Prospect Avenue Fluter

Who is he I wonder? I like his way of celebrating St. Patrick's day. When I first saw him my eyes weren't sure if he was sniper or piper.

Does anyone know what's happened to Micky, the fluter with the long white hair who used to always play on the F platform at Broadway Lafayette? I haven't seen him in the longest time.

Slow Bowing at Issue

I know a little about Genensis P-orridge, I know that his/her life's been an experiment in freedom and intimacy and fearlessness, I know s/he's been on the forefront of existential aesthetics, if there is such a thing, but I didn't know s/he played violin. And now I'm hoping I'll get to witness this, here in Brooklyn, when s/he collaborates with violinist Tony Conrad and film maker Marie Losier, under a banner proclaiming the freedom to embrace slowness and quality, still such challenging ideas in our high-speed age. At Issues Project Room, Jan. 10 at 9 and on the 11th at 4.

ISSUE PROJECT ROOM
The (OA) Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Telephone: 718-330-0313

Photo by Bernard Yenelouis and Genesis P-Orridge: Genesis P-Orridge.

Coming Up

Windsor Terrace Takes Jalopy




















Two Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn bands, Bargainland and The Highland Shatners, play a show (Bargainland headlining) December 7th at 8pm (Pearl Harbor Day) at Jalopy on the Carroll Gardens side of Columbia Street.

Jalopy is located at
315 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231
718.395.3214
www.jalopy.biz

"Musical ephemerists Bargainland bring their enormous pile of dusty instruments (saw, ukes, pogocello, accordion, whistle, fiddle, didgeridoo,kazoo, clangy bell thing, cello, foghorn) and their string playing and shouting lady brothers, The Highland Shatners, to Brooklyn's old time palace Jalopy December 7th at 8pm for a Pearl Harbor evening of cowboy songs, mountain music, music hall gems, George and Tammy, Scottish box and fiddle, psychedelic singing songs and John Philip Souza marches $5"

The Three Sisters take Lefferts, Unexpectedly


Be hereby informed: The Rebellious Subjects Theatre in collaboration with Lefferts Historic House & the Prospect Park Alliance presents an unexpected production of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. Erin Gilmore directs Paul Schmidt's distinctly American translation, infusing both the play and the house with the zeitgeist of the American 1950s.


The Lefferts Historic House at Prospect Park is a late eighteen century Dutch colonial farmhouse where the public can learn about the history of Brooklyn's environment from pre-colonial times up to the present day. By re-envisioning the play in a provincial, turn-of-the-century farmhouse, the RST continues its tradition of fostering dialogue between public spaces and classic texts (as in previous productions Twelfth Night and Under Milk Wood), and challenges the play's traditional staging by placing the audience directly into the world of the Prozorov family.

Performances are December 11,12, 13 at 2pm, and December 18, 19, and 21 at 2pm. Seating is limited; there is a $10 suggested donation. For further information, inquiries and reservations, please contact RST publicity/marketing director Lauren Ferebee, either via email at laurenbeth.ferebee@gmail.com, or via phone at 214.543.6502. For more information on Lefferts House, visit www.prospectpark.org/lefferts.


For more information on Rebellious Subjects Theatre productions and programming, visit www.rebellioussubjects.org

buttermilk

An unexpected joy of seeing "Hoffman," an Offenbach opera performed on the Red Hook Pier, was getting such a close view of the Buttermilk Channel, and being shocked by how close Governor's Island seemed. It is, as I read, only a quarter of a mile away. So maybe it's true what Whitman wrote in a newspaper article, that during Revolutionary War times the channel was so narrow and shallow that at low tide dairy herds waded across, leaving a milky trail in the brine. In watercolor painting, that would be called a wet on wet technique. All of this would have been before some hard core dredging, obviously. Now the channel's depth is 35 to 49 feet, deep enough to support the business of the piers, and only passable by very bouyant cows.

The other explanation for the name is that by the time Breukelen dairy farmers made it across the channel to sell their milk in Manhattan it had soured from the rough ride.

Hmmm, these are 2 very different explanations. Being an HUGE fan of the bathers tradition in painting, I fancy the wading cows explanation STRONGLY.

I would have favored a warmer night for the opera. We froze, but luckily the strength of the performance plus a little wine prevented the blood from curdling. We sat there in the outdoor theater flanked by stacks of shipping containers 3 high. The moon was visible through a break in the two stacks on my right, and by the time the show was over it had risen above the highest container. Meanwhile broad swathes of clouds, ethereal drifting proscenium, seemed to embrace The Vertical Players endeavors.

I wondered how far away from us was the pipe that draws the water from the channel a mile inland to flush and oxygenate the Gowanus. If the 600 horsepower pump is the Gowanus' artificial heart, that pipe is a critical ventricle, slowly rinsing the canal of whatever effluvia made it lavender before the pump was fixed in 1989. Of course its original heart was not mechanical, just the endless evaporation and condensation cycle, the tides, and the local watershed created by all the Brooklyn brooks that must have creased the slope of the Slope.

Music at Fulton Ferry Park

We saw a bit of the Theremin Society portion of last night's show. Even the kids loved the woman in the red dress. When she left the stage, they lost patience and beat it. Too bad though because they missed some spooky moments when the performance sounded like whales calling under the endless thrum of the cars on the bridge above. Saw a minute or two's worth of February, wish I could've heard more, but it was late and as studies show, children need their sleep. One would expect February to be scarce in July anyway. Totally missed Cobra, but it's OK, I found a terrifying toy snake with flashing green eyes on the street coming home from work, so I'll manage.


I should say, the show was in the Tobacco warehouse, not the park. The park was off limits after dark, an obstacle for any wanting to get a close look at the waterfall under the bridge at night.

Cobra, Theremin, February Wednesday

How can I miss this and survive? Well, if I have to, at least I can do my makeup like that for a day or two. Of course, my kids will kill me, and so should you.

Below, details from the producers of the Music at the Bridge Series....

July 30 promises to be one of the best nights yet at "Music at the Bridge," the new free music series hosted by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy.

John Zorn's legendary "Cobra" opens the show at 6:30pm, followed by a special presentation of electronic music from the Theremin Society. The show closes with Jonathan Kane's blues-driven February. ISSUE Project Room has curated this special show for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, which is proud to host its first live music series in Empire Fulton Ferry Park. Brooklyn Brewery provides

Wednesday, July 30: An evening curated by ISSUE Project Room, featuring:
John Zorn's COBRA
Theremin Society
Jonathan Kane's FEBRUARY
All free, under the tent in the historic Tobacco Warehouse.
Doors at 6:00pm, capacity is limited.

Accordion Player

Sunday Concert Not a Wash Out

We almost bailed on the Halle / Salif Keita concert in Prospect Park Sunday. I'm glad we didn't, Halle, a Bronx native of Iranian decent, was great, someone I'll be listening to again soon. Her name means "halo around the moon" but if I didn't know I would have guessed it meant "sun shining through pouring rain" because that's what happened between 6 and 7 that evening while she played. I wish I had footage of the moment when the rain started and nearly everyone sitting in the chairs in front of the stage opened their umbrellas at once.

I wasn't so organized however, and since we were short a few umbrellas, my backside got soaked. I wasn't the only one, though. When I went into the restroom there was a line of people drying off their backsides under the hand dryers.























The weather had completely cleared up by the time Salif Keita played, dressed in blue and white silk, to an audience clearly thrilled to hear his highness. I'm not calling him that sarcastically. As I read in the program, he is a member of Mali's royal family, who would have preferred he hadn't chosen the path of the griot.

Since he's an albino, I'm glad he's from Mali and not Tanzania, where 19 albinos have recently been slaughtered for their body parts, which are believed to have magical properties.

The Met in the Park

My mother told me that these two actually are a couple, we didn't know if what we witnessed was simply part of the pageantry of opera or not. It was cool and beautiful last night, but between these two stars at times things got a little hot.

Funny how I have to go to see the opera in Prospect Park to encounter the kind of heat I always see in Corona Park. Except once when I came across two people going at it in the rushes by Prospect Lake. Scared me a little. Too much heat.

I'm so grateful to the Metropolitan Opera for coming to Brooklyn (the same week as Ikea, no less) and bringing with it the exquisite passion and sonic exuberance of Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu for the enjoyment of 30,000 (?) people who attended last night, not to mention the infinite array of bugs, bats, birds, squirrels, rats, plants and trees. I'm shocked that my husband got home early enough for me to enjoy this amazing lunar-solar display for the solstice, this stunning balance of cold and hot. But I do feel bad I didn't bring the little ones. The ones around me were having a beautiful night.

The bats disappeared shorty after dusk. Is that normal? I was wondering if perhaps they were frustrated by sonic interference of the singers. Opera's not for everyone. But the weather was in their favor, and last night's downpour held off until around 11, well after the show was over.

See more of the sonic duo on my flickr but be warned, it's pretty much all just faces. My suggestion: make a flip book in between block parties. Or not.

Brooklyn Animators

Giant Squid Eye, an animation company based in Prospect Park South, consisting of my friends Monica and George, and occasionally their daughter Harper, recently finished their second video for The Real Tuesday Weld, "Kix" which was featured on Utube's music page yesterday.

Congratulations, you big eyeballs. Yer video iz gorjuz!

If the video gives anyone a hankering for more Weld, they are playing at Joe's Pub on July 9th.

Windsor Terrace's Bargainland Appearing at Scottish Festival

Before Rush, there was Bargainland, you Windsor Terrace people may or may not know what I mean, and you may or may not know of the band that named itself after Bargainland, consisting of 3 Windsor Terrace and one S. Slope musician. Bargainland, (the band) is a buoyant acoustic ensemble that plays an inviting and intriguing mix of americana, various kinds of folk and rock. So that was a really poor description, someone feel free to help me out here. Here's another try: They are a bargain of acoustics including cello, accordian, ukelele and various percussive devices like saws and other items which make sounds including but not limited to twang and plink. Combine all that with their talent and depth of appreciation for music and what we've got is a very good deal.

They met up about 6 years ago when their children went to the Brooklyn Freespace together, which was then still in the basement of the temple on the corner of 8th Ave and 14th St. I saw one of their gigs at Freespace and remember hearing their endearing rendition of "All Together Now," which seemed very appropriate considering that every parent sending a child to that nursery school had to chip in time to help the place operate. I'm glad they band's hung together since then.

Below is my friend Cindy Brolsma's email about the gig next Monday. She's the cellist.

*******

My band "Bargainland" is part of this Scottish Festival. This will be the third or fourth time we're playing it and its always really, really nice. Gifted players, variety-show type format, kilts, scotch.........

"But I'm not Scottish," I might hear you mumble.
It just doesn't matter.
Its still fun.
Branch out.

10th Annual Scottish Music Night
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
The Club at LaMama
74 East 4th Street btwn Bowery & 2nd Avenue
Doors Open :
8:00 p.m.
Tickets: $15
212-473-7710

Puppets Jazz Bar

Has anyone ever visited this place on 5th Avenue? What's the story? What does it have to do with puppets? I don't understand.