Saturday Afternoon and Evening in East Williamsburg: The Go Folk Yourself Summer Fest at Cooper Park

We spent several wonderful hours today at Cooper Park at the Go Folk Yourself Summer Fest, an all-day event from the folks at Go Folk Yourself (GFY), a music video newsblog that promotes independent artists in Brooklyn.

Since we just have to walk down Conselyea Street the four blocks to its end where it turns into Maspeth Avenue for another few blocks, we went back and forth during the afternoon and early evening, so of course we didn't see all the bands on the lineup:

The Ruby Spirit, The Secret History, Tayisha Busay, Friends, GunFight!, New Atlantic Youth, Friend Roulette, Whale Belly, Zachary Cale, Swear and Shake, Crooks and Perverts.


Still, the music we did hear was terrific. Up first was Crooks and Perverts.




Swear and Shake






Friend Roulette







New Atlantic Youth





Gunfight!

Tuesday Morning in Williamsburg: CityParks Foundation Puppet Mobile presents "Bessie's Big Shot" at McCarren Park

Cowabunga! This morning lots of little kids enjoyed a terrific performance of "Bessie's Big Shot" put on by the CityParks Foundation Puppet Mobile in McCarren Park.

Unlike the previous great puppet shows put on by the group (like "Sleeping Beauty" last summer), "Bessie's Big Shot"

is an original story and production rather than one taken from Central Park's Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre.
And it's a great story of Bessie, a New York City cow who, though working a series of unsatisfying jobs (like serving lattes), has always had the dream of being a part of the circus.

With the circus coming to Brooklyn, Bessie the cow tries out for a role in the greatest show on earth.

Can Bessie lift tremendous weights like Ziegfried the strongest man on earth? Work with a monkey? Gracefully glide on the trapeze? Balance herself on a high wire?

Through funny trials and tribulations, she finally achieves her dream.

At McCarren Park, it drew a big crowd, some very young,

who seemed delighted by the skillful and entertaining show done by the expert puppet masters.

"Bessie's Big Shot" will stay in the neighborhood for another two days: tomorrow morning it will be in Cooper Park, the next day in McGolrick Park, and it will playing in parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs all summer.

We know some little people who would be grateful if you took them.

Thursday Morning in East Williamsburg: Signs of Spring in Cooper Park

This morning we walked east to Cooper Park, taking our newspaper and iced tea and our eagerness to see some signs of spring.

We found them.

There were a couple of photogenic dogs and their human companions in the dog run, a homeless man sound asleep on a bench with his shopping cart nearby, and some little kids playing in the Cooper Park playground.

Across Maspeth Avenue, at the wonderful Red Shed Community Garden,

there were even more signs of spring.


And on Kingsland Avenue, by the southwest corner of the old Greenpoint Hospital grounds (this building now the home of St. Nicks Alliance), there was the quintessential Brooklyn sign of spring we remember contributing to in our childhood: a bouquet of sneakers on a wire.