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Existential Stuff, Music

Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello at #OccupyWallStreet

October 13, 2011

Brooklyn Bugle contributor Tim Schreier caught Tom Morello’s set today at #OccupyWallStreet at Liberty Plaza’s Zuccotti Park.  The singer-songwriter performed on the eve of the protesters’ potential eviction from their campground.

Morello, a long time supporter of progressive causes, is currently promoting his latest Nightwatchman release World Wide Rebel Songs. He was joined by frequent collaborator Carl Restivo.

Rolling Stone: Tom Morello paused for a moment as he tuned his guitar in front of the Occupy Wall Street masses this morning at New York’s Liberty Plaza. “This is crazy out here,” he said, smiling. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist went on to perform a four-song set for hundreds of onlookers, including a poignant, protester-fueled rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

Before the performance, however, Morello addressed the crowd – whom he called “friends.” He introduced himself as the Nightwatchman, his folk alter-ego, and spoke directly to the attentive and excited members of the Occupy Wall Street movement: “First, they ignored you – then you got pepper-sprayed.” But he didn’t stop there. Morello led the crowd in a charged chant: “I know in my heart, all hell can’t stop us now.” And then, repeatedly, “All hell can’t stop us now!”

From the Web

Profiles

The Pigeon Keepers of Bushwick

October 4, 2011

Mike Tyson ain’t the only guy in Brooklyn keeping boids.

Brooklyn photographer Chris Arnade writes us about a documentary, Pigeon Keepers of Bushwick, that he’s recently worked on with Rattapallax Productions;

I first noticed the beautiful flocks of pigeons high above Maria Hernandez park in Bushwick last summer. At the time I had no idea that they where part of an old sport.

Brought over by the Italians, Bushwick used to have well over a hundred guys (yes all of them are guys) who kept pigeons on the roofs, now its only about twenty. Not raised to race (thats another sport), they are simply collected and bred and then flown to highlight their beauty. These days, its mostly Dominican and Puerto Rican men, almost all in Bushwick, East new York and Brownsville.

Kept in coops on various roofs, the pigeons are fed and flown almost daily in a game of bragging rights against the other keepers.

Once you view the flocks flowing and swirling high above Brooklyn, catching the shifting sunlight, you start to see the artistry involved. These photos where taken over the last year as I wandered from roof deck to roof deck.

From the Web

Existential Stuff, News

#OccupyWallStreet : Opinion and Photos

October 4, 2011

Friend of the Brooklyn Bugle and avid photographer Tim Schreier posted the following note about #occupywallstreet on his Facebook page today. He’s given us permission to repost his photos of some of those demonstrating as well as his personal observations. We thought that they were well worth posting here.

Many of my friends may have noted that there is a giant protest going on here in NY. Hundreds (at some points, thousands) of people have taken up camp in the Financial District. A bit of national media has paid some attention to the “Occupiers”. I had the opportunity to spend some time there this weekend, photographing (go to my Flickr page and various blogs, news, etc that have picked them up, if you are interested) and talking to quite a few people. Like many, I was suspect of the motivations of a few of the people; the “professional protesters” or the “I was there, where is my t-shirt protesters”. To be honest, there were a few of those types there but there were also many, many people who were genuinely frustrated.

Frustrated to the point where this was their only outlet to be heard. Their frustrations were diverse; healthcare, jobs, education, war, taxation, balance of power, etc. I think because of this diversity it appears, to the media, to be unorganized chaos and overwhelming to the point of comedy. In a world of “bumper sticker phlosophers” it seems unorganized not to have a single focus, this is one of the big problems the media has in covering this story; they like nice, neat, clear and succinct packages of thought, easy to bundle and relate to. Clearly, here, is not the case.

The message is diverse, as the people who are trying to send it. Why Wall Street and not Washington? This has been my question from the start. One of the most ovewhelming grievances is regarding taxation issues and the feeling that people are taxed more than the corporations.

Another issue is the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United and the FEC. It is overwhelming sentiment that Corporations now receive all the rights of a citizen but none of the responsibilities. It became clear to me that this was, in some ways, the Tea Party of the Left. A band of people from diverse backgrounds with diverse frustrations and diverse motivations.

It is difficult in this age of “sound bite” and “low attention” media coverage for the press to get it’s hands around this and other protests or occupations. The people here have similar frustrations to the Tea Party movement, in that they have a need to be heard. One of the major difference that I can see is whom should be taxed more. For the Tea Party they think any tax is evil for these people it appears they have a desire for a larger contribution to be made by the corporations. Healthcare and education is another; the Tea Party does not want government involved in any healthcare, these people feel it is an inalienable right for the government to provide more healthcare coverage and education for the young. The “Occupiers” have a deep distrust for corporations, it appears the Tea Party does not share this distrust. The “Occupiers” feel that “trickle down” is a myth created by corporations or self annointed “job creators” the Tea Party feels the less we tax corporations the more they will create jobs.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been down there to listen. Yes, there are the typical professional protesters who want to be heard for the sake of being heard (perhaps that is me in writing this too) but I walked away with a great appreciation for what they are trying to do. They are sick of apathy. They care about the direction and path our country is currently taking. They want to be heard. They should be heard.

They have a map of destination cities. Chances are your city may be on that map. I know DC is coming up in the next few weeks and that is something I personally welcome. I urge anyone to stop and listen to what they are saying, you may not agree with them at all but they are passionate, caring, committed and well within their rights to be vocal and be heard. I would rather live in a country, town, state where people express themselves and demand to be heard than sit on a couch and brood.

From the Web

Events

Your Guide to the #AtlanticAntic 2011

October 2, 2011

The 37th Annual Atlantic Antic happens Sunday (10/2) from 12pm – 6pm along Atlantic Avenue from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue. It’s going to be loads of fun as usual and the organizers have sent us this nifty play by play of what’s happening on the many stages along the route. Check it out:

HICKS/HENRY

Moxie Spot – 81/83 Atlantic Ave
12PM – Ari & Nat Family Sing-a-long
1:30PM – Liam the Magician
3PM – John Carlin’s Kids Music Underground
4:30PM – Lloyd Miller of The Deedle Deedle Dees

HENRY/CLINTON

Chip Shop – Across from 129 Atlantic Ave
On and off all day The Winsor Terrors

Last Exit – 136 Atlantic Ave
All day – DJ Momotaro and Go Go Dancers Ana Copa Cabanna and Pixie 007
1PM – GIGI & POP
2PM – Les Sans Culottes
4PM – THE GET IT
6PM – Antic After Party (inside) with DJ Mr. Lee

Waterfront Ale House – 155 Atlantic Ave
12PM – Charanga Soleil (10-piece Cuban-Afro band)
2PM – Black Coffee Blues Band

CLINTON/COURT

Amer-Aba – 175 Atlantic Ave
Middle Eastern Music and Belly Dancing

COURT/BOERUM

Brazen Head – 228 Atlantic Ave
2PM-5PM – The Dysfunctional Family Jazz Band

SMITH/HOYT

Pacheco & Lugo – 340 Atlantic Ave
12PM-5:30PM – Latin Jazz Band

NEVINS/3RD

Flying Saucer – 494 Atlantic Ave

Gumbo – 493 Atlantic Ave
12PM – P for Puppets
12:30PM – Graciela Carrique of ‘Musica Para Mi’
1PM – Melanie Hope Greenberg book reading and signing
1:30PM – Rolie Polie Guacamole
2:30PM – Catahoula Cajun Band
3:15PM – Kevin Nathaniel and “Talking Gourds”
3:45PM – Mamadou Waflash
4:30PM – Bonga
5PM – Tiga & Tchaka

Hank’s Saloon – 46 3rd Ave
On and off all day starting at 1PM –
Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues, Jack Grace Band, and Alex Battles’ Whisky Rebellion
5PM – Cheap SunglasseZZ (ZZ Top cover band)

3RD/4TH

Linger Lounge – 533 Atlantic Ave
1PM-2:30PM & 3PM-4:30PM – BR and Timebomb

From the Web

Books, Podcast

The Brooklyn Bugle Radio Hour #1: J. Courtney Sullivan

September 24, 2011

Author J. Courtney Sullivan joins Loscalzo (aka Homer Fink) on the inaugural edition of the Brooklyn Bugle Radio Hour.

Sullivan discusses both of her best sellers Commencement and Maine.

Lily King writes in the New York Times about Maine:

Sullivan’s observations of the generational changes in desire among women of the past century are particularly astute. Alice, who had wanted to be a painter in Paris, wound up living not far from the city she grew up in, the mother of three children. “Maggie,” she observes, “was the artist of the family. Sometimes Alice thought Maggie was what she herself might have become if only she had been born a generation or two later. Timing was everything when it came to being a woman — the moment you entered the world could seal your fate.”

At the end of the interview enjoy a tune from My Name is John Michael.

MP3 Podcast

From the Web

Books

Video: Author J. Courtney Sullivan Discusses Her Best Seller, Maine

September 15, 2011

Park Slope resident/ NYT best selling author J. Courtney Sullivan sits in with the Brooklyn Bugle to discuss her latest novel, Maine.

Find out how she wove dollhouses, worm farming and real New England history into the book in our video interview.

Sullivan first gained notoriety with her debut novel Commencement in 2009, while still working as an assistant at the New York Times.

From the Web

Music

#Karoke Video: Jim Carrey Does Radiohead’s Creep

September 13, 2011

Brooklyn Bugle pal Mark Marone has been playing with his Live Rock and Roll Karoke band for the last 5 years at Arlene’s Grocery in Manhattan.  On September 9, actual movie star Jim Carrey got up and sang Radiohead’s “Creep” with them.  It may just have been the greatest performance of his life.

Carrey also covered the Smashing Pumpkins, another alt-rock fave, during his set.  Earlier in the day cell phone video was posted online the video here is directly from the pro-quality cameras at Arlene’s.

 

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, News

Video: Earthquake in New York? This 1972 TV Movie Imagined It

August 23, 2011

The moment today’s DC area earthquake shook Brooklyn Heights, we thought about the corny and wonderful 1972 made for TV movie Short Walk to Daylight.

It starred a pre-Mr. Streisand James Brolin as NYPD officer Tom Phelan who leads a rag tag crew of Noo Yawkers through subway tunnels after a devastating shaker hits the Big Apple.  The cast is a regular potpourri of great 70s character actors including James McEachin and Abbey Lincoln.

At about 1:45 in the attached video, hear Brolin and his hammy NYC accent utter the classic lane, “An OITHQUAKE…. in Noooo Yawk?!”

From the Web

Life

Coney Island: A Cataclysmic Tidal Wave Of Spelling Gaffes

July 20, 2011

Spelling errors in our nation’s major newspapers are a dime a dozen anymore… not so funny. Wandering through Coney Island and Brighton Beach last weekend—where English, admittedly, may not be a first language—and seeing creative spelling all around… pretty damn funny.

Check out these photos!

From the Web

History, Real Estate

How Do Today’s Brownstoners Compare to Beau Bridges “Landlord” of 1970?

July 5, 2011

Beau Bridges bright eyed character pontificates in The Landlord

Back in May, BAMcinématek featured Hal Ashby’s 1970 film The Landlord starring Beau Bridges as a rich kid who buys a brownston in the “slum” of Park Slope and plans to make it his bachelor pad. That is, after he evicts the current, all black, residents.  In an early scene,  Bridges’ character Elgar, has his hubcaps stolen and is chased down the block by  those angry tenants who just want him to go away.  But like many films from the era, it’s Bridges’ central character who undergoes a transformation, eventually identifying  more with “others” he set out to displace.

 

WNYC interviewed Mike Woram, the current owner of 51 Prospect Place where the film was set. Back in 1970, the building was falling apart, there wasn’t a tree to be found anywhere and the block was dicey.  All that’s changed now:

Forty years later, the predominantly black, working-class block depicted in the movie is almost unrecognizable. Serrell was one of the first to plant the trees that now tower over the block in every direction — a far cry from the bare, sun-drenched streetscape portrayed in “The Landlord.”

While a handful of longtime black residents remain, Woram says the newest gentrifiers are ironically more like the farcical character of Elgar — whiter and richer — than before.

“We get to live like rich people without being rich people,” he said.  “I don’t know how people buy these things today — it’s nuts!”

Not that the current landlord of 51 Prospect Place is complaining.  Woram says he prefers the Park Slope of the present, except for one thing.

“It seems to be the hardest block in all of this area to get a parking space on.”

The counter-culture Elgar for the most part appears to be typical of the Brownstoners from that era discussed in Suleiman Osman’s The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn. The author tells Dwell:

Brownstoners who moved to Brooklyn were influenced by the counterculture, environmentalist movements, New Left, etc. Along with cheap real estate, brownstoners looked to the deindustrializing center city as a site of authenticity in an increasingly technocratic society. As opposed to postwar suburbia which they viewed as mass-produced and filled with men in grey flannel suits, they saw the belt of 19th century housing surrounding the central business district as organic, rooted, real, “neighborhoody,” etc.

How do you think the Brownstoner “movement” has progressed from being the domain of bohemians and dreamers 50 years ago? Are some of the Brownstone Belt’s residents clinging to a similar dream of a Utopian Brooklyn when they fight against projects like Atlantic Yards or are they the thin line between civil responsibility and untethered greed? Or is the new guard more apt to desire their own McBrownstones and push the landmark restrictions their predecessors fought dearly for to the limit?

Discuss!

From the Web