Brooklyn vs. Baltimor at The 1896. — Photo by Ellen Letcher.

[Ed. note: lots of videos linked below!]

Last Friday was a fully loaded Todd P show with all the standard features: a lineup of eight excellent DIY/indie bands, an exciting and atypical venue, and Todd P’s comforting and highly pragmatic flight announcements (as usual between every set): “Do not congregate around the door.” “Try to enter on the right and exit on the left.”

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Daniel Peterson’s friends like drugs. — Photo by Mark Taylor

Living room galleries are popping up all over Bushwick. It’s tempting to be snooty about these spaces because they’re not “real” galleries, maaan. But, for a number of reasons this would be unfair. They are a much needed antidote to an overly professionalized New York art scene. They are an opportunity to merge art and life. They are part open house and part gallery. And the way they collapse show, opening, and after-party into a single event is more fun than conventional gallery openings. I went to two such spaces this past weekend, one on Saturday (The Laundromat) and one on Sunday (Subletters Gallery). Both shows were one-night only events.

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Anya Sapozhnikova (in silver) and Jordann Baker (in black) on the silk at the House of Yes. — Photo by Caroline Golum

I went to see my old friend Brian Doherty’s band this past Friday night at the new venue House of Yes. Actually it’s an old venue — its previous space on Troutman caught fire last April — and this is its new location on Maujer St. just off Morgan Ave. (a patch of desolation halfway between NURTUREart and 3rd Ward).

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Ann Liv Young naked in 25 degrees at the Sanctuary of Hope. — Photo by Ellen Letcher.

It often seems that several interesting events cluster on the same date. This past Saturday, November 22nd, was one of those dates. I had four things I wanted to do: two art openings, a program of performances, and a music event. And they were all in the Greater Bushwick Metropolitan Area. More and more I ask myself, what’s the point of leaving Bushwick? There’s so much stuff going on in the hood now it’s getting downright confusing.

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