SIDE Hotel, Hamburg. For work.
Things I’ve slept on: the book trailer for Super Sad True Love Story (which you should all read, by the way)
According to the NYT, the Jelly/OSA Pool Parties are done on account of Jelly didn’t pay its bills.
I want to get this out of the way up-front: I like music. I majored in it in college. I saw these shows back when they were actually in a pool. I read blogs and shit. I can namedrop and posture and reference and whatever.
So my reason for hating on the soon to be defunct Pool Parties has less to do with the music (or some cursory invective about those fucking hipsters in Williamsburg - where, technically, I am one), and more to do with land use: namely, the condo developments along the waterfront.
Back in 2000-something, when the city granted retardedly huge zoning variances for condos like the Edge and the Northside Piers, it was with the caveat that their footprints would have to include a certain amount of public greenspace. Except then there was a recession and the greenspace failed to materialize. In fact, the only major park - East River State Park - developed in the area was done so by the State, not the city.
Which is now where the Pool Parties take place. And as it happens, the organizers of the pool parties don’t like it when you a) look past the chainlink fence and see the music without paying, or b) use the park at all when there’s a show going on. So when a show’s on, the park is off-limits to all but ticket-holders and sponsors. There are public shows too, but that misses the larger point.
Here’s the thing: the ‘new’ Williamsburg waterfront - big condos and elaborate rock shows - comes at the expense of the larger neighborhood. The things that the city required of developers (namely, additional public space and anchor retail amenities like grocery stores and dry cleaners) have mostly failed to materialize. Meanwhile there’s been no accounting for increased load on public services (fire, MTA, traffic) or the semi-privatization of the public space that already exists.
Which, generally speaking, is counter to the purpose of redevelopment. What’s the point of having a neighborhood concert series that renders neighborhood amenities unusable?
So, sorry Pool Parties. I’m over it. I want my park back.
I’m in South Dakota.
Celestial Soul Portraits. By Erial Ali.
“How it works:
1. You contact Erial Ali - letting him know you wish such a portrait.
2. Erial has a phone consultation with you - where he finds out about you -
your interests, your passions, your fascinations, how you “see” yourself.
3. You send Erial a high-quality photo of yourself - an image that you feel is highly representative of “the real you”. An image that represent how you like to be seen. This will be Erial’s “starting point”.
4. Erial meditates and “tunes into you”, to “get your unique Essence”.
5. Once Erial really “gets who you are”, then, starting from the image you provided, he magically transforms it into a Celestial Soul Portrait of you!
6. Erial mails you a CD of this portrait. This CD is a very-high quality, very large and high-resolution digital image - enough detail to print out a VERY LARGE PRINT that looks magnificent.
7. You are then free to use that image on your website, print hi-quality photos of it, or even print hi-quality medium-size posters of it, which you can frame.
(Print shops can do this for you, or you can do it at home -with a nice printer and photo paper.)”
Do yourself a favor and read it. It’s the best ‘big ideas’ book about the environment disguised as a sci-fi novel that you might ever encounter.
