‘BENCH’ PRESS
Local jurist stars on legal TV show
By Colin Mixson Talk about a coming attraction!
The cinephiles behind
Downtown dine-in movie house
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema are
planning a major expansion of their
movie house, which will more than
double its space to sling burgers,
serve beer, and screen blockbusters.
“If I have one regret about the
current Brooklyn theater, it is that
we just don’t have enough screens
to support all the movies we love,”
says Alamo Drafthouse founder
and head honcho Tim League. “I
can’t wait to share the new expansion
and so many more films with
the neighborhood!”
The theater’s hefty expansion,
set to occupy a space the size of
an Olympic hockey rink on the
third floor of Downtown shopping
center City Point, will result in
Hot seat: Judge Michael Corriero serves as one of three judges on the CBS television
show “Hot Bench.” CBS
400 new seats and nine additional
screens above its existing seven
cinemas currently on the mall’s
fourth floor. Two of those new
theaters will be equipped with 3D
projectors, and one with a 35mm
reel-to-reel machine, when the job
— which is set to kick off this fall
— wraps as soon as next year.
And Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
will continue to operate during
construction, according to its
spokesman Brad Johnson.
The screening rooms are not
the theater’s only new additions,
however — the movie house also
installed a vintage 1993 NBA Jam
arcade game this month, donated
by a big-hearted Williamsburger.
The classic arcade cabinet,
which in good condition can retail
online for up to $4,000, took up
too much space in former owner
Weston Green’s apartment. So he
sought a new home for his beloved
COURIER L 50 IFE, MAR, 1-7, 2019 24-7
video game by scrolling through the
Brooklyn page of popular online
forum Reddit, where he turned
down a couple of “finance bros”
before a rep for Alamo Drafthouse
reached out, and he realized theater
was the perfect place to share
his old-school entertainment with
local gamers.
“I immediately knew that
would be the place,” Green said.
“I love the Alamo and am excited
to know the game has found its
home there.”
By Natallie Rocha He’s so hot right now!
Brooklyn Heights judge
Michael Corriero dispenses
justice five days a week on his
hit daytime television show “Hot
Bench,” much like he did during
his decades-long tenure as a New
York jurist.
Corriero spent 28 years in
the criminal courts of New York
State, 16 of them presiding over
Manhattan’s Youth Part, a special
court he created to bring attention
to young offenders being prosecuted
as adults.
Then an old friend, Judy
Sheindlin — known nationwide
as the Hon. Judge Judy — asked
him to lend his talents to her CBS
show featuring a panel of three
judges. Now Corriero sits on the
“Hot Bench” next to two other
judges — Judge Patricia Dimango
and Judge Tanya Acker — and the
trio reach a whopping 3.2-million
viewers each weekday. The
native New Yorker now splits his
time between Los Angeles and
Brooklyn Heights, but found time
to chat with this paper about his
influences and his love for the
city’s biggest borough.
Natallie Rocha: What inspired
you to study law?
Michael Corriero: I grew
up across the street from the
Manhattan court system — they
called it “the Tombs.” We would
see the officers and defenders
of criminal law at the corner of
Baxter and White Street and it was
really the entire atmosphere that
drew me in.
NR: What draws you to juvenile
justice reform?
MC: What drew me in initially
was wanting to work with young
people who found themselves outside
the letter of the law. If people
saw me at the corner of Mulberry
and Hester Street when I was 15
or 16 years old, they never would
have imagined that this kid would
grow up to be a judge.
NR: Growing up, did you ever
get out of Manhattan to explore
Brooklyn?
MC: Brooklyn was always a
place I wanted to be. When I was
young, I wanted to go to Coney
Island with my friends during the
summer. My mom let us take the
subway to the beach. There was
one part of the subway where it was
an elevated ride and you could see
all of Brooklyn and the neighborhoods,
it was beautiful. Brooklyn
was like its own country.
Game on: Weston Green donated his
vintage NBA Jam arcade cabine to the
Alamo Drafthouse.
Photo by Caroline Ourso
Film and games
One L of a good time: The L Train Brass Band will play at the Bell House on
March 3 for its party “Common Sense: A Mardi Gras Bash To Make Every
Person Count.”
State of Gras
The best spots to celebrate
Mardi Gras in Brooklyn
By Bill Roundy Take it Big Easy this week!
Mardis Gras is happening
in New Orleans right
now, but if you want to have a
cajun celebration before the start
of Lent, we have found plenty of
events with beads and king cake
right here in Kings County.
Creole fashioned
Start the day-drinking party
early at Southern Comfort, a
pop-up filled with cajun food
and dancing. Catering company
Amazing Soul Food will host a
Mardi Gras masquerade party,
featuring an open bar for its
first hour (3–4 pm) and plenty
of N’awlins dishes. Guests are
encouraged to wear all black,
but go wild with your face covering
— there will be a prize for
best mask!
Mardi Gras Party at
Southern Comfort (377 Marcus
Garvey Blvd. between Jefferson
Avenue and Hancock Street in
Bedford-Stuyvesant, facebook.
com/amazingsoulfood). March
2; 3-9 pm. $35.
Bead counters
Support our neighbors in the
South while you party at “It’s
Common Census: A Mardi Gras
Bash To Make Every Person
Count.” The event will raise cash
for Southern Echo, a Mississippi
group that works to redraw gerrymandered
districts. The party will
feature stand-up comedy from Pat
Regan, drag bingo, a burlesque
performance from Darlinda Just
Darlinda, and live music from the
L train Brass Band, who marched
down Bourbon Street in New
Orleans last weekend!
“It’s Common Census” at
the Bell House 149 Seventh
St. between Second and Third
avenues in Gowanus, (718) 643–
6510, www.thebellhouseny.com.
March 3 at 3 pm. $25.
Swing set
If you want to go upscale for
your Fat Tuesday creole carnival,
the place to be is Park Slope’s
swank Montauk Club, which
will host three floors of dancing
and burlesque performances.
Brooklyn Swings will offer
dance lessons at the beginning
of the night, so you can lindy
hop all evening to music from
the Second Line Brass Band,
zydeco act Gordon Webster and
Friends, or DJ Cochon de Lait,
among others. Carnival masks
will be on sale for cheap, and
beads are free!
“The Salon: Mardi Gras” at
the Montauk Club (25 Eighth
Ave. at Lincoln Place in Park
Slope, www.prohibitionproductions.
com). March 5; 6–11 pm.
$39 ($52 with open bar).
House of Oui
Keep the party going late into
the night with a visit to “Mardi
Gras Brass and Sass” at the House
of Yes. The Hot Hand Brass Band
will start blowing at 10 pm, aerial
performers will swing overhead,
and you can join the parade winding
around the space until 4 am.
Costumes encouraged!
“Mardi Gras” at House of
Yes 2 Wyckoff Ave. at Jefferson
Street in Bushwick, (646) 838–
4937, www.houseofyes.org.
March 5 at 10 pm. Free.
Goes down Easy
If you just want to eat and
drink on Fat Tuesday, visit cajun
bar Heavy Woods! The saloon
will feature a live stream from
Bourbon Street, tasty po’ boys,
$5 drafts of Louisiana beers, and
$8 hurricane cocktails.
Mardi Gras Party at Heavy
Woods 50 Wyckoff Ave. between
Starr Street and Willoughby
Avenue in Bushwick, (929) 234–
3500. www.heavywoodsbar.
com. March 5 at 7 pm. Free.
/www.houseofyes.org
/www.prohibitionproduc-tions.com
/www.prohibitionproduc-tions.com
/www.prohibitionproduc-tions.com
/www.thebellhouseny.com
/www.heavywoodsbar
/www.thebellhouseny.com
/www.houseofyes.org
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