[Fips Was There...] Raisin in the Sun At The Gallery Players

Pictured (l to r): Kwaku Driskell and Ross Johnson in The Gallery Players’ production of A Raisin in the Sun. Photo by Bella Muccari.We here at FIPS spend a hell of a lot of time out and about in Brooklyn, attending outdoor concerts, comedy shows and various other events. So [FIPS Was There...] is where we're gonna' talk about all this shit.

Lately there's been some fierce debating going on Park Slope, and it’s not just the members of the Food Co-op who were just featured on The Daily Show. I’m talking about the Younger family of Chicago’s Southside, currently taking up residence at The Gallery Players in their production of A Raisin in the Sun.

This production of Lorraine Hansberry’s American classic, inspired by Hansberry’s own experiences growing up Black in Chicago, runs through this weekend. The details of the plot are surely familiar to most who have sat through a high school American literature course: Tempers flare as the Youngers each propose what should be done with the $10,000 life insurance check they’re about to collect. Walter Lee (Kwaku Driskell) wants to invest in a liquor store. Beneatha (a lovely Brittany Bellizare) wants to use the money to pay for her medical school. Lena (Hope Harley) wants to move the family out of the two-bedroom, basement apartment they share and into a house.

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[FIPS Was There...] David Lynch Art Opening at Tilton Gallery

When I think of David Lynch films, I think of three scenes in particular:

#1: That scene in Blue Velvet where Dennis Hopper kneels on the floor before Isabella Rossellini’s crotch, huffing amyl nitrate & screaming things like "Baby wants to fuck!"

#2: In Eraserhead, the dinner scene, where a mother orgasms on one side of the dinner table while a tiny roasted chicken oozes dark liquids from between its legs onto the serving tray.

#3: The opening scene of Wild at Heart, where Laura Dern screams as Nicolas Cage brutally murders a man by smashing his head against a stairwell railing, tossing him down a flight of stairs, repeatedly bashing his skull into the floor & then picking him up with a brain & blood SLURP off the floor & throwing him against a wall for good measure.

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[Fips Was There...] 826NYC’s charity poker tournament with Ira Glass and David Cross

We here at FIPS spend a hell of a lot of time out and about in Brooklyn, attending outdoor concerts, comedy shows and various other events. So [FIPS Was There...] is where we're gonna' talk about all this shit.

This past Saturday, I walked into the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company looking for 826NYC’s charity poker tournament called "Poker For Jokers." After a week of fundraising, I’d managed to secure $518.24 to turn into poker chips for me to gamble with. Amongst my opponents were David Cross and Ira Glass. I was actually afraid to meet Ira Glass in person, for fear that my man crush on him would be shattered (no pun intended).

But not afraid enough to beat him if I had to.

So, I walked in and thought, fuck these little kids, where’s the poker? The place was tiny as all hell, certainly not big enough for a poker tournament. When asked where the poker tournament was, I was escorted into a private room, complete with a secret entrance behind a bookshelf.

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[Fips Was There...] Punderdome's Last Southpaw Stand

Southpaw's sign comes down Feb. 20 (via flickr)

We here at FIPS spend a hell of a lot of time out and about in Brooklyn, attending outdoor concerts, comedy shows and various other events. So [FIPS Was There...] is where we're gonna' talk about all this shit.

With Valentine's Day here, it's a good time to remember: all good things come to an end. The same goes for everything mediocre or kind of sucky. There's always a finish line. Or a point in the race where your car engulfs you in flames. Which is sort of a metaphorical finish line, anyway. I'm losing the thread...

The old-school (relatively speaking) Slope venue Southpaw dies the death most local businesses face in just under a week (Feb. 20). Being, I think, the first Slope-area music venue I attended during one of my first trips to NYC ten years ago, I wanted to say goodbye to the old, poster-wallpapered, dark, metal-floored dive. So, last night, I caught the final Southpaw incarnation of one of my favorite series of theirs: the revelry of geeky wordplay known as Punderdome 3000.

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[FIPS Was There…] 'A Man Of No Importance' at the Gallery Players

Pictured (l to r): Charlie Owens, Spencer Robinson, John Weigand, Lorinne Lampert and Julianne Katz in The Gallery Players’ A Man of No Importance. Photo by Bella Muccari.

We here at FIPS spend a hell of a lot of time out and about in Brooklyn, attending outdoor concerts, comedy shows and various other events. So [FIPS Was There...] is where we're gonna' talk about all this shit.

Alfie Byrne could really use an “It’s Get Better” campaign.

After all, it’s Dublin in 1965, and Alfie’s a middle-aged, single bus conductor who’s constantly getting in trouble with his boss. He lives with his sister, who criticizes his cooking at every turn and won’t marry until Alfie’s found a nice girl of his own. Oh, and the production of Oscar Wilde’s Salame that he’s directing at the local church has just been shut down. I mean, regardless of what his sexual orientation is, the man needs to know that things won’t always be this shitty.

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