The Williamsburg Nerd

Be afraid, be very afraid! The clowns are set to invade Williamsburg, not it's a political convention coming to town but the New York Clown Theater Festival:

bricktheater.com

Most of the clown events are either free for $10, so it looks like the evnt is in fact well worth checking out. Sadly it looks like I missed a performance of the clowns at my local L train stop:

bricktheater.com/Pies.html

I just spotted yet another "Berlin is the the next Williamsburg" article (yawn):

A New Williamsburg!

"Robert Elmes spent the month of August in Berlin. He borrowed a spare bike from a friend, one of those antique-looking, function-over-form contraptions that many Berliners ride, so he could cruise the bezirken, the boroughs. Mr. Elmes owns Galapagos, the long-standing performance-art space in Williamsburg, and he is looking either to open an outpost in Berlin, or to entirely relocate the operation to the German capital."

I think people who write this stuff just don't understand what makes Williamsburg enjoyable. Firstly Williamsburg is in the shadow of Manhattan, so it has a slightly off the beaten path quality to it which is it's charm. Berlin on the other hand is the capital city of Germany, which hardly makes it off the beaten path.

I think if there is a "next Williamsburg" it would have to be Bushwick, but noooo that's too far out for a New York Observer reporter to travel to from Manhattan....

It looks like there's a new Scissor Sisters album on the way:

Scissor Sisters-Ta Dah!

The new Scissor Sister's album hits stores next Tuesday. "The end result is, as ever, wildly eclectic, brilliant, life-affirming pop. The overall sound? Its fuller, says Del, and thicker. And Jake [who, with Babydaddy, forms the bands main songwriting axis] has gotten wordy as hell."

On paper it looks like Quinn is trying to play nice with the nightclub owners:

The NYC Council introduces new rules for bars and clubs

"The New York City Council will convene the first-ever "nightlife summit" today at John Jay College, a day after introducing a slew of bills aimed at improving safety at bars and nightclubs. "The point of [the summit] is to come up with best practices for this industry and come up with additional ideas and suggestions for how we can combat this problem and not crack down on the entirety of the industry," Council spokeswoman Christine Quinn said yesterday to NYPost."

...but this doesn't reflect the reality that I read about elsewhere:

All new bar applications are bounced for 4 months

"The State Liquor Authority, long blamed by critics for the overconcentration of liquor licenses in Manhattan, declared a moratorium last week on new licenses for Manhattan bars, clubs and cabarets subject to the 500-foot rule. The surprise Sept. 6 announcement came the day before a State Senate hearing on underage drinking and two weeks after the City Council passed the “Bouncer Law” making it easier for the city to close bars and clubs that violate rules on security guard qualifications.

The moratorium applies to applications for all new bars or clubs within 500 feet of three other licensed premises. Under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, such applications may only be approved if the S.L.A., after a hearing, finds the new license is “in the public interest.” The moratorium — which will last from September to the end of the year — does not affect new liquor-license applications for restaurants."

Nighclubs are good for the economy of New York City, yet the last two mayors have had an anti-business mindset about clubs because they don't fit into a Disneyesque marketing plan for the city. Even a a certified tourist spot like CBGBs is closing soon and shipping off to Las Vegas. The fact is that when you over-regulate nightclubs they go underground, which results in disasters like the Happy Land Social Club fire in which 87 people lost their lives.

Only in Williamsburg:

Found via Curbed.com...