FIPS WAS THERE: Brooklyn's Finest Finds Her Way Home

[Babs singin’ about Brooklyn in Philadelphia. An acceptable video from Barclays is not available at this time, so just deal with it.]

I wish I could say that seeing Barbra Streisand on her “Back to Brooklyn” tour at Barclays Center with my mom was not my idea, but that’d be rewriting history. My mom’s been a fan her entire life and saw Babs on tour in 1994, so when it was announced that she would trot her formidable stuff into the brand new Barclays Center arena just a few blocks from my apartment, I shot a quick email to my mom to see if she'd be interested. I’ve never been particularly secretive about my love for Barbra, but I don’t think I’d have found my way to the concert unless my mom’s interest was high. Turns out, it was very, very high.

The Saturday night concert, a love letter to the Brooklyn that a young Barbra Streisand grew up in, was billed as a homecoming. To me, it felt more like a nostalgia trip. After all, Barbra left the borough to pursue her dreams and probably hasn’t been back since, though she hears Williamsburg is very chic. When cheering for a picture of the street signs at the corner of Newkirk and Nostrand Avenues erupted amongst the crowd, many of whom I imagine are former Brooklyn residents, I felt as though I had stepped in a time machine. The only other photo projection that elicited an equal response was one of Barbra and Judy Garland. Thus I established that Barbra’s core audience (gay men and older Jews) were in full force and ready to take a trip down memory lane with her.

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Jay-Z Rode The R Train To His Own Concert

For his final, first-round concert at The Barclays Center this past Saturday, Jay-Z got to the venue the way most people probably did: he took public transportation. Mr. Knowles rode the R train, replete with a team of security guards, from Canal to Atlantic. My guess is that the traffic was so backed up going over the bridge by people trying to get to the concert that this was the quickest way for J to get there on time. 

(I love the woman he sits down next to on the train at the 1:04 mark, who clearly has no idea who he is.) 

[Via Daily Dot]

Is North Slope Gettin' a Shake Shack?! (Probably)

While many North Slope residents continue to protest the opening of The Barclays Center and the sidewalk traffic it’ll cause, a new threat to sidewalks everywhere may soon join our favorite rusted UFO. A site adjacent to Barclays could soon play host to a new outpost of New York’s favorite place to wait three hours for a burger: Shake Shack.

According to The Post, Danny Meyers’ burgers-and-custard joint, along with other fine establishments such as Panera Bread, TGI Fridays, and Starbucks, may soon set up shop on the borough’s most-controversial strip of real estate. We here at FiPS are pretty excited about the prospect of Shake Shack coming to our ‘hood, even if it does mean more sidewalk congestion. For one thing, we won’t have to ride three stops on the subway to get to Downtown Brooklyn for our Concretes and crinkly fries. But let’s also consider that recognizable brands like Shake Shack and Fridays might help keep our favorite local restaurants from getting overrun by drunken basketball fans. 

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COOL OR NOT COOL: THE BARCLAYS CENTER?

OK all people who weren't lazy and/or paying attention when Jay-Z tix went on sale: HOW THE HELL WAS IT!??

We want to know everything and anything about the numero uno opening weekend of the Barclays Center:

• Were there any Blue Ivy Carter sightings? 
• Did you get a parking spot?
• Did you want a parking spot?
• Were there 17 million metal detectors?
• Did you see anyone find anything scary after getting metal detected?
• Did anyone get punched?
• How were the bathrooms?
• What were the snacks like? 
• Do you secretly love the place even though it's politically incorrect for a Park Sloper to say so?

SPILL.

IT. 

Park Slope Company Creates Software to Herd People Out of the Barclays Center Like Sheep

A Park Slope mobile app company called Roadify has created an app to help shepherd Nets fans, Jay-Z concert-goers (Update: and Babs, Gaga and the Smashing Pumpkins fans, too -- calm down, haters; I mention Jay-Z because he's playing this weekend) and other barnyard animals out of the Barclays Center and onto their trains to Manhattan, Oyster Bay, and Ronkonkoma (among other places).  Roadify joins other agriculture mobile app developers, such as The University of Nebraska, with their Aphid Speed Scout app, iCropTrak, which tra(c)ks your crops so they don't move around, and the Grain Shrinkage Calculator, which is an app that is designed to keep your wheat and corn from being embarrassed when it goes to the swimming pool on a cold day.

Baa. 

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