Brokelyn

FRIDAY
5-7pm (every fri-sat in august): Yay for free barbeque! the Bell House has a new patio, serves up free burgers + hotdogs. plus: $3 Newcastles and vodka lemonades all night. (via email)

8pm: Rooftop Films: doc. The Last Train Home follows one family during the largest human migration in the world, when 130 million people left China’s industrial cities to return to their homelands. followed by filmmaker Q + A. Old American Can Factory, $10. Read the rest of this entry »

We all remember the moment it happened. We were at work or shopping or taking a coffee break, when someone screamed “Holy s***! Michael Jackson died!” We all rushed to our computers or the nearest TV and gaped as the news trickled in. The next few months were a rush of tributes, obits and remembrances. Now as we creep up on the anniversary of that fateful day (June 25), MJ’s bound to be immortalized all over again. And one of your first chances will be at Legion in Williamsburg this Friday, Jun. 18, for the Michael Jackson Memorial Sing-Along. Read the rest of this entry »

Image courtesy of burntfeather on Etsy.com.

Our friends at the brilliant, Brooklyn-based SMITH Magazine are continuing their six-word literature series by inviting readers to submit Michael Jackson obits. A few early Jackson 6 contest favorites: He touched us in different ways (Jeffrey Bryan); Michael, you beat it too soon (Bethe); From ABC to PYT to RIP (Mary Elizabeth Williams). The reader challenge ends today at 5; read what your competitors have come up with and find out where to submit your brilliant words here. Read the rest of this entry »

West Point uniforms with MJ-worthy styling. Photos by Betony Toht

The weekend’s endless loop of Michael Jackson videos inspired all kinds of reactions: sadness, nostalgia, fashion envy. Like his music, his trademark silhouette—boxy jacket with slim high-waters and white socks—is surely destined for a revival, or at least worthy of one. So for those who wish to honor the singer’s memory with an appropriately dressed moonwalk, where to look?

My first stop is the Carroll Gardens vintage shop 2 Silhouettes on the Shade (482 Court St., 718-858-9229). I have often seen the owners, Janet and Michael Marcus, sitting in lawn chairs outside the store, and I now I know why—it is so jam-packed with merchandise that they can’t fit inside. I burrow into the back and come across a stack of Isotoner fedoras ($12 each) alongside a rack of uniform jackets ($35-75). The epaulettes and brass buttons are pure Michael. Too bad they don’t come in black. Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Jackson was a brilliant, deeply strange guy, but he was no weirder than his fans—at least the ones who have marked his passing by making things to sell in his honor on Etsy.com. Alongside loads of t-shirts, lapel pins and other insta-crap are some kooky items like this 2008 painting by artist Adah Glenn, presciently depicting Jackson with Farrah Fawcett hair. Maybe that’s why she thinks it’s worth $5,000?

After the jump, a six-inch crocheted Michael Jackson, a Michael Jackson catnip toy, a Michael Jackson paper-doll cutout card and Michael Jackson rosary beads. Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Jackson at Brooklyn Museum in 2007, courtesy of Ebony Magazine/Matthew Rolston.

There’s a whole lot of Brooklyn love today for Michael Jackson, who was last here two years ago when the crew at Ebony Magazine did a gorgeous photo shoot with him at our very own Brooklyn Museum. Here he is, photographed by Matthew Rolston for a special collector’s edition on Jackson, 25 years after Thriller.

“Michael wanted to be photographed in an artistic setting and the Brooklyn Museum gladly accommodated us all,” said the magazine’s creative director, Harriet Cole. “We shot in the midst of ancient and contemporary history, and it was powerful to be in that space.”

Thanks for visiting, Michael. A lot of people around here really miss you.

Check back for details on Michael Jackson memorial events around Brooklyn this weekend, and please email any info to jonathan@brokelyn.com.