[FIPS Was There...] Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Pop-Up Cocktail Hour #16

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.

If there's one thing that I truly appreciate, it's booze. If there's something I appreciate even more than that, it's free booze. If said free booze happens to be of high quality, I LITERALLY ejaculate right in my pants. In fact, that's exactly what I did when I got the email asking me to head over to Carroll Gardens on Wednesday night to check out a Pop-Up Cocktail Hour (PUCH) from some entity called Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. I LITERALLY spooged all over the insides of my trousers.

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[Fips was there...] Pun Rocking at Southpaw: Punderdome 3000

Punderdome's Patron Saint

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 the Secret Science Club, Adult Education, and a whole 'hood full of storytelling series, Park Slope makes nerding out in public fun, easy, and darn-near accepted. The geeky element also gathers monthly at Southpaw for a few hours of dorky wordplay known as Punderdome 3000. I caught December's helping of the audience-judged pun competition last night -- and, yes, I admit it. I had a pretty fucking good time.

Much like a story slam, Punderdome cedes the stage to average folk like you or me. Anyone can sign up to compete, as individuals or as teams, and the entrants go through several stages of round-robbin competition. Gven a theme (e.g.,"Campbell's and Progresso"), contestants write up their best/worst puns, before offering them up to the audience for groans and/or cheers. Winners are chosen by applause levels, measured through a strange, human-powered "device" known as the Clap-o-meter.

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[FiPS Was There...] Chili Takedown At The Bell House Gets Hot

 

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.

The grand-pappy of Matt Timm's cook-off contests, the original Chili Takedown, set Brooklyn mouths happily a-burnin' yesterday in its 9th incarnation. Contestants, some of whom have been around since the beginning, brewed their beany cauldrons on a line of tables in front of the Bell House stage, filling the room with the unmistakable warm, tangy, deep aroma of America's most chuck-waggonest of meals.

This Takedown did not attract quite the crazy-sized crowd as last month's baconfest. Perhaps that is because the chili versions are more known and more frequent. Perhaps that is also because bacon activates certain drool centers in the brain that are nearly irresistible. The chilis caused their own Pavlovian munch preparations in the mouths of Timms' guests, though, as bacon joined oxtail and duck fat as some of the chilified meats.

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[FIPS Was There...] Salsa Slam

All photos from D Robert Wolcheck for BrooklynExposed.com

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.

These days in our fair city, food competitions are SO all the rage. Once Matt Timms developed a reputation with his "Takedown" events, the door swung wide open, and more & more food competitions came rushing on in. Basically, said competitions are the hip, Brooklyn equivalent of the Pillsbury Bake-Off and, in this world of food TV & a million food blogs, people go crazy for them. As one who's obsessed with food, I say the more the better.

This past Sunday I headed to the Bell House with my sis & a friend to reprise my role as one of the judges for Nachos NY's annual Salsa Slam, a competition where a dozen plucky contestants attempt to win folks' hearts & stomachs with their best salsa recipes. In the end, four competitors took home prizes -- the Judge's Favorite, the Judge's Honorable Salsa, the Greatest Stretch (the salsa least like traditional salsa) and the People's Champion.

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[FIPS WAS THERE...] 'LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS' AT THE GALLERY PLAYERS

From Left: Audrey II, Philip Jackson Smith (Seymour) and Emily McNamara (Audrey). | 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.

When it comes to cult classic Halloween movie-musicals, The Rocky Horror Picture Show pretty much has the market cornered. But as much as I enjoy Tim Curry playing a sweet transvestite, I’ve always had a thing for the 1986 flop Little Shop of Horrors. The film, based on the 1982 off-Broadway musical by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman (which itself was a based on the 1960 dark comedy starring a young Jack Nicholson), has always hooked me. I don’t know if it’s Rick Moranis’s doughy performance, or Ellen Greene’s gloriously odd vocals or even Steve Martin’s creepy ridiculousness that brings me back time and time again. But for some reason, that kooky gang and their people-eating plant just makes me happy.

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