Celebrate Mother's Day by finding something awesome and local with the Crown Heights Cash Mob today from 2pm on!
Smallknot and ioby are teaming up to bring our cash mob love to
Brooklyn's Crown Heights! Just a quick hop and a skip from the 2,3,4,
and 5 trains. If you don't know what cash mobs are, check out this story
on our last one in Carroll Gardens. http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-cash-mobs-hit-brooklyn,0,769357.story
Meet outside of Chavela's on Franklin Ave and Sterling Place, a
couple of blocks from the Franklin Ave stop (2,3,4,5) at 2pm. From
there, we'll go to our local merchant Lily & Fig. A a perfect way to
spend a sunday afternoon. Your $20 purchase at this spot will not only
soothe your sunday but will also support a fantastic local business!
And, of course, aprés cash mob, we'll repair to one of the fine local
watering holes nearby. Come on out to support local business, bring your
friends, meet new friends, and have some fun.
Art Not Arrests and the CHCA are screening the award-winning documentary "The Interrupters" at the Crow Hill Community Garden tonight at 7:15pm, and Alan James of Save Our Streets Crown Heights (which employs the same violence interruption strategy that is documented in the film) will be on hand to introduce the movie. Under any circumstances, ILFA would highly recommend this event, but recent news makes attendance even more worthwhile. As of today, the lot in which the garden is located has been sold, and the garden, which community members have poured countless hours into over the last few years, must be vacated within two weeks. With so little time left to enjoy the garden, why not swing by tomorrow.
Thinking aloud, there's a bittersweet irony here, because it's precisely the efforts of Crow Hill and other like-minded folks that have made the neighborhood so attractive for developments of the kind that will displace this garden. The folks I talked to today were bummed to lose it, obviously, but they were proud of the contribution that it made to the increasingly vibrant sidewalk life along Franklin. Hopefully whatever gets built in that space will be as easy on the eyes as the garden has been.
On a more practical note, the awesome installation that Art Not Arrests erected will need a new home, as will all the gardeners who planned to have plots in the garden this summer. I'm sure they're reaching out to people already, but if you're involved with a local garden or other public space in the area, keep them in mind.
Finally, in other news along the same lines (neighborhood beautification attracts development that displaces said beautification), the mural panels along Eastern Parkway will come down on Monday. If you're an artist who took part or just a person who'd like to preserve one of these pieces of art, get in touch with Crow Hill this weekend.
It's way too late for a weekend rundown (heck, last night's post was already about this coming weekend), but last weekend came and went with a number of notable new additions to Franklin, and they seem worth mentioning. If, like ILFA, you're the kind of person who likes chatting about all things local, including changes like these, come on out tomorrow night for a mid-week beer at Washington Commons with the fine folks from Brooklynian. I can guarantee the conversation will be lively.
Some cannon fodder for the conversation (it's finals time in ILFA's world, so I'll have to miss out):
- Two local bars unveiled their food offerings this weekend, with Black Tree Sandwiches setting up shop in the tiny kitchen at the back of The Crown Inn and 739 Franklin launching their menu as well. While I haven't had the chance to sample the wares at 739 yet, the grilled cheese from Black Tree was very tasty indeed (and came with a healthy portion of chips).
- Work on the new restaurant in the former Franklin Roadhouse is coming right along, while the former Slice of Brooklyn is undergoing a mild renovation in order to reopen as Roscoe's, a new slice pizza place.
Check these guys out - they live right here in Crown Heights. Between the frequent shows at LaunchPad, Secondary Sound Jam Nights, Brooklyn Unplugged, and probably a lot of other stuff that the musicians in the neighborhood are tapped in to, CH is developing something of a music scene.
From their press release:
TUBETOPS
In the summer of 2010, on the day of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, three high school friends from upstate New York and another from Dartmouth College made a pact to forego the pleasures of the flesh to stay indoors and write their first song as a band. Since then, Tubetops has worked tirelessly in cramped Brooklyn basements to hone what they like to call their 'sex-wave' sound. They self-released their first EP in December of 2011 and played numerous venues across New York City to close the year out. Running on the momentum of their self-titled debut, they immediately began work on a follow up effort in early 2012.
WARMER STILL EP
For their new project, Tubetops presented themselves with a challenge: to write as many songs as possible in one weekend. Unsure of the product they would churn out, the band stayed up all night, working into new territory, subsisting on Indian food and bodega sandwiches. They came away with their four best songs to date while continuing to draw on their undeniable ability to put together great pop songs. Instead of limiting the songs, the artificial time constraint seems to have added to the cohesiveness of the album and filled the songs with an energy that draws the listener in. Written and recorded in the span of 36 hours in the basement of their apartment, Warmer Still is the second EP from Tubetops.
With spontaneity at its heart, Warmer Still delivers a surprisingly polished sound. Each track is layered with synths, drum machines, guitars and an array of vocal styles. At the same time nostalgic yet fresh, the four songs embody the highs and lows, physical and emotional strengths and weaknesses that the band experienced while locked away during that fateful winter weekend of 2012. Tubetops' songwriting process is collaborative; each of the four members contributes to each track adding their voices, ideas, and sounds from a growing collection of vintage synthesizers, acoustic and electronic instruments, field recordings, and samples. The title track opens the EP with a playful bounce, reminiscent of early Depeche Mode. In The Air is fueled by a sexual energy and a distorted bass, but at its heart is a dance track with disco groove. Woolgather is quick-paced and ethereal; the perfect soundtrack to fast cars and neon lights. The EP wraps up with Jet Set Life, an upbeat song dedicated to care-free living and analog synths.
If you haven't checked out Art Not Arrests already, you've got to check them out on Saturday. The brainchild of Ground Up Designers, this community-based initiative is part installation and part education. The installation is already taking shape in the Crow Hill Community Garden, and local residents can participate by donating a pair of colored zip ties at many local businesses. The education starts this Saturday, with a screening of the fantastic documentary "The Interrupters." ILFA saw this film when SOS Crown Heights screened it during their Week of Peace back in October, and it was without a doubt one of the most powerful things I've seen on screen in a long time. I can't recommend it highly enough, and as a bonus, it's supposed to be lovely this weekend. Don't miss this one!
Upcoming Event: Film Screening - 'The Interrupters'
Date: May 12th, 2012 (Raindate, May 13th)
Time: 7:15pm
Location: Crow Hill Community Garden - 730 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Please come enjoy an evening in the garden as we show "The Interrupters". Please
bring folding chairs or a blanket to sit on. After the film,
participants will be invited to stay and discuss what we can do in our
community to prevent gun violence. Zip-cuffs will be available for
donation, to be decorated and added to the installation at the event.
"The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three
Violence Interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from
the violence they once employed. From acclaimed director Steve James and
bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, this film is an unusually intimate
journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities. Shot
over the course of a year out of Kartemquin Films, The Interrupters
captures a period in Chicago when it became a national symbol for the
violence in our cities."
Cinco de Mayo is shaping up to be a great day on Franklin. At LaunchPad, the Built in Brooklyn Craft Fair returns from 12-6pm, with lots of great gifts from local artisans, just in time for Mother's Day. Across the street, the Crow Hill Community Association is leading a Spring Planter Planting from 10am - 12pm to spruce up the Avenue.
Finally, SOS Crown Heights has 11 more hours to collect donations on Philanthroper.com. Click here to support the wonderful work they do to make Crown Heights safe from gun violence.
WNYC's Radio Rookies, "a New York Public Radio initiative that provides teenagers with the
tools and training to create radio stories about themselves, their
communities and their world," aired a show about Crown Heights yesterday morning (thanks to reader Tara for passing the link along). Put together by four students at the High School for Global Citizenship, all recent immigrants from the Caribbean, the show examines their own lives in Crown Heights and their relationship with nearby communities, including their Chabad neighbors across the Parkway. The Radio Rookies page has a nice article/transcript, as well as links to some of their other great shows. Among other issues, they've recently tackled the local reaction to the killing of Trayvon Martin as well as Stop and Frisk policing.
On that last note, one local resident (who blogs at cityintrouble.blogspot.com) has been drawing attention to stop-and-frisk policing through a one-man march and stenciling of "NYPD Get Your Hands Off Me" around the city, including at City Hall. Check him out on FB here. His tactics appear unorthodox to many, to be sure, but when the orthodoxy has accepted Jim Crow policing, unorthodox thinking is a must.
Posts
