The Howl-o-Ween Parade

Once again, Brooklyn is the site of the annual Howl-o-Ween Dog Parade and Contest. Organized by the owners of animal accessory and grooming shop Perfect Paws, the parade is a fund raiser for several animal charities (Brooklyn Animal Rescue Coalition (BARC), Friends of Hillside Dog Park, Blue Rider Stables and Animal Kind) and a source of amusement to the residents of Brooklyn Heights.

The procession of the animals (and owners) in Halloween costumes began on the Brooklyn Promenade at Remsen Street, where it attracted the attention of astonished tourists, proceeded north, and ended at the judges’ table outside the Harry Chapin Playground at Columbia Heights and Middagh Street.

The parade, now in its sixth year, continues to grow larger and attract more attention. Today’s gathering drew several local reporters, most of them fascinated by the two dogs — accompanied by humans dressed as moose — disguised as Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. While I’m no expert on fashion, I’m guessing that the doggy Sarahs’ wardrobes cost way less than the human Sarah’s, and generated far less controversy, too.

Judges review a contestant

NY Giant appeals to the judges

Greyhound dressed as a greyhound

I bark for Barack

Dog disguised as a bumblebee

Pug in a butterfly suit

Super hero

Alice in Wonderland

Scuba dog

Scuba dog with family

Chinese dragon

French maid guards the prizes

Spider dog

Babushka lady

Neurosurgeon and patient

Sanitation worker picks up trash

In a lion suit

Dog dragon … or maybe dinosaur

Wonder Woman

Matching dog and girl ballerinas

Girl who matches dog ballerina

Poodle as ballerina

Chinese dragon with family

Pirate dog of the Caribbean

Cow dog and milk carton

Dog pimp held by “hooker”

Austin Powers

Cat flower – the sole feline entrant

Pirate dog

Moose holding Sarah Palin

Moose with Sarah Palin

NY Post: Dog Day for Halloween
Perfect Paws
Brooklyn Animal Rescue Coalition (BARC)
Friends of Hillside Dog Park
Animal Kind

The Honeymoon Never Ends

One of the most successful programs in the history of American television, The Honeymooners debuted in 1955 and has rarely been off the air. The half-hour series focused on two working class couples in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn: Ralph Cramden and his wife Alice, and their upstairs neighbors, Ed Norton and his wife Trixie. Ralph was a bus driver, Ed was a sewer worker and, typical for the era, the women stayed at home.

The story of the two couples has inspired countless spin-offs and adaptations, including The Flintstones, The King of Queens, and a theatrical film starring Cedric the Entertainer. The characters of Ralph, Alice, Ed and Trixie have evolved into pop culture icons.

So, why talk about this old series? Today I stopped in a McDonald’s restaurant on Columbus Avenue for a cup of coffee to go. While I was waiting for my order, I noticed that the teen aged clerks were flocking to another customer. I didn’t glance over, though, until I heard one of them asking for an autograph.

I turned and saw a woman signing a slip of paper from the cash register with the name Joyce Randolph. The actress, who has lived on the Upper West Side for decades, graciously posed for photos with the adoring fans who were calling her Trixie — the role she played when she starred on the show 50 years ago.

Now in her 80s, Randolph is the last surviving member of the cast. She may have retired years ago, but for those who have enjoyed watching her crack wise with co-stars Audrey Meadows, Jackie Gleason and Art Carney (who played her television husband Ed), the honeymoon will never end.

Joyce Randolph signing an autograph

Still glamorous, the actress poses with fans

Wikipedia: The Honeymooners
IMBD: Joyce Randolph

A Writer Reflects on Brooklyn

In a recent issue celebrating its 40th anniversary, New York magazine asked some of its past contributors to reflect on the city they love and the changes they’ve seen over the last 40 years. Here is what Brooklyn-born author Pete Hamill had to say.

In Brooklyn, the visitor, whether native son or total stranger, can experience a very special sense of beauty. Much of it derives from a simple fact: Manhattan is a vertical city, and Brooklyn is horizontal. In a preface to a collection of his short stories, John Cheever once talked about Manhattan when it “was still filled with a river light … and when almost everybody wore a hat.” Hats are making a minor comeback, but in Manhattan, the river light is gone forever.

The reason: the soaring scale of most Manhattan buildings blocks the light. But Brooklyn is still the wide, low borough of light, bouncing off the harbor and the ocean (out by Coney Island), a place of big skies, a place where you can see weather, not simply defend against it. Clouds move swiftly, driven by the wind, or hang in lazy stupor. Storms can be tracked visually, as the immense dark clouds make their tours.

At dawn the sun begins to pass over Prospect Park, Green-Wood Cemetery, then all the way to the Verrazano Bridge, the start of its long day’s journey into the New Jersey night. The light is immanent, muted, a promise. Along the way, every neighborhood is given fresh clarity, every building assumes the kind of volume that depends upon shade as well as light.

In Brooklyn, most building is on a human scale and so the sun can do its work of gilding every surface. You walk for the morning paper, and total strangers say, “Beautiful day.” And you must assent.

I think he’s right, and that his words are too good not to share.

Pete Hamill in Brooklyn, September 2008

New York Magazine: Brooklyn Revisited

Koons on the Roof

What to do on an unseasonably warm day? How about going up to the roof?

While nearly everyone knows that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a vast and wonderful collection, fewer visitors are familiar with its roof garden. Opened to the public in 1987, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden offers a spectacular view of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline and generally displays the work of a single artist.

The current show puts the spotlight on controversial American artist Jeff Koons, featuring three works that have never before been on public display. The sculptures, all created in the 1990s, are Sacred Heart, Balloon Dog (Yellow) and Coloring Book.

All three pieces are made of high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating and are set in the dazzlingly dramatic space atop the museum. If you can go on a sunny day, do it. Weather permitting, the exhibit will be on display through October 26, 2008.

Sign and brochures near the elevator to the roof

The group on the roof

Work entitled Balloon Dog

It is called Sacred Heart

Tourists taking photos of themselves beside Sacred Heart

The title is Coloring Book

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Jeff Koons on the Roof
Jeff Koons

OHNY: 7 World Trade Center

Since it opened in 2006, the lights of 7 World Trade Center have been one of its most remarkable features. Glowing beacons in the night, they bathe the surrounding area in dramatic tones of blue, white and red.

Tonight, as part of Open House New York Weekend, Michael Hennes, the designer who worked on the lighting project, took visitors around the building and into the lobby. He displayed some rejected sketches, explained the rationale behind the design, and showed how and why the lights work as they do (including some malfunctions that have occurred).

It was an (ahem) illuminating experience. I’ve walked by these lights dozens of times, and I’ll never view them the same way again.

Illumination of 7 WTC
250 Greenwich St, Barclay St, New York
Sat:7:30 pm tour with lighting designer.
building date: 2006
architect: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Michael Hennes of Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design will talk about the color-changing lighting within the lobby ceiling, exterior podium screen wall and 80-foot-height parapet changes from the white light of day to a vivid blue at night, while an interactive motion detection system triggers a deeper blue stripe of light that “follows” pedestrians as they walk along the sidewalk.

Everything around the building is bathed in blue light

This Jeff Koons sculpture is bright red; the lights make it appear violet

Side view from Barclay Street

In the lobby, Hennes has the lights adjusted

The crowd listens to Hennes

The building was constructed by Silverstein Properties

Animated Jenny Holzer art installation in the lobby

The white lights come up

Red lights flood the lobby

Flowers on the desk turn red

Blue lights start to come back

Looking at the elevator banks

Elevators are controlled by the user’s ID cards

Frosted glass interior of elevator car

Unmarked doorway in the corridor

Open House New York Weekend
Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design
Jenny Holzer
Metropolis Magazine: Ground Zero’s Saving Grace

OHNY: Radio City Music Hall

Created by oil mogul John D. Rockefeller in 1929, Rockefeller Center is an enormous complex of office buildings, shops, theaters, cafes, restaurants, recreation facilities, attractions and underground passageways. It spans a gigantic space in the heart of midtown, stretching east to west from 5th Avenue to 7th Avenue and north to south from 50th Street down to 47th. Almost 300,000 people work in or visit this Art Deco masterpiece every day, many of them heading straight to Radio City Music Hall, the city’s largest and most notable theater.

In 1999, to mark its 70th birthday, Radio City Music Hall underwent an enormous restoration effort aimed at updating the infrastructure and returning the structure to its past glory. The project was led by architect Hugh Hardy, who, as part of Open House New York Weekend, led visitors through the refurbished space and described how he made it sparkle again.

The scope of work was massive and the budget, originally estimated at $25,000,000, eventually topped $70,000,000. Removing seven decades of smoke and grime and repairing wear and tear was just the beginning. Some of the most demanding aspects of the project involved undoing the damage done by inept restorers and un-doing misguided attempts to “modernize” the theater.

During the project, hundreds of workmen and artisans swarmed over the building and stripped away the varnish and dirt that obscured dozens of murals, reupholstered furniture, re-silvered mirrors, installed state of the art lighting, video and audio systems, replaced damaged plasterwork, installed acres of new, custom designed carpets and hung specially woven silk curtains.

Hardy escorted the OHNY visitors upstairs and down: to a private booth high above the theater (“Please, no photos of the stage!,” he ordered), into the men’s and women’s restrooms, across the mezzanine and through the lobby, past the bar and around the sculptures until Radio City employees chased us from the premises so that they could open the doors for the next performance. The show must go on!

The view from the street

Plaque of the Rockettes on the facade

Lobby

The carpet features 12 musical instruments

A bar in the lobby

Stuart Davis mural in men’s room

In the men’s room

A cathedral of urinals

Where the men go

Inside the ladies’ room

The mural is called The History of Cosmetics

Hugh Hardy and associate lead visitors in ladies’ room

Sinks in ladies’ room

Visitors in a rest room

Crouching Panther by Henry Billings, a men’s room mural

Untitled ladies’ room mural by Yasuo Kuniyoshi (repainted by Yohnnes Aynalem)

Gazing down at balcony bar

Statue in an upstairs corridor

Dressing tables inside a ladies’ room

View from balcony

Another lobby view

Hugh Hardy in Radio City Music Hall

Open House New York Weekend
Radio City Music Hall
NY Times: Piece by Piece, a Faded Icon Regains Its Art Deco Glow
Hugh Hardy

OHNY: Brooklyn Lyceum

Today, this structure, which is almost entirely hidden by scaffolding, contains an enterprise known as the Brooklyn Lyceum. Located at the corner of 4th and President Streets, it offers patrons an unusual mixture of dining and entertainment, including a small cafe with Internet access, live music, dance and theater performances, open-mike nights, film screenings and “an occasional restaurant.”

But once upon a time, this building was New York City Public Bathhouse #7. When the bathhouse opened in 1908, many homes in the city lacked adequate indoor plumbing. Back then, residents of an entire tenement building would share a single backyard outhouse, mothers bathed their babies in washtubs, and children squatted in filthy, flooded gutters to cool off during the sweltering summer months. Vermin and disease, including cholera and typhoid epidemics, ravaged the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.

New York’s municipal bathhouses were part of a public health effort to improve conditions for the poor, and provided the city’s most crowded quarters with much-needed sanitary facilities. The first such structure, the Baruch Bathhouse, opened on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1901. As they went up, the bathhouses became larger and more elaborate, some of them modeled on ancient Roman baths.

This building, #7, designed by Raymond F. Almirall, was the largest and the last bathhouse constructed. For three decades, it gave the 150,000 residents of this area, then known as South Brooklyn’s “Little Italy,” access to extensive, sparkling-clean bathing and dressing facilites, two gyms and a swimming pool. The city finally closed the bathhouse in 1937.

After a renovation effort during which the swimming pool was filled in and half the showers eliminated, the bathhouse reopened in 1942 as a city-run gymnasium. Closed once again in the early seventies, it was sold to a local businessman who used it as a warehouse for his nearby transmission repair business.

When he moved his business away, the building went through several more owners, none of whom used it. The former bathhouse stood unused and unmaintained for decades. Leaks were unrepaired, broken window panes unreplaced, holes opened in the roof and stonework chipped off. Eventually, the empty structure was vandalized and stripped of all of the original decorative elements. Even the tiles, pipes, water fountains and plasterwork were carried off or destroyed while the building crumbled.

In the late 1980s, the bathhouse reverted to city ownership and a local community group, which leased it for $1.00 a year, briefly used it as a recreation center before it closed again. By the early 1990s, the bathhouse was considered a neighborhood blight, and there were cries for it to be demolished. Instead, in 1994, the city held an auction where it was purchased by Eric Richmond, who had long wished for a theater space of his own.

Today, as part of Open House New York, Richmond greeted visitors, explained the history of the building and escorted them on a short tour of the space. He explained that not only are the original decorative elements gone, the city lost the original drawings and he has been unable to locate any photographs of the original interior. As visitors gazed at the bare brick walls and looked at the dance troupe rehearsing in the basement, music boomed from above, where the top floor had been rented out for a bar mitzvah party.

A bar mitzvah in a bathhouse? Only in Brooklyn.

The view from the street

One of the last original elements: the name

The doorway

Inside the cafe

View from cafe to basement theater

Basement performance space

Basement restroom

A peek at the bar mitzvah

The owner

Brooklyn Lyceum
All About Jazz: Brooklyn Lyceum
The Brooklyn Paper: Lyceum Site Under Construction
Forgotten NY: A Lost Opportunity
NYC: Asser Levy Recreation Center
The Villager: Don’t Let LaGuardia Bathhouse Go Down the Drain

OHNY: Tom Otterness’s Studio

Once again, the organization known as Open House New York has planned a weekend-long celebration of the city’s architectural wonders. Places that are normally off-limits (or at least, very difficult for most people to enter) throw open their doors and allow curious visitors inside.

This is the sixth year of Open House New York Weekend, and each year the number of people and places participating grows. While many sites allow visitors to wander in and out, quite a few require advance reservations. Spaces are few and they fill up quickly, so I considered myself extremely fortunate to nab a spot on the visit to Tom Otterness’s studio.

It would be fair to call Tom Otterness New York’s favorite sculptor. While his name might not be familiar, his work is displayed in public and private spaces around the city. Depending on your point of view, you might consider them whimsical or political, witty or simplistic.

In Manhattan, many of his cartoon-like figures, particularly those in the 14th Street subway station, have been embraced and fondled by so many admirers that their dull finish has become a polished gleam. They also scamper around the Hilton Hotel in Times Square, public schools and parks in Manhattan and a children’s hospital in the Bronx. In Brooklyn, his depiction of an alligator escaping from a sewer is a centerpiece of the MetroTech business complex.

Today, he began greeting visitors to his cavernous Brooklyn studio shortly after 10:00 a.m. The artist showed works in progress, projects still in the planning stages, commissions that were cancelled and completed sculptures. He fielded questions, explained his creative process from initial clay model to finished bronze, sold miniatures and posters of his work, signed autographs and posed for photos with admirers.

Works at different stages

Plaster caked clamps on a studio wall

Sketches and model

Boy inspecting statue

A corner is filled with work by friends, this by John Ahearn

Tom Otterness speaks to OHNY participants

Rendering of a public project

Drawings and model for playground

Castings in progress

Vistor and plaster cast

Model of the balloon he created for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Small figures and pennies are recurring themes

Otterness’s Frog and Bee at NYC’s Public School 234

Otterness’s alligator coming out of a sewer at Brooklyn MetroTech

Open House New York
Tom Otterness

Bestsellers Brunch

Every once in a while, I’ll see a display with little sign saying something like “drop your card in the bowl and win a prize,” and if it doesn’t look too fishy, my card goes into the bowl. Why not? What do I have to lose?

Much to my surprise, after dropping a card in a bowl in Central Park, I received the following e-mail.

Congratulations – You have won one ticket to our Bestsellers Brunch, this Sunday!

New York is Book Country – Bestsellers Brunch
The Waldorf=Astoria
301 Park Avenue
Sunday September 28th
11:30 AM to 2:30 PM
———————————
Enjoy a fantastic brunch and meet six current and future bestselling authors as they discuss their latest works. You’ll hear from:

• Lawrence Block EDGAR AWARD WINNER, Hit and Run
• Harlan Coben EDGAR AWARD WINNER, Hold Tight
• Marlo Thomas GOLDEN GLOBE-WINNING ACTRESS, Free to Be…You and Me (35th Anniversary Edition)
• Dionne Warwick GRAMMY-WINNING SINGER, Say a Little Prayer

Plus, debut novelists sure to hit the bestseller lists in the years to come…

• Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric Disturbances
• Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook

We are pleased to announce the event will be moderated by Carol Fitzgerald, President of The Book Reporter Network.

How could I resist? I have to admit that I was eager to get an up-close-and-personal look at Marlo Thomas and Dionne Warwick, and to hang around and drink coffee in one of the fanciest hotels ever built in the City of New York.

To my surprise (and delight), after they spoke, all of the authors hung around and signed copies of their books. I walked away with a pile of books tucked securely into a Waldorf-Astoria shopping bag, and now have enough reading material to last the rest of the season.

The brunch featured chefs making omelettes

The brunch crowd

Most of the panel (they didn’t all fit in the frame)

Dionne Warwick speaking to a fan

Marlo Thomas signing a book

Marlo Thomas speaking to a fan

Lawrence Block signing a book

Lawrence Block and Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben on the panel

The Waldorf-Astoria hotel
Lawrence Block, Hit and Run
Harlan Coben, Hold Tight
Marlo Thomas, Free to Be … You and Me
Dionne Warwick, Say a Little Prayer
Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric Disturbances
Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook

The Recovery Project Rally

Inspired by the success of their critically acclaimed program Intervention, the A&E television network has launched an initiative to raise awareness about addiction and recovery. The effort known as the Recovery Project began with a rally at Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza, followed by a march across the Brooklyn Bridge.

In a press release, Bob DeBitetto, president and general manager of the A&E Network and Bio Channel said, “We believe that the considerable reach of A&E Network provides a powerful platform to address, head-on, this enormous public health issue and the urgent need for meaningful action. ‘Intervention’ served as a wake-up call to the fact that addiction is a disease pervading every aspect of our society. Nobody is immune, and everyone deserves a chance to fight for his or her recovery.”

Despite the morning’s drizzle and fog, thousands of recovering addicts came out today. Some were decades into their recovery, others had been clean only a few days, but all hoped that they could help others understand that addiction is a treatable disease and recovery is possible.

Gathering in the park

Worker distributing t-shirts

In recovery for four months and nine months

Daughter with mother 15 years in recovery

In recovery since May 10th

In recovery for 19 years

In recovery for 10 years, new in recovery

In recovery for 13 years

In recovery for 28 months

In recovery for 35 years

In recovery for 60 days

Family from Trenton, NJ

In recovery for 8 1/2 months

In recovery for 25 years

Crossing the bridge with a cigarette and a lollipop

In recovery for 12 years

In recovery for 19 days

In recovery for 23 years

Crossing Brooklyn Bridge together

In recovery for 13 years

Walking across the bridge

In recovery “and I vote”

A&E: The Recovery Project
A&E: Recovery Rally
A&E: Intervention

Trader Joe’s Comes to Brooklyn

Who would get excited about the opening of a new grocery store in New York City, where dozens of grocery stores open (and close) every year without making a ripple? Making a big deal over a new food market seems more appropriate for a sleepy village where nothing ever happens.

But today’s store opening drew reporters, politicians and excitement. Despite the pouring rain, shoppers waited for more than an hour outside the balloon-festooned market just for the honor of saying they were the first to set foot in Brooklyn’s first Trader Joe’s store. The California-based specialty grocery chain, known for their high quality, unusual selection and fair prices, has an almost cult-like following — some shoppers even run fan sites.

This morning, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz stood on the front steps of the building that formerly housed the Independence Bank and declared that this is Trader Joe’s Day in Brooklyn. Then, as a steel band played and the store’s employees applauded, the soggy but eager shoppers burst through the doors.

Balloons signal the opening

Shoppers waiting in the rain

The carts are empty as employees applaud the first shoppers

The JahPan Caribbean Steel Drum Band playing

Banging the drums

Shoppers explore the new store

Trader Joe’s
NY1: A Trader Joe’s Grows In Brooklyn
Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Brooklynites Cheer as Trader Joe’s Opens It’s Doors
NY Daily News: Trader Joe’s gets a grand unwrap
NY Times: For Trader Joe’s, a New York Taste Test
Trader Joe’s Fan
Tracking Trader Joe’s

Just Hangin’ Around

David Blaine is an entertainer who is usually called a magician. However, while he does perform some slight of hand and street magic, he is best known as part of the long tradition of performers who have gotten themselves into, and out of, difficult situations with great flourish and showmanship. Blaine specializes in highly-publicized stunts that test his endurance: among other feats he has been encased in ice, entombed in a plastic box, and stood atop a pole for long stretches of time.

A few days ago he began his latest project, called the “Dive of Death.” It is supposed to entail Blaine hanging upside down above Central Park’s Wollman Skating Rink for 60 hours. The stunt will end tonight at about 11:15, culminating in what is being described as a spectacular finale involving big balloons, acrobats and music.

Today I stopped by the Park to see Blaine hanging upside down and was very surprised to see him standing right side up. He was standing on a platform, drinking juice from a bottle. When he finished the juice, he followed it with a bottle of water. Eventually, he was moved away from the platform and suspended from a crane. The area around the rink was surrounded by metal security barricades and dozens of enormous guards with thick necks, shaved heads and earpieces.

Spectators took pictures and some were escorted behind the barriers to pose for photos with Blaine. While they were waiting, a teenaged Blaine fan in the crowd named Joseph quietly performed magic tricks for those around him. His appearance wasn’t planned, wasn’t publicized, wasn’t paid, and was barely even noticed by most of those who surrounded him. Too bad. It was more entertaining to watch the boy doing card tricks and causing a straw man to rise on his palm than it was to see David Blaine hanging upside down.

By the way, if you would like to reach Joseph, you’ll find him in Queens at 347-484-6148.

David Blaine, standing on a platform

Not upside down

Being hoisted up

Finally, hanging!

Upside down man

Joseph the street magician working in the crowd

The elaborate set built in Wollman Rink

Entertainment Weekly: I Don’t Get It
Live News: David Blaine’s a fake, claim angry witnesses
Times Online: David Blaine rubbished over breaks
Gothamist: David Blaine Starts Upside-Down Stunt Over Wollman Rink
Sydney Morning Herald: The Blaine Game – No dive, no death
Times Online: Hanging about like a sloth. Call that magic?

Mexican Day Parade

Most of the year, New York’s Mexican community is nearly invisible. To outsiders, its members appear to be no different than any of the other recently-arrived Latin American immigrants. But today is Mexican residents’ day to shine.

This afternoon the Mexican Day Parade (also known as the Mexican Independence Parade) was held on Madison Avenue between 26th and 42nd Streets. A relatively recent tradition, which celebrates Mexico’s independence from Spain, the annual event began in the 1990s and has grown larger every year.

Today a procession of lowriders (both the automotive and bicycle varieties) roared down the street, followed by floats, marching bands and a large contingent of Bolivian dancers. The weather was perfect, the crowd was enthusiastic, the mariachis played, the women danced and the kids were entranced. It was a great day for vendors selling anything in green, red and white (the colors of the Mexican flag), too.

Watching the parade

The queen of the parade

Young couple

Viva Mexico headband

Dancer

Boy with painted face

Sitting and watching

A dancer

Fascinated

Girl in the crowd

Boy holding flag

Drummers from marching band

Friends watching together

Proud papa

Peeking out from under police barrier

Holding a mask

Lowrider family

Stroller draped with sequined saint

Dancers leaping

Mini-Mexican

NY Times: Parade Dispute Is a Rite of Passage for Mexicans

Art In-Site on Governors Island

Governors Island is slowly being transformed from an abandoned military base to a public arts and recreation center. Many of the old houses have been stabilized and are open to visitors who can walk freely through their empty, echoing rooms.

The Sculptors Guild has organized a large 70th anniversary exhibition on the island, with works displayed out of doors and inside one of the recently restored and reopened buildings. The show, called In-Site, will close on October 1 and the island closes for the season on October 5.

If you have the time to go, take one of the free ferries from Lower Manhattan; they go to Governors Island every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Don’t miss the boat or you’ll have to wait until next year.

By the way … I wasn’t able to match up all of the works I saw with their creators. If you can identify the sculptors, please let me know.

Wooden sculpture by Beth Morrison

Sculpture on Governors Island by Renata Schwebel

Sculpture by Judith Steinberg

Sculpture on Governors Island by Mary Ellen Scherl

Sculpture made from shingles by Lucy Hodgson

Bench by Steven Ceraso & John Fekner

Work by Anti Liu

By Jerelyn Hanrahan

Work by Rune Olsen

Mummy’s Desire by Katja Jakobsen

Work by Jeremy Comins

Sculpture by Mary Judge

Work by Rick Briggs

Woman by Lloyd Glasson

Doorway by Julie Tesser

Sculpture by Patricia Anne Mandel

Man by Stephanie Rocknak

Sculpture

Wooden bust

The Sculptors Guild
New York State: Governors Island
National Park Service: Governors Island

Brooklyn Book Festival 3

Now in its third year, the Brooklyn Book Festival has expanded to include authors and books that have no obvious connection to this borough.

The new focus on international authors, though, did not mean that local talent was shut out. In fact, this year’s festivities included some of Brooklyn’s best-known writers, and I was fortunate enough to hear some of them speak.

I also had the opportunity to gush (babble, perhaps) to the glamorous Terry McMillan about how much I enjoyed her first bok (Mama) and what it meant to me. She appeared to be both astonished and pleased and whispered conspiratorially, “That is my favorite, too.”

This year’s participating authors included:

Warren Adler: Funny Boys, The War of the Roses, Random Hearts
Jose Eduardo Agualusa: The Book of Chameleons, Creole
Henry Alford: Municipal Bondage, Big Kiss, How to Live
Dorothy Allison: Bastard out of Carolina, Cavedweller, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure
Ron Arons: The Jews of Sing Sing
Kyle Baker: Nat Turner, How to Draw Stupid, The Bakers: Babies & Kittens
Russell Banks: The Reserve, Affliction, Rule of the Bone
Toby Barlow: Sharp Teeth
Jennifer Baumgardner: Abortion and Life, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics
Moustafa Bayoumi: How Does it Feel to be a Problem?, Being Young and Arab in America, The Edward Said Reader
Mo Beasley: No Good Nigg@ Bluez
Paul Beatty: Slumberland, The White Boy Shuffle, Tuff: A Novel
Alice Bernstein: The People of Clarendon County
Charles Bock: Beautiful Children
Mirko Bonne: Die Republik der Silberfische, Der eiskalte Himmel, Hibiskus Code
Jimmy Breslin: The Good Rat
Breyten Breytenbach: All One Horse, The Memory of Birds in Times of Revolution, Return to Paradise
Geoffery Canada: Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America
Colin Channer: The Girl With the Golden Shoes, Iron Ballons
Alan Cheuse: To Catch the Lightning, The Fires, The Light Possessed
Susan Choi: A Person of Interest, American Woman, The Foreign Student
Kate Christensen: In the Drink, Jeremy Thrane, and The Epicure’s Lament
Melissa Clark: The Skinny
Ta-Nehisi Coates: The Beautiful Struggle
Jerry Craft: Mama’s Boyz
Gabriel Cohen: Red Hook, The Graving Dock, and Boombox
Mark Danner: Torture and Truth, The Secret Way to War, The Road to Illegitimacy
Frank Delaney: Ireland, Tipperary, Simple Courage
Stacey D’Erasmo: Tea, A Seahorse Year, The Sky Below
Joan Didion: The Year of Magical Thinking, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Where I Was From
The Waiter (Steve Dublanica): Waiter Rant
Ronald Dworkin: The Supreme Court Phalanx, Is Democracy Possible Here?, Justice in Robes
Nathan Englander: The Ministry of Special Cases, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
Rachel Fershleiser: Not Quite What I Was Planning: 6 Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure
Isaac Fingerer: Adults Only: Trendsetting Spirituality for the 21st Century
Nick Flynn: Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Blind Huber, Some Ether
Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections, The Twenty-Seventh City, Strong Motion, The Discomfort Zone
David Frum: Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush
Paula Fox: The Coldest Winter, Borrowed Finery, Desperate Characters
Rivka Galchen: Atmospheric Disturbances
Alexander Genis: Red Bread, Russian Postmodernism, Dovlatov and Environs
Dagoberto Gilb: The Flowers, Woodcuts of Women, The Magic of Blood
Ben Greenman: A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both, Superbad, Superworse
Robert Greenman:
Andrew Sean Greer: The Story of a Marriage, The Confessions of Max Tivoli, The Path of Minor Planets
Phillipe Grimbert: Memory, La Petite Robe de Paul, Chantons sous la psy
Paul Guest: The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World, Notes for my Body Double, upcoming My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge
Jessica Hagedorn: Dogeaters, The Gangster of Love, Dream Jungle
Pete Hamill: North River, Flesh and Blood, Forever
Theodore Hamm: Rebel and a Cause, New Blue Media
Kathryn Harrison: While They Slept, Envy, The Kiss
Matthea Harvey: Sad Little Breathing Machine, Pity the Bathtub its Forced Embrace of Human Form, Modern Life
Joanna Hershon: The German Bride, Swimming, The Outside of August
Paul Holdengräber (New York Public Library)
A.M. Homes: The Mistress’s Daughter, This Book Will Save Your Life
Pico Iyer: The Open Road, The Lady and the Monk, Sun After Dark
Steven Jenkins: Cheese Primer, The Food Life
Nina Katchadourian (Musician)
Porochista Khakpour: Sons and Other Flammable Objects
Josh Kilmer-Purcell: Candy Everybody Wants, I Am Not Myself These Days
Chuck Klosterman: Downtown Owl, Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Killing Yourself to Live
Lily Koppel: The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal.
Pavel Lembersky: A Unique Space, City of Vanishing Spaces, River #7
Jonathan Lethem: Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn, You Don’t Love Me Yet
Tao Lin: Eeeee Eee Eeee, You are a Little Bit Happier than I am, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Bud Livingston: President Lincoln’s Third Largest City
Phillip Lopate: Two Marriages, The Rug Merchant, Being With Children
John R. MacArthur: Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War, The Selling of Free Trade: NAFTA, Washington and the Subversion of American Democracy
Ian MacKaye (Musician): Dischord Records
John Manbeck: The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Film, Brooklyn: Historically Speaking
Alice Mattison: Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn, In Case We’re Separated, The Book Borrower
Patrick McGrath: Trauma, Port Mungo, Dr Haggard’s Disease and Asylum
Terry McMillan: Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Interruption of Everything
Joe Meno: The Boy Detective Fails, Hairstyles of the Damned, Demons in the Spring
Sarah Mlynowski: Bars & Broomsticks, Spells and Sleeping Bags, Milkrun
Kenny Moore: The CEO and the Monk
Thurston Moore: Mix Tape, Alabama Wildman, Nice War
Walter Mosley: Devil in a Blue Dress, Blonde Faith, This Year You Write Your Novel
Eileen Myles: Sorry Tree, Cool for You, Chelsea Girls
Fae Myenne Ng: Bone, Steer Toward Rock
Jay Neugeboren: 1940, Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness and Survival, The Stolen Jew
Arthur Nersesian: The Swing Voter of Staten Island, The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx, Chinese Takeout
Patrice Nganang: Dog Days, elobi, L’Invention du beau regard
Elizabeth Nunez: Prospero’s Daughter, Grace, Discretion
D. Nurkse: The Border Kingdom, Burnt Island, The Fall
Patricia O’Brien: Harriet and Isabella, The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Lousia May Alcott and Clara Burton
Joseph O’Neill: Netherland
Ed Park: Personal Days
José Luis Peixoto: The Implacable Order of Things
George Pelecanos: The Turnaround, The Night Gardner, Hard Revolution
Arthur Phillips: Prague, The Egyptologist, Angelica
Darryl Pinckney: Out There: Mavericks of Black Literature, High Cotton
Katha Pollitt: Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories, Reasonable Creatures, Virginity or Death!
Kevin Powell: No Sleep Till Brooklyn: New and Selected Poems, Someday We’ll All Be Free
Richard Price: Lush Life, Freedomland, Clockers
David Rakoff: Fraud, Don’t Get Too Comfortable
Aaron Raskin: The Rabbi and the CEO
Juan de Recacoechea: American Visa
Elizabeth Reddin: The Hot Garment of Love
John Reed: All the World’s a Grave, The Whole, Snowball’s Chance
Nathaniel Rich: The Mayor’s Tongue
Simon Rich: Free Range Chickens, Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations
Steven Rinella: The Scavanger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine
Cristy C. Road:  Indestructible, Bad Habits
Carl Hancock Rux: Asphalt
Linda Sanchez: Dream in Color
Loretta Sanchez: Dream in Color
Esmeralda Santiago: When I was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, América’s Dream
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh: When Skateboard Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood, State by State
Lore Segal: Shakespeare’s Kitchen, Her First American, Other People’s Houses
Ken Siegelman: City Souls, Through Global Currents, Urbania
Amy Shearn: How Far is the Ocean From Here
Robert Silvers: The Consequences to Come
Esther K. Smith: How to Make Books, Magic Books & Paper Toys, The Paper Bride
Larry Smith: Not Quite What I Was Planning: 6 Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure
Patricia Smith: Teahouse of the Almighty, Close to Death
Ian Randal Strock: The Presidential Book of Lists
Manil Suri: The Age of Shiva, The Death of Vishnu
Paco I Taibo II: Pancho Villa, Frontera Dreams
Marina Temkina: Canto Immigranto, Kalancha, In Reverse
Hannah Tinti: The Good Thief, Animal Crackers
Adrian Tomine: Shortcomings, New York Sketches 2004, Summer Blond
Paul Tough: Whatever It Takes
Sandra Tsing Loh: A Year in Van Nuys, Mother on Fire: A True Mother%#$@ Story About Parenting, Mr. Loh’s Not Afraid to be Naked
Nikki Turner: Black Widow
Linn Ullmann: Before You Sleep, Stella Descending, Grace
Binyavanga Wainaina: Discovering Home, Kwani?
Matt Weiland: Names on the Land, State by State, The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup
Jacob Weisberg: The Bush Tragedy, In an Uncertain World, The Bushisms Series
Sean Wilsey: Oh the Glory of it All, State by State (co-editor)
Dirk Wittenborn: Pharmakon, Fierce People
Peter Wortsman: Telegrams of the Soul
John Wray:Canaan’s Tongue
Naomi Wolf: The End of America, The Beauty Myth, Promiscuities
Matvei Yankelevich: Today I Wrote Nothing
Kevin Young: Dear Darkness, For the Confederate Dead, Jelly Roll
Gary Younge: No Place Like Home, Stranger in a Strange Land
Thomas Zweifel: The Rabbi and the CEO, International Organizations: Democracy, Accountability, Power

YOUTH
Holly BlackThe Good Neighbors, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Ironside
Susan Cooper (Newbery Award author) Acting Out
Daniel Kirk, Elf Realm
Gail Carson Levine: Ella Enchanted, The Fairest, Ever
David Levithan,Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Boy Meets Boy
Patricia MacLachlan (Newbery Award author), Acting Out
Sarah Mlynowski: How to be Bad, Spells and Sleeping Bags, Bras and Broomsticks
An Na: A Step From Heaven, Wait For Me, The Fold
Alisa Valdes Rodriguez: Haters, Dirty Girls on Top, The Dirty Girls Social Club
Ariel Schrag: Potential, Awkward and Definition, Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age
Paul Volponi: Hurricane Song, Black and White, Rooftop, Rucker Park Setup
Ivan Velez, Jr.Tales of the Closet, Dead High Yearbook
Cecily von Ziegesar: Gossip Girls, It Girl
Brian Wood,DMZ, Demo, The New York Four
Jacqueline Woodson: Feathers, Hush, After Tupac and D Foster
Bil Wright, When the Black Girl Sings

CHILDREN
Grace Chang: Jin Jin the Dragon
Raul Colon: Tomas and the Library Lady, My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, Angela and the Baby Jesus
Nina Crews: Snowball, The Neighborhood Mother Goose, Below
Edward Hemingway: Bump in the Night
Betsy Lewin: So, What’s it Like to Be a Cat? Duck for President, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type
Ted Lewin: Horse Song, Peppe the Lamp Lighter
John Bemelmans Marciano: Madeline and the Cats of Rome
Chris Myers, Jabborwocky (adapted by), Wings, Jazz
Jane O’Connor: Fancy Nancy
Chris Raschka: Yo! Yes? Charlie Parker Played Be Bop and Five for a Little One
Jon Scieszka: Time Warp Trio, The Stinky Cheeseman and other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
Marilyn Singer: Didi and Daddy on the Promenade, City Lullaby, Shoe Bop!
Mo Willems: Elephant and Piggie Books, The Pigeon Wants a Puppy

Pete Hamill

Amy Shearn

Jimmy Breslin

Chuck Klosterman

Stacey D’Erasmo

Geoffrey Canada

Charles Bock

Henry Alford

Sandra Nunez

Paul Beatty

Simon Rich

Ed Park

Youme Landowne

Toby Barlow

Etan Boritzer

Jessica Hagedorn

Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn Public Library
Mama by Terry McMillan

Still remembering

This spot on the Brooklyn Promenade once afforded a clear view of the World Trade Center. It rose high above the New York skyline, two rectangles pointing straight up into the heavens. Now, there is a hole in the sky.

Tonight, as in years past, two blue beams of light take the place of those buildings destroyed seven years ago. The lights are visible only from sunset to sunrise, then are turned off and disappear for another year.

Each year, fewer and fewer people come here to remember what happened on September 11, 2001. Fewer signs are hung, fewer candles are burned, fewer flowers placed along the cast iron fence.

But I still come here every year. I still come to light candles, look at the blue beams of light, and think about those lost in the horror on the other side of the river. Seven years have passed, but, tonight especially, I still remember.

Candles burning on the Promenade

The wreath says “September 11 – Broken Sky”

The lights reflecting against a cloud

Day of Remembrance

They called it a Day of Remembrance, but the discussion was as much about the future as it was about the past and the emotions evoked were as much anger as sadness.

After the invitations were printed and sent, two notable guests were added to the agenda: Daniel Rodriguez, a former member of the NYPD who is known as the “singing policeman,” and Bill Clinton. Both men brought the crowd to its feet.

Daniel Rodriguez

Bill Clinton at the podium

Bill Clinton

Invitation

NY1: WTC-Affected Families Press Bill Clinton To Help Exhume Remains
International Herald Tribune: Bill Clinton concerned about 9/11 scholarship fund
WCBS TV: Clinton Sounds Off On Treatment Of 9/11 Families
Voices of September 11th Seventh Anniversary Events
Daniel Rodriguez
NPR: The Singing Policeman
Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund

Low Life City

Inspired by the book Low Life: The Lures and Snares of Old New York, Low Life City celebrates New York’s seamy underside.

For the past decade, it has been held on the Lower East Side (the setting for the book), and recreates the forms of entertainment enjoyed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the neighborhood’s notorious criminals, drunkards, prostitutes, losers, thieves, gangsters, beggars, swindlers and reformers.

This year’s edition of Low Life City was held in Tompkins Square Park. Bowery boys, Irish tenors, saloon singers, burlesque dancers, Victorian ladies and street urchins perform with modern sensibilities and great good humor. The cast included Hattie Hathaway, Joey Arias, Basil Twist, Dirty Martini, Pinchbottom Burlesque, the Vangeline Theater, the Duelling Bankheads, World Famous *BOB*, Adam Joseph, the Pixie Harlots, Heather Litteer and Tigger.

Although the organizers bill Low Life City as “not recommended for children!” there were quite a few very young faces in the crowd. The kids enjoyed the music, dancing, puppets, feathers and sequins while the bawdy humor and naughty political references went right over their little heads.

Amber Ray at Low Life

Heather Litteer at Low Life

Changing the cards

Duelling Bankheads campaign

Joey Arias with glass of absinthe

Joey Arias at Low Life

Pinchbottom Burlesque at Low Life

Vangeline Theatre

Fauxnique

Acid Betty and Ephiphany in a “sister act”

Acid Betty

Adam Joseph as the Irish Tenor

Dirty Martini with her fan

Tigger and the evils of the bottle

Delirium Tremens unzips

Delirium Tremens in her scanties

Voltaire singing about evil devil songs

Poison Eve with chickens on her hands

Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante
Low Life City
Amber Ray
Dirty Martini
Miss Delirium Tremens
Joey Arias
MySpace: Adam Joseph
MySpace: Hattie Hathaway
MySpace: Pinchbottom Burlesque
MySpace: Tigger
MySpace: World Famous *Bob*

A Stray Dog in the Park

There is is, right near the lamp post, a dog standing all by himself. When you get closer, you can see by the harness he wears that he is a service dog, trained to help his disabled owner. But … where is the owner? And why isn’t the dog moving?

This is Stray Dog by New York-based sculptor Tony Matelli. Lifelike and life-sized, created in resin, he stands beside the park at Brooklyn MetroTech center, baffling and delighting those who spot him and attempt to come to his rescue.

Stray Dog

Stray Dog from another angle

Stray Dog by Tony Matelli

Brooklyn MetroTech
New York Times: A Fertile Garden Of Sculptures
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design: Tony Matelli

Are you feeling safe?

I was astonished to see this high tech security lock installed on the exterior a small apartment building in Brooklyn Heights. It seemed so incongruous, a flashy, futuristic fixture in the center of an historic district.

Have you seen locks like these on private homes? Would installing a fancy, new security system make you feel safer and more secure?

Keri Systems, Inc. Entraguard Gold entry panel.

Note the position of cursor. Touch call to ring tenant.

Keri Systems