July ends tonight at midnight.  August is almost here–that month that feels like one long Sunday evening, because you know that soon, everything is going to get all serious again.  Live it up while the days are long and the nights are even longer.  Here are some options: feeling like a wild mother-freaking sweat soaked, body slapping, music shouting good ole time?  Check out Usaisamonster and others tonight at Chief Mag’s new spot on Broadway, Bodega.  Not sweaty enough?  The Vivian Girls will be at Silent Barn on Friday night with an impressive line up.  Get there before midnight or you won’t get in.  Tonight the genius Bushwick marvel duo Jett and Ryan who make up the band Columbia will be at Cake Shop, and so will I.  I also personally recommend Bushwick-based angel/singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten on Sunday also at Cake Shop to make you feel like all is well in the universe because heaven really is a place on earth.

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The main header randomly serves three different photos on the right side (fading out behind the site logo). We’re looking to raise that number to about 10, for variety. We’re looking for photos that define Bushwick in a positive way — a pretty street, men playing dominoes, people shopping at a fruit stand, even an artful flat fix shop. It has to be conducive to being sliced horizontally to fit the header, so make sure to compose your photos accordingly. Please send your submissions for inclusion to write@bushwickbk.com. Links to photos or attachments are fine.

1372 Madison is a pretty little two-family on a cute, leafy block right near the imposing gothic Bushwick High. I believe the reason this block and the one next to it are so short — about half a normal block — is that the Long Island Railroad Ridgewood Depot once stood across Ridgewood Place. It has an “accessory unit” *wink* in the basement, like almost every house in Brooklyn. I’m surprised this is a short sale at this price — someone definitely got in way over his head. It’s still a huge house for $540K, and in a very convenient location for commuting.

1372 Madison Street | $540,000
2700sqft | 20ft-wide | 2-family, 9br/3(?)ba | brick
Myrtle-Wyckoff LM

This week we’re focusing on Troutman Street, once the center of Bushwick’s crack trade, now it’s latest snazzy condo row and the residential and cultural backbone of the new Bushwick. In between all that is hundreds of units of rentals in various states of renovation. I picked out the best among what is available right now on Troutman:

$1650 — 2br: For a change, a kitchen that is not that lame, honey-colored country-looking Home Depot line, in a moderately-priced apartment. A proud old row of buildings in a great location close to everything cool. Don’t get me wrong, you can still buy a rock downstairs, but everyone minds their own business.
PETS OK | Troutman and Irving | street view | Jefferson L

$1600 — 2br: This place is solid, if not fashionable. It does have nice old floors, the bathroom is newish, the kitchen, *sigh*, those HD cabinets I mentioned above. But it’s clean-looking, still in a great location, and has a backyard you are encouraged to spiff up and use.
PETS OK | Troutman and Irving | street view | Jefferson L

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A tipster sent this in just now: guys putting up the awning for the falafel joint set to open soon at 43 Bogart in Morgantown. I was by there earlier and noticed a lot of equipment inside all three storefronts. Home stretch, people.

This sucks — this oven timer was completely intact, if a bit dirty, under the ground still attached to the rusted remains of an old stove. I pried it off, admired the fact that the face was ceramic and had interesting 60s-y numbers, and set it aside. Over the weeks of shifting piles of dirt and trash back and forth, it got covered by some dirt…and trash. One day I sent my pickaxe sailing into the ground to turn up some more earth (and dig out knotweed roots), and the pick stuck right into the timer. Would have made a cool thing to hang on a wall.

What? Yeah that’s right, an entire stove completely under the top level of dirt.

On Saturday night I biked a ridiculously short distance to go check out Monduna at the Bushwick Department of Public Works (right next to the “hep of poop” condo).  The Addtract Consortium, a group of creative DIY artists and musicians hosts Monduna regularly, and they showcase bands, sometimes performance art, theater, and more. It’s an impressively well-organized event and space, and free to get in. You buy your drink tickets on your way up, and then exchange them on the roof for way-too-delicious vodka concoctions or micro brews.  The view is wonderful of that island-that-is-better-from-afar, and it was nice to get lost in it for a bit when I was worn out by all the shenanigans.  The roof is spacious and allows for spreading out, mingling, making out in dark corners, and even climbing and doing cartwheels.

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We’re looking to expand our coverage of the neighborhood, and would like to take several new writers on board. We’re especially interested in people willing to contribute regular features to the blog — fashion, architecture, history, food, art, reviews, anything you have an interest in or knack for and are willing to do at regular intervals, whether weekly or monthly. Regular neighborhood observations are encouraged. All authors have profiles which contain a short bio and contact info, and your byline will contain a link to your website, if applicable.

There is a small budget that can be used to pay your expenses if you are a regular contributor or have something particularly amazing to share — we are NOT currently paying fees.

Contact info@bushwickbk.com for more info and write@bushwickbk.com to submit writing and talk about contributing.

Grove Street block party, by pixelateit

The Trials and Tribulations of Pig-Stuy: Remember that cute blog war we had last year that made all the dimwit-seriosos out there crap their pants in rage? Well, as evidence mounts that Bed-Stuy is indeed just too damn nasty to keep any of the fancy new businesses they have open, and some people are moving out of the neighborhood in the face of race-hate and well, utter boredom, one has to wonder if RE-AL-I-TY hasn’t just decided the winner of last year’s faux tiff (check out the lovely photo of Petra in her local cute-but-empty-ass café).

Bum Deal: The owner of a Bushwick Associated (I wonder if it’s the awesome one on Broadway) gets signed up by two “competing” electric companies — and has to pay both for a month. This is the exact way the government gets you hooked on their “services”: create a clashing oligarchy of utility companies that all have to buy power from the still-legally dominant monopoly and when it creates even more disasters, they get to say “deregulation” didn’t work, though no such thing was ever tried.

They Trap Rats, Don’t They?: A Bushwick pigeon supplier apparently has been selling the birds to Pennsylvania gun clubs to be used as targets. I like the use in the article of “squabs” — is that what you call pigeons when you want people to care about them?

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Brooklyn’s upstart galleries create a new art district. The Village Voice looks at Flushing area galleries Factory Fresh, Ad Hoc Art, Pocket Utopia, and English Kills.  Ad-Hoc owner coined the term for the group of nearby galleries the “gang of four.”  Four being enough to label the area a gallery district? I’m sure realtors with half a brain who aren’t in a “hep of poop” will think so.

Dancers are warriors with the most punishing artistic discipline there is. Jonah Bokaer, one of the founders of Chez Bushwick, is profiled on New York Social Diary.

“This has no connection at all with rapper Bushwick Bill from the Geto Boys.“  A New Band A New Day reviews Padre Pio, a glammy pop Bushwick-based band.  The reviewers only reference for our neighborhood is, of course, Bushwick Bill.

Holla if you Swolla. This gem of a blog is “A recorded archive of various cat calls served up to us on the streets of New York.” The Bushwick entry from last Tuesday is surprisingly romantic.