via Sprudge

We’ve been pretty quiet about HBO’s much buzzed about new show Girls because, well, every single other blog has written endlessly about it. But the show’s protagonists live in Greenpoint and today the gang is at Café Grumpy on Meserole filming for the second season.

Twitter

The café appeared in the most recent episode of the show as Ray’s place of work.

The weather is going to be beautiful later this week and you’ll want to be outside, probably drinking. You might as well do it for a good cause. Just across the river on a swanky NoLIta/SoHo rooftop is a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. There will be music, drinks, and raffles (including a chance to win tickets to Brooklyn’s The Great GoogaMooga Festival). Check out the details after the jump. (more…)

Jason Persse's flickr

Jane’s Addiction, Die Antwoord, Counting Crows and others are the latest to join the waterfront concerts LACOSTE L!VE Williamsburg Park Concert Series lineup, organizers announced today. Counting Crows will perform with We Are Augustines, Field Report, and Kasey Anderson & The Honkies are on July 17th. Jane’s Addiction and Die Antwoord are on August 17th. Tickets for both shows are on sale this Friday.

This summer’s lineup so far includes Cake, My Morning Jacket, Sublime, and Cypress Hill.

Curbed

At $3.79 million, this single-family townhouse on Berry may be Williamsburg’s most expensive home, according to Curbed. The newly constructed place is at 257 Berry and contains a 1,160 square ft. gallery space, four terraces, four bedrooms, a roof dock, and a loading dock.

More photos and a floor plan at Curbed. Via Brokelyn.

DiceyTroop's twitvid

Here’s a video of school children in Greenpoint protesting the recent decision to cut half of School Settlement’s 153 free after school programs in Brooklyn.

Hopefully the protest will be just as effective as it is adorable. Look at this colorful signs!

AJ Kandy's flickr

The New York Times has picked up on the War on Brunch taking place in our area, an epic battle between churchgoers and eggs benedict-eaters that has already claimed casualties, including Lokal and Five Leaves.

The article mostly covers what we know already, but offers up some choice quotes from borough president Marty Markowitz: “As many lifestyles as there are in the universe, we have them in Brooklyn and then some…You have the right to go to church and the right to sit outside people-watching and have bloody marys.”

But according to NYT, many locals involved in the church have no problem with brunch. “I like to see young people enjoying their Sundays and whatever they’re doing,” said one local pastor. Another said that “the integration has taken place very comfortably” between the neighborhood’s new school and old school communities.

A hearing on the issue will take place next month.

retaildesignblog.com

The official name for this summer’s waterfront concerts is The LACOSTE L!VE Williamsburg Park Concert Series, according to Fashion Daily Mag. The details of Lacoste’s involvement is unclear, but the brand will have an interactive and eco-friendly “pop-up shop” at the venue, a re-purposed shipping container that will have men’s and women’s apparel and a listening station, among other features.

Lacoste debuted its “pop-up shop” at a Coachella party last month.

Jelly previously sponsored the series from its inaugural season in 2006 through 2010. Last year, Jelly moved its series first to the Rockaways and then to East Williamsburg.

While you were busy yesterday sleeping off your Cinco de Mayo hangover, France was electing a new president. Socialist candidate François Hollande won 51.6% of the vote, beating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, who had 48.4%.

So what should you know about Hollande? One of his biggest challenges will be dealing with European and national debt, which he plans to address by raising taxes on the rich and corporations. He also wants more teachers, judges, and houses, and supports gay marriage. The mother of his four children, Ségolène Royal, is also an important French Socialist politician.

Oh, and his official campaign video is set to “Ni**as in Paris.” Quite a different direction from Sarkozy’s politics.

Hollande may take office as soon as May 14th. At least Sarkozy can always fall back on his wife’s singing acting career.

Facebook

The lineup for this season’s waterfront concerts at Williamsburg Park is finally beginning to take shape. On Monday event organizers announced four concerts that we can look forward to, three of which are ticketed and one of which is free:

Pretty Good Friends with Eugene Mirman and special guests OK GO – July 19th (free)

Cake – August 10th (ticketed)

My Morning Jacket with Shabazz Palaces – August 19th (ticketed)

Sublime with Rome, Cypress Hill, and Pepper – August 24th (ticketed)

Facebook

The national Occupy movement is planning a “May Day” general strike tomorrow. The Facebook event page has 25,000 attendees and while some locations are hosting specific events, the main plan is for “NO WORK – NO SCHOOL – NO SHOPPING – NO BANKING – NO TRADING.”

“The goal is to shut down commerce worldwide and show the 1% we will not be taken for granted, we will not be silenced, WE WILL NOT MOVE until our grievances are redressed,” organizers write on Facebook.

In Williamsburg and Bushwick – where we’ve seen Occupiers in action before – groups are joining forces in a march over the Williamsburg Bridge and into Wall Street. Occupy Bushwick invites participants to meet at Maria Hernandez Park at 8am. From there the group will march to Continental Army Plaza and meet up with Occupy Williamsburg, followed by a march over the bridge and into lower Manhattan.