Missed it Mondays: Wknd of 8/16-8/17 Bushwick Edition

What an amazing weekend! Hope yours was amazing too, here's what I caught and what I missed:

Spread love is the Brooklyn Bushwick Way?!?

So I don't get out to Bushwick a lot. Fact is the first time I hit up the hood there it was 1989, and it's not fave of mine, but maybe I need to change that opinion, cause with all things and peoples being squeezed out everywheres else, Bushwick is providing a welcome to a wide range of happ'nings...

So it was Saturday night and first I went down. The "Rock the Block" massive music festival jumped off in D.U.M.B.o. I attended, and it was a lot of venues and a lot of parties/performances, good stuff, but rather than nesting under the Bridges (where in between partying I managed to stumble into a wedding uninvited at Power House Books, and then into a music video shoot (also unvited, but I was welcomed in both cases) instead I got live out in Bushwick. All day, from various sources, in various counties in and out of NYC I was hearing about "The Rooftop Party". Considering how many rooftop parties are going down on the average day in just about every part of summer NYC, that's some serious hype.

Finally I strolled down a sketchy part of Flushing Av, and frankly, though I'm a lover of all things Brooklyn, what part of Flushing Av isn't sketchy. The particular stretch I walked was industrial, post apocalyptic, pre-bubble condo all at once.(redundant?)
And then I saw a fringe of silhouetted shapes pulsating along a distant rooftop like a giant flowerbox of backlit dandelions. A few minutes, ten dollars and 80,000 steps later I was here:

Great views:








(barely visible, cops in the background shutting it down...)

Non-stop parting, until it was stopped, thanks NYPD! Your true blue instincts were right, I was having too much fun!

Before I strolled to the rooftop party and after I left Rock the Block" I decided to peer into the speakeasy-esque spot that straddles the board of BedStuy and Bushwick, a place that seems to have no name, and floats much the same over several underground NY eras.

I won't say where, I won't say how (perhaps you already know) but if you're industrious and can spot the lone doorman (who also needs to spot you to show you the way in) than you too can indulge your late 80's lower east side fantasy party/performance venue jones.

Once in I was surrounded by kids (20ish from the looks) for whom Hipster is an aspiration instead of a diss...



There were barely functioning facilities and something that passed for a stage.

A Dj played to through a slightly overblown sound system that had the useful effect of forcing conversations to be held cheek to cheek.
Here's a last look, maybe you'll spot your interns, an upcoming designer or just your lecherous older brother....




Things I missed this weekend: Chico Mann, DJ Ian Friday and Brand Nubian @ Littlefield (really sorry I missed that!) the Brooklyn Flea, another round at der Schwarze Kölner biergarten, and the sunday night movie at Habana Outpost.

BTW I've heard a rumor that the Soul Summit will be back for a day at Fort Greene Park next week. If anyone can confirm I'd appreciate it!