SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The following is a paid announcement from Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts.

Looking for a fun, different, and quirky event to attend with your friends and family next weekend? Get your vocal chords warmed up and join us at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, May 19, at 1 p.m. for the screening of the Academy Award-winning movie musical The Sound of Music. This is more than just a chance to revisit the classic Julie Andrews movie on the big screen; it’s also a major audience participation event.

Upon entry, audience members receive a free swag bag, complete with edelweiss, a curtain swatch, an invitation to the Captain’s Ball, and more. An emcee guides the experience, as subtitles assist the audience as they sing along to classic tunes including “Climb Every Mountain,” “My Favorite Things,” and of course the soaring title song. Dress up as your favorite character for the costume contest—the possibilities are as endless as a Ray of Golden Sun. If you’ve always wanted to be a part of a musical, this is your chance!

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music – Sunday, May 19th at 1pm
Tickets: $15

The above is a paid announcement by Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts. Sheepshead Bites has not verified the claims made in this advertisement. If you own a business and would like to announce a special offer to tens of thousands of locals, email us at advertising [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com.

 
Help your old pal Erica out — I’m going to go with rose hibiscus. Sounds like it would make a nice flavor for a tea.

Photo by Robert Fernandez

Melanie Abramov is a Brighton Beach native who is quickly carving a history of pushing the envelope in the film world. Sheepshead Bites featured an interview with Abramov in 2011 concerning her life and her short film Dame Factory. Now Abramov is back, relying on Kickstarter to raise the funds necessary to film her latest movie, No Milk, a bold dystopian feminist tale  that explores themes concerning women’s bodies. Here is a summary of the interesting concept.

THE STORY

AMERICA, 2036. BREAST MILK IS THE KNOWN CAUSE OF A DEADLY EPIDEMIC, AND A REBELLIOUS TEEN GIRL IS ABOUT TO GO UNDER THE KNIFE.

Sasha is beautiful and tough. When she’s not at school battling bullies, she spends her days hanging out with friends and challenging authority in standard hormone-fueled fashion.

But Sasha’s world is anything but standard; it’s an alternate futuristic world where breast milk has become unfit for human consumption and is strictly regulated by the militaristic medical arm of the government.

Until now, Sasha’s main concerns in life have been BFFs and boyfriends, but boys find her ample cup-size revolting and her friendships are dissolving before her eyes.

Suddenly she’s facing a bigger, sharper problem that cuts deeper than teen angst and could alter more than just flesh.

Can comfort be gained at the edge of a surgeon’s knife, or should Sasha choose a whole-bodied future? In a state that grants only the illusion of freedom, does she even have a choice?

Wow. It is worth noting that any funds raised beyond the 25,000 goal will be donated to a breast cancer foundation.

It is also worth noting that once fundraising is completed and filming begins, Abramov will be filming across Southern Brooklyn and at Murrow High School if given permission. Fascinating  I am looking forward to the hopeful completion of this project. If you would like to donate, click here.

Just driving along, enjoying the day’s nice weather coming in through the windows, maybe blasting some Tom Petty or something, and you’re careening around the curve of Gravesend Neck Road near Homecrest Avenue and life is good a-

Cri-thrack! Holy crap, what was that?!

Buddy, your day just got all kinds of screwed up. And your car’s axle, too.

Chaim Deutsch, aide to Councilman Michael Nelson, tipped us off to this mother-sucker of a hole in the road, on Gravesend Neck Road and Homecrest Avenue. Deutsch described it as a “road collapse,” and said he’s informed the Department of Environmental Protection – which is responsible for the water and sewage lines underneath – and the Department of Transportation. The NYPD 61st Precinct is also on scene to prevent you from having the kind of day I described above.

On a side note: has anyone else noted an increase in water and sewage line damage across the neighborhood? Just driving around last week, I spotted four – all already being dealt with – including the one in front of my home.

Source: Bricknave/Flickr

Q LINE

NIGHTS: 12:01 AM to 5 AM, Sat to Mon, May 11 – 13
57 St/7 Av-bound Q trains stop at 49 St.

F LINE

11:45 PM Fri to 5 AM Mon, May 10 – 13
Jamaica-bound F trains run express from Church Av to Jay St-MetroTech.

Who left their ugly RV on the beach?

We’ve received a lot of e-mails these last few days about what’s going on at Brigham Street, south of Emmons Avenue. The stretch of street that abuts the waterway was been closed off by police, and cranes, barges and construction equipment have taken up the space since Monday.

No, it ain’t the beginning of Brigham Street Park. You’ll have to wait a few more years for that one.

The answer lies in a post we did a few days ago where we updated about the new Brighton Beach and Coney Island bathrooms. In it, we also included the schedule of street closures that goes along with it. Among the closures:

Brigham Street South of Emmons Avenue from midnight Monday, May 6, to 6 a.m. Friday, May 10.

That’s because the new stations arrive in one piece. That’s right – huge, truck-sized structures – barreling through New York City’s streets. That, understandably, didn’t seem like such a good idea to local planners. So, instead, the structures arrive by barge, are lifted off it by a crane, placed onto a truck, taken to their location, lifted off the truck by a crane, and installed on the concrete piles already installed – much to the chagrin of local residents.

Brigham Street appears to be the area planners identified as the best, most accomodating option to make that first move from barge to truck. So that’s what all the commotion is about.

Oh, and the bathrooms have arrived. The one at the top of this post was placed on Brighton Beach this morning, and photographed by reader Ira Rubinsky. Nope, that’s not an abandoned RV on the beach…

Here’s the view of the crane at Brigham, as seen from the Breakers:

Photo by Albert

Click to enlarge

CompStat reports are produced by the New York Police Department on a weekly basis. We summarize the week’s statistics for the 61st Precinct reports every Friday. The 61st Precinct is the police command responsible for Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Kings Highway, Homecrest, Madison, Manhattan Beach, and Gerritsen Beach.

The hanging of the Aldi sign begins. Photo by Max Bolotov

The new Aldi Food Market (3785 Nostrand Ave) is coming alive. Photographs reveal that the low-cost food market, a sister company to Trader Joe’s, has begun to hang up their storefront signs.

Last October Sheepshead Bites was first to report on the construction of the new Aldi Food Market being built on the same spot that once occupied a Pathmark. The new food market will only be half the size of the Pathmark at 18,000 square feet and is expected to employ less people, but it’s still another shopping option for those lamenting the loss of the supermarket.

“Now I can walk the neighborhood without people asking when and where we’ll have a new supermarket,” Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein told Sheepshead Bites last October.

Thanks to Erica Sherman, Bart E. and Max Bolotov for the latest photographs of the construction efforts at the Aldi spot.

Photo by Bart E.

A Peek Inside The Construction of Aldi’s Interior. Photo By Erica Sherman

A Look At Aldi’s Customer Parking Lot. Photo By Max Bolotov

A Coming Soon Sign Pasted In The Store Window. Photo By Erica Sherman

This image actually reminds me of a painting done by JMW Turner.

Photo by George Burshteyn

Bennett Castello. Source: New York State Division of Criminal Justice via nbcnewyork.com

A man suspected of attempting to rape a 13-year-old girl in a Gravesend elevator last week has been arrested. According to a report by NBC NY, the police arrested 40-year-old Bennett Castello, a registered sex offender.

According to authorities, on April 30 at a Gravesend building located on Avenue Z and West 2nd Street, Castello was riding down an elevator with the victim when he allegedly pulled a pair of scissors and attempted to rape her. When the elevator door opened, he ran off and the girl was unharmed.

Castello was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, burglary and rape.

In 1998, Castello was convicted of sex crimes against a victim who was over 21. As a result of his conviction, he was classified as a violent sex offender.