[FIPS Was There...] Farewell 285 Kent

Photo via greatdesign.com

Is there any thing more Brooklyn than the letters D-I-Y? No, Maynard. There sure ain't. When it comes to the Brooklyn music scene, those three letters represent handfuls of venues that're often all ages & often in the Willyburg/Bushwick area & run independent of the Bowery/Live Nation system that lords over much of the city's concert venues.

Over the past few years, one of the more high-profile DIY Venues has been 285 Kent, a claustrophobic, 350-capacity room that's put on shows without the usual permits & whatnot on the far west side of Williamsburg. The venue, curated by Ric Leichtung (founder of Ad Hoc) and NYC DIY-venue impresario Todd P, hosted a mix of local acts, experimental acts & acts who were probably too big to be playing there. They had no liquor license but there was a bar. There were "No Smoking" signs but if you left not smelling like smoke, something was wrong. Sure you had to breathe the same oxygen as numerous hipster stereotypes, but it was always a good time.

Click to read more ...

GoogaMooga 2013: Less Shitty Than GoogaMooga 2012

Oh, GoogaMooga. Thou hath been dubbed "Great" & thou hath been highly-anticipated for two years running now & thou hath now twice befuddled those expecting to be wowed by your bounty of food & music. Should we hate you? Should we love you? Should we think of you as that one crazy friend who we have that crazy night out with once every year but who we definitely don't need to hang out with any other weekend? 

Last year, your inaugural edition started off as an absolute shitshow, with a first day that saw vendors running out of food and festival-goers bereft of working ATMs & cell-phone service and a general air of anger & incivility. After that much-maligned first day, you worked through most of your first-day hiccups, er...belches & things ran smoother on the second day. Sure two full days with tens of thousands of oft-drunken people trampling across the Prospect Park grounds left a definite impact but, in the end, you gave ticket holders a refund & in doing so, acknowledged your awfulness. Since money makes the world go round, 'twas a very grown-up step for such a young festival.

Click to read more ...

Brooklyn Gets (Rolling) Stoned

via justwilliam1959.wordpress.comAs the man with the enormous lips said: "You can't always get what you want." This is especially true if what you wanted was to scuttle the Barclays center and, for instance, stay in your home and/or business that was inconveniently located in the arena's footprint. But sometimes...sometimes...you get what you need. "What you need," henceforth, can be defined as a bloated, corporate tour from the grandaddies of the dinosaur rock groups. 

Yup, the Rolling Stones are saying hello, Brooklyn.

On on Dec. 8, they will be interrogating brown sugar, re: it's tastiness, and encouraging the starting up of themselves from our borough's gleaming new basektballetorium. The big shows just keep rolling in at that place, don't they? This'll be the only NY show on the band's upcoming tour, since they've neglected MSG in favor of Newark's Prudential Center. So yeah, Manhattan, how does it feel? To be on your own? Completely and utterly unlike a Rolling Stone? (I apologize profusely for that.)

Tickets go on sale Nov. 19 at 10am. Maybe you like to spend lotsa money on old, dancing singing men?

[Video]: The Song Called "Park Slope"

The full title of the song, performed by a band called ABADABAD (part "Abba," part "Gattaca," for me at least), is actually titled "Park Slope (I'm Sorry)," though it's hard to tell if the apology is meant for the neighborhood itself or someone living with it. Either way, it's a pretty catchy song.

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.

Click to read more ...