If you’re a Lethem lover, get ready for a jolt of Jonathan. As you’d expect, the Motherless Brooklyn writer is appearing at the Brooklyn Book Festival next week — on a panel about music writing and also alongside his fellow “literary lions,” Colson Whitehead and Jacqueline Woodson. Not only that, but the novelist and essayist is also featured in two new documentaries– and he’ll be appearing at a screening of one of them, to talk about all things Lethem.
Bushwick Parent Assaults School Employee; Cafe Orlin Closing
According to police, in Bushwick this week a father punched a school safety officer in the face when told he couldn’t be in an employees-only area of his child’s campus. [DNA Info]
On St. Mark’s Place, Cafe Orlin will shutter October 15 after serving customers for 36 years. [Jeremiah’s Vanishing NY]
GoHealth Urgent Care recently debuted it first Brooklyn facility on Kent Avenue. [Brownstoner] Keep Reading »
Van Leeuwen Is Opening Its Seaport Shop With a $1 Scoop Deal
Ice cream season ain’t over yet. Van Leeuwen, the artisanal ice cream brand that started out of a truck and now has stores in almost every neighborhood B+B covers (LES coming soon), is grand-opening its South Street Seaport outpost on Saturday with a cheap-scoop deal.
The Bean Opens in the Former Home of St. Mark’s Bookshop
(Photos: Daniel Maurer)
Three years after the St. Mark’s Bookshop left its longtime home on the corner of Third Avenue and Stuyvesant Street, The Bean has opened up its newest location inside of the bookstore’s once hallowed halls.
Adjust Your Craftmatic and Watch LCD Soundsystem’s New Album Promo
Hey man, is that LCD Soundsystem? Well, turn it up, man!
It’s no secret everything late ’80s and early ’90s is back in a big way: VHS, Zima, San Junipero, and now: This “official infomercial” for LCD Soundsystem’s excellent new album, American Dream.
Bushwick Wreck Sends Cops to ER; Beaner Bar Bows Out
While responding to a reported shooting in Bushwick last night, three patrol cars were involved in a crash. Two of the officers were hospitalized in stable condition. [NY Post]
Tomorrow night, Beaner Bar will celebrate the end of its nine-year run on Graham Avenue. [Greenpointers]
SushuMai, an Asian restaurant with a pending beer and wine license, debuted on Stanton Street this week. [Bowery Boogie] Keep Reading »
Afro-Futurism, Theater in a Kitchen, And More Performance Picks
THURSDAY
(flyer via The Illustrious Blacks / Facebook)
The Illustrious Blacks: HYPERBOLIC!
Thursday, September 7 at Joe’s Pub, 9 pm: $15 advance, $20 doors
The Illustrious Blacks is a duo comprised of musician Manchildblack and performance artist Monstah Black. The mythos behind the Afro-futurist group goes like this: each man was the ruler of his own planet and known throughout the cosmos for his own unique artistic offerings. One day, the two planets collided, resulting in a colorful explosion that was not disastrous, but instead created a perfect union of art, music, fashion, dance, and theater. I have to say, this whole origin story somehow reminds me of the King Of All Cosmos from the Katamari video games, which is a game in which you play a little creature who rolls up big spheres of stuff to be turned into planets to please a big king. I’m sure that isn’t a very relevant comparison to what The Illustrious Blacks’s show will be like, but it’s still kind of fun to think about.
Whiskey Pants Will Whisk You Away to an Alcoholic, Apocalyptic Williamsburg
“Whiskey Pants: the Mayor of Williamsburg” (Photo: Ze’ Castle Photography)
Since we first told you about Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg a couple of years ago, Williamsburg has gotten a little less whiskey-soaked. Trash Bar is now a boxing gym, and other healthful endeavors like FlyWheel and Equinox have made a home in the neighborhood where rock-n-roll bowling used to be the primary form of recreation.
Caveat Is a New Nerd-Friendly Venue Where Thinkers Entertain Drinkers
(Photos courtesy of Caveat)
Owning a bar isn’t rocket science, but it doesn’t hurt to be a high-energy particle physicist who once worked on CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Ben Lillie did just that before going on to co-found The Story Collider, a podcast dedicated to personal stories about science. Last night, he took the quantum leap into bar ownership and opened Caveat, a Lower East Side venue where thinkers like himself will mingle with comedians, musicians, and the completely unclassifiable.
Drunk Driver Hurts Bushwick Pedestrians; W-Burg Liquor Shop Robbed
Early Monday morning, at least six pedestrians were injured when a drunk driver careened onto a sidewalk near Halsey Street and Wilson Avenue. [ABC 7 NY] Driver Naquan Ricks, 23, was arrested after crashing his car into a nearby fence. [Gothamist]
A Soho food cart vendor was hospitalized this weekend after being attacked by three competitors, who were charged with gang larceny assault. [ABC 7 NY]
Grand Street’s Ming Star Liquor was held up Monday evening by an armed man who made off with $1,500. [DNA Info] Keep Reading »
Intergalactic Utopias, Suburban Kitsch, and More Art This Week
(image via Max Rosen / Facebook)
Omg Random
Opening Tuesday, September 5 at Benson’s NYC, 7 pm. On view through September 19.
Some art shows are tightly curated, conceptually driven projects that claim to elegantly tackle a Big Theme. Others are just selections of nice-looking stuff. Both types of curation are valid, but sometimes you want to give your lil’ old brain a break and just look at some fun, colorful works of art. Luckily, it appears that the aptly-titled Omg Random, opening tonight in the Lower East Side, will deliver all this and a bag of chips. But probably a bag of chips in painting form.
The show consists of work by Mary Houlihan, Max Rosen, and Rosie Morales. They will be showing paintings, mixed media works, collages, and more. Some of you may know Mary as a comedian, but she also makes very fun paintings. I once commissioned her to make a custom dog painting that really turned out great. I have not commissioned dog paintings from the other artists, but they seem top-notch as well. And if you like what you see, prints will be available for sale at the opening.
Where the Wild Things Are: BK Wildlife’s Summer Festival Is On
BK Wildlife founder Chris Carr (top, first left) with his performers and attendees of his Summer Festival opener at Paper Box, 9/2/17. (Photo: Nick McManus)
Brooklyn Wildlife kicked off its biggest summer festival yet at The Paper Box in East Williamsburg on Saturday, and it continues throughout the week. The opening show for the fifth annual fest featured over 60 performers spread over three stages for a 12-hour showcase as diverse musically as it was culturally.