SANDY RECOVERY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

In case you want to help out this weekend, below are several opportunities plus additional information about how and where to make donations.  For those of you who tried to help out but couldn't find a place, it seems like the organization of volunteers is finally catching up with the amount of people who want to help.  There is a new website that is good place to ascertain where you can be most useful.  

From http://brokelyn.com/where-to-volunteer-this-weekend/:

RED HOOK

• Folks looking to help out in Red Hook, one of the first neighborhoods to get hit by the flood, have a number of opportunities that only seem to only grow more plentiful by the day. Many of the efforts have been spearheaded by the Red Hook Initiative, an organization dedicated to empowering communities to create their own social change. Located at 767 Hicks St, RHI is currently good on volunteers but is still looking for donations of pre-prepared food (including food for children), candles, utensils such as spoons and bowls, jugs of water, flashlights, batteries, power strips, toiletries, paper towels, and paper for printing fliers. UPDATE: RHI can currently use toiletries, toothpaste, batteries, toilet paper, soft blankets (fleece, not wool) and clothes. They can be be brought to 610 Henry till 3 PM or directly to the Miccio Center located at 110 W 9th Street.
• Help unload supplies at RHI and the Park Slope Armory starting at 8am today (Friday). This is expected to be a massive, massive effort.
• The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition will be cleaning up on November 3rd & 4th starting at 10am. Extra hands are welcome, especially if those hands are holding portable generators, long extension cords, or work lights. As many people as possible are needed for this effort, RSVP and/or send questions to bwacinfo@aol.com.
• Red Hook Recovers is also organizing resources according to what individuals need, what they have to give, and when they can volunteer.
• For those who want to help provide sustenance but have limited cooking bilities, hands will be needed to distribute free packaged meals and drinking water today at Coffey Park at 85 Richards Street in Red Hook 7:30am-12:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday 9am-1pm. Bring your own bag to carry food and water.

ROCKAWAYS

• Donations collection again today (Friday) for Rockaways at Dekalb & Fort Greene Park 1-3pm. Warm clothes, canned goods, towels.
• The Meat Hook in Williamsburg is collecting supplies to serve hot meals to those stranded in the Rockaways, some of whom haven’t eaten in days. They’re also facilitating folks to sign up for FEMA relief. Stop by their store at 100 Frost Street to drop off items listed here.
• Union Pool is looking for musicians, artists, and generally creatively-minded people to help put together a benefit for those in the Rockaways. Contact them with ideas at info@union-pool.com as soon as possible.
• It may not be possible to stress enough how much the Rockaways need resources. El Puente, a community initiative dedicated to the power of self-determination, will be collecting donations today and tomorrow at their CHE headquarters in Williamsburg. Drop food and supplies off on Friday 10am-5pm at 289 Grand St, and Saturday 9:30am-11am at 211 South 4th St. Bring non-perishable food, soap, shampoo, lotion, toothpaste/toothbrushes, diapers, formula, baby wipes, warm clothing for people of all ages, and cleaning supplies (shovels, garbage bags, gloves, etc). If you’d like to help sort and box the donations, email stbernadetteconvent@gmail.com. Help raise funds for the families of Rockaway Park.
• The Corcoran is hosting a drive for kids displaced in two of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the city, Breezy Point and the Rockaways. Clothes, diapers, and food can be dropped off at 125 7th Ave. Donations for kids can also be dropped at Steve Levin’s Office at 410 Atlantic Ave.
• American Legion Post 1404 at 209 Cross Bay Blvd is running out of food VERY quickly, and neither FEMA nor the Red Cross have arrived. If anyone can bring water, pre-cooked, quick heat,etc. food PLEASE do.  (No electricity or running water.)  If you can help, please come.  They also need extra hands to sort clothes.
• If you’ve got toiletries, socks, underwear or sweatshirts, you can drop them off at Good Co. (10 Hope Street, Williamsburg), Pour House (7901 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge), Mullanes, (S. Elliot & Lafayette, Fort Greene) and at 118 Freeman St. b/t Manhattan & Franklin, Greenpoint
• Affinity Cycles (616 Grand Street, Williamsburg) is having a food and supply drive this Saturday and then riding the supplies down to the Rockaways on Sunday

BRIGHTON BEACH/CONEY ISLAND

• Volunteers who can access Brighton Beach: the Shorefront JCC has become a center for recovery efforts for Jewish communities in the area. Call 718-743-0575.
• JASA is looking for able-bodied volunteers to carry food and supplies up 7+ flights of stairs to homebound seniors who’ve been trapped by the loss of elevator service.  Email jstolar@jasa.org or call 212-991-6572

SHEEPSHEAD BAY

• State Senate Candidate Andrew Gounardes & Councilman Vincent Gentile have helped organize a children’s drive.  Drop off all gently used toys, books and children’s clothing to either 7321 15th Avenue in Dyker Heights, or 351 87th Street in Bay Ridge. Goods will be given to children in Gerritsen beach et al who have lost everything.
• This cleanup effort on Saturday is looking for volunteers. Email them at cleanupsheepsheadbay@gmail.com
• Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is going door to door in Sheepshead Bay and Manhattan Beach to hand out information to small business owners about filing for federal disaster aid, from noon to 4pm today. Email esharp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov to RSVP

PROSPECT PARK/PARK SLOPE

• Meanwhile, in Park Slope, Congregation Beth Elohim is running a huge volunteer drive that will continue for days to come. You can sign up here to donate, help make food, or run meals to Red Hook.
• Folks in Park Slope can also donate goods at Postmark Cafe on 326 6th St. They will be accepting sugar, flour, 100% juice, canned fruit and veggies, canned tuna and chicken, soup, pasta sauce, rice, beans, boxed milk with a shelf life, cereal, oatmeal, coffee, and tea from 7am to 7pm (Saturday at 8am).
• Help Prospect Park! Sign up for the November 3rd Walkathon or attend theProspect Park Anniversary Ball on November 10.
• Night Owls needed! Volunteering doesn’t end when the sun goes down, which is good, because the sun seems to be going down earlier every day. There have been plenty of volunteers during the daytime; overnight volunteers are needed at all shelters. Folks needed at John Jay, Brooklyn Tech, and Park Slope Armory. Volunteers at John Jay must sign up for shifts each day. The Armory is caring mostly for an elderly population, so those with experience are especially needed.
• Speaking again of the Park Slope Armory, Masbia soup kitchen has been there providing hot meals to over 500 evacuees from adult care homes in flooded parts of the city. This has been a huge expenditure for this small non-profit. Help Masbia cover its costs.
• The Park Slope Jewish Center (1320 8th Avenue) has put out a call for the following items to help Red Hook and the Armory: any XL MEN’s clothing, XL Men’s Pants, XL Men’s Jackets, XL Men’s Shirts, XL Men’s Sweatshirts. Unopened pre-packaged food. Flashlights, batteries, candles are the most important items for Red Hook. Fresh fruit, non-perishables, soap, paper towels, wipes and diapers are great as well.

DUMBO

• DUMBO’s Powerhouse Arena got rained on in a big way. Over two feet of water stormed the bookstore/event space, destroying store items and furniture with it, leaving the place stranded without flood insurance. However, Powerhouse is determined to re-open, and you can help with that! Donate to their efforts to clean up and restock. There’s also a Sandy Hates Books fundraiser on the horizon, currently scheduled for Saturday, November 17 from 12-8pm. Updates to come.

STATEN ISLAND

• Being surrounded by water and all, Staten Island got hit pretty hard. Disaster relief is being coordinated in Bay Ridge, where community organizers are collecting food, clothing, and non-perishable items to be donated to local shelters on Staten Island.

Beyond Chopped Liver: A Brief Guide to Jew-ish Food + Some Music My Jewish Father Liked

When I was a kid, there were things we ate at my house that the other kids I knew didn’t eat. And because we were sort of Jewish, and they weren’t, I took those foods to be Jewish, things that only Jews and the Jew-ish ate. I don't mean recognized Jewish specialties like chopped liver and matzoh-ball soup and challah, but just stuff I never saw at the home of my non-Jewish friends.

Let’s look at a chart!

 

On a different note (note! get it?)

In honor of what would've been his 90th birthday, some songs my dad liked, from high to low to … what the fuck?

Lawyers, Guns, and Money -- Warren Zevon

Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits

Hotel California – The Eagles

Take the A train – Duke Ellington

Bach: The Goldberg Variations – Wanda Landowska

Shake Your Body – Technotronic

NYC Restaurant Grading System Dismystified

for you, by me:

A = pretty clean but nothing to write home about
B = the staff doesn't wash their hands and/or no soap in the bathroom
C = RATatouille is making your grilled cheese
D = Human-sized rats with 2 heads are the main clientele

Perverse R-rated Addendum to G-Rated Holiday Song Post

Many many oh so many years ago, Jeff and I and another friend Jeff spent a festive Christmas eve at MoMA watching the much-loved holiday classic, Cocksucker Blues.
Somehow wasn't quite the stuff of tradition.

TradishUUUN, tradition! or lack thereof!

God Forbid We Celebrate Thanksgiving Like Normal People

As the child of bohemian, peripatetic  parents, I yearned for traditions, for anchors, for terra firma, for a chance to say, “We always…” about something. “We always make pancakes on Sunday morning,” “We always go see the Christmas windows at Lord & Taylor.” Nobody else seemed to notice we were missing something, so I set out to create some traditions for us, for my family.

I tried to establish an annual tradition where my dad – a man raised in a Kosher home in Borough Park, Brooklyn – would read “A Visit from St. Nick” in his booming voice every Christmas eve. He obliged one year, not unhappily, but it didn’t take; nobody but me cared.

One year – age 8 or 9 -- I gave myself a job usually assigned to a bachelor uncle or the guy who owns the hardware store. For the benefit of my little brother, I dressed myself up as Santa Claus, wearing my snazzy red vinyl coat (Santa as styled by Fiorucci?), and relieving the medicine cabinet of its entire stock of cotton balls. No surprise, this little attempt was a  one-off.

We certainly had no real Thanksgiving traditions, not even at the most basic level, i.e., we couldn't even claim that every year we sat down with family and ate turkey somewhere, anywhere. A couple of times we went to my grandmother’s or my aunt’s in Brooklyn (our big tradition in this scenario was always to be late; sometimes there would be shouting about it). One year my mother tried to make a goose. There was the time we went out to dinner, deeply offending my fantasies of what Thanksgiving was supposed to look like – and I don’t think anyone even ordered turkey. Yet another time my mother woke herself up at 4:00 a.m. to start cooking the damn Bird.

I’ve never liked Thanksgiving. I don’t like turkey white meat; it tastes like nothing, and has a texture reminiscent of a woodchip. And I guess I didn’t like Thanksgiving because of what it represented – a lack of family traditions, our family’s inability to make statements that began, “Every July 4th we…” or “Every time it snows, we…”

As an adult, as a parent, I haven’t really turned things around in this department the way I thought I might, once I was the grown-up. It so happens I’ve had some very lovely Thanksgivings over the past couple of decades, but there’s no “Every year for Thanksgiving, we…”. Jeff and I spent one exceptional and unusual Thanksgiving, pre-kids, in Venice. The mist rose obligingly off the Grand Canal, and there was nary a roasted flightless bird to be found. Another time, we had a lovely Thanksgiving at the country house of friends (a converted farmhouse in a field – a Gourmet magazine photo spread-ready setting), with our kids, and their kids, and another pair of friends and their kids. And here and there, back in Brooklyn, I even managed to turn out a couple of passable birds myself with the help of scandalous amounts of butter.

And one time, 10 years ago, when I was 8 1/2 months  pregnant with my first kid – too pregnant to go anywhere, too pregnant to feed anybody – Jeff and my in-laws and my mother and my sister-in-law and I had a Thanksgiving dinner at a lovely restaurant a couple of blocks from home. Cucina, helmed by Michael Ayoub, was the first “good” restaurant (read: Manhattan-y) in Park Slope, the first one that might induce Manhattanites to cross a river. It no longer exists. There was another restaurant at that address for several years, and it, too, is now gone. This year, Michael Ayoub returned to the site and opened up a new restaurant. And guess what, that’s where my little family is having Thanksgiving this year.

Phew!  I officially have the right to say, “Every ten years we have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant at 254 5th Avenue that is owned by Michael Ayoub.” A tradition! Michael Ayoub, you'd better cooperate.

Enjoy your version, be it unique to this year, or an always and every. And pass the yams.

ScrooGrinch Songs for the Season - Follow-Up

From some contributing editors:

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John and Yoko

I think this is the closest thing to a Beatles Christmas song, but please do correct me if I'm wrong. And send a link!

2000 Miles - Pretenders 

Chrissie's voice tempers any threat of over-done sentimentality. 

River  - Joni Mitchell 

Why don't you just kill us, Joni?

The Christmas Song  - Nat King Cole

What's to be said? The ultimate.

Last Christmas  - WHAM

New one on me! How is that possible, how could I have missed all that hair?

And something I just remembered:

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

Not to be confused with the "Square Pegs" theme song, though it may actually be the same song

Xmas Songs for Scrooges and Grinches - Holiday Tunes That Don't Make My Teeth Ache

Xmas is coming, sort of, eventually; time to start force-feeding the goose. And time for me to wear ear plugs in chain drugstores because most Christmas music sends me looking for bridges and open windows on high floors.

Below, an incomplete list of holiday songs I can tolerate and some I even like:

(NOTE: in many cases, the vids are lame – I am providing links largely for the music):

Christmas, Baby Please Come Home – Darlene Love and Phil Specter and some backup mix of his regular crew of girls; plus Phil Spector’s bizarre-o spoken Christmas message to You, the Listener – where he sounds a hell of a lot like Squiggy -- at the beginning (or maybe it’s at the end?) of his iconic Xmas album (couldn’t find a sound clip)

Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio doing any part of the Charlie Brown Xmas special score 

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth - David Bowie and Bing Crosby's freakazoid yet beautiful duet of “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” 

Christmas for the Jews - Darlene Love SNL Claymation Short-- I started humming this on Nov 1

The Who Song (Welcome Christmas) - from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, of course. I always think of it as "Yahoo Doray."

Also, “You’re a Mean One, Mister Grinch,” though not sure this actually counts as a holiday song

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - warbled tremulously by Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis (grab a full box of Kleenex before you click!) 

Run, Run Rudolph -Chuck Berry

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town - The Boss

Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys - 

Blue Christmas -  from the Elvis '68 Comeback Special
(I must say, I’m right there with the screaming chicks – sexiest rendition of a xmas song ever?)

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting...) - Sinatra 

Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt  

Let It Snow Dean Martin rendition (suave) – I’ve brought me some corn for poppin…

Let It Snow Sinatra rendition (swingin’)

Christmas in Hollis - Run-DMC

O Holy Night - Paul Schaeffer’s 15 second impersonation of Cher singing “O Holy Night” 

What’s on your list? Check it twice, naughty or nice!