via

Sign the petition at www.change.org/freepussyriot.

A little background:

In Moscow, the case against the long-detained feminist punk group Pussy Riot is coming down to the wire. A judge has concluded the trial and will deliver a verdict on August 17, Rian reports. Prosecutors are looking to imprison the trio of women for three years.

Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March– Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29– following a February 21 performance at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral, which lasted less than one minute. The group shouted a “punk prayer”, which declared “Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist!” and “Put Putin out,” while clenching their fists and punching the air. The act was explicitly political.

But Russian prosecutors claim the “punk prayer” intended to offend the Orthodox Christian community, and the three members were charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” The band’s lawyer, however, maintains the accusations of “hooliganism” are flawed, seeing as Pussy Riot neither provoked nor threatened violence or damage to the church.

Summer Cocktails at 5 Leaves

Brooklyn gets two entries on Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurants List — Blanca and Battersby — Manhattan Gets Zero Brokelyn

Alaska: New Bushwick Bar Opens Bushwick Daily

Northern Spy Vet Nathan Foot To Become Head Chef At Greenpoint’s Calyer Grub Street

Fatty ‘Cue Brooklyn Aiming for an October Reopening Grub Street

The Best Summer Cocktails at Five Leaves Greenpointers

Heritage Radio Fundraiser at Roberta’s Eater

Police Find Fetus in Bushwick Park Daily Intel

Breaking News: USA Today Discovers Brooklyn, Says It’s a “chic Bohemia” USA Today

Some dorky hump day grooves:

(Thanks McFlurry)

Delinquency

Via DNA

MGMT’s drummer Will Berman is celebrating his birthday tonight — and everyone is invited.

The soon-to-open venue Delinquency, a colorful newly renovated space on Grand Street by the Bushwick border, is hosting a free party and concert with three bands and an open bar starting at 8 p.m…

Tonight’s concert — which also celebrates Saverance’s 28th birthday — comes after years of scheming to open a venue in the Bushwick area, Saverance said, who joined forces with his two best friends Julian Vigoroux and Landon Webb after they worked in different bars in the Lower East Side and hosted DIY events in Brooklyn.

“Our space is a warehouse that had been gutted and was empty for 40 years,” Saverance said of the space on 1031 Grand St., which he claimed was the first air conditioning factory in the United States.
The bands playing tonight include Kings of Belmont and Zach Mexico’s Latest Side Project, according to the venue’s site.

More information here.

UPDATE: DOM is headlining:

DOM
BUM RAP
Kings Of Belmont

via

It’s hump day and since you’re most likely sitting in your cubicle and not humping we thought we would share this mix tape from recent Brooklyn transplants, LOVELIFE, to get you through your morning (or afternoon … or I guess evening … it all REALLY depends on when you are reading this)! (more…)

Via Gothamist:

Residents and visitors to San Francisco and Oakland have been known to wait on long lines for the grilled sausage at Rosamunde, which is also beloved by vegetarians for its Vegan Apple Sage sausage. Now NYC is about to get a taste, when the wildly popular beer and brats joint flings open its doors in Williamsburg, in the Southside space formerly occupied by the fun-yet-creepy dive Savalas and the snooty-good riddance Masten Lake.

Owner Josh Margolis tells The Lower Haight Blog, “Brooklyn made sense as an east coast location due to its similarities with San Francisco. The neighborhood of Williamsburg is filled with an eclectic mix of people and a Brooklyn version of something close to SF’s Mission or Haight neighborhoods. Our spot on Bedford Ave (between Grand and S. 1st) is Williamsburg’s south side, which is a bit more eclectic than Williamburg’s north side. Not unlike Lower Haight vs. Upper Haight or Mission/24th vs Mission/16th.”

Remember when Williamsburg was “undiscovered,” hipster-free, and gritty? Do you remember Kokies? Robert Anasi does and vividly chronicles turn-of-the-century Williamsburg in his new book The Last Bohemia with a wit and charm that never descends into mere nostalgia. Documenting Williamsburg’s arresting transformation from grit to glitz, Anasi’s book is a vivacious celebration of New York’s most adored — and despised – neighborhood.

You can see him tonight in that other last bohemia, Greenpoint, as he does his first New York reading at The Word. More information here.

From the New York Times

In 1992, New York magazine anointed Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as “the New Bohemia.” Two decades later, Robert Anasi delivers a bittersweet verdict on the neighborhood’s stunning ascent. Williamsburg may not quite be “The Last Bohemia” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $15) as he proclaims (there’s still room for Bushwick and even the South Bronx). But he vividly realizes his subtitle: “Scenes From the Life of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.”

Mr. Anasi lived in Williamsburg for 14 years, through the thick of its revival. He fetchingly explores the fluorescence of his old neighborhood as well as the gentrification and commodification of a place that, however briefly, belonged to artists. But, when he decamped at age 40 for California, where he writes and teaches journalism, the decision was an easy one. “I didn’t feel guilty about leaving Williamsburg,” he writes. “Williamsburg had already left me.”

Buy the book here and check out this great review in the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Warm Up

You know… I was going to lead this with the whole “free” angle this week, but then I realized I did that last week.  I’m going to do it anyway… it’s appropriate, because once again, there’s a bunch of free shows dominating the blogosphere.  That’s summer in NYC for ya.

The most blogged about show this week isn’t free, but it’s pretty cheap at fifteen bucks, and worth it for admission to the museum and a look at the winning installation, and that’s Floating Points, Jacques Greene, Secret Circuit and Hieroglyphic Being at MoMA PSOne Warm Up on Saturday.

This week’s editor’s pick, however, IS FREE, and that’s over at the House of Vans.  The Jersey kid in me is pretty much foaming at the mouth at this week’s show which is co-headlined by the pride of Glen Rock, Titus Andronicus, and Cursive (not from NJ, but justtttttttt emo enough to be pigeonholed here.)  Titus just announced their new LP will be released on October 23 (my birthday, btw, thanks guys), so there will likely be some new tracks to hear for the first time, and who can resist the tone-deaf screech of Tim Kasher’s vocal assault?  Love as Laugther and Joyce Manor are also on the bill.

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Free fun this Wednesday … but the catch is you’re gonna have to get your keester on the JMZ and ride it ALL THE WAY INTO MANHATTAN!

CLICK HERE for MORE INFO and to RSVP!