(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings February 21–27, 2020
Shakes it up!
Brittany, you got to come on up!
A newly solo, soulful singer will kick off
this year’s Bric Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival!
The frontwoman of the blues rock band Alabama
Shakes, Brittany Howard, will kick off
the 42nd annual free summer festival with a
solo performance at the Prospect Park Bandshell
on June 9. The head of the arts organization
behind the beloved annual music extravaganza
said that Howard was a perfect choice to
launch the festival.
“We are thrilled to be kicking off our 42nd
season with a show-stopping performance by
Brittany Howard,” said Bric President Kristina
Newman-Scott. “This night celebrates our commitment
to present bold work from risk-tasking
artists and creators across stages, screens,
and galleries.”
As the lead singer and guitarist for five-time
Grammy-winning band Alabama Shakes, Howard
is known as the powerhouse voice behind
the hit songs “Don’t Wanna Fight,” “Sound and
Color,” and “Hold On,” among others. Howard
launched her debut solo album, “Jamie,” in September
of last year, naming it after her sister,
who taught her to play the piano and write poetry,
and died of cancer at a young age.
Howard’s young solo career has already had
success, with “History Repeats,” the album opener
for “Jamie,” receiving nominations for Best Rock
Song and Best Rock Performance at the 2020
Grammy Awards.
Before Howard’s 8:30 pm show, Bric will
host “The Revel,” a fund-raising event where
the Downtown arts group will honor David Ehrenberg,
the president of the Brooklyn Navy
Yard Development Corporation. Tickets to the
Revel start at $750.
Brittany Howard at Bric Celebrate Brooklyn!
Festival at the Prospect Park Bandshell, (enter
at Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park
Slope, (718) 683–5600, www.bricartsmedia.
org/cb). June 9 at 8:30 pm. Free.
— Amalia Arms
MUSIC
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
He’s giving us a fresh look at old art.
A Native American artist is using
centuries-old sculptures and artifacts
from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection to
weave a new story about indigenous people.
“When Fire is Applied to a Stone it Cracks,”
on display at the Brooklyn Museum until
2021, juxtaposes stereotypical portrayals
of American Indians with colorful new art
by artist Jeffrey Gibson to show that Native
Americans are a vital, living community,
the show’s curator said.
“He’s looking at history and the way
history has been told and telling a counter
narrative,” said Eugenia Tsai.
The show opens with a well-known piece
from the Museum’s collection: Charles
Cary Rumsey’s 1904 sculpture “Dying
Indian,” which features a slumped figure
on an emaciated horse. Gibson created a
pair of moccasins and slipped them onto
the bronze figure, which gives the morbid
ART
piece a lively pop, and placed it in front of
a vibrant mural of modern song lyrics.
Throughout the show, Gibson’s brightlycolored
sculptures, weaving, and stained
glass contrast with the European art’s focus
on death and decline.
“There was this whole trope of the ‘dying
Indian’ and this image perpetuated
by Europeans and Americans that Indians
were a dying race,” said Tsai. “One
of the things Jeff is doing is working
against that.”
The exhibit also highlights pottery and
photographs by Native Americans, demonstrating
Horse power: (Above) The entrance to the new Native American art exhibit at the
Brooklyn Museum features Charles Cary Rumsey’s “The Dying Indian” statue in front
of a modern mural that reads, “I’m gonna run with every minute I can borrow.” (Top
left) Artist Jeffrey Gibson places his own art, which often features modern song
lyrics, next to old work about Native Americans made by European settlers.
the wide variety of indigenous
art, Tsai explained.
“People seem to have an idea of how
Native American art should be, and Gibson
really wants to show its variety and
that it’s always been hybrid, it’s always
been contemporary,” she said.
Gibson, who has Choctaw and Cherokee
heritage, took the show’s name, “When
Fire is Applied to a Stone it Cracks,” from
an Irish proverb. The fire represents Native
American innovation, while the stone
is the static stereotypes created by Europeans,
Gibson explained.
“I read ‘fire’ in this quote to describe the
innovative making, use of materials, transformative
techniques, and the survivalist
ethic of Indigenous people,” he wrote.
The show critiques traditional portrayals
of Native Americans, but it does not
seek to shame or chastise the non-Native
works, Tsai clarified. Instead, it showcases
the power and life within Native American
art and communities, Tsai said.
“Images of joy, images of happiness,
images of community and family where
subjects weren’t posing for the camera
but maybe were caught in their daily lives
— that can be a powerful form of resistance,”
she said.
BEER
Pint sized
This brewery really takes the biscuit!
A Prospect Lefferts Gardens brewmaster will
pull pints at Brooklyn’s biggest beer festival for
the first time this Saturday. The owner of Daleview
Biscuits and Beer will pour a pale ale
and a Belgian-inspired dark ale at New York
City Beer Week’s Opening Bash on Feb. 22,
showcasing some of his Nostrand Avenue ales
for a brand new audience.
“It’s a good way to meet other brewers in
the community, and a good way to introduce
my beer to people outside the neighborhood,
since we are a small batch brewer,” said Christopher
Gandry, who opened his brewery in late
2018.
The pint-sized taproom in Prospect Lefferts
Gardens is also a restaurant, serving hearty
brews created in the basement alongside plates
of Southern-style grub. Gandry said that his biscuits
are a natural pairing for any brew.
“A good biscuit and a good beer always go
together — it’s like marriage,” said Gandry, a
South Carolina native who named his brewery
and restaurant after his hometown of Dale
View.
At the eatery, Gandry offers a wide variety
of toppings on his flaky buttermilk biscuits,
including a fried chicken biscuit for dinner, a
breakfast biscuit that incorporates house-made
turkey sausages, a pulled pork biscuit dubbed
the “Mama Gandsy,” and “The Goat-To Biscuit”
with goat cheese and fig jam.
Putting biscuits alongside his brews is not
only a natural pairing, said Gandry, it is also
a compromise to accommodate his gluten-allergic
wife. All of his biscuits are gluten-free,
although the beers are not, he said.
“Everything we cooked at home was glutenfree,
but I couldn’t compromise on a glutenfree
beer,” said Gandry.
During New York City Beer Week, Gandry
will host several events at Daleview, including a
“bottle share” on Feb. 24, where home-brewers
are invited to bring and share their own sudsy
creations, a night of biscuit-centric charcuterie
on Feb. 25, and a beer dinner that pairs a different
brew with each course on Feb. 28
New York City Beer Week Opening Bash at
the Brooklyn Expo Center (72 Noble St. at Franklin
Street in Greenpoint, nycbrewed.com). Feb.
22 at 12:30 pm and 6:30 pm. $75 ($115 VIP).
Daleview Biscuits and Beer (1170 Nostrand
Ave. between Rutland Road and Fenimore
Street in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, (347) 240–
5110, www.biscuitsandbeer.nyc). Open Mon-
Fri, 7 am–8:30 pm; Sat, 9 am–8:30 pm; Sun, 9
am–5:30 pm. — Ben Verde
“When Fire is Applied to a Stone
it Cracks” at the Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Pkwy. at Washington Avenue
in Prospect Heights, (718) 638–
5000, www.brooklynmuseum.org. On
display Wed–Sun; 11 am–6 pm until
2021. $16 suggested admission.
By Jessica Parks
Brooklyn Paper
The Big Apple can party like the
Big Easy!
Mardis Gras is next week, and
Brooklyn has plenty of spots where
you can gather your krewe to splurge
before the long Lenten season begins.
So here are four of your best opportunities
to celebrate Fat Tuesday!
Hold everything!
The expansive event space Freehold
will take on the flavor of N’awlins for
its “Bourbon Street” party tonight, featuring
fire eaters, stilt walkers, and
cajun cuisine. Happy hour starts at 5
pm, and the tunes of New Orleans will
start bumping at 7 pm, with the High
and Mighty Brass Band keeping it going
well into Ash Wednesday.
“Bourbon Street” at Freehold (45
S. Third St. between Kent and Wythe
avenues in Williamsburg, (718) 388–
7591, www.freeholdbrooklyn.com).
Feb. 25 at 5 pm. Free.
Party animals
Roll with a canine krewe at Sean
Casey Animal Rescue’s Mardi Gras
Party! This action-packed night at Shenanigan’s
Pub will include a tongueblistering
hot sauce tasting contest,
games, Big Easy-style cocktails, live
jazz from singer Gina Healy, and a
raffle to win a trip to New Orleans!
The all-inclusive ticket will also score
you a mask, beads, a cajun buffet dinner,
and five raffle tickets.
Mardi Gras Party at Shenanigan’s
Pub (802 Caton Ave. at E. Eighth
Street in Kensington, (718) 436–5163,
seancaseyanimalrescue.ticketleap.
com/mardigras). Feb. 25; 6–10 pm.
$10 ($30 all-inclusive).
Fat Brewsday
Threes Brewing in Gowanus is
brewing up a Fat Tuesday dance
party with two full rooms dedicated
to boogie-woogie and blues. Before
hitting the dance floor, you can load
up on King Cake and Sazeracs. The
event — with no cover! — kicks off
at 5 pm with dishes and drinks from
the bayou; followed by disc jockeys
spinning at 8 pm, and the band 3 Ring
Bender at 9 pm.
Fat Tuesday at Threes Brewing
(333 Douglass St. between Third and
Fourth avenues in Gowanus, (718)
522–2110, www.threesbrewing.com).
Feb. 25; 5 pm–2 am. Free.
Bourbon treat
Pick up a sweet new recipe for the
Mardi Gras season at Creme and Cocoa
Creamery’s “Beignet and Bourbon
Ice Cream Making Class,” where
you can learn to make fried doughnuts,
bourbon-infused chocolate, and
bourbon ice cream. Each amateur
baker will leave the two-hour class
with recipes they can use for a lifetime,
and two pints of ice cream to
gratify immediate cravings.
“Beignet and Bourbon Ice Cream
Making Class” at Creme and Cocoa
Creamery (1067 Nostrand Ave. between
Lincoln and Lefferts avenues
in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, (718)
245–6286, www.cremeandcocoa.
com). Feb. 21, 24, and 25 at 6:30 pm;
Feb. 22–23 at 5:30 pm. $50.
Native
speaker
Exhibit contrasts art by and art
about indigenous Americans
Enjoy the carnival krewes!
Where to celebrate a New Orleans’ Fat Tuesday in Brooklyn
Photos by Rose Adams
Photo by Ben Verde Photo by Lza Axlwd
Let’s get High: The High and Mighty Brass Band will play the Bourbon Street party at Williamsburg’s
Freehold on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 25.
/www.bricartsmedia
/www.biscuitsandbeer.nyc
/www.brooklynmuseum.org
/www.freeholdbrooklyn.com
/www.threesbrewing.com
/www.cremeandcocoa
/www.bricartsmedia
/nycbrewed.com
/www.biscuitsandbeer.nyc)
/www.brooklynmuseum.org
/www.freeholdbrooklyn.com)
/www.threesbrewing.com)
/www.cremeandcocoa