definitely interested.

Posts Tagged ‘event’

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Catskill Bike Tours

In events, learning, various on June 11, 2010 at 4:15 pm

I’m going to need a weekend at home by the time I’m done with my whirlwind of meetings (note: Las Vegas is surreal and fascinating.) but this sounds great. A weekend of biking and bicycle repair workshops in the Catskills with my friend Chris:

As you might have heard, my friend Ryan and I are putting on a weekend long bicycle workshop in upstate NY on the weekend of June 25-27th. This is the first time we have put on this workshop and have been unable to register any participants as of yet. However, our shortfall is your gain. We would like to do this workshop in the future and we feel your participation and feedback will be great help for the workshop’s future development. Thus, we are sending you a personal invite to join us for the weekend for a greatly reduced $100 per person! This price includes: five great meals, lodging, rides, and workshops. This is all in the context of Woodbourne, NY at a house that is on 15 acres of land. You will be responsible for getting yourself and your bicycle to the location. Read the rest of this entry »

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Would if I Could

In events, learning on June 8, 2010 at 1:31 pm

I won’t be around on June 10, but this will be interesting. Promise:

Please join Not An Alternative, Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, and Upgrade NY! this Thursday, June 10 for the opening of Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus, an exhibition which examines models of participation and participation as a model in art and activism.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Lovely

In flaneurie on May 23, 2010 at 9:30 pm

Saltie, street fairs, steel, strawberries, asparagus, green garlic. Planning for pickles and preserving. Handmade bicycles, lilacs. Pie and peonies. And an invitation to escape to the Catskills. New superadobe stories and these sandy punks swinging by their knees from geodesic domes selling screenprints and copies of Buckminster Fuller.

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San Francisco, New Years Day

In various on December 10, 2009 at 7:22 pm

It is a tradition, in these parts, to congregate at the home of one Frances Pauline for black eyed peas, collard greens and corn bread on New Years Day. Luck, it is supposed to bring you.

I won’t be around these parts though. I’ll be Out West. In San Francisco. So I’m going to make do, by making my own beans.

If you’re going to be in the bay area and want to join me, please do get in touch! I know I’ll miss people otherwise.

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We Have Rules Around Here

In various on December 28, 2008 at 3:47 am

Every other year we go to San Francisco for Christmas, where there’s a tree (lately three feet, max, which I try to pretend is just great since cutting down whole trees sits less and less comfortably with me with each passing year. So a little tree is better than a big tree, but I don’t really understand how you’re supposed to sit around the tree drinking egg nog and reading A Christmas Carol aloud if the tree has to be sitting on the dining room table.) but this was not one of those years. I was trying to get a Vermont tradition going in alternate years, we had a good run of that, but the truth is that there’s not really enough snow in Vermont by December 25th and, also, there was a lot of construction going on this winter in Waitsfield. So Vermont was out this year, and so we did what all good Jews do on Christmas, which is that we made a pilgrimage to Chao Thai (with Peter J. who’s growing a beard that makes him look uncannily like photos of my father, circa 1975) and then went to a movie. In between, we stopped off at home to light the menorah and play some dreidel (told you). And the internet failed us on two counts. Or our collected reference volumes did. First, I wanted to make a proper hot toddy and I realized that I really am short a reference volume. This comes up from time to time, this shortage. So that was one failure. As it turns out, the internets claim that a hot toddy is pretty much any hot cocktail. Gin in fennel tea qualifies. Which isn’t what I wanted. What I wanted was something like:

    One Hot Toddy

  • 1 1/2 oz. bourbon
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2-3 teaspoons of lemon (about 1/4 of a lemon, squeezed)
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • 1 whole clove (optional)

Which really wasn’t so hard, but you have to get the proportions right. The internets other failure was dreidel rules. I wasn’t holding the machine, so it is possible that *someone* just wasn’t trying very hard, but we kept coming upon long narratives about the history of the game, when we just wanted some rules. Rules like:

  • Start with maybe 15 things (things like pennies, maybe) each. Not 40 pennies. Unless you want this game to go on forever.
  • At the start of each round (or, maybe just at the start of the game, depending who you ask), everyone puts a penny in the pot; if the pot empties out, everyone puts a penny in.

We had no trouble finding a cheat sheet for nun/gimmel/hey/shin but it goes something like nun means you get bupkiss; gimmel means you get the whole heap; hey gets you half the heap; shin you put two (or one) in the pot.

Sorry if you already knew that. We thought we already knew that until we sat down to play and discovered we didn’t.

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Art! (You should come)

In various on October 14, 2008 at 2:45 pm

ABC NO RIO GALA & BENEFIT AUCTION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7 TO 10 PM
ANGEL ORENSANZ FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
172 NORFOLK STREET

Hungry March Band will be performing along with Aurora Boob Realis, Boobie von Trapp and Jezebel Express, all MC’d by the most excellent Reverend Jen. ABC No Rio has an excellent collection of art that will be auctioned off on the 22nd as well, see the full list of contributing artists to inspire yourself. Bring a friend. Bring your wallet. Bring a lobster!

Join us for cocktails, buffet, burlesque performances, brilliant conversation and spirited bidding!

Proceeds from the benefit will go towards the ABC No Rio Building Fund.

AUCTION

* Bullet Space, Kathe Burkhart, Michael Cataldi, Mel Chin, Maureen Connor, Martha Cooper, Linus Coraggio, Molly Crabapple, CRASH, Peggy Cyphers, Bill Daniel, Arnon Ben David, Mike Estabrook, Robert Flynt, Chitra Ganesh, Brian George, Judy Glantzman, Mike Glier, Robert Goldman (Bobby G.), Mimi Gross, Julie Hair, Jacob Hashimoto, Geoffrey Hendricks, International Graffiti Times, Vandana Jain, Fawad Khan, Barney Kulok, Lady Pink, Anne Arden McDonald, Joseph Nechvatal, Shirin Neshat, Nils Norman, Claes Oldenburg, Alice O’Malley, Tom Otterness, Trevor Paglen, Francis Palazzolo, Anton Perich, Judy Pfaff, Kembra Pfahler, James Romberger, Christy Rupp, Kelly Savage, Kristen Schiele, David Schmidlapp, Andres Serrano, Greg Sholette, Kiki Smith, Chris Stain, Swoon, Seth Tobocman, Marguerite Van Cook, Anton van Dalen, Tom Warren and Lawrence Weiner.

* AND *
Introducing an edition for ABC No Rio by Gregory Green.

(auction preview)

BENEFIT COMMITTEE
* Stanley Aronowitz, Julie Ault, Michael Bank, Melissa Bent, Phong Bui, Garrison Buxton, Alexander Campos, Paul Castrucci, Peter Cramer, Simon Critchley, Ray Cross, Harvey Epstein & Anita Elliot, Jim Fleming & Lewanne Jones, Barry Frier & Stefani Mar, Lia Gangitano, Carl George, Jonathan Greene, Dara Greenwald, Phil Hartman, C. Sean Horton, Cheryl Kaminsky, David Kiehl, Jane Kim, Allegra LaViola, Brooke Lehman, Jonathan LeVine, Josh MacPhee, Timothy Malyk, Mirabelle Marden, Carlo McCormick & Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Barbara Moore, Rebecca Moore, Margery Newman, Wendy Olsoff, Al Orensanz, Christian Parenti, Liutauras Psibilskis, Karen Ranucci & Michael Ratner, Neil Rosenstein, Alix Sloan, Jeff Stark, Sara Valentine, Jack Waters, and Martha Wilson.

MASTER OF CEREMONIES
* Reverend Jen

PERFORMANCE
* Hungry March Band
* Aurora Boob Realis
* Boobie von Trapp
* Jezebel Express

SPONSORS
* Asahi
* ALIAS
* Two Boots
* saké2me
* Honest Beverages
* The Donut Plant

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Theater. Like, plays. And stuff.

In various on September 18, 2008 at 2:05 pm

My cousin is coming to town and she wants to go to a play. Fair enough: I live in New York City. I ought to be able to hook that up. Only, I don’t go to plays and the people I know who do fall into difficult categories. Either they love Broadway (I don’t) or they are so immersed in theater that they don’t have a good answer. They don’t know what to recommend because they don’t know what to suggest. No one knows how to say “Well, I’ve been wanting to see …” There’s no Good Reads for theater, where I can skim my friends favorites. Which is part of why I can count on one hand the number of staged performances of anything that I’ve seen in the last decade. Actually, that is totally not true. I see more live performing arts than that.

It is too easy to say “gahh, not Broadway” but what I really mean is that I don’t want sparkly musicals. When I was 10 I loved Cats. I also loved Les Miserables. I probably would have loved anything other big bang musicals at that age. It was like the circus, only better. People like what they like and there’s nothing wrong with that (she says with a snicker) but it won’t make me happy to go see Cats today.

Broadway is more complex than that. I saw Angels in America with May and Kiffy. I don’t actually know if it was the Broadway cast but it was a short run in San Francisco. It was great and I’d see it all over again. On Broadway if that is where it was playing.

I loved the Berkeley Rep production of Bright Room Called Day. I do like more than just Kushner, honest. If someone were to stage a production of The terrible but unfinished story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia I would probably faint. I would certainly go. I came across it ten (sneeze. really? yes. ten.) years ago when Jason and I tried to write a play about Cambodia that got as far as Henry Kissenger before we discovered that we weren’t very good collaborators just as our respective lives were intervening to flummox the project anyway. He went on to become a famous playwright. Me, not so much. Pipe Bomb Sonata was excellent, though I never saw it staged, just read it. If I were a more dutiful friend I would have more to say about the rest of his resume but … oh nevermind.

I would have loved to go see Tanque on stage. I don’t actually know why I didn’t. Ganso bought tickets. A whole posse went. We’ll get back to that, later, my inability to just plug in when I know I’d have a good time.

To entertain my cousin I have to look forward, not back. It doesn’t have to be straight theater. Performance art is cool. I’d gladly take Gabriela to see the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea sail down the Hudson, but the flotilla’s nearly mothballed by now. Once upon a time, I went to some spaghetti dinners at PS 122, where I first saw Coco Rosie. They made me weak in the knees. Great Small Works last updated their schedule in 2003, so I’m guessing there are no spaghetti dinners coming up. Everyone else might be over her, but I still think that Laurie Anderson is a genius. Moby Dick was genius. Actually, it wasn’t. It was just good, but I loved it.

On the other hand, family friends took us to see Love, Janis in the West Village whenever it was that it was plastered all over busses and playing in the West Village. It was painful. I might have loved to read her letters home, but seeing them staged all sugar coated was just weird. Also, no one sings like Janis Joplin. Staging a performance based entirely around covers of Janis Joplin is bound to be agonizing. I don’t think better singers or better acting would have improved it. I still think about it a lot. I have it filed away with The Cockettes in my personal history of the San Francisco my mother lived in when she was my age. Except she wasn’t my age yet. She was a lot younger. She’s going to call me up and tell me that actually her life wasn’t nearly as tragic or arty or drug addled as Janis Joplin or Sweet Pam, but I still like to imagine that San Francisco swirling around her. What I’m trying to say is that I got a lot out of Love, Janis, but I would come up with about eight excuses to avoid seeing it again.

Glengary Glen Ross, which we really did see on Broadway, was excellent. But I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have because we saw it on Broadway and I wasn’t in the mood for the neighborhood and the whole sensibility of going out for proper theater. Plus there isn’t anyplace that I’d want to eat anywhere near 42nd Street. It isn’t a scene that works for me. It wasn’t for me, though. It is N’s favorite play and the tickets were his birthday present. So I shouldn’t be whining. Plus, on account of it being his favorite play, we own the DVD and I’ve watched it a hundred times and it isn’t my favorite play so the 101th viewing was just that.

I know that atmosphere matters to me. So does location. I don’t want to be treated like royalty, I don’t want to feel like I’m dressed all wrong or everyone around me is going to drive back to Connecticut later. I’d like to be able to see the stage. I’d rather not be way the hell up town. Brooklyn would be great. Some of these things are contradictory, I realize. There’s as much society at the Soho Rep as anywhere on 42nd Street, but it is a society I feel a lot more comfortable with. Or a little more comfortable with. Walking distance from home trumps everything else. BAM or a smallish downtown theater, is what I’m saying.

Facebook reports that Jason is planning to go see Oh What War, and Tanque has tickets for A Kite Cut Loose in the Middle of the Sky which is damn useful information to have. Jason’s blog is useful, too, he posted about Blasted at the Soho Rep. Only Oh What War is an option for 9/26.

Creative Time has a whole festival in progress coming up. Some talks about art and politics, which isn’t exactly theater but it is something to do. Good luck figuring out when anything is happening, their website is to sexy for a schedule.

Eyebeam (also too avant garde to offer a usable website. Though they do have a decent calendar.) has some interesting work up but they’re art, so their openings are on Thursdays. Lucky for Gabriela, they won’t be hacking Linux onto PDAs until later in October. I’d ditch her for that. I want a mood tracking database on my Treo.

Between the Lines is back at BAM. Let me know if you want to come: Oct 16, Nov 6, Dec 18.

Other places I sometimes go but haven’t in a while, most of which don’t have anything on tap for the 26th:
Galapagos,
Free103point9, Not an Alternative (okay, NaA is different but I can’t take a cousin to Jelly. BAM

Seriously, though: back to theater. Where do you look? Are there plays or other staged performances you’ve been wanting to see? Thinking of seeing?

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Meet Me At The

In various on July 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm

1) We do not own it yet. We believe. We have absolute faith. But we do not own. Tomorrow a new appraisal, hopefully a closing date settled. Everything seems to hang on these threads, teeny tiny little threads. This is a damn nerve wracking time for the banking industry to be going to hell in a handbasket. Later, when we’re depending on rent to make ends meet, that will also not be a good time for the economy to go to hell in a handbasket.

2) Contrary to rumors to the contrary, we’re sticking around this weekend. Thus, I’m hoping to make it to the Radical Reference benefit to see Freaks and Geeks. And I’ll definitely be making a stop at Michelle’s stoop sale:

This SUNDAY, JULY 20th, I’m having a big STOOP SALE. I’ll be getting rid of years of stuff:
Of course, lots of BOOKS, Clothes and costumery (including some WIGS and HATS), An almost new A/C
Nearly all my CDs (now that I’ve uploaded them all…) and some LPs.

>>>And much more!< <<
There will also be a sizable FREE BOX and after 2pm, you can come by and fill a shopping bag with what remains from the sale for FIVE DOLLARS.

I’ll be on the stoop all day, so even if you don’t want to shop, I encourage you to come by and hang out, maybe listen to some ukulele, maybe have a beer.

Afterwards, there’s a fair chance I’ll be heading to the Golem show in Prospect Park -

123 Garfield Place, betwixt 5th and 6th Avenues, Park Slope (R to Union St., then walk 2.5 blocks south to Garfield, take a left, and up the hill 2 blocks.; 2/3 to Bergen St., then 10 short blocks south on 6th Avenue
F to 4th Avenue, then walk up to 5th Avenue and take a left, then 10 blocks north to Garfield)

I need more books so I might try to stop by early-like. Soon as I’m done with the market, say.

And you? What’s on your weekend plate?

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If I Didn’t

In events, various on June 4, 2008 at 2:27 am

have a meeting to go to (there better be cookies!), I’d be at this on Thursday …

Floating Points 2008 Issue Project Room

This Festival, in its third year, (formerly points in a circle) explores the versatility of ISSUE Project Room’s Innovative house speaker system, designed by Stephan Moore.

In the hands of these diverse performers and sound artist, this fifteen-channel installation of hemisphere loudspeakers radically changes the concert experience for both performer and audience.

Each of the hemispheres radiates sound in all directions, activating the acoustics of this unique concert space. Immersive sonic environments are generated, electronic sounds take on the characteristic intimacy of acoustic instruments, and location is liberated as a musical dimension.

Thursday June 5

title: /body-in-pieces/
performance and installation by tianna kennedy and chad laird

/body-in-pieces/ is a partially pre-recorded, partially improvised performance riffing on two immediately recognizable themes from the horror genre: Bernard Herrmann’s cue to the first murder in Alfred Hitchcock’s /Psycho/ and John Williams Main Title theme from /Jaws/. Both reworked samples reside in popular culture as sonic tropes instantly signifying ‘horror,’ or the anticipation of immanent peril or violence to the body. By isolating, fragmenting, and manipulating these familiar soundtrack elements in space we hope to underscore the process by which sound and mise-en-scene in horror often not only prepare and condition the viewer for violence, but stand-in for or displace the traumatized body itself. /body-in-pieces/ also finds its way through thematically linked material such as Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major (written for a pianist who had lost his left arm in World War I) and motifs from Alice in Wonderland. Additionally, our installation/performance will be set to projections of abstract light sequences culled from 60s Italian Horror films.

Tianna Kennedy is a cellist, sometime-artist, and Brooklyn Program Director for free103point9. Chad Laird teaches art history at FIT and makes zombie movies.

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Thinking Outloud

In various on March 7, 2008 at 1:23 pm

I realized on Monday that I don’t go to these panels at The Change You Want To See often enough. They’re usually really good conversations. I’m not sure if I can make it, but that shouldn’t stop you.

Please join us for two evenings dedicated to the G8 mobilizations in Germany (2007) and Japan (2008) by artists and organizers involved in the events.

The Change You Want To See Gallery

http://www.thechangeyouwanttosee.org

84 Havemeyer St, at Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Monday, March 10th, 7:30pm
Act 1: Multimedia report-back and analysis from the June 2007 G8 mobilization in Heiligendamm by members of Not An Alternative and Hate The G8 Action Faction.

Act 2: Info-tour and screenings with representatives from No! G8 Action, a Japan-based network of anti-authoritarians and anarchists mobilizing towards the 2008 G8.

Tuesday, March 11th, 7:30pm
Act 3: Discussion and planning session with No! G8 Action, focused on the upcoming mobilization to be held in July at Lake Toya in Hokkaido, Japan.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Shorts

In various on March 4, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Things I’ve been meaning to articulate, (and in Magstock Style, I invite you to vote for your favorite followup.)

  1. This morning, the woman who passed me on Jay Street and said something so huffy and with such a terse look on her face I that I heard “bitch, you suck” before I realized that the actual words out of her mouth were “nice boots.” Right. Thanks. I do love New Yorkers.
  2. Where We Are Now, hope, change, mania and haters and how to talk about what it is that we’re all hoping for, what we think that change will bring. Something concrete that we can use to actually look back at this moment and measure success.
  3. Finally getting my own slot on the Idea Lab. And screwing up the grammar in my first post.
  4. Art, civic participation, conversations about consumerism (and maybe a little bit about why the really good stuff always seems to happen off line, or at least out of the public square.)
  5. A panel last night that was about two very different things and couldn’t quite find its way to a conversation, but got me thinking a lot anyway. Also, about salons, civics conversations, public spaces and how it isn’t easy to create a place where people come together to talk about ideas, but Beka, Winnie and Jason are here to tell you it isn’t that hard either.
  6. Zack Exley on faith, study and Christians, and why Speaking of Faith is one of my favorite shows.
  7. Savitri on creating our own faith.

And later, maybe someone can explain how I loused up my style sheet again such that lists aren’t. Feh.

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Could Do

In various on December 5, 2007 at 4:16 pm

I might go see this on Friday.

By the way, am I missing something? I thought San Francisco was going to have municipal wifi by “early 2007″ — what gives? Of course, then I’d be missing the view I’ve got from this cafe mezzanine. A view of a rather burly barista who has been holding an impossibly young infant in one arm while making sandwiches and ringing up customers with the other. And making espresso, which he seems to have down. I’d be worried about babies and scalding steam, but he’s a chill dude.

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Strange Culture (on Sundance)

In various on November 30, 2007 at 4:35 pm

I’d love to watch this. Anyone in San Francisco (yeah, San Francisco) have Sundance? I’d love to watch this documentary about the Critical Art Ensemble and the ongoing and inexplicable persecution of Steve Kurtz.

Strange Culture Airs on Sundance Channel December 2007

12/11 @ 9:35pm EST/PST
12/13 @ 12:35am EST/PST
12/14 @ 10:35am EST/PST
12/16 @ 3:35pm EST/PST

STRANGE CULTURE, selected to open both the 2007 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the documentary section of the Berlin International Film Festival, is directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson, and features Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Chronicles of Narnia), Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brochovich), Thomas Jay Ryan (Henry Fool, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, My Dinner with Andre); Original score by The Residents.

STRANGE CULTURE details the surreal nightmare of artist and University at Buffalo professor Dr. Steven Kurtz. Dr. Kurtz was illegally detained and accused by the U.S. government of “bioterrorism” in 2004 after police became suspicious of common science materials used in his internationally renowned art practice. He now awaits trial on charges of “mail fraud”—charges which carry the possibility of a 20-year jail term under the USA PATRIOT Act. Since the ongoing nature of the case prevents Dr. Kurtz from discussing its details, Hershman Leeson has enlisted actors to dramatize parts of the story, skillfully interweaving dialogue with news footage, animation, interviews, testimonials, and footage of Kurtz himself.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

“Hershman Leeson is as interested in reinventing the doc form as she is in publicizing Kurtz’s case. The director not only breaks the fourth wall, she reduces it to plaster dust.” – Variety

“…alternatively teasing and terrifying… a near perfect alignment of subject and form.” – The New York Times

“Strange Culture is an important heads-up to what is going on in our country right now in the name of national security, and a brilliant statement on artistic freedom and the dangers it faces. This film should be seen, should be discussed and is an important document on our times.” – Film Threat

“Strange Culture is a veteran artist’s thoughtful, indignant response to PATRIOT Act America.” – indieWire

“…one of the most buzzed-about films at Sundance this year…”
– The Portland Mercury

“You don’t have to be paranoid for Strange Culture to scare the hell out of you.”
– Reuters

“…a brilliant and moving examination of fear and its manipulations.”
– The Nation

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How Goes the Battle, Ya Ni Que Que?

In various on November 10, 2007 at 10:20 pm

I heard a story about kids and their incredible spelling, but the thing that secretly confused me was this: I thought that Johnny Cakes were a southern thing. And I thought they were sort of a variation on corn bread. I’ve never heard of them having meat in them. It turns out that that is just how you spell it in the DR. Still no word of meats, though.

Things I’ve noticed recently: Vogue is really frightening. You knew this, but in case you’ve forgotten lately, allow me to remind you. When they say “age proof your skin” they mean this literally. They mean that if you start noticing faint little lines about the eyes at 30 you should run screaming to a dermatologist for laser treatment because you must not age. Must not. Must not age. I will confess that from time to time I notice myself aging and it startles me. I use creams at night. And I worry deeply about a society that has eight kinds of specialists to hide the signs of aging from your face. You worry too, that is why we are friends, so I won’t say too much more. This is what I get for buying Vogue in train stations. $300 belts, vacant eyes and eight kinds of specialists to keep you young. An experiment, for if you’re ever bored and have a copy of the magazine handy. Flip through it and look at each model in turn. Look her in the eyes. I creeped myself out enough that I was grateful that my seat mate, hungover from a night on the town with the guys from his supply chain management company, woke up and tried to dig in to the Amtrak Cafe Car spicy ribs, which were apparently revolting and thus gave us something to talk about.

And, a thing I’d like to do. First, at BAM Cafe on Wednesday, Between the Lines. 7:30

I want to go to that. You should come. And then also, either tonight or next Saturday, I need to make my way to hear How Goes the Battle, Henry Ward Beecher’s Thanksgiving Sermon. 7 PM at Greenwood Cemetery. Join me.

I meant to try to write something real about anarchy and software freedom and possibly about faith and identity, but it isn’t coming out. It started to be about having friends who think that a conference about Renewing the Anarchist Tradition is laughable, and then about things I don’t explain very well. Soon come.

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Dresser (you want?); and a thing to do on the 13th.

In various on October 1, 2007 at 1:20 pm

Bought a new dresser from Eddie this weekend, which means the old one is up for grabs. Posted it on craigs list, but if you want it the price is negotiable for friends. Just say the word.

Also, to file under upcoming, another batizado, October 13 at 5:30, PS 77 Auditorium, 62 Park Place between 5th and 6th Ave. In Brooklyn. You should come. It is just $10, and I’m graduating.

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Art Radio

In various on August 8, 2007 at 5:21 pm

For the first time in a decade, the FCC is opening up an application window to distribute much of the remaining Full Power FM spectrum to non-profit groups, but Free 103 is thinking about applying for a license, which is truly exciting stuff:

In October, the Federal Communications Commission will allow applications for full-power educational radio stations. free103point9 has been working with a few national non-profit groups to see if there is room on the dial in upstate New York for such a station.

We recently got back a preliminary engineering study that shows that there is room for such a station covering almost all of Greene County, and about half of Columbia County, and the very south part of Albany County. The signal reaches very close to Ulster County, especially near I-87 and the Hudson River. The cities of Cairo, Hudson, Catskill and Coxsackie are all well-covered, and the area extends all the way to Chatham and the Taconic Parkway.

That’s all the good news. The bad news is we have very little time, and need to raise a good deal of money quickly to apply for the frequency. To apply, you need to have a full-fledged engineering report done, and you need a broadcast lawyer to fill out the application (the FCC throws out applications if even one line is filled out incorrectly). This costs between $5000 and $8000.

So we are asking you to pledge whatever you can to help bring an art radio station to upstate New York. Anyone pledging money will be in on the first decisions that will shape the station. You want to do a show? No problem. You want to help decide what shows are on, and what direction the station takes, then donate now.

free103point9 will make our new Study Center in Acra, New York the studio for the station, and we want to make sure it is an important voice for local artists of all types, as well as meeting educational, journalistic and musical needs in the community.

Please e-mail Tom Roe at tr @ free103point9.org to make a pledge for whatever amount you can promise. We will only collect on the pledges if we raise enough money to pay for the engineering study and the broadcast lawyer. There’s no guarantee we will get the station just by applying — a church group or a public radio giant could be stiff competition — but we think we have a good chance and the payoff is worth the risk.

We will hold an organizational meeting for anyone interested, this Thursday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m. at free103point9′s Wave Farm, in the Study Center, for anyone interested in helping organize these efforts. We will stream the meeting on the internet if you cannot attend in person, at www.free103point9.org.

Basically, by Aug. 15 we need to have the money raised, and get the engineers and lawyers working to meet the October deadline.

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Really Big Yard Sale

In events on July 26, 2007 at 8:00 pm

What: Capoeira Brooklyn Yard Sale

When: Sunday, July 29, 2007 10 AM – 3 PM

Where: Capoeira Brooklyn
347 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

They’re calling it The Greatest Yardsale Fundraiser which might be an exaggeration, but they have a great selection of clothes, books, cds, videos, a sewing machine, boxing gloves, skiing goggles, a brand new ski bag, a couch, a small-framed woman’s mountain bike, bamboo window shades, bags, purses, jewellery, fresh baked vegan and non-vegan goodies, smoothies….the list goes on.

This is a fund-raiser for Capoeira Brooklyn’s 2007 Batizado. Stop by if you’re in the area, I’ll be around for an early shift probably.

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Afropunk

In various on July 1, 2007 at 7:01 pm

Afro-Punk Festival
June 28-July 7

This Independence Day, celebrate some true revolutionaries during the third annual Afro-Punk Festival at BAM, featuring film, music, and art united under the banner of black rebellion. This year’s festival is focused on the Black Panther party, including a discussion with Black
Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, two programs on July 4 featuring documentaries about them, and an exhibit of archival photographs by the Black Panthers party photographer Stephen Shames. For the full line-up, visit BAM.org/afropunk.

OPENING NIGHT: On Thu, June 28, legendary Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale discusses the history of the movement: where it’s been and where it’s going. Tickets are $15.

FILM: Music docs, cult classics, documentaries about the Black Panthers, and more. Highlights include a new print of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (with clear parallels to the civil rights movement), Samuel Fuller’s White Dog (about a dog programmed to attack black people), The Final Comedown, Eyes of the Rainbow (a documentary about Black Panther leader Assata Shakur), and more.

ART: Selections from the book The Black Panthers: Making Sense of History. This exhibition looks at the history of the movement through the lens of official party photographer Stephen Shames. In partnership with Aperture Foundation.

MUSIC: The Afro-Punk Festival features live concerts and DJ sets by bands from the Afro-Punk scene, including Cutlery, The Objex, Bear in Wolf Fur, No Surrender, CX Kidtronik, and much more.

AFROPUNK BLOCK PARTY: Celebrate Brooklyn’s DIY spirit at the first-ever Afro-Punk Block Party, featuring live music, artists, vendors, crafts, food, and more.

For full information and to buy tickets: BAM.org/afropunk

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Books through Bars

In various on May 25, 2007 at 2:49 pm

(tonight) The Desk Set Presents:

Dance Dance Library Revolution

Dewey Decimal themed cocktails help librarian groupies find what they’re looking for at Enid’s. Jonathan from New York Night Train spins tunes to unravel the tightest of buns and fog everyone’s glasses. Prepare to be shushed.

First drink free with a donation of a non-fiction paperback to Books Through Bars. And remember, you don’t have to be a librarian; you just have to want to dance with one. What else: cake, prizes, special guests.

Enid’s
560 Manhattan Avenue, at Driggs, Brooklyn
10:30p; $free
718 349 3859

http://myspace.com/thedeskset

http://www.newyorknighttrain.com

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C.O.B.R.A. cometh

In various on January 3, 2007 at 1:39 pm

cart

I have a friend who said once “oh, yeah, we do that in Ann Arbor, too” and I am here to tell you that nobody does this in Ann Arbor. Fire breathing dragons? Surgery on the run? Menacing giant squid? I don’t think so.

27th of January in the year of aught seven

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It isn’t even last minute yet (or, now is a great time to buy!)

In various on December 13, 2006 at 1:58 pm

The Clothesline Show, Darkroom Folio Project, Cycle Craft: you can get your shopping done and cover most birthdays through March to boot.

The City Reliquary gift shop, which carries the Cycle Craft line of jewelery, also has very cool trinkets like actual schists of Manhattan Island and Statue of Liberty Sponges.

The Clothesline Show
a benefit art sale for ABC No Rio
Thursday December 14 and Friday December 15
7:00 – 10:00pm

Works on paper, 11×17, proceeds support the no Rio building renovation fund. Read the rest of this entry »

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Worms ate my apple

In various on December 6, 2006 at 6:50 pm

On Saturday, December 9, the debut of the Composting Green Map of Manhattan will be celebrated at the Union Square Greenmarket from noon until 2pm. Get your free copy there!
Created by Green Map System and Lower East Side Ecology Center, this pocket-size map shows you where to take your kitchen scraps and organic waste so it can be composted and naturally recycled into rich soil, along with resources so you can start your own composting project at home. A complete list of compostable items is included, too!

Details, a downloadable version, press release and more!

Start composting this holiday season for a really green year ahead!


Harmony Farm Harvest Festival 9/24

In events, various on September 13, 2006 at 1:00 pm

via Hubert; Harmony Farm (despite the cheesy name) is highly recommended: it’s time for our third harvest festival up here at the farm. For those that weren’t in attendance last year he’s a quick run down: christian rock, faux amish singers, football, climbing trees, getting stuck in a trees, food, booze, and a drive in movie theater.

and the info on this years’:
when? sunday september 24th 3pm but come when ever you want to and i’ll tyip you off to fun things to do in the area (you know you want to go wine tasting) (they make apple brandy)
food? yes.
booze? bring it.
christian rock? yes but not the same band. (I hear this one is more psuedo).
banjos? yes.
amish singers? no.
old english line/folk/jig dancing? yes.
can i (all of you) do that? i’m lobbying for lessons.
trees? yes.
football? knock yourself out (figure of speech).
drive in? if you want to.
cost? ten bucks per person.
its our one fundraiser per year and hopefully this will help us build a barn, buy a tractor, and expand the size of the farm.

directions?
email me back that your coming and i will pass it along. It is a reasonable ride from MetroNorth, for one thing.

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Feast of St Joey

In various on May 12, 2006 at 8:32 pm

What: Feast of St Joey

When: Friday, May 19 2006

Where: Rock and Roll High School
67-01 110th Street
Queens, NY

A day- and night-long Celebration of St Joey. Joey Ramone, without whom there would have been no Rockaway Beach, no End of the Century, no salvation for thin-chinned, slightly homely guys with a fierce sense of romance to rock for — thatSt Joey!

Feast

At noon on Joey Ramone’s birthday, a bunch of punk pilgrims will meet up at the Forest Hills Rock and Roll High School, at 67-01 110th Street in Queens (subway to 67th Ave), and, well, make a pilgrimage. Ten miles isn’t too far to walk for a saint, and it’s just about that far from Forest Hills to Tompkins Square Park, where we’ll finish. Strong feet welcome, and contact Joe Tuba if you’d like to join up. You’ll just have to tap me on the shoulder if you want to know how to reach Joe Tuba.

At 7pm, from Tompkins Square, a proper high-style religious processional will depart from East 9th St and Ave A, complete with a St Joey statue on a platform carried by brawny disciples (Giglio style), hopefully some punk martyrs and heretics, and of course a brass band playing songs appropriate to the situation. The procession will snake around the Ramones shrines of the East Village, including The Continental and Coney Island High, winding up at CBGB via Joey Ramone Place. At CBs Gallery, then, we’ll be throwing a proper feast with a potluck dinner, a DIY Ramones cover band open mike, and music from DEVA, THE RAMOONES, FUR CUPS FOR TEA, and the Hungry March Band! That part starts at 8 or so, and costs $10 ($5 if you bring something for the potluck), and a portion of the door is going to the Lymphoma Research Fund.

It’s gonna be legendary.

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Enough With the Cars

In various on May 4, 2006 at 2:36 pm

Two posts, right in a row!

This one is special for today: there is a press conference and rally for a car-free Prospect Park tonight, anyone who is sick of cars ruling the whole universe and everyone insisting that they simply must cut through the park to get across Brooklyn should come out and be counted.

Thursday, May 4, 5pm (yes, that is today)
Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park

If you can’t make it, at least drop Marty and Iris a line and tell them that you want cars out of the park.

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A bit of a round up.

In various on May 4, 2006 at 2:05 pm

My father helpfully pointed out that I haven’t posted a blog entry since April 17. I just haven’t had much to say (or much time for writing) I have written several irate letters to the mayor about car alarms and overplanted my garden plot. I already forgot what I planted even. Greens of some sort. Carrots. Beets. Basil. The tomatoes plant themselves. Mostly, though, I’ve been working on the Recycle-A-Bicycle newsletter (which you should subscribe to, because it is great) and trying to pretend to get my act together for Bike Month (which is now).

  • May 6: Sustainable South Bronx Greenway Tour–I’ll probably just be standing around with my clipboard trying to trick people into signing up for the RAB newsletter, but we’re giving away a bunch of bicycles and it will be fun. Plus, Majora is all famous now so you can get your star-chaser on.
  • May 7: Ladies Ride to Nyack– not into the 5 boro? ditch it, and ride with Bicycle Cherry up 9W to get coffee in Nyack.
  • May 13: Bike Film Festival Street Fair–Recycle-A-Bicycle will be selling jewelry and cheap bike shorts with strange logos on them. We’ll have the clipboard out, too. I won’t be there, I’ll be on the …
  • May 13: Ladies’ Ride to Coney Island which will end with Russian brunch on the boardwalk.

    • In other excitement, I bought a computer, a ThinkPad x40 on ebay. It isn’t your business what I paid, but I’ll be picking it up this week and you’re sure to hear whether it turns out to be boring or exciting.
    Read the rest of this entry »

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    Collectors Night at the City Reliquary

    In various on April 6, 2006 at 12:40 pm

    What: Collectors’ Night 2006

    When: Sunday, April 9, 2006 5:00 PM

    Where: Union Pool
    484 Union Ave., at Meeker Street
    Brooklyn, NY

    Url: http://www.cityreliquary.org

    The City Reliquary is hosting their second ever (annual, perhaps?) “collectors night” at which people who collect things spread out the things they’ve collected and then stand back and watch the masses admire their collections.

    It is open to all ages–at least one child exhibitor is on the roster already. The Classic Riders Bicycle Club will be there, and last year someone brought a collection of black umbrellas found in the street, each labeled with the intersection they were found at. Also there was a collection of cans of mackeral, as well as a collection of core samples from all over NYC and a funny looking seed pods collection.

    More to the point, I will be there.

    If you are not on bicycle, you’ll want to take the L train to Lorimer St or the G to Metropolitan Ave, then walk NE toward the BQE on Union Av to the corner of Meeker St. under the BQE.

    The details are a bit buried on their website. If you want to display, you’ll want to read this: Collectors Form 2006, a PDF

    Timeline of Events

    • Collectors’ display set-up: 4:00 to 5:00 PM
    • Doors Open: 5:00 PM
    • Viewing of the Collections: 5:00 to 6:00 PM
    • “Collecting” Multi-media Presentation: 6:00 to 8:00 PM
    • Continued Viewing of the Collections: 8:00 to 9:00 PM
    • Breakdown of displays: 9:00 to 10:00 PM

    Suggested Donation:
    There will be a minimum donation of $10 for non-members to cover the cost of set-up and table rental. City Reliquary members will be admitted at half-price for $5. This donation helps to support the non-profit City
    Reliquary Museum and Civic Organization    . The CR organizes this evening and many other popular civic events in the New York City community.

    You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm

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    Tickets on Sale Now

    In various on February 11, 2006 at 9:26 am

    What: Abada Capoeira Batizado

    When: April 1, 2006 1pm

    Ends: 3pm

    Where: St Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, New York NY (at 2nd Ave)

    Many years ago (not that many, actually) I started playing capoeira with Mestre João Grande. I had no idea he was a legend, I have no idea how I decided to start taking clases. I feel like someone else proposed it and I followed along. For about a year, I took classes. I even made it into a photo in The Village Voice. But then I drifted, and after drifting and drifting I was too embarrassed to go back to Mestre Grande’s classes. By then I’d realized that it was an enormous honor to study with such a legend and that only made it all worse.

    Me, playing capoeira. Photo lifted from the Village Voice.

    This summer, though, I stayed with a friend of mine in Seattle who left me to my own devices while he went off to capoeira class and I realized that I had now been planning to go back to playing for fully five years. The stars all aligned when I discovered that Edna Lima, a capoeira legend in her own right, was teaching just around the corner from my office. Classes are a lot less convenient now that I’ve left LINC, but I plan to keep it up and, since I never had a “batizado” or baptism at Mestre Grande’s, the ABADA Capoeira 06 Batizado will be my first.

    It will also be a hell of a show–you won’t have to suffer through watching me play too much, but you will get to see me flail around a little bit. Just enough to amuse the hell out of you, before the game is handed back over to the big kids.

    Which brings me to the tickets. They are $10-15, sliding scale, and I’ve got 10 to sell. I paid $10 for them, and I’m happy to sell them for $10, but if you feel like playing more the money will go back to the Axe Abada Capoeira organization to subsidize in-school capoeira programs in NYC.

    You know you want to see this. Give me a call to get your tickets.

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    Party Girl

    In various on February 11, 2006 at 9:07 am

    What: A Benefit for the Library Education Forum

    When: Friday, February 17 at 8pm

    Where: ABC no Rio, 156 Rivington St, New York, NY

    Link: http://libraryeducationforum.info

    For just $5 you get music, cheap beer, zine readings and a screening of Party Girl, the glamorous library movie in which Parker Posey, who has not yet mastered the dewey decimal system, implores a friend to provide her with a hallucinogen powerful enough to make her unborn children grow gills.

    Zine readings by:
    Dave Roche (On Subbing, his hilariousand horrid tales of being a punk rock assistant special ed teacher in Portland, Oregon.) Cristy Road (Greenzine, which is one of the most beautifully written and illustrated zines EVER) Sean Stewart (Thoughtworm, a LIBRARIAN zine).

    Radical Reference Desk
    Barnard Zine Library

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    adventures in anarchitecture and atmography

    In events, various on November 18, 2005 at 11:44 am

    When: Sunday November 20, 2005 4am

    Ends: 12pm

    Where: free103point9, 97 South 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY (between Bedford and Berry) 2nd Floor

    Link: http://free103point9.org

    During the ungodly hours of 4am – 12pm Sunday Nov 20 cultural counter-intelligence agents TMP will launch the next phase of their unobjective research in the fields of anarchitecture and atmography.

    Street sounds from seven cities (Zurich, Frankfurt, Nantes, Athens, San Francisco, Lima, New York) will be channeled through the free103point9 space in Williamsburg and into the surrounding streets. Read the rest of this entry »

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    Eco Metropolis

    In events, various on November 7, 2005 at 9:56 am

    What: Eco-Metropolis 2005

    When: 11/11/05

    Where: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY (at 34th St)

    Eco-Metropolis 2005 Schedule as of 11/1/05

    Read the rest of this entry »

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    Contested Streets

    In various on November 4, 2005 at 10:18 am

    When: November 16th, 2005 7pm

    Ends: 9 pm

    Where: New 42nd Street Studios 229 West 42nd Street, New York, NY (between 7th and 8th Avenues)

    Link: http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/reclaiming/contestedstreetsrsvp.html RSVP

    Tickets: $10 at the door

    TA Screening of Contested Streets: Breaking NYC Gridlock

    The 56-minute documentary film features many stars of the movement to reshape city streets to favor pedestrians and bicyclists, including: Bob Kiley, former head of the MTA and current head of Transport for London, Patricia Brown, Head of the Central London Partnership, Jan Gehl, Fred Kent, Jane Holtz-Kay, Majora Carter, James Howard Kunstler, and NYC’s preeminent historians: Ken Jackson and Mike Wallace

    Film screening and discussion with the filmmakers and stars. Limited seating is available, RSVPs strongly encouraged. Light refreshments provided thanks to Savoy, Florent and Brooklyn Brewery.