Story time and music at Summit Street Garden Sunday afternoon

Please bring yourselves and your little ones by Summit Street Garden tomorrow from 1:30pm - 2:30pm for story time and music making!

Children's librarian and garden member Andrea Vaughn Johnson (that would be me!) will perform a story time beginning at 1:30pm. Story time will be followed by an interactive music class for the children led by Sesame Street bass player and garden member, Rob Jost. The music class will be suitable for children of all ages.

This will be a very informal event for garden members and our community at large; simply some Sunday neighborhood fun. Bring a blanket and your favorite little ones (and if they have an instrument, bring it along!).

Summit Street Garden
Corner of Columbia St and Summit St

http://summitstreetgarden.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 29 1:30-2:30pm

Nominate Carroll Gardens Library to win $10,000!!

Ok... yes... we may be a little frustrated that the library is scheduled to be closed for about a month this summer (it is posted that it will close at the end of business on June 7th and re-open on July 8th), but truly it provides so many community benefits that certainly it deserves to be nominated for a chance to receive the $10,000 award!

The short survey can be anonymous or you can give them your contact info. It takes about 3-5 minutes of our time and will be accepting nominations until July 1st.... but don't wait! Don't procrastinate! Click on the link below and nominate!

~NOMINATE MY LIBRARY~

Love Your Library Day is May 19

Love Your Library Day is coming to the Carroll Gardens Library on Saturday, May 19! It's the annual fundraiser of the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library with a huge book sale and community celebration from 10AM - 4PM at the library at 396 Clinton Street at Union Street. In addition to the book sale, the group is celebrating our community with a line up of cool entertainment including readings by children's authors and local residents Josh Lewis, author of the "Super Chicken Nugget Boy" series and Lela Nargi, author of "The Honeybee Man", a finalist for the Cook prize for children's science writing; art activities with Curious Jane, and more!

Brooklyn Public Library t-shirts will be available for sale and they'll have another delicious bake sale - all to raise money for the library and raise awareness of how important libraries are to the community. FCGL holds monthly meetings and everyone is invited to share their ideas and energy. FCGL’s website is http://friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com/ and FCGL can be found on Facebook at Facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary and Twitter at Twitter.com/FriendCGLibrary.

Donate to Carroll Gardens Library for their May 19 Sale

Friends of Carroll Gardens Library is now accepting donations for their May 19 Love Your Library Day Book Sale and Community Celebration. 


Yes, you can donate:
New or used books
CDs, DVDs and records
Children's books, CDs, DVDs
Journals
Current textbooks


No thanks to: Damaged books without covers; tape cassettes or VHS videos; coloring books or activity books; magazines; outdated textbooks and computer manuals.

Donations will be collected through May 9 at only the following times: Saturdays 10:30 to 12 noon, Wednesdays 6 to 8 p.m., and Fridays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enter through the main doors on Clinton Street and bring your donations go downstairs through the auditorium or take the elevator on the Union Street side to the basement.

Friends of Carroll Gardens Libraries also needs volunteers to help accept donations, sort and organize books, and staff the sale. Sign up here!

Author Patrick Taylor Appearing at the Carroll Gardens Library Feb 29

 This just in from the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library: 

February 29, Leap Day, is a rare date which occurs just once every four years. Rarer still is a Brooklyn appearance by New York Times bestselling author Patrick Taylor (the “Irish Country” series) – but that’s exactly what’s scheduled for Wednesday, February 29 at 7 p.m. when the author visits the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library for a discussion and signing of his novels. It will be the author’s exclusive New York appearance.

 “We are so excited that Patrick Taylor will be visiting not only the library, but Brooklyn for this event,” says Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library secretary and event organizer Diane Saarinen.  “We can only hope our ‘little village’ of Carroll Gardens is half as interesting as the Ballybucklebo that Taylor depicts in his colorful novels.”


Taylor , author of the bestselling An Irish Country Village, A Dublin Student Doctor and more, is also looking forward to the February 29 event: “Although I have visited New York often, I am really looking forward to my first visit to Brooklyn--even if Ebbets Field is gone and the Trolley Dodgers who hired Jackie Robinson in 1947 have long been in LA,” the author says. “And where better to go than a library in a borough that has 58 branches of its Public Library system? I hope what I have to say will be interesting and entertaining.”


Seating is limited and those who wish to attend this exciting event must register for tickets at http://patricktaylorinbrooklyn.eventbrite.com/  A donation of $10 per person at the door is suggested. Signed books will be available for purchase. 


“An Evening with Patrick Taylor” Wednesday,  February 29, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Carroll Gardens Library, located at 396 Clinton Street, on the corner of Union Street, Brooklyn New York. Subways: F and G train to Carroll Street.


About the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library: The Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library was chartered early in 2011 and hosts their book sale fundraiser each May, in addition to organizing dynamic programs at the library. Its goals are to support the library by helping to make the Carroll Gardens branch a hub of the community with programs for children, youth and adults all year round. Visit their website at http://friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com, friend them on Facebook at http://facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary and follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FriendCGLibrary.

Book Fair at P.S. 29

PS 29 on Henry Street (between Baltic and Kane) is holding a book fair. Support the school by purchasing books for the classrooms, home, and holiday gifts.  For more information about PS 29 and this event visit www.ps29brooklyn.org

 

Monday, 10/17 through Friday 10/21, 

8:30am-6:00pm

Sunday, 10/23 10:00am-4:00pm

Monday, 10/24 and Tuesday 10/25 

8:30am-6:00pm

Wednesday, 10/26 8:30am-3:00pm

 

 

 

Summertime and the Reading is Easy!

Hey, neighbors! I'm Andrea and I've just joined the blogging team for The Word on Columbia Street. I've lived in the neighborhood almost six years and every year I fall more in love with our little section of Brooklyn. For my first post here's some news from our local public library, the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library on Union St and Clinton St. Tomorrow kicks off the library's Summer Reading program. Here are the details:

Come to the Summer Reading Kick-Off Party at the Carroll Gardens Library on Thursday, June 9 from 2pm-4pm (public schools are closed for Anniversary Day)! Celebrate the start of the Brooklyn Public Library's annual Summer Reading program with a free multicultural celebration with activities and treats. Hosted by BPL and the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library. Go to our website for more details at friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com and keep up with FCGL's activities at the library all summer at Facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary.

Love Your Library Day at the Carroll Gardens branch - Sat, May 14th

Save the Date for the “Love Your Library Day” book sale

to benefit the Carroll Gardens branch.

Saturday, May 14, 10 AM

4 PM at the library (corner of Clinton and Union Streets)

Thousands of fantastic books at great prices, baked treats, and special guests including Karen K and the Jitterbugs performing free at 10 AM- let her entertain your kids while you browse!

If you have gently used books (especially children's titles) to donate for the sale, please drop them off at the library through May 5.

FCGL’s next meeting is Wednesday, May 4 at 6:30 at the library downstairs – everyone is invited to join.

We’re on Facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary and check out our new blog friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com/

I love Bacon at Home/Made - Nov 9th - 6 to 8pm

Join Author Jayne Rockmill and participating chefs as they celebrate the release of the I Love Bacon book!

About the book: "In "I Love Bacon," Jayne Rockmill presents more than 50 bacon-themed recipes from some of America's hottest chefs--from Cat Cora to Rick Tramonto, Ming Tsai, Jasper White, Andy Husbands and Joe Yonan, Pichet Ong, Bradford Thompson, John Besh, and many others--along with mouthwatering photography.With instructions on how to make bacon from scratch and how to feature bacon in brunch dishes, small bites, soups, salads, sides, entrees, and even cocktails and desserts, this full-color cookbook proves that bacon isn't just for breakfast anymore."

Tantalizing recipes, including two from Monica are included in this tasty compilation of bacon exploration.

Proceeds from the sale of the book go to great causes: Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength.


Home/Made
293 Van Brunt St.
Brooklyn, NY 11231
347-223-3135

Author Festival at the Waterfront Museum - Sat 26 from noon to 4pm

The festival is curated by author Gabriel Cohen featuring live readings and talks by authors who have written books with a waterfront or maritime theme. The authors' books will be presented for sale by cosponsor BookCourt bookstore. Pinataland, Brooklyn's longstanding "dark old history" Americana band will be on deck, performing a special selection of sea and waterway-related songs.

WATERFRONT BOOKS & AUTHORS FESTIVAL
SATURDAY JUNE 26
NOON TO 4 PM

ALL TICKETS $6

SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS

Noon-12:15 Welcome audience

12:15-12:30 Ben Gibberd, NY Waters
12:35-12:50 Jessica DuLong, My River Chronicles
12:55-1:10 John Waldman - Heartbeats in the Muck

1:10-1:30 Pinataland-20-minute music set

1:35-1:50 William Kornblum, At Sea in the City

1:55-2:10 Trevor Corson, The Story of Sushi,The Secret Life of Lobsters

2:15-2:30 George Matteson, Tugboats of New York

2:30-2:50 Pinataland-20-minute music set
2:50-3:00 Raffle, politician speeches

3:00-3:15 Gabriel Cohen, The Ninth Step and The Graving Dock
3:20-3:35 Terry Walton, Harbor Voices
3:40-3:55 Nathan Ward, Dark Harbor:
the War for the New York Waterfront

Free Boat Tours Thursdays 4 - 8 pm & Saturdays 1 -5 pm
aboard Red Hook's antique wooden barge.
Donations Appreciated.

Refreshments compliments of Fairway Market & Arizona Iced Tea.

Book launch event for Dark Harbor at Freebird 6/6

Sunday, June 6, 2 to 6 pm

Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront by Nathan Ward
Refreshments and bonus film to follow

Message from Freebird Books about the event:
This Sunday we celebrate the release of Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront by Nathan Ward with a book launch party in our backyard. Please join us for some BBQ and beer as Nathan shares some stories of our neighborhood's more sordid side. We will also one extra film in our related series this month.

Labor racketeering on the docks was an open secret in the city in the first half of the 20th century. But it wasn’t until the intrepid reporting of Malcolm Johnson in the late 1940s that federal and state authorities took serious notice of the murders, extortion, and intimidation that was rampant in waterfront communities like Red Hook.

Dark Harbor details the incidents that led to Johnson’s investigations for the New York Sun and his Pulitzer prize-winning articles on the subject. The articles would unleash new scrutiny of mob control of the longshoremen’s unions and inspire countless novels, plays, and films about the subject.

Though the Elia Kazan-Budd Schulberg production of On the Waterfront--originally based upon Johnson's articles--is the most famous on-screen example, the Dark Harbor series focuses on lesser known classics shot around the city in the aftermath of the New York Sun expose. Nathan Ward will introduce each film and place them in the context of the present day working waterfront outside Freebird’s door—before containerization and the BQE altered the landscape permanently.

This event is part of a series being co-sponsored by Freebird Books and PortSide NY in conjuction with the release of Dark Harbor. See details for other events in the series at our previous post here

June "Dark Harbor" Film series at Freebird

Dark Harbor film series at Freebird Books in June; Book launch on June 6
Port of New York (June 3) * Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (June 10) * Edge of the City (June 17) * Murder Inc. (June 24)

In conjunction with the release of Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront, author Nathan Ward curates a series of classic films about the crime that once defined our working waterfront.

Each Thursday throughout the month of June, Freebird will screen four movies that depicted the more sordid side of New York stevedoring in the wake of newspaper exposes and crime commissions in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Labor racketeering on the docks was an open secret in the city in the first half of the 20th century. But it wasn’t until the intrepid reporting of Malcolm Johnson in the late 1940s that federal and state authorities took serious notice of the murders, extortion, and intimidation that was rampant in waterfront communities like Red Hook.

Dark Harbor details the incidents that led to Johnson’s investigations for the New York Sun and his Pulitzer prize-winning articles on the subject. The articles would unleash new scrutiny of mob control of the longshoremen’s unions and inspire countless novels, plays, and films about the subject.

Though the Elia Kazan-Budd Schulberg production of On the Waterfront--originally based upon Johnson's articles--is the most famous on-screen example, the Dark Harbor series focuses on lesser known classics shot around the city in the aftermath of the New York Sun expose. Nathan Ward will introduce each film and place them in the context of the present day working waterfront outside Freebird’s door—before containerization and the BQE altered the landscape permanently.

Thursday, June 3, 7:30 pm

Port of New York

This early docu-drama from 1948 uses the real events around the case of the S.S. Florentine: A body thrown from a ship in New York Harbor leads to a double-cross and ultimately a master heroin-smuggler played by with cruel charisma (and hair!) by Yul Brynner. There's an undercover Treasury agent and a jilted mol in this dragnet picture.


Sunday, June 6, 2 to 6 pm

Book launch for Dark Harbor
Refreshments and bonus film to follow


Thursday, June 10, 7:30 pm

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue

This 1957 movie comes from the memoir of Assistant D.A. Bill Keating, the man who sent racketeer "Cockeye" Dunn away for the murder of a West Village hiring boss, Andy Hintz. The movie does a pretty fair job reenacting the Hintz job and doesn't overplay Keating's own heroism until the movie's prosecutor joins a dockside brawl. Some excellent waterfront locations and a surprisingly malevolent young Walter Matthau as a racketeer.


Thursday, June 17, 7:30 pm

Edge of the City

Sidney Poitier and John Cassavetes play hipster-longshoremen working under a corrupt boss played by Jack Warner. The final duel with cargo hooks is inevitable but dramatic. Released in 1957.


Thursday, June 24, 7:30 pm

Murder Inc.

If you love Peter Falk, you'll want to see him at his creepy best, playing the all-time most influential mob turncoat, Abe "Kid Tist" Reles, the 1930s Brooklyn gangster who revealed the personalities, crimes, and very existence of the organization that came to be called 'Murder Inc.' You'll never look at Lieutenant Columbo quite the same. Released in 1960.

Freebird Books
123 Columbia Street (between Kane and Degraw streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11231
718-643-8484
http://www.freebirdbooks.com/directions.html
New hours: Sat-Sun 11 am-10 pm (def); Thurs-Fri 6 to 10 pm (mostly); the rest of the week (by chance)

Freebird event at Jalopy on 4/25

Special event at Jalopy Theatre (315 Columbia Street)

Sunday, April 25, 6 pm

Admission free

Music performance and book discussion with David Hajdu and Karen Oberlin

In conjunction with the release of his new collection of essays, Heroes and Villains, David Hajdu dishes about the music biz and performs with his wife, jazz-pop vocalist Karen Oberlin. James Marcus joins them on electric guitar and lap-steel guitar, along with Seth Fahey on stand-up bass and clarinet.

More info on Freebird's site here

Talk on Columbia St Waterfront Irish-Italian History - Rocky Sullivans, 2/3/10

On 2/3/10 at Rocky Sullivans, author James T. Fisher will discuss very local waterfront history, including an "Irish-Italian split" that existed in the area during the early to mid 20th Century. His recently published book "On the Irish Waterfront: the Crusader, the Movie, and the Soul of the Port of New York" offers an in-depth look at the real situations that informed the classic Marlon Brando film "On the Waterfront." During a reading on Jan 3rd at Sunny's, he impressed many with proof that Budd Schulberg did not write the screenplay to exonerate his role in the HUAC hearings, that the hearings that inspired him were the ones about corruption on the docks.

Read more about that January 3rd event on PortSide NY's blog.

2/3/10

7pm

Rocky Sullivans

34 Van Dyke Street (at Dwight)

Book reading by John Dermot Woods at Freebird this Sunday, 1/24

Sunday, January 24, 7 pm

John Dermot Woods reads from his novel The Complete Collection of people, places & things

John Dermot Woods lives with his family in Brooklyn, NY. His debut novel is The Complete Collection of people, places & things (BlazeVOX). His stories and comics have appeared in many journals, including The Indiana Review, Hobart, American Letters & Commentary, Salt Hill, and 3rd Bed. His comic chapbook, The Remains, is forthcoming from Doublecross Press. He edits the arts quarterly Action,Yes and organizes the online reading series Apostrophe Cast. More information can be found at www.johndermotwoods.com.

Freebird Books
123 Columbia Street (between Kane and Degraw streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11231
718-643-8484
http://www.freebirdbooks.com/directions.html

Novel-Ts: A great gift for literature lovers

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way for literature lovers to show off their favorite characters and writers in a way that sports fans show off their favorite athletes? With the launch of Novel-T earlier this year, that dream can now be a reality!

Novel-Ts are jersey style t-shirts with a literature theme, featuring graphics and names that refer to writers and characters from classic books. There are currently 9 different designs available, with more to be released in the future.

Novel-T is a Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood operation - the creator behind the line lives here - and the shirts themselves are printed at Quist, a screenprinter located in Red Hook.

On top of all that, you can buy the shirts right on Columbia St. at our favorite local bookstore, Freebird Books. (People in other parts of the city can find them at BookCourt, Powerhouse, and the New Museum as well.)

To help ensure that there will always be new names to add to the Novel-T line-up, Novel-T donates $1 of the purchase price of each shirt to 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills.

Check out more details at their site here, or read reviews and interviews from the NYtimes, Brooklyn Paper, Time Out New York, the New Yorker, and more here. Also check out this new Novel-T video here:

PS 58 Holiday Book Sale - 12/9-11

Dec 5th - ISB's 5th Annual French and Spanish Book Fair

Cobble Hill Association Book Swap - Oct 17th

The Cobble Hill Association is sponsoring a free Book Swap
Saturday, October 17, 2009
at the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) Sitting Park
located at Henry and Pacific Streets in Cobble Hill
from 11 AM until 3 PM.

The idea for the Book Swap is simple: bring a book and get a book. LICH staff members will also be on hand to meet the community and will conduct free blood pressure screening and an asthma information table at the park. Books will also be available for sale at $1 or less. All proceeds and remainder books will be donated to the Hospital by the Cobble Hill Association.

In case of rain, the Book Swap will be held at the same time and place the following Saturday, October 24th.

To volunteer, please contact Margaret Ablon or Judi Francis at 718.855.3982

Oct 11: It don't pay to be an honest citizen at Freebird

Sunday, October 11, 7 pm

The Word on Columbia Street and Freebird Books host a rare screening of

IT DON'T PAY TO BE AN HONEST CITIZEN

Join us in the outdoor lot next to Freebird for refreshments and commentary from the director, Jacob Burckhardt.

Shot in and around Columbia Street twenty five years ago, the film features the debut of Vincent D’Onofrio as well as a cast of amateur thespians including William Burroughs (as a mafia don), Allen Ginsberg (posing as a lawyer), recent MacArthur genius Rakestraw Downes (as an angry lunch counter proprietor), filmmaker and photographer Rudy Burckhardt (as a raving bum), and poet Reed Bye (as the film’s erstwhile protagonist).

Based on the director’s own absurd experience being mugged in Red Hook in the late 1970s, the movie centers on the efforts of Reed Bye’s character to retrieve a precious canister of film. Though the muggers (portrayed in part by D’Onofrio) are caught immediately, the reel remains elusively out of his grasp. To recover it he must spar with the neighborhood’s most illustrious residents—legit and other.

IT DON'T PAY TO BE AN HONEST CITIZEN captures the community in the throes of transition, after containerization had brought an end to longshoremen culture and taken the teeth out of local gangs like the Gallos, but before gentrification became widespread. Filmed all along the waterfront it showcases now defunct bars and luncheonettes, familiar landmarks (including the interior of the 76^th precinct headquarters), and buildings lost to the wrecking ball. One notable scene was shot inside an abandoned church at President and Van Brunt once famous as a Gallo hangout but later destroyed in the aftermath of a botched city sewer line.

Director Jacob Burckhardt and some of the cast members drawn from the neighborhood will be on hand to answer questions about the making of the film. Including, why is Midwesterner William Burroughs playing a cosa nostra kingpin?...

When: Sunday, October 11, 7 pm

Where: In the lot next to Freebird Books, 123 Columbia Street (between Kane and Degraw)

Image above from Gothamist. See a Gothamist interview with Director Jacob Burckhardt from a couple years back here.