The Williamsburg Nerd

This is an amazing video of Bo Diddley playing on japanese television, looking at his age and the style of costume my guess is that it was from the late 60s:

Performing Honeybear and Man:

They're starting to make some real progress tearing down the old movie theater on Rodney and Broadway. My guess is that it's making way for condos. The odd thing is that I think the location is pretty bad for condos as the location kisses the elevated J line on Broadway, so if you have windows facing the street you'll be able to see the J train from your kitchen.

Collaged from a series of photos from January 8, 2006.

You talk to anyone in the entertainment biz and they'll tell you that 'the record industy isn't doing well'. Everywhere companies are cutting back, and the blame seems to go back to 'the old Napster issue'. The more I think about about it, the problem with the recording industry is that they aren't making good music these days.

I'm always tempted to think that I'm long out of the demographic that buys music, but that isn't the case as I do spend quite a bit on my iTunes. However most of what I'm buying isn't coming from large labels. What's funny is that these large companies don't see the product itself as the problem. In fact they seem dead set to crush creativity where ever they see it. In the below New York Times story the Recording Industry of America went after a DJ for mix tapes. In the good old days inteading of arresting this guy, they would hire him (or even bribe him) to play their music:

With Arrest of DJ Drama, the Law Takes Aim at Mixtapes

"In the world of hip-hop few music executives have more influence than DJ Drama. His “Gangsta Grillz” compilations have helped define this decade’s Southern rap explosion. He has been instrumental in the careers of rappers like Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne. He appears on the cover of the March issue of the hip-hop magazine XXL, alongside his friend and business partner T.I., the top-selling rapper of 2006. Now DJ Drama is yet another symbol of the music industry’s turmoil and confusion.

On Tuesday night he was arrested with Don Cannon, a protégé. The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of America, raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The association makes no distinction between counterfeit CDs and unlicensed compilations like those that DJ Drama is known for. So the police confiscated 81,000 discs, four vehicles, recording gear, and “other assets that are proceeds of a pattern of illegal activity,” said Chief Jeffrey C. Baker, from the Morrow, Ga., police department, which participated in the raid."

I was very pleased to read the below story about our new Govenor, I didn't even know about the legislation before this story was reported:

Spitzer Shelves New Rent Regulations

"Governor Eliot Spitzer curbed a new law about rent regulations that was approved in the final days of the Pataki administration. The proposal would have let owners of rent-regulated buildings double security deposits and make tenants pay for the cost of removing lead. The plan could have become law without legislative approval, but Spitzer stopped the process. A source close to Spitzer says the plan was scrapped because his administration was not involved in the changes."

This is some sad news for those who work at Pfizer in Williamsburg:

Pfizer Shutting Down Williamsburg Plant

"The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Monday that it's closing its Williamsburg plant, in a cost-cutting measure. The Brooklyn plant, which employs 600 workers, is among five plants being closed as the company cuts 10,000 jobs worldwide. The job cuts are in addition to 2,000 layoffs announced last month."

...the company got it's start in Williamsburg too, according to Wikipedia:

"Pfizer is named after German-American cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart who launched their chemicals business Charles Pfizer and Company from a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1849. Here, they produced an antiparasitic called santonin. This was an immediate success, although it was the production of citric acid that really kick-started Pfizer's growth in the 1880s."

And Pfizer stayed in Williamsburg during the hard times too...

It's sad that they're going to humiliate the poor motormen by making them take instructions from a computer! Also the idea of being stuck in a tunnel with a robotrain doesn't thrill me. However I do like the idea of digital signs:

Robotrains At Least A Year Away

"The MTA’s plan to put computer-operated trains on the L line is at least a year away. The agency says the trains have been ordered, but won’t arrive until June, at which point they will need to be outfitted with the computer technology and train the operators and conductors.

The high-tech trains will first be driven by motormen taking instructions from a computer and signal system on how fast to go and when to stop. The next step is to have the trains assume all driving duties with the motormen taking over only if necessary.

Meanwhile, the MTA is gearing up to expand the L-line's new digital platform screens.The screens, which were installed earlier this month, tell straphangers exactly when the next train is expected to arrive.

Eleven 2 Eleven is a wonderful gem of a fashion boutique located on Union Avenue. The shop is packed with everything from imported t-shirts from Asia to some very well selected vintage clothing.

The shop is packed with all sorts of interesting goodies, I enjoyed looking through a collection of vintage men's ties. I'd recommend the boutique as a good destination for anyone visiting nearby Barcade or the Stay Gold gallery.

Eleven 2 Eleven Boutique
349 Union Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11211

Below: Bones and Cathleen bring a passion for fashion (and music) to Eleven 2 Eleven.

Collaged photos from a knick-knack shop window near Leonard Street and Grand Street. This display had a very quirky quality to it as you had these oversized parrots looming over a set of cartoonish grandparents on the left, whom seem oblivious to poor Jesus on the cross to the right. Inverting the photos adds to the surrealism of the iconic images.

Click on the photo to see it at full size. Photographed on January 29, 2007 with my Canon PowerShot SD600.

Since the end of last year I've noticed this flyer by the J train strop at Marcy and Broadway. The flyer got my attention because it reminded me of those flyers that I would see after 9/11. It's also sort of haunting that it's still up several months later, so i did a Google on "Daniel Funchess" and couldn't find any further information on this flyer.