Self-admittedly, Scott Matthew has led a Jekyll and Hyde existence for some time now – famous on one continent and struggling in another.
April 29, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Classic, Music Profiles, Queer Life“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Reverend Timothy Wright, the Grammy-nominated ‘Godfather of Gospel’ who was equally known and beloved in Crown Heights and throughout Brooklyn as the spiritual leader of the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center Church of God in Christ. The same terrible accident that claimed the lives of Reverend Wright’s wife Betty and grandson D.J. last summer, has now silenced another of our bright, shining lights. All of Brooklyn, the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center family and the gospel community mourn Reverend Wright—now of blessed memory—and our prayers are with his loved ones as they carry on his spiritual work and legacy.” – Marty Markowitz
April 24, 2009 Culture, The Locals, The People
The Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg hosted a meet and greet with WNYC’s Soterios Johnson. The popular local Morning Edition host evidently sports a cult following, notably inspiring a musical score entitled Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance. Brooklyn The Borough asked Mr. Johnson about his Brooklyn listenership.
April 24, 2009 Classic, Culture, Night/Life, The PeopleAround lunch time last Friday, 18-year-old Chad Wilkens was standing in China City, on the corner of Nostrand Avenue and Dean Street in Crown Heights, when he was shot. An ambulance arrived and took Mr. Wilkens to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The media was nowhere to be found.
April 22, 2009 City Politics, Classic, Culture, The Locals, The People
A toast from one bar to the other. St. John’s Place neighbors Franklin Park and the Manhattans bury the hachet and talk about the area’s expanding nightlife options.
April 21, 2009 Bars, Classic, Culture“Oh. It’s kind of not shitty in here.” – Some White Dude walking into Manhattans – Tracy Westmoreland’s new Prospect Heights watering hole – on opening night.
April 11, 2009 Bars, Classic
Local musician and native Brooklynite Tavo Carbone talks about doing it yourself.
April 10, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Classic, Music ProfilesDoes writing for a fashion magazine sound fun to you? It did to me, until they decided not to pay me for it.
April 9, 2009 Classic, Culture, Fashion, The Locals, The PeopleLovable, bearded bar czar Tracy Westmoreland has landed in Brooklyn. His new watering hole, Manhattans— at 769 Washington Ave. in Prospect Heights— will open on Friday, reclaiming the legacy of his former Hell’s Kitchen dive Siberia.
April 8, 2009 Bars, Night/Life, The Locals
Obits’ freshman effort comes after years of experience in the independent music scene. I Blame You, released the previous Tuesday, will excite any avid rock fan of the previous few decades. Not exactly cheerful, but exciting and enticing, the record is uncomplicated and accessible where its member’s previous efforts may have fallen short.
March 28, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Classic, Music Profiles
The Adventures of the Oblivious Manhattanite in the Other Borough are true accounts of spontaneous excursions by a natural explorer distantly descended from a Montauk princess and an infamous Dutch family that helped settle New York. Here, in the vein of Diedrich Knickerbocker, J.K. Van Tassell shares her feral tales in the Brooklyn. In her final episode, the Oblivious Manhattanite needs a paper bag to breathe Into because she cannot see Manhattan from Shrublick.
March 27, 2009 Featured Writers
On Thursday, I caught up with author, NYU professor and Brooklynite Clay Shirky after a talk he gave at the M Project Gallery in Tribeca. Shirky spoke on the opportunities and challenges presented by the revolution in online communication and social media tools. Afterwards, we talked about how technology has influenced the shifting demographics of Brooklyn.
March 20, 2009 Classic, Read Features, Real Estate“I’ve always said that ‘Brooklyn is in the house’ and now it’s official—Brooklyn saw New York City’s biggest increase in the number of residents who prefer to call the borough home. I can’t say I’m surprised. After all, Brooklyn has more character and characters than anywhere on the planet—and we just added 17,392 more. From Williamsburg to Red Hook, from Victorian Flatbush to the shores of Coney Island, from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Brighton Beach, who would want to live anywhere else?” – Borough President Marty Markowitz
March 19, 2009 City Politics, Classic, Culture, The Locals, The People
The Adventures of the Oblivious Manhattanite in the Other Borough are true accounts of spontaneous excursions by a natural explorer distantly descended from a Montauk princess and an infamous Dutch family that helped settle New York. Here, in the vein of Diedrich Knickerbocker, J.K. Van Tassell shares her feral tales in the Brooklyn. In part five she goes loft hunting with Kitty Jihad and is attacked by cheese grits.
March 18, 2009 Featured Writers
Brooklyn The Borough is back after a short hiatus, during which we found a new home and, eventually, a new internet connection. Here’s what I learned in my apartment search.
March 13, 2009 Real Estate, The Locals
The Adventures of the Oblivious Manhattanite in the Other Borough are true accounts of spontaneous excursions by a natural explorer distantly descended from a Montauk princess and an infamous Dutch family that helped settle New York. Here, in the vein of Diedrich Knickerbocker, J.K. Van Tassell shares her feral tales in the Brooklyn. In part four the Oblivious Manhattanite romances a self-imposed exile in the Other Borough.
February 26, 2009 Featured WritersFredriksson Fall 2009
It’s fashion week in New York City, but not everybody is flashing their luxury wares in the tents of Bryant Park. Out in the borough, designers and boutique owners are worried about the sour turn of the economy, and are coming together to promote locally produced garments, jewelry and crafts. Brooklyn The Borough caught up with Williamsburg designer Helena Fredriksson, owner of the eponymous H Fredriksson, to hear about her fall line, a new Williamsburg pop up shop and get her thoughts on the future of Brooklyn’s fashion community.
February 19, 2009 Classic, Culture, Fashion, Real Estate, The Locals“I love Brooklyn, and I love this part of Brooklyn, I don’t know if you know – it’s now called the BAM cultural district, it’s got a whole new name – but I love this district. I mean It’s just fantastic. It’s kind of like coming across the river to work in another…” said Bridge Project director Sam Mendes before pausing to find the right words. “It’s so quiet out here – it’s so calm. It’s away from all the craziness of Broadway, it’s been a really pleasurable experience.”
February 19, 2009 Night/Life, Theater
The Adventures of the Oblivious Manhattanite in the Other Borough are true accounts of spontaneous excursions by a natural explorer distantly descended from a Montauk princess and an infamous Dutch family that helped settle New York. Here, in the vein of Diedrich Knickerbocker, J.K. Van Tassell shares her feral tales in the Brooklyn. In part three she goes zig-zagging through gruplets, awaits the faulty WTF train in a quest for bordeaux.
February 16, 2009 Featured WritersYou always hear about the State of the Union, the State of the State and even the State of the City, but damnit, doesn’t anyone care about the State of the Borough? Well, we do.
Here’s some of Marty’s talking points from the State of the Borough address – via his press office – which took place at Kingsborough Community College tonight.
February 12, 2009 City Politics, Real Estate, The LocalsA few weeks ago a friend took me to see Blake Schwarzenbach play a few songs at Matchless Bar in Greenpoint, and now a live show of his new band, Thorns of Life, playing at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California, has made its way onto the internet
February 12, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Music ProfilesBack in November I attended the Brooklyn Public Library’s annual fund raising gala and talked to the library’s benefactors and patrons about how potential budget cuts might adversely effect the library’s operations.
I hadn’t heard anything about it until yesterday, when a friend told me that he tried to go to the library on a recent Sunday and found it closed. I emailed library’s spokesperson to confirm, that yes, the central branch is now closed on Sundays.
Apparently the only trustworthy investment left in New York these days is art. Or so say the folks behind, who are encouraging you to use your cold hard cash and social network to raise awareness and money for public art projects – a few of which will originate in Brooklyn.
Trust Art works like this. Ten artists have envisioned social art projects, which you, the money bags, can invest in. Once the projects are completed they will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be split between the artist and each project’s shareholders. They call it a “stock market for cultural renewal.”
A tipster sends in this picture of Frances McDormand – of Fargo fame – digging through some vintage duds at the expanded Brooklyn Flea in Dumbo this past weekend.
McDormand shot scenes for husband Joel Coen’s film Burn After Reading in Brooklyn Heights in 2007 and lives in New York, though we’re not sure if she actually lives in the borough.
We hope she found something unique!
February 9, 2009 Fashion, The Locals
“It’s awesome to play at this theater and have people up front,” said Beirut frontman Zach Condon (above, right) to a second sold out crowd at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Opera House last Saturday. “It’s better.”
Not everyone in the seated audience agreed as hordes of fans rushed to the stage to get just a little bit closer to the folksy wunderkind, whose orchestra arrived halfway through the performance armed with glockenspiels. The two shows kicked off the Sounds Like Brooklyn festival last Friday, and the $20 tickets were fetching a hefty price on Craigslist.
After the first performance, we hear Zach and the band headed over to No. 7 bar for a drink, nearby on Greene Avenue, to find that the whitewashed walls weren’t the only stark contrast in the room full of show-goers.
If you haven’t tuned in to Brooklyn Community Access Television you surely don’t know what you’re missing, but in non-crazy person TV news, the channel is now running a new episode of Neigborhood Beat, featuring Crown Heights. Here’s what we learned today.
February 4, 2009 City Politicssrc=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/474922238_903c85c9af.jpg”>
About 1,140 feet inland from the banks of the East River sits the Navy Yard Cocktail lounge, also known as J.J.’s, a watering hole with no telephone and an unseemly reputation dating back to Brooklyn’s waterfront days of yore. A sign on the door screams PRIVATE.
Get past that sign and you’ll find a shabby bar with a few video poker screens and a sassy broad behind the counter. No big deal. However, this one’s a doozy.
Dubbed everything from secret stripper bar to the scariest bar in Brooklyn, neighbors often wear a visit to this dive, on the corner of Washington and Flushing Avenues, like a badge of honor; the bar as portal to a forgotten yesteryear.
February 4, 2009 Night/Life, Real Estate, The LocalsAfter a month of success at their winter pop-up market in Dumbo, Brooklyn Flea has expanded to a second storefront across the street at 76 Front Street.
Sit and Read Furniture was there hocking early American and mid-century wares. Owner Kyle Garner had managed to sell his most expensive (a gorgeous marble table) and least expensive (a pair of chairs) pieces by late afternoon, and said business was steady all day.
February 2, 2009 Fashion“If I had a nickel for every smores party I’ve been to…” said one guest at a Park Slope soiree on Saturday night.
“You’d have a nickel,” responded a new acquaintance from across the fire pit, which was perfectly centered in the frosty backyard of a brownstone on 5th Street.
February 2, 2009 Night/Life, Real Estate, The LocalsLike many things, Brooklyn Bridge Park’s price tag seems a little heavier these days. Yesterday, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky issued a statement after meeting with Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Development Corporation, the ESDC and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe regarding the release of the current financial status for Brooklyn Bridge Park at a public meeting this Thursday.
January 27, 2009 Real Estate, The Locals
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