Congrats to Brooklyn Heights resident, singer, songwriter and Icelandic artist Björk, whose “Biophilia” was nominated today for two Grammy awards: Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package. For the former nod, she’s up against Fiona Apple, M83, Gotye and Tom Waits. The latter: Boys & Girls, Charmer, Love This Giant and Swing Lo Magellan. The Grammys telecast is Sunday, February 10, 2013.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52628
A Paper Mag photo essay shows what happens when a once pristine 1890 Queen Anne home in Bushwick becomes the “Trip House.” The one time Brownstoner Building of the Day is now a graffiti laden party den. The report prompted both Brownstoner and FreeWilliamsburg to write scathing posts about shocking transformation.
We fear for the future of the building, whose otherwise pristine original bead board walls, fireplaces, wainscotting and other 1890s details have been marred by graffiti at the hands of party-goers. (We don’t mean the art, but rather the stray spray paint on non-painted surfaces, such as mirrors.)
FreeWilliamsburg simply calls the party people who reportedly defaced the home, “a bunch of clueless Bushwick asshats.”
As for the original piece in Paper Mag:
An enterprising group of individuals have miraculously persuaded the new owners of a grand old four-story, seven-bathroom, three-kitchen house in Bushwick to let them throw huge, wild parties on the property until the ultimate fate of the house is decided (i.e. torn down, or renovated and split into apartments). Throughout the fall, they’ve been promoting parties here, at the “Trip House,” catering to the Williamsburg/Bushwick underground art, music and slacker scene. We’ve heard many tales, and finally got a chance to check it out on Saturday, a party called “Gender Blender: Bring Ur Own Microgenre.” …
Among the grungy, young intoxicated masses, several older Hasidic Jewish men, who said they were friends of the owner, curiously roamed throughout the crowds and asked us funny questions like, “Is this what the show Girls is based on?” and “Do these kids go to Pratt? Like, what do they major in? Any of them in real estate?,” interspersed with comments like “I’m not really into culture.”
To get to his 8th and final show opening Barclays Center, Jay-Z took the subway. The videos of him being a “regular guy” have been well circulated over that last couple of weeks. Perhaps the most “New York” of them all is one documenting Hova sitting next to artist Ellen Grossman. She had no idea that he was famous. The mega-star, who is also a minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets, took it in stride and the video of the resulting conversation between the two has gone viral.
Now that the clip has taken off, “my friends have all gotten in touch with me, and I have a zillion requests to be Facebook friends with people,” said Grossman. Her jealous 12-year-old granddaughter said, “I wish I could hang out with Jay-Z, too.” And yes, she’d definitely be willing to collaborate with Jay, suggesting that maybe her work with chain-link fences would match his aesthetic. “I don’t think I’m capable of altering what I do to tailor to him, but I think there might be some intersection,” she said.
Tanzina Vega writes in the NYT’s Media Decoder:
When I got into the office in the morning, I watched the clip that was embedded in a Gawker post with the headline, “Jay-Z Rides the Subway, Adorably Explains Who He Is to an Adorable Old Lady”
My immediate reaction? That’s no “adorable old lady,” that’s my dear friend Ellen Grossman. In an instant she had gone from being a largely anonymous New York artist, to Ellen Grossman, the Amiable New Yorker Who Asked Jay-Z if He Was Famous as He Was on the Way to Performing at the Barclays Center.
“Jay-Z sat down next to me and I did not recognize him, but everyone was taking his picture. But I thought, because I didn’t recognize him, that it still could have been a flash mob. I know people do fake celebrity stuff. So I said what was on the video ‘Are you famous?’ and he said ‘Yes’ and I believed him. I asked what his name was and he said ‘Jay’ and I didn’t catch that it was Jay-Z and after we were talking for a while I thought ‘He’s pretty famous,’ I noticed his security people and we were in a little bubble because they were around us and then I asked ‘What’s your name again?’ and he said ‘Jay-Z.’ We had a really great conversation, it felt really genuine.”
On Thursday, December 6, at 5:30 p.m. Brooklyn Borough Prez Marty Markowitz will emcee the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Borough Hall Plaza. A lucky kid from the audience will be chosen to flip the switch and illuminate the 40-foot-tall balsam fir, which Time Out New York hailed as one of the city’s holiday trees “worth seeking out on a cold winter’s night.” The tree will sparkle with holiday colors each night through the holiday season. Brooklynite Adriana Louise of NBC’s “The Voice” will provide entertainment and sing her favorite Christmas song. Free holiday refreshments will be served, and Santa is also rumored to be stopping by. (Photo: Downtown Brooklyn Partnership)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52551
Patti Smith and Neil Young played Barclays Center Monday night and, naturally, folks tweeted about it.
One fan wrote, “patti smith just likened the barclays center to a cockroach… while playing barclays center.”
(photo via @MarkFischel)
As much as Christmas trees are a seasonal tradition, so is the presence of Patti Romp and her son Tim in front of Key Food at 102 Montague Street. The Middlebury, Vermont-based pair has been selling trees in Brooklyn Heights for years, and have become such a part of the neighborhood that BHB’s Karl Junkersfeld interviewed them exactly one year ago here. In addition, the Romps have fostered such acclaim for their goods that The New York Times profiled the family here.
When she’s not selling trees, Patti is a fulltime Massage Therapist at the Salisbury Station Wellness Center in Middlebury. (Photos: CT)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52419
Sad news: One of the stalwarts of Montague Street has closed its doors after a robust 24 years. On November 30, St. Mark’s Comics at 148 Montague, which opened the satellite outlet in 1988, called it quits. A staffer told BHB today that it’s a familiar story along Brooklyn Heights’ primary retail corridor: a marked hike in rent. St. Mark’s Comics continues in its original location in Manhattan at 11 St. Marks Place. (Photo: Flickr/Pijus)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52402
Nets forward/the ex-Mr. Kim Kardashian Kris Humphries got into a shoving match with two Celtics during tonight’s game in Boston.
Humphries fouled Celtic Kevin Garnett, bumping him to the floor in the process. Boston point guard Rajon Rondo intervened and the trio brawled their way into the stands.
Nets forward Gerard Wallace also joined the melee. He, Humphries and Rondo were ejected.
Last week the story broke that former New York City mayor Rudolf Giuliani would be an “enthusiastic supporter” MTA Chairman/Brooklyn Heights resident/Republican Joe Lhota’s potential bid for NYC mayor in 2013. Another former mayor of NYC, Ed Koch, told WCBS 880 that while he felt Lhota was a well qualified candidate for the GOP, he’d be supporting Democrat Christine Quinn in the general election.
Lhota has not commented on a possible run as yet.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52349
The helicopters hovering above Brooklyn Heights this morning signaled that something out of the ordinary was happening nearby. As many Brooklynites tweeted and news sources reported, traffic on the Manhattan bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge was halted due to a police action.
NY Post: The 19-year-old was threatening to jump from the Brooklyn-bound roadway around 7:20 a.m. when emergency workers responded to the call, said a spokesman for the FDNY.
All bridge traffic was shut down in both directions to pedestrians and cars, cops said.
The man jumped about 30 minutes later from the Brooklyn side of the bridge and landed in the rear of the River Cafe, police sources said.
A BHB reader adds his first hand account:
I was jogging this morning in Brooklyn Bridge Park and saw someone jump off the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. There were police boats, a helicopter and fire trucks everywhere and a team of first responders was trying to make its way up the cable to reach the person but they couldn’t get there in time. He was on the top of the suspension tower closest to Brooklyn.
After similar events earlier this year, we invited Brooklyn Heights resident Jason Hershberger, MD Chief of Psychiatry, Downstate Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to write a guest blog for BHB on depression and its warning signs. He wrote:
Suicide is the most frightening and dangerous symptom of depression. Eleven in 100,000 Americans die of suicide each year, making it the 10th leading cause of death in our country. For young people ages 15-24 suicide is the third leading cause of death. The major risk factor found in the majority of suicides is major depression followed by the combination of depression with alcoholism.
The Department of Psychiatry at Downstate Long Island College Hospital includes inpatient, outpatient and emergency psychiatric services. For physician referral please call (888) 270-SUNY(7869), or visit www.downstate.edu/LICH.
Image via Aimee Groth
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52333