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We’re Celebrating Glenn Branca’s 65th Birthday, and You’re Invited

BRANCAFLYER

There was a lot of fuss about Philip Glass’s and John Zorn’s recent birthdays, and we’re not going to let the birthday of another legendary downtown composer, Glenn Branca, go without a similar amount of hoopla. This is, after all, the iconoclast who, with his band Theoretical Girls, helped spearhead the No Wave movement in the late ’70s and who mentored Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo back when they were members of his guitar orchestra, belting out what John Rockwell of The Times described as “music of massive sonic grandeur.” That’s why we’re inviting you down to the Bedford + Bowery Newsroom on Monday, October 7 — the day after Branca turns 65 — to ask him anything.
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The So So Glos Promise Their ‘Wrecking Ball’ Video Is Better Than Miley’s

Back in June, the So So Glos invited us into their Bushwick HQ, Shea Stadium, and played “House of Glass” off of their newly released LP, “Blowout.” Now they’re back with a cinematic video for “Wrecking Ball” that they promise is better than Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” video, even if none of the boys got nekkid for it. But is it better than Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball”? Grab a coffee and a donut and find out.

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Swastikas, a Possible Hate Crime, and a Modesty Code Fight in Williamsburg

A Williamsburg resident says he was walking his dog when he was beaten by a stranger yelling homophobic slurs. Police charged a 35-year-old man with assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and resisting arrest. [Brooklyn Paper]

And this isn’t good either: Swastikas were found on a building on Bedford Avenue. [News 12 Brooklyn]
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A Custom Bike Cafe Revs Up in Brooklyn

(Photo: Daniel Maurer)

(Photo: Daniel Maurer)

Williamsburg motorcycle aficionados need no longer stand around cracking their bullwhips in the street. Jane, a cafe selling custom riding gear, is due to open at 161 Grand Street on October 20.

Adam Kallen, a 40-year-old LA native, says he and his partner, 37-year-old Alexander DiMattio (“everyone calls me Alex, but my mom would want me to use my full name”), based their concept on the Saturdays Surf shop in SoHo. “I like to drink a lot of coffee and I like to surf, so that’s a good spot for a person like me,” said Kallen. “But we realized that the motorcycle equivalent of Saturdays Surf did not exist in NYC, so we stepped in to fill that void.”
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Hester Street Cafe Has Opened, Complete With a Gingerbread New Museum

The Chris Burden retrospective, “Extreme Measures,” opens at the New Museum tomorrow, but for foodies, today’s opening might just be more exciting: Hester Street Fair opened its cafe in the museum’s lobby, and our friends at Hester sent us the above shots. Click through to check out the 2-foot-tall gingerbread reproduction of the New Museum created by Krystina Holak, baker at Cafe Grumpy. It’s just about the sweetest thing we’ve seen since that Game of Thrones cake. Even if it doesn’t include Chris Burden’s sailboat.
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Season 4 of ‘Louie’ Starts Filming in the East Village Tomorrow

Where there

Where there’s a cone car, there is Louis CK. (Photo: Daniel Maurer)

Now that Breaking Bad is dunzo and Girls won’t be back till who knows when, you’re probably wondering whether you should just sell your couch. DO NOT. After a little break, Louie is back next spring, and here’s proof: signs up on David Schwimmer’s East Sixth Street block and around the corner on First Avenue indicate that Pig Newton is filming in the area tomorrow. Pretty sneaky of Louis CK to use the name of his production company instead of the name of the show (he clearly learned some stealth filming techniques from Woody), but no way was this going to get by us (the name of his production company, after all, is also one of his best bits).
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Jay Stolar Got Beat Up For Liking Stevie Wonder and Can’t Stand Creed

PromoImageOn a recent afternoon, we met Jay Stolar at The Meatball Shop on Bedford Avenue, near his home in Williamsburg, to talk about More Than You Think, his first album since leaving Julius C, the five-man band that piqued the interest of New York’s indie circuit in 2010 with a 30-day, 30-show tour. Stolar’s new album, which lands on October 8, consists of supremely smooth, radio-ready pop songs, and the single “Like You Do” was picked up for an episode of the CW’s 90210 (the video for “Leading Me Down,” released today, is below). In August, Stolar launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of the album and ended up raising $50,000, more than three times the initial goal. With CMJ shows coming up at The Delancey on Oct. 16 and Rockwood Music Hall on Oct. 19, Stolar talked about recording the album, being inspired by Amanda Palmer, and covering Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”
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A Man, His Dog, and Their Citi Bike

(Photo: Kristin Koslowski)

(Photo: Kristin Koslowski)

We’re all for taking Citi Bikes to new places, but this? B + B reader Kristin Koslowski sent us this photo and asked:

First person to accessorize their Citi Bike? Seen in Alphabet City, he has a doggy seat that cantilevers off the seat. Anywhere the Citi Bike can go in 45 mins, so can the doggy. Wonder what other Citi Bike attachments we’ll see soon.

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This Week at the Newsroom: Screenings of How to Act Bad + Nightclubbing

This week at the Bedford + Bowery Newsroom: bang your head on the punk rock! These two screenings pair some of our favorite documentarians with the outré — and outrageous — musicians they’ve filmed over the years. As always, the events are free — just let us know you’re coming via the Facebook event links below.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 2, 7 P.M.

howtoactbad_longflyer_revised_Angelo(2)How to Act Bad + a q&a with Dima Dubson and Adam Green

Last time we saw Adam Green, the singer-songwriter who co-founded of The Moldy Peaches, he was installing a giant cat sarcophagus in an East Village window and plotting a papier-mâché remake of “Aladdin” starring Macauly Culkin. If that made you wonder what makes the man tick, then you’ll definitely want to catch Wednesday’s screening of “How to Act Bad,” a documentary that follows Green over the course of two years, offering a candid and often comical look into his paintings and sculptures, drug experimentations, filmmaking and romantic dysfunctions. After the screening Green himself, along with filmmaker Dima Dubson, will be on hand to teach you how to act bad.


FRIDAY, OCT. 4, 7 P.M.

NIGHTCLUBBING_edited-1Nightclubbing + a discussion with the filmmakers and musicians
Consider this a killer warm-up to next week’s CBGB Festival. Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong spent the late ‘70s filming performances at places like CBs, Mudd Club and Danceteria, and amassing an archive that’s currently being digitized for the NYU Fales Library’s Downtown Collection. Readers of Bedford + Bowery have seen clips from Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the NYC debut of the Dead Kennedys, and even Iggy Pop covering Sinatra. On Friday, you’ll see rare gems from the Nightclubbing archive like you’ve never seen ’em before — on the big screen, with the sound turned up. After the screening, Ivers and Armstrong will chat with Richard Boch, an artist and writer currently working on a memoir about his nearly two years working the door at Mudd Club, and Pat Irwin, a founding member of The Raybeats and Eight Eyed Spy who later joined The B-52s and currently scores TV shows and movies for Showtime, HBO, and others.

All events at the Bedford + Bowery Newsroom, 155 Grand, off of Bedford Ave.

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Triskelion Arts is the Latest Williamsburg Business To Hightail it to Greenpoint

Triskelion Arts, who has resided at 118 North 11 Street since 2000, will move to Greenpoint next summer. (Photo: Natalie Rinn)

Triskelion Arts, who has resided at 118 North 11 Street since 2000, will move to Greenpoint next summer. (Photo: Natalie Rinn)

Triskelion Arts is the latest of several Williamsburg businesses to relocate to Greenpoint: next June, the dance arts organization will move out of its third-story warehouse space on North 11th Street and reopen at 106 Calyer Street.

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