Fwd: Column Proposal for Bushwick BK

Barrett's departure has provoked a copycat who doesn't have the chops.
This is an attempt at a culture column. It made me die inside.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Eric Nelson <ericnelson83@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 8:57 PM
Subject: Re: Column Proposal for Bushwick BK - Eric Nelson
To: "BushwickBK.com" <info@bushwickbk.com>

Hey Jeremy,

Here you go. Lemme know if this works for you.

best,
Eric

 Last Weekend in the Wood
-A Jersey transplant's notes on happenings and culture in Ridgewood,
Bushwick and East Williamsburg

Valentine's Day is a holiday you either hate or love. What can you
say, misery loves company. Luckily, because this is New York, when the
day comes, most of us who are young and single wind up going out to
either bitch and moan, hook up with someone or just forget it's
Valentine's Day in the company of our idiot friends.

I was far from miserable though, as I joined the crowd in a loft on
Stewart Avenue for the Numu Arts Collective's "Fuck Valentine's Day"
open mic event. Musicians, thespians and writers gathered to perform,
collectively (ha!) wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Numu, which
formed in July, has been putting on intimate events on a regular basis
to showcase some of the hood's best up and coming artists and the
events so far have been pretty solid.

Saturday and Sunday brought separate friends from out of town,
prompting us to walk down to Morgantown to see what was happening. I
showed my foodie friend Roberta's on Moore Street, to his surprise and
delight. Our appetites satisfied, we hit the Wreck Room and Tandem to
see their weekend offerings, passing by Surreal Estate's holiday
party. Of course, Tandem was bumping by the time we left there to make
the long walk back to Ridgewood.

Sunday evening, Valentine's Day, King's dance party was a dance party
if you count one person tapping their foot. Of course it didn't
matter, as my date for Valentine's Day and I were entertained
otherwise. One particularly amorous patron had us in stitches
proclaiming her love of being a bitch. Unfortunately the help at the
next place we went to (which shall remain nameless) was in outer
space, judging by the horrible service we got while getting food
there.

It was a different story a hop and skip away, where we got good, quick
service at Ridgewood Eats for breakfast on President's Day, a
wonderful holiday for simply giving me a Monday off. Both of my
visitors for the weekend had came and left happy, all of us too busy
to bitch and moan about Valentine's Day. Damn, I love three-day
weekends.

Notes on Last Weekend:
1. Two notes for bartenders: When one orders food at a bar, one should
receive silverware with your food, not have to request it.
2. And also: One's dining companion should not be ignored by the server.
3. Women don't like it when you refer to them by one of their physical
traits (such as "Smiley" after the facial piercing). This is
especially true in the White Castle on Myrtle Ave. at 2am. Oops.
4. I can't believe they evicted the indoor trailer park artist
commune. My friend never even got to finish installing the plumbing!
Another blow for artists scheming for affordable housing...

Notes on Next Weekend:
1. The Birdsong Collective, consisting of many Bushwick based artists
and poets, is having their Issue # 11 release party at the Third
Ward's Lorimer Location (573 Metropolitan) Friday night from 8:30 to
10:30. Be sure to hear the poetry of Tommy Pico!
2. I'm going to see Pass Kontrol's thing I've been reading about at
Silent Barn. Maybe you should too? Or you can see if the galleries
like Factory Fresh are giving away booze during "Back to Beat." Friday
night.
3. Numu Arts Collective is having a pot luck Saturday night at 7pm.
Bring a dish with a story to it, and of course booze.
4. After that, you can walk over to 280 Lounge on Knickerbocker Ave
across from the park. There's nothing better than a relatively new,
clean bar with cute, nice bartenders.

Tell me you love me and want to read more. Tell me you hate me. Tell
me what I should be doing on the weekend or talking about.
Ericnelson83 (at) gmail.com

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 10:19 AM, BushwickBK.com <info@bushwickbk.com> wrote:

That would be great!

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 8:09 AM, Eric Nelson <ericnelson83@gmail.com> wrote:

I'd like to cover art openings and goings on from the Culture Picks,
actually. I joined the Numu Arts Collective after hearing about it on
Bushwick BK's Culture Picks and went to the Loom opening last week and
had a blast until the fire department shut it down. I'm also a member
of 3rd Ward and could cover the events I attend there as well. I go to
Silent Barn on a regular basis. Would you want me to attend something
from Culture Picks this weekend and send you something on Monday?
thanks!
eric

On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 10:50 PM, BushwickBK.com <info@bushwickbk.com> wrote:

I really like the No Rio one a lot. Do you have any ideas yet for what
you'd like to cover? I think we'd prefer things on the Culture Picks,
if possible.

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 6:15 PM, Eric Nelson <ericnelson83@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for replying!  Attached you'll find two writing samples. The
first is an article I wrote for Constellation magazine on ABC No Rio,
a punk/art space in the Lower East Side. The second is an article I
wrote on the NYC Zine Fest that's in the latest issue of Zine World.

thanks,

Eric

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 6:07 PM, BushwickBK.com <info@bushwickbk.com> wrote:

Eric, I'm definitely interested in a local culture column. Do you have
any writing samples you can send? I couldn't really get a feel from
the links you gave me.

Thanks

Jeremy Sapienza
BushwickBK

On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 2:44 PM, Eric Nelson <ericnelson83@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey!

I'm Eric Nelson. I've been reading bushwickbk.com for a few years now
as I moved to Stockholm and Wilson at the Tea Factory about two years
ago. Now I live in Ridgewood, which I'm really glad you cover as well.
I noticed that Barrett Brown stopped writing his weeklyn column on
politics since he moved to Williamsburg. I'm a writer myself,
published in multiple formats with a short story collection out now by
Knickerbocker Circus Publishing, ("THE SILK CITY SERIES") as well as
articles for Constellation Magazine and Zine World magazine. I'm very
active in a few circles of artists and writers and would love to write
a weekly column for Bushwickbk. I am a member of Third Ward as well as
a member of the Bushwick-based "Numu Collective" so I'm active in the
community.  My preferred format of writing has always been print
because I come from a zine background, but your blog is one of the few
I've always enjoyed immensely.

I'm proposing to write a weekly column about life in Ridgewood, and
culture, particularly the underground, emerging DIY folk. I try to
make friends with and help out as many artists, musicians and writers
as I possibly can, so I've had some really funny stories to tell. For
instance, last week, LA artist Raymond Pettibon was in town and so we
connected. I went to a Japanther show with him in Greenpoint and wound
up meeting female artists who were photographing genitalia for an
women's adult website. I really love my neighborhood and I think
people would be interested in the stories I tell, events happening in
the area and what people I meet are doing. If need be, I can provide a
curriculum vitae and a few writing samples.  Please let me know if
this is something you think you'd be interested in, and thanks for
reading this in advance!

Best,

Eric Nelson

http://www.knickerbockercircus.com/imported-20090831194057
http://www.numuartscollective.org
http://cupandsaucerpress.tumblr.com