eye heart new york.

"don't call it a comeback..."

2010-04-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back. Don't know if anyone missed me. But I guess this blog went on a longass hiatus as I dealt with seasonal depression, or maybe just some regular-ass depression. But it's nearly summer again and that means its time for all the free shit and all the fun-in-the-sun that makes surviving New York City in the winter worth it. All the landlords that won't turn on your heat or hot water, all the bosses who engage in wage-theft and won't pay you time and a half for overtime or steal from your tips.

New York City may be a really hard place for poor people to live, increasingly so after decades of the policies of Guilliani and Billionaire Bloomberg, but New York City still offers more free entertainment and kickass recreational activities, both underground and way-freakin' mainstream, than any other city in the U.S.

I don't care how fucking broke you are, there's always something cool to do all summer long in New York City.

There's the the outdoor movie festivals such as Movies With a View which plays free movies under the Brooklyn Bridge with a beautiful night time view of the Manhattan skyline; or Riverflicks and Hudson Movies Under the Stars which both play free movies out on the piers of the Hudson River; or on the Elevated Acre, a rooftop park in the financial district on the East River with breathtaking views of the Brooklyn Bridge, Governor's Island and the Statue of Liberty; or Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, Queens which plays mostly international & art house films; or the eco-cafe Habana Outpost in Fort Greene, Brooklyn which plays an eclectic mix of cult classics and retro blockbusters projected onto the side of a building in their funky Cuban-inspired courtyard.

There's the Free outdoor concerts in Prospect Park, Central Park, the River to River Festival, Make Music New York!, Governor's Island, and the hundreds of cafes and bars that have free shows, no cover, all the time. You just have to know where to look.

Not to mention all the beaches and parks, or the free days at the museums and botanical gardens, or the fact that its always free to joyride the Staten Island Ferry or to take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, or to just get out and explore NYC. Get out of your borrough, go somewhere you've never gone before. We have one of the best mass transit systems on the planet, use it!!!

Dead Prez, Ihsan and Outasight at Solar One's CitySol Festival 7/11/09

2009-07-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

New York really has some amazing free outdoor concerts all summer long. For every one I go to, I probably miss 5 or 10 other really badass shows. I tried to check out the free Q-Tip show in Central Park and it was completely filled past capacity. Unlike Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park you can't just stand beyond the fenced area and still watch the show. Central Park's Summer Stage is up on a hill and there's bleacher-style seating. So everyone outside the designated concert area can hear the show, but can't see shit. The following day Lee "Scratch" Perry performed at Summer Stage and I decided I just couldn't make the trip out there again on the hopes I was early enough to get into the fenced off audience pen, just so I could bake in the hot sun while suffering from one of the worst sunburns of my entire life (thank you global warming and expired sun bock). Still, it probably would have been worth dieing of heat exhaustion just to see Lee "Scratch" Perry, but I wasn't feeling up to it.

However, the week before I was able to see hip hop revolutionaries Dead Prez performing free at an outdoor festival designed to raise awareness about solar energy and the environment. I don't think there was very much promotion because the crowd was pretty small considering Dead Prez was headlining. It was cool on a selfish level because that meant I didn't have to fight the crowds to get to the front of the stage, but on a much deeper level it was sad because in this day and age where we are actually seeing the disastrous effects of global warming on a massive scale people should be exposed to the message that this festival is promoting. We should be making a serious effort to switch over to environmentally conscious alternative energy sources before it's too late. We should not only be trying to halt the effects of global warming, but reverse the damage that's already been done. Dead Prez was one of the few artists on stage who actually knew a lot about environmental issues, alternative energy sources and ways in which to protect the planet. They talked about how polluted the City is, especially our rivers. They talked about being vegan for your health and the health of the planet. They urged people to exercise and drink more water, but not from the East River. They joked that that's where our "pure unfiltered New York City tap water" comes from. They also rocked the effing house with songs such as "New York," "War Path" and their mad popular jam "Hip Hop."

The CitySol Festival is an annual clean energy-powered music, art and community event hosted by Solar One, New York City’s first solar-powered "green energy, arts, and education center." Solar One's mission is to "empower people of all ages with the vision, knowledge and resources to attain a more environmentally sound and sustainable future." A message that was echoed on the solar-powered stage by artists such as Dead Prez and Brooklyn's Ihsan, whose eco-conscious hip hop anthem "Go Green, Get Green" was a real crowd pleaser.

The music portion of the festival took place at 23rd St and the East River and was co-curated by Digiwax, who put out a free CD Mix Tape that was given out at the festival. The Mix Tape was called "Hip Hop is Green Vol. 2: Solar Heat" and featured tracks by Dead Prez, Ihsan, O'Neal McNight, Outasight and many many others, with 21 tracks total mixed by DJ GETLIVE!

"It's bigger than Hip Hop..."

****************************

All jokes about New York City tap water aside, New York City has some of the cleanest and best tasting tap water in all of the U.S. and environmental groups in the City are urging people to stop buying bottled water and instead refill reusable containers with "pure unfiltered New York City tap water" instead, thus preventing billions of non-biodegradable plastic water bottles from ending up in landfills every year. New York City's water comes from upstate sources so clean it is not required by the EPA to be filtered in any way. The water is screened and treated and that's about it. Its full of minerals and because EPA standards are higher than the FDA's standards, New York City tap water is actually safer to drink than bottled water. The best part of all is that New York City tap water is completely free, just like nature intended.

Disclaimer: many old buildings in New York still have lead pipes which can contaminate the otherwise pure and delicious New York City tap water. Prolonged exposure to lead can lead to brain-damage and death, so get that shit tested. If you can't afford to get your water tested and you don't trust your scumbag landlord when they say the pipes aren't lead, then be sure to only drink from the cold water tap. Let it run for about a minute before drinking from it. Never drink from a hot water tap.

Free Water Taxi to Red Hook and Back

2009-07-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ok all you "freeloaders," it's time to take advantage of the free Ikea water taxi to Red Hook before the multinational, anti-union mega-box store goes back on their word and stops providing free water taxi service between Manhattan and Red Hook for non-Ikea shoppers.

I joy ride the Ikea water taxi all the time for the view and hope that it won't soon be a thing of the past. I mean, it's a free open-air boat ride with amazing views of the Manhattan skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, Governor's Island, the Statue of Liberty the New York Harbor and the historic loading docks of Red Hook, which are unfortunately marred by the site of the big ugly blue and yellow building that houses overpriced cheaply made Swedish crap furniture designed for people with no imagination or real sense of style.

Ikea has sworn up and down in all the media that they would be providing this service for free, regardless of whether you were a customer of Ikea or not. This wasn't just a gift to Red Hook or to New York City, Ikea offered the Red Hook water taxi service to gain community support for the unwanted box store. This was intended to mitigate traffic concerns, and provide compensation for negative effects in the neighborhood, such as destroying historic structures and ushering in a tide of gentrification and displacement.

It's offensive enough that a big box chain that engages in union busting decided to move into a working class community against their wishes, destroying historic structures that were remnants of labor's past, now there's rumors of Ikea going back on their word of providing free water taxi service to and from Red Hook. Red Hook is one of many Brooklyn neighborhoods that is severely underserved by public transportation, so why shouldn't Red Hook residents and others be able to take advantage of the free water taxi service Ikea promised, especially given the fact that it is heavily subsidized by the City. You're not freeloading when you ride it, that water taxi belongs to you.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, big box stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Ikea and corporate chains like Starbucks, CVS and Duane Reede are destroying everything that is unique and special about New York City. The reason I moved to New York in the first place is because it isn't just one big cookie-cutter strip mall like nearly every other major city in the U.S. However, New York is slowly losing its individuality, its uniqueness, its soul. It's the bodegas, street carts, the parks, community gardens, the small independent businesses, the public spaces that make New York City tick. It's the vibrant, unique neighborhoods with a culture and style of their own that makes New York one of the best cities on the face of the Earth. And New Yorkers aren't going to know what they had until its gone forever and we're living in one big sterile, corporate strip mall you can see from space. One street looking nearly indistinguishable from the next.

So while you still can, hop on the water taxi from Wall Street's Pier 11 and ride it to Red Hook. Enjoy the sights. Soak it all in. Check out historic Red Hook before the yuppies devour it like locusts. Walk along what's left of the historic waterfront. Grab yourself a bagel and check out the views of the Statue of Liberty from the outdoor eating area behind the Fairway. Just be warned, on the trip back they're letting Ikea customers board first. So you may have to catch the next water taxi out if they're all full up.

Brooklyn in The Spring:The Remix

2009-07-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the repost, but I just added a whole lot of pics to my photo album entitled "Brooklyn in the Spring." I also removed some of the weaker photos.

With these pictures I wanted to show the world that Brooklyn is beautiful, especially in the spring. Most of these pictures are from people's personal container gardens, small community gardens and various city parks. They were taken around Crown Heights, Prospect Park, Prospect Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Red Hook, Brooklyn Heights and on the Brooklyn Promenade.

I just find it refreshing to see living things growing in a city that is mostly steel and concrete. I want to try to promote the idea of greening the city thru guerilla gardening, community gardens, creating more city parks. Not only does it enrich our lives and alleviate some of the stress of city life, flowers and plants and trees help clean the air we breathe. You can grow a garden about anywhere- on a rooftop, in containers on your stoop, in a window box. And you can grow fruits, vegetables and herbs to offset the high cost of food. You'll be doing yourself and the planet a favor.

For more info on Greening the City:
Green Guerillas
Green Thumb NYC
NYC Community Garden Coalition
NYC Park Advocates

For more photo essays on the greener side of the city, check out my older posts on the community gardens of East Village/LES and the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

Soon I'll be posting my pictures from Central Park, so watch out for those. I also have not been to the botanical gardens in either Queens or the Bronx, so expect lots of photos of those after I finally check them out. Not to mention all the parks I haven't been to yet in all five boroughs.

NYC PRIDE 2009 Slideshow

2009-07-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's my pics from Pride 2009. They're a little late but I've been busy looking for work and crashing 4th of july weekend rooftop parties.

The batteries in my camera died about three hours into the parade, so I didn't get any pictures of the ACT UP, Polyamorous NYC or New York Area Bisexual Network contingents. There were also some more really beautiful Caribbean costumes and floats, as well as topless dykes and leatherfags in assless chaps. Don't forget the drag kings and drag queens and all the badass trannies and genderqueers.

I intentionally did not take pictures of the endless sea of politicians, corporate floats or gay & lesbian cops. These things do not make me feel proud. They actually have the opposite effect on me. A gay cop is still a cop. You think they won't bash your head in at a demonstration just because they're gay? You think a gay cop won't abuse their power, racially profile, commit sexual assault, shoot an unarmed black man holding a wallet? Well, you're wrong.

This was the 4oth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. I find it offensive that the gay & lesbian police association's marching band marched in the parade directly in front of the Stonewall Veterans Association. It was a police instigated riot turned into an open rebellion that sparked the national Gay Liberation movement. Gay cops or not, the veterans of the first GLBT uprising in the U.S. should have been at the front of the parade. Period.

Also, I found out days after the parade that one of the many POC contingents, The NorthEast Two-Spirit Society and the Audrey Lorde Project's Executive Director were forcefully removed from the parade by hostile cops because of a 6 block delay between the POC contingent and the contingent in front of them. This makes me so angry on so many different levels:

1) Why didn't I hear about this at the march? I know there were hundred of thousands of spectators, but the news should have spread like wildfire.

2) It's our fucking parade. It doesn't belong to the police or the city, but to queer people. All queer people. Especially queer people of color. It was queer working class people of color who first rose up against the daily abuses of police violence and institutionalized state repression. It was queer people of color who threw the first bricks and bottles at Stonewall.

3) And last but not least, this happened on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion!!!

It reminds me of when the Chicago queer anarchist contingent Pink and Black Bloc was attacked by the police, many of whom were known "out" cops, after we scuffled with a Fred Phelps' style "God Hates Fags" group that was allowed to march in the parade because they paid their fee. Many of us in the Pink and Black Bloc were beaten and three of our comrades were arrested. None of the violently homophobic Fag-Haters were arrested. We were screaming that we were being gaybashed at Pride and none of the onlookers did a damn thing. We even tried to stop the Lambda Legal Defence Fund's float, which was swarming with gay lawyers and they just kept dancing to bad Euro-disco. Like we were inconveniencing them.

Pride is not just a party. It started as a protest. As a queer fist in the air and a "fuck you" to hetero-normativity.

Solidarity to all those fighting the system, and long live Sylvia Rivera!

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force w/ Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity in Prospect Park 6/25/09

2009-07-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity at Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park. June 25th 2009.

Last Thursday my girlfriend and I went to Celebrate Brooklyn's free Femi Kuti concert in Prospect Park. Not only did Femi Kuti rock the house, we were treated to multiple surprises with the opening band- Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity.

We were still walking through Prospect Park when Elevated Entity went on. We could hear the sound of the opening song echoing through the trees as we entered the field across from the Prospect Park Bandshell. It was a funky mix of Afro-jazz, hiphop and hard rock. They were well into their second song by the time we got up to the bandshell area. Before the third song, renowned bass player Melvin Gibbs (Defunkt, Rollins Band) started to introduce his band which included such legendary and innovative musicians as Vernon Ried from Living Colour on guitar, Bernie Worrell from Parliament/Funkadelic and Talking Heads on keyboards, High Priest from Anti-Pop Consortium on vocals and Amayo from Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra on vocals. I couldn't believe it.

Every time Melvin Gibbs introduced another member of the band, Liberte and I looked at each other and were like "No freaking way!"
"Bernie Worrell!?!"
"Vernon Reid!?!"

I still can't believe we got to see all these really amazing performers all on the same stage, all for free. Amayo from Antibalas and High Priest from Anti-Pop Consortium were badass on dual vocals with Amayo singing and High Priest rapping over a psychedelic mix of African drumming, Bernie Worrell's signature keyboards and Vernon Reid's hard rock guitar licks.

I felt so lucky to see all these musicians play and was especially happy to hear Amayo on vocals since I haven't had the chance to see a live Antibalas show yet since moving to New York. It was kind of like seeing Antibalas mixed in a blender with Defunkt, Parliament and Living Colour. "Awesome" is the only word I think adequately describes the moment.

And this was all just warming up for the main event: Femi Kuti & The Positive Force!

Femi Kuti gave a powerful performance. Some critics complain that Femi doesn't have the same stage presence of his father, the legendary Nigerian musician and founder of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti. I find the comparison to be unfair. Few could match the intensity and raw emotional energy of Fela Kuti. However, watching Femi Kuti take command of the stage with his energetic dancing and listening to his wailing saxophone you can almost imagine what it must have been like to see Fela Kuti perform during the height of his musical career. And the resemblance is staggering. At several point's Femi Kuti's music brought me to tears. Certainly during his anti-colonial anthem "You Should Ask Yourself," as well as during his safer sex anthem "Stop AIDS." Here Femi Kuti sets himself apart from his father with lyrics such as "If you love yourself/Protect yourself." Fela Kuti, who was dismissive about the impact of HIV, sadly passed away from AIDS in 1997.

Femi Kuti's back up band The positive Force is an Afrobeat powerhouse, with full-on surging horns and African percussion that creates a wall of sound that makes it literally impossible not to dance. And speaking of dancing, you can't forget the beautiful and talented Nigerian Kuti Dancers on stage!

Another highlight of the show was the sex education lecture in the middle of the AfroPop song "Beng Beng Beng," which Kuti stretched out to marathon proportions and put more of a focus on the lyrics "Don't cum too fast." Femi Kuti, his band Positive Force and the Kuti Dancers even left the stage to take a break in the middle of the song. During the first part of the song Femi Kuti urged parents to talk to their children about sex. Not just fathers to their sons and mothers to their daughters, but fathers to their daughters and mothers to their sons. After a very short break, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force went right back into sexually charged "Beng Beng Beng," a definite crowd pleaser.

And did i mention that the show was completely FREE?

Kofi Ghanaba Memerorial at the Jazz Gallery 6/21/09

2009-06-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

My biggest problem with the Make Music New York! Festival is that it makes you wish you were in about a hundred places at once. When are they going to finally approve human cloning? Even though this year there were nearly 900 free outdoor performances all over New York City from sun up to sun down, its hard to soak in more than a few performances unless everything you want to see is centrally located, like the annual Punk Island where Governor's Island is transformed into a massive free outdoor punk rock music festival during Make Music New york! Or if you like hipster bands you can just crawl through Williamsburg and listen to all your skinny pants wearing favorites. However my tastes are pretty diverse and I find myself being torn in a hundred million directions and end up not seeing very much at all because I spend the entire day on the subway going from borough to borough. Also, without fail, every year everything I want to see is at the exact same time.

This year I got up too late to catch some of the earlier shows. I wanted to finally take the free ferry out to Governor's Island and pogo, skank and slam to some good old fashioned punk rock music. One of the many things I love about New York City is that its the birthplace of both punk rock and hip hop, two of my great loves.

Getting up late also meant I missed the Ukulele jam on the upper west side and the extremely bizarre all-saxophone tribute to Charlie Parker in which free jazz saxophonist Ras Moshe led an all-saxophone ensemble in front of Charlie Parker's old apartment in the East Village. What's bizarre about that you may ask? Each saxophonist played a different Charlie Parker tune all at once, free style.

So with time constraints I knew I had to pick well. As much as I wanted to see the all Accordion parade through Park Slope or the loud electro-rock stylings of Blanket Statementstein which features founding members of the world renowned Brooklyn-based afrobeat group Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, my choice was pretty clear- I had to see Living Jazz Legend Randy Weston in his tribute to African Jazz great Kofi Ghanaba.

I chose wisely. It was one of the best Jazz performances I've seen since moving to New York. "Kofi Ghanaba: a Memorial to the Divine Drummer" was co-produced by the Jazz Gallery and Jazzmobile as part of the Make Music New York! Festival and featured the Randy Weston African Rhythms Quintet with special guests Obo Addy and Kwaku Martin Obeng.

The Randy Weston African Rhythms Quintet featured Randy Weston on piano, Alex Blake on bass, T.K. Blue on sax, Benny Powell on trombone and Neil Clarke African percussion. With special guests Obo Addy on talking drum and Kwaku Martin Obeng on African percussion.

Legendary African Jazz musician Kofi Ghanaba was an influential drummer who was highly skilled in both drumset and traditional Ghanaian percussion. He came to be known by the honorary title of Odomankoma Kyrema, meaning the "Divine Drummer." First introduced to musical audiences as Guy Warren, Kofi Ghanaba was born in Ghana in 1923 and sadly passed away in December of 2008. Ghanaba is widely recognized as the first African musician to perform in the Amreican Jazz scene, working in Chicago and New York and playing with Jazz greats such as Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Max Roach and Lester Young. Kofi Ghanaba pioneered Afro-Jazz and emphasised the African origins of Jazz in his work.

Randy Weston was born in Brooklyn in 1926 and is a direct aesthetic descendant of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, with a unique style in his own right. Randy Weston has long investigated the ties between Africa and the U.S. in his music, making it his life's work to delve deep into African music filtered through a Jazz lens.

Joining Randy Weston and his African Rhythms Quintet was the special guest master drummer Obo Addy , descended from the same Ga ethnic group as Kofi Ghanaba. Born in 1936, Obo Addy was one of the first to fuse traditional African music with western pop creating the music known as worldbeat. Also joining Weston for this amazing tribute was Kwaku Martin Obeng, a native of Ghana and teacher of ceremonial songs, dances and traditional drumming at Brown University. Obeng's vision of Jazz as a diasporic language stretching from Africa to the New World is perfectly in keeping with Kofi Ghanaba's musical legacy.

"Kofi Ghanaba: a Memorial to the Divine Drummer" took place inside the Jazz Gallery at 290 Hudson St in SoHo. The Jazz gallery is a cultural center that highlights the significance and varied dimensions of African and Afro-Cuban music and their ongoing relationship to Jazz.

The performance was supposed to be outside in keeping with the Make Music New York! Festival's mission of providing free outdoor music in public spaces throughout the five boroughs. Sidewalks, streets, parks and community gardens. But unfortunately it was raining, so the memorial to Kofi Ghanaba was moved to inside Jazz Gallery's space. It was actually a really enjoyable way to watch Randy Weston African Rhythms, Obo Addy and Kwaku Martin Obeng perform. It was cozy. The lights were dimmed. There was Jazz themed artwork, photography and memorabilia hanging on the walls. It was so packed people were sitting on the floor. It felt really communal.

Not Another Freakin' Mermaid Parade Slideshow... Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2009

2009-06-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

I know that everybody and their momma posts a slideshow of their pics of the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade in all its pastie-clad glory, so why should I be any different?

New York Loves a parade. We have three GLBT/Q Pride Parades in three separate boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens). We have several St. Patrick's Day Parades. We have three Puerto Rican Day Parades, with the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan being not only the largest Puerto Rican parade in the nation, but also one of the largest outdoor events in the country. There's the Chinese New Year Parade in Manhattan's Chinatown and the Lunar New Year Festival and Parade in Flushing, Queens. In Brooklyn we have the West Indian Day Parade (aka the Labor Day Parade) which is modeled after the Carnivals of Trinidad, Tobago and other Caribbean Islands with a Carnival tradition.

There's parades based on religion, such as the Sikh Cultural Society Parade, the Muslim Day Parade, the Easter Parade, the Christian Youth Parade and the Hare Krishna Parade.

There's parades based on ethnicity and national origin, like the above mentioned Puerto Rican Day Parades and Brooklyn's West Indian Day Parade. There's also the Mexican Day Parade, Cuba Day Parade, Hispanic Day Parade, African-American Day Parade, Turkish-American Parade, Norweigian-American Parade, Dominican Day Parade, Haitian-American Day Parade, Phillipine Independence Day Parade, India Independence Day Parade and Pakistan Independence Day Parade, just to name a few. No disrespect to any group I may have left out.

Then there's the art parades, like the Soho Art Parade, the Village Halloween Parade which is the country's largest night parade and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. The mulicultural New York Dance Parade feautures live bands and DJs and showcases everything from ballet to breakdancing, belly dancing to tango, and from salsa to swing.

Last but not least, there's the D.I.Y. nature and street theatrics of the more chaotic, unpermitted events like the monthly Critical Mass bike rides where bicyclists take over the streets promoting eco-friendly transportation alternatives and celebrating bike culture, the NYC Zombie Crawl and NYC ZombieCon where massive hordes of zombies terrorize innocent onlookers, the NYC SantaCon in December where hundreds of drunken Santas take to the streets spreading joy and the annual No Pants Subway Ride where hundreds of New Yorkers ride the subway without their pants, also spreading joy.

The Mermaid Parade is definitely one of my favorite New York City parades, tied for first place with the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Like the Halloween Parade, the Mermaid Parade is an art parade that's free and open to the public to participate in. The majority of those marching in both parades make their own costumes and floats, and exemplify the creativity and free spirit of the New York that pirates like Billionaire Bloomberg are trying to sell off to the highest bidder.

Founded in 1983 by Coney Island USA, the not-for-profit arts organization that also produces the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Mermaid Parade pays homage to Coney Island's forgotten Mardi Gras which lasted from 1903 to 1954.

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is a celebration of the sea and the sand and of all things Coney Island. You'll see participants dressed as scantily-clad mermaids and mermen, sea creatures, pirates and the occasional lighthouse. You'll see tattooed freaks and weirdos, drag kings and queens, burlesque performers and every manner of artistic self-expression.

Every year the Mermaid Parade features a different celebrity Neptune King and Mermaid Queen, who rule over the proceedings. In the past local celebs like David Byrne, Queen Latifa and Moby have graced the parade with their royal presence. This year I was pretty freakin' excited because the Neptune King was none other than Mr. Harvey Kietel. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of Mr. Kietel because that part of the parade sped past us. I also didn't realize that part of the duties of the King and Queen is assisting in the opening of the beach for the summer swimming season by cutting through ribbons representing the seasons, and tossing fruit into the Atlantic to appease the Sea Gods. I didn't go down to the beach for this part of the festivities. I probably could have met Harvey Kietel and asked him if he wanted to go get tacos.

Brooklyn Pride Slideshow

2009-06-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Pride was pretty chill. It was extremely small comapared to the annual Manhattan Pride Parade, but then again, everything is small compared to the Manhattan Pride Parade. But Brooklyn Pride had more of the feel of a block party. Which, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing. What was really cool about it was that it was almost completely lacking all the corporate sponsorship and rampant mindless consumerism. I think the only corporate booths I saw at the street festival were Starbucks and Ikea (who both suck), and there were absolutely no corporate floats, which was such a relief. Very few politicians too. Borough President Marty Markowitz was there, sporting rainbow beads and a christmas tree light covered float, but Marty shows up at everything Brooklyn, and as he says "If you don't live in Brooklyn, you should move to Brooklyn."

Brooklyn Pride is in its 13th year.

Stonewall Was a Riot! NYC GLBT Pride Events 2009

2009-06-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, Pride month is well underway. This year I totally missed Queens Pride yet again. They just have theirs so damn early in the month. Next year I'm going to have to check it out.

I keep forgetting that New York celebrates Pride all month long! It shouldn't be a surprise considering Pride started in New York City. Pride Day commemorates the Stonewall Riots that took place in New York City's Greenwich Village 40 years ago.

The Stonewall Riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations sparked by a police raid (which were routine at the time) that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village. It was just one raid too many. The largely poor, working class, Black and Latino queers and trannies in the Village, many of whom were hustlers and homeless queer youth, fought back against the brutally homophobic police with bricks, bottles, barricades and burning garbage. This spontaneous uprising against state sponsored repression, which lasted several days, led to the modern Gay Rights/Queer Liberation movement in the US and around the world.

Today GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall Riots. Unfortunately Gays and Lesbians have become a "marketing demographic" and Pride is for sale to the highest bidder. Worse yet, the concerns of the transgender community are pushed to the back burner and assimilationist Gays and Lesbians are often embarrassed by all the "freaks and deviants" who "make Gays look bad." The crossdressers, the transvestites, the transsexuals, the leatherfags, the butch dykes, the bdsm/kink community, the hustlers and the homeless queer youth. Those in the community that are most at risk for job and housing discrimination, gaybashing and other hate crimes. You know, the types of people who 40 years ago had enough of all the hatred and oppression and fought back, thus sparking the rebellion that led to the modern Gay Rights movement in the first place.

Let's never forget why we celebrate.

Here's a schedule I've compiled of some of the coolest, and queerest Pride events for the month of June. Enjoy. And remember to play safe...

Brooklyn Pride
brooklynpride.org

Saturday June 13th 2009
Prospect Park at Bartel-Pritchard Circle
15th Street and Prospect Park West

Multicultural Festival
11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Night Pride Parade
7:30 pm Kick Off

NYC Pride (Manhattan)
NYC Herritage of Pride

The Rally
Saturday June 20th 2009
2:00 – 6:00 pm
42nd St. and 6th Ave. at Bryant Park

Pridefest
Sunday June 28th 2009
11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Hudson St. between Abingdon Sq. and West 14th St.

The March
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
Starts at Noon
5th Avenue and 52nd St. to Christopher and Greenwich St.

Other Pride Events...

That's My Jam!
Bed-Stuy/Brooklyn Queer Pride!
Saturday June 13, 2009
$5 before midnight, $10 after midnight
Sputnik Bar
262 Taaffe Place
TWO FLOORS OF DANCING, $3 Vodka Specials. DJ Helen Harris, DJ Tikka Masala and DJ Designer Imposter, New Wave Karaoke with Bobby Service and Black Waterfall. Intimate, monthly mixed queer party.

Get Laid Queer Dance Party
BK Pride Edition
Saturday june 13, 2009
9:30 pm door. $10 cover.
Southpaw Brooklyn
125 5th Ave, Park Slope
Please donate books, media, zines, and more to a literary grassroots collective! WRITTEN W(HER)D is an upcoming Brooklyn-based lending library and book collective for womyn, girls, & LGBTQ people/youth of color. As part of the collective, WRITTEN W(HER)D will develop initiatives fostering literacy among LGBTQ incarcerated youth.

Bronx Pride
Saturday June 20, 11:00 am-8:00 pm
Barretto Point Park

Folsom Street East Pride Day
Sunday, June 21, 2-8pm
28th St. between 10th and 11th Aves.
folsomstreeteast.org
Folsom Street East is New York’s premiere s/m-leather-fetish themed street festival. Folsom Street East is the largest outdoor event of its kind east of the Mississippi and attracts nearly 10,000 visitors. The street will once again be lined with some 50 community groups and vendors that appeal to the LGBT and the kink communities and mobs of leatherclad musclehunks. A one-stop shop for leather gear, porn, and toys.

Stonewall: The Revolution
June 22-28, 2009
Chair & the Maiden
19 Christopher St. (just east of the Stonewall Inn)
Iconic photographs of the Gay Pride Rebellion, March & Parade 1969-2008 by Suzanne Poli celebrating Stonewall’s 40th Anniversary and the evolution of the 21st Century Civil Rights Movement.

Snapshot's Pride Kick-Off Party!
Tuesday June 23, 2009
$5 cover starts at 10 doors at 9.
Located at The Delancey
at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge (btwn Clinton & Attorney)
*snapshot* is a weekly mixed queer party in the city featuring art, music, film, photography, performance + exposure. *snapshot* attracts the most diverse crowd from all boroughs and gender-identities. *snapshot* throws sexy, dirty, crazy parties soundtracked by some of the best dj's among us. Be sure to pick up a flier for their PROUD AS FUCK party to get a discount admission!

SAGE Presents:
40th Anniversary Reunion Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
June 25, 2009, 6:00 pm
LGBT Community Center
208 West 13th St
A panel and 40 year reunion reception for the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) which was founded in Manhattan in 1969, directly following the Stonewall riots will be presented by SAGE. The panel will feature several speakers from a variety of perspectives who were active participants in GLF.

FIERCE Presents
Outdoor Screening of Paris Is Burning!
June 25 2009, 8:30pm FREE
Pier 46 on the Hudson River Park
FIERCE is a membership-based organization for LGBTQ youth of color between the ages of 13-24. FIERCE will be screening Paris Is Burning, a documentary that focuses on the ballroom community. This screening marks the first ever LGBTQ programming on the pier which is a victory for FIERCE's Safe Space Saves Lives Campaign! Organizations such as FIERCE and other LGBTQ specific groups will be tabling at this event. All are welcome!

Switch N' Play
June 25 2009, 9:00 pm $10
Burlesque at the Beach at Sideshows at the Seashore
at the corner of Surf Avenue & West 12th Street
in the heart of the Coney Island amusement park.
Switch N' PlaySwitch N' Play (SNP) is a Brooklyn-born, New York-based drag alliance committed to entertaining its audiences with an eclectic repertoire of dance and theatrical numbers. Queer in every sense of the word, SNP spans the gender spectrum in life and on stage.

TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project's
5th ANNUAL TRANS DAY OF ACTION
Friday June 26th 2009
Rally 3:00 pm, March 4:00 pm
Gather at Union Square West between 14th Street and 15th Street
(West Side of Union Square Park)
Marching to Sheridan Square/Christopher Park
(Across the Street from the Stonewall Inn)
Audre Lorde project
On June 26, 2009, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color and allies will take to the streets of NYC once again and demand justice to let the world know, that on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, the rebellion is not over and we will continue fighting for justice, raising our voices until we are heard.

Dyke Rock Benefit Show
Friday, June 26, 2009
Doors at 8:00 pm. $5-10
Silent Barn
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood
L to Halsey or M to Myrtle/Wyckoff
Carnal Knowledge, your favorite local all-girl political hardcore band reunites. Also: Zombie Dogs, The Diamond Sea, Ina Ina!, and Brilliant Colors.

NYC Dyke March
Saturday June 27, 2009
Step Off 5:00 pm Sharp!
Bryant Park
West 42nd St and 6th Ave.
The Dyke March is for women only. Supporters can cheer them on from the sidelines.
"The Dyke March is a protest march, not a parade -- we don't ask for a permit, because we have the right to protest. As lesbians, we recognize that we must organize amongst ourselves to fight for our rights, our safety, and for visibility. Thousands of dykes take over the streets every year in celebration of lesbians and to protest against ongoing discrimination, harassment, and anti-lesbian violence in schools, on the job, in our families, and on the streets."

Post Dyke March Spectacular at Ginger’s
Saturday June 27, 2009
8:00 pm. $5-10
Ginger’s Bar
363 5th Avenue, Park Slope
F to 4th Avenue, R to 9th Street
Party for your right to fight! Chrissy P spins the shiz to make you dance hard. Tasty shots for the girls and $3.50 pints of Guinness all night.

Bluestockings Queer Pride Showcase
Sunday June 28th, 2009 7:00 pm
$5-10 Suggested Donation
Bluestockings Bookstore, Fair-Trade Cafe and Activist Center
Lower East Side of Manhattan
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington
It’s Queer Pride in New York, and tonight we’ve got some of New York’s most innovative, provocative, and powerful LGBTQ authors and spoken word artists. It’s 40-years after Stonewall, but pride and struggle are still with us! Reading and performing tonight are Kelli Dunham, Kestryl Cael, Felecia Luna Lemus, Taueret Manu, Sassafras Lowrey and Kay Barrett.

Snapshot's Proud as Fuck Party!
Sunday June 28, 2009
Doors at 6pm (till 4am)
Two for One drinks from 6-9pm
$15/$10 with Flyer
Located at The Delancey
at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge (btwn Clinton & Attorney)
*snapshot* is a weekly mixed queer party in the city featuring art, music, film, photography, performance + exposure. *snapshot* attracts the most diverse crowd from all boroughs and gender-identities. 6 DJ's handpicked from around the world all night long featuring DJ SVETA, DJ LAUREN FLAX, DJ ROZE ROYCE, DJ NOA D, DJ TEASE, final surprise DJ TBA.

HOT! Festival
July 2 - August 25, 2007
Dixon Place
This summer festival has been happening every July since 1991, and it includes full length and shorter works in performance, music, theater, dance, literature, poetry, spoken word, puppetry, burlesque, drag, and circus.

Snapshot's Pride Hangover Party!
Tuesday June 30, 2009
$5 Cover at 10:00 pm Doors at 9:00 pm.
Located at The Delancey
at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge (btwn Clinton & Attorney)
*snapshot* is a weekly mixed queer party in the city featuring art, music, film, photography, performance + exposure. *snapshot* attracts the most diverse crowd from all boroughs and gender-identities. with DJ Mary Mac. 3 floors with live performances in the basement and an amazing all-year round, heated, beautiful roofdeck.

Full "Egg Rolls and Egg Creams" Slideshow

2009-06-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

I got some really cool shots of the inside of the Historic Eldridge Street Synagogue during the Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival. The festival was sponsored by the Eldridge Street Museum and celebrated both Jewish and Chinese American culture in New York City. After the Festival I took the rest of the afternoon to walk around Chinatown and take pictures. Got some nice shots of outdoor markets, storefronts and the Manhattan Bridge. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera died right when I discovered a huge scateboarding competition in a small park underneath the Manhattan Bridge. It was mostly kids of color (Black, Latino and Asian) and the park was full inside and outside of the fence. Loudspeakers were blaring Hip Hop music and nearly everyone had a board in their hands. Would have made some great photos, but oh well.

Egg Rolls and Egg Creams 6/7/09

2009-06-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival took place on Sunday June 7th 2009 on Eldridge Street where Chinatown meets the old Jewish Lower East Side.

I almost didn't make it to the festival because I was up all night the night before and I had to upload photos and video to my computer so I could delete them off the camera. I had filled up the memory card with photos and video from the Brooklyn Museum of Art's monthly free party Saturday night.

I got to the festival just in time to see the tail end of Chinese Opera performers acting out the story of the Monkey King, take a tour of the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue, listen to Klezmer music and watch a game of mahjongg.

The Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival also included lion dancing (which I unfortunately missed), Yiddish and Chinese lessons, Scribal art and Chinese calligraphy, tea ceramonies, hands on Challa making demonstrations and kosher egg rolls and egg creams for sale. To say the festival was a "unique slice of New York City life" is probably an understatement. It's this kind of cross-cultural event that makes New York City what it is.

The event was sponsored by the Eldridge Street Museum, which is located in the recently renovated and restored Eldridge Steet Synagogue (12 Eldridge Street between Canal and Division). The Eldridge Street Synagogoue is home to the Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun, which has met continuously for Sabbath and holiday services since the building first opened more than a century ago.

Between 1880 and 1924, two and a half million Eastern European Jews came to the United States. Close to 85 percent of them came to New York City, and approximately 75 percent of those settled on the Lower East Side.

Built in 1887 for the tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants already settled on the Lower East Side, as well as the hundreds of thousands who would arrive in the coming decades, New York’s first great East European synagogue "expressed the hope that the immigrants’ religion and culture would flourish on American soil." Before the construction of the Eldridge Street Synagogue Eastern European Jews met in rented halls, converted storefronts, renovated churches and other makeshift locations.

By the 1920s the congregation had dispersed far beyond the Lower East Side and immigration quotas stemmed the tide of new arrivals. In the 1950's the congregation could no longer afford the costly repairs and maintanience and started to meet in the street-level chapel rather than the sanctuary. By the 70's and 80's the synagogue had fallen in to such a grave state of disrepair that investigations showed that emergency stabilization was needed and if no work were done the building would collapse.

Public interest in the synagogue’s fate grew, and by 1986 the Eldridge Street Project was formed. The Eldridge Street Project conducted emergency repairs, secured National Historic Landmark designation for the building and raised over 15 million dollars over a 20 year period for the extensive renovations. The Eldridge Street Synagogue is now one of the last remaining built by the Eastern European immigrants who made the Lower East Side the world’s largest Jewish city in the early 1900's.

Along with guided tours of the Synagogue, the Eldridge Street Museum features new exhibits and programs, such as the Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival, the American Jewish Immigrant Experience in Song and Walking Tours of Sacred Sites on the Lower East Side (synagogues, churches and temples encompassing 200 years of religious life in New York City).

One of the many highlights of the day: I bought an Emma Goldman finger puppet from the Eldgridge Street Museum's Gift Shop for my girlfriend Liberte who is organizing Starbucks at Union Square East, right next to Union Square Park where Emma Goldman gave many of her historical speeches. The tag on the puppet even went into great detail of Emma Goldman's anarchism, stating that she was an "outspoken anarchist, feminist and advocate for birth control" who "struggled for the anarchist cause her whole life." It goes on to talk about her being deported back to Russian, becoming disillusioned with the Russian Revolution and later settling in the UK.

I'm always surprised at how many public murals depict Emma Goldman in the New York, even ones sponsored by the City such as the mosaics in the Chrostopher Street 1 station. It's like playing Where's Waldo with my favorite free-thinking, free-loving Jewish anarchist revolutionary.

Brooklyn Museum's First Saturdays

2009-06-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

Every first Saturday of the month The Brooklyn Museum of Art throws a huge FREE party for all of New York, and I gotta tell ya, it is a party. There's cash bars on multiple levels serving Brooklyn Lager and plastic cups of wine. There's usually live music on different floors competing with DJs. And people dance. I mean, this is Brooklyn we're talking about. The dance floor is packed whether there's a live salsa band or a DJ spinnin old school jams. When my brother was in town he flipped when he saw how crazy people went when the DJ closed out the night by playing "No Sleep Til Brooklyn." You know, I think the Beasties lied to me, I moved to Brooklyn and I still don't get any sleep.

"First Saturdays" are sponsored by one of those huge union-busting "big box" stores, you know the kind that are destroying everything that is unique about New York, putting small mom and pops, bodegas and other independent businesses out of business and turning the City landscape into one big strip mall that could be Anywhere, USA. Indianapolis. Minneapolis. Chicago. Terre Haute. But at least they are giving something back by throwing us the craziest f***ing party you'll ever see in an art museum.

If you haven't been you should really go. I'm serious, they are fun, and it seems like everyone in Brooklyn and their momma shows up.

The theme this time around was Islamic art and culture.

Sufi-inspired Soul Jazz band Brooklyn Qawwali Party rocked the first floor pavilion with their funky tribute to the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, aka "The Emperor of Qawwali." Pakastani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who came from a long line of Qawwali performers (dating back 600 years), was responsible for blending modern sounds with the ancient art of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis (a mystical tradition within Islam). The Brooklyn Qawwali Party plays mainly instrumental versions of his Qawwalis on conventional Jazz instruments rather than traditional instruments associated with Qawwali.

The free tickets for the screening of "I Love Hip Hop in Morocco" went fast (all 340 of them). I would have loved to have seen that. The documentary on the first Hop Hop concert in Morocco would probably make a good double feature with "Slingshot Hip Hop", which is about Palestinian Hip Hop, and features my favorite bilingual Arabic/English Hip Hop emcees, DAM (Da Arabian MCs). In fact I wish the BK Museum got DAM to play the event, that would've been the shit. But I have no complaints, the BMoA throws a hell of a party every month and it doesn't cost a thing.

From 9:00 pm til 11:00 pm DJs Fabian Alsultany and DJ Pepe spun Arabic dance music in the parking lot of the museum and it was so packed people were spilling out into the grass and up the hill. At one point some of the kids from the breakdancing crew that were performing earlier out in front of the museum climbed up on top of a really tall truck and started dancing on top of it. The crowd went nuts. It was so cool. There were some belly dancers winding through the crowd, full on belly dancing costumes. They had the moves.

The vibe was all kinds of Brooklyn. Everyone just dancing, having a good time. People of all races, gender expressions, sexualities, class backgrounds, religions. It was so cool seeing so many Heredi Orthodox Jews chillin at an event celebrating Islamic culture. But that's what Brooklyn is all about to me. Yeah, I know there's all the different tensions, and the old saying goes that "Brooklyn has people from every country on the face of the planet, and none of them can get along" but there are spaces like the Brooklyn Museum First Saturday Parties, the African Dance Festival, Atlantic Antic and Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park where people do all come together to party, to play, and to celebrate our shared human-ness.

Upcoming Events: Free Outdoor Concerts in Prospect Park and Central Park

2009-06-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

Summer in New York City also means you get to watch some the world's best musicians perform in the city parks and other public spaces for absolutely FREE. Over the past few years I've seen Isaac Hayes, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Neville Brothers, Me'Shell NdgeOcello and many more of my favorite artists all for free! If you live in New York you should really take advantage of the many cultural and artistic events The City has to offer, especially during these tough economic times. What better way to spend an evening?

Celebrate Brooklyn 2009
Prospect Park Bandshell
June through August

Celebrate Brooklyn is one of New York City's longest running, free, outdoor performing arts festivals. Launched in 1979 as a catalyst for a Brooklyn performing arts scene and to bring people back into Prospect Park after years of neglect, Celebrate Brooklyn has been an anchor in the park's revitalization and has become one of the city's foremost summer cultural attractions. All Celebrate Brooklyn events are free, but they do ask for a $3 donation at the gate.

Some highlights this year include:

Monday, June 8 (Opening Night)
8:00pm/gates 6:30pm
David Byrne
“The Music of David Byrne and Brian Eno”

Thursday, June 25
7:00pm/gates 6:00pm
Femi Kuti & Positive Force
Melvin Gibbs’ Elevated Entity

Saturday, July 11
4:00pm/gates 3:00pm
They Might Be Giants (For Kids)!

Saturday, July 18
2-9pm/gates 1:30pm
African Festival:
King Sunny Ade
Mandingo Ambassadors
Abena Koomson
Sing Sing
Yasser Darwish

Friday, July 24American Express Roots Music Series
7:30pm/gates 6:30pm
Buckwheat Zydeco
The Holmes Brothers

For more info and complete schedule:
briconline.org/celebrate/schedule.asp

Summer Stage at Central Park
Rumsey Playfield in Central Park

Central Park SummerStage, a program of City Parks Foundation, presents performances of outstanding artistic quality, free of charge, to serve the diverse communities of New York City. Central Park SummerStage is located at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. Enter the park at 69th Street and 5th Avenue on the east side or at 72nd Street and Central Park West on the west side.

Some highlights this year include:

Sunday, July 05
3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Oumou Sangare
Les Nubians
Asa

Saturday, July 18
3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Q-Tip
Chester French
Little Dragon
Benji B

Sunday, July 19
3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Alpha Blondy & The Solar System
Lee "Scratch" Perry & Dubblestandart
Subatomic Sound System

Friday, July 24
7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Bettye LaVette
Budos Band (badass Brooklyn afro-soul)
Rhythm Revue with Felix Hernandez

For more info and complete schedule:
summerstage.org

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Also check out the River to River Festival for film, art and music in city parks and public spaces throughout Manhattan all summer long!

Egg Rolls and Egg Creams

2009-06-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

This Sunday!!!
June 7th 12-4 pm.
2009 Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival
The Museum at Eldridge Street

Come to Egg Rolls & Egg Creams the best block party in downtown – right where Chinatown and the Lower East Side meet. Celebrate the rich cultural traditions of the Jewish and Chinese communities. Klezmer music and Chinese opera, scribal art and calligraphy, Yiddish and Chinese lessons, folk arts and hands-on activities, tours of the Eldridge Street Synagogue and, of course, kosher egg rolls and egg creams!

Located within the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, the Museum at Eldridge Street presents the history & culture of the great wave of Jewish immigrants to the Lower East Side. Nearly lost over time, this landmark has been restored to its original grandeur.

What's an Egg Cream?
New York Egg Cream History
New York Egg Cream Primer
Egg Cream Wikipedia

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double jeff's Vegan New York Egg Cream Recipe:

1/2 cup cold soy milk*
1 cup cold New York seltzer**
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup***

(Egg Creams are extremely easy to veganize, as they contain neither eggs nor cream. You merely substitute soy milk for whole milk.)

*Use Regular (plain or vanilla) soy milk. Do not use light soy milk, it will not froth up correctly.

**It's best to use real New York seltzer water (Plain Ole Seltzer, Mayim Chaim) because most mainstream sodas are not fizzy enough.

***In New York use Bosco (unfortunately Fox's U-Bet contains dry milk powder). If you don't live in New York City and can't find Bosco then get Hershey's in a can (it's thicker than the syrup that comes in a plastic bottle).

Now you're ready to make a vegan Egg Cream!

Pour about an inch of cold soy milk into a tall pre-chilled soda glass. Add seltzer to within 1 inch of the top of the glass. Stir vigorously with a long spoon until it becomes frothy with a good head of foam. Gently pour 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup into the glass. Briskly stir with a long spoon at the bottom of the glass where the chocolate is. You should wind up with a perfect vegan version of the classic New York Egg Cream. It should be dark brown at the bottom with about an inch of white foam on top.

Enjoy immediately. Don't let it go warm or flat.

FREE OUTDOOR MOVIES in NYC 2009!!!

2009-06-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

(Picture taken from Brooklyn Bridge Park's Movies With a View web page.)

OK, summer's coming up and that means there's a whole lotta FREE stuff going on in The City! There's the free concerts in Central Park and Prospect Park and the River to River Festival. There's the Make Music New York! Festival which I've already blogged about. There's all the parades and block parties and street fairs and the beaches and pools, and there's the FREE outdoor movie festivals!

As someone who loves movies who is also really broke (I've been out of work for waaaaay too long), I can't tell you how excited I am about all the upcoming outdoor movie festivals that happen every year in New York City. I know you can just rents these, or Netflix them, but there's something so much cooler about seeing a movie in a large crowd. Especially in a large crowd of New Yorkers out under the night sky.

One of my favorite outdoor movie festivals has already started, Habana Outpost's Outdoor Movie Series. Habana Outpost is a badass eco-cafe in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood that screens classic and cult classic movies in their fabulous courtyard from May to October. This year the Outpost kicked it off right with the Brooklyn themed cult classic, The Warriors. Their line up this year is amazing as always (with Star Wars, Jaws, Batman, Do The Right Thing, Scarface and Child's Play to name a few). I'm also excited about Dog Day Afternoon at Bryant Park, Taking of Pelham 123 on the Elevated Acre, Evil Dead 2 at McCarren Park, Raising Arizona at Brooklyn Bridge Park, both Iron Man and The Dark Knight on the Hudson, Shaft in Central Park and the Purple Rain Sing-Along in Prospect Park.

Overall, It's going to be a great summer for outdoor movies. Below I compiled the complete schedules for some of the bigger outdoor movie festivals. They are all completely FREE. Some let you bring in outside food, others have food and drinks for sale. Believe it or not, this list is not complete. There's tons of smaller parks and gardens in the five boroughs who are also screening free movies.

Oh, and I highlighted some "must sees" in purple.

Habana Outpost Brooklyn's Outdoor Movie Series
Every Sunday in the courtyard of Habana Outpost (757 Fulton Street at S. Portland Ave in Fort Greene, Brooklyn). Movies start at 8 pm. Come early if you want a seat. No Outside food or drink. They have Six Point Ale on tap for $2.50.

Sunday, June 7... Way of the Dragon
Sunday, June 14... Salsa
Sunday, June 21... Saturday Night Fever
Sunday, June 28... Do The Right Thing
Sunday, July 5... Jaws
Sunday, July 12.. Scarface
Sunday, July 19... Drunken Master
Sunday, July 26... Friday
Sunday, August 2... Beat Street
Sunday, August 9... Star Wars
Sunday, August 16... School Daze
Sunday, August 23... Purple Rain
Sunday, August 30... See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Sunday, September 6... Moonwalker
Sunday, September 13... The Pest
Sunday, September 20... Kings of New York
Sunday, September 27... City of God
Sunday, October 4... Flash Gordon
Sunday, October 11... The Untouchables
Sunday, October 18... Batman
Sunday, October 25... Chucky: Child’s Play

Bryant Park Film Festival

Monday, June 15... The Sting
Monday, June 22... Breaking Away
June 29... Gold Diggers of 1933
Monday, July 6... Dog Day Afternoon
(New York in the 70's, Al Pacino robs a bank to pay for his lover's sex change.)
Monday, July 13... How Green Was My Valley
Monday, July 20... Harold and Maude
Monday, July 27... The Defiant Ones
Monday, August 3... Kramer vs. Kramer
Monday, August 10... The Magnificent Seven
Monday, August 17... Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Films on the Green; Washington Square Park
Films on the Green goes Green. For its second year running, the popular free outdoor French film festival will feature movies about the environment and the beauty of the natural world. Films begin at sundown.

Friday, June 12... March of the Penguins
Friday, June 19... Microcosmos
(a spectacular look into the tiny world of insects.)
Friday, June 26... The Big Blue

Summer Screen; McCarren Park
This year SummerScreen will take place at the ball fields at McCarren Park on the corner of Bedford and North 12. Films begin at dusk. Come early to get a seat. No outside food or drink.

Wednesday, July 8... Reality Bites
Wednesday, July 15... Evil Dead 2
Wednesday, July 22... 24 Hour Party People
Wednesday, July 29... Wild at Heart
Wednesday, August 5... Fame
Wednesday, August 12... Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Movies With A View; Brooklyn Bridge Park
Movies With A View returns for its 10th Anniversary Season. Come down to the park to enjoy an eclectic line-up of films and breathtaking views of the NYC waterfront and the Brooklyn Bridge. DJs from Brooklyn Radio kick off the evening, spinning tunes as the sun sets, while RICE sells delicious dinners onsite. Complimentary bike valet provided by the fine folks at Transportation Alternatives.

Thursday, July 9... Raising Arizona
Thursday, July 16... The Maltese Falcon
Thursday, July 23... Paper Moon
Thursday, July 30... To Catch A Thief
Thursday, August 6... The Return Of The Pink Panther
Thursday, August 13... Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
Thursday, August 20... Catch Me If You Can
Thursday, August 27... Edward Scissorhands

River Flicks; Hudson River Park
Movies begin at sundown (about 8-8:30 p.m.) Free popcorn is available, beverages and other snacks are available for purchase. There is a limited amount of seating available.

For Adults (Pier 54):
(Theme: "I Know What You Saw Last Summer")
Wednesday, July 8... Iron Man
Wednesday, July 15... Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Wednesday, July 22: The Dark Knight
Wednesday, July 29... Hancock
Wednesday, August 5... Tropic Thunder
Wednesday, August 12... Sex and the City
Wednesday, August 19... Pineapple Express

For Kids (Pier 46):
Friday, July 10... The Wizard of Oz
Friday, July 17... Kung Fu Panda
Friday, July 24... Ghostbusters
Friday, July 31... Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Friday, August 7... Muppet Movie
Friday, August 14... Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Friday, August 21... Curious George

Special: FIERCE Presents Paris is Burning (Pier 54)
Thursday, June 25... Paris is Burning
(In 2005, FIERCE launched the Safe Space Saves Lives Campaign to ensure the needs of LGBT youth of color were not forgotten in the wake of the development of the Christopher Street Pier. As apart of FIERCE's Safe Space Saves Lives Campaign FIERCE was able to win a victory and get the Hudson River Park Trust to screen Paris Is Burning on the pier. 8:30 pm.)

Summer on the Hudson: Movies Under the Stars
Pack a picnic, bring a friend and settle in for a night of premier Hollywood movies. This year’s theme is Nieuw York/New York--films that span the centuries--in honor of the Henry Hudson Quadricentennial. Riverside Pak South, Pier 1 in Manhattan. 8:30 pm.

Wednesday, July 15... Wall Street
Wednesday, July 22... Dinner at Eight
Wednesday, July 29... The Out-of-Towners
Wednesday, August 5... Drums Along the Mohawk
Wednesday, August 12... Sweet Smell of Success

Outdoor Cinema at Socrates Sculpture Park
Come to Socrates Sculpture Park and celebrate the cultural diversity of Queens. Sample regional cuisine, picnic on the grass, enjoy performances by local musicians and dancers and see international films on a large-format screen - all set against the spectacular backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Performances begin at 7 pm, films begin at sunset.

Wednesday, July 15... The Betrayal (Laos/Thailand) 2008
(Extraordinary personal documentary about a family's journey from wartorn Laos to the streets of New York.)
Wednesday, July 22... Contempt (France) 1963
(French New-Wave master Godard creates his most lavish and thoroughly enjoyable movie, an audacious meditation on modern moviemaking, literature, and marriage.)
Wednesday, July 29... Lou Reed's Berlin (U.S.) 2007
(Lou Reed's ambitious song cycle about a couple's drug and violence-filled downward spiral was turned into a live concert experience.)
Wednesday, August 5... Waltz With Bashir (Israel) 2008
(Dreamlike and personal, this unique and affecting animated feature looks at war through the memories of soldiers who fought as young men.)
Wednesday, August 12... Tulpan (Kazakhstan) 2008
(Set in the wide-open steppes of Kazakhstan, the film follows the adventures of a young dreamer who tries to win the hand of his alluring neighbor, the only eligible bachelorette for miles.)
Wednesday, August 19... Gomorrah (Italy) 2008
(This gripping based-on-fact drama about the Italian crime underworld is both riveting and realistic.)

River to River Fest: Movies on the Elevated Acre
Located at 55 Water Street (between Old Slip and Broad Streets), the Elevated Acre offers breath-taking views of the East River, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, South Street Seaport and Brooklyn Heights. Films start at 8 pm.

Monday, July 6... The Seven Year Itch
Monday, July 13... The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
(Four armed men hijack a New York City subway train and hold its passengers for ransom.)
Monday, July 20... West Side Story
Monday, July 27... Sweet Smell of Success

Central Park Film Festival
Movies begin at 8 p.m. at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. Gates open at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, August 18... Shaft (1971)
Wednesday, August 19... Ocean's 11
Thursday, August 20... Sex & The City
Friday, August 21... Twilight
Saturday, August 22... Viewer's Choice
Men in Black, Goldfinger or Desperately Seeking Susan
(Visit http://www.7online.com/ to vote between July 15 and August 15.)

Celebrate Brooklyn; Prospect Park Bandshell
Music & Movies on NYC’s largest outdoor screen. 7:30 pm, gates open at 6:30 pm.

Saturday, June 20... La Nave de los Monstruos (The Monster's Ship) with live score by Ethel and Gutbucket
(The nation’s premier rock-infused, postclassical string quartet, Ethel teams up with the wild art-rock group Gutbucket to perform a new original score to 1959's Mexican science fiction classic.)
Thursday, August 6... Purple Rain Sing-A-Long with Escort
(To celebrate the 25th anniversary of "one of history’s greatest pop albums" and the film it inspired, Celebrate Brooklyn invites you to don something lacey and ruffled and come get your Prince on.)

Video I took during one of the most memorable scenes of the cult classic film The Warriors being shown in the courtyard of the eco-cafe Habana Outpost. You can hear people laughing, saying the lines with the movie and clinking beer bottles together like the film's antagonist, Luther (leader of the Rogues).

Eye Heart New York on Manhattan Times Blog Watch

2009-06-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

"eye heart new york" was recently featured on The Manhattan Times Neighborhood Blog Watch.

The Manhattan Times is a free bilingual community paper that covers news and cultural events relating to Northern Manhattan (Inwood and Washington Heights). The paper serves as the "primary bridge between the diverse language, ethnic, and religious communities of Northern Manhattan."

Concidering Washington Heights was the first place I lived when I moved to New York, it felt really good to be noticed by The Manhattan Times. It makes me so mad when you open up a map of New York City and all it shows is Manhattan below 110th Street. Any real New Yorker knows that the fun starts at about 125th Street. Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood all have a lot to offer in the way of arts and culture, music and history. As well as unique independant businesses, beautiful parks and public spaces.

Check out the "eye heart new york" blurb here:
Manhattan Times Neighborhood Blog Watch.

Upcoming Event: Make Music New York! FREE Outdoor City-Wide Festival June 21st

2009-06-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

While I'm at it, I should take this time to plug the 3rd annual Make Music New York! FREE outdoor city-wide (all five borroughs) music festival!!!!

Make Music New York is back for a third year for a whole day of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

On Sunday, June 21st. from 11 in the morning until 10 at night, musicians of all ages and musical persuasions — from hip hop to opera, Latin jazz to punk rock — will perform on streets, sidewalks, stoops, plazas, cemeteries, parks and gardens.

Mark your calendars, ask for the day off from work (no, demand the day off) or just plan to call out sick, because trust me, you don't want to miss this festival. Last year I listened to some truly amazing Jazz music from Harlem to Chinatown and back again.

The only problem with the festival is that it will make you wish you were in about a hundred places at once. Then again, that's how I feel almost every day living in New York City.

Highlights of this year's festival include:

Mass Appeal
This year, Make Music New York's Mass Appeal unleashes the power of massed single instruments, all over NYC. Imagine a parade of accordian players through the streets of Brooklyn. A bagpipe parade through the streets of Staten Island. A participatory hand percussion walk through SOHO turning cast iron buildings into resonant gong instruments. Dozens of celloists in Central Park. Electronic musicians performing on short-circuited devices (children's toys, keyboards, drum machines, etc.) in Astor Place. Clarinets in Stuyvestent Square Park, an all-flute orchstra in Riverside Park, a mass of french horns in Central Park and saxaphones in Thompkins Square Park. What about dozens of glockenspiels in the East Meadow of Central Park? Or a sing-along to the music of Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum in downtown Brooklyn? And if only Tiny Tim were still alive to witness the ukulele jam in Richard Tucker Square. Check out the above link for even more Mass Appeal madness!

Return to Punk Island
For the second year in a row, Governor's Island will be transformed into Punk Island. Over 70 bands (including punk legends Reagan Youth, Blanks 77 and Electric Frankenstein) will appear on 12 stages scattered around the island, as free ferries transport revelers from the tip of Lower Manhattan to Governors Island every half hour beginning at 10am. Just like the rest of Make Music New York, all performances are outdoors and completely free. Punk Island begins at 10am and ends at 5pm sharp. Ferries leave every 30 minutes from the Battery Maritime Terminal, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry in Lower Manhattan.

"Orbits" at the Guggenheim
In the only indoor performance during the Make Music New York! Festival, 80 trombones, organ, and sopranino take over the ramps of the Guggenheim Museum for a New York premiere of composer Henry Brant's piece "Orbits." Henry Brant was a pioneer of acoustic spatial music, often employing instrumental groups of a single timbre. Audiences gather in the rotunda below, with conductor Neely Bruce and a large contingent of the trombone community above. Performances at 730pm and 830pm.

Blues to Africa
Legendary jazz pianist Randy Weston performs in honor of the late Ghanaian drummer Kofi Ghanaba, part of a day-long block party presented by the Jazz Gallery and Jazzmobile, in SoHo. With percussionists Obo Addy, Kwaku Martin Obeng, and others. 2-7pm.

Folklore Urbana at the Brooklyn Museum
Led by Colombian pianist, composer, and arranger Pablo Mayor, Folklore Urbano has redefined modern Colombian music, setting new heights in both world music & Latin jazz. This high-energy, wildly fun ensemble harnesses the danceable swing of traditional Colombian rhythms while seducing the listener with the subtleties of jazz orchestration & harmony. Outside the Brooklyn Museum, 4pm.

Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) was founded in 2002 by artistic director Arturo O'Farrill to perform compositions of masters such as Machito, Tito Puente, Chico O'Farrill, Astor Piazzola, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Hermeto Pascual, and others, and to keep this culturally rich tradition alive by continuing to commission new works within the genre. Noon to 6pm at the Symphony Space Block Party, West 95th St and Broadway.

Upcoming Event: NYC Musical Saw Festival July 18, 2009

2009-06-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

I just want to start with the fact that I love the musical saw, I find it hauntingly beautiful, And I say this without any sense of irony. I love a lot of obscure, off-beat and under appreciated musical instruments, and I appreciate many different forms of music. Anyone who knows me, knows my tastes are eclectic.

With that in mind, I was so excited to be contacted by Natalia Paruz, aka "The Saw Lady" to see if I'd write about the upcoming New York City Musical Saw Festival. Natalia Paruz is not only a talented musician, but she's a New York institution. Anyone who takes mass transit in New York City knows about The Saw Lady.

What many New Yorkers may not know is that the Saw Lady is world renown for her singing saw. She plays the musical saw in movie soundtracks, TV commercials and with orchestras all over the world. She has played both Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden. She has made many New York City "Best Of Lists" including Time Out New York and The Village Voice. Natalia also organizes the annual New York City Musical Saw Festival in Queens.

This year's Festival takes place at Trinity Church, 31-18 37th Street in Astoria, Queens on Saturday, July 18th at 2pm. Admission: $10

The 7th annual New York City Musical Saw Festival will present the musical saw as an ensemble instrument in contemporary, jazz, pop, world-music/new-age music, with participation of a string quartet, soprano singer, percussion, bass and a handbell choir.

The Festival will feature the world premier of 5 new compositions for the musical saw by composers Scott R. Munson and Eyal Bat, commissioned for the Musical Saw Festival, a musical saw art exhibit, and solos by saw players from around the world.

This year's "Chorus of the Saws" is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the "Largest Musical Saw Ensemble". The current world record is currently held by Poland with 27 musical saw players playing together.

For More info on the NYC Musical Saw Festival:
musicalsawfestival.org

For More info on Natalia Paruz, aka "The Saw Lady":
sawlady.com
sawlady.com/blog

One More For the Road: Poison Pen on Dollar Van Demos.

2009-06-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

"This is Dollar Van Demos. Get in the van, get out the van."

I think I've said it before, but Dollar Van Demos seems to embody what's truly special about New York City, and more specifically the borrough of Brooklyn. In New York anywhere can be a party- on the bus, on the train, in the bodegas, on the streets or in the back of a dollar van. In the City you make your fun where ever you feel like. Sure, Dollar Van Demos is about promoting artists (an important service for the NYC musical community), but still, what a trip it must be for someone who's not expecting it. They're just trying to go to work or run some errand, going from point A to point B, and then it's like oh shit, here's this dope-ass singer doing their thing. That's what I love about New York, no matter where you go or what you're doing, there's always some kind of surprise waiting around the corner. It's not always a good surprise, but a surprise none the less. In the case of DVD, I would chalk that up as a much welcome surprise.

This is "Brooklyn Party" by Bed-Stuy's Poison Pen. And the song will get into your brain.

DVD Strikes Again: Raye 6 Dollar Van Demo...

2009-06-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you Vlad and Dollar Van Demos for introducing me to the music of Raye 6...

Raye 6 - "Chocolate Mahogany Poppy"

Raye 6 is a bad-ass sexually liberated feminst singer/songwriter in the vein of prince. She seemingly effortlessly floats from R&B, funk, soul and rock. But you know its gotta take a lot of work to make something so hard look so easy. Her music is all real, she talks boldly about her life and who she is as a person. She talks about being raised by a single mother, about being homeless and living in her car, she urges women to take control of their lives and their existance. She's just overall an amazing woman with an amazing voice. And if her youtubes and livestreams are any indication, her live shows are theatrical and sexually charged. She performs with equally talented musicians, creating a psychedelic and soulfull sound.

So check her out. Raye 6's next show is at the Bowery Poetry Club this Thursday, June 4th at 10:00 PM. $10 at the door.

The show is part of the Bowery Poetry Club's ongoing Writers Block Party, "comprised of dynamic show opening performances by hand picked emerging artists, followed by the Writers Block Poetry Collective, topped off with the WILDEST after party imaginable."

For more info on Raye 6 check out her homepages:
raye 6 on myspace
Raye 6 on livestream

"Reinventing the Rodent" Underground Rat-Themed Art Opening in the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel

2009-05-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

On May 16th, which happened to be my birthday, my girlfriend and I went to an underground art opening for the rat-themed "Reinventing the Rodent" art show. The Show was literally underground, as it was inside the long-lost Atlatic Avenue Tunnel. The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel is the world's oldest subway tunnel, which many New Yorkers don't even known is right below their feet under the streets of downtown Brooklyn.

The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (aka the Cobble Hill Tunnel) was built in 1844 by the Long Island Rail Road to relieve congestion in downtown Brooklyn. It is 17 feet high, 21 feet wide and a half-mile long. The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel was built in just seven months using only hand tools and primitive equipment. It accommodated two standard gauge tracks.

In 1861 the tunnel was ordered to be filled-in due to a ban on railroad locomotives within the city limits of Brooklyn, however both ends were merely capped. Over the next century the tunnel became a thing of urban legend and folklore, filled with German bomb-making terrorists during World War One, bootleggers and mushroom farmers in the roaring 20's and the bodies of mob hits in the 1940's. In the late 70's Flatbush resident Bob Diamond heard rumors about it's existance on a radio show, and became captivated. He made it his mission to locate the tunnel, and through years of research and physical work, he found the long-lost tunnel in 1980.

The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (BHRA) was formed in 1982 to restore the historic Atlantic Avenue Tunnel. In 1989 the BHRA successfully filed and received offical designation for the tunnel on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today the BHRA continues to maintain the tunnel, as well as conduct tours and special events such as the "Reinventing the Rodent" Art Show.

"Reinventing the Rodent" featured tons of really cool New York based artists including Jessica Murphy, Nicole Murphy and Ian Nettleton, as well as "Rat Poison" wine, snacks and records spun by DJ Birthmark.

All in all it was the perfect way to kick off my 40th birthday, and honestly a once in a lifetime experience. What better way to look at rat-themed art than in an old abandonded subway tunnel below the streets of New York? And we were smart to listen to the promoters of the event and bring flashlights, because at one point the generator went out and it was pitch black down there. My girlfriend Liberte made some joke about The Descent and we could hear nervous laughter coming from the dark.

The second person to go down the hole is my girlfriend Liberte (in the Batman teeshirt).

Video I took down in the tunnel.

More Video from down in the tunnel.

More about the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel tours from Brooklyn Independant Television's "Neighborhood Beat."

East Village/LES Community Gardens and Parks Spring 2009

2009-05-30T20:36:00.001-07:00

This is a slideshow of pictures I took while job hunting on the Lower East Side. I kind of got sidetracked by all the community gardens and parks in the East Village and Lower East Side. Unfortunately the 6th and B Garden was closed, but I got some great pictures in my favorite garden, the 9th Street Community Garden.

I also took a 360 degree video inside the 9th Street Community Garden (below).

The cool latin music was not added by me, that's what the people who were working on their gardens were listening to.

Video from BK Botanic Garden Sakura Matsuri. May 2, 2009

2009-05-06T02:02:00.000-07:00

Koi fish in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during Sakura Matsuri. May 2nd, 2009.

Duck grroming himself by the Koi Pond in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during Sakura Matsuri. May 2nd, 2009.

Kagero- Japanese Gypsy Rock at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Sakura Matsuri. May 2nd, 2009.

Bushido: Soul of the Samurai at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Sakura Matsuri. May 2nd, 2009.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Sakura Matsuri Slideshow May 2, 2009

2009-05-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

Sakura Matsuri in New York City 2009

2009-05-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

From late March/early April to early May in New York City is cherry blossom season. What better way to herald the birth of spring than a shower of tiny pink petals falling softly like snowflakes from a sea of cherry trees?

While the Cherry Blossom Festivals in both Brooklyn and Queens are already over, there's still at least a week left of prime cherry blossom viewing, also known as hanami, a centuries-old Japanese custom. Hanami is a springtime tradition that involves picnicking under the beautiful pink canopies of cherry trees. It is a time for celebration, as well as contemplation of life's beauty and transience.

Cherry Blossom Festivals, or Sakura Matsuri are becoming more prevelent in the U.S., with several in New York City alone. In recent years, these festivals have become popular celebrations of Japanese culture with performances of both traditional and modern Japanese music, Taiko drumming, folk dancing, martial arts workshops, cosplay contests, kimono shows and tea ceromonies.

April 25th was the 5th annual Sakura Matsuri at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens and May 2nd and 3rd was the 28th annual Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

I missed the Sakura Matsuri in Flushing Meadow Park, but I was able to check out the first day of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Cherry Blossom Festival. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden houses the largest and most varied collection of cherry trees outside of Japan, with 42 different varieties. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival draws hundreds of thousands of people who come to enjoy a weekend of Japanese art and culture.

I would highly recomend checking out the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In addition to the trees at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, there's also Sakura Park in Manhattan, which has quite a bit of history.

Sakura Park owes its name to the more than 2000 cherry trees delivered to parks in New York City from Japan in 1912. The cherry trees were to be presented as a gift from the Committee of Japanese Residents of New York as part of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in 1909. However, the steamboat that carried the original delivery of cherry trees from Japan was lost at sea. A new shipment of trees arrived in New York City in 1912, and they were planted in Riverside and Sakura Parks.

In 1960, another gift was given to the Sakura Park, this time by the City of Tokyo in the form of a stone Japanese latern, when New York became her sister city. A common fixture in traditional Japanese gardens, this latern was made from the native rock of Japan. Its inscription (now worn away) read: “Presented by the citizens of the Metropolis of Tokyo to the citizens of the City of New York in celebration of the Tokyo-New York sister-city affiliation inaugurated on February 29th, 1960.”

May Day NYC 2009

2009-05-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know, May 1st was May Day, aka International Workers Day, aka the real Labour Day. And New York City had its fair share of May Day celebrations taking place all over the city.

I marched with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the Break the Chains feeder march from Chinatown to Union Square. The feeder march and rally at Grand and Chrystie was organized by Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA) and The National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS).

At Union Square Park the Break the Chains feeder march joined up with the much larger rally and march organized by the May 1st Coalition, while the IWW contingent broke off at this point to protest the anti-union multinational coffee chain, Starbucks. Members of the IWW, the Starbucks Workers Union (SWU) and supporters went inside two seperate Starbucks cafes located on opposite ends of Union Square Park to protest the company's ongoing and illegal union-busting practices. Both store locations contain active union baristas who have been fighting for a livable wage and the right to organize.

Break the Chains feeder march organized by Chinese Staff & Workers and National Mobilization Against Sweatshops.

"Say What?" IWW members, aka "wobblies" chanting "Ain't No Power Like The Power of The People Cuz The Power of The People Don't Stop!"

NYC SWU and IWW break off from the "Break the Chains" May Day feeder to protest inside two seperate Starbucks locations in Union Square (Union Square East and 17th & Broadway). This Footage shows the Wob Mob going into 17th and Broadway.

Live Jazz Bands on Vintage A Train on Duke Ellington Day in NYC (aka Music and Transportation Part 4)

2009-05-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

Live Music on various forms of transportation in New York seems to be an ongoing obsession of mine. So, with that in mind, I bring you videos of both the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Alex LoDico Ensemble performing "Take the A Train" on seperate vintage cars on the A Train on Duuke Ellington Day in New York Effing City.

Paul Ellington and the Duke Ellington Orchestra plays "Take the A Train" on a vintage 1930's A Train.

Duke Ellington Orchestra's second performance of "Take the A Train" on a vintage 1930's A Train.

The Alex LoDico Ensemble plays on a vintage 1940's subway car on Duke Ellington Day.

Paul Ellington & Duke Ellington Orchestra on 125th St mezzanine and vintage A Train pulling up to the platform on Duke Ellington Day.

2009-05-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Paul Ellington and the Duke Ellington Orchestra performing on the Mezzanine of the 125th St A Train Station.

School kids dancing to the Duke Ellington Orchestra on the Mezzanine of the 125th St A Train Station.

My video footage of the vintage 1930's A Train arriving at the platform on Duke Ellington Day in NYC.

Someone else's footage of the vintage A Train arriving at the platform.
[I'm the guy in the brown hoodie and shaved head.]

Duke Ellington Day was the Shit.

2009-05-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

OK, New York may be one of the most expensive places in the world to live, but it's also a city with an AMAZING amount of really freakin' cool things to do for FREE.

Duke Ellington Day in NYC was filled with such free events. First of all there was a free performance by Paul Ellington and the Duke Ellington Orchestra on the Mezzanine of the 125th Street Station in Harlem. Afterwards, the crowd descended down into the subway and waited for a vintage 1930's subway train, where the whole band boarded, along with Alex LoDico Ensemble. Both Jazz bands plaed live music aboard two seperate cars while the train made its regular route from Harlem to Howard Beach and back. Since my girlfriend and I already had weekly MTA passes, it really didn't cost us a thing to joyride a vintage 1930's train while hanging out with the friends and family of Duke Ellington and listening to really good live jazz music. I just can't tell you how cool it was to listen to the Duke Ellington Orchestra play "Take the A Train" while riding in a vinage A Train!

After taking the A train I made it to 110th Street just in time to catch the tail end of the Brass Band procession through Central Park.

My favorite quote of the day is when legendary Apollo dancer Jacquie "Tajah" Murdock told my girlfriend Liberte that she would gladly pay a fare increase if there was live jazz music on the trains. Seriously. I'd never get off the train.

Celebrate Duke Ellington's Birthday in New York City

2009-04-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

"You must take the A train, to go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem.If you miss the A train, You'll find you've missed the quickest way to Harlem."

New York City Mayor Mike "Billionaire" Bloomberg has declared April 29th Duke Ellington Day in honor of the 110th anniversary of the jazz legend’s birth. Duke Ellington, one of the 20th century’s most renowned musicians, is among the signature figures not only in the history of jazz, but in the history of American music.

Duke Ellington died on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. His funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine was attended by over 12,000 people. Ella Fitzgerald put it best: "A genius has passed."

Wednesday April 29th, 2009 10:00 am
"Take the A Train"
Sponsored by Moda Entertainment and the Islands of the Bahamas.

Ride the Original 1938 Historic "A Train" with Paul Ellington & The Duke Ellington Orchestra in honor of Duke Ellington's 110th birthday!

There will be a special ceremony and performance of the iconic song "Take the A Train" on the mezzanine of 125th Street Station in Harlem at 10AM. All musicians will then board and perform on the historic train as it travels out on it's regular service along the A line to Howard Beach and back. The train will leave from the 125th St. Station at 11AM.

About the A Train:
Seventy five years ago, on 10 September, 1932, the A express train made its first trip under Eighth Avenue spanning twelve miles from downtown all the way to Inwood at the top of Manhattan. Now, the A train travels from Inwood-207th Street to Far Rockaway, 31 miles away in Queens. It is the longest line in the New York subway.

Billy Strayhorn wrote "Take the A train" in 1941. Strayhorn was traveling up to Sugar Hill where Duke Ellington lived when the music flowed into his head. It was inspired by the rapidity of the train that rumbles down express tracks. The song became Duke Ellington's signature tune. "Take the A train" was played at both Strayhorn and Ellington's funeral and is the most well known piece of both jazz musicians. NPR added "Take the A Train" to the NPR top 100 list of America's culturally significant songs.

Wednesday April 29th, 2009 1:10 pm
"Duke Ellington's 110th at 110th"

At 1:10 pm at 110th Street and 5th Ave. Duke Ellington’s family and The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts will be launching a series of activities to commemorate and celebrate the 110th Anniversary of Duke Ellington.

The kickoff will be held at The Duke Ellington Memorial, located inside Duke Ellington Circle, on 110th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Open to the public, the program will feature tributes to The Duke, followed by a brass band and second line procession through Central Park.

The Duke Ellington Memorial is located at Duke Ellington Circle on Central Park’s northeast corner. The sculpture of Edward Kennedy Ellington at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue is the first monument in New York City dedicated to an African American and the first memorial to Duke Ellington in the United States.

More Duke Ellington related events in New York City:

The Central Park Conservancy also has many great FREE programs all summer long celebrating the life of Duke Ellington. These events are co-presented by the Jazz Museum in Harlem, African Film Festival, and the Jazzmobile.

Check out the schedule here.

Brooklyn in the Spring

2009-04-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Most of these pictures were taken in Crown Heights, Flatbush and Downtown Brooklyn.

Habana Outpost Open for Spring, Summer and Fall!!!

2009-04-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the opening of Habana Outpost for the spring, summer and fall seasons with their annual Earth Day Expo. And I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.

2008 Earth Day Expo

Habana Outpost is an eco-eatery and community space in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood. It's powered by 100% renewable energy. Since its opening, Habana Outpost has been operating on energy derived from their massive solar panels partnered with subsidized wind power. The toilets use water collected from an impressive rainwater collection and filtration system. Even the water used to wash your hands is reclaimed and filtered through a series of wetlands plants. The tables are all made from recycled and reclaimed materials. Plus on weekend afternoons you can save a dollar by mixing your own frozen drink using the bike powered blender!

Habana Outpost serves home-style Latin food with Cuban and Central Mexican accents out of a stationary truck parked in their fabulous and funky courtyard. Like so many New York establishments, there's a trick to ordering (ala the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld). So a tip for newbies: wait in line inside to order, once you pay you get a ticket which you then take outside to the truck, when they're done they will call your name out.

The food is local and organic, they do serve meat, but special note to vegans: they have some of the best veggie dogs in the world. And at the condiment station they have nearly as many different types of hot sauces as I do in my own kitchen (which is a lot). Most of the food is really expensive, but they have unbelievably cheap local craft beer on sale. New York's Six Point Ale on draft for only $2.50 a cup. The cup, like all their disposable dinnerware is biodegradable, which you can deposit in their awesome recycling and compost station behind the truck.

Perhaps best of all is their FREE Sunday night outdoor movie series in the courtyard where they project cult/classic movies onto the side of a building. The Sunday night movies run from the beginning of May until the end of October. Most of the movies have a New York theme (Warriors, Crooklyn, Do the Right Thing, Scarface). If you plan on getting a seat for the movies, I'd suggest coming at least an hour early. Last year when we went to watch Scarface and the courtyard was so packed we had to stand outside of the fence. Eventually people were spilling out into the streets. Probably the most fun was watching Flash Gordon, the crowd was so much fun. Everyone was yelling at the screen and singing along to Queen's infectious sound track.

This year, you can bet your ass I'm going to be there May 10th for the quintessential Brooklyn movie, Warriors.

May
10-The Warriors
17-Crooklyn
24-Coming to America
31-Krush Groove

June
7-Way of the Dragon
14- Salsa
21-Satuday Night Fever
28-Do the right thing

July
5-Jaws
12-Scarface
19-Drunken Master
26-SuperMan II

Wait, did I mention that there are monthly burlesque shows in the courtyard all summer long? You have to love a city where you can have outdoor burlesque shows and no one complains! Bare breasts outside, where nature intended them, with all different kinds of body shapes and sizes.

Burlesque at Habana Outpost Brooklyn, Sept. 2006

Common at Habana Outpost Brooklyn

Stroll around Habana Outpost

Mayor Bloomberg Publically Humiliates Disabled Reporter

2009-04-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's NYC's billionaire Mayor being a douchebag to Michael Harris, a disabled reporter whose tape recorder was accidentally bumped into, thus activating the play button during a press conference announcing the introduction of legislation designed to legalize same-sex marriage in the state of New York.

Notice when City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn leans over to Mayor Bloomberg and whispers in his ear “he’s disabled.” Billionaire Bloomberg doesn't give a fuck. What do you expect from the richest man in New York City and one of the ten richest people in the United States? He's used to walking all over whoever he feels like walking over.

Later Bloomberg offered a backhanded apology, stating that he was sorry if Harris was offended. Gee, I'm sorry if you were offended that I was a total douchebag and publically humiliated you.

Not Homeless, Just Not Home Yet...

2009-04-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

While I was checking out the schedule for the New York City Anarchist Bookfair I stumbled across the following music video by Melodic on the Surreal Estate website. I gotta say, I love this song. It's a healthy mix of reggae, soul & rock with conscious lyrics about surviving homelessness in NYC. Excuse me, not homelessness, just not home yetness. It's about retaining dignity, it's about being human. On another note, the video has some great shots of the New York subway system and a cool low-fi quality to it. Enjoy!

Melodic "Ride On -Not Homeless, Just Not Home Yet"

After watching that video, I had to find out more about Melodic and in my search I found these awesome videos of Melodic and other performers at Mark Shine's Rocsta Party at the Village Underground in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. They all appear to be from last year. Looks like I really missed the party. The live band was truly rockin', and the vibe looks positive. Damn, I wish I knew about this while it was goin' on. When you move to the city they should let you know about this shit, know what I mean?

Melodic performing "One" at Mark Shine's Rocsta Party Live at the Village Underground NYC 11/07/08.

Melodic and Mark Shine performing "Frontline" at Mark Shine's Rocsta Party Live at the Village Underground NYC 11/14/08.

Inna Vibe performing "What We Need" at Mark Shine's Rocsta Party Live at the Village Underground NYC 11/14/08.

Want more? Check out Rocsta TV's YouTube page.

While trying to figure out if the Rocsta Parties were still happening, I stumbled across this video sampler for Village Underground's Wednesday and Thursday nights. I'll most definitely be checking out this show. Everyone seems to be having so much fun.

Video sampler of several weeks worth of Wednesday and Thursday night performances at the Village Underground NYC.

Want more? Check out Village Underground's YouTube page.

Rock the Boat! (NYC Music & Transportation Pt. 3)

2009-04-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, check it. Part three of my ongoing obsession of music performed on various modes of transportation in the big city. This time around it's live music on boat cruises around Manhattan Island! Sounds really bougie, but it's surprisingly affordable. Some of these boat cruises are only $20. A lot of people would pay that much for a cover charge. Not me, but lots of people do. And you not only get to see big name bands (Bad Brains, New Mastersounds, Matisyahu) but you're on a freakin' boat! How cool is that? And not a normal boat ride, oh no, you're cruising around Manhattan Island, down the Hudson,, out into the harbor, out to the Statue of Liberty, up the East River (which is actually not a river but a tidal straight), under the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge, all the while soaking in the beauty of the Manhattan skyline.

Back in October I took my girlfriend on a Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan for our seven year anniversary. It was really amazing. Great way to see the city from a whole different perspective. I can only imagine how much cooler it would have been with live music and alcohol. Apparently the Circle Line does offer live music cruises featuring Jazz and Latin music.

For those about to rock... we offer you the Rocks Off Cruises, which showcases some of the finest independent music on the high seas (Punk, Indie, Hip Hop, DJs).

If Blues is more your speed, there's the NYC Blues Cruise (now called NYC Rockin' the River Cruises) which plays not only live Blues, but also Alt-Country, Rock and Zydeco. Unfortunately their cruises are way more expensive. $40 and up. Even for the cover bands. WTF?

On the other end of the spectrum there's Barge Music. It's perfect for anyone who enjoys listening to Classical music performed in the bowels of a vessel that used to run sacks of coffee beans up New York Harbor. This flat-bottomed barge was beautifully converted into a floating recital hall in 1977. Barge Music offers year round concerts at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Best yet, they offer free monthly concerts.

So, landlubbers, put on yer skipper hats and check out the YouTubes below. They vary in sound quality, but I chose a few with bad sound because they are much more obviously shot on a boat. Enjoy!

Future Rock with Matisyahu live on Rocks Off Boat Cruise NYC.

H.R. of Bad Brains performing "Didn't I tell you that I Love You" and "Drama Queen" on a Rocks Off Boat Cruise around Manhattan 09/08/08.

Drug Rug's first NYC show ever, on the Rock's Off Boat Cruise around NYC 05/24/07.

Turntablist Amon Tobin live on the Rocks Off Boat Cruise 08/16/07.

The New Mastersounds performing "Nervous" on the Rocks Off Boat cruise around Manhattan 07/09/08.

Rhianna performing "Word Love" with the New Mastersounds on the Rocks Off Boat cruise 07/09/08.

Cafe Wha? Cruise "Love Shack" (bad sound quality, but check out that view of Lady Liberty).

Subway Performers (NYC Music & Transportation Pt. 2)

2009-04-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

OK, the other day I blogged about the Dollar Van Demos, so today in keeping with the spirit of music on different modes of New York City transportation I thought I'd bring you good old fashioned subway performers on the trains!

Drumming on the F train.

Drumming on the uptown A train.

Drums on the trains always make the commute more enjoyable.

Mexican folk music on New York City subway! Makes me miss Pilsen/La Villita in chicago.

More great Mexican music on the Bronx bound 6 train.

Breakdancing on a NYC train. What could be more New York?

More breakdancing. I can barely stand on the train without holding the bar.

Dollar Van Demos (NYC Music & Transportation Part 1)

2009-04-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how much I fucking love this city? Especially Brooklyn?

Check out Dollar Van Demos.

From the Borough of Brooklyn comes Dollar Van Demos, a series of music videos showcasing talented musicians, rappers and comedians performing inside a real New York City dollar van with real passengers on the streets of Brooklyn, USA.

Dollar vans provide a much-needed transportation for neighborhoods under-served by mass transit. Typically operated by West Indian drivers, the ride is cheap, adventurous and now immensely entertaining!

Crosby http://www.crosmopolitan.com/

Leeia Music http://www.myspace.com/leeiamusic

More on Dollar Vans:

Arising out of a Mass Transit Authority strike in 1981, dollar vans have become the transportation of choice for many residents within the Flatbush community. Cheaper, more convienient and more reliable, dollar vans provide a much needed service to areas of Brooklyn that are under-served by the MTA. Once illegal, many are now licensed by the city.

Train of Thought...

2009-03-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

"There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter - the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in search of something . . . Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion."

E. B. White (1899-1985) Here is New York

This is an excerpt from an essay by E. B. White nearly 60 years ago, but still rings true to this day. If you live in New York you probably recognize it. The MTA has been using it as part of their Train of Thought series since April of 2008. Train of Thought is a "thought-provoking program for subways and busses" feauturing short quotations in history, philosophy, literature, and science chosen by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and is an extension of Poetry in Motion.

As far as this particular quote, I would fall into that thrid group, the New York of the person who was born somewhere else but came to New York in search of something. I give New York its passion.

bridges of new york city...

2009-03-14T12:53:00.001-07:00