Williamsburg Walks

The L Magazine just announced the dates for this summers Williamsburg Walks, June 26 & 27. If you're not familiar this is when they shut down Bedford to cars and you get to walk on the road and buy stuff from vendors. It's during Northside Festival so random bands will be playing acoustic sets on the sidewalks, like gypsy's (hold onto your wallet and don't bring your children). Vendors, activities and music all day. It's like a fair but on the street, a "street fair" if you will...and you better.

Link:

Williamsburg Walk

Gutter Punks Take Over Williamsburg

The Daily News has printed an article about how heroin addict crust punks have taken over Williamsburg. The article itself is loaded with cliches and myths but let's be honest here folks, when it comes to crust punks most of that shit is true. On the rare occasion I stroll down to the Bedford area I have been noticing quite a few crusties around but I just figured there was a Leftover Crack show at The Charleston or something that night. But it seems like they've taken up residence at the unfinished luxury buildings all over the fucking place.

While I'm not at all a fan of gutter punks I'm also not a fan of the Wall Street douche that has moved into the hood either. Frankly I'm not sure which is worse. Either way the complaint is clearly coming from the new residents and you know what - fuck them. I mean if they weren't building all these god damn shiny buildings all over the fucking place this would have never happened. There would still be nice old brick buildings not occupied by crusties and collar poppers.

But really, the truth is - I don't give a shit. I haven't lived around the Bedford area in about four years. This does not affect me and I think most of the people reading BSC are probably in the same boat, living a few more stops out on the L, off the J, or in Greenpoint.

Link:
NY Daily News

Williamsburg: "Left-wing, Lunatic Hippies"

Conservative radio talk show host, Jay Mundy, visited Williamsburg for the first time. Of course, as a conservative, he was shocked and horrified. The results are a hilarious rant about hipsters, hippies, left-wingers, tattoos, drugs, etc. The funny thing is this is about the Bedford area now, imagine what this guy would have thought 5 years ago before all the yuppies showed up and the condos went up. He would have shit his britches. Enjoy:

Link:
Brownstoner

My favorite part is him discussing how people in Williamsburg don't use toilet paper because it's bad for the environment. Haha!

Tonight: Williamsburg Block Party

Rabid Raccoon VS. Me!

The other night I heard some unusual noises coming from my backyard. So I took a gander and what did I see... a fucking raccoon! The thing is I live in East Williamsburg far from any trees or greenery. So anyway I went to the door to get a better look. The damn thing was a few feet away and it was acting funny. I immediately recognized the behavior, the fucker had rabies!

How did I recognize this you ask? When I was a kid in South Jersey me and my friends came face to face with a rabid raccoon. The raccoon in my yard was acting just like that one was. It was stumbling around, pawing at thin air, walking into shit, etc. Most of all when I banged on the door and yelled at it it didn't even look at me, let alone runaway like a normal raccoon would have.

I called 311 and tried to get some one to deal with this fucker. They connected me to 911, which makes no sense, and the cops showed up. They just laughed about it and said they couldn't do anything. If this was Jersey the cops would have immediately shot the raccoon and took it in for testing. But this is NYC and I don't think rabid raccoons are common. They told me to call the ASPCA in the morning.

That night I could barely sleep because of all the noise coming from outside. In the morning I called the ASPCA and they couldn't help so they sent me on a near endless quest connecting me to one department after another. I eventually got off the phone and decided to deal with the situation myself.

I decided I would scoop the raccoon up in a blanket and drop it over the fence into the clearing. The raccoon had at no point made any quick or sudden movements so I thought it was not completely impossible. I then went out side and threw a heavy sheet over it. It was at this point the fucking thing freaked out an started writhing and hissing. I of course ran inside and hid until it wiggled it's way out.

Operation Capture Raccoon: Aborted. So I tried making some more calls. I went back to 311 and this time they connected me to animal control. The girl on the phone didn't seem interested in helping until I mentioned where I lived. She also lives in the neighborhood so now it became a "priority" mission.

About an hour later a guy showed up to wrangle this bastard. Before he came in he warned me that if it wasn't sick then Animal Control couldn't capture it and that I had to just deal with it until it decided to leave. I assured him that this raccoon was definitely sick. I'm no expert there was clearly something VERY wrong with this animal. He came out back and we went over to the corner where the coon was. He took a look at it and poked at it and confirmed that it was sick.

We went back outside and grabbed his gear, which included one of those neck lassoing tools and a special cage for rabid raccoons. We then went out back and he snagged the raccoon by the neck and dropped it into the cage. The raccoon was fighting and hissing but didn't manage to slow the man down.

And that was that, the tale of the rabid raccoon in Brooklyn. The Animal Control guy said it looked like the thing had rabies but the only way to be sure is to examine the animals brain. Which means my raccoon nemesis is probably dead right now. I feel bad because he was huge (40 pounds) and clearly a bad ass before he went rabid. Nonetheless Brooklyn is safe again so let out your children and dogs but beware, for another rabid beast may be lurking in the shadows!

Everyone that sees this says "Aww, he doesn't look rabid he looks cute". What you don't see in the picture is the 5 minutes it took for him to climb onto that ledge. You also don't see him wobble and fall off a few minutes later.

During the day even healthy raccoons can seem aloof because they're nocturnal. But this was at 1AM and he was clearly disoriented and stumbling and non-responsive.

Fake Colgate In East Williamsburg

The other day I stopped into the corner store by the Montrose L stop. I think the address was 223 Montrose. Anyhow, I stopped by to pick up some toothepaste. I could have picked up some regular toothpaste but instead I grabbed the slightly fancier looking Colgate Herbal. When I got home my girlfriend gave me a hard time for not getting the kind she liked and made a comment about it being fake (I think she saw it on 20/20 or something).

A few days later she cracked it open. After the first time I brushed with it I decided to check up on it. The whole fake toothpaste thing made me curious. So I did a little research and guess what? Colgate doesn't make ANY toothpaste in Africa (which it said on the box along with several other countries). They also don't sell 100ml size tubes at all. The shit I just put in my mouth was fake and has some kind of deadly poison in that's used in anti-freeze.

The moral of the story is that you shouldn't buy toothpaste from bodega's. Especially not the dump by the Montrose L... or you might DIE!

O'Death Played Williamsburg

Last week I went to a semi-secret O'Death show at a random loft in Williamsburg. I almost didn't go but at the last minute I hopped on my bike and cruised over to Bedford. When we got there we walked into a tiny little loft. Well, it was big by living standards but tiny by concert standards. There was a table full of liquor and a fridge full of beer... it was awesome.

As the room filled up the heat rose quickly. So to stay cool I grabbed a seat next to the booze and waited out the first act. It was a dude with an acoustic guitar, I wasn't terribly impressed but Tom was digging it. So were most of the people crammed into the room.

When O'Death started setting up I abandoned my post and got right up front. At this point it was gross hot, everyone was sweating. Normally I hate the heat but once they started playing I wouldn't have it any other way. The heat, the booze, and the confined quarters actually made it all the better. It had a very "juke joint" kinda vibe going on.

I've seen O'Death before at Studio B and they were good. But this is the setting they are made for! Their high energy take on bluegrass makes for one hell of a punk rock show. Everyone was jumping around and dancing and hootin' and hollerin' - it was fucking fantastic! Really one of the best shows I've been to in the last year or so. By the end of the set everyone was soaked and all the booze was gone. All hail O'Death!

Link:
O'Death MySpace

The pic above was taken by Fiddle While You Burn, I forgot my fucking camera so go check out the Fiddle set on Flickr

Williamsburg Hotel

It looks like a much needed hotel will be popping up in Williamsburg. Sure people are going to get all "fuckin' yuppies" about it, and I agree if we're talking condos, but the hood needs a fucking hotel badly. It's going to be built on Kent and Broadway which is a perfect spot. It's just far away from everything that it's not an eyesore and it's next to the bridge which will make it seem smaller then it really is.

This pretty much cements my theory that Broadway west of the Marcy stop is about to blow up and become a super hot spot. Every time I'm on that strip come fancy new building is going up or a new chic little restaurant can be found. When I lived on S.5th and Wythe a couple years ago there wasn't shit there.

Link:
Williamsburg Hotel

Music Hall Of Williamsburg - Fall Lineup Announced

Northsix got a make over and is now known as the Music Hall Of Williamsburg. The opening night is Patti Smith, which most of you have already heard. But they just released the other shows they have coming up in Sept. and Oct. which includes The Black Lips, The Walkmen, CYHSY, Jose Gonzalez, Joseph Arthur, and more. Check out the site for the full lineup:

Link:
Music Hall Of Williamsburg

Wet Cheeseburger

Last night I went down to Bedford and N. 7th to check out Cheeseburger. They played about 3 songs and then it fucking started to pour rain. I have to say I think a band like Cheeseburger playing outside is a bad idea. They need to play sleazy little dives for full effect. Anyway, here are some pics I took before the monsoon rolled in.

Free Cheeseburger + More

Yeah, this is going to be awesome...