Courtney Kaiser and Cat Martino

The Sirens of Brooklyn is a group of female indie rockers; they’re doing a holiday benefit concert for Women To Women International - a non profit organization dedicated to helping women all over the world who have lost everything as a result of war and conflict.  It won’t be their usual rock show -  it’s a choir concert featuring unique twists on traditional Christmas songs, classic modern holiday songs and Yoko Ono!

Featuring Marit Bergman, Courtney Kaiser (from the duo Kaiser Cartel – Hey Brooklyn episode 2), Cat Martino, Julia Frodahl (from Edison Woods), Rachelle Garniez, Lauren Balthrop, Liz Tormes, Katie Eastburn, Greta Gertler, Erin Flannery, Joy Askew…

The details:

Thursday, December 17, 2009
8:00pm

First Unitarian Church
50 Monroe Place
Brooklyn, NY

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door

pre-sale tickets are available here

The Brooklyn Flea is hosting a holiday gift fair in Manhattan every Wednesday – Sunday on December 2-6 and then 9-13. After that, they’ll be there every day from December 16-24. Hours are Noon – 7 except Wednesday when they are 6 – 9.

They’re even serving beer crafted by the brilliant Brooklyn Brew Shop (look for them in an upcoming episode of Hey Brooklyn, they sell DIY brew kits that aren’t cheesy). Even Stacy London came by to have a cupcake!

You should check it out if you’re around. More info by clicking the postcard.

If you want to better hone your “stalking Amber” skills, check out this interview over on Cherry Patter.  I blabbed all my favorite neighborhood spots (and put in a plea for help getting dressed).

My blog was down for a bit, so I’m late posting about my awesome interview with Erica from Fucked in Park Slope, which you can hear here.

I was aware of her blog for ages, but I didn’t meet her until we were both guests at a Shabbat dinner. After that, Rob and I both became good friends with her (and interviewing friends is such a delicious treat for me!) so we had a time in the studio.

I spaced on taking a photo of her (life is hard, yo, and I can’t keep on top of everything!) plus we interviewed at night and I like to take my photos outside, so she sent me a cute photo of her at her wedding. I love the sleeved gown!

Here, because I still don’t have a photo of her, I used a photo of Oliver, her dog. He’s cute.

The first time we walked by this house (which is a few blocks away from our apartment), Rob said, “Someone REALLY loves their daughter.”

I don’t know why this brownstone is painted bubblegum pink, but a lost bet seems likely. (the photo doesn’t do it justice – it’s REALLY PINK) It’s kinda cute, in a quirky eyesore kind of way.

You can view the listing, which fails to mention the shocking exterior for God-knows-what reason, here. I think I’ll sit on the stoop for the open house and watch people’s faces upon seeing the pink for the first time.

photo from Brownstoner

Here’s another nod to the beauty of Twitter: Jenny, who I know exclusively from tweeting back and forth, asked if she could come stay with Rob and me for a weekend.  Rob had met her previously while on a business trip, through mutual friends.  She lives in Denver, and thought crashing with us for a few days sounded like a good idea for a vacation.

We don’t lead very exciting lives, but she was fine with this.  We putzed around doing what we usually do: having bonfires in the backyard, making dinner, going out for drinks, having brunch, walking the dogs, playing guitar hero, wandering around the neighborhood, visiting the Brooklyn Flea – she even participated in our Sunday ritual of laying around all day doing nothing.  Rob said it was like she was shadowing us, and dubbed her our Brooklintern.

If you’d also like to shadow us, start following me on Twitter, and you, too, can sleep on an air mattress in my office for a few days.  Supposedly, it’s pretty fun, and it gives me an excuse to clean the house. Plus, I make dinner sometimes. Win-win.

If you email me and say, “This might be a weird email, but i hope not! I don’t know how many people contact you and ask to see you irl.. But, i am going to be in Brooklyn…i wanted to see if you’d be up for a drink or something!” I will not think it is a weird email. I will be happy. Really, really happy. And I will meet you, and we will go to the park, and have brunch, and walk around DUMBO, and take pictures, and I will talk you out of bothering with Grimaldies, and you can take photos of me doing something strange with my hand under some scaffolding. WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY HAND?!

Thanks for emailing, Lindsay!

matty’s modeling debut

I’m doing my very first Hey Brooklyn giveaway!  Friday’s episode features Porter Block and we’re giving away their latest CD The Gowanus Yacht Club. It’s a collaborative work featuring a lot of different singer-songwriters, and makes fantastic summer listening. Go to the episode page for details.

Please note: Only the CD is being given away. That cuddly dude with the soft brown eyes is mine-all-mine!

The first time at the laundromat was smooth and totally unremarkable. This is good. I’d rather no excitement befall me while I’m washing my skivvies. That didn’t stop me from being nervous about it, though. I was worried I’d do it wrong and piss people off or something, but it was fine. Going in the middle of the day was a good move.

It’s expensive! I realized I could halve the cost, though, by installing a clothesline in the back yard. I bought what I thought I need and brought it all to Rob, like, “Here.” and he was like, “No.” and I was like, “Omg! WTF?!” and he was like “Ok fine. I’ll put one up.” and went to the hardware store to get everything I forgot, and now it’s up.

My pj pants look like they’re trying to make a run for it.

For my next trick, I will do another brave thing: use the laundromat. I’ll let you know how it goes.

photo from LondonPhotos.org