SHOW-STOPPER
Repairs put Coney Island events on hiatus
Taking a break: Dick Zigun, who founded the Coney Island Sideshow in 1985, says
that the building will re-open on March 31 after a few necessary renovations.
File photo by Trey Pentecost
Brooklyn has international flair!
COURIER L 54 IFE, MAR, 8-14, 2019 24-7
The best reads
— handpicked by
some of the best
Bklyn bookstores
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick:
“Confessions of the Fox,”
by Jordy Rosenberg
This is the ideal novel for an ambitious
biod
reader with a soft spot for period
dramas. It has everything: metatext,
queer erotica, critiques of commodification,
t,
-
racial and gender oppression,the prison system, and the whitewashing
of European history, all
couched in the close reading of an
18th-century manuscript pulled
from the dregs of a campus library
sale by a down-on-his-luck scholar. R Rosenberg b paints
i
an Escher-like, sex-positive, picaresque dreamworld without
losing its connections to our current one. For fans of footnotes
and social justice, critics of academia, and those who want to
both speak truth to power and binge-watch “The Crown,” who
will be pulled along by a mischievous trans rogue, into the
underbelly of London.
— Nora Tjossem, Greenlight Bookstore 686 Fulton St.
between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene,
(718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com .
Community Bookstore’s pick:
“The Age Of Surveillance Capitalism,”
by Shoshana Zuboff
In the late 1950s a new wave of
slick ad men on Madison Avenue combined
mst
Freudian theory and modernist
of
-
,
graphic design to usher in an age of
brand-based, turbo-charged capitalism.
More than half a century later,
we are the brands and the product,
with tech behemoths facilitating, and
monetizing, much of our daily experience.
No longer content to harvest
data, Zuboff argues, tech giants
are now employing strategies borrowed wed from
from
behaviorist psychology to encourage more profitable activity,
and ensure we stay logged in. Where do we go from here? Read
on and find out.
— 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 .
Word’s picks: “Good Talk,”
by Mira Jacob
In this memoir, Mira Jacob tells
lls
as.
poignant stories through illustrations
superimposed on photographs.
-
s
Through effervescent, natural dialogue,
she interlaces recollections
from her childhood as the “other
kind of Indian” in New Mexico with
the wrenching pain of raising a curious,
thoughtful, biracial child in
the Trump era. From the mouths
of these babes (Jacob-as-a-child and her son),
Jacob draws difficult questions about whether America is living
up to its promise to immigrants and people of color. Spoiler
alert: we’re not even close. I read this standing up on the subway
and under the streetlights as I walked home. I stood outside to
finish it in the wind. It’s that good.
— Jeff Waxman, Word 126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in
Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.com .
By Bill Roundy Call it an intermission.
The beloved arts group and
performance venue Coney
Island USA is currently shut down for
renovations, but will return at the end
of this month, according to the head
of the organization. The property’s
Coney Island Museum, Freak Bar,
and the Sideshows by the Seashore
theater all closed on Feb. 25 to allow
necessary repairs to the ceiling of the
antique structure.
“We’re in a 102-year-old landmarked
building, and landmarked
buildings are not only interesting and
historic — sometimes they are pieces
of s--- that are falling apart,” said
Dick Zigun, the neighborhood’s unofficial
mayor.
After a chunk of ceiling in the
Freak Bar fell down in early July, the
venue installed safety nets to prevent
a repeat event, and brought in structural
engineers to assess the damage,
according to Zigun. The work
going on now will repair damage
from ancient leaks in the roof, and
relieve stress on the building from
the installation of the heating and airconditioning
system, he said.
Zigun said he is determined to
re-open on March 31, with a “Magic
at Coney” show at noon and a performance
by the Bindlestiff Cavalcade
of Youth at 4 pm.
“Regular programming will pick
up right when it left off,” said Zigun.
In the meantime, a concert performance
of songs from Zigun’s upcoming
rock opera “Bloody Brains in a
Jukebox” will take place at secret
location a few blocks from the venue,
on Friday and Saturday nights from
March 8 to March 22, with the
address revealed to anyone who buys
a $5 ticket in advance.
Fans of the seaside amusement
spot can lend their support by attending
the Coney Island USA Spring
Gala on March 23, held at the nearby
New York Aquarium. Visitors to the
fund-raising event will be able to
wander through an exhibit of sharks
while nibbling on snacks and sipping
on drinks from an open bar. Burlesque
legend Dirty Martini will perform at
the show, along with strolling magicians,
musical acts, stilt walkers, fortune
tellers, and much more.
Coney Island USA’s Spring Gala
at New York Aquarium 602 Surf
Ave. between W. Eighth and W. Fifth
streets in Coney Island, (718) 265–
3448, www.coneyisland.com. March
23; 7:30–11:30 pm. $100 ($250 VIP).
Magic at Coney at Coney Island
USA (1208 Surf Ave. at W. 12th St. in
Coney Island, www.coneyisland.com).
March 31 at noon. $10 ($5 kids).
By Bill Roundy
This weekend, we are going to
travel the world without ever leaving
the borough!
First, you can feel like
an exotic Parisian on
Friday night, as you
party to tunes from
Les Sans Cullotes,
Brooklyn’s fake
French rock band.
The leader of the
seven-piece banters
between songs with an
outrageous Gallic accent,
but the band lays down some
excellent, danceable grooves. You
can see it all for just a $10 entry fee
at Hank’s Saloon (345 Adams St.
near Willoughby Street Downtown,
www.hcfoodpark.com/hanks). The
band, named after the working class
members of the French Revolution,
will not go on until 11:30 pm,
but you can catch opening acts
Spanking Charlene and Heap if you
show up by 9:30 pm.
Then you can travel over the
river, though the woods, and
into a magical realm on
Saturday or Sunday,
if you buy a ticket
to Theater 2020’s
production of
“Into the Woods,”
at Founders Hall at
St. Francis College
(180 Remsen St.
between Court and
Clinton streets in Brooklyn
Heights, www.theater2020.com).
The Stephen Sondheim musical
mashes up a dozen different fairy
tales, including Little Red Riding
Hood, Cinderella, and Jack and the
Beanstalk, among many others.
This intimate production creates
a play-within-a-play, with actors
at a refugee camp “somewhere in
the world” using scraps of cloth to
transform themselves into princes,
wolves, and a terrifying witch. “Into
the Woods” will play on Saturday
night at 8 pm, and Sunday at 4 pm.
Tickets are $40.
The weekend may be over, but
we still have one more stop. On
Monday night, we will look at the
censorship that some cartoons face
in conservative or religious countries
around the world. Historian
J.R. Pepper will discuss cartoon
censorship from the 1920s to today
in her $10 class “Think of the
Children: Banned Cartoons,” at the
Brooklyn Brainery (190 Underhill
Ave. in Prospect Heights, www.
brooklynbrainery.com). Show up at
8:30 pm to hear about the many
reasons animation can run afoul of
the authorities, including references
to Hitler, which will lead to a ban in
Germany, and the same-sex couples
in “Steven Universe,” which have
run into troubles all over.
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