Though no longer in Asser Levy Park (for now), Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz returns for the 33rd time with his Seaside Summer Concert Series in Coney Island in 2011. Now located at West 21st Street and Surf Avenue (next to the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones), there will be free shows every Thursday through August 18. All shows start at 7:30 PM.

The series kicks off right on July 14 with a free show by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and ends with one by Cheap Trick! Full schedule, mystery night included, and more info, below...

Continue reading "2011 Seaside Summer Concert Series lineup (free shows in Coney Island - Joan Jett & Cheap Trick included)"

the concerts will be at Surf Ave & 21st St

"Earlier this month, Brooklyn music fans were disappointed to hear that, in the middle of a legal wrangle involving noise complaints, the city Corporation Councel ordered that Borough President Marty Markowitz can no longer use Asser Levy Park for his well-known summer concert series.

Monday, however, that situation was resolved, at least temporarily. Markowitz and Seaside Summer Concert Series Executive Director Debra Garcia announced that the series will be held this year at an empty lot on West 21st Street in Coney Island, the former site of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

"We could not have done this without the great team at Taconic Investment Partners, who own the site that will host the shows. Their generosity and hard work were instrumental in making sure that the shows will go on this summer in Coney Island," said Garcia and Markowitz in a joint statement.

The weekly shows will begin in July, although the lineup has not yet been announced." [Brooklyn Eagle]

not the Northside Fest press conference...

Four-day, all-ages badges to the Northside Festival will go on sale at noon "for a limited-time price of $60". As the press release also pointed out, BrooklynVegan will be back with a Northside showcase this year, so stay tuned for more info on that.

As The Feast points out, "Yesterday, Borough President and full-time Brooklyn cheerleader Marty Markowitz officially announced the 3rd Annual Northside Festival, which runs from June 16-19 and showcases music, film, and "ideas." Along with Co-Founder and CEO of The L Magazine Scott Stedman, Markowitz introduced festival headliner Beirut and previewed a portion of the music line-up which consists of over 250 bands spread across 50 Brooklyn venues." In the below video you can hear the music loving and very optimistic Markowitz say that Northside will eventually be bigger than SXSW....

Continue reading "Don't get carried away Marty... +++ Northside Fest tix on sale"

Marty Markowitz & Beirut & L Magazine staff @ Brooklyn Borough Hall

As you can see in the above photo, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand at the press conference this morning, as was now-confirmed Northside Festival headliner Beirut. Tickets will be HERE. More confirmed artists below...

Continue reading "Northside Fest confirms Beirut, Deer Tick, Twin Sister, Allo Darlin' & more (initial lineup)"

B-52s @ Asser Levy Park on August 19th (myny1974)

Last Friday morning, roughly 15 inmates were back on duty, cleaning up the aftermath of the B-52s concert while six guards kept a close watch.

The city had said that the inmates on the detail posed a minimal risk, as they were hand picked only minutes before getting on the bus to the concert site -- so as to avoid any possible escape plans -- and strip-searched before getting on the bus to Asser Levy Park or Wingate Field.

The Department of Correction also made sure the inmates weren't from either Crown Heights or Coney Island, so that the prisoners wouldn't be seeing old friends while gathering chairs.

Most locals had not taken issue with the prisoners, but rather had been disappointed that the jobs were going to incarcerated men being paid $1 an hour instead of people in need of work in the ailing economy.

"It's nice the prisoners give something back to society," said Ida Sanoff, an opponent of Markowitz's larger plan to expand the bandshell into a $64-million amphitheater. "But on the other hand, there are a lot of people out of work that would like to get paid -- even if just for a couple of days." [Brooklyn Paper: City jail to Marty: Get your own workers!]

NY Times reports that Aretha Franklin's two free shows scheduled Brooklyn shows - August 9th at Seaside Park and August 12th at Wingate Field - have been canceled because of an (as yet unspecified) injury.

Aretha performed last week with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Video below.

Continue reading "Aretha Franklin cancels her two free Brooklyn shows"

Marty Markowitz @ the 2010 Mermaid Parade (more by Chris La Putt)

Local synagogues and worshipers filed a lawsuit filed today that threatens to pull the plug on Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's longtime Coney Island summer concert series - along with his $64 million plan to expand them with a new amphitheater.

The suit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, contends that the existing series violate a city law prohibiting amplified sound within 500 feet of religious institutions when they are in session. It seeks a court order to block future concerts.

Two synagogues -- Sea Breeze Jewish Center and Temple Beth Abraham - are across the street and about 300 feet away from the existing band shell used for concerts at Asser Levy Park. Both say they host services daily.

The seaside concert series is set to kick off its 32nd year of free shows - the 20th at Asser Levy - on July 15 with performances by Neil Sedaka and Brenda Lee.

For decades, no one challenged the concerts, but now the synagogues and many Brighton Beach residents who reside in the high-rises next to Asser Levy Park are furious over the Beep's plan to expand the shows with a new 8,000-seat amphitheater. [NY Post] (thx CJ)

Continue reading "local synagogues suing to try & stop Coney Island concerts "

photos by Chris La Putt

The 2010 Mermaid Parade happened Saturday afternoon in Coney Island with special guests Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson acting as king and queen. More pictures from the annual event (NSFW), which unfortunately included a captive elephant from the circus this year, below...

Continue reading "Mermaid Parade pictures (w/ Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson) "

Asser-Levy Park bandshell (Lisanne!)

The initial/partial schedule for the 2010 Seaside Summer Concert Series at Asser-Levy Park in Coney Island is posted below. The series of free shows kicks off on July 15th with Neil Sedaka and Brenda Lee. After that, there's a July 22nd show with the "Beach Boys" (Mike Love/Bruce Johnston) and Happy Together Tour (Flo & Eddie of the Turtles, Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, & others), a July 29th show with George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and date-TBA shows with Belinda Carlisle (whose GoGos tour was recently canceled) and secret guest (the B-52s?), John Legend (who plays Brooklyn Bowl tonight) and Aretha Franklin, plus Latin Night. (schedule via Sheapsheadbites).

The Seaside concerts happen Thursdays at 7:30pm at Asser Levy/Seaside Park (West 5th Street and Surf Avenue) in Coney Island/Brighton Beach, across the street from the New York Aquarium. For now they still happen in the above-pictured bandshell, though things may get fancier in the future.

There's also the associated 28th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series, which happens Mondays at Wingate Field (located on Brooklyn Avenue between Rutland Road and Winthrop Street opposite Kings County Hospital). That kicks off with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and The Ohio Players on July 12th. Acts for the other nights of the series are TBA. Dates are below.

The full lineup (with most of the schedule) is posted below...

Continue reading "initial Coney Island & Wingate Field 2010 free concert lineups ("Beach Boys", Belinda Carlisle, Neil Sedaka & more) "

[Monday] in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint buffer zone, Mayor Bloomberg & friends gathered to break ground--or should we say threw some finely placed dirt on astroturf--on the long-awaited McCarren Park Pool renovation. He may have referred to it as McLaren Park for the first three quarters of his speech, but Bloomburg still managed to build excitement for the $50 million project to get off the ground despite a rough spot for funding public projects in the city. Originally constructed under Fiorello LaGuardia in 1936 as a WPA project, the Pool fell under disarray by 1984 and closed until being converted into the world's most fashion-forward music venue a few years back. [Curbed]

"This Sunday, the office of the Borough President Marty Markowitz will issue a proclamation officially declaring November 15th "Suzanne Fiol Day in Brooklyn, USA". Borough President officials will be on hand to present the proclamation following a memorial service in her honor. The announcement will take place just before a scheduled symbolic parade which will depart St. Ann's church, continuing past ISSUE's future home at 110 Livingston, ending at the (OA) Can Factory for a celebratory concert."

Continue reading "November 15 is Suzanne Fiol Day in Brooklyn"

"Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, will present a proclamation declaring the day Michael Jackson Day in Brooklyn. The Rev. Al Sharpton will supply the prayer. DJ Spinna will supply the music...

In an interview this month with The Root, an online magazine on black culture, Mr. Lee said of the party: "It's going to just be how we do it, Brooklyn style, I'll leave it at that. It's going to be a joyous, festive, celebratory party." He also said: "We're of the same era. I wanted my Afro to be perfectly round like Michael's, all that stuff."" [NY Times]

Unfortunately, for this and the Impose party at BKYLN Yard, it might be raining.

Continue reading "what will happen @ the Michael Jackson birthday party in Prospect Park on Saturday (besides rain)?"

photo by Bao Nguyen, words by Andrew Frisicano

The first Jelly NYC Pool Party of 2009 went off under blue skies at the new Williamsburg Waterfront location. A more-than-6,000-strong crowd (according to the NYT) visited East River State Park for a four-band bill of Jemina Pearl, Ponytail, Fucked Up and Mission of Burma.

Baltimore's Ponytail began right at 4pm and blazed through a set of joyful, proggy pop. "Celebrate the Body Electric" came with a bout of crowdsurfing by singer Molly Siegel, who was in energetic top form.

Fucked Up's Pink Eyes was already undressing during opener "Son the Father" - before the end of the set he'd be down to just boxer briefs. The band's fans showed up to sing along and dance. Event security strained to keep the barricades - a good five-plus feet from the stage - in place despite the surging crowds. That didn't stop Pink Eyes from engaging those right up front; the singer was more than happy to pass the mic, give a high five or, in my case, grab your face and rub it in his bare chest. The band joked around on stage as they layered three-guitar riffs over the hook of "Black Albuno Bones," slow jam "No Epiphany" and the rest. The security got a shout out at the end for doing what looked like one of the day's toughest jobs.

Mission of Burma took the stage after an introduction from the requisite NYC politicians (BP Marty Markowitz even got part of his speech looped by MoB's Bob Weston) (video below). Weston manned the tape and effects from the sound booth, leaving the stage to guitarist Roger Miller, bassist Clint Conley and drummer Peter Prescott, all of whom sang at times. The guitar tone was edgy and pointed, in a good approximation of the band's recorded sound, with the bass loose and under the surface.

The sun, which set right behind the band, backlit the stage and made it tough to see at times. But also provided a perfect chance to check out the area behind the stage. That space allowed a great view of the band and a closer look at the waterfront itself. A roar let loose when the crowd recognized the opening notes of "That's When I Reach For My Revolver." The band closed with "This Is Not a Photograph" and left with a wave of applause and looping static.

In the back of the park, Pool Party staple dodgeball was happening next to a 3-on-3 basketball game. The segregated beer area, a fenced in section along the left side of park, was one change mandated at the new space. For one, it made the area right in front of the stage less congested - not totally a bad thing on a sunny summer afternoon.

The next Pool Party will be on Sunday, July 19th with Magnolia Electric Co., Dirty Projectors and Crystal Antlers (who replace White Denim).

More pictures coming soon. F'd Up, Ponytail & Jemina pics HERE. Mission of Burma pics HERE. Fucked Up and Mission of Burma's setlists, and video of Marty Markowitz's speech, and other videos below...

Continue reading "Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Pontail, Jemina Pearl & Marty Markowitz @ the Williamsburg Waterfront - setlists, video"

Issue Project Room during a benefit w/ Moby in April (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has generously granted $1,133,000 to ISSUE's capital campaign to renovate 110 Livingston!

We are humbled, honored, and inspired to have been selected as grant recipients for capital support. This award provides us with critical funding towards the $1.725 million necessary to complete a first phase of construction designed to: bring the jewel box theater space to code; install the necessary systems for soundproofing and performance; make renovations; and begin presenting as early as Fall 2010.

Once renovated, the new space at 110 will be home to more than 4,000 programs reaching more than 1,000,000 people across the next two decades. We are overjoyed at being so close to realizing this historic opportunity. -Issue Project Room

ABC No Rio in Manhattan just landed a very similar deal.

Tonight (7/10) Issue Project Room hosts the feedback choir of Lesley Flanigan with Luke Dubois on laptop. Issue Project has a full upcoming schedule, which includes a Saturday, July 25th show with Michael Gira and Wooden Wand. Gira will "be playing many unrecorded songs (to be included on Gira's next album, a Swans/Angels of Light hybrid) as well as songs from the Angels of Light and Swans catalog."

The New York Times talks more about Issue Project Room's money. Check out some of that below...

Continue reading "Issue Project Room gets more than $1 million from Brooklyn Borough President to renovate its new building"

by Black Bubblegum

Marty Markowitz and Ralph McDaniels

The theme of this summer has been rain, and though the skies opened up halfway into the 5th anniversary show of The Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival on June 20th in Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park, that didn't stop the crowd from swaying to the classic beats and rhymes by a stable of 90s artists. Thankfully the organizers of the DUMBO show thought ahead, and though it was a little packed in there, everyone stayed perfectly dry inside the emergency tent.

With all the veterans of hip hop on Saturday's lineup, you'd think that the most kinetic performance of the day would come from a Grand Puba or Pharoahe Monch. You'd be wrong. Oddly enough, the least "conscious" MC and the one that I always felt was slightly overrated, Styles P of D-Block (fka The Lox), delivered an energetic performance of hits that was matched only by the energy that the crowd bounced back. I was shocked, though pleasantly so.

I was glad to be wrong about Styles P, and I definitely learned a few other things that rainy Saturday:

Continue reading "the 2009 Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival - in pics & review "

photos by Chris La Putt, words by Andrew Frisicano

David Byrne opened the Celebrate Brooklyn 2009 Season with a free show at the Prospect Park bandshell last night (Monday, June 9th). The show continued Dave Byrne's year-long tour of material from his collaborations with Brian Eno. That show, on its trip around the world, visited NJ's Wellmont Theater on June 3rd, and Radio City Music Hall on February 27th and 28th. (Pics and reviews from those are linked.)

In Brooklyn, the above-capacity crowd wasn't deterred by threats of rain, which held off for the length of the two-hour set. David Byrne noted that he biked to the show; he wasn't the only one, as the 'bike valet' was packed (apparently Byrne rode home too). Those who did park in the bike valet were automatically entered to win a new bike which Byrne showed off from the stage before his set. Those that couldn't get through the door caught the open-air action from video screens aimed towards the back of the crowd.

Byrne's set opened, as it has all tour, with "Strange Overtones," the hypnotic single off the newest Eno/Byrne collaboration Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. The bandshell's reverberating walls were an incredibly jarring transition from punchy studio sound of the original -- as catchy as the tune is, it was kind of a strange, underwhelming start.

Things only went up from there, as the band's sound melded together and its accompanying dancers boosted the visuals. Their dance moves, which traded off with the members of the band, seemed to mimic Byrne's own jerky mannerisms, as well as the themes of the songs (eg. office chair props during the wage slave anthem "Life Is Long").

Overall, the energy on stage and in the crowd was high. "Once in a Lifetime," which came near the end of the set, sent the remaining seated show-goers to their feet. One older couple, who I'm sure had to be around when Byrne hit the scene in '75, went from joking with their granddaughter about the pot smell in the air to cutting a serious rug for the set's high-density end.

Byrne used his first encore to introduce the band and special guest, percussionist Steve Scales. The Talking Heads/Byrne regular, who played on both The Name of This Band is Talking Heads to My Life in a Bush of Ghosts for starters, joined the band for two songs that included "Take Me to the River." As the only one not dressed in all white, Scales bounded across the stage and hyped up the crowd. His unscripted enthusiasm, far from the composed moves of Byrne, added a nice party vibe to the choreographed set.

The band returned for a second two-song encore that included the non-Eno song "Burning Down the House", and finally, back for a third time, closed with an acoustic-led version of "Everything That Happens."

The rest of the pictures, the setlist, and remaining Byrne dates (of which there are more TBA) below...

Continue reading "David Byrne played Eno-songs @ Celebrate Brooklyn's Prospect Park Bandshell in NYC - pics & setlist"

Two competing impressions of the new amphitheater planned for Asser Levy Seaside Park -- one fanciful, the other nightmarish -- collided head-on in Coney Island last week at a contentious and often ugly meeting of Community Board 13's parks committee, held at the New York Aquarium's Education Hall.

The world-famous Cyclone might be located right next door, but it was no match for the thundering roar that residents opposed to the plan produced.

One thing has emerged from the cacophony since: while residents living near the park view the amphitheater as a $64 million millstone tied around the community's neck, Borough Hall views it as the gleaming gateway to a new and reinvigorated Coney Island.

"There is a sea change that is about to happen," Borough Hall spokesperson Laura Sinagra told this newspaper. "Coney Island is going to enter another heyday and this [amphitheater] is going to be a part of that."

Planners are anticipating breaking ground on the new amphitheater by the end of the summer, but profound questions about the project remain...[YourNabe.com, May 28, 2009]

Photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

M.I.A.N.E.R.D.

Diesel Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, and the end...

Continue reading "NERD, MIA, Marty Markowitz & the rest of the Diesel pics"

Astroland, Coney Island (Klingon65)

After 46 years of calling Coney Island home, Astroland is tearing down and packing up its rides for good.
Owners say they could not come to terms with developer Thor Equities over a lease extension.

Co-Owner Carol Hill Albert says the developer forced her hand and gave her no choice but to shut down. In a statement, Albert says, in part:

"The safety of our customers and our commitment to employees means our time has run out. Ride parts must be ordered a minimum of eight to 10 months in advance. My employees cannot live in a state of limbo any longer."

Borough President Marty Markowitz said he had wanted Astroland to stay, but wants thrills to be a permanent part of Coney Island.

"Our focus will be to bring a major amusement operator to that space in Coney Island next year. Because I truly believe that if you can make it in Coney Island you can make it anywhere," said Markowitz.

Thor Equities issued a response saying it's disappointed that Albert has decided to "give up on the future of Coney Island."

It says the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel will both reopen next summer as part of a new Coney Island landscape. [NY1]

Brian Wilson show in Coney Island - July 17, 2008 (Rubys Host)

Borough President Marty Markowitz brought home nearly $90 million worth of bacon in capital funding from the fiscal year 2009 city budget, according to Borough Hall documents.

Leading the charge were two of Markowitz's pet projects: a new amphitheater at Asser Levy Park in Coney Island ($29.3 million) and renovations to the historic Loew's Kings Theatre on Flatbush Avenue ($10.75 million).

"The Coney Island Center will be a much-needed community resource as well as bring to Coney Island the kind of state-of-the-art performance facility Brooklyn deserves," said Markowitz, who has been holding a summer concert series in the park since he took office.

"New York City's first covered, outdoor performance space will make our borough a natural stop on the summer concert circuit for entertainers who now play Jones Beach and Westbury Theater and the PNC Bank Arts Center in New Jersey," he added.

Markowitz said the amphitheatre will also serve as "a cherished landmark at the gateway to the revitalized Coney Island, and help to ensure Coney remains the 'Playground of America' for this and future generations."

According to sources, the proposed amphitheatre will have an 8,000 seating capacity, and a schematic design is in process now with a groundbreaking expected in late summer 2009. [Your Nabe]