(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings May 24–30, 2019
MUSIC
Grooving on
This musician has
gone pro!
A Bushwick synthpop
artist will launch her
debut full-length album
with two local shows: at
Brooklyn Bazaar on May
31 and at Rough Trade
on July 11. One-woman
outfit Pronoun says that
her new record “i’ll show
you stronger,” traces her
recovery from a painful
breakup and her evolution
towards facing grander struggles.
“This album is that moment after you break
up, that angry frustrated moment when you’re
over that ‘I want you back’ feeling. It’s focused
more on that frustration and finding yourself
again,” said the musician, who goes by Alyse
Vellturo offstage.
Vellturo’s first release, a 2016 four-track collection
— titled “There’s no one new around
you,” after a phrase that dating app Tinder spits
out when you have swiped through all nearby
prospects — laid bare her pain after a traumatic
breakup. It featured vulnerable lyrics underscored
by jangly guitar riffs, synth-scapes and
a drum machine, some of which she recorded
in one sitting.
During that time, Vellturo’s friend suggested
the unassuming band name, which she later found
fitting for her independent state of mind.
“Pronouns stand alone, and that’s kind of
what I felt like what I was doing with the project,”
she said. “They can stand apart from everything.”
Her new record, hitting the proverbial shelves
on May 24, has a more substantial sound. She
has added a drummer and a bassist, which makes
for grander tracks, including the spacious “run”
or the anthem “temporary tantrum.” The lyrics
reflect her progress from sadness to frustration
and anger towards her former partner, but
also deal with struggles in the music industry,
the current political turmoil, and trying to find
strength, according to the musician.
“Once you actually get over it, you realize what
other problems you have,” she said. “There’s so
many different things, there’s politics, the industry
I’m in. I felt used from the past relationship and
very poorly treated at the end of it. This music
was me trying to pick myself back up.”
She is already working hard on her next release,
which she will return to after touring the
Eastern half of the country, said Vellturo.
“I already have a ton of tracks for the next
album, and will work on that when the tour finishes,”
she said.
Pronoun at Brooklyn Bazaar, sharing the bill
with Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties, as
well as Diva Sweetly 150 Greenpoint Ave., between
Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street
in Greenpoint. www.bkbazaar.com. May 31 at
6:30 p.m. $19.50.
At Rough Trade 64 N. Ninth St., between
Wythe and Kent avenues in Williamsburg, (718)
388-4111, www.roughtrade.com. July 11 at 7:30
p.m. $13.
— Kevin Duggan
Dead center
SUMMER
By Bill Roundy
Brooklyn Paper
This graveyard might be the most lively
spot in Brooklyn!
Green-Wood Cemetery will be filled
with music, movies, and merriment this
summer. The dozens of tours and special
events taking place among the graves are
a new evolution of a tradition stretching
back to the 1860s, when up to 500,000 visitors
came to the boneyard each year for
picnics, carriage rides, and to admire the
elaborate mausoleums, said the man behind
the modern events.
“We’re already an outdoor museum,”
said Harry Weil, Green-Wood’s director
of public programs. “What we’re doing in
these programs is a way to engage people
in different aspects of Green-Wood.”
The events focus on three pillars: artwork,
the cemetery’s history, or the natural
world included in its 478 acres, said Weil,
and new events are added each year. One
of the newest events will happen this weekend:
the “Burgers, Bourbon, and Beethoven”
festival on May 25. The tasting and music
event takes the “Angel’s Share” concert
program from an underground tomb into
the great outdoors.
“Our catacombs are limited in space, and
that limits our audience size,” said Weil.
“This is the best way for providing our
music to a larger group.”
Here are a few highlights from the many
upcoming events.
Unless otherwise noted, all events start
at Green-Wood Cemetery’s Gothic Arch
500 25th St. at Fifth Avenue in Greenwood
Heights, (718) 210–3080, www.
green-wood.com.
Walking dead
The cemetery’s Twilight and Moonlight
Tours, which take visitors tromping
across the landscape with a flashlight in
hand (BYOF) seem to sell out every time,
so plan your nocturnal visits in advance!
The tour of notable graves ends with a stop
at the underground Catacombs, which are
normally off-limits, if you really want to
explore the darkness.
“Who doesn’t want to be in the cemetery
at night?” said Weil. “It’s the best place to
watch twilight in New York City — you get
to have this intimate experience.”
Twilight Tours on May 24, 31, June 15,
21; July 5–6, 19–20, 26–27, at 7:30 p.m.
$25.
Moonlight Tours on June 14 at 8:30
p.m. and Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. $25.
Anatomically correct!
The Morbid Anatomy Museum has found
an ideal —though temporary — home inside
Green-Wood Cemetery’s Fort Hamilton
Gatehouse. The recently renovated
structure, located on the opposite side of
the graveyard from the usual entrance at
Fifth Avenue and 25th Street, now holds
an exhibit titled “Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory:
Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic
Tradition.”
The show, open on weekends through
June 30, showcases art and artifacts that
portray the three resting places where souls
are traditionally thought to travel after death.
Upstairs, the Gatehouse holds the Museum’s
usual collection of books and strange artifacts.
The exhibit will go out with a bang,
at the Morbid Anatomy Summer Garden
Party, where you can mingle with the show’s
artists and curators, hear some music, and
sample refreshments while you check out
the show one last time.
Morbid Anatomy Library Museum at
the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse (Fort Hamilton
Parkway at Micieli Place in Windsor
Terrace). Open through June 30; Sat–Sun,
noon–5 p.m. Free. Summer Garden Party
on June 27 at 7 p.m. $15.
Spirited performances
Now in its second year, the Cemetery’s
“Angel’s Share” concert series brings classical
music into one of Brooklyn’s most exclusive
underground spaces — the Catacombs.
Each evening starts with whiskey
samples from a local distillery (the series
in named for the portion of whiskey that
evaporates in the barrel), followed by a
candle-lit walk through winding paths to
the performance space.
The series launches this weekend with
the “Burgers, Bourbon, and Beethoven Festival”
on May 25. This kick-off event will
vary the formula a bit — visitors can sample
four different sliders, a variety of whiskeys,
and then enjoy an outdoor show, as
the String Orchestra of Brooklyn performs
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony just inside
Green-Wood’s Gothic Arch. $80. 7 pm.
June 4, 5, 7, and 8: “Dido and Aeneas.”
Henry Purcell’s tragic opera about a queen
abandoned by her lover, with excerpts from
Christopher Marlowe’s play on the same
subject. $80. 7 pm.
June 24, 25, and 26: “Epilogues and
Epitaphs.” Augusta McKay Lodge and her
ensemble Voyage Sonique ensemble perform
Baroque chamber works and arias.
$85. 7:30 pm.
Sept. 24, 25, and 26: “Poetic and Religious
Harmonies.” A pair of pianists perform
all ten movements in Franz Liszt’s
song cycle. $85. 6 pm.
Oct. 8–10: “Stabat Mater.” The String
Orchestra of Brooklyn performs Pergolesi’s
musical adaptation of a medieval poem
about the suffering of Jesus’s mother Mary.
With film projections on the walls of the
Catacombs. $85. 6 pm.
Funereal films
The Rooftop Film series kicked off its
summer season in Green-Wood Cemetery
on May 17, and has a brace of non-fiction
films lined up for the rest of the summer.
The movies are projected onto a giant, inflatable
screen set up in the road just a
short walk from the front gates. Most viewers
settle into folding chairs, though a few
spread blankets among the graves on either
side of the road.
Each night, the gates open at 7:45 p.m.,
a local band starts playing at 8:30 p.m., and
the film starts at 9 p.m. It is usually followed
by a dance party outside the Green-Wood
Chapel, complete with free drinks from
sponsors Corona and Ketel One Vodka.
Tickets are $16.
Rooftop organizers are still finalizing
dates for the season, but here is what we
have so far:
Friday, June 14: “New York Non-Fiction.”
A collection of short documentaries
shot in the Big Apple, focusing on cab drivers,
delivery men, an Olympic fencer, and
more New York characters.
Saturday, June 22: “Strange Negotiations.”
A documentary about musician
David Bazan, who left the successful
band Pedro the Lion to tour solo. Followed
by a discussion and performance
by Bazan.
Friday, July 19: “The Pine Barrens.” A
portrait of New Jersey’s inhospitable swampland,
presented with a live score from the
Ruins of Friendship Orchestra.
Garden variety
The magical event “A Night at Niblo’s
Garden” returns! This is actually a two-night
spectacle of 19th-century entertainment
from Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, including
fire eaters, musicians, contortionists, and
more, performing both on and around the
Crescent Water lake. The night is named
for nightlife empresario William Niblo,
owner of Niblo’s Garden theater, who purchased
a mausolem for himself at Green-
Wood and held picnics and performances
in front of it.
A Night at Niblo’s Garden at Green-
Wood Cemetery, July 12–13 at 7 p.m. $40
($75 VIP).
DINING
Fun-raiser
Spare some green for Fort Greene!
Fans of Fort Greene Park are invited to an al
fresco feast featuring jazz, wine, and good eats
on June 15, where the price of admission will
help support park stewards in their mission to
keep the community green space awesome, according
to an organizer with the Fort Greene
Park Conservancy.
“It’s a celebration of community and creativity
in and around Fort Greene, and it’s an opportunity
to support the Conservancy and the 100-
plus events we provide annually free of charge
to the community,” said Julian Macrone, associate
director of the group.
The conservancy’s Fort Greene Fling event
will feature tunes courtesy of local jazz legend
Eric Frazier, who will jam out along with his
band as locals chow down under the big tent,
with the park’s dazzling Prison Ship Martyr’s
Monument and the Manhattan skyline glowing
in the background.
The organizers encourage guests to bring
their own food and drinks for a do-it-yourself
feast under the tent, but meals — including pork
short-rib sandwiches and grilled summer squash
sandwiches — can be ordered in advance from
Adelphi Street eatery Metta, while Green Grape
Provisions offers hors d’ouevres, and Gnarly
Vines wine shop slings the vino.
Fort Greene Park Conservancy was created by
a group of local gardeners in 1998, who banded
together to beautify the cherished community
green space and utilize the public area to its fullest
potential through free public events.
The conservancy celebrated its 20th anniversary
and launched the Fort Greene Fling last year,
where the group raised a whopping $40,000.
All proceeds generated from ticket sales at
this year’s event — which are 100-percent tax
deductible — will go to funding the conservancy’s
operations and community events, and the
park stewards hopes to exceed last year’s fundraising
effort and generate more than $60,000
for the do-gooder group.
Fort Greene Fling at Fort Greene Park’s
Monument Plaza (enter at Myrtle Avenue and
DeKalb Avenue between Washington Park and
St. Edwards Street in Fort Greene, www.fortgreenepark.
org/2019fling). June 15; 5–10 p.m.
Tickets start at $45. Must be 21, or older.
— Colin Mixson
Hard to swallow: The swordswallowers,
fire-eaters, and
contortionists from Bindlestiff’s
Family Cirkus will recreate a
19th-century performance during
“A Night at Niblo’s Garden,”
at Green-Wood Cemetery on
July 12–13.
Green-Wood Cemetery has all the action this summer
Emily Hawkes Maike Schulz
Cemetery cinema: People sprawl across the grass to watch the Rooftop Film series
screening in Green-Wood Cemetery.
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