(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings October 18–24, 2019
BEER
House pour
This beer bar has leveled up!
A Williamsburg suds spot expanded its
reach last week, doubling in size and adding
its own brewing tanks. The Williamsburg
branch of Randolph Beer
— which also has outposts
in Dumbo and in
Manhattan — opened
its doors on Oct. 11 as
a nanobrewery, pouring
its own extremly smallbatch
brews and serving
them in a new game
room. It was the culmination
of a long-term
dream, said the chain’s
managing partner.
“This is the full
fledged versions of what we had planned from
the beginning,” said Kyle Kensrue (pictured).
The new Williamsburg facility is much smaller
than Randolph’s brewing spot in Dumbo, which
also makes it more flexible, he noted.
“This is the experimental brewery, where
we can try new flavors and new techniques,”
said Kensrue.
Experiments currently on tap include a cucumber
and-elderflower pilsner, a Baltic porter
brewed with rum-soaked wood spirals, a sour
beer made with blackberries and lactose, and a
“baby barleywine.”
Most of the beers will be known by their
style, rather than having formal names, said
Kensrue, because they will appear and disappear
so quickly that it is not worth coming up
with a unique name each time.
The brewing tanks, which produce about two
kegs of beer for each batch, are wedged into a
loft space in the back of the pub, where the head
brewer must climb up to manually add ingredients
for every stage of the brewing process.
“I’m up and down the ladder all day — it keeps
you fit,” said Flint Whistler. “It’s the most sober
brew site I’ve ever been on. You don’t want
to be tipsy while climbing.”
For the opening party last week, the bar’s
22 taps were all stocked with Randolph beers,
either produced on-site, or at its Dumbo location.
In the future, said Whistler, drinkers can
expect to see between six and eight exclusive
brews at any time, with the rest coming from
other craft breweries.
The bar uses a “Beer Wall,” which allows
guests to pour their own beer, paying by the
ounce. The system lets drinkers sample wide
variety of brews, said Kensrue.
“It is the ultimate flight experience,” he said.
The nanobrewery also opened its additional
lounge area, which features a sunken area for shuffleboard
and a video game system, along with
booths, couches, and an outdoor seating area.
Randolph Beer Williamsburg (104 S. Fourth
St. between Bedford Avenue and Berry Street
in Williamsburg, www.randolphbeer.com).
Open daily at 11 am. — Bill Roundy
Word’s picks:
“Horror Stories,” by
Liz Phair
Rock star Liz Phair
is infamous for her unf
linching honesty in
the face of taboo. From
the naked candor of her
debut album “Exile in
Guyville” to the raw
text of her new memoir
“Horror Stories,” the confetti
queen of alt-rock has
BOOKS
Photo by Derrick Watterson
Alien odyssey
British pianist brings ‘immigrant’ sound to Fort Greene jazz fest
made a career of stripping away the glamour from
life in the limelight. The nonlinear essays that
constitute this hyper-literate memoir are intimate,
painful, and at times shameful, but these
are the achingly true memories that roughly approximate
a human life.
— Steven Warren, Word 126 Franklin St. at
Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096,
www.wordbookstores.com .
Community
Bookstore’s pick:
“The Gallows Pole,”
by Benjamin Myers
This novel of coin
counterfeiting and
criminal conspiracy in
18th century England is
haunting and haunted. It
is a Gothic Western set
on the moors of Yorkshire
— if such a thing
can be imagined. It follows the violent unraveling
of an unlikely plot that, as befits the most
terrifying of tales, is based on true events!
— 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 .
Greenlight
Bookstore’s pick:
“Salt Slow,” by Julia
Armfield
This luminous and
engrossing collection
of fantasy short stories
connects the supernatural
with women’s lives,
and shows the transformations
that happen on
different levels and in different
ways. The first story, “Mantis,” is about a
teen girl going through an unusual, hereditary
puberty, and the final, title story is about another
transformation driven by childbirth. In between
are stories about love, loss, the separation of the
self and different relationships to nature and the
supernatural. For fans of Kelly Link, Jeff Vandermeer,
and China Mieville.
— Rebecca Fitting, Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S.
Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–
0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com .
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
He’s got the keys to the Planet!
A Fort Greene piano player will
invade Brooklyn’s biggest jazz festival
next week, beaming down with his debut
album as a bandleader. Aaron Whitby
and his crew will play funky tunes from
“Cousin From Another Planet” on the opening
night of the Bric JazzFest Marathon,
a three-night extravaganza of blues, soul,
and jazz performances taking place all
over the Bric House in Fort Greene from
Oct. 24–26.
The album contain eight sunny songs
filled with violins, guitar, drums, keyboard,
and occasional vocals. Whitby said
that he came up with his out-of-this-world
songs while roaming Fort Greene with
his young son.
“A lot of these tunes kind of came to me
walking to school and walking home,” said
Whitby. “It’s quite animated and colorful
… a lot of it was inspired by my son.”
The pianist was born in London, England,
but moved to New York in 1997 to
pursue a career playing jazz.
The title of “Cousin from Another
Planet” riffs on the 1983 movie “Brother
from Another Planet,” about a black alien
who lands in Harlem and bonds with a human
over their commonalities.
As an immigrant, Whitby said that he
related to the alien’s simultaneous feelings
of estrangement and familiarity, as
an Englishman living in Brooklyn, and
playing a quintessentially American form
of music.
“One the one hand, it’s that I’m an immigrant,
I’m from somewhere else. And also
I’m an immigrant to the music,” Whitby
said. But he believes in looking at the
similarities between all creatures, human
and otherwise.
“We’re all cousins,” he said.
The three-day marathon of jazz, which
will feature 21 acts performing on three
different stages, is the conclusion of a week
of jazz-related events, starting on Oct. 19
with a free outdoor concert by rhythm and
blues singer Bettye LaVette. In the following
days, the Fort Greene arts group will
host a poetry slam and two documentaries
about the history of jazz: “Blue Note Records:
Beyond The Notes,” which sheds
light on the artists behind the legendary
music label Blue Note Records, and “Amazing
Grace,” about two Aretha Franklin
performances from 1972.
Reading picks
All drawn together
Cartoonists gather at bookstore to talk shop
By Bill Roundy
Brooklyn Paper
It’s the art of conversation!
A pack of acclaimed comics creators
will descend on Prospect Lefferts
Gardens next week to read, discuss,
and show off their work at the
neighborhood’s branch of Greenlight
Bookstore. The “Escape Panel” comic
reading series launching on Oct. 24,
was organized by a Crown Heights
cartoonist as a way to build a local
community of sequential artists.
“I wanted an event that I could go
to in Brooklyn and see other cartoonists,”
said Michael Kupperman, creator
of the award-winning “Tales Designed
to Thrizzle” series. “When I
first came to New York, there were
artists everywhere. And now they’re
much rarer.”
Kupperman has invited four other
cartoonists and graphic novelists to
display their work on a screen at the
local bookstore. Speakers will include
editorial cartoonist Eli Valley, Lauren
Weinstein, creator of the “Goddess of
War” graphic novel; Matt Lubchansky,
who draws colorful political comics,
and gothic artist Julia Gfrörer.
The invited cartoonists represent a
wide variety of genres and art styles,
said Kupperman.
“I wanted to choose people who
were pulling in different directions,”
he said. “I want to have that tension
between different kinds of artists, and
really demonstrate the directions the
art form can go in.”
Kupperman plans to read a chapter
from his graphic novel “All the
Answers,” about his father’s experience
as a famous televised “Quiz
Kid” in the 1940s.
Comic fans should be sure not to
miss the show, said Kupperman.
“It’ll be fun,” he said. “And if they
don’t go, they will regret it for the rest
of their lives. It will haunt them on
their deathbed!”
Escape Panel at Greenlight Bookstore
(632 Flatbush Ave. at Fenimore
Street in Prospect Lefferts Gardens,
www.greenlightbookstore.com).
Oct. 24 at 7:30 pm.
Photo by Caroline Ourso
Getting funky: Aaron Whitby and his band will play upbeat tunes from his jazz-funk album “Cousin from Another Planet,” at Bric’s JazzFest on Oct. 24. The band features
(from left) Keith Loftis on saxophone, Whitby, Fred Cash, Jr. on bass guitar, Gintas Janusonis on drums, and David Phelps on guitar.
MUSIC
“Bric JazzFest Marathon” at the
Bric House (647 Fulton St. at Rockwell
Place in Fort Greene, (718) 683–5600,
www.bricartsmedia.org). Oct. 24–26;
7:30–11:10 pm. $35 per night ($30 in advance).
Aaron Whitby performs on Oct.
24 at 9:20 pm.
“Outdoor Kickoff Concert: Bettye
LaVette” at the Plaza at 300 Ashland
(Lafayette Avenue between Flatbush
Avenue and Ashland Place in Fort
Greene). Oct. 19 at 3 pm. Free.
“Brooklyn Poetry Slam” at Bric House.
Oct. 21 at 7 pm. Free.
“Blue Note Records: Beyond The
Notes” at Bric House. Oct. 22 at 7:30
pm. Free.
“Amazing Grace” at the Bric House.
Oct. 23 at 7:30 pm. Free.
Question authority: Cartoonist Michael Kupperman, creator of
the graphic memoir “All the Answers,” which explores his father’s
career as one of the famous “Quiz Kids” during the 1940s, will
host a reading with four other artists at Greenlight Bookstore.
Photo by Caroline Ourso
Michael Kupperman
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