Artsy Parties Tonight in Brooklyn!

The below info is courtesy of The Danger List. Both of these events look rather fun....


Below are two events, one an early art opening and later a throw-down event in a massive new space. The city is starting to shake off its recession, but many of us haven't yet felt the affects.  We list these super cheap/free events for everyone looking for art and mischief in the beautiful Brooklyn spring.


For the early night:
Antistrot @ 3rd Ward Gallery

It's art like in the days of lore with live music, a special appearance by DJ Tanner and complimentary Colt 45.

Featuring performance classics including: Batman Performance by Charlie Dronkers, the Pizza Performance, Yob Sick, and more. Visceral 3D objects & inflatable sculptures by Sander Reijgers (premier). The crafty graphics of Johan Kleinjan, David Elshout, Paul Borchers, Eru & Emu Arizono and Lennard Schuurmans. 3D objects by Baileybots (premier) and more!

8pm to 11pm
195 Morgan Ave., Brooklyn, NY
Absolutely Free. (plus free Colt 45)
Details: http://www.3rdWard.com/


For later tonight:
The Swimming Cities at The Gowanus Hotel Ballroom

Come explore a massive 12,000sq foot warehouse, 50 foot ceilings on the majestic Gowanus Canal. come early for a champagne cruise to our secret floating bar. plus chairman's reserve rum/42 below vodka open bar 9:30 to 11:00. then stay late for all night party featuring  arts of the grotesque including the Limited Commitment Wedding Booth, Ham Bowling, Slip n' Slide of Blood, the Johnny2Much oyster bar, Fake Tan Booth, Indoor Bar-B-Que put by bulgar Davo and other representations of a spring break escape done Gowanus style.

All night DJs on 5,000sf mezzanine dance floor featuring soul-house to dirty disco to dark-hop by: DirtyFinger (blacklabel), SmallChange, Matt Shadetek (duttyartz), 2Melo (Cumba Mela).

All proceeds go to the Swimming Cities Ganges River project and the fabrication of a modular island composed of stainless steel motorcycle-driven paddle wheel pontoon boats for use as a floating venue in New York this spring. This is the intersection of art and mayhem that has always made Brooklyn a special place.

Tonight, Friday April 23rd
@ 55 9th st at the smith ninth station. F or G train. (new space!)
9pm through very late : Door $15.
Details: http://www.weareswimmingcities.org/

Zamaan: New Hookah Bar in S. Williamsburg!

So last night before going to the Passion for Fashion event, I stopped by Trophy Bar in Williamsburg and afterward discovered a NEW HOOKAH BAR right next door to it!

My friend and I were invited to see the new place, Zamaan's, which includes a patio, a swank bar area and a downstairs. The staff were all super-friendly and excited for the new place. They gave my friend and I several flyers for their opening party tonight, which features a free vodka bar from 11 pm - midnight. Oh, and did I mention, there's NO cover! My friend and I were so excited about this place that we literally handed out flyers to people on our walk to the L train as well as on the subway itself.

What is life without good friends who say "excuse me, ladies and gentlemen" on the train and actually get people who want to listen? We definitely spread the word! See below for more info.

Passion for Fashion, & Then Some! Last Night

So my friend and I went to this Passion for Fashion Fundraiser last night: a fundraising party for children in the arts and music. Who knows exactly what that means, but I am not generally one to say no to drinking for a good cause.

We even got photographed by Nicky Digital!

Good times.

NYC Celebrating Earth Day in Times Square?!

Apparently there is an extended Earth Day celebration in Times Square today, in honor of Earth Day's 40th anniversary. Can you smell the irony in the air?

New York Celebrates Earth Day's 40th Anniversary in Times Square -- NEW YORK, April 22 /PRNewswire/ --

Strange times we're in, indeed. Hmm, I may bike there today to check out the shenanigans. Oh, and did you know April is also bike month for NYC? Now that's a little more Earth Day friendly... See the info on the Transportation Alternatives website!

Ok, I admit it. I couldn't resist and so I biked to Times Square. It is basically a glorified marketing ploy supposedly in the name of the environment.

Brooklyn Blogs

In honor of my resurrection as a blogger, I thought I would feature some other Brooklyn blogs, from Williamsburg and beyond.

Some notable Williamsburg blogs:

Cultural Reflections of a 20-Something in NYC (shameless self-promotion)

NewYorkShitty

FREEWilliamsburg

Greenpointers

Brooklyn 11211

BikeBlogNYC

BrooklynVegan

Xx DJ SET at LPR!

Miraculously, Blogger was able to recover my long since deleted blog. Kudos to you, Blogger.

So the Xx is having a DJ set at Le Poisson Rouge tomorrow, April 22!!


Tickets are only $10 in advance and $12 the day of the show. Le Posson Rouge is located at 158 Bleeker Street; their motto is "serving art and alcohol." This is sure to be a fun party!

Lost and Found, Once Again

As I deleted and have seemingly indelibly lost my old blog (http://culturebyrachel.blogspot.com), to the past, it seems appropriate to start my new blog with an old post on precisely the subject of the lost and the found.

I am re-posting this entry from my old blog, which can still be seen on the Lost and Found NYC blog, below. Appropriately -- and coincidentally -- this post is from exactly a year ago. Thank you to The Lost and Found blog for finding my blog, which I managed to lose as well (go figure), and for re-posting this entry of mine!

From 2009:

I have to say it has been a strange, jarring past two weeks. A strange, jarring past two days, especially.

So last weekend, I had my camera and my phone in my bag; I was carrying my bike down the stairs from my apartment, and my bag fell out of my basket. The consequences, I found: my computer was and is completely intact, my camera screen was broken. What’s a blogger to do without a camera??

Well, I did have my phone camera… and then I was off to prepare to go to the Down & Derby rollerskating party at Studio B in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Of course, during my preparations, my bottle of water spilled over all the belongings in my phone. And, for the night, my phone screen was also broken.

Miraculously, my phone was fine the next day; and I also was able to find an upgrade version of my camera on sale for $100 plus tax (cheaper than the cost of repair or the price of my original camera). Everything was looking up…

Then I saw Lily Allen perform at Roseland Ballroom on Monday, 4/20, armed with my new camera, my phone, and happy as a clam.

Of course, I ended up losing my wallet… which must have fallen out of my bag… and I was freaked out and agonizing over my stupidity and losing all of my wallet’s contents. Another girl’s wallet turned up, which she gratefully retrieved, but the place cleared out – well before midnight – without a trace of my wallet. A staffer there gave me $10 for a cab ride, which I thankfully accepted (thank you!!).

And my cabbie, noticing I was upset, and wondering why my initial request to be driven to Williamsburg, Brooklyn changed to a request to be dropped off on 14th St, was similarly sympathetic: he offered me the extra ride back home free of charge. I returned home, exhausted and grateful for the kindness of strangers, only to find out that I had left my phone in the cab!

And then I found I had an e-mail from a girl who found my wallet, and who returned it to me, complete with all its contents — even the cash — the next day. The irony of losing a phone over a lost wallet, only to have the wallet returned. I swear I am not usually this ditzy.

But I have to say, it has been an interesting lesson/example in both the kindness of strangers and the maxim of “don’t trust anyone.” All in all, I guess I was pretty lucky: only my phone was lost, which I have insurance coverage for. The trials and tribulations of NYC life. I think it can be summed up pretty well by this poster I saw the other day, a rip-off of the “I heart NYC” t-shirt: “I can’t afford to heart NYC.”