With the amount of dissatisfaction and disappointment that many have expressed toward New York State government, it’s clear we need a governor who has a strong vision for the office and who can take control of a Legislature that has caused embarrassment on a national level. The choice for voters is between Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and the Republication businessman from Buffalo, Carl Paladino. We wholeheartedly endorse Cuomo for governor.

Paladino has little to offer and has run a campaign filled with bigotry and bluster. While we recognize the strain of populism that has appealed to those disgruntled with government and the way politicians have been behaving, we do not want our state governed by anyone who has so little respect for his fellow citizens.

But this is not simply a Cuomo-bydefault decision. As attorney general, Cuomo has a strong record as the state’s chief lawyer, investigating the pay-to-play scandal that led former Comptroller Alan Hevesi to plead guilty.

His blueprint for ethics reform includes a section that would legislate that lawmakers would have to disclose their earnings from outside jobs, something we think should also happen. While we are wary of family “dynasties” in all levels of politics, we feel Andrew Cuomo has shown a clear path and ambition in politics separate from his father’s, while also learning from his time working with him.

We do, however, hope that Andrew Cuomo stops playing it safe when it comes to his stated principles, coming out strong in favor of marriage equality (something that nearly all New York City politicians agree it is time for) and other progressive legislation. Getting any of his reforms passed with an obstinate Legislature will not be easy. But we feel Cuomo can make good on his promises to restore trust and create transparency in government.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN

The next New York attorney general has big shoes to fill. Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo were both crusaders who were able to balance complex issues of national importance as well as move the reform

ball forward. The next attorney general must have the experience to be able to tap dance his way through the minefield of Albany corruption as well as find new ways of protecting consumers. That’s why we endorse Eric Schneiderman, a state senator from the Upper West Side, as our next attorney general.

While our state government has increasingly started resembling a Saturday Night Live skit, Schneiderman has been one of the few bright stars at the state level. He’s a smart, effective, reformminded legislator who has stood up to his party when required, as well as crafted important legislation that promotes equal justice under law, such as ending the draconian Rockefeller drug laws.

Cleaning up Albany has become something of the mantra of this election.

But Schneiderman has actually done it by convening a bipartisan panel to expel fellow Democrat Hiram Monserrate after he was convicted of assault against his girlfriend. In addition, he has spent many years standing up against Republican senators that have blocked his progressive reform-minded legislation.

We are confident that his background and experience plus core philosophy of equal justice will ensure that the interests of all New Yorkers are heard. He has a broad agenda that protects consumers, prevents the pollution of the environment and fights discrimination.

Mr. Schneiderman’s opponent, Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, has a record that he can be proud of. As the Staten Island DA, he has amassed a high conviction rate for dangerous felons; he has also served respectably under Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau. Donovan has a competent, nuts-and-bolts plan for the attorney general position. What he doesn’t have is the sweeping vision needed to implement the changes as well as the reform-minded vision of Eric Schneiderman.

COMPTROLLER: HARRY WILSON

Officially, the state comptroller is responsible for the nearly $130 billion pension fund, auditing agencies and releasing economic reports. But former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s recent guilty plea in a pay-to-play scandal put a spotlight on the sleepy, unglamorous office. Now, New Yorkers need a state comptroller

that is pragmatic, vigorous and innovative. We endorse Republican Harry Wilson for state comptroller.

The current comptroller, Democrat Tom DiNapoli, has implemented necessary reforms and protected the pension fund since he was appointed to the seat in 2007.

But Wilson, the Republican candidate, is a Harvard-educated investor with an extensive and unique background in the public and private sectors.

His resumé includes Goldman Sachs, Blackstone Capital and, most, recently Silver Point Capital. He was the only Republican on President Barack Obama’s auto-industry task force, where he led the successful restructuring of General Motors.

Wilson has the investment and managerial background needed to make the comptroller’s job integral to fixing New York’s economy. He is a moderate Republican who has a proven record of bipartisanship and pragmatism. Much like his work saving General Motors, we believe Wilson would work well with unions, rather than conveniently blaming them for all of the state’s fiscal problems. He believes in a low-tax burden for business rather than spending tax dollars on corporate welfare.

After Hevesi’s resignation, the State Legislature tapped DiNapoli, an Assembly member from Long Island, to become the new comptroller. While DiNapoli had no prior investment experience, he has the vision to continue being an able comptroller. He also instituted important ethics reforms in the office, from banning pay-to-play practices and placement agents from the investment fund.

But Wilson has the vision, skills and temperament to be an excellent comptroller. Though he is a Republican, this is one of the few races where voters in the city can cast a ballot for the GOP without voting for a conservative ideologue.

STATE LEGISLATURE

Our districts have quality, progressive legislators in Congress and in Albany. The Republican alternative in these races are either nonexistent or not a credible choice. We endorse State senators Bill Perkins, Tom Duane and Assembly members Linda Rosenthal, Daniel O’Donnell for re-election. In the open State Senate seat that covers parts of the Upper West Side, all of Northern Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, we endorse Adriano Espaillat.

In the House, Jerrold Nadler and Charles Rangel deserve re-election to their seats.

BALLOT MEASURES:

Earlier this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called a commission to study and recommend changes to the city charter. This Nov. 2, voters in New York City must approve the changes at the ballot.

The questions are printed on the back of the ballot, on the other side of the candidate list. If approved, the changes would bring back two-term limits for city officials and make running for office easier. Voters should vote “yes” on these two questions.

New Yorkers should vote “yes” on the question that would limit the next mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough presidents and Council members to two, consecutive four-year terms. Voters established these limits through two ballot initiatives in the 1990s. But when Bloomberg wanted to run for a third term last year, the Council passed a law that overturned the two referendums.

Bringing the term limits law back to two terms would respect the voters that chose two terms for local elected officials. Most importantly, the new law would also block the City Council from again changing the term limit law through legislation.

The second question contains seven parts that, in part, will help more candidates get on the ballot. Voters should say “yes” to the question, which would approve all seven changes to the charter. These changes would lower the onerous ballot laws that inhibit competitive elections and insurgent candidates running for office.

The changes include:

• Greater disclosure of campaign spending from independent groups.

• Cutting the number of petitions needed to get on the ballot in half for each elected office.

• Increasing the fine for violating the city’s Conflicts of Interest law from $10,000 to $25,000.

• Consolidating the number of “administrative tribunals,” where people charged with violating a law or regulation can contest the charge.

• Creating a commission of appointees from the mayor and City Council to review the necessity of Charter and Administrative codes that require agency reports.

• Adding government-operated transportation and waste-management facilities in the annual map of the city’s property used to site new city facilities.

New York Press: How did the original idea for Dance of Days come about?

Mark Anderson: The original idea came from the fact that I moved to Washington, D.C. from Montana in 1984 and I had first gotten into punk in the ‘70s through Patti Smith, Sex Pistols, The Clash, etc. I was following punk closely, and I began to hear about the D.C. scene—Bad Brains and Minor Threat—and was quite fascinated by it. That was part of why I chose to move to D.C.

As I got to know the people in D.C. and just by happenstance participated in the creation of Positive Force D.C., which was the first organized political voice from within the D.C. punk scene and one of the first anywhere. Positive Force became part of something called ‘Revolution Summer,’ and I got to know a bunch of really inspiring, passionate, thoughtful people and started to learn more about the D.C. story. By 1986, I was convinced of two things: one was that this community was the center of my life, that I had stumbled into something really extraordinary. And the second was that this story needed to be told. Being a punk rocker I volunteered, because for me and a lot of my peers the idea was that if you see something that you think should be done but isn’t, go do it. This was in 1986, there was still plenty of the story to unfold. I started doing interviews in ’86 and did them thru ‘93 or ‘94 and then it sat for a few years and I returned to it with Mark Jenkins and we carved a more coherent and lean narrative from what was twice the length of the final book.

And how about the stuff you’ve added?

There have been a couple of extra chapters written, one for the 2003 edition, and a new one in this edition called “Reverbations/Reignition.”

What occurred to me to write was something in very personal and shorthand terms to update the D.C punk story from 1995 to 2003, which meant there were a lot of names but not a lot of great depth. It’s valuable as something that highlights some significant bands and events that happened in that 8-year period. There are two big points that were made well. One is that the D.C. punk story continues, it’s not over now, and the second was that for those people who felt like we hadn’t told the whole story, they were right. We knew it better than anyone.

With this new chapter, I wanted to look at the meaning of all of this because it is now over 20 years since I started work on the book. It’s close to a decade from when the book was actually finished and the reverberations of the punk scene continue to spread, sometimes in the craziest places and oddest ways. It was a chance for me to reflect on what might be the meaning of punk in an era where you have a president who counts punk rock performance poets as part of his radical crowd in college, or the single image that is most remembered from that campaign is by someone who came straight out of the punk scene. In all of the other things that continue to develop as this energy and explosion from the underground filters out into the world. Straight edge, emo, all of these things came out of the D.C. punk scene whether they’re more glorious than silly.

Did you feel like D.C. punk was ‘cool’ when you started out? Was the cache of the scene obvious even 20 years ago?

Positive Force if anything was a club for the misfits. We were not the cool kids, we were the ones who wore our hearts on our sleeves. I’m this goofy farm boy and when I came to D.C., I was still wearing bell-bottom trousers, partly because I wanted to fuck with people, and partly because I was oblivious. I didn’t get involved in punk rock because I was a cool kid, I got into punk rock because I was a fuckup.

How is your book different than a Please Kill Me for D.C.?

I could easily have written a Please Kill Me about D.C. because, if you didn’t get the sense already, I was a fuckup and I am in certain ways still a wounded person. Most people in the punk scene came from that. We weren’t there because we had it all together and we were so happy. We were trying to find a way to make our piece of the world make sense and to try to somehow become more whole. Maybe someone will write that book some day, but I don’t care to get into that stuff except to the extent that it advances the story. I’m not interested in creating more spectacle, I’m hoping that we can transmit a spark. It doesn’t mean that we turned away from the ugly stuff, but that’s not in the spirit of the D.C. punk scene.

“It actually started a few weeks after my mother died,” says Aronowitz. “My mom was a big feminist writer and as soon as she died, I became inundated by her friends and students and people who had been influenced by her. I was having a brunch with Emma who had also been becoming more and more aware of the legacy of feminism in her own way. We were discussing what it meant to us and how we were these two New York girls in a bubble and didn’t know what young women were thinking around the country.”

Over the course of the following year, the two planned, saved and—in the savvy way that kids do these days—consulted a book agent. Convinced to go on the trip without an actual deal in place, the pair took off in Oct. 2007 and it was just this month that Girldrive, a funny, illuminating and photo-heavy book about their journey was released.  

“The thing about New York is that it’s so matter of fact and these values are so infiltrated that there aren’t as many grassroots movements,” Aronowitz explains. “There’s this whole part of the book where it dawns on us that we’re from New York and feminism is everywhere but it’s not as much conscious feminism and in a place where it’s important to distinguish yourself. A lot of young women in New York are doing awesome things but are not necessarily engaged in feminist things consciously.”

So, over the course of their journey, the authors visited Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Madison, Wis., Memphis and more to find out how other women around the country think about feminism.

“I think we found a lot more than we bargained for, actually,” says Aronowitz. “When we started, the feminist question was central to our project but a week into the trip, we realized using the word wasn’t the most interesting question ever. Some people were bogged down by the stereotype and other people had no idea what it meant. It was exciting for the project to become about what was on the mind of young women. Feminism was a framework for that but it wasn’t enough.”

Tonight Aronowitz, who’s living in Chicago, comes back to New York to read from the book at KGB Bar with Kathleen Hanna and Michele Wallace—a rare chance, Aronowitz says, to find “urgent feminism.” (Bernstein died in 2008).

“When you go to a show or a reading or a conference in New York, you’re going to find nonchalant feminists, so New York isn’t the easiest place to seek out the feminism that one might want. That doesn’t mean that it’s not really important.”

>Girldrive
Oct. 29, KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th St. (betw. 2nd Ave. & Bowery), 212-505-3360; 7, Free.

Mayor: Michael Bloomberg

As we mentioned back in September, the key to governing the city at this critical juncture is nursing a more diverse economy back to health while maintaining and building on the gains of recent years in education, business, public safety and the vibrant culture that defines the City. We think Mayor Michael Bloomberg is best qualified for this job.

Comptroller: John Liu

During the primary, we found Democrat John Liu to be an estimable candidate who had both bold ideas for the office and the financial knowhow to tackle its fiscal responsibilities, and we endorse him in the general election.

Public Advocate: Bill de Blasio

We found Democrat Bill de Blasio to have the most far-reaching vision for this office, and the most detailed plans for executing that vision on a shoestring budget.We hope he can leverage the public advocate’s meager resources by working with organizations like Transportation Alternatives and the Brennan Center for Justice.

Manhattan District Attorney: Cy Vance

We were highly impressed with all three candidates running for the Democratic nomination for Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance, who won the primary and is running unopposed in the general election, plans to develop a community based justice model to better attack problems such as domestic violence and discrimination against immigrants. He has also promised to tackle the criminal court backlog and form special units for mental health issues and hate crimes.The Manhattan district attorney’s office is the most important prosecutorial body in the country, and we have no doubt that Vance will build upon the impressive work of longtime D.A. Robert Morgenthau.

Manhattan Borough President: Scott Stringer

While the City Charter sketches out rather limited powers for this position, Democrat Scott StringerStringer has squeezed every ounce of productivity out of this role. He’s brought an unwavering spotlight to classroom crowding problems, come up with concrete ways to help preserve small businesses and made greening the city and healthy eating top priorities.

City Council District 6: Gale Brewer

Democrat Gale Brewer works tirelessly to address residents’ problems big and small. We endorse her for re-election.

City Council District 9: Inez Dickens

Democrat Inez Dickens was a leader in rezoning 125th Street in a plan that readies Harlem for the next century of growth. She is right to focus on creating more affordable housing and support for small businesses, and we support her re-election.

We hope that the decisions of the editorial board highlight issues regarding candidates in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary and prove a useful guide for our readers. We also hope that voter turnout will be high to reflect this particularly important juncture in city history.

Readers should note that for two of these offices (comptroller and public advocate), the winner from a field of four candidates needs to get 40 percent of the vote. That means that if no one broaches the 40 percent mark—a very likely occurrence— there will be a Sept. 29 run-off election between the top two contenders, prolonging the politicking.

Mayor: Michael Bloomberg

The
general election for mayor isn’t until Nov. 3, but since the Democratic
primary will determine nearly all of the most hotly contested races
this year, we are including our choice for the city’s chief executive
officer with this slate of candidates.

New York City is at a
pivotal point in its history. While the city is arguably the most
livable it’s ever been, fallout from the imploding financial sector and
real estate industry still lingers, despite some initial signs of
improvement. The key at this critical juncture is nursing a more
diverse economy back to health while maintaining and building on the
gains of recent years in education, business, public safety and the
vibrant culture that defines New York City.We think Mayor Michael
Bloomberg is the man who is best qualified for this job. Throughout the
past eight years, Bloomberg has advanced ambitious plans to overhaul
the largest public school system in the country, mitigate traffic and
congestion, increase and improve green space, foster arts and culture
and rezone the city to fit the residential and business needs of
tomorrow—all while driving crime to record lows, and keeping a vigilant
eye on a terrorist threat that still lingers.We’re impressed with the
caliber of staffers Bloomberg has trusted to enact this agenda, and the
record he’s shown in working amicably with City Council Speaker
Christine Quinn. It’s a refreshing change from the past, one that
engenders a climate of productivity, rather than political squabbling.

But
what’s most compelling about this mayor is the overall vision orienting
these initiatives: his goal is to enhance New York City’s best
attributes to make it a city people want to live in, do business in and
visit.

A keen businessman, the mayor understands that these
three goals are inextricably linked, and he has the foresight and drive
to make them all priorities.

Certainly, Bloomberg’s record has
not been perfect. His focus on residential development has left
classrooms at overcapacity and kindergartners on wait-lists for zoned
schools. This was a problem that many saw coming several years ago, and
the Department of Education should not have had to scramble to find
seats.

Likewise, we think he could do more to help small
businesses. Bloomberg asserts that the biggest help the city can
provide is to create a climate that generates more customers.

But
this shies away from what’s really hurting mom-and-pops: skyrocketing
rents. Although we won’t go so far as to suggest commercial rent
control, a more aggressive approach using carrots and sticks like
zoning changes and tax incentives is worth exploring. Bloomberg’s
suggestion that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority be
responsible for aiding businesses hurt by Second Avenue subway
construction is unreasonable, given that agency’s reputation for
dysfunction and a need for the city, state and MTA to share the
financial burden.

But these are flaws in a record that has, on
the whole, been bold, inventive and overwhelmingly successful. We’d
like to see Bloomberg both build on these accomplishments and address
these shortcomings in a third term, leaving a legacy of perhaps one of
New York’s greatest mayors.

One issue we have not addressed
here is the mayor’s successful bid to change the term limits law. We
came out in favor of this proposal, as we thought it was important to
have the leadership of a talented incumbent at this point in time. As
Bloomberg himself has stated, if voters dis agree

with
his actions, then the Nov. 3 election is their chance to weigh in.
Certainly Comptroller William C. Thompson is an estimable candidate,
but he is often in alignment with Bloomberg, and it’s difficult to
differentiate him as a candidate.We feel that Bloomberg is the right
leader for the next four years, and we support his reelection on Nov. 3.

Comptroller: David Yassky

The
comptroller can be seen as C.F.O. of the city, responsible for making
sure that budgets are tight and inefficiencies are pinpointed.

In
this economy, New Yorkers need a comptroller who will audit city
agencies, kill contracts that waste money, propose a wise pension fund
investments strategy and be a leading voice on transparency and
government reform. But we also need more than a bean-counting
bureaucrat.

That’s why we feel New Yorkers should vote for Brooklyn Council Member David Yassky as the city’s next comptroller. Yassky

The band—consisting of singer-guitarist Peter Aaron, guitarist William Weber, ex-Honeymoon Killers leader Jerry Teel on bass, and a rotating cast of characters on drums (Sonic Youth’s Bob Bert would be the band’s longest lasting and best known drummer)—was firmly in place in New York by 1992 when it started recording and releasing records.

Over the next six years, the band would release three full-length records, a number of singles and live albums, and would tour the world with the likes of Geraldine Fibbers, the alt-country project of Ethyl Meatplow’s mastermind Carla Bozulich.

If you were looking for the grittiest, grimiest, loudest scene around in the early-to-mid ‘90s, you didn’t have to look much further than the Chrome Cranks.

Tonight, the band will reunite at Santos Party House, one of five shows it’s playing to celebrate the release of The Murder of Time, a recently released singles collection. It’s not one of those reunions, though, according to Aaron; the band’s going to have some fun and try not to do anything to tarnish its legacy.

“It’s one of those things where you always wonder if it’s ever going to happen. Certainly when the Sex Pistols and Stooges [reunited], it took the stigma out of it,” Aaron says. “The band had toured really hard for five years, and we ended in a bad way. But when we got back in touch, we became friends again. William and I have always been friends. Jerry’s wife said it would be great if we did a reunion, and everyone was into it. There’s not really any pressure, we’re not planning of making a career of it again. It’s a way to reopen the book and close it in a good way.”

The band will play tonight at Santos Party House and make a stop at Williamsburg’s Glasslands—a DIY space akin to where shows would have happened during the band’s prime—before performing at the Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon, France with Boss Hog (another Jon Spencer project) and former Headcoatee Holly Golightly. The set, according to Aaron, will be plenty authentic.

“We’re playing the quote-unquote hits and maybe some things here and there that are lesser-known. I do have some songs kicking around, some newer ones, but in the window we have, we decided to concentrate on the older stuff that we’re all more familiar with.”

Even if the songs are unfamiliar to some listeners, the sound won’t be. The Cranks’ bluesy, driving rock has been duplicated endlessly—think Black Lips or King Khan—but for the Cranks, it’s better to be imitated thant forgotten.

“There was a point a few years back when it busted into the mainstream with the White Stripes, the Strokes and those bands…It’s great. I’d rather hear that kind of music on the radio than Britney Spears,” says Aaron. “It’s a classic timeless sound. If there’s anything I don’t like about it, it’s when bands do it in an obviously. I always thought we didn’t—I thought the Chrome Cranks were separate from the rabble of a typical garage rock band. We used a timeless, blues-based platform for the music. But I was trying to twist it and bring other elements into it but still keep cohesion and still have that other. If you’re doing any music, it’s important to have it grounded in tradition but it’s also important to fuck it up and not keep it straight.” 

>The Chrome Cranks
May 8, Santos Party House, 100 Lafayette St. (betw. White & Walker Sts.), 212-714-4646; 7, $15. Also, May 15 at Glasslands.

The Press caught up with front man David Feck…

This is the 17th year of Comet Gain’s existence. How has the band changed in that time?

We lost a few and the ones that have stayed got hairier. There was a moment in our history where it became clear that Comet Gain was going to be a band about carrying on. That for every joy and blunder and hard time that goes on we have our songs for it… and that keeps happening… unfortunately there are more blunders and hard times but fortunately there are tons good times

To what to do attribute your longevity?

The first three reasons that come to mind are: 1. We’re waiting to make a good record, something like Broken Record Prayers; 2. I love everyone in this group, meeting new people and seeing the world; 3. Without the band no one would buy us beers.

How did you choose the songs that went on Broken Record Prayers? Was there material you wanted to include and didn’t?

Broken Record Prayers is the best Comet Gain record yet… Out of 400 songs these are the ones we wanted out.

I once heard that you had a terrible fear of flying and hated to tour because of that. What’s changed?

Nothing, I just take more boats.

What’s the band’s songwriting process like? Likewise, where does your lyrical inspiration come from?

I don’t think even Comet Gain knows how we come up with songs… if we did we would write more and record more.

Now someone can just log onto a website and find stuff that used to be solely for collectors digging in record store. Since your band has piles of singles, some of which have make it onto Broken Record Prayers but plenty that didn’t, what are your thoughts on the digitizing of music collections?

Very good.

Are there groups you played with when you started out that you especially miss? Anyone you’d push to do a 20-year reunion? Like, um, Huggybear?

Yummy Fur, Male Nurse, The Peechees, Further, Felt

Are you working on any other projects? More Comet Gain records?

Yes… LOTS! A boxed set of space music featuring everyone that has been in Comet Gain—over 66 members will contribute.

Is there anything in New York that you’re excited for? When was the last time you were here? 

We were here 10 years ago…and it’s been about that long since we’ve seen a lot of friends.

The absurdity was nagging if not discouraging. Organizer Mary Catanzaro reassured us. "It’s more for the owners than for the dogs," she said. "Dog owners like to meet other dog owners."

And competition aside, she said, it will still be fun for the dogs. They’ll have easy access to treats and toys, and they’ll get to frolic with other dogs. An animal behaviorist will be on hand to keep things from getting too rowdy.
Catanzaro is most excited about the arrival of Laura Nativo and her dog Preston, the winning pair from another CBS reality show – Greatest American Dog.

“She just called me [from Los Angeles,] and she was like, ‘I’d like to come!’” Catanzaro said. “I was like, ‘Um, okay.’”
Catanzaro has organized the Amazing New York Race for four years now. Typically, contestants follow clues on a hunt that leads them all around Manhattan and exposes them to what Catanzaro calls "hidden New York."

Because dogs aren’t allowed on the subway, the race in question will take place in Williamsburg. Challenges will be shared between owners (e.g., identify 20 dog breeds from photographs) and their dogs (learn a new trick, clamber through an agility tunnel).
Each team will be made up of two dogs and any number of human associates. Likewise, admission is $30 per dog, but humans get in free. Some of the proceeds will support the Center for Animal Care and Control in Brooklyn.

The first team to complete every challenge will win a handful of prizes from local groomers, boarders and trainers. All participants will receive a doggie bag full of mini-gifts and an invite to the afterparty at Brooklyn Ale House, where a human behaviorist will be on hand in case things get too rowdy.

Elsewhere in Brooklyn, you can  head out early and stroll down Lewis Ave. for the third annual Shops of Lewis Ave. Sidewalk Soiree (sidewalks of Lewis Ave, betw. Decatur & Hasley Sts.).

The streets will be lined with local retailers and homegrown businesses some of their best items.  The Brooklyn Public Library’s Macon Branch will be hosting a creative arts showcase, in addition to a few other entertainment venues scheduled for the day.  And, of course, they will be some food for you weary foot-soldiers fatigued from your trek down the avenue. Festivities kick off at 10 a.m. and run until 6 p.m. For more info, call 718-771-0633.

And we know you’ve been told that Bed-Stuy isn’t exactly the ‘hood you want to stroll through without ample back-up.  But this weekend, ignore all those naysayers and head over to the Spencer Sewing Factory (144 Spencer St., betw. Myrtle & Willoughby Sts.) for some rooftop revelry.

In celebration of the second annual Open Studios, The Factory will be teeming with over 27 local artists, showcasing their work (for free!) as they’re serenaded by a host of local musicians (seven total). "Our goal is to showcase emerging artists, share ideas and build a sense of community for local artists in an emerging and diverse community," said curator of Open Studios and featured artist Susan Boatenreiter.

The evening kicks off at 4 with an art show curated byBoatenreiter.  Guests can also mosey out to the sculpture garden or enjoy a small cookout and bar-side chat (in case the wine and cheese gets boring).  Get a full schedule here.

By Justin Richards and Megan McGinley