Red Hook Star-Revue

News

DEP, EPA propose alternatives for next phase of CSO tank construction, by Oscar Fock

October 11, 2024 No Comments

In early August, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced they had finished the first phase of the construction of the combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank that will sit between the Gowanus Canal and Nevins Street. This phase, which included building a deep underground concrete perimeter around the site, has been a source of concern for neighbors for

The city now wants blue highways. Jim Tampakis has advocated for it for years, interview with Oscar Fock

October 11, 2024 No Comments

New York City is remaking the Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a waterfront fit for the 21st century. One plan the city has for the marine terminal is to act as a hub for its “blue highways” initiative, an effort to move some freight from the streets to the city’s waterways. 120,000 trucks pass through the city each day, with many

Toxic vapors not necessarily bad says Health Dept., by Oscar Fock

October 11, 2024 No Comments

Parents, community members and state officials gathered in the gymnasium of P.S. 372 — the Children’s School — in Gowanus on Thursday, Sept. 19, for a presentation from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health on the agencies’ soil vapor intrusion investigation, which began last year. In September 2023, the state launched a Gowanus-wide investigation to uncover

The community shows out at first BMT public workshop, by Oscar Fock

October 11, 2024 No Comments

After years of talk and several failed attempts, it seems that the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) will finally get a long-overdue facelift. In May this year, the city traded a container terminal on Staten Island to the Port Authority for 122 acres along the Red Hook waterfront. The plan is to transform the Brooklyn Marine Terminal into “an asset for

Where have all the scooters gone?, by Katherine Rivard

October 10, 2024 No Comments

Columbia Street runs south all the way to Red Hook Farms. Then, before the street meets Halleck Street, a piece of it branches off to the left. The street continues, stretching alongside the Gowanus Bay, before making a tight right. At this point, you can follow it another 750 feet or so until you come to a tall metal fence.

Perspective: Sticky notes and Brooklyn Bread welcomed at BMT meeting, by Katherine Rivard

October 10, 2024 No Comments

On September 28, despite drizzling rain, the Miccio Center was packed at midday for a meeting about the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Red Hook residents, members of the press, and elected officials scrambled into the senior center’s gym to: grab a coffee and a pastry or sandwich (provided by Brooklyn Bread); grill members of the NYC Economic Development

This is not Cupid’s arrow, by Joe Enright

October 10, 2024 1 Comment

On a beautiful late summer evening in Windsor Terrace some two hundred people jammed into the Holy Name auditorium just off Prospect Avenue to air their grievances. The sounding board on this occasion was Community Board 7, mandated by the New York City Charter to solicit comments from residents about the proposed upzoning of a large oddly-shaped section of land

People Get Together, by George Fiala

October 10, 2024 No Comments

I have this theory which I first thought of about ten years ago that there is a special school for people who run public meetings. I’m not sure if that would be the field of public relations, or government relations, or facilitating, but what they are teaching is how to make people think they are taking part in a Democracy

Millennial Life Hacking Late Stage Capitalism, by Giovanni M. Ravalli

October 11, 2024

Back in 2019, before COVID, there was this looming feeling of something impending. Not knowing exactly what it was, only that it was going to impact the economy for better or worse. Erring on the side of caution, I planned for the worst and hoped for the best. My mom had just lost her battle with a rare cancer (metastasized

Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club returns to it’s roots, by Brian Abate

October 11, 2024

The first Brooklyn Rotary Club was founded in 1905 and met in Brooklyn Heights. Their successor club, the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club, is once again meeting in the Heights in a historic building at 21 Clark Street that first opened in 1928 as the exclusive Leverich Hotel. Rotary is an international organization that brings together persons dedicated to giving back

A Carroll Gardens  pizza icon remembered, by Brian Abate

October 11, 2024

Family, friends, and neighbors gathered to mourn Onofrio Gaudioso at Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church on September 9. Born in 1941, Gaudioso was remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and a true gentleman. Gaudioso and his brother-in-law John Teutonico became the owners of House of Pizza and Calzone 132 Union St. in 1963. “We are here not because

Nick Forker teaches comics at our temporary library, by Brian Abate

October 10, 2024

Our temporary library on Van Brunt Street (as you know, our regular library has been deconstructed for the time being) has many classes and events every month and one regular one is Comic Book Drawing Class with Mr. Nick which takes place on Tuesdays from 3 pm to 4:30 pm. Nick Forker is originally from Chicago and has been interested

Turning a passion into a really cool business, by Brian Abate

October 8, 2024

Inside of Wet Whistle Wines on Van Brunt Street there are some cool-looking drinking glasses on display. These are courtesy of Meghan Mardiney’s passion for antique barware. Her husband is Cory Hil, who co-owns the wine shop. Megan has made a business from her passion. We first encountered her last December at the gift fairs that were held at BWAC.

Kaizers Orchestra Returns to Conquer the US

October 7, 2024

Kaizers Return Kaizers Orchestra has always marched to the beat of their own drum. Now, after their first U.S. performance in years, the legendary Norwegian rock band made it clear they haven’t missed a step. Fresh off a triumphant show at Sony Hall, where their theatrical mix of rock, folk, and energy electrified the crowd, I had the chance to

120 Waterfront acres and a plan, by George Fiala

September 14, 2024

There was a time when the NYC waterfront was a blighted mess. When I first started working in New York, first in the Village where encounter the Hudson River, and then here in Brooklyn, and the East River, I took for granted that the burned out piers I saw were an indication that the city just didn’t care about the

Twisters: What Modern Movies Can Tell Us About Our Waning Attention Span, by Kelsey Sobel

September 13, 2024

Traveling out to Salt Lake City earlier this summer for my sister’s wedding, my family found themselves exhausted, overheated and irritable the Sunday after all the festivities had wrapped up. When it’s one hundred degrees, a simple task such as crossing the street becomes a daunting prospect. Why not go to the movies? Summer time movies have a long and

Walt Kuhn: A Red Hook A-Lister , by Joe Enright

September 13, 2024

Internet pages curated by that new cyber sensation sweeping the nation, Artificial (“Arty”) Intel & His Zombies, now list about three dozen carbon units as famous “Persons/Red Hook.” Many of them never spent much time here (Notorious B.I.G., e.g.), while others lived in Gowanus and South Brooklyn (Joey Gallo, Jimmy Iovine, e.g.) – close enough when zombies call the shots

WALKING WITH COFFEE: THE MOVEABLE CUBICLE, by R.J. Cirillo

September 13, 2024

In old black and white photos and movies, office workers were always depicted in huge rooms containing multiple desks, where they manned (or womanned) telephones and typewriters. There were no barriers between them and I’m sure while doing their assigned tasks they would interact with each other. At a certain point in business history, to maximize efficiency, it was decided

Stay busy at the ever-fabulous temporary Red Hook Library! by Brian Abate

September 13, 2024

The Red Hook Library re-opened at 362 Van Brunt St. in July and continues to get plenty of use. Many people stop in to read or work on laptops, and there have been a lots of special events including zine making, which was led by librarian Gretchen Alexander on August 26. “A librarian from a different branch started the zine

Art is all around us, especially this fall, by Roger Bell

October 8, 2024

This morning I enjoyed a special benefit of my impersonation of an art critic when I attended the press opening of the Brooklyn Museum’s 200 Anniversary Celebration exhibitions, “The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” and the extensive reimagining of the museum’s ” American Art” collection. The “Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” includes over 200 artists and occupies the ground floor galleries which once held the magnificent American Indian collections.

Quinn on Books: Pick a Card, Pick Any Card Review by Michael Quinn

October 8, 2024

If you value listening to your inner voice, you know there are many ways to access this wisdom. I’ve studied astrology since I was a teenager, meditate daily and keep a dream journal. Now, I’m exploring tarot—not for the first time. Stepping into the unknown (The Fool) I had a brief flirtation with tarot when I first moved to New

The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar, by Oscar Fock

October 8, 2024

Sunny’s Bar is a community staple in Red Hook. It has served local patrons and out-of-towners alike for over a hundred years, first as a lunch spot for dockworkers, and since the 1990’s as a archetypal Red Hook watering hole. Now, it is also the subject of a play, titled The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar.

Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

October 8, 2024

Who says a jazz band can’t play rock music? George Clinton didn’t quite ask that question on the 1978 Funkadelic track “Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?” but it’s a logical implication of the various permutations of the lyric, which questioned genre divisions at a time when radio and television were still segregated, even if schools weren’t. These

The Perpetual Library of Powell, by George Grella

October 8, 2024

By the time you read this, Bud Powell’s 100th birthday (September 27) will have passed, with a 24-hour broadcast from WKCR and a 25% discount promotion from Blue Note records on the two Powell LPs on their label currently in print. So after blowing out the candles, let’s take a look at how that is a tragedy. Powell was the

Dispatch from the New York Film Festival: A Disorienting Trip Into Portugal’s Past a Highlight of Currents Lineup, by Dante A. Ciampaglia

October 8, 2024

The 62nd New York Film Festival kicked off September 27 with Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel. What followed on the main slate was one heavy hitter after another: U.S. premieres of The Room Next Door, Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Brady Corbet’s Oscar frontrunner The Brutalist, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, and Hard Truths,

Kaizers Orchestra Returns to Conquer the US

October 7, 2024 No Comments

Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover: For the Culture and Social Justice

August 9, 2024 No Comments

Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover at Barclays Center On Sunday, August 4, the plaza at Barclays Center echoed with the sounds of Afrobeats and Amapiano as the two genres took center stage at the third annual Africa Everything: Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover. From 12:00 to 6:00 PM, music lovers, undeterred by the cloudy weather, gathered to experience the best of these

Picture of Troy Ramsey Holding a Guitar for the Cover Art of his single, Pick Up Truck.

Troy Ramey’s Soulful Journey to “Pick Up Truck”

July 17, 2024 No Comments

On June 28, 2024, the acclaimed singer-songwriter Troy Ramey released his latest single, “Pick Up Truck.” Known for his soul-stirring voice and evocative lyrics, Ramey’s new song, which began as a light-hearted jest, has evolved into a heartfelt piece that captures the essence of summer drives and the joy of music. Backstory The story of “Pick Up Truck” began

Music: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

May 13, 2024 No Comments

Another music in a different chamber. The term “chamber pop” has been tossed about at least since the 1960s, when such prophetic composers as Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson—as well as producers Shadow Morton, Billy Sherrill and Phil Spector, although they tend to be left out of the story—started crafting three-minute, orchestral gems in the pop tradition. Chamber music has

Jazz: Enemies at the Gates, by George Grella

May 13, 2024 No Comments

Gatekeeping gets a bad rap—and it should! Guarding information and experiences to keep them away from people is generally bad. At the very least, it’s a petty and infantile exercising of very limited and temporary power, trying to create an artificial sense of exclusivity and prestige in a pluralistic, democratic culture—snobbery in other words. At worst, you get self-perpetuating, smug

Jazz: Spaces And Places, by George Grella

January 12, 2024 1 Comment

Music making is a social activity. Anyone with a laptop and a bedroom can make an album, but there’s limits to that, not the least how far one’s imagination can go without the stimulus of other personalities. When musicians get together to play it’s a social activity, they make something together whether or not they’re in front of an audience.