Williamsburg is Dead

Last Night in a Single Picture ...

Michel Gondry Shares His Thoughts on Brooklyn

Patron Saint of Williamsburg Michel Gondry speaks! He hates new condo buildings, just like the rest of us! And he thinks maybe hipsters should stop only going to fancy coffee shops and try some of the older places, despite their lack of Stumptown and Wi-Fi and cute hipsters girls clackity-clacking on their MacBooks. Hmmmm. Regardless, we still want to team up with him to Swede Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

I don’t like so much all the new condominiums that they are constructing. I sort of laugh inside when I realize that they are all screwed and they can’t find people to live in their buildings.

One problem with the neighborhood is that all the hipsters are very selective on their coffee. They all clutter in this tiny, trendy coffee shop, and then the other shops go out of business. So I think on one hand, the hipster should be a little bit more tolerant of his coffee, because he’s missing out on great places, and great mixture of culture. On the other hand, maybe some of the diners should buy an espresso machine.

NY Mag: Waking Up To New York

Williamsburg 2nd Friday Art Crawl

'Tis the special time of the month where all the galleries open their doors until 10pm and art lovers wander the street en masse like the monsters in Michael Jackson's Thriller video. Anything special going on this time around? It's time for vague, confusing artspeak!

Hogar Collection: Closing Reception: The vaporesque veils of atmosphere and light - Rafael Bueno's paintings visually represent discordant figures that exist in atmospheric and bleak vacuous landscapes.

McCaig-Welles: Opening: Queens Arrive A group exhibition curated by Indie 184. Queens Arrive… features an elite group of international female artists of contemporary graffiti culture. This unique exhibit is a refreshing perspective on the street art scene. Celebrating various intricate personalities and styles.

Slate Gallery: Artist Lecture 7:30. Stones and Ciphers - Taney Roniger, paintings from her two most recent series which explore the relationship between the organic and digital realms.

Check out rawmag.org for more details.

North Brooklyn Story Project Benefit Concert

Mark your calendar for April 28th, when the North Brooklyn Story Project Benefit Concert hits Union Pool (484 Union Ave). Who's playing?

The Blue Album Group: Like Weezer if they were frozen in time after their first (and maybe best, although Pinkerton has a lot of fans out there) album, this group of strapping young lads play "The Blue Album" all the way through for the ultimate nostalgia face-punch. They rock so hard your Rivers Cuomo glasses might explode.

Rebecca Schiffman: This month Vice dubbed her album "To Be Good for a Day" as their "Album of the Month." That's like an AAA indie cred rating from the ultimate cool police. But don't take their word for it, listen to her quirky-ass songs for yourself and feel your heart bounce out of your chest like in a Tex Avery cartoon.

The Roulettes: Rebecca Keith has been a friend of Williamsburg is Dead for awhile. She co-runs the Mixer Reading Series at Cakeshop, which is like the coolest reading in the universe, and she's also in a band called The New York Times. Her band The Roulettes have a definite Sleater Kinney vibe that will make you feel as happy as eating a bucket of fried chicken while listening to "All Hands on the Bad One" for the very first time. That's pretty goddamn happy.

And the kicker? You'll help raise money for the North Brooklyn Story Project, which I'm helping organize with NAG (Neighbors Allied for Good Growth). We need recording equipment so we can enlist volunteers to gather stories from Williamsburgers of all ages, ethnicities and levels of pants-tightness. We'll then share those stories with you, the Brooklyn community, and it'll also help us understand some of the concerns residents have so NAG can better address them. Also, future Brooklynites will get to look back at this particularly chaotic time in North Brooklyn's development. Hello future Brooklyn!

So yeah, show up and support the cause and have some fun in the process.

Williamsburg Spelling Bee Returns!

Open up your dictionary and start reading because the Williamsburg Spelling Bee returns to Pete's Candy Store on April 13th. Per the PR email:

This long-running real adult spelling bee, now in its ninth season. Open to all, signup begins 7pm. Three-strikes-you're-out policy means more participation for everyone. Winners get free booze.

Free booze! Our nation's schools could learn a lot from this event, mainly that kids who excel in spelling bees and literature become poor liberal arts grads who live in Williamsburg and drunkenly participate in semi-ironic spelling bees.

Interview With Charlotte Kamin of the Bedford Cheese Shop

Cheese, cheese, oh glooorious cheese! Here is what she said when I asked her why she opened her shop in Brooklyn:

There is a real sense of community here, while the city is kind of more transient. I think there has been more and more people who are interested in food and where their food is coming from. They understand why there would be a price difference in a cheese that’s made by hand at one farm and from one herd as opposed to cheese you can find at most grocery stores that might have the same name, but are kind of nameless factory-produced cheeses. Those kind of people seek us out to really taste the difference between, say, a Roquefort produced by one herd and aged by one man as opposed to one from a factory where 20 or so farms are contributing their milk to one production and it all gets kind of lost.

[The Feedbag]

Battle Of The Bridge

Sometimes we have to do crazy things, like go to Queens, where the Greek food flows like wine and the Chinese food flows like the aforementioned Greek food. But none of us poor Williamsburg types have cars, so we have to trudge across the Pulaski Bridge like hipster refugees on our own two feet or on a fancy bicycle machine. Sadly, this creates conflict. The car lanes are too small and filled with angry drivers for the poor bikers, and the pedestrian walkways are filled with, well, pedestrians. Pedestrians don't like getting hit by bikes and bicyclists don't like dismounting and walking their bikes because, hey, why have a bike in the first place if you're just going to walk it? I admit it, I have a bicycle and I ride it across the walkway because I don't have all day and I'm supposed to meet my friend at WarmUp in 15 minutes, move goddamn you. My solution? Double-decker walkway! Problem solved ... money, please.

Daily News: Walkers say bikes on Pulaski Bridge pose hazards

Town Hall Meeting Next Week!

Williamsburgites, take control of  your neighborhood. Next Thursday, March 26th, NAG (Neighbors Allied for Good Growth) is having a town hall meeting to discuss accomplishing the following:

• Stop Subway & Bus Cuts
• Fight for New Parks
• Save Our Affordable Housing
• Make Streets Safer for Everyone
• Keep Our Neighborhood Diverse

The meeting is on Thursday, March 26, 7pm, at 211 Ainslie Street at Manhattan Ave.

New Southside CSA in Williamsburg

It's CSA sign up time! There's a new player in town called the Southside CSA and I totally think I'm going in for a half share. Here is the info:

The Southside CSA is bringing fresh produce from the black dirt of MimoMex Farm in Orange County, NY to the kitchens of Brooklyn.

We will be offering around 50 memberships, with a choice of four types of share – vegetable, fruit, eggs and wine. They can be purchased either in a full share or in half shares, which will cost half the price of a full share and will be collected every other week. Distribution will be on Monday evenings, 6.30-8.30pm, at Bridget, 20 Broadway (@ Kent Ave. The season runs for 20 weeks, from mid June to November. Shares will be lighter in the spring and as the season progresses, will increase in volume and variety. Members are required to fulfill two volunteer shifts per "share family" during the harvest season. All sorts of information about the shares and CSA's can be found on our blog.

Sign ups will be on Monday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at Bridget, every week for the month of March and into April.  Just bring your checkbook and calendar!  Please check our blog for updates and details.

Barry Manilow: Original Williamsburg Hipster

 God bless you, FREEwilliamsburg, for bringing this men.style.com interview with Manilow to our attention. Maniloooooooooow!