Best bet: Dengue Fever plays Southpaw tonight

By Meredith Deliso

Southpaw is home to some Cambodian cool tonight, as Dengue Fever comes to the Park Slope venue for a rare intimate show.

The LA band is known for its eccentric lyrics and worldly mix of 1960s surf-pop and psychedelic rock that’s an homage to a bygone era of Southeast Asian rock.

The group broke out in 2008 with its third album, “Venus on Earth,” which showcased its campy humor, epitomized by that disease-referencing name, and catchy guitar riffs on “Tiger Phone Card” and “Sober Driver,” which comment on the peculiarities of modern relationships.

The band’s newest album, “Cannibal Courtship,” has a similar vibe, with its blend of surfer rock, Cambodian folk and dark humor that further explores complicated couples.

But the real treat is frontwoman Chhom Nimol. The Phnom Penh native sings in a captivating, sultry mix of English and Khmer that’s perfect for the band’s power pop ballads and haunting melodies. Sure, you can’t understand her half the time, but it still sounds great.

Dengue Fever at Southpaw [125 Fifth Ave. at Sterling Place in Park Slope, (718) 230-0236], Aug. 3 at 9 pm. Tickets $15. For info, visit spsounds.com. 

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Your Celebrate Brooklyn Pick of the Week!

By Meredith Deliso

You’ve enjoyed a whole summer of free concerts, now here’s a chance to give back — again.

Sufjan Stevens’s Aug. 2 benefit concert for Celebrate Brooklyn sold out so quickly that an Aug. 3 show has been added.

The Kensington resident is a borough favorite thanks to the strength of albums including “Michigan” and  “Illinois,” part of his “50 States Project,” a self-admitted promotional gimmick where he said he’d compose an album for each state (there’s no way his “New York” beats Lou Reed’s), and such twee song titles as “A Conjunction Of Drones Simulating The Way In Which Sufjan Stevens Has An Existential Crisis In The Great Godfrey Maze.”

Then there was his curious 2007 ode to the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway in “The BQE,” a film scored with instrumental music, commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of its Next Wave Festival.

Live, the multi-instrumentalist makes his shows an event, thanks to elaborate lighting, choreography and costumes. It’s not a bad way to bid adieu to this beloved concert season.

Sufjan Stevens at Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park band shell [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683-5600], Aug. 3 at 7 pm (Aug. 2 show sold out). Tickets $35. For info, visit www.bricartsmedia.org.

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Your Celebrate Brooklyn Pick of the Week!

By Meredith Deliso

Celebrate Brooklyn isn’t just about music.

The outdoor festival brings the Mark Morris Dance Group to Prospect Park on July 28 for an evening of spellbinding works that honor the Fort Greene company’s 30-year history.

Joined by two other borough cultural powerhouses — the Brooklyn Philharmonic, in its first appearance under Artistic Director Alan Pierson, and the Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir — the company cherry picks from its decades-long history for a program of spellbinding original works.

Kicking things off is “Resurrection” (2002), pictured, set to Richard Rodgers’s “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” and with costumes by Isaac Mizrahi. That’s followed by “Lucky Charms” (1994), an explosive piece set to an original score by Jacques Ibert, and, lastly, one of the famed choreographer’s earliest, most-celebrated pieces, “Gloria” (1981), a walk-and-crawl duet set to the first movement of Vivaldi’s “Gloria in D.”

With Morris himself taking the baton to conduct the symphony, and the choir joining in for the echoing refrains of “Gloria,” it promises to be a powerful, moving finale that will be a highlight of the outdoor summer festival season across the city — not just in Brooklyn.

Mark Morris Dance Group at Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park band shell [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683-5600], July 28 at 8 pm. Free. For info, visit www.bricartsmedia.org.

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Our Celebrate Brooklyn Pick of the Week!

By Meredith Deliso

Practice your finger snaps — a “West Side Story” dance and sing-along is coming to Prospect Park.

On July 21, Celebrate Brooklyn screens the Academy Award-dominating 1961 musical.

This being a “Romeo and Juliet” for 1950s Manhattan, Romeo is an American gangster, Tony, his Juliet a Puerto Rican immigrant, Maria. Their balcony is a fire escape, the feuding families two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.

You can guess where it’s headed for our two doomed lovers, but not before some gorgeous and enduring melodies sung by the cast, including “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Maria,” “America,” and “Jet Song,” to name just a few. The lyrics will be featured on the screen so you can sing along, too, and pre-screening there will be a choreographer teaching the famous steps to the musical.

Indeed, one of the film’s most-memorable moments hardly has any dialogue at all — that famous finger-snapping prologue, that features some of the most graceful punks you’ll ever see.

But you better choose your allegiance in advance — Sharks enter at 11th Street, Jets at Ninth Street.

“West Side Story” dance and sing-along at Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683-5600], July 21 at 8 pm. Free. For info, visit www.bricartsmedia.org.

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Our Celebrate Brooklyn Pick of the Week!

By Meredith Deliso

This one’s for the kids.

Celebrate Brooklyn all about the family this month, when Dan Zanes comes to the Prospect Park band shell on July 16.

It’s all part of the festival’s annual Ezra Jack Keats Family Concert, which celebrates the legacy of the trailblazing children’s author with readings and music.

Zanes is a trailblazer of another sort. The wild haired, Fort Greene-based rocker sits comfortably atop the kiddie music thrown, which he’s dominated since releasing “Rocket Ship Beach” more than 10 years ago, introducing children and adults alike to his laid-back, rock and roll groove that urges kids to “jump up” “let’s shake” as he plucks a banjo, guitar or mandolin while sporting one of his cheery, colorful suits.

Here, Zanes and crew will team up with the Brooklyn Youth Orchestra and dancers from Bed Stuy Veterans for a full-fledged party that will sure to get you jumping up and shaking your hips.

Dan Zanes at Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park band shell [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683-5600], July 16 at 4 pm. Free. For info, visit www.bricartsmedia.org.

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This show is on the run

By Meredith Deliso

Talk about a run woman show.

In “Endure,” Melanie Jones brings you through the hills and paths of Prospect Park, an immersive play inspired by that curious hobby incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t felt the urge to do the New York City Marathon — long-distance running.

Jones, who’s finished four marathons herself, is a running junkie, doing a loop around Prospect Park daily. Being out on the road for hours at a time training for these grueling races inspired her to document the experience.

“When I was out there for a long time, I started to notice that almost every human experience under the sun came up while I was running,” said Jones. “There would be moments of complete bliss and utter perfect happiness, followed by rage the likes of which I’ve never heard of.”

With such rich, dramatic ground to draw from, Jones wrote “Endure,” a stream-of-consciousness narrative that documents one woman’s ups and downs while running 26.2 miles, from start to finish — in a play that lasts only 45 minutes.

In the show’s two runs — on July 9 and 16 — Jones will lead audience members through Prospect Park as they listen along to an audio file, downloaded to an iPod in advance of the show.

“It’s an adventure,” said Jones. “We go off the grid, I’ll tell you that much.”

For those who may pale at the thought of running, fear not. The show only covers about three miles, and Jones herself does the majority of the exercise.

“I didn’t want to exclude people who might be intimidated by running,” said Jones. “You do not have to run. And nobody gets left behind.”

Of course, to fully experience “Endure,” it can’t hurt to work up a sweat.

“Endure” meets at the Old Stone House in Washington Park [Fourth Avenue between Third and Fourth streets in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195], July 9 and 16 at 11 am. Free. You must RSVP in advance to download the audio file. For info, visit www.runwomanshow.com.

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'The Miser' comes to the Old Stone House

By Alex Rush

Molière is going modern.

The French playwright’s satirical comedy, “The Miser,” first performed in 1668, gets the 21st-century treatment Park Slope’s Piper Theatre. It’s the same story about a man’s quest for social status, though some references have, of course, been updated.

“People won’t have any trouble seeing themselves reflected in the play,” said Welker White, who wrote and directs the adaptation, which updates Molière’s sharp dialogue with references to contemporary pastimes such as surfing the Internet.

The play, which runs on the lawn of the Old Stone House starting tonight, follows Harpagon, a money-grubbing man who wants to marry his children off to rich families. Not all, of course, goes according to plan, as his children have suitors of their own in mind.

White, who has lived in Park Slope for nearly 20 years, says she was also drawn to “The Miser” because the plot allows for a lot of physical comedy. So expect her actors to be extremely animated — a technique suited for “The Miser’s” outdoor venue.

“We’ll have big emotions and big physical comedy that can be communicated across the big Old Stone House lawn,” said White.

“The Miser” at the Old Stone House [Fifth Avenue at Third Street in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195], July 7–8, 14–15, 21–22, 8:30 pm. Free. For info, visit www.theoldstonehouse.org.

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Your Celebrate Brooklyn Pick of the Week!

By Meredith Deliso

Once upon a time, Los Lobos was just another band from East L.A.

More than 30 years since releasing their debut album, the Wolves have become one of the foremost Latin music bands around.

Since 1984, the Grammy Award-winning band has had the same lineup, helping to perfect its wide-reaching blend of traditional regional Mexican folk music like cumbia and boleros, rock and roll, blues, R&B, and country — plus a killer version of “La Bamba,” for the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic.

On July 8, Los Lobos brings its stellar live act to the Prospect Park band shell for Celebrate Brooklyn, where the forefathers of Chicano rock will be joined by some of the new guard on Latin rock scene: Mexico City’s Hello Seahorse! and, from around these parts, electro rockers Zigmat.

And then, the wolves will howl.

Los Lobos at Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park band shell [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683-5600], July 8 at 7 pm. Free. For info, visit www.bricartsmedia.org.

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Re-Joyce! Bloomsday is here

By Meredith Deliso

Grab your massive copy of “Ulysses” — June 16 is upon us.

Fans will know the date for its significance in the James Joyce masterpiece, as the book follows that day’s events in the life of Leopold Bloom. And for more than 50 years, they’ve used that date to celebrate the book and the man with readings in Dublin and aboard.

For parties stateside, look no further than the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope, which is hosing its own Bloomsday celebration tonight. Hosted by Joycean scholar Emmet Mc Gowan, the evening will feature a recitation of excerpts from the 265,000-word novel, as well as food and, of course, drink.

 In a bit of cheeky irony, the evening is dedicated to the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, which in 1920 objected to the book’s “lewd” content (a masturbation scene) and took action to keep it out of the United States. The group, thankfully, failed.

Bloomsday at the Brooklyn Lyceum [227 Fourth Ave. at President Street in Park Slope, (718) 857-4816], June 16 at 8 pm. Free. For info, visit www.brooklynlyceum.com.

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Two craft fairs for the Etsy crowd

By Meredith Deliso

A hip craft fair returns, and Etsy makers find a new home in this week’s Market Watch.

Renegade Craft Fair

McCarren Park’s DIY spectacular — the Renegade Craft Fair — sets up on June 11 and 12 with more than 300 indie craft vendors. There’ll be items to buy, with handmade goods in the genres of jewelry, clothing, ceramics and stationery, bath products, posters, housewares, comics, and plush objects. Shoppers can get crafty themselves thanks to workshops, including sewing tips from BurdaStyle, an accessories table manned by Brooklyn Charm, and prints from Freshly Drawn. When not shopping, munch on goodies from Hecho en Casa and Urban Rustic, or get your photo taken at the Magnolia Photo Booth and make it a fair to remember.

Renegade Craft Fair at McCarren Park (between Bedford and Bayard avenues from N. 12th to Lorimer streets in Greenpoint, no phone), June 11 and 12, 11 am-7 pm. For info, visit renegadecraft.com/brooklyn.

The {New New}

We’ll never understand the punctuation, but we love the Etsy crafters coalition The {New New}. And this summer, it’ll be setting up shop at Celebrate Brooklyn. Starting with the June 10 kick-off, you can browse the pop-up shop Better Than Jam while rocking out to the music stylings of Andrew Bird (insert “Put a bird on it” joke here), and the diverse programming that follows. Expect such vendors as Purtybird and its quirky owls, and Kim Last Designs and its dramatic skeleton key necklaces.

The {New New} at Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park (enter park at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope), June 10-Aug. 11. For info, visit thenewnew.blogspot.com.

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Swing's the thing this summer at the library

By Meredith Deliso

The Brooklyn Public Library’s dance series is in full swing.

Thursdays this month at the main branch, the outdoor plaza transforms into a dance floor, where you can boogie to hot jazz and even a 20-piece big band as part of the library’s free Plaza Swing Series.

Tonight, it’s Gordon’s Grand Street Stompers, a good old-fashioned jazz band in the New Orleans sense. The Stompers play Louis Armstrong hits one set, Disney theme songs the next, so they’ll definitely keep you on your toes.

Then on June 16, the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band performs Kansas City stompers and sultry blues like they did it in the 1920s and ’30s.

The series bids adieu until next summer with the Swingtime Big Band — and by big, we mean a 20-piece band — on June 23. The group doesn’t waste the chance, playing timeless swing by renowned big band leaders like Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington.

Now in its second year, the series is quickly becoming a summertime favorite.

“It’s a great opportunity to bring attention in the neighborhood to lindy hop and to the library,” said Veronica Wong, an avid swing dancer, pictured with Brian Lawton.

Plaza Swing Series at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch [Flatbush Avenue at Eastern Parkway in Park Slope, (718) 230-2100], Thursdays, now through June 23 at 6:30 pm. Free. For more info, visit www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.

Photo by Stefano Giovannini

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'Sweet' show at Southpaw tonight

By Meredith Deliso

Ellia Bisker may play one of the smallest instruments, but she’s going big for her next show.

The ukulele frontwoman behind the cabaret rock outfit Sweet Soubrette will fill the stage at Southpaw tonight with her largest band yet — nine musicians, complete with a rocking horn section.

“They’re for special occasions,” said the Park Slope resident. “We love the horns — more horns is my New Year’s resolution.”

The special occasion here? The band won’t be playing its Regina Spektor-esque indie rock again until the fall, as Bisker’s spent the better part of the year touring in support of her second album, “Days and Nights,” and needs to return to songwriting — even if that means taking a break from such favorite haunts as Jalopy, Barbes and the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. But she’s not going out quietly.

“This is the biggest show we’ve ever done in Brooklyn,” said Bisker. “And we do a lot of shows in Brooklyn.”

Sweet Soubrette at Southpaw [125 Fifth Ave. between Sterling and St. Johns places in Park Slope, (718) 230-0236], June 8 at 8 pm. Tickets $10. For info, visit www.sweetsoubrette.com.

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Union Hall is going 'Coconuts' with new comedy show

By Meredith Deliso

Comedy fans, add the third Tuesday of every month to your schedule.

A new monthly show is coming to Union Hall, hosted by Gabe Delahaye, of the pop culture website Videogum.

“All my friends are comedians and they all have shows of their own, and I got jealous,” said Delahaye, who launches the Mr. Coconuts Comedy Show on May 24 at the Park Slope bar.

At his inaugural show, Delahaye will be joined by Jenny Slate, former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and host of “Big Terrific” at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg; Joe Mande, the man behind the blog, Look at this F–ing Hipster; and Larry Murphy, a regular on the Adult Swim show “Delocated.”

Now, as for that name?

“It was the second stupidest thing I could think of,” said Delahaye.

Mr. Coconuts Comedy Show at Union Hall [702 Union St. near Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 638-4400], May 24 at 8 pm. Tickets $5. For info, visit www.unionhallny.com.

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What to find at the NYC Food Truck Rally

Come to the NYC Food Truck Rally hungry, but not clueless of what kind of grub you can get. Here’s a sampling of some of the food trucks setting up shop in Grand Army Plaza this Sunday.

Eddie’s Pizza Truck

The deal: Craving pizza and in a hurry? Eddie’s produces the perfect on-the-go “bar pizza” for guests to salivate over, including the Eddie’s Special, topped with sausage, meatballs, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms and onions. Minus toppings, they’re only 270 calories each.

They say: “It seems that food trucks have gotten more popular with the advent of social media,” said owner Derek Kaye. “We specialize in personal, thin-crust pizzas, and customize them with 25 different toppings.”

The Treats Truck

The deal: After a trip to Carroll Gardens-based Treats Truck and its mounds of baked goods, grandma’s brownies and cookies may not taste quite as good on the next visit.

They say: “I just know that so many people are having a love affair with food trucks,” said owner Kim Ima. “We make all kinds of not fancy, but old-fashioned fun stuff like cookies, brownies, rice krispies, and just a lot of things with sprinkles.”

Joyride Truck

The deal: This “joyride,” found Sundays in Park Slope usually, features Stumptown coffee and frozen yogurt, which you can top with a variety of fresh fruit or dessert-inspired treats, like Cap’n Crunch and Oreos. 

They say: “Truck rallies have been going on in other cities, but we haven’t really done that or organized it ourselves,” said co-owner David Blanich. “I’m glad we are catching up with the other cities.”

Kelvin “Slush” Truck 

The deal: These slush beverages are not your normal 7-11 slushee. They’re offered in a variety of flavors including Tangy Citrus and Spicy Ginger combined with your choice of various all-natural mix-ins such as pomegranate seeds and fresh chopped mint and basil.

They say: “It’s really going to be a big event,” said owner Alex Rein. “It just shows unity among us vendors that we’re excited about.”

Red Hook Lobster Pound 

The deal: This Brooklyn Flea regular uses fresh-off-the-boat lobster that is then fixed up in lobster rolls, bisque, and salads. 

They say: “Food trucks don’t give Brooklyn enough love,” said owner Susan Povich. “We’re coming big time. We’re going to rumble.”

— Daniel Ng

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Edgy writers

By Meredith Deliso

This is for all you moms who are more Peg Bundy than Carol Brady.

Edgy Mother’s Day, a reading series that celebrates writing about motherhood, and the feisty moms who write it, returns to the Old Stone House on May 19 for another evening of witty, serious, touching, satirical, and overall illuminating pieces.

“They’ll rock you, sock you, make you laugh, cry, cheer and look at motherhood in a whole mother way,” said Louise Crawford, who writes the website Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn and curated the series with Sophia Romero.

This time around, the “edgy” lineup consists of novelists Paola Corso and Romero, graphic novelist Jennifer Hayden, and essayist Nancy McDermott, who will give their unique perspectives on motherhood, with a requisite dose of snark.

“I am fascinated by the peculiar culture of parenthood today — it is ripe with comedic potential,” said McDermott, a Park Slope-based writer who’s a regular contributor to the Park Slope Parents website. “Things like keeping journals of every lurid detail of our baby’s bowel movements or talking to our toddlers in public about terribly worthy things, like human rights or Beethoven, in a Stepford Momish voice as if we were being secretly filmed by the selection committee for mother of the year. God knows I’ve done all that — and worse.”

Edgy Moms reading at the Old Stone House [336 Third St. at Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195], May 19 at 8 pm. Tickets $5. For info, visit brooklynreadingworks.com.

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Get a peek at your Park Slope neighbors

By Meredith Deliso

It’s a Park Slope peep show.

Next up in the annual celebration of voyeurism that is house tour season are some of the most majestic homes in Park Slope.

The self-guided walking tour on Sunday features apartments in the southern Slope that are home to unique art collections, innovative renovations and beautiful gardens.

Highlights are sure to include an 1890s carriage house-cum-contemporary loft that features a stunning kitchen, abstract art by Maria Louisa Pacheco and an American Indian hanging; a 1903 Flemish Renaissance home that has a chandelier in every room; an eco-friendly house that boasts geo-thermal heating and cooling, a recycled floor, and a garden watered by the home’s own well; a 100-year-old Romanesque Revival home decked out with elaborate mantelpieces, Bradbury and Bradbury wallpapers to further phone home the Victorian effect, grand chandeliers, and a working dumbwaiter; and, at an even older Romanesque Revival home from 1893, you’ll find an antique carpet, an old Victrola, and a rare oil painting of Marilyn Monroe.

Now remember, you can look, but you can’t touch.

Park Slope House Tour, starting at PS 107 [1301 Eighth Ave. at 13th Street in Park Slope, (718) 832-8227], May 15, noon-5 pm. Tickets $20 in advance, $25 day of. For info, visit www.parkslopeciviccouncil.org.

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The best Derby party outside of Kentucky

By Meredith Deliso

And they’re off!

The mint juleps will be flowing, the hats will be crazy and the seersucker suits will be in full force when the Bell House throws its annual Kentucky Derby Party on Saturday.

Sure, there’s a big race on, but for Michael Boyd, it’s all about the party.

“It’s not really about racing, it’s about springtime,” said Boyd, a Kentuckian who organizes the party at the Gowanus venue each year. “Where I come from, it’s the biggest holiday of the year. It’s our version of Mardi Gras.”

Boyd started hosting Derby parties in his Cobble Hill apartment 13 years ago, but they became so popular he moved them to the now-closed Magnetic Fields on Atlantic Avenue. That party soon outgrew that venue, moving to Union Hall, and then the Bell House, where Derby enthusiasts have been converging for the past three years. (You can also find the race on at Union Hall on May 7 for the Park Slope venue’s own Derby party.)

“There’s something about it that people respond to,” said Boyd, who, thanks to his Derby parties, is a bona fide colonel. “It’s still a little bit of a mystery to me as to why. Especially in Brooklyn, it’s a weird Southern-meets-hipster thing.”

Indeed, before the jockeys kick things off at 6 pm, you can enjoy the DJ stylings of Party Like It’s 1999’s Steven R. Reynolds, square dancing led by David Harvey and NYC Barn Dance, including lessons for all the newbies, food from Urban Rustic and ice cream from Van Leeuwen Artisan.

For the competitive set, there’s a contest for best dressed man, best formal hat, and best informal hat (think beer hats).

“The things people would do for their informal hats are just amazing,” said Boyd, who will fit in with the festivities thanks to his tan seersucker suit. “You never know what you’re going to see every year, but it always will be eye-popping.”

Before the race, Ryan Resky (pictured) will do the honors of the Call to the Post, that all-too-familiar bugle tune, and Jaime and Lisa from the band The Secret History will sing “My Old Kentucky Home.” And then it’s the quickest two minutes in history once the horses are released (our money’s on Uncle Mo).

“The real magic is the moments when they’re loading the horses in the gate,” said Boyd. “There’s this crescendo all day leading up to it, and it gets unbelievably loud. The hair on my arms is standing just talking about it. “

Derby Day at the Bell House [149 Seventh St. between Second and Third avenues in Gowanus, (718) 643-6510]. Free. For info, visit www.thebellhouseny.com; also at Union Hall [702 Union St. near Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 638-4400]. Free. For info, visit www.unionhallny.com. Both parties are May 7 at 1 pm.


Photo by Allan E. Shoening

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'Bunker' hill! Park Slope sniper's nest is actually an art exhibit

By Meredith Deliso

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you — among the brownstones of Park Slope, you can find a bona fide bunker.

On the sidewalk of President Street near Fifth Avenue sit neat stacks of olive burlap sandbags, an empty window carved out where an M60 would be right at home.

It’s no Vietnam war memorial or unconventional yard decoration, but part of a new exhibition at Prophecies Gallery opening on Saturday featuring artwork by veterans.

Gallery owner Lenny Goodstein spent 12 hours building the bunker with some of the featured artists as a way to draw people in to his new show.

“It’s not just a fun thing, it’s a political statement,” said Goodstein, a Vietnam veteran who lives a few blocks from the gallery. “I’ve met too many homeless vets recently, and I’m not too happy about it. The Veterans Administration is not helping these guys.”

The bunker certainly draws attention — spend a few minutes inside it, and you’re likely to see people taking photos or popping their heads in to get a closer look.

“I love it,” said Ralph, a Park Slope resident who was strolling by after a recent lunch who declined to have his last name printed. “I can only imagine what [the soldiers] must have gone through.”

Ultimately, though, the bunker’s meant to draw you into the gallery, where you’re first greeted by a window installation featuring the artifacts of war — helmets from World War I, II and Vietnam, a Green Beret uniform and a sculpture of a helicopter.

Inside, the walls of the gallery barely show any white, covered with a variety of pieces, from oils to needlepoint to sculpture to photography — some of it abstract, but most of it related to the artist’s experience, such as Domingo Vega’s colorful paintings of battlefields to Tony Velez’s black-and-white photographs of Vietnam War protesters.

“All of it is gut work,” said Goodstein. “It’s all done from emotion.”

Many of the 23 artists, a group that includes male and female veterans who have served in wars from Vietnam up until the present day, are from Brooklyn and the outlying boroughs. Goodstein has received mailed-in submissions from veterans in Kansas, South Carolina and Virginia once word spread about the show, though the gallery is only a little bit bigger than the size of an apartment lobby.

Proceeds from the sale of the artwork will go to the Veterans Quality of Life/Access Network, which helps homeless veterans find shelter and receive benefits — further driving Goodstein’s cause home.

“It feels really good to do that,” said Goodstein. “Some of these guys are still suffering.”

Veterans art show at Prophecies Gallery [665 President St. near Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 230-3022], Tuesday through Sunday, April 30-May 31, 11 am-7 pm. Opening night party, 4-8 pm.

Photo by Stefano Giovannini

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