Loud and Proud: At Bushwick’s very own esoteric dance space, this writer at Art Fag City comes out of the closet as a triangle-lover. No, literally. She likes triangles a lot.
Now You’re Cookin’: Bushwick’s very own historical “flimflammer” — who is only sort of credited with discovering the North Pole, and who was indicted in a Texas oil scam — has an entire Society dedicated to proving his North Pole firstness.
Handle With Care: The Ridgewood Theater was bought by a local who vows to spend $1.5 million to renovate it, convert the front space to retail, and says there’s a “90% chance” that movies will be shown again in what’s left of the space. I’ll just assume he’s lying and be pleasantly surprised if someone good happens.
The Powder-Wigged Menace: Tired yet of hearing how you will be pushed out of Bushwick in a few years by rich yuppies and their annoying babies? Rest contented in the fact that they will in turn be pushed out by aristocratization.
I’m still on the look out for steady co-bloggers, as the ones who join seem to write a couple of posts and then drop off the face of the earth or move away without notice. I am looking for someone who lives in the neighborhood and is a good writer to ruminate on all kinds of local stuff. The style would ideally be NON-journalistic — nobody wants to be put to sleep.
BushwickBK.com gets over 600 unique visitors daily, and over 7000 uniques monthly, and all of those people are looking for information on Bushwick (and sometimes, Ridgewood). If you’d like to come on board, please send me a sample of your writing, preferably about Bushwick.
YOU MUST WRITE WELL. I’d rather run nothing than crap.
3/28 — These Are Powers with Extra Life, Skeletons. Silent Barn. 915 Wyckoff Ave. 8pm. Cost: TBA. These Are Powers are self-described as “break beat / Healing & easy listening / roots music”. I’m intrigued. I have actually wanted to go see this band for a while now, after hearing their name repeatedly in neighborhood buzz. The track featured on their MySpace page, “Chipping Ice” makes me want to hear it live, jump up and down, and bump into things. I think this might be the perfect venue — Silent Barn is one of those all age “spaces” in a “residential area” (Silent Barn, Death by Audio, Market Hotel). (http://www.myspace.com/thesilentbarn & http://www.myspace.com/thesearepowers)
Photography
3/28 — 31 Under 31: Young Women in Art Photography. (last day) 3rd Ward. 195 Morgan Ave. Humble Arts Foundation in collaboration with Ladies Lotto presents this impressive and eclectic photography show, showcasing a new generation of women art photographers, curated by Lumi Tan and Jon Feinstein. Exhibition closes 3/28. (http:/www.3rdward.com/)
More Music
3.29 — Japanther/ The Pharmacy/ Pterodactyl. The Market Hotel. 957 Broadway, 2nd floor (enter on Myrtle).
9:30pm. Cost: TBA. Besides being three words I like saying together, these bands sound like a night worth having. Japanther promises to be “the best and most positive dance band in New York.” The Pharmacy is from Seattle, and apparently went through a period of collective fascination with The Zombies. Pterodactyl, besides having an awesome website, promises to provide a few dance tracks, especially “Polio” (ironically). (http://www.myspace.com/markethotelnyc)
Dear apartment hunters: when you call on apartments you see here, please mention you saw it on BushwickBK.com!
This week is all affordable railroads in North Bushwick:
$1050 — 1br: Again, the cheapskate in me must weight the inexpensive-but-sorta-cruddy apartment over the others. For this price you can put a few hundred bucks of your own money into livening the place up, without giving the landlord an excuse to raise the rent. And this is a pretty good location! Win-win, and both the wins are you. DeKalb and Knickerbocker Central M/DeKalb L
$1400 — 2br (rr?): The photos are of the unit under renovation — I don’t know why it’s so difficult to take new ones upon completion. Good, basic apartment with the same new off-the-shelf kitchen every apartment in Bushwick has. Great location on an attractive block near good stuff to do and eat. St. Nicholas and Willoughby Jefferson L
$1300 — 1br: Another solid, standard apartment in Bushwick with that same kitchen, though this one seems huge. On Troutman, the residential backbone of the new Bushwick… oddly enough.
PETS OK Troutman and Evergreen Myrtle JMZ/Morgan L
$1225 — 2br rr: Strange apartment in a meh location with views of the elevated train. Not luxurious, but pretty cheap as rent seems to be going these days, so I think it’s worth looking at if you don’t mind some roughness. Harman and Myrtle Knickerbocker M/DeKalbL
$1175 — 1br: I ignored these for a while because the ad is annoying and the building is ugly but the prices have come down for the last unit, so if this truly is a one-bedroom, it’s a good deal. It’s in an okay location and it’s renovated.
PETS OK Bushwick and Troutman Myrtle JMZ
What’s this magnificent building, you ask? Surely it’s a museum or a bank or some equally important building. Sorry, but no. Originally the Ridgewood National Bank, then the Hanover National Bank, the Beaux-Arts structure on Myrtle was taken over by Rite Aid.
Describe your business.
Probably best described as monkey business, my business involves the creation of handmade musical instruments. Most of my sales, at this point in time, are through word of mouth and consignment in shops.
How and when did your business start?
My business officially started in 2003. I want people to appreciate a product that starts with love and ends with love. Just ignore the kicking and screaming that goes on in the process!
When did you move your business to Bushwick?
My business moved to Bushwick in 2006.
And what brought you out here?
The smell of the waste management plant on Thames Street…just kidding! Really…the space was good for me and I was ready to pursue my business further.
Do you have any funny, quirky or weird stories about the neighborhood?
Well, there’s lots of them. Some probably aren’t appropriate for most people. I like to recall the man pissing behind a car on Porter — in fact, that was just today — or the dog vomit strewn throughout the stairwell of my building. There’s also the paranoid guy that was talking to the TV in a local diner. I told him that he should leave and was thanked by the owner. At the same place I also heard the owner tell someone “Oh you couldn’t do nothing” after hearing that a patron of the diner was locked up in Rikers for 3 years. The list goes on and on.
If you have a new business in Bushwick and would like to be a part of this project please email Deidre.
3/25 — Twin Peaks Tuesdays. Northeast Kingdom Lounge. Wyckoff and Troutman. 10pm. Free.
Now in the early second season, two episodes are screened weekly in the dark, woodsy NEK lounge. There’s wood paneling and sanded tree stumps for sitting, an open “fire,” and mountains of free donuts. Ask Scott for cherry pie, and he will deliver. It’s wonderfully creepy. Get there at least 15 minutes early to secure a seat. (http://www.north-eastkingdom.com/)
It’s a contentious anniversary. We moved to Bushwick on February 28, 2007. I’ll never forget the date, because the closing on the house had been postponed so many times I didn’t think it was going to happen — it was also the very last day on our lease. The stress of that day was compounded by the fact that we had to live with the old owner downstairs for five more days, as per an agreement allegedly faxed to our lawyer that, though not signed, was forced on us under threat of yet another postponement of our move-in date. Too bad Luis had taken three days off of work so we could paint and clean the downstairs apartment to get it ready to rent out ASAP. When she finally did get the hell out, she left a putrid apartment full of mouse droppings, bags of old welfare beans, and carpets so full of dust I had a three-day-long allergy attack after I removed it with a mask on. We are still getting mail from their bank.
As we did work on the house over the last year, so the rest of the neighborhood improved. Buildings are being refurbished; trash and crackheads are ever-so-slowly disappearing; new stores are opening and old ones are adapting to the new reality of Bushwick. So much seems to be happening right now that seemed unlikely just six months ago.
As goes the neighborhood, so goes this site. I have experienced many things I never expected when I made my first few posts just around a year ago.
3/21 — Coffee Guy Reads. Space Space, 390 Seneca Ave.
Doors 8pm/Event 9pm. Sug. Donation $3. Paul Rome reads from his novel with music from Stevie Brock, Adam Brown, Mark Lacsamana, with a short film by Sam Tilman and Paul Rome.
Lecture
3/22 — “Behind the Enantiomorph,”a lecture by Suzaan Boettger. NURTUREart, 910 Grand Street. 4pm. Free. A scholar of earthworks and of Smithson, Boettger will discuss the particular circumstances of Smithson’s birth and family structure-a type of situation well-known in psychoanalytic literature and similarly experienced by Vincent van Gogh, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dalí, Cary Grant and Princess Diana-and argue its revelatory force in understanding particular themes in Smithson’s painting, earthworks, nonfiction prose, and poetry. (http://www.nurtureart.org/)
