the red hook
THE DUKES OF SNYDER, PART 3 -
STAR REVUE
PAGE 12
NOVEMBER 2021
FREE INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
DO WE DO THIS AGAIN???? Government plan leaves O'Connell properties, including Food Bazaar, on their own. Story on page 5
Colin in Black & White Makings of an American Icon
W
hen Colin Kaepernick took a knee in support of racial equality, he faced national outrage and criticism. The backlash surrounding his choice to kneel in solidarity with the Black community was roaring. Some white football fans burned his jerseys, posting videos on social media expressing their disdain and disappointment in his views. Politicians and media personalities like Donald Trump called for Kaepernick’s removal from the NFL. To date, 2017 would be Colin Kaepernick’s last year playing in the NFL. However, Kaepernick’s racial issues with the NFL were not his first experiences with racism in sports, a truth well illustrated in Netflix’s limited series Colin in Black and White, directed by Ava Duvernay. At this year’s screening of Colin in Black and White, I had the privilege of not only previewing the show but hearing from Ava Duvernay as she was interviewed by ABC’s Robin Roberts (Good Morning America).
At the beginning of the series, we see a young Colin Kaepernick in his early teens played by actor Jaden Michael, living with his adopted parents in Wisconsin before moving to California. Early on it’s clear that Colin is adored by people in his surroundings. Kaepernick’s life is shown to be filled with love, sports, and an endearing midwestern charm.
One of the many critiques Colin Kaepernick has received throughout the years has been on the topic of his ‘Blackness.’ Some have labeled his involvement and struggles with racial equality as simply a consequence of the current racial climate ––– a trendy result of Black Lives Matter and other racial justice move-
by Roderick Thomas ments. However, in the series, we see a different story. Colin in Black and White shows a young Kaepernick wrestling with his identity in very white American settings. Colin’s hair, in particular, played a key part in his earliest struggles with racial equality.
Like many children of African descent born to, and adopted by non-Black parents, hair is often a challenge for their caretakers. In the early 2000’s NBA legend Allen Iverson’s signature braids (cornrows specifically) and personal style brought him a swarm of media attention, quite often negative press. Iverson’s natural hairstyle was called unprofessional, and like many Black men, he was casually labeled a thug. Colin Kaepernick grew up idolizing the young NBA legend, he emulated Allen Iverson’s basketball skills and style. The politics of Colin Kaepernick stars in a new Netlix series about himself Black hair is used to set the stage for the challenges Kaepernick would face as a biracial Black young man maneuvering the joys and nuances of young man in America. Despite his light complexion Black hair care. From getting his hair braided in and relative racial ambiguity, Colin’s otherness in his the homes of young Black women, to his first black mostly white surroundings and hair especially, set him barbershop experience. Colin’s journey into his Black apart. His hair was arguably his Blackest identifier. perspective is very entertaining and heartwarming to Soon Kaepernick would also be branded a thug and watch. unprofessional, not for his behavior, but his braided Colin’s parents, though early on portrayed as loving hair. caretakers, struggled to understand their son and his Despite the criticism Colin faced from his coaches (continued on page 16) and parents for his natural hairstyles, we still see a
the red hook
STAR REVUE 481 Van Brunt Street, 8A Brooklyn, NY 11231 (718) 624-5568 www.star-revue.com george@redhookstar.com
Editor & Publisher George Fiala News
Nathan Weiser Brian Abate
Features
Erin DeGregorio
Culture
Roderick Thomas
Politics
Howard Graubard
Overseas man Rock
Dario Muccilli Kurt Gottschalk
Jazz
George Grella
Film
Dante A. Ciampaglia
Books
Michael Quinn
Cartoon
Marc Jackson
WebMaster
Tariq Manon
Design
George Fiala
Advertising
Liz Galvin Jamie Yates
Merry Band of Contributors Michael Cobb Joe Enright Michael Fiorito Rocío Gómez Jack Grace Mike Morgan Nino Pantano Andrew B. White Stefan Zeniuk
“Best Community Publication”
FOR EDITORIAL, ADVERTISING OR EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES, email george@redhookstar.com.
The Red Hook Star-Revue is published every month.
Kindness rocks Kensington
I
by Erin DeGregorio
f you’re walking around Kensington, keep your eyes peeled for a surprise sitting by a tree trunk or fire hydrant. Residents have been hiding and discovering homemade, painted rocks in public places around the neighborhood. This initiative is one branch of The Kindness Rocks Project that has captivated multiple U.S. and international cities since its inception in Massachusetts in 2015. A woman, who chose to remain anonymous at the time, began collecting rocks from a beach after her parents died. She said the rocks served as a personal source of inspiration, and thought they could be the same for others as well. Sara-Sun Cangelosi, the manager of Acme Dog Run (a family-owned dog daycare in Gowanus) who was born and raised in Kensington, moved back to her old neighborhood over the summer. She lived in Bay Ridge for the past 13 years and was a member of the public Bay Ridge Rocks! Facebook group that was created in January 2017. Members of that South Brooklyn neighborhood have written uplifting messages like “Someone out there feels better because you exist” and “You are my sunshine,” drawn images like smiling butterflies and vibrantly colored hearts,” and hidden them in parks and by local businesses’ storefronts. At just two months old, the Bay Ridge Rocks page had more than 430 members; it had approximately 4,200 members as of Oct. 28, 2021. “Bay Ridge Rocks has been such a joyful and positive experience for me,” Cangelosi explained. “It’s helped me destress by painting, enabled me to meet so many neighbors that I would of likely never had contact with, and allowed me to help in spreading joy and smiles to strangers – something we all need!” “My absolute favorite rock is the first rock I found that currently sits in a bowl on my coffee table [which was handpainted by Bay Ridge Rocks! co-founder Rana Abu-Sbaih],” Cangelosi added. “I have Rana to thank for the joy of neighborhood rock painting groups!” Over the past four years, Cangelosi has painted dozens of rocks and hidden them throughout Bay Ridge and beyond – including in Florida and several different states while
driving cross country, at Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in upstate New York, Storm King Art Center in Orange County, and the Bronx Zoo. When she found herself missing the art and sense of community after returning to Kensington, Cangelosi learned that a local rock group did not exist and was inspired to launch her own. “Since moving back, I’ve noticed what an artistically centric neighborhood this is,” said Cangelosi a week before Halloween, noting how painted wooden plaques of hope were placed upon trees and handmade Halloween masks were wrapped around other trees and lamp posts. “I’m hoping rock painting will be something the neighborhood will enjoy and relish in as well.” Since Oct. 3, when Kensington Rocks! officially went “live,” Cangelosi has painted handfuls of rocks – mostly Halloween-themed ahead of the holiday – and has hidden them throughout Kensington, Greenwood, and Windsor Terrace with her Chihuahua, Trixie. Nearly 70 people joined Kensington Rocks! as of Oct. 28, certainly cementing a newfound activity that anybody, of any age can participate in. “The public reaction has been great,” Cangelosi said. “People seem to think it’s a great idea and anyone who’s found rocks I’ve hidden have been SO happy to find them, [which is] exactly the point.” “Just a small handful of people have painted and hidden so far,” she continued, “but I’m sure in time that number will ramp up!” With that said, Cangelosi’s goal is to raise awareness of the fun treasure-hunting trend, to as many neighbors as possible. “I can only hope that the positive benefits of actually painting rocks, connecting with neighbors, and giving people a reason to get out and find little treasures that I had with Bay Ridge Rocks will be shared and enjoyed here in Kensington,” Cangelosi said. If you find a Kensington Rocks-tagged rock, you can keep it or rehide it for someone else to find. Take a photo of your creation and/or newfound treasure and post it to Facebook for everyone to see. To view and join Kensington Rocks!, search Kensington Rocks! on Facebook.
Founded June 2010 by George Fiala and Frank Galeano with thanks to these guys
Page 2 Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
November 2021
Opinion: Words by George
It seems to always end up with politics
I
n the earlier days of this newspaper, I only occasionally wrote a column. There either had to be something compelling in the local news that I wanted to opine on, or there was extra room in the paper that needed to be filled. But now, as I'm starting to grow up, along with the paper, I've made a commitment to say something each month. The effect of this upon my life takes me back to the time, decades ago, when I was nearing to the end of an unsuccessful marriage, and spent a year or so in marriage counseling. Each week I would try to make sure remember all the imagined slights I would endure in the relationship during the week, which I would blurt out to the therapist every Saturday morning, hoping to convince her of the terrible things I had to put up with. Well, these many years later I'm kind of doing the same thing as I plod through every month, knowing that this column lies ahead. At least once every day or too something happens that triggers a pithy thought in my mind that I think will be the next column. Of course, my problem is that I generally don't write the thought down. I used my cellphone for a while to archive my thought, but I end up never listening to the transcription. I did have a bunch of different thoughts this month, some of which I scribbled down, but know that I'm here, I don't know where they are. One thing that is hard to forget is the election we just endured. Up until I was around 45, I believed that anyone who was elected to government was an especially bright person, chosen by the masses exhibiting their special wisdom. That feeling first started to feel wrong with the election of George W. Understand now that I lived through both Richard Nixon terms. While I and many of my peers didn't agree with his policies, mostly having to do with Vietnam and race, we knew that he wasn't stupid—that he had decades of government experience and probably did alright in school. There were protests every weekend as well as occasional riots.
by George Fiala
However, once the draft ended most of my friends didn't seem to care about him one way or another. I was always surprised that the summer school students at my college didn't hold a huge party that night in August after he took that helicopter ride from the White House when he finally resigned. When Bush won, and then, after 9/11 we went to war in Iraq, I started to realize that just because someone is elected to office, doesn't mean that they can't make terrible mistakes out of sheer ignorance. Being confused about this, I applied and was accepted to an International Relations Masters program at the New School, where I began to catch up on all the history I missed in college by sleeping through classes. I discovered that politicians are real people, and responsible for lots of dumb things throughout world history. Until I started this paper in 2010, I didn't experience any of this first-hand. Over the past almost 12 years I have met and watched local politicians in action. These included Felix Ortiz, Carlos Menchaca, Brad Lander, and Steve Levin, and others. The others are the only ones I ended up respecting. Joan Millman was an Assemblywoman for many years with an office on Court Street. She earned the respect of her constituents by working hard and being smart. Additionally, she was a savvy politician, becoming an effective advocate for schools and seniors and libraries. One of my early encounters with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez came at my second Christmas at this paper. Back in those days, I would spend my weekends traipsing around all sort of local events, snapping photos to put in the paper. This one weekend it seemed that every place I went to, Velazquez and her District Director, the ubiquitous Dan Wiley, had either just got there before me, or showed up right after. Unlike our current leaders—State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assembly Member Marcella Mitaynes, and, especially in his second term, Councilman Carlos Menchaca—Velazquez, like Joan Millman, makes sure she pays her local
TALL GUY, SMALL GUY THiS APARTMeNT IS T iNY, THE T0ILeT iS NEXT TO THE OVeN!
Starting January, we will have new politicians working for us—a new Councilperson and Borough President, not to mention a new mayor.
BY MARC JACKS0N
PUT THAT 0N THE PRO’S
C0LUMN.
neighborhood dues by showing up. When it comes to consistency, Velazquez always follows her principles. In Gowanus, she fought for the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, urging Superfund Status at a time when this city was doing all it could to avoid it, worried that the Superfund stigma would delay the building of residential skyscrapers. This was back in 2009. Now, in 2021, with the dredging and capping of the Canal finally beginning, the City is still doing its best to handicap the cleanup, both by stalling a fix of the sewage situation ordered by the EPA, as well as rushing to build residential buildings on Public Place, a large plot of land in Carroll Gardens that once housed a Brooklyn Union Gas Manufacturing facility. Many locals are unsure of the safety of this, as gas manufacturing has left lethal toxins in the ground, and it was Nydia, along with Millman's successor, Jo Anne Simon, who led a press conference next to the Canal recently to call out for the City to keep the neighborhood safe. I have to admit one other thing. While most politicians today are younger than me, and completely wedded to social media, Nydia is the only one that regularly responds to my questions and concerns, as it pertains to the communities we write about. Having just written that, I realize that maybe I should be doing a better job at communication myself (is this my therapy session?)
I LiKe TO C0OK, BUT SOMETIMeS,
THiNGS GO WR0NG...
This now brings me to term limits. People love to complain—it's evidently part of human nature —and of course politicians are a natural scapegoat for all kinds of our own failings. "Throw the bum out" is a very popular phrase, and directly led to the establishment of terms limits for NYC political offices in 1993. I'm in favor of all of them except for the City Council. The Council legislates, and good legislation should require experienced legislators. If a representative is good, voters should know this and keep reelecting them. If they are stupid and corrupt, get rid of them as soon as possible. That's what voting is for. And if the voters are stupid, well, we get what we deserve. What I have seen of term limits in the Council, most specifically right now with our own Carlos Menchaca, is that the first term is when they work hard so they can win a second term. But then, unless they are somebody like Nydia who actually cares about doing their job well, a lame duck council member is focused on setting themselves up for a next job, usually confirming the Peter Principle (people are promoted to their level of incompetence), and neglecting the task at hand. For me at least, who kind of took a hands-off approach when it came to covering the once locally popular Menchaca for the past four years, it's gloves on with the Socialist (her own words) Aviles, who is taking his place. I'm looking forward to it.
WITH THiS
PROXiMITY, I CAN ReALLY GET CREATiVe!
mj
HUH?
?
Nydia Velazquez making the rounds at Christmas fairs in 2011. This one was on Hamilton Avenue across from what used to be Pathmark. (photo by George Fiala)
One of the biggest areas where government affects community is land use. Starting next month, we will be pestering Alexa Aviles and Antonio Reynoso (and we will try to be in touch with the former Borough President) to make sure that they hear my and our concerns about land use and city services. (This is kind of a warning, in case any of these people are reading). I am all for contextual development, but not SuperSizing of our neighborhoods, whatever the rationalization.
WWW.MARCMAKeSCOMiCS.C0.UK
Red Hook Star-Revue
©COPYRIGHT 2021 MARC JACKSON AND WEiRD0 COMiCS #1
www.star-revue.com
November 2021, Page 3
Celebrating Hispanic heritage by Nathan Weiser
R
ed Hook's PS 676 held their first Hispanic Heritage Celebration on October 15 as part of National Hispanic Heritage month. Adding to the Hispanic heritage theme of the event was the ethnic food that Kimpanadas, a new restaurant on Smith Street, donated. The owner is a friend of pastor Edwin Pacheco from Redemption Church. A world map gate gave students the opportunity to put a sticker on the country where their family was from. Stickers were placed on Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia and others. Lynn Shon teaches third, fourth and fifth grade. She organized a writing project about important Hispanic scientists. Her goal was to broaden student's horizons. “I used to teach at MS 88 and I would have the students do an experiment where they would draw a scientist and usually at least 80 percent of the students drew Albert Einstein,” Shon said. “They have internalized that what being a scientist is is generally being a white man.” “I put together a packet and the students could choose among the scientists that I had curated,” Shon said. “I printed out a ton of information on these scientists and they could pick and choose from there.” Two scientists that some adults might recognize were Eleanor Ochoa and Dr. Antonia Novello.
Ochoa was one of the first Hispanic NASA astronauts. She was the first Hispanic director and second female director of the Johnson Space Center. Dr. Novello was the first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General. “Hopefully we will just leave these up for a couple of weeks so that people read and understand all the contributions that Hispanic Americans have made in the field of science,” Shon said. Shon teaches science to third through fifth graders and also teaches STEM focused on maritime. When she began teaching at 676 this year she thought they needed to make sure that Hispanic Heritage Month was recognized. Reach Children’s Study House donated backpacks, notebooks and crayons for the kids. There was a free raffle for the kids of PS 676. Some of the donated prizes included a $50 Amazon gift card, children’s books, a world map puzzle, a brand new soccer ball, Mexican chocolate and toys. The kids were excited to get their prize from parent coordinator Marie Hueston when their number was called.
Wrong time for the flu. Right time for a flu shot. COVID-19 has taught us that we all need to be protected.
A flu shot helps protect you and your family.
Especially:
Childen under 5
For more information and to find a location to get your flu shot, visit nyc.gov/flu or call 311.
Page 4 Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
If you are over 65
If you are or may be pregnant
If you have other medical conditions
Bill de Blasio Mayor Dave A. Chokshi, MD MSc Commissioner
November 2021
These images are directly from the NYC plan to protect Red Hook. It shows how walls would protect everything in Red Hook's southern coast except for Food Bazaar, all the businesses in the Beard Street warehouse, including Ample Hills, all the residents above Fairway, while protecting Hometown and Brooklyn Crab. Dry Dock Liquors would be protected unless water comes from the East on Beard Street. Another part of the plan is to raise the sidewalks, although details in the plan, which is called 30% ready, are not yet fully explained.
Flood wall plan bypasses Food Bazaar and the Beard Street warehouses
H
urricane Sandy provided headline opportunities for New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo. In January 2014, Vice President Joe Biden came to Albany to announce a statewide program to protect against natural disasters. As the online news site Politico wrote: "The state would build a $200-million flood protection system in Red Hook, Brooklyn, an area particularly hardhit by flooding during Hurricane Sandy, which caused an estimated $32 billion in damage when it struck in October of 2012." By that summer, the $200 million number was cut in half, and work was begun on a plan for submission to FEMA. Once approved, it moved to the NYC Department of Design and Construction, who presented the current state of the plan to Red Hook in an online presentation which can be seen here: https://on.nyc. gov/2ZPTS66 It was mostly a boring presentation in which their main presenter, someone named "Q" slowly went through a Powerpoint presentation, which you can see here: https://bit.ly/3bKqYak In it, he explains the kinds of protections that can be done, without stressing the kinds that cannot. Questions were asked and patiently answered, or in some cases not. The most shocking part of the presentation was a video they made of Food
by George Fiala
Bazaar and its close neighbors flooding. You can see the stills above. What would happen, according to this plan, would be that walls would be placed along Beard Street, and in a hurricane, what they call a "rolling flood gate" would be activated and keep the flooding within Food Bazaar, which is 480-500 Van Brunt Street, and the warehouses, which include 471, 481 and 499 Van Brunt. Not only would the floodwaters stay within, because they couldn't spread out, they would rise higher than if there were no walls. Of course you can imagine that certain people were shocked by this, including the author, whose newspaper office is located at 481 Van Brunt Street, a space shared with NY Printing and Graphics, who suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars of losses during Sandy. Among the slides shown was one that mentioned the procedures that the Department of Design (DOD) followed in preparing their plan. It mentioned that there were meetings with community stakeholders, one of which was the O'Connell Organization, which owns the above mentioned buildings. Gregory T. O'Connell played for me a tape of the private meeting held with DOD back in June. They basically laid out the same plan they did in October. I asked O'Connell why he wasn't more
Then Vice-President Joe Biden meets with then Governor Cuomo to announce aid for Red Hook. (AP photo)
vociferous in his objections (meaning he was very quiet and polite while laying out the concerns he had for his tenants and the community, Food Bazaar being one of only two supermarkets serving Red Hook.) He wrote back: "Well at that point I was under the impression that these people would work with us so I didn’t think it would be helpful to get upset. There seems to be no real substance behind engagement and feedback—I get the sense those are just boxes to check for their process. They claim that FEMA requires that it be on public property but I’ve always told them we’d work with them and are open to easements etc. To date nothing has been changed and our points have been ignored." I asked Nydia Velazquez about this, and Dan Wiley, her District Director wrote back: "Nydia wanted me to let you know that we are doing a letter
and convening a Red Hook Coastal Resiliency project follow up meeting regarding concerns with what’s left out of the plan. I’ve spoken with the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency and NYC Dept of Design and Construction and they will schedule a meeting in the next week or so with the Congresswoman and affected waterfront properties, residential and business tenants just outside the flood protection including Beard Street (and Food Bazaar) and Red Hook Terminal. I’ve also spoken with FEMA to have a representative attend the meeting since the question on the eligibility criteria have come up with regard to key decisions on the alignment of the barrier and what was taken under consideration in due diligence." So there is hope still for not just some of Red Hook, but all of it. Stay tuned.
ORDER ONLINE AT
WetWhistleWines.com FOR PICK UP OR DELIVERY OR DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP
Open Seven Days
WINE & SPIRITS Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
718-576-3143
357 Van Brunt St. November 2021, Page 5
photo by George Fiala
Catching up with the Gowanus Canal
A
fter more than 160 years as a repository of human and industrial waste, the Gowanus Canal is leaving its toxic legacy behind—or under. Last month marked a milestone in the Superfund cleanup of the waterway, as the bottom of the canal north of the 3rd Street Bridge was successfully injected with a five-foot layer of cement in a process known as in-situ stabilization. The procedure, overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), follows dredging works done earlier this year and will prevent remaining pollutants in the canal’s sediment from recontaminating the water above. The news was communicated to members of the Gowanus Canal Advisory Group by Chrisots Tisamis, the EPA engineer leading the remediation, during an October 26 virtual meeting. “This is globally groundbreaking work,” added EPA counsel Brian Carr, noting that in-situ stabilization had never been attempted in saltwater before. The stretch between 3rd and 9th streets will be stabilized in about a month’s time, once the EPA runs tests and completes other works at the top of the canal, said Tsiamis. In the meantime, the brick-by-brick dismantling of 234 Butler Street will begin in the coming weeks. The building’s facade will be reassembled following the construction of an 8-million gallon retention tank that will stop sewage from pouring into the Gowanus Canal in the future. The EPA had previously ordered New York City to begin construction of the tank back in March, after repeated delays were
Page 6 Red Hook Star-Revue
by Jorge Bello
denounced by the advisory group. The tank is slated for completion around July 2023.
Water under the bridge Tensions between federal and state officials had been escalating earlier this year over the remediation of Public Place, a heavily contaminated industrial site along the canal on which the city envisions an affordable housing complex it’s touting as Gowanus Green, a park, and a public school. During a now-infamous virtual meeting in December of last year, Tsiamis warned the advisory group that the remedy, planned by utility company National Grid and overseen by New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), would not be sufficiently protective of human health and would jeopardized the EPA’s cleanup of the canal. This led to a series of heated exchanges at subsequent meetings with the advisory group and to terse words exchanged via official correspondences. Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed in April with the issuing of a joint EPA-DEC pledge of cooperation in addressing the issues raised. Both agencies have made good on that promise, said Tsiamis. Members of EPA management and technical personnel have met virtually with their state, city, and National Grid counterparts three times since August to discuss the challenges of remediating Public Place. “The discussions that we had have been satisfactory to EPA. A good outcome to those discussions [will address] EPA’s concerns for that
site as an integral part of Superfund.” The EPA is currently reviewing proposals made by DEC and Gowanus Green developers for the installation of a vapor intrusion barrier to protect future residents from the toxic chemicals that continually rise from the site. Details on the barrier’s lifespan, material, and future monitoring plan will be revealed at a later date, Tsiamis said. Solutions to other health and environmental hazards at Public Place, such as dealing with contaminated runoff spilling back into the canal and safely extracting the buried coal tar that will accumulate at the waterfront for decades to come are also forthcoming, he added. How to effectively contain the underground coal tar and prevent it from migrating off-site will be the subject of discussions at a fourth meeting between federal and state officials this month.
Whose streets? As the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal steadily advances, Brad Vogel of Voice of Gowanus, a local organization that opposes the city’s rezoning plan for the neighborhood, stressed the importance of giving residents a say in shaping the waterfront and public access to it. The upcoming installation of a canal-side bulkhead at the end of Degraw Street presents such an opportunity, he said. Vogel called for the EPA to arrange a meeting with the city agencies responsible for developing the streetscapes around the waterway. Though the EPA supports the community’s right to shape their environment for their benefit, fulfill-
www.star-revue.com
ing that request would be outside the scope of the federal agency, which mainly concerns itself with overseeing and protecting the integrity of the Gowanus Canal remedy, Tsiamis replied. “It’s incumbent upon us to try on behalf of the public to get a better result here, even though it may be a Don Quixote mission to do so,” stated Vogel. Tsiamis chuckled. “I don’t think Don Quixote was a fool in the end if you ask me.”
Not in my canal Despite the Department of City Planning approving the rezoning plan in September, Voice of Gowanus recently retained Richard J. Lippes, an environmental litigation attorney who brought a class-action suit on behalf of homeowners in the Love Canal Disaster of the 1970s. Voice of Gowanus members have been calling for a redo of the city’s Environmental Impact Statement, which they say uses outdated data from 2008 to play down the effects of the increase in density Gowanus will experience as a result of the rezoning. The neighborhood got a preview of what that reality will actually look like this summer, when Hurricane Ida overcharged the area’s sewers and caused widespread flooding, said Martin Bisi, a Voice of Gowanus spokesperson. “The City can’t be allowed to sidestep this, or increase the risk to life, health, and property because of insufficient study and infrastructure planning.”
November 2021
Taking the big post-pandemic step
S
ince the coronavirus pandemic began, lots of businesses in New York City and throughout the country have had to close down. However, over the past few months, I’ve noticed new businesses that are opening up despite the challenges the pandemic poses. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to the owners of some of these businesses and find out about their experience starting a business post-pandemic. Here are some of their stories.
by Brian Abate
munity,” Obed said. “There are so many nice people here and a very chill vibe. We’re a young group that’s into health and art and we’re looking to make a positive impact on the community.”
JUICE MART
Obed recently opened Juice Mart, located at 395 Van Brunt Street, formerly the home of Wooden Sleepers. “I always wanted to open up a restaurant but right now a juice bar is more on my budget and I think it’s a stepping stone for me,” Obed said. “Despite the pandemic, this didn’t feel
Obed at his Van Brunt Street shop
Hooked on Plants makes its home at the corner of Van Brunt and Verona
HOOKED ON PLANTS
I spoke with Charly and Chris of Hooked on Plants, which just opened up a few months ago at the corner of Van Brunt St. and Verona St. in Red Hook. “I started as a contractor but it has always been a dream of mine to do something Earth-friendly,” Charly says. “The pandemic was really tough on everyone but it also opens up your mind… And I thought what better way to give back to the Earth than plants. They kept doing their thing during the pandemic while everything else was shut down.
like a risk, it felt like a great opportunity as there aren’t any other juice bars in the area.”
Charly also opened up another plant shop on McDonald Avenue. He’s hopeful that over time the businesses will grow.
Juice Mart stands out on Van Brunt for its bright colors and artwork inside. I pass by it every day on the way to work and I’ve seen them adding more and more art. I can see first hand they’ve been working hard.
“That’s one of the biggest things for us right now,” Chris said. “We just opened up so the big thing is hopefully getting the word out there so more people know about us.”
“Some days we get definitely get more business than others,” Obed said. “Some days it’s really crowded and other days there aren’t many people at all. Opening up a business during the pandemic has definitely had its ups and downs but I’m still enjoying every step of the journey. One of the challenges is just continuing to believe that even when business is slow that it will pick back up again.” Obed is also a very goal-oriented person and told me about some of the goals he has set for Juice Mart. “Even though things have been very tough for the food industry during the pandemic I want to make sure that Juice Mart keeps growing,” Obed said. “One of the big challenges is attracting new customers and I know that it can take a while to gain people’s trust. I know we’re getting there though. I want to open a new location every year and I have some short-term goals too. I want us to have 1,000 followers on Instagram soon [they’re up to 400 so far.] I also want us to have 200 Google reviews.” He focused on the positives for Juice Mart despite the pandemic. “My favorite thing is working and becoming a part of the Red Hook com-
Red Hook Star-Revue
“Before the pandemic I was working at a market. During the pandemic, a lot of workers were laid off and I ended up losing my job. I took the chance and I’ve enjoyed learning how to take care of all of the different plants. People stop by to ask me questions and I love answering them.”
es that they’ve been facing.“
been easy.
There are a lot of requirements and the city is enforcing really strictly now,” David said. “The rules have been in place for a while but they now they’re enforcing those rules really strictly. One example is we had to fix the venting system in the kitchen. We’re also still waiting to get our liquor license but fortunately, we have a temporary one.”
“One of the tough parts is there are only two of us and there are a lot of things we’ve got to do every day,” Brooke said. “We’re also not a Van Brunt St., which is where most people go when they come to Red Hook. We formed an alliance with some of the other businesses in the area to try to make sure people come off the beaten path and find us. We call it the Valentino Pier District and so far that’s been going very well.”
“The other really big challenge is we’re short-staffed,” Julia said. “ We’re doing the best we can but right now we’re only open at dinner time. We hope to soon be able to open earlier and serve other meals. A positive is we’re a close-knit group and everyone here is great.” “One of the things that has helped keep us going is the New York City Department of Small Business Services,” David said. They’ve made a difference and the biggest positive has been the neighborhood. We love being here because it’s a great mix of people who have lived here for a while and others who are just moving in, which reminds me of Red Hook.” “People here really care about us and want us and want us to succeed,” Julia said. “They tell us ‘we’re rooting for you and hoping for the good things ahead!’”
INTERNATIONAL SANDWICHES OF AMERICA
Next I spoke to Brooke and Eric of International Sandwiches of America, located right next to Valentino Pier. “We were both working on Broadway as theater managers and we lost our jobs when the pandemic hit,” Brooke said. “My dad had a restaurant and
“Right before COVID hit, we were close to becoming the owners of an already-established business but suddenly the whole world changed,” Julia said. “Instead of taking over a business, we ended up starting our own.” They talked about the many challeng-
“My parents were always really involved in our community growing up and we’re really happy to be a part of the Red Hook community now,” Eric said.
TAVOLA ITALIAN MARKET
Pascual of Tavola Italian Market, located on Court St. between Douglass and Butler seem to have a hit on their hands. “We opened up seven months ago and we decided to have the market here because have friends living in this area and we love it here,” Pascual said. “We were living in the Bushwick, Bed-Stuy area and we moved here.
“The toughest part is there was so much uncertainty,” Pascual said. “It was a really complicated situation but once the city started re-opening we moved here and opened the store. My wife and my children work here too and my brother-in-law actually co-owns the market. We moved to the U.S. from Venezuela a few years ago and we feel very comfortable and welcome in this neighborhood.”
WINDSOR TAVERN
“I used to be more interested in a deli or grocery store but that’s saturated already,” David said. “I lost my job and that got us thinking about other things.”
“We also love being in Red Hook,” Brooke said. “We lived in Park Slope for 10 years and we had been to Sunny’s here in Red Hook before but we were actually thinking about leaving the city. There’s peace and calmness here and it’s great being right on the water but at the same time, we’re still right in the city. I definitely don’t miss taking the subway to work during rush hour.”
He spoke about the challenges he and his family faced during the pandemic.
The Windsor Tavern is located at the corner of Prospect Park West and Prospect Ave and just opened in September. David and Julia are the owners, and their chef is Peter. “I’ve always liked to cook and thought it would be fun to have my own place one day,” Julia said. “I’ve been a stayat-home mom for 12 years but with my kids going off to college it felt like the timing was right.”
“One of the great things is a lot of local people have been visiting us on a daily basis,” Eric said. “We were expecting to have tourists come here but it’s been a really pleasant surprise to have so much daily, local support.”
Brook and Eric create a new institution.
Eric had a restaurant in Florida [we’re both from Florida,] so it was in our backgrounds. We had this idea where you could get foods from all 50 states and we bought the property from Steve [of Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie.] We opened on July 15th.” “We learned a lot and did catering while working on Broadway which helped prepare us to put this together,” Eric said. “It’s also been great to have Steve here, he’s been a mentor for us, and he and wife Victoria have helped us out a lot.” Still, starting their own business during the pandemic certainly hasn’t
www.star-revue.com
The toughest part for Pascual was getting through the uncertainty during the pandemic but he has had a very positive experience since opening up Tavola Market in Carroll Gardens. “The customers have been very supportive and very kind,” Pascual said. “Their feedback has been positive and one quote that really meant a lot to me is one customer said ‘This store is like Disney World for Italian product lovers.’ I just want to say for my family, that we are so happy we changed our lives and moved here. We’re so thankful. The work here for us isn’t work; it’s pleasure.”
November 2021, Page 7
Amazon opens its first Red Hook facility
I
t’s been surprisingly difficult to speak with Amazon officials about the large Amazon Flex facility in Red Hook, which is located on Bay St. between Columbia St. and Hicks St. I was told to get in contact with their corporate office before I could speak to anyone but after a lot of phone calls and messages, I still couldn’t get in contact with the right people so I haven’t been able to speak with any Amazon officials. I got information from their website, other stories about Amazon Flex, and I spoke to a few of the drivers themselves (they asked to remain anonymous for this story.) The website paints a fairly rosy picture while some of the newspaper articles speak very poorly of the way Amazon treats its drivers. Based on what I heard from the drivers themselves, the truth
by Brian Abate, photos by George Fiala seems to be somewhere in the middle. Amazon Flex is basically Uber for delivery drivers. Workers use their own vehicles and once approved, they are notified of delivery opportunities by way of an app. One of the key points highlighted on Amazon’s website is that most drivers make between $18-25 per hour, while an article from the Seattle Times included quotes from drivers saying they actually made much less money than that. Drivers spoke about losing a lot of that money because they have to pay for gas. Additionally, many drivers couldn’t work for as many hours as they wanted to because there simply weren’t enough packages for them to deliver. Some of the drivers work at odd hours to make more deliveries and others talked about having to “constantly
rush.” Drivers joked about getting carpal tunnel syndrome from checking the app so many times for work. “It’s not exactly how it’s advertised but I’m happy to have work,” A driver rold me. “Some days are tough and I’m not able to work as many hours as I want to. That’s the most frustrating thing for me but I was out of work before and I’m grateful to have this job now. I live near here and I don’t mind doing this.” Another driver said he had the same problem and that he was lucky if he could get six hours of work per day. “I don’t do this full time and I do this to make some extra money,” she said. “I’m not relying only on this job for my salary so it’s not as tough if there’s a bad day. But at the same time you want to make as much as you can.” From what I could see, drivers weren’t speeding to make deliveries like some
of the drivers in the Seattle Times article had to. The drivers in Red Hook were driving within the speed limit and following all of the traffic rules, which is especially important since the facility is right across the street from a school (BASIS Independent Brooklyn.) Nobody I saw seemed to be stressed out about getting deliveries done. The people that I met were kind and they were able to take a couple of minutes to talk. “I didn’t have a lot of opportunities with the pandemic going on and when I heard about this, I gave it a shot,” another driver said. “I was able to get this job when a lot of people I know weren’t working. No job is going to be perfect but there have been more positives than negatives for me.”
Update on flood protection and last-mile warehouses by Brian Abate
Flood Insurance
I’ve been in contact with with Jim Tampakis of Tamco Mechanical for the past year regarding the issue of numerous last-mile warehouses moving into Red Hook. He has been pushing for them to use green modes of transportation, including using the waterfront rather than relying solely on trucks. Tampakis has become an advocate for the Red Hook community, and another issue of concern to him is the steadily rising cost of flood insurance in the neighborhood. A 2020 study by the New York Times found that 14.6 million properties are at risk of a 100-year flood (a flood that has a one percent chance of striking in any year) rather than only 8.7 million properties, as shown on federal government flood maps. The difference is massive and has resulted in a dramatic increase in the cost of flood insurance throughout the country, including in Red Hook and Gowanus. In New York, 68 percent of policy holders will see a price increase according to another study by the Times. Additionally, there was flooding throughout Gowanus in the aftermath of Hurricane Henri, as politicians including Brad Lander continued to push for rezoning in the neighborhood. However, many current residents don’t have adequate flood protection and the rezoning plan will likely compound those issues. The city is relying on data from 2008 that doesn’t take into account increased rainfall and climate change in the rezoning plan’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS.) “There is no adequate resolution of New York City’s
Page 8 Red Hook Star-Revue
inherent conflict of interest due to its status as a proponent of the rezoning while at the same time being the respondent in multiple enforcement orders intended to rectify harmful pollution damage in the area being rezoned,” said Linda LaViolette, co-chair of the outreach committee for Voice of Gowanus. The organization has spoken out against the city’s current plans for rezoning with support from Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and assembly member Jo Anne Simon. Velazquez will be holding a Virtual Town Hall on flooding and How to Access Assistance on Thursday, November 9 from 6-7 pm. Register here: https://bit.ly/3BHjMWV
Last-Mile Warehouses
During the past month, Tampakis has continued his efforts to raise awareness about the numerous problems Red Hook residents will face with all of the lastmile warehouses moving into the neighborhood. During the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Run, he worked with other members of the community, including Jo Goldfarb of the BASIS Independent school distributing flyers to bring awareness about the issues the last-mile warehouses can cause. Both Goldfarb and Tampakis have spoken about the importance of coordinating the efforts of different people and groups like Resilient Red Hook regarding the last-mile warehouses. “A lot of people are working on this but no one has really been working together,” said Tampakis. “We’re trying to change that and make sure everyone can get on the same page.”
www.star-revue.com
This scene at the end of Van Brunt Street, in back of Food Bazaar, has become an almost every day occurrence. It happens at high tide, regardless of the local weather. During Ida, which was a very heavy rain occurrence, the rainwater, combined with some seawater, flooded Van Brunt almost to Hamilton Avenue. Not just flooding, but an onrushing stream. This photographer barely made it out of the neighborhood, as water invaded his car, almost up to his knees as he made a mad dash for higher ground. (photo by George Fiala)
November 2021
The Dukes of Snyder, Part 3
I
n 1901 the wealthy John J. Snyder Jr., age 38, wed the wealthy Lillian Emma Rich, age 26, daughter of Theodore Washington Rich, the wealthy former trustee of Bixby & Co, a nationally famous shoe polish firm that became insolvent in 1895. Rich was also an officer of the Flatbush Press Co, which soon became insolvent. But Rich remained rich. Apparently, Rich had an insolvency-proof gene, possibly attributable to his surname. In any event, after their marriage John & Lillian Snyder bought a new woodframe detached home on East 18th Street in Beverly Square East, possibly built with Ross & Snyder lumber (see Part 2, in the October Star-Revue and online), and plumbing fixtures supplied by Snyder’s of Flatbush (see Part 1). There, the newlyweds would spend their next three decades together. John Jr. served for many years as VicePresident of the Flatbush Taxpayers Association, consisting of 800+ homeowners who seemed to be perpetually aggrieved about a lack of services from Borough and City institutions.
The owners were overwhelmingly Republican, and the political leaders were mostly Democrats so that might have played a role. Snyder, of course, owed his prominence to the fabulously successful hardware stores his family had established over the previous decades. He became a fierce advocate for Flatbush on a variety of transportation issues, but none of them came to pass. A Utica Avenue subway to serve transit deserts from East Flatbush to Jamaica Bay garnered much support, as it still does today, without success. More fanciful was his proposal to build a highway atop the LIRR freight line from Bay Ridge northeast to Sunrise Highway, an idea ever so briefly revived by the Lindsey Administration’s 1970 “Linear City” proposal. Noting the steady increase in car ownership and the lack of parks, he urged that basement parking garages and rooftop playgrounds be required for all new apartment houses. He argued that an expanded Floyd Bennett Field should become the City’s lone municipal airport. Disappointed by the lack of civic engagement as the ranks of the Taxpayers Association dwindled, he suggested voter apathy could be combatted by hiring vaudeville entertainers to perform at the polls. And as cinemas sprouted up all over Flatbush, he also campaigned against “depravity and licentiousness” in the movies, although it was unclear at times whether he meant on the screen or in the aisles. In 1930 the 68-year-old Snyder retired from the hardware business and three years later, his wife Lillian passed away. The ground floor of the Snyder Avenue store continued to sell some hardware under new owner-
Red Hook Star-Revue
by Joe Enright
ship and Snyder held onto an office there, where he would routinely entertain reporters looking for a story about “the olden days,” as he wound down his stewardship of the Flatbush Chamber of Commerce, concentrating now on turning out a new Flatbush Magazine. Snyder consented to the 2nd floor of his building becoming a “Socialist Meeting Hall” in 1931. But a Detective at the 67 Precinct down the block didn’t take kindly to Erasmus kids passing out Socialist leaflets in front of the Hall, so he arrested them, took them to the basement of the Precinct and beat them senseless, eventually serving three years in prison for the assault. After that, Snyder devoted the 2nd floor space to an amateur dramatic troupe. Yes, times were changing, but Brooklyn old-timers couldn’t get enough of Snyder’s tales, so he devoted the last decade of his life to collecting stories about the Flatbush of his youth. As he aged, John Snyder would increasingly be described as an historian and then eventually as the “Mayor of Flatbush,” even after selling his house and moving to an apartment on Bedford Avenue, off Clarendon Road. In 1945 he self-published his stories in a marvelous book filled with old photos and illustrations, Tales of Old Flatbush (two copies yet survive in the Brooklyn Public Library’s Grand Army Plaza branch and another at the Brooklyn Historical Society on Pierrepont Street). His life’s work complete, he died the following year. But before we go, I need to point out that other people have been dubbed “The Mayor of Flatbush” over the years, ranging from Brooklyn Dodger fan favorites to a depression-era street peddler insisting on diplomatic immunity as he was being arrested because others considered him their Mayor. In the most recent and saddest example, a striving Rasta-Man videographer, known to many in his realm as the Mayor of Flatbush, was gunned down in 2019 by a teenage Crip in a Flatbush Avenue bodega for failing to smile sweetly or something…
into Giants’ fandom. Instead, we all rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were only two miles away. Duh. Duke Snider was my Willie Mays. The night my father died I had a dream. It was a cold, drizzly late afternoon at the end of the season and Duke Snider was playing center field at Ebbets Field again. The game was meaningless because the Dodgers had been eliminated long ago and there were very few people in the stands. But the Dodgers were winning this final game, against the Phillies, by a run. The scoreboard had posted two outs in the 9th inning and the Phillies had the bases loaded. I hated the Phillies. Some things never change. In my dream, Duke crouches in center, waiting for the pitch. It’s raining harder, the field is starting to look muddy. The Dodgers are leaving Brooklyn after this game I hear somebody say. The batter swings and all the runners take off. The ball is hit high and far, way over Duke’s head, but he gets a great jump. Running full tilt, even as he sloshes through the warning track, the Duke leaps, his body fully extended and erect, his immaculate white uniform framed against the drab black wall. He makes the catch but as he does, his body takes the full impact of that hard, unyielding wall and he slumps to the ground, lifeless, but still clutching the ball. I woke up crying from my dream about Duke Snider. Of course, I realized I was crying for my father. We didn’t have much of a relationship until his last months when I visited him in a nursing home off Francis
Lewis Boulevard, not too far from Shea Stadium. And we would always talk about baseball—the only topic we never fought about. My father taught me how to catch and took me for long walks on Sundays after church to watch fast pitch softball games in East Flatbush at what we called “The East 40th Street Park.” And now he was gone. The season was over, the house where we all grew up was gone, like Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds. And the Duke was dead. My father, like the Duke, had his moments of grace that I never forgot. Like the time he took us for ice cream —me and my twin sister and Bobby, a six year old who spent weekends and summers with us, temporarily rescued from an orphanage while my parents tried to figure out how to adopt him. As if they didn’t already have enough mouths to feed on a single civil service salary. As we crossed Flatbush Avenue, my father took Bobby’s hand and told him not to let go. “Yes, Daddy,” Bobby said. This affectionate tableau was not lost on a big brute of a man, crossing in the other direction, who glared at Bobby, a dark-skinned Hispanic kid holding my father’s hand, and then growled at my father a familiar and ugly racial slur. My father ignored the brute and shouted in a loud voice, “Look, Bobby, the ice cream store’s open! Let’s all get some!” And the four of us were soon a-swim in cones. I can’t help but wonder when I’ve played my last game, will my son remember any moments of grace I might have summoned in his presence?
But. There was only—and ever will be—one Duke of Flatbush. And if you lived as we did, right off the corner of Flatbush Avenue, how could we have any other hero but Duke Snider? He was so graceful and regal in his premature gray hair, batting lefty and hitting over 40 homers for five years in a row in an age when ball players worked other jobs to make ends meet. Yet, my father was a Giants fan who was fond of saying Willie Mays was the best ball player he ever saw, “and that includes Ruth, Cobb, Williams, Mantle, Snider and ANYBODY ELSE YOU’D CARE TO MENTION,” he’d interject before you could counter. But none of his nine kids followed him
www.star-revue.com
November 2021, Page 9
we get letters Story brings new life
After coming across your recent article on “Bands”, in your June issue, you will be happy to know it has, indeed, brought a new life to Joe DeVivo’s story. Last spring I bought his book as a gift for a former resident and trumpet player of New Castle, PA (also my old home town). We both thoroughly enjoyed reading the book reminiscing and sharing plenty of laughs. As it happens, Joe’s sister, Janice Aubrey, and I share something in common—the same second grade piano teacher. The similarty ends there, as unfortunately, I too am an untalented musician—although one who admires Janice’s talent, ability and career. All totally due to your article, by the way, as I lost track years ago. If you could let her know how much I enjoyed your interview with her, it would be much appreciated. There is no way of knowing how extensive your readership is or who you end up reaching, is there? Such a delightful coincidence, to say the least. — Marcia J. Acquaviva
Mind your neighbors
Today several ladies came out of the
senior center at 378 Court Street. There were cars parked up and down the street between Carroll and President. 328 Court is an Access a Ride drop off and pick up and President and Court is an MTA bus stop. UPS was parked, the driver was doing his deliveries. People had to go into the street as the bus could not get to the curb. One lady was asked to move her car, her response was “I can park wherever I want.” When told she could get a ticket her answer was “I can pay the ticket, I drive a BMW. I have to pick up my child—I have money—I’ll pay the ticket. She walked away and returned with a little boy. During the Pandemic, the Senior Center was closed. The center has reopened, the signs are there, but people disregard the signs. The 76th Precinct has been called as was Community Board 6. The laws need to be enforced. Please Cultivate Kindness, people need to get on and off their means of transportation—Judith Dailey, Red Hook
About Colin K.
I enjoyed reading your article very insightful and very relevant to what is currently going on today. I face similar
SEND YOURS TO GEORGE@REDHOOKSTAR.COM OR POST ON OUR WEBSITE, WWW.STAR-REVUE.COM.
themes daily and unfortunately because of how people perceive me, as it has made it difficult for me to be taken seriously in the business world, family etc. My defense to be honest is I shut out the noise and listen to the things that make me happy. If you have any free time I would urge you to watch Young Justice: season 4, episode 3. It tackles a great number of issues we deal with today. Self acceptance, identity, perception, family and more. I think you would greatly appreciate it. —David Gregoire
No to 15 stories in Red Hook
Thank you George Fiala for your clearspoken expression of what so many of us feel. Takeover of land to accommodate the needs of the well-to-do, to the detriment of the gritty essence of a community is despicable. It’s been given free rein over so much of our borough and, of course, Manhattan too! Glad you’re there to help protect us from the real estate “cannibals” who want to “eat’ our history!—Janice Aubrey
The late senator George Mcgovern was ahead of his time
October 21st marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of 1972 losing
Democratic Party Presidential candidate South Dakota Senator George McGovern who was ahead of his time in his race against Republican President Richard Nixon. McGovern’s platform included ending the Vietnam War. It also called for spending the billions wasted on the war to rebuild America, along with saving lives by bringing the troops home. McGovern was too proud to emphasis his military experience as a decorated World War II bomber pilot. Nixon attempted to portray him as soft on national defense. Since 2001. we have spend $6,4 trillion (Source: November 2019 report, Brown University Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs) between our involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan wars. There was also the loss of seven thousand American military along additional private military contractors employed to assist in the fighting. Thousands more suffer day to day with permanent physical injuries. Many more civilians lost lives and suffered permanent physical injuries. Was it worth spending the dollars and lives? What we have gotten in return? !— Larry Penner
Odds & Sods Rock’Scool Brooklyn reopens on Court Street
Tull is well known for producing community live events at local public schools and annual street fairs such as 7th Heaven in Park Slope. He is also an accomplished bass player and bandleader for Metropolis Entertainment NYC, a popular Wedding and Corporate Dance Band.
by Michael Cobb
Lifelong Brooklyn residents, Mingo Tull and Roseann Natale are well known for Rock’Scool Brooklyn, a school for music education offering Band and Orchestral Instrument Rental. This business has endured many changes recently; like so many independent business owners, Mingo Tull and Roseann Natale were forced to shut down due to Covid 19 and the inability of having in person music lessons. Rock’Scool had been located on Smith Street until November 2020. Tull and Natale tried to hold on to that location but couldn’t due to NY State and the Department of Health restrictions causing severe lack of business. They managed to maintain some additional classroom instruction at their second location on 354 Degraw St. but eventually were forced to close that site as well. “Last summer was particularly difficult because people were quite tired of Zoom and virtual lessons but not yet comfortable with doing in person instructions,” Tull says. Tull and Natale were able to bridge the gap with the help of a NY State Covid 19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant. Now they are excited to open a new school located at 389 Court Street with its main entrance immediately to the right of Baby Luc’s, a branch of the popular pizzeria Lucali’s. Formerly a dental office, Rock’Scool’s
Page 10 Red Hook Star-Revue
“We are so happy to be opening back up once again because there’s noth-
ing like one-on-one, in person instruction” Tull and Natale say. The husband-wife team are still putting the finishing touches on the interior and updating their social media and website. For information on classes, rentals and more, write to info@rockscoolbrooklyn.com or go to http://rockscoolbrooklyn.com
Mingo and Nydia Velazquez at the Columbia Waterfront festival a few years back. (photo by George Fiala)
new site has six classroom-studios for lessons on piano, guitar, vocals, drums, audio production, orchestral, brass and woodwind instruments and more. With an updated HVAC system, HEPA filters, readily available hand sanitizer, mask requirements and proof of vaccination, student and staff safety have been given top priority. In addition, there are security cameras in each classroom and a public display screen in the waiting lobby of the school. Natale found this current location online, optimally positioned on the corner of 1st Place and Court Street. Tull says they are thrilled to be in the heart of Carroll Gardens and next to PS 58, Hannah Senesh Community Day School and others with whom he has collaborated on many occasions. In addition to running Rock’Scool,
Aliens invaded Red Hook on October 29th as the Ninth Annual Barnacle Parade wended its way through the neighborhood. This years theme was Red Hook Goes to Space. A raffle was held afterwards to raise money for Red Hook Mutual Aid. (photo by George Fiala)
www.star-revue.com
November 2021
obituaries
A Life of Dedication and Service
Sheryl NashChisholm February 5th, 1954 October 11th, 2021 On February 5th 1954 the Lord blessed the late Marion and Leonard Nash with a beautiful baby girl who they named Sheryl Lee Nash. Sheryl grew up in Queens, New York where she received her formal education. She followed her dreams after her schooling was completed, and she became a successful entrepreneur. Along with her longtime friend and partner, Jet Proctor, they opened two very successful clubs, Casablanca and the Renaissance, she also created and worked with Jazzy Dancers and Jazzy Models as their Creative Director. Yes, she was a Diva and a social
butterfly, who never met a person she didn’t like. She later married Frank Chisholm, and from this union came her beloved son Troy, whom she absolutely adored. Sheryl was adventurous and loved to travel and try new things. She spent time in California or “Cali” as she called it, and worked at the TV station KCAL, and was featured in films like Xanadu. She had many talents and she was good at all of them. Upon returning to New York she worked for Russell Simmons, another long time friend, at Phat Farm, where she served for many years as Marketing Specialist. Her next adventure took her to Red Hook Initiative (RHI), where she fulfilled her calling as a teacher and mentor, a job she cherished with all her heart. She also was a beloved trainer and leader at The Alex House Project, supporting teen parents. She loved working with the youth, both in and out of her neighborhood and she touched and changed countless lives. Sheryl’s neighborhood was important to her; she became a community activist and was very vocal in promoting change. She leaves to mourn her passing, her
No better person by Tony Schloss
For 15+ years, Sheryl led the Career Starters program at the Red Hook Initiative, a career preparedness program for middle schoolers, the first program a young person is in when joining RHI programs. So Sheryl was often the first, and most consistent point of contact for young people
FOND REMEMBRANCES OF MY BELOVED BROTHER FRANK by Nino Pantano My brother Frank and I grew up during the Depression of the 1930s. Only a year and a half apart, we were close in age but different in spirit. Frank was the sports guy and I was the opera singer while growing up. When Frank and I were youngsters in Bensonhurst my mother got a call from a neighbor saying that Frank and I had lit every candle in the Church. The priest asked Frank and me, “Why did you do such a thing?” And Frank and I said, “Because we never want our mother to get old!» We might have not been candidates for altar boys but who could resist the two young Pantano brothers? One of my aunts told my Mother Marie (Sadie) that she knew a good Catholic camp where we would get better discipline. We hated the camp, we hated the food - no pasta but plenty of
Red Hook Star-Revue
peanut butter sandwiches. One noisy night in our dormitory, a nun with a whip tore off my sheets and gave me a whipping. I was the only one that was sleeping and not making noise. Frank remembered marching like the Gestapo everywhere we went. When my parents, known as Sadie and Sam came for a visit they quickly took us home. We loved our home on Benson Avenue. I remember us as kids playing pilots of Japanese airplanes on our front stoop and Frank usually shot me down. He was a monitor at P.S. 200 and he reported me for being late and talking. The Principal didn’t take it too seriously and laughed a bit about it. I remember Pearl Harbor Day and Frank told me more about it at P.S. 201, our Junior High School. Sometimes Frank in his sleep would yell, “Were crashing” and I would yell, “Pull the throttle, Frank!” and he would say, “I pulled the throttle, we’re coming in for a landing,” that’s what my mother who witnessed this, told me! We used to go sleigh riding in Bay Ridge as kids, always smooth-riding
Sheryl Nash-Chisholm, on the right, with two dear friends, Samora and Alex Coles. Samora runs the Alex House Project at RHI. (photo by George Fiala)
husband Frank Chisholm, her son Troy Chisholm, Sisters Pat Hartley of Suffolk, Virginia, Karen Overton of Prince George County, Maryland, Brother Leonard “Bubby” Nash of Staten Island, New York, a special cousin Beverly Holmes of Queens, New York and a host of nieces, neph-
ews, family and friends. In addition, the entire Red Hook, Brooklyn community grieves her loss and will be forever impacted by Sheryl’s love and dedication. Sheryl’s earthly light has been dimmed, however it will continue to shine brightly within those she loved and those who loved her.
at RHI, and there was no better person for that role. Sheryl saw potential in every person who walked through the door, including her coworkers. Sheryl, and her coworker Deanna Cherry who we also lost last year, were mentors, friends and constant supports to the great majority of young people in the Red Hook Houses. She once told me that all young people need is someone in their lives who cares for them, and she was that person for so many of our Red Hook kids. And all that was after a previous life as one of
the principle promoters of early Hip Hop in New York, as a Queens club owner, fashion executive at Phatfarm, and star roller skater! She was a marvel; a funny, warm, wonderful person, and a dear friend. Photo on the right: Sheryl receiving the Woman of the Year award from Women in Touch. Giving the word is the Executive Director Alice Tapia. Tony Schloss was the Director of Technology at the Red Hook Initiative from January 2008 until June 2017.
since there were no cars allowed on many days during World War II. During the greatest blizzard on December 26, 1947, Frank and I set out to Hy Tulip’s Deli in Bensonhurst but gave up after walking a few feet. No good night knish (kiss) that night. My father, however, walked to work on Columbia Street and slept there for a week to sell boots and galoshes for his family. Our much loved Aunt Mamie made some meatballs for Frank and me. I got three and Frank got two. Frank said, “Aunt Mamie why does Nino get three meatballs and I got only two?” “Why?” she said, “Because he is an opera singer.” Frank should have gotten a whole dish of meatballs! Frank was a wonderful painter and painted a magnificent clown shedding a tear. He never painted again but saved that painting. Bravo Frank, well done, a masterpiece! We enjoyed some New York classical culture with Frank and Marie. We saw a beautiful performance of Puccini’s La Boheme with a stunning set by Franco Zefferelli. We also saw Verdi’s Falstaff written at age 80. Frank enjoyed Ford’s Jealousy aria where a
www.star-revue.com
Frank and Nino Pantano
crazed Ford actually believes that fat Falstaff is pursuing his wife. We also saw the American Ballet Theatre and Andre Rieu at Radio City Music Hall. A good time was had by all. Frank had his own shoe store and was more than a regular hard-working Sicilian American from Bensonhurst. Because of an eye injury, Frank had to change professions. He wanted to be a
(continued on page 13) November 2021, Page 11
Peggy Guggenheim's Venetian Museum by Dario Pio Muccilli
T
here are few things more Italian than the canals of Venice. They’re so rooted in the common consciousness that despite their relatively small area, they’re so representative of its appeal all around the world. The same appeal that back in 1948 moved Peggy Guggenheim, maybe the greatest art collector in the twentieth century, to buy a noble palace, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, to house her art collection, which later became the core of the P. Guggenheim Museum, opened in the same venue in 1951. The museum houses some of the finest artworks of the last century and it features Magritte, Dalì, Kandinsky, Picasso, Klee, Pollock and many others who knew and interacted with the founder of the institution, Peggy, whose story is so entrenched with the collection she built. Peggy was the daughter of one of the richest New York families, the Guggenheims, which made their fortune in the mining industry, and her social status as an heiress (Peggy’s father died during the sinking of the Titanic) allowed her a career in the art-world. She was not only a collector, but a curator, because with her choices she built up a collection that mirrored the artistic trends of her time, trusting many emerging artists who, thanks to her, later came up to be recognized as masters, such as Jackson Pollock.
“Peggy happened to be surrounded by great advisors for her choices (artists like Mondrian or Brâncuși), which had a huge impact on art, even if she did not reach a total awareness of that till the 1951's opening of the Museum in Venice,” declares Karole Vail, granddaughter of Peggy Guggenheim and directress of the eponymous museum, “She discovered her interest in the art field very late, at the tender age of 40,
when, trying to get involved in the cultural scene, she thought a gallery would have been much cheaper than a publishing house. That is why she firstly decided to open a space for exhibitions in London back in 1938. She wanted to do something serious in her life”
Peggy’s first attempt in London did not last after WWII's outbreak. She moved to Paris for a very brief time before the Nazi occupation in 1940, but that Venice's famed Palazzo Venier dei Leoni time was enough for her to buy the paintings that would generation of American artists, from Pollock to Mark become the core of her collection. Paris then was the Rothko, who were interested in non-objective art and world art capital, meeting point of the best living got inspired by the old continent’s news. masters, but the war marked a turning point as many Peggy in a way at the center of this exchange of inof them escaped, as Peggy did, towards the USA and novation between the two continents, and this role New York. reached its maximum in the opening of the museum There “she was certainly instrumental in bridging the in Venice four years after the experience in New York. art-world from Europe to the USA” where, Vail says, Since then the museum has been for Venice “a land“from 1942 to 47, she spent 5 years 30 West 57th mark. The collection is part of the city, it is rooted in Street, in New York, where she opened a gallery called the local cultural net, it's entrenched with the institu"The Art of This Century.” New York was becomtions. Moreover it's a perfect frame for tourists and ing the new artistic capital in the world and Peggy locals” allowed the US and NYC to discover the eEuropean artistic scene, full of artistic movements like Surrealism, Futurism, Cubism and so on, which were born as a European phenomenon but eventually became of global relevance only after the arrival in the US.
The knowledge of European art was influenced a new
But behind such a great public history there’s also a private one, sometimes sad, due to her father’s death. “She wasn't an easy woman, she was not always able to keep ties with her children and grandchildren. This
(continued on page 13)
Driving isn’t easy, but saving a life is.
Slow down. Page 12 Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
November 2021
ON DECK
Velvet Underground overloaded. Todd Haynes’ new documentary The Velvet Underground is well worth watching, even if it falls off after John Cale leaves the band, giving only scant attention to the band’s remarkable, self-titled third album and then trickling away with the last one. But watching it got me to go back and dig out a couple of VU/Lou Reed tribute albums that came out earlier this year, relistening and thinking about the greatest short-lived band in rock history. An often repeated quote from Brian Eno suggests that not many people bought the debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico but that everyone who did started a band. What the quip doesn’t cover is that none of those bands were better. That kind of sun and junk and beauty and depravity and noise and poetry don’t shine every day. Their four studio albums continue to fascinate and inspire more than 50 years later and heartfelt tributes show you can’t beat the Velvets at their own game.
I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground (released in September on Verve, who put out the first two Velvets records) reconstructs that first album in covers varying from bold to reverent. Standout tracks include St. Vincent’s robot lounge take on “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” Andrew Bird’s dark folk “Venus in Furs” and Iggy Pop screeching through “European Son” with a suitably noisy backing track provided by Chavez, Skunk, Zwan guitarist Matt Sweeney. Way back in March, the British label Ace Records issued What Goes On: The Songs of Lou Reed, collecting past covers of Velvets and early Reed songs. Among the album’s 20 tracks are Cowboy Junkies’ much loved 1988 take on “Sweet Jane” and Detroit’s 1971 more-cowbell mix of “Rock’n’Roll” with Mitch Ryder singing, but the uncovered gems are the best of the bunch: June Tabor and the Oysterband’s dramatic 1990 recording of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and a
2011 soulful rendition of Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” by the French reggae group the Dynamics. Iggy appears again, this time reading a poem by Reed in a track taken from his 2019 album Free, and, for good measure, Nico’s wonderful “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams” from her album Chelsea Girl, with Reed and Velvet Sterling Morrison on guitars. Nico’s solo debut includes four other tracks written by Velvets members and features Cale playing on three of them and is a better Velvet Underground sideshow than any tribute album, but in any event, the love seeps through. A little Dap’ll do ya. Brooklyn’s Daptone Records brings its old-school operations all the way home with The Daptone Super Soul Revue LIVE! at the Apollo. The organization that brought us the powerhouse and much missed singer Sharon Jones works like an old school hit machine with an in-house band, production team and studio, resulting in an immediately identifiable Dap-sound. In December, 2014, they staged a classic revue with 10 acts over three nights on the sanctified stage of Harlem’s Apollo Theater.
To mark the organization’s 20th anniversary, Daptone has put out the best of those sets on a triple LP, double CD or download, and it’s a start-to-finish joy. Jones, who lost a prolonged battle with cancer in 2016 at the age of 60, occupies about a quarter of the playtime, with nine impassioned tracks (including veritable hits “Get Up and Get Out” and “Making Up and Breaking Up”) and joins in on an all-star cover of Sly Stone’s “Family Affair.” There’s also a half dozen songs by another lost voice, the heart-wrenching balladeer Charles Bradley (who departed in 2017 at 68), a killer set of soul spirituals by Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens and a long jam in two parts by New York’s premier Afropop outfit Antibalas. The whole thing is streaming on Bandcamp and Daptone has uploaded close to an hour of live footage from the concerts on YouTube so there’s no reason not to indulge.
VENICE (continued from page 12)
The sad news of drummer Dee Pop’s death on October 9 seemed all the more bitter as his Bush Tetras were set for celebration. A retrospective set (3 LP’s, 2 CD’s and download) had just been announced from Wharf Cat Records (you need the download to get their blistering cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Run, Run, Run,” which should have been on both of the Velvets tribute albums above) and a record release party was booked for Nov. 13 at le Poisson Rouge. The show will go on with the painter and semi-retired drummer Don Christensen (Contortions, Raybeats) behind the kit. The night will no doubt be a spirited memorial for their founding drummer and their four decades of post-punk grooves.
After almost a dozen years of quiet (save for a 7” last year), the announcement that the Fiery Furnaces would be playing the Pitchfork Festival was no small surprise. They posted three instrumental tracks to Bandcamp in advance of the show only to take them down again for whatever reason within a few days. There’s no second guessing those furnaces. They were always an unpredictable live act, even when they played regularly, so what they might do for their NYC return is anyone’s guess. They’ll be at Brooklyn Steel in East Williamsburg on Nov. 13. London’s Dry Cleaning is finally making it to the States to support the icy funk of their debut New Long Leg, which came out in the spring but seems like years ago already. They’ll be at Market Hotel in Bushwick on Nov. 19 and 20, but both shows are sold out already so keep a hopeful eye out for added dates.
NINO PANTANO (continued from page 11)
was probably due to her education in a wealthy New-York family, where the butlers may have prevented her from having a close bond with her parents. Families are never simple, they're somewhat extra-ordinary” says Vail, who affirms that “being Peggy's granddaughter maybe gives me something more, and I'm grateful for that. In my job my only thought is to always do my best, I'm not used to looking at it as a familiar business. Obviously there's kind of a huge responsibility I feel as a consequence of the familiar link”. For Peggy the museum was not only an institution, but a house and a home for Karole Vail as a young girl: “It was my grandmother's home but opened to the public.” Here she slept many times and she found scary “sleeping near the surrealist artworks, they were dreamy, strange, curious and they simply terrified me while hanging on my room's wall.”
This familiar history has long characterized the world cultural scenario - Peggy’s uncle is the founder of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in NY - which has somewhat created itself an artwork, which in my opinion is the true nature of a museum, mingling the single works exposed with the structure and the story of the place. Peggy’s museum reaches the top score in all these three categories and the debt that art history has to pay to this extraordinary woman, with all her limits, is enormous. She was a woman whose view was not narrow, not limited either geographically nor artistically, and everytime we see a Pollock, a Kandinsky, a Magritte hanging on a wall in an exhibition we should think that maybe that piece of art is there thanks to a woman who years ago believed in the painters and helped make the world appreciate them as well.
Red Hook Star-Revue
ON STAGE
printer but instead opened the popular Pan-Vel shoe store on 86th Street. Frank loved sports and was an excellent bowler and played until recently. He took me to meet his friends and watch a few games. We loved the surprise 50th-anniversary party Frank had for Marie with many family and friends. Our Grandparents, Antonio and Rosalia’s house was their home at the beginning of their marriage. Later on Marie’s parents, Pepe and Johanna enjoyed Christmas parties in Frank and Marie’s Dyker Heights home with Marie’s brother David and his wife Lucy and family - all unforgettable. Frank loved his family, his wife, Marie, his friends, his house and he grew tomatoes, figs and eggplant in his garden. I told him how lucky he was to have his two sons, Bryant and Jason, grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Brandon and his wife Kelly Schmidt, Evan, Mara, Serena, Kayla
www.star-revue.com
and her husband Kevin Zychowski and Orlagh Mahoney who was truly the light of his life in later years. Two great-grandchildren are Finn and Hadley. Frank enjoyed watching his grandchildren play sports and joining them in Lavallette with son Bryant and his wife Jacqueline at the beach in New Jersey. Frank and I would always say, “I love you” and his sweetest of smiles were the images that I remember while hearing singer Kitty Kallen’s hit song “Little Things Mean a Lot” and they definitely do! “Blue Moon” was Frank’s favorite song - it was their wedding song! May Frank’s joyous welcome in Heaven be comforting. I am certain that he landed safely in Paradise like we always landed safely on our sleds in Bay Ridge and our beds in Bensonhurst.
November 2021, Page 13
Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch is fun but could use a good edit
T
here’s a small group of filmmakers whose latest work gets me into a theater no questions asked. Wes Anderson is near the top of that list. Beginning with Rushmore (1998) straight through to Isle of Dogs (2018), even as the films went further and further into a meticulously curated twee formalism (parts of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), for instance, feel like a puppet show), getting a new dose of this singular voice’s creativity has been cause for celebration. That Anderson had only made nine films, beginning with Bottle Rocket (1996) through Dogs, adds an air of specialness to the release of a new film. He doesn’t enter the work lightly. That’s why when the first trailer for The French Dispatch, Anderson’s 10th feature, was released a couple years ago, it was hard to sit still. And not only was it a new Wes Anderson film, but this one centered on a magazine. And Bill Murray is the editor? Take my money!
The pandemic delayed the release of Dispatch for more than a year, but it finally arrived in theaters October 22 to much ballyhoo—especially from the journalism world. Anderson based the titular magazine, located in Ennui-sur-Blasé, France, and run by Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Murray) who oversees a staff of gregarious writers, on Harold Ross, Wallace Shawn, and the early-to-mid-century bylines of The New Yorker.
Crafted as an anthology with Howitzer (and his death) the connective tissue, The French Dispatch is blocked out like a magazine, with each segment representing a section of the publication. There’s the frontof-the-book Talk of the Town-like jaunt through Ennui, an arts piece profiling an avant-garde painter locked up in an asylum for double murder, a report from the 1968 student protests, and an extended culinary feature that becomes a first-hand account of a kidnapping. What’s more, every segment is centered on a writer with a real-life New Yorker antecedent: Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) is pre-Joe Gould Joseph Mitchell; J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton) is Rosamond Bernier, who was profiled by Calvin Tomkins; Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) is Mavis Gallant; and Roebuck Wright ( Jeffrey Wright) is a mashup of A.J. Liebling and James Baldwin. Of course this kind of film would be catnip for journalists. It’s a celebration of the profession at its most vibrant. But Dispatch is also a film for film people. Each segment has its own tonality, driven by the writer at its center, but they also have their own formal rhythm. While the Howitzer-driven framing device is presented in the Anderson-trademark pastry pastel palette, the sections oscillate between color and black and white, as well as frame sizes. In the arts section, for instance, Berensen delivers a lecture about the artist Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio Del Toro), locked away while honing his genius, which is the way into the story. Her scenes are in the kind of high-contrast
Page 14 Red Hook Star-Revue
by Dante A. Ciampaglia
"But that nostalgic impulse, which feels so superfluous these days, pushes The French Dispatch closer to the wrong side of that line than any of his previous films." color, slightly-distorted widescreen common to ‘70s movies; the scenes in the asylum are black and white and square; when a moment of insight occurs within the story, the black and white shifts to color and a slightly wider frame; when something particularly magical happens, the screen becomes vibrantly colorful and fully widescreen.
These kinds of shifts happen throughout the film, to varying degrees of success. In some, Anderson also inserts more artificial touches, such as flat, cardboardlike scenery and sets in the student protest section. In the concluding segment, which finds Roebuck Wright entering a jail to sample the dishes of the prison’s celebrated chef only to be pulled along as the head of the institution’s son is abducted, Anderson ingeniously stages a car chase animated to mimic The Adventures of Tintin. It’s a strange pivot, especially as it’s placed in the middle of a stark noir experience, but it’s wonderful in its execution (far better than that Spielberg movie from 2011) and because it’s so unexpected. In a film that’s as much a love letter to France as it is The New Yorker, though, perhaps it’s not so unsurprising. Anderson peppers Dispatch with references, homages, and tributes to filmmakers like the Lumière Brothers and Agnès Varda, silent cinema and the French New Wave, and even specific moments from films like Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle (1958) and Rouben Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight (1932). These elicit a chuckle from a knowing viewer and often add to the slightly askew vibe that’s a hallmark of Anderson’s films. But they also point to the film’s chief flaw. Dispatch is fun and whimsical and everything you’d hope for in a Wes Anderson film. He even leans
www.star-revue.com
harder into the darker edges he explored in The Grand Budapest Hotel (seeing someone’s fingers chopped off in a door jamb is jarring in any context, but particularly one that’s part of Anderson’s universe). But something feels off. It’s partly to do with the format being a mismatch for the material. Dispatch seems like a proof-of-concept for a mini-series. At the very least, watching it one segment at a time would allow each some breathing room. Consuming it all in one go does a disservice to the chapters by not allowing us to appreciate them before it’s off to the next adventure. Worse, it makes Dispatch drag.
That’s endemic to all anthology films, I suppose, but what really gnawed at me is the nostalgia — something Anderson hasn’t typically embraced. Budapest Hotel, while set in the past and framed around one man’s memories, is more evocation of the end of the interwar Austria inhabited by author Stefan Zweig. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) takes place in the 1960s, but that’s Anderson doing his version of Francois Truffaut. Indeed, Moonrise Kingdom is Anderson’s New Wave film. It works so beautifully and feels so alive because he’s doing something with the tenets of the style and the era. It doesn’t scream “New Wave!” in your face the way the student riots segment of Dispatch does. Not only is it set in that pivotal year of 1968, Anderson even drops in Chantal Goya’s “Tu M’as Trop Menti, used in Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Feminin (1966). Yet the segment — by far the weakest of the group — doesn’t comment on the era or its stylings; it just luxuriates in the backward-glance feelings of it. That’s empty enough, but when held up against Moonrise Kingdom its superficiality is that much starker. There’s an effervescent quality to most of Anderson’s work, but it never bubbles into frivolity. But that nostalgic impulse, which feels so superfluous these days, pushes The French Dispatch closer to the wrong side of that line than any of his previous films. Perhaps that’s a function of the anthology format, or maybe it just feels that way watching something made before the pandemic, shelved, then released into a different world. When the film is at its best, such as the artist-in-the-asylum segment, it vibrates with a kind of energy, depth, pathos, and irreverence that are the hallmarks of Anderson’s best works. At its worst, it’s toneless and limp. Much of Dispatch oscillates between those poles. There’s little cohesion, which makes for a frustrating experience. And there’s not enough Bill Murray (if such a thing even exists). Still, it’s never boring. It might be minor Wes Anderson, but it’s earnest, risky, and confident. I will always take that over the latest Marvel episode or whatever franchise flick is being shoved down our throats this week by a cynical, conservative, needy Hollywood.
November 2021
I
Sugandha Gupta creates Tactile Textiles by Mike Fiorito
met Sugandha Gupta during a weekend visit to downtown Manhattan with my friend, Steve. I became completely fascinated when Sugandha began telling me about her textile artwork and her unique niche in the industry. Sugandha is from India. But she was born with Albinism, so she is very blonde. Once I better understood her perspective, we decided to talk further about her work.
Where did you grow up? I grew up in New Delhi, India and came to Savannah, GA first to attend graduate school at Savannah College of Art and Design in spring 2016. After graduating in 2018 I moved to New York. How did you become interested in art? Growing up I was always highly creative and wanted to pursue a creative career. I would scribble in all my textbooks and notebooks. I spent hours practicing all my art assignments from school. I am visually impaired and therefore whenever my art teacher would assign us still life painting, I would go close to the objects to observe them and then draw from memory. Sometimes I would even bring magnifiers to look at object details. My dedication really impressed my art teacher in High School, and she encouraged me to pursue a student career at National Institute of Design (NID). Which really shaped me as a creative professional and later drove me to art. Do you think your cultural background has had an impact on your artwork? Growing up in India I saw beautiful artifacts and intricate drawings and paintings of gods, goddesses and many other folkloric artworks and crafts. I was heavily influenced by Indian culture and traditions when I started learning about them formally at NID. As I started making field trips to Kutch, Jaipur, Kerala, and other parts of India for craft research. I learned stories and meanings behind those works. As a student majoring in textiles, I was fully immersed in the craft sector and problems surrounding it and was and continue to be influenced by it in my approach to my work.
You said that you have issues with your vision? How has this influenced your artwork? I was born with Albinism, a rare genetic condition which adversely affects my eyesight. I have exceptionally low vision and am sensitive to bright light. I cannot see minute details without visual aids and sometimes even with visual aids. I consider my vision impairment an opportunity as opposed to an obstacle.
Red Hook Star-Revue
Even though I have had to navigate challenging circumstances such as not having access to learning in the same ways as others, visual impairment has taught me to be a problem solver and has heightened my ability to empathize with others. I feel blessed to have a perspective different from a larger population and feel that this idea of overcoming a disability or challenge is very ableist. Disability or challenges are not what need to be overcome, rather it is the ignorance and hurdles created by society and ableism (prejudice against people with diabilities). My work is an amalgamation of my life experiences navigating the world created for fully sighted people, having had no accommodations throughout my learning.
I am so grateful to have met a professor named Prof. Immanuel Suresh while studying at NID. He opened my mind to the idea of creating alternative ways of creating access for my learning. The seed he planted in me grew as I grew in my career as a textile designer in India. When I came to the US as a graduate student at Savannah College of Art and Design, I had a clear vision of what I wanted to research and create for my master’s thesis. I wanted to use my alternative ways of learning which I found in my senses of touch and sound and create a body of work through the medium of textiles, which is accessible for a larger audience. This is how my journey of identifying and utilizing my strengths started. We all have strengths and weaknesses regardless of disability and in reflecting and acknowledging them we can be more efficient and authentic to ourselves and others. Do you do a specialized kind of artwork? I am a textile artist and designer. I create tactile and sensory textiles that can be draped on the body or hung on the wall. I work with a variety of materials and techniques such as weaving, felting, sewing etc. I mostly use natural fibers such as cotton, wool, silk, paper, and natural colors that reflect the skin tone of myself and others with Albinism.
Is it intended for a specific audience? I hope that through my sensory textiles that engage people through multiple senses such as touch, sound, smell, and sight can reach a wide range of audience. I wish to have people of diverse abilities and backgrounds come and experience my work without strict boundaries and with the experience of touch. Just like we gather information around the world through all our senses, I hope that I can offer art to people engag-
www.star-revue.com
Sugandha Gupta ing them through their senses. Do you do art shows?
Yes, I participate in art shows and exhibitions as and when I get opportunities. Can you tell me about your company?
I do not have a company yet, however, I have a website where people can go and experience my work visually. What are your next projects?
I continue to create work and explore new possibilities of creating inclusion through my textiles. I am also an educator of fiber arts currently teaching high school students. I also facilitate disability advocacy and design workshops at museums and colleges. How can people find you?
People can find and reach me through my website as well as Instagram page: https://sugandhainhere.wixsite.com/website/gallery
https://www.inshttps://www.instagram.com/sugandha. in.here/tagram.com/sensory_textiles/ Mike Fiorito
November 2021, Page 15
RODERICK (continued from page 1) Blackness. We see his mother especially wrestle with Colin’s need for connection
to his Black identity. What is perhaps also present yet not overtly stated in the first few episodes, is her longing to be everything he needs, his ‘real’ mother. The subtext of her discomfort is a kind of
maternal insecurity–– am I not enough? Kaepernick’s parents are shown to be suburban white folks who are aloof of the many ways they should protect their son. However, Colin also confesses that he also moved through life with a learned white audaciousness, admittedly with limited success. Nonetheless, racial discrimination and police aggression is something Colin would face without parental protection as a young teen.
The series masterfully tackles microaggressions as a general topic and as experienced by Colin Kaepernick specifically. Ava Duvernay weaves in her signature documentary style, infographics, and edutainment with a coming of age series and stylish visual narration done by Kaepernick himself (think Cinematic Bernie Mac monologues). Robin Roberts: [ How did you come up with the idea to put the show together the way you did?]
Ava Duvernay: [ you know, I have experience doing documentaries and shows like Queen Sugar. So all of this was organic and part of trusting the process. The idea to weave the show together like this wasn’t necessarily written down. You just have to trust your gut.] The cinematography in Colin in Black and White is superb. Colin Kaepernick’s highly stylized visual narration was very reminiscent of the Matrix with a cool blue overtone and crisp lighting. This could have been difficult to blend with the warm and familiar lighting used throughout the series, as we see Colin living his life as a teenager. However, it all blended quite nicely. The contrast
Page 16 Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
between visual narration, scripted series, and documentary style makes for a very entertaining show. Without a doubt, Jaden Michael who plays a young Kaepernick is undeniably a star. His portrayal of Kaepernick was stunning. It felt like watching a young Leonardo Dicaprio Colin in Black and White may be his first moonwalk moment (see Micheal Jackson) as an actor.
Personally, so much of the show resonated with me. I reminisced about my own experiences with microaggressions as a teen, as well as overt racism. I remembered my high-school policy on unacceptable hairstyles, all of which included mostly Black hairstyles–––– no braids, no big afros, and restrictions on dreadlocks. I also remember getting my hair braided in cornrows for the first time (never did it again) and realizing I was too tender-headed for the tight cornrows. Also, my forehead was too big for the style. Colin in Black and White is a superb portrayal of the former NFL stars’ early years. The show lets us into the world of the young Black athlete who later became an icon for equality. Watch Colin in Black and White, now streaming on Netflix.
Roderick Thomas is an NYC based writer, filmmaker, and Host of Hippie By Accident Podcast. (Instagram: @Hippiebyaccident, Email: rtroderick.thomas@gmail.com, Site: roderickthomas.net)
November 2021
Opera: by Frank Raso TURANDOT
The Met’s Production of Turandot opened in 1987 directed by Franco Zefferelli. The production has remained one of the most popular productions at the Met. It is easy to see why, the gorgeously detailed sets and costumes are pleasing to the eye and perfectly fits Puccini’s grand score. And it is a truly excellent evening when the singers rise to the occasion. Reprising their roles of Turandot and Calaf are Christine Goerke and Yusif Eyvazov, you have always been excellent interpreters of these roles. The rest of the cast is certainly excellent and was one of the best performances so far this season. The plot involves Calaf who wants to win the hand of Princess Turandot. However the princess beheads all who do not solve her three riddles. Calaf solves all of them, but offers a riddle to the princess and seduces her, ending with a wedding. The production has sparked controversy because the singers are not Asian in this opera which is set in legendary China. Due to this reaction and criticism of the production this run of the opera will likely be the last run of the production.
Everyone should see this before that happens as it was one the best evenings of theater I have attended. Turandot runs with this cast until November 16 and is revived with a different cast in April.
DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG One of the longest operas commonly performed with performances at the
Met lasting over six hours. However, those who are able to sit through the opera get a sensitive and intellectual score and some of the best music Wagner wrote for the voice. The plot concerns Eva and Walter who are in love but Eva is betrothed to the winner of the song contest of the Mastersingers. Walter attempts to become a Mastersinger but is thwarted by Beckmesser. With the help of Hans Sachs, a poet, he is able to write a Mastersong and win Eva’s hand.
The opera has not been seen at the Met since 2014 and returns with a strong cast. Lise Davidsen brings nuance and complexity to the role of Eva and Klaus Florian Vogt is able to sing Walther without falling into barking, an incredible feat considering how long this role is.
But the greatest singer of the group is Michael Volle, who sings Hans Sachs. Sachs is probably the longest role to be performed by a singer in a single opera and Volle rises to the occasion. He make Sachs a father figure, a mentor, a philospher and a flawed human. Antonio Pappano, who has been absent from the Met for 25 years, conducts the mammoth score in the pit, and the production by Otto Schenck provides a stunning backdrop of 17th Century Nuremburg. Die Meisteringer Von Nurnberg runs until November 14. Coming Up: Next month I will review Porgy and Bess, and Euyridce.
Frank Raso is a 12-year old Brooklynite with a die-hard love of opera. He has seen nearly every Metropolitan Opera production since the 2018/19 season.
Early Action is Key! Ask Your Doctor About Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Monoclonal antibody treatment is for people who have COVID-19 or were recently exposed to someone who has had COVID-19. Monoclonal Antibody Treatment: • Helps your body fight COVID-19 while your immune system begins to make its own antibodies
• Reduces your risk of becoming sick from COVID-19 and avoid hospitalization
• Is recommended for anyone age 12 and older who is at high risk for severe COVID-19 illness, such as older adults and people with other health conditions • Is NOT a substitute for vaccination
To find a site offering monoclonal antibody treatment, visit nyc.gov/health/map.
To find a vaccination site, visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692).
Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
November 2021, Page 17
Books by Quinn From Underground to Mainstream Review of The Drag Explosion by Linda Simpson Review by Michael Quinn
FRESHEST LOBSTER IN NYC! OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
MONDAY - THURSDAY 12-9 FRIDAY & SATURDAY 12-10 | SUNDAY 12-9
FOR TAKEOUT, DELIVERY OR DINE-IN RESERVATION REQUIRED FOR DINE-IN ONLY THROUGH THE RESY APP
Join us for our
fifth Annual
Drag queen Linda Simpson has been a unique presence in New York City nightlife since the 1980s. She’s not known for barn-burning performances (her longstanding gig is as a Bingo hostess) or for being a look queen (her off-the-rack outfits veer toward the pedestrian, capped with an out-ofthe-bag, shake-and-go red wig). Her wisecracks and corny sense of humor are as likely to induce groans as they do laughs, but that’s actually a big part of Simpson’s charm. In fact, the legendary Butt magazine once singled her out for being “refreshingly untalented.”
Like the name she chose for herself, Simpson’s appeal lies with her comparative normalcy. Yet she grew up male in Minnesota, feeling like a misfit. Through drag, “I had found an identity and a welcoming tribe of like-minded confidantes,” she writes in The Drag Explosion, a big, beautifully designed art book documenting the evolution of the late ‘80s to mid-90s New York drag scene from the underground to the mainstream. The Drag Explosion had its own evolution. A few years ago, Simpson began by dragging out old shoe boxes full of 35 mm snapshots from an era she calls B.C. (“before cellphones”) to put together a traveling slide show for audiences in clubs and galleries. This is just one of the things she has in common with the legendary photographer Nan Goldin and her seminal work, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. They share an era, locales, a kind of grittiness, as well as an intimate relationship with their subjects—some of whom show up in both works. Simpson doesn’t claim to be a serious photographer—she calls these “just-for-fun” photos—but fans of Goldin’s work will immediately see the connection and find much to admire here.
DECEMBER 2 • 6:00-7:30PM PER NYC LAW
PROOF OF VACCINATION IS REQUIRED TO DINE INSIDE OUR RESTAURANT.
Simpson has thoughtfully and purposefully arranged the photos with regard to composition (for example, pairing two different leopard-clad queens in one side-by-side spread), as well as the era to which they belong. At the end of each section, she includes a list of simple captions (“Page at my apartment,” “Tharin out on the town”) and the year. We see drag legends (Lady Bunny, Lipsynka, RuPaul) on their way up, hard-bodied men with their pants
down, and club kids festooned in all their kooky finery. Simpson’s gaze captures her affection for her subjects and makes us interested in all of them.
She takes us to the East Village’s Pyramid club and early iterations of Lady Bunny’s Woodstock-inspired drag festival, Wigstock. She takes us up to the roof for a photo shoot, where an earlier version of Manhattan looms in the background. Often we see Simpson and her friends at home, getting ready, in messy apartments with powerstrips overloaded by the latest appliances (like a VCR), or in the corner of a bar constituting “backstage” after a show, wigless with sweat stains under the arms. Queens smoke, shop for cheap jewelry, pose for photos on the steps of porn theaters, and check their makeup in the side mirrors of parked cars.
Drag largely came from thrift stores then, and there are a lot of ‘60s styles on display (geometric earrings, Pucci prints, go-go boots). Makeup came from drugstores and was crudely applied. Something like bright red lips sometimes signifies more than approximates femininity. This make-do scrappiness was born of necessity and defines the style then. While somewhat crude by today’s YouTube tutorial standards, it still feels surprisingly fresh. The venues look dumpy, the faces looks shiny, but everyone looks like they’re having the time of their lives. Yet they were always reeling with grief. As Simpson reminds us, this was the era of AIDS. People were dying every day. Gays were considered pariahs; to even make this fact about yourself known was a radical act. Simpson hosted a weekly party and printed an underground zine, My Comrade, to promote messages of positivity, solidarity, and love. When she writes of this “thriving queer counterculture,” it makes you realize how much of gay culture has been absorbed by the larger straight culture, even as it continues to act in opposition to many of its norms.
Straight people got interested in drag and helped make it popular. Drag queens got jobs at bigger clubs, as promoters and hostesses, and RuPaul’s 1992 single “Supermodel” really brought the scene to the mainstream. Simpson and the rest of her cohorts thought this was the moment their ship would come in. Instead, interest in drag fell out of fashion.
(continued on next page)
HEATED OUTDOOR DINING!
WE HAVE PLENTY OF LOVELY TABLES & BOOTHS OUTSIDE WITH HEATERS IF YOU ARE NOT VACCINATED.
284 Van Brunt St | Brooklyn NY
Page 18 Red Hook Star-Revue
www.star-revue.com
November 2021
Jazz by Grella
Live at the BRIC JazzFest
W
hat if jazz is the original fusion music? What if it was always fusion music, from the very beginning, long before the Tony Williams Lifetime and Electric Miles and Weather Report?
That is all the truth, so obvious that it was overlooked before Williams and Miles brought the startling, creative rock of the late ‘60s into jazz. But jazz never started as a pure, objective form. It developed out of a mix of ingredients: blues, hymns, work songs, dance tunes, bits and pieces from France and Spain via the Caribbean, all stewing together in New Orleans, a port city that brought together people from all over the world and from every corner of life. Jazz is a stew, jazz is life. How could it not be a fusion?
October’s BRIC JazzFest, in the BRIC building that hides among the soulless towers of Fort Greene, went in heavy on the fusion side. And as a true fusion music, there wasn’t much rock. Nothing wrong with rock, but there are so many other musics out there to bring into jazz, especially in a time when the bulk of the recorded legacy of music making is just a screen and an online account away. The flavors at two nights of the festival were spicy with soul, funk, music theater, even hip hop and Gnawa music—what the publicity materials called Modern Black Music. Hell yeah, jazz is life. The hip hop and Gnawa were on the Gallery stage, courtesy of a sinuous set from Stas Thee Boss, singing and flowing about the knots of relationships and racism, and Samir Langus, leading a nonet in a crowdpleasing hour of bluesy Gnawa rock. Those musicians, and Dominican guitarist Yasser Tejeda, were probably the farthest from the central roots of jazz, which essentially meant they weren’t far at all, and their music fit into the festival program with such naturalness that, other than the quality and fun, their presence was unremarkable. That, happily, seems to be the state of jazz for audiences these days. There are occasional pronouncements about what is and isn’t jazz in the far corners of critical discourse, but their lack of effect shows how meaningless they are. The sold-out crowds swung easily from the incisive modern acoustic jazz idioms of Adam O’Farrill’s Stranger Days, the Sean Jones Quartet, and bassist Adi Myerson’s sextet (with guest vocalists), and the prog-rock, funk and neo-soul of Thana Alexa and her Ona band, vibraphonist Sasha Berliner and her group, and Superblue, Kurt Elling’s new project with Charlie Hunter. The festival unfortunately scheduled Berliner’s set almost directly opposite Elling’s, so something had
Red Hook Star-Revue
by George Grella to give, and that was extended attention to Berliner’s ultra-stylish, assured group, which featured alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw. The resonant sound of Berliner’s vibes, the hip beats and muscular harmonies, the way her soloing dug at the music, were all so compelling that the crowd literally gravitated en masse to the Gallery space. Meanwhile, in the Ballroom, Elling and Hunter were getting into getting down.
Superblue is a fascinating record. The surface is glossy, wise-ass funk, but Elling is a deep artist, who has set the poetry of Theodor Roethke and Rilke to music, and done astonishing vocalese on the tunes and playing of John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter, and Freddie Hubbard. With Hunter in the engine room, Elling sings the poetry of Chase Twichell over more Shorter, delivers a reading of Tom Wait’s monologue, The Circus, and draws out a narrative from Dharma Bums, over Hunter’s rave-up, that ends with the quote from Elwood Blues that sets up the denouement (such as it is) of The Blues Brothers. The blistering live set traded the subtleties for energy and pure fun, and some intense playing from substitute drummer Nate Smith, and everybody on stage seemed to be having even more fun than everyone in the ballroom—pretty much all of whom were dancing—which didn’t seem possible. Elliing has done some middling songbook stuff recently, but this was him at his best, aiming for the head and the hips at the same time.
And then there was the theatrics: the Sun Ra Arkestra, led my Marshall Allen, Roy Nathanson’s and Nick Hakim’s new, quasi version of the Jazz Passengers, and in a subtle, important, and beautiful way, Cécile McLorin Salvant, accompanied by pianist Sullivan Fortner.
Nathanson and Hakim, and the Arkestra, went back-to-back in the Ballroom on Friday night, a great pairing. Both groups make theatrical music. That’s been established with the Arkestra for decades—they don’t just play originals like “Angels and Demons at Play,” and standards like “Stranger in Paradise,” they put Sun Ra’s Afrofuturist world into motion on stage, with the abstract space suits and general atmosphere of a better world, even if only for 45 minutes at a time. Allen may need some help getting on stage, but his playing and direction are still as powerful and sharp as anyone’s, and the Arkestra experience seems to be eternally one of joy and companionship. If musicians can provide models for how to live a good life both as an individual and in a community, then the Arkestra is not just a great big band, but a great social organization. Rhetorical, that, because it is and always has been.
www.star-revue.com
Nathanson is part of that ethic too, playing impromptu concerts from his porch during the pandemic. He and Hakim wrapped up their collaboration, Small Things, during the worst of 2020, and with esteemed colleagues like trombonist and vocalist Curtis Fowlkes, that’s what they brought to stage. They hit an amazing balance, Hakim’s soulful, heartfelt slow jams, Nathanson’s irreverent approach to everything musical and American. Nathanson is an idealist, and he still believes, so songs like “Cry Party” and “Things to Like and Not Like in America” threaded a narrow line between hope and despair, frustration and optimism. The crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder, and there was a homecoming feel, like the music was reporting dispatches on everything we had been through in 2020. Playing mostly straight-ahead, idiomatic jazz, this set went farther afield than anything else. In a quiet way, Salvant did the same. She and Fortner are excellent partners, confident in each other, and they picked out tunes on the bandstand. The pianist was always right there, supporting the voice, and Salvant gave him plenty of space for solos that tickled the edge of wildness. She, meanwhile, was uncanny and haunting, an amazing synthesis of Nancy Wilson and Judy Garland, great jazz singer and theater nerd. That meant songs from Gypsy, in a “Bernadette Peters” style, as she pointed out, and also “The World is Mean” from The Threepenny Opera, with a delivery that out-Brechted Lotte Lenya, and the fusion with the pop world of “Dancing With Your Ghost.” Then there was an enthralling “Lush Life”—with proper pronunciation of “distingué”—that captured what Salvant is like live. Her albums are excellent, but live she has a transparency and intimacy that are the sound of her falling in and out of love with you, the listener, and even in the crowd, she sings to you like there’s no one else around. Nothing is more dramatic.
BOOKS (continued from page 18) A little over a decade ago, RuPaul rose like a phoenix from the ashes and once again caught the spirit of the zeitgeist. His wildly popular, Emmy-winning show RuPaul’s Drag Race mints a new generation of (reality) stars seasonally, the only drag queens people tend to recognize or be interested in these days. It is these people Simpson is likely addressing when she writes, “And to all you young drag queens, my sisters and I have something to say: You’re welcome.” Refreshing? Absolutely. Untalented? The Drag Explosion shows otherwise. It reveals Linda Simpson as the powerhouse she’s been all along: the wallflower at the orgy, camera in hand, ready for the money shot.
November 2021, Page 19
foo_46589_01_Craft Beer Ad_Red_Hook_Star_Review_M.indd 1
Page 20 Red Hook Star-Revue
10/20/21 1:41 PM
www.star-revue.com
November 2021