6
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, APRIL 28, 2019
VELVET
stant and profound connection
that could only
be expressed one way —
through dance!
“Black Velvet is about
the efficiency of strangers
to become partners,” said
Pitts.
Pitts, who utilizes an
Israeli style of dance that
features subtle movements
with explosive gestures,
called Gaga, first
premiered in Brazil in
2016, before heading out
on an international tour
that netted the dance
duo an Audience Choice
Award at the Stockholm
Fringe Festival in Sweden.
But the show also
leans on the talents of
Brazil-based Graphic Designer
and Video Artist
Lucca Del Carol, who’s
employed a special, single
point projection technique
that utilizes video
mapping to project threedimensional
images
around Pitts and Martins
movements.
“The work is very cinematic,”
said Pitts. “It’s
contemporary art more
than dance.”
And Pitts developed
a soundscape for Black
Velvet that borrows from
Brooklyn-born rapper Jay
Z, along with other African
American poets and
artists.
“Their music is part
of the soundscape in very
subtle ways,” said Pitts.
“That’s why, especially
in Brooklyn, people who
know of Jay Z’s work,
Nina Simone, and Frank
Ocean, they’ll feel them.
Experience Black Velvet
at Brooklyn Academy
of Music 321 Ashland Pl.
between Lafayette Avenue
and Hanson Place in Fort
Greene, (718) 636-4100,
www.bam.org/blackvelvet
May 9–11, 7:30 p.m.
May 12, 3 p.m. Tickets
start at $20.
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Call it breaking the ice.
The city is seeking
proposals from developers
to demolish and rebuild
a beloved Coney Island
ice rink.
The Economic Development
Corporation — a quasi
governmental agency
tasked with growing the
city’s economy — last
month released the request
for proposals to tear down
and redevelop a new public
ice-skating rink at the
site of the Abe Stark Sports
Center, on the Riegelmann
Boardwalk between W.
19th and W. 20th streets.
Plans for the property
must include a National
Hockey League regulation
sized rink — which
is about a third of the size
of a football fi eld — along
with viewing areas, locker
rooms, and skate rentals,
according to the request
LORDS
and guitarist Russell Javors
— fi rst reunited in
2014, when they played to
an adoring crowd after
being inducted into the
Long Island Music Hall of
Fame, DeVitto said.
“They wanted us to
play one or two songs
at the event, and when
we played the fi rst, the
crowd went so wild that
we played fi ve songs,” the
drummer said.
The three other musicians
who will play with
the Lords at their upcoming
show include bassist
Malcolm Gold and guitarist
Dennis DelGaudio,
who worked on “Movin’
Out” — the 2002 Broadway
musical set to Joel’s
songs — and singer and
pianist David Clark, who
has spent years performing
Joel’s tunes.
DeVitto, Cannata,
and Javors joined Joel’s
band in 1976, and shot
to stardom the following
year, when the music
man released his fi fth
album, “The Stranger,”
which sold more than 10
million copies and featured
hit singles including
“Only the Good Die
Young” and “She’s Always
a Woman.”
“I remember we came
out of a gig and I saw
this crowd of girls crowding
around him, and I
thought to myself, ‘I think
we did it,’” DeVitto said.
“We went from touring in
two rental cars to private
planes and the best hotels
in the world.”
DeVitto went on to play
on 11 of Joel’s albums over
the next 30 years, but he
and Joel no longer speak
— DeVitto launched a
lawsuit in 2009 claiming
Joel owed him hundreds
of thousands of dollars in
unpaid royalties, which
was settled out of court a
year later.
Javors stayed with the
band for a quarter century,
and Cannata left in
the early 1980s.
DeVitto went on to play
with other musical icons
— including Stevie Nicks,
the Beach Boys, Elton
John, and Carly Simon —
and started his own original
rock band, The Slim
Kings, with Cobble Hill
resident Michael Sackler-
Berner and Dyker Heights
dweller Andy Attanasio.
The pair of younger
Brooklynites ensures that
the group’s sounds stay
fresh, according to De-
Vitto.
“I’m the old school guy,
and they have the new
ideas,” he said.
The Lords of 52nd Street
at On Stage at Kingsborough
(2001 Oriental Boulevard
at Oxford Street in
Manhattan Beach, (718)
368–5596, www.onstageatkingsborough.
org). May 4
at 8 p.m. $32–$34.
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changes to Courier Life, One MetroTech Center North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
for proposals, which also
stated that development
plans must create at least
30 permanent jobs.
The document adds that
honchos will give preference
to plans that propose
additional uses of the site
— such as “complimentary
sporting facilities, community
space, entertainment,
retail and dining” — and
address climate-related
concerns like sea-level
rise and storm surge by including
“energy-effi cient
features.”
The city has $42 million
in capital funding allocated
to pay for the project,
but “proposals that minimize
the need for city capital
are strongly preferred,”
according to the request
for proposals.
Proposals are due June
7 by 4 p.m., according to
agency spokesman Christian
Ficara, who added
that offi cials will determine
the timeline for demolition
and construction
based on the selected respondent’s
proposal.
The site, which is more
than double the size of a
football fi eld, has been
used by local hockey teams
and fi gure skaters since
it was built in 1970, and
draws large crowds of amateur
skaters when it opens
to the public on weekends.
The demolition and reconstruction
of the rink
— which is currently under
the jurisdiction of
the Parks Department —
are products of the neighborhood’s
2009 rezoning,
which aims to expand
the amusement district
along the Riegelmann
Boardwalk.
The rezoning also includes
plans to add housing
and retail space to the MCU
Park-adjacent parking lot
just north of the rink, according
to the request for
proposals, which added
that the city will retain
about 400 of the lot’s approximately
1,000 parking spots
as part of a lease agreement
with the Brooklyn Baseball
Company, which operates
the stadium.
But the plans for redevelopment
of the ice rink
have not come without
controversy: at a meeting
last summer, locals
— including Councilman
Mark Treyger (D-Coney
Island) — called for the
Parks Department to retain
control over the rink,
alleging that a private developer
might make the
new facility less accessible
to the community.
Other Coney Islanders
claim that the city could
develop the area without
even demolishing the
rink.
Dancers Shamel Pitts and Mirelle Martins in Black Velvet, coming to
Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 9. Photo by Rebecca Stella
City seeks plans to demolish
and rebuild Coney ice rink
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