K-Dog & Dunebuggy

Aaaaaaaah, autumn in New York

kdogandd — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:40:09 +0000

It seems like this year it has become instantly autumn.
September came, bringing with it crystalline skies and cool breezes.
I love the fall.
The quality of the light is sharper somehow, so is the flavor of the air, redolent with the smoke of other people’s fireplaces and late blooming mums, as are the everyday noises, the piercing shrieks of schoolkids coming home, the snapping of twigs under carpets of crunching leaves,
School’s starting and Halloween’s coming and my birthday (not quite as much fun now) and Thanksgiving, my favorite, with roasted root vegetables and pecan pies (which I believe I may have mentioned before…at some length).
Every autumn I go to the farmer’s market and get an apple…a mutsu or a jonagold, and bite into it and wonder how, in 10 short months, I could have forgotten just how perfectly delicious an apple can be.
Summer’s great, don’t get me wrong, but I think I prefer the briskness of fall over summer’s steamy indolence
….or maybe it’s just that they come in the right order.
Anyway….
K-Dog will be closing @ 3pm this Sunday, September 6th, for Labor Day, and will reopen again Tuesday, September 8th, at 7am.
Have a wonderful Labor Day and a Glorious Parade.
See you in autumn.
Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

aaaaaarrrgh, it’s hot!

kdogandd — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:35:24 +0000

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 6:20 PM

I’m sitting here in the basement of KDog and you’d think ’cause it’s a basement it would be cooler…..but it’s about 700 degrees with 900% humidity, the exhaust of all those refrigerators dontcha know. I’m having trouble thinking clearly.
…but there are things that must be reported, and so I soldier on

This sounds really awesomely fun and a great way to support some local writers

Carrie McLaren and Daniel Wright will be presenting slide shows based
on excerpts from their new books on Thursday, August 27, at 7 pm.@ Kdog
Carrie will be presenting “The Curious History of Subliminal
Advertising,” from her book, _Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to
American Consumer Culture_ (Faber & Faber).
http://us.macmillan.com/adnauseam
Daniel will be showing some choice examples from his book _Patently
Silly: The Daftest Inventions Ever Devised_ (Prion).
http://www.patentlysilly.com

I know how obsessed with your dogs you poochy people are and here’s your chance to show ‘em off to the whole neighborhood.

August 16-23 submit your favorite canine photo to thedoggywood@gmail.com and be voted one of the 15 “lucky dawgs” in your community. Voting online starts Aug. 23 and a painted portrait of the winners will be incorporated in a mural on Lincoln Road. Also, please include a description of why your pooch is so fantabulous and deserves to be temporarily memorialized on Lincoln Road.

And speaking of the mural project, if you have questions or want to help talk to Joyous (Jeri’s mom).

Joyous says:
We need volunteers for rolling primer for the Artist Mural in Sept. if anyone wants to sign up just tell them to email me for the deets and I will then add them to my list….It’s going to be a fun rolling party of sorts!!!! tudorcityjoyous@hotmail.com

Come see Sylvia Maier’s paintings, some inspired by KDog, while they’re still here (until September 13th) and look for the return of movies in September.

Well, I can’t take this heat anymore or my head will explode. So that’s all for now (and a good thing too).

Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

closed early due to fireworks

kdogandd — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:31:43 +0000

Fourth of July was never really my holiday, I mean, it’s nice.

Barbecues and fresh corn and American flags and sweltering heat and of course
fireworks. Back in the day we used to just go up on our roof and
see what we could see or watch the crazy Italian kids across Houston street
set off trash barrels full of fire crackers and M80s, blackening the basketball court.
But my friend Inge is a fireworks fanatic.
I love that she loves them.
She’s one of those crazy people standing in the bone numbing cold in Prospect park
at Midnight on New Year’s.
If there’s a rumor there’s going to be firework display somewhere in the tri-state area
she’s on it, a spring in her step, a twinkle in her eye.
I’m a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to large public displays of anything,
but last 4th I decided I would go with her, see if I could understand her wonder and devotion.
We lugged our kids on the subway down to Brooklyn Bridge Park and waited on line at
The Ice Cream Factory for 45 minutes and everyone had to go to the bathroom at different,
inconvenient times. It was really crowded and hot and we decided to go down this weird access road right by the water, just under the promenade. We were standing on a garbage strewn hill of weeds under the highway in front of a chain link fence, the kids launched into their overtired, over sugared, overstimulated freakout and as if on cue a light rain began to fall. I could feel myself losing it, I wasn’t going to make it.
…and then BOOM, we were so close it was like we were inside the glittering pyrotechnics, the sparkling motes drifting down around us, the detonations so loud our hearts rattled in their cages, our cheers drowned out, the smell of the burnt powder dampened by the soft rain, the awesome (and by awesome I mean awe inspiring, not duuuuuuuuuude) display reflected in our eyes and on the wet asphalt.
Afterward, standing on the half hour line to enter the Clark Street Station, our exhausted children draped everywhere, I realized Inge had it right, fireworks do rock.
Thanks Inge.K-Dog will close @ 2pm on Saturday, July 4th.Enjoy
Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

June

kdogandd — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:38:39 +0000

I’ve decided that I hate June.
Not the woman, being that I don’t actually know any women named June, it’s hard to know if I hate her or not yet.
No, I mean the actual month.
I know it sounds harsh, June is atmospherically such a beautiful month…..normally.
All the proverbial flowers blooming, birds singing and whatnot.
But there are just too dang many things to do.
It’s like the storm before the calm, this year literally, as well as metaphorically.
Deadlines, galas, picnics galore, sales tax, a gazillion birthday parties, block parties, final projects, final games….
I know, I know most of those are…well…fun. Most.
I’m trying to squeeze it all in.
My google calendar was virtually solid red for this month,
I couldn’t take the pressure and changed it to blue.
Blue seemed somehow less insistent.
So, here are a few more things to stuff into your already overflowing cornucopia of June
fun…..

This Friday, June 19th, at 6:30 pm, we’ll be having poetry again. Actress/poet Jewel Allison is coming to read from and sign her recently released debut poetry book Stealing Peace . Jewel grew up in Prospect Lefferts and is excited about coming back to the old neighborhood to read. For more info view attached flier or go to her website www.stealingpeace.com.

Mondays and Wednesdays through August, from 6-7:15pm, Rachel Kennedy will be leading a yoga class on the Nethermeade, weather permitting, and one of of these days I’m actually gonna make it! For more info contact Rachel at rakenned24@gmail.com.

Saturday, 6/20, beginning at 1pm, Rutland Road between Flatbush and Bedford (known in the local parlance as Rutland 1) is having a block party. This is a good one, folks, pony rides, science tables, dancing, food…maybe even karaoke. Wowie zowie.

Saturday evening from 7-11pm, Brent White is having his art opening here at K-Dog. some of you may know Brent, as the wacky contractor from Enduro & Whiskey Sunday’s, but you probably didn’t know what a talented artist he is. So come see “A Children’s Story in 16 Illustrations” and be surprised.

Last, but not least, Saturday, 6/27 we’re doing another Open Screen. If you don’t know what that is, it’s like open mic night for short films and local moviemakers. So, if you got one, 15 minutes or less, contact Kamau at kamau@kamuware@gmail.com.

More bout that next week…after all one can only take so much fun at once.

…and I’m out.
Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

May

kdogandd — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:33:19 +0000

So…it’s summer already, huh?
Memorial Day Weekend is this weekend.
Although, I must say, today is not feelin like beach weather.
Some brief summer announcements:
We’re going to stop the Thursday night movie screenings for a while.
Very few of you show up and in the summertime even less, so
we’re going to take some time off to ….reassess.
that is to say that we will still be having our Open Screen, the next one at the end of June.

One of our customers is starting an outdoor, sunset yoga class (of course today is the first class-I’m late as usual) in the Nethermeade, for more info see attached or contact Rachel at rakenned24@gmail.com. I’m going on Wednesday.

Come to K-Dog to purchase your PLG House Tour tickets. There’s nothing better than spying on your neighbors and for only $20 the tour affords you the opportunity to actually get inside and really snoop instead of just peering through their parted curtains on your way home in the evening….
I, of course, would never do such a thing. Seriously, it really is amazing to see all the incredibly clever and beautiful things people do with their spaces. The house tour is May 31st from noon-5pm.

That weekend we’ll also be offering Brooklyn Bloggers a lively discussion on blogging, more bout that next week.

The sun’ll come out tomorrow…..
….ahem, I should not even go there.
Have a lovely week.
Gabrielle
K-Dog and Dunebuggy

so much news

kdogandd — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:13:33 +0000

We got a lot of stuff for ya this week!

We have a new art exhibit this month brought to you by one of our fabulous Baristas…Laura (known to a goodly portion of you as “Bugs”) its really cool and circus-y so come check it out, it’ll be here through the beginning of May!

Thursday’s movie is “Paper Moon”.Ryan O’Neal is high on my list of celebrities-I-love-to-hate (along with Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner, Paris Hilton and a whole passel of others…..I guess I’m just a hater, but that’s a subject for another time.) and I still love this movie. It’s definitely a little over the heads of the little ones but the bigger kids will love it, say a precocious 10 and up. The movie starts at 7pm.

Friday is Knitting night. We’ve got some really cool projects happening and lots of great chat! Ostensibly we start at 6:30.

Saturday, April 11th, beginning at 7pm, we’ll have live music, for all those who’ve been asking for it, Singer- song writer Gina Holsopple feat. Matt Wood will be performing acoustic folk, folk rock, americana & rockabilly. More on that later.

Then there’s the Open Screen, which will be April 30th at 7pm, this month’s theme is money or lack thereof so let’s see those short films.

There is always more to come from your friendly neighborhood coffee shop.

Love,
Gabrielle
The proprietrix.

This week

kdogandd — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:50:56 +0000

Hello my PLG peoples!
Lots of stuff to mention

Firstly, I need an artist …fast, preferably no one who’s already shown here. If you’re interested and your stuff is framed, ready to go and rated PG please email me and I”ll let you know the detes. I’m also taking names for future dates so local artists hollah!

Prospect Lefferts Gardens Voices for Peace Study Group is continuing their discussion (Is a two state solution a viable option for peace in Israel/Palestine?) on this Wed. 3/25 from 6:30-8pm

Here is the movie schedule for the next few weeks

This week Thursday 3/26 is Run, Lola, Run . “A young woman in Germany has twenty minutes to find and bring 100,000 Deutschmarks to her boyfriend before he robs a supermarket.” So says IMDB, I say, for Women’s History Month, a shout out to all the babes who go above and beyond to save their man’s sorry hide.

4/02 A Streetcar Named Desire.……..same reason.

4/09 Paper Moon………same reason, ‘cept different.

4/16 Some kids movie for Spring Break, I’m taking suggestions. Ask your kids what they wanna see.

4/23 Citizen Kane Arguably the best American movie ever made, you decide.

4/30 Another installment of our, now bi-monthly Local Open Screen. More ’bout that later.

And finally, Friday night is Knitting Night come on down have a pastry and shoot the….
breeze with all the ladeeze (and 1 gentleman).

Hope to see you,
Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

movies and such

kdogandd — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:44:44 +0000

So, it’s coming up on the Oscars, huh ?
Feb. 22nd.
There’s a formula, you know, to figure out who will actually win.
This is not publicly bandied about, but for each category there are a series of determining factors that can then be computed to determine whose going to win for that year.
Like for instance for Best Supporting Actress it’s something like this:

Quirkiness of role minus Meryl Streep
ingenue-ity + cuteness + earnestness = a win

In this way so many young ladies have gained one of these lovely, heavy, gold statuettes.
Mira Sorvino, say, for Mighty Aphrodite or Marisa Tomei, for My Cousin Vinny ( a “classic”) or even Tatum O’Neal for Paper Moon. This particular award often results in the recipient never working in anything decent again, even if they actually deserved it, maybe not the one I’d want to win.
There’s also all sorts of mitigating factors: how much did that movie gross that year, whether or not they’ve ever won before as compared to the sheer size of their body of work, the sympathy factor (their spouse just died, they have a terminal disease, they died of a drug overdose or car crash before they could be nominated, fill in the blank). Then there’s the “they really deserved it for last year’s performance, but we had to give it to someone else” award (which could go on indefinitely for eternity) eg. Cher for Moonstruck instead of Silkwood or Whoopi for Ghost instead of The Color Purple. Sometimes it’s even the “you’ve been in the business so long and never won and now you’re gonna die soon” award like Jack Palance for City Slickers.
If I’ve actually seen any of the films that are nominated I can usually call ‘em pretty close using these rules and others.However, since the birth of my son 7 years ago I am always way behind. in my movie viewing I can usually still guess a good percentage without having seen any of the films. This works even better at The Grammys.

K-Dog will be showing some Oscar winners this month

This Thursday will be “Tom Jones” best picture and best director for 1963. A ribald and bawdy romp if ever there was one, a little like “Barry Lyndon” on steroids.

For the following week I was thinking “The Apartment” with Jack Lemon and Shirley Maclaine or maybe “West Side Story”. Let me know what you think. Apparently the 60’s was the decade of the musical “Oliver” “The Sound of Music”"My Fair Lady” all won best picture that decade, weird huh.

Thursday, Feb 19th we will be hosting what is shaping up as our “Annual” Open Screening, more on that tomorrow.

We are also looking to get people’s pics of their trips to the inauguration for a photo show here beginning next week, more on that tomorrow too.

Adieu, adieu to yieu and yieu and yieu!
Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

At last….

kdogandd — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:44:33 +0000

Okay…I don’t mean to belittle the magnitude of these historic events,
but how totally hot is the First Couple?!
Did you see them canoodling during the first dance, like they….
LOVE EACH OTHER!
Phew.
I’m not sure I know how to process such a glaring anomaly in the status quo of guarded civility and mutual distaste exemplified by the past four decades of leaders of the free world.
Not only do the Obamas seem to love each other, but they also seem to
LIKE AND RESPECT EACH OTHER.
Geez, Edith.
What are we coming too?
Love. Camaraderie. Respect.
Who woulda thunk it.
Then the next day he came right out the box and laid the hammer down.
Took his jacket off in the oval office (apparently, a no no in the former administration) and got down to business.
Wow….
Yin and yang.
SWEET.

Well let me get down to business (heh, heh not likely)

Thursday @ 7pm this week’s movie is 1976’s Network starring the fabulous Faye Dunaway who won an Oscar for it. The beginning of a string of Oscar winners TBA later in the week.
Knitting Night is Friday with the soft beginning of 6:30pm. We got a pretty good crowd going and if you’re into crocheting or needlepoint or macrame or friendship bracelets or whichever your particular manner of yarn manipulation, come on down too. All are welcome in the warp and weft of our knitting tapestry because as you now know brown can stick around and yellow is mellow and white will do what’s right…..how awesome was that guy?!

We’ve got pictures coming of the day at K-Dog it was amazing.
Thanks everyone for all your help!

Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy

Inauguration, dawgs!

kdogandd — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:58:27 +0000

Let me just start by saying that I still can’t really believe it.
A black man in the white house?!
Nay, a black family in the white house, even.
And they’re smart and beautiful and strong.
Whether you’re happy with his appointments, or not….
whether you agree with his pre-presidential pronouncements, or not….
whether you think he’s too progressive or not progressive enough….
you gotta admit this is some historical sshizznit, yo.
For real, all he’s gotta do is be black and he’s already changed the world.
I mean, did you see who’s gonna be at this “Neighborhood Inaugural Ball”?!
Stevie Wonder! Mary J. Blige!…….Jay Z for chrissakes!
No more Fleetwood Mac, people, or Kenny Chesney or Hillary Duff.
Huzzah!
I gotta see this to believe this.
So, we are going to project the inauguration (the swearing in and the speech at least)
here at K-Dog beginning at 11am in streaming video.
So, stop on by and share history with your neighbors.
I’ll be the one behind the counter with a huge smile on my face….crying.

Gabrielle
K-Dog & Dunebuggy