Photos from the Brooklyn Flea Market!

Fly to the Brooklyn Flea Market!

Went to the Brooklyn Flea Market on the waterfront in Billyburg. It was pretty cool. Took the ferry from 34th St. It's a nice space in the shadow of these monstrous fancy-schmancy apartment buildings. There's people selling jewelry and antiques. Some new and vintage clothes as well. Probably the best part is Smorgasburg! Those are the food stalls and there's all kinds of yummy stuff...cupcakes, homemade soda, artisanal pizzas and these yummy Mexican sandwiches.

There's another Brooklyn Flea in Ft. Greene as well. From Thanksgiving through March the market moves indoors to the former Williamsburg Savings Bank. See my next blog for photos for photos!

Brooklyn Flea Market

Williamsburg

Sunday 10 to 5

East River between North 6th and North 7th Streets

Ft. Greene

Saturday 10 to 5

Bishop Loughlin Schoolyard

Rain or shine!!

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

ME, ME, ME! Went to a taping of the show yesterday. (See photos.) It was mildly amusing. Meredith was very nice and the audience wrangler, this comedian Rick Mercurio, was funny. He tried to keep the audience amped before the show and during the cuts in taping. What I didn't like was that he kept advertising his show at Gotham Comedy Club, over and over. Oooow, and he'll give us free tickets after the show. Yeah, we got tickets to his show along with a free How to be a Millionaire t-shirt, but they weren't FREE tickets. Just five buck off the cover price. Then, what? You gotta buy drinks too? Fughedabouit?

What was cool was seeing the set. Of course it looks smaller than it seems on TV. I sat right in front of this huge swinging camera which I swore was going to come by and hit me in the head. (It didn't) I also took the test to be on the show. I thought I did pretty well as the questions seemed pretty easy. There were even two questions about Germany but they only called three people at the end. Harumph!!

The best part was afterwards going to get something to eat with my friend Ale. We were so hungry after sitting there for a few hours. We were on the Upper West Side so we went to Lansky's and I had mahtzo ball soup cause it was freaking freezing and raining and some pierogi. Then we headed to Magnolia and I had a pumpkin cupcake which was alright. Nothing spectacular. Should have gone with the chocolate. Haven't been to the Magnolia on the Upper West Side and it's a very cute establishment with lots of places to sit! How to be a Magnolia Millionaire!!

What the heck is this??

Steampunk Halloween Haunted House

Face it, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a haunted house in NYC around Halloween-time... Blood Manor, Nightmare, Blackout...I've been to them all. But this was my first year to hit the Steampunk Haunted House downtown. First off, no tortuous long line. (Take that Blood Manor! Waiting on that line is the true horror!) We were whisked quickly inside with the news that the performers would be touching us. Whaaaatttt? No worries, they're just guiding you through house.

The theme this year is "Through the Looking Glass" a la Alice in Wonderland. Ooooh, Alice in Wonderland, positively frightening!... You need to know that this fright fest is more creative and mysterious than blood-curdling screamy-scary. They do divide you from your friends though and you sometimes are left alone in a room with strange creatures, like a girl dressed up with a steampunk horse mask. We sat across from each other with a table in between us. On the table was a chess set, except that the pieces were all horses. Okay! She moved a piece. I moved a piece. And then she checkmated me and when I protested, stuck her long metal nose in my face. There were a lot of little girls dressed in white nightgowns with short hair like Alice Liddell (the ALICE). They were creepy though. As I was walking up a set of stairs one of them innocently pulled me back by my jacket and whispered in my ear.... "I didn't mean to do it."

What's kind of cool is that you and friends have different experiences. One ended up closed up in a box for a while. Glad I missed that one. The Mad Hatter was this tall, skinny girl standing on a table singing this kind of creepy tune into an old fashioned block mike. She then motioned for us to follow us into the next room and demanded to know why we weren't wearing hats. I might muss my hair!!

Then there was the Queen who let me look in her hand mirror while making sure I could still see her behind me. Like I said, not super scary but it was incredibly creative although a bit too short. I wanted MORE!!!

steampunkhauntedhouse.com

Abron Arts Center

466 Grand St. (at Pitt St.)

Halloween Costume Swap

Hey, you wanna free Halloween costume? Help yourself to some gratis costume candy at the GrowNYC Halloween Costume Swap. Of course you can also bring a costume but you don't have to.

It's all part of the Halloween Harvest Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park. BOO! While you're there attend a costume-making workshop or enter your dog in the canine costume contest. I have to break out Buffy's Victoria's Secret model costume. Yes, she has one, which I stayed up until about 3 in the morning to make, but I digress....

Also stop by the Greenmarket at the park to pick up some local farm-fresh produce or listen to spoken word by Urban Art Beat NYC. Check out Buffy's dance moves while she gets down and dirty at the "Beat-n-Brass" concert by William B. Johnson's Drumadics. Hey, she'll be wearing that slutty model outfit so why the heck not???

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
32-01 Vernon Boulevard
Long Island City

Saturday, October 22, 2011

11am-3pm (Rain or Shine)
Free Admission

Fundraiser for Japan

On the evening of Wednesday the 19th the NY Japanese-American Lions Club Charities and NY Osaka no Kai are having a Dinner/Dance Cruise to raise money for local and international communities in need of disaster relief. Tickets are only 30 bucks. There will be salsa music and J-pop, quite the mix. A free salsa lesson will also be available. You're on your own with the J-pop dancing!

http://www.nyjalc.org/HOME

mb on The Daily Show

Hey there!

I was on The Daily Show. My first TV experience...ooh, ahh! The set-up is John Oliver goes down to see the Wall Street protestors and gets kind of fed up with their hand gestures and other freakiness. So after going downtown Oliver goes to a bar where I'm with a bunch of people and

we talk about the protestors.

Hope you saw it!!

mb

World Block Party

La MaMa is 50 years old and the theatre/cultural organization is celebrating today with a party on E. 4th Street. There will be food, performance, crafts and apparently some world-wide bell ringing! In memory of founder Ellen Stewart who died in January 2011 at the age of the 91 there will be bells rung by the people at the party, neighborhood churches, businesses and a video feed of theatres ringing bells around the world to rename the street Ellen Stewart Way. (Stewart used to start each performance in the theatre by ringing a bell.) Peformers include Blue Man Group, Nicky Paraiso and the PigPen Theatre Co. I wanna see Blue Man Group for free money! (Years ago one of the group was in one of my plays. Actually, he sucked in it. I know it's not what I wrote because another performance had this non-professional actor playing the same part and he rocked it! So there!!)

Sunday, October 16th
1 pm to 6 pm
E. 4th St. between Bowery and 2nd Avenue

Open House NY This Weekend!

Don't you just love looking in other people's windows? Admit it! There's something about peeking in and checking out the furniture, what's on the walls, those little tchotchkes? Yes, if someone inside catches you, scurry on! But this weekend you can not only look into those windows, you can go inside! It's Open House New York weekend!

There are places to see in every borough. I wanna check out the Mausoleums of Woodlawn Cemetery. Creepy and just in time for Halloween. The house tour of Bronx's Barlow-Pell Mansion also sounds good. Greek Revival, mid-19th century home?? Yuuup!

Workshops are available for kids as well as talks and tours led by architects, designers, planners and scholars. There's even music and dance performances inspired by the city's architecture and landscape.

Reservations are required for most of the events so be sure to check out the web site. You can also post your photos on the weekend's Flickr page and there's even a photo competition. Checks it all out!!

http://www.ohny.org/

I'm back (in the NY groove!)

Yeah, I was busy, okay... ;-) What, like you never were?!?! So I'm back and here's the dope. First of all I'm scheduled to be on The Daily Show on Monday nite (Oct. 17th). Don't get all excited. I'm just gonna be part of a segment on the disenfranchised yet apathetic 99%. TUNE IN!

Now, for a little of what's going on in NYC! On Saturday Oct. 15th grab your beast and head out to DOG-TOBERFEST! From 9 AM to 6 PM, Fleet Street between Flatbush Ave and Fulton St. in B-land will be full of dogs, free snacks and activities for pooches! Rain or Shine, get your pooch on! Me and Chew-Buffa will be there. (See pic!)

Speaking of DOG-TOBERFEST, I wonder if they'll have Dogtoberfest beer?? WOOF! Having lived in Germany I got to liking that crazy Marzen/Oktoberfest beer style... malty and with a sweet aroma and this brew by Flying Dog has it. Double WOOF! (Hiccup!) I know they've got the goods at Fourth Avenue Pub (76 Fourth Avenue). Guess we'll have stop by. You gotz to do what you gotz to do!