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If one wants to launch a book like Brooklyn Spaces, a compendium of the wild creativity and bizarre beauty of Brooklyn’s cultural renaissance these days, it won’t really do to have a staid little book signing. Instead, I felt the only way to do justice to all the brilliant culture-creators profiled in the book was to bring it off the page and into real life, for a visceral experience of the Brooklyn I love, the Brooklyn I’ve striven to document.
I started with a quintessential Brooklyn space: the massive Gowanus Ballroom, a cannonball factory turned metalworking shop helmed by a mad genius who flings open his doors every few months for huge multimedia arts extravaganzas. Then I filled it with every kind of crazy wonderful performer I could fit, from bands to aerialists to photographers to less easy-to-categorize acts.
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There was a lot of jaw-dropped gawking upward, but attendees were by no means passive. It’s physically impossible to be still while listening to these bands—all female Afro-Brazillian drumming troupe BatalaNYC, punk/folk busker extraordinaire Morgan O’Kane, and legendary renegade brass ensemble Hungry March Band. For those folks still boogying after midnight (there were plenty!), DJ Dirtyfinger brought it home.
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There was also a photoshow by amazing Brooklyn Spaces photographers Maximus Commissar, Alix Piorun, Walter Wlodarczyk, Tod Seelie, Julia Roberts, Shannon Carroll, Michael Blase, and Jon Handel, and eats from an array of Brooklyn-based foodies: Arborio King, Old Traditional Polish, Handsome Dan’s, and Star City Foods. Not to mention a seemingly endless supply of free wine.
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Somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 intrepid revelers came out to play, gawk, eat, drink, and dance their faces off, so I’d say it was a success by any measure. I even sold a bunch of books! Although I’d be pretty pleased if I could sell a few more—if you want to pick it up, please support your local Brooklyn bookstore.
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