Metropolis

You just can't walk past Katz's Delicatessen today and not notice it being besieged by property development. Ladies and gentlemen, our lifeline to pastrami is in jeopardy.

More...

At "The Yard," the site formerly known as the Issue Project Room on Carroll Street and the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.

Back in April I saw Rick Moody and the Wingdale Community Singers perform here. Now, the IPR (as far as I know) has lost its lease, and Meanred Productions, a production/promotion company of dance and world music, has essentially taken over the site's programming for the summer.

Read on...

If you live anywhere near Brooklyn and write a blog, chances are you went to the Mermaid Parade to shoot some really great photos of some really freaky people.

In the words of a wise friend, this year was the shark-jumped Mermaid Parade. Hordes of smelly youngsters looking for a view of some chubby bare chested females, without any of the charm of what the event's organizers call New York City's largest art parade. In my opinion, the Mermaid Parade has become a stand-in for the sleeze the city used to be known for, something like a last gasp of the porny grit that's been erased from a sanitized Times Square. And I mean that as more of an observation, I think, than a criticism.

If you're in New York this summer you've got your pick of publicly funded, free events: movies in parks, concerts, slip 'n slides, etc.

However, some of the most interesting free stuff is going on at Brooklyn Bridge Park, where on 7/7/07 the Boredoms will be playing with 77 drummers.

Also at the park will be large sandboxes and a floating, ship-bound pool, which I'll assume the idea was stolen directly from the Simpsons episode "Bart Of Darkness":

Ice Cream man: [driving past in his truck] I'm all out of ice cream! [to Bart and Lisa] It's true, you know. Ice cream! Ice cream!
Bart+Lisa: Aw...
Chili man: [driving past in his truck] Chili! Red-hot Texas-style chili! And we got gingerale: boiling-hot Texas-style gingerale! Texas...
Bart: Ew!
Lisa: Aw, face it, Bart. Our salvation isn't just going to roll by on the back of some stupid truck.
[The "Springfield Pool-Mobile" truck drives up. Otto screeches to a halt, gets splashed by a wave]
Otto: Woo, I gotta replace that window.
Bart+Lisa: Pool Mobile?!