The Greenpoint Gazette – the voice of Greenpoint – is a neighborhood newspaper in Brooklyn, NYC

via Greenpoint Gazette:BROOKLYN BARS: The Counting Room.

Another simple, and satisfying review.

I believe my writings for this site have made it apparent that I enjoy a fine spirit and refreshing ale. But it’s not just the booze that is fun, most of it is the meeting and drinking with friends. Whether we congegate at our local pub or keep it at someone’s house, a good drinking buddy is very important. Here are the top five (six, really) comic book characters, with a history of boozin’, that would make the best drinking partners:

5) Tony Stark:
He is Marvel’s playboy with a drinking problem. He is one high-roller that could get you into some pretty a-list parties, take you out to fancy dinners and get expensive scotchs – and probably pick up the tab every time. The only draw back to getting tipsy with Tony would be his ego; and I’m pretty sure I would get sick and tired of him getting ALL the girls – every time. For the best (and, really worst) example of Tony Stark stuck on the bottle read: The Invincible Iron Man #120-128; “Demon in a Bottle” arc. W: David Michelinie, A: John Romita Jr.

4) Aaron Stack (of Nextwave):
A robot that loves beer, and is written by Warren Ellis. Maybe this is my subconscious trying to tell you that I want to drink with Warren Ellis (oh yeah, I have). Any robot that frequently says “My robot brain needs beer,” seems like a good candidate for a drinking comrade. Imagine being on your couch, you run out of beer and are feeling a bit lazy. Guess what? Keep your patoot planted and allow Aaron’s extending robot arm to get it.
For the best moments of Stack sippin’ beers, read Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Written by Warren Ellis, art by Simon Immonen

3) Logan aka Wolverine
Logan is a man that is good at two things: Kickin’ ass and drinkin’ beer. Either on Utopia with a stock of beers in the fridge or at a dive bar ordering round after round, the man can put ‘em away. He would be a great drinking pal because he’d have your back (doubting anyone would want to fight us) and he’s got connections to The Avengers. In Wolverine: Origins he is even seen sippin’ a beer with Spidey (which also seems like a good time).

2) Jesse Custer & Cassidy:
An Irish vampire and a southern boy with the voice of God, and both like to get tossed. While I might not be the fightin’ type, their enthusiasm for a good bar brawl, on top of a lot of whiskey, would be enough for me to throw a couple of good licks. Even if you only drank with them once, it would most likely be the craziest night of gettin’ your knickers wet. While I could go on and specify certain examples of them drinking, I would rather just say, if you haven’t read Preacher – DO IT!

1) Bacchus:
He might be a bit of a curmudgeon, but he is THE GOD OF FRAKIN’ WINE AND REVELRY!!! ‘Nough said. While the books are out of print you can find copies of them on the floor at Cons and shops ’round. Read Eddie Campbell’s Bacchus.

While this might be my first quiet moment I’ve had in New York I feel almost too tired to write. This is only because I’m trying to refuel my tanks for the rest that is to come. But, before I tell you all about that, let me tell you about what has happened so far.
Thursday I arrived into NY at 11:50pm! Joe Petersen, who I am staying with for part of my time here, said he was going to pick me up from the airport but didn’t. This part was rather exciting for me because I now had to figure out the New York subway system in a matter of minutes. Let me tell you this: The New York Subway system is the easiest and most understandable system in the world. You would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not figure it out.
Moving on, and finally meeting up with Joe, and his two friends from SF, CA (who are also visiting for the weekend) at a bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – I was ready to party. From about 12:30pm to 4am we drank and took photo booth pictures. Continuing the party we decided to go to Manahattan (where the SF guys were staying) and see everything until the sun came up. I went to Grand Central station and spoke into the whisper arch, the NY Library and saw where Billy Murray & Dan Aykroyd stood in one scene of Ghostbusters, sacraficed the Chrysler building to the blood god and lastly saw Bryant Park.
At this point in time is it now 8am…

On friday I awoke midafternoon feeling like crap. But I had to suck it up because I was meeting my friend and former co-worker Katie and her friend Alex at the NY MOMA for free day. These two gals have turned out to be the coolest, and cutest, guides in NY.
At the MOMA we went into a film, that we didnt know anything about other then it being Canadian cinema. IT WAS THE MOST DEPRESSING MOVIE EVER! But it was also very beautiful. It was called “Polytechnique” (2009), and it’s about the Montreal Massacre of 1989.
To lighten our moods we went to the main exhibit which was Tim Burton’s art. Deciding that was enough to make us feel happier, we went for drinks in west village then went back to Brooklyn to get dinner. The three of us ate at Robertas pizza where we ordered a delicious pizza to split and also BONE MARROW. It was served in the bone and when taken out and spread onto bread it looks like a thick red cream. BRUTAL!
After dinner, the two ladies had to depart and I went off on my own to find the Gotham City Lounge. I found it, and holy crap, it was awesome. With action figures and other comic collectibles hanging from the ceiling, large posters plastering the walls and the tables covered in comic book panels – I was in shock and awe. Joe was just getting off work and I was headed to his place to finally drop off my bag. From here, Joe and I decided to take me to his favorite neighborhood bar called Ali’s Two80. Ali, who is the owner, bartender, cook and cleaner he is 56 years old and 100% bad-ass. After a couple of rounds talking with old school Brooklyn Italian dudes who work in “construction” and are slightly racist, Ali closed down the shop and let Joe and myself stay in the bar. He cooked us food, gave us free whiskey and beer and told us stories about times he uses his ‘shovel’ to kick people out.
Again, 100% BADASS DUDE.
We get back at 6am.

From here on out, I’ll be a little quicker with my experiences:
Saturday, Joe and I got up to meet with his friends for brunch in Hells Kitchen at a place that had bottomless mimosas, screw drivers or bloody marys. YES!
After brunch we went to Chelsea to meet with a friend of Joe’s from college.
CHELSEA is a giant gay night club all the time. And 90% of the dudes have sixpacks there.
Meeting up with Ricky, we went to the legendary Stonewall Inn and had a couple of drinks there. Did you know? Stonewall in always serves free hot dogs – hey, get your mind out of the gutter. I mean real hotdogs with buns, ketchup and mustard.
After Stonewall Inn, Joe, Ricky and myself went to the Comix Comedy Club to meet up with Alex and see Garfunkle & Oates preform – FOR FREE (the girl I sat next to on the plane works there and got us all in!!!). The show was beyond cute. So cute. My hearted melted. To be honest it was too cute for words I’m moving on…

After the show Alex and I went to Brooklyn to meet up with Katie at her work in Williamsburg. She got off work, we got food and drinks and then went to a bar till 4am playing telephone-pictionary.
Here is what happened. I am staying at Joe’s place. My phone died and so did his. I know where he lives (yeah, really good visual memory) but I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get back into his house – or even if he was going home.
I took a chance and rolled the dice. I took the subway back to bushwick alone. And waiting at the platform for 20min alone while waiting for the train is scary and cool all rolled-up into one. Walked to his house and rang the button. Whew – Vernon, his housemate, was awake and buzzed me in. Joe never showed up, so I got his bed.

That’s all for now. Tonight I’m off to Williamsburg to see Michael Showalter preform comedy with his friends.

see you soon internet!

Sorry for the lack of content lately. We’re gonna go ahead and blame it on “server issues” and “tcp/ip router format difficulties” not things like “fine Irish whiskey” or “Ethan”.

We will hopefully have new content every Saturday till 2012 or next Friday. There’s only one way to find out.

-Apologies/Seasons Greetings from VitaminC4

“It’s no big deal, it just needs more RAM.” — Ethan

We arrived at the Crepe Place half way through Daddy Crimbo’s set. All I can really say about them is that I thought it was pretty cool that they got their name from The Kingdom Of Loathing.

Aside from that they were loud and made it difficult to buy a drink. We slowly pushed our way through the crowd to get to the back door. To tell you the truth we spent most of the opener’s set chain smoking in the outdoor dining area which was fantastic. After a conversation about how our friend’s cousin got really into saving the world through meditation and inflating his own ego i decided to go check out Misty Mountain. The place was packed. I stuck around long enough to get the
gist of it. The songs were stony but lacked the energy that backs the singers other band Mammatus. I love Mammatus but this was clearly not them.

I spent the next forty minutes or so watching my friends dive face first into a vat of whiskey and gateway drugs. As sober driver i got to watch the entire ordeal unfold in front of my less than willing eyes. Ugh. Anyways Sleepy Sun was about to go on so once again I found myself wading through a mass of slightly irritating UC students, stoned psyche-rock fans and of course, drunk assholes. I finally got the front of the stage where i found a cozy little spot next to a group of people who very obviously never heard any of the bands on the bill and a little out of their element. I waited for a bit then the lights started to dim, the band members took their places, amps were turned on. then we waited again.

Sleepy Sun kicked off the set with the very appropriately titled song Sleepy Son. AWESOME! LET’S PARTY! The only thing i didn’t enjoy was the tone deaf girl standing next to me trying to sing along while her friend just kept yelling “this song is totally on the cd!! I totally listened to this song!” Good fucking grief Lucy.

Five or six songs into their set i somehow ended up in the back near the bar which was less than awesome. Most of my friends ended up too drunk to stick around, the sound sucked and i couldn’t see shit. The people behind me would not stop screaming at each other so i turned around to politely ask them to PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP. But as luck would have it they were the other half of my very drunk friends that lacked the presence of mind to realize that they needed to leave or shut the fuck up. I am kind of a pushover so i let slide.

After a set of new and old material they finished with the hit single White dove. God they are so good. If you haven’t heard them before just buy the album, buy it now. You won’t regret it. So the official verdict.

Crepe Place- Awesome venue, it can get a little cramped at times, but it’s an all ages venue with a bar. Rad.

Sleepy Sun- Totally rad.

Mammatus- Totally rad.

Kingdom Of Loathing- Totally rad.

I can’t wait to do it again…

- Hiram Coffee.

I trust that everyone has had a fun-filled summer full of misadventures and bouts of missing or unaccounted-for time. Now that fall is here with winter biting at its tan-to-brown-colored heels, all of us here at Vitamin C4 have compiled a checklist we hope will help prepare you for the harsh times ahead of us in our sleepy little coastal town. Good luck and godspeed.

Canned Food
We cannot stress this enough. Nothing will brighten your day more than eating fresh-out-of-the-can, two-year-old pineapple slices to remind you of the almost tropical days of summer here in Santa Cruz.

Whiskey
To cheer you up after being reminded that you wasted your summer sitting in a bar that smells like cat urine and Dan’s feet. It also keeps you warm, I guess.

A certain special someone
Hopefully you’ve had your fill of summer flings and romance. But now it’s time to settle down with that special someone and hunker down for winter. Nothing sucks more than being cold, drunk, wet and alone.

Post-Apocalyptic Novels
World War Z is a good start. Nothing is quite like curling up on a couch with a blanket and a baseball bat dreaming of a world consumed by the living dead.

Firearms
You never know.

Coffee & Cigarettes
When you don’t feel like braving the rain to go to your local bar/liquor store, sleep deprivation is the next best things. Try to read Infinite Jest in one sitting, disassemble household appliances, whatever. The sensation that you are walking on the moon at around eight in the morning is the real “good shit”.

Salad Dressing
Adds valuable calories to lettuce. Cheap, cheap lettuce.

Towel
I think this goes on every checklist.

Chicken Soup
Your house does not have insulation. This is Santa Cruz, and that is a fact. Every moment spent with your head bent over a steaming pot of awesome is another reason to drag yourself out of bed.

The new BATTLE /MTN\ record
Cause it’s off the mother fuckin’ hook! Uh, I mean chain. Yeah, chain!

Facial Hair
I can’t grow any personally, neither can Ethan. We tried once but we ended up looking like preteens.

Strobe Lights
C’mon guys. It’s about time we bring back the dance party. YEAH!

A second job
Less free time, more tattoos. Woo!

Little pocket-sized moleskines
Being able to read your palsy-drunk chicken scratch is marginally more realistic than being able to remember where you were, what you did, who she was & that one great idea you promised never to let yourself forget.

Sit tight guys! More to come on Vitamin C4.