Celebrating Community
Located on Cortelyou Road in leafy Ditmas Park, Bar Chord has become one of the best places to see and perform live music in Brooklyn. With colorful band posters adorning the windows, proprietors Jonny and Christy Sheehan have created a space that is open to all and hosts live music every night of the week. The Sheehans live by their […]
Before the birth of their daughter but after the two graduated from the School of Visual Arts, the photographer Stephen Lipuma and graphic designer Amy Ng opened Court Tree Collective in Carroll Gardens. Now in its fifth year, the space provides a community center for cooking events, fine art exhibitions, and just about anything else the community finds itself curious about. Court Tree […]
“Hold Still,” Brooklyn local Mary-Elaine Jenkins’ debut album draws on the long traditions of southern folk to examine the perils of romance and loss. As streaming has effectively erased the imperative to listen to albums start to finish, Jenkins’ album constitutes a thorough exploration of men and romance gone awry. Despite the often plaintive lyrics about failed relationships and disappointing forays into love, Jenkins’ balances the tone of the […]
LIZZIE AND THE MAKERS is composed of a rather unlikely looking bunch of rockstars. The median age trends a little older than one might initially suspect of an up-and-coming band, but their rise could hardly be disputed. Their November shows at Rockwood Music Hall and Hometown Barbecue featured guest guitarist Reeves Gabrel, of David Bowie fame, who will be touring […]
Hanks Saloon is best known by Brooklynites as a somewhat grimy looking dive bar adorned by flames of hellfire on the corner of 3rd and Atlantic. Walk through its doors, covered with stickers of every group that’s ever played there, and you’ll find a gritty, urban juke-joint where you can see real country bands, drink cheap PBR, and shoot digital […]
On September 24, friends and neighbors gathered outside the Brooklyn Ice House at 318 Van Brunt Street to commemorate the life of William Robertson, a local musician who died suddently. At 7:30 pm, bagpiper Christopher Rodriguez led the crowd of more than 70 past Bene Coopersmith’s record shop, to Sunny’s Bar on Conover Street, for complimentary Budweisers. Outside, a chalkboard on […]
Rocky Sullivan’s hosts a “Kickin’ Cancer” benefit concert for bassist Malcolm Smart, long-time resident of Park Slope and owner of the first dog daycare in Brooklyn. The rock-filled event will reunite some of the most beloved musicians in Red Hook: Rome 56 (Artie Lamonica of The Shirts), Spaghetti Eastern Music (Sal Cataldi) Frank’s Museum (led by Frank Ruscitti, with Malcolm Smart on bass) and Formaldehyde Blues Train (FBT), reuniting for the […]
Only Red Hook could birth a banjo throwing competition. During the 2011 Brooklyn Folk Festival, then held at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC), the founders considered how to use the waterfront to draw greater crowds. “At that point (the waterfront) was pretty decayed and terrible looking,” Lynette Wiley, a co-founder of the festival said. “Eli Smith and my husband […]
With summer wildfires in California, Montana, and Oregon, hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Jose wreaking havoc in the southern United States and the Caribbean, and the massive earthquake in Mexico City, Mother Earth seems angry. Whether you believe that Gaia is taking her revenge or hold more scientifically based beliefs, major shifts in climate and plate tectonics have been in full […]
The Brooklyn Americana Music Festival (AMF) will take place September 21-24. The first festival was in 2015. It has grown every year and this year will have 60 bands on seven different stages in Red Hook and DUMBO. Jan Bell, founder of the fest, produced her first live music event in DUMBO on a pickup truck stage outside the Between […]