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 The new wooden griffin by Giant Robots on Meserole St. A menacing new presence has appeared among the warehouses of Bushwick in the form of a 15-foot-tall wooden griffin. This would-be predator appeared on a rooftop corner a couple weeks ago, its hands gripping the ledges of its new nest while leaning over the side to gaze menacingly at its territory below. At night, it is lit by the shine of spotlights, making its presence known for blocks in the desolate streets.
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 Mon Khmer smiling on a couch. — Photo courtesy of the band. A math-y, funk-ridden band with pedal steel and a lead singer from Northeast India? Yep, sounds like a Brooklyn band. Despite combining seemingly random influences like “Ennio Moricone, Nina Simone, Neil Young, Durutti Column, Devo, Kraftwerk, New Order, Giorgio Moroder,” Mon Khmer’s debut album (out now on Daily Vinyl) is a delightful slice of intelligent, seriously grooving art-rock.
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Holy heatwave. Suddenly it doesn’t feel like fall anymore. The new crop of students moving to Bushwick this week says otherwise, however. It’s last-chance-for-summer this weekend, so go out and make the most of it! Remember to visit the Culture Calendar (filled by Melissa!) for a LOT of additional options. Silent Barn, The Acheron, Shea Stadium and Goodbye Blue Monday have plenty of bands to choose from all this week. Plus the latest addition to our farmers’ market network!
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 A bustling scene at the newest farmers’ market on Myrtle Avenue at Wyckoff. — Photos courtesy of EcoStation:NY Bushwick is full of back yard gardens, loft farms, and farm-share programs, and we can’t seem to get enough. After establishing two farmers’ markets in the neighborhod, new community organization EcoStation:NY is starting yet another at a third location under the elevated M tracks at the Myrtle-Wyckoff hub.
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 J.J. El-Far’s Black River, a performance piece about the Gulf oil spill in Hybrid Theatre Works’ Monthly Artist Response Forum. — Photo by Paul Cox Every month has its big story, whether media-manufactured or legitimately important, and every big story creates a groundswell of artistic reactions and creations: key neural pathways in our cultural consciousness. As the news media cycle tightens, however, it’s running circles around the traditional cycles of artistic production, leaving many responses in the dust of old headlines. more »
 A crowd gathers to listen to U SAY USA play at this year’s McKibbin Street Fair. Click for more photos from this event>> — Photos by Dan Gill. "It’s a year since they shut our venue down but we still goin!" intones Earthchild, a rare moment of seriousness between his soulful Lenny Kravitz gone gangsta RnB. And it’s true. Potion, the café, may have shuttered some months ago, but Potion’s importance to the local arts scene in Bushwick lives on, its role as a gathering point for the microculture of McKibbin Street surviving in the name of today’s organizers, the Potion Collective.
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 Mikey Dubs searching for the voices. Photo courtesy of the artist. Mikey Dubs prefers to step in and out of different styles, trying them on for size. He’s made industrial, post-punk, garage, techno, and house musics. But it’s always the dub reggae that keeps him grounded. “You can expect my music and deejay sets to traverse a number of scenes,” he says, “but I take all my influences and relate them to dub.” Hence the name.
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Meet Shane. He works full-time as an EMS driver, and repossesses cars in the evenings, mostly in Bushwick. What he likes best about it is — seriously! — meeting a variety of people. The worst part is when some get violent. He was in the Coast Guard and loved it: “Boats and guns and trucks… what else could a boy like?” He was forced to medically retire after losing most of his foot in an accident. Lately, he feels work defines him because he works all the time — some 20-21-hour days — but he hopes it doesn’t become his whole life long-term. Come with us as he repossesses a car.
music: “Nausea” by Beck
With the rainy weather over the last week, I couldn’t get my fill of soups. I’ve fallen in love with the comfort of a meal in a bowl, but with sunny skies and warmer weather in the forecast, the traditional versions didn’t seem like the way to go for this week’s recipe. After surveying the ingredients in my refrigerator, I put together this spicy, chilled cucumber soup. Its still a comforting meal in a bowl, but it also offers refreshment and pure summer time goodness.
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Sea Ghost. — Photo courtesy of the band. There are so many bands popping up in Brooklyn (and Bushwick specifically) that it’s very easy to get lost in the flood. For every Beach Fossils, there are ten or twenty bands with the same influences that get washed away in the ocean of blogs. But Sea Ghost (see, the water metaphors were valid!) are a new Brooklyn band that don’t seem to care too much about the “scene” or “fitting in.” more »
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