Brooklyn by bicycle

Photo: Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

The Five Boro Bike Tour may be sold out, but the day before, on May 2, you can enjoy a leisurely pedal through Brooklyn with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

The 7th Annual Future Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Bike Tour kicks off at 10 a.m. in Greenpoint at the northern end of Manhattan Avenue, ending 10 miles later on the Red Hook waterfront.

The event is free (though donations are welcome), and includes updates on the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a 14-mile path along Brooklyn's western waterfront.

To RSVP, send your full name and contact information to ride2009(at)brooklyngreenway.org.

And, if you're not in the city-wide bike tour on May 3 but want to catch the sea of cyclists as they swarm through your neighborhood, you can find the tour route here.

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More Dine in Brooklyn

Leftovers anyone?

Foodies take note: Borough President Marty Markowitz has extended this year’s “Dine in Brooklyn” event through April 30.

The now month-long celebration, in which participating restaurants offer $23 three course lunch or dinner menus Mondays through Thursdays was extended because it was “so popular and successful.” We also think that the flagging economy had something to do with it.

Since not all of the restaurants in the previous promotion are participating in the extension, one should get a current listing at www.visitbrooklyn.org.

Previously: Dine in Brooklyn

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Buckle up, baby, the Cyclone is coming back!

This Sunday, April 5, marks the return of the Cyclone.

Don't want to cough up the $6 for the ride? The first 100 people in line will ride the roller coaster for free, so get there before the noon festivities begin.

The day will also feature The Hungry March Band and an exhibit by the Coney Island History Project underneath the Cyclone from noon to 3 p.m.

Have a favorite memory of the Cyclone? Share in the comments section below.

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Brooklyn cred

This week's L Magazine is all about Brooklyn.

Like those quizzes you'd find on Facebook, the magazine wants you to see how true a Brooklynite you are.

From questions perfect for history buffs ("In what year was the Brooklyn Bridge completed?") to obscure indie trivia for the hipsters ("What does the "O" in Karen O mean?" - based on the assumption that you know who Karen O is), the magazine wants to test your borough cred.

What would you put on your own quiz to weed out the posers and find the "real" Brooklynites?

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Maria Taylor works best with "Lady Luck" on her side

By Meredith Deliso

(Published in the 4.2.09 issue of 24/Seven)

Maria Taylor may be best known for her work with the all-female pop dream trio Azure Ray and projects with other Saddle Creek artists such as Bright Eyes, as well as collaborations with Moby and Crooked Fingers. For the past few years, though, the singer has been churning out her own folk-pop and celebrates the release of her third solo album, “LadyLuck,” this month, out on April 7 on Nettwerk Records.

A cross-country tour in support of her latest brings the singer to Brooklyn this month, with a show at the Gowanus venue The Bell House on April 12.

“I have so many friends in New York City,” says the singer, “so it is always one of the best stops on a tour.”

Coming off an all-acoustic release, last year’s “Savannah Drive,” Taylor wanted a lusher, fuller record, complete with strings, woodwinds and percussion, from the light clarinets and flutes on “Ladyluck” to the orchestral swell of “Time Lapse Lifeline,” a standout on the release.

The album title is obviously taken from the track of the same name, the first song the Birmingham, Ala., native wrote after moving to Los Angeles, and fittingly much of the album talks about personal growth and the change that brings – a sense of renewal, with an eye on the future.

“I was staring at the hummingbirds outside from my balcony and watching my new best friend doing whatever greatness she was doing on her computer,” says Taylor of writing “Ladyluck.” “Everything was new, scary and exciting.”

With her as usual on her album is Andy LeMaster. Also joining her on “Ladyluck” is friend Michael Stipe of REM fame, who helped write the last track, “Cartoons and Forever Plans,” with Taylor and LeMaster, as well as lent his scruffy vocals.

“He, Andy LeMaster and I stayed up till sunrise working on this song together,” says Taylor of the tune, a playful love song that closes out the album on such a sweet, genuine note. “I had the music, melody and some of the words, and then Michael pretty much filled in the blanks with his amazing lyrics. It was such a great night.”

Supporting Taylor on her tour are The Whispertown 2000, a Los Angeles-based indie band not new to the Saddle Creek crew, having toured with Bright Eyes, and the first group to sign to Gillian Welch’s Acony Records.

“I haven’t been this excited to tour with a band in forever,” says Taylor. “We are all cramming in my van. All nine of us. It will make us feel 18 again.”

The tour isn’t the only thing Taylor has keeping her busy right now. She’s continuing to work with LeMaster on songs, including her own solo material. And there are talks of an Azure Ray album sometime next year, which should have fans of the previously disbanded group, whose last record was in 2004, excited.

“I have a lot of think about,” says Taylor. “Kind of makes me want to get another glass of wine.”

Maria Taylor plays The Bell House (149 7th Ave.) on April 12 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, available for purchase at www.ticketweb.com, or $14 the day of the show. For more information, go to http://www.thebellhouseny.com/ or call 718-643-6510. For more on the musician, go to http://www.mariataylor.com/.

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The Wrens: back from 'The Meadowlands'

By Meredith Deliso

(Published in the 4.2.09 issue of 24/Seven)

Fans of The Wrens have recent cause for celebration.

The New Jersey-based indie rock band has been picking up their guitars as of late to return to the stage in New York after a two-year absence. After a sold-out show at the Bowery last month, as well as a slew of performances at South by Southwest, they come to Brooklyn for a sure-to-be packed night at the Gowanus venue The Bell House on April 10.

In even greater anticipation for fans is the band’s fourth album, which they have been waiting six years for after 2003’s widely hailed “The Meadowlands” (fans waited seven years for that album after the band split from their label rather than be pressured to create a more “radio-friendly” sound).

In the time since that release, a beautiful collection of 13 tracks that has already been deemed a classic, the band has been working on new material and playing shows and festivals here and there, but mostly focusing on their full-time jobs and families.

“We got to this point where we can have a quote-unquote normal life,” says guitarist Greg Whelan, a lawyer by trade, who’s been joined by his brother Kevin on bass, Jerry MacDonald on drums and Charles Bissell on guitar and lead vocals since the band formed in the late ‘80s. “You don’t have to be the starving artist. Granted I wish we had more time. It wouldn’t take five years [between each album].”

More on that newer material: Since “Meadowlands,” the band has amassed over a hundred songs, which Kevin has taken the time to demo and the band is currently sifting through, weeding out the bad ones and trying out a few live.

“We’re sort of in the middle of making our next record,” says Whelan. “Hopefully we’ll get it out a lot faster this time.”

To whet the appetite of those you have been waiting (five years and counting), the band might stream the songs first online.

“The landscape has changed so much – do people really buy CDs anymore?” says Whelan. “I can’t remember when we last bought a new CD.”

Live, fans can expect to hear some new songs as well, as the band has been breaking out a few at their recent shows to test the waters, in addition to favorites off of “Meadowlands.”

“We had to play some of the other songs – the hits that the kids just want to hear,” says Whelan. “You don’t want to hear one of your acts and all they play is new stuff. We’re very aware of that.”

With a steady, dedicated fan base since making waves with their first album back in ‘94, and gaining new ones ever since, The Bell House, though somewhat of an intimate venue, is expected to have a full house April 10, a fact that still surprises the band, 20 years in the business.

“It still completely blows us away. Why would anyone care or be interested in what we do?” says Whelan. “We’re just a few guys from New Jersey, and it takes us so damn long to do anything. It’s really flattering.”

The Wrens play The Bell House (149 7th St.) on April 10 at 8 p.m. Opening are Amazing Baby. Tickets are $14. For more information, go to www.thebellhouseny.com or call 718-643-6510. For more on the band, go to www.myspace.com/thewrens or http://www.blogger.com/www.wrens.com.

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Kaiju Big Battel! Live anime monsters duke it out in Brooklyn

Wrestling and anime fans, get the best of both worlds this spring when the next Kaiju Big Battel comes to Brooklyn.

The live monster mash, which features tournament-style performances of a surreal hybrid of American pro-wrestling, Japanese monster movie mayhem and lowbrow pop culture, will also be in 3-D when it plays out at the Greenpoint venue Warsaw on April 3.

Since formed about 10 years by the Massachusetts-based Studio Kaiju, Kaiju Big Battel has gone from an underground phenomenon to a touring event that sells out clubs nationwide as fans clamor to watch characters like Steam Powered Tentacle Boulder and Uchu Chu the Space Bug duke it out in the rings in what the New York Times describes as “equal parts competitive spectacle, performance art and manga-style cartoonish whimsy” (unsurprisingly, it’s very popular among teenage boys).

The Warsaw has been a site of some of the most legendary “battels” since 2002, and more epic battles are expected this time around as Neo Teppen, a secret-powered Martian, will face intergalactic pest Uchu Chu for the Kaiju Championship.

The multi-media event typically features video installations, monster movie props, a towering “Danger Cage” and a crushable miniature cityscape the monsters battle in and on that makes for some choice weapons.

When the mayhem comes to Brooklyn, the borough’s own Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears, a Brooklyn-based quintet that follows in the psychedelic tradition of rock and roll legends like the Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra, will also be performing. Known for their theatrical, costumed shows, they will be sure to fit right in.

For those uninitiated, here’s a brief backstory to bring you up to speed on the cast of characters: courtesy of Studio Kaiju: Kaiju Big Battel is a modern conflict of epic proportions. Planet Earth is under threat: scattered throughout the galaxy is a monstrous mob of maniacal villains, menacing alien beasts, and giant, city-crushing monsters that are waging war against one another.

Presiding over this mayhem is the Kaiju Commissioner, an enigmatic human-arbiter appointed by a clandestine cadre of world leaders to regulate Kaiju rage. If the Kaiju Commissioner doesn’t do his job perfectly the entire world could get caught in the crossfire.

Currently, the Kaiju Universe maintains an active roster of approximately 50 monsters, including a factory-worker-turned-soup-can called Kung-Fu Chicken Noodle, a dirty hare-sage dubbed Dusto Bunny, a loser sea beast known as Call- Me-Kevin, and a despicable, square-headed mad scientist known as Dr. Cube. In addition to the Kaiju Commissioner, a few privileged humans also get a piece of the action, including Referee Jingi, a mustachioed official who enforces fairness and civility in the ring, Davio Salbino, an urban renewal expert who reconstructs crumbled cityscapes between Battels, and one tuxedo-wearing, mouth-running MC, Louden Noxious.

Experience the show live when Kaiju Big Battel in 3-D comes to Warsaw (261 Driggs Ave.) April 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20. The event is all ages. For more information, visit www.kaiju.com.

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