Southpaw, July 2009 (more)

And, it's true:

"A long-standing Park Slope concert hall will close and become a tutoring school now that the hood caters more to kiddies than roadies, owners say.

Southpaw -- the legendary music venue that hosted the likes of Patti Smith and Joan Jett -- will close on Fifth Avenue and Sterling Place by the end of February, according to co-owner and music guru Mikey Palms.

"I'm kind of over Park Slope -- it's not a destination for nightlife anymore," said Palms, who also owns Public Assembly NYC in Williamsburg. "It's time to go."

He said a firm called New York City Kids will soon replace the grocery store-sized house of music, offering academic tutoring and rock climbing for tots." [Brooklyn Paper]

Southpaw in 2010 (more by BBG)

According to many with connections to the Park Slope club (some who emailed me and some who are tweeting), Southpaw is closing on February 20 (possibly because "The venue's been sold."). The 5th Avenue Brooklyn venue was getting ready to celebrate their 10th anniversary in a big way too, which would make this news, if confirmed, even sadder.

Home of The Rub, Nuclear Family, numerous soul shows, many hip hop ones (like the upcoming Action Bronson/eXquire gig), and even a lot of indie rock at one time (just off the top of my head I remember seeing Sufjan Stevens, John Vanderslice, Andrew Bird, Mogwai, Davila 666, Mannequin Men, Keren Ann, Metric, Neko Case, Sondre Lerche, Bob Log III, Sharon Jones, and Negative Approach there), Southpaw has been a great piece of the NYC music scene for almost a decade. Unfortunately, possibly due to the increasing popularity and number of Williamsburg venues, and newer competition from Union Hall and the Bell House (not to mention Littlefield), shows have been somewhat less frequent there in the past few years (especially notable indie rock ones).

Stay tuned for more info, and an official confirmation (one way or another). Meanwhile check out their schedule (which at the moment has four shows on it past 2/20).

Royale, RIP

I honestly didn't even realize Brooklyn bar/club Royale closed. Their website is still up even, but a new business is already planning on opening open in the space located at 506 5th Ave in South Park Slope. The new venue ("performance space") is called The Fifth Estate and they have a "grand opening" scheduled for October 1st (they are open already) ("it had a soft opening a month or so ago.")

A press release they just sent me can be read below...

Continue reading "The Fifth Estate open where Royale was in Brooklyn "

The new Skippy-booked, Bowery-associated, Park Slope music venue is selling tickets for (two) shows on Ticketfly.

UPDATE: They just added a bunch more shows to Ticketfly. The current July schedule is listed below...

Continue reading "the Rock Shop is announcing shows, selling advanced tickets "

Budos Band @ the 5th Ave Street Fair, 2007

Park Slope's annual 5th Avenue Street Fair is Sunday, May 16th. It runs from Sterling to 12th Street and starts at noon. Not your typical corn dog and lemonade street fair (though they do have that stuff), the Brooklyn event features multiple stages of live music including two hosted by Southpaw which is also home to the day's Punk & Underground Record Fair (10am-6pm, $5 entry). Southpaw's stages, assuming it doesn't rain, will be in front of Southpaw, and at the Gate (5th Ave & 3rd St). If it rains, music moves inside Southpaw where the record fair will also be taking place.

While on Fifth Ave, you can also stop by Union Hall (season finale of tearing the veil of maya at 7 / indie rock all stars cover tusk by fleetwood mac at 9), and walk a block down to 4th Ave to check out new venue Rock Shop.

Flyers and music lineups (which aren't 100% consistent with the flyers) below...

Continue reading "the 2010 Park Slope 5th Ave Street & Record Fair is Sunday "

The Rock Shop

"[Today], Michael Winsch of the Bowery Ballroom will give the bi-level space that once housed Cattyshack a butch makeover. He's teaming up with Brian Harkenrider (a former Bowery manager) to open what you might or might not consider a sports bar -- "we're not necessarily going to call ourselves a sports bar," says Harkenrider, "but we have a bunch of flat-screens." Ten of them, to be exact. But sports won't be the only focus here: With a new stage and soundboard intact, the first floor will eventually host the sort of live bands you'd expect to see at the Bowery Ballroom's sister club, Mercury Lounge (the booker is Diane Perini, who's also responsible for the just-announced lineup of the 2010 Siren Music Festival).

Upstairs, a bar will offer nightly $3 drink specials, and Cattyshack's roof deck remains. In about a month, the Rock Shop will serve "simple bar food" (burgers, pizzas, panini, etc.) -- until then, you can score grub across the street at another newcomer, Oaxaca.

The Rock Shop, 249 Fourth Ave.; 718-230-5740"
[New York Magazine]

"Bowery Presents" is a complicated company. Michael Winsch is one of two owners of Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge which are part of Bowery Presents. The Rock Shop will not be part of Bowery Presents. How they coordinate remains to be seen. In the meantime, check out some videos taken inside the space when it was Cattyshack (RIP), below....

Continue reading "new venue opening in Park Slope (where Cattyshack was) "

"The lead singer from the band NOFX is under fire for giving out free shots of Patron during a recent show -- shots that appeared to have been watered down ... with the punk rocker's urine.

The guy accused of pissing everybody off -- Fat Mike -- put on a solo performance as his alter-ego "Cokie the Clown" at last week's South by Southwest festival in Austin ... covered by punk news website DyingScene.com.

Mike began the show by passing out the shots to fans and even downed a couple himself. But after a bizarre half hour in which Mike described his friend hanging himself, smothering his dying mother to death and milking a fan, Mike decided to show the crowd a very, very disturbing video.

The video appears to begin just moments before Mike took the stage and shows the singer urinating into a bottle of tequila ... and then serving it to the audience. The video did not appear edited.

So far, cops are not investigating the situation, but when we called the Austin Health Department to ask if they had taken any action, they told us they were unaware of the incident ... but would be looking into it.

Fat Mike told TMZ, "I confirmed that urine was not classified as a biohazard waste and not subject to the risks of legal ramifications of blood, semen, or feces." [TMZ]

Continue reading "Hopefully NOFX's Fat Mike doesn't serve pee at his new Park Slope restaurant (like he did dressed as a clown @ SXSW) "

It is official: Spike Lee's party in honor of Michael Jackson's birthday will be held in Brooklyn, but in Prospect Park, not in Fort Greene Park.

The party will take place at the Nethermead, a meadow in the center of Prospect Park, according to an e-mail message from a city official on Friday.

The date, Aug. 29, which would have been the singer's 51st birthday, and the time, from noon to 5 p.m., remain unchanged.
[NY Times]

It's a big week for Spike Lee. In addition to being involved with this party, his "Passing Strange" movie just came out, sort of, maybe (you can catch it at the IFC Theater).

Another Michael Jackson birthday tribute show is happening in NYC on August 29th at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. At that event, Q-Tip (who is DJing) and guests Mark Ronson and DJ Spinna will bring, among other things, "never-before-heard remixes of Michael Jackson hits." Tickets are still on sale.

The biggest show of all scheduled for that date, Michael Jackson's funeral in LA, has been postposted until September 3rd.

And in other Prospect Park West news...

If Carrie Bradshaw and her "Sex and the City" cohorts ever felt lonely in their single-gal lives, at least it was because they actually lived alone. But in Amy Sohn's new chick-lit tome "Prospect Park West," which hits stores Sept. 1, once-glamorous city lasses still feel abandoned. Only now they're isolated in loveless marriages, raising kids they resent.

The book has already been optioned by HBO and Sarah Jessica Parker's production company. The story, which focuses on four stroller moms, from Brooklyn's Park Slope, is touted as fodder for "SATC: The Next Generation." [NY Post]

Continue reading "Spike Lee's Michael Jackson birthday party happening near Prospect Park West (the possible future HBO show topic)"

Record & Tape Center (Tishon)

It's nearly the day the music died in Park Slope.

The Record and Tape Center, a dusty, cramped record store that has occupied the same spot on Fifth Avenue, near Ninth Street, for the past 38 years, will be shuttered by May 31, the result of an eviction notice that store owner Tony Mignone said came out of the blue.

"The letter just arrived at the beginning of the month," said Mignone, who opened his store on Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street in 1965, and moved to his present location in 1971. "I've never even been late on my rent!"

According to the letter, the landlords, a family that owns several grocery stores in the neighborhood, including the Deli and Smoke Shop next door, do not want to renew the lease and will take Mignone to court if he does not clear out.
Brooklyn Bridge Realty

"If he's still there [on May 31], we'll go to court," said John Wilson, the family's lawyer. [The Brooklyn Paper] (via)

I would have probably last stopped in if I had made it to the Park Slope 5th Avenue Street Fair (and Southpaw record fair) that happened on Sunday (but I didn't).

The Virgin Megastore in Union Square will basically be closing the same day.

WNYC's Siddhartha Mitter went NYC record shopping on the recently-passed Record Store Day. Video below...

Continue reading "Park Slope's Record & Tape Center evicted, closing!"

Crowd @ Farrell's (Windsor Terrace) - St Patrick's Day 2009 (Aonghais MacInnes)

"Good news for anyone sick of getting off the G at Smith and 9th Street and waiting for an F train just to go a couple more stops: Starting July 5th, the G train will continue on for five more stops into Brooklyn. The additional service is being added because of the massive Culver Viaduct Rehabiliation project, which, according to the Post, will prevent the G train from reversing itself at the next stop (Fourth Avenue). Come summer it will stop at Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue, 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway before finally reversing course after the Church Avenue stop." [Gothamist]

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the two Fever Ray shows at Webster Hall. Will they sell right out?

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Dead Weather show at Terminal 5. Will they add another show (like Green Day)?

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the four Bouncing Souls shows in NYC and Philly. Each show has different openers. Those include Lifetime and 7 Seconds.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the NY Dolls show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Fatboy Slim show at Terminal 5.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Bowerbirds show at Bowerbirds.

Tickets are on sale for the James Blackshaw / Marissa Nadler show at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the recently added Handsome Furs show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Other tickets also went on sale earlier today.

Don't forget the Park Slope 5th Avenue Street Fair is this Sunday. If it still interests you that is...

IT'S SO BORING IT'S NOT THE SAME AT ALL.
IT'S NOT EVEN WORTH SPENDING MONEY OR WALKING AROUND TO MANY WHITE PPL DATS WHY ITS SO BORING NOW THEY JUST TOOK OVER N MADE IT INTO A LIL VILLAGE HOW WACK IS THAT CRAB. THERE'S NO STORES AT ALL ON EACH BLOCK U GO TO THERES A BAR N FOOD PLACE JUST FOR THE WHITE PPL CUZ THE LOVE THERE BARS AND DRUGS THERE THE NUMBER 1 JUNKIE IN THIS WORLD. SO SAD THEN THERE GOOD TO TALK ABOUT THE BLACKS N SPANISH PPL PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK. [Anonymous]

Flo Rida & Gemini Wolf were reviewed by Breakfast at Sulimays. Video below..

Continue reading "Fever Ray, Dead Weather, NY Dolls, Fatboy Slim, Lifetime, 7 Seconds, Bouncing Souls and other tickets "

The Persuasions

The annual 5th Avenue Street Fair in Park Slope is not a cookie cutter street fair, and with lots of entertainment along the route, it's always a worthwhile day for music lovers. 5th Avenue also happens to be home to both Union Hall and Southpaw, not to mention lots of good restaurants (like V Spot) and bars (like The Gate). This year the fair takes place on Sunday, May 17th, and runs on 5th Ave. from Sterling to 12th Street.

Southpaw will have outdoor stages at both Southpaw and The Gate. Their lineup is:

The Persuasions / The Nouvellas / Chin Chin / Miss Fairchild / Keys & Crates / Sonia's Party & Everyone's Invited /BeetRoot / Josephine Band / Puppetryarts / Questions for a Super Champion / Blame The Patient / Chances With Wolves DJ's / DJ's PQ & SuZan Z Anthony
entertainment begins at noon & goes to 6pm

Check out a Nouvellas video below...

Continue reading "the Park Slope 5th Ave Street Fair is Sunday ++ record fair "

Local Correspondents, an independent music community, is hosting the 3rd Annual LC Fest May 13 - 19, 2009 at Bar4 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The festival will include short sets from over 60 singer/songwriters and bands located in Brooklyn and New York City. This year the festival also coincides with the 4th anniversary of Local Correspondents. All performances are free to attend.

Local Correspondents is a supportive community for independent artists based in Brooklyn. Weekly showcase series and open mic nights have brought together an extremely talented and diverse group of performers over the last four years. LC offers a helping hand to artists that have just moved to the NYC area with advice, tips, and opportunities to play.

Continue reading "2009 Local Correspondents Festival @ Bar 4 in Brooklyn"

by Black Bubblegum

Walter Schreifels @ Fun Fun Fun Fest (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

...And the punks will say "Oi To The World"! And by punks, I mean Walter Schreifels during a FREE live set at the Punk Slope "Xmess Party" at Bar 4 (444 7th Ave @ 15th St) in Park Slope on Dec 20th (not the first time Walter played that party). The shindig kicks off at 10PM and along for the ride on the wheels of steel are Chris Daly (ex-Texas Is The Reason, 108 & Jets To Brazil), Jay Gotrian (Eye For An Eye), and Josh Grabelle (Trustkill Records).

Walter recently completed a music video for a cover of Agnostic Front's "Society Suckers" from the hardcore landmark Victim In Pain (viewable below). Why cover a classic track from a classic album? Let the man speak:

Agnostic Front vs. Mozart

Victim In Pain by Agnostic Front is one of my favorite records of all time, it's classical music. If you don't know this album I highly recommend that you get familiar with it. Don't be scared away by the misleading artwork, although that's part of the album's "Power" (title of a song on VIP) AF's music fights against fascism and the attitudes of fascists ("Fascist Attitudes")

I think cavemen would have liked Victim In Pain better than anything Mozart ever came up with, or the Beatles. If you had to get psyched up to kill a Wooly Mammoth, would you listen to The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper on french horn or Victim In Pain with Vinny Stigma on lead? I can almost hear the cave men screaming (if they had developed language) STIGMA!!!

It's timeless music, post apocalypse Mad Max people will be rocking to it in a thousand years. Do you think anyone is gonna give a shit about The Shins when you could be raped, lit on fire, dragged by a motorcycle and killed for a liter of gas (which kind of defeats the purpose)? Shit, Apes from Planet Of The Apes would love AF, though the Chimps and Orangutans maybe not as much.

Anyhoo, it's not a music competition, I like The Shins and there is a place for them too but I think that Victim In Pain is more important and unique in the evolution of music, art, mankind, that it goes beyond indie rock and steps into Smithsonian Institute territory.

For that reason I covered AF's "Society Suckers" from Victim In Pain. My version doesn't approach the aggressive power of the original but I had fun interpreting it, an homage. I think of it as classic folk song like "This Land Is Your Land", I wish Woody Guthrie would do a version in the time/space continuum. -Walter

The video and Punk Slope flyer below...

Continue reading "Walter Schreifels covers Agnostic Front, playing Punk Slope"

by Klaus Kinski

Good ole Brooklyn is going to be the epicenter of some of the world's best comedy from September 25th - September 28th when the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival rolls into Park Slope. The 4-day festival boasts 10 MASSIVE shows that will take place at Union Hall and the soon-to-be-open Bell House. The exact line-ups and guests have yet to be set in stone, but prepare yourself for a sweet opening night awards ceremony, an Invite Them Up reunion, an Apartment 2F renuion, an installment of Variety Shac, some fresh faces of comedy, a Tearing The Veil of Maya closing night blow-out, and, of course, appearances by the best of the best (think Galifianakis, Birbiglia, Schaal, Oliver, Showalter, The Sklar Brothers, and many many many more....). Here's how the schedule looks thus far:

Continue reading "Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival (9/25-9/28 in Park Slope)"

Michael Showalter & Janeane Garofalo @ Union Hall -July 2007 (Bryan Bruchman)

Last year David Cross, Janeane Garofalo and Land of Talk performed at Eugene Mirman and Michael Showalter's anniversary party. This year anything can happen. $10 tickets to the July 20th Union Hall show are on sale.

In related news, Tearing the Veil of Maya will return as a weekly show at Union Hall after Labor Day. Mike Birbiglia is playing Union Hall again this Tuesday (July 15), but not before performing at UCB on Monday. Dave Hill is playing the Union Hall party at the Brooklyn Bridge in August. Dave Hill is also performing at UCB on Thursday July 17th WITH Martha Plimpton and Lucy Wainwright Roche (who recently played Southpaw with Neko Case and Eugene Mirman and Michael Showalter).

ALSO: The Del Close Marathon is coming to UCB

RECENTLY: Michael Showalter performed at McCarren Pool

AND: Fleet Foxes are playing Union Hall in Park Slope tonight. The Vaselines are playing right down the street at Southpaw in Park Slope tonight. Both Fleet Foxes and The Vaselines are then heading to Seattle to play the Sub Pop Festival this weekend along with Park Slope's Eugene Mirman (and David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Todd Barry, Flight of the Conchords and Kristen Schaal) and No Age (who are playing South Street Seaport tomorrow) and Low (who are playing Union Hall in Park Slope on September 23rd).

somewhere in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY (Incandenza)

Park Slope ranks the No. 1 most creative neighborhood in the borough with 3,500 independently employed designers and independent artists in residence. Williamsburg comes in No. 2 with a little less than 3,000 "self-employed creatives," followed by Brooklyn Heights (around 2,600), and BoCoCa (around 1,700). Red Hook and Prospect Heights tied for fifth place with 1,600 each.

The majority of self-employed creatives in each neighborhood are classified as "independent artists" and earn an average of $20,000 per year according to SEC filings--a figure that reflects substantial underreporting. [The New York Observer] (via)

Yes, it's true, we will have a new music venue opening sometime later in 2008. We are JUST beginning construction which should last well into the spring. It is the main owners of Union Hall.

It is one main floor of an old warehouse. The space will be split into a lounge area in the front and a music venue in the back. Capacity is undetermined at this time, but the music venue portion will likely be under 300. It is on 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue, it is NOT on the corner and not what Browstoner posted this morning.

Nothing will change at Union Hall regarding booking policies. In fact, we expect our schedule to get stronger with the ability to bump shows over to the new place, when the time comes.

I'll hit you with more info when we have some. No, we don't have a name yet. [Jack McFadden, Union Hall] (photo by Justin M)

according to a couple of sources, 7th street between 2nd and 3rd aves will soon be home to a new musical venue run by the good folks at union hall. given the problems that i've heard about with their current location - i.e. noise complaints, it makes sense to open something in a location where noise is not an issue. additionally moving the music aspect of their business down the street opens up the basement for quieter activities such as the brilliantly booked sunday night comedy shows. [the food of the future] (via)

UPDATE 1: A better description for this neighborhood might be near-Park Slope, or just Gowanus.

UPDATE 2: Anonymous reports, "The venue would be in addition to Union Hall. It would be more of a music venue...as opposed to a bar with bands downstairs. There would still be music at Union Hall."

DOWNLOAD: The Budos Band - Chicago Falcon (MP3)

Unlike during the dance parade in Manhattan on Saturday, the sun was shining at the 5th Avenue Street Fair in Park Slope on Sunday (May 20, 2007). The annual Brooklyn festival runs down 5th Ave from Southpaw, past Union Hall, and ends right around the Lucky 13 Saloon. The bands playing in front of Southpaw this year were Miss Fairchild, The Real Live Show, and, the only one I saw - The Budos Band....

Somethin' Else Records, the shop owned by a member of the band Radio 4, was still open, but possibly not for long?

The Budos Band (MP3 above) have a record out on Daptone Records, and have members who play with (Sharon Jones &) The Dap Kings, and with Amy Winehouse.

More photos from the street fair - including ones of the Budos Band and their burlesque dancer, at my Flickr.