Fund-raising for ‘Wonderville’ video game spot
By Colin Mixson Brother, can you spare a quarter?
A pair of local video-game
fanatics plan to purchase artsy Bushwick
watering hole Secret Project Robot, and
are soliciting donations for their bid to
retrofit the space into a beer-slinging
arcade showcasing the borough’s underground
video-game scene.
“The indie-music scene has all
these bands who are making their
own way, doing their own thing, and
it’s very similar to the indie-gaming
scene,” said would-be bar owner Mark
Kleback. “It’s these kids making weird
video games, who aren’t getting paid
a lot, who are doing it because they’re
passionate about it.”
Kleback is a commercial artist who
spends his spare time crafting custom
arcade cabinets for indie games
often developed in and around Kings
County, including physics-based space
brawler Particle Mace, multi-player
battle arena Crystal Brawl, and Slam
City Oracles, a game about slamming
into stuff, which he showcases at artsy
pop-up events across the city.
But the costly logistical challenge of
transporting his nearly two dozen fullsize
arcade machines across the city
led the cabinet maker and his fiance
Stephanie Gross to seek a permanent
home for the gaming collection. The
owners of Secret Project Robot, who
also operate nearby saloon Flowers
for All Occasions, came to the couple
earlier this year with an offer to sell the
business, including all its booze, mugs,
appliances, and liquor licenses.
In response, the gamers turned to
Kickstarter to request $70,000 for their
new business, which they plan to dub
Wonderville. In just over a week, fans
have pledged a whopping $42,074,
which includes a $10,000 cash infusion
from a West Coast arcade collector,
who will receive a custom cabinet from
Kleback if the fund-raising campaign
proves successful.
With 21 days to go in the digital money
drive, the couple feels good, according to
Gross, who anticipates opening as early
COURIER L 78 IFE, MAR, 15-21, 2019 24-7
as May, if all goes well.
“We’re really, really so appreciative
to everyone that’s been donating and
spreading the word,” said Gross. “It’s
been a lot of positivity.”
The couple have not settled on exactly
how they will fund the business
— the machines are not coin operated
— but there is a good chance the gaming
portion of the venue will require a
modest cover, and will feature enough
live events, including musical acts, to
justify the charge, said Gross.
“We want to keep it affordable for
sure,” she said.
TBy Bill Roundy his weekend we are going out
for beer and music, and then
music and beer! Could
anything be finer?
We will start off
on Saturday afternoon
with a visit
to Pastrytown,
where we can
slurp down the
sweetest of stouts.
This dessert beer
festival kicks off at
noon in Industry City
(220 36th St. Suite 2A,
between Second and Third Avenue
in Sunset Park, pastrytown.otherhalfbrewing.
com). Tickets cost a whopping
$100, but it offers unlimited samples
of some of the weirdest, most highoctane
beers you are ever going to sip.
Other Half Brewing and 34 fellow beer
makers will pour black brews flavored
with chocolate, coffee, macadamia
nuts, vanilla, and other dessert-derived
flavors, while professional wrestlers
will smack each other around a ring
at the center of the fest. The suds and
the smackdowns will last until
4 pm.
After the festival, you
will have four hours to
buy an online ticket
to “Bloody Brains in
a Jukebox,” a sneak
peek at the upcoming
rock musical from Coney
Island impresario Dick
Zigun. The trio Pink Velvet
Witch will play 17 songs from
the rock epic about aliens, murder,
and brain transplants, including “Atom
Bombs in the Backyard” and “When
We Took that LSD” — but it will take
place at a secret Coney Island speakeasy,
revealed only when you buy your
$5 online ticket from www.coneyisland.
com. The show starts at 8 pm.
Sunday morning, there is no better
way to clear the cobwebs from
your head than the blast of bagpipes!
Make your way to the Park Slope
and Windsor Terrace border at 1 pm
to see the 44th-annual Brooklyn St.
Patrick’s Day Parade (starts and ends
at Prospect Park West and 15th Street
in Park Slope, www.brooklynstpatricksparade.
com). This year’s Grand
Marshal is Bernadette Buckley Kash,
founder of the Buckley School of Irish
Dance, so expect to see plenty of quickstepping
dancers along with the usual
bagpipers and kilt-clad revelers!
Once you tire of those dancing feet,
cruise down to Bay Ridge’s Irish pub
the Wicked Monk (9510 Third Ave. at
95th Street in Bay Ridge, www.wickedmonk.
com), where you can relax
with a perfect pint of Guinness. And
at 5 pm, local act the Canny Brothers
Band will start playing Irish rebel and
freedom songs, along with Celtic and
bluegrass tunes, ending your weekend
on a Irish high note.
A virtuous cycle: Danny Felts will host a comedy show inside a
bicycle-repair shop in Bushwick on March 20 to raise money for
medical debt relief.
Cycle of life
LBy Bill Roundy aughter is the best
medical billing system!
A Bushwick comic and
bike messenger is gearing
up to host a comedy
show in a bicycle shop, in
order to raise money for
medical debt relief. The
comedian behind “Stand
Up! at Haven Cycles,”
in Bushwick on March
20, said he was inspired
to fixie the system by a
recent accident that left
him in the hospital.
“There was some pretty
intensive stitching,” said
Danny Felts, the show’s
host and spokes-man.
“Fortunately I was on
Medicaid at the time, but
... it reminded me that for
some people, giant medical
debt can completely obliterate
their well-being.”
The night will feature
four other comedians who
are also avid cyclists —
Mary Cella, Jess Reed,
Anders Lee, and Max
Ogle — and will raise cash
for Rest In Peace Medical
Debt, a do-good group that
buys and forgives medical
debt from creditors,
usually for pennies on the
dollar.
Brooklyn cyclists are
acutely aware of the dangers
of medical expenses,
since they share the streets
with multi-ton vehicles
that could easily squash
them, said Felts.
“I can’t explain the
number of times I’ve
almost been caused bodily
harm by cabs, Ubers, people
texting, etc.” he said.
The comedian moved to
Brooklyn from Portland,
Oregon two years ago, and
said that the car culture of
his new home is terrifying.
“The people driving
here are actually insane,”
he said. “It’s just absolute
anarchy. I thought a ‘New
York stop’ was gliding
through a stop sign, but it’s
just blowing through a full
red light!”
Haven Cycles, where
the show will take place, is
also Felts’s regular spot for
bicycle repairs. Performing
inside the shop will have
some challenges, he said,
but he thinks they will be
able to pack in some fans.
“Honestly, the total
occupancy is not a ton of
people,” he said. “But we
have chairs and stuff like
that. Some people might
have to stand against the
bikes.”
The comic’s work
as a bike messenger has
worked its way into his
act, he said, including a bit
about the worst food item
to deliver by two-wheeler:
Chicago deep-dish pizza.
“That is just a terrible
food to deliver,” he said.
“It’s just a bowl of bread
and cheese that you’re trying
to keep from spilling.”
Stand Up! at Haven
Cycles 1546 Dekalb
Ave. at Irving Avenue in
Bushwick, (347) 529–4621,
www.havencyclesnyc.com.
March 20 at 8 pm. $5 suggested
donation.
ARCADE FARE
Hail to the Muse and the brews!
Bike messenger jokes
for medical debt relief
Space invaders: Stephanie Gross, left, and Mark Kleback are taking over the Secret Project
Robot gallery to install an arcade bar dedicated to Brooklyn’s underground gaming scene.
Wonderville
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