(no subject)

Excerpt from a column in SF Gate, quoting my friend Clide!

No frustrations, however, for the Finch Mob, a band of artists who "strive to collapse the distance between idea and action." They opened their first show on Saturday night; on Sunday afternoon, duded up in vintage punk finery, they played croquet in the Panhandle. Then it was back to the gallery, an apartment on Oak Street, where art was hung on every wall, and performers entertained on a stage set up in the garage. The group plans to take over other spaces and stage "not-so-random acts of art and mayhem."

Clide vs. Crocodiles, who was singing and playing the banjo onstage, offered fans her CDs for $4 apiece, without plastic cases. "Someday," she said, "I'll be able to afford the covers." As I finished looking at and listening to the show -- painting, sculpture and sound installation -- an announcement was made that a Thai food order was about to be placed, and anyone with $8 could kick in. The sign on a door said: "The world needs your creative spirit in action," and the place seemed bursting with just that.

warehouse walkway

warehouse walkway, originally uploaded by Reversible Skirt.

Please see uberdionysus for notes on today's huge, suspicious fire in Greenpoint. The American Manufacturing Terminal, with its gorgeous skyways, burned this morning in a plume that could be seen from many points in Manhattan and which loomed over my neighborhood.

Many preservation and neighborhood groups have been trying to save the building or parts of it in some way that would acknowledge the massive industry that once animated the Greenpoint waterfront. The area is slated for redevelopment to luxury condos and parkland. The owner, Jack or Josh Guttman, also owned a building in DUMBO which mysteriously burned.

Discussion at Flickr

Below, some old photos of Coney Island I found...


amazing photo archive of old NY images, with big files!


Post-Fire at Coney Island.