Red Hook Star-Revue

News

OPINION: Say NO to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal land grab, by John Leyva

June 9, 2025 No Comments

The Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) Task Force is barreling toward a decision that will irreversibly reshape Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront. Let’s be clear: the proposed redevelopment plan is not about helping communities. It’s a land grab by developers disguised as “revitalization,” and it must be stopped. This isn’t urban planning, it’s a bad real estate deal. We

This People of Red Hook column is dedicated to ALL the People of Red Hook – past, present and future, by Lisa Gitlin

June 4, 2025 1 Comment

I live in Red Hook, a couple blocks from the water, in one of those mammoth brick buildings that used to be a school. When I lie in bed I can gaze at the World Trade Center spire’s LED light display until it vanishes into the dark sky at precisely 2 am. I love my neighborhood with a passion. I

Local school cleans up for Earth Day, by Nathan Weiser

May 9, 2025 No Comments

On the day before Earth Day, Harbor Middle School did their part to clean up the area around the school. The Green Team did a Beautify the Block activity where they did a loop around the perimeter of the school picking up trash. Each student got gloves and a plastic bag and they shared a plastic picker to pick up

Despite world powers meeting in Rome, Italy remains a player, not a leader by Dario Pio Muccilli, Star-Revue EU correspondent

May 9, 2025 No Comments

A stunning photo was released after the funeral of Pope Francis, last April 26th: Zelensky, Trump, Macron and Starmer seemingly exchanging amenities ahead of the mass. The message of the photo is clear if read together with the picture of Trump and the Ukrainian leader speaking face-to-face in a corner of Saint Peter Basilica: France and the UK brokered this

These are the people who will decide on the end of Red Hook as we know it

May 6, 2025 No Comments

In early April, The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the quasi-government agency leading the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment, announced that it would delay the BMT task force’s vote on the vision plan for the site, from April to sometime in June. The vote is currently scheduled for June 18. The delay came in response to loud criticism from

George’s Column: What are they talking about, anyway?

May 6, 2025 No Comments

Last month we received a press release from the Chairman of the Task Force that will decide the future of Red Hook (I say that because you’ve probably already seen the cover of this issue.) It was short and sweet, and it was emailed a week after the local protest against the BMT, in which this paper published a photo

Gay restaurants were never just about the food by Michael Quinn Review of “Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America’s Gay Restaurants,” by Erik Piepenburg

June 9, 2025

Appetizer I stepped into the original Fedora, on West 4th and Charles, nearly 20 years ago. I was looking for a place to have a quick drink. Its neon sign drew me to its ivy-covered building, its entrance a few steps below street level. Inside: red light, a pink portable stereo on the bar next to a glass bowl of

Who Would Help Anne Frank Today? by Michael Quinn

May 9, 2025

My partner, Rainer, is German. He came to America at midlife to find himself, which included coming to terms with being gay. I once asked him what he learned about the Holocaust in school. I feared it might be something like, “Hitler was a great man. It’s too bad — he almost got away with it!” But no, that wasn’t

People of Red Hook. by Lisa Gitlin

May 9, 2025

I walked all over Red Hook on a warm, windy day, and asked: What pisses you off? Amy Dench: Inequality. Anything from racial to economic inequality makes me angry. There’s so much downward pressure on people who don’t have as much as others. There’s a lot of discrimination (concerning) issues that really affect their lives on a day-to-day basis. And

Local law firm specializes in local justice, by Brian Abate

May 9, 2025

Messing Law in Red Hook might be considered a “triple A firm” consisting of the team of Aaron Messing, Alessandra Carcaterra Messing, and Alessandra (Ale) Maldonado. Both Aaron Messing and Maldonado attended Fordham Law School but they took very different paths to get there. While Messing was born and raised in Manhattan, Maldonado was born in Peru, grew up in

This year’s Jane’s walk celebration included a tour of Cobble Hill

May 9, 2025

I attended the Cobble Hill Jane’s Walk on a most beautiful May 2, led by volunteers Susan Dresner and Strephen Wing. This is a yearly chance to learn some in-depth history of a neighborhood, and in this particular case, Dresner’s go-to places for food. We met early that Friday near the Bergen Street subway station. Dresner began by explaining that

Ian Marvy leaves behind a priceless legacy

May 9, 2025

It was Ian Marvy’s idea to create an urban farm in the early days of modern Red Hook. The farm has provided an alternative education to hundreds of local kids, volunteer opportunities for many, not to mention farm fresh vegetables to all members of the local CSA. We asked Marilyn Gelber, city planner and founding president of the Brooklyn Community

MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

June 9, 2025

The rhythm, the rebels. The smart assault of clipping. returned last month with a full-on assault. Dead Channel Sky is the hip-hop crew’s first album in five years (CD, LP, download on Sub Pop Records) and only their fifth full-length since their 2014 debut. It was worth the wait. After a quick intro that fills the table with topics in

MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

June 9, 2025

\ Sultry haze of balmy nights. The Egypt-born, Quebec-based singer/composer/producer Nadah El Shazly has built a following in recent years with a blend of club music experimentation and Arabic tradition. She’s been a big part of the rich and exciting music coming out of the Beirut / Cairo / Istanbul triangle (Karkhana, Praed Orchestra!) as well as a variety of

Jazz 2025: The Mid-Year Report, by George Grella

June 8, 2025

People frequently (that is, once every few years) stop me on the street and ask me, “George” (no one really knows who I am), “should I be listening to jazz?” My first response is always, “absolutely!” Then, when they ask me why, this is what I tell them (again almost never happens, but it’s good to have a handy quasi-script

Art and science are symbiotic at Pioneer Works’ magazine “Broadcast” by Brookie McIlvaine

June 8, 2025

Michael Jones has worked in many different industries — as a manager for Brooklyn synthpop duo Holy Ghost!, at Vice Media in the early days of online video, in the emerging New York City 2010s tech scene at places like Cameo and Dash, and then doing brand development for a company transforming small business lending by blending technology, data, and

Music by Kurt Gottschalk – Punk and more

May 10, 2025

Punk’s not dread. Back in the ’90s, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon had “Girls invented punk rock, not England” emblazoned on a t-shirt. Photos of her sporting the slogan circulate every so often—I’ve been seeing them again lately on social media. I’m not sure what it means, I’m not sure if I agree, but I’m not about to argue the point.

Jazz by Grella: Leadership Secrets of Miles Davis

May 10, 2025

First, the good news: the Library of Congress last month added new albums to its National Recording Registry, which preserves the most important and salient examples of American audio culture. One of the new entries is Miles Davis’ monumental, complex, darkly thrilling Bitches Brew. It’s a testament to the brilliance and possibilities of this country that it produced Miles and

Regina’s community opera is the cats meow, by George Fiala

December 17, 2024 No Comments

Last spring I wrote in these pages about my discovery of Bay Ridge’s Regina Opera Company. While I did grow up in a house where the Metropolitan Opera was on the radio every Saturday, that was not my cup of tea. The idea of dressing up and paying lots of money to hear a musical show was not my scene.

Best Jazz Albums 2024, by George Grella

December 17, 2024 No Comments

This is just one calendar year, which may be sufficient time in the pop music manufacturing industry to spot a trend, but is a far less meaningful span in music that wrestles with its own history—the old is constantly being renewed and incorporated with ideas from other genres—as jazz does, and that is so free of commercial pressures (unfortunately) that

MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

November 18, 2024 No Comments

Mothers of reinvention. “It’s never too late to be what you might have been,” according to writer George Eliot, who spoke from experience. Born in the UK in 1819, Mary Ann Evans found her audience using the masculine pen name in order to avoid the scrutiny of the patriarchal literati. Reinvention, of style if not self, is in the air

Kaizers Orchestra Returns to Conquer the US

October 7, 2024 No Comments

Kaizers Return Kaizers Orchestra has always marched to the beat of their own drum. Now, after their first U.S. performance in years, the legendary Norwegian rock band made it clear they haven’t missed a step. Fresh off a triumphant show at Sony Hall, where their theatrical mix of rock, folk, and energy electrified the crowd, I had the chance to

Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover: For the Culture and Social Justice

August 9, 2024 No Comments

Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover at Barclays Center On Sunday, August 4, the plaza at Barclays Center echoed with the sounds of Afrobeats and Amapiano as the two genres took center stage at the third annual Africa Everything: Afrobeats vs. Amapiano Takeover. From 12:00 to 6:00 PM, music lovers, undeterred by the cloudy weather, gathered to experience the best of these

Picture of Troy Ramsey Holding a Guitar for the Cover Art of his single, Pick Up Truck.

Troy Ramey’s Soulful Journey to “Pick Up Truck”

July 17, 2024 No Comments

On June 28, 2024, the acclaimed singer-songwriter Troy Ramey released his latest single, “Pick Up Truck.” Known for his soul-stirring voice and evocative lyrics, Ramey’s new song, which began as a light-hearted jest, has evolved into a heartfelt piece that captures the essence of summer drives and the joy of music. Backstory The story of “Pick Up Truck” began