Dedicated ass shakers used to head into Manhattan for a good dance party. Lately though, the best sweaty, attitude-free dance floors are in Brooklyn. In the past year, Justice, the Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and Chromeo have all packed Studio B, a massive venue in the heart of Brooklyn’s up-and-coming Greenpoint neighborhood. And over in Park Slope, DJ collective The Rub has thrown the city’s best club night for years. These boys helped pioneer the mashup genre, and every first Saturday at Southpaw you can hear them mix jams from Sade next to Daft Punk and Lil Wayne. Check out their mixtapes, including the big selling series “It’s The Motherfucking Remix,” until you can make it to one of their gigs. For a glitzier setting try Sugarland, a former jock and pizza bar that’s been newly redubbed a gay bar. The scene there is still growing, but it’s one of the few places in Brooklyn you’ll see tall queens in homemade alien costumes dancing with hot-panted boys on a Tuesday.
www.clubstudiob.com
www.itstherub.com
www.myspace.com/sugarlandbklyn
Cinders Gallery was birthed in fire. Three years ago founder Kellie Bowman’s apartment burned to the ground, pushing Bowman and co-founder Sto (one name) to follow through on their dream of providing an artist-run antidote to the sterile, ofttimes intimidating gallery setting. The tiny space is homey and inviting, both in atmosphere and in the work it shows. Expect to see playful art that blurs the line between fantasy and reality, humans and nature, dreams and nightmares. The work you’ll find owes a debt to illustrative artists like Marcel Dzama, to teenage notebook doodles and to groups like the legendary Fort Thunder collective, whose co-founder, Brian Chippendale of noise punk duo Lightening Bolt, currently has art on the walls. Don’t to forget to check out the back room, where you can pick up crafts and zines from gallery artists and DIYers from all over the world.
www.cindersgallery.com
Brooklyn summers are stuck in perpetual childhood. At the borough’s McCarren Park, twentysomethings take on playground games like dodgeball and kickball, beefed up by adult-size competition. Those who don’t play, watch, cheer and heckle, egged on by beers from local brewer Brooklyn Brewery or neighborhood bar the Turkey’s Nest. Up until this year, however, Brooklynites lost their fun when winter hit. No longer. The owners of Barcade, another teenage throwback bar that combines booze and arcade games, have brought bowling to town. Gutter, a new bowling alley mere blocks from McCarren Park, is outfitted in vintage bowling alley fixtures and has a distinct, 1970s middle America vibe. The retro equipment sometimes hiccups, slowing the game, but that just gives you more time to enjoy one of the killer microbrews on tap.
www.thegutterbrooklyn.com
Go to any basement, loft, church, abandoned schoolhouse or warehouse indie rock show in Brooklyn, and you’ll more than likely run into Todd Patrick, aka Todd P. DIY music impresario to Brooklyn and all of New York, he promotes shows for nearly every Brooklyn band you’ve ever or never heard of, as well as touring bands from the world over. His shows are cheap, far flung and always a surprise. Expect to see acts like local idols Matt and Kim and Japanther, my own idols Marnie Stern, BARR, and The Slits, and now-unknown but future idols of punk kids everywhere. Track down his shows — and your new favorite bands — on his sparse but descriptive website, or pick up a copy of his newest brainchild, Showpaper. The free, biweekly newspaper lists underground shows throughout the New York area. If that’s not enticement enough, Showpaper also features full-color cover art from artists like Chris Johanson, Neckface and Ben Jones of Paper Rad.
toddpnyc.com
