STAR REVUE
LOCALLY PRODUCED JOURNALISM
WALKING WITH COFFEE
The Movable Cubicle
by R.J. Cirillo
In old black and white photos and movies, office workers were always depicted in huge rooms containing multiple desks, where they manned (or womanned) telephones and typewriters. There were no barriers between them and I’m sure while doing their assigned tasks they would interact with each other.
Moving forward through conflict in Gowanus, an interview with Dr. Hildegaard Link
Gowanus is a changing neighborhood. From once being an area with mostly light and heavy industries, the Gowanus Canal is now slowly becoming surrounded by residential and mixed-use buildings, a process which has significantly sped up since the rezoning of the area was approved in 2021.
But the changing scenery has not come without difficulties. In the past decade-and-a-half, environmental issues have become points of contention, including toxic indoor air, cleanup of the canal and, most recently, noxious odors.
At the heart of today’s conflicts in Gowanus is that the reshaping of the landscape is bringing the dirty history of Gowanus to the surface — both literally and figuratively. Throughout its over a century-long history as a manufacturing hub, various industries have contaminated the soil and water of the neighborhood. Now, residents and small businesses are dealing with the consequences.
But the concerns are as diverse as the community, and what neighbors care about can drastically differ.
“My primary concern in Gowanus is shrinking manufacturing zones, the loss of jobs for the skilled trades and unskilled labor and loss of opportunities for marine transport,” said Dr. Hildegaard Link, a Civil engineer in private practice and professor at City University of New York’s Macaulay Honor’s College. Link is a member of the Gowa-
At a certain point in business history, to maximize efficiency, it was decided that workers should be portioned off into separate cubicles.
In the late sixties I briefly worked as a phone solicitor I one of these office cubicles. Being a card carrying citizen of the Woodstock Nation (you know, peace, love, freedom etc.), I found the experience of sitting alone in a box, mind numbing and oppressive Went out for lunch the first day and never went back. Still needing a job I wound up being one of those long haired hippie type cabdrivers you might hail back in those days…..freedom!
by Oscar Fock
nus Community Advisory Group (CAG) as well as Community Board 6 and is a long-time Gowanus advocate. She believes the rezoning and cleanup of the canal are pushing some maker businesses out, particularly those related to waterborne transport, like boat makers, welders and companies doing hardware repair.
“When you eliminate a light manufacturing zone you eliminate jobs, and you displace the population. The current vision of the Gowanus precludes those land uses, and it’s unfortunate because it really cuts a significant swath of the population out. Light manufacturing is actually a revenue boon for the City of New York. It creates good jobs for people who don’t want or can’t afford a college degree,” she argues.
According to Dr. Link, the environmental conservation focus of the ca-
"At the heart of today’s conflicts in Gowanus is that the reshaping of the landscape is bringing the dirty history of Gowanus to the surface."
Now, several ages later walking the streets with my 12 ounce Americano in hand, I see a kind of self imposed cubicle surrounding the passing locals. Loud Bluetooth conversations going by, oblivious to the others within earshot.
In coffee bars at single tables everyone on laptops in their own private Idahos. I don’t know the long term effect these soft digital walls we’ve created will have on us. That’s – as they say – “above my pay grade.” I do know however that my life was enriched by the many random encounters and friendships that wouldn’t have hap-
nal cleanup preclude the use of the canal for small and medium scale marine transport. The drive for conservation effectively blocks opportunities for short sea shipping—the maritime equivalent of sprinter vans and takes away an important tool in the fight to decrease the number of trucks in the area—a growing concern in places like Gowanus and Red Hook.
“A significant challenge is bringing goods and services into the city and minimizing truck traffic. We want fewer trucks, and Gowanus could have functioned as a way to bring goods into South Brooklyn. But that’s not what we got. We have green space, residences and views, and we are re-
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Dr. Hildegarde Link is an Educator and Engineer, specializing in resilient design with experience in wastewater and storm water management.
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The Ice House: an unchanging neighborhood icon
There’s no such thing as a bad seat at the Brooklyn Ice House. The two picnic tables in front of the bar provide views of passersby. In the bar’s spacious back patio, wooden tables and benches are sprinkled among rusty chairs—nothing precious enough to cause concern if you have a little spill, nor dirty enough to fear sitting on. Inside, two televisions are strategically placed so that almost every seat has a view of the game or movie. Tables sidle up to maroon leather that lines the lower half of the wall; this area is perfect for meeting a friend, more intimate discussions, or when you just don’t want to risk small talk. The bar itself, though, as with most dive bars, is the place to be if you’re feeling social. Whether it’s a bartender or another visitor, there’s always someone to share a conversation with.
There are always at least a few patrons at Brooklyn Ice House, and if the bartender doesn’t know your name when you walk in, he or she will likely have learned it before you’ve left. Community takes a new shape in a place like this; on a recent evening, I found myself elbow to elbow with a group of three friends celebrating a birthday, a couple on a date, and a man so drunk, he couldn’t resist telling me (more than once) that I looked like someone that would edit teleprompters. An-
"You vaguely note the musk of beer, a reminder of what’s king here; but the food is confusingly delicious and wide-ranging."
other evening I met a man sitting out front; he visits the Ice House about once a week, watching the street life,
by Katherine Rivard
and sometimes using the time to give his mother a call while sipping a beer. An older group of friends co-opted the bar’s large, circular table to catch up, while a couple with two toddlers stopped in for a quick meal after work (and a couple of drinks for the caregivers).
The social aspect of the bar is aided by its affordability. Nowadays, even a Budweiser can cost $8 in some restaurants, but here you can enjoy one for just $5 (no tax; cash only), or $4 if you happen to be in during happy hour. In addition to affordability, the bar maintains an impressive range of beers. Choose from the lowbrow (PBR, Budweisers, Miller High Life), the craft beers (Dogfish Head, Sixpoint, Bitburger), or the imported (Smith Smith, Duvel, a raspberry lambic from Austria). Unlike some dive bars where ordering a cocktail is frowned upon, the Palomas, mules, and other options (all written out on the chalkboard menus) are not something to look down on.
Specials borderline nutritious
As you walk into the Ice House, you vaguely note the musk of beer, a re-
minder of what’s king here; but the food is confusingly delicious and wide-ranging. Classics like a burger, pulled pork sandwiches, fries, onion rings, or Frito pie (imagine a bag of Fritos, torn open within a bowl, then topped with chili, some very not-real cheese, and pickled jalapeños) are consistently available. Meanwhile, the specials are oddly homey and borderline nutritious—like baked lasagna or a lamb gyro.
Eater lists Brooklyn Ice House as one of the city’s best dive bars, but the title barely scratches the surface. The bar goes beyond offering a cheap drink or company, to inspiring community and even art. Prints of the bar’s facade, drawn by artist John Tebeau, can be purchased online for $90. Search for the song “B61” to hear folk singer Aoife O’Donovan recall past meetings in the local haunt: “took the B61 across town / to where he was waiting at the ice house / wish it was my house”. While it might not be your house, you’re welcome to stop by for yourself any day of the week, 12 pm to 4 am. There are many perks of living in Red Hook, and the Brooklyn Ice House is certainly one of them.
Many life changing events have no doubt taken place in the wonderful Ice House backyard. (photo taken by George Fiala, circa 2012)
120 Waterfront acres and a plan
There was a time when the NYC waterfront was a blighted mess. When I first started working in New York, first in the Village where encounter the Hudson River, and then here in Brooklyn, and the East River, I took for granted that the burned out piers I saw were an indication that the city just didn't care about the water. It reminded me of a comic book I had read in high school, Prince Namor the Submariner. Namor was from the undersea city of Atlantis (at least in the Marvel Universe) and a powerful scene (depicted to the right) was when he surfaced amidst the garbage strewn river right by the Brooklyn Bridge. His disgust strongly influenced my 15 year-old sensibilities.
In the Bicentennial year of 1976, the city presented a festival of ships calling it the Harbor Festival. It celebrated our waterfront, which still at that time housed a bustling shipping industry. It continued for a few more July fourths. In 1978 I started working for a local paper around here that produced a special issue for the Festival each year. My job was to sell ads, and I met executives from shipping companies, the Port Authority, and even the Longshoreman's Union (Local 1814 of course), and developed a sense of the importance of the waterfront. By the mid 1980s, much of that business went to New Jersey, who had the large amounts of land needed to build large container terminals, which the industry was moving towards. The once bustling shoreline from Williamsburg to Sunset Park became home to the homeless who snuck onto the abandoned piers through holes in the barbed wire fences. The one exception was the Red Hook Con-
tainer Terminal, itself a downsizing of a planned containerport that would have spanned the length of Red Hook. In those days, land in what is now called the Columbia Waterfront District was not worth much, as the once thriving neighborhood became isolated by Robert Moses' BQE, and money moved east to Court Street, leaving crime and lots of vacant lots behind. Fast forward to 2010 when I began this paper. The waterfront was becoming more valuable, as the Two Trees real estate developers showed the way in Dumbo, and the big question was when the city would kick out the Terminal in favor of Brooklyn Bridge style expansion, which was luxury hotels,
malls, and condos surrounded by parks with waterfront access.
The thought was that it wouldn't happen for a while because NY is a Democratic town, and Democrats depend on union support, and all the waterfront workers were either ILA or Teamster members. The Port Authority was stuck in the middle and only grudgingly extended the terminal lease, first ten years, and then just five, seemingly until they could figure out how to get rid of them and sell out.
Well people, they figured it out this year, as you probably have read here and other places. The 120 acres is now controlled by the NYC EDC, and their job is to create a Master Plan that will redo the waterfront.
This is where you guys come in.
There is a website where you see what EDC's general idea of the Master Plan is. I reprinted their vision below, which includes marine business, parks and what looks like tall residential buildings, like in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Their illustration of Open Space IS actually Brooklyn Bridge Park. But we live in more modern times when these kinds of decisions are made somewhat less unilaterally than in the Robert Moses days. EDC has hired a consultant to manage the local community in the decisions that will shape the future of Red Hook and
the Columbia Waterfront District.
I see a couple of red flags that give a hint of how much community input they are willing to allow. One is that NY State is involved. The Empire Development Corporation does real estate development – one example we all know is the Atlantic Center, which includes the Barclay Center. The state's involvement supersedes local zoning laws, making it easier to build big. Another red flag for me is that while they proclaim a great desire for community input, they haven't reached out to this community newspaper (although they did answer some of my emails).
How can we all be involved?
For the community to do the best job possible, there has to be some sort of unity and consensus in developing our own community plan that makes sense and creates a viable position that EDC will have to listen to.
There are many community voices in this waterfront area, which includes more than just Red Hook. Plans are afoot to create a coalition of everyone, which will join the communities and their constituencies. At some point you will see flyers and social media inviting you to take part in some old fashioned grass roots visioning. Do it!
Cartoon Section with Marc and Sophie
BY MARC JACKSON
FUNNY SIDE UP
Publisher George Fiala
Taken from the Brooklyn Marine Terminal website (google MT EDC), this is what they publicly envision.
SHORT SHORTS:
BY STAR-REVUE STAFF
Express bus to Manhattan
The coalition for a bus directly from Red Hook to Manhattan boasts 23 members including Brooklyn Community Board 6, Resilient Red Hook, and the Star-Revue
The coalition is hoping to host a meeting in September to discuss strategies, and to further structure the coalition. Options for dates and format will be sent out in the coming weeks, so they can find what works best for those who would like to attend.
The group is busy petitioning to demonstrate grassroots support. Right now, they are just short of 600 signatures and are looking to reach 1000 for their next goal. The petition can be found at the website redhookbus.com.
New home for PS 676
The cleaning process to address contamination at 46 Verona St. is set to begin. The site used to be the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company but is now an empty lot with overgrown weeds. The cleanup will be performed by the New York City School Construction Authority with oversight provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC.) The process is expected to take approximately one year.
Part of the process includes the implementation of a Site Management Plan
(SMP) for long-term maintenance of the remedial systems and the recording of an Environmental Easement (a legal restriction on a property that grants a real property interest to the State to enforce maintenance requirements) to ensure proper use of the site.
PS 676, which is currently located at 27 Huntington St., is transitioning into the Harbor Middle School and will move to 46 Verona St. The new building will be three stories high with an adjacent yard.
Wind scholarships
Community Offshore Wind gave scholarships to ten girls between the ages of six and 14 to attend the Brooklyn summer camp session of Tools & Tiaras Inc. Community Offshore Wind is a joint venture of RWE and National Grid Ventures that will develop up to three gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind on the largest parcel in the New York Bight. Tools & Tiaras is passionate about creating an avenue where young girls can showcase their talents and succeed in non-traditional roles, with a belief that the future of the construction industry depends on the ability to get all capable hands on deck.
“Offshore wind will create thousands of good jobs in New York, and an important part of our mission at Community Offshore Wind is making sure all New Yorkers have the skills and training to seize these opportunities,” said Doug Perkins, President and Project Director of Community Offshore Wind. “Women have been underrepresented in the trades for far
too long, and we’re committed to ensuring they can access the opportunities and careers created by the clean energy industry.”
“To have Community Offshore Wind come to our table with missionaligned support is invaluable,” said Judaline Cassidy, Founder & CEO of Tools & Tiaras Inc. “Their generosity covered full camp scholarships for 10 girls participating in our 5-day Brooklyn Summer Camp. But the impact of what these girls gain at camp - selfconfidence, skills, empowerment - is going to stay with them forever. And you can’t put a price on that.”
DEC to hold community availability session on soil vapor intrusion investigation
On Thursday, Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m., the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will hold a community availability session in the gymnasium of the Children’s School on 215 1st St.
About a year ago, in September 2023, the DEC launched a Gowanus-wide investigation into soil vapor intrusion (SVI), a process by which volatile chemicals can enter buildings from contaminated soil and groundwater below. The investigation is “a comprehensive study to assess the potential for SVI from contamination at various brownfield cleanup sites in the Gowanus area,” according to the information sheet sent out by the environmental conservation department to subscribers to the agency’s newsletter. Since 2021, significantly elevated levels of industrial chemicals linked to
cancer and Parkinson’s disease have been found in the indoor air of multiple buildings in Gowanus. As we reported in the July issue of the StarRevue, some of the DEC’s recent findings prompted the community advocacy group Voice of Gowanus and the environmental data firm Toxics Targeting to call for a halt on approvals of new developments on brownfield sites in Gowanus and for the state to investigate all structures within 1,000 feet of a brownfield site for soil vapor intrusions. The Department of Environmental Conservation maintains that no specific finding caused the agency to launch an expanded investigation into the entire Gowanus area.
The session, which is co-hosted with the New York State Department of Health (DOH), will include a presentation from the DEC on the findings from the 2023-2024 heating season, as well as a look ahead to the upcoming round of sampling during 2024 and 2025. During the first round of sampling, the state tested 113 buildings, but it is not yet clear what the number will be this winter. Soil vapor intrusion sampling is usually conducted during the heating season when heating is turned on and windows and doors are closed, as that is when problems are most likely to arise. Representatives from both agencies will also be available to answer questions from community members about the state’s investigation. The state has received criticism for not doing enough to protect the public from exposure to harmful chemicals and for allowing new construction on land that may still be contaminated.
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Find in the City
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SHORT SHORTS:
BY STAR-REVUE STAFF
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“When you’re building new buildings, you have to think long-term, 100 years from now. What we need to be doing is digging it up and getting it out of the ground so that it doesn’t continue to evaporate into our buildings. And that’s not happening,” Seth Hillinger, a member of Voice of Gowanus who’s lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, told the Star-Revue in June.
At 4:54 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, The DEC released its summary report of the 2023-2024 investigation, which can be found on the agency’s website.
Green-Wood Cemetery plans September events
The opera Morning//Mourning will take place on September 12, 13, and 14. Set in Green-Wood’s Catacombs, singer and composer Gelsey Bell presents a specially adapted rendition of the critically acclaimed opera, which traces the weeks, months, years, and millennia that follow humanity’s disappearance from Earth. The opera will be presented as part of the Angel’s Share, in partnership with Death of Classical.
Open Doors will take place on September 22. This is an opportunity to delve into Green-Wood Cemetery’s hidden histories on an unforgettable self-guided tour through the Cemetery’s storied grounds. Uncover mysteries locked within nineteenth-century mausoleums, including stunning stained glass and intricate architectural details.
Small Business Services Apprenticeship program
The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) is launching new apprenticeship programs. Brooklyn residents interested in advancing their careers in the industrial and construction sectors are encouraged to apply.
The ApprenticeNYC: The Advanced Manufacturing program and the newly launched Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Pre-Apprenticeship program are designed to equip low-income New Yorkers with the skills needed to thrive in highdemand industrial and construction careers. This initiative aligns with the
Adams Administration’s commitment to create 30,000 new apprenticeships by 2030, fostering a more equitable and inclusive workforce.
These programs also reflect the City’s commitment to train and position New Yorkers to benefit from hundreds of thousands of good “green-collar” jobs that don’t require a college degree, as laid out in the Green Economy Action Plan. The career pathways for both of these trainings pay annual wages of nearly $80,000 or more, providing inclusive pathways to the middle class.
Strong Rope Brewery’s Annual Oktoberfest Friday, September 13
Strong Rope Brewery celebrates favorite NYC Oktoberfest brews, with a steinholding competition, live music, and more! Festive food options with soft pretzels from Runner & Stone and Chaatwurst sausages plus veggie options from Chaat Dog whose summer residency at Strong Rope has been recently featured in The New York Times and Eater as well as the Red Hook Star-Revue The Polka Brothers will be presenting classic polka favorites and pop and rock gone polka to get everyone into the Oktoberfest spirit.
The Sunset Steinholding Competition takes place 7 pm. Winner gets a gift card and choice of Strong Rope swag including authentic German steins and accessories from Long Island German Steins We’ll be pouring our Oktoberfest beer, Lucky, along with festbiers from 10+ other NYC craft breweries: Endless Life Brewing, Fifth Hammer Brewing Co., Finback Brewery, Greenpoint Beer & Ale Co., Gun Hill Brewing Company, Keg & Lantern Brewing Company, Kills Boro Brewing Company, Kings County Brewers Collective (KCBC), Niteglow Beer Company, Rockaway Brewing Company, Threes Brewing, and Wild East Brewing Co. Admission is free, but early bird deals on branded 1/2 liter and liter steins are available through Eventbrite: https:// strongtoberfest-2024-strong-ropebrewery-oktoberfest.eventbrite. com/. Glassware purchases include a pour and purchase of the liter stein gives guaranteed entry into the waterfront steinholding competition at sunset. It’ll be a fun-filled day and evening full of local festbiers, Bavarian music, and yummy food. Prost!
Strong Rope located on the pier at 185 Van Dyke Street, not far from Valentino Park.
LETTER to the Editor:
Star-Revue wins awards
Well earned! I always say, “this is the greatest neighborhood in the world” and the Red Hook Red Star Revue is definitely one of things makes this neighborhood so great. I’m not sure if everyone understands how lucky we are to still even have a local neighborhood newspaper. At a time when most local papers have gone out of busi-
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ness, not only have you been able to survive but you’ve thrived and consistently put out a quality paper with real reporting, month after month, and for FREE, that’s just amazing. Congratulations to you, Brian, Nathan and the rest of the staff, you guys deserve all the accolades that you get, and then some! —John Leyva
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(continued from page 1)
claiming wetlands, and it’s an unfortunate tunnel vision on the part of conservationists.”
Not everyone shares Dr. Link’s views and may prioritize other parts of the redevelopment of Gowanus. Therefore, she explained, the involved city, state, and federal agencies must be able to adjust to the community’s various needs and learn from what works. She highlights a cleanup on the corner of Nevins Street and Sackett Street overseen by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. There, the agency has largely been able to keep noxious odors from escaping the site, in contrast to the CSO tank construction site at the top of the canal along Nevins Street where neighbors have complained for months about strong and harmful smells.
“We need to highlight the good work being done. If people are satisfied with how the DEC manages excavation, then let’s use that as a best management practice,” she said.
“I’m not opposed to emphatically expressed opinions." — H. Link
Discussions can sometimes get heated between residents concerned with the health of the community and the city, state, and federal agencies tasked with cleaning up the canal and the surrounding contaminated land. To an observer, it can sometimes feel like both sides are desperately trying to get the other side to listen and understand, but with little tangible movement on pressing issues. But it is a mistake to view emotions as the antithesis to progress in situations like this, noted Dr. Link.
What democracy looks like
“I’m not opposed to emphatically expressed opinions. I think it’s okay for people to say, ‘I’m really angry about this and you need to pay attention,’” she said. “This is what democracy looks like. People wouldn’t come to meetings if they weren’t angry, and the idea that we need to do this without having intense emotions — that is not likely to accomplish anything.”
Currently, the agency representatives attending the community meetings are scientists and lawyers. This can become a problem, Dr. Link explained, if they aren’t trained in community outreach. She remembers a conversation she had some years ago. She was trying to formulate a course of action that would protect public housing residents from green gentrification.
"I told my neighbor that when I ask people what they think about a given topic, I very rarely get an answer to the question I’m asking. People are angry and they talk about what they’re angry about. I rarely get a direct answer to my
original question.” Her neighbor told her that people are angry and need to talk through the issues they are concerned about before they can answer the question. “I learned that what people are upset about is more important than my questions and that changed my approach to serving my community." In the end, the most important thing is what residents are concerned about. Science is only valuable in service of the residents, she said.
“That’s why you need to have people who are trained in public advocacy. Because there is lots of stuff that people want you to know, and saying,’ You
told me that already,’ and ‘I know that already,’ is not going to get you any closer to your answer,” Dr. Link said. “You’re going to have to sit there and listen, and you’re going to have to lis-
ten to everything people have to say until you get to the answer. The idea that people’s responses have to come linearly and on-demand is not consistent with human nature.”
Smelly NYC Superfund construction a Gowanus headache
Abig part of the EPA Superfund plan for the Gowanus Canal is preventing future pollution.
One of the biggest polluters is the City of NY, due to the fact that when local sewers can't handle a big rainstorm, raw sewage is pumped into the Canal. This has been happening for years and is a big part of what is being dredged. The 2012 EPA Record of Decision required the City to deal with it by building two big tanks to store most of the sewage until the storm ends, when it can be sent on it's way.
The EPA suggested that the bigger tank be placed under a public swimming pool at Thomas Greene Park, since the pool had to be dug up anyway for toxic pollutant remediation, but the City insisted that that $70 million dollar proposal was inadequate and instead opted for a much larger facility adjacent to the Canal, across from the pool, at a cost of at least $1.5 billion. Ironically, one of their reasons was to capture smell and keep it out of the neighborhood.
Construction on the tank finally beganand it's not been pretty. The following email thread shows the growing frustration, confusion and desperation that Gowanus homeowners are going through. Some names and addresses have been redacted and emails have been edited.
Dear Ms. Simon, we are writing to you regarding an ongoing problem with noxious odors emanating from the CSO tank construction on Nevins Street. As residents and business owners we have repeatedly complained about the extremely strong odor outside our streets and entering our homes day and night. Repeated emails have gotten us nothing but promises to take care of the problem while trying to reassure us that the odor is “not a health risk.”
That email, dated last January, was the first sent to to the office of New York State Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon. At that point at least two months had passed since odors began to seep out of the site.
To build the tank, the DEP had to dig into soil contaminated with coal tar and other toxic pollutants. Once excavated, the soil waiting to be shipped of for disposal began emitting noxious odors into the neighborhood.
This email is the first in a thread spanning eight months showing neighborhood concerns. Questions went unanswered, responsibility unclaimed.
On Jan. 23, Talia Hoch from Assembly Member Simon’s office, wrote back: DEP and EPA have heard your concerns and have directed the contractor to increase the use of odor-suppressing foam while excavating soil, as well as in areas where excavated material is staged in preparation for off-site disposal. They also set up a misting system around the soil handling area to mask odors and reduce dust and particulates in the air. They believe that the odors may also be from a piece of equipment designed to remove rocks or other debris from the slurry before it is used for the construction of the belowground wall. EPA has asked DEP to expedite the construction of a tent around this equipment, which should mitigate any odors emanating therefrom. They hope this tent will be completed by the end of the week.
Nearly a month later, on Feb. 14, a neighbor shared an update: We still haven’t received a response from the EPA. The odors are still present. We’ve been
by Oscar Fock
getting the same recycled response for about two months now. The tent is still not completed and the excavation is still continuing.
Another update came on March 5.
Hi Assembly Member Simon. I’m writing to you with great concern that our questions still have not been answered. We’ve all followed up on this matter multiple times. And from another neighbor, on the 8th. The smell was very strong last night all down the Sackett Street to 3rd Avenue. We tried to open our back door for some fresh air and had to close it because the smell was so strong. Please help us resolve this issue, especially with spring coming soon.
No response came from Simon or the involved agencies for over a month.
During this time, the odors persisted, the emails show. Then, on April 18, a day after two neighbors complained that the odors were so bad they couldn’t keep their windows open, DEP’s Community Construction Liaison, Valentina Mascaro, responded. In response to the odor complaints received yesterday and Tuesday, the DEP project team conducted additional perimeter odor inspection walks to try to identify the source.
On April 16 we found petroleum odors detected directly adjacent to the Nevins Street sewer pump station between Douglass and Degraw Streets. Strong petroleum odor and high carbon monoxide ouside the open door of the Oil Garage on Nevins between Sackett and Union. No other significant odors observed. The next day we found faint/intermittent petroleum odors from approximately 554 Sackett to 556 Sackett.
This confused some neighbors, who said they’d lived in the area for many years and never felt that kind of smell from the garage. One wrote:
Thanks Valentina. These odors are not “faint.” These are strong odors that everyone on the block is smelling such that we cannot open our windows or enjoy time outside.
What is the oil garage on Nevins between Sackett and Union? Is that something that is involved with the two sites or is that something that pre-existed the sites/construction?
I have lived on this block for 12 years and I have never had any problems with these petroleum smells before the work began at the two sites.
I’m getting tired of you guys blaming other sites for these odors and minimizing them as “faint.” These orders are having negative impacts on our lives and the use and enjoyment of our properties. Is there anything more that you all can be doing that you’re not doing now? What at the next steps on your end to further mitigate these odors?
Her questions went unanswered.
The smells came back. On April 24, some neighbors started to complain about shaking.
Is anyone else experiencing their home shaking? Mine is on and off right now and it was Monday afternoon. I wasn’t home yesterday for much of the day so not sure if it was then as well.
On the final day of April, the odors were still present.
The noxious odor is present and very strong.What are we smelling and where is it coming from? Please advise. Or were they? Thomas Mongelli with the EPA wrote:
DEP and EPA’s oversight staff are currently investigating your complaint, and I have asked DEC oversight staff to join them if available. I received a routine update on odors just a few minutes before your complaint which only noted intermittent mild to no odors in the neighborhood. If you see the staff investigating, it would be helpful to point out where you’re smelling odors.
A response came a few minutes later. The odors are present. With all do respect it’s not our job as residents and taxpayers
to figure out where these noxious odors are coming from. We’ve been complaining for four plus months now. We’ve been receiving is same recycled information from all city, state and federal government agencies, belittling our complaints and basically telling us they are null and void because the noxious odors are faint.
The noxious odors are present we all have been complaining. Please let us know where can we see all the data that’s been collected from the perimeter walls and the monitoring of all the sewer drains.
Odors and vibrations continued to disturb everyday life in the neighborhood, and while Mongelli assured community members their complaints were being taken seriously, frustration was growing. One neighbor wrote on May 7:
What is extremely frustrating to me is that you and your team continue to minimize the strength of the odors we are smelling. You note that when the community complains about the odors, your team notes only intermittent “mild” odors or “no odors at all.”
Why would so many people on the block be complaining about “mild” or nonexistent odors? These odors are permeating through some peoples’ windows and doors. Some are experiencing headaches. There have been occasions where I’ve planned to go to the playground with my kids on Degraw and Third Avenue and have had to change those plans because the odors have been so bad. I understand that these odors may not pose any long term health risks, and I hope the science is right on that. But your continued minimizing of these odors as mild or nonexistent is extremely frustrating because these odors are regularly impacting the quality of our lives. I understand all of the steps you have already taken that you outline above. But they are clearly not effective given the continued complaints from our community members. So, what MORE can you be doing, given that the odors continue to persist?
The vibrations also started to cause damage in people’s homes, according to three emails, the first sent at 3 am on May 17.
We have had our kitchen backsplash crack several weeks ago due to the shaking. This is very nerve wracking and concerning. The second came later that morning: Our house is shaking this morning, again. I would like to know how we can get vibration monitoring. We did incur damages from all of the vibration to our property. We’ve made multiple complaints with DOB. They were jack hammering away inside the tent the other day.
The shaking wreaked havoc in a third neighbor’s kitchen.
I’m at … Sackett Street and my house is shaking really bad. My kitchen cabinets just opened up and dishes came crashing down. Is anyone else experiencing this right now?
The same day, another neighbor complained of “mothball odor,” a smell caused by naphthalene, which has been associated with cancer and developmental effects on infants.
I’ve filed over 30 311 complaints since January and contacted Jo Anne Simon’s office numerous times. While I’ve been informed that environmental engineers are monitoring the situation, I’m keen on accessing the corresponding data. Each time I inquire, I receive the same automated response. Please respond with the data on the odor thresholds.
Complaints of odors and vibrations continued to come in as May turned into June, including between June 10 and 12, when emails show how both problems persisted over all three days. One community member wrote on Tuesday, June 11:
The odor is STILL present. Where is the sense of urgency? Another beautiful day stuck indoors with my children to escape these odors where I cannot even open my windows. I am absolutely livid. I have completely run
out of patience. Continuing the work without meeting our very reasonable requests is a slap in the face and is negligent at best. Heidi Dudek of DEC wanted to make it clear they were not to blame.
As provided by DEC to the group yesterday, remedial excavation activities within the tented structure at 545 Sackett Street have been completed and the base of the excavation has been backfilled with clean material.
The DEP claimed odors were faint. They again provided survey reports stressing just "faint" odors. While some within DEP, namely construction manager Marlon King, according to multiple neighbors, occasionally acknowledged the odors, others, did not. On the night of June 27, multiple people complained, including one resident who wrote:
I’m struggling to sleep, it’s like there’s a bucket of gasoline next to my pillow (even with no A/C running and windows closed). So strong I can taste it in the back of my throat. This is highly concerning. With very young children in our apartment, I also wonder how the suggested airborne safety limits of these substances are likely related to an adult sized body and how this could be affecting our children.
Odors remained strong into the afternoon of June 28, according to several emails, but the DEP didn’t agree. Mascaro wrote:
Odor surveys were conducted prior to and subsequently after the initial 9:51 odor complaint last night. During both odor surveys, all off-site VOCs were 0.0ppm and the team did not observe any odors during this time. One neighbor responded on July 2, following another email from the DEP calling the odors “faint”:
Hi Valentina and team, these canned responses from your team as a response to the community’s very real and very serious concerns and complaints continue to be incredibly condescending, insufficient and infuriating. Using the word faint when many community members have stated that the odors are strong is ridiculous. If you are not detecting odors upon the times of the complaints when the odors are clearly evident, then you may want to reconsider the systems / tools you all are using to detect said odors. We are all very scared for our health and safety, if I haven’t made that clear already. Odor complaints seemed to slow down in July. Yet, six months in, none of the agencies could identify the source. As for the smells, no one was willing to take responsibility for them.
On Aug. 1, the DEP announced that the first phase of the CSO tank construction had been completed. In October, the next phase — digging the hole in which the tank will sit — will begin, which, according to the environmental protection department won’t extend as deep as the previous work. The DEP, therefore, expects to encounter less contaminated soil during this process.
But neighbors are still worried for what this next phase will bring.
NYPD Stops Act goes into effect—advocates hope for change
The How Many Stops Act, which includes a bill that requires New York Police Department officers to record the race, age and gender of the civilians they approach during investigative encounters, officially took effect on the first day of July. (The second bill requires the NYPD to report when a person denies consent to be searched.)
Previously, officers were only required to collect information during “Level 3” encounters — a stop due to a reasonable suspicion that the individual has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime, during which officers have legal authority to detain or prevent the person stopped from leaving — but will now have to also report Level 1 and 2 stops. A Level 1 stop is when police request information from a person without suspecting them of a crime, while a Level 2 stop means the officer has begun to suspect that the person has committed a crime.
The bill went through some political rigamarole earlier this year: After the city council passed the bill in December 2023, Mayor Eric Adams — a former member of the NYPD and a staunch supporter of the police department in his role as mayor — vetoed the bill, but on Jan. 30, the council overruled the mayor’s veto with a 42-9 vote. Advocates for the bill say it is necessary to address over-policing of people of color. According to a 2023 report from the Federal Monitor, 97% of people stopped by the NYPD’s Neighborhood Safety Teams were Black or Hispanic.
“New Yorkers understand implicitly or explicitly that Black and Brown communities experience more policing. You see, hear, and feel it across the city. Yet the data for these critical interactions that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers experience with the NYPD each year is far from complete”, Daniela Gilbert, director of the advocacy group Vera’s Redefining Pub-
Stay busy at the ever-fabulous temporary
Red Hook Library!
by Brian Abate
The Red Hook Library re-opened at 362 Van Brunt St. in July and continues to get plenty of use. Many people stop in to read or work on laptops, and there have been a lots of special events including zine making, which was led by librarian Gretchen Alexander on August 26.
“A librarian from a different branch started the zine program where we have all the materials for zine-making and people can use collage materials and stamps,” Alexander told me.
“People are able to do their own thing and craft. I enjoy being crafty and doing collaging. The stamp collection is really beautiful too.”
There were a few people in the library when I stopped by. The next zine-
by Oscar Fock
"The mayor took a spaghetti-at-the-wall approach to fearmongering around this legislation, hurling lies and producing propaganda at a breakneck pace."—Alexa Aviles
lic Safety initiative, wrote in an email. Vera is an organization that works to end overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants and people experiencing poverty. “New Yorkers deserve to have a full picture of how their encounters with law enforcement are represented and a full accounting of all NYPD stops and investigative encounters in our communities,” Gilbert added.
Alexa Avilés, council member for District 38 and a lead sponsor of the bill, noted that the communities most affected have been calling for a law like this for years.
“The How Many Stops Act is common sense, good government policy. The data on Level 1 and 2 stops and consent searches collected via these two bills is an essential step toward developing much-needed policies with the goal of both protecting the constitutional rights of the public and uprooting long-standing and systemic issues within the department,” the council member wrote in an email.
Critics, including Mayor Adams, have primarily objected to including Level 1 stops in the new law. Earlier this year, the mayor said it would take too long to log the information, delaying police investigations. According to the police, the problem is the amount of Level 1 encounters — more than 3.2 million in 2022, Michael Clarke, the department’s director of legislative affairs, told the City Council in March of last year —
making will be led by Alexander on Monday, September 9 from 3-4 pm.
“We’re still doing a lot of the outreach that we were doing during the period between when the regular library closed for renovations and this temporary location opened, but there is no doubt that having a stable location is a million times better,” Alexander said. “It’s really nice seeing people come in and enjoy being here. And it’s great being right on Van Brunt St. since we’re right by the bus stop and right across from PS 15.”
Resumé help
Alexander regularly leads resume and cover letter help. That takes place every other Thursday from 2-3 pm. There is also a needle felting class and there was an event where kids got their faces painted as a way to celebrate the end of the summer.
Library information supervisor Emily Heath says there is a dedicated page for the Red Hook branch on the Brooklyn Public Library website, and events are posted as soon as they are
and that such encounters often are fluid and fast moving. The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and the New York Police Department did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
However, the many stops that go unreported is one issue that supporters hope the bill will address.
“With such a staggering number of encounters between New Yorkers and NYPD going completely unreported, data trends that could affirm lived experience and help us craft good policy to protect our neighbors remain in the dark,” Gilbert wrote.
After the bill passed, the police department had about five months to develop the tools and strategies to record all levels of encounters. No details have been shared of what those tools and strategies look like, but during a July appearance on Mornings on 1, Adams shared that the NYPD is prepared to comply with the new requirements, saying, “As in any new initiative, there may be a few bumps along the way, but we’re going to do what the law calls for us to do. The time for me to raise my concern was raised. Now that it’s law, we will move forward. That is how we’re always going to operate.”
Avilés is critical of Adams’s response to efforts to improve transparency and equitable treatment of the public within the NYPD.
“The mayor took a spaghetti-at-thewall approach to fearmongering around this legislation, hurling lies and
confirmed.
Another event already set is comic book drawing with Mr. Nick, which will takes place every Tuesday from 3-4:30 pm. Topics such as how to make comic books, cartoons, and graphic novels are covered. Mr. Nick is a professional artist who has created and published his own series of comic books. Beginners are always welcome.
Resume and cover letter assistance will take place on Sept. 12 and 26 from 2-3 pm. Kids Create will take place
producing propaganda at a breakneck pace. It would take days to refute each and every point, but I’ll stick to one of the most irresponsible,” she wrote, adding, “The administration regularly accused this effort as having a dangerous byproduct of bogging down officers with paperwork. I would ask detractors of the legislation to listen to the NYPD’s own Deputy Commissioner, who in a PIX 11 interview on June 28, said implementation requires’ minor policy operational changes. We didn’t have to do much with technology. Just a tweak.’ “
Official numbers don’t have to be made public until October (after which they will be shared on a quarterly basis), and the City Council has not received enough information from the police department as to how the new requirements are playing out, according to Avilés.
“We are working to ascertain more details as to how implementation of the legislation is going,” she wrote in an email.
The new requirements can have implications beyond increased data collection of who is stopped by police in New York. Gilbert, whose organization Vera works across the country, highlights Denver as a city that used data to change its traffic stop policy.
“Communities and legislators need to know what stops are the most common, need to take the social costs of policing seriously, and need policies and practices that will protect all residents, without over-policing Black and Brown people,” she said.
The How Many Stops Act, she said, is, therefore, “not the destination; rather, it’s a step in the process of reducing the overreliance on policing to produce public safety.”
every Thursday in September from 3:30-4:15 pm and offers an opportunity for kids to make an easy craft to take home. Story and play for children ages five and under will take place every Friday in September from 1111:45 am.
The new temporary library is also a great spot to get some work done or just relax and read. And yes, there are computers. The library is open from 10 am to 5 pm Monday-Friday.
Zine-Making at the library with Gretchen Alexander. (photo by Abate)
First BMT meeting a scripted online affair
by Brian Abate
NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) held an informational webinar on August 12 regarding the future of the Columbia Street Piers. Over 120 acres of coastal land comprising the Red Hook Container Terminal, Erie Basin including the Cruise Terminal, Manhattan Beverage, the concrete recycling plant, the Waterfront and Port Authority building, and anyplace else in between were turned over to the City by the Port Authority in exchange for a container terminal on the far side of Staten Island.
A Master Plan is to be written that will determine the future of that land, and a task force is being created composed of local politicians and community leaders to have a voice in the creation of that plan.
Congressman Dan Goldman and City Concilman Alexa Aviles, designated leaders of the task force, along with State Senator Andrew Gounardes, led off the online webinar.
Gounardes was overseas at a wedding and couldn't make this first meeting.
“The task force has approval over the final master plan,” Goldman started off saying. “It hasn’t been finalized yet, but it will include significant representation from all facets of the community. This assures that the community’s voice will be considered and will have an input in what happens here.”
Both Goldman and the EDC said that everything is still in the very early stages.
“The reason why 422 folks are here is people are eager to hear some information,” Aviles said. “The quiet was not because nothing was happening but because we were really trying to get a process together. You will hear
more information tonight but you will not hear any final information tonight because this is truly the beginning of this process and we want to get some information out there.”
Those attending the meeting could type in questions and then have members of the EDC read and respond to them. However, many in attendance were frustrated that they could not speak during the meeting or interact with the hosts of the meeting. While there was a chat box on the Zoom session, it didn't really seem to have any bearing on what questions were being chosen to answer.
EDC and their consultant said that in future meetings, those in attendance would be able to speak. There is a workshop scheduled for September 28 to be held at the Miccio Center.
Usually in these kinds of situations, meetings that are called workshops consist of dividing up attendees into separate tables supervised by minders who guide each group towards a somewhat pre-determined conclusion. That seems to be the difference between a "workshop" and a Town Hall, but for now this was not actually specified.
While the second half of the conference was spent answering questions, some of the people in attendance remained frustrated.
“The vision for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal is a generational opportunity to reimagine the site with modern maritime at its core and mixed uses, including housing and community amenities,” said Nate Gray of EDC.
“The Marine Terminal’s transformation is a key part of the Adams administration’s strategy to develop the Harbor of the Future—a reimagined East
River connected network of innovation and growth, including emerging industries like offshore wind.”
Gray also spoke about investments the city plans to make to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal under EDC management which includes more than $160 million invested in Piers 11 and 12 with a focus on resilience and sustainability. The city is also investing $80 million to stabilize and repair Piers 7,8, and 10. This is all work the Port Authority had been obligated to make over the past ten years but neglected, probably in anticipation of some sort of divestiture.
Additionally, the state has pledged $15 million towards a future cold storage facility which would make it easier to store perishable goods.
Bahij Chancey from the hired consultant WXY studio explained how the community engagement process will work. The task force will be led
"Usually in these kinds of situations, meetings that are called workshops consist of dividing up attendees into separate tables supervised by minders who guide each group towards a somewhat pre-determined conclusion."
by elected officials, as mentioned, but will also include community and city planning organizations as well as maritime and industrial groups. There will also be advisory groups which include BMT tenants, port operators, NYCHA leaders, maritime workforce, and more. “The advisory groups will serve as subject matter experts and will inform the work of the Task Force,” Chancey said.
Members of the task force have already been chosen and are currently undergoing a vetting process, as per EDC/City procedures.
Community members will also have a say and community priorities will drive the BMT’s future through surveys, public workshops, and other engagement opportunities, according to the consultants.
A fourth group that will be involved is the project team which includes the City and State Agency staff and the consultant team that will lead the project.
“In early 2025, the vision for the BMT will advance a set of community recommendations, approved by the BMT Task Force, which will guide the site’s future,” Chancey said.
The early date means the process may move quickly which makes it important that community members make their voices heard when there are community meetings and surveys.
In addition to the Miccio Center meeting, there will be a booth at the Atlantic Antic. Updates as well as the recording of the webinar system are on the EDC’s website under the project: Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Editor's Note - see related column on page 3
History: Walt Kuhn: a Red Hook A-Lister
by Joe Enright
Internet pages curated by that new cyber sensation sweeping the nation, Artificial (“Arty”) Intel & His Zombies, now list about three dozen carbon units as famous “Persons/ Red Hook.” Many of them never spent much time here (Notorious B.I.G., e.g.), while others lived in Gowanus and South Brooklyn (Joey Gallo, Jimmy Iovine, e.g.)–close enough when zombies call the shots I suppose.
As Red Hook becomes increasingly populated by parvenue celebrities, the truly important home-grown talent, like James McBride, will hopefully stay “famous” but others will fade away unless they experience a new appreciation of their life’s work… much like the star of this issue’s episode, the painter Walt Kuhn.
Cited in art history as the principal organizer of the Armory Show of 1913 (at Lex & E 25th), which introduced thousands of New Yorkers and Chicagoans to a who’s who of modern and avant-garde European artists, including Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Duch-
amp, Gauguin, and Cezanne, our Walt Kuhn was consigned by most critics to a thanks-for-competing category and dismissed. But the 21st Century has been much kinder, with multiple exhibitions prompting appreciative retrospectives of his later, more somber pieces featuring oil paintings of world-weary clowns and circus performers. Four Red
Hook addresses were home to Kuhn during his first 20 years, before he packed up his waterfront memories and lit out for the territories. They were all within gunshot of the Erie Basin and two featured saloons where his father held sway with a revolver to keep the peace.
Bay Ridge cattle herder
Papa Kuhn arrived from Germany in 1857 as a teenager and got work herding cattle up 3rd Avenue from Bay Ridge farms to a 9th Street slaughterhouse by the Canal. The job led to a new career as a butcher and so by the time of Walt’s birth in 1877, Louis and his wife Amelie owned a boarding house at 436 Van Brunt Street, where he operated a storefront butcher shop while she managed the guests. A couple of years later, he’d become a saloon keeper at 36 Van Dyke Street, while Amelie ran the boarding house
next door on the corner of Dwight Street. On a Wednesday afternoon in October 1880, Louis ejected two young men who refused to pay for their liquor and then shot at them as they were about to bust up the joint.
Longing for a more prestigious locale, the Kuhns bought a large new building on the next corner at Dwight & Elizabeth (now Beard) Streets bordering the Basin and dubbed it “Kuhn’s International Hotel.” Alas, gunfire was no stranger there either. Perhaps he was desperate, perhaps he was just a scoundrel, but in January 1895 Louis concocted a scheme with George Henry Heinbockel, the wholesale wine and liquor distributor supplying the hotel.
kept hidden. Within a few months, John went into debt and couldn’t pay Heinbockel’s tab, leading to a $836 judgment, whereupon Louis offered to take care of the matter if John agreed to transfer ownership and the license back to Louis. Smelling a rat, John complained to the Feds.
First, Louis transferred ownership of the ground floor saloon and its liquor license to his cousin John on the condition John pay him $500 every six months for seven years. But when Louis claimed he was in financial difficulty, John made the first two payments forthwith, which rendered him vulnerable to a sizeable City assessment for the grading of Dwight Street, a pending obligation that Louis had
In July 1895, the chief Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District, Robert H. Roy concurred with John’s assessment and argued before the Excise Commission that Louis and Heinbockel had conspired to defraud John. AUSA Roy, then only 30 and new to his post, was a leading reform Democrat, active in his church and described by the Brooklyn press as “quiet, methodical, polite, following the injunction that a soft answer turneth
(continued on page 18)
The site of Kuhn's International Hotel (Beard and Dwight)
Today I walked up and down Van Brunt Street, Red Hook’s main drag, and asked people to think of something they know, or believe, or feel strongly about, that they wish everybody knew.
Sam and Agron Selmani (master plumbers, Big Apple Plumbing:
Sam: I wish people knew how clean the water system is in New York City. People should stop buying bottled water. When we grew up as kids, everybody drank out of fire hydrants and hoses. And that stopped because we had bottled water. To this day, New York City has one of the best water supplies in all the states. You can grab a glass and drink water out of the tap and nothing is going to happen to you. So why not do that daily? You’re buying cases of water, why not just fill up a jug of water from the faucet?
How does it get to the faucet?
Agron (Sam’s brother): It comes from a reservoir in upstate New York. And when it comes down here it goes into water filtration plants.
So you guys both drink tap water.
(Both) Absolutely!
Sam: There’s a study that shows that there are microplastics in bottled water, and they’re finding them inside a lot of men. So now that people are drinking bottled water, those microplastics are entering our systems. (Reads from his phone) “Researchers have found on average that a liter of bottled water includes 240 thousand tiny pieces of plastic.”
Oh no. That’s horrible! What about Brita systems? Should we be using those?
Sam: They’re not harmful, but they’re really not necessary.
Birbal Kaikini (A friend and regular at the Record Shop) : I’m obsessed with a lot of music, but I really like Jamaican music. A lot of people don’t realize how mixed the island of Jamaica is. There were African slaves, there were Indian slaves, or indentured servants or whatever, there were Chinese and Irish, so a lot of mixture.
I was in Jamaica a few months ago, and I met a lot of Black people who spoke patois. A lot of people think of Jamaicans in one way.
Exactly, but there’s a lot of mixture among Jamaicans. For example, one major (Jamaican) record producer and distributor was Randy
Chin. (Chin owned “Randy’s Records,” a famous record store and recording studio in Kingston; he was the founder of VP Records, now the world’s largest distributor of Jamaican music.)
And Randy Chin was Asian? We’re talking about the diversity in the Jamaican music scene.
He was Chinese and Jamaican. Bene (Coopersmith, owner of the Record Shop) probably has some records with the “Randy’s” label right here in this store. Randy’s sons were big producers as well.
around them. So they should be approached as adults with special needs. You don’t go up to her and say, oh, she’s such a beautiful girl and I feel sorry for you. People come up to me and want to help me, and I don’t need their help. I need the space to help her. I don’t need somebody coming over and taking her hand or walking with her. Or when I’m talking to her I don’t need somebody to tell me, you’re talking to her like a two-yearold. She has the mind of a sixyear-old so I have to approach her like a six-year-old adult. I was an educator. I taught people with (disabilities), of varying ages. So I understand what goes on. Like, if two adults with autism are having an argument, it’s not something to
PEOPLE OF RED HOOK
by Lisa Gitlin
Where we talk to anyone. This month we hung out on Conover Street.
They worked with some major Jamaican artists in the ‘70s.
For example?
Like Augustus Pablo. He was known for playing the melodica, which has a unique sound. It’s kind of like a mouth piano.
Devorah Easton: I would like to know, why is the adult mentally challenged population less entitled than the child mentally challenged population? You see ads for children’s programs, for the mentally challenged child, for children with disabilities, but you don’t see similar ads for programs for adults. The programs exist, but they’re like, hidden in a closet. And there’s understanding for children, but there’s not that much understanding for adults. I have a mentally challenged daughter, she’s 52 years old, with the mind of a six-year-old. And I either get these looks – you know – or else people step away, or else they’re saying to you it’s such a shame. I’d rather that they just say hello to her, and act as normal as possible. Even though adults have a disability, they’re still grown up. They have an inkling of what’s going on
Well, look at the existence of deep fakes (created by the MAGA movement).
What is a deep fake, for people who don’t know?
It’s creating a video, or an audio, or an image that is showing someone doing something that they didn’t actually do.
So have you observed that this kind of deceptive imagery is affecting the culture?
Yes. It influences what we believe to be real and not real. We really need to be more aware of how images can be manipulated. This doesn’t mean A.I. is bad. I work with technology so I’m very interested in the way it functions in the world. But the way that technology influences our perceptions of data and information and reality is probably the most important thing for everyone to understand in the next decade.
Gerardo Gonzalez: In my more senior years I’ve realized that I need to be more modest. And I don’t think I know anything that other people don’t know.
Most older people have a lot of thoughts like, why doesn’t anybody know this? Why is everyone so dumb? Like, duh! As an older person, after acquiring some wisdom, you don’t have any thoughts like that?
No. Not really.
be frightened of, they’re just having an argument! But I can handle just about anything now. Ever since the time that my daughter and I were on a very crowded train, and she had an accident. And people wanted to sit down, and I had to tell everybody, please don’t sit there, and I had to explain why. And that cured me of everything.
Danielle Ezzo:
I’m teaching a class at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan. The class is on visual literacy in the age of A.I. I’m teaching about the ways that our changing technology is affecting our visual literacy. I think more people should know how visual images are affecting us culturally, and how they are changing us. So for instance, now, with artificial intelligence, images are being manipulated in such a way that we can’t decipher what’s real and what’s not real.
Can you give an example?
ance, if they feel like they’ve gained weight for example. Do people really notice a difference? Other people don’t notice the changes that we notice when we look in the mirror, when we look at ourselves. That’s such a superficial example…
No, that’s a good example. Because it’s something everybody can relate to.
Like on social media, people might say, oh, I’m so sorry, forgive my messy look or my clothes are wrinkled or I have a spot on them – the only reason we notice is because you pointed it out! You’re the one that sees every little thing. Other people don’t see you the way you see yourself.
We need to get out of our heads. No one cares about our actions as much as we do. People are thinking about themselves. I mean not in a selfish way…
It’s human nature.
Yeah. So when we’re obsessing over something, like, did they think I meant it this way, or did I say something wrong, or am I perceived a certain way, the reality is, no one cares as much as we think they do! Like if it’s an insecurity, or something specific that we’ve done or said, or something in the past, or something that embarrasses us, no one’s thinking about us as much as we are!
Even if it’s something that’s really devastating or humiliating…
Yeah, especially if it’s something personal, that we feel we would be judged for…Like if someone’s obsessed with something in their appear-
Stephanie Stover: Folks always procrastinate. When you need to get your car inspected, most folks wait until the expiration date, and then one day they see a ticket on their dashboard. The Department of Motor Vehicles sends a letter two months ahead of time, reminding you, but people wait till the last minute.
And this is something that you’ve noticed that many people do.
That’s right, I’m not a procrastinator. If you give me something to get done, I do it immediately, right then. And the it’s out of the way! Maybe you have to renew your tags by (a certain month). But you keep pushing it off, pushing it off, and now you get a ticket on your dashboard, your tags are expired! But you had more than two months to go to DMV and get renewed! Don’t wait until the deadline! Do it weeks or months before the deadline! If you’re getting ready to go out of the country, don’t wait a month before you’re traveling to get your new passport. Do it ahead of time! I have a coworker who’s going out of town in September, and needed a new passport, and had to pay extra to expedite his document. I told him, why did you wait so long? I’m going away in October, and I got my new passport in March! And it’s one more thing off my plate. People always say I have time, I have time, I have time. And then they’re crunching for time and they go into a panic.
Milena Olson:
The Craft Corner
TURN CAST-OFF CLOTHING INTO PRETTY PATCHES!
by Marie Hueston and Sage Hueston
Summer is coming to an end and school is just around the corner. Add a personal touch to your back to school clothes with DIY patches! Just grab an item of clothing you no longer wear (ripped, stained, outgrown) and let’s get started! What you’ll need.
In addition to the article of clothing for your patch, you will need embroidery thread, an embroidery needle, straight pins or safety pins, scissors (fabric scissors work best), a ruler, an iron, and something to put your patch on. We patched a pair of jeans but you can also do a jean jacket or tote bag. Please note, as this craft involves fabric cutting, pins and needles, and ironing, kids should ask an adult for help.
15 Gowanus buildings require mitigation for soil vapor intrusions, DEC report shows
by Oscar Fock
On the last Friday of August, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released the results of the first phase of its Gowanus-wide soil vapor intrusion investigation, conducted during the 2023-2024 heating season.
The investigation, which tested 113 buildings, found 15 buildings requiring mitigation due to elevated levels of one or multiple contaminants. Five buildings had elevated levels of the chemical tetrachloroethylene (PERC), a dry cleaning agent and metal degreasing solvent. Tetrachloroethylene exposure “may harm the nervous system, liver, kidneys, and reproductive system, and may be harmful to unborn children. If you are exposed to tetrachloroethylene, you may also be at a higher risk of getting certain types of cancer,” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. One building, titled “GC121” had 530 micrograms of PERC per cubic meter sub-slab vapor, more than 17 times the limit of 30 micrograms per cubic meter recommended by the state’s Department of Health (DOH).
Samples from the basement and subslab vapor showed levels even higher, 1,700 and 3,300 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. According to DOH guidelines, any level of PERC in
Measure your fabric.
If you are patching over a hole (like we are), measure your fabric to be about an inch larger than the hole on all sides. Use your ruler for exact measurements. If you are making a decorative patch, cut your fabric whatever size you want.
Cut out your patch.
Using your scissors, cut your fabric following the measurements you took in the last step. If your fabric is patterned, choose which part of the pattern you want to display on your patch.
Press down the edges.
Fold over the edges of your patch about a 1/4-inch onto the back side of your
indoor air should be mitigated. In its latest soil vapor/indoor air decision matrix for PERC, the health department writes, “We recommend mitigation to minimize current or potential exposures associated with soil vapor intrusion. The most common mitigation methods are sealing preferential pathways in conjunction with installing a sub-slab depressurization system and changing the pressurization of the building in conjunction with monitoring. The type, or combination of types, of mitigation is determined on a building-specific basis, taking into account building construction and operating conditions. Mitigation is considered a temporary measure implemented to address exposures related to soil vapor intrusion until contaminated environmental media are remediated.”
In 10 of the 15 buildings, trichloroethylene — an industrial solvent commonly referred to as TCE that has been linked to cancer and Parkinson’s disease — was one of the culprits, including in the building titled “GC076” where sub slab vapor tests showed TCE levels more than 700 times the state’s limits.
Other contaminants found during sampling include trimethylbenzene (which occurs naturally in coal tar) and toluene.
The DEC and the state’s health department did not disclose the addresses of the buildings that were sampled, including those where elevated levels of contaminants were discovered, per state privacy policy. We were unable to independently locate the buildings requiring mitigation based on the information provided in the re-
fabric. With all of your edges folded in place, carefully use an iron to press the edges down. Make sure to iron on a flat surface and if you don’t have an ironing board, put a towel down.
Position your patch.
Figure out where you want your patch to be and place it down. If you are covering a hole, center the patch over the hole. Using straight pins or safety pins, pin your patch into place.
Start sewing.
Grab an embroidery needle and your choice of embroidery thread (do you want your thread to blend in or stand out?). To thread your needle, cut a long piece of embroidery thread and push one end through the eye of your
"Section D, which includes Gowanus Houses, had the most buildings requiring mitigation."
port. However, DEC spokesperson Denis Slattery wrote in an email, “If any exposures that could create public health risks are discovered, New York State takes immediate action to inform potentially affected individuals and evaluate all actions necessary to protect the public. Consistent with DEC and DOH’s privacy policy, if contamination exceeding state criteria or guidance (SCG) is found at a private property that is not in one of New York State’s cleanup programs, DEC immediately informs the private property owner of their results and offers owners to design and install soil vapor mitigation systems to address soil vapor intrusion and ensure residents are fully protected.”
While no addresses were disclosed in the report, all buildings sampled during the 2023-2024 heating season were divided into seven sections. Section D, which includes Gowanus Houses, had the most buildings requiring mitigation — six in total. Two sections, C (Between Sackett Street and First Street, and Bond Street and Hoyt Street) and F (a number of buildings between Sackett Street and Carroll Street, and Nevins Street and
needle, leaving about a 2-inch tail of thread. Tie a knot at the other end of thread and start sewing from the backside of your patch. Look up different stitches to try. We used a running stitch, you can also use a blanket stitch, whip stitch or anything else you can find! Remove pins as you go and once your done sewing, tie a knot at the end of your thread and cut off the excess.
Enjoy your patch and have a great school year!
October preview: Start saving paper towel and toilet paper rolls for a spooky Halloween craft.
Fourth Avenue), had no buildings that had mitigation needs. When it comes to mitigation, there are a number of solutions at the DEC’s disposal. “New York State uses proven science and data to advance actions to prevent exposure to contamination when investigations determine a potential health risk. DEC is consulting with the State Department of Health (DOH) and working closely with building owners to design and install soil vapor mitigation systems to address soil vapor intrusion and ensure residents are fully protected,” Slattery wrote, adding, “These systems, much like a radon mitigation system, prevent vapors beneath a slab from entering a building by applying a small amount of suction beneath the building foundation slab to collect vapors and vent them outside.”
The state came under fire earlier this summer when it was uncovered that the DEC had found significantly elevated levels of TCE in a building on Union Street. “I believe this is an unprecedented discovery of how soil vapor intrusion can pose a public health hazard,” Walter Hang, president and founder of the environmental data firm Toxics Targeting, said during a press conference in June. Some community members don’t think the DEC is doing enough to protect the community from legacy contamination in the soil around the Gowanus canal, as we reported on in July.
The Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a community availability session in the gymnasium of the Children’s School on 215 1st St. on Thursday, Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m..
While Red Hook Library is under construction, visit 362 Van Brunt Street for books, computers and WiFi, library cards, programs and more!
Toddler Storytime Fridays, 11–11:30 am
Comics Club for Kids Tuesdays, 3-4:30 pm Ages 10 and up
Resume Help
Every other Thursday, 2–3:30 pm
See the full list of upcoming events and bookmobile visits: bklynlib.org/red-hook-events
Hours of Service:
Monday–Friday, 10 am – 5 pm Saturday–Sunday, Closed
362 Van Brunt Street Brooklyn, NY 11231
929.969.0166 bklynlib.org/red-hook
Generous support for programming and interim library services in Red Hook provided by mmixxiazon.
Twisters: What Modern Movies Can Tell Us About Our Waning Attention Span
by Kelsey Sobel
Traveling out to Salt Lake City earlier this summer for my sister’s wedding, my family found themselves exhausted, overheated and irritable the Sunday after all the festivities had wrapped up. When it’s one hundred degrees, a simple task such as crossing the street becomes a daunting prospect. Why not go to the movies? Summer time movies have a long and hallowed history. I usually watch Jaws at least once a summer season if only for the sense of pure nostalgia. Summer is usually full of blockbusters with star power and highly packed action, and I have many cherished memories of going to the drive-in as a teenager and watching the fireflies come out around surrounding cornfields while snuggled cozily into a packed car with friends. Although summer usually feels like a mad dash to seize the day, it’s also a nice time to relax and move at a slower pace - treat yourself to two plus hours in a cool dark space.
Although I was tempted by the new rom-com with Scarlett Johanssen and Channing Tatum (sadly the film received very mediocre reviews), my family settled on the more middle of the road option, the follow up but not sequel to the 1996 hit, Twister, aptly titled: Twisters. As many media critics have recently pointed out, we’re done with new material, instead we simply recycle older material and put a fresh spin on it. A film about a scrappy bunch of storm chasers with troubled histories? Let’s make it again in 2024 with a revamped plot. My mom had fond memories of Helen Hunt in the lead role and I recall being impressed with swear words from Bill Paxton such as “shit” and “damn” when watching the movie as a child. We gamely settled in for a two hour film, mostly all relieved to be out of the oppressive heat. What
The Return of “The Spook Who Sat By the Door,” the Revolution That Could Not Be Censored
by Dante A. Ciampaglia
There’s an alternate universe where, after the 1973 release of The Spook Who Sat By the Door, director Ivan Dixon would have worked regularly in studio movies rather than be relegated to episodic TV journeyman. But that’s a universe where The Spook Who Sat By the Door — a singular movie about the CIA’s first Black operative, hired as token representation to show the agency is integrated then using his training to form and lead a guerrilla group of freedom fighters on Chicago’s South Side — was not pulled from theaters within days of its release and condemned as dangerous anti-American propaganda as sure to incite race riots as to doom our system of government.
followed isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a “bad” film, but neither would I feel comfortable categorizing the movie as a “good” film. Instead it’s a film that I found speaks to our ever waning attention spans.
The female lead, Daisy Edgar-Jones spends much of the movie staring wide eyed out onto the horizon, steeling herself for the whipping frenzy of wind to come closer, and at times, driving recklessly into the storm. Her cast mate, the up and coming and seemingly everywhere, Glen Powell, is an initially dislikable (yet somehow charming) redneck-ish (he’s clearly benefited from orthodontia) storm chaser who delights in verbal sparring with Edgar-Jones. Needless to say we know where that relationship is headed…(Spoiler: if you do see the film, please let me know how frustrating and puzzling it is that these two never share an actual kiss...) Although buoyed and truly anchored by a strong soundtrack, with catchy tracks from Miranda Lambert “Ain’t in Kansas Anymore” and Leon Bridges’ “Chrome Cowgirl,” the majority of the movie felt like an extended music video to me - flashy montages of shiny trucks racing across the open prairie to the backdrop of a jaunty tune. The high thrill moments come in the form of beefy red truck shooting fireworks up into a tornado. I kept waiting for the real story to begin, or genuine conversations to unfold. Although Edgar-Jones is haunted by a horrifically tragic accident from her earlier years as an ambitious young scientist, we never experience the full scope of her grief discussed in any meaningful conversation. The closest we get is a briefly charged exchange between her and Powell in the family barn, but the moment to unpack or go deeper into her guilt and anguish is so quickly lost,
Let’s be clear: Dixon’s adaptation of Sam Greenlee’s 1969 novel is dangerous, the way all necessary art is threatening to the status quo. But let’s also be clear about the status quo in 1969 and 1973: the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Chicago Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton; ghettos decimated by not-so-benign neglect and drugs; economic disempowerment; segregation; red lining; King’s non-violent resistance curdling into more militant Black Power movements; the Panthers; J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI domestic spy shop COINTELPRO; Kent State. That’s just for starters in this country. We can’t forget liberation movements in Africa and Asia that saw oppressed colonized peoples rise up to demand and seize freedom and self-determination.
In that environment, it’s understandable why those in power — in Hollywood and the government — would find The Spook Who Sat By the Door such a threat. Indeed, after it was pulled from theaters it was suppressed for 30 years, until Dixon’s
the audience soon forgets and moves on to the next big twister.
If you broke the movie down in dialogue to song ratio, I’m very confident in saying it would end up being 85+% song as opposed to narrative or dialogue. Although I was entertained for the duration of the film despite a sketchy plot (at least from a scientific vantage point) things such as character development felt sorely lacking. Looking at the style of this film from a broader cultural lens, I think it signifies one of the pressing issues of today: an ever waning attention span. And make no mistake: I’m including myself in this category. The further away we get from pursuits that demand our full attention, the further we get from expecting art to be narrative in form.
To me, a full story means depth, nuance and psychological exploration. To be open to this type of discovery, one has to be fully focused. I find myself on the couch, in the evening, snuggled in with my husband and dogs “watching” TV. This means I’m likely also texting my sister and my best friend. Although I’m watching TV, I’m also “watching” my phone. I don’t need an expert to tell me how bad this is for my brain. Twisters’ short choppy scenes invite the audience to be lazy in their viewing. No real work is done to piece together the puzzles. We can spectate, check our phones, and we won’t have lost the plot or missed a key moment in a character’s transformation. This is not to say Twisters is trying to be something it isn’t - the movie understands its own emotional and narrative limitations, but I do think the bifurcated style signifies a growing trend across media platforms. In an effort to free myself from my compulsive texting - I’m better then some, worse than many - I’ve taken to
personal print was used for a DVD release. For the first time in decades, the film was able to be seen widely, appreciated, and argued over. That led to it being added to the National Film Registry in 2012. And it got another boost recently thanks to a 4K restoration from the Library of Congress and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, which ran at BAM for a week in late August to packed theaters.
The Spook Who Sat By the Door was, and is, necessary and essential agitprop filmmaking smuggled into the mainstream system via a Blaxpolitation disguise. No glorifying drug culture or pimps or gaudy consumption or fetishizing hood fantasies here. This is sly, angry, confident, provocative, audacious political cinema that upends assumptions of genre, of norms, of Hollywood to create a singular cinematic manifesto that reverberates, still, thanks to its past censorship and scandalously-still-relevant socioeconomic message. From the start, Dixon masterfully weaponizes our expectations. The film begins by looking, sounding, and
a once per week phone cleanse. This of course comes at a cost: no audiobooks, no making plans, no requests to pick up something last minute at the grocery store. But I do find when I wake up and start my day WITHOUT looking at my phone, I hardly miss it. I do also find this lack of attention directly tied to our ever growing lack of literacymany people do not read whole books anymore. People read their phones, short news articles, X and Tik Tok. Of the one hundred students I taught last year, perhaps three or four actually read books for their own genuine enjoyment. When I say literacy this extends to film as well - another very worthwhile cultural art form. I find our lack of attention is starting to show up in thinly constructed plots. We expect to be entertained but we don’t have the attention span to think critically or independently and we expect the media we consume to mirror this shift in attention.
So what is the remedy? Using our phones less is the answer on some level, but it's a daily struggle in a world that has forced us to be dependent on our devices: for social lives, work lives, to cook dinner, to look up the weather. I find myself increasingly trapped by technology, without an escape hatch. Twisters simply works to reveal ourselves reflected back in the mirror of our own disordered brains. Expecting my first baby this October, I find myself inevitably thinking more about my child’s future and how my husband and I can do our best to recreate the technology free childhoods we enjoyed where we watched movies such as Peter Pan or Jurassic Park and did nothing else except for that - just sit, watch, enjoy and absorb the magic of a summer movie, fully and completely absorbed in the narrative moment.
feeling like an episode of a police or espionage procedural. Sets feel stagy, dialogue is wooden, even the setup feels contrived. A senator fretting his reelection chances after a “law and order speech” didn’t go over well with his Black constituents suggests chastising the CIA for not being integrated. Next thing we know we’re in a gym full (continued on next page)
SPOOK
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of Black men listening to CIA bureaucrats, followed by montages of hopeful agents learning how to build bombs, remotely blow up cars, use weapons. This is what everyone was so afraid of?
But it’s clear Dixon is doing something intentional when we realize we’re a third into the film and none of the CIA recruits with speaking roles are our main character, Dan Freeman (Cook). He’s part of the background, unseen and unremarked on by the CIA bosses, his class, even us. When we finally do meet him, he’s kind of nebbish, wearing glasses, buried in his books and notes, but with a controlled, justunder-the-surface rage. This sets Dan up as the kind of clandestine expert who would graduate into the CIA. But the withholding also puts us on notice that we can’t be passive viewers. For five years, Dan plays the proscribed role of token diversity hire — running the copy room, personal assistant to the director — to the satisfaction of his superiors. Then he abruptly leaves for an executive role with a social worker agency in Chicago. Such is the CIA’s complete inability to imagine a Black man could actually use his training in the field that it lets Dan go with, ahem, token surveillance.
Foolish because Dan uses his highpaying, very public new job as a front to build his liberation army, turning a ragtag group of street hustlers and gangsters into a tight, disciplined fighting force. To show this process, Dixon recreates all the CIA training beats as DIY exercises in explosives, remote detonations, and tactical weapons. And when we hear the agency’s training on guerrilla tactics and organization come from the mouths of Dan’s army, it’s simultaneously hilarious, gratifying, and heart-stopping. So far, all this stuff has been academic.
The CIA never let Dan put any of this knowledge to use, and even in Chicago it’s all been boot camp. But, clearly, things are about to get real. When they do, the inciting incident is, unsurprisingly, the police killing an unarmed Black man. Up to now, The Spook Who Sat By the Door has bounced with a very ‘70s, very Blaxploitation Herbie Hancock score. But as the gathering of outraged Chicagoans boils over into a riot, Dixon drops the music and lets the cacophony of shouts, screams, sirens, helicopters, and dogs be the soundtrack. The scene is visceral and documentary-like. We’re in the crowd, on the ground, in the fight, jumping barricades. The scene draws on Watts and Selma as much as Haskell Wexler’s 1968 DNC-police-riot-set Medium Cool. It also points directly to Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and Rodney King and the 1992 LA riots. And it stops us cold because it anticipates what we saw after the police murders of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Freddie Gray, and so many others.
As the film builds to this point, Dixon quietly pulls back from the ‘70s cop show aesthetic and moves toward a grittier war film look. And when we see the National Guard patrolling debris-strewn streets lined with burned out buildings, we know the fun and games are over. The Freedom Fighters, clad in black like the Viet Cong, get to work, abducting, drugging, then killing the National Guard commander; luring troops into ambushes; blowing up the mayor’s office; broadcasting propaganda and manifestos; activating other columns in large urban areas across America. Things get incredibly violent and intimate, to the point that I was shocked to learn it was rated PG. But here, too, Dixon demonstrates his expertise. The ambushes, with their red explosions of gunfire illuminating the night from seemingly every direction, are brutal and beautiful;
Freedom Fighter slipping across rooftops or through urban streets as sleekly and silently as stalking predators are ominous and elegant. When the Guard commander is abducted, the scene begins farcically: three revolutionaries infiltrate headquarters, slip into the commander’s office, and lurk as he watches a bad Western, rapt as a child in his undershirt. They take him to a pool hall, where they paint him in blackface and force him to drink acid-laced tea. Next we see him weaving through the streets in his t-shirt and underwear, blissed out on LSD and speaking happily about the people he just met. And then — CRACK! — he’s shot in the chest by a sniper. It’s a shocking exclamation point, and a point of no return.
The violence becomes the central preoccupation of white power structures and Black bourgeoisie. But Dan, who we see living in a well apportioned bachelor pad, wearing fine clothes, and driving a sleek red convertible, uses his Bond lifestyle as cover. He knows that materialism is meant to use a minority of the minority to convince everyone else that progress is possible. Rejecting the false promise of capitalist acquisition is as important to the revolution as the rejection of hatred. In one scene, Willie (David Lemieux, real life one-time Panther) says he hates the white man. “This is not about hating white folks,” Dan replies. “It’s about loving freedom enough to die or kill for it if necessary.” It’s distinctions on top of distinctions, and they prove confusing to Dan’s friends, even Dan himself. They challenge the characters, their fight, and, in the end, us. Is there really no place for compromise? Is this an all-or-nothing battle? How does actual change happen without violence — against people, against systems, against ideas? There are no easy answers here, nor conclusions, and the film doesn’t end in any kind of tidy way. Rather, it con-
cludes in a kind of montage of a roiling national war overlayed on a shot of Dan, wearing traditional African clothes, watching ruefully from his penthouse balcony.
(Anyone who has seen Fight Club will be familiar with this kind of openended sense of an ongoing violent overthrow of a broken socioeconomic system. Indeed, watching The Spook Who Sat By the Door, I was shocked by how much David Fincher’s millennial satire maps to this film, from broad ideas about who has been left behind by society to individual beats and scene constructions to how to even the scales. And both were similarly decried as dangerous and deviant and run out of theaters.)
Back in 1973, white LA Times film critic Kevin Thomas called the film “one of the most terrifying movies ever made,” reminiscent of white critics’ reception of Do the Right Thing in 1989. As if Black viewers can’t distinguish between art and real life. But it is undeniable that The Spook Who Sat By the Door is a threat to those whose power and wealth derive from subjugation. That of course puts it, forever, in the crosshairs of those who must maintain those systems. And it makes it required viewing for anyone held back, punished, demeaned, excluded, or restricted by them. Which is most of us — Black, white, and every color in between. Greenlee and Dixon knew, as King and Hampton did, that there is a class dimension to the struggle for liberation.
FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE
And as the assassinations of King and Hampton, and the attempted assassination of The Spook Who Sat By the Door, attests, acknowledging and calling attention to that superstructure of economic oppression is what makes a man, an idea, or a film truly dangerous.
away wrath.” The Commission agreed with Roy and blocked the transfer of the liquor license. (By the way, “Quiet” Roy was later elected to the bench and in 1915 advocated for the return of the whipping post to deter youthful offenders.)
For the attempted ruin of his cousin, Louis was eventually assessed a judgment of $179 which he nonetheless appealed and forestalled payment until the summer of 1899 when he sold the hotel for the tidy sum of $31,500 ($1.2 million in today’s coinage) and skedaddled off to rural Flatbush to swiftly open “Kuhn’s Kensington Hotel.” 1899 was also the year that Walt Kuhn decided he’d had enough of Red Hook and his cowboy dad.
The travels of young Walt
As a teen Walt had sold some illustrations, then took some art classes at Brooklyn Polytech. At the age of 21, he quit his bicycle repair job, stuffed $60 in his pocket and wandered out to San Francisco. A gregarious sort and devilishly handsome, he sold more drawings
to a satirical magazine there, then wandered back east, and secured a passport. [Not required until 1941, it was used in the age before driver’s licenses as ID – descriptions of the mouth, chin, forehead, face, nose, eyes, hair, age and height were recorded but not weight or race (discuss among yourselves)]. Kuhn then sailed for Europe in 1901. He studied in Berlin and Paris, hobnobbed with the modern masters, painted goats, returned to an apartment he rented in Freeport, Long Island, then wandered down South to paint more goats, horses, and boring landscapes, took up residence in Florida, moved to New Jersey, married, mingled with the New York art crowd, formed an association of local artists, then back to Europe, an apartment in Greenwich Village and, his timing exquisite, on the eve of the First World War, joined forces with a handful of contemporaries to arrange a grand exhibition.
Since Kuhn knew all the renowned artists of Europe, he was dispatched to secure paintings for the exhibit. It is said that Kuhn also decided to prominently place Duchamp’s new cubist painting at the
69th Regiment Armory and heavily publicize its title: “Nude Descending A Staircase.” The painter Abraham Walkowitz would recall forty years later: “It was the title, you see. Hundreds and thousands of people paid admission to the Nude Descending the Staircase. It was the name that attracted the people. Of course, the publicity was tremendous.”
In addition to Kuhn and Walkowitz, an early Edward Hopper painting was displayed in the Armory. Kuhn was as much an American realist as Hopper, but it was his later work during the last 15 years of his life that is most prized today. In fact, in 1947, Kuhn sold one of his clown paintings, “Roberto,” for what today would be the equivalent of $140,000.
His depression deepened thereafter, and he was institutionalized for his last year, dying in a Westchester Hospital in 1949.
Bipolar or Red Hook youth?
Choosing to paint clowns who looked depressed – including self-portraits as a somber clown himself – might provide a clue to explain Kuhn’s manic activity, alternating with depressive
episodes: an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Or maybe his erratic mood changes were prompted by sudden memories of those wild early Red Hook days.
Red Hook native Walt Kuhn's "Clown with a Black Wig" is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Restaurant group expands to Columbia Waterfront District
by Brian Abate
The corner of Columbia and Kane Streets, now notorious for being across from the controversial concrete recycling facility, has been home to a sushi place, a whiskey bar and a chicken place over the past 15 years, but for much of that time has been vacant, until a few months ago with the opening of a new coffeeshop/bakery.
In a short space of time, the Laurel Bakery has become a go-to spot for many local residents. Laurel is the newest venture of Redwood Hospitality, a group led by Piper Kristensen, Nico Russell, and Steve Wong whose restaurants include Oxalis, Place des Fetes, and Cafe Mado.
“I’m originally from Vermont but I live in Clinton Hill now,” Kristensen said. “We have some other restaurants in our restaurant group that are more local to where I live but we wanted to branch out with our bakery.
“I was always interested in restaurants and I worked in restaurants pretty much my entire professional life. Fine dining was where I started and we opened our first restaurant and then expanded. Building a bakery to be part of the system that helps support the other restaurants is something we’re really excited about. It’s a fun, new challenge.”
“We started by opening Oxalis in 2018 and then opened Place des Fetes a few years later which is more of a wine bar and small plates restaurant,” Kristensen said. “We recently opened Cafe Mado on Washington Avenue which is more of an all-day cafe.
“We were looking all over for a bakery space and this location was really well built and we knew it really well. We used to go to Pok Pok across the street so there was a lot of good energy and good memories here. It was an opportunity to be in a neighborhood that we
really liked. We love Popina and Cafe Spaghetti.
“I got into the restaurant and food business because I really liked working with my hands and making food and drinks myself,” Kristensen said.
“I got a lot of satisfaction seeing it from start to finish. As our group has expanded, I’m not the one making things anymore which has been an adjustment. Now I’m actually teaching someone to teach someone else.”
“One of the really cool things has been
getting to know the people from the neighborhood and figuring out their rhythms so then we can tailor our service to their needs,” Kristensen said. “We’ve expanded our hours to catch kids on the way to school with their parents in the morning. For me, I go to the local bakery on the way to school every day. It’s definitely a very cool neighborhood and it’s great to have consistency with a lot of the same people coming here.”
Brooklyn Collective celebrates 20 years on Columbia Street
by Tessa Williams
With colorful and creative works on display from dozens of artists and designers, Brooklyn Collective has established itself on Columbia Street as a go-to destination for shopping handmade goods and supporting local New York artists. Stepping into this unique boutique and art gallery is a delight to the senses. We curate a space that engages with customers who love art — and local artists who are seeking a space to showcase their work.
The shop is brimming with uniquely creative finds from artists who may just be your neighbor.
Tucked away in a small corner of Brooklyn, the Columbia Street Waterfront District is a corridor that spans from Atlantic Avenue to Red Hook — and was the perfect place to create this family-friendly,artful shopping experience. With the rise and fall of so many local businesses, it’s a big deal to hit the 20th anniversary of a New York establishment.
Brooklyn Collective owes thanks to the strength of the local community
and the repeat business from shoppers that know walking into Brooklyn Collective means finding something you will love.
Filled with affordable art, handmade jewelry, vintage clothing, and funky decor, Brooklyn Collective operates as just that…a collective.
The artists pay $200 per month and 10% of their sales — which members of the maker movement can agree is not as burdensome as many craft and art fairs charge. Artists can refresh their wares at will,and can always count on us to create engaging displays of their work.
Artist Jenny Belin, longtime member, friend, and shop-girl, can attest to the benefits of our working relationship.
“Tessa has shown me endless support as a working artist for many years, and there’s no place I’d rather have my artwork featured because I am alongside such talented fellow artists and designers. She makes me look good, always.”
Classes began in 2018
To further the role Brooklyn Collective plays in the community, we launched The Studio School in 2018 to reflect the growing wants and needs of local artists and customers. Already well known for shop parties to celebrate new collections and holidays, I recognized that the space had room for more community, more engagement, and more art.
We offered members the chance to teach their craft in classes for kids and adults. We have since added a Summer Craft Camp program and collaborated with members to offer a variety of interesting lessons — from floral design to drawing comic books, and working with teaching artists such as Good Crafternoon and Gran Guignol.
Jenny Belin, a mainstay at Brooklyn Collective, painted these American Women icons
The Brooklyn Beat hits the silver screen
by Raanan Geberer
In the late 1980s, Brooklyn wasn’t cool yet. Most hipsters did not live in Brooklyn — their center was the Lower East Side. Coney Island and Downtown Brooklyn were considered dangerous. Then, a cultural oasis sprung up on Prospect Avenue in South Park Slope — a rock club called Lauterbach’s. It became home to a group of bands who played original material in a wide variety of different styles. None became household names, but the “Brooklyn Beat” groups, as they were known, got a lot of airplay on college stations, produced seven compilation albums and formed a real community. The groups got to know each other, went to each other’s performances, partied together and helped each other out. It was an explosion of creativity in what was then an out-ofthe-way, working-class neighborhood.
August 14 fundraiser at Young Ethel's
It was this sense of community that inspired Michael West, a veteran of the Brooklyn Beat group The Original Rays, to create the film “Before It Was Cool —The Brooklyn Beat From Lauterbach’s.” He is in talks with the Nitehawk Cinema in Park Slope, which will hopefully show the film in 2025. And some of the original bands and artists will perform at a fundraising concert on Sept. 14 at Young Ethel’s, 506 Fifth Ave., Park Slope, at 5 pm. Originally, West says, Lauterbach’s
was just a neighborhood bar were locals could get a cheap beer. Bob Racioppo, a Brooklyn resident who had been a member of the renowned 1970s CBGB band The Shirts, was behind the transition. One day, Racioppo, who by now had a new band, Chemical Wedding, went inside, looked around and decided it would be a good place to present music.
“It had incredible acoustics,” Racioppo recalls in the film. And throughout all its years of its fame, the bar never lost its homey feel: co-owner Alice Lauterbach often sold items behind the bar, such as toys at Christmas — and on one occasion, a stove.
West talks about his own band, the Original Rays. This was the era when there were multiple Ray’s Pizzas in New York — Ray’s, Famous Ray’s, Famous Original Ray’s — and they all were suing each other.
“We went to each of these pizza joints every once in a while and left our postcards, hoping someone would sue us” and thus, generate publicity. “We would have nothing to hide.”
The Original Rays was one of the more prosaic group names in the Lauterbach’s scene — some others included Bite the Wax Godhead, Formaldehyde Blues Train, Beatniks from Mars, and When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water.
By all accounts, the scene declined after the bar embarked on a renovation in the mid-1990s. “George (Lauterbach) said it would take one month,
The Original Rays was one of the more prosaic group names in the Lauterbach’s scene — some others included Bite the Wax Godhead, Formaldehyde Blues Train, Beatniks from Mars, and When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water.
but it took nine months,” West says. “And he put in a tile floor (replacing the original wooden floor) that didn’t do the acoustics any good.” By then, the scene had spread out as the bands played other clubs. “We played Downtown Beirut and the Ludlow Street Café as often as we played Lauterbach’s.” Lauterbach’s closed about 15 years ago. As George Lauterbach says in the film, “When the bands came in, the customers came in. When the bands left, the place became empty.”
“Before It Was Cool” had its genesis during the COVID pandemic. West, now a solo performer, released a single under the name M. West. To honor him, Robert Moe, the former frontman for the Brooklyn Beat band The Moe, who had shot countless videos of Lauterbach’s during its heyday, put up some original footage of the Original Rays on YouTube. “He did it by holding a phone next to the video, “ said West. “I called and said, `Let me digitize these videos.’ Some of them were good enough to show.”
West felt his film should be like the Brooklyn Beat scene itself: “grassroots.” “I didn’t start with a milliondollar budget,” he says. He assembled a production team: Jeannie Fry did a lot of the camera work and filmed the interviews; Rachel Cleary, music director at Radio Free Brooklyn, interviewed the musicians on camera; and video editor, Lika Komakhidze ,who came to the U.S. from Georgia only 10 months ago. All in all, says West, “We did 20 or 30 interviews in my house or backyard, interspersed with performance footage with narration from Rachel.”
Jeannie Fry, originally from Connecticut, met the aforementioned Rob-
ert Moe about 10 years ago. She shot a video for Moe’s song, “Romance is Risky,” and when the actress who was supposed to play Moe’s date didn’t show up, Fry herself played the role. Moe introduced her to Racioppo, and she eventually met West. “The scene I grew up with in Connecticut was very similar to Lauterbach’s — all the musicians helped each other, were friends, and were hanging out at parties,” she recalls.
Rachel Cleary grew up in Bay Ridge and first became acquainted with Lauterbach’s in its latter days, when her boyfriend was a drummer in a band that played there. This was after the renovations, she remembers, and the place was half-empty. Still, she was struck by the variety of acts — “you had an alt-rock band, a deathmetal band and a dream-pop band on the same bill. And they were still selling things at the bar.”
What interviews in the film stand out for her? One was Frank Ruscitti of Frank’s Museum. “He was also rehearsing for a play in which he played FDR, and before my eyes he took on the identify of FDR.” Another was Bob Racioppo, who started reflecting on his life, some decisions he made back in the old days and how he’s dealing with them today.
Video editor Lika Komakhidze may be fairly new to the U.S., but she did video editing and videography — including music videos — in her native Georgia for 15 years. “I love interesting stories about musicians and artists,” she says, adding that seeing the old videos of Lauterbach’s “was like traveling through time. That energy, that vibe isn’t easy to find today.”
Frank Pupo of the band Medicine, in front of the bar.
A belated Baldwin birthday bash. After being rained out on August 2—the proper centennial of the outspoken author and activist James Baldwin—the release concert for Meshell Ndegeocello’s No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin (CD, LP, download from Blue Note Records) in the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series was rescheduled for August 14. As it happens, that night was the birthday of writer and critic Hilton Als, one of the many voices heard on the remarkable record. Ndegeocello’s voice is also heard, of course, as well as her bass and her vision; she co-wrote and co-produced the 12 original songs and settings of Baldwin’s texts, as well as one from self-described “Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet” Audre Lorde. But perhaps the most striking voice on the album is that of poet/performance artist Staceyann Chin, who was exponentially more fired up in performance than on the album. With the encouragement of an Prospect Park audience, Chin was every bit as incendiary as Nina Simone reading the poem “Are You Ready” by David Nelson aka Dahveed Ben Israel (an early member of the Last Poets) in the documentary Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Ndegeocello actually mentioned her love for the 2021 film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival during the concert. Later, she said “We’re kind of getting numb, you see, and that makes me nervous,” and it was a frightening reminder of how fragile progress can be.
and singers, all dressed in white robes
(Chin’s with the sleeves cut off and “ VOTE—FIRE DIS TIME” scrawled across the back). The concert was about the songs, hot and cool, and the message was the medium. There’s a laid-back but emphatic groove to Ndegeocello’s music, reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield and appropriate to the calm, provocative prose of Baldwin. “Trouble,” the album’s standout track, is a bittersweet groove featuring the angelic voice of Justin Hicks. The one-two punch of “Love” and “Hatred” come off like an early Funkadelic ballad with the four voices in full choral mode followed by guitar-and-organ-driven deep truths. It’s an album of deep reckoning and live, it was certainly one of the most powerful gatherings on Brooklyn/Lenape soil of the season.
A singer for all folk. In 2017, Willie Watson released a wonderful pair of albums—Folk Singer volumes 1 and 2—that included tasteful arrangements of traditional songs and familiar tunes credited to Lead Belly, Furry Lewis, Utah Phillips and others. Watson uses the term “folk” in an older, more egalitarian sense, the sense in which (for example) Chess Records could release a series of compilation albums by John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and others called “The Real Folk Blues” and it not be seen as a contradiction. Folk music from when it was music for the people, not a West Village café concoction. A founding member of the Old Crow Medicine Show, Watson has worked with John Prine and Gillian Welch and, with Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins, recorded the version of the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” that the song always deserved. The self-titled Willie Watson (CD, LP and download out Sept. 13 via Little Operation Records) is the folk singer’s first under his name since those 2017 volumes and his first album of original songs.
There’s more than a little Yusuf Islam (known in his heyday as “Cat Stevens”)
at play on Watson’s new record, not just in his slightly nasal, vibrato-heavy warble but also in the long, gentle melodies he writes. With sparse band accompaniment and his own guitar and banjo, the songs are easy-going but not simple, neither in music nor meaning. “Sad Song” contains some deft fingerpicking against the meter which could wash right over you if you’re not paying attention. And “Slim and the Devil” was written in the aftermath of the 2017 white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, NC, that left one person dead and 35 injured and inspired then President Donald Trump’s response that there were “very fine people on both sides.”
Watson turned to Sterling Brown’s 1933 poem “Slim Greer in Hell” and adapted it, keeping Satan’s appearance as a sheriff and Slim’s mistaking the southern states for hell. He retells the story, making it his own with a reverence for the past, in time-honored folk singer tradition.
A warm wind blown up from Hades or Athens, maybe, but really Hades, is what seems to be the suggestion of Condescending (cassette, CD, double LP, download out from Hypaethral Records/These Hands Melt last month), the debut album from the massively sludgy, Greek funeral doom band Föhn Their name actually refers to a southerly wind warming a mountainside, a massive phenomenon that the four quarterhour songs on the album conjure quite convincingly. The tempo is bonegrindingly slow, the vocals are gruff and buried, and the production is fantastic. (The album was mixed and mastered by Esoteric vocalist Greg Chandler.) The core trio of vocalist Nikolaos Vlachakis, bassist Georgios Miliaras and taskmaster Georgios Schoinianakis, who provides drums, guitars, keyboards, and programming, is augmented on some tracks by a second singer and two (two!) saxophones howling through the din like the ghosts of children. Condescending might be a bit of typical fare in the world of monolithic metal, but it’s expertly done, with admirable restraint, always going for less where a lesser band
might try for more. And while death, futility and nothingness are the subject matter for the first three songs, the 17-minute closer, “Persona,” addresses human trafficking, forced prostitution and slavery head on, opening with clean guitars and a clear, documentary-style woman’s voice. It’s a bold move and a bold band, and likely one of the heavy releases of the year.
B61 WINS
(continued from back page)
Chris Tsanos pinch-hit for the Wobblies and promptly lined a single to center which loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate. Andrew quickly got ahead 0-2 and after a foul ball extended the at-bat, he got a strikeout looking to win the game and the Colucci Cup.
This time the celebration wasn’t muted as B61 charged out of the dugout and celebrated in the infield. Fisher presented Morelli with the Colucci Cup and the celebration continued as B61 was back on top.
“We’re the only team to make it to the championship three years in a row and won it twice,” said Anthony Capone of B61. “It’s definitely sweeter after losing in the championship a year ago.”
This is the third year for the Red Hook Softball League since the Red Hook ballfields reopened. In 2022, B61 routed Bait & Tackle 29-7 in the championship but Bait & Tackle won an intense, close game over B61 8-7 last year. This year the two teams had another great battle in the semifinal but it was B61 winning it on a walk-off in extra innings.
“B61 has been around since 2003 so it’s been 21 years since we’ve had a team,” Capone said. “For 10 years, we were with the YMCA League in Park Slope, and now once the fields reopened here in Red Hook we joined as B61 and we’ve been in the league for all three years. We have players who have been here since the original team like JJ, me, Kate, and Rob. There are a lot of old-school guys who have been here since the start.”
After three great seasons in the RHSL, the road to the Colucci Cup has run through B61.
“I am so happy that we were able to get it done against the Wobblies winning the first one against Bait & Tackle,” Morelli said. “I was just hoping for a good game, good defensive play on both sides, and not a blowout, and that was exactly how it played out. Of course, I was hoping for that win and I’m happy to have the Cup back home.”
Ndegeocello was neither front nor center at the Lena Horne Bandshell. Most of the time, she sat with the band
Red Hook Author’s New Novel Explores the Dark Side of Artistic Ambition
Review of “Static,” by
Brendan Gillen Review by Michael Quinn
New York has always been a magnet for ambitious creative types. Making it in this city rewards you with a unique badge of honor—though success here often comes at a high price. How much are you willing to pay?
This question lies at the heart of “Static,” the well-paced debut novel by Red Hook author Brendan Gillen. The richly drawn story, with an insider’s eye for detail, features a compelling cast of characters connected to the local music scene. It traces their dreams and disappointments, zeroing in on the one thing that often fuels the two: money.
Paul, the protagonist, moved from Ohio seven years earlier, hoping to make it as a musician before he turns 30. He leaves a cushy corporate job for a low-paying gig at Dead Wax, a West Village record store. The place is a haven for self-sabotaging misfits. Cranky owner Mika crafts “electronic sludge” music that drives customers away at closing time while co-worker Dante talks about being a rapper more than he raps.
Whatever it takes
What sets Paul apart is his relentless drive. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to survive—even if it means stealing food from bodegas and records from Dead Wax to sell online. Meanwhile, his bandmate, Bunky, the son of successful visual artists, “seemed as embarrassed of his wealth as Paul was at his lack of it.” The tattoo-fingered bassist moonlights as a bartender while striving to prove himself as an artist in his own right.
Despite Paul’s talent for crafting “lived-in, soulful beats,” he and Bunky are in a creative rut. After another fruitless jam session, Bunky tells Paul, “I’m done with DIY, man. I’m done giving away stuff for free. I’m trying to make another album. What are you trying to do?”
Paul’s consumed by a mounting desperation as his milestone birthday looms. A bad breakup only deepens his sense of failure, which is further compounded by the success of his high school friend, Gallo, whose folksy rock band has garnered critical and commercial acclaim. The old friends take a walk around Red Hook, and “as the shuttered grates of industrial buildings slowly gave way to wine shops and stationery stores … he was suddenly aware that he and Gallo would never be friends in the same way again.” Paul feels eclipsed, like the sun behind a fast-moving cloud.
A chance encounter with a soulful subway busker gives Paul a fleeting sense of hope. Transfixed by her haunting voice and the “honesty” of her performance, he suddenly sees a way forward musically. But as his problems escalate—facing eviction from his rundown Red Hook apartment at the same time his financially-strapped parents are forced from his childhood home—Paul’s desperation drives him to the breaking point. Fueled by the fantasy of a quick financial fix, he crosses moral and ethical lines, risking everything. How far will Paul go to achieve his dreams?
The lies we tell ourselves
Gillen made a bold choice centering his novel around Paul, a self-absorbed and morally ambiguous character. Paul views “right” and “wrong” through the lens of his self-interest. Yet, the novel doesn’t pass judgment, leaving any ethical questions to the reader. Despite his flaws, Paul’s desire to leave his mark on the world is tragically relatable. “Static” skillfully captures the all-consuming nature of artistic ambition and the lies we tell ourselves to justify what it takes to reach the top.
Jazz by Grella Joelle Leandre - Lifetime Rebel
Every year, the Vision Festival opens with a concert dedicated to one musician who is honored with a Lifetime Achievement award. That’s an evening of three or four sets, each one featuring this figure. In 2023, that was French bassist Joëlle Léandre, one night at Roulette with four sets in four different groupings, around her playing and artistry.
That, June 13th, was a memorable night, and one that was documented by the RogueArt label and released this past summer as LIFETIME REBEL. The four sets are collected on an equal number of CDs, with a bonus DVD that has Joëlle Léandre - Struggle, Life, Music, a documentary about her. Expertly recorded with a sound that is clear and full of presence by Stephen Schmidt, this is one of the finest and most important releases of the year.
This recording’s existence creates a unique and special listening situation. Hearing jazz boils down to two different mediums, the home stereo and the live venue—you play an album you know, one that’s the same each time you put it on, or you hear music in a constant stream of present moments, playing that disappears once it passes. You don’t have to remember the music on the album because you can play it any time, though do that often enough and you will remember it. You will not remember the music you heard live (maybe a couple of details, or the titles of the tunes) but you will preserve a general sensation of the experience.
A special recording
As a live album LIFETIME REBEL falls into the home listening category. Except for the 200 or so (including myself) who were at Roulette that night in June, for whom it’s a third, hybrid thing, the live experience that can be recalled and repeated in detail, the memory of the sensations, the glow brought out onto the street at the end of the night colored in with every musical moment that produced that feeling. Like pictures or home movies but more vivid because of the impact of sound. And it’s indeed the whole night, not the best live movement edited together to make a studio-type live album. This is a special thing. Don’t underestimate that specialness, or its depths Being at an event like this, then being able to hear it all again, can make it something embedded into the fabric of life. A similar experience I’ve had is worth mentioning: Steve Lacy used to bring his Sextet to America every year and play for a week at Sweet Basil. That was the highlight of my jazz-going and I’d scrape together the cash to be able to go for a night. One year I found a $20 bill on the C train, and so could go two nights, and I sat across from the same guy each night. We started talking, and he told me that he would take his vacation from work when Lacy was in town and go see him every set.
In 1992, RCA put out a Live at Sweet Basil album from Lacy, the tracks collected from two nights in July, 1991. I can’t tell if I was there when they played any of the specific tunes—I don’t remember which day I went that week—so I can’t revisit the exact inthe-moment feelings, but I can read the liner notes where Lacy is quoted talking about a fan who would spend his week’s vacation coming to see the band play, and think “yeah, I was there, for the same reason, talking to the same guy.” It’s not just an album, it’s personal—it’s my life.
So is LIFETIME REBEL. This is a document of a
by George Grella
stunning memory, and it’s deeply exciting to be able to revisit the evening in detail. You can hear exactly why this left such an impression.
First set
The opening Tiger Trio set is fantastic. Léandre plays with flutist Nicole Mitchell and pianist Myra Melford, and there’s an incredible quickness to the playing. Quick thinking and dexterity are two of Léandre’s hallmarks, and it’s simply exciting to hear the three musicians listen and respond to each other with lighting reflexes and phrases that come out as clearly articulated and fully thought through, even as they are being improvised in the moment. Léandre’s arco playing is its own pleasure as she gets a warm, grainy tone out of her bass, with perfect intonation. Mitchell counters with an enormous range of timbres and tone colors.
There’s an amazing moment at the start of track 4 of the second set from Roaring Tree where pianist Craig Taborn introduces the playing with an extended quote of one of Cecil Taylor’s main ideas, which is a thrill-
"Being at an event like this, then being able to hear it all again, can make it something embedded into the fabric of life."
ing moment in the course of music, the influence and extension of a past great master not just in spirit but actual materials—there are no CT standards in the sense of the Great American Songbook, but there are discrete bits of music that can be passed on, repeated, then used as foundations for new explorations. That’s how music thrives as time proceeds into the future. This trio also includes violist Mat Maneri (both he and Léandre played with Taylor) and is a fine complement to the first set. The thinking her is just as quick, but the ideas explore a denser and darker sensation of musical substance, earth to the Tiger Trio’s air. The third of the four sets is the only one that’s not completely satisfying, the ad hoc Atlantic Avenue Septet playing music that mixes specific compositional segments with free playing, and that includes extensive and impressive soloing from Léandre. Already two sets in, and with a 40+ minute piece, she continues to pull out ideas from what seems like a bottomless
well of imagination about the expressive possibilities of technique. She plays around with different bowing timbres in the middle of fluid lines—the bass sings and nearly talks—and there are gorgeous harmonies and slowly shifting chords from the ensembles.
Some clichés
But compared to the rest, there are too many clichés, especially the kind of angular, awkward way of stating a musical line that wore out it’s usefulness as an avant-garde compositional device decades ago—what musicians aim at by getting away from their strengths and gesturing with these signifiers is a constant puzzle to me. Overall, there are painterly colors and a good shape, but also too many stretches where the energy flags.
The final set, Léandre accompanying poet Fred Moten and his deceptively gentle, iron-fist-in-a-velvetglove delivery, is tremendous and both in my memory and on this recording the high point of the night. Moten’s pace is as unrushed as can be—but not static—and Léandre subdivides this with an invigorating torrent of techniques and ideas. Moten talks about Hughson’s Tavern, where “The great slave conspiracy of 1741” took place. He talks about “Jazz, as Ken Burns… / fuck it if that’s what it is or he made it that / the light and the sound was a Black light animal … Thank you Jesus for the criminal burn of the very idea … keep fucking up the music in the tradition of great Black queens / Pops, Cecil, Joey Ramone … pirates who are smooth sailors / The ones who got took / The ones who got left …” Through collective memory, he recalls the spirits that have been so essential to the Vision Festival, free jazz, and the greatest parts of American culture.
Subtle and insinuating, this is great art.
Red Hook Softball
The road to the Colucci Cup runs through B61
by Brian Abate, photo by George Fiala
The Red Hook Locals Softball League playoffs kicked off on August 1 with two matchups both taking place at 6 pm. Despite temperatures in the 90s, all of the teams in action were sharp early. Bait & Tackle, the four-seed, took on five-seed Hometown at Dovey Diamond while across the street the Wobblies (the threeseed) took on MiniBar, the six-seed.
First Round:
Bait & Tackle avoided giving up walks and was able to prevent Hometown from having any big innings. Meanwhile, at the plate, they were able to string together singles and walks and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Hometown battled back with two runs in a row and Bait responded with one of their own and led 5-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, Bait loaded the bases and despite a few pitching changes, Hometown walked in three runs. Bait’s steady pitching kept Hometown from scoring in the final two innings and they won the game 8-2.
Across the street, the Wobblies led for the majority of the game in a lowscoring affair but some nice defensive plays by MiniBar kept the game close. The Wobblies held a 5-3 lead going into the seventh inning. In the top of the seventh MiniBar threatened with a walk and a single with one out. Then a dropped throw at second on a fielder’s choice and a dropped throw at first in the following at-bat cut the lead to 5-4. An RBI single by Ace tied the score but a great throw from Ari in right field cut down what would have been the go-ahead run on a very close play at the plate. MiniBar and some of the fans in attendance disagreed with the call. A walk loaded the bases but a flyout kept the score tied.
With a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the seventh, MiniBar was able to tag out the runner at second after they faked a throw to first
and caught him by surprise. The game went to extras.
After an uneventful top of the eighth, the first two batters for the Wobblies made out in the bottom of the inning. However, what looked like a routine single to right for Wyatt Rodriguez turned into a hustle double. With first base open, MiniBar walked Nate Laux who led the RHSL in home runs in the regular season. Jeff “Pickles” then delivered another base hit to right but Rodriguez tripped rounding third base. However, the throw from right was off target and Rodriguez was able to score the winning run and sent the Wobblies into the semifinals with a hard-fought 6-5 victory.
Semifinals:
In the first of two semifinal matchups on August 8, the third-seeded Wobblies took on the second-seeded Record Shop. It rained throughout the evening and the Wobblies offense brought the thunder. They scored four in the top of the first but the Record Shop responded with four of their own in the bottom of the inning.
A diving catch by Laux kept the score tied. The Wobblies led 7-4 heading to the fourth and had a monster inning as they strung together singles and doubles, scoring seven in the inning.
The Record Shop would not go quietly and a three-run triple by Joel “Tumbleweed” Kern cut the lead to 15-7. The Wobblies however were not done offensively and took a 20-10 lead to the bottom of the seventh. The Record Shop rallied for five but was unable to complete a miraculous comeback as the Wobblies won 20-15.
The second game of the night featured the last two Red Hook Softball League (RHSL) champions in Bait & Tackle and one-seed B61. Unlike the first semifinal, it began with solid pitching and defense although back-to-back solo shots by Chrii Morel and Shawn Andrew gave B61 a 2-1 lead in the sec-
ond. B61 led 5-1 after 4 but Michael Buscemi’s second single of the game cut the lead to 5-2 in the top of the fifth. Bait & Tackle strung together an RBI double and then two consecutive RBI singles in the top of the sixth to tie it up 5-5. However, B61 responded immediately with RBI doubles by DeLeo, Morel, and Andrew. They opened up an 11-5 lead but a diving double play at third by Bait & Tackle helped them get out of the inning down by six. With their season on the line in the top of the seventh, Bait & Tackle got a rally going as the bottom of their lineup loaded the bases with one out. A two-run double made it 11-7, and an infield hit cut the lead to 11-8. Two consecutive clutch hits made it 11-10 and an RBI groundout by Greg Fischer tied the score. Bait threatened for more but a groundout ended the inning. B61 had the top of their lineup up in the bottom of the seventh and had a runner on second with two outs but a flyout to left ended the threat. Immediately after the seventh inning, the lights at Dovey Diamond went out meaning the game had to be continued August 15th.
When the game resumed, both teams made clutch plays in the field as Lee made a sliding catch in the top of the eighth for B61. Gobbins made a running catch down the left field line for Bait & Tackle in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and a runner on second. Bait threatened with runners on first and second and one out in the top of the ninth but two straight groundouts ended the threat.
Kate Morelli led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and a single by NYC Tim gave B61 another chance to walk it off. After a fielder’s choice at third, Chuck lined a single to center, and B61’s third base coach waved the runner home. It would have been a close play but the throw was wide and the dramatic walk-off sent B61 to the championship. B61 players ran onto
the field to celebrate and then shake hands with Bait & Tackle but there was not too much time to celebrate as the championship game was played after a 15-minute break for the Wobblies to warm up.
Championship:
Following B61’s extra-inning victory in the second semifinal, they took on the Wobblies in the championship and had home advantage as the higher seed. Despite the hot hitting from the Wobblies in their semifinal victory, Andrew held them scoreless for the first three innings of the championship. He got help from his defense as Lee made a sliding catch, and B61 avoided making errors.
In the bottom of the first B61 struck first as two runs scored on a single by Andrew and Lee followed that up with a sac fly to make it 3-0. In the bottom of the third B61 made it 5-0 on a tworun single by Andrew, and 6-0 on an RBI double by Lee. A fielder’s choice got another run in, giving B61 a 7-0 lead after three.
The Wobblies battled back and after a couple of long at-bats resulted in walks, a two-run double by Laux got them on the board in the top of the fourth. In the top of the fifth, the Wobblies loaded the bases with one out and Craig worked a walk to cut the lead to 7-3. However, Andrew limited the damage and got out of the inning with a popout which he caught, and a fielder’s choice to Morel at short. Strong pitching from the Wobblies kept them in the game and the score remained 7-3 heading to the top of the seventh. A great pick by NYC Tim on a grounder to third and then a groundout to second had B61 one out away but once again the Wobblies battled. A runner reached on a bobbled grounder to short, followed by a walk, and got a rally going. To the cheers of the crowd, player-coach (continued on page 21)