A disturbing case of political déjà vu looms over the national political landscape.  Its origins began here in the Big Apple on November 7, 1989, when New Yorkers elected their first African-American mayor, David Dinkins, in a close and hotly contested campaign with GOP candidate Rudolph Giuliani. Dinkins secured the Democratic nomination after a series of scandals plagued three-term Mayor Edward Koch (D).

Mayor Dinkins laid the groundwork that enabled the Big Apple to become a welcoming city for business, tourists and its citizenry. This included the rehabilitation of housing in Harlem, South Bronx, and Brooklyn, the enactment of polices that decreased the homeless population, support of the Times Square clean-up and revitalization, and significant increased in law enforcement hiring.

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At the heart of this raucously colored, bumptiously optical show there’s a longtime (more than 30 years) friendship between the three women artists participating. Add to that equation the decade-long association of Sideshow gallery director Rich Timperio with one of the artists, and you know you’re in for lots of solid experience. But do the works get along? Timperio took a chance that they would when he gave the exhibition the green light a year ago, and it paid off. What’s more, he’s made very good decisions about where to put what.

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Last night, I gathered a few friends for an impromptu tasting of summer wines by Brooklyn Oenology’s Alie Shaper. The group consisted of socially responsible, wine-loving people of diverse ages—no high-falutin’ flaw / fault-hunting critics or winos (as far as we knew).

Here are the results: The guys liked the Shindig best, a dry, crisp white wine which is a blend: 90% Vidal Blanc and 10% Riesling. It’s very crisp, with a hint of lemon and green apples, the perfect accompaniment for seafood or salads. The girls picked the 2010 “Friend” Riesling as their favorite, sweet, yet complex, with summer fruit notes: lemons? pineapples? honey? The group also liked the 2009 Social Club White; it’s a well-priced Chardonnay with notes of apples, papaya, mineral, and a hint of ginger. The 2009 Cabernet Franc Rose could be a crowd pleaser at summer parties, as it’s light and refreshing; a real thirst quencher; watermelons and bing cherries will dance on your tongue.

Several years ago, Shaper, an aerospace engineer from Long Island, joined the Brooklyn artisanal food movement and went into the wine making business. She founded Brooklyn Oenology and created eight different wines in a few short years. Today they are served at over forty restaurants in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island. Among them are Momofuku Noodle Club, Back Forty, Tribeca Grill, Fette Sau, Buttermilk Channel, The Palm House at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and M.Wells, a celebrated eatery in Queens.

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Cortejo

(courtship)

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Photo & story by Luisa Caldwell

Williamsburg resident John Englemann, whose stage name is a mythical date—”March Thirty Seventh”—played Electronica music in the Dubspot line-up in the Meat packing District this past week during the Make Music NY events. I went to watch him perform and also enjoyed several other Make Music locations on the way. It was a hot beautiful summer afternoon, his computerized sounds livened up with tambourine and vocals of strange sounds, and even dramatic body work made me want to dance, and also to find out a little more…

I asked John about his music on the computer:

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