Flatbush Life: The Vanishing Husband and the 71st Precinct

Fox 5's John Deutzman investigative report on the arrest of a young husband for a "quality of life" crime -- riding a bike on the sidewalk-- and his subsequent jailing when he could not provide i.d. (He had left his wallet at home, and in order to receive a summons, you must have valid I.D. His cell phone was dead. He had trouble reaching his wife or family by phone; the police wouldn't help him make the necessary notification.) His frantic young wife, family, and friends were told they could not report an adult as a missing person in NYC--ever. When they were visited by NYPD from the the 71st precinct -- where he had been held-- ) no one recognized that this was the guy that had been arrested and had been held in their station. Officers from the Prospect Park station called the 71st precinct finally established that he had been arrested and was not dead. He was finally released after appearing before a judge and returned home to his relieved wife and family. Lesson #1: Your wallet/I.D. - don't leave home without it.

The News report here:
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/investigative/090520_The_Vanishing_Husband_and_the_NYPD

Fox Five Reporter John Deutzman's blog here -
http://community2.myfoxny.com/_The-Vanishing-Husband/blog/284458/6475.html

Travelogue: The Sistine Chapel (Capella Sistina)

Above, Sistine Chapel. Below, Vatican Museum.



We visited the Vatican on December 26. The line is long, outside of those medieval walls with their gunports looking out over souvenir stands and cafes, but the wait was relatively short I'm told compared to the summer months.

Inside, we alternately browsed, amazed, at the corridors filled with art and religious objects, and rushed headlong (well that was mostly me) through the halls until we reached the Sistine Chapel.

Entering that vaulted space, just so taken over by the reality of being in the presence of this almost mythical object of Western art. Beautiful, fascinating. Folks crowding into the space, trying not to bump into fellow gawkers and sightseers as we stared up at the ceiling and walls. Lots of visitors being shushed by security, this is a sacred religious space within the Vatican after all, or prevented from taking photos. On this day, the Chapel was so crowded though that we already had taken a couple of photos before we realized it was verboten.

I was captivated and overwhelmed by the experience of being there with Judy and our kids. But, anyway, as with all things in the modern pop life, it resonated again later in January, when we were back in NYC, and I watched the Agony and the Ecstasy on Turner Classic Movies. Seeing of course that I am not the only one to have imagined -- and reimagined -- that work of profound art and spiritual discovery.

--Brooklyn Beat

Rocketboom! Andrew Baron presents Magma

Andrew Baron of Rocketboom, daily internet culture blog, http://www.rocketboom.com/
Will be unleashing Magma, a video aggregator blog to an unsuspecting world by the end of the week.

"On Magma, users can see the top 100 "must watch" videos on the Web. Instead of just displaying the top videos on YouTube, Magma gathers video views from sites including Hulu, Vimeo and others to create a "Magma score." Users can check out the top-scored videos, and also view the top videos on each platform. Magma also displays the most talked-about and linked videos on Twitter, Facebook and Google blogs. Users can also see the most viewed videos on NYTimes.com, CNN.com, ESPN and many others, all on one site."

Details @ NY Observer here: http://www.observer.com/2009/media/rocketbooms-andrew-baron-presents-video-aggregator-magma

"Turn My Life Down": Jefferson Airplane

"When I see you next time round in sorrow
Will you know what I been going through
My yesterdays have melted with my tomorrow
And the present leaves me with no point of view
When I see you next time round look into my eyes
Where we'd be never could decide
Borrowed moments they cannot fill the moments of our lives
And wishful thinking leaves me no place to hide
No place to hide
No place to hide
I see the shadows softly coming
Taking me into a place
Where they turn my life down
Leaving mourning with myself
And nothing to say"
-Jorma Kaukonen

The tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Di9Uld7jw

Jefferson Airplane website:
http://www.jeffersonairplane.com/

White House Correspondents' Dinner: 44 does shtick

Excerpts from 44 at the WHite House Correspodents' Dinner:

"Good evening. You know, I had an entire speech prepared for this occasion. But now that I’m here, I think I want to try something a little different. Tonight, I want to speak from the heart. So, I’m not going to use this script. I’m going to speak off the cuff. [Two teleprompter shields rise slowly from beneath the podium, to musical accompaniment. Laughter.] Good evening … [huge laughter]

“I’d like to welcome you all to the ten-day anniversary of my first one hundred days. I’m Barack Obama. Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me. Apologies to the Fox table. [He peers into the distance stage left, doing his Chris Rock thing of grinning at his own funny.] I have to confess I really didn’t want to be here tonight, but I knew I had to come. Just one more problem I inherited from George Bush. …

“Sasha and Malia aren’t here tonight because they are grounded. You can’t just take Air Force One on a joyride around Manhattan. I don’t care whose kids you are. And that reminds me: Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. This is a tough holiday for Rahm. He’s not used to saying the word ‘day’ after ‘mother.’ [Brings the house down.]

“David Axelrod is here. We’ve been together a long time. I can still remember when I called Ax a few years ago and said, ‘You and I can do wonderful things together.” And he said to me the same thing that partners across America are saying to one another right now: ‘Let’s go to Iowa and make it official.’


The full quipfest: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22319.html

Travelogue: Colloseo, Roma

Unlike those fortunate full-time "Brooklyn" bloggers, it has been an especially hectic week at work for me. So, for now, another quick travelogue blog which is more of a momentary reverie of our family's trip to Rome in December-January, visitng our daughter who will be returning to NYC next month after nearly a year away. BB, still missing Roma, the Eternal City, with its palm trees and ruins. History and high fashion. Art and earthiness with a patina of pure gold. A land of dreams rooted, with its shops and scooters, in the here and now.
--Brooklyn Beat

Travelogue: Oh the Streets of Rome (& Naples)...

Above: A heavenly pie at Da Michelle, Napoli, Italy.



Above: Founded in the 19th century, Da Michelle is about as Old School as it gets. The original marble tables. Two kinds of pie only, Marinara (no cheese), or Marghareta (with cheese). Lovingly brick oven fired. The writings on the wall are in Napoletana dialect. Gustatory elation.



Above: From the sublime to the ridiculous: Italy's first McDonald's, founded in the late 1980s, near Piazza di Spagna, Rome.

Together Through Life: 'It's All Good'

Bob Dylan's 33rd album, released Tuesday, April 28. Back porch, pass the jug, jamming, tunes pulled out of the air, and out of the American musical idiom, blues and then some. The album roughly follows the trail blazed by its predecessors, Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times, but it moves off into the woods and thickets, wades through the muddy river beds, and continues to plumb the depths of desire, longing and heartache, but never surrenders to despair. Lyrics for most of the tunes, by or in collaboration with Robert Hunter, legendary Grateful Dead lyricist. While that may seem heretical, since Dylan is our poet extraordinaire, they nevertheless provide flashes of that Dylan humor, such as "My Wife's Hometown." As I have said before, the album made itself known through the early release of "Dreamin' of You" with its remarkable, instantly recognizable hook. But it makes itself known here, in its rough hewn, semi-polished, earthy and affecting mystery, in a voice as old as the ages and then some.

I am still exploring this new gem of Insider-Outsider Art by the reigning American Poet Laureate of the highways and the shadows.

--Brooklyn Beat

TOTALLY CHERRY, TOTALLY SPRING

Japanese Cherry Blossoms in their last explosion on Waldorf Court in Flatbush. Pink and frilly. Ochre on stone. First tiny green leaves unfurling as the blossoms carpet the lawn and ground. The last hurrah of a silly spring, as an early summer busts out all over this weekend, with temperatures in the high 80s. Yowsa. Happy Friday. Happy Spring.
Photos by Brooklyn Beat, Early Morning, Flatbush.

--Brooklyn Beat

F-Train as Writer's Studio: Peter V. Brett and 'The Warded Man' aka 'The Painted Man'

The NY Daily News today reported that author and Brooklynite Peter V. Brett completed his first novel, The Warded Man (in Europe and other countries, 'The Painted Man') while commuting between the Fort Hamilton F-Train stop in Kensington and his office in midtown. Not having read it, we can't vouch for the book yet, but his is a compelling story, especially his comment that, although raised to give up his seat on the subway, while writing the book, he would surrender his seat only if you were 'really old or pregnant.' Well, I guess he wasn't writing Pollyana or the Life of Christ. Unlike those books, his is already hitting bestseller lists in Poland. Publishers Weekly: "A classic high fantasy framework of black-and-white morality and bloodshed..With its nameless enemies that exist only to kill, Brett's gritty tale will appeal to those who tire of sympathetic villains and long for old-school orc massacres."

More on the Daily News story today:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/04/22/2009-04-22_train_of_thought_bklyn_writer_found_muse__wrote_first_novel_while_commuting_on_t.html

Link to Mr. Brett's dark yet nicely styled website here:

http://www.petervbrett.com/news/

An interview with the author here from Booklounge: http://www.booklounge.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345512659&view=printqa

Saturn: Cassini spacecraft shows 6th planet, moons, in stunning detail

Hidden knowledge and logic, slowly becoming uncovered, guides the motion and activity of the universe, from the micro to the macro. But, tracked and photographed by spacecraft, this is pure art and poetry. The article from the TImes U.K. here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1172205/Saturn-close-Sensational-cosmic-images-bring-ringed-planet-life.html

Coney Island Daydreamin'

It was a perfect day to hit the shore. Coney Island was bustling. Ruby's Bar, which we had visited late last summer, was still open and doing business, although a large banner outfront indicated stores for rent, contact Thor Equities if you please. That was true of loads of real estate on the beach, either closed or temporarily opened pending the Thor Equities flip. Sure enough, Astroland was gone, but the Wonderwheel was twirling in the warm spring breeze and the screaming of the rollercoaster riders could be heard for miles. Sections of the boardwalk here and there are gated pending much needed repairs. We strolled all the way down to Brighton. Tatiana and Cafe Volna were doing very good business on the day before the Russian/Eastern Orthodox Easter Sunday tomorrow. Lots of happy strollers, tourists and hipsters under a gorgeous sunny blue sky, folks out on the beach already, anticipating the season of mellowing out. A bunch of guys with a variety of instruments, set up on W. 17th street, for some free-form Saturday afternoon jamming. We were there a little early, so the hypno-techno- dance scene a few blocks down, was not yet in action. And, oh yeah, the public restrooms were open and in pretty clean shape so far. The Coney Island Museum had a nice crowd hanging outside, but we didn't stop into see the sights, at least this time.

We continued past Volna and headed over to Brighton Beach Avenue. Vendors on the street were selling traditional Russian Orthodox Easter cakes and pastries. We stopped in at St. Petersburg, a fabulous Russian book, DVD, music, and souvenir shop. Judy picked up a Mareska (nesting) doll, some books on contemporary Russian Art and a groovy Russian-American Brighton Beach t-shirt. The staff at St. Petersburg were very helpful. Fabulous videos, international music, and a great selection of books, handmade household items and other "chachkas" make this a fun destination. Your intrepid reporter bought a Russian phrase book, so that I can work my way past the few words ("Where is the pharmacy" plus a few swear words)that I have picked up in the NYC multicultural maelstrom.

We stopped at a fruit and vege store to pick up a few items, and, forgetting how far we had walked, I carried a good 20 pounds of groceries back to the car on Neptune avenue. (Duh!) But all in all, a great outing.

Coney Island is a neighborhood in transition. It is going to be an interesting summer. What will the future bring? Who knows. But I do know one thing: get there before it changes even further if you want to savor a bit of the forty-deuce by the water that longer-time New Yorkers have known as our Coney Island of the mind. This little bit of Real Nature on the southern tip of Brooklyn, from the sideshow tradition to a simulacrum of Russia on a different shore, the place where all Brooklynites and New Yorkers along with visitors can freely commingle: Coney Island, like Walt Whitman, contains multitudes.

-Brookyln Beat

Last Chance: The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989

Franz Kline, Painting No. 7 (1952)

Forget Citifield or the New New York Yankee Stadium,the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum hits another one completely out of the park with its "The Third Mind" exhibit. Subtitled "American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989, it considers in the depth that SRGM seems to address best how the art, literature and philosophy of the East influenced new visual and conceptual languages of modern and contemporary art in America." The familiar sounding title references the "cut-ups" manuscript by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, and the Beats, among other art movements are at the heart of the more contemporary section of the show. But Asian art itself, along with American masters of various eras (Whistler, Pollock, Rothko, Rheinhardt, Motherwell, Mullican...and onward), are commingled front and center in this fantastic and illuminating show. The gold room of "The Death of Jamie Lee Byars" and the special, very unusual contemplative space, Dream House, by Lamonte Young and Marian Zazeela, will take you, shoeless and wonderstruck like a child, into a new space.

Using the marvelous Guggenheim design to full effect, Ann Hamilton's airy and inspiring "human carriage" fills the rotunda with gentle, green movement, Tibetan bells, and white silk, all brought into perfect harmony by the weight of cut-up books that propel the non-electric vehicle on its journey through the rotunda. Human Carriage, offers both a surprising distraction, at the same time helping to focus one's awareness on the quiet power of mind breaths and nature while contemplating the sublime artifacts created by American and Asian artists in the past two centuries. Don't miss it.

1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street), NYC

The Guggenheim:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view-now/third-mind

Details on the exhibition:
http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/thirdmind/index.html

--Brooklyn Beat

'Specimen Days' & On Forgiveness: St. Francis College

St. Francis College, located in Brooklyn Heights, continues its inspiring, reflective and creative schedule of literary, philosophical and artistic events:

TONITE: Wednesday, April 15, 6 PM:
He Is Speaking . . . Are You Listening? - WALT WHITMAN IN BROOKLYN
Presented by:
The Walt Whitman Project & The English Dept. of SFC

Readers include current St. Francis College students and alumni.

Mr. Greg Trupiano, Director of The Walt Whitman Project will provide context and background concerning Walt Whitman in Brooklyn Heights mid-nineteenth century.
Dr. Ian S. Maloney, Assistant Academic Dean/Associate Professor of English, St. Francis College will comment on Whitman and on Specimen Days.

Walt Whitman describes his prose memoir Specimen Days as a “huddle of diary-jottings, war-memoranda of 1862-’65, Nature-notes of 1877-’81, with Western and Canadian observations afterwards” and “the most wayward, spontaneous, fragmentary book ever printed.” This memoir is nonetheless an evocative and moving recollection of a great life. Members of the St. Francis College community, led by Assistant Academic Dean Ian S. Maloney, the author of the introduction to the Barnes & Noble edition of Specimen Days, will read selections concerning the poet in antebellum Brooklyn, his life during the Civil War, and his final years in post-war America. The readers include Stefan Fagan, Noel T. Jones, Allison Rutledge, Jaime Squeri, and Hakim Williams. Vocalists Nicole Mitchell and Leslie Mitchell perform songs from 19th-century America. Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D., is the event curator.

Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served

Walt Whitman – Specimen Days
Wed, Apr 15, 2009 starting at 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Founders Hall


TOMORROW: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 11:15 AM:

As part of its annual Yom Hashoah Observance, Holocasut Remebrance Day, a Scholar will Tackle Question of “What is Given in Forgiving?”

Who: Philosophy Scholar Jeffrey Bernstein, Ph.D.
What: Yom Hashoah Observance – Holocaust Remembrance Day
Where: St. Francis College – Maroney Forum for Arts, Culture & Education
180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
When: Thursday, April 16
11:15am – 12:30pm

St. Francis College continues its tradition of observing Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day with a lecture conducted by Philosophy Professor Jeffrey Bernstein from the College of Holy Cross.

Professor Bernstein will discuss, “What is Given in Forgiveness?” broaching the ideas, themes and underlying questions concerning forgiveness as presented in Holocaust survivor and famed Nazi hunter Simon Weisenthal’s book, The Sunflower.

Dr. Bernstein, who received his doctorate in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, is an Associate Professor of Philosophy with areas of specialization centered on the work of Baruch Spinoza, German Philosophy, and Jewish Thought. He is currently exploring these figures within the context of the Philosophy of History.

Annual Yom Hashoah Observance at St Francis College
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 starting at 11:15 AM - 12:30 PM
Maroney Forum for Arts, Culture and Education (Room 7402)

Links here:

http://www.stfranciscollege.edu/eventsListing.aspx

The Future of the Financial Oligarchy: Dollars, Sense and Denial

Tarp, teabaggers, bailouts and rising unemployment. In the current economic maelstrom, some see the US on track toward a much more highly managed and regulated economy. Is it possible that "the refusal of powerful institutions to admit losses – aided and abetted by a government in thrall to the “money-changers” – may make it impossible to escape from the crisis" ? As President Obama has said, the ship of state is an ocean liner, not a speedboat. It can't be turned that quickly. But in the current uncertainty, where Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman recommends nationalization of banks and be donw with it, and banks deemd too large to fail are given "stress tests" for future solvency but the results withheld-- who can know for sure.

In this Financial TImes article, Martin Wolf looks at the influence of the financial oligarchy on the poliitcal sphere, and asks, are we just like Russia? While the answer is somewhat reassuring, there are other troubling issues, largely the self-denial by of the reality of the poor economic condition of many banks by their CEOs and leadership, that must be resolved before real improvement may be possible. Read more here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/09f8c996-2930-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html