberto Conlazo, Pacu Conlazo and Anla Courtis, he has a devout ensemble ready, willing and able to do his bidding. And that’s what makes Reynols the most important band in the history of rock. Tomasin’s bidding hasn’t always brought home the bacon. Past releases have included recordings of chickens and an album of dematerialized music, housed in an empty jewel case. The band has also worked with Acid Mother’s Temple, the Nihilist Spasm Band and Pauline Oliveros, and has always stayed true to his wishes. That dedication is what gives the band its strength. It wasn’t all that surprising when they fell silent. The other members took on other projects, and Tomasin did whatever it is Tomasin does. A brief clip of the band in the studio showed up on YouTube in 2014, and was soon followed by more silence. A six-CD plus DVD box set in early 2019 may have spurred them into activity again, but whatever it was that did it, Gona Rubian Ranesa might be the most conventional album the band has made, at least in the sense of following older paths of unconventionality. The four long tracks mine some trippy grooves, with strong ties to Krautrock and early ’70’s Pink Floyd. The whole album is up on Bandcamp, as is the Minecxio Emanations 1993-2018 box set. Catch them while they’re above the surface, who knows when they might crest again.
and for more subversive career than simply lambasting Ireland’s most famously bloated activist hypocrites.
Negativland’s Brave New Negativworld
N
egativland has been successfully prophesying doom for 40 years now, their secret all along being using society’s words against itself. Pioneers in sampling and culture jamming, the outfit is perhaps most notorious for a petty, prolonged and hilarious copyright battle with U2, but they’ve had a longer, more varied
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Hypocrisy and consumerism have been the primary targets throughout their catalog of appropriation and recontextualization, played out in albums, performances, radio programs, video work and books. Depending on how one counts, the new The World Will Decide is their 14th album of new work, although cataloging their output is about as easy as tabulating a CEO’s tax shelters. While their means of production have become commonplace—it’s easy enough to search out YouTube uploaders using sound clips and audio collage to create pastiche parody—Negativland keeps fresh by addressing contemporary worries. The World Will Decide (released last month on their own Seeland imprint) is largely concerned with living life online and all of the surveillance and data-mining that comes with it. But the album also takes on such timeless concerns as gaming and eternal damnation. It’s a “mirror image sequel,” according to self-generated hype blurbage, to the 2019 release True False, turning the focus “away from our very human inability to accurately define reality, and towards the technologies attempting to do a better job at it.” In a vision not so different from the ambitions of the HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The World Will Decide depicts a world so beautiful humans can’t appreciate it, much less contribute anything to it. The sound bite narratives and constructed dialogues of which the album is comprised are set
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to music that sounds like ad execs trying to appeal to the youth market by pantomiming rock and dance music. Like the vocal tracks, it’s often built around loops, but employs some talented human musicians (including Kevin Blechdom, Matmos and Ava Mendoza) Buried near the beginning of the final third of the overwhelm that, like every Negativland record, The World Will Decide is is a track that seems key to defining what the media manipulation subterfuge operation, or “band,” is all about. It isn’t, of course. There is no key to Negativland. That or everything’s a key—it’s all about the power of suggestion. But the 8½ minutes of “Attractive Target” are highly suggestive, like a glimpse behind the curtain, into a darkweb nightmare of fear porn, weaponization, techno edge, matrix manipulation, paranoia and confusion. It is what the rest of the album is intended to distract you from. The unnerving is real. The World Will Decide is ultimately an examination into the minutiae of societal collapse, the mundane details of human extinction, an apocalypse so slow no one notices, with catchy ditties to occupy us on the way down.
December 2020, Page 19
Liturgy’s Rite of Passage and Metal’s New Maturity
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he surprising thing about New York black metal band Liturgy in 2020 isn’t frontperson Hunter Hunt-Hendrix coming out as transgender. It might be interesting. It no doubt informs her obscureanyway songwriting. And she’s to be commended for the forthright and thoughtful coming out video she posted to her YouTube channel in August. But it’s not the most exciting thing about the band this year. Metal has—indeed, society has—come a long way since, say, 1998, when Judas Priests’s leather-studded singer Rob Halford said he actually feared being stoned after coming out as gay. The form has grown fantastically more diverse in the ensuing 20 years, and its audience much broader. Metal ain’t just metalheads anymore, and Hunt-Hendrix is almost certain to find more acceptance of her place on the gender and sexuality grid than Halford did. What’s surprising about Liturgy in 2020 isn’t the intellectualism in or the construction of mythologies on their albums, either. Such have been in evidence since the debut EP Immortal Life, released in 2008 with Hunt-Hendrix as the sole member. It’s also not the power and precision of the playing. Those have been there since the project became a band. What’s most surprising about the new Origin of the Alimonies, and about last year’s H.A.Ø.Ø. (both of which are streaming in full on Bandcamp), is the seamless integration of musics and of players from outside even the expanded realms of metal. Wet Ink Ensemble composer and pianist Eric Wubbels, who was a considerable part of the H.A.Ø.Ø. sound, is heard on both piano and organ on the new album, and Wet Ink violinist Josh Modney is part of a small string section that also includes bassist/composer James Ilgenfritz. Marilu Donovan’s harp, Eve Essex’s flute and Nate Wooley’s trumpet are also prominent parts of the mix. The eight guest musicians aren’t treated as plug-ins. The acoustic instruments aren’t just there for moody passages. They’re at least as important as the four core band members and, significantly, just as present in the mix. Metal bands have long used passages of organ or symphonic music to up the drama. Hunt-Hendrix’s drama is all organic—she doesn’t need the props. The longest track on Origin of the Alimonies, at 14 minutes, is an arrangement of an Olivier Messiaen’s 1932 organ composition Apparition de l’église éternelle. Hunt-Hendrix’s full band arrangement is beautiful and powerful. So deft is her hand, and so able her band, that despite the blast beats the track doesn’t suggest any one genre. It quite literally transcends, and might be the epitome of what she herself has called “transcendental black metal”—at least up to now. Origin of the Alimonies is a part of Hunt-Hendrix’s unfolding opera The Oioion Cycle so more surprises are surely in store. —Kurt Gottschalk
Page 20 Red Hook Star-Revue
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December 2020
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A Change of Focus: Stephen Lovekin - Photographer by Michael Cobb Stephen Lovekin is a North Carolina born, Brooklyn based photographer who works with Shutterstock. I first met Stephen while working as a painter on the set of Comedy Central’s Strangers With Candy in 1999. In between the occasional brush stroke, we spoke for hours about music (favorite groups and songs we liked to play) and instantly hit it off. Shortly after we formed an acoustic duo and regularly busked New York City’s Union Square. People would actually stop to listen and occasionally threw money into our open guitar cases. I clearly remember being shat upon by a pigeon under a statue of Abraham Lincoln. I’m not sure if that scatological attack was symbolic, but Stephen and I became good friends and remain so to this day. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching Stephen’s photography evolve. Recently, he’s taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to shift from red carpet photography to photojournalism. We spoke by email and by phone. RHSR: How did you get started as a photographer? My father and grandmother were both avid enthusiasts-hobbyists. That’s where the interest was first planted. After college I moved to NYC to sort of find myself. Tried my hand at acting. Waited tables. Not long after arriving here I got a job as a scenic artist at MTV. It was there where I started taking photos of the sets that I worked on. Then things started rolling. I got a job taking photos on the road with Lollapalooza (music festival) for a couple weeks, and not long after that I met nightlife photographer Patrick McMullan and started working for him. RHSR: What inspires you, e.g. music, literature, politics, etc? Hmmm...yes to all of those things. Good music, good movies, good books. I basically like anything that has an element of truth to it. I actually love it if a song or a movie can make me cry. It’s funny, but what most people find sad I tend to find inspirational. Maybe I’m a softie. Whatever. I guess I like things that are provocative in some way. I think I also have gotten a lot of inspiration in films from the 1970’s. The grittiness, the realism. I love all of that. I also love being in nature, even though I don’t get to enjoy it as much as I would like. Oh, and a good conversation can be as inspiring as anything.
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RHSR:You’ve used this moment of Covid to pivot from red carpet photography to capturing the turbulence of the times. Can you talk about your change of “focus”? Pun intended. Well, the pivot came just as a matter of necessity really. Since events were shut down and the world seemed to be changing so rapidly, I decided to focus on what was going on around me. It’s really been the silver lining to this whole thing because I’ve always been interested in photojournalism, but it was just never in my immediate orbit and having a family with two children I never thought travel was a possibility.
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RHSR: Can you tell me about “The Covidizer?” This was taken at NY Fashion week in September. I’ve been doing Fashion Weeks for 25 years. My assignment was to get people’s face masks that reflected the times, but when this woman showed up, obviously for me that was the picture. It really kind of said it all in a surreal type of way. People’s reaction to it varies from shock to laughter. It was perfect to describe Fashion Week during Covid. She’s looking at her phone through “The Covidizer.” It’s almost futuristic but shows that in fact the future is now. RHSR: Covid has reminded us of things we need to think about. Exactly. I’ve always had the feeling that even pre-Covid, things were unsustainable. As awful as it is, Covid should be a warning sign of what we need to do. And now I’m being truer to my passions and ideas. Now I’m able to interject that into my work. It feels like the universe is trying to tell us something. It’s to our peril if we ignore moments like this. We just have to listen. It’s tough because we’ve become slaves to convenience, and we need to check that. Stephen Lovekin shoots with Fujifilm xPro3 gear. To see more of his work, follow him on Instagram at slovekinpics, www.facebook.com/stephen.lovekin and on Shutterstock Editorial.
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December 2020, Page 21
Jazz by Grella
The Year Comes to an End
W
hat a year. Like a lot of eras, 2020 doesn’t fit easily into pre-defined calendar definitions. Did the 19th century end in in 1900 or 1914? Did the World Wars end in 1945 or 1989? The 20th century certainly came to a close on September 11, 2001, or was that just America? And 2020 probably began with the first Democratic Primary events in 2019, and it’s not going to end until we start getting vaccinated for Covid-19. In music, the main story for 2020 has been what’s not going on—live, in-person shows. A story then about a nothing, a non-story. There’s another side to that, though, which is how the year has meant renegotiating our relationship with recordings. If enjoying music in the previous years meant a mix of albums on the stereo and live experiences, this year has been trapped in aspic, if not amber. Music has been, for me, CDs, cassettes, streaming, radio, and the occasional happenstance street-corner performance. Listening has been different, and so my listening has been different. Since March, I’ve been deeply drawn to ambient music and field recordings, music that eschews formalism and teleology for a sense of place, sound that carves out a location and a still point in time, sound that I can step into, away from the grey, grinding stasis of 2020. And here we are, at the end of this calendar year, hoping (as I write this Thanksgiving week) that maybe Spring 2021 might mean we can put the face mask away and step into a bar for a drink or a club for some jazz? End of the year is list time— Santa’s on his way, after all. The calendar does make a convenient point in time for lists, and, reader, I think lists are useful. Decisions must be made, and now’s the time. I’ve already submitted my experimental picks to The Wire, and I have to make a list of jazz albums for the NPR Jazz Critics Poll. In other words, these things are both rigorous and merely a snapshot of a moment in time. In two weeks, I will have heard other albums that will have an affect on everything on this list. But December calls, column inches are available, and at this moment in time, my baker’s dozen of the best new jazz albums for 2020 is: Tyshawn Sorey, Unfiltered (Self-released and available at Bandcamp)
This is an unranked list, except for this album, which is one of the great jazz recordings of the 21st century. Unfiltered is a long-form composition that encompasses tremendous playing from Sorey’s sextet and has a shape that builds to an awesome pinnacle of emotional and intellectual magnificence. This is a classic that every jazz fan should know. All that follow are a worthy second-place tie. I
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by George Grella pointed out my involvement in ambient/field music above to frame this list—everything on here had the power to break through the comfort of the sonic gauze I frequently sought. Gregg August, Dialogues on Race (Iacuessa) Wolfgang Muthspiel, Angular Blues (ECM) Whit Dickey/Matthew Shipp/Nate Wooley, Morph (Tau Forms) Immanuel Wilkins, Omega (Blue Note) Kaleidescope Quintet, Dancing on the Edge (Dot Time) Jean-Louis Matinier/Kevin Saddiki, Rivages (ECM) Marcin Wasilewski Trio, featuring Joe Lovano, Arctic Riff (ECM) Lakecia Benjamin, Pursuance: The Coltranes (Ropeadope) Luke Stewart, Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet (Astral Spirits) JD Allen, Toys/Die Dreaming (Savant) Roots Magic, Take Root Among the Stars (Clean Feed) Bobby Previtte/Jamie Saft/Nels Cline, Music From the Early 21st Century (RareNoise) Chien Chien Lu, The Path (Self-released)
Yes, that’s thirteen, so let’s call it a baker’s dozen following Unfiltered.
That list is albums recently made and released in 2020. The year has been a great one for archival music, unearthed tapes that have essentially never been heard before, or older albums reissued with illuminating new material. Resonance Records, which specializes in obtaining private performance tapes and issuing them with informative notation, takes pride of place this year, with three ear-opening sets: Bill Evans, Live at Ronnie Scott’s Sonny Rollins, Rollins in Holland Bob James, Once Upon a Time: The Lost 1965 Studio Sessions The music on each of these is uniformly excellent, and the context is equally important. Evans’ trio was a short-lived group with Eddie Gomez on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums (DeJohnette made the recording from the bandstand), and this was a sweet spot in the pianists’ career, a moment when he was in full maturity but before his drug and alcohol problems diminished the sonic and emotional beauty of his playing. The Rollins set collects studio and live performances with bassist
Ruud Jacobs and drummer Han Bennink. Bennink has had a long, wonderful career as an eccentric wild man, but his playing here, in 1967, is both relatively conventional and sharp as a tack. Jacobs, unknown to me until this release, is fabulous throughout, and the naturalness and invention of the playing rivals Rollins’ Village Vanguard recordings, which are classics of jazz discography. James is best known as a practitioner of smooth jazz; this 1965 session is something completely different. He starts with a modern, swinging style, and explores plenty of avant-garde territory, more experimental art music than jazz. And it’s damn good. The mail-order speciality label, Mosaic Records, released a 7-CD set of Paul Desmond, The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings. The ‘70s were an era when Desmond was only an infrequent performer, but up in Toronto he was playing with friends like bassist Don Thompson, who made these tapes. In the club setting, he’s as suave, hip and bluesy as ever, with more than a little fire. Desmond was one of the greats, and this is a great example of his art. In the same line is the Sunnyside release of Charles Mingus: At Bremen 1964 & 1975, two concerts from those years and that city. Mingus’ 1964 sextet, with saxophonists Eric Dolphy and Clifford Jordan, trumpeter Johnny Coles, pianist Jaki Byard, and drummer Danny Richmond, was one of the finest ensembles in the history of jazz, and at their peak they were THE finest, bringing the past into the present, inventing new ideas, and turning on a pinhead in an instant, no matter the pace. That band is well-documented on live recordings, most of which are astounding, and while this one is fine it’s not the apex of their 1964 tour. That’s a minor complaint, the difference is between the heavenly and the merely stratospheric. The 1975 date is mind-blowing, however. As with Desmond, this is a fallow period in Mingus’ career (he was dead four years later from ALS). But the band, once again, is hellacious; right-hand man Richmond was still there, with trumpeter Jack Walrath, saxophonist George Adams, and pianist Don Pullen. If the 1964 set is a little ramshackle and unfocussed, the later date is burning, with swaggering good humor. Warts and all, this is a major addition to Mingus’ discography. These are all great recordings, give to yourself and others generously, and best for the holidays.
"The main story for 2020 has been what’s not going on—live, in-person shows." www.star-revue.com
December 2020
Books by Quinn A Singer Contorts Herself into the Shape of a Poet Review of Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass by Lana Del Rey Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, a collection of poems by the popular singer Lana Del Rey, wears its Beat-poet influences proudly. It reads like an unedited love letter to and from California, a place of “1,000 fires” and “scorched earth.” The small, hardcover book features shrunken-down reproductions of Del Rey’s typewritten pages, mistakes and all. Some are water-stained—as if, when raising a sweating glass to parched lips, a few drops dotted the fresh ink of the hand-written corrections, smudging the blue ink. Blue is a big part of Del Rey’s oeuvre, in color and in mood. It appears in the fragments of sky seen behind the orange tree on the book’s cover (an oil painting by Erika Lee Sears), and in the book’s photographs (taken by Del Rey), the cloudless sky augmenting the ugliness of industrial California (chain link fences, water towers, and power lines). It’s also the color of the cheap-looking vinyl record Del Rey made to accompany this collection, recording a few of the poems with frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff noodling away in the background, sometimes overpowering her. After all, poetry is its own kind of music. The two feels at odds with each another, like a duet between a violin and a tuba. The music’s so loud, you can hardly hear what Del Rey’s saying. The book gives you the chance to see for yourself, and maybe think, “I wish she was singing.” The moment I first heard Del Rey’s single “Video Games” (on a mix friends sent for Christmas in 2011), I had a physical reaction. Something crept over me that made me sit up straighter. I put my ear next to the speaker behind me and flooded myself with that voice: it carries heartache and a melancholic sadness, stained by booziness and a blur of tears. Del Rey’s songs are often told from the perspective of a beautiful, passionate young woman obsessively in love with some no-good man. The character we think of as “Lana Del Rey” reminds me of the kinds of women I knew when I was young, gorgeous girls in messy apartments who hung their bras from doorknobs, and went to bed with makeup caked around their eyes, and dirty feet. They rarely slept alone. No matter what Del Rey’s singing, her voice can sell it. In Violet, the words have to do the heavy lifting. They’re not quite up to the task. The poems are dense, repetitive. Most address an absent lover. They awkwardly try to convey a freeto-be-me bohemian spirit, an outlook, as relayed in the opening title poem, inspired by watching a little girl play in a backyard at a 4th of July barbeque. From that point on, Del Rey writes, “I decided to do nothing about everything / forever.” Unfortunately, many of the poems reflect this hands-off approach, conveying only boredom, and a kind of privileged idleness: “to the lake or to the
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sea / My only question” she writes in one of several underdeveloped haikus. With poems, it’s always a mistake to assume the author is the speaker, yet Del Rey seems to write solely from an autobiographical perspective. “I haven’t been drunk for 14 years,” she writes in “My bedroom is a sacred place now—There are children at the foot of my bed.” Many of her songs—“You Can Be the Boss,” “Driving in Cars with Boys,” “This is What Makes Us Girls,” “Get Drunk,” to name just a few—touch on this problematic past. But Del Rey never fully excavates it in her songs. It just surfaces as background, for mood and maybe context. She could mine these experiences differently in her poems, but she doesn’t. She might not know how yet. I wish she’d gone undercover and taken a poetry class, the way she takes flying and sailing lessons in the prose-poem “SportCruiser.” A birthday gift to herself, the lessons are also a way to distract from thoughts of a neglectful lover: “it can’t always be about waiting for u.” The pilot warns her she doesn’t trust herself, and she feels found out. The captain teaches her to sense which way the wind is coming from, to stand in a supermarket parking lot, close her eyes, and really feel it. As she does (or imagines doing so), “a tiny bit of deeper trust also began to grow within myself.” Her takeaway? Self-acceptance comes not just from embracing who you are, but from discarding ideas about who you aren’t. She doesn’t have to be a pilot or a captain, she’s relieved to report: “I write / I write.” But it seems the lesson she’s overlooking is not about who she is, but about how she could do what she does better: by paying a deeper level of attention. As in her songs, the names Del Rey’s claimed as personal muses in these poems are all household names: Sylvia Plath. Bob Dylan. Georgia O’Keefe. It’s like she stunted: a perpetual liberal arts college student with a poster of Klimt’s “The Kiss” on her dorm room wall, aping sophistication and worldliness, skimming the required reading. Her interests stay stubbornly close to the surface, so there’s no depth to what she can reveal. Yet what comes through most clearly in Violet is Del Rey’s desire to be taken seriously as a poet. “My life is my poetry / my lovemaking is my legacy” she proudly crows in “Salamander”—perhaps wishful thinking that she’ll be the one to decide how the public record stands. Throughout the collection, Del Rey reminds you that she’s lugging her typewriter everywhere. Throwing herself into her writing, poetry emerges as a kind of talisman for keeping romantic feelings at bay: “the / more / i step into becoming a poet / the less i will fall into / bed / with / you,” she writes in “Thanks to the Locals” (a poem acknowledging the impromptu support of an AA meeting), noting that it was a goodbye letter written to a lover that marked her start writing poetry. It’s hard to imagine an established poet reaching out to embrace Del Rey as a peer, not to mention all the poets who have worked for years at their craft without any recognition at all. Many of them teach and take classes to be part of an exchange of
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Lana Del Rey's brings her musical grooves to poetry
knowledge and ideas. They’re part of a community. Del Rey, if we are to judge by these poems, prides herself on being an outsider, self-taught. Her celebrity has given her this opportunity to bring this work out into the world, but it doesn’t make either a splash or a splat. It just lies there. On the one hand, I admire her impulse to do what she wants: this collection of testaments to her own emotional experiences isn’t hurting anyone. But I also feel a little embarrassed for her. It seems so naïve to think this would succeed on any level. “Who am i?” she asks in “Quiet Waiter Blue Forever,” then answers, “just a girl in love dreaming on paper.” Clearly, Del Rey’s in love with the idea of being a poet—but seems willfully ignorant about the craft. Over the years, many people have idolized misbegotten ideas about the “spontaneous prose” of Jack Kerouac and his contemporaries. It’s a romantic idea, that you could just sit down, type feverishly, and produce perfection without having to go back and change so much as a word. It’s also a myth, as the first-draft work Del Rey shares here unfortunately shows. We’re given our own blank pages at the book’s end in a section called “notes for a poet,” interspersed with more of Sears’ oil paintings—crashing waves, orange slices and strawberries, a pink diving board, a can of beer in a paper bag, and a tree-lined stretch of highway—to record our own musings. A nice idea, but it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling sufficiently stirred. Del Rey’s poems don’t convey ambition so much as laziness. Caught in a loop of her own self-obsession, Del Rey’s made a name for herself, and now wants to brand it as a poet. Yet Violet doesn’t say anything that Del Rey’s songs haven’t already told us, and in a less compelling way. It’s not the mold of a singer she needs to break out of, but the circularity of her limited ideas as a writer, regardless of genre. Some people say a groove is a grave, only not as deep. — Michael Quinn
December 2020, Page 23
Holding up the building POLITICS BY HOWARD GRAUBARD
A Simple Desultory Philippic PAUL SIMON: “And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered I don’t have a friend who feels at ease I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered or driven to its knees But it’s all right, it’s all right We’ve lived so well so long Still, when I think of the road we’re traveling on I wonder what went wrong I can’t help it, I wonder what went wrong” In 1979, far left wing punk rockers Dead Kennedys released “California Uber Alles,” a nasty takedown of California governor Jerry Brown (then a quirky Democrat, whose allergy to liberal shibboleths involved swinging to both the left and the right of liberal conventions). By 1981, a real conservative named Ronald Reagan became POTUS, and the duly chastened DKs issued an EP called “In God We Trust, Inc.” which contained an updated rewrite of “California Uber Alles,” focusing upon Reagan, rather than Brown. Its title was “We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now” At the beginning of the year, when it looked like center-left Democrats were intent on fragmenting dozens of ways while the party’s left fought it out between Bernie “The Kid from Brooklyn” and his lite version, Liz (More Policy Fiber/Less Marxist Rhetoric), with the Berner faction practically slobbering at the thought of making establishment Democrats into Soylent Green, and the Orange Fever festering in the White House practically slobbering at the same seemingly inevitable eventuality, the idea that a coalition of nose-holding leftists, the establishment and anti-establishment wings of the center left, minorities, suburban “change we can avoid” moderates and “process conservative” could STFU long enough to beat the Phalangists in a free and fair election, seemed like a dream. But, dislike each other though we may, we all watched Donald Trump’s flailing attempts, many of them successful, to cut down the last norm in England, and we understood that we had a real problem now, far worse than any problems we had with each other, and so we came together to deliver a message that “GENUG IS GENUG” So, in the words of Gerald Ford, “our long national nightmare is over.” Grateful for the news, the purple haired 17-year old anarchist (whose pronouns are “They, “them” and “fuck off, dad”) who lives in my house breathed a sincere sigh of relief, as he said “by the way, I still hate Joe Biden.” And, nightmare over, we can now go back, for the time being, to living a mere bad dream. Or as a recently cancelled man of letters so eloquently put it: WOODY ALLEN: “…life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That’s the two categories. The hor-
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rible are like, I don’t know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don’t know how they get through life. It’s amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So, you should be thankful that you’re miserable, because that’s very lucky, to be miserable.”
But while many Trump voters don’t drink embrace the latest hypodermic hop-filled hype, a substantial portion of those folks do. And they live, by and large, in an alternate reality world, entitled to their own facts and all the Kool-Aid they can drink.
At this interval in history, it appears as if, despite the occasional sniper fire, we’ve entered into a cease fire period in our ongoing national cultural civil war.
The America I grew up in, where the spectrum of media commentary on the nightly news ran the gamut from Eric Severeid to Howard K. Smith, is gone. The days of broadcasting are over, and now we have narrowcasting.
As Bob Hope might sing: “Thanks for the Misery.” However, no one sensible should be under the impression that we are now at peace, or that peace is even at hand. The worst may seem over for now, but we need to have some perspective. Despite the occasional acts of running campaign busses off the highway, shooting paintballs at leftists, and threats of locking up one’s political opponents for such subversive activities as “attempted democracy” and “voting while black”, most of the battles in this war are being fought out culturally, which is not to say that they are not literal battles. [I’d also cite some acts of violence committed by Democrats, if it weren’t so clear that the cosplaying, largely pale-faced, faux-revolutionaries committing most of the looting, arson and harassment of folks eating their brunch, mostly despise Joe Biden (who never failed to condemn them) as much or more than they do Donald Trump, while those attempting vehicular homicide against the other side were exclusively fevered supporters of the Orange Fever, acting with his direct encouragement.] So, given our culture war, please forgive the abundance of cultural references scattered here; they are practically the only useful frame of reference for what we are currently “living” through (“living” being the word for those of us not already in the process of dying from the latest upsurge in our pandemic reality). We have just survived what may be our first attempted national coup d’etat. Barely. Now, not all 70+ million people who supported Donald Trump subscribe to this madness. Some were just holding their nose and voting for what they perceived, probably wrongly, to be in their economic interests. And some few have even publicly recoiled at the shameful attempt to pervert the legal process and prostitute the law to overturn a democratic election. Not that we should have been surprised after they attempted to use the Post Office to do the same.
We have just survived what may be our first attempted national coup d’etat. Barely.
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Fox News’s occasional flashes of sanity too upsetting to you? Try the ONAN network instead. That not enough? There’s a podcast for every point on the ideological spectrum, and some that don’t even exist, all dialogue guaranteed fact free. The guy in the small town in the tin foil hat, who used to stew in his own juices is now connected by the magic of the web to every other hat of red or tin, and they’ve pretty much taken over a major political party. And that’s not changing. And, as the Jewish scrap metal merchant told his mentee, Duddy Kravitz, “it’s war out there, and the white man has all the guns.” Poor Joe Biden. He’s proven himself, since the election, as a man of seemingly unparalleled decency, never losing his temper or his wits, as he attempts, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, to bring us together as one people to face the difficult times ahead. But this decency faces a GOP, likely in control of the Senate, which has become absolutely Finlandized by their most hateful, authoritarian lunatics. Its Senate leadership is held by a cold cynic intent, as he was in the Obama years, of denying the new President even the smallest victory, even if that leads to economic disaster. Like the general in Vietnam, he is intent upon destroying the country in order to save it (or its remnants) for his Party. Nonetheless, it being Thanksgiving morning as I write this, there is something to be thankful for: we all can reap the substantial reward of never having to listen to Donald Trump’s rants or read his tweets. “The Apprentice” has been cancelled, and the pros are attempting to take over. It is sad that things have degenerated to the point where such small rewards lead us to dance in the streets. But here’s the song I’ll be singing: PAUL SIMON: We come on the ship they call the Mayflower We come on the ship that sailed the moon We come in the age’s most uncertain hour and sing an American tune But it’s all right, it’s all right You can’t be forever blessed Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day And I’m trying to get some rest That’s all I’m trying to get some rest
December 2020