There’s a good chance that before you’ve finished watching the video above, professional skateboarder and event promoter Joel Meinholz will have hatched five new ideas.
As we followed the Milwaukee native around on a humid Sunday, he schemed something on each block – everything from a skateboarding play based on “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” to an initiative that would turn boring blocks into obstacle courses by adding transitions to existing architecture.
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Nick Suarez and his Backyard stand at Iona (Photo: Natalie Rinn)
All Nick Suarez, founder of the wildly popular Food Experiments, ever wanted to do was hang out in a backyard, wear shorts and grill stuff. And now he’s living that dream every Thursday through Sunday night behind a Williamsburg pub.
Suarez has quietly launched “Backyard at Iona,” a charm-filled shanty with a tin ceiling, running water, walls that double as chalkboards and a utensil rack attached to a tree. The grill menu may change weekly depending on the chef’s mood, but he’ll always offer the basics: burgers, brats, sausages, and side salads, like potato and cucumber.
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There’s a Steve Jobs biopic on the way, and Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta know exactly what you’ll want to wear to the premiere. As you can see in our video, the Williamsburg-based designers have created a limited-edition line of $200 sweatshirts emblazoned with the face of the Great One.
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At last year’s street party. (Photo: Stephen Robinson)
The Bicycle Film Festival kicks off tonight with a party at Le Baron in Chinatown and continues through the weekend with dozens of screenings at Anthology Film Archives, an after-party at Lit, and, of course, the annual street party.
Despite speculation that the 13-year-old festival might move to Brooklyn, organizer Brendt Barbur decided to keep it local — for now, anyway. “This is where we were born,” he said of the East Village and Lower East Side.
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Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh and Matt Besser at the Del Close Marathon (Photo: Francine Daveta)
This weekend marks the arrival of the 15th annual Del Close Marathon, the multi-day improv extravaganza hosted annually by the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, with over 420 shows on 7 stages. Expect to see UCB mainstays like Amy Poehler, Nick Kroll, Veep’s Matt Walsh, The Office’s Ellie Kemper and Zach Woods, plus a whole lot of other SNL alums, Apatow-types and familiar faces. While the main theater in Chelsea always has epic lines, there’s still plenty of fun to be had over at UCB East or on some of the smaller stages.
If you don’t feel like springing for a $30 weekend pass, tickets for some of the bigger name shows can be bought individually from the UCB website. Or, for something completely different, check out our roundup of this week’s best laugh-ins, stand-ups and make-em-ups.
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(Photo: Michael Tapp’s Flickr)
Above, Shaun Blonde gets suited up before taking folks for a ride on Olek’s “yarnshaw.” Check out Michael Tapp’s documentary about the yarn-swaddled rickshaw over at Time.
In light of the 12 weekends of G train closures that begin July 6, rumors have begun circulating that Citibank will partner with the MTA to place new Citi Bike stations around Greenpoint and LIC. Greenpointers documents a rep’s verbal gymnastics as he neither confirms nor denies the new stations. [Greenpointers] More →
This past weekend, North 6th Street exploded with energy as more than 20 artists chosen by Absolut’s Open Canvas Initiative transformed a Williamsburg block of storefronts, construction fences and bare walls into colorful, stunning murals. Prompted to “Transform Today,” the artists, who were mostly from the Brooklyn area, worked with a wide variety of materials and mediums — starting with yarn.
Click through our slideshow to see how the event unspooled.
Every day around 4:20 p.m. we stuff your pipe with Lil’ Nugs, our late afternoon link dump.
(Photo: Joe Raskin)
The East Village, Alphabet City, Midtown South – seems that no one really knows what to call the area east of Third Avenue and north of Houston anymore. But it turns out that this ontological crisis is nothing new. Flaming Pablum traces the evolving nomenclature of, uh, whatever we’re calling this neighborhood now. [Flaming Pablum]
Massey Knakal Realty is marketing a parcel along the Greenpoint East River waterfront. Check that; it’s in the East River. It is literally underwater. But the good news is that “the lot presents a unique opportunity for waterfront development,” as the listing puts it. The price? A cool $2.5 million. [] More →
Here’s what we’re really excited to see this week in local theaters (or, for that matter, at local bars and rooftops).
Sarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who believed wholeheartedly in feminism and punk rock, and fully embraced a DIY method of filmmaking. Before cancer cut her life short at age 32, she made some of the most influential underground films of the ’90s, including “I Was a Teenage Serial Killer,” “Road Movie (Or What I Learned In a Buick Station Wagon),” and a feature film, “Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore.”
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The Renegade Craft Fair set up camp in Williamsburg’s East River State Park this weekend, alongside regulars Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea. We withstood the sweltering heat to show you a few of our favorite things, amass a collection of business cards, and to indulge in some ice cream from the Coolhaus truck (which, unfortunately, could not withstand the heat). We may have even come away with a purchase or two – because, indeed, one can always use another bloody tote.
If you missed out on the fair, don’t worry: all of the vendors also sell their wares online, and many of them are based locally in Brooklyn. You’ll find links to their online shops with each image, and the full list of Renegade Craft vendors can be found here.