Students of the Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School are showing off their creative masterpieces at a show at the Bed-Stuy Y.  The opening reception was last week, but the exhibition will be up until March 25, and is a mix of photography, abstract painting, and graphic design done by 9th-12th graders at the school.

The show is open to all and you do not need to be a Y member to check it out.

There’s a new group in town who are working towards getting the Fort Greene Park tennis courts renovated.  They’re also focused on providing active recreation for public health.

We’ll speak to them in depth in the next week or so, but in the meantime they’re having a fundraiser tonight at General Greene:

I’m digging their logo.

As we’ve reported before, the service road on Hall Street near Bergen Bagel has been selected by the NYC Department of Transportation as a public plaza site.  While the city gears up to build out a permanent plaza, Myrtle Ave Brooklyn Partnership will host a pop-up workshop displaying the ideas submitted for the project so far.  There will be an opening reception on Friday night from 5-8, and gallery hours this weekend.

It’s a really cool way to get involved in an urban planning project that will actually come to life right here in our neighborhood.

Here’s more info:

You are invited to view and comment on submissions received through our open call for ideas, along with best practices collected by our staff, at the upcoming “Designing the Myrtle Pedestrian Plaza – Pop Up Exhibition and Workshop” from February 5th – 13th.  Please come by to view and comment on the submissions, and contribute your own ideas on sustainable design elements, amenities (seating, public art, etc.), and programming for the Pedestrian Plaza that will be built on the Myrtle Avenue service road between Emerson and Grand.     Feel free to forward our invite (below) to your own email lists, friends, neighbors, etc.

Kush Cafe is holding a fundraiser for one of their servers, who lost several loved ones in the Haiti quake.  The price is good, and attendees will enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet.  Kush’s food is excellent – check it out.


Please join Kush Café for an evening of remembrance and hope as we honor the family of our very own server Darnelle Dasne, who lost several loved ones when her childhood home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti was destroyed by the earthquake.

Dasne Family Fundraiser
Wednesday, February 3rd 
5pm-11pm
$20 Per Person
All-You-Can-Eat Buffet
Salade de Saint Marc
Mixed greens, tomato, onions, egg, lemon dressing
Main Courses
Beef Tassot au Riz Djon-Djon
Crisp beef bites with black rice & banana pesée
Lambi
Fricassee of conch, mirepoix vegetables, red kidney beans, rice & banana pesée
All profits will be donated to the Dasnes.
RSVP: kush@kushcafe.com or (718) 230-3471
Kush Café
17 Putnam Ave (@ Fulton btwn Cambridge & Grand)
Brooklyn, NY 11238
 www.kushcafe.com

Local knitting group knit+wine celebrates its first anniversary on Sunday!  Here’s some info bout the group and this Sunday’s event:

Knit+Wine is a monthly casual gathering of knitters and wine-drinkers at Bar Olivino, a lovely wine bar in Ft. Greene/Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. We meet on the last Sunday of every month, from 5-7:00 p.m.

All levels of knitters & crocheters welcome — this is not a class but an informal gathering to knit, share projects, tips, and drink wine all at the same time!

Knit+Wine Night (1 year birthday party)
at Bar Olivino
in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

Sunday, January 31st
5:00 – 7:00 pm

RSVP: knitandwine@gmail.com
or Facebook

899 Fulton Street (Clinton-Vanderbilt)

I’m a huge fan of LOST.  So when I heard that Rope’s next monthly trivia night was going to be LOST-themed, I just had to know more.  I chatted with trivia host Jess Liese about her event, and what to expect on February 3.

1. How often does Rope hold trivia night?

Trivia happens once a month, usually on the first Tuesday. For February, though, we’re postponing it until Wednesday so that it won’t conflict with the Lost premiere. A good number of trivia regulars are avid fans, and I figured if President Obama can rearrange his schedule to accommodate Lost fans, so can I!

(…and okay, fine, I didn’t want to miss it either.)

2. What are the rules?  How many people per team, and what’s the prize?

Teams are typically 3-5 people, though we’ve had as few as 1 and as many as 8 playing on one team. Basically, there are four rounds of competition – two where I read the question and your team writes down the answer, a music round, and an “identify the pictures” round. After the second and fourth rounds, I tally up the correct answers and review the standings, share snarky wrong answers, and hand out a couple of prizes.

Prizes are many and varied. Everybody pays $2 each to play, and the winning team gets everybody’s money, with shots or rounds of drinks going to the runners-up. I offer bonus questions occasionally, which earn teams the chance to spin our Bonus Prize Wheel. Most of the wheel prizes are either free booze or free candy, but there are a number of really oddball things (mostly junk I find at the dollar store near my office) up for grabs as well.

At the last trivia night, I found so much cool stuff at the dollar store that I wound up giving a prize to every team.  There were some very awesome plastic robots and I should have just bought the whole lot. But part of the fun is coming up with stuff to give out, so I’m sure I’ll find something just as cool this time around. (I’m looking to stock up on Lost-themed stuff for February, so expect some polar bears, backgammon, and Virgin Mary statues.)

3. How did you end up running Trivia Night?  How long have you been at the helm?  What’s your “day job?”

I’ve been hosting trivia at Rope for about five months now. Years ago, a bunch of coworkers and I regularly attended a weekly trivia night in the west village, and after awhile I started hosting that on occasion. Eventually the bar closed, I changed jobs, and I never did find new trivia as awesome as that had been. Fast forward a few years and one of my ex-coworkers, now tending bar at Rope, heard they wanted to re-establish a trivia night there. She immediately thought of me. I was excited to get back into it, especially as they’ve let me design my own game and bring in theme nights.

By day, I work for an educational publisher, developing content and features for online reference databases. My trivia credentials are many and varied, though. In addition to previous hosting experience and basically getting to absorb useless facts for a living, I competed on Jeopardy about four years ago. (Unfortunately, I didn’t win, but I only missed one question!) I keep trying out for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and passing the test, but their contestant pool is a lot smaller. I guess I’ll stick to this side of the trivia podium for the time being.

4. How do you pick your questions?  Is it difficult to bring fresh material to quiz night on a regular basis?

Initially, I thought it would be. But actually, coming up with questions is the most fun part of the whole experience. Usually I have a theme night, and if not a theme night then theme categories. In November, I hosted a night devoted to my favorite trivia category, U.S. presidents, which brought a huge crowd of history teachers and assorted pedantic trivia nerds. It was so much fun, and came so naturally to me, that I’ve been coming up with themes ever since. It is far easier to come up with, say, ten questions about medically-themed TV shows than it is to come up with ten questions about anything at all in the world.

5. Where do you live, and how did you come across Rope?

Technically, I don’t live in the neighborhood. I’m a short G train ride away in Park Slope.  I’ve been hanging out at Rope on and off for about five years, though, and I love the area. I was coming to the neighborhood even way back when I had to take two trains and a bus to get there!

6.  Tell us a little more about Rope – the clientele, the vibe, etc.  What makes it a cool place to grab a drink?

Rope is exactly the kind of bar I have been wanting to hang out in since I was old enough to want to hang out in bars. Come to think of it, it’s probably good that I don’t live in the neighborhood, because I’d probably be an alcoholic if I did. It’s cool but not elitist, the drinks are thoughtfully prepared but won’t kill your budget, the music is listenable but not overwhelming. The crowd is basically a cross-section of local residents – not just hipsters and Pratties, but people who’ve lived in the area for decades, young professionals, regulars. It’s really the kind of place you can visit once or visit daily and you won’t feel out of place either way.

Also, they have DUB pies and there is nothing not awesome about that.

7. Give us the 411 on the LOST-themed trivia night in conjunction with the season premiere.  Can non-Losties participate?  And while we’re at it, who is your favorite Other?

The great thing about LOST, and one reason I’ve been so addicted to it throughout its often-infuriating five seasons of “let’s explain this one tiny thing you don’t care about while introducing six other new questions” and “let’s spend half a season focusing on characters that don’t further the plot only to kill them off when we realize you’re on to us” is that it pulls in so many elements of history, science, literature, philosophy, and pop culture in a way that adds to the suspense and mystery.  So if you’re into any of those things, regardless of whether or not you’re a Lostie, you’ll probably get a few questions right, as I do plan on exploring that in at least one round. (Although it may benefit you to have a rabid fan on your team!)

And I don’t know how anybody’s favorite Other is NOT Ben Linus. That dude owns the entire show.

8. Favorite restaurant in the neighborhood?

Big fan of Graziella’s and the General Greene (which I realize is about two blocks out of the neighborhood…hopefully it still counts!).

9. If you could change one thing about the nabe, what would it be?

It is perfect in all ways but one – it should be closer to a major train line. I’d move there in a heartbeat if I could be close to a number train or the Q.

10. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what would you be and why?

Raspberry basil with a vanilla-mascarpone swirl.

A note to CHB readers from Lesterhead- Bring your A game to this event.  I have been watching LOST since it began and my knowledge is no joke.  See you there!

This Thursday’s Society for Clinton Hill meeting will be focused entirely around local blogging.

I’ll be there with Van (of Lunchtime with Tillie) on behalf of CHB.  Also slated to present are Jon Butler of Brownstoner and Andy Newman, recently departed from The Local.

Come on out to learn more about the folks behind these blogs, ask questions and get aquainted with the Society.

Hope to see you there!

General Meeting Thursday, January 21, 2010, 7 – 9 pm

St. Angela Hall, St. Joseph’s College, 267 Waverly Ave., (DeKalb/Willoughby)

AGENDA 7:00 pm Refreshments. Meet and greet your neighbors.

7:30 pm Welcome and announcements: Dave Haberer, President A special welcome to all those new to the neighborhood.

7:45 -8:45 pm The World of Blogging – how we all get our up-to-date news.
Presenting a panel of our neighborhood’s most powerful and interesting websites and blogs…those sites that keep us all informed – an“informal” Q&A about what they do, what their challenges are today and how they find that balance between comments from the really angry to those that may be civil but boring. So, bring your questions and plan to be entertained
Don’t we all love blogs? We do!

Moderators: Sunny Argan

Participants:

Clinton Hill Blog – Robin Lester

Brownstoner – Jonathan Butler

Clinton Hill Blog – Cultural Events – Van

NYT Local Blog – Andy Newman

8:45 pm Open Mic – please sign up at the door to make your 1 minute announcement or comment.

9:00 pm Adjourn

Here’s a (incomplete) Fulton-focused roundup of some of the parties and special offerings happening locally next weekend to ring in 2010:

To Prep:
Greene Grape: Free sparkling wine tastings [Dec 29 and 30, 5-7 pm)

Dec. 31:
Stonehome Wine Bar: Prix Fix 4 courses for $55

Olivino Wine Bar (Fulton bt Vanderbilt and Clinton): Free glass of bubbly at midnight

“The Castle @ Fulton Street” Platinum New Year’s Eve Gala: 8:00pm
December 31, 2009
93 Irving Place (corner of 1057 Fulton Street)
Host: Wellington Sharpe
Cost:  Single $45, Couples $80
Complimentary Champagne as the ball drops, Noise Makers, Party Hats

Music by D Exclusive…. Let’s Welcome 2010 with Gratefulness & Togetherness
For tickets call 917-709-3462 or 917-743-1684 or 718-230-0011

Family Friendly:
Pratt Steam Whistles (which I have still never seen!)

Know of more?  Add ‘em in the comments.

tishparty

Tomorrow, there’s lots going on down on Fulton, thanks to Lashunda Davis (owner of both ‘Cure and Grady’s).  Head down to donate some holiday cheer to a needy child, get a well-deserved holiday mani, and celebrate the opening of a hip new boutique!

gradys