BKLYN’s Answer to SXSW: Northside Festival 2009

06/4/09  Print This Post Print This Post    1 Comment   Popular   Written by Tom Gates
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Feature photo by Bitchcakes. Bill Callahan of Smog plays Music Hall Of Williamsburg on June 14th. Photo by Kirstiecat.

Brooklyn makes a move with its own spirited festival, from June 11-14

The Northside Festival will celebrate four days of art and music in Brooklyn, starting June 11th. It’s exactly the kind of festival that Brooklyn’rs have talked about for years but have been a too busy to take beyond the brainstorming process, due to all of the waiting for the damned F train.

The schedule is hot shit. It invades big joints (The Hold Steady @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg) and many smaller, cultish rooms (Henry Wolfe @ Coco 66). Much like South By Southwest or CMJ, rooms have been taken over by hipster imprints, zines and radio stations. The talent that comes as a result is on the edge of something – we won’t know of what until next year, or until some blogger gives it a cutesy name.

Northside has also taken care to include the best of Brooklyn’s blowing-up art scene. As with anything in the borough, tastes about what is ‘art’ and what is not will differ.

Photo of Schipper’s “The Slow Inevitable
Death of American Muscle” by libbyrosof

Like, for example, Jonathan Schipper’s “The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle”, described as a “live, head-on collision which takes place in slow motion over the course of the exhibition.”

Be sure to check out Northside’s schedule for a full list of shows and events.


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About the Author

Tom Gates

Tom is a writer and a constant traveler, having spent most of the past two years wandering Earth with his Macbook. He is also pretending to be a third person right now and is obviously writing his own bio. He knows that you knew that, despite the deft maneuvering of pronouns.

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