Sing along to your favorite punk tunes, and get rowdy with the boys and girls. DJs spinning original Misfits, '77 punk, Oi!, and 80's hardcore ALL NIGHT. Starts at 9pm. Free beer 10-11pm.
DJs:
Cowboy Mark Michael Quattlebaum Jeremy Holehan Sarah F Lee Karen Galloway Nick Dube Zak Hall
DJ Sets by Melissa of Telepathe & Lauren Flax Performances by RAD PONY & Lovers v. Haters Videos by tiny favorite and raffle tickets giveaways include: drum lessons, ad space on www.tomtommag.com, handmade drumsticks & more!! See you there.
www.FreeWilliamsburg.com today reports that the newly opened cafe on Metropolitan between Union and the BQE is charging $4 for an Iced Coffee!
While the cold brewing process of iced coffee is a timely and costly process, $4 is an absurd price. Also, having not yet been to the L Stop, I can't say that they are even cold brewing their iced coffee.
The best coffee shops in burg in terms of most skilled baristas and quality of beans used are El Beit, Gimme, & Second Stop. All 3 cafes charge $3 or less.
Also, Does anyone think it is ridiculous that this new place is called "L stop" meanwhile "SecondStop" recently opened on Lorimer and Ainslie??
This band is really sick! They are playing Public Assembly (70 north 6th street at Wythe) tonight around 11pm. They are legit latin jazz, afro-beat, funk, dance party with horns, congas, timbales, beats, the whole thing.
Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn hosted this year's Williamsburg Fashion Weekend on February 20th-21st. The final show Saturday night was a collaboration between local designers from Treehouse and Sodafine. The models were all female musicians from many familiar bands and projects; Taigaa, Young People, Boyskout, Gogol Bordello, and others. At a staggered pace, each woman strutted onto the stage, picked up an instrument, and began building a cacophony of sound that no one in the crowd was prepared for. I was one of these performers, second onto the stage, contributing from behind a drum kit. Our energy on stage reflected from the audience- I could feel their excitement. 10 fashioned out female drummers were rocking out on one stage together. It can be tough to get a rise out of a Williamsburg crowd but they had definitely never seen anything like this before and they were floored! "The last show of the night was a memorable joint venture between Treehouse Brooklyn’s Sirius and Sodafine, and oh my! Until there are high-flying trapeze artists on swings, and a slow but sure build up of a moving, all-female instrumental ensemble of models wearing sassy versions of marching band dresses like this, any other fashion party is only practice, a mere prologue." www.sentimentalistmag.com
I'm in a fashion show Saturday night! Expect no catwalking (sad) but lots of percussive noise and maybe some cool looking clothing from burg designers. It's at Glasslands in Williamsburg and a part of Williamsburg Fashion Weekend!
Details, details, details...
Saturday, Feb 21 at 9:00pm @ Glasslands Gallery 289 Kent btw S1 & S2nd Sts. Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211
TONIGHT! Panty Hos, monthly Brooklyn based mixed-queer dance party, moves from their residence at Rock Star Bar in Williamsburg up the street to Public Assembly on North 6th and Wythe for their 3 Year Anniversary Party.
DJ Sets by DJ Kingdom and DJ Designer Imposter
Open Bar from 10pm - 11pm!!
"rating 5! This just in: the booty banger benefactor of our illegal joints from back in the day, DJ Kingdom presides over this mixed and queer (read: dance-prone) crowd in the heart of Williamsburg. With help from DJ Designer Imposter, some sort of open bar and a surprisingly low D.B. factor." - myopenbar.com
Panty Hos, a monthly Brooklyn based mixed-queer dance party, moves from their residence at Rock Star Bar in Williamsburg up the street to Public Assembly on North 6th and Wythe for their 3 Year Anniversary Party.
It was cold Saturday night, but not too cold to keep Death by Audio in Williamsburg from steaming up with a packed house of punk & indie rockers of all ages. I, among them, was re-living my days as a teenager when I went to shows in the mid to late nineties. "Not much has changed," I thought, noticing the sea of black attire, hoodies, fingerless gloves, great-hair-cut-but-not-clean-head, tattoo and piercing adorned lot. I mean, the cost at the door was still 5 bucks. Hell, I even bumped into a kid I once dated in my teens, who I was not surprised was still rocking this scene as guitarist of the headliner, The Measure.
But something was different. And it wasn't just that there was an equal amount of girls and guys in the audience to distinguish mid-nineties from 2008. Or the eerily familiar dress code. I mean, shit, even the dj played Jawbreaker in-between sets (which I happily sang along to in my head).
It was who performed: a powerful, all-girl band that rocked tightly orchestrated and invigorating guitar riffs, drum patterns and time signatures leaving the guys in the audience spell bound (taking note of the flawless and natural instrument control) and the girls inspired (and slightly turned on). I realized I had always wanted to see this in my youth--girls taking the stage and being completely comfortable doing so. As a musician who has performed across the nation with a variety of bands-an all girl one at that-I realize that life would have happened so much sooner if this was the window of my alternative, underground teen angst life.
Each Other's Mothers rocks. I was right in the front along with a bunch of girls bouncing and pushing--of course, into me--but staring at these super nice, geeky yet serious girls who wear rock star so casually. Maybe because they're just being real. The Mothers put on a show that is worth trekking long and far too. Reminds me of the days that I'd go see Erase Errata and come home to play music or blast songs from their set with my friends for hour-long dance parties on top of my bed.
As a musician and feminist who engages teen girls at the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, it's not always clear how girls live the day to day. But going to this show and seeing my friends perform made me think that within all the same-same there's a lot of new. Teens are getting access to a whole new meaning of gender bending equality alongside the generation ahead of them. It doesn't matter that I'm not a teenager anymore, I can clearly see how freakin awesome this would be for any girl--or guy, for that matter.
It can't hurt having a much more curious and D-I-Y adept generation growing fast behind us "approaching thirty-somethings." Hell, a zine table had more attention then the makeshift bar at the show if that tells you anything. Maybe more punk and indie rock like the Mothers will open up the eager and desiring eyes of our youth to a new way of being, acting, and finding ourselves--and a lot earlier.
The fashion's the same as is the attitude and tiny micro groups within one intricately embroidered macro identity. But Riot grrrl in their hearts, the Mothers and their allies have nothing to prove when they take on the stage. They're meant to be there. Always were. As obvious as the tattoos and eye-wear that signifies "we're in."
This weekend at Public Assembly, the semi finals and finals to the Williamsburg Songwriter Competition. Saturday night after party starting at 11:30pm with bands: Wakey!Wakey!, Creaky Boards, Schwervon!, & Boy Genius
Obama is the new president elect. The feeling just to type those words along with billions of others documenting and experiencing this moment today and last night is overwhelming. It is joy. It is an enormous sigh of relief. It is hard to believe. It is emotional. It is historical. Yes, history has been made. Moreover, our country has a leader they can be proud of. What more can be said at this moment. Change is on the way.
"Change" seems to be the word of the month. We hear it spoken from our neighbors and colleagues, produce it from our own tongues, and see it everywhere on a daily basis in print and media. Whether it be the most popular "Fundamental Change," climate change, presidential change, economic change, or change of season- together, these are times of change and we are all some how affected.
I've been so in the midst of change that I've neglected documenting it over the last month.
A friend of mine, Chris Henderson- a filmmaker, journalist, and arts services director has taken to the road traveling across the country with friend Graham Meriwether, independent documentary journalist, to document the changes Americans are facing and to discover what change they hope a new president to bring. They're stopping through 18 swing states over the course of 18 days to find out what core values Americans hold in common. Each day they create a short video portrait of an American community that reveals the issues that are influencing voters. Almost half way through, they've come across loyal republicans who for the first time will be voting democrat this election, conservatives who say they just don't want to change, and so many who feel that voting in this election is so crucially important and personal.
Separately, my personal biggest change of late has been a move from Williamsburg Brooklyn to Fort Greene Brooklyn this past October 1st. Williamsburg served me well over the past 2+ years. We had great times and developed something special between us. I lived in S.burg amongst the Hasidim and through distant and sometimes rather up close observance learned about an old and extremely private culture I never expected to know about. I also lived in central Williamsburg amongst Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Italians, Polish, hipsters, artists, wanderers, trustfundees, students, the displaced, out of place, run out, vegans, yuppies, queers, bridge and tunnel tourists, musicians, the jaded, soul searchers, and so on. One could call it diverse, others would say that everyone looked the same. Nevertheless no one could say the burg isn't stimulating in one way or another, visually or otherwise. A short bike ride to work and all my favorite spots- El Beit espresso, McCarren pool parties, Brooklyn kickball, Bozu sushi, Cheese shop sandwiches, Gimme Coffee, Relish, Salvation Army, Sound Fix, etc. Lots to love. Lots to drive one crazy. It was certainly becoming stagnant for me and in times of change I chose more change.
Through great serendipitous occasion, a duplex apartment was found in a beautiful brownstone near Fort Greene Park and BAM. It has a respectably sizeable peaceful green garden and an interior that is layers of old Brooklyn character and charm. The move in process has been slow but I'm extremely happy in my new place and excited to discover the new neighborhood and those adjacent.
The music venue, performance space, and bar at 70 North 6th street celebrates tonight with a kick off party as the revamped and newly titled "Public Assembly."
