Gowanus Paddle

What with all the auto action and live entertainment over the weekend, this image slipped through the net. So here we have Gowanus Dredgers returning from a gentle paddle.

Party for the People at the Yard

M1 of Dead Prez The perfectly placed Yard hosted the event yesterday, bringing together performers, poets, activists, and community organisations on a perfect still-summery afternoon. Thanks to G-Lounge for the event listing. Judah Tribe

Saturday Car-nography

On the same street as the leaning brownstones (left) and the Holiday Inn, you can find an excellent collection of customised cars. Residents inform us that the vehicle pictured below has 20 built-in speakers. On the way home, I spotted this yellow Corvette launching from 3rd and Carroll.

Gonorrhea in Gowanus

Biologist Dr. Niloufar Haque reports that students have found Gonorrhea in a drop of Gowanus water. Gonorrhoea is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection with some unpleasant symptoms.

3rd Avenue Mural Unveiled

Tonight at 3rd Avenue and Butler Street, a new mural was unveiled to honor the lives of Victor Flores (1992-2004), Juan Angel Estrada (1993-2004) and James Rice (2003-2007), all of whom were struck and killed by vehicles in the area. The mural is a result of a collaboration between artists Nicole Schulman and Christopher Cardinale (below) with young people from the area. James Rice's granddad (bottom photo) also spoke, imploring drivers to take more care.

Gowanus Yard: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Philadelphia's Sabbra Cadabra played the Gowanus Yard today, on the banks of the canal near the Carroll Street Bridge. The mud-splashed and beer-soaked crowd reserved their greatest enthusiasm for, yes, "Iron Man."

Desktop Day: Gowanus Gorilla

This mutant blue creature is sized for your computer desktop wallpaper. Instructions Left-click on the image first to open up the large version. Windows PC: Right-click on the large image and select 'set as desktop background'. You can also right-click and 'save as', then use your desktop properties settings to add the file you just saved and format it how you prefer. There's more info on customising your PC desktop here.

Mac: Macintosh instructions can be found here.

New Gowanus Venue: The Yard

Temporarily vacant space in Gowanus is being put to good use. Alicia from Mean Red Productions tells us, "We're calling it the yard, it is a beautiful outdoor space on the water where we've planned a film and concert series. There is also a silo on the property in which we're curating small music & art shows. The land is destined to become condos in a few years, but before that happens we'd like to make the most of it to create a new music and art destination in the neighbourhood." The first show is on July 1st and includes the Babylon Circus from France and Wax Poetic. Click on the flyer to the left for more details. There's quite a lot of "land destined to become condos" around Brooklyn so it would be good to see more of these initiatives springing up.