Sound & Chaos: The Story of BC Studio tells the tale of Martin Bisi and his sprawling Gowanus music studio where he recorded Herbie Hancock's "Rockit," along with Sonic Youth, John Zorn, the Dresden Dolls, and many more. All back in a time when girl gangs (!) and packs of wild dogs (!) roamed the Gowanus landscape.
Much has changed in the neighborhood--and mostly in the past few years--with more major changes to come. Watch the trailer here, see the film at Anthology Film Archives on July 17, and enjoy this special clip below (thanks to co-director Sara Leavitt for cutting it at my request), in which Bisi tours Whole Foods and explains how one "damn grocery store" is bringing on a major land rush that will likely push him out, along with the rest of the artists.
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a.k.a. The Book of Lamentations:
a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct
- Jeremiah Moss
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THE BLOG:
"the go-to hub for those who lament New York's loss of character." --Crain's
"No one takes stock of New York's changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss." --Village Voice, Best of NY
“Jeremiah Moss…is the defender of all the undistinguished hunks of masonry that lend the streets their rhythm.” --Justin Davidson, New York Magazine
"One of the most thorough and pugnacious chroniclers of New York’s blandification." --The Atlantic, Citylab
"Hyperbolic and combative, tireless and passionate." --Salon
The Whole Foods is horrible, but I think the land rush started way before it came in. Poised between two wealthy neighborhoods, Gowanus was prime for the squeeze, and industrial areas are so so chic these days. Gowanus, Red Hook, the southern part of Park Slope down through Sunset Park is being pillaged by developers to a terrifying extent. Teardowns and the seizing of warehouses and multi-families on almost every block. Fourth Avenue is lined with high-rise apartment buildings - just yesterday I learned of six more small multi-families on Fourth about to be demolished. Red Hook is getting a private school in the shadow of Red Hook Houses, and a high-end rehab center for the wealthy - right on the waterfront. These are all neighborhoods I love(d) to walk in, but frankly, I can hardly bear to see what's going on. Whole Foods just adds to the momentum. I wish some of the shoppers would just head up to Westchester or a NJ suburb, but now they want a piece of "real" city life, with the convenience of supermarket parking lots. The school near me that is still mostly Latino & Asian now has a clique of new parents who do wine-tasting fund-raisers in boutique stores and want to "raise the profile" of a long-standing gem of a family school. This stuff is endless. Bisi is right about Third. What a desolate stretch it used to be - I recall transvestite hookers, not cars streaming to a supermarket. And guard dogs roaming the rooftops of the warehouses. Though I prefer smaller places, The antidote to Whole Foods crowd is at the Pathmark on 12th, down by the canal, and the big liquor store next door. You might see an older crowd there.
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting us know about the film. I will be there.
I'd point to the sunset park costco as one nexus of disgusting hypocrisy, where park slope / brooklyn heights residents, served by some of the best mass transit in the country are, instead, solo-driving private autos (complete with no fracking stickers) 3 - 5 miles and reveling in exurban binging. then comes ikea/lowes/whole foods, the drive thru banks, and all the other suburban detris that is profoundly at odds with a walkable urban life. Wait for the Kentile Floors sign to be erected on the roof of the new Applebees + Red Lobster...
ReplyDeleteits all gross, but i dont hate wholefoods. applebees is another story. never seen one but the name sounds so shopping center mall.
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