Just in time for Halloween, it’s Williamsburg’s worst nightmare. We’re told Ralph Lauren’s Double RL & Co will open Friday morning at 85 North 3rd Street, right next to the new Steven Alan Optical store and just around the corner from the new J.Crew store, and the new Urban Outfitters, and the new Madewell, and the new (and now boozed-up!) Starbucks. Soon the neighborhood will be called Williamsburg Mills.
(Photo: Nicole Disser)
While DIY music venues are pretty much done for on the waterfront, a new independent comedy club– run by comics, for comics– has popped up amongst luxury housing and sprawling new developments in Williamsburg. The Experiment Comedy Gallery isn’t located inside a gritty warehouse, but this former furniture store is an equally barebones kind of deal (for now anyway), save for a monochromatic psychedelic window mural.
The space is much closer to the Silent Barn than it is to, say, Caroline’s– and that’s very much intentional– the founder Mo Fathelbab and his artistic director, Eliana Horeczko, are trying to keep ticket prices at a minimum. “If there’s one word to describe what we’re really all about, it’s accessibility,” Eliana explained. “We’re really focused on giving people the opportunity to perform– like, all people, not just a small group.”
JD Raenbeau. (photo: Cassidy Dawn Graves)
As I walked through the Friday night rain, clutching an umbrella with a price that far exceeded its quality, I felt lost. I was looking for the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, which that evening was opening Queer WAH, an exhibition of contemporary work by queer artists. Little did I know the shabby green door I had confusedly paused by was the very place. Despite the official sounding name that calls to mind tours and pamphlets, the WAH Center sat far more unassuming than I had initially guessed.
Mark Aguhar, Making Looks, 2011. (Photo courtesy of the artist.)
What do DJ and New Museum darling Juliana Huxtable, a former member of industrial outfit Throbbing Gristle, and “drag mother” Flawless Sabrina have in common?
(Photo: Jaime Cone)
Dimes is basically taking over the Division/Ludlow/Orchard-and-Canal intersection in the LES, but we doubt the neighbors much mind. After all, the cafe with health-concious fare was developed by locals for locals; it’s been a neighborhood favorite for takeout ever since it opened at at 149 Division Street in 2013, then became a popular sit-down spot after moving to a bigger space across the street earlier this year, and now it has opened Dimes Deli in the original location, to accommodate the larger restaurant’s overflow. To make it a true one-stop shop, the owners recently announced that within a few weeks they’ll be opening Dimes Market in the former bus stop next door to the deli.
New mural by Dasic Fernandez on St. Marks. (Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Yesterday morning a 37-year-old woman died after being crushed by a semi truck near the border of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. [Patch]
Thursday night a Greenpoint man was attacked and robbed by two assailants outside his Freeman Street residence. [The Brooklyn Paper]
Two thieves stole Apple products and camera equipment from a Thames Street apartment in Williamsburg one week ago. [The Brooklyn Paper]
By the looks of things, October’s becoming something of a de facto Queer Film Month in New York City. Which is way cool, we’re always happy to see queer goings-on about town beyond Pride Month. And whether you’re a connoisseur of all things old and aging well, or live solely to soak up ever-refreshing nowness, we’ve got a couple of events that offer a slew of opportunities to attend LGBT movie happenings.
What’s going on at 101 Greene Street? You may recognize the above scene as the work of Mark Alan Stamaty, whose frenetic renderings of NYC have graced the pages of the Village Voice (olds may remember his late-’70s Village-set comic, “McDoodle Street”), the cover of the first They Might Be Giants album, and more recently the cover of Will Hermes’s excellent account of the ’70s music scene, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire.
TUESDAY
Elvis Costello
Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. Barnes & Noble, 33 East 17th Street (Union Square).
Hear the story of little Declan Patrick MacManus and how he grew up to become Elvis Costello in the musician’s long anticipated memoir written entirely by Costello, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink. In it he writes about his family, his songwriting, and his fellow musicians (the book’s description name drops Johnny Cash, The Specials, Van Morrison and The Clash, to name a few). The memoir will be accompanied by a two-disc “soundtrack album” culled from his expansive catalog. Rolling Stone recently reported that Costello himself curated the 38-song collection, which includes two previously unreleased tracks. Don’t miss your chance to meet one of rock’s greatest, most unlikely elder statesmen.
(Flyer via Santos Party House)
CMJ is upon us, which translates to either the arrival of a complete shit show or (if you’re not really the observant type) venues suddenly appearing slightly more crowded with douchery than usual. Regardless of whether you’re in touch with the less-than-ideal reality for regular show-goers, or prefer to put on chakra glasses and render all those grayscale suits as rainbow zombies, you still gotta plan out this week just a little better than usual– having your friends drag you out of a cab, splash beer on your face, and carefully deposit your lifeless body at your favorite venue’s doorstep isn’t gonna fly. Instead, you’ll need PMA, advanced tickets, and whatever lies beyond this line.