Red Hook Star-Revue, June 2024

STAR REVUE

Kurt Gottschalk on the new Of Montreal page 17

Shirley Kaplan at BWAC page 12

PEOPLE OF RED HOOK

by Lisa Gitlin

Lisa talks to working people, page 9

Will Red Hook return to it's waterfront roots?

Editorial by George Fiala, photo by Micah Rubin

Since our first issue, exactly 14 years ago this month, the Star-Revue has been actively reporting on the waterfront.

A special report in our September 2010 edition described the Columbia Street piers.

"Piers 8, 9a, 9b and 10 is home to perhaps the most traditional style of work as it is the site of the Brooklyn Container Port. Technically speaking, the site is owned by New York City and leased to the Port Authority by the NYCEDC with the Port Authority privately leasing the container terminal to American Stevedoring. Despite seemingly like a middleman, the Port Authority plays a very active role in maintenance and upkeep of their piers. This policy has been adopted by the Port Authority because the organization feels that they have the best

WALKING WITH COFFEE

R.J. Cirillo

VERDICT ON A THURSDAY AFTERNOON

Coffee, coffee, coffee, right. Jane just traded in the electric drip thing for a Keurig automatic thing.. It’s time for my 4pm make it through the day cup. She’s out at the moment but left me instructions on how to navigate this

experts and the most experience when it comes to dealing with maintenance and upkeep of the piers they control, preserving the city-owned property for future leasing opportunities.

The giant cranes used by American Stevedoring for moving cargo containers have become a very familiar site to anyone who regularly walks through the Columbia Waterfront District. The Brooklyn Container Terminal had been one of the more controversial parts of Red Hook just a few years ago as it was one of the city’s prime targets for urban development.

The plan was led by former Deputy Mayor to Michael Boomberg, Dan Doctoroff, and called for the Container Terminal to be relocated to Sunset Park with the former site being turned into a complex of marine-related industry in-

latest “modern convenience”. There are buttons to push, but first you insert a sealed plastic cup containing a portion of ground coffee in the top of the machine, then pull down the patented Keurig lid. I pulled the lid down, feeling some resistance. Instead of checking to see if the little plastic cup was in correctly, I just pulled harder until it closed. Big mistake, because after hitting all the buttons there was an explosion of coffee grinds and boiling water, ending my attempt at

cluding high-end housing complexes, restaurants, bars, a hotel and shopping centers. American Stevedoring and Community Board 6 had a difference of opinion with what to do with the site and fought against the city’s plan, citing that Red Hook was the best location for the container port because of its deep-water docks. The move to Sunset Park would have required American Stevedoring to dredge the docks, making them accessible for barges. This situation would have a direct influence on the community as the containers would now have to travel to New Jersey by truck, putting an incredible number of trucks on the road. The two sides reached an agreement and American Stevedoring signed a 10-year lease in April, 2008. Although the site is safe for (continued on page 3)

using this new convenient brewing method. I was stuck with no coffee, just an annoying cleanup. Still needing my late afternoon cup, I reached into the back of the cupboard and pulled out my mother’s long neglected Wear-Ever stainless steel coffee pot. Fifteen minutes later I was on the couch with a strong, hot, percolated cup of coffee and one Milano cookie to go with it. The TV was on and starting at NY 1 I clicked up the

(continued on page 13)

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rEPortErs Nathan Weiser Brian Abate

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inquirEr Lisa Gitlin

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Small turnout listens to flood remediation tips in Gowanus

by Oscar Fock

In a poorly ventilated public school gym, community members of Park Slope, Gowanus and the surrounding neighborhoods gathered on Wednesday, May 22, for a sustainability and resiliency resource fair, co-hosted by the Mayor’s Office for Climate and Environmental Justice and the office of Council Member Shahana Hanif.

frastructure can reduce combined sewer overflows, the possibilities of a citywide expansion of permeable pavement, how engineered wetlands can improve water quality and how ribbed mussels remove harmful bacteria in the city’s water bodies.

Attendees at the DEP’s table voiced frustration with a lack of support from their building managers or Co-op board when trying to implement flood protections, instead looking to the DEP for help. Community members also had questions about a number of other issues, including rain gardens and the sewage system, according to

and NYC Accelerator all primarily received questions about their cost-saving programs for energy efficiency improvements.

“This was a pretty standard, successful community event for us,” Kimberly Winston, Communication’s director at the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice said to the Star-Revue. The office of Shahana Hanif did not respond to requests for comment.

The fair, held just next door to one of the epicenters of Brooklyn flooding, the intersection at 4th Avenue and Carroll Street, was geared primarily toward homeowners and business owners looking to beef up their flooding resilience or make their homes more energy efficient. In attendance were representatives from city agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Small Business Services, Con Edison, New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the Gowanus Oversight Task Force.

But the gym was far from packed with community members, a little more than a dozen over the course of the two-hour fair, meaning they were outnumbered by agency and non-profit representatives. The stale gym was also noticeably absent — or at least nearly — of unaffiliated neighborhood residents. Instead, many, like Kathy Ruopp, were already engaged in various sustainability and resilience efforts as members or leaders of neighborhood organizations.

"The gym was far from packed with community members, meaning they were outnumbered by agency and non-profit representatives."

the representatives on-site.

As the city gears up for a summer that NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, predicts will see higher-than-normal temperatures and an above-normal hurricane season, much attention at the fair was given to the DEP.

The agency showed off their 2023 “NYC Green Infrastructure” report. Throughout 2024, the report says, the DEP and other city agencies will continue to study how different kinds of green in-

“I’m in pretty good shape now. But I bought [the house] in 2001, and in 2002, we had our first flood. We’ve kept pouring money into trying to save the house,” said Kathy Ruopp, a member of the organization Good Neighbors of Park Slope. Her home hasn’t flooded every year, but every two or three, she estimates.

“You ignore it when it’s not happening,” she said. “But when it’s 4 am and you hear the pumps click on, there’s no more sleep, you know? It creates a lot of anxiety.”

Concerns about flooding were not the only thing that had brought people to the fair, however; electrification was also on the mind of many. Representatives from ConEd, NYSERDA

That includes Timothy Gilles, president of the Park Slope Civic Council, who was at the fair to learn more about how the city and state can support homeowners looking to electrify their homes.

“What I’m really looking for is the next step in our education of people in the neighborhood,” he said.

On June 2, the Park Slope Civic Council resumed its annual house tour following a four-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this time focusing on sustainability. Some homeowners may refrain from installing electric heating or solar panels, fearing high costs, Gilles explained. Still, while some sustainability improvements are costly, the initial price isn’t always the whole story.

“There are things they can do that may not be as expensive as they thought and might be more adaptable to their brownstone or their row house or even their co-op apartment than they previously had realized,” he said. “So, to the extent we can educate people about the subsidies and benefits available, I’d like to be able to do that.”

THE CONTAINERPORT (CONTINUED

now, it is sure that the issue of what to do with the Brooklyn Container Terminal will come up again once the end of the lease draws near."

As predicted, the lease renewal was contentious and the Port Authority reluctantly granted only a five year renewal following political pressure not to shut the facility down. The year before, the conservative Manhattan Institute published a report recommending the Port Authority sell the money-losing facility, but in 2020 the PA published "Port Master Plan 2050" which included the following:

PHASE I

The Port Authority will continue to evaluate alternatives to maintain and grow East-of-Hudson marine cargo operations together with its partners at New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Empire State Development (ESD).

Discussions and actions arising from the ongoing study of these alternatives will depend on timing, as well as the successful partnering and collaboration among numerous public and private stakeholders such as the City and the State of New York, shippers, labor groups, local planning boards, logistics service providers and host communities.

The continuation and growth of marine cargo activity at the Brooklyn Port Authority Marine Terminal (BPAMT) in Red Hook will require additional investment in infrastructure improvements and an exploration of ways to improve the facility’s capacity on a constrained footprint with no intermodal rail connectivity.

Development at SBMT could enable the establishment of a state-of-the-art marine facility with potential opportunities for phased expansion to meet the needs of the East-of-Hudson market anticipated during the later years of the PMP timeframe. This facility would also provide linkages to rail and increased cross harbor freight activity. But then the pandemic hit, and every-

thing ground to a stop. Instead of investing in the Red Hook waterfront, The Port Authority allowed the piers to deteriorate, leading to the recent condemnation of two of the piers. The terminal, run since 2011 by Michael Stamatis, once again was given, seemingly reluctantly, just a five year lease extension earlier this year.

Stamatis claims that in order to get private investment to replace the maintenance that the Port Authority is required to do but hasn't, he needs at least a thirty year lease.

The City

Mayor Adams was involved in the 2018 lease renewal in his role as Borough President, and has remained aware of the Red Hook shipping operations via appearances he's made at the Cruise Terminal announcing new cruises. Two years ago he surprised Alexa Aviles and the entire Red Hook community as he blew through the neighborhood to declare an expansion of cruise ship activity here. Perhaps incited by this slight, Aviles pushed a shore power bill through the City Council in an attempt to force green standards on the expanded cruise ship operation.

In early 2023, Adams temporarily converted the Cruise Terminal into a migrant shelter, as he was dealing with the influx from Texas and other parts. Probably the reason for the latest renewal is that the PA was already in discussion about the new plan announced last month (see page 7 in this issue).

The new "reimagined" Brooklyn Marine Terminal draws on the 2020 Master Plan, but the Port Authority has bailed on it, trading their ownership of the Brooklyn waterfront with the city's Howland Hook property. The new plan has been highly touted by all our local politicians as well as the

EDC. They claim that a new Master Plan, to be developed by a Task Force composed of local stakeholders, will guarantee a bustling local maritime

"We need to hold the city's feet to the fire to make sure that Nadler's fears are unfounded."

business, less trucks on the road, and solutions to the local street traffic situation.

Stamatis says that in the whole time he has been overseeing the marine operation, he's had to fight what he calls "the view." Meaning the lust of real estate developers to use our waterfront for more profitable purposes, namely luxury high rises with priceless views of Manhattan.

Right now the terminal operates on

about half of the 120 acres of waterfront.

Stamatis says that he will "fight like hell" to not only keep his acreage, but increase it to allow for the expansion of the shipping hub. He concedes that a portion of the land will end up as a mix of residential housing and parks, hopefully at the north end, adjacent to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Our role in this

It will be both this newspaper's job, and you, as a community stakeholder, to see that this mix remains. Congressman Jerry Nadler, who until redistricting represented this waterfront, is skeptical of the current plan, which doesn't guarantee in writing a maritime future. Congressman Goldman and the EDC disagrees and says it's a no-brainer.

We need to hold the city's feet to the fire to make sure that Nadler's fears are unfounded.

Cartoon Section with Marc and Sophie

BY MARC JACKSON

FUNNY SIDE UP

Our 2010 report.

George Fiala

SHORT SHORTS:

BY STAR-REVUE STAFF

Blue highway

New York City officials plan to turn six waterfront locations into maritime shipping hubs as a way to handle the booming number of e-commerce deliveries across the five boroughs.

Details of the initiative were published through a request for proposals by the city Economic Development Corporation.

The request seeks an engineering firm to design barge landings and access points where e-bikes and small delivery vehicles can transport cargo for the “last mile” of its journey. The locations include:

McGinnis Cement Terminal in the the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood Stuyvesant Cove adjacent to StuyTown Pier 36 on the Lower East Side Downtown Manhattan Heliport in the Financial District

The 23rd Street basin and 29th Street apron on Brooklyn’s Gowanus Bay New York City’s waterways were once global shipping hubs, but the bulk of the waterfront jobs disappeared over the last century as most of the region’s large container ports became consolidated in New Jersey. Now, the bulk of the New York City-bound cargo offloaded in the Garden State makes its way across the Hudson River via truck.

Council Approves Bill Requiring NYCHA PACT Program Transparency Report News Brief

Making sure NYCHA vendors do their job

Private firms given contracts to manage NYCHA properties will soon face additional scrutiny after the City Council approved legislation on Thursday that mandates annual reports on repair costs, tenant fees and other metrics.

City Council passed Int. 110-A, which requires supervision of the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together Program (PACT) program. The goal of the report is to create transparency regarding the impact of the program while preventing corruption. The bill was co-sponsored by District 38 Council Member Alexa Aviles.

Reports will be generated annually and the first one is due by November.

Red Hook to Manhattan bus gains steam

The Red Hook Coalition for a Bus to Manhattan had a soft launch of its website and petition in May with a full launch for Red Hook Day on June 1. Right now, the B61 route leaving Red Hook and heading towards Downtown Brooklyn is usually filled with traffic and that problem is only getting worse. On the other side of Red Hook is the Smith and Ninth subway station, which is the highest elevated subway station in NYC and has no elevator despite a renovation less than 10 years ago. It is inaccessible to anyone with a disability or mobility issues,

which can include the elderly and expectant mothers.

The Coalition advocates for a bus to make a loop through Red Hook, with several stops along the Red Hook Houses, and several along Van Brunt Street and Union Street, before heading through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel. Since the MTA is currently in the process of redesigning bus routes, this is a pivotal time to focus on this issue. Those who want a bus going directly from Red Hook to Manhattan can sign a petition by going to redhookbus.com.

Chips is in the chips

Congressman Dan Goldman presented Community Help in Park Slope, Inc. (CHiPS) with a $250,000 Community Project Funding Grant Award which is a federal program.

The money will be used to expand CHiPS’ Mobile Food Pantry program. Demand for food pantry distribution has risen rapidly, with meals served increasing by over 100 percent in the last year, the highest in the organization’s 50-year history. The mobile food pantry allows CHiPS to serve residents throughout Brooklyn.

“In the face of an increasing need for fresh, quality food, CHiPS has continued to step up to the plate and deliver for our community,” Congressman Dan Goldman said.

CHiPS’s mission is to work toward a world where everyone is well-fed and safely sheltered. As a result of the influx of migrants in the city, CHiPS is now serving close to 500 meals a day, six days a week, up from 150 daily

Find Sanctuary in the City

We are a parish of The Episcopal Church, a part of the Anglican Communion throughout the world, dedicated to the worship of God and to the care of God’s people. Come share in our mission to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Mass on Sundays at 11:00 am Starting June 16, Summer Mass on Sundays at 10:00 am

meals pre-COVID. Demand for pantry bags has also increased.

CHiPs, located on Fourth Avenue and Degraw plans to travel to NYCHA properties such as Wyckoff Houses, and Gowanus Houses, and local community centers and schools, where they plan to distribute approximately 400 bags each week, in addition to the 200-250 bags that they distribute at their home location. Each bag will be filled with cans as well as fresh and often organic produce donated by Trader Joe’s, the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club, Whole Foods and the Park Slope Food Co-Op.

CHiPS has expanded their food pantry distribution days to Thursdays and Saturdays, giving out 100-150 bags per day. CHiPS also distributes 100 special pantry bags weekly for migrants, many of whom only have access to microwaves in their temporary shelters.

Congressman Goldman at the grant presentation with CHIPS Executive Director Peter Endriss

Jay McKnight through the years

A Red Hook icon is gone

by John McGettrick

Jay McKnight’s recent death was a loss for all of Red Hook. Relativity few people in the community knew of Jay as a highly talented musician whose incredible career spanned over half a century. His vocal talents enhanced the creations of The Dubs and other popular groups. Some of his works are preserved in the Library of Congress. This is primarily because Jay was never one to brag about his achievements.

The same was true of his decades of living in Red Hook, along with his wife of 63 years, Andrea. They constantly struggled to make it a better place for everybody.

Just some of his efforts included personally collecting close to 3,000 petition signatures which resulted in the first bank to ever be opened in Red Hook. He founded the first chapter of the Lions International in Red Hook. Along with its members, Jay, provided gifts for the community’s children every Christmas for decades. He worked for years as co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Association to improve the community.

Among his efforts were:

• Closing numerous private, polluting garbage-processing facilities.

• Successfully preventing then Mayor Giuliani from having all of New York City’s garbage sent through Red Hook.

• Preventing the Federal Environmental Protection Agency from processing toxic waste from the Gowanus Canal in Red Hook next to the ballfields.

• Successfully fighting for funding for Coffey Park and Louis Valentino Park and Pier.

• Getting the MTA to provide marginally better bus service to Red Hook via the B61.

• Successfully supporting the creation of the Cruise Ship Terminaland ferry service to Manhattan and Governor’s Island.

In all of these efforts and more, I, as the other Red Hook Civic Association co-chair could never have had a better partner.

But I believe that Jay’s best contribution was to build strong bridges to people regardless of race or residence. I will miss him.

(see obituary on page

Upper left: The Red Hook Lion's Club receives recognition from Council Member Sara Gonzalez at the Miccio Center. John McGettrick and Wally Bazemore are in the back row.

Above: The McKnights, together with Pete Morales and Wally Bazemore give out turkeys for Thanksgiving. Also in the photo is John Liu. Left: Jay and kids got along splendidly, especially at the annual Christmas toy giveaway at the Miccio.

Bottom: A family photo with the Dinkins. (Red Hook Star-Revue file photos)

6)

SHORT SHORTS:

BY STAR-REVUE STAFF

Jay McKnight

James "Jay" McKnight, a cherished husband, father, grandfather, greatgrandfather, and friend, passed away peacefully in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY, on May 5, 2024, at the age of 83. Born on July 5, 1940, in the same beloved borough, Jay's life was one of melody, service, and enduring love. Jay's journey began as the son of Nancy and Steven H. Williamson, who predeceased him, as did his brother Benjamin McKnight and his beloved son, Andre' Pierre McKnight. He is survived by his devoted wife of 63 years, Andrea McKnight; his adoring daughter, Vanessa Vena McKnight; his grandchildren, Randy A. Jenkins, Shane'e D. McKnight, Anthony Smith, Octavia A. McKnight, Tiayanna A. McKnight, Brenda Siders, Jr., and Madison McKnight; his greatgrandchildren, Aiden, Peyton, Shiya, and Cori; and his great-great-grandchild, Zora. Jay also leaves behind his brother, Steven H. Williamson, and a host of extended family and friends who will miss him dearly.

Jay's education at P.S. 11 and Thomas Jefferson High School laid the foundation for his Associate's Degree in

Business Management. His musical talent shone brightly as a member of the Blue Jackets Drum & Bugle Corp, setting the stage for a lifetime filled with song. In 1958, Jay's path crossed with Richard Blandon, and under the management of Hiram Johnson, he became an integral part of the vibrant music scene, performing with The Dubs, The Shells, Lil. Nate & The Chrylers.

His voice graced the airwaves with hits like "Someone Up There" and "For Every Man There's A Woman To Make You Cry." Jay's versatility as a tenor, baritone, bass, and lead singer kept him with The Dubs for many years, and he also lent his talents to Norman Fox & The Rob Roys.

With a passion for creation, Jay formed groups "a.k.a. Jay" and "Equal." He inspired the CD "The Magic is Back" in

the late eighties, showcasing his leading vocals on tracks such as "I Don't Wanna Cry," "Heartache To Me," and "Girl Don't You Know," a heartfelt ode to his wife. Jay's harmonious background vocals were a hallmark of the entire CD. Jay's interests extended far beyond the stage. His gift of singing granted him entry to countless platforms, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Together with Andrea, his life's love, Jay became a Chartered Member of the Brooklyn Red Hook Lions Club, living by the motto "WE SERVE." After retiring in 2009, Jay remained dedicated to his community, orchestrating over 15 years of concerts in Coffey Park and contributing to the revitalization of Red Hook, including the arrival of cruise ships and support for the local library. Renowned for his community service, Jay's partnership with Andrea was a testament to their shared commitment. As health issues caused him to recede from public life, their duo became one in spirit, with Andrea continuing their legacy of service.

Jay played his roles with integrity, love, and a melody that will echo in the hearts of those he touched forever. Jay McKnight lived a life that harmonized with the rhythm of his community and the heartbeat of his family. His legacy will continue to resonate through the lives of those he loved and the many he served. Jay's song may have ended, but his melody lingers on.

Eric Adams Mayor Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD Commissioner

Plan To Transform Brooklyn Marine Terminal

by Brian Abate

At a ceremony at the Red Hook Container Terminal, the Mayor, the Governor, the Port Authority and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) made a surprise announcement (at least to most of the public and this newspaper) about the future of the waterfront from Atlantic Avenue up to the Red Hook Cruise Terminal. They were standing in front of the two big orange cranes that rise over the foot of Union Street.

Mayor Adams, wearing a NY Knicks baseball cap, began his remarks by touting his administration's ability to move forward with long-dormant projects. The example he chose to highlight was unfortunately not a maritime project such as the recent wind farm project at Sunset Park's South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, but a real estate development next to Citifield. He next referred to the transfer of land from the Port Authority to NYC as "the largest NYC real estate transaction in recent history—bigger than the Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2002." That 2002 transaction set the stage for the replacement of a once vital maritime shipping hub with high rise residential apartments, a hotel, and of course a privately designed park to charm local residents and boost real estate values.

When it came time to describe the current property, he stumbled over his words, calling it a "marine time port."

Housing potential

Adams announced a government investment of $95 million for the shipping facility, investment which the Port Authority had reneged on. He then went on to say "we can do much more, and we know that. We can build a community here with amenities to open space, to housing and more. The potential is limitless."

He then spoke a little of the history of NY's shipping, noting it's decline. But when he spoke of the need to revitalize it, mentioning the needs of ecommerce deliveries, he interspersed it with the need for "affordable housing." In Red Hook a few years ago, a local real estate developer and former city planner tried to build a 15 story residential development on the coast, using the lure of a small amount of affordable housing, but ultimately failed due to lack of community buy-in.

Role of NY State

Governor Hochul spoke next. She began by praising herself for having a good relationship with Mayor Adams, in contrast to her predecessor and Mayor DeBlasio. There is an Memorandum of Understanding (MOA), published on the EDC website, which details how the State will maintain final control of land usage here. A proposed Master Plan, to be developed in conjunction with a local taskforce under the stewardship of Congressman Dan Goldman, must be approved by Empire State Development, a NY State agency. Under the Port Author-

ity, the NY Governor shares control with the NJ governor.

Brooklyn Bridge Park?

The governor went on to compare this Columbia Street waterfront with the defunct Brooklyn Heights piers of 20 years ago. "We will build on that model of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Who is not proud of what happened with Piers 1 through 6. That's something that's talked about not just across the state and the nation but around the world. People wanna come see this."

Except for a yacht club and a ferry landing, there is no commercial maritime use today of those piers.

She continued by complaining that the community is blocked from accessing the waterfront today. "We are going to make it more accessible to the community. People living here (pointing to the Columbia Waterfront District) have no access to this (pointing to the East River.) That's unconscionable to me. These barriers, the ghosts of yesteryear. Yes, this was once a thriving port, but reality settled in. It is no longer the port it once was."

It is not possible to mix a containerport with other uses, including public access. Other uses need to be adjacent, for obvious safety and security reasons.

Hochul went on to talk about how the new reality will include housing, as well as some version of a 21st century port operation.

At this point she went back on script, describing how it will all be driven by a robust, community driven process.

The announcement is unique in that a lot of different agencies which have not always been able to come to agreements together in the past have worked together to make this happen.

“I have long recognized and advocated for an end to the state of neglect of our precious waterfront in Red Hook,” said City Councilmember Alexa Aviles, who was not at the announcement. She will serve as a Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force vice chair. “Like all of my neighbors, I’m fully aware of the many missed opportunities we’ve had to build a greener and cleaner future here.

“After relentless advocacy from the community I represent, state and city officials now seem aligned with what we have all recognized for years. I hope this land swap will bring us closer to our sustainability goals and build toward a modern port and equitable working waterfront. This project must include direct accountability, and I am committed to being there every step of the way to make sure there is a public review process and the people of Red Hook are heard.”

Congressman Dan Goldman will serve as the chair of the Task Force which will oversee the EDC’s master planning process while State Senator Andrew Gounardes will join Aviles as a vice chair of the Task Force.

went ahead with the transfer.”

"The devil is in the details and the details are not public—Jerry Nadler"

Concern

While there is much public optimism about the news, District 12 Congress Member Jerrold Nadler, who has a big history with this port, was concerned, saying, “I’m disappointed that the Port Authority abandoned this deal despite having a 100-year responsibility to steward the port and ensure the success of the port of New York.

“Our current container ports (except Red Hook) lie on Newark Bay: Newark, Elizabeth, and Howland Hook. Unfortunately, Newark Bay is on the other side of the Kill Van Kull, a narrow and treacherous body of water separating Staten Island on the south and Bayonne on the north. In the event that a large ship was to sink, or be sunk, in the Kill Van Kull, most of our port would be closed for weeks, or even months, and with it, New York City’s import supply chain.”

Robert Gottheim, Nadler’s chief of staff, said that he was very concerned because the announcement was “thin on details, and for example, the MLU [mixed-land-use] that they allude to is not public. The devil is in the details and the details are not public. Mr. Nadler doesn’t believe that housing is appropriate for this site. We need an active maritime and we need every available acre for it.”

Regarding the EDC press release which included a statement from James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board for New York (REBNY,) Gottheim reiterated that he believes the focus should be on maritime rather than real estate.

Gottheim also said “We were talking to EDC President Andrew Kimball and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres Springer as well as Kathryn Garcia and the mayor directly. We had our position but at the end of the day, the governor and others disagreed with us and they

Jim Tampakis of Tamco Mechanical, a longtime maritime business located at 54 Richards Street, has long called for both Red Hook and New York City to rely more heavily on the waterfront and less on trucks and cars. While he feels unsure about how the housing aspect of the plans would work, he feels this is a positive step and a big opportunity to rely more heavily on the waterfront.

We need the blue highway

“I think what we need to do first is understand all of our maritime needs; that way Michael Stamatis [president and CEO of Red Hook Terminals] can continue his operation,” Tampakis said.

“In addition to that, we create this water distribution network where we bring in packages from Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and everybody else by water, break them down, and then put them in smaller container pods and send them out to New York City’s 520 miles of water. That way they come in by water and they go out by water.

“I think we should look at a long-term plan and put up a new building for cold storage. I also think we should look at upgrading one of the existing piers so we can turn it into a sorting facility. Once the freight comes in, Amazon or whoever can have their own section. They’ll have each container pod destined for a zip code. They can put those pods on a smaller boat and go deliver them.”

There is supposed to be a community envisioning process as part of the new deal and Tampakis plans to be a part of that process. Tampakis also said that he can envision a future with a similar setup on the waterfront to Faneuil Hall in Boston with local businesses and food.

“Our priority is to meet with community leaders and stakeholders to support community needs and move forward together,” said the Red Hook Business Alliance in a statement. “Regarding the goal of creating a modern port space, we hope that port experts will be brought in, as New York City is not a leading city in this space.”

Another concern for Nadler is that the

(continued on page 8)

All sorts of dignitaries were in Red Hook for the announcement last month.

MARINE TERMINAL

(continued from page 7)

EDC will be taking over the Marine Terminal.

“We acknowledge that the Port Authority needed to do a much better job with the Marine Terminal but we should have forced them to do their job rather than doing this, which lets them off the hook,” Gottheim said.

The EDC and the Red Hook community have already clashed over the way the EDC has handled the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. In a meeting with Aviles and the EDC this January, Red Hook natives voiced their frustration that cruise ships are not forced to use shore power (a way of supplying electrical power to a docked ship so they don’t have to burn fuel) so many of the ships do not plug in and use shore power.

Other concerns included a lack of signs about attractions and local businesses, as well as severe traffic in the neighborhood when the cruise ships are in Red Hook.

While the EDC’s track record in Red Hook raises concerns, this also serves as a new opportunity and one that can go a long way in helping the community regain trust in the EDC. A big part of that will depend on whether the EDC incorporates community feedback into their plans.

“We are unhappy with the transfer,” Gottheim said. “If everybody says they support port development and

the container facility here, then there would be no reason for the transfer.

The Port Authority has been entrusted for over 100 years to do port development but this unfortunately is going to take place. It doesn’t change our advocacy of fighting for the port and a working waterfront and jobs and taking trucks off the road. It means that the Port Authority and state are no longer a player here and we have to switch our advocacy to the EDC.”

Tampakis agreed with a lot of those key points.

“I agree with Nadler on a lot of the things he mentioned,” Tampakis said.

“I do think the state had an opportunity for a lot of years and did not get the job done. The EDC has to be really focused on what we’re doing here.

They’ve had a lot of RFPs right here in Red Hook on Pier 11 and they haven’t followed through with them.

“Now, the key is getting to work right away. This is something they’re talking about happening years in the future but we’ve waited long enough. We need to get to work now.”

Nadler hopes to remain involved in what happens next with the Brooklyn Marine Terminal even though he was not in favor of the transfer. He said this in a message to the taskforce chairman and his successor Dan Goldman.

“I look forward to working with you and all stakeholders on the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force,” he said.

What's next

According to the EDC, the plan is to assemble a taskforce consisting of local politicians, business owners and residents. There will be a series of pub-

lic meetings, supposedly all open to the public, in which ideas that will go into a Master Plan will be developed, subject to the approval of the Empire State Development, a NY State agency. The Master Plan will guide the development of the 120 acres of waterfront, starting at Atlantic Avenue and going all the way to the current Cruise Terminal. Both EDC and Goldman's office insist that both of these need to happen right away, but requests for a timeline and sequencing went unanswered.

We spoke with Michael Stamatis, Executive Director of the Red Hook Container Terminal, a working containerport occupying about half the land.

"There will be a port here," he said, with an emphasis on "will."

"I'm a fighter and I will fight to keep this a port, both modernizing it and expanding it."

He explained to us how he has fought many battles through the years to maintain the operation. "Any time you have a property like this, you have something to worry about." He was

referring to "the view," the billion dollar coastline facing lower Manhattan that real estate developers all over the world dream about turning into high rise properties.

He said that he has a commitment for a long term, improved port facility and that he believes what he is being told.

"I trust what I have been told by all the actors. Accountability is the most imporant thing, and I will do everything I can to make sure there is follow through."

He reiterated that big cities all around the world invest heavily in their ports and he sees no reason why NYC should be different. This is something that Tampakis also emphasizes.

Stamatis says that people should have learned their lesson during the pandemic when store shelves were often empty due to supply chain blockages. NYC and Long Island depend on the Brooklyn terminal for a great number of goods, and Red Hook needs to remain a hub.

The Red Hook Containerport, photo by Micah Rubin

Today's Question

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

What’s the most difficult part of your job?

You have to be 100 percent aware. No matter how good a driver you think you are, there are other drivers out there that are not. We have to have twenty eyes on the road. My responsibility is to the kids on my bus and to my matron. (She indicates Nurka Batista, the matron, or school bus supervisor.) Their lives are in my hands.

So your hardest job is being a defensive driver, not keeping the kids in control.

Nurka is the matron, so her job is keeping the kids in control. My job is making sure we get to and from safely.

Jonathan Packin, Manager, D&M Lumber

How did this company start?

My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, and he came to New York from Latvia and started this business from nothing. Originally it was a lumber business in Williamsburg. Now we import and fabricate hardboard. It’s a family business. My dad still officially works here. My brother and my uncle work here….

Who are your customers?

We deal mostly with wholesalers.

What do you do for the company?

I do everything. Lately I’ve been doing sales of specialty items. I drive a fork lift, as you’ve seen.

You drive a truck.

Yes, I drive a truck. I do anything that needs to be done.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

(Smiles) You mean other than working with my family?

(Laughs) Even including that. No, really, the most challenging part of my job is dealing with the traffic around here lately. Ever since they started working on the BQE (Brooklyn Queens Expressway) it’s gotten insane. It can take an hour to drive to Atlantic Avenue from here. And I’m not thrilled about that congestion pricing they’re starting in Manhattan. But the good news is that the city is taking over the operation of the Marine Terminal. They’re taking it over from the Port Authority.

I didn’t even know about it! When did that happen? They just made the announcement last week. They’re going

its full potential down there. She moved up here during the pandemic and the store is doing a lot better here. I think Red Hook has a special magnetism. People want to spend a day coming here to feel like they’re not in New York. The store is very attractive. You have a lot of pretty things, and it’s very well organized. Where do you get your stuff?

Mary Rose travels all over the tristate area, visiting estate sales and thrift stores and places like that. About 80 percent of our stuff is vintage and second hand, and the rest is basically new. Some of it is made by local artists, ceramic artists, people from the neighborhood.

What is the most challenging part of your work life?

Mary Rose needed someone to fill in at the store while she travels, so I’ve been working

PEOPLE OF RED HOOK

by Lisa Gitlin

Where we talk to anyone. This month we spoke to people at work.

to renovate the piers and do a lot of other things over here.

This is an amazing location for a business. It’s huge. Do you want to see the back of the Queen Mary?

Sure. I can see the front of it from my bedroom window….Wow. It’s the size of a small town.

Grant Vernon, Employee, Open Invite (gift store) How long has this store been here?

Mary Rose (Wiley), one of my best friends in college, actually started this store back in Texas about five years ago, but the store wasn’t realizing

the caterpillars, so I took it back out, and made a little home for it, and it burrowed and made a cocoon. And about five weeks later there was this beautiful tomato hawk moth in the tank! She lived in my room for a while, and after her wings were fully developed I opened my window, and she would fly to the window and come back. And after a few nights she just left. Since then I’ve become obsessed with that process, watching life become a whole different thing. I go to the pet stores and look for that specific caterpillar, and I bring them home and sometimes they burrow that very night, because they think it’s time. You told me before that your boyfriend is moving in with you this weekend. I’m assuming he knows all about these activities?

(Laughs) Oh, yeah.

Dawn Skeete, Owner/operator of Jam’It Bistro

How long have you had this restaurant?

We’ve been here since 2019. What is the most challenging part of your work?

here for a couple of months. I’ve also been working as a personal assistant for a writer/director couple, a married couple. I love them, but after ten years it’s time for a reset. So I’ve given them my twoweek notice, and now, instead of working literally seven days a week, I can work here Thursdays through Sundays and spend the rest of the time working on my art.

What kind of art do you do?

I’m a photographer, and I also do a lot of writing. I write a lot about growing up in Texas and catching lizards and living that kind of outdoor life, getting attracted to all these small creatures. I’m working on a collection of bug stories.

Um, what?

I’m a big bug guy. I have nine spiders, and for the last year I’ve been raising worms and making them into butterflies. One of my tarantulas eats hornworm caterpillars –What is the name is this tarantula?

Louise. So one day last summer she didn’t want one of

to some degree, because we are a Jamaican-focused restaurant, but in this neighborhood we have a diverse community of people. We’ve added a family plan, so now you can buy a family package for four. But we’ve created these packages not just for the folks that are using the EBT, but for anyone. Because from an economic standpoint, everybody’s feeling it.

Yes. It’s very tough out there. But it’s amazing how proactive you’ve been to keep your business going. You’ve come up with all these programs. Have you always been in business for yourself?

I worked in corporate America for 17 years.

(Laughs) That explains a lot. Now this is all coming together. Yes. I worked for TIAACREF, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of them; they’re the number one pension fund company worldwide. I worked my way through that company and became the first Black to be internally promoted to a management/consultant position. But then they moved part of the operation away from New York, and my husband and I were already established in New York, and if I took that move it would have affected his salary, and I didn’t want to do that to him. So I decided to stay here. My family – uncles and aunts –have been in the Jamaican restaurant business forever. So it was easy for me to go into this business as well. It’s in your blood. Yes, exactly. It’s in my blood.

I will say what’s challenging in owning a business here in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Where we’re located there’s absolutely no foot traffic, and without foot traffic you can’t do business, so we’ve had to figure out how we’re going to be moving forward. Thank God I have a husband, but I, Dawn, need to make a paycheck. I’m able to make enough money now to keep everybody paid, but I need to pay myself as well. So we’ve had to figure out how to move forward, and technology has provided the ability for us to reach our customers. We can offer delivery services, and we can offer catering services, and it doesn’t matter where they are. Our customers can reach us through social media, through the Internet, wherever.

When I ordered my food, you asked if I use SNAP or EBT. Yes. We filled out the paperwork and went through the process, it took maybe three to four weeks, and they sent me an approval. So now we’ve changed over our POS system, and we’re able to handle those payments when people come in to purchase their food. And we have diversified our menu

How long have you been a plumber?

I’m into my third year of apprenticeship.

What’s the most challenging part of your work?

It’s dealing with the weight of everything. We do a lot of large-scale jobs.

For example?

Like, when MTA shuts down because work is being done on the tracks, we have to get our tools and materials down to these tracks. So prior to the scheduled shutdown we have to load our equipment and materials onto our truck and take it to a train yard.

Where is the train yard?

The closest train yard to here

(continued on page 15)

Yolanda Cruz, School Bus Driver Phillip Bus Corp.

Alex Vaughn, Local One plumber (New York City plumbing union), IMP Plumbing and Heating Company.

Thank You Jalen Brunson

by Brian Abate

The New York Knicks have captured the hearts of many New Yorkers as this team of undersized underdogs found ways to win despite losing a lot of their key players to injuries. Star point guard Jalen Brunson went from a second-round pick to a star player and Red Hook’s own Lucie Lozinski (Ski Team) has released a song “Thank You, Jalen Brunson” which celebrates his rise and the Knicks run this season.

Lozinski’s path to Red Hook and pursuing a career in music has not always been a straightforward one. She grew up in New Jersey but went to school in Massachusetts. She later lived in San Francisco and then moved to New York.

“Both of my parents are musicians so I was around music early and drawn to it,” Lozinski said. “I also wanted a job though, and that wasn’t really a job so my path through music has been pretty wiggly. I didn’t just take the music route so I went to college and took creative writing. For the past 10 years, I wrote for tech companies and I made music on the side as an outlet.

“Money came in through tech and went out through music and it’s almost like having jobs with negative money. It’s definitely expensive making music.”

Lozinski’s tech job was writing about software by developers from her company for other developers. She enjoyed it, but she is now focusing on

music. She also had a unique path to becoming a Knicks fan.

“I liked Ray Allen and I liked the Celtics coach while I was living there [Massachusetts,”] Lozinski said. “I realized I didn’t like living there and all the players I knew were gone. When I moved to San Francisco the Warriors were a really fun team but I didn’t grow up there. They were like cool neighbors. Then once I moved to New York, I decided I wanted to become a true Knicks fan. They were the home team growing up.”

A few years later the Knicks went from being bottom dwellers to a playoff team. They signed Brunson ahead of the 2022-23 and took another step forward as the point guard made the transition from being a role player on his previous team, the Dallas Mavericks, to a star with the Knicks.

“Seeing this person who’s kind of an unlikely leader having fun and giving us hope; you can’t really explain it or copy it. I just wanted to thank him for that and it’s been incredible how excited everyone has been about the playoffs. I wanted to give people something to hold on to regardless of what happens, especially the Knicks fans who have been here for the ride a lot longer than me.

“I’ll get tunes stuck in my head and I’ll be mumbling around the house,” Lozinski said. “I recorded the chorus part (continued on page 11)

Local writers understand that less is more

Interview by Katherine Rivard

As summer heat finally descends upon Brooklyn, it feels extra good to slow down and make everything a bit lighter— from your clothes to your decor. Just in time, two local artists, Rose Pearlman and Erin Boyle, have released a new book that leans into minimalism. Making Things: Finding Use, Meaning, and Satisfaction in Crafting Everyday Objects is a 300+ page hardback filled with simple, useful crafts coupled with whimsical narrative to draw readers in. The crafts and projects allow readers to gain a sense of ownership of their belongings by encouraging them to create basic items for themselves, often repurposing old items in the process. Projects include how to create a wide variety of practical items including a braided paper towel roll hanger, a twine and wool punched rug, and a basic knit scout scarf. To learn more about the book and the authors behind it, we asked Rose (an artist, teacher, and textile designer based in Prospect Heights) and Erin (a writer and photographer based in Carroll Gardens) a few questions about the book, their inspiration, and their creative processes. How was the idea for this book formed? Was it an “aha” moment, or a frequent idea bounced between two friends that finally came into fruition?

A lot of the projects in this book are things that Rose has been making for more than twenty years. For the last six or seven years, both of us started working on these projects together and it made so much sense to put them all together into a great big book. What did the writing, photography, and editing processes look like?

The two of us really worked on this book collaboratively. It was such an interesting and helpful thing, especially when thinking about writing instructions, to have two people with very different brains working on the same project. We were able to really complement each other and draw from both of our different experiences of making these crafts over and over again.

Did you learn anything unexpected

JALEN

(continued from page 10)

and I sent it to a couple of friends. It’s almost like making a puzzle or a haiku. You get the first couple of lines and then you have to make everything else fit. The first part is easy and then effort comes in with the puzzle-making part.”

The song is actually her second one about the Knicks, with the first one called “Knicks Suck.” For a long time, they did but the future is now bright for the Knicks.

Lozinski is in the process of recording her first album which is expected to include 12 songs. She was able to find a few other musicians who worked well with her (and are also basketball fans) for “Thank You, Jalen Brunson.”

“Meeting the musicians was almost

through the writing and editing processes? A new craft idea, improved technique, or even some friendship wisdom.

It was so hard to know when to stop! The book is big—320 pages—and left to our own devices we probably would have made it even bigger. The projects in the book build on each other—and we really wanted readers to understand that one small technique could be applied to a whole range of other projects and that one small tweak could result in a whole different use. So yes, each time we made a project, it would trigger a new idea. Now that the book is published, that still happens. The more you make something, the more you understand it and see the ways that it could become something else.

As Brooklynites with a passion for crafting and sustainability, do you have any favorite local spots?

We adore Brooklyn General Store on Union Street. It’s just a treasure trove of the most beautiful yarns and textiles and notions. And of course we both lean heavily on our neighborhood hardware stores—for Erin that’s Mazzone’s right in Carroll Gardens.

You mention spending hours researching in the TATTER Textile Library in Gowanus. How did you find out about the library? What’s it like?

Blue The Tatter Textile Library is one of the most magical spots in Brooklyn. True to its name, it’s very blue and filled with books and objects related to textile crafts. There’s a big blue couch and a blue research table and rolling library ladders. It’s very special.

The book’s narrative highlights the importance of being curious about how things are made and the joy of problem-solving. Have you always been curious, problem-solvers, or were these attributes you’ve nurtured?

Curiosity and problem-solving are definitely things that have been nurtured in us in the course of our lives, but I think there’s an element of scrappiness and resourcefulness that comes from living

a little like going to camp,” Lozinski said. “We all met each other and got to know each other. It’s cool how nice everybody working in music is especially once you start making music. Once you start releasing things people can hear what your strengths and weaknesses are and see what works well.”

The primary producer for “Thank You, Jalen Brunson” is Nate Mendelsohn who also played drum machine and guitar, engineered, and mixed the track. Joshua Crumbly is on bass, synth, and piano and he also co-produced. Joe Bozzi is the mastering engineer. Lozinski wrote the song, sang the vocals, played the guitar, and did some co-production as well. A lot went into the song.

Despite the positives, Lozinski is also navigating through some big challenges as well.

“When you’re doing everything by

frugally in a very expensive city. Brooklyn keeps us creative, for sure. “Mastery is an ongoing process.” For many readers, especially those who don’t already craft often, a “failed” craft project can be deflating. What are some tips for not quitting?

We think it can be helpful to lower our expectations. It’s nice to make something that’s functional right off the bat— and we encourage folks to dive right in—but there’s also so much value in methodical, repetitive practice. No time spent making anything is wasted, it’s all just part of the sometimes-messy process. Are there certain materials (e.g., gift bags, cereal boxes, toilet paper rolls) that you’re always particularly excited to turn into something new instead of tossing?

We have become self-proclaimed experts on sleuthing nice cardboard for crafting projects. Not all boxes are made alike and when we come across one that’s made from especially smooth and sturdy cardboard, we know to hang on to it.

Since the book launched in early May, you’ve hosted a lot of events in the neighborhood and beyond to promote it. Which projects/crafts have attendees been most excited to try?

Getting these projects into peoples’ hands is such a joy. It’s been so fun to be able to sit with folks while they work and to see the sense of pride and accomplishment they get from making things. We recently held a trivet workshop during a Community Dinner at Poppy’s HQ on Columbia Street and it was so great to get to see everyone’s work from start to finish.

If there is just one thing that each of us should master making, whether it’s to save money, live more sustainably, or just to easily beautify our spaces—what would it be?

We’re proponents of people getting started wherever they’re most comfortable. It’s great to start with something that you know you’ll finish successfully. This is different for different people, but for lots of folks, we’ve noticed they’re

yourself, there are a lot of different roles you have to take on,” Lozinski said. “Now I’m going to have to go on social media and post stuff and find ways to get people to listen. The part I want to focus on is making music but there’s a lot that goes with it.

“I’m really excited about this record though. This is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid and I wanted to do it with great collaborators who leave a positive mark. I found these people who I think are great. I also have to figure out a release strategy and figure out how to get these songs into the world and get people to listen to them. Hopefully, they like them.

“How do we get the songs into physical space and get ‘Thank You, Jalen Brunson’ playing in the rickshaws outside of MSG? I started hanging up posters with the QR code and it’s so cool seeing people taking a risk and listening.”

drawn to the functional origami boxes we include in the book. There’s something about turning a flat piece of paper into a useful three-dimensional object in about two minutes that gets people’s making-minds really going and once that starts, it’s hard to turn back off again.

Where can readers pick up a copy?

So many local independent bookshops are carrying Making Things and we’re so grateful. We held our pre-order campaign at Books Are Magic and they have lots of signed copies at both locations! Are you planning any future projects together? How can readers continue to follow your work?

Hard to know what exactly the future might bring. Right now we’re just so excited that Making Things is out in the world! We’re both active on instagram (Erin is @readtealeaves and Rose is @ rosepearlman) and Erin writes a regular newsletter on Substack called TEA NOTES.

The duo will be hosting crafting events and book signings throughout the summer, including a Flower Frog and Mini Knitting Loom Workshop on June 5 at Cardinal Gift Shop (Fort Greene), a wire basket making workshop on June 22 at TOAST Brooklyn (Boerum Hill), and an origami workshop on June 27 at A. Mano (Prospect Heights). Find the full list of events on readingmytealeaves.com.

As a Knicks fan, the song makes me smile and while the season ended with Brunson breaking his hand (along with injuries to a lot of the team’s other key players) there is a lot to look forward to. The same is true for Lozinski and her career as a musician.

“Thank You, Jalen Brunson” is on all streaming platforms and on TikTok and Instagram. Lozinski’s Instagram is @ skiiiteam and the song’s video which was directed by Elena Ridker is now on Youtube.

“It’s been special and cool to see how thankful and proud New Yorkers are, even after [the Knicks were eliminated]” Lozinski said. “The standing ovation at MSG. The warm comments on the song and video. So the thankfulness stands and continues into the summer, until October when it all begins again.”

Being 92 is beside the point for artist, writer, actor, director and now Red Hook resident Shirley Kaplan

Shirley Kaplan, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC)’s featured artist this month, is just like most of us. Living alone for the first time in years (she has an apartment-cum-studio in Red Hook), she starts each morning with a cup of coffee and then gets to work, which, in her case, means creating art. While her solo exhibition, now on display by BWAC, features her lively paintings—thickly brushed scenes filled with people, the colors merging and popping—she is also a playwright and director, and was a member of the theater faculty at Sarah Lawrence College for over 40 years. She also happens to be 92 years old.

Kaplan was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, where her father owned a dairy farm. Drawn to art from a young age, she had her first show at a gallery in Midtown at Newcomb Macklin Gallery on 57th Street when she was just 17; her father used a cattle truck to haul in her work. She received a scholarship and her own studio to study art at Briarcliff College, and then a grant to continue her studies in Paris at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere during the 1950s: “It’s a magic life, when I look back now.” For four years she lived in Montparnasse, working and creating alongside artists in one of the world’s most art-fueled cities. There, the artistic community imbued her with a lifelong appreciation for collaboration and an interest in multidisciplinary work: ““At night, if I didn’t have something to do, we’d go to someone’s studio who was playing and we’d be painting, and someone would be dancing. It was like the movies...and I was from Connecticut!”

Over the years I’ve been in various book clubs for varying lengths of time. My current club is a group of nine women, and we’re shooting for a twenty-five year streak, inspired by the real life events of a member’s mom who achieved such impressive longevity. The club originally started with three members and has tripled in size - in fact I’m the self selected enforcer in capping the group at ten members to maintain the integrity of conversation and discussion. According to the internet, the perfect number for a group is eight.  The system for letting newbies in is far from diplomatic, usually someone sends a text with something like, “Cool lady! Loves to read” and our newest member arrives. Due to a book clubber who lives with a rooster inside her house (a conversation that routinely causes hilarity) we called ourselves “The Hens.” Merchandise is expected to arrive soon. (I’m hoping for tote bags.)

by Katherine Rivard

Returning to New York City and struggling to find an apartment for her and her new husband, she ambled through the East Village one afternoon. At a building she liked, she naively walked up, rang the doorbell, and asked if there was a loft available. To her delight there was. Beyond finding a home, she found herself amidst an ever-widening sphere of artists and collaborators, beginning with a dancer who also lived in the building. Their budding friendship brought her further into the theater community. With little cash but many ideas, cardboard, junk, and even a lampshade were repurposed in their newly created theater, The Paper Bag Players, that lives on today.

Now a single mom, Kaplan took on theater jobs, wrote, and painted to make a living. She easily rattles off the names and places of her past, her lived experiences as full as an encyclopedia of art. In addition to co-founding the Paper Bag Players (a non-profit theater company for children), she started and directed the Painters’ Theatre; wrote and directed plays at a number of theaters including Ensemble Studio Theater, La Mama, and UBU Repertory; and designed and created materials for many other plays and performances. Kaplan also served as Sarah Lawrence’s Director of Theater Outreach for more than 40 years—a role that could not have found a better match, considering her appreciation for all types of art and her natural gift of uplifting those interested in pursuing them. In a sense, she has lived a life in service to art—creating her own art and facilitating others to do the same.

Throughout her years in New York, Kaplan has been a witness to its art world and its evolution. Though she lived for years in lower Manhattan, in 1998 she moved to Brooklyn, first to Brooklyn Heights, then Carroll Gardens, and now Red Hook. As an enthusiast of community art, she has worked alongside artists of every stripe, and recalls old haunts like Cedar Tavern, a bar and restaurant that was the gathering place for avant garde writers and artists in Greenwich Village in the 1950s.

Kaplan’s exhibition is on display on the second floor of BWAC’s galleries, located within the impressive wheat warehouse, built in 1869, located directly on Red Hook’s waterfront. Visitors will be enchanted by the warm, piney scent emanating from the exposed wood, the look of the seasoned bricks, and the idyllic views of the Statue of Liberty (and IKEA). About twenty of her works will be on display (and for sale), and Kaplan herself will be attending the shows. The oil paintings are a visual diary of her experiences, from Paris to Mallorca, and the theatrical worlds she immersed herself in, from circus to cabaret.

The exhibition’s hosting organization, BWAC (appropriately pronounced “be whack”), was organized in 1978 by sixteen artists in need of a place to exhibit; today, it is Brooklyn’s largest artist-run organization. BWAC’s Spring II 2024 Exhibitions runs from June 1 to June 23 (open on weekends from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m.) at 481 Van Brunt Street. In addition to Kaplan’s works, three other exhibitions are on display. On the first floor, The Creative Process is an exhibition by BWAC art-

Book Club Magic

by Kelsey Sobel

One of the the first recordings of a book club dates back to the 1600s, where a woman named Anne Hutchinson allegedly started a scripture reading circle on the long journey from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It seems that even despite the terrible seasickness and other awful assortment of  uncertainty and diseases that might’ve riddled these intrepid travelers, these ladies knew books are best enjoyed in the company of others. Although my group doesn’t read scripture, Anne Hutchinson certainly had the right idea. So far, we’re two years in with no signs of slowing down. We meet monthly either at someone’s home or out at a local restaurant. Sometimes a friend who isn’t in the club joins us, occasionally husbands or children float around the periphery. For our upcoming solstice meeting, we’re planning to hike a mountain. There’s been talk of a cross country skiing meeting over the winter

and a trip to Montreal. Over the summer we’ll have a meeting while kayaking. Although a member is relocating to Maine she’s committed to making the meetings.

In all reality, we’re a collection of women who don’t have much in common - aside from the obvious: we love to read. The women in the group share an assortment of professions: teacher, nurse, business owner, dentist, estate gardener and conservationist. At book club, our day jobs hardly matter. We live spread across a few towns in northern New Hampshire. Some have children, some in the group don’t. Eight of nine have dogs. Soon we’ll be welcoming a baby to the group, too. We range in age from thirties to the fifties.

ist members, in which they were asked to give a glimpse into their creative processes. On the second floor, The Cardinal Compass is a collection of works from 50 North Carolina artists, much of the work centering on connecting the states, removing the North and South divide, and focusing on shared experiences. In the final gallery, Works on Paper is… well, art on paper, but surprisingly wide in its breadth, including drawings, prints, paintings, collages, and more.

Speaking with Kaplan is a pleasure— a therapeutic inquisition into your life by a warm, intensely curious art savant; a whirlwind look into the city’s extensive art world throughout the last century; and a pep talk for undertaking your own artistic endeavors, all in one. If you stop by the exhibit this month, you may have the delight of meeting Kaplan for yourself, but you’ll definitely have the chance to take in two floors of enthralling works. But be warned—you might just leave yearning to create something of your own.

After much rigamarole and several messy processes, we decided each member would select the book accord-

ing to their birthday month, in calendar order. (A friend of mine has a hyper organized group who uses a google form based on a category of book and a ranking system…this is above my group’s pay grade…) Our one-personwithout-debate-selection process forces our hands at reading a wide variety and array of books - in my mind, one of the most valuable aspects of belonging to a book club is diversifying reading scope and exposure. We aren’t sticklers for the

(continued on next page)

Shirley is the featured BWAC artist this month

The Scene

by Roger Bell

Red Hook Brooklyn has a tangled relationship with artists and musicians. A long time resident once confidently told me that he had found Herman Melville’s ink pot and coffee cup in an abandoned outhouse on Beard Street. Olga Bloom “discovered” these quiet shores while scouting a location for her Barge Music project from the deck of a tugboat she had hired  to survey the Brooklyn waterfront The year is irrelevant. Harry Chapin had already found the place by then  and in a couple of years the artists started washing ashore,  exiled from rising prices and workplace scarcity.  Red Hook, just barely escaping  the crack epidemic and the AIDS crisis emerged as a quiet but not quietly enough held secret outpost for eccen-

THE NEW MURAL

In this country there is no greater work of public art than the mural by Diego

BOOK CLUB

(continued from page 12)

rules though, and strong opinions are encouraged. Some members will give up a book if they hate it. This is 100 % acceptable in our club - come as you are, having read the entire book or not. Our book club has nothing to prove.

Our last month’s read was The Bear by Andrew Krivak, and of the 20+ books we’ve read, it was the most universally liked. Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger came in as #1 disliked book, and is now part of book club lore. I haven’t yet figured out the formula that makes books liked or not and everyone’s passionate reactions are part of what makes the group so lively. Of course our reading preferences are just like all of our other idiosyncrasies, hard to pin down and so very human.

There are no rules or parameters for where we acquire the book of the month - sometimes we utilize group lending at our local libraries, sometimes brand new books are picked. Members share copies. A few prefer audio books, one member reads on a kindle. One of our members is diligent about writing down meaningful quotes and always reads a few out loud for us. Another member is the unofficial secretary and takes copious notes of the various titles,

trics and other malcontents.

And so on a beautiful recent Sunday afternoon capping a weeks long marathon of readings, concerts, art exhibits and heralding the start of a busy Summer calendar a space for sculpture was premiered. Entering at 113  Wolcott Street this newly minted landscape is home to  the monumental direct carved marble works of Ian L.C. Swordy, His works  holding court, like giant stone chess pieces with proud genitalia make some slick new moves on the history of the medium. Fresh energy from an ancient art form. If you listened carefully you might hear some of the Bayou classics that were part of Swamp in the City festival which swarmed the neighborhood at numerous local venues.

Elsewhere and literally across the street at The Kentler International Drawing Space (K.I.D.S. as in first came DaDa, then came MoMA, and then the KIDS!) a splendid full gallery installation of delightful monumental

Rivera in the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Complex culturally and politically the grand fresco employs the Sistine Chapel sense of gravitas with  narrative references to contemporary history and the sweeping saga of human life.  It is a masterwork.  Now The Red Hook Houses are the lucky host to a grand new collaboration which strives to set new standards and meanings for our community and for our complex times. Its success will be measured like Rivera’s masterpiece by the relationships it establishes with history. The official  unveiling of this complex collaborative project by the  Public Housing Community Fund, Artolution, a non-profit arts promotor and Snapchat, the tech giant, along with Red Hook West Resident Association and Red Hook local

movies and random pop culture tidbits that inevitably come up in conversation.

Our particular mix of opinions, personalities and world views create a magical threeish hour evening that we all look forward to. People rarely miss meetings and we do our very best to accommodate nine schedules. Somehow this works out. We prefer Friday nights. Of course what makes the group so special is not just that it’s only women and we eat delicious food, it’s the perfect alchemy of conversation.

We’re hardly on our phones (aside from checking titles, dates and availability) and we don’t spend much time discussing our personal lives. I always leave feeling intellectually satisfied. Usually we all eat too much, but that goes with the territory.

If you’re thinking about starting a book club, here is my advice. Start small and let the group develop organically. Readers will come. Don’t set unrealistic reading goals (300 pages or less per month) and make sure everyone is located in close proximity. Make sure you like everyone you’re inviting into your group. Make sure at least one person is a good cook and finding a good baker is even better. Most importantly, be consistent.

I’m confident The Hens will reach our goal of twenty five years. We only have twenty three more left and so much to discuss.

yet intimate wall drawings and collage pieces by the remarkably talented Sascha Mallon   which together capture the Rites of Spring in an inspired exchange. A short row down the street the Basin Gallery holds vital fluids that depict the “Power of Light,”a group show which continues the remarkable ascendant flight of a woman (and artist) owned gallery.

The neighborhoods' embarrassment of riches continues with this incomplete listing;  Artyard’s weekly inspirational collective art adventures in the ancient BWAC  space; also housing BWAC’s major Works on Paper survey opening June 1st, Hot Wood Studios, sponsors of the annual Red Hook Open Studios, At the Andrew Logan Project space is an installation of a perennial local favorite holds court. The Realty Collective frequent inspired installations which most recently saw the premier of one of the most promising talents this reviewer has  seen in many years, Lenore Solmo . She made magic of

students and teachers took place on a sunny May 29th with a big celebration. The mural’s  impressive scale is slightly mitigated by the too nearby handball court fence but the size and color is awe inspiring.  Almost thirty feet tall and a hundred feet long the mural depicts two generations observing and reifying  a dream Red Hook populated by a diversity of people and nature. Two large yellow orbs connect the background and are stitched together with the foreshortened diagonal structure of a busy waterfront pier. The  sun and moon  give solar charge to the various elements and help compose and unify the  matrix..  A 16’ high bird’s flight symbolizes our shared and uncertain future.  There is something for everyone here, especially the younger

discarded bottle caps. They looked like totems from a lost civilization (ours).

At the  Wall Gallery, segregated by a few industrial blocks from the hot center of Red Hook, is the exhibition of  East German artist Petra Flierl. This project is the result of cooperating forces between Berlin and Brooklyn.  And Petra is the priestess of  a new graphic and painterly tradition. She asserts that now all forms are now either of two types:  Norm and Max.

And June 1st brought to Valentino Pier

The Red Hook Fest, an annual event bursting with talent. Steel yourselves and venture forth: Red Hook is a bounty awaiting your plunder, Culture served as an all you can eat buffet.  What’s needed is a neighborhood wide listing, a project that someone soon will achieve.

Meanwhile good hunting!

audience to which the work seems addressed, incorporating a phone app to create customized animated versions to post to social media accounts. All in all a very ambitious project.  It is  titled “We Are Red Hook” —Roger Bell

Regina Opera's free Summer in the Park show

Readers of this paper may know that becoming an opera buff was the last thing I ever expected. But then a series of events took me to Bay Ridge to attend the Regina Opera Company's performance of Cavalleria Rusticana, something that rocked my rock and roll world. Next I attended their 54th Anniversary concert, featuring opera and Broadway hits. Finally, I made it to an open rehearsal of Lucia Di Lammermoor. While the Regina Opera performs in a school auditorium (Our Lady

COFFEE

(continued from cover)

dial, pausing for a second or 2 on each station….Judge Fuckin’ Judy…. crime drama….Local news….Vampire Something (Jane hates this, but it’s how I watch TV!)…..crime drama….. Naked and Afraid….Storage Wars …..(the cream of the crop!) ……PBS…. finally landing on MSNBC which had a flashing headline VERDICT SOON. Could it be, after weeks of sordid tales of Vegas hotel encounters, exhibits

of Perpetual Help, at 59th St and 6th Avenue), you quickly forget where you are as the music is world class. Lucia's role, featuring Makila Kirchner doing an amazing Mad Scene, was worthy of La Scala.

I'll be keeping you updated on the fall season, but in the meantime, they are preparing a free summer show of Broadway and Opera Tunes on Wednesday, July 10th at 7 pm. You'll have to head south, down to Marine Park.

The Summer Concert is in the park, on the lawn next to the Bocce Court. Marine Park is between Sheepshead Bay and Mill Basin, just check your map program.—George Fiala

of signed checks and former aids flipping and flopping around in a drab courtroom on Centre street , there will be an ending, one way or another?

Over a projection of a grimacing orange face from hell came the nonpartisan white type: Count 1-Guilty, Count 2- Guilty, Count 3- Guitly….. and on and on. Alvin Bragg’s team had pitched a 34-0 shutout. I switched from the smiling faces of the MSNBC hosts to the frowns and scowls of FOX news. The coffee from my mother’s Wear-Ever tasted fine, it was the best Thursday afternoon in a while.

Makila Kirchner

The Craft Turn worn out jeans into cute Father's Day keychains!

Father’s Day is right around the corner and if you still need a present for Dad, this is the craft for you. Let’s get started!

What you’ll need. Find a pair of old, worn-out, or ripped jeans. If you don’t have any, ask a friend or family member. In addition to your jeans, you will need scissors (fabric scissors are sharpest and cut more cleanly), embroidery thread, yarn, a needle, cotton balls, a keychain ring, and Sharpies or fabric markers.

Create your shape. Using a marker, draw a shape of your choice onto a double layer jeans so you will end up with two pieces of the same shape. We made a heart but you could make a circle, your father’s initial, or any

shape you like. Then use your scissors to cut out the shape along the lines.

Decorate your shape. Using your markers, decorate the outside of one or both of your denim pieces. You could write #1 Dad, “I Love You,” or draw hearts or even draw a picture of your Dad!

Start sewing. Have an adult help you find and thread a needle with embroidery thread. Don’t forget to knot the end of the thread so it doesn’t pull through the fabric. Then place your two pieces together with the decorated sides facing in towards each other. Sew along the edge to connect your two pieces, leaving about an inch open so you can stuff your shape.

Stuff your keychain. Flip your sewn pieces inside out so the decorations are facing out and then stuff the shape with cotton balls through the opening you left in the edge. The size of your keychain will determine how many cotton balls you will need. Use the remaining thread to sew the opening shut.

Attach your keys. Loop a 6-inch length of yarn around a keychain ring. Secure the yarn to your keychain using your needle and thread. Add to your keys, and enjoy!

Father’s Day!

Extreme statements hurt right-wing German political party

It's Potsdam, Germany, around noon, Chaled-Uwe Said, local leader of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), is giving away flyers, bottle openers and pens for his re-election campaign to the City Council. But people coming out from the nearby supermarket rarely stop at his table.

Even though AfD leads as the second party in the national polls, there is a social stigma that prevents lots of people from talking or being seen with them. The party is already under the scrutiny of the national secret services because of its extremist positions, and in some  Länder  (Federated States), like Saxony, the local branch of the party has been declared “surely of extreme right” by local authorities. The risk for the party is being declared illegal, as the German constitution allows the Federal Constitutional Court to declare illegal those parties that could pose a risk to democracy. “But it is a long-procedure and there’s no risk in the short-term”, says Chaled-Uwe Said while talking to his supporters.

The AfD is the biggest question mark in the next election day on June 9, when voters will cast their ballot for the country’s portion of the European Parliament’s seats and the municipal elections in 7 different  Länder. Even though an increasing number of national and local scandals have hit the

by Dario Pio Muccilli, Star-Revue EU correspondent

party, a good result is expected.

On May 18 Maximilian Krah, former leading candidate of the AfD, released an interview in which he said that not “all of SS were criminals.” After that, Krah resigned and the party was expelled by the Identity and Democracy European party, a far-right party coalition encompassing France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini. Many believe that a surge of AfD would bring Germany back to its darkest years and constitute a severe damage to women and LGBTQ rights. The party is also known for denying climate change and calling any ecological policy a “climate-craziness”.

AfD takes advantage of the weakness of traditional parties. Right now the government is held by a coalition of Social-Democrats, Greens and Liberals. It is Ukraine friendly, left-wing, but pays the price of Prime Minister Olaf Scholz's lack of charisma. Among the three parties, the Greens are the ones losing more consensus.

In Leipzig, Saxony, on May 31st, every party hosted an electoral meeting with its national leaders on the occasion of the city’s festival. If other parties chose to openly host their events in public squares, the Green had to host their meeting with Economy Minister Robert Habeck in a closed venue, highly controlled by volunteers

PEOPLE OF RED HOOK

(continued from page 9)

is on 38th Street (behind the MTS bus depot). And then we load all our equipment onto a train, which takes it to the location of the shutdown.

What kind of train is it?

It looks kind of like a subway without the doors.

So then you go to that location and meet up with the train with your equipment on it?

What kind of work do you do once you’re there?

It depends on what the work is. It could be anything from working on the sprinkler line, which typically runs the entirety of any station, or working on the discharge. All of the rain water that comes into the station gets discharged through our pipes and dumped out.

I just pictured you in somebody’s house working on the bathroom.

(Laughs) That’s residential plumbing. We do some residential plumbing, but we’re mainly a commercial plumbing company.

You must be learning an awful lot. I mean…Yeah.

Raj Timel, Operator of heavy-duty tow truck, Richmond Towing.

I don’t know if I qualify to be in this paper. I don’t live in Red Hook and my business is not officially in Red Hook. I work on the highways.

But you’re in Red Hook now, right here on Hamilton Avenue. So right now you are a person of Red Hook. Okay then.

So how long have you been a tow truck driver?

I’ve been a tow truck driver for 26 years.

Twenty-six years? Wow. So what exactly is your job?

To patrol the highways. We deal with disabled vehicles –cars, trucks, anything that’s disabled.

and you could get in only by registration. It is significant how throughout Germany the Greens’ electoral posters do not show the location of the rally advertised, but rather a QR code to the main information. No other party had to take similar measures for their safety.

Both AfD and the government’s parties see each other as the enemy, making it easier for a third protagonist to rise and win: the Christian Democrat Union (CDU), leading in the polls with 30%. Under the leadership of Friedrich Merz, the CDU has managed to steal votes from the AfD by assuming some of their extremist stances and from the Social Democrats and Liberals by stressing their well-established moderate credentials.

Moreover, the CDU is the party of Ursula von Der Leyen, the EU Commissioner, a government-like figure in European political architecture. But she has the main worry to secure the support of all the EU countries and governments to get re-elected. During a visit at a high-tech engineering faculty of the University of Potsdam, Alexander Winterstein, Von der Leyen’s spokesperson, was calm: “she’s the only one who will have the support from the European parties, there is no other option."

If this is good for the re-election as Commissioner, it does not mean that

What is the most challenging part of your work?

Most of the insane stuff happens at night, when the traffic gets flowing. When we get rollovers blocking the entire highway, there’s intense pressure to get the highway clear. Give me an example of one of the most stressful jobs you’ve had recently.

A couple months ago we had a tanker that rolled over on the BQE. We had to roll it back over, clean up the spill, the mess… You had to roll a tanker back over onto its… Wheels. Yes.

Wow! How long did it take you?

Preparation maybe 45 minutes, getting it back on its wheels, maybe 50 minutes.

Mike Doleh, Manager and operator, Stop 1 Supermarket

I’m very busy! I’m expecting a phone call in just a couple of minutes!

But it will only take two minutes! Literally two minutes! Ok darling. What do you want to know?

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Dealing with the winter months, when business is slow. That’s the hardest part

this is good news for the CDU. Von der Leyen simply does not care enough about her party as much as about her EU career. The visit to Potsdam shows it pretty clearly. Her visit was announced long before, but a few days before the fixed-date it was formally canceled so that when it happened there were only journalists and no crowd waiting for her. A move which makes little sense if not for showing unwillingness to be exposed on a national level. The message from her as a representative of the EU is clear: German politics has to solve its problems alone.

of my job.

Do you have anything to add, about your job?

No, that takes care of it.

Okay, thank you. Now I’m going to take your picture.

No pictures!

Come on! Look how nice you look.

Only if we do it together. That’s the only way I’ll do it. Okay, we’ll do a selfie. (Mike takes the selfie).

Oh, sweet! Look at the two of us! Okay, so go take your phone call. Thanks, honey, for taking the time to talk to me when you’re busy.

Of course. You know I love you.

I love you too. I’ll say in the column that we’re friends. Not friends. We’re family!

In May, the Star-Revue visited Pisa to meet Dario for a spirited conversation on politics, international affairs, and pizza.

BOOK SERIAL: Fishes, Purple, Tiny... by Bob Racioppo

Last Month

Zak kind of freaks out in German class and rushes out of school and ends up in Central Park where his two minds clash and he decides to drop out of college, which would expose him to the draft. He's thinking about telling his parents when the phone rings. It's Susan Kemp and she left her number.

14 – Butterfield 8-7261

Helen Wozny was making after-dinner coffee when Zak, with his coat on, walked through the kitchen.

“Not havin’ coffee?”

“Nah, I’m gonna go see who’s hangin’ out.”

He passed his father, who was on the couch watching TV.

“See you later Dad.”

“Ok…”

Down one flight of wooden stairs, out into a misty Brooklyn night, up the block to the corner drugstore. There was a wooden phone booth in the rear where he made phone calls that couldn’t be made at home. Closing the accordion door, a light and a small fan came on. Zak dropped a dime and dialed B-U-8-7-2-6-1.

Butterfield – that was a new area code for him. He was used to Gedney, Hyacinth, Ulster, Shore Road.

After one ring, Susan Kemp answered.

“Zak?”

“Yes, hi.”

“Thanks for calling me back.”

“Sure.”

“You weren’t in class today.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Will you be in class tomorrow?”

Zak was silent.

“Because you know, I have your books.”

“Oh fuck, my books, right.”

“Yes, I’ll bring them to Geography.”

Zak was silent again.

“Zak, are you there?”

“Oh yeah, I’m here.”

“Will you be coming to class tomorrow?”

“Uhh.. well, no.”

“No?”

“I sort of… dropped out.”

“You left college, really?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“But you seemed so enthused in class that day.”

“Yeah, well, things changed.”

A recording came on saying “Please deposit 5 cents for additional time.”

There were a few nickels in his jeans pocket, but, he said “Susan, I don’t have any change, so…”

“Zak, you shouldn’t drop out, meet me tomorrow up at…”

The phone cut off her last word, which must have been “Hunter.”

15 – In the Brooklyn mist

Zak stood in the mist outside the drug store, thinking. Thinking maybe he should stay in school, but the pink glow of the neon Rx sign hanging above caught his eye and he stopped thinking. Turned right and started walking up Fifth Avenue toward ZaZa’s. To his left was the hill of Sunset Park itself. Six square blocks of steep green surrounded by stone walls and hurricane fences.

He’d grown up on that hill, playing football, sleigh riding. Then as a teenager getting high at the very top, where there was a flagpole and an amazing view of the city.

Changing his mind about ZaZas, Zak crossed Fifth Avenue. He went up the big concrete steps of the 43rd Street entrance and the soggy slope, to the park’s crest at Sixth Avenue. Turning and looking northwest, there it was. The Downtown towers, rising and shining across Gowanus Bay. Looking so distant, but only a fifteen-cent subway ride away.

“Think, Zak, think,” one of the voices in his head was telling him. With Mind 2.0, always getting caught up on visuals, it was even harder than before.

Right now he was stuck on the streetlamps lining the curved path of Sunset Park, glowing with yellow halos in the mist.

“Think, Zak, think.”

A ferry was crossing the dark bay, lit like a model toy on its way to Staten Island. After 15 minutes at the top of the hill Zak started back down to Fifth Avenue. The drugstore was still open. He went back into the phone booth and dialed the Butterfield number.

A man’s gruff voice answered.

“Yes.”

“Uhh… is Susan there.”

“Hold on.” The phone was put down and then a small voice was heard.

“I’ll take it in here, Father.”

“Susan, it’s Zak.”

“Oh, hi.”

“Yeah, listen, I’m coming into school tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s good, I’ll have your books with me.”

“Yeah, ok.”

“How about meeting before Geography, at around noon?”

“Where?”

“Chock Full of Nuts, on Madison?”

“OK, see you there at noon.”

“Zak, one thing, don’t order milk!”

He smiled.

The16 – Heavenly Coffee

alarm went off like a buzz saw at 6:30 am, waking Zak from blank sleep. He joined his mother at the formica table for coffee, scrambled eggs, toast, some stilted conversation and was off.

Walking on Fourth Avenue to the subway he was part of the morning rush hour crowd being inhaled into the heart of NYC. Yes, his mind 2.0 had told him this and now he accepted it as a fact. Just being in the flow, pulled along by the human current was easy. Why fight it? How could you fight it?

He bought two tokens, dropped one in the slot, heard the screech of the West End express coming into the 36th Street station, hustled down one flight, got on.

He took the #4 express to 59th Street, caught the #6 local to 68th Street, went up two flights, came out and stood on the southeast corner of Lexington and 68th Street, where he paused.

Hunter College was across the street. Zak, along with a small crowd of students, stood waiting for the “Don’t Walk” to become the steady green “Walk.”

The crowd obeyed, stepping off the curb to cross Lexington.

But Zak didn’t move and the kids behind him had to walk around him. The sign changed back to “Don’t Walk.” A small crowd built again on the corner. After a minute the sign went back to “Walk” and once again Zak didn’t move. The chatter from mind 2.0 was starting again.

“What’s wrong man, why ain’t you moving?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying, don’t lie to me!”

“Don’t lie to you??? Who the fuck are you?”

“You know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Zak turned right and headed north, up the slight incline of Lexington Avenue.

He walked and walked and walked, passing dress shops and galleries, neatly dressed men and women, some with little dogs on leashes. At 86th Street there was a doughnut shop. They were serving coffee to go and frying doughnuts in a vat of oil. Zak bought two of the glazed ones and a coffee – milk no sugar.

He leaned against the green metal subway entrance. The doughnuts were still warm and sticky with sugar.

86th and Lex, a very busy corner even by city standards. People in a tight crowd were jamming down the subway steps.

“Sucked in… breathed in!” that voice reminded him.

“Yeah yeah, inhaled, Hey I’m eatin a glazed doughnut!”

That shut him up. (Him?)

Zak was still, everything else was moving. At certain points the cars going downtown on Lexington would jam and be backed into the intersection. Then the traffic going crosstown on 86th would be blocked. Horns blared, cars would move an inch forward, stop, and then another inch forward, stop, and then another inch. A human voice might yell “MOVE!” but no one would get out of their vehicle, saying “Fuck it.” And just walk away. They held their post and waited for the traffic to move, which it did—another inch.

Zak, still sipping his coffee, crossed the 86th street gridlock zig-zagging between taxis, cars, and trucks.

Continued his uptown crawl occasionally asking himself “Where the fuck am I going,” but kept moving north. Nothing changed until he crossed 96th Street. Suddenly there were no doorman buildings. Suddenly there were garbage cans, and then, at 100th Street, a bodega. “This looks like Brooklyn,” he thought. The border had been crossed from “Susan Kemp Land” into the working-class realm of upper Manhattan. Cars were still jamming down Lexington, but the fancy ladies with the little dogs were gone. At 110th Street, Zak turned left, going west past Madison, to Fifth – the northeast corner of Central Park. Doormen reappeared, and Fifth Avenue being Fifth Avenue, so did the ladies and little dogs.

Continued Next Month

Author Bob Racioppo is a founding member of the Shirts, a New York-based American punk band that was one of the seminal CBGB bands. After signing a record deal they toured the US and Europe. In addition to music, Robert is an accomplished fine artist. This is his first novel. He grew up in Sunset Park and now lives in Windsor Terrace. To order a copy of the full book ($15) text 917 652-9128 with your address.

in the Sol. One of the great mysteries of the 1990s was Gastr del Sol. Formed as a trio by former Squirrel Bait guitarist David Grubbs, two of the members decamped for Tortoise after the first album. They were replaced by musical polymath Jim O’Rourke, and so began the grand experiment. Their long meandering tracks, often with electronic beds or field recordings and punctuated by acoustic guitar, recalled the more experimental (and often overlooked) sound works by the great John Fahey; the duo recorded Fahey’s “Dry Bones in the Valley” with composer and sound artist Tony Conrad on violin for their 1996 album Upgrade & Afterlife. The year before that, they released maybe their most ambitious record. The Harp Factory on Lake Street (named for an actual harp factory in their homebase of Chicago) was a single and stunning-yet-understated 17-minute track recorded with a nine-piece band including brass, reeds, strings, synthesizer and percussion. That track is included on the new collection We Have Dozens of Titles (double CD, triple LP and download out from Drag City last month), along with other limited release tracks and nearly an hour of unreleased live recordings. The collection is a great introduction to their droning passages, wobbly song structures and maudlin melodies, but it also has plenty to entice the already initiated. Most significant, though, is it’s heft. At just over 100 minutes, it’s the deepest single-serving submersion into their unusual sound world so far. The download allows for a sustained drift through the Sol until you forget what you’re listening to and realize you’re feeling strangely nostalgic for things you can’t name and places you can’t place. Individual mileage may vary, of course, but as some other musical journeyman once suggested, unplug your mind, relax and float downstream.

From the land where punk began. Scotsman Allan McNaughton’s voice and sensibility pretty well dominate the sound of Neutrals. While he and his Yank bandmates (the solidly shuffling of drummer Phil Lantz and deep bounce of bassist Lauren Matsui) are based in San Francisco, McNaughton’s accent, not to mention his songwriting, puts the band firmly in league with

such snotty old school pop punk heroes as Buzzcocks and the Undertones, and their sophomore full-length New Town Dream (CD, LP, download jointly released last month by Slumberland Records and Static Shock Records) furthers the illusion. It opens with a dubby remix of the title track, which actually appeared on 2022’s Bus Stop Nights EP. There’s also a short bit of discoleaning existentialism (“How Did I Get Here?”). Such punk moves. There’s a sequel song in “Wish You Were Here,” catching us up on the sad story of the miserable liar introduced on Bus Stop’s in the hilarious “Gary Borthwick Says”— total Jilted John move (and check the claymation vids for both songs). The illusion is real, though, in any ways that matter. They’re not playing dress-up or throwback. New Town Dream is a heartfelt album. There’s even field recordings of protest chants on “Stop the Bypass.” But mostly there’s the catchy-as-heck tunes documenting the aggravations of daily life, laid out with a healthy, cynical humor. Or is that humour?

Meanwhile, besides being a chic bit of

hairstyling, Marcel Wave is a smart, London quintet whose debut Something Looming comes out June 14 (LP,

CD and download from Upset The Rhythm). The band came together when writer Maike Hale Jones called together members of Sauna Youth and Cold Pumas—I don’t know either of those bands, I just wanted to say their names—for a project. She’d published essays and short fiction in the past, explaining the literary leanings of her often spoken lyrics, which put Marcel Wave in line with talkcore bands like Dry Cleaning, Dawn of Midi, Yard Act, Fontaines D.C., Benefits or even such punks of yore as the Fall and Romeo Void. But Jones is more resignation than rebellion, and her band is more upbeat than all those other Chatty Cathies. The title Something Looming might suggest things are gonna explode, but for the moment they’re busily propelled by peppy tunes and blipping electric organ. “Stop/Continue” is the killer here, documenting centuries of drudgery and daily grinds over a quick and cold synth sequence.

Track 1, Side 1. On “Yung Hearts

Bleed Free, the lead single from the new of Montreal album, Kevin Barnes sings “Now I’m an old hag / sitting by the same river with my prayer beads and my anal beads, hope i don’t mix them up.” He nails it there, maybe more than he meant to. As of Montreal, Barnes released a handful of quirky albums between 1997 and 2002 followed by the remarkable run of Satanic Panic in the Attic, The Sunlandic Twins and Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer from 2004 to 2007. Since then, he’s continued to roll out records of dark, depressive disco with moments of true inspiration. That’s not a criticism, that’s just the way it usually goes: the initial search for a sound that leads to the lightning storm of greatness followed by a long spell of variations on a theme. Once you pass that turn in the road (if not before), it’s time to frontload your new releases. Lady on the Cusp, which came out on Polyvinyl (CD, LP, download) last month is another perfectly enjoyable album that kicks off with the hilarious

anthem “Music Hurts the Head,” with hints of arena rock and psychedelic subversion. Both “Hearts” and “Hurt” highlight Barnes’ irresistible irritability, but the latter is a more convincing case.

Frontloading isn’t a strategy reserved for old fogies in glitter eyeshadow, of course. Dreammachine, the third album from Brooklyn’s Habibi (CD, LP, download from Kill Rock Stars last month) disappeared into a pleasant pop haze of slithering surf riffs and lowimpact grooves, nicely augmented by the midpoint instrumental “Interlude” after the album’s initial statement of purpose, “On the Road.” Like Lady on the Cusp, it’s a perfectly fine album, but those two opening tracks are making it to my summer mixtape—which I 100% intend to make this year unless I just leave the Gastr del Sol set on repeat until September.

Seasons

Luc Be a Lady Tonight

Review of “I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition,” by Lucy Sante Review by Michael Quinn

Amillion years ago, my then-boyfriend and I were in Las Vegas for a wedding. One of the casinos had a photo booth that took pictures of couples and produced stickers that showed what your child would look like. You could choose the sex.

I’ll never forget the face of that little girl we made. She was hideous. Naturally, gay couples can’t produce children on their own. But technology showed us a glimpse of what that fantasy future could look like. And sometimes a glimpse is all it takes to change your life forever.

In 2021, a 67-year-old writer, feeling “too old and too bald,” downloaded FaceApp onto his phone. He thought its gender swap feature might be good for a laugh. But the joke’s on him. That’s not just a woman in the picture. That’s who he really is.

“I Heard Her Call My Name,” by Lucy Sante, traces the renowned writer’s journey from Luc to Lucy. Luc dances between recognizing and denying the woman he has always been “like a character in a science fiction novel, trapped between dimensions.”

Luc’s core identity is outsider. He grows up the only child in a Catholic workingclass family that shuttles between Belgium and the United States, finally settling in suburban New Jersey. His mother spoils Luc as a baby, then resents him as he starts to sprout into manhood. First she snoops, then she slaps. Sante writes of their relationship, “We hated each other so intensely it was almost like love.”

While attending Columbia University in the 1970s, Luc finds his bohemian tribe. He hangs out in places like the Mudd Club and rubs shoulders with artists like Patti Smith. Working at the Strand and later at The New York Review of Books, he discovers himself as a writer and starts to build a notable career.

Throughout his life, Luc represses his “lifelong desire to be a woman.” He avoids the few trans people he meets, afraid of what they have in common. Despite being “terrible” in bed with “a poisonous tendency to turn my spouses into my mother,” he marries, divorces, marries again. He raises a son. Yet a sense of urgency brought on by the pandemic finally prompts him to come out as transgender—on his partner Mimi’s birthday. (He later makes sense of this as an unconscious betrayal.) Reflecting on their failed relationship, Sante confesses, “It wasn’t so much that I had betrayed Mimi’s trust, but that I had never honestly earned it.”

Trans stories often get bogged down in a lot of academic jargon—gender theory and the like—as well as politics. Well-intentioned authors dutifully regurgitate the familiar talking points that can make a conservative’s blood pressures rise. Sante is too lively and original a writer for that. “There is nothing of the politician about me,” Lucy admits. She doesn’t care about “representation”—she just wants to exist. Sante includes black-and-white photographs showing Lucy’s evolution over time. At the end, a selfie shows her closer to the present day, with shoulder-length white hair and a big smile. She looks not only happy but liberated. (This makes sense when you consider that she occasionally regards Luc not as a part of who she is but as “my sad-sack ex-husband.”) I’m sure I have that photo sticker of my little girl somewhere—a “what if” that could never be.

Jazz by Grella

Jazz in the Public Ear

by George Grella

Dear Reader:

Thanks for turning to this page. If you are a jazz fan, you know why you’re here, and I’m glad to have you. But what I’m writing this month is more specifically directed at the non-jazz fan, or any reader who happened to turn to this page just to continue reading everything in this fine newspaper. For you, well, I have some things to ask you and some to tell you. What I want to ask is, do you ever hear jazz? I don’t mean that you make the decision to listen to a jazz album (if you have any) or tune into a radio station you know plays jazz, or search for something on a streaming service, or go to a show. Outside of the intention to do so, do you ever hear jazz just by accident, you’re doing something, anything, and it reaches your ears? Because what I’m interested in is what the tech/ marketing/business people call “discovery” which is a cold abstraction that can apply to anything (how did you “discover” your toilet paper?) but here has to do with sound waves reaching your ears. The important distinction that the people trying to make money off of selling you music always miss is that they’re selling you something that you “discover” everyday, sound waves touching the one orifice on your body that you can’t close.

Anytime you’re near any kind of speaker, from a mobile phone to a television to a car stereo, you’re within reach of those waves. How many of them are jazz? The percentage is probably tiny. There are 330,000,000 people in the United States, and if a jazz musician puts out a new album that sells 3,000 copies (0.0009% of the population), that will be a best-seller in the genre. The last hit jazz album in the sense of pop-record level sales certified gold or platinum (500,000/1,000,000 copies sold) in the US was Heavy Weather from Weather Report, released in 1977 (Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock sold more than a million copies, but it’s outside of jazz).

I don’t know how to empirically measure jazz’s general popularity, but from an anecdotal standpoint I’m certain that it’s less popular than it was fifty years ago. Future Shock was maybe the last time when you could hear a jazz musician on Top-40 radio. Decline in popularity should statistically correlate with the chance of hearing the music, without intention. So, do you ever hear it?

There’s times I know you do, and I’m very interested in those, socially and intellectually. Did you watch The Sympathizer on HBO/Max? There were a couple instances of jazz that made me sit up and take notice: in episode 2, at the party Professor Robert Hammer is throwing, the scene opens with Charles Mingus’ “Slop” playing on the stereo and the prominent dis-

play of the Mingus Dynasty album cover; in episode 6, at a climactic violet moment, The Captain turns on the radio in an apartment and dials into a station where they’re playing Ornette Coleman’s “The Jungle is a Skyscraper” from his Science Fiction album.

From my inside view, I’m curious about the choices, and I feel a little cynical about them. Both of these albums are on Columbia, which is owned by Sony. Was there some connection to licensing/product placement for these that made business sense for A24 and Rhombus, which produced the series? What does the music say about the scenes and characters, espe-

The best place I know of in New York City to hear jazz in public is going to surprise you: it’s the Union Market supermarkets.

cially because it’s diegetic? Hammer is a self-absorbed intellectual and cultural snob, so Mingus makes sense for him to use as a signifier of his taste, although it’s strange that he’s using an album that was fifteen or so years old at the time and not something more recent like Let My Children Hear Music or the Changes One and Changes Two albums—although those two are on Atlantic, so maybe it’s the licensing? (I hope you see what I did there, pointing you to other Mingus albums to check out if you dug what you heard in that scene.)

The Ornette track troubles me in a different way. The action in the scene is violent and chaotic, and it seems like the producers just grabbed what they considered to be chaotic music, which is an exceedingly shallow, clichéd, and materialistic way to hear the it when at its core it’s deeply bluesy and expressive. It’s so obvious that it rings hollow, it put me off the scene instead of bringing me into it. And though it’s possible, it strikes me that even in the mid-1970s, just a few years after this album’s release, a radio station in Los Angeles would be playing it on the air one afternoon. Yeah, call me cynical—but check out the album! It comes before Ornette formed Prime Time but anticipates some of the electric funk action, and has a focus on bringing out startling beauty in even the most frustrating and daunting psychological circumstances. It’s Ornette at his wildest and most reaching.

We’re many, many decades from when jazz was used in movies and television to show some kind of hip, outsider stance or situation. The best use of it recently was the fragment of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “The Inflated Tear” that runs as an announcement of emotional conflict and tragedy in Judas and the Black Messiah (the album on Atlantic is The Inflated Tear, and if the music grabbed you in the movie the full record is going to blow your mind).

Does anyone play jazz in their cars? Probably, but not blasting it to the world like drivers with pop sensibilities like to. Although there’s a dude who I sometimes see when I’m in NoHo/East Village on warm, sunny days, who drives around in a vintage Mercedes convertible sporting a stylish hat and playing Miles Davis at substantial volume, and that’s a good way to live. There’s always a handful of bars and restaurants that play jazz for your drinking and dining mood—this is many years ago, but there was a fine restaurant in San Francisco where I had a business lunch, and they were playing Herbie Nichols of all people—not Monk, Herbie Nichols! (And if you enjoy Thelonious Monk, check out Herbie Nichols, you’ll enjoy him too.)

The best place I know of in New York City to hear jazz in public is going to surprise you: it’s the Union Market supermarkets. The one on Court Street in Cobble Hill is my local, and there’s locations in Park Slope, Crown Heights, and the Lower East Side. They play jazz over the store PA, and by jazz, I mean jazz! Not jazzy hits—I’ve never heard “It’s a Wonderful World”—but the core classics: be-bop from Charlie Parker, including Charlie Parker with Strings; Birth of the Cool and classic hard-bop from Miles Davis; modal jazz from John Coltrane; Dexter Gordon; Herbie Hancock, both acoustic and electric; Weather Report; Ellington; Monk; Mingus. Although the selections are narrow, it’s a stronger jazz radio station than WBGO, which often seems like it’s desperate not to startle or offend the casual listener. And this is nothing but casual listeners, people doing their shopping!

How this came about, and who made this decision, I have no idea. I’ve sent in questions via the business’ web site, but there’s been no answers. And as much as I wish there was a playlist on their site, zilch to that. So, casual and possibly jazz curious reader, if you happen to have any interest in the music and need to do some grocery shopping in Brooklyn, you know where to go.

Until next month, -GG

Red Hook Softball

MiniBar notches it's first

month

May, as the Red Hook Locals season takes

On May 6, Hometown took on Bait & Tackle in a low-scoring game with excellent defensive plays by both teams.

In the bottom of the seventh Hometown led 5-4 but Bait & Tackle led off with a double. A running catch in center turned into a double play which ended up being the difference in the game as Hometown improved to 3-1 while Bait & Tackle dropped to 0-4.

On May 9, the Wobblies relied on excellent defense in a 9-3 victory over B61. Additionally, the Record Shop beat MiniBar 10-6 thanks to a grand slam by star shortstop Andreas Kohl and strong pitching by Lars Fisk and Edan Portnoy who combined to toss five scoreless innings.

On May 13, B61 took on Hometown. JJ from B61 entered the game on a streak of three consecutive games with a home run. While Hometown ended his streak and got a home run and five RBIs from Booth, B61’s offense was excellent with contributions throughout their lineup and B61 won the game 14-7.

There were two outstanding close games on May 16. The Record Shop jumped out to a 6-0 lead on the Wobblies but the Wobblies strung together

photos and story by Brian Abate

singles and came through with some clutch hits. They took a 9-6 lead in the top of the sixth and led 9-8 going to the bottom of the seventh. A single and a walk set the stage for Bene Coopersmith who ripped a line drive into the gap in left-center. Two runs scored lifting the Record Shop to a 10-9 win. Coopersmith almost had a walkoff homer but he stumbled and did a celebratory summersault rounding third. The win kept the Record Shop in first place and ahead of the Wobblies. Meanwhile, on Dovey Diamond, a pair of home runs for Bait & Tackle helped them jump out to a sevenrun lead against MiniBar. However, MiniBar caught fire in the bottom of the sixth and rallied for eight runs to take the lead. There was some controversy over how many runs scored in the inning but ultimately it was determined that it was eight. Down to their last out, Michael Buscemi delivered a two-run double to give Bait a 17-16 lead. However, in the bottom of the seventh, MiniBar scored two runs on a ground out to second with some aggressive base running with the second runner scoring on a very close play at the plate. The 18-17 win gave MiniBar

their first win in the Red Hook Softball League and moved them ahead of Bait in the standings.

On May 20, Home Town took on MiniBar, fresh off their first victory in the RHSL. Hometown hit two triples and a home run in the top of the first to take a 5-0 lead. They never looked back. MiniBar had a pair of solo home runs but Hometown played well defensively, prevented any big rallies, and won the game 10-3.

On May 23, Bait & Tackle got revenge on the Wobblies with a 7-6 victory on Dovey Diamond. The Wobblies had last licks but Bait was able to hold on for the victory. The Wobblies had beaten Bait by one run in their season opener.

Also on May 23, the Record Shop beat B61 in a pitcher’s duel that ended in a 4-3 victory for the Record Shop. Lars Fisk got the win in relief and Matty McDermott got the Save. Shawn Andrew, the 2023 RSHL Cy Young winner, pitched all seven innings for B61. Gypsy Davey hit a three-run homer in the fifth for the Record Shop and they also played excellent defense, turning two double plays. B61 also made some great defensive plays in the loss.

In the first game of June, Hometown took on the Wobblies. Hometown scored one in the top of the first. However, with the bases loaded, a fly ball to left turned into a double play thanks to a perfect throw home which cut down a runner trying to tag up. The Wobblies tied it up with a run in the Botton of the first. The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fourth when the Wobblies got four runs including back-to-back homers by Tsanos and Brown. The Wobblies turned their second double play of the game in the seventh inning and won the game 5-1. The victory ties them in the standings with Hometown as both teams are 4-3.

B61 is bidding farewell (for now) to their all-star catcher, Alison DeMartino, who was behind the plate for their 2022 Championship win. DeMartino is described as “a real good one” and “tough as nails” by those in the league, and even broke her hand while catching in order to make a play. Although she’s moving out of Brooklyn with her husband, she will always be a part of the B61 team and the Red Hook Softball League.

Number 23 is Hometown first baseman Mitch.