Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: SummerScreen presents Honduras at McCarren Park

(Video courtesy Jose Murucci)

Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: Summerscreen presents "Labyriinth" with Charly Bliss at McCarren Park

(Photo by Chase Connolly)

(Videos courtesy Heartbreaking Bravery)

Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: SummerScreen presents "The Neverending Story" with Market Hotel (Todd P + Showpaper) presenting music by Aa, Ratking, Amen Dunes and Chota Madre at McCarren Park

(Videos courtesy Sixdust | NYC Music)

Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: SummerScreen presents Prince Rama and Telepathe and "Dirty Dancing"

We love Prince Rama, and we haven't seen them live in over a year, when they appeared at their DVD release party at the sadly-departed Monster Island Basement, so we were thrilled to get to see this incredible duo up close tonight at the McCarren Park ballfields as they opened The L Magazine's SummerScreen presentation of Dirty Dancing.

They were pretty incredible, as usual, and though we first saw them two years ago back when they were a trio at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and we've listened to their music, this was the best we'd ever seen or heard them. The sisters Taraka Larson and Nimai Larson absolutely were in top form early this evening. Later there was a very nice set from Telepathe, Brooklynites Melissa Livaudais and Busy Gangnes

We'd seen Dirty Dancing decades ago, but we also lived it, as the child of parents who were part owners of a hotel in South Fallsburg (the DeVille, previously the Nemerson) and someone who, like Jennifer Grey's character Baby, spent the summer of 1963 in a Borscht Belt hotel (The Raleigh, owned by our parents' good friend George Gilbert, who was, though he'd be surprised to hear it, a role model for a kid who knew he was a little different).

But in the summer of tonight's film, 49 summers ago, we were 12, not 17, and not so interested in dancing or (definitely not) girls as we were in the jokes of our friends' mom, the great comedienne Totie Fields, who also lived at the hotel with her husband George. We, and her fans, have missed her a lot. That's another side of 1963 and the Borscht Belt. But we're very grateful to the amazing Todd P and SummerScreen for allowing us to see tonight's music and movie. It was perfect. Especially Prince Rama!

Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: SummerScreen Rained Out at McCarren Park

Although we waited until the quick monsoon passed to leave our house and found a rainbow over McCarren Park, we were disappointed to find that tonight's SummerScreen was canceled due to the rainstorm, and we heard, some equipment damage.

People were still around, though.

Vitamin Water was being sold at highly discounted prices, and so was some food. The contents of freshly ordered pizza boxes were being eaten standing up.

SummerScreen's hard-working intrepid photographer would not be affected by a mere thunderstorm.

We think he should be paid a bonus for tonight.

The Iranian band, YEllow Dogs, whom we had been excited to get to see perform, have faced a lot worse in Tehran.

When a cop bicycles over to a band there, they usually don't have the good intentions of this member of New York's Finest as the band packed up.

Some people abandoned drenched blankets. We are so old and cheap that the thought crossed our mind that we could take some over to the Metro Community Laundromat dryers, but nah, we're not that old and cheap.

So we walked home with some Vitamin Water and our trusty umbrella. We were grateful to hear that Wayne's World has been rescheduled for August 17.

Wednesday Night in Williamsburg: TECLA opens EPIX and The L Magazine's SummerScreen presentation of "Friday" at McCarren Park

Tonight at the McCarren Park ballfields, our friends at The L Magazine, in conjunction with EPIX Movies Free-For-All, presented the first SummerScreen

show of the summer, Friday, which we enjoyed. But we really came to see TECLA, who opened for the film with a really terrific set that began at 7 p.m.

TECLA is Tecla Esposito, and she's got these killer albums, Strangers in Masks and the remix Strangers Revisited, that we've listened to repeatedly, with more pleasure each time.

For her great performance tonight we have to thank Nicole Wasilewicz of Free Williamsburg, who's curating this season's SummerScreen music acts. Also, backup on drumes, etc, by the talented and shirtless Kassa Overall.

Anyway, SummerScreen is always worth going to. We scored an EPIX mat to sit on and had a chance to enter a raffle to win an iPad and other good stuff, as we did last Thursday's film in Tompkins Square Park. There's lots of good food and drink, too.

And lots of cool people, of course.

We sometimes worry that when, as an old uncool person, write about something, we'll infect it with our un-coolness. That's why we understood when this photographer hired by EPIX asked everyone around us if he could take their pics, and um, just pretended we were invisible. Which we are, of course.

We just don't want to be confused to the poor old Larry 'Bud' Melman lookalike who got scarily close to Tecla towards the end of the set and then, seeming to think it was an open mike event, asked to perform next.

Anyway, you should check out TECLA's work and all the people smarter than us who've said good things about this terrific tropical-electro-pop musician.


Friday, of course, is now the classic that spawned a whole series of increasingly less funny sequels with Ice Cube.


We're grateful we got to get to SummerScreen for the movie and fine music on this beautiful night in Williamsburg. We're also grateful we live just a few blocks away because we've been up since 4:30 a.m.