DISH JOCKEY
Officer spins at Taste of Fifth food fest
Party with the prez: Lieutenant Rhodes, also known as DJ Ace, poses with Borough
President Adams at last year’s installment of the annual “Taste of Fifth” food festival.
Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID
COURIER L 62 IFE, APRIL 5-11, 2019 24-7
Word’s picks: “City of Ghosts,”
by Victoria Schwab
Victoria Schwab has yet
again astonished me her writing. It is amazing
to see how effortlessly she
goes from writing youngadult
to adult to — in this
case — a middle grade
novel. “City of Ghosts”is a super quick and
very enjoyable read,
full of history and
ghost stories, with likable
characters and
fantastic and gripping
storytelling.
— Eve Guerrero, Word 126 Franklin St. at Milton
Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.
com .
Community Bookstore’s pick:
“The Word For Woman Is
Wilderness,” by Abi Andrews
In this remarkable debut
novel, Andrews winds her
characters through landscapes
of wilderness, from
Greenland to Alaska.Entangling fiction, history,
and the poetic reverence
of the best nature writing,
it is an urgent call
— both a vital feminist
critique of the myth of
the wilderness-dwelling
wise-man hermit, from
Thoreau to John Muir
to Ted Kaczynski; and
a reclamation of that project a
new pluralistic generation of seekers.
— 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 .
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick:
“American Spy,” by Lauren
Wilkinson
Wilkinson’s debut novel
is a mixture of historical
fiction, family drama, race
politics, and spy thriller.
She does not sacrifice
one genre for another,
and they all unfold
with equal importance.
Written as a letter to
the narrator’s children,
the novel is told in a
wonderfully intricate
and intimate style. I
hope this book gets optioned
into a film. Ruth Negga for the lead!
— Dante Bostic, Greenlight Bookstore 686 Fulton
St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in
Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.
com .
The best reads
— handpicked by
some of the best
Bklyn bookstores
s with
ing
she
ngis
de
”
d
debut
androm
ka.
ry,
ce
tl
t
oject for a
ovel
ical
ace
er.
ce
r,d
.ioned
f th l d!
HBy Natallie Rocha e’s New York’s finest disk
jockey.
A police officer with Park
Slope’s 78th Precinct will spin some
tasty tunes at the neighborhood’s biggest
annual food festival. Visitors to
“A Taste of Fifth,” at Grand Prospect
Hall on April 10, will sample dishes
from more than 50 local eateries while
Lieutenant Acu Rhodes, also known
as DJ Ace, puts together a music mix
to make them bust a move.
Rhodes, a 22-year veteran of
the force, spends most of his evenings
leading the platoon assigned
to Barclays Center. But on his nights
off, he scratches old-school records at
local shindigs. As DJ Ace, he often
wears an official police department
t-shirt or jacket, making his sets into a
kind of community outreach, he said.
“People think police officers are
robots and we’re not human,” Rhodes
said. “But when they see I actually
like music and I can do what I
do, it humanizes the idea of being a
police officer.”
The Bedford-Stuyvesant native has
been a fan of mixing music his whole
life, and picked up his nickname from
a guy in his neighborhood. But he
only went public with his talents about
five years ago, he said, when others at
the 78th precinct urged him to enter a
“cops versus kids” disc jockey battle,
and he has played regularly since
then. This will be his third year spinning
at the Taste of Fifth, where he
mixes together tracks old and new,
he said, playing whatever will get the
crowd moving.
In addition to music from DJ Ace,
the night will offer unlimited cocktails,
beer, and wine, and samples from Fifth
Avenue restaurants and shops, including
new spots Pizza Secret, Lizzie
Kings, and Amy Poehler-owned shop
Zula Wines, serving alongside veteran
establishments Bogota Latin
Bistro, Nunu Chocolates, Bricolage,
and many others.
Rhodes said that his work at
Barclays, both as an officer and as an
occasional record scratcher, is especially
rewarding because it brings
him in touch with people from across
New York City.
“The Barclays Center brings
the entire city together for different
events, and I have an Instagram, @
DJAce78 , that is starting to gain a
lot of followers,” he said. “So those
followers have a chance to meet and
talk to me when they come to the
arena. Not only that, I get a chance to
meet and talk to actual celebrities and
celebrity DJs and they actually recognize
me and know who I am.”
“A Taste of Fifth” at Grand Prospect
Hall 263 Prospect Ave. between Fifth
and Sixth avenues in Park Slope, (718)
551–5545, www.parkslopefifthavenuebid.
com. April 10; 6:30–9:30 p.m. $70
($60 in advance).
By Bill Roundy It is time to dine!
In addition to the return of
Smorgasburg and the annual Taste
of Fifth festival, Brooklyn is bursting
with opportunities for you to stuff
your face with fine food! We have
assembled three other celebrations of
food and drink happening soon in the
borough of Kings.
Crawl at the Hall
This beer festival will send you
roaming around the expansive underground
DeKalb Market Hall. Eight
brewers from New York state will
set up at booths around the market,
each pouring two different beers for
crawl participants. You’ll have three
hours to try all 16 — and to visit the
Market’s many food vendors, who can
help you soak up the booze.
DeKalb Market Hall’s Dekalb
Stage (445 Albee Sq. West, basement,
between Willoughby and Fulton streets
Downtown, www.dekalbmarkethall.
com/dekalb-stage). April 7; 2–5 p.m.
$35 ($50 VIP).
Wine Riot 2.0
This two-day festival for fermented
grape fans offers more than a chance
to swill down the vino — though you
can do that, too! You can learn from
sommeliers, join a scavenger hunt,
and show off your wine knowledge in
a trivia contest. The sipping celebration
offers unlimited samples of hundreds
of wines, with a special lounge
devoted to its bubbly variations.
The Weylin (175 Broadway at
Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg, www.
wineriot.com). April 12; 7:30–10 p.m.
April 13; 2:30–5 p.m and 7:30–10 p.m.
$65 ($95 VIP).
Tastes of Gowanus
Stroll the neighborhood near
the Canal and sample some of the
many eateries that have popped up in
Blessed are the pour: Last year’s Wine Riot
features plenty of amazing beverages. This
year’s, happening at the Weylin on April
13-14, promises to be even bigger. Agency 21
the last few years. Buy your tickets
online , pick them up at the Gowanus
Canoe Club Boathouse, and grab a
menu and map of the 20 participating
spots, where you can trade a ticket for
a chicken wing, pastry, cocktail, or
whatever else they have to offer.
Start at Gowanus Canoe Club
Boathouse (165 Second St. at the
Canal, www.tastesofbrooklyn.com).
April 13; 2–6 p.m. Four tastes for $20;
11 for $50.
Eat, drink, and be merry!
/www.parkslopefifthavenue-bid.com
/www.wordbook-stores.com
/www.wordbook-stores.com
/www.commu
/www.greenlightbook-store.com
/www.greenlightbook-store.com
/www.greenlightbook-store.com
/www.parkslopefifthavenue-bid.com
/www.parkslopefifthavenue-bid.com
/www.wordbook-stores.com
/www.dekalbmarkethall
/www.wineriot.com
/www.wineriot.com
/www.tastesofbrooklyn.com
/www.commu
/ore.net
/www.dekalbmarkethall
/wineriot.com
/www.tastesofbrooklyn.com)