Pumps & Pleats: Precious finds amongst the junk

Story and photos by Michèle De Meglio

There’s some weird crap at flea markets.

Frankly, after one - no, six - too many church fairs during my youth, I developed quite an aversion to these swap-and-shop-your-junk sales.

But I did my best to hide any lingering childhood scars and donned a brave face as I made my way through Fort Greene for the Brooklyn Flea.

Based on blog posts and word of mouth, I expected the sale to be upscale, trendy and ridiculously cool.

There were plenty of hipsters and downtown folk surrounding the stands, but I found some of the wares to be a bit, well, weird. Geez, it seemed like some of the stuff was cleared out of a 1970s packrat’s overflowing garage.

There were really beat-up old handbags. Ones that had faux-gold lion medallions sewed on and others straight from the 80s in various pastel shades.

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted a black microfiber tote emblazoned with a fully functioning clock. Can you say Flavor Flav?

There was also a tan leather messenger bag embroidered with mushrooms. Must have been brought in by hippies who wouldn’t grow up.

My favorite display had to be the plastic human heart model secured with tape and tossed next to a pile of distressed leather-like bags.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s some strange stuff at the Flea - but there’s also some cool finds.

A baby pink tube dress with a scalloped texture and just a hint of sparkle was unbelievably adorable. It was even paired with three strands of plastic pearls in the same delectable rosy shade.

I swear, if I could pull off a silver sequin tunic with a massive butterfly print, I would so do it.

I was speechless upon finding an insanely giant orange velvet couch right out of a 70s flick. It was like a car accident - so terrible that you know you shouldn’t stare but you can’t peel your eyes away from the grisly scene.

My biggest smile of the day was reserved for a table boasting two for $20 plastic stud earrings. Some of these cheap-and-chic babies reminded me of the sticker studs I wore as a third-grader. You know, the ones shaped like yellow stars or blue moons.

I fumbled with a pair of pink hearts and reached for my wallet.

Then again, $20 for cheap plastic studs? Dude, seriously, we’re in a recession.

The Brooklyn Flea runs every Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., in Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School’s schoolyard, Lafayette Avenue between Vanderbilt and Clermont avenues. On Sundays, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., the Flea is indoors at 76 and 81 Front Street. For more info, visit www.brooklynflea.com.

(Published in the 6.4.09 issue of 24/Seven)

Michèle De Meglio is a native Brooklynite addicted to all things stylish. Check out Pumps & Pleats each week for more adventures as she scours the borough for fab duds and accessories.

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Tonight: Polaroid Party

Photo: Ernesto Gonzalez

In an age of instant everything -- and retro nostalgia -- it's a surprise that the Polaroid has gone to the wayside.

Tonight, celebrate the creativity inspired by the instant camera with The Polaroid Party, a "one night experiential event and interpretation of spontaneity," in DUMBO at 163 Plymouth Street.

The work of artists Mark Lipson, Amanda Means, Ernesto Gonzalez, Fabrice Mabillot, Grant Hamilton, Marshall Kappel, Anne Joyce, Patrick Winfield, Sarah Small and Eric David Johnson.

Party-goers will also be able to take their own instant photos, which will be used to create an on-site mural to be donated to and auctioned off by Housing Works.

The event runs from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Come ready to have your photo taken.

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Simply Devine

By Meredith Deliso

Traveling cross-country on tour to support his fifth album, the enthusiasm of his fans never ceases to amaze Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Kevin Devine.

“The response has been crazy,” says Devine while driving through California on his nation-wide tour in support of “Brother’s Blood,” out earlier this spring on Manchester Orchestra’s label Favorite Gentlemen Records. “That’s 3,000 miles from where I live...Sometimes I still have this thing in my head where people are all going to leave, even when it’s our show. Right before a set, I genuinely have a moment of panic.”

Devine has nothing to worry about. After touring with Brand New in 2004 and on subsequent tours since then, the singer from Brooklyn has built a solid foundation of fans, with his introspective lyrics and sometimes sparse, sometimes amplified folk rock.

Growing up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, Devine now calls Bay Ridge home when he’s not on the road playing upwards of 200 shows a year. He culminates his current tour with a gig at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 7.

On his fifth album, Devine wanted to capture the live sound he has been honing with the members of his band, a collective of nearly a dozen musicians he pulls from, called the Goddamn Band.

“We were mindful of making something that was a bit more live sounding,” says Devine. “We were trying to get the right performance even if it wasn’t a perfect performance.”

Elements of ‘90s guitar rock, more ambient elements, and folk can be found on “Brother’s Blood,” the result of a collaborative effort with the band, who bunkered down in Williamsburg’s Headgear Studios last August for two weeks of recording.

“A lot of times it was me trying to make a Kevin Devine record,” says the musician of past efforts. “I think I let go of that more on the record and trusted the band, and I think the band really came through. This record is what it is without question because of that.”

Growing up in Bay Ridge, with his life revolving around school and church, “it gave me a picture of this kind of provincialism, of a really strong sense of community,” says Devine. “I think that’s in a lot of the music – wrestling with those ideas of faith and family and where you come from. Even though you change a lot, those are things that are elemental and unchanging. I think I learned a lot of that from Brooklyn and from where I grew up.”

From taking guitar classes at William McKinley Junior High School to hearing his mom’s Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan records, music has always played a large part in his life growing up. The fact that the musician, who has done everything from working at the Gap, a bakery, and as a counselor at Poly Prep’s summer camp, to even as a elderly woman’s personal assistant, is able to do it full time is still a surprise to him, and it inspires him at every show.

“Sometimes you can have the best show in the world and there can be 40 people there. But you have to play the same for that crowd as if you were playing in front of Madison Square Garden,” says Devine. “They chose to spend their time with you. I try to keep that in mind all the time and have some perspective.”

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band play the Music Hall of Williamsburg (66 N. 6th St.) on June 7 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $13 in advance, available for purchase here, or $15 at the door.

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Brooklyn welcomes The Posies

By Meredith Deliso

Ever since the Posies did an anniversary show last year for their long-time label, Houston Party, in Spain, playing from their classic 1993 album “Frosting On The Beater,” venues across the globe have been vying to get the seminal alternative rock band to do just the same at their own space.

On June 12, Brooklyn gets just that lucky, as the band does a rare show at the Gowanus venue The Bell House, playing “Frosting On The Beater” in its entirety. New York gets twice as lucky, as the band will play again the following night at the Gramercy Theater in Manhattan.

“Skippy [Jack McFadden] at The Bell House has been making overtures to us for awhile, since people stateside got word of our ‘Frosting on the Beater Tour’ for our 20th anniversary as a band (and the 15th anniversary of the record) in Spain last year, there has been some real interest in the concept,” says Ken Stringfellow, who formed the band in 1987 in Washington state with Jon Auer and currently lives in France. “So, it worked out we could squeeze in these two New York shows amongst other things we do individually. It also helped that airfares between New York City and Paris haven’t been this cheap since the Lindy Hop.”

In 1998, after such hits as “Golden Blunders,” “Dream All Day,” “Solar Sister,” and “Flavor of the Month,” off “Frosting on the Beater,” the Posies’ core singer/songwriter partnership of Stringfellow and Jon Auer sundered. The band has reunited several times over the years since for gigs and albums, as well as kept busy with such said individual projects, including Stringfellow’s band The Disciplines, which plays “glorious, punky, nasty, nerdy pop,” says the musician.

Currently touring with The Disciplines, Stringfellow will go right from the airport to the stage to perform first by himself, on June 11, at The Bell House, in a solo show, with Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 also on the bill.

“My solo work is always pretty intense and emotional,” says Stringfellow. “When I play solo, I experience it one way, sort of free to follow my inspiration. With the band, especially my current band The Disciplines, it’s more physical, free to ignore my body and sort vaporize within the moment.”

The next night he takes the stage with the rest of the Posies, who reunite since their Spain show last year.

“That’s a motivating force right there,” says Stringfellow, who’s also looking forward to coming to Brooklyn and reuniting with a bunch of friends here he hasn’t seen in a long time. “And,” he says, “The Bell House looks downright sexy on its web page.”


The Posies play The Bell House (149 7th St.) on June 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased in advance here. The show is 21+.

You can also catch them the following night on June 13 at The Gramercy Theater (127 23rd St.) in Manhattan at 9 p.m. Tickets are $22.50 and are available here. The show is 16+.

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Dynamite debut from Brooklyn rocker

By Joe Maniscalco

Sometime between now and the middle of June, singer/songwriter Randy Stern will get around to taking his 1998 Hyundai Accent into the shop for a well-advised oil change - it’s got over 110,000 miles on the odometer.

That done, he’ll climb behind the wheel and hit the road for a multi-city summer tour of the south land culminating over 1,700 miles away in Austin, Texas in July.

“It’s just going to be me, my guitar, my clothes - and my laptop,” Stern laughs. “I haven’t figured our where I’m going to stay yet - hotels will exhaust my bank account.”

If Stern - co-founder of Brooklyn punk-party band The Nerve - sounds like a guy riding high without a care in the world, it’s only because after two, long, arduous years in the making his debut solo effort called “Give” is finally out on Heyday Records.

To celebrate, Stern and a talented five-piece backing band will play a special show at the world-famous Bitter End in New York City on June 13 at 8 p.m.

“It’s going to be hot,” Stern promises. “People are going to get a chance to hear me like they’ve never heard me before.”

Fans already familiar with The Nerve over their 10-year indie career will no doubt find much about “Give” that they already know and love - cool hooks, rocking tempos and unabashed energy.

But across the 12 eclectic cuts that comprise Stern’s new record, they’ll also confront an evolved artist that has organically grown into a man of a great many musical tastes - melding, mixing and modifying styles without ever sacrificing his own singular voice.

“I wake up in the morning and I can’t believe what I’m doing,” Stern says. “I feel like I’m working on my dream.”

Tracks like “In the midnight, “Give” and “Rita” find the musician at his most candid, courageously confiding in the unnamed listener his deepest thoughts, feelings and emotions.

“I’m putting myself out there and sometimes it is weird,” Stern confesses. “Every once in a while, I think to myself, I’m singing this to strangers. I’m telling people my story.”

While “Give” is Stern’s story, lyrics like Now that the past is gone where you gonna go? Now that the past is gone who you gonna be? and Cold sky through the window of an elevated train/try to deny it but I still feel that pain could be most anyone’s interior sound track on lonely walks back home from a tough night at the bar.

Who couldn’t identify with Stern’s undaunted hope for “Better Days” or his desire for “Home.”

This summer Stern - who normally gigs around the tri-state area with his trusty acoustic guitar - will be many more miles away from his hometown, but the solitary road holds a certain allure for this Brooklyn native raised mostly in Kensington and Gerritsen Beach.“

Being alone is part of what I’m looking forward to,” Stern says. “I’m looking at it as a healing thing.”

While making “Give” Stern sacrificed almost everything he had. Even going so far as foregoing a roof over his head so that he could pour all of his financial resources into making the record. He’s gotten by over the last two-and-a-half years bouncing from place to place house- and pet-sitting for friends.

A relationship with a former girlfriend would not survive the experience.

Now, even though Stern has found a new home at long last in Park Slope, and the lost love has become his muse, life alone on the road still looks inviting.

“It’s already helping me feel like I’m getting clarity,” Stern says.

Right now, the only things Stern appears to really need is MapQuest and Google.

“Technology has helped a lot [putting this tour together],” Stern says. “I don’t think I could have done it otherwise. Now I think - ‘how the f---k did people do this back in the day?’”

Randy Stern’s CD release party for “Give” at the Bitter End,147 Bleeker Street, is on June 13. Showtime is 8 p.m. $10 admission at the door.

“Give” is available at Amazon and other online retailers.

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Festival coming to the Northside

The Hold Steady

By Meredith Deliso

Austin has SXSW. Chicago has Lollapalooza. New York City has CMJ. Now, Brooklyn has the Northside Festival.

From June 11 to 14, Williamsburg and Greenpoint will be flooded even more than it already is with music, arts and film.L Magazine formed the festival to celebrate the thriving independent music and art scene in the city, a festival that, though maybe a long time company, the neighborhoods are just ripe for now.

“The festival just couldn’t have happened before now because Williamsburg and Greenpoint were still developing and growing,” said L Magazine Publisher Scott Stedman. “We’ve reached a point where there are enough great venues and galleries in the neighborhoods to support a festival of this scale. And with so many exciting bands and artists coming out of North Brooklyn, we thought it was a perfect time to bring all the elements together for a weekend, turning the area into one big stage for great music and art.”

With their Director of Programming Chantelle Hylton and music editor Mike Conklin taking the reigns, the magazine has pulled together a diverse program of established acts, like The Hold Steady (Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 11), Sunset Rubdown (Studio B on June 12), Bishop Allen (Studio B on June 13), and The Dodos (Studio B on June 14), as well as local up-and-comers. In particular, some of the eight bands you need to hear now that the magazine compiled in an issue this past April, specifically pow wow!, Savoir Adore, The Beets, The Albertans, Xylos and Anamanaguchi, will also play the festival.

“The opening party with Brightblack Morning Light will be pretty wild as well,” said Stedman of the June 11 event, at Studio B, which also features Mariee Sioux, Zomes, Daniel Higgs, as well as a rooftop BBQ from chef Kelly Geary of Sweet Deliverance. “There are hundreds of events going on – and more being announced every day, so it’s hard to choose [a favorite].”

In addition to the magazine’s own minds, they also got a little help from some friends in getting acts together for the festival, with dozens of influential NYC-based music businesses, including blogs, record labels and radio stations curating their own showcases. JezebelMusic.com (June 12 at Cameo Gallery), FREEWilliamsburg (June 12 at Death By Audio), IMPOSE Records (June 13 at Death By Audio), Less Artists More Condos (June 13 at The Shank), Brooklyn Based, along with Gothamist (June 13 at Public Assembly), and BrooklynVegan (June 14 at Europa) are just some of the Brooklyn-based businesses that have lent their talents and expertise.

Venues didn’t need any prodding to get on board, with over 50 music venues and galleries throughout the neighborhoods getting involved, including established spots like the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Pete’s Candy Store, Glasslands Gallery and Union Pool, as well as newer ones like Cameo Gallery and Bruar Falls. The festival will also christen Berry Park with a show during a Sound Fix-curated show featuring Death Vessel, BELL, Teengirl Fantasy and Weekends on June 13.

About those galleries – beyond music, artist receptions will occur throughout the neighborhoods, with L Magazine working with the Williamsburg Gallery Association to coordinate with galleries like Art 101, Figureworks and Slate. Fittingly, an event will coincide with the WGA’s 2nd Fridays, with a meet-and-greet with Joe Mangrum at Ch’i Contemporary Fine Art on June 12 (you can also watch Mangrum in action the following day at Ch’i as he creates a large sand painting outside the gallery).

With excitement building for the fast few months for the first one, the Northside Festival looks to be take over North Brooklyn each year, as L Magazine will make it an annual event.“Countless members of the independent music community have contacted us about being involved on some level, from curating showcases to throwing parties,” said Stedman of this year’s response. “And we’ve seen a ton of positive feedback from fans: the lineup of artists is generating lots of excitement as is the affordability of festival badges.”

At only $45, the badges definitely are a steal. Buy yours here if you haven't done so already.

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Big names at the Bandshell

David Bryne (Photo)

By Thomas Tracy

Who needs Jones Beach?

Prospect Park will be one of the hottest concert destinations this year as over two dozen performers as eclectic as our borough spice up the summer during a Celebrate Brooklyn! 2009 extravaganza.

The free concert series line-up will begin with the iconic new-wave stylings of “Talking Heads” headliner David Byrne on June 8 and continue to groove throughout July and August, ending with the freak folk sensation “Animal Collective” on August 14 and 15.

Other stellar performers coming to the Prospect Park Bandshell include Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal (August 12), Jackson Browne (July 21), They Might Be Giants – For Kids! (July 11) and Goran Bregovic & His Weddings & Funerals Orchestra (June 11).

The purple-clad Prince will also be found on stage, but only on celluloid as the group Escort leads the audience on a “Purple Rain Sing-Along” (August 6).

Other movies shown this year during the Celebrate Brooklyn Music and Movie series (which will be seen on New York’s largest outdoor film screen, mind you) include the Mexican science fiction thriller “La Nave de Los Monstrous” with a live score by Ethel and Gutbucket (June 20).

Several dance performances are also scheduled.

Organizers predict that Celebrate Brooklyn attendees will not only enjoy a host of performances that not only span varying musical styles, but the globe as well.

For Byrne, the Celebrate Brooklyn! kickoff will be a layover from his year-long world tour celebrating his 30-year collaboration with producer Brian Eno, who had previously worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Robert Fripp before tackling the Talking Heads.

“We all know that Brooklyn has been the explosively creative borough in the tri-state area for quite some time, so it only made sense to acknowledge that by doing a show at the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Prospect Park,” Byrne said in a statement. “Given the cost of concert tickets these days, the poor hedge fund guys and investment bankers can no longer afford them. So made sense to do a free show, as the tour has been going incredibly well and we can afford it.”

Byrne said that he has seen a number of Celebrate Brooklyn! concerts in the park, including “a great Manu Chao show a few years ago.”

The concert series, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year -- is also going to be eco-friendly, with an expanded recycling program and a bicycle “parking zone.”

Organizers made sure that the Celebrate Brooklyn concert series entered its fourth decade chock full of choices for not only returning festival lovers, but for a host of new attendees.

“When BRIC launched Celebrate Brooklyn in 1979, our free programming was a welcome cultural innovation that celebrated Brooklyn’s diversity and deployed the arts as economic stimulus and community builder,” explained Leslie Schultz, Executive Director of BRIC Arts Media Bklyn. “The Festival also changed the cultural landscape in Brooklyn, by giving audiences access to performances of the highest quality and providing artists with a Brooklyn platform for their work.”

Schultz said that the festival has become a “cherished summer tradition” not just for Brooklynites, but for “the rest of New York City and visitors from around the world.”

Most of the concerts are free (a $3 donation is recommended), but the Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal, and Animal Collective shows are benefit concerts and require tickets.

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