Cool Brooklyn Bartender Alert: Lem of Flatbush Farm

Lem, the bartender at Flatbush Farm, plays the coolest music.  If that sounds a bit teenage and gushy, maybe it’s because his musical taste is not easy to define. Like the dark-haired boy who always sat in the back of the class in high school, I just know I likes it.  The music is a mix of everything from jazz to world music to guys who sound like they might be Ian Curtis’s older brother. When I stopped in to talk to Lem last Thursday, he was playing a dark swirl of moody-Englishman that reached out and enveloped me. It was a mellow tone that could have passed for a 1950’s cocktail lounge song that somehow did not make you immediately want to slit your wrists. Flatbush Farm has low lights, a gorgeous dark wood bar, organic beers and wines, slammin’ cocktails, plus delicious affordable bar food, so that doesn’t hurt either. 

Lem is a bit of a closed oyster -- a man who doesn't normally like to talk about himself -- so I was gratified when he agreed to have a chat.

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Park Slope Has Its Very Own Hip Hop Group

Well, sorta. 

In the dregs of YouTube, we've discovered a very special gem of internet glory -- a song called "La Dee Da Dee" by a musical super group that goes by the name "Park Slope." Never heard of em'? Yeah, me neither. BUT this music video of what looks like their only "hit" (I use the word hit loosely), is pretty much exactly what happens in the day-to-day life of the average Slope citizen. 

Alright, so maybe it's nothing like what really happens in Park Slope. I'm actually starting to doubt they've ever been to New York City for that matter, considering they are riding Segways while rapping. Let's break it down into a couple scenes that exemplify how un-Park Slope "Park Slope" actually is. 

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Two Slope-Area Roots Fests This Weekend

by Robin Hoffman, via eastriverstringband.com
When's the last time you felt that plaintive twang in your voice? Does your largest belt buckle languish in your closet, glinting like a Texas moon? Do you miss Kentucky and your Sweet Carolina? Don't cry, cowboy. Two big doses of Americana hitting the Slope area tonight will cure what ails you: country, roots, and bluegrass sounds will ring forth during the three-day Brooklyn Country Music Festival and the Fifth Year Anniversary hoedownhootenannyshindig at roots-haven Jalopy in Red Hook. The BCMF twangs and bootstomps with 12 classic country bands from around Brooklyn. The vaudeville-or-earlier environs of Jalopy will host a helping of roots acts Friday night.

* BCMF shows start at 9pm Friday, 8pm Saturday, and noon on Sunday. All FREE (but tip the poor bastards, ya mizer).
* Jalopy show starts at 8pm (Friday only), art opening at 6pm, $20.

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[FIPS Was There] Lou Pride at Dig Deepers' Third Anniversary

New column alert! We here at FIPS spend a hell of a lot of time out and about in Brooklyn, attending outdoor concerts, comedy shows and various other events. So [FIPS Was There...] is where we're gonna' talk about all this shit.

Park Slope's classic soul series, Dig Deeper, celebrated its exit from the terrible twos last night with a smooth-as-satin set from Chicago soulster Lou Pride at Southpaw. The AC was nipple-erect cold, the audience was as white as their dance moves, and the tunes were good-old-fashioned R&B.

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Pearl and The Beard Take On Will Smith, Brooklyn and My Heart.

If I were stranded on a desert island and could only take one band with me, it would be Pearl and the Beard. They are fun and energetic and just fucking awesome:

Pearl and the Beard is three voices, one cello, one guitar, one glockenspiel, one melodica, several drums, one accordion, ninety-six teeth, and one soul.

Former strangers Jocelyn Mackenzie, Emily Hope Price, and Jeremy Styles were united in the great city of New York. Each had migrated there from a far corner of the nation with naught but food in their pockets and money in their bellies. Each had the same true love. Since then, the three have nested, and their unique brand of brightly melodic songcraft continues to blossom of its own accord.

You can check these cats out TUESDAY, JULY 26th at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8PM.

Be there or Bea Arthur. 

Tribe Called Quest Doc Drops Today

I'm guessing that it won't surprise you that my lame, Jew-y white ass was alllll up in this Tribe Called Quest shit back in the day when I actually thought that listening to a particular band could make one cool (it can't). However, my brain is about to explode with excitement that the Michael Rapaport directed Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest doc comes out today.

FUCK YEAH, TRIBE!

It's only playing at Sunshine Cinema or AMC 25 in Times Square so you gotta haul your ass out on the subz, however, the reviews thus far have been pretty stellar.

Any one else goin?

"I Don't Want to Live in the Park Slope of Park Slope...'

Leah Nash for Spin Magazine"I don't want to live in the Park Slope of Park Slope, really, though it's where you end up living if you have kids. I'm not saying it's bad there, but you just kind of feel like a mark."

So says Pavement front man Stephen Malkmus in a recent Spin Magazine interview.

Guess we won't be sending him one of our new "BREEDER" tshirts....