Red Hook Star-Revue, February 2020

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STAR REVUE

FEBRUARY 2020 INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

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THE NEW VOICE OF NEW YORK RISE OF THE WRIGHT

Highway to the danger (re)Zone p. 5

Why are The DemS Backing A Tenant Rights skeptic? / p. 9

SPECIAL

VALENTINE's COVERAGE

Neoliberals vs. the stagg party p. 22

Dating App Anxiety...

Roses for Oldsters...

And much, much more

NEW! cartoons

by Risha

...on Pages 15 Thru 18

AWARD WINNING MUSIC SECTION

Habibi Rock — in Farsi

George Grella on jazz

starts page 23

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STAR REVUE

Who says there's no inflation

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by George Fiala

I

f you pay attention to the financial news, or even political news, you will hear over and over again that interest rates have to be kept low because there is not enough inflation to keep the economy humming along otherwise.

I'm all for keeping the economy humming - without jobs there isn't enough money to pay the rent, something that's pretty hard for most of us even with a job. But to say there is little or no inflation is to ignore at least one part of society - those of us who frequent diners.

I'm old enough to remember 99 cent breakfast specials, meals that included eggs, toast, potatoes and coffee – if you could make it to the diner before 10 am, or were still up from the night before.

As recently as 2009, I had some dear old friends in Delray Beach, Florida, who I would visit about four times a year. They were way past retirement age, and one of their big events of the day was breakfast. The favored place was a well known diner called 3 G's.

It was always a scramble to get there by ten, but we always did because you could get those eggs, homefries, toast and coffee all for $3.29 (I just checked the menu online, and still offer that special, but it's up to $4.99 - still reasonable, and you can get it til 11).

But here in Brooklyn I've been hang-

ing out more at diners and I find you can't leave without spending at least $10 for breakfast or $20 for dinner.

Professional economists tell you that inflation is figured by an average of everything. I My dear friend Harold ponying up for a Delray Beach breakfast. remember being happy in the old days if I could get a cheap mo- spending restaurant prices in diners tel room for $99, these days you can but I have done it my own way. often book a room for $50, and that's First of all, there are two kinds of dineven for a fancy room in places like ing out. If I'm dining with a partner, Tulsa or DC. Shirts used to cost $20 or it'll be at one of the eleven million new more - I get my shirts delivered to me restaurants that have opened up in from Kohl's for $10 or even less if you the city since Grub Street and all those add in the bonus dollars they give you other easy-to-access food guides have credit for. appeared on everybody's phone.

Don't forget about rent

I go to diners alone. Well, not really alone. With a very good friend. A book.

And I make sure I read a couple of chapters over coffee. So even though breakfast might cost $10, when I factor in the time spent quietly reading, while being served with multiple cups of freshly brewed coffee, that $10 now includes table rent, which in the final analysis is a bargain in a place like New York where both time and space is big money.

Of course it seems that rent never enters the inflation statistics - many of us have stories of the $400 apartment we rented 20 years ago. I'm guessing there are still $400 apartments around, but not in this city. Actually, a quick check online shows me that you could get a one bedroom for around $650 in Detroit or Rochester, but here its more like $2650.

Back to diners - I've had to get used to

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February 2020

Owen pipes in

Thanks for the article on Public Place with excellent reporting on what was discussed that evening. Unfortunately, the meeting at Community Board 6 failed to discuss the merits of the awful proposed urban planning because of the extended discussion on what affordable housing means in Gowanus and if property can ever be remediated from contamination.

There is an alternate proposal for an improved Urban Development Plan.

The City’s proposal includes a sidewalk bioswale, no curbside public parking on Luquer St. extension along with bidirectional bicycle paths that go from Bond St to nowhere and have no connection to the City’s bicycle network.

In addition, the City’s proposal fails to provide active ground floor uses on the extension so we end up with another disastrous street devoid of life and activity, similar to 1st Street.

My suggested improvement would move the bioswale to the center median, create a loop road that could be closed to traffic and parking during certain hours, lined with ground floor retail and become a shopping destination filled with activity like Stone Street and other Lower Manhattan street closed during business hours. In addition, I propose extending the baking and auto services uses on 5th St to Smith Street as retail along that portion of Smith St. is not sustainable or the developer may need to charge well below market rents.

My roadway alignment normalizes the intersection of Hoyt and Nelson Streets, which would have a stop sign or traffic signal for pedestrian crossing. The City’s dangerous alignment encourages speeding and that would negatively impact safety. The second benefit to a better roadway alignment is the extra parkland adjacent to the development and could also service the school needs.

The

Red Hook St ª ar Revue

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Some points on your article.

You state “gifted said landlord the deed to six valuable acres of Brooklyn real estate for free” but the terms of the purchase have not been disclosed?

While the meeting generated confusion, the revised Gowanus Green project has consistently been 100% affordable since the City changed course in 2018. The debate is “affordable to whom? Can two City employees qualify to rent or is a couple with a combined income of $100,000 + excluded from participating?

Considering the dramatic change of program for awarding the RFP, there’s an argument that the City should readvertise the RFP but a lawyer would need to make that claim in court, like our City’s Inwood rezoning. I don’t think the developers who responded to the RFP would take that on but time will tell.

The Gowanus Dredgers were included in the majority of the responses to the RFP but Dredgers were excluded when the City decided to remove the boathouse from the proposal.

Most important is that our City failed to disclose the plans for the waterfront amenity and it is doubtful that details will be discussed before ULURP certification is completed this spring or summer. – Owen Foote

Free the subways!

Just wanted to say: I appreciated your op-ed on subway fares in the Red Hook Revue. Thanks for sharing your viewpoint so thoughtfully. Happy New Year. – Jo

Thanks for the Gowanus look

FREE

the red ho hook ok

ABOVE: BLU

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I was really moved by your pieceATabout WIL AMSBUR G'S the Holocaust. You mention LIthat ACTION BURyou GofER don’t put your words in printp.too 13 ten, but I would encourage you to keep writing. It’s full of warmth and feeling.

SCOTT P – Michael Quinn FAFFM

defends neighborhood at public hearing

“You’ve employed some of the best architects to tell a story about how to engage water and community, but that has fallen on deaf ears in the community, for a lot of different reasons.

One of those is that the community was never necessarily involved in its creation.

What you see here today is something that was designed by people in a room, designers and architects inspired by their own reasons, but not necessarily with the DNA of Red Hook, the DNA of the neighborhood, and I just want to call it out.”—Council Member Carlos Menchaca, spoken after a presentation of Joe Sitt’s plans for 280 Richards Street (additional reporting page 13)

I met God page 17

The Re d Hook Star-Revu 101 Un ion e Brooklyn Street , NY 11 231

Red Hook Star-Revue

Nydia for Mayor page 12

Fashion Show at Red Hook Labs page 8 www.star-revue.com

New Mural

...STILL A WET

DREAM / p. 9

Dead Pre

for a great D: [laughs On a scale first night Future party. ] Well, Ma at Mama D’s of Racand me. I grew Present hel Ray to ma D is Dia rived at the she’s,som Sneaky tions, Past up outside Anthony Bou Elec Speake na, that’s Morgan venue, inc ere in the

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They went t DJ’s They made two ers about explicit lyrics. in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen.ask him. SecSabbath, Prince, Judas of Public Enemy, Black they didn’t Gore

Star-Revue is your interactive WIGS, WIGS, W IGS! / p. 17-20 newspaper A

(continued on

mistakes here. Firstly, it is an anti-war song. ondly, they had no idea that summarily turned them On top of this, Springsteen then uttered the down. Walter Mondale perhaps disastrous effort: “Bruce only cogent words of his been born to run, he might Springsteen might have but he wasn’t born yeshave been born in the USA, the Ronald Reagan terday.” Somewhat perplexed, popular song by Michihandlers opted for another "Main Street." It was gan rocker Bob Seger entitled that this was all about attention their to brought the central characters were action at a local bar, and pole dancers, users, dealers hookers, pimps, drunks, this idea too. In and gangbangers. They abandoned trounced Mondale, that particular election, Reagan state. This gave birth to who only won his home seen around then. It read the bumper sticker often “Don’t Blame Minnesota.” to the Fleetwood Mac How tiring was it listening album Rumors? If that hits from their huge 1977 lashed to death. Other music had any value, it was "Hotel California" songs come to mind here: the endlessly tedious by the bleeding Eagles, or Led Zeppelin. So once "Stairway to Heaven" by

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Glad that paper's getting around!

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verything I grabbed the RHS atyoAnnex in Fort un MORE CONaTRbOout Mothereed to know VE Greene COlast weekend and have C RS a brinbeen Y AT THE 76th PR PS GET TOP i HONORS FO ECIN R CT VEMENT IN CIVILIAN SH I’m in reading through itINVOLall week.

OOTING / p.

7 awe of Brett’s thorough reporting on the Gowanus Green proposal and the area’s rezoning. (I did some light research on that recently for a piece I wrote about Gowanus Open Studios for Core77 — I wish I’d had your paper as a resource before then!) I feel much more informed than larger, city-wide news outlets oftentimes leave me on similar topics.

Writing only to express my gratitude for your paper. Look forward to picking it up again soon. – Emily PS also loved the blues article! Great to know which performing musicians to keep an eye out for around town.

Wig section helpful

I would like more information please.

I'm 34 years old and I have been suffering alopecia areata for over 15 yrs and I have to wear wigs but would like one I can buy that fits to my head and looks natural. PLEASE HELP me im a single mother. I look forward HEARING from you soon. Thanks in advance. – Holly

page 34

others. Tipper Priest, Madonna, and many censor. Her hubby was nothing but a moralistic an environmentalist, must Al, regarded by some as clean air stuff when he have forgotten all of that the Vietnam War as a juwas photographed during with General William nior army officer conferring of the scorched earth Westmoreland, the instigator of dispensing Agent strategy and the architect over there. The Macarena Orange dioxin defoliant came later. and the Inconvenient Truth cast their votes for This current crop has already to the New York Thanks their desert island discs. their musical know Times and the internet, we they want us to know tastes, or what they think The dropout Beto tastes. musical their about

by The Clash.

O’Rourke favors “The Clampdown” his father-in-law literThis is quite insulting, since of El Paso, Texas. Bill de ally owns a large chunk (You see Strummer, you Blasio is also a Clash fan.

What ha ppened songs? to all the prot Jack Gr ace won est ders Long Ry de Marti Jo rs, Don Dixo n and nes, High Les Sans women Culott , es and Nick Lo we Cobb George Edited by Michael Grella on Jaso n Mora n Show

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www.star-revue.com

(continued on next page)

December 2019, Page 27

Music Sec

tion!

starts page

27

We work hard to present you with an informative and entertaining package of news, events and advertising that makes living in the city a little more intimate and friendly.

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r. after a major disaste hours before and Sandy and teaches us to was done after nvironmentalism , It takes what The plan and act locally and adds to it. think globally both formalizes let which duals together a detailed pamph bringing indivi of includes community speWhile ofts. the by habita t ped develo to protec aimed at was The purpose is for Red Hook. acting locally is guide in ten the term of ting cifically stems and preven e residents a single protecting eco-sy efforts to provid for the immediate recovother grass-roots ation the climate change, unities prepar emergencies in g together comm ery period of future focus on knittin or federal govaction plan. local r when disaste a time ed. critical to come up with HurHur not yet been deploy and days after ernment aid has an effort In the first hours of Red plan is mostly the community This readiness ion. , Coalit Sandy ricane Red Hook cally and together organi sponsored by the Hook did come hing 13, 2014, the response. Everyt ay, September ce event managed a first ution On Saturd practi a distrib zed food to ion organi Four stafrom medical triage g and Coalit Red Hook Day. by anyone willin se called Ready was organized as gathering areas l government respon were designated r event. able, until officia Readiness tions to gather in a disaste along arrived. The and recovery com for people of commembers the experience guide community Plan is based on present in To a “passport” was were sites, s who to the variou : Food munity members location visited after Superstorm each and for ed during Red Hook emeremer stamp ions, Health r, Communicat on to a hurricane Sandy. In additi a wide & Shelte Response and is designed for al/Community gency, the plan blizbliz & Medic A shuttle bus including winter es/Coordination. range of events s, large Utiliti one location to outage from go power , helped people ipants zards, heat waves . gh many partic uakes, among others another – althou fires and earthq is the community simply walked.

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Cog the Utilities and ess plan, hostin 72 hour readin l partner in the IKEA is a crucia Klein) (photo by Keith is volunordination site. fact, evacuation to a necessity. In chose at was many , to Sandy Menchaca, tary, and prior hype Councilman Carlos event. reason was that the day of the stay at home. One rous one of the sites the not-so-dange es and Coordinathat preceeded While at the Utiliti before. AnstatIrene the year The Councilman ane Ikea, at Hurric going site tion are y really enjoys before and after other is that nobod provide ed, “The 72 hours ng r. The city did l moments,”Regardi to a city shelte many the most critica ly ison to shelters but the geographical for transportatio Red Hook as said, nearly empty. friendly area, he buses left Red Hook to lated but small,

by George Fiala community needs ns catio muni a “This huggable Com was ation afAlthough, there where to get inform there and , have a plan.”

How struck ing when Sandy critical. Assum safety net in place better a disaster is Hub oned “We can do or television, The .

Menchaca menti is no electricity public this day is about” ically located ter, and that’s what will act as strateg t and disthat will collec Food & Shelter be distributed at data system on community will information based nt play differe Food and water e rds will provid Church on Richa needs. The Hub and anathe Visitation placeation in digital coordination for kinds of inform be reto Street as will the content will who are unable log formats and ment of individuals Initiative. At getting the Red Hook need assistance by or d home viewe Street, return tus on 767 Hicks I had the oppor their headquarter activities to their loved ones.

Cowas overseeing Sapni Advani, Tony Schloss unity nity to speak with Hook Coalition, the plan to comm Red and explaining ordinator of the The Hub is a put, church. When y the Simpl at ng members. ation who was assisti all of will spread inform on, “Shouldn’t to presentations program that I posed the questi to being a Flood poster boards. listens attentively face of Red Hook and on traditional Greg O’Connell evacuate due ed the online nts Initiachang reside ion high have Communicat ded, “due to entrepreneurs who As Director of othAtelier Zone 1,”she respon , it’s not always s gathered at collaborating with rk pment business owner all tives, Schloss is density develo such as p a Wi-Fi netwo 8th, ten local members of what ations develo were to prepar ies They n September ony. er agenc emopossible,” hence graduation cerem 3) many, it was an r station at Visita Roquette for a experience. For (continued on page the Food & Shelte y, as was said. ndous learning services are h and all other akin to group therap agreed was a treme Churc hing tion Red somet re as well, the efforts of ReSto tional experience 5) affordable were (continued on page all possible and What made it

ESSES LOCAL BUSINAT ION FIND INSPIR

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ALSO IN THIS

But probably the best way to grab our attention is by email, and here are some email addresses:

Publisher george@redhookstar.com Asst. Editor brettayates@gmail.com Music Editor michaelcobb70@gmail.com Advertising liz@redhookstar.com jamie@redhookstar.com George Grella george@georgegrella.org Erin DeGregorio erin@redhookstar.com Nathan Weiser nathan.weiser@yahoo.com Music Listings will.goyankees@gmail.com Circulation george@redhookstar.com FOR EDITORIAL, ADVERTISING OR EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES, email george@redhookstar.com george@redhookstar.com.

ISSUE:

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2010 - printing quality journalism for ten years - 2020 Red Hook Star-Revue

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by Kimber serting the of rumors asly G. Pric Uni closure of e and Geo Island Long Medversity of New rge Fiala College York Dow ical nsta Revue has (LICH), the Red Hospital to com Center (SUNY ) is beginn te Hook Star ply with chronolo kept an up-to-da ing court orde gy te online some cases they lowing outl of the latest eve remain defi rs, but in Judg e nt.

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17, 201 The Star 3 -Revue has tion from received a LICH informaBrad Lan worker: der joyfully • “Th 16th cou ings here reacts to rt order.

People are are the same as (Fiala pho the August Friday. to) tive leav still out on adm e….SUNY inis still doin trag what (continu ed on pag e 3)

See story

send them to george@ redhookstar.com or post on our website, www.star-revue.com.

This suggestion was submitted to the Community Board and hopefully, it will be transmitted by CB6 to the City but I doubt that there will be changes.

Once the ULURP is certified, the opportunity to correctly plan this project is lost.

The SEPTEM

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February 2020

YATES'S VIEW

The slow death of the rezoning Most of the Department of City Planning’s proposed neighborhood rezonings – in Bushwick, in Inwood, on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx – are falling apart. What’s to blame?

Bill de Blasio, who’s based his housing plan on upzoning transit-rich corridors to promote the development of marketrate residential units and – through Mandatory Inclusionary Housing – a smaller percentage of affordable apartments, inherited a tough situation when he took office. At the start of predecessor Michael Bloomberg’s mayoral term in 2002, the population of New York City was 8.042 million, but by his final year, 2013, it had swelled to 8.459 million.

Bloomberg had upzoned underutilized industrial waterfronts in Williamsburg and Long Island City to unleash a rash of high-rise condominiums, but simultaneously he had downzoned wealthier areas like Park Slope and the East Village to “preserve neighborhood character” – all in all, housing capacity had barely increased, and a crisis of high rents had set in.

area; more significantly, the loss of organically affordable units that preceded the rezoning may outpace Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. Depending on the terms, a rezoning can offer developers something like an opportunity to refashion a neighborhood as they see fit – understandably, they’d rather build yuppie playgrounds than places for ordinary people to live. Modest dwellings may fall, with luxury condos replacing them. The black and brown communi-

compete, which means that the luxury buildings in Queens will have to lower their rents even further, and so on, until, someday, your own rent has decreased by $25… or at least it has increased by $25 less than it otherwise would have.

The neighborhoods revolt De Blasio had a successful streak earlier in his mayoralty with rezonings of East New York, Downtown Far Rockaway, East Harlem, and Jerome Avenue,

Bloomberg had imposed the upzonings in top-down fashion, while the downzonings had emerged from the communities themselves, where homeowners came together to press city hall for land-use restrictions to circumvent the threat of new development. The term “NIMBYism” pejoratively describes the behavior in the latter case, but the NIMBYs themselves tend to regard their organizing simply as a form of popular democracy: why shouldn’t the residents of a neighborhood – rather than unaccountable government forces – decide how that neighborhood should look?

This view isn’t quite right, however: real democracy has to take into account the wishes of everyone who will be affected by a given decision. The zoning code in Park Slope doesn’t affect only Park Slope – if its constraints wall off the neighborhood as an impenetrable fortress of brownstones, the development pressure will spill over into Sunset Park, whose working-class, nonwhite residents may have fewer political connections to turn to. All is like an ocean, as Dostoevsky said: the refusal of Park Slope to accept new residents eventually, at least on some microscopic level, touches even Jersey City and Staten Island. (As if to compensate for the new protections bequeathed upon the rest of the low-rise neighborhood, Bloomberg opened 4th Avenue to mid-rise construction – but of course 4th Avenue belongs more to Gowanus than to Park Slope.)

De Blasio doesn’t like downzonings, but he’s still doing upzonings. Generally, locals still loathe them. While New Yorkers on the whole may want to increase the city’s supply of housing, the impact of a rezoning can, at ground zero, be devastating to longtime, low-income residents, who often face displacement.

That’s only in part because the HPDregulated “affordable” units that comprise 25 percent of the new construction may not be affordable to people in the

Red Hook Star-Revue

ties function here as sacrificial lambs; in order to add more housing for the good of the city at large, they must go.

For this reason and others, rezonings are politically tricky projects. They depend largely on ignoring complaints in the immediate area (while pretending to solicit public input during an ostensibly thorough and responsive outreach process) and selling the larger body politic on a straightforward but slightly abstract argument for the creation of more high-priced housing: no, you, the average rent-burdened New Yorker, will probably not be able to afford one of the shiny new market-rate apartments enabled by the latest rezoning, nor are you likely to land the winning lottery ticket for an affordable unit – but, look, if we add more luxury buildings in Manhattan, the luxury buildings in Brooklyn will have to reduce their rents to

but lately – apart from an approved rezoning of Bay Street in Staten Island in June 2019 – his luck appears to have run dry, especially in cases where the usual theater of community engagement has run into demands for real opportunities for public input. In December, the New York State Supreme Court overturned City Council’s 2018 approval of a rezoning of Inwood after a lawsuit alleged negligence during the environmental review process, which ignored local concerns about displacement.

Then, in January, South Bronx councilman Rafael Salamanca announced that he would oppose the planned Southern Boulevard rezoning amid fears of gentrification. Around the same time, rezoning negotiations stalled between the mayor’s office and Bushwick’s councilmen, Antonio Reynoso and Rafael Espinal, though the latter had previously approved the rezoning of East New York

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in the eastern part of his district.

City bureaucrats design neighborhood rezonings, but according to legislative tradition, the local councilmember has final say over whether they take place.

Councilmembers, of course, must take into account their voters. Gowanus’s planned rezoning under councilman Brad Lander – which will turn old industrial space and polluted land into condos – has its share of doubters in adjacent Carroll Gardens, but it appears likely to proceed successfully because relatively few families face potential displacement: Gowanus itself doesn’t have enough residents to generate durable public opposition. On the other hand, Salamanca, Reynoso, and Espinal all heard from a lot of concerned citizens and impassioned organizers at risk of losing their homes. Bushwick boasted multiple factions of activists: radicals who – accusing the Department of City Planning (DCP) of settler colonialism – rejected outright the prospect of any rezoning and, on the other side, moderates who just wanted the city to incorporate into its scheme some of the preferences of the folks on the ground.

Over the course of four years, the latter group collaborated with their councilmen to produce the Bushwick Community Plan (BCP) in advance of DCP’s inevitable incursion into their neighborhood. De Blasio and DCP supported the effort. Ultimately, the BCP asked the city to safeguard Bushwick’s manufacturing zones and to provide significant investments in civil and social infrastructure (from reopened subway entrances to subsidized legal services for tenants). More importantly, however, it demanded zero net increase in marketrate housing capacity relative to the noaction scenario, which itself, according to the BCP, could yield 7,000 new units in the area through as-of-right development. The BCP would permit upzonings on some privately owned parcels within mixed-use corridors but would commensurately downzone residential side streets to prevent “out-of-context” development, much of which has already taken place in Bushwick. The plan’s highest-density upzonings would take place on publicly owned sites, where, with the help of the city, communitybased organizations would develop permanently affordable housing without any market-rate units.

DCP’s Bushwick Neighborhood Plan (BNP), released seven months after the BCP, differed significantly: notably, it called for the development of 3,740 additional market-rate apartments in the area. Reynoso and Espinal wanted DCP to assess formally the potential impacts of both the BNP and the BCP during its subsequent environmental review process, but in January, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been made clear that the BCP – which would produce “few new homes” – was, finally, of little interest to the city. It had been a cute idea to try to let the poor people in Bushwick design their own rezoning, but now it was time

(continued on next page) February 2020, Page 5

Yates

(continued from previous page

for the professionals take over. Reynoso and Espinal had to choose between walking away from the process or openly betraying their voters. They chose the former.

Espinal (perhaps unrelatedly) has since announced his resignation from City Council. No one knows exactly how the story will end, but it doesn’t look promising for de Blasio.

The mayor might have tried meeting Reynoso and Espinal halfway. Now, neither side gets what it wants: de Blasio won’t get to add to Brooklyn’s residential capacity despite dire need, and the people of Bushwick will continue to see their rowhouses replaced by luxury buildings without the creation of a single affordable unit or an extra dime of public investment. Should the mayor have accepted a less dramatic rezoning than he’d hoped for, or should the councilmen have prioritized increasing the city’s housing supply over their constituents’ provincial fear of change?

Let’s try listening In the eyes of some (including, perhaps, the mayor), the latter path might have represented sensible technocratic liberalism – in other words, a refusal to capitulate to public foolishness when it obstructs the road to progress. We live in a democracy, however, and with an engaged citizenry, major decisions simply cannot take place without public buy-in – the political structure doesn’t allow it, and the sooner we all accept this, the better. In the case of rezonings, it’s getting more and more difficult to manufacture consent, which means the rezonings themselves eventually must change.

Again, the Bushwick Neighborhood Plan would have affected more than just Bushwick: all New Yorkers deserve a chance to weigh in on the city’s land-use policies, even as they pertain to areas outside their own. This means that the Upper East Side can have a say about Bushwick, but only as long as Bushwick gets a say about the Upper East Side. A switch to comprehensive planning – which would regard the city as an interconnected whole instead of taking ULURP’s piecemeal and often

RISHA

Page 6 Red Hook Star-Revue

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predatory approach – could offer a way forward here. But if, under any circumstances, a neighborhood’s rezoning took place fully without the support of the neighborhood’s residents, it would signify a disturbing failure of the democratic process. This much should be obvious, but in recent months, the mayor has displayed a worrisome inability to partner with communities on major land-use decisions.

In Sunset Park, the situation faced by councilman Carlos Menchaca resembles the one in Bushwick. This time, DCP did not draw up the rezoning on the table – it is a hefty private application filed by Industry City, which hopes to accelerate its transformation of a 120-year-old warehouse complex into an upscale retail mall and high-tech office campus. Much of Sunset Park’s low-income immigrant community views Industry City with suspicion – it has already drawn a new demographic to the area, driving up rents, and will pose a bigger threat if it grows. But it’ll also create jobs.

Menchaca has taken heat on both sides of the debate and has tried to find a compromise. After negotiating with Industry City to scale down the application, he turned to the de Blasio administration for support. Menchaca believed that he could approve the rezoning only if the city helped mitigate its inevitable downsides by investing in programs to ensure that Sunset Park residents would be first in line for the new jobs and would not face harassment from their landlords once nearby property values had risen.

Instead of granting Menchaca the meeting he had requested, de Blasio told him to get lost. DCP sent a letter to inform him that the city could not link municipal contributions to a private rezoning, even one as large as a DCPinitiated plan. This wasn’t because the city didn’t want Industry City to expand – on the contrary, de Blasio has shown an eagerness to revitalize Sunset Park’s waterfront as an employment center, with the New York City Economic Development Corporation now in the process of spending $136 million to renovate an adjacent stretch of Bush Terminal for the benefit of film studios and fashion houses.

(continued on page 34)

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February 2020

It's the city that wants to screw the Federal Gowanus cleanup

Jed Walentas of Two Trees Development, both of whom are in the process of making oodles of money by covering up the Williamsburg skies with their giant luxury buildings.

The Brooklyn Eagle just published a great essay by Gowanus scholar Joseph Alexiou. He makes clear what many reporters never mention in their Gowanus Canal Superfund coverage: that New York City is doing its best to sabotage the cleanup.

As Alexiou writes above, the city’s growth has generally been determined by civic leaders and real estate developers (I will add another – sometimes corrupt labor unions for whom building big buildings represents jobs). The crazy trolley idea, which has faced withering disdain by all the communities it plans to invade, demonstrates obfuscation bigger than the Russian/ Trump axis of propaganda as they try to convince everyone that this is for the poor masses who still live in public housing underserved by buses and subways. They actually tell people that the trolley will feature free transfers to buses and subways - a major lie as long as New York’s mayor and governor continue to engage in pissing matches.

Titled “The Gowanus Canal will never be clean,” it makes the case that local corruption and cheapskatedness threatens the cleanup. “Not because the people involved are monsters who don’t like a clean environment, but because they fall prey to the same forces that have always called all the shots in this city: the civic power brokers and real estate developers,” he writes. “And because developers today control a truly disproportionate power in the zoning, construction and even who gets affordable housing, it is their dominance that guarantees the canal will never be clean… they’re not going away.”

Going into great detail, both historical and current, Alexiou makes his case without mincing words. He puts the blame for the city’s mismanagement of the pollution directly where it belongs: on the extreme neglect of the public good by politicians whose motivation is money and power, rather than the well-being of their constituents.

Real estate money keeps the BQX alive The Friends of the BQX is trying out a new Executive Director (their two previous ones, including Chuck Schumer’s daughter, haven’t done enough to advance the project). Brooklynite Christopher Torres is a progressive political activist who has worked for the Working Families party and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Torres has taken job probably because it pays more money than he has ever seen in his life.

Crain’s business magazine writes that the new director will “out-organize any opposition” as public meetings on the proposal start next month.

Kevin Duggan, writing in Schneps’ Brooklyn Paper, gives a passable rundown on all the hurdles that the streetcar faces, mostly its infeasibility and better bus options, but he doesn’t discuss why the city continues to plow forward.

All the coverage overlooks the role of the expensive lobbying efforts that push this project through the city’s Economic Development Corporation and the mayor’s office. Two Trees, the Walentas company that learned the ropes in Dumbo, has a longstanding relationship with the highly connected firm Yoswein New York, headed by former State Assemblywoman Joni Yoswein.

Yoswein, whose clients have included IKEA, Home Depot, Wegman, the Brooklyn Public Library and National Grid, is reported to be spending the majority of her time on the BQX. It’s her retirement package, and well worth it for Walentas.

s

nta Jed Wale

opportunity, located in the North Williamsburg neighborhood, for $150 million.

The property offers easy access to both the East River Ferry Terminal and the L train, both with direct service to Manhattan and throughout the boroughs. The site also sits along the proposed path of the anticipated Brooklyn Queens Connector, a proposed streetcar line running from Astoria to Red Hook and the continuation of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative’s alternative transportation route. (Bold face is this writer's ).

Scissura back in the Democratic organization

BQX Vice Chair Carlo Scissura has been elected chairman of the Kings County Democratic Committee, as reported in the Brooklyn Paper. Scissura, a lawyer who once hoped to replace his boss Marty Markowitz as Brooklyn Borough President, has gone in and out of public life, turning his connections into a well paying career. As head of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, a position he took after dropping out of the BP race in 2012, he advocated for positions antithetical to the Red Hook community. The Chamber actively pushed for an unwanted nursing home which was eventually defeated, and was a big supporter of Chris Ward and AECOM, who threatened the entire South Brooklyn coastline with luxury condos and new subway stations.

Scissura’s paycheck currently comes

from the New York Building Congress, an organization that promotes the construction industry.

Which goes to show once again that politics and real estate have always been intimately connected, regardless of the greater good and future of this historic city.

Can we believe Eric Adams?

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams made big news railing against gentrifiers swarming into the city from the Midwest.

It would have been nice if he had done something to prevent the demise of the 150 year-old Long Island College Hospital, which in addition to providing needed health services to the underserved Red Hook community, kept the historic Cobble Hill community within its historic dimensions.

Instead, he helped pave the way for the Fortis Property Group to kill the hospital and build huge condo developments, destroying the landmarked neighborhood.

sp a to ac be e

BQX is the flawed streetcar proposal whose backers are mostly Williamsburg real estate developers the Durst Organization and especially

Bill Perry, a Schneps Media Group writer in Queens, parrots the BQX lines as spewed forth in the glossy new BQX website: “[BQX] would provide a crucial north-south transit option for the 400,000 people who live along the corridor and the 300,000 who work along the fastest-growing business corridors in the city.”

Star-Revue rendering by Quiara Vasquez

PRESS SLIPS

After all, being able to provide curb service from the Williamsburg waterfront to the Red Hook Tavern is really what it’s all about.

PS

From a January 21 press release: JLL Capital Markets sold the River Street Assemblage, located at One River St., for Con Edison.

Two Trees Management Co. LLC acquired the waterfront development

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S U R F L E S S O N S

On January 29, the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) hosted the first Red Hook Coastal Resiliency (RHCR) community meeting at PS 676, kicking off a yearlong public engagement process that will culminate in the design of the neighborhood’s longawaited flood protection system.

Landscape architecture firm Grain Collective, alongside local partners RETI Center and Aesthetic Soul Community, will facilitate outreach throughout 2020.

The RHCR project will build upon 2017’s Red Hook Integrated Flood Protection System Feasibility Study by the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and Dewberry Inc. Prior to the January meeting, however, the city’s new engineering consultants at NV5 hinted at the possibility that their final design might in some ways depart from the Feasibility Study’s blueprint.

The presentation at PS 676, however, suggested a number of continuities instead. As previously expected, the work will center on the area’s low points, Beard Street and Atlantic Basin, and will not seek to create a more comprehensive flood wall, which ostensibly could en-

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danger the neighborhood’s waterside character, disrupt the mobility of residents, and yield a “bathtub effect” during rainstorms. The system will protect Red Hook from regular tidal flooding and from storm surge during a so-called 10year flood, adjusted for an extra inch of sea level rise – a weather event significantly less severe than Hurricane Sandy.

But the precise nature of the planned flood protection has not yet taken shape. The RHCR leads brought up some areas where their efforts may take on a more ambitious character than earlier plans had suggested – for instance, by tackling drainage problems in the project zone, and potentially by coordinating their design with improvements on private property and green space resiliency proposals like the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Along the way, the team – which includes multiple public agencies and consultancy firms – will solicit community input.

Future meetings will take place in the spring and summer, with public engagement concluding next winter. The city expects to submit its design to FEMA for approval by December 2021.

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February 2020

OPINION: A disappointing endorsement in State Senate race

A

t the TWU Local 100 headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery announced her impending retirement from politics on January 11 after a 35year career in Albany, where she represented neighborhoods such as Red Hook, Gowanus, and Boerum Hill. A former daycare director, Montgomery entered a mostly white, mostly male legislative body – which would remain under continuous Republican control until 2019 – and proved herself an effective advocate for liberal policies, including legislation to raise the age of adult criminal responsibility from 16 to 18, protections against deed theft, and the legalization of needle exchange programs. Many residents of District 25 will miss her.

Unsurprisingly, a who’s-who of local Democratic leaders turned out for Montgomery’s send-off: U.S. Representative Yvette Clark; City Councilmembers Robert Cornegy, Alicka Ampry-Samuel, and Helen Rosenthal; State Assemblymembers Al Taylor and Walter Mosley; State Senator Roxanne Persaud; and retired legislators Annette Robinson and Al Vann.

They showed up not only to celebrate Montgomery but also to watch her pass the torch to her hand-picked successor, Assemblymember Tremaine Wright of the 56th District, who will give up her seat in the lower chamber to vie for Montgomery’s spot in the Senate. Assembly District 56 and Senate District 25 overlap in parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.

“My consideration to leave this post was indeed with great concern that the work that we have all put into building this district over the decades be preserved and continued,” Montgomery said. “So, thankfully, I have met a colleague who has approached me to say that she will run, and I am very happy because she embodies the principles and the standards of leadership and many of the experiences that are similar to mine.”

Even more pols showed up at TWU Local 100 to endorse Wright on that Saturday afternoon. Gowanus’s assemblywoman, Jo Anne Simon, called Wright “a forceful leader” and “a delight to work with at all times.” Diana Richardson, who represents Prospect Lefferts Gardens in the Assembly, pledged to knock doors for the upcoming campaign and urged attendees to “cut a check” for Wright, who has “always elevated her voice for the power of the people.”

Most of the speeches seemed to regard Wright’s expected promotion as a foregone conclusion. “I know she’s going to be great in the Senate,” promised another Assembly colleague, East Flatbush’s N. Nick Perry. “Tremaine, I’m going to miss you,” gushed

Red Hook Star-Revue

by Brett Yates assemblywoman Latrice Walker from Brownsville.

Senators Kevin Parker (East Flatbush) and John Liu (College Point) were ready to welcome Wright into the upper chamber. “I always say that Tremaine has the three C’s: she is competent, she’s confident, and she also has the commitment that the people of Brooklyn need and deserve,” Parker rhapsodized. “Tremaine, I know you’re going to do all of us proud,” Liu predicted.

What about housing?

Wright has served in the Assembly only since 2017, and her district extends no farther west than Nostrand Avenue, so voters in Red Hook – which Wright hopes to represent starting in 2021 – may not yet know her well. As a reporter, however, I frequently heard her name last summer while researching a story about the exclusion of Senator Julia Salazar’s ambitious Good Cause Eviction bill from the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA), which Governor Cuomo signed into law on June 14.

The omnibus legislation, which reformed New York’s rent laws to benefit tenants (for whom it marked a major victory), incorporated – in some form – eight of nine preexisting bills promoted by housing activists across the state. The ninth bill, Good Cause Eviction, which would have put a soft cap on rent increases even for units outside of New York’s rent stabilization program and guaranteed lease

Brooklyn pols pose with Wright at Velmanette's endorsement event. (photo by Yates)

makers – had opposed Salazar’s legislation: Speaker Carl Heastie, Simcha Eichenstein, Michael Benedetto, Helene Weinstein, Peter J. Abbate Jr., Inez Dickens, Michael DenDekker, and Tremaine Wright. (DenDekker subsequently emailed me to insist that he had, in fact, supported Good Cause Eviction.)

Reportedly, Wright was virtually unique, however, in her opposition to all nine bills. In fact, during the same legislative session, she introduced an unsuccessful bill to expedite evictions for nonpayment of rent in owner-occupied dwellings with three units or

"Wright’s indifference to the plight of low-income renters in her gentrifying district so outraged housing organizers that they staged a protest outside the building owned by the assemblywoman." renewals for nearly all tenants in good standing, perturbed landlords who wanted to retain the right to raise rents and evict tenants at will. Nevertheless, the Senate eventually got on board with Salazar’s proposal. In the Assembly, the controversial bill hit a brick wall of real estate industry donations.

Advocates who had tracked Good Cause Eviction’s progress closely in Albany told me that at least ten assemblymembers from New York City – in addition to a host of upstate law-

fewer, hoping to mandate that housing court’s “decisions in such matters are rendered within 45 days from the date of filing, so as to minimize any loss of rents paid to the landlord,” irrespective of “any state or local statute, regulation, or agreement to the contrary.”

Most of the aforementioned protenant bills garnered at least 50 cosponsors in the Assembly. Wright did not co-sponsor a single one. The final omnibus earned the co-sponsorship of 66 assemblymembers, including all

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of those who attended Wright’s quasicoronation in Senate District 25 in January: Taylor, Mosley, Richardson, Simon, Perry, and Walker. In fact, all six had gone so far as to co-sponsor or multi-sponsor Good Cause Eviction, too – as had Liu, Parker, and Montgomery in the Senate. Meanwhile, Wright’s indifference to the plight of low-income renters in her gentrifying district – whose eviction rate, from 2017 to 2019, outpaced all but six of the 20 assembly districts in Brooklyn (which had more evictions per residence than any borough except the Bronx) – so outraged housing organizers that they staged a protest in early June outside the building owned by the assemblywoman, herself a small landlord, on Tompkins Avenue.

Thanks to their new majority in the Senate, Democrats had an unusually productive year in Albany in 2019, but the HSTPA stands out by far as their signature achievement. So why would Democrats line up to endorse an anti-tenant legislator like Tremaine Wright?

Today’s Tammany Hall At the TWU Local 100 on January 11, the connective tissue in the room was not political ideology but institutional power. Influential leaders of civic organizations, social clubs, nonprofits, businesses, and churches filled the rows of seats. Montgomery began her remarks by acknowledging the political clubs in the area – the Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA), the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (CBID), the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, and the Progressive Association for Political Action (PAPA) – and the local unions, including 1199SEIU, SEIU 32BJ, DC 37, and the Central Labor Council. On the same day, VIDA of-

(continued on page 34) February 2020, Page 9

STEAM Room opens at local school

T

he PS 676 STEAM Room ribbon-cutting event took place on January 24, but this was a day that had been in the works since the beginning of the school year. STEAM refers to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math, and the elementary school in Red Hook has recently taken strides to improve its instruction in these fields, culminating in the opening of an upgraded laboratory with robotics and a 3-D printer.

Principal Priscilla Figueroa has brought many new community partnerships, improvements and classroom additions to the school since taking over about two years ago. Figueroa was hired with the intention of bringing 676, District 15’s lowest-ranked school, into the company of the more highly regarded public schools. It’s a challenging process, but grants from City Council and the borough president’s office have helped. Representatives from both spoke at the event.

For the new tech funding, PS 676 wrote proposals to Menchaca’s and the borough president’s office listing all the items they felt they needed, which included the robots and everything else described below. Both offices were enthusiastic about funding what was in the proposals.

Councilman Carlos Menchaca, who has represented Red Hook since the beginning of 2014, shared how much he liked seeing the kids of PS 676 use their creativity to write code and work with the STEAM Room’s robots. He also admired the fish that they care for in their new 10-tank aquarium.

“We came together to make this happen, but I want to tell you something about how things like this happen,” Menchaca said. “When you have an idea, I want you to say it aloud and tell your parents and teachers because

by Nathan Weiser your ideas can become real. That’s what happened today. The more you tell your ideas the more real it becomes.”

The principal, Menchaca, and Felipe Adams from the borough president’s office, along with students, posed for a picture while the ribbon was cut. Adams said it has been a pleasure to fund this project and urged all the students to enjoy what is available to them.

“The borough president truly believes that if you invest in any STEAM program, anything to build your future, it is an innovative way to go,” he said.

“When I was your age, we did not have this in our classrooms. I say take advantage, learn as much as you can and teach your parents. Thank you to Principal Figueroa and the teachers who invest in you.

Kebo, cubelet and Ozobot

Figueroa gave onlookers – or at least those clued into the latest high-tech jargon – a sense of what the room contained. “We have a kebo box, we have cubelets, we have the Ozobot, we have two of the Nao robots. We have a SMART Document Camera, in addition to a lab disc, which allows us to collect data on what we are doing. It is centered around collecting scientific data that we can use to teach our students how to use the numbers and how to understand it. It’s to reinforce what they are learning.”

After the STEAM Room opening ceremony, eight- and nine-year-olds experimented with robots with Mr. Marcus as the instructor. He was teaching them how to program the robots to go in a straight line.

“The goal is also to learn trial and error,” Mr. Marcus explained. “Sometimes they might not get the right degrees or right amount of rotations but we tell them that it is okay because they will go back into the program, rewrite the program, so they can figure

Councilman Menchaca cuts the ribbon at the 676 opening. (photo by Weiser)

it out until they get it right.”

The school also was able to fund new Promethean boards, not just for the STEAM Room but for the library and each and every classroom. The Promethean board is an interactive whiteboard that can project an image from a laptop, and it allows one to interact with the board via a touch screen.

Kids have already begun using the Promethean boards to connect to the website Glogster, where they’re working on a wildlife advocacy project.

“This is integrated, so it incorporates a lot of science that they have to learn, and within that they are learning how to advocate for animals and the community,” Figueroa said. “They are learning how they can advocate for sea and water animals and their habitat and connecting it to Red Hook as well as the aquarium here.”

One student, Jing, has decided to research oysters and has written about their lifespans and where they are

found. She chose oysters because none of her classmates had, and because of her school’s connection to the nonprofit Billion Oyster Project, which made her want to find more information about the creatures. She’s also fond of the aquarium’s crayfish on account of their resemblance to lobsters.

Figueroa thanked Menchaca and Felipe Adams for their funding. She also thanked District 15 Superintendent Anita Skop.

Skop told the PS. 676 kids that they are incredible and make her proud every day, calling them “future leaders.”

Skop added that District 15 believes in the school.

“When I was a little girl, the only time I saw elected officials was on TV,” Skop added. “To know and work with people who care so much about our city and support our schools in a real way means so much. I can’t tell you how proud I am. When coming here, it’s a place that’s welcoming and exciting.”

Skateboarding platform returned to Ickes Playground In January, the pump track at Harold Ickes Playground in northern Red Hook returned after an eight-month absence (and an article in last month’s Star-Revue about the mystery of its disappearance).

The pump track is a lightweight installation of ramps and curves, intended to offer a temporary attraction for skateboarders and BMX riders in advance of the construction of a permanent skate park. As of December, the Department of Parks and Recreation had not yet set a date for the groundbreaking at Harold Ickes, expected sometime in 2020. Currently under legal review by the New York City Corporation Counsel, the upcoming project will cost between $3 and $5 million. – Brett Yates Page 10 Red Hook Star-Revue

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February 2020

Story of a photo, the long version

I

was working the day shift at the bustling Star Revue offices. George was pointing his big cigar at staff demanding more copy so I feverishly surfed the wholesome parts of the Internet, desperate for a story.

And suddenly one appeared.

A 1940 photo of an old two-story federal house at 150 Van Dyke Street.

The clapboard frame building was modest, 15 by 30 feet perhaps, and appeared well maintained with two trees in a gate-enclosed front yard and flanking garages. Two workmen in overalls and Irish flat caps walked past the house toward Van Brunt, while a dapper old man in a suit and fedora crossed the street approaching the camera. The lengthy shadows cast by a sun low in the eastern sky indicated it was early morning, and the lack of coats and leafless trees suggested spring might be near.

by Joe Enright habitant of 150 Van Dyke Street.

Early insurance maps indicate a barn and stables in the rear of the house and vacant lots all around. McKenna became a well-known “truckman” in the press vernacular of the time, using a team of horses and wagons to deliver goods to and from “the Point,” as the Red Hook waterfront was then known.

By 1876, McKenna was 45 and still a bachelor. His sisters lived around the corner with their families at 409 and 412 Van Brunt Street, running a large sewing operation out of their homes using more than two dozen Singer machines.

Perhaps they introduced Lawrence to Margaret Coleman, a widow 10 years his senior, with three grown sons.

Margaret’s husband had been a tanner who became a longshoreman only after he turned 60. Uh oh. Eternity soon beckoned, and the 1880 census found Coleman’s survivors all living at 150.

The photo, like 700,000 others, was taken for crass property tax purposes, trying to avoid humans from obscuring any part of the structures. Did the photographer – many were artisans employed by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration – purposefully wait for them to appear, tickled by the local color they provided?

McKenna put his stepsons to work as drivers, and the oldest, John, gained some notice as a Democratic Party stalwart in South Brooklyn’s 12th Ward.

Perhaps John was of some help when McKenna was swindled out of $100 in a horse deal gone bad in Greenpoint in 1887, or in 1890 when he was arrested for slugging one of the sewing sisters.

They were all truckers

Nonetheless Lawrence McKenna was so successful in his trade that in August of 1905 he expanded his business by purchasing the empty land to his west, a 15-by-100-foot tract, from William Cutting, the grandson of the late Democratic congressman, for $1,000 – in today’s coinage, that’s $30,000.

And who were the people who lived in that house through the years? Where did they go? Stitching together newspaper stories with maps, census and property records, a narrative emerged: from 1870 to 1967, they were all truckers.

Glossing over the Paleolithic age and the indigenous Lenape tribe that gave us the word Gowanus, a large swath of southern Red Hook was owned by Dutchmen Matthias and Nicholas Van Dyke until the 1840s, when shipping took off with the opening of the Atlantic Basin, below the aptly-named Commerce Street.

Some of the land was eventually sold to Francis B. Cutting, a Manhattan banker and former Democratic congressman who abandoned his party over slavery, leading the “War Democrat” faction that helped re-elect Lincoln in 1864.

That same year, Cutting bought land abutting the Divine Burtis Shipyard at the foot of Conover Street and some Van Dyke Street lots. He would own 50 large parcels in Red Hook by the time he died six years later, fabulously rich.

One of those properties would later be bought by Lawrence McKenna, who emigrated to Red Hook from Ireland during the Civil War, a boom time for the shipyards, to become the first known in-

Red Hook Star-Revue

It is likely that McKenna had been trying to consummate this deal for some time because all of the Francis B. Cutting realty holdings had been tied up in litigation, owing to his boozing son embezzling more than a million dollars from the estate. This is further validation of a theory my long-departed father often advanced: a self-described “Al Smith Irishman,” he insisted that Democrats – like the Cuttings – committed sins of the flesh, while Republicans – like Nixon – committed sins of the mind. I guess that makes me a Democrat.

Lawrence McKenna passed away in December 1912 and his wife Margaret followed him to Holy Cross Cemetery shortly thereafter. The next occupants of 150 Van Dyke Street were also Irish immigrants.

Margaret Phelan was a widow who inherited McKenna’s business, sharing the home with her 34-year-old brother, Patrick Barry, whom she employed as a “wagon driver.” Alas, Patrick was locked up for carting away a wagon full of somebody else’s cotton bales from the

150 Van Dyke Street in 1940

New York Dock Company, down where Fairway customers now sip coffee gazing at the water, and he would die suddenly in the home in September 1916.

By 1920, census takers found 52-yearold Margaret Phelan hanging on. She had rented a room to a coal dealer who was busted for giving short weights on his deliveries. Well, that was nothing compared to the US Marshals destroying an extraordinary amount of liquor found at Thomas Loughlin’s saloon on the ground floor of the corner building on Conover Street, 80 feet west of Margaret, for violating the Prohibition Act. Loughlin had eight mouths to feed living above the bar and also rented rooms to the Levis family, including Michael, an immigrant from County Cork. By 1930, 31-year-old Michael Levis had been enlisted in Margaret Phelan’s trucking enterprise, now being run by her older brother, Edward Barry. Per a Times Union obit in 1935, Margaret was waked in the home, followed by a requiem mass at Visitation Church and burial in Holy Cross.

Which finally brings us to the 1940 photo above.

The census that year recorded Edward Barry and Michael Levis residing together at 150 Van Dyke as “Partners” in their trucking business. Edward was now retired but Michael, working a full 52 weeks in 1939, brought home $1,500 ($27,000 today). A few months after Pearl Harbor, when Levis registered for the draft, he had miraculously aged 10 years in the 18 months since the census, rendering him too old to serve. His draft card indicated he was then trucking for the American Molasses Company, which was using the old Brooklyn Clay Retort building on the next block, at 86 Van Dyke, for storage.

Van Dyke transition Years passed without any notice. Zoned as “unrestricted” in 1916, Van Dyke

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Street was becoming a building hodgepodge, rapidly turning from entirely residential to overwhelmingly industrial.

During the 1950s a celebrated Brooklyn trucker, Peter Vetri, bought a number of parcels on the block, attempting to stitch together enough land to build… some sort of trucking concern? The record is unclear.

In 1961 the block’s zoning changed to “residential,” which was subsequently interpreted as “mixed use” and Vetri continued to buy. In 1967 he completed his Van Dyke gobblings by securing 150 Van Dyke and its garage, a 100-by95-foot tract in all, from Michael Levis.

Demolition followed. Up went an industrial building at 144 Van Dyke, with the footprint of the old house serving as its parking lot.

And there matters stood, with various industrial comings and goings, even a methadone clinic for a while. In 1983 the City updated its “tax photo” repository, this time in color. The shot for 150 Van Dyke showed a poorly focused soulless picture of a parking lot.

Bummer.

Meanwhile, on the corner of Conover, the old Loughlin saloon was long gone, replaced by an empty lot for decades until a new four-unit condo emerged in 2010. Built in a Guns of the Navarone style of architecture – sort of Mediterranean, sort of a bunker – it’s a fitting companion to the barbed-wire fort Time Warner built across the way in 1987. Oh well, times change. For instance, trucks in that 150 Van Dyke lot are now available via an online rent-acar franchise…

As George’s cigar grew closer, I started to imagine the disappeared Van Dyke residents bellying up to that vanished Conover Street bar for one last round.

Hmm… maybe I’ll take an early lunch and hoist one for all those hardworking truckers.

February 2020, Page 11

BROOKLYN HAS A NEW EVENT SPACE

The Hamilton boasts an old world, rustic beauty and is a historic space to have your wedding ceremony / reception. The Hamilton offers 12,000 square feet of combined interior and exterior space, and can comfortably house 200 seated guests. There is a spacious banquet hall, ideal for your ceremony or reception.

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Page 12 Red Hook Star-Revue

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February 2020

Painting by Risha Gorig

Technology and the empathy void: narcissism on the rise

T

o say technology has changed the world is an understatement. The post-industrial era – a term coined by French sociologist Alain Touraine in 1969 and later popularized in 1973 by sociologist Daniel Bell – marks the transition from a factory production-based economy, to a service-based economy. This era has brought with it a sense of autonomy, individualism and in many cases creativity.

For decades now, we’ve sent our consciousnesses anywhere within seconds, via a phone call, email, or online story. And while the nomenclature for the lived experience (mine included) of this era is a bit difficult to capture, the phrase “empathy void” comes to mind as a possible feature of today’s postindustrial experience. Interestingly, while the internet has connected more people than ever before, it could be argued that the strength of human connections has deteriorated with advancements in tech.

While one can’t solely blame technology, or the “serve me”-based economy, for the empathy void, I do believe our society is overly marinated in individualism. At the intersection of patriarchy, our economic structure, and social media, troubling psychological implications have begun to surface.

It has become evident that social media platforms, especially, operate as beehives of narcissism.

Narcissism: selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration, as characterizing a personality type.

In the late 1970s, researchers Robert Raskin and Calvin Hall developed questionnaires designed to assess empathetic and narcissistic traits. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) in particular was designed to test for narcissism, while the Interpersonal Reactivity Index was designed to assess empathy. These tests, namely the NPI, have become widely used since the early 1980s.

For over three decades now, researchers have

Red Hook Star-Revue

by Roderick Thomas tested college students, and the results are stunning. Today, 70 percent of students score higher on narcissism and lower on empathy, whereas the inverse was true of students in the 1980s, who tested more empathic by 70 percent. While studies vary, the general consensus in the social sciences is that narcissism is rising or has risen.

– self-aggrandizing titles and roles with no merit, just a proof of concept at best.

“Empathy underlies virtually everything that makes society work – like trust, altruism, collaboration, love, charity. Failure to empathize is a key part of most social problems – crime, violence, war, racism, child abuse, and inequity, to name just a few,” Dr. Bruce D. Perry, a behavioral science professor and psychiatrist, wrote in 2010.

One of the most heartbreaking stories, of which there are many to choose from, is the drowning of Jamel Dunn. In 2017, Jamel Dunn was filmed drowning in a pond near his home in Cocoa, Florida, by a group of five teenagers (unknown to him). The teens recorded, taunted and laughed as he struggled to stay afloat. The young men were heard on camera telling Jamel, “You’re going to die. We won’t help you.”

Without bashing Millennials or Generation Z, understanding the impact of social media on our psychology is crucial. Millennials and younger are the most vulnerable to the effects of social media abuse.

How do platforms like Facebook and Instagram affect our mental health? To start, social media apps such as Tinder and Snapchat are designed to be addictive. In essence, the goal is to keep you on their platforms for as long as possible. By design, social media exploits your psychology: with every like and notification, dopamine is released in your brain, producing a sense of satisfaction, turning your phone into a handheld slot machine.

Former Facebook president Sean Parker was quoted as follows: “It’s a social-validation feedback loop; it’s exploiting human psychology, and we implemented it consciously.”

In regard to narcissism, Instagram is probably the most suitable platform for narcissistic promotion and is arguably even less community-oriented than other platforms. Online, you can become anyone you want to be without having to work for it. Peruse Instagram and you’ll be flooded by an abundance of self-proclaimed models, fitness trainers, “god-fearing individuals” and “influencers”

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Social media isn’t to blame for the existence of psychological issues, but it does have an impact on our behavior, and how people experience and value life. Social media puts a framework around our best and worst traits, amplifies and rewards them.

Watching the horrifying clip of Jamel struggling, one can deduce that these teens were detached from reality, experiencing a drowning human being through their smartphone screens, like watching a movie. Five teenage boys between the ages of 14 and 16 chuckled while Jamel died, and never called the police: no accountability, no empathy.

Jamel’s body was found days later. Authorities estimate that he struggled for 10 minutes before passing. The drowning of Jamel Dunn is sadly one of many stories about social media and a complete break from reality.

Our collective unease as a society when discussing mental health is further buried in the superficiality of social media. Social media preys upon our preexisting psychological faults and deficiencies; it doesn’t create them. Due to its youth, the long-term effects on our minds are still uncertain.

Looking to the future, I hope to see society engaging in sound mental health practices (therapy, meditation) and balanced usage of technology.

Roderick Thomas is an NYC-based writer and filmmaker (Instagram – @Hippiebyaccident).

February 2020, Page 13

FOOTAGE OF GOWANUS HOUSES SHOOTING GOES PUBLIC

O

by Brett Yates

n January 10, the New York City Police Department released footage from an officer-involved shooting that took place in the Gowanus Houses on October 15, 2019. Plainclothesmen Henry Neumann and Matthew Schmalix interrupted a gunfight in progress between 30-year-old Nasheem Prioleau and an unnamed civilian on Baltic Street and fired 31 shots at Prioleau, who subsequently died at Brooklyn Hospital.

Last month, the Star-Revue published an article about frustrations in the Gowanus Houses regarding police accountability in the wake of the shooting. While the 76th Precinct publicly celebrated the officers involved at a Community Council meeting, locals alleged that NYPD had left many of the community’s questions about the incident unanswered. Prioleau’s family members, in particular, wanted more details and hoped to see video from the night in question, but by the

end of 2019, their expectations had dimmed.

It came as a surprise, then, when the Kings County District Attorney’s Office invited them in the new year to examine footage from NYCHA’s closed-circuit surveillance system and NYPD’s body-worn cameras, one day before its release to the press.

The 10-minute clip now on NYPD’s official YouTube page shows the incident from multiple vantage points, albeit from low-resolution cameras in the dark.

As the footage begins, Prioleau crosses Baltic Street to approach a parked SUV on the south side, holding what the video’s voiceover narrator, Sergeant Carlos Nieves, identifies as a gun. Another man – whom the video does not name, although, per Nieves, NYPD has ascertained his identity – emerges from the vehicle and runs to the north side of Baltic with what appears to be a pistol of his own. Nieves asserts that Prioleau began shooting at this point, but shadows and imperfect camera angles make his movements and position unclear.

When the policemen arrive at the scene, they exit their vehicle on the south side of Baltic, and Neumann takes cover behind a parked car while Schmalix finds a position on the grass within the housing complex, as their respective body-worn cameras reveal. Both discharge their firearms at Prioleau as the civilian on the north

side of Baltic flees – possibly unnoticed – toward Wyckoff Street. The officers’ frantic movements rattle their cameras, rendering Prioleau, again, indecipherable until he has fallen to the sidewalk.

Informally intended to exculpate the officers, the video did not satisfy Prioleau’s family, who believed it left key questions unresolved. It didn’t show whether Prioleau – a blur on camera – had pointed his gun at the police, or even whether he was shooting at all, in any direction, when the officers opened fire.

And because audio was absent for the first 30 seconds of NYPD’s footage and for the entirety of NYCHA’s, there was no way for the victim’s relatives to know whether the plainclothes cops identified themselves or ordered Prioleau to drop his weapon before discharging their firearms.

NYPD’s body-worn cameras record constantly, but in most cases, the footage self-deletes at 30-second intervals unless the officer presses an activation button to save the video.

The clip delivered afterward to NYPD includes 30 seconds of footage prior to the activation as well as all subsequent footage. But during the 30-second “buffer period,” the camera does not record audio.

Prioleau occur during those silent 30 seconds. By the time the viewer hears the officers yelling their instructions – “Drop it!” and “Let me see your hands!” – Prioleau is already lying on the ground, fatally wounded.

“In the coming weeks and months, the NYPD Force Investigation Division, along with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, will continue to investigate and analyze this incident as more interviews are conducted and forensic tests completed,” Nieves says.

“After the investigation is complete, the facts of the case will be presented to the First Deputy Commissioner’s Use of Force Review Board, where the evidence will be evaluated to determine if the use of force applied in this case was justified and within department guidelines.”

The first crucial moments of Neumann and Schmalix’s encounter with

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February 2020

#CupidCrew movement delivers roses to seniors on Valentine’s Day in NY and beyond

Imagine seeing the smile on a senior’s face when they receive a rose on Valentine’s Day, thanks to the kindness of a family member, friend or even a total stranger. That’s where Cupid Crew – a grassroots organization based in Denver, Colorado – comes into the picture. The group has thousands of independent volunteers hand deliver roses to the eldery, who are living alone, in nursing homes and assisted living facilities throughout the United States and around the world.

Isolation affects over 16 million senior citizens, according to stats provided by Cupid Crew.

Cupid Crew – part of the non-profit organization Wish of a Lifetime – initially started out as an idea in 2014 to decrease isolation and increase connections between older and younger generations in Denver. In its inaugural year, 18 volunteers hand-delivered 1,400 roses in the Denver metro area.

“That would not only would give some people something really meaningful to do on Valentine’s Day, but it would also highlight how many seniors don’t have a loved one or may not have family members or friends who visit them on a daily basis,” said Cupid Crew Event Director Jared Bloomfield. “Seniors are incredibly special and have a lot to offer, but are all too often isolated. So we believe that there’s not enough attention and praise toward members of our oldest generation, who not only did so much for us, but continue to provide so much from a wisdom perspective.”

The independent movement stayed local to the state until 2017, when Cupid Crew went nationwide. Then in 2018, Cupid Crew went international, making their presence known in countries like New Zealand and Mexico. At least 2,000 volunteers distributed 20,000 in hundreds of cities worldwide that year.

“It was interesting being on a call 12 hours behind, due to the different global time zones, with people from Australia, London, and China trying to buy roses in different countries,” Bloomfield noted.

“But it’s been really amazing to see the movement build from local to national to international [so quickly].”

Special coverage by Erin DeGregorio

This year’s goal is to have 5,000 volunteers deliver 50,000 roses in 10 countries.

Bloomfield says there's always been a presence in New York City since launching in 2017, and he’s sure that will continue this year. Last year alone, a group of Manhattan volunteers distributed 500 roses to facilities in the Financial District.

Susan Myer, owner of Generations Home Healthcare in Bedminster, New Jersey, will be part of the #CupidCrew movement for the first time this year. Two years ago, her home care agency was implementing their "Sunshine Program" when she became aware of Wish of a Lifetime. Myer wanted to work with Cupid Crew this year because Wish of a Lifetime and Cupid Crew share her passion for seniors.

She told us that she and her team of 10 volunteers will be delivering 200 roses to residents in assisted living facilities and longterm care communities in Bridgewater and hopefully Chatham.

“I am so excited to get out there, touch the hearts of so many seniors on Valentine’s Day and bring a smile to their faces,” Myer said.

“If everything goes as planned, we look forward to participating on a larger scale in years to come!”

Building momentum and interest Though Cupid Crew works year round on preparations, Local connections logistics, national press outreach and sponsorship packages, everyday In 2017, Cupid Crew coordinated the deliveries of 10,000 roses people usually become involved in the beginning of February. across the country. Last year, volunteers delivered 30,000 roses in 300 Bloomfield noted that it really becomes crunch time a week before cities globally – with about 15,000 of those roses in Colorado alone. Valentine’s Day when volunteers typically sign up their own teams.

You can build your own regional volunteer team and can post photos of deliveries out in the communities using the hashtag #CupidCrew. If you aren’t able to deliver roses with other volunteers here at home, you can also donate one dollar to the movement, which pays for one high-quality rose to be sent to a senior somewhere in the United States.

“It’s grown in an incredible way because people really resonate with this idea that one small good deed, one small act can really go a long way and change people’s lives,” Bloomfield said. “We’ve been totally blessed with amazing and passionate volunteers who have taken this idea to great lengths. And we’re excited to see where it’s going to go.”

For more information, visit wishofalifetime.org/events/cupidcrew.

V-Day for the D-I-V-O-R-C-E-d It’s never easy when you’ve just gotten out of a relationship and see giant teddy bears and heart-shaped candies on display this time of year. Valentine’s Day, for some, can be a reminder of heartbreak; but for others, it can be the perfect time to start anew.

We spoke with psychotherapist Rachel Moheban-Wachtel, LCSW, of the Relationship Suite, a counseling service in Midtown Manhattan. Her expertise is breakup and divorce counseling, which helps many work on their relationship issues, heal and move forward. Moheban-Wachtel has found

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that, while some people who get divorced feel a sense of relief, that doesn’t mean they don’t go through a mourning process.

“Whether you were in a happy marriage or not, it’s very important to really acknowledge where you’re at and do some mourning. A lot of times the difficulty depends on how long you were in the relationship and how severe the break up was,” she said.

Moheban-Wachtel shared her advice on how to make the most out of Valentine’s Day, post-divorce.

in with that relationship.”

Be open to self-reflection and discovery.

“Learn the valuable lessons from your relationship. Reflect on: What kind of issues did we have and why did we have them? What were my issues that affected the relationship both in a negative way and in a positive way?

What do I need to own up to and work on, so I don’t make the same mistakes again?”

Use the day to reinvent yourself.

“Think about love in a whole new way. Set some goals for the New Year. Maybe that means ‘I’m going to get ready and go out and Work on detaching from your ex. date.’ Maybe it means ‘I’m not ready yet, so “Work on developing your sense of self – I want to celebrate this day with my friends.’ separate from that relationship – because, Maybe it’s ‘I want to do a spa day by myself’ sometimes, so much of your identity is mixed or ‘I want to get my career going.’”

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February 2020, Page 15

Lovesick? There's an app for that.

In the days of colonial America, husking bees were one way to meet women.

Corn harvests back then were backbreaking work. Farmers lightened the load by inviting their neighbors to a husking bee. Single men and women would sit together in a big room and husk. Whenever somebody uncovered a red ear, the deal was that they could kiss the person next to them. Among friends, gossip and cider, everyone had an enjoyable evening.

We’ve now gone way past husking bees.

Many people now meet via their smartphone.

Some of the most downloaded mobile dating apps are Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Raya, and Match. Tinder and Bumble are the most popular.

We did a quick Q&A with dating app ghostwriter, dating coach, and dating expert Meredith Golden of Spoon Meet Spoon. For a price, Golden will help you write your profile, and help you through the online schema. Once some suitable partners have turned up, it goes back to you to actually go on the date. We asked her about the dating app scene.

RHSR: What are the pros and cons of using these apps?

MG: Apps are designed to introduce people, a social lubricant if you will. Apps extract the awkwardness of having to approach someone in public or waiting on a friend to hopefully have manners and execute an intro.

Pros: 1. Efficiency of time—if you walk into a bar on a Saturday night, how many people will you actually be introduced to? Two or maybe three. If you swipe on an app for 60 seconds, how many introductions will this yield? Sixty seconds of swiping can, on average, generate 30 introductions. You see the difference. An app stacks the odds in your favor.

2. Great tool to test out the market and screen the dating pool to see who you are

You can swipe and message from your couch in pajamas while snuggling with your puppy. What could be better?! interested in. [There are] many options as you can use filters to search.

3. You only respond when it’s convenient for you – this goes back to efficiency of time.

4. You don’t have to get dressed to connect with someone. You can swipe and message from your couch, in pajamas while snuggling with your puppy. What could be better?!

Cons: Not many, as I love dating apps, but singles need to practice good judgment and minimize time on the apps; otherwise it’s inconsistent and unsuccessful and this leads to dating fatigue.

RHSR: Do you think dating apps have helped or hindered face-to-face interactions?

MG: Helped 1000 percent! Singles meet more people today for micro-dates than they did 10 years ago.

RHSR: Can you give some advice for safely using dating apps?

MG: Stay in public. Get a last name and Google someone before you meet. If you see something you don’t like, politely cancel. You don’t want to RHSR: Would you recommend using one ruffle feathers, especially with someone whom you just discovered something suspicious about. dating app at a time?

MG: Yes, because consistency is key and less is Hook up on Life360 so someone can track you. more. Twenty to 30 minutes a day on one app will If you get the creeps from someone, trust your generate better results than 60 minutes a day on intuition and politely exit a date. Don’t get in two apps. It’s really hard to consistently spend a car with a stranger. Stay in public. Don’t let a full hour on dating apps. Being inconsistent someone walk you to your car. Watch your drink. yields missed opportunities and cranky swipers. Practice safe sex if things advance. Protect your time – it’s precious, and no one will care about RHSR: What do you think are good your time like you do. approaches to initiating a successful conversation?

MG: Less is more. A simple hello with one question about something stated in their profile. le prefer to find These days, peop Don’t write a novel. , right through dating apps

The Ex Files

The good, the bad, and the ugly of online dating

LUCY H. “Do you ever meet someone in person and – because we don’t know if they’re single and we’re not used to this culture of asking someone out when you meet them anymore – we just don’t?” Lucy rhetorically asked during our conversation.

While dating apps have been designed to circumvent this problem, she feels that meeting online first can present its own issues.

“I’ve definitely met someone that I vibed with over text and then met them in person and they were so

Page 16 Red Hook Star-Revue

special coverage

by Erin deGregorio

connections . on a mobile screen at their fingertips to t gh n swipe ri On Tinder, you ca le or swipe left ofi pr like a person’s mony, you can send to decline. On eHar r rite profiles, afte “smiles” and favo g in tt ge onnaire and completing a questi d, An . le ntial peop matched up to pote s match on Bumble, er nd when opposite ge ssage the man first the woman has to me within 24 hours. ed nials, who've us Two local millen ed ar sh , and find love dating apps to try e ur lt cu us on dating their thoughts with s. ce en worst experi and some of their

Relationship status: Single Apps previously used: Bumble, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Tinder

nervous. I told them, ‘It’s not a big deal; you don’t have to be nervous.’ Maybe I’m just no longer nervous because I feel like the chances of failing are more likely than succeeding,” she speculated.

Lucy, who has been on dating apps for the last five years, has also found that the hardest part about using them is how other people interact with her, based on her race.

“You can always tell who are the ones with fetishes. They’ll say something like, ‘I have a thing for Asian girls – I taught English in x country.’ A racially based fetish is still

racism in a form,” she explained.

“Also, fetishes are usually super stereotypical. For Asian women, it’s ‘we're docile and we’re very subservient,’ which is not true. It’s super gross.”

said. "Maybe be more discreet about cheating and not be on a dating app."

Lucy’s also felt uncomfortable a number of times when men message her with inappropriate comments. One time, a man admitted he was married and wasn’t in an open marriage.

“It’s really stupid because anybody who knows your wife, knows you and knows that you're married could be on there," she

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February 2020

Seniors express strength, joy, love through dance A Manhattan-based organization has the city’s senior citizens ready to tango this Valentine’s Day. Movement Speaks, the core program of Dances For A Variable Population (DVP), offers seniors in low-income communities free sequential dance instruction, followed by a public performance of their original work. It also allows older people to discover their strength – both physical and emotional – and to connect with other class participants.

“The focus is using dance as a vehicle to empower different communities throughout New York City and allow them to be visible in the larger community of New York,” said Naomi Goldberg Haas, founding artistic director of DVP. Ten teaching artists help run 19 programs in senior centers, recreation centers and libraries in four boroughs. Through the implementation of a standard curriculum and use of shared playlists, their 75-minute-long classes are structured to give the fullest experience of physical exercise and creative exploration.

Each week introduces a new area of focus: body, spatial awareness, dynamics, relationship and dance making.

According to Goldberg Haas, one of the program’s crucial components is for the participants to live and learn in the moment.

“We take everyone from

where you are right now; we don’t ask you to think back to older days.

We say, ‘Look at where you are right now and see what you can do.’ It’s positive in that respect,” she added.

“Just smile... there’s so much to enjoy!”

The teachers use a diverse selection of music to get their students moving to the rhythm.

For instance, while they play a lot of music from the '40s and '50s, teachers also make sure to include contemporary pop and hip hop.

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, four classes are taking place (in West Harlem, Carroll Gardens, the Bronx, and the Upper East Side) on February 14 – which

will influence the day’s activities.

“Holidays are important to older people and to everyone,” Goldberg Haas said. “The teachers are going to have some part of their curriculum that will have some dances that are made up with connecting with each other in a more pointed way.”

Senior dancer Pamela Knowles, who has been with DVP’s Movement Speaks for the past three years, is one of the teaching artists who will be leading a Valentine’s Day dance session at the Eileen Dugan Senior Center in Carroll Gardens. It’ll be the fourth week of the season at the location, and she

plans to ask participants if they have a favorite Valentine’s Day poem that they’d like to share.

“We can explore some poems from a movement point of view and create a simple movement sentence by deriving action words from their sharing a poem,” she previewed.

“For example, I’m thinking I will ask them to complete these sentences: Can anyone describe the feeling of love with their body? How about a gesture for love? Can someone show me a shape of love with their body?

How about another shape? How about two people?”

For more information about DVP, visit dvpnyc.org.

Bay Ridge and Brownsville senior couples dance this V-Day Peter Lovett and Jerry Childs, managers of the Fort Hamilton Senior Recreation Center and Brownsville Recreation Center respectively, have planned another Valentine’s Day Heart-toHeart celebration this year. Five couples from the Fort Hamilton center will travel to Brownsville on February 13 for the event, which will feature food, music, singing and dancing (especially doo-wop).

“I’ve partnered up with Brownsville for a number of events, but one of the things we do every year with them is the Valentine’s Day gathering,” Lovett said.

The Fort Hamilton center will also host its own Valentine’s Day Social for its members on February 15. Much like the Heart-to-Heart celebration, there will be a DJ, dancing, decorations, and catering to help attendees get into the holiday spirit. Lovett said

EDDY M. “I used dating apps because I’m very shy. I don’t like to put myself out there too much.

If it wasn’t for them, that aspect of my life would basically be a desert.”

After ending a relationship a few years ago, Eddy went back into the digital dating world.

He received a number of responses and tested out the waters to see who was and wasn’t actually interested in him.

“There’s work involved, getting people you,” he said.

Red Hook Star-Revue

a lot of in terms of to talk to “I spent a

dances, especially holiday-themed ones, are very popular among the seniors. “They love these special dances; it jazzes them up,” he explained.

The last major holiday function the center hosted was the Pre-New Year’s Eve Dance, celebrated the weekend before the New Year. Dozens of seniors in hats and 2020 glasses waited to watch a lit, mini ball drop, and were served sparkling apple cider in champagne glasses.

Events of this kind provide attendees with the opportunity to have fun with others their own age, when perhaps their partners have passed away.

“It helps them from being isolated in their homes and gives them the chance to come out and to socialize.

That’s why they enjoy the dancing,” Lovett said.

The best part, for Lovett, is seeing the seniors come together and enjoy themselves for a few hours.

“Their voices and their laughter are actually like music in the air. When I see and hear that, it gives me great pleasure that I'm able to put this together for them,” Lovett said. “And then they’re very grateful at the end of the day or during the event or even days later. They come up [to me] and tell me, ‘Pete, we really enjoyed that.’ Most of the time I get great feedback, so I feel like I'm on the right track.”

For more information on becoming a member with the Fort Hamilton center (9941 Fort Hamilton Parkway), call 718-439-4296. For more information on becoming a member with the Brownsville center (1555 Linden Boulevard), call 718-485-4633.

Relationship status: In a relationship Apps previously used: Bumble, OkCupid

lot of time making sure my profile didn’t fit any sort of cliches. Everyone sees profiles with some guys hiking up at Yellowstone or someone in a tuxedo. It’s all cookie-cutter, and I’m not one of those people.”

While some dates went well, others were train wrecks – including the one time he mistakenly messed up a first date by going to the wrong restaurant.

“Eventually we met up and you could tell she was bored. She was looking around, wasn’t making eye contact and was picking at her food,” Eddy explained.

“You just never get over the fact at how awkward those things can be.”

Soon after, however, Eddy e-met his current girlfriend in July 2019. He said she took the initiative first. They talked for two weeks before meeting for the first time and going out for drinks. After a month, they became a couple.

“But when I went back on the app and she saw me again, she decided to shoot her shot. And here we are – we get along and everything’s great so far.”

“It was really one of those close calls because I was seeing someone for a little bit and I decided to close my profile. She later said she noticed me and then all of a sudden I disappeared, so she was bummed,” he said.

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February 2020, Page 17

"Stumbling" Thru the Search for Love Again with Francesca van Horne The playwright and Carroll Gardens native opens up about her art - and the art of being newly single Carroll Gardens resident Francesca Van Horne is a triple threat as a producer, writer and actress. She recently completed a month-long summer residency in France where she produced and performed in Stumble, the sequel to Tales from the Trundle (which played at Le Petit Gymnase Théâtre in Paris, at the Ned Hotel, the Courtyard Theatre and Bridewell Theatre in London, and at the Soho House, the Duplex, and the Jalopy Theatre here in New York).

Before we talked about her latest work, Van Horne shared how her life has changed since getting a divorce eight years ago. Dating was different in her twenties. She met her ex-husband by chance while visiting friends in Miami, and he later called her up on the phone to set up their first date.

Fast-forward, and Van Horne found herself trapped in an abusive marriage and separated from her ex when her youngest child turned a year old. She got back into the swing of dating, while still dealing with postpartum weight and breastfeeding, and admitted she made some mistakes along the way.

Hence Stumble.

“To rediscover your sexuality and flirtatiousness – either as a woman or man – are things that you kind of shut down when you are committed to one person. It’s a totally different thing becoming single and can be really scary. Or at least it was for me.”

Though mobile-app dating wasn’t for her, Van Horne has met some people organically, especially when just in sweats with no make-up on after a yoga class. She’s learned a lot about herself and what she wants moving forward.

“It’s helped me be really specific about where I’m going to put my energy because, whether you have kids or not, we have such limited energy – especially living in New York where it’s busy and people have to work really hard to make a living,” she explained. “But one positive thing about [going out on those dates] was that I could just treat them like an interview.

Asking ‘is this person right for me or not?’ and getting to know them and seeing how they behave.”

Penning ‘Stumble’ A majority of Van Horne’s plays have been influenced by events from her own life, plus some true accounts of her friends’ lives. She never thought Stumble would be the sequel to Tales, let alone both being onewoman shows. Through journaling, her form of catharsis, Van Horne was able to reflect on her post-divorce dating experiences and feelings.

The play evolved into a theatrical reality from those journal entries and was written in three weeks back in 2018. Unlike Tales, which is dramatic and traumatic with some bits of comedy, Stumble is completely funny.

“People would say, ‘Oh my God, you have the most hilarious stories,’” she explained. “I think that part of the surprise or twist at the end is that it’s all real. Some of these stories are just unbelievable.”

The show follows Valentina, a 38-year-old single mother who has traded in triple espressos for flat whites, as she makes her way through real life and in the world of Bumble dating. Besides Valentina, Van Horne also plays different characters – including Bradley Cooper, a British best friend and a Latina housekeeper to name a few – in the 45-minute-long show.

special coverage

by Erin deGregorio

“When I do the deep emotional work, that speaks for itself because the emotions are just there,” she said. “With the comedy, I have to keep it really sharp so that it doesn’t become monotonous. So, in some ways, it’s harder to make people laugh than to make them cry for me.”

Looking for love abroad Having spent time in Europe, Van Horne confessed that she has had some wonderful love experiences in France – with some working out longer than others. She’s found that European men, especially the French, are extremely gentlemanly and approach romance differently than Americans.

“Almost every man I’ve dated who was French was very open from the very beginning that they want you, there’s no game. They’re very clear that they want to see you every day from that moment on until it doesn’t work anymore,” Van Horne explained. “There’s also a freedom that I always feel in being completely myself there, meaning I don’t have to fit into a certain box. Maybe some of my French girlfriends wouldn’t agree with this, but I do feel like the French look at women as an equal, rather than ‘I’m going to make her my little wifey and she’s my possession.’”

Since her divorce, Van Horne said she has fallen in love just once.

Dating advice and Valentine’s Day survival tips Van Horne used her frequent flyer miles to take a flight to Paris alone on the first Valentine’s Day after the divorce.

“Let me I’ll tell you, that was the best thing I could have done,” she said. “It was the farthest thing from [being] miserable or feeling left out because I was doing something completely romantic for myself.”

It’s an action like that one that Van Horne urges others, who are a similar position, to plan out and splurge on. Though it may sound cliché, she believes the best way to attract love is to fall completely in love with yourself and to treat yourself how you would want someone who’s crazy about you to treat you. “Instead of being hard on yourself like saying, ‘Oh you don’t have a date for Valentine’s Day,’ it should be, ‘No, it’s because you don’t want to waste your time because you’re too precious,’” she said.

In terms of what she’s learned from her journey of finding love and navigating digital dating post-divorce, Van Horne offered three key tips. She recommended setting aside a specific amount of time per day or per week for dating app usage, instead of constantly being on it. Then, when it comes to making first date plans, coffee is always a good idea. “You’ll know within five seconds whether you like them or not. If you sign up for dinner or even drinks [and you’re not clicking with the other person], the date can go on and feel like forever,” she added. Finally, she said you’ll notice an energy percolate around you because you’re putting good vibes out there – which will naturally draw people in.

The Star-Revue has so much love we couldn't fit it all here, so we had put more on our website star-revue.com. (it doesn't swipe, though) Page 18 Red Hook Star-Revue

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February 2020

Nino on Opera Celebrating new year's with Amore

T

he Amore Opera company celebrated the incoming 2020, as well as the company's tenth anniversary with a glorious New Year’s Eve gala of opera and dinner at the Riverside Theater. The theater is within the majestic St. Paul & St. Andrew’s Church, a shot away from Grants Tomb on the Upper West Side.

Nathan Hull welcomed one and all to the Amore Opera’s tenth season replete with hats and noisemakers. An opera lover's dream way to spend the holiday.

Hull, who did the superb staging, directs the Amore Opera in the style of the late beloved Anthony Amato (1920-2011) who retired in 2009, and Sally Amato (1917-2000). The Amore Opera gave its first performance of La Bohème staged by Nathan Hull and conducted by Maestro Richard Owen, who returned tonight to help Amore Opera celebrate its tenth year, performing Act Two's from Carmen, La Boheme and Die Fledermaus.

Second acts are usually joyous and the main characters haven't been subject to tragedy yet.

But before La Bohème, Carmen and Die Fledermaus, the ebullient and elegantly attired host Nathan Hull had his singers entertain us with one of his favorite operas, Giacomo Puccini’s operetta La Rondine (1918). The quartet was caressingly sung, and this bittersweet opera does not end tragically.

But as in the 1965 film masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (with its touching score by Michelle LeGrand), the couple’s love dies, removing them from the life that could have been but never was.

Shoes that cause pain

La Bohème's Act Two takes place at the Café Momus on Christmas Eve in Paris. Four starving artists share a flat and are out for a night of frolic.

All are desperately poor: Rodolfo, a poet; Marcello, a painter; Colline, a philosopher; and Schaunard, a musician. Rodolfo and Mimi fall in love, but Musetta, his ex-girlfriend, is there with her new older and richer companion. Musetta (Victoria Wefer) flamboyantly arrives, then sings “Quando m’en vo” in a beautiful soprano, hitting the highs with sensual splendor.

Her screams of pain from ill-fitting shoes were piercing enough to fool Alcindoro, amusingly played and richly sung by David Owen, into going out to buy her another pair, thus giving her and Marcello a chance to kiss, embrace and “make up” gloriously. When Alcindoro returns he is handed the bill as Parpignol, the toy vendor, leads a parade for the children. The Rodolfo was rising tenor José Heredia, who sang some truly golden phrases. He

by Nino Pantano is becoming one of the best lyrico spinto tenors and is a proud son of Santo Domingo.

The spirited Marcello of majestic baritone Jonathan R. Green was impressive, and his interplay with Musetta was fun to watch even when she doused him with water. Mimi was portrayed by Rachel Hippert, Schaunard by Samuel Flores and Colline by Gennady Vysotsky. The guests, Alexys Tiscareno and Luka Fric, made their presence known with color and flamboyance and vocal elan.

Sultry and sexy Carmen

Carmen was next with its thrilling overture offered as a special gift by Maestro Richard Owen. In my young boyhood the Carmen overture was part of our music appreciation class and made me take notice of such classical gems!

Iris Karlin played a sultry, subtle, sexy Carmen.

Her Seguidilla was a whirlwind of precision and passion and her “tra la la” melody was as caressing as the cloth that captured the dead fresh off the guillotine. Ms. Karlin knows Carmen inside and out. Her Carmen was calculating, contemporary, and freedom-seeking. Her Don Jose was Albanian tenor Riad Ymeri, whose years in Italy led him to his career here. When my wife Judy and I first heard him as a marvelous lyric tenor I did not think of him as Don José. His superb singing of the flower song tapered on the high finale was heartwarming.

Megan Marod caught the eye and the ear as Frasquita. In ensemble, her dynamic soprano ultra high notes stood out and her acting enticed.

Perri Sussman was stellar as Mercedes. Escamillo was in the able hands of Roberto Borgatti whose robust baritone made the most of “Votre tost” (“The Toreador Song”) and whose machismo put him in the realm, somewhat limited today, of good manly Escamillo’s. Rick Agster excelled as Zuniga, Julio Mascaro as Remendado and Thomas Geib as Dancairo. Trey Sandusky was “a su sordones” as Lillas Pastia (at your service). To see Don José and Escamillo thrust knives made me think of Judy and myself at the soon-to-come dinner.

Food and bats

After a superb dinner of pasta, fish, fowl, wine and countless other foods, we headed back to the Church theater for Die Fledermaus. Johann Strauss’s opera is full of waltz melodies and is also called the Revenge of the Bat. The action takes place in Vienna on New Year’s Eve in the 1870s.

Dr. Falke invites his friend Eisenstein to attend a party at Prince Orlovsky’s mansion, instead of serving a jail sentence. He also invites his widow Rosalinde so she can see her husband’s philandering. The jailer Frank is invited as a French Marquis and the fun and frolic begin.

Mezzo soprano Hayden DeWitt was Prince Orlovsky. The essence of androgyny with her male attire, strong mezzo, and mustache, she looked like Charlie Chaplin and Al Pacino. Her “Chanson a son gout” aria was done with sparkle and wit, and her King Champagne song certainly suited the evening. Blame it on Rio

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Rosalinda Sings Czardaz. Courtesy of Amore Opera

was a film with Joe Bologna and the excuse for all his wrongs was Rio de Janeiro, so whatever happens here, blame the champagne. Ashley Becker used her rich, flexible, captivating soprano in her Hungarian Gypsy song, ending with a brilliantly sustained high note. Her chasing her husband for his gold watch evoked memories of the great film comedian Marie Dressler, who was hilarious in Tillie’s Punctured Romance, a silent feature where she was a match for Chaplin. Becker has a great flair for comedy, which along with her superb voice should serve her well in a diversity of roles.

Her chase with Eisenstein matched Chaplin and Dressler on roller skates in Tillie’s Punctured Romance! Brava!

Gabriel von Eisenstein was Christopher Eaglin, whose baritenor was impressive, eagerly expressing dismay and dishabille in his problems. Adele the chambermaid was sung and acted by Alea Vorilla, whose lovely soprano soared with coloratura agility and generous tone.

Baritone Robert Garner was Dr Falke. His silken voice has a robustness evoking the greats of the past. The Bruderlein song with cast and chorus always touches all the right spots.

James Stephen Longo was the absolute Ivan!

Kristina Malinauskaite was Sally, ingratiating and noteworthy, and Jay Gould was Frank, the governor of the jail. His fine comedic stance and dark deep voice made him a formidable presence but always irresistibly amusing. He is a great Gilbert and Sullivan performer. The conductor Richard Owen had the joie de vivre to allow the splendid musicians take us all on a joyous ride.

Nathan Hull’s stage direction was superb; the chorus, children’s chorus and costumes were perfection.

A glorious start to the year!

This act ended with the champagne song about two minutes before midnight. Hull made us all sing “Auld Lang Syne” and toast the New Year 2020!

Desserts and a brief concert followed and the new year was off to a glorious start. We tip our hats to Anthony and Sally Amato of beloved memory, Nathan Hull, staff, and singers, who put the love in the Amore Opera. Happy New Year!

February 2020, Page 19

Caleb's film previews - February

F

ebruary is the calendar’s shortest month, and in 2020, it also hosts the least creative set of films of the year. Having dumped the creative disasters in January, the major studios now look to offload their less-reliable IP: spinoffs and remakes. But reader, do not tune out: the successful films of February will shape the film landscape of future years.

Check out the highlights below, and see you at the movies:

February 1 The Traitor

What it is: A biopic about Tommaso Buscetta, a made man who flipped on his superiors and mortally wounded Italy’s Cosa Nostra.

Why you should see it: The Traitor was Italy’s official submission to the Academy Awards for Best International Film, indicating a warm reception in its home country. It also promises a more conventional gangster narrative and a manageable runtime for those who couldn’t sit through Scorcese’s (masterful) The Irishman.

February 7 Birds of Prey

What it is: Margot Robbie ditches the Joker and returns as Harley Quinn, this time surrounding herself with an all-female gang of villains looking to escape the clutches of a vile gangster, played by Ewan McGregor.

Page 20 Red Hook Star-Revue

Why you should see it: I won’t lie to you; comic book movies are very bad. That said, whether this film succeeds financially may determine whether studios take greater financial risks with majoritywomen casts and filmmakers in 2021 and beyond.

February 14 Downhill

What it is: An American remake of Ruben Östlund’s vicious and viciously funny 2014 film Force Majeure that plays up the slapstick and plays down the drama. Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus play a couple on a ski holiday who must re-evaluate their marriage after a close call with an avalanche.

Why you should see it: Emma marks director Autumn De Wilde’s first feature film, but indicate she has borrowed heavily from Wes Anderson’s toolbox, specifically his pastel color palette and fondness for playfully stilted line readings.

February 28

The Invisible Man What it is: Yet another remake, this time of H.G. Wells’ landmark horror story. Elizabeth Moss stars as a woman haunted psychologically, and perhaps physically, by an abusive but presumed dead ex-lover.

Why you should see it: As much as I hate to see brilliant foreign films watered down for American audiences, Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus are two of the most talented comedic performers of the last century. Perhaps they can summon enough charm to save this film from a different sort of disaster.

Why you should see it: Blumhouse pictures has through its partnership with Jordan Peele established February as its go-to month for highconcept horror. Writer/director Leigh Whannell is no Jordan Peele, but 2018’s Upgrade proved his capacity to adapt established horror tropes into clever paranoia thrillers.

Ordinary Love

Wendy

What it is: Leslie Manville and Liam Neeson star as an Irish couple grappling with a cancer diagnosis.

Why you should see it: : What’s Valentine’s Day without a romantic tearjerker? Manville and Neeson both earned raves from British critics for their sweet, empathetic performances.

February 21 Emma

What it is: Not your mother’s adaptation of a Jane Austen novel.

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What it is: Yes, it is an adaptation of Peter Pan. But wait! Don’t go! It’s also Benh Zeitlin’s long awaited follow-up to Beasts of the Southern Wild!

Why you should see it: Beasts of the Southern Wild is pretty good, man. Zeitlin has previously explored an adult world through the wondrous eyes of a child, and his take on Neverland allows him to fully explore the endless joy and creativity that disappears forever when we first fill out a W-2.

Caleb Drickey

February 2020

No such thing as an anti-war film: 1917 and the limits of ambition

by Caleb Drickey

O

n November 13, 1854, Alfred Lord Tennyson opened his morning newspaper, eager for word from far-off Crimea. He read about the Light Brigade, the six hundred cavalry troopers ordered to charge a heavily defended fort, and about their subsequent slaughter. Moved by their courage and sacrifice, Tennyson wrote a poem.

Tennyson was, of course, an abominable poet. A Victorian to the core, he combined religious and imperialist zealotry with a formal stiffness that put his starchiest collars to shame. Tennyson does not lament the foolhardy courage of the Brigade, nor their manipulation by incompetent officers who drove them to their deaths. “Theirs was not to question why,” he instead writes, “Theirs was but to do and die.” “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is an ugly, unforgivable poem, one that glorified war’s tragedies while enriching a man who never fought. As I left a screening of the film 1917, I could think only of Tennyson at his writing desk.

Inspired by his grandfather’s war stories, Sam Mendes chose to tell the story of the First World War not through the eyes of politicians and generals who watched from afar, but the men on the ground. He chooses as his heroes a pair of English riflemen, the young and naive Blake (a bulldogcheeked Dean-Charles Chapman) and the battlehardened Schofield (George MacKay, gaunt and ghostly). Together, the two men must cross into no-man’s land and call off a distant regiment’s doomed assault on German trenches.

they saw, was not a grand adventure, but a terrifying exercise in entrenched immobility. The Victorian grand charge became Hemingway’s Nick Adams with two broken legs and a bullet in the spine, Wilfred Owen’s “great green sea” of inescapable gas, Joe Bonham’s suffocating body in Johnny Got His Gun, and Siegfried Sassoon’s insane urge to “go out” and plead with enemy artillery to just stop firing. Men like Blake and Schofield arrived at the front “ardent for some desperate glory.”

They instead ducked into holes in the ground where they waited to die, not of wounds incurred during heroic doomed charges, but of dysentery, or mustard gas, or a random artillery shell.

All this makes 1917’s central conceit a betrayal of the very experience Mendes set out to memorialize. Mendes and his Director of Photography Roger Deakins designed the film as a single unbroken tracking shot, following Blake and Schofield for the film’s full two-hour runtime. Mendes therefore thrusts his protagonists into constant motion from the film’s first frames.

Mendes and Deakins have earned rightful acclaim for this technical construction; 1917 flows naturally between quieter moments and the intricate

blocking and choreography of action setpieces.

They promise staggering technical ambition and deliver on that promise, but in doing so, bypass the human narrative they set out to tell. Mendes claims to memorialize the forgotten stories of the First World War, but like Tennyson before him, fetishizes tragedy to glorify himself.

Perhaps this is unfair to Mendes. 1917 is not necessarily a bad film. Chapman and MacKay make the most of their archetypal roles with tense, physical performances. Deakins constructs haunting, pacifistic images (cherry blossoms drifting onto bloated corpses) that contradict the film’s more jingoistic subtext. Mendes, to his credit, refuses to shy away from either the selfless acts of valor or the sickening violence that war demands of its participants. I believe that Mendes really did set out to honor his grandfather’s heroism. But on that November day in 1854, Tennyson also meant well.

They should have thought harder about whose stories they meant to tell.

1917 is currently playing at most major cinemas, including Cobble Hill Cinemas, Williamsburg Cinemas, Nighthawk Prospect Park, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

This premise offers no real surprises. These futile charges that Blake and Schofield hope to stop have been seared into our collective imagination by films such as Kubrick’s Paths of Glory or Mel Gibson’s Gallipoli. This image of great masses of humanity standing as one and charging headlong toward glory, only to be cut down just seconds later, offers a compelling visual metaphor for the senseless waste of the First World War. In the contemporary imagination, those young men placed their lives in the hands of elders too stubborn to let them stand still and stay safe, and were murdered en masse before they could define themselves as individuals. It is a bleak image, one that backs modern cynicism about the needlessness of war, but does not at all define the suffering presented by artists who served in the trenches.

The men of the Western Front were Victorians.

Tennyson, the former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, would have been read and even adored

by Mendes’ heroes, Blake and Schofield. Those who marched off to war in 1914 valued pointless bayonet charges, and at least initially, longed to take part in them. But the Great War didn’t offer them these opportunities for martial greatness. It offered them only invisible foes, booming cannons, and holes to hide in.

The motif that haunts the work of WWI veterans is therefore not forced motion, but paralysis. War,

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February 2020, Page 21

Quinn On Books Can neoliberal hell be relished?

by Michael Quinn Review of Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011-2019 by Natasha Stagg

I

n another era, the worst thing you could be accused of was selling out. But for a younger generation, it’s become the objective: the new version of the American dream. No matter how old you are, the corporatization of our culture makes it common to talk about things like our “objectives.” We’ve been trained to speak in the language of big business, to think of ourselves as brands and advertise them on social media. Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011-2019, a collection of Natasha Stagg’s essays and stories, unpacks some of these ideas. Drawing from Stagg’s experience working for New York fashion and media companies and from the celebrities she’s profiled for various art and fashion magazines, Stagg examines American ideas about fashion, beauty, and fame in the early part of the 21st century. As a culture, the direction we’re heading in often feels confused. Upwardly mobile or straight to hell?

Although we’ve only just crossed the threshold of the new decade, many of the celebrities (Kim Kardashian West) and phenomena (New York Fashion Week) Staggs dissects seem curiously dated, like something unearthed from a time capsule. This gives you an idea of how fast the culture is moving, a point Stagg drives home again and again. She’s interested in the reasons why, and in the evolution of her own person (the book, she notes, “is a personal account of a very strange time”), but like the rest of us, is swept up in the frothy forward-moving current. Of one thing Stagg is certain: “it is ever more difficult to imagine ourselves the way we once did, before we were made to feel so implicit in advertising.”

From about to for

Although Stagg started her career writing about fashion, she now works in “advertorial” (advertising in journalism’s clothing). In “Out of State,” a diary of two summers, Stagg writes, “I’m very lucky, I keep thinking and hearing from colleagues, to be writing for fashion houses instead of about them, for magazines. It doesn’t seem logical, to think this way, as a writer, but the truth is that somehow, the whole industry has been turned around so that the brands have more freedom than the press.”

Stagg tries to straighten out the turnarounds, or at least retrace her steps, starting when she moved to New York in 2011. She has arranged her material not in chronological order, but by theme, and the 24 pieces (the majority essays, with a few tentative short stories thrown in) are filed in four categories: “Public Relations,” “Fashion,” “Celebrity,” and “Engagement.”

“Two Stops” is a diary about work, Tinder dating, and the fall of men like Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Louis CK, around the time when the New York Times started “keeping a running list of men who experienced a professional fallout following accusations of sexual misconduct.” Stagg notices a change in the men she goes out with.

“They all spoke with the same, flippant tone about women getting ahead of themselves or making bigger deals about certain things than was productive. It was as if they were making sure I wasn’t one of the ones who would get hysterical.”

“Consulting” recounts Stagg’s decision to quit her fashion magazine job in order to work for a dubious

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company designing a beauty app. She’s hired under the supposition that she “knew about media and where it was going,” but she only knows the customs of a fading empire (“Editors are actually the women who have tried everything and stick to Vaseline around the eyes and coconut oil on the hair”). Not even understanding what the app is for, Stagg hides in a colleague’s office, flopped on a couch and tapping away on her laptop. The essay is a discursive meditation on contemporary ideas about beauty, touching down on the way reality television and social media reflect, warp, and inform our ideas and ideals. Stagg writes, “I’d never be as beautiful as I used to be, back before smartphones existed.”

Simplifying the message

In “Internet as Horror,” Stagg writes of how “it’s easy to imagine that the next shift in how we communicate will have a lot to do with the so-called post-truth era. Our awareness of native advertising, artificial intelligence, and data mining has impacted levels of trust in all forms of communication.” Astutely, she analyzes the communication of “celebrities” like the current U.S. President, who “uses emphatic language to reach the lowest common denominator – the rule of the simpler the message, the easier it is to agree with – in the same way protest chants and hashtags do.”

Stagg is in her element investigating trends to understand what makes them resonate with the wider culture. “Confidence” starts out as a profile of a young woman famous for taking body-positive selfies, but opens up into a larger analysis of a cultural phenomenon, what Stagg calls “a messy selfawareness.” In “Notoriety,” Stagg again offers a profile of a specific person (here the model Amina Blue) and makes that subject representative, in this case of “her generation’s particular acceptance of overexposure and its acute discomfort with pressure to perform.”

“Right Time” looks at influencer culture: the people getting other people to buy things. “What was authenticity, in another era?” Stagg wonders.

Her analysis of the prototypical influencer is skewering, calling her “basic – the opposite of avantgarde... she is, by default, a sellout.” Stagg gets even more specific. The influencer’s typical body type is “athletic and rounded. They flaunt their extravagant vacations, loving relationships, and stable home lives, even as they remain grounded enough to foster a large group of adoring friends.

This is the lifestyle, it seems obvious now, that America has always truly wanted.”

The weakest pieces are all clustered together in the middle of the book. They include scribbled- off think pieces like “The Micro-trend” (citing an “article I skimmed” and another one “half-read”), and “The Scammer” (“a foreign-sounding pseudonym living in a distant country…a Craigslist potential roommate, or a phoney [sic] relative with a fatal disease”). Stagg writes about these topics dully, without much personal engagement, and without the kinds of insights that characterize the best of her writing.

Throughout the collection, however, Stagg gets under the hood to take apart the mechanics of commodified desire. She writes frankly about sex, but might consider vulnerability a kind of weakness; Sleeveless tears off the places where it might wear its heart. The diary “Out of State” includes a summer romance with an unlikely beau, a gar-

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NATASHA STAGG PHOTOGRAPHED BY EMMANUEL OLUNKWA

bageman from Staten Island, whom Stagg agrees to go out with only because it will make a great story. Surprisingly, an unlikely romance blooms.

About the first date, Stagg writes, with disbelief, “No matter what way it would go, it was just this really nice thing already.” In the world in which Stagg moves, niceness is so unusual, it’s practically destabilizing.

Stagg’s New York is full of artists and writers and models and ravers, all experiencing the kind of self-cannibalization that happens through making oneself a personal brand. Our culture sends out strong messages about how important and great it is to do this; Sleeveless helps us understand the slapdash rules of the game we’re all unwittingly playing. It also slyly communicates the contemporary understanding that the only way to telegraph integrity is by making it known that you’re in on the joke of how low we’ve all sunk. How can it be a race to the bottom if we’re all already there?

Wherever we live, it seems hard these days to simply be alone with ourselves. We know there’s something more to life, and we’re encouraged to keep scrolling to try to find it. After all, that’s where we receive messages from advertisers (and other mind-control groups); that’s where the brainwashing happens. “How does one stop from reaching for the phone, when one has to reach for the phone to do everything else?” Stagg wonders.

Having escaped the city for a spell, Stagg writes, “After all of this natural beauty and letting life happen to me, the bigness of nature and all of that, I’m ready to go back to New York and ride the subway, experience again the tension of train delays and closeness of real life, the one I’ve had a hand in creating, whether I set out to or not.”

Sleeveless invites us to reflect on where our ideas about “real life” comes from, and what self-discovery would look like if we looked not to influencers, but inside ourselves.

February 2020

STAR REVUE

MUSIC

Modern Rock Journalism

Jazz’s state of the union

by George Grella

M

y fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that in 2020, the state of jazz is... well, I suppose it all depends on what you mean by “state.” In a country where the highest-paid public employees are football coaches and where artists are expected to work for the non-remuneration of “exposure,” jazz as a professional calling remains a daunting proposition. We like to talk about making things as both more honorable (see Shop Class as Soulcraft) and more socially and economically viable than any other path in life. The obsessive heuristics in the media-political industrial complex about “family farmers” and “working-class voters” show a confusion between the emotional value people have for things that they can hold in their hands and what people are willing to pay for. If we rewarded the actual makers instead of the takers, then brokers skimming a commission off every transaction would be the ones applying for food stamps.

So, yeah, if you want to be ground into powder by economic misery, be a jazz musician. But if you want to make explosively exciting and creative music, if you want to be in a position where live performance leads to transformation and ecstasy, then be a jazz musician. Because musically, jazz is in tremendous shape, as this winter once again proves.

Look up the 7th Annual NPR Jazz Critics Poll (it began 14 years ago at the Village Voice), run by the venerable critic Francis Davis, whose books are all worth reading. This year I was one of 140 critics to send in picks for the best albums of the year. With all votes in, none of my top 10 made it into the overall top 10. You may think that makes me out of step with the mainstream, and of course you’re right, that’s my obligation as a critic. But that’s also a measure of the music’s health, as seven of the overall top 10 would edge into my 11th place.

None were 11th best – at this level of quality it comes down to personal, gut response. There are more than 50 albums total on the list (there are different categories for rare and archival recordings, vocal jazz, latin jazz, and best debut) and just about all of them will give you pleasure.

New albums are only half the story, the rest happens live, and the best place to get even a small handle on what’s happening in jazz in the 21st century is the New York City Winter Jazzfest. If the mainstream (Blue Note records and club, for example) and the avant-garde (the Vision Fest)

are two ends of the contemporary jazz continuum, the WJF fills the enormous space in between. It has been gradually moving away from the idea of preserving the traditions of swing and bop, and my impression is that that’s in part intuitive and also in response to where the crowds have gathered through the festival’s previous decade-plus. Jazz

"In the overall scheme of things, jazz earns a pittance. With nothing, there’s nothing to lose, and so 21st-century jazz is not only high quality in the manner of its execution, but in the fearless way so many musicians are pushing the music around and seeing where it can go." lovers have been paying for the good stuff.

The most valuable thing in American culture is the dollar. It not only buys things but bears social, intellectual, and moral standing. If you have a lot of dollars, you’re seen as not just wealthy but smart, and a good person. This is so pervasive that even the critics, who should know better, judge success based on how many tickets or units something sells.

In the overall scheme of things, jazz earns a pittance. With nothing, there’s nothing to lose, and so 21st-century jazz is not only high quality in the

manner of its execution, but in the fearless way so many musicians are pushing the music around and seeing where it can go.

Where it’s going, as in classical music after World War II, is in all different directions. The variety of current trends is further testament to the music’s heath. There’s a group of musicians centered around the Pi Recordings label that are something of a Henry Threadgill school, using complex meters to produce a fiery pulse and playing contrapuntally intricate lines above. Pi also records drummer Dan Weiss’ math-rock/free-metal group Starebaby, and they played a wild set at the Sultan Room, dedicated to Neil Peart. The International Anthem label in Chicago is a home for exciting experiments in melding jazz with soul, gospel, hip hop, and the techniques and aesthetics of remixing, and was prominently represented at Webster Hall by drummer and bandleader Makaya McCraven.

Down in Texas, Astral Spirits has connected some of the finest contemporary improvisers with the Bandcamp/cassette tape marketplace – one of their 2019 releases features pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, who brought an exciting new quintet to The Dance on Lafayette Street. Still young tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis is the quintessential old-school jazz musician in contemporary form – he leads his own group, collaborates and appears with others, is a member of the two-fisted spoken-word-jazz group Heroes Are Gang Leaders – and his rhythm section of Luke Stewart and Warren Crudup III makes punk-jazz bass and drums as Black’s Myths. They played Nublu and Heroes played the Mercury Lounge, as did drummer, vocalist, and bandleader Kassa Overall, who is making a seamless mix of jazz and hip hop that is smooth, sophisticated, earthy, and packs a wallop, like two fingers of fine aged single malt.

The world of the WJF is so abundant that cuttingedge tenor players JD Allen and Noah Preminger weren’t even in the lineup, nor was Threadgill, who has a new record slated for later this year.

The WJF itself is still just a sliver of what’s happening and doesn’t even touch on the music you can hear at Jazz at Lincoln Center or clubs like the Village Vanguard or Birdland. That these places are still hanging in there as businesses (JALC, as an institution, is something different), and the

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February 2020, Page 23

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Much in the same way as the madeleines that Proust wrote about so many years ago would conjure memories from a single bite, hearing video game melodies takes me back to the safety of my childhood living room floor, to hours spent cross-legged, lost in digital adventures scored to these enduring songs. This is the power of the music of the 8 Bit Big Band, a 35-plus-piece jazz pops orchestra that performs and brings to life these tunes like never before. Originally gaining popularity through their YouTube channel, the group started live performances last summer.

The group performs these songs – originally composed using a limited arsenal of MIDI tones – through lush collections of horn, woodwind, and string sections; your standard-fare drum set, guitar, upright and electric bass; as well as more unusual instruments, such as the Japanese wood flute, the shakuhachi. This sheer volume of participants, as well as their incredible musicianship and technical ability, have the effect of expanding nostalgic little digital experiments into sweeping symphonic arrangements, a sound somehow familiar and uncanny, and an absolute joy to hear.

The group is the brainchild of multiinstrumentalist, arranger, and band leader Charlie Rosen, who conducts, arranges, and performs the band’s interpretations of classic and new video game songs. Rosen, who plays more than 70 instruments himself, has orchestrated and performed on many on- and off-Broadway productions and television shows, most recently orchestrating the Broadway musical Be More Chill and contributing guitar to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

He himself has contributed to video game soundtracks, playing drum set and other instruments for Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. Rosen regards the oeuvre of video game music as a whole – which he refers to as the “Video Game Songbook” – akin to what the Great American Songbook was for a different generation.

As the band started their first arrangement, a medley of songs from Super Mario Brothers 1 synchronized to a video of gameplay, the energy and excitement of the crowd was beyond palpable, with many erupting in riotous joy from hearing the music of their childhoods rendered like never before. Many of the

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arrangements took novel approaches, such as the group’s rendition of the end credit song “Still Alive” from the Portal series, done in the style of Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got the World on a String.”

Other adaptations included the “Luigi’s Mansion Theme” melded together with Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing,” and the Tetris theme imbued with an abundance of Russian influences. The acoustics benefited the dark corners of Sony Hall I found myself drawn to, and listening to the group take on four tracks from Mario Kart 64 (again with attendant synchronized gameplay video, as if the audience had congregated to watch an older sibling show them the ropes around an N64), I couldn’t help but smile when every song started, hearing how lovingly each tune had been revitalized in this setting.

Some of the older games revisited, on systems such as the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) released in 1983, had only a total of five voices used to create the tunes.

Despite these limitations, the resulting songs, from games such as The Legend of Zelda (1986), have had an enduring legacy for a certain generation who can now instantly and reliably satisfy any earworm through a medley of streaming services on the market. The beauty of the 8 Bit Big Band is how Rosen is able to flesh out songs that were originally heard in a context where this variety of choice was not available; video game music is necessarily nostalgic because it transports us to a time when many decisions were out of our hands, where the full experience of play was not considered a piecemeal sum of its parts. Where Rosen shines is his ability, through a devotion to a kind of collective memory, to bring background into foreground, and create a common experience that rises above mere nostalgia.

The evening’s performance included a revolving cast of characters including saxophonist-vocalist Grace Kelly, saxophonist Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic), bassist Adam Neely, and clarinetist Mark Dover, who had the night prior performed with the band Vulfpeck at Madison Square Garden. A particular standout arrangement featuring Neely on fivestring bass was “Saria’s Song” from the N64 classic Ocarina of Time, arranged in the style of Jaco Pastorius.

Oft arranged because of its popularity, tonight’s version interspersed the main melody with groovy bass interludes featuring harmonics and melodic progressions. The group concluded the evening with the same song they ended their debut May 2019 performance with, a stirring Spanish flamenco-inspired rendition of Gerudo Valley, also from Ocarina of Time.

February 2020

Bloco La Conga brings Conga Santiaguera to NYC

by Stefan Zeniuk

W

hen you think of Cuban music, what comes to mind? Perhaps the slow, emotional son and danzon music represented by the Buena Vista Social Club; or the fiery singing from Celia Cruz; or the energetic mambos of Perez Prado; or, if you happen to be the type that digs a little deeper, the Afro-Cuban rumba tradition featuring thick, dense rhythms and percussion. Many aspects of the Cuban musical experience have permeated throughout the world, and embedded themselves into so many other musical traditions. The music and history of Cuba is essential to how we understand what American music is: the distinct melding of European and African music and cultures. But within Cuba, there is a huge diversity of styles and histories.

One such style is played at Carnaval, in Santiago, the second largest city in Cuba, every February.

The style of music, Conga Santiaguera, is different from the Conga that is played in Havana during the same festival. It is characterized by the extremely large drum section, featuring brake drums (a brake drum is a refurbished metal piece of machinery taken from the engine of a car) that are hit with metal beaters, and a loud and piercing double reed instrument, the Corneta China, which is an adaptation of the Chinese Suona. This music, which holds legendary status in Cuba as one of the country’s most unique events (and, with its multicultural history, is extremely Cuban), is barely, if ever, heard outside of Santiago. However, a new group is bringing these sounds to New York City.

Bloco la Conga was formed last year by Nick

Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ reconsidered

by Kurt Gottschalk

Maya Beiser / Evan Ziporyn Bowie Cello Symphonic: Blackstar (Islandia Music Records)

M

uch has rightly been made of the drama surrounding and embedded into David Bowie’s ★, an album that not only addressed mortality but directly addressed his fans as well. Less has been said suggesting that it stood upon its release, as it does today, as one of Bowie’s finest records. Opinions vary, of course, and his back catalog is a considerable tower against which to measure anything, but beginning to end the record is every bit as strong as his 1976 Station to Station, which in many ways is his crowning achievement.

It would be as foolish to say that ★ profited from a sympathetic response (the record came out on January 8, 2016, Bowie’s 69th birthday) as it would be to deny the fact, because the album was designed to elicit exactly that response. But it was clear in the hours between its Friday release and the news that Bowie was gone the following Sunday that the album was a major statement. Like Station to Station, ★ wraps bravado and vulnerability together without conflict and delivers it with some of the most magnificent singing Bowie put to record. Both records feature strong yet understated musicianship, benefiting from the musicians getting to work within the longest songs Bowie wrote in his career. Both records do much to define an astonishing career.

This is what cellist Maya Beisr and arranger Evan Ziporyn were up against when they Red Hook Star-Revue

Bloco la Conga, photo by Andrew Gonzalez

Herman. Herman learned and studied music in Santiago with Conga de los Hoyos, which is considered the oldest and most famous group, and has been teaching and organizing a new group in New York. Herman explained that one of the reasons the music isn’t really heard outside of Santiago is that most of the musicians who left Cuba for New York City were from Havana or Matanzas, keeping the music a tightly kept secret. He knows of one short-lived group that played some parades in Miami a few years ago, and there is rumored to be a group performing this music in Belgium.

Regardless of this music making occasional and sporadic appearances outside of Cuba, Bloco la

Conga is making a concerted effort to perform the music regularly and authentically.

Herman has been hosting weekly classes and rehearsals to teach more musicians the style. Bloco’s first performance was at the Village Halloween Parade last October, and they’re performing again this month at The Shrine World Music Venue (2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd.) in Harlem on February 16 at 8pm.

orchestrated the seven tracks on ★ as a cello sonata. The two had collaborated before, notably on the 2014 album Uncovered, which included arrangements of songs made famous

by Jimi Hendrix, Howlin’ Wolf, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Nirvana. But that set of songs was essentially rock standards. Taking on ★ meant reworking something that many felt was a gift given to them.

Fortunately, they got it right. Bowie Cello Symphonic: Blackstar is a beautiful recontextualization of a remarkable record. It sticks close to script, even the track lengths are notably close to the original album, with Beiser’s dynamic cello standing in for Bowie’s voice and the Ambient Orchestra filling the space created by saxophonist Donny McAslin’s quartet.

The most notable straying from formula is a 90-second distorted cadenza added as an introduction to “Sue (or in a Season of Crime).”

The most exceptional thing about Ziporyn’s arrangements is in the drums and bass. ★ isn’t exactly a rock record and Bowie Cello Symphonic isn’t exactly a sonata for orchestra and soloist. Ziporyn uses the low strings and drums particularly well, mimicking the skittering propulsion of the original. Top to bottom it’s a beautiful tribute.

Or almost to the bottom. Things take a turn for the worse with a couple of altogether unnecessary “bonus tracks.” When Beiser and orchestra played the suite in Central Park in 2018, they encored with Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and the Bowie hit “Let’s Dance.” It worked as a crowd-pleaser but was an unnecessary coda to a perfect statement. Here, they conclude the program with a fairly obvious arrangement of Bowie’s “Life on Mars” followed by an ill-advised take on “Ziggy Stardust,” complete with a frenetic Bach interpolation. David Bowie made his final statement with ★; adding to it only cheapens the effect.

Grella

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While it’s a little cold to be doing a street parade in winter, Bloco La Conga will be bringing festive intensity, as well as costumes and energy, into this small gem of a venue. For more information on the band, www.laconga.us.

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good crowds of hip listeners, old and young, mean survival is still viable.

Even more, it’s necessary. American culture, in general, has a problem with beauty. That quality in any art becomes either a bourgeois commodity or repurposed as therapeutic – either way utility replaces essence. But beauty is the one thing that I hear common to all the new jazz thinking that reaches my ears.

This is John Coltrane’s enduring legacy. His imitators have fallen away and musicians have found their own personal means of searching for the transcendent experience that was the non-musical point of his playing. Jazz improvisation is so firmly ingrained as an inherent practice of spiritual and intellectual transformation that it’s expected. To expect it is one thing, to experience it is different, and I was rather stunned by the sonic and emotional beauty I heard at Webster Hall from trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and McCraven’s band.

They played with the physical energy of a rock band, Akinmusire pulling lyricism from out of a deep, personal place, and McCraven digging into the beats heard on his Universal Beings album to support great waves of communal feeling.

This was not prettiness, but beauty, the kind that comes balanced with the pain of creating it, the kind of beauty that can redeem the worst things in life. For why we as a country need this kind of beauty, listen to In What Language? (Pi Recordings) by Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd. An album of music and spoken-word narratives and vignettes, it came directly out of the beginning of America’s Forever Wars, the rise of the surveillance state, and government torture, all the things that put an end to our experiment in representative democracy and freedom. I know I’m dreaming as I write this, but if there’s any way back to what we’re supposed to be, the path is jazz.

February 2020, Page 25

Cambridge, England: some of that rock & roll music Jack Grace provides perspective on playing the UK

I

moved to Cambridge, England for almost a year back in the fall of 2016. I now have a version of the Jack Grace Band in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one in Cambridge, England. I also have versions in Colorado, Canada, and Austin.

I have spent much of my life in a van. Lately, my general approach is to go to a town and play the bars, pubs, and restaurants in the area with that version of my band and return to the same bed (most of the time), get to know a community, and become more a part of it. But I have always felt I was blowing through places too quickly. For various reasons, I do not play the more official rock clubs in many cities anymore. They often have multiple bands on the bill and provide acts with one 45-minute set (my show is two to three hours), they rely almost exclusively on a band’s draw, and if I am going to play multiple times in a month, I need more regulars to interact with. I do miss sharing the bill, meeting and hearing more bands, but it’s tough turning a profit while splitting the money with three to five bands a night.

I first played Cambridge, England, in 2009 after a tour in Ireland. We premiered at the legendary Flying Pig. The place was magical. I fell in love with the venue and the crowd. We booked an impromptu gig the next night at another random pub; the attendees from the Pig had spread the word, and it was packed. I thought, “I’d like to spend more time in this town one day.” I was in between career valleys in New York in 2016, and felt it was time to try the “Cambridge Experiment.” I arrived to play

solo, but the rowdy crowd called for a full band experience, so the group that exists today came to be. We even made an album over here (due out in 2020).

The Cambridge environment is one that working New York musicians can relate to. There are musicians that play in several different bands, and there are a variety of pubs you can play without leaving town too often. But like New York, many clubs have closed, some are in danger of doing so, and the pay hasn’t really increased since the ‘80s.

There are different rules in Cambridge. Early rock & roll songs, designed to get people dancing, are often played. You will have an easier time getting away with songs very few folks in New York want to hear any more like “Mustang Sally”, “Midnight Hour” or Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell.” I have also heard bands do “Dead Flowers” by the Rolling Stones, though they are usually closer to the Townes Van Zandt version. There is still some fine original music in Cambridge, but lately bands seem to do more covers, which can help or hurt musicians who primarily play original music, depending on the crowd and how well your songs apply to a pub’s atmosphere.

The average pub gig in Cambridge pays between £100 and £200, which is approximately $195 to $260 in US dollars. Some allow tipping while some do not want you passing the hat. Many places provide drinks, but they will keep track and cut you off when the tab reaches a level not in line with the turnout. Other places give band members one

MARK’S

beer each. Generally, places with food feed bands.

Most pubs don’t provide backline (drums, guitar, bass amps) nor do they have their own PA systems, so bands have to lug all the gear from home. New York venues with full music programs are almost required to have backline and a PA system as many musicians are traveling by subway or walking. Most places in New York that have food will provide a band menu, and the drinks can vary from one to several tickets. There are a few venues left that allow an unlimited tab, once a given for the city that never used to sleep. Then there are places in New York that expect you to rely solely on tips because, hey... exposure!

On this two-and-a-half-week run, I am playing places outside of Cambridge, and a few places are putting us up. Pubs in Cambridge or London are not likely to provide accommodation; in other European countries like France, Germany or Spain, it is more common for accommodations to be provided. Like the US, England and Ireland generally don’t provide accommodation on the pub circuit; you are mostly on your own.

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February 2020

Mi casa es su casa: Don Duggan and his Brooklyn house concerts

by Mike Morgan The piano player and singer Aaron Louis Hurwitz goes by the nickname of Professor Louie. He was christened as such by Rick Danko of The Band.

Professor Louie now has his own group, the Crowmatix. All of its members boast long associations with The Band family tree, having performed with the likes of Levon Helm and the other departed ones. The Professor was an actual member of The Band and produced their last few records.

The Crowmatix guitarist, John Platania, was the featured player on the Van Morrison Moondance album and other early Van classics. There is a high degree of musical pedigree here, and I was fortunate enough to witness it all at work recently during a Professor Louie show in Don Duggan’s living room. This was another stellar Brooklyn Music Shop production, a Saturday night special.

The Brooklyn Music Shop is Don Duggan’s brainchild. A few weeks ago, I sat down with Don and my close friend Tom (the go-between) in Don’s kitchen and got the lowdown. Fortified with a strong mug of Earl Grey tea, I was the recipient of the royal treatment. Let me tell you, Don loves to talk about his passion, and his passion is live music. He kicked off with a Ray Charles quote, “There are two kinds of music... good music and bad music.” Don presents the former; he has little patience for the latter. His story is fascinating. It’s also very Brooklyn.

Now 63, Don Duggan came of age in workingclass Bay Ridge. As an 11-year old lad, his first live concert was the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East. Don made no bones about the mayhem of those early days, which stretched long enough into his life. He has been clean for quite some time: no booze, no drugs. One day, he just had to stop.

But before that, Don was not shy of doing his best Keith Richards lifestyle imitation. On that road, he befriended and rubbed shoulders with gunslinger musicians, outlaw bikers and organized crime soldiers, some of Brooklyn’s and New York’s so-called finest.

Don told me of getting to know some Hell’s Angels, including one particular highly ranked character who was actually expelled from the Angels for drinking too much! How is that possible?

Don’s closest ally in the Angels happened to be the shortest member of that New York clan. He was a drinking buddy, packing a singular street authority into a small frame.

Being from Bay Ridge and an alumnus of Bishop Ford High School, Don ran into his fair share

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of gangsters’ sons. The disco club 2001 Odyssey, where Tony Manero danced in Saturday Night Fever, was located on 64th Street in nearby Sunset Park, and it was a going concern. I remember driving customers there when I was working for the dubious Esoteric Car Service. Don explained that the young Italian Travolta types would go searching the bars in the hood, looking to bash in the heads of hippies, longhairs and punk rockers.

“We might have had long hair,” Don said, “but we weren’t all pacifists.” Don continued on to say that he never had much time for this nonsense.

Bay Ridge at its worst then resembled Custer’s Last Stand. It was an extremely insular place. Don posited that if a peer moved away to neighboring Bensonhurst, it was as if that person was all of a sudden living on the back end of the moon. This insularity and “king of the streets” attitude came with a price. Don thought it was no surprise that DA Rudy Giuliani (yup, him) was able to break the Mafia in the 1980s. He said that new generation then was so arrogant and brazen that once they felt real pressure from the Feds, they simply rolled over and ratted on everybody else to save their own asses. They basically did themselves in, like the “Ouroboros,” the ancient symbolic serpent that ate itself.

Hearing Don’s reminiscences is a bit like reading the opening chapters of Ringolevio, the autobiography by Emmett Grogan, the San Francisco Digger who grew up in Brooklyn too. I recommend that part of his book. But this is all to give you a sense of Don Duggan, because I want to fast forward to Don’s project, the Brooklyn Music Shop, and explain how he got there and what he is now doing with it.

In the early 2000s, Don’s hunger for involvement in live music ventures led him to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, an annual event held in Hillsdale, NY. He volunteered as a helper, first at the Activities for Kids tent, but later he graduated to the main stage and eventually became the co-stage manager for the Emerging Artists Showcase. Don began to make some important connections. One such person was Don Beesley, who ran the main stage. Don Beesley introduced him to another project called “Outpost in the Burbs” out of Montclair, NJ. There he met Joe D’Urso. a New Jersey roots rocker, who had palled around with the older more famous Jersey bunch: Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen and the like. Through Joe, and because he was regularly bumping into the top-billed performers like Garland Jeffreys,

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Don Duggan began to develop his own independent relationships with these musicians. The Montclair series of concerts attracted other wellknown names... Jimmy Webb, Joe Walsh, Richard Thompson, Ian Hunter and Dave Davies, that kind of hierarchy. As a result of these experiences, Don amassed a veritable who’s-who list of live music personalities.

Around 2012, Don went out on his own and hired the Grand Prospect Hall in Park Slope to host a Joan Osborne, Catherine Russell and Holmes Brothers show. The Grand Prospect Hall used to advertise on Channel 9 late at night. It’s like a cross between the wedding venue in The Deer Hunter, a Miami Beach mob-controlled hotel lounge, and a set for an old Telly Savalas Diners Club credit card commercial. The concert was a resounding success for the audience, but Don took a financial bath. He was not to be deterred.

Don once belonged to a local drinking organization called the Raccoon Lodge. Like their television series namesakes Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, the Raccoons are blustery, harmless, hard-drinking guys. They mean well and hold the occasional fundraiser for neighborhood causes.

One such effort was with Jorma Kaukonen, the exJefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist, which Don helped organize. Tom attended this and it sounded hilarious. One thing to bear in mind here is that these old rockers have all cleaned up their acts; many are teetotalers in every sense of the word. Not so the Raccoons and their posse.

Picture this: a high school basketball court, an aging sober musical legend up front, pizza ovens wheeled in and fired up, kegs of beer and bottles of rotgut liquor and soda mixers, and a legless crowd, Raccoons and all. Ralph and Alice Kramden and Ed and Trixie Norton would have been proud.

Don lowered his sights, but in the act of lowering he journeyed higher. It’s weird how that works, a dialectic in operation. He went local, and for a few years sponsored musical events in a small rental space around the corner from where he now lives (maximum capacity 40 persons). Then he moved the shows to his own house (maximum capacity 35 persons) in Windsor Terrace. That was four years ago. Don is now the crazy rough diamond of house concerts in that part of Brooklyn. He shines on.

Here are some of the artists who have performed in Don’s living room: the rockabilly outfit called

(continued on page 28) February 2020, Page 27

Jalopy Records: ‘Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones’ Mike Cobb Jalopy Records has recently released the debut album Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones. Samoa “Fatboy” Wilson and Ernesto “Viejo” Gomez are an acoustic duo who specialize in old-time, folk, Americana, blues, and more.

Wilson sings and plays baritone ukulele while Gomez sings and plays guitar and harmonica. The sound of this recording is true to their live act with no studio trickery. Recorded to tape in a day at Wilson’s house

by Don Fierro, the album features covers and originals that speak of a wide variety of subjects including social justice, environmental issues, and the joys of smoking weed and drinking booze.

Gomez describes “It Don’t Hurt Nobody,” a track on the album: “It’s an original that Samoa wrote about acceptance, tolerance, and not being a freaking bigot. ‘It don’t hurt

nobody if I change my sex; it don’t hurt nobody if I wanna smoke a little weed.’ It’s good stuff.”

Wilson’s “Ballad of Luis Reyes” and “Ridgewood Blues” depict her experience of living and working in contemporary New York, while Gomez’s song “Black Snake” reflects his experience on the Standing Rocks Sioux Indian Reservation in North Dakota, opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

There are twelve tracks in all, which can be heard and purchased at jalopyrecords.org or directly from the group at live shows. The duo performs regularly at the Jalopy Tavern but also often at the Starr Bar in Bushwick and Windjammer in Ridgewood.

Both Gomez and Wilson are established performers on the New York Americana scene, though they were exposed to roots music in different ways. Wilson explains, “My family came together during the folk revival in the ‘60s in Boston. We listened to Benny Goodman, Woody Guthrie, the Carter Family, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee, so my ear was really opened up.”

About her childhood, she says, “I grew up in a commune outside of Boston. I started performing when I was 12 years old on the street with my family by busking.”

Folk legend Jim Kweskin was instrumental in her development as a performer. “He’d gather all the kids to sing together. We had maybe one guitar and 30 people singing in unison. I call him my uncle, even though we’re not related,” recalls Wilson.

Gomez is from Union City, New Jersey, and remembers “listening to salsa, merengue, cumbia, a lot of Spanish music and commercial radio, hard rock, Howard Stern,

rap, hip-hop, freestyle, et cetera. I was break dancing when I was 12.

Rap music stuck to me more than anything, and then later club music.

I was going to kids’ clubs for teenagers to dance, but had no clue about folk music until later. When I picked up the harmonica, I got into Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, and then a friend turned me onto the Yazoo series Before The Blues, which changed my whole music perspective.”

Gomez and Wilson met at an event curated by local musician Ernie Vega at The Gaslight Cafe, with whom they both play in other bands. They started jamming and soon realized they had the makings of something serious. Wilson states, “We’d been playing together for about two years, and we thought that it’d be really cool to make EPs to sell for $5 each, like trading cards. We’d been in New Orleans, and were into doing Exquisite Corpse drawings.”

and wanted to go up without him knowing who we are. Our friend and musician Feral Foster likes to call musicians he admires ‘Fat Boys.’

He gave Samoa that name, and we thought it was great. I wanted something redundant so chose “Old Viejo Bones.” “Viejo” is Spanish for “old.”

Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones will be playing the Mid-Winter Jug & String Band Rendezvous on February 14 and 15 at the Jalopy Theatre, and February 16 for Major Minor Folk U at Starr Bar (every third Sunday). Whether they’re known by their stage or given names, this dynamic duo is well worth seeing live, and their album is highly recommended for fans of Americana.

For the unfamiliar, Exquisite Corpse is a technique invented by the surrealists where participants gather words and images and assemble them collectively, resulting in unique artistic compositions. This particular aesthetic was integral to the GomezWilson collaboration. Both are visual artists, and Gomez designed the album cover art influenced by “preColumbian art and graffiti.”

Initially, the duo created CDs with two traditional and two original songs in a very DIY fashion, many of which they gave away as calling cards, but Eli Smith at Jalopy Records encouraged them to release all of the material as one cohesive record.

About their punny stage names Gomez says, “It was a joke. We were at Ernie Vega’s open mic at Jalopy.

We signed up with funny names

Don Duggan and his Brooklyn house concerts (continued from page 27) the Eugene Chrysler band, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams (according to Don, the Pink Floyd of folk music), Garland Jeffreys, the world-renowned jazz vibraphonist Stefan Bauer, the Lords of Liechtenstein, Vernon Reid, Michael Hill, Popa Chubby, Professor Louie and the Cromatix, Freebo (the ex-Bonnie Raitt bassist), the Quarter Horse Band, Joe D’Urso, and Guy Davis (the blues musician son of the acting duo Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis). There is not a shoddy musician here, and often these people are touring nationally or even globally. Many of these artists prefer the intimate environment of a house to that of a club or a concert hall, money aside. Plus, Don offers them a free home-cooked meal, and his wife Elisa is an excellent chef. Some of them perform solely for the grub. It’s that good.

I asked Don if the neighbors ever complain about the din. “These walls are thick,” he replied. “Besides, it’s only me and the missus upstairs.”

But there is a little more to this and it’s important. Obviously, Don can’t fork out the amount of moola that the rich music promoters can provide.

However, he always pays the musicians exactly what he originally promised them. He rarely charges more than a $30 entrance fee per show,

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often less. And he barely breaks even, sometimes he takes a loss, but the performers will always get the agreed-upon envelope stuffed into their top pockets. This is almost un-American. It’s certainly anti-music industry. And it’s extremely refreshing.

To quote Frank Zappa, Don is not “only in it for the money.” In fact, he’s in it for quite the opposite reasons. Don recalled a discussion with Vernon Reid from Living Color: “You played in front of 30,000 people last night at the Garden, and tonight you played for 35 folks.” It’s true, but these artists keep on coming back to Don’s crib if they can.

That says something.

When I quizzed Don about what the goal of the Brooklyn Music Shop is, he said it’s “to provide affordable, reasonably priced and intimate music to the community.” This is not the Kiwanis or the Rotary Club talking, it is a genuine service.

In his heart and soul, Don Duggan is a blues man.

There are a lot worse things to be. At the end of our session, Don told me an amusing story. He recalled the heyday, when he was visiting a friend in Indiana. They were both drinking in a roadhouse, when up roared a bunch of belligerent bikers. The chief swaggered over to their table and whipped out a card that read “The Sons of Silence.” Don

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guffawed loudly. “Get the fuck out of here,” Don answered. “I’m from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and you’re showing me a business card! That’s all you’ve got?” Don and his mate were left well alone that day. Now that’s a blues tale if ever there was one. Don Duggan means business, the sort that counts and deserves to be treasured forever.

Check out Don Duggan’s Brooklyn Music Shop online for future house concerts at brooklynmusicshop.com. The next show will be the folk duo, the Levins, performing a special Valentine’s weekend show on Saturday, February 15, at 8 pm. For more info email Don@BrooklynMusicShop.com.

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@redhookstarrevue February 2020

Album review: ‘The Sunset Canyoneers’ Jody Callahan

There’s a wholesomeness to the Sunset Canyoneers’ self-titled debut album, and I can’t quite tell if it works for or against the sun-worshipping California country music outfit. The album’s motif is purposefully and perfectly reminiscent of the Bakersfield Sound that came about in the mid-1950s, influencing a hippie country music scene that gave rise to the likes of The Byrds, Buck Owens, the Grateful Dead, and Emmylou Harris. The Bakersfield Sound took from the old honky-tonks and stole from the then-new electrified rock’n’roll to create a music style in defiant response to the clean and prim acts of the orchestral Nashville Sound (think Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers) – which itself was a volley against the dirty, grimy noise of the rock and rollers who had suddenly infiltrated decent white folks’ ears. It was country music fighting with itself while rock enjoyed an easy and uncontested run of the airwaves.

This is where that wholesomeness works counter to the aim of the Sunset Canyoneers, as they explicitly display Bakersfield influence by incorporating honky-tonk music made with ‘lectric twangs and rattle instead of the strictly acoustic instruments that Nashville Sound musicians clung to along with their horns and violins. However, the band’s crisp choral singalongs are straight Nashville, making the album feel more like a harmonistic celebration and ode to the genre of Bakersfield Sound than something organically of it.

The record never really reaches the rowdy, rutty thoughtfulness or depths of, say, Merle Haggard and the Strangers.

However, it’s fun in the way that a They Might Be Giants country excursion can be. The Sunset Canyoneers possess an infectiously chipper attitude, and their upbeat rhythms have the jolly power to get me earnestly toe-tapping. It’s an album that services a lively social mingling, but not one that you’d want to sit down with alone. It releases March 6 under the You Are The Cosmos label.

Its defining track: “Spirits,” which begins as a joyous hosanna to drinking yourself stupid, then on a dime ends as a joyous hosanna to sobering up.

JR Chronicles tells NY stories

by Nathan Weiser The JR Chronicles exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum is one worth the checking out, and you have until May 3 to do so.

The show grabbed my attention when I learned that it featured photos and stories from all kinds of New Yorkers.

JR, who is from France, has given a captivating TED talk (available to watch at the exhibit) and is highly regarded for his street art and graffiti but remains best known for his photography, which gives visibility to everyday people.

In the early stages of his career he produced photographs of French immigrants living in the suburbs outside of Paris. Various arondissements within the French capital displayed the images.

For his New York City exhibit, he drove a van to neighborhoods in all five boroughs and had people come in to be photographed in front of a green screen.

He let them choose how they wanted to be portrayed.

JR’s photo locations included BedfordStuyvesant, Williamsburg, Flatbush and Coney Island in Brooklyn; Jamaica, Flushing and Jackson Heights in Queens; two areas in the Bronx; one location in Staten Island; and five different neighborhoods all over Manhattan.

Ultimately, JR was able to get more than 1,000 people to tell stories about their life and how New York City is meaningful to them and what they get out of living here. Some told long

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stories and some told stories that were brief, and some talked about serious issues and some not as serious.

The epic mural displayed on the enormous walls of the Brooklyn Museum’s first floor is accompanied by audio recordings of each of the New Yorkers that were photographed. A fascinating part of the exhibit was being able to use one of the touch screens to click on a picture of a person who is also on the mural to be able to hear their personal story.

The exhibit shows how, after taking everyone’s picture, JR used technology to place their faces on various high-rises across the city. He did this to center ordinary people in spots where there would usually be advertisements with celebrities.

The JR Chronicles marks the artist’s first major exhibition in North America. Previously, in 2017, JR assembled scaffolding to support an enlarged photograph of a little boy on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border. The memorable image gave the impression that the toddler was peering curiously over the fence.

The following year, JR partnered with TIME magazine to produce their cover story, featuring over 200 Americans who have been impacted by guns, including “hunters and activists, teachers and police officers, parents and children.” His Guns in America is now also displayed at the Brooklyn Museum.

This exhibition is part of Brooklyn Falls for France, a “cultural season organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and French American Cultural Exchange (FACE) Foundation in partnership with Brooklyn venues.”

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February 2020, Page 29

psychedelic rock with iranian spin

H

by Mike Cobb

abibi is an all-female psychedelic Iranian-American rock band originally from Detroit, Michigan, now based in Brooklyn, New York. They’ve been featured on NPR, have previously released an EP and a full-length album, and will be playing a show with Ice Balloons at Market Hotel in Brooklyn on Saturday, February 15, at 9 pm to celebrate their second full-length release, titled Anywhere But Here, on Muddguts Records.

love for world music from living in Detroit.

The group consists of Rahill, Lenny, Erin, Karen, and Leah on vocals, guitars, bass, and drums, respectively. Occasionally, they are joined live by other musicians, but the band is essentially a quintet. They cite bubblegum, comic books, Googoosh (an Iranian singer and actress), and Motown as major influences on their sound and style. The word Habibi is Arabic for “my love” and is a term of endearment for family and friends. It is with that spirit of positivity that the group takes its name.

Regarding how the history of music and global pop culture influenced the vintage Iranian sounds that inspire them, Lenny says, “After the Iranian Revolution, people weren’t allowed to express themselves how they wanted. Artistic expression had to be nationalistic. But I think that caused artists like Kourosh to create more.

With hardship and oppression comes expression. Like right now in our own country, there’s a booming art and music scene. Sometimes things have to get to rock bottom for people to know why it’s important to be creative and share it with the world.”

Lead singer Rahill was inspired by the psychedelic sounds that swept the world in the 1960s and ‘70s and its particular imprint on the Iranian music scene. Her parents were born in Iran, immigrated to the USA, and she grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She sings in both Farsi, the native language of Iran, and English.

Rahill and Lenny met at a live show in Brooklyn, hit it off, and started making music shortly after. Rahill brought in Karen and Erin and soon they had a group. Rahill and Lenny both shared a love for global psychedelia, in particular Kourosh Yaghmaei, known as the “godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock,” whom Rahill grew up listening to, while Lenny also developed a

“Growing up in Michigan, I’d hear the daily Muslim call to prayer, which is so beautiful.

I’m also into African, Thai, Turkish, and lesser known music. One thing these countries have in common is that they all loved the Beatles and tried to emulate those sounds with their particular rhythmic patterns. We also love looking for old records and have found some great re-releases on the Finders Keepers label,” says Lenny.

In terms of how the current tensions between the USA and Iran factors into Habibi’s music, Lenny says, “We just recorded a cover called ‘The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square,’ which speaks to how hippies were discriminated against. We give it a Middle Eastern treatment.

I’m excited because we can all understand this kind of discrimination. Everything is being attacked on a global scale, which affects us all. It’s hard for us to imagine because we hobnob with all kinds of people every day in New York, but the title of the new album Anywhere But Here comments on this. It’s about feeling like you don’t belong anywhere and wanting to escape.”

About the songs, Lenny says, “The first tune I brought to Rahill was called ‘Come My Habibi’ but it was never put out. Now, I’m really excited that we’re putting it out on Anywhere But Here.”

Some of the album came from older recordings, with new tracks produced, engineered, and mixed

by Alex Epton and Jay Heislemann. “We were finally able to record the songs in a way that did them justice because we feel more comfortable in our own shoes. We had also taken a break and played in other bands, so when we finally got back together, we had more clarity about what we wanted with Habibi. Sometimes in order to see a project clearly you have to take a step back from it,” says Lenny.

photo by Bailey Robb

come in with some music, we’ll talk about it, and then work it out with the band. But there’s all different ways. Like with this album, one of my favorite songs is called ‘Stronghold.’ Leah helped us write the whole thing. Two songs that I used to play with my old band PMS, but were never recorded, appear on this album and are called ‘I Hate Everyone But You’ and ‘Born Too Late.’ Those have more of a garage tinge. They were fully fleshed, but we restructured them and Rahill added her touch with lyrics.”

Regarding the role of women in rock, Lenny states, “If you are a woman, you should have the freedom to continue in this business, which is really male-dominated.”

Lenny adds that female role models include Suzi Quattro of The Pleasure Seekers and Dolly Parton, “You can’t get better than that! Previously women had to sing songs that men wrote for us, but those women did it on their own.

We’re lucky to be in this generation where we have a lot more freedom. The ‘Me Too’ movement has been helpful; people are a bit more aware of what they say and do.”

About building an audience and connecting with fans, Lenny says, “We have a lot of girls who come to our shows who sing along to our songs, which I love. We use Instagram for promo a lot, but it’s also important to talk to people afterwards. We need to do more videos, as things are becoming so much more visual.”

As for future plans, Lenny says that the band will release their version of “The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square,” focus on touring, and are already planning their next album. “Soundcheck is always a great time to come up with new material,” Lenny laughs.

Habibi’s music can be heard and purchased at https:// habibitheband.bandcamp.com. Catch Habibi live Saturday, February 15th at 9pm with Ice Balloons at Market Hotel (1140 Myrtle Ave @ Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn – $15+, all ages).

As to how songwriting happens, Lenny explains, “Usually Rahill will come in with a melody or I’ll

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February 2020

Leave Lizzo alone: society's dishonest dialogue

L

ess than two weeks have passed since Lizzo conquered the 2020 Grammys, opening up music’s biggest night in the wake of the tragic passing of global icon Kobe Bryant. Lizzo performed her chart-topping single “Truth Hurts” in a medley of her other songs, and won three awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Traditional R&B Performance. The night was filled with Kobe Bryant tributes, as well as outspoken black artists (Tyler The Creator in particular) boldly protesting award categories like Best Urban Contemporary. Historically, Best Urban Contemporary has allowed the Grammys to acknowledge black performers, while regularly shutting them out of other categories like the coveted Album of the Year. Regardless, Lizzo had an incredible year and her accolades are much deserved.

Melissa Jefferson (Lizzo) was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Houston, Texas, where she began to cultivate her musical skills. As with most overnight successes, Lizzo has spent the last decade working toward what some might see as sudden stardom. She’s gone from living out of her car to gracing the cover of Time Magazine as entertainer of the year. Lizzo’s music and image have always been dynamic. She performs high energy sets, dancing with her squad of curvy and plus-size dancers, all while singing, rapping live, playing the flute and twerking.

The Houstonian has made it a point throughout her career to preach self-love and hasn’t shied away from discussing her confidence as a bigger, black woman. Lizzo’s upbeat and fiery persona is a key part of her likability and popularity among women, white women in particular. Though she’s generally viewed positively, her image seems to garner as much attention as her music. Criticisms by well-known media personalities have been harsh, and laser-focused on her race and weight.

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by Roderick Thomas More recently, author and commentator Boyce Watkins stirred up controversy by accusing Lizzo of promoting obesity, as well as playing into degrading racial stereotypes of black women. Boyce, via social media, sent out a series of tweets:

In our society, confident “it girl” isn’t the role designated for plus-size and big women to play.

While I can’t speak on Lizzo’s health, it’s clear from watching any of her shows, that she is at the very least in relatively good shape.

“She’s the fat Cardi B meets Tiffany Haddish.

This lady is an embarrassment to the entire black community. It makes me think of slaves performing for Massa and his friends on the plantation.

We are here to serve you in every way imaginable.

Just keep bringing dem biscuits.”

The racial critiques, on the other hand, have a bit more validity to them but are still misdirected in my opinion. The Mammy archetype has historically been adored by white America. Mammy was the de facto mother for a lot of white Americans in the United States. As a character, Mammy is the subservient, overweight, desexualized and naively loyal housemaid. The distrust some black Americans have for anything that resembles a fat, black woman beloved by white America is understandable.

Many men supported Boyce Watkin’s sentiments, including black men, some of whom accused the singer of playing the “Mammy” stereotype – the often overweight, black female caretaker to her white employers, or masters, e.g. Mammy in Gone With the Wind, or Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis in The Help. Fellow rapper and provocateur Azealia Banks even dubbed Lizzo “Millennial Mammy.”

In addition to the racially charged critiques, fitness expert Jillian Michaels was interviewed saying, “Why are we celebrating her body? Why aren’t we celebrating her music? I mean my kid loves her music, but it’s not going to be cool if she develops diabetes.”

Despite the critiques, Lizzo has never promoted her body as a standard: she has however promoted self-acceptance as a precursor to self-love. No one would care if this were a man. Men don’t get measured using beauty metrics the way women do.

The irony so evident, as Boyce Watkins himself could be described as rather portly. Overweight male entertainers like Rick Ross, Fat Joe or Biggie (alive or posthumously) aren’t accused of promoting obesity – it’s a double standard steeped in sexism to begin with.

Hattie McDaniel, who famously played Mammy in 1939’s Gone With the Wind, was awarded an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first for any African American at the time. Simultaneously, civil rights groups protested her role in the film, calling it degrading. Black America’s push back against the Mammy stereotype is a historical fight.

Lizzo, however, is not a modern-day Mammy. The singer is boldly sexual, confident, and glam – far more Katy Perry/Bruno Mars than anything else.

Lizzo isn’t a supporting act, created solely for comedic relief; she’s the headlining act and happens to be a big woman. Her dominance in pop music is a reign unexpected, but exciting and inspiring nonetheless. Simply put, society isn’t accustomed to witnessing a fat woman, authentically and irreverently pivot herself away from “pretty politics” and win so damn much.

Roderick Thomas is an NYC-based writer and filmmaker (Instagram – @Hippiebyaccident).

Jillian Michaels’s comments are disingenuous. In America, we like our women slim and agreeable.

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February 2020, Page 31

THINGS TO DO - FEBRUARY West Village Mezzrow, 163 W. 10th St.

2/2 David Morgan & Kevin Blancq; 2/3 Pianist Harvey Diamond; 2/4 Deanna Kirk, Yaniv Taubenhouse, Rick Rosato & Jerad Lippi; 2/5 Jim Ridl, Tim Armacost & Jay Anderson; 2/6 Chris Pattishall, Barry Stephenson & TJ Reddick; 2/7 Vibraphonist Chuck Redd; 2/8 Vibraphonist Chuck Redd; 2/9 Glenn Zaleski & Mark Zaleski; 2/10 Marko Churnchetz, Joris Teepe & Billy Hart; 2/11 Michelle Walker, Sean Fitzpatrick & Sam Bevan; 2/12 Rale Micic, Nitzan Gavrieli & Steve LaSpina; 2/13 Benny Benack III, Keelan Dimick, Philip Norris & Joe Peri; 2/14 Pianist Joanne Brackeen; 2/15 Pianist Joanne Brackeen; 2/16 Alex Wintz, Dave Baron & Jimmy Macbride; 2/17 Danny Fox, Chris van Voorst van Beest & Max Goldman; 2/18 Paul Jost, Jim Ridl & Dean Johnson; 2/19 Mark Soskin, Jay Anderson & Adam Nussbaum; 2/20 Pianist Alan Broadbent; 2/21 Ehud Asherie, Paul Gill & Willie Jones III; 2/22 Ehud Asherie, Paul Gill & Willie Jones III; 2/23 Bassist Jay Leonhart; 2/24 Bob DeVos, Behn Gillece & Steve LaSpina; 2/25 Tamuz Nissim, George Nazos, Harvie S & Tony Jefferson; 2/26 Jeremy Pelt & Champian Fulton; 2/27 Matt Brewer, Mark Shim & Damion Reid; 2/28 Ken Peplowski, Glenn Zaleski, Katie Thiroux & Matt Witek; 2/29 Ken Peplowski, Glenn Zaleski, Katie Thiroux & Matt Witek

Park Slope Freddy’s Bar, 625 5th Ave

2/4 BLUESday TUESday, Binky Griptite!; 2/5 The Push and Pull; 2/6 Cashank Hootenanny; 2/7 Dear Ana, Ben and Friends, Casino Pascal; 2/9 Sarah Mucho; 2/11 BLUESday TUESday, Freddy DeBoe; 2/12 Sarah Durning and The Fun Sisters’ 2/13 Gabby Steinfeld; 2/14 Miss Jane and the Morning After Band, Les Sans Culottes; 2/15 EMU, Juke Joint Saturday; 2/16 Ellen Winter - Piano And Sings Too; 2/18 Ladies Night - Dawn Drake!

TUESday BLUESday/Host Lee Taylor; 2/21 Johnny Mercier And Friends; 2/22 Workshop, Traditional Music Session, Songwriter’s Deathmatch, Njrous, Bees Deluxe; 2/23 New Music Jam Session; 2/28 Ghost Grace, Quiet Car, JJ’s Funky Groove

Barbes, 376 9th Street

2/2 Stephane Wrembel; 2/3 Brain Cloud, Green Mambo; 2/4 Ari Folman-Cohen, Slavic Soul Party; 2/5 Andy Statman, The Mandingo Ambassadors; 2/6 Tsibele; 2/7 Kill Henry Sugar, The Glorious Sunshine Band, The Crooked Trio; 2/8 The Erik Satie Quartet, Jonathan Singer, Pedro Giraudo Tango Quartet, Kaleta & Super Yamba; 2/9 Ben Monder, Stephane Wrembel; 2/10 Brain Cloud, NYC Gaita

Mandingo Ambassadors; 2/20 Brian Shankar Adler’s Fourth Dimension; 2/21 The Crooked Trio; 2/22 Jonathan Singer; 2/23 Stephane Wrembel; 2/24 Brain Cloud, Bulla En El Barrio; 2/25 Attias & Friends, Slavic Soul Party; 2/26 The Mandingo Ambassadors; 2/27 Terapia & Verbena; 2/28 The Crooked Trio; 2/29 Jonathan Singer

Lower East Side Drom, 85 Avenue A

2/2 School of Rock, Bessie and the Rainbowkids; 2/4 Silver Arrow Band; 2/5 Groove International Singer-Songwriter Night; 2/6 No Alternative; 2/7 Alec/ Noddy, Hot Rabbit; 2/8 Samba New York’s Carnaval Kick-Off Samba Party, AssTricks NYFW Party; 2/9 New York School of Burlesque; 2/11 MajorStage Presents: Live @ Drom; 2/12 Dezron Douglas; 2/13-15 Jorge Luis Pacheco; 2/16 Nano Raies; 2/18 Silver Arrow Band; 2/19 MajorStange Presents” Live @ Drom; 2/21 Cha Wa - New Orleans brass band-meetsMardi Gras Indian outfit; 2/22 Nasza Sciana; 2/25 Silver Arrow Band; 2/26 Sound The Groove!; 2/27 The Petty Toms; 2/28-29 Rumi Suite and Livaneli Songs: Featuring Zuifu Livaneli

Smalls Jazz Club, 138 W 10th St.

2/2 Brandon Sanders Sextet, David Gibson; 2/3 Rodney Green Group, Joe Farnsworth Group, Ben Barnett; 2/4 Malik McLaurine; 2/5 Tony Moreno Group, Matt Haviland Quartet; 2/6 Brandi Disterheft Group, Jonathan Saraga Sextet; 2/7 Rachel Z. Hakim, Quincy Phillips Group; 2/8 Rachel Z. Hakim, Quincy Phillips Group, Mimi Jones and The Lab Session; 2/9 Claire Daly Quartet, Jim Greene Quartet; 2/10 Ben Barnett; 2/11 Jon Elbaz; 2/12 Samir Zarif Quartet, Nasheet Waits Group; 2/13 Jay Rodriguez Trio; 2/14 Uri Caine Trio, Eddie Allen Quintet, JS Williams; 2/15 Uri Caine Trio, Eddie Allen Quintet; 2/16 David Gibson; 2/17 Joe Farnsworth Group, Sean Mason; 2/18 Malik McLaurine; 2/19 Yuriy Galkin Quartet, Noah Preminger Quintet; 2/20 Robin Verheyen Quartet, Michael Feinberg Quintet; 2/21 Eliot Zigmund Quintet, Sylvia Cuenca Group, Corey Wallace DUBtet; 2/22 Eliot Zigmund Quartet, Sylvia Cuenca Quartet, Mimi Jones and The Lab Session; 2/23 Chris Byars Original Sextet, Johnny O’Neal Trio; 2/24 Jonathan Barber Group; 2/25 JD Allen Trio; 2/26 Adam Larson Quartet; 2/27 Mike Bond Quintet, Pat Bianchi Group; 2/28 Winard Harper Group, E.J. Strickland Group, Corey Wallace DUBtet; 2/29 Winard Harper Group’

LIIV, Charlie Brennan, Brandon Rosen

Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery

2/2 Brett Gleason; 2/3 The Horizon Problem, Violent In Black; 2/4 Scotty OOtten, Austin Antoine, Marcelo Maccagnan Trio, Scott Martin + The Gran Disaster, Cecilia Celeste, Ex Norwegian; 2/6 Couch Prints, Jamie & The Guarded Heart, Dilisio, Flock of Indifference, Drew & The Blue; 2/7 The Resurrection of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Band with Grits; 2/8 Judy Rihanna Roullete; 2/9 Theo Kandel with Penelope and Bossanova, Moon Sugar; 2/10 The Lowliest One W/ The Newsreeks, Evan Moore & The Hot Takes, Matt Perish; 2/11 Bentley Robles, Mumu, M The Myth, Holdn; 2/12 Spanking Charlene Record Release Party; 2/13 Anastasia Elliot with Justsaints and The Royal Minks, Deep Sea Peach Tree, Loren Beri, Floam, Da Pop; 2/15 The Love Hangover; 2/16 Tricia Scotti, Murderers’ Row, Ruby Rose, Carol,; 2/18 Sara Schwab, Sophia Deleo, Chukwu, Maassai, Acidhead, Keenyn; 2/19 The Darbies with Fine Grain, The Velvicks; 2/20 Casper Jones with Certain Self; 2/22 Samijay; 2/23 Phish Riviera, Brede with Jaie, Daniel Victor; 2/25 The Keymakers, Laurelle, The Lovas, Laura Galindo and the Boys. Grind + Eat + {ray; 2/27 Mojo And The Mayhem, Monday Best; 2/28 Kudu Stooge & Mojohand, Of Clocks and Clouds, On The Sun, And Waiting on Mongo; 2/29 Peak, The Phryg, Space Kadet, Summer Cult, Hamo

Mercury Lounge, 217 E Houston St.

Les Sans Cullotes Freddies, February 14 If you are anything like Gomez Addams, the only place you will want to be this Valentine's Day is celebrating with this Brooklyn rock band who sings their rock and roll in French. " The music is upbeat, energetic and well played (not for the weak of heart, definitely for the sturdy of mind), the lyrics are funny, and the patois in between the numbers is even more so. The band is all rigged out in their number-one dress uniforms, somewhere between the New York Dolls and the Ronettes," -Mike Morgan, Red Hook Star-Revue Club; 2/11 The Underground Spiritual Game, Slavic Soul Party; 2/12 Brasbrook, The Mandingo Ambassadors; 2/13 The Pre-War Ponies, Arthur Vint & Associates; 2/14 The Crooked Trio; 2/15 The Erik Satie Quartet, Jonathan Singer, Bulla En El Barrio; 2/16 Shoko Nagai’s Tokala, Stephane Wrembel; 2/17 Brain Could, Locobeach; 2/18 Sonny Singh: Chardi Kala, Slavic Soul Party; 2/19 The

Page 32 Red Hook Star-Revue

Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St.

2/2 Nada Surf; 2/6 Dijon; 2/7 The Jungle Giants; 2/8 They Might Be Giants 30th Anniversary Flood Show; 2/12 The Cadillac Three; 2/14 Anna Of The North; 2/15 Puss N Boots; 2/19 Soul Asylum: Dead Letter Tour; 2/20 Sloan: 2/22 Longwave; 2/25 Great Times with Cory + Kevin; 2/27 Divine; 2/28 Mackenzie Shrieve, Tor Miller,

2/2 Rachel Lynn, Kara Ali, iamchelseaiam; 2/3 Rattleshake, May Rio, Salemni, Softee; 2/4 Patty B, Underperformers, Noah Rosner, Haus of Healing, Hasaan, Sage, MJ; 2/5 QWAM, Motherhood, Bad Bloom; 2/6 Valley Lodge, The Benevolent Dictators, Sundub; 2/7 SCR; 2/8 The Ludlow Thieves; 2/9 Onlyness, Field Guides, Rose Blanshei, Fansu, Xol Azul; 2/10 Car Astor, Maggie Miles, Best Ex, Talulah Paisley, Razor Braids, Dolphin Pal; 2/11 joan, Towne; 2/12 Michigan Rattkers, Angelique, Zillions, Snafu Yellow, Stolen Gin, Jackson Craig, Dani Stocksdale; 2/13 Spencer Ludwig, DAWN; 2/14 Spud Cannon, Pan Arcadia, Nautics, DAWN; 2/15 Sad Prom 2; 2/16 Motel Radio, Lackadazies, Safety Meeting, Zanders, Danny Christmas; 2/17 Sarah Browne, Gregory Stovetop, Coyote Eyes, The Opossums, Jordan Wolfe, Nesly K; 2/18 Alexandra Savior, The Family Crest; 2/19 DOG, Little Stranger; 2/20 Beth Million, Haviash Mighty, Halima; 2/21 Super Whatevr, Skrizzly Adams, Heck Off Supreme; 2/22 The Shivas, Great Dane, StayLoose, Gangus; 2/23 Dr Danny and the Patients, Conversing with Oceans, Catie Egan, Late Night, Boyfriend Games; 2/24 Cal Scruby: The Unsigned Tour; 2/25 Rhys Lewis; 2/26 Anna Akana, Texas King; 2/27 Hembree, Bergy Seltzer, Charles Warren Or-

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chestra, Widespread Panic, The Maine Dead Project; 2/28 The Bones of J.R. Jones, The Brook & The Bluff, Widespread Panic; 2/29 The Bones of J.R. Jones, The Aberdeen, Danny & Alex, Tucked In

Williamsburg Rough Trade, 64 North 9th Street

2/5 Prep; 2/6 Bonny Light Horseman; 2/7 Donny Benet; 2/8 Lola Marsh; 2/9 Fredo Disco; 2/10 Daughter of Swords, The Dead Tongues; 2/11 Indify Presents Red Flag with KIRBY; 2/12 Matthew Wright; 2/13 Budy; 2/14 Puss N Boots; 2/16 Cheekface, Bad Moves, Gobbinjr; 2/19 The Blue Stones, JJ Wilde; 2/20 Will Evans, Kelsey Hunter; 2/22 The Mattson 2, Palmiyeler, Loose Buttons; 2/27 Mind Shine, Huck; 2/28 Knuckle Puck, Heart Attack Man, One Step Closer, Anxious

Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St.

2/2 Tara Dente, Mary-Elaine Jenkins, Thayer Sarrano; 2/3 Kate Prascher, Chris Q Murphy; 2/4 Kevin Egan, Ali McGuirk, Cassette Spence; 2/5 Caroline Kuhn, John Cushing; 2/6 Aurora Birch, Benny Benson; 2/7 Dirty Bird, Runner, Little Sparrow; 2/8 Shannon McCardle, Chris Moore, Milo Jones, Taylor Plas, Bobby Blue The Balladeer, Tubey Frank; 2/9 Center For Whatever, Ramona Gomes, May Rio, Slight Of; 2/10 Kate Prascher, Frost Trio; 2/11 Crickety Blue, Damian Quinones, Lena Fjortoft; 2/12 Izzy Heltai, Max Shakun; 2/13 Leau, Gene Baker and The Millenials, Boys Drool, Kirk Palsma and The Family Band; 2/14 Will Taylor, Melissa Mary Ahern, Matt Perish; 2/15 Petra Jasmiina, Kate Koenig, Phil Robinson, Rama Gu, Kate Koenig, Rue Snider; 2/16 Turnstyle Reading Series, Kid Midnight, Robert Leslie, Johnny Leitera/ Tuff Sunshine, Alex Lowry; 2/17 Kate Prascher, Variousound Sessions; 2/18 Olivia Lloyd, Philip Lynch Band, Xavier Bodega; 2/19 Charming Disaster; 2/20 Time Lappin; 2/21 Jeff London, Goods & Services, Dirty Cosmos; 2/22 Good Luck Moutain, City Billies, Acting Chairman, Dovy; 2/23 Ruby Landen, Hannah Read, Olli Hirvonen; 2/24 Kate Prscher, Alexandra James, ETA_ BETA; 2/25 The Icebergs, Sushi Jones, Monster Furniture; 2/26 Alex Rainier; 2/27 Noam Weinstein and Friends, Norwood; 2/28 Not Your Mother, Buck And A Quarter Quartet, The Library Band; 2/29 Braulio Cruz, Johnny Chops, Manana, Orly Bendavid and The Mona Dahls

Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe St.

2/5 Fruition; 2/7 Spafford, PK Kid; 2/8 Spafford; 2/11 Tiberius & Friends; 2/12 Rocky And The Pressers + Brother Jerome; 2/13 808s & Heartbreak; 2/14 Automic Funk Project, Killing Me Softly; 2/15 Andy Frasco & The U.N. & Big Something; 2/16 Donuts Are Forever 14; 2/17-18 Durand Jones & The Indications;

2/19 The Trime, Dodongo, Jam The Radar; 2/20 Scary Pockets, Antwaun Stanley, Therese Curatolo, Mario Jose; 2/21 The Weight Band; 2/22 Reid Genauer & Folks, TheNewDeal; 2/27 Christone Kingfish Ingram; 2/28-29 Circles Around The Sun

Kni�ng Factory, 361 Metropolitan Ave

2/2 Liberty Church; 2/3 Aaron Waldman Residency; 2/4 Thouxanbanfauni x Teejayx6; 2/5 Dirty Honey; 2/6 Wayne Hancock, Bonehard Flannigan; 2/7 Apollo’s Ghost, Indie Crush; 2/8 Capyac, Cool Company, Julian Roy, San Junipero; 2/10 Been Stellar, Wendy Lane, Null Patternl 2/12 GosT, Destryur, Valentine; 2/14 The Jones Family; 2/15 Blonde Otter, Hippie Tribe, Hot Bed, AVANTEm Rico, Poolhaus, Jackal Jyve; 2/18 Papooz Salmone, Emily Jackson; 2/19 So Long and Goodnight; 2/20 Wildstreet, Wicked, Metafier, Snake Canyonl 2/21 SAD!; 2/22 Jonas Brothers vs Exes; 2/24 Show Me Proof; 2/25 Autobody, Famous Logs; 2/27 Thriftworks, Beardthug, GrowBox, KRXNIK; 2/28 Los Colognes; 2/29 Joey Cape, Chris Cresswell, Michael Menert

Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N 6th St.

2/6 Palace - the Life After tour; 2/7 Mayer Hawthorne; 2/8 Rynx; 2/12 Electric Guest, Soleima; 2/14 Juliana Hatfield; 2/15 Kaivon, INZO; 2/21 Zacl Villere, Mulherin; 2/22 Bag Raiders; 2/23Summer Salt, Okey Dokey and Breakup Shoes; 2/24 Black Lips; 2/25 Grayscale, Hot Mulligan, WSTR, Lurk; 2/27 Garza

Union Pool, 484 Union Ave.

2/3 Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir; 2/4 Steve Gunn, William Tyler & Friends; 2/5-7 Steve Gunn; 2/8 Higher Power; 2/9 Chapmion Chills, Jonathan Kane, Dionne Werewolf, Nick Hallett; 2/12 PPL; 2/14 The Harlem Gospel Travelers, Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir; 2/17 Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir; 2/18 Ryley Walker, Franz Charcoal; 2/21 Howlin Rain; 2/24 Reverend Vince Anderson and the Love Choir; 2/26 Alice Cohen & the Channel 14 Weather Team; 2/27 Parlor Walls; 2/28 Ben Seretan

Bushwick The Sultan Room, 234 Starr St.

2/2 Phony PPL; 2/5 Ghost King; 2/6 Stuyedeyed, Material Girls, Gift; 2/7 Elise Testone, Fallen Atom, Ateller, Passport Rav, The House of Excrement; 2/8 Kaye Single Release, Gemma, Bright Light Bright Light, Jack-ET Pearl, Fernando Casablancas, Matthew Later; 2/12 The Triple Goddess, Kala and the Lost Tribe, Kamilah, Keiyaa, Rimarkable; 2/13 The Johns & Mary Vision Dueling; 2/14 Christeene An Tha’ Instruments: Exchanges Et Special Guests; 2/14 Joy Presents Bliss: A Love Affair; 2/15 Fascinator, Evolfg, Ista, Nigh-

February 2020

MUSIC AND OTHER STUFF

time, Gallagher, Edan; 2/17 A. Savage, Kyle Avallone; 2/18 Good God: Lucas Brothers, Randy Feltface,Martin Urbano, Alison Leiby; 2/19 Howard, Sonya, Kitchell, Arc Iris; 2/20 Valipala, Jake Sherman Band, Jae Soto; 2/21 John Zorn’s Simulacrum, Congi, Primate, Dillard, marka, Dual Natured; 2/22 Disco Tehran; 2/23 Jeremy Cunningham, Dan Weiss, Ben Monder; 2/26 Daniel Romano; 2/27 Toebow, Mmeadows, Office Culture, Loosie; 2/28 Underground System, Yasser Tejada, Nickodemus, Eli Soul Clap; 2/29 Nomi Ruiz, MS Boogie, Dylan the Gypsy

Starr Bar, 214 Starr Street

2/3 Open Mic; 2/9 A Creative’s Perspective, Major Minor Piano Cabaret; 2/11 NYC Co-Op

Housing Mixer; 2/15 Star Party, An Astrological Dance Bash; 2/22 Global Fusion Night

Ridgewood Nowadays, 56-06 Cooper Ave

2/2 Lovefingers, Heidi Lawden; 2/5 A Poem Is A Naked Person; 2/6 Safer Spaces Panel; 2/7 Dweller; 2/8 Dweller; 2/9 Dweller; 2/12 Jimi Plays Monterery & Shake; 2/13 Vinyl vs MP3 vs Aiff; 2/14 Optimo All Night; 2/15 Sybil And A Special Guest; 2/16 Eamon Harkin and DJ Heather; 2/19 Dead Man; 2/20 Naloxone Training; 2/21 Eamon Harkin and Tornado Wallace; 2/22 Physical Therapy and Blawan; 2/23 Soul Summit All Day; 2/26 Buena Vista Social Club; 2/27

Apocalipsos U; 2/28 DJ Python and Valesuchi; 2/29 FNV and Vicki Powell

2/21-22 Terry Turtle Memorial, Buck Gooter, PC Worship, Weeping Icon

Trans Pecos, 915 Wyckoff Ave.

The Footlight, 465 Seneca Avenue

2/5 Space Sluts w/ Extra Special, Shapes in Calgary; 2/6 MC Lars, Schaffer The Darklord, Joata; 2/7 Courier Club, Stolen Gin; 2/8 Open City, Soul Gio; 2/9 Garcon No 1, Josephine, TDA, new Love Crowd; 2/10 Godcaster, Bug Fight, Venus Twins, Threesome; 2/11 Yphuna, Blush, How Says; 2/12 Electramagnetica; 2/13 Dreamcrusher, Bonnie Baxter, MurderPact, Channel 63; 2/14 Unusual Suspects 002, Seth Magoonm Omer Mil, Daddou; 2/15 Dan English, Lily Konigsberg, Cole Haden; 2/19 1 Trait Danger; 2/20 Fish Narc, Ppgcasper, Dollhouse, Phantasia;

2/2 Grubby Paws, The Long Way Home, Catalyst, Kahuna; 2/6 Death of a Business Jerry, Kindergarten, My Son The Doctor, Scad; 2/7 Holy Tunics, Pocket Protector, Winnebago Vacation, Psycho Pat

Quinones Trio; 2/14 Jake G & The Soul Vibrance; 2/15 King Solomon Hicks; 2/16 Cortelyou Jazz Jam; 2/17 Songs on Cortelyou; 2/18Franglais; 2/20 Fun Sisters; 2/22 Algebra & Friends; 2/23Cortelyou Jazz Jam; 2/24 Bar Chord Singwriters Contest; 2/25 Michael Potter; 2/26 Junkbucket; 2/27 the Clubs; 2/28 Adam Falcon Band

Elsewhere

Kensington

Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd

2/2 Cortelyou Jazz Jam; 2/5 The Darkest Timeline; 2/6 John Pinamonti Band; 2/7 Hot Hand Band; 2/8 Hugh Pool Bank; 2/9 Cortelyou Jazz Jam; 2/10 Gen Z Jamz; 2/13 Damian

2/5-6 Radical Face; 2/9 Jonathan McReynolds; 2/11 Nightly; 2/12-13 The Lone Bellow; 2/135 ALO; 2/16 Luke James; 2/17 Vincint; 2/18 Iyla; 2/19 Eric Hutchinson; 2/20 CW Stoeking; 2/24 Hollow Coves; 2/26 The Jungle Giants; 2/27

Bar Chord, 1008 Cortelyou Road

ZZ Ward; 2/28 Adam Melchor; 2/29 The Dustbowl Revival

John T. Floore’s Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road

2/7 Bob Schneider; 2/8 Bellamy Brothers; 2/9 Family Night; 2/14 Tim Montana; 2/15 Sundance Head; 2/16 Family Night; 2/21 Ray Wylie Hubbard; 2/22 Eleven Hundred Springs; 2/23 Family Night; 2/28 Shinyribs; 2/29 Max Starlling

See your listing here, send to will.goyankees @gmail.com

Four authors and an actor to gather in a 1920s Brooklyn ballroom to honor late writer Stephen Dixon

by Michael Quinn The late novelist and short story writer Stephen Dixon will be honored by authors and an actor at “Celebrating Stephen Dixon,” a literary event hosted by Murmrr in the Union Temple of Brooklyn, near Grand Army Plaza, on Thursday, February 27,, 2020 at 7:30 PM. Dixon, a Manhattan native, died this past November at the age of 83.

Describing himself in a 2007 interview in Johns Hopkins Magazine as a “compulsive writer,” Dixon wrote almost daily on a manual typewriter. He was prolific, publishing 18 novels and 17 short story collections, among other writings.

While never a household name, Dixon was a two-time National Book Award nominee (for the novels Frog and Interstate) and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (awarded to those “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts,” according to their website) and two National Endowment of the Arts grants (awarded, according to their website, to publicly fund projects of “artistic excellence”), along with other esteemed literary honors, including many O. Henry Awards and Pushcart Prizes.

According to Dixon’s obituary in The New York Times, his “hyperrealistic novels and short stories reflected his fascination with personal loss, sex, heartbreak, disaster, marriage and old age.” Known, not always favorably, for his experimental style, The Washington Post called his work “sprawling and sometimes manic, with run-on sentences, endless paragraphs and an immersive style that detailed the messy, meandering thoughts of [its] protagonists.”

Dixon influenced countless writers

Red Hook Star-Revue

through his 27 years of teaching at Maryland’s Johns Hopkins University. Writing on the website Lithub, former student Kristopher Jansma remembers how particular Dixon was about his craft, sharing his early struggles with an editor over suggested changes. Jansma writes, “Dixon told us how he’d fought each and every edit, one at a time, until at last the man surrendered and published the story without a single change. ‘You have to say what you mean,’ he told us, and something about his tone made it like both a threat and a blessing. ‘And say it how you mean it.’”

Another of Dixon’s students, the novelist and memoirist Porochista Khakpour (Sick), will be sharing her reminisces of Dixon at the event (on Twitter she called him “my great mentor”). She will be joined by Academy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated actor F. Murray Abraham, short story writer Diane Williams (The Collected Stories of Diane Williams), writer Blake Butler (300,000,000), and editor Dennis Johnson (cofounder of independent publisher Melville House).

The event, co-sponsored by Park Slope’s Community Bookstore, is part of Murmrr’s ongoing “Lit” series of readings and other authorrelated events hosted in their atmospheric 1920s ballroom. Close to Prospect Park, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, and the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, Murmrr is located at 17 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238, and accessible via the 2/3 subway line to the Grand Army Plaza stop.

Doors for the event open at 6:30 PM, February 27. Tickets for the “all ages” show cost $12 and are on sale at MURMRR.com.

LIVE COMEDY COMES TO RED HOOK

by Brett Yates Red Hook residents no longer have to leave the neighborhood to enjoy New York’s stand-up scene. On the third Wednesday of the month, Hoek Pizza (117 Ferris Street) will host a recurring free show emceed by comedians Candyce Musinski and Meagan Walsh at 8:30 pm for patrons 18 and older.

The monthly engagement began in January and continues on February 19.

Musinski and Walsh have organized a comedy showcase called Not Right Now Comedy for the past five years in several venues throughout Brooklyn. Red Hook now joins Williamsburg and Prospect Heights as a regularly scheduled stop.

The show always features five comics, each of whom performs an eight-minute set, with Musinski and Walsh introducing each act and cracking jokes in between. “We switch up the comics constantly, and they’re all amazing,” Musinski boasted. February’s lineup – Kenice Mobley, Alex Pavone, Norlex Belma, Derek Humphrey, and Alison Lieby – includes stand-ups who have performed at the Comedy Cellar and Caroline’s on Broadway.

Musinski lives on Van Brunt Street. “I have been trying to get a comedy show in Red Hook for a long time now. I’ve gone around asking people, but nobody wants it,” she said. Fortunately, she knew a bartender at Hoek, who set her up with a meeting with the owner.

Hoek, a Roman-style brick oven pizzeria, had not previously featured live entertainment. “They were definitely a little nervous, but I guaranteed them a good crowd – people will be drinking, people will be eating, it’s going to be a great time – so they did it, and they were very happy, and they’re ready to do it again.”

The first show on January 15 “was awesome, and I know the next one will be even better,” Musinski promised.

Longtime best friends, Musinski and Walsh met in college in Pennsylvania, where they studied theater and worked together on a production of Lysistrata.

According to Walsh, they’re a natural comedy duo, with their differences of personality informing their on-stage dynamic. “I feel like the best description is good-cop-bad-cop, but in a way where we’re both criminals,” she observed. “I’m the good cop.”

Musinski likes to tailor each iteration of Not Right Now Comedy to the neighborhood where it takes place. For Red Hook, that means a cozy, laid-back show where her neighbors will feel comfortable on a casual Wednesday night.

Three years ago, Musinski, who has lived in New York for a decade, moved to Red Hook specifically for its neighborly atmosphere. “People actually interact with each other. It’s almost like a small town outside of Brooklyn. Everybody knows each other and loves each other and supports each other. I love that sense of community because that’s what I grew up with in Pennsylvania.”

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February 2020, Page 33

Summit remains undefeated

by Nathan Weiser

T

he boys basketball team at Red Hook’s Summit Academy moved to 11-0 with their dominating 102-55 win over Brooklyn Collaborative Studies (BCS) on January 27. BCS, located in Carroll Gardens, dropped to 2-10 in the league.

If Summit Academy wins their final three regular season games, they will complete their second consecutive undefeated season in the B division.

Summit had a 14-point lead at halftime, but in the second half they truly excelled. The star of the game for the Eagles was senior Jeremiah Hewitt.

“Jeremiah played a hell of a game,” Summit coach Phil Grant said. “He had 31 points and 22 rebounds, career highs.”

Four other Eagles also finished in double figures. Senior Jordan Council had 18 points and four assists, senior Soumana Sylla had 15 points, junior Mohamed Elshiekh chipped in with 13 points, and senior Donte Howard had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Summit started the game strong by taking a 5-0 lead on a steal and then a layup by Hewitt and then making a 3-pointer. Later in the first quarter,

Rezoning (continued from page 6)

Industry City’s rezoning application promises 20,000 new jobs: nearly as many as Amazon’s best-case scenario in Queens in 2018. For HQ2, de Blasio was willing to move heaven and earth – more specifically, he was willing to run roughshod over the public processes through which disruptive new developments must typically pass. But when securing an economic boon requires attending to the concerns of the local community, he turns his back. Menchaca has not yet rejected Industry City’s ULURP, but the mayor has put him in a position where he’ll face humiliation if he doesn’t.

The councilman’s demands aren’t unreasonable. They embody an effort to show some basic respect to his voters, who have taken the time to speak up at countless meetings about the future of Sunset Park’s waterfront. No matter what, some of Industry City’s neighbors will, with good reason, oppose the rezoning, which would precipitate some gentrification as an inevitability, but those who support the proposal should commend Menchaca’s attempt to make it palatable to as much of Sunset Park as possible. De Blasio’s refusal to back the councilman speaks volumes.

Something is broken here. The mayor, it seems, has no capacity to rezone democratically. When the people stand up, he shuts down.

Public involvement makes government’s work harder and messier; it is also the force that legitimizes that work. Robert Moses is dead, thank god: no public official should expect to wield autocratic authority as they endeavor to shape a better city. Because of de Blasio and

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Council was fouled shooting a corner three-pointer and made two of three foul shots to give Summit a 12-4 lead.

“Mohammed is one of our younger players, and he had a great second half.”

The crowd at Summit got excited after Howard’s fast-break dunk gave the home team a 16-point lead. Hewitt, who would get a lot of second chance points, had a tip-in off of a miss just as the first quarter ended to make the score 30-11.

The Eagles would go on a 12-0 run to open the third, highlighted by steals and fast-break layups capped by a Council corner three-pointer to make the score 57-31. Later in the 3rd, freshman Jonathan Felix made a layup off a miss to bring Summit’s lead to 29.

BCS went on a 6-0 run to begin second quarter on a few fast break points but Elshiekh made a jumper in the key to give Summit some momentum.

Summit had a 74-42 lead at the end of the third. More long-range shooting

by Elshiekh helped Summit pull away even further in the final quarter.

Hewitt made a layup for Summit that made the score 38-25 after a big block

by Council at the other end. BCS cut the deficit to 10 by bracketing Nicholas Mickens’s corner three-pointer with two three-pointers of their own.

An open three by Council pushed Summit over the elusive 100-point plateau in the closing moments. At 102-51, Summit was dribbling out the clock, but BCS decided to go for a steal and get a layup to end the game.

Heading into halftime, Council got a steal and made a three-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Eagles a 45-31 lead.

After their final three regular season games, Summit will be primed to enter the playoffs as one of the higher seeds. Summit went 5-4 in a very challenging non-league schedule, which helped them prepare for the second half of the season. In the postseason, they hope will to outdo their two playoff wins from last year.

Coach Shamel spoke to the team at halftime. Grant thought the team came out of the break with new energy and increased their intensity, helping them open the game up in the third quarter.

Elshiekh, a junior, also stepped up in the second half with his shooting from long range.

“Mohammed came in and made some really good shots,” Grant said.

Bloomberg, some New Yorkers describe rezonings as “ethnic cleansings,” which may sound like hyperbole, but dismissing the anger will get us nowhere.

That said, updating land-use codes doesn’t have to be an act of violence.

New York’s zoning resolution was written in 1961 – revisions are necessary. But as more and more of those who sit on the losing end of the mayor’s rezonings speak out, a more democratic form of planning will have to emerge, and DCP will no longer be able to rely on triggering catastrophic avalanches of rapacious development in vulnerable neighborhoods to increase the housing supply.

For de Blasio, accepting a more reasonable rezoning in Bushwick would have meant accepting, perhaps, that crude land-use deregulation cannot rescue New York from its housing crisis. He may not have been ready to face this reality.

We need new solutions, and talking over those who’ve suffered most from the failed policies of the past won’t help us find them.

Politics (continued from page 9)

ficially endorsed Wright for Senate, followed shortly by IND. For New York’s Democratic establishment, Wright’s task in the Senate will not be to uphold a particular set of political convictions but to preserve the party’s relationships with the institutions upon whose members they depend for support in each election.

The goal is to maintain a healthy Democratic machine, which in many New York City districts has proven itself capable of sustaining the political careers of incumbents almost indefinitely without asking them to

Summit will face tough opponents in the playoffs, and Grant said they don’t take anyone lightly.

Summit played four challenging games at the Bobcat Classic in Greensboro, North Carolina, right bebreak sweat. For most of our elected officials, the party itself will always be more important than any particular policy position. And in the end, Wright, too, will follow the party line: in the final days of the 2019 legislative session, she set aside her personal feelings and voted for the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. Many voters in Brooklyn have their own reasons to believe in the Democratic Party as an institution – one of them may be Velmanette Montgomery’s career of diligent service. But even these voters should understand that an organization predicated on self-perpetuation is, in itself, necessarily an ideological void: the ideas must come from elsewhere – that is, from the underlying networks that power the machine. These may be special interest groups or mass movements. The model works best when the party avoids tying itself to groups whose demands are incompatible, but this often happens anyway, because it’s hard to turn down a potential funding source.

In the case of the HSTPA, the foundation for legislative action lay in a mass movement of renters, especially in New York City, where they comprise 65 percent of the population. In reality, the Democratic lawmakers were not responsible for the new law – it was the tenants who pushed them into it, and the strength of their numbers was enough, eight out of nine times, to wrest them from the real estate developers’ opposing claims to their attention.

For many of the activists who helped catalyze the movement, housing justice remains only one part of an even broader vision for a society that prioritizes basic human needs over private profits: a society that guarantees

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Soumana Syla goes up for a shot.

fore Christmas. They went 2-2 and finished in fifth place, while the Summit girls team finished in first place.

The team played well against difficult competition down in Greensboro.

Summitplayers enjoyed bonding with kids from different places.

The final games of the regular season are against BCAM, Adams Street and Cobble Hill School of American Studies. Grant thought the first two, which are road games, will be good tests for the team before the playoffs.

“Our goal is to go undefeated again in the league,” Grant said. “Our guys are poised to do it. We had a really good practice on Saturday.” housing, healthcare, and education to all – not just a fair opportunity to compete for access to these as commodities in the market. The Democrats who arrived in Downtown Brooklyn on January 11 to endorse Tremaine Wright showed that they don’t share this vision – rather, they view tenant organizers as just one of many narrow interest groups, to whom, by passing the HSTPA, they have discharged their obligation. It’s time to move on to other issues in 2020.

The housing activists, of course, don’t see it that way. To begin with, they still want Good Cause Eviction. Sooner or later, I think it’ll get it. If they exert enough pressure, they may – who knows – manage even to sway Tremaine Wright, as an assemblywoman or a senator. But Wright isn’t the only candidate running in Senate District 25, and the upcoming race will demonstrate whether veteran Democrats – even those who supported the HSTPA – have underestimated the power of 2019’s “universal rent control” campaign as an epiphanic moment for voters who imagined it as a possible starting point for a larger political transformation in New York rather than an end unto itself, or whether Albany can indeed safely return to business as usual.

The alternatives Jason Salmon, a former staffer in Montgomery’s office, launched his candidacy in October. The combination of Salmon’s left-wing platform, centered on police reform and racial justice, and his connections to the Democratic establishment through his work with Montgomery appeared to offer an opportunity to unite grassroots progressives and older mod-

(continued on next page) February 2020

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Politics

(continued from previous page)

erates within the party. But then the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) influential endorsement went to public school teacher Jabari Brisport instead, and Montgomery cast her lot with Wright. Red Hook’s left-ish councilman, Carlos Menchaca, announced his support for Salmon shortly before Montgomery’s official retirement, but it may not be enough.

As a competitor in Senate District 25, Brisport makes for a particularly stark contrast beside Wright. His platform is the DSA platform, which demands radical redistributions of power in our economy and political system, vast improvements in public services, and policy overhauls to compel the humane treatment of undocumented immigrants, prisoners, and sex workers. If elected, Brisport will not be likely to spend much time navigating the shifting, personal demands of New York’s power brokers; the DSA’s ideological rigidity will compel him to keep his sights set on large-scale, popular reforms and universal programs.

Back in October, I also attended Brisport’s candidacy announcement, which didn’t much resemble Wright’s. The event marked the launch not only of his campaign but also that of Phara Souffrant Forrest in Assembly District 57. As far as I could tell, though, there weren’t any big names in the crowd – it was just a bunch of young people hanging out in

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the backroom of a bar called Friends and Lovers.

A couple days later, I chatted with Brisport on the phone. On the topic of housing policy, he emphasized his advocacy not only for piedà-terre tax and a vacancy tax to discourage wasteful real estate speculation but also for NYCHA investments, community land trusts, and a new state-funded social housing program.

“A lot of the housing issues we face are because we’ve commodified housing and made it a way to get rich, and the inevitable result is that people will use it to get rich at the expense of working-class people who need housing to survive, and I think that contradiction is something that needs to be addressed,” he said. “I don’t think we can simultaneously have housing be an investment and also be affordable.”

Due to extensive canvassing by DSA members during the 2018 State Senate race, voters in Bushwick and Williamsburg elected Julia Salazar, who would introduce Good Cause Eviction less than a month after taking office. While some standard Democrats have, at times, demonstrated a capacity to absorb the demands of grassroots activists and honor them in Albany, it can help to have a more direct point of access to push the envelope.

The primary for 2020’s New York State Legislature election will take on June 23.

February 2020, Page 35

B

eats pulsed like a throbbing heartbeat thrashing a metallic hymn. Strobes entrapped dancing bodies in an electrified robotic stutter. And Public Records’ hi-fi quadraphonic Sound Room transported Brooklyn’s rapidly gentrifying Gowanus neighborhood into a worldclass nightspot.

A Saturday night at Public Records Words and pictures by Micah Rubin

I’d wanted to explore Public Records since it opened in April 2019, but a variety of reasons kept me away. Mostly my friends are married with kids and getting them out is nearly impossible. (I’m also married with a three-year old, but I still manage to leave the house.) So rather than wait for a wingman to magically appear, I dove in.

On a rainy Saturday night, after getting turned down by my homebuddies, I jumped into a taxi for an evening of electronic dance music.

S

ituated in the old ASPCA headquarters on Butler Street, Public Records transformed its former industrial space into a sound mecca. There’s a bar, vegan café with LPs and audiophile stereo equipment for sale, and a space for live events. My evening goal was to check out the Sound Room performance space, where national and international artists spin vinyl-record-heavy sets through an amazing quadraphonic sound system. I also planned on checking out the bar while breaking from the heavy beats.

Unsure of what to expect, I arrived at Public Records around 10:15 pm. I wanted to experience the room and its sonic resonance before things got hot and heavy. It also helped that arriving before midnight usually permits free entry with RSVP (normally around $20-$30).

After having my ID checked by an imposing security guard, I walked through Public Records’ tree-lined courtyard. A right turn heads into the bar while continuing straight leads to the live-music Sound Room.

Bags aren’t allowed into the venue, so I checked my coat and backpack with the attendant ($4) and slid into the music.

The room felt like being transported into the movie Tron. A red hiphigh stripe of light traced the dimly-lit hallway. A gauzy fog wafted through the air. A sword of light shredded the club’s shadows, cutting the darkness with its conical blade and revealing the maybe 20 early arrivers enjoying the beats and space to dance.

T

he rhythm was contagious, but I had more to explore. I walked around the room examining the quadraphonic system’s eight-foot-tall speakers. Built using new and vintage equipment (including honeycomb-shaped Altec horns), the Sound Rooms’ fidelity stuns.

Nightclub audio systems usually leave my ears ringing and guts queasy. Not so at Public Records. Their audiophile acoustics produce crisp musical amplification. The entire room sounds fabulous. For audio ecstasy, stand beneath the shimmering disco ball in the center of the room. It’s the sweet spot where each of the four speakers aim.

I planted myself under the disco ball, drifting into DJ Mary Yuzovskaya’s rhythm. Her infectious beats overran my body like Poindexter in Revenge of the Nerds (except my moves were arguably much cooler).

The crowd slowly thickened as the night progressed. Beats got deeper and darker. Space to dance shrunk.

With all the new arrivals, the chatter of revelry and conversations battled the music for supremacy. I gave up my spot underneath athe disco ball and

Page 36 Red Hook Star-Revue

wandered the room, stepping onto the mostly empty stage used for instrument-based performances. (The DJs conduct the evening from a booth in the front of the room).

From my stage-top perch, I watched as the rhythm’s current swooshed through the dancers, their movements swaying with the beat. Beams of red, blue, green light swept through the room’s pegboard-lined walls, bouncing off sweaty faces

and a disco ball reflecting a constellation of stars.

It was an epic scene and I was in it. Intoxicated by the music, the lights, the ambiance. (And believe it or not, completely drug- and drink-free.)

I needed a breath and headed to the adjoining bar expecting to find a pack of scruffy hipsters. Instead, downtempo tunes flowed above the artsy clientele. Sophisticated people sipped microbrews and bespoke cocktails in booths

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and café tables. It was a starkly different yet complementary atmosphere to the Sound Room’s melodious groove.

I felt satisfied by and content with my adventure.

At Public Records, two musical worlds exist in parallel, bridged by world-class artists holding court over disparate rhythmic kingdoms.

233 Butler St, Brooklyn, NY 11217 (347) 529-4869

February 2020