By Bill Roundy This is your guide to Pride!
The borough of Kings
overflows with pride this
month. This year marks the 50th
anniversary of the Stonewall Riots,
which kicked off the modern gay
rights movement, and the city’s gay
community and its allies are ready
to celebrate — as are people around
the world!
Brooklyn’s own twilight Pride
Parade happens on June 8, but there
are plenty of Pride-related festivities
before and after the Park Slope
march. We’ve rounded up some of
the best events for you here:
Sat, June 8
Today is Brooklyn’s official
Pride Day — and it includes much
more than a parade!
5K Pride Run: Kick off your
day with a 5-kilometer Pride Run
through Prospect Park! Every runner
will receive a Brooklyn Pride
Run T-shirt and a Pride Run medal.
10 a.m. Start at Bartel-Pritchard
Square (15th Street at Prospect Park
West in Windsor Terrace, www.
brooklynpride.org). $40.
Drag Queen Story Hour: A
sparkly queen will don her reading
glasses and tell fairy tales to kids.
11 am. Park Slope Library (431
Sixth Ave. at Ninth Street in Park
Slope, bklynlibrary.org). Free.
Multicultural Festival:
Community organizations and
businesses will line Fifth Avenue
between First and Ninth streets
throughout the day. Each end of
the festival will feature a stage
with bands, speakers, and drag acts
throughout the day, with drag queen
Emi Grate emceeing the stage at
First Street, and trans cabaret singer
Lailah Lancing leading the action at
the Ninth Street stage.
11 a.m.–5 p.m. www.brooklynpride.
org. Free.
Twilight Parade: The climax
of Brooklyn Pride is the annual
Twilight Pride Parade! Cheer as gay
organizations, businesses, and supporters
march down Park Slope’s
Fifth Avenue. Leading the parade
will be this year’s Grand Marshals:
11-year-old drag kid Desmond is
Amazing and his mom, Wendy
Napoles; Alphonso B. David, the
first openly gay man to serve as
chief counsel to the Governor of
New York; and Kate Barnhart, a
longtime AIDS activist and supporter
of gay youth.
Twilight Parade (Fifth Avenue
from Lincoln Place to Ninth Street
in Park Slope, www.brooklynpride.
org). 7:30 p.m. Free.
After the parade, every spot
along Fifth Avenue becomes a queer
party spot, though the real action
will be at lesbian bar Ginger’s (363
Fifth Ave. between Fifth and Sixth
streets in Park Slope, www.facebook.
com/Gingersbar) and gay bar
Excelsior (563 Fifth Ave. between
15th and 16th streets in Park Slope,
www.excelsiorbrooklyn.com).
Post-parade options:
Comedy, Pass the Aux presents
Lady Gaga: The variety show celebrates
Lady Gaga with drag performances,
singing, and comedy.
8 p.m. Littlefield (635 Sackett St.
between Third and Fourth avenues
in Gowanus), www.littlefieldnyc.
com. $10.
Nightlife, Set It Off: The queer
hip-hop dance party joins forces
with the Laid Brooklyn Dance Party
for a night of revelry and music.
8:30 p.m. Bell House 149
Seventh St. at Third Avenue in
Gowanus, (718) 643–6510, www.
thebellhouseny.com. $10.
Music, Brooklyn Pride Queer
Country After-party: Catch some
queer country acts after the parade,
including Paisley Fields, Ryan
COURIER L 54 IFE, JUNE 7-13, 2019 24-7
Cassata, Karen and the Sorrows,
Mercy Bell, and Goldenchild.
10 p.m. Union Hall (702 Union
St. at Fifth Avenue in Park Slope,
www.unionhallny.com). $10.
Sun, June 9
Spirit of Stonewall: A community
commemoration of the
Stonewall Rebellion, featuring
playwright Lisa Kron, Lavender
Light Gospel Choir, Stonewall
Ambassadors Betty, queer theologian
Patrick Cheng, activist Wazina
Zondon, and St. Pat’s for All founder
Brendan Fay.
3:30 p.m. St. Ann’s Church 157
Montague St. at Clinton Street in
Brooklyn Heights, (718) 875–6960.
Free.
Wed, June 26
Music, World Pride Opening
Ceremony: The Stonewall 50 celebration
starts with a giant benefit
concert, emceed by Whoopi
Goldberg, and featuring performances
by Cyndi Lauper, Chaka
Khan, Ciara, Todrick Hall, and
more. The show benefits the Ali
Forney Center, Immigration
Equality, and Seniors in a Gay
Environment.
7 p.m. Barclays Center (620
Atlantic Ave. at Pacific Street in
Prospect Heights, www.barclayscenter.
com). $45–$226.
Sat, June 29
Nightlife, Everybooty: An allinclusive,
all-gender celebration of
queer nightlife featuring musicians,
dancers, comedians, visual artists,
a dedicated piano bar, Brooklyn
drag collective Switch n’ Play, and
dancing on the rooftop terrace and
throughout the space.
9 p.m. – 2 a.m. BAM Fisher
(321 Ashland Pl. between Hansen
Place and Lafayette Avenue in Fort
Greene, www.bam.org). $30.
Yes we Canal: Experimental musician Colin Langenus will kick off the free
monthly Creekers Jamboree music series with a concert on the bank of the
Gowanus Canal on June 15. Photo by Trey Pentecost
Rock the boat
TBy Kevin Duggan hey’re going back to their
roots!
A free summer concert
series will return to the
banks of the Gowanus Canal
this month. The Creekers
Jamboree series, sponsored by
the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe
Club, will bring Americana and
roots music to the club’s Second
Street Boathouse on the third
Thursday of each month, starting
on June 15 and continuing
through October. The debut
performer said that he hopes
to channel the neighborhood’s
zany spirit in his performance.
“Gowanus is really a trip, and
it’s beautiful,” said Queens singer
songwriter Colin Langenus,
who will share the June 15 bill
with Clinton Hill musician Rose
Thomas Bannister. “There’s
money coming in, but there
are still weirdos that have been
there a while, and the place has
a lot of character.”
Langenus has recorded an
extensive catalogue over the
last three decades, with more
than 100 releases under various
band names. For his performance
alongside Brooklyn’s
Nautical Purgatory, he will dig
up some tunes from his 2011
folk rock record “Infinite Ease,”
along with his prog-rock project
Usaisamonster, and a blend of
originals songs and covers.
The jack-of-all-trades, who
claims to be related to classic
composer Ludwig van
Beethoven, says he draws his
artistic inspiration from more
recent songwriters, including
Jimi Hendrix and John
Coltrane, along with the 1989
stoner comedy “Bill and Ted’s
Excellent Adventure.”
Before each show, the boat
club will host its usual weekly
free canoe trips along the toxic
waterway, from 1 – 5 p.m.
The music series, which
launched last summer, is named
after a gang that roamed the
Gowanus marshes and creek
during the mid-1800s called
the Creekers, which defended
the territory against rival gang
the Pointers coming from Red
Hook Point. Both gangs died
out in the early 20th century,
and members of the Dredgers
Canoe Club say they wanted
to pay homage to the area’s
folklore.
“Paying homage to the historical
areas is why we did
it,” said concert organizer Liz
Rabson Schnore.
The longtime dredger will
also break out some instruments
with her friends for the
one-night-only band Pointers
Revenge, which on Aug. 17 will
play folk-influenced versions
of songs about the Gowanus
Canal written over the last two
centuries.
“It’ll be a bit of Pete Seeger
environmentalism and singalong
songs,” said Schnore.
“It’s silly and fun.”
Additional dates and acts:
July 20: Homestead Street
Band and Hello Bittersweet
(Robin Aigner and Michael
Brownell)
Aug. 17: Stillhouse Serenade
and Pointers Revenge
Sept. 21: Vienna Carroll and
the Ukuladies
Oct. 19: Piedmont Bluz
Creekers Jamboree at
Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club
165 Second St. at Bond Street
in Gowanus, www.gowanuscanal.
org. Every third Saturday,
June 15–October 19 at 5 p.m.
Free.
PRIDE AND JOY
A guide to Bklyn’s best LGBT events
Canoe Club launches
a summer music series
Play on: The Brooklyn drag collective Switch ‘n’ Play will perform at Everybooty at BAM Fisher on June 29.
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