(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings March 13–19, 2020
Sweet art
It’s art with a big heart!
An enormous art exhibit in Williamsburg features
a many-splendored collection of sculptures,
paintings, photos, and less definable art
pieces, each trying to express the confusing and
multi-faceted experience of love. “A Romantic
Comedy,” on display through March 31, features
more than 50 works of art from 28 local
and international artists. The show’s co-curator
said that the widely varying pieces fit together
as though they were meant to be.
“I’ve been drawn towards community energy,”
said Steven Pestana, who organized the
exhibit with Sophia Sobers. “We both wanted
to use the platform of an art exhibition to help
generate that sense of togetherness.”
The exhibit, located on the ground floor
of a waterfront office tower, features several
sprawling pieces of installment art. The generous
scale gives each artist a rare chance to
tell a complete story of romance in the modern
age, said Pestana.
“We think this show is a way to give these
artists a lot of space to spread their wings at a
scale well beyond the square footage generally
encountered among emerging art galleries or
in art fairs,” he said.
The exhibit is hosted by Wallplay, a company
that operates pop-ups in vacant retail spaces.
The show opened two weeks ago, and nearly
1,000 visitors have already passed through the
doors, said the curators, who urged fans of new
art to stop by while they can.
“Visitors should stop by to see some of the most
unique emerging artists at work right now, all in
one place, in a setting that allows the artwork to
make a coherent statement,” said Pestana.
“A Romantic Comedy” at 25 Kent 25 Kent
Ave. between N. 12th and N. 13th streets in Williamsburg,
twentyfivekent.com. Open Wed–
Sun, 11 am–7 pm, through March 31. Free.
— Meg Capone
ART
Irish eyeglasses are smiling: Marchers donned their Irish-themed gear for the Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Day parade, happening this year on March 22. Photo by Jordan Rathkopf
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
It’s time for some shenanigans!
Saint Patrick’s Day has returned to
chase the snakes from Brooklyn. The
celebration of Irish culture is also your best
excuse to down a few pints of Guinness and
fill up on corn beef and cabbage. We found
some of the best Irish events in the borough,
so that you can get your green on!
Shamrock ’n’ roll
Indie rock standby Kevin Devine will
resurrect his Celtic side project Kenny
O’Brien and the O’Douls for an early St.
Paddy’s show at Rough Trade. The group
plays uptempo indie-punk with added Celtic
instrumentation, including mandolins and
fiddles, which they put on record this year
with an eponymous album.
Kenny O’Brien and the O’Douls at
Rough Trade 64 N. Ninth St. between
Wythe and Kent Avenues in Williamsburg,
(718) 388–4111, www.roughtrade.com.
March 14 at 9 pm. $30.
Good green fun
Show off your Irish pride at the 45th annual
Brooklyn St. Patrick’s Day Parade! On
March 15 at 9 am, the day will start with
a mass at Holy Name of Jesus Church in
Windsor Terrace. Afterwards, green-bedecked
revelers will assemble at Prospect
Park West and 15th Street, ready to step off
at 1 pm. The parade, led by Grand Marshal
and Brooklyn Parks Commissioner
Marty Maher, will march down 15th Street
to Seventh Avenue, head to Garfield Place,
then turn back to Prospect Park West and
return to its origin. Expect loads of kilts
and bagpipes!
Brooklyn Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
(starting at Prospect Park West and 15th
Street in Park Slope). March 15 at 1 pm.
Free.
Haven on Earth
For a proper Saint Patrick’s Day in a pub,
ascend to Sunset Park’s Irish Haven, where
the Guinness will be flowing and corned
beef and cabbage will be served starting
at 8 am. In the evening, traditional Irish
trio Bog Turtles will serenade patrons with
folk tunes from the Emerald Isle.
Bog Turtles at Irish Haven 5721 Fourth
Ave. at 58th Street in Sunset Park, (718)
439–9893. March 17 at 7 pm. Free.
Craic the case
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will host
a special St. Patrick’s Day screening of
Martin Scorsese’s 2006 crime drama “The
Departed” — partially filmed at the Irish
Haven — along with a three-course meal
that includes buttered ham sandwiches,
corned beef brisket with green cabbage,
and a cannoli, each accompanied by an
Irish brew.
“The Departed St. Patrick’s Day Beer
Dinner” at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema 445
Albee Sq. West, fourth floor, between Willoughby
and Fulton streets Downtown,
(718) 513–2547, www.drafthouse.com.
March 17 at 6:30 pm. $70.
Mean and green
Across town, you can spend Saint Patrick’s
Day with the most classic example of
Celtic cinema: “Leprechaun.” In the first
installment of the schlocky horror franchise,
the titular leprechaun goes on a killing
spree after he is accidentally released
by a group of teens (including Jennifer Aniston
in her film debut). A ridiculous reign
of terror ensues.
“Leprechaun” at Nitehawk Prospect
Park 188 Prospect Park West at 14th Street
in Park Slope, (929) 282–4300, www.nitehawkcinema.
com/prospectpark. March
17 at 9:30 pm. $15.
Green Bay
Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations will
keep chugging through the weekend! On
the Sunday after the holiday, head south
for the Bay Ridge Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
First, the Little Leprechaun’s Kids’
Fun Run, a fund-raiser for the Love Conquers
Cancer charity, will send kids racing
for eight blocks along the closed Third
Avenue, from Irish bar Wicked Monk to
wing spot Kettle Black, where there will
be snacks and kids’ activities.
At noon, the big procession will march
30 blocks along Third Avenue, from Marine
Avenue to 67th street. The parade, led by
grand marshal Linda Gallagher-Lomanto
(the former president of the parade committee),
will feature floats, bands, dancers,
and Irish locals with loads of shamrock
apparel.
Little Leprechaun’s Kids Fun Run starts
at the Wicked Monk, 9510 Third Ave. at
95th streets in Bay Ridge, (718) 316-5595,
www.wickedmonk.com. March 22 at 11:30
am (sign-up at 10:30 am). $20.
Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Day Parade
(Third Avenue from Marine Avenue to 67th
Street in Bay Ridge, www.brparade.com).
March 22 at noon. Free.
Wicked fun!
After the parade, make a pilgrimage
to the Wicked Monk for some day drinking
and Irish tunes. Bronx band New York
Brogue will take the stage at 2 pm, followed
by Slainte, a Boston band that specializes
in upbeat Irish party music, followed by
the bar’s weekly Sunday seisun of Irish
tunes, where anyone with an instrument
or a voice is welcome to join in.
St. Patrick’s Day music at the Wicked
Monk 9510 Third Ave. at 95th Street in Bay
Ridge, (718) 316-5595, www.wickedmonk.
com. March 22; 2–6:30 pm. Free.
BOOKS
Reading picks
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick:
“Deacon King Kong,” by James McBride
Set in a housing project in Red Hook in the
1960s, this is a picaresque, almost Dickensian
rollick that starts
when the lovable but
constantly drunk titular
deacon shoots a
young drug dealer at
point blank range. The
novel is a little over-thetop
(especially the insanely
happy ending),
but is also compassionate
and tender toward its
characters, while also
being open-eyed about
their flaws and limitations.
It is one of those satisfying novels that
is a pleasure to recommend.
— Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight
Bookstore 686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott
Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene,
(718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.
com .
Word’s picks: “The
Ice Cream Man and
Other Stories,” by
Sam Pink
Sam Pink is the most
compelling new poet of
the growing American
underclass, a broadly
precarious crowd in
perpetual service to
the fat and happy. His
stories of psyches bent
by misfortune, twisted
by repetitive work, and broken by social realities
resonate with all of us who have worked
in kitchens and food service, all of us who
have watched the middle class collapse into
the low-wage basement of the once-prosperous
land of the free. He is the millennial heir
to James Kelman and Charles Bukowski, and I
cannot recommend this collection more highly
than that.
— Jeff Waxman, Word 126 Franklin St. at
Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096,
www.wordbookstores.com .
Community
Bookstore’s pick:
“Footprints: In
Search of Future
Fossils,” by David
Farrier
A meditation on the
collapsing tempo of geologic
time and the human
lifespan, Farrier’s
book reckons with the
traces we leave behind,
from ancient footprints
to domestic artifacts to the “future fossils” we
are creating right now. Ranging from the microscopic
— the chemical composition of air,
sea, and soil — to the unimaginably vast —
mountaintop removal, strip mining, deep sea
drilling — Farrier composes a litany of human
gestures that mark, now permanently, the surface
and the depths of our planet.
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore 43
Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield
Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.
commu nityb ookst ore.net .
Going brogue
The very best spots to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Brooklyn
Photo by Caroline Ourso
Going green: (Clockwise from top) Students with the Buckley School of Irish
Dance will march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Park Slope. Kevin Devine
will play as Kenny O’Brien and the O’Douls on March 14 at Rough Trade.
The comedy-horror film “Leprechaun,” starring Warwick Davis as the goldloving
Irish goblin, has become a St. Patrick’s Day staple.
Courtesy of Kevin Devine
Photo by Meg Capone
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