Through December 11, local investigative theater company The Civilians are staging In The Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards at Fort Greene’s Irondale Center, mere blocks from where this long-debated project is currently underway. We caught up with Michael Friedman, the show’s lyricist and composer, to ask him about process, community dialogue and his personal views on the project.
According to Laurie Cumbo, founder and director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Arts in Fort Greene, gentrification is our 800 pound gorilla in the room. In their new exhibit, “The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks” it is her hope that the 22 participating artists will utilize the power of their voice to address it.
Shot last month, this seven minute short features skateboarder Mike Vallely lamenting the soon to be shuttered Brooklyn Banks, a lengendery NYC spot for generations of skater kids at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Downtown Express reported last October that “The city plans to use the internationally known Brooklyn Banks skate park as a staging area during the Brooklyn Bridge reconstruction, which is starting later this year and will last until 2014, said Ralph Musolino, a district manager for the city Parks Dept.” The city plans to shutter the area beginning this Friday, January 15, and it will remain closed until 2014.
Minutes before performing at Brooklyn The Party last week at Public Assembly, the fearsome sparrow gave me an insight into their creative process, whether their music has evolved since they first formed, and what’s next for them. Though reluctant to tell me what their latest single, “maryland,” is really about, they did divulge that, despite the name, it’s not about the state. Find out more after the jump!
At the corner of 20th Street and 5th Avenue in Windsor Terrace is an unassuming and apt place for Quarter Bar, named for its cross streets (20 + 5!). I recently rolled in very close to last call after working a bartending shift.
David Byrne played Prospect Park this summer, bringing with him a version of his Radio City show that has been turning heads with Talking Heads classics and tunes off of his latest Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. He chose Park Slope spot High Dive for his nightcap and for good reason.
Issue Project Room, an art collective based in Gowanus, lost Suzanne Fiol, the organization’s founding artistic director, to cancer on Monday. Ms. Fiol, 49, dedicated herself to creating an experimental, avant-garde space for performing and visual arts in Brooklyn.
