Outer Limits: Blogging in the Boroughs

DUMBO Gets Down with Art

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:17:40 GMT

Brooklyn’s artsy hood becomes a canvas in the DUMBO: ART UNDER THE BRIGE FESTIVAL, the 12^th annual river-side festival of art, music and performance. Floating babies, monstrous murals, laser pendulums, and the massively awesome Hungry March Band take art to the next level this weekend throughout the streets of DUMBO.

Check out video clips of the art installations and performances on CURRENT. Better yet, get your booty down to the riverside and experience it yourself. Don’t let the soggy weather deter you. Stop in for in impossibly rich hot chocolate you could possibly chew on at Jacques Torres DUMBO.

Be sure to check out the new Galapagos Art Space on Main Street (they were priced out of their beloved Williamsburg, so the move to – DUMBO? Go figure.) And for ridiculously great time, stop by Rebar on Front Street to be blown away by the Hungry March Band at the Massive Thunder Party. Everyone is invited to come in their raingear, and expected loose those extra layers over the course of the evening.

Tags: art, bridge, dumbo, festival, nudity, performance

The Pillows Will Fly in Union Square 9/26/08

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:15:20 GMT

Did you ever want to get between the sheets with a few hundred strangers at sunset under the trees? Well, I can’t make that happen for you, but I may be able to get you between the pillowcases for a while at the Union Square Pillow Fight this friday evening.

This Saturday at 6 p.m., just show up at Union Square discreetly carrying your softest, fluffiest (customized?) pillow. Wait till 6 p.m. (There is a huge art clock titled “Metronome” on the façade of the Virgin Megastore, if you can read it – just wait for the first four digits to read “0600”) – then let the feathers fly. Costumes and custom pillows are encouraged. There are some rules for this seemly spontaneous event. Remove eyewear (duh). Don’t swing till 6 p.m. Don’t attack bystanders or cameras, unless they ask you too. Be gentle with me – there may be hundreds of people flailing pillows around, so try not to hurt anyone. And SOFT pillows only – feathers preferred. 6:15, stop swinging.

From there hooking up with your favorite pillow pal is optional. If you do, you may want to sit down over some serious comfort foot at Chat n' Chew, before getting a room at the David Rockwell-designed W New York Union Square, just across the park.

(photo: Union Square Pillow Fight, March 2008, afrandle’s photostream, Flicker.com)

Tags: chat n chew, clock, flash mob, pillows, union square, virgin, w

Talking Like A Pirate in Staten Island

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:53:48 GMT

All you landlubbin’ bilge rats may not be ‘ware that today be TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY across the seven seas an’ deep as Davy Jones. That said, you may be wondering what is there to do in an urban metropolis to celebrate this noteworthy occasion.

I suggest you take to the high sea adventure, that is a free trip on the Staten Island Ferry. Just skip work, there’s a pretty good chance after all that your boss has already sent you home some time this year for an endless summer vacation, like mine did. The Ferry ride is free, so just get off at South Ferry and hop on the next big orange brigantine to the southern isle. En route, you may want to contemplate NY’s own pirate history, including such luminous names as Sadie the Goat, with her teeth filed shaped – the better to bite you with, or Albert Hicks, hanged with great ceremony on Bedloe’s Island on the site of today’s Statue of Liberty. [ http://www.sailstjohn.com/NYT.htm ]

From the ferry, take the #40 bus along Richmond Terrace to Snug Harbor Cultural Center to visit the grave of the privateer, Robert Richard Randall (1750-1801). Randall left his fortune to found a home “for aged, decrepit and worn-out.” Trustees of the institution chose to keep the estate’s holdings along Washington Square North to generate income for the home, which they located on a large tract of inexpensive farmland in a rural community far south of Manhattan. Once regal Greek revival building grew over the years into an extraordinary campus of fine architecture, spanning the 19^th century. The deteriorating old salts had every convenience and amusement on the grounds of Snug Harbor in its heyday – except alcohol, which could be had by the inmates just a few yards east at an old watering hole, then known as the Old Stone Jug.

After skyrocketing maintenance forced Sailor’s Snug Harbor to retreat to Sea Level, NC, the site sat derelict for many years leaving the buildings to the tender mercies of developers and time. But through preservation efforts, the majority of the site was saved, and much of it has been redeveloped into its contemporary use as one of New York City’s premiere cultural destinations. Exhibits at the Newhouse Gallery are a treat, but for the maritime experience, don’t miss the site’s John Noble Maritime Museum , dedicated to the work of Staten Island artist and the maritime history of the region which greatly influenced the artist.

A good pirate will want to enjoy the sea over dinner, so after visiting Snug Harbor, walk west along Richmond Terrace to RH Tugs. The staff dishes a varied if inconsistent meals, including a very good shrimp scampi. But lift your heads up to enjoy work by many Staten Island artists, including the neighborhoods other favorite son, Bill Murphy, and don’t miss the stunning views of traffic along the Kill Van Kull waterway. Tankers, containers, and – of course – tugs put on a soothing show day in and day out. If you’re up to it, walk back east along Richmond Terrace, and then turn left at Jersey Street to follow the Waterfront Esplanade back, with spectacular harbor and skyline views.

Tags: art, harbor view, history, maritime, pirate, privateer, staten island, statue of liberty

Staten Island gets the Hartman & Lewis walk around treatment, Dec. 3 on Thirteen.

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:27:06 GMT

Is the closest you've been to Staten Island a ride on the ferry? Well, here's your chance to learn more about our greenest borough. A WALK AROUND STATEN ISLAND WITH DAVID HARTMAN AND BARRY LEWIS, premieres Monday, December 3 at 9:30 p.m. on Thirteen/WNET.

In A WALK AROUND STATEN ISLAND, Hartman and Lewis explore 300 years of history, Asian arts, mansions, beaches, personalities, hidden gems, and the best local pizza. Find out who's tilling the land at the old Decker Farm, discover one of America's oldest free black communities, learn who really invented the telephone, and find out what the future holds for that former landfill. Viewers will discover a borough that won't soon be forgotten.

Thirteen/WNET photo: S. Isbell

Tags: barry lewis, david hartman, harbor, history, parks, richmondtown, snug harbor, staten island, staten island ferry, tibetan, walking tour

Garbage truck uses Chelsea bike lane as personal speedway

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:16:58 GMT

37697. Remember that number.

OK, I was just walking down 9^th Avenue in Chelsea, admiring the work they’re doing on the new separated bike lane. (They’re currently putting in traffic islands at the start of each block to help keep cars and bikes apart – what a great idea.) Just then, a garbage truck comes barreling down the bike lane (12:30 p.m. around 19^thor 20^th streets, just before turning right onto a westbound street). OK, I’ll give our hard-working civil servants the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was going to pick up trash on that block and was saving his herniated disc from having to drag a garbage pail an extra four feet or so before hoisting its contents into his refuse recovery vehicle. Well, no one really had their trash out, so it wasn’t garbage day and he didn’t even slow down to pick up the overflowing municipal garbage pail at the corner.

Which is why I’ve been reciting the number 37697 on my way back to the office. That is the identification number on the upper left of his truck. Wish I had a nice digital camera to capture the moment. The whole incident reminds me of the death of Eric Ng, an NYU student run down by a car that careened down the Hudson River Park bike path last December.

Tags: bike lane, chelsea, eric ng, garbage truck

Beale Blow Out -open studio w/ punk, cider & sharp objects

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:06:09 GMT

Tonite! - 6pm-9pm - 11th Ave btw 21st & 22nd Wood sculptor Thomas Beale hosts another kick asp open-studio/exhibit in his Chelsea workshop (likley the last). Expect lifelike sculptures in huge wood blocks, organic shapes, things to climb on, hot cider and Vermont punk/blues styllings of "Cccome???" All this surrounded by sharp workshop instruments of mass destruction.
It's a Toxic Pop pick and guaranteed blow out!
Exhibit runs through Nov. 17, and is open Wed-Fri 11-6.
Check 'em out at http://www.tbeale.com.

Tags: chelsea, opening, sculpture, thomas beale, vermont punk blues

Buying Eyeballs at Party City

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:09:18 GMT

So my daughter and I are in Party City buying party supplies, filling our basket with plates, cups and tablecloths decorated with big bloodshot eyeballs. We get on line at the cashier and the lady behind me very nicely asks me if we're having a Halloween party. I answer truthfully, "no, acutally it's for my daughter's sweet 16 party."
Well, the lady's jaw dropped and just about hit the floor and she was left totally speechless. It was almost worth the price.

Tags: eye balls, halloween, party city

The Best Thing About the San Gennaro Festival.

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:04:06 GMT

The best thing about the San Gennaro Festival is biking up a deserted Mullberry Street at 8 a.m. this morning. No cars, just a few pedestrians and a delivery truck or two. From there, the bike lane up Lafayette took me up to 14th Street, where the bike lane ends and you're thrown onto Union Sqare East with no room between you and the cabbies. OK, they may look prettier with their floral hoods, but they're still just as wreckless.
Also, I read today that the NY Post is planning a Page 6 magazine. OK, so does it just have page 6? Then isn't that really page 1? Will all the pages be page 6? And if so, what good will the table of contents be? I'm so confused.

[image: badpopcorn.com]

Tags: bike lane, page 6, san gennaro, union square

Hilly Krystal dead. As dead as a doornail.

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:12:20 GMT

CBGB's famed owner, Hilly Krystal, is dead. As dead as a doornail at 75 -- from lung cancer His beer-scented cocoon on the Bowery launched the careers of many of punk/new wave's founding persons: Ramones, Talking Heads, Tele... you know -- and if not visit the obit.
His legacy lives on in the retail shop (NYC.com listing), a proposed Vegas nightclub, and possibly in the name of an overpriced burger joint at a neighboring storefront. Sadly, the actual CBGB remains closed with no high end retailers beating down the gates to pay enormous rent for a storefront under a homeless shelter on the Bowery.
Photo: MediaBistro.

Tags: bowery, cbgb, hilly krystal, vegas

Get yer tail over to the Meow Mix Acatemy

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:37:29 GMT

Cat lovers will want to poke into Union Square's Daryl Roth Theatre to check out the Meow Mix Acatemy. through Saturday, August 25. Feline fanciers can learn to play like kitty on oversized toys or enjoy "arts & cats." Bring you cat (or a photo of your favorite cat -- past or present) for portraits, psychic readings or therapy (for the cat, sorry). The Mix will donate a bag of cat food to Soho's Animal Haven for every visitor.
Afterward, grab a bite at Chat n' Chew across the park to digest the experience.

Tags: acatemy, cat, chat n chew, daryl roth, meow mix, union square