Hussle Club Featured In Axe Body Wash Commercial (Sure, Why Not?)

Our buddy Prince Terrence fronts a band called Hussle Club. You probably already knew that. But did you know they were recently featured in an Axe Body Wash commercial? The cool thing is they play quite a bit of the song, unlike most commercials which play about 10 seconds of a tune. The weird thing is 10 years ago people would have been yelling "sell out" and "corporate" and all that shit. Nowadays though everyone is just stoked to see a local band finally getting some love. Good shit.

Link:

I Think You're Swell

Hank & Cupcakes Playing Union Square Tonight

Hank & Cupcakes are playing a free show at 6pm today in Union Square. I don't know it's on a proper stage or not but who cares? H&C are always good fun.

Corrosion Of Conformity Played Brooklyn Bowl

On Wednesday the great COC played Brooklyn Bowl. But this ain't your Southern metal COC from the 90's. Nope. This is the version of COC that fused metal, punk and hardcore back in the late 90's. When I was a teenager I thought Mike Dean had some of the sickest bass lines I'd ever heard within the realm of heavy music.

By the time I was old enough to go to shows though Pepper Keenan had come into the fold and COC turned into the MTV friendly Southern metal that made them famous. I love most of what they did with Pepper but the early stuff was special and I never thought I'd get to see it live. To say I was excited for the show would be an understatement.

As we walked in COC was just getting started. We headed towards the front; pushing our way through a sea of fat, old and ugly bastards. Now a COC show in general won't exactly get the pretty people to show up but the fact that Clutch was headlining made for an exceptionally gnarly cluster of apes. Fucking Clutch, man. What a shitty band. Nascar metal for retards...but I digress. COC is why I was there, the only reason I was there.

We got right up front with ease and there they were Woody Weatherman, Reed Mullin and Mike fucking Dean! Mike Dean, as I mentioned, was a bit of a role model for me when I was learning to play bass. It was all very awesome.

They played some of my favorites like "Holier", which was amazing to hear live. They were all smiles and laughing as they messed up a couple tunes. They were having a great time and so were all of the fans down on the floor. They even started to play some Deliverance era tunes to whip the crowd into a frenzy and then switch it up to an old jam right before the verse. Good fun.

Today: Bushwick Block Party

Wild Yaks, Team Robespierre, Roberta's Pizza...Yes please! 

Let's ignore the fact it's not actually in Bushwick.

Kings County Cookout w/ Spirit Family Reunion and Sean Kershaw

We've got another edition of Kings County Cookout on Sunday. One of my favorite Brooklyn bands, Spirit Family Reunion, will be playing out back at Lady Jay's. We've also got the king of Brooklyn country music, Sean Kershaw, performing with his 2-piece The Terrible Two. We start dishing up barbecue at 3pm and the music starts around 4pm. As always a plate of delicious grub is only going to cost you $5 and we've got several drink specials in the $3-$5 range.

Now, the fact is this is my party and I'm telling you it's awesome and you should go. Well, of course I'd say that and while you should take my word I understand if you need a little more convincing. Turns out the NY Times, NY Magazine, Time Out NY, Eater, Serious Eats, Brokelyn, Zagat, Brooklyn Based and a bunch more have written it up too!

Details & RSVP:

Kings County Cookout

Here's a little video of what you missed last time

Eddie Clendening & The Blue Ribbon Boys w/ special guest Daddy Long Legs

Pictures from the last KCC

Cerebral Ballzy Has A New Album Streaming

Our boys Cerebral Ballzy, the best damn punk band in America, have a new album. For the first time ever the recording actually manages to sound like the band does live, which is rad. They've been getting all sorts of air time from Adult Swim which means they have fans all over the world now. I can't wait for these fuckers to get back to BK.

 Cerebral Ballzy by Cerebral Ballzy 

Tonight: Corrosion Of Conformity @ Brooklyn Bowl

The original COC lineup will be at Brooklyn Bowl tonight. As some of you may know before Pepper showed up COC was a bad ass, hardcore punk band. Well, not exactly hardcore or punk but something like that. They were fucking awesome. The headliner is Clutch. Of all the overrated bands in the world I think Clutch might be my number one head scratcher. Why do people like this damn band? Anyway, COC goes on at 9pm.

Wild Yaks Have A New Song, "Million Years Old"

As you've noticed I haven't been posting much as of late but a new Wild Yaks songs certainly warrants a post. The track is called "Million Years Old" and I remember the first time I heard it. I was at Legion, I think it was someone's birthday party. The Yaks played a couple new songs all of which were good but this one in particular was like a punch in the face. It just fucking floored me. There was a level of intensity to it that was shocking, even for the Wild Yaks. I'm happy that I can now listen to it at home. The recording is great but for the true impact of this tune you have to see performed live, perhaps tomorrow at Rock Beach.

Wild Yaks, "Million Years Old" by The FADER

Kings County Cookout w/ Eddie Clendening & The Blue Ribbon Boys (Free Show)

We've got another edition of Kings County Cookout coming up this weekend. The last one featured The Dixons and it was amazing. This time around we've got Eddie Clendening & The Blue Ribbon Boys.

The band features members of the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet. Eddie plays Elvis and they don't let just anybody play Elvis. The band plays old school rockabilly and it will blow your mind. In fact, they backed up Little Richard last weekend on PBS! Yup, they played with Little Richard last weekend and now they'll be in the backyard of Lady Jay's performing for free.

But it's not all about the music, there's also going to be food. Our buddy Lex Taylor will be grilling (and smoking) up a storm. Entrees include smoked baby back ribs, barbecue brisket and chimichurri hot dogs with sides of German potato salad, smoked beans and mixed green salad. Plates are only $5 and include 1 entree and 2 sides - it's a while lot of food for $5. There might be a few surprise menu additions as well.

Sundays in Brooklyn during the summer are all about day drinking and we've got plenty of that too - Lady Jay's is a bar after all. We've got drink specials ranging from $3 for a beer to $5 for a mixed drink. You don't need booze to have fun but you're much more likely to dance with some hooch in your gullet. Plus you'll need something to wash down those ribs.

Details & RSVP:

Kings County Cookout

Tonight: BSC Presents Personality Crisis w/ SHAPES, EULA, Ritz Riot; K-Holes @ Union Pool

Start your night by hitting Union Pool for Summer Thunder. They've got the always awesome K-Holes playing on the patio in the yard. I'd guess they play around 8pm or so. Then head over to Shea Stadium for the Brooklyn Ski Club curated edition of Personality Crisis. As always SHAPES are headlining. We've also brought in a couple of our favorite local bands, Ritz Riot and EULA. This will be super fun. '

RSVP:

PC @ Shea

Tomorrow We Party At Shea Stadium

We've partnered up with our pals from Personality Crisis to bring you a pretty solid rager. Brooklyn Ski Club presents the next edition of PC which is tomorrow. That means we brought in two of our favorites, Ritz Riot and EULA, to add a little extra excitement to the mix. PC is always fucking awesome but I think this one will be extra crazy. So get off your fat ass and come party tomorrow.

RSVP & Details:

Brooklyn Ski Club Presents Personality Crisis

NYPD Ticketing Rooftop Party Goers

Let me preface this by saying the story you are about to read is not necessarily about myself. When I hear about abuse of power shit I like to use this public forum to share. So while I may or may not have been in attendance here's a little story about some shit that went down last night. I left out the location, names of officers, names of attendees and even names of bands involved since there will be people taking this to court.
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Last night there was an impromptu roof party somewhere in Williamsburg. Now, hosting a roof party with loud ass bands on a Monday night is pretty stupid, no one would argue otherwise, and you're basically asking for trouble. But simply showing up as an invited guest doesn't seem like something that should be worried about.

The band started playing and the guests moved towards the stage area. There were about 30-40 people all hanging out and having drinks. After about 15 minutes the cops showed up. This surprised absolutely no one. But what's to worry about? Adults, drinking adult beverages and/or soft drinks on private property to which all attendees were invited.

The coppers seemed to think otherwise. First they split the crowd into two lines, based entirely on where people were standing. The people on the right got in the right line and the people on the left got in the left line. The two officers went through each line and asked for everyone's ID. The cop collecting the ID was asked specifically why they were confiscating IDs and replied, "I'll tell you later".

Then all of the officers, about 6 or so, gathered in a corner to discuss the next steps. They could be overheard discussing trespassing, which one of the officers shot down saying that wouldn't go over, but they were too far away to hear most of the conversation. The cops came back over to the two lines and one of the lines was told to go downstairs to the street. The other line was held up for a bit but eventually told to do the same. The cops told the legal adults in attendance to leave their drinks, open or closed, on the roof. They did not gather these up or even make contact with a single drink.

On the ground level a huge crowd was formed with cops mixed in. Honestly the mood was very civil and everyone was fully cooperating at all times. But people were starting to get freaked out because the cops, who were now in there cars on the other side of the street, were running every single persons ID. One of the cops comes back and starts handing out IDs to random people in the crowd with instructions to "go home".

However, several people were still waiting for their IDs to come back. After another 15 minutes the IDs finally came back but they came attached with a ticket. Now, what could you possibly get a ticket for on a roof of a residential building? Apparently, you can get a ticket for open container. About 10 people of the 40 or so on the roof were randomly awarded open container tickets.

Now let's first address the legality of an open container ticket on private property. I'm no lawyer but I can not find anything in the legal code that in anyway makes it legal to issue a ticket for open container on private property. I was able to find instances of it happening to other people in NYC but there's nothing in the law that says it can be done, ever. So the general premise of the tickets is bogus to begin with, which common sense would tell you.

Next let's address these open containers themselves. At no point did a single officer on the roof inspect, in any way, the contents of a single container. In fact, none of the officers made physical contact with any of the containers in question. That makes an inspection of it's content pretty difficult no? I don't know the story of all of the people who were ticketed but one person who was issued a ticket was holding a cup. Not a beer bottle or a jug of wine, just a cup. Pretty sure you need to do a little more than just glance at person holding a cup before you write them a ticket.

But wait, there's more! All of the people that were given tickets for open container, with the exception of the party organizer, were in the right line. It had nothing to do with who had a drink and who didn't, it was based on where you were standing when they lined you up. Even then it was pretty clear that the tickets were randomly assigned. The IDs were collected in a huge stack, they were not separated out based on drink in hand or no drink in hand, just one big stack of IDs. And just to reiterate, you can't give a person an open container ticket for holding an unmarked cup without at least inspecting it's contents, especially on private property.

Are we done yet? Nope. Nearly all of the people who were ticketed had their IDs taken by one officer. He was the only officer on the right side of the roof at the time the IDs were collected. It was nighttime on a roof, there was very little light available. The only way to ID who did or did not have drinks would be up close. There was only one officer up close to the people on the right (the door was on the left where the other cops were gathered). So the identification of these open containers had to come from that one officer, right? Nope, each ticket was signed by a different officer. That's right, they each got one in for the books. Way to go boys.

When the crowd dispersed and there were only a few stragglers left some casual conversation was struck up with the boys in blue. They said that the reason they had to issue tickets was because roof parties are getting a lot of heat. Last year some kids fell off a roof and died so they had to crack down. He continued by saying that if you get invited to a roof party you should ask the organizer if he has the proper permits before attending or else you might get in trouble just for attending...really dude?

While the ticket was being discussed the officer was told, "there's no way this stands up in court" the officer replied, "oh, no way, you'll be fine - don't even worry about it". Great, so people waited around for an hour and were issued tickets for engaging in lawful activity and then even the cops who just issued the tickets admit it's all bullshit. Now these people either have to admit guilt and pay a fine for a crime they did not commit or take off from work and go to court to fight it. Of course, for all of the above reasons there's no chance the ticket holds up so it's basically just wasting a day in court for no reason.

Well, at least you can rest easy knowing the NYPD is out there meeting quotas by issuing tickets to random people who are in no way breaking the law. Makes you feel safe, huh?

***Update: Several people went to court to fight these tickets. The public defendant in no way even attempted to help clear their names. The judge issued fines without even hearing out what actually happened. The officer said they were guilty and the judge obliged. Adults were found guilty and fined for "drinking in public" on private property. Some of the officers who appeared in court never even came in contact with the people charged the night of the incident. This is NYC. Don't drink on your roof, in your yard or on your terrace - that's illegal apparently.