Yesterday morning, when our dead-trees issue of Time Out New York arrived in our non-virtual mailbox, we turned to the "Your Perfect Weekend" section and saw as the first item for Friday, May 4:
We’re big fans of Novel-T
because we like books more than sports, and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a Tell-Tale Heart is the best way to show that literary spirit. Like-minded folks should stop by powerHouse Arena (37 Main St at Water St, Dumbo, Brooklyn;
novel-t.com; 7–9pm, free) for the launch party of the nerdy tee company’s “Team 2” series,
which salutes writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Emily Dickinson
and the line’s first living author, Jonathan Ames (his emblem is the Brooklyn Bridge, natch). Once you’ve donned your Darcy tee ($25), stick around for a reading from Richard Grayson, or show off your baseball skills (sort of) in a Wii
home-run derby.
What that left out was the more exciting news that David Goodwillie, whose new novel American Subversive
has gotten spectacular reviews everywhere, was reading at the event and that there would be an appearance by Sandy the Seagull of the Brooklyn Cyclones.
powerHouse Arena is a great venue for just about anything, one of the coolest spaces in Brooklyn.
We arrived early and explored the intriguing green-themed art exhibit upstairs
and the selection of books and other stuff for sale downstairs.
The event tonight was co-sponsored by BrooklynTheBorough, which had their new print little magazine on display.
David Bukszpan and Michael Kravetsky, who are both the brains and brawn behind Novel-T,
introduced the evening's events, which began with an underwhelming reading of an allegedly comic Brooklyn baseball story written by the world's worst photographer. If you want to see non-sucky pics of this event, check out the professional photos at Facebook, taken by the talented Emile Dubuisson, who can even make meeskites look semi-okay.
Anyway, things picked up momentum considerably once David Goodwillie, a former minor league baseball player, read a funny and honest section of his rollicking memoir, Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, dealing with his failed post-college tryout with the Cincinnati Reds.
Free Novel-T Team 2 shirts and Cracker Jacks were catapulted into the bleachers.
A video of Jonathan Ames, in the T-shirt honoring him, introduced the new lineup of stylish Novel-T wear.
There was free beer (not much use to us teetotalers, but nice for normal people) and then the Wii tournament got underway with Sandy as the first contestant.
He is a better mascot than a player.
It was really a great evening, and we're grateful for being invited.
Also we're grateful that our old friends Ken, Paul (we know both of them from our freshman year at Brooklyn College forty years ago) and Janet and our students Tunisia, Clinton and Nadia were nice enough to show up. As for Sandy the Seagull (shown here with Paul), he's a great sport and the best big bird in all of Brooklyn baseball.
Again, if you want an idea what the Novel-T celebration of the release of its second team, The National Puncs, looked like without the fuzziness and blurring, see Emile Dubuisson's photos at Novel-T's Facebook page, like this one:
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