One of Greenpoint’s best and proudly gayest bars is closing it’s doors. Over the past few weeks, everyone has been asking: “Is it true that VPC is closing?” The answer is sadly, yes. Why? Heather, owner, cannot comment. More dialogue from patrons: “What happened?” “That’s BS!” “I love that place!” “This sucks!” “Is it because it’s a gay bar?” “Noise complaints? “It isn’t loud!” “I don’t get it.” “Awful!” “Where am I going to watch drag race?” On and on…
The reality is: VPC’s party is over. Not only was it a great bar, with great cocktails and an awesome staff and crowd, but they supported the community, especially the art and food community…
The memories: VPC was the unofficial headquarters for Bring to Light. Antojitos Mexicanos Saturdays was the best Mexican food in town. There Cara Canella’s led her first Speak Easy Series. Morta Di Fame served rice balls to Greenpoint during it’s first Sicilian Sunday Supper Club. I wrote my check to Justine for Greenpointers.com over Mama’s “slammin” Mac n’ Cheese. I bought my best sweater at a VPC Vintage Pop-Up. Ugly Art Room’s Balls Out Fundraiser & Food Competition raffled off a cat castration from Greenpoint Vet to a girl with a puppy! Greenpointers was looking forward to making many more messes in Terrarium Class. And Veronica People’s Club was the only way I could get my lezzie friend Maria to visit me in Brooklyn for the Kielbasa party. She lives in Manhattan on the same block as Heather’s, VPC’s sister bar, and drove the waiters insane because she wanted a cocktail off the Heather’s menu. I will greatly miss their strongest espresso, which won a prize in the Greenpointers Espresso Tour.
I am sure everyone has their own great memories at Veronica People’s Club. We need places like this. Places that open their doors and let the little people do their thing, to support the art and food community and have a blast doing it.
Please drop by on Saturday at 2pm for a final farewell Veronica People’s Club!
$4 well drinks, draft, and wine
Plus, Antojitos Mexicanos at 3pm & Self-Portrait Project 2pm-8pm
• Collaborative Means@ Flux Factory (39-31 29th St, LIC) 7pm, FREE, A series of artists working collaboratively and collectively, relying on cooperative strategies for the realization of ambitious projects. Talks, screenings, and live performances. More info
• Smiths Karaoke@ Black Rabbit (91 Greenpoint) 8pm, 2 mics & some Cure songs available, too.
THURSDAY 10/20
• Public Hearing: Open Space Alliance@ Swinging Sixties Senior Center (211 Ainslie) 6:30-8pm, discuss relocation East River State Park Concerts
• Pretty Things Babayaga Launch Party @ Brouwerij Lane (78 Greenpoint) 7-10pm, Jim Garnes spins you favorite soviet hits
FRIDAY 10/21
• The L Mag & Northside Festival’s A Very Unofficial CMJ Party @ Cameo Gallery (93 N 6th St) 1:30pm-4:30pm, FREE, performances by Hunters, PUJOL, Widowspeak, Forest Fire & Heavenly Eat
• Supper Club @ Greenpoint Reformed Church (106 Milton) 6:30pm, $20, 4 Course Vegetarian Meal with Cocktails, plus performance by Holler, Benefits Soup Kitchen, RVSP annefay (at) gmail.com. More info
• Open Call Show @ Greenpoint Gallery (390 McGuinness) 8pm, Open Call for Artists in all Mediums, win $200 & solo exhibition, More info
• Ugly Art Room Presents All That Remains @ Picture Farm (338 Wythe) Opening Reception 7-9pm, An International Collage Exhibition of Epic Proportions, Sponsored by Narragansett beer, Music by DJ Ning Nong RSVP
SATURDAY 10/22
• BK Diggers 150th Anniversary Celebration @ McGolrick Park, 1-4pm, a collective of activists, artists and historians whose aim is to reclaim the psycho geography of our neighborhoods and expose ignored perspectives in history
• Vibes to Touch Open Mic & Art Show @ TBD (224 Franklin) 9pm, FREE, Performance by Aisling Peartree, Artwork by Rico Tomas, Poetry By: Fiya, Ada Reyes, Bert Tejeda, D.Limones, Jendog LoneWolf RSVP
SUNDAY 10/23
• 48 HRS @ Camel Art Space (722 Metropolitan) 12pm-12am, artists meet for a marathon art-making session, sleep over in the space and exhibit their work the next day. The entire event will take place over a 48-Hrs, RSVP
• Newtown Creek Boat Tours @ Pier 17 South Street Seaport, 10-12/1-3, $10. Charter tours the length of the Newtown Creek. Buy Tickets
• Brokelyn.com’s Brokedown Throwdown @ Public Assembly (70 N6) 3-7pm, $5, Sixpoint Open Bar 3-4pm, “Yo Momma So Broke” Contest, Costume Contest, Mushroom Ride
• Carve for Farms Benefit @ Warsaw (261 Driggs) 4-8pm, $10 Kids/$12 Adults, a Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA pumkin carving and food fest benefit for farms devastated by Hurricane Irene. Pumpkin Pierogis!
• The Mac Off @ Huckleberry Bar (588 Grand) 5-8pm, $10 to judge & eat, Free to compete: email info (at) theclaque.org, proceeds benefit The ClaqueRSVP
• County Fair Opening Party @ Orange Marmalade (421 Graham) 6-9pm, Vintage Men’s & Women’s, Kitchenware, Oddities, Whisky! More info
TUESDAY 10/25
• Momofuku Milk Bar Book Event with Christina Tosi @ The Brooklyn Kitchen (100 Frost) Christina will show you some of her sweet and savory recipes and you can get a signed copy of the book at a discount, RSVP
• EPA Newtown Creek Superfund Public Meetings @ St. Nick’s Alliance (2 Kingsland, Garden Level) 20m, 4pm, 7pm, 9pm, An informal public info session hosted by the EPA to discuss upcoming field work at the Newtown Creek Superfund site as part of the first phase of the remedial investigation. EPA representatives will be available to answer questions.
• Greenpoint’s Ugly Art Room shows Head Space in Clinton Hill for Paper Garden Records’ Multiverse Playground Part III (104 Emerson Pl.) 11am-midnight $8, music, comedy, art RSVP
• An Evening With Craig Thompson @ WORD (126 Franklin) cocktail party, $40 Buy Tix
SUNDAY 9/18/2011
• Children’s Art Day @ The GIFT Garden at Greenpoint Shul (108 Noble) 12:30-4pm, arts & crafts, gardening & raffles More info
• Taste Williamsburg Greenpoint (No.11 betw. Kent & Water) 1-6pm, 40 local restaurants, breweries, winerie, music, $35-150, benefits Northside Town Hall - Buy Tix
• Brew n’ Chew Chew IV @ The Diamond (43 Franklin) 3-5pm, taste beer & food pairings from 7 teams, $30, proceeds donated to The MARK Project to support hurricane relief in the Catskills Buy Tix
The L Magazine’s Northside Festival is happening this week from Thursday June 16th through the 19th and it is CHOCK full of shit to do. Music, Food, Art, etc. In conjunction with the festival is the Northside Open Studios project. Again, just this event alone has stuff to keep you busy all weekend. And this post is JUST about Ugly Art Studio’s events. I mean seriously, there is like a TON of stuff going on in this festival thingamajig. Click the links and find the stuff you can’t miss cause I just can’t possibly cover it all!
With back to back openings on two days, you will have the chance to see incredible artwork from local Brooklyn artists in very unique spaces.
If you’re into bar hopping, turn it into art hopping. On Thursday, start at Brouwerij Lane where Burt Reynolds has taken over the joint. Then at 10pm head over to The Gutter and see a cell phone photo exhibit by Northside Festival bands.
On Saturday when you stroll down Bedford Ave during Williamsburg Walks you won’t miss the white cube “gallery” in the middle of the street; inside see a miniature exhibit. At 6pm in the historic Greenpoint Church, follow the signs down to the basement and take a turn pulling the devil’s tail on an old iron hand press and take home an original print. Then at 8pm come see Cutters, an exhibit at The Parlour Brooklyn while winding down with a cocktail in their beautiful backyard.
My girl Jen organizes art shows under the moniker Ugly Art Room and is hosting a food competition fundraiser May 26th. Details below:
“BALLS OUT!” Food Competition to benefit Ugly Art Room
Calling all food competitors!
The Ugly Art Room is throwing a food competition fundraiser at Veronica People’s Club (105 Franklin St, Greenpoint) on Thursday, May 26, 2011, 7-10pm.
Put your best balls forward! 10 creative food contestants will be chosen to compete. Each will be given $20 to buy food and the winner will win $100, and bragging rights! You will need to make 100 balls. We are expecting 50-75 guests.
Chocolate balls, meatballs, rice balls, cheese balls, any balls! The more crazy the better! You will be judged on taste, presentation and creativity…
Submission deadline: Friday, 5/20/2011
Email your balls idea to: uglyartroom@gmail.com
Include: “BALLS OUT (your name)” in the subject line.
In the body include: your phone number, website/food blog, balls idea in detail, a title for your balls dish. You will be notified by Monday, 5/23/11
If you are chosen, you must be able to bring your balls to VPC club on 5/26/2011 by 6:00pm and you must stay until 10pm to present your balls to guests who will vote on the winner.
Event Details:
“BALLS OUT!” Food Competition to Benefit Ugly Art Room
Date: Thursday May 26, 2011
Time: 7-10pm
Location: Veronica People’s Club – 105 Franklin St, Greenpoint
Ticket: $15*, includes food, prizes, DJ
*100% of proceeds go to funding 5 art exhibits produced by Ugly Art Room during Northside Open Studios (June 16-19, 2011)
One of Greenpoint’s best and proudly gayest bars is closing it’s doors. Over the past few weeks, everyone has been asking: “Is it true that VPC is closing?” The answer is sadly, yes. Why? Heather, owner, cannot comment. More dialogue from patrons: “What happened?” “That’s BS!” “I love that place!” “This sucks!” “Is it because it’s a gay bar?” “Noise complaints? “It isn’t loud!” “I don’t get it.” “Awful!” “Where am I going to watch drag race?” On and on…
The memories: VPC was the unofficial headquarters for Bring to Light. Antojitos Mexicanos Saturdays was the best Mexican food in town. There Cara Canella’s led her first Speak Easy Series. Morta Di Fame served rice balls to Greenpoint during it’s first Sicilian Sunday Supper Club. I wrote my check to Justine for Greenpointers.com over Mama’s “slammin” Mac n’ Cheese. I bought my best sweater at a VPC Vintage Pop-Up. Ugly Art Room’s Balls Out Fundraiser & Food Competition raffled off a cat castration from Greenpoint Vet to a girl with a puppy! Greenpointers was looking forward to making many more messes in Terrarium Class. And Veronica People’s Club was the only way I could get my lezzie friend Maria to visit me in Brooklyn for the Kielbasa party. She lives in Manhattan on the same block as Heather’s, VPC’s sister bar, and drove the waiters insane because she wanted a cocktail off the Heather’s menu. I will greatly miss their strongest espresso, which won a prize in the Greenpointers Espresso Tour.
WEDNESDAY 10/19
