Tag: hell gate bridge

Exceptional “Hell Gate” Evening

Photo credit: Yui Kitamura

What an unforgettable “Hell Gate” show!! Thank you to everyone for such an amazing evening of Hell Gate Bridge history, storytelling, art, poetry, and music. Visit the show program here.

Podcast episodes featuring the live story swaps coming in October! 

Follow @noyoutellit and subscribe to the No, YOU Tell It! podcast on your preferred platform.

Special thank you to:
~Our storytellers, Alicia, Jackie, Mia, and Ashley, for sharing such beautiful stories and giving incredible performances.
~Everyone who came out to see the show!
~Our fab host, Kelly Jean, for facilitating the evening.
~Grove 34 for the space to have such a special evening.
~Ashley, for creating your Hell Gate-inspired art and music to inspire us all.
~Greater Astoria Historical Society for teaching us so much about the history of Hell Gate and our neighborhoods.
~Bob Singleton for his poetry and insights into the history of Astoria.
~Natalia ‘Saw Lady’ Paruz for her special, beautiful *birthday* performance.
~Brooklyn Book Festival for including us as a Bookend Event once again.
~Flushing Town Hall, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts for making this possible.
~Our amazing creative team, Erika, Kelly Jean, Chenda, and Tim, for everything to make this possible.

Stay tuned for more photos and clips from the show and to hear what we’re up to next season.

In the meantime, check out the full list of #bkbf Bookend Events and the main festival this weekend!

September 27, 2024 Post Comment News Tags:

Look! “Hell Gate” Program

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

See you tonight at Grove 34! Tickets are still available here.

Take a look at our four storytellers whose stories started at our “Hell Gate” Sip & Scribe at Sunnyside Arts. Want to join in on the creative writing fun? The next Sip & Scribe is October 4th! Register here. 

Stories

CROSSING THE BRIDGE by Jackie Sherbow, performed by Mia Arias Tsang, directed by Erika Iverson

REAWAKENING by Mia Arias Tsang, performed by Jackie Sherbow, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

THE BRIDGE TO THE BRIDGE, by Alicia Lieu, performed by A. King McCarty, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

UNDER THE HELL GATE, by A. King McCarty, performed by Alicia Lieu, and directed by Erika Iverson

Special Guests

Bob Singleton, Executive Director, Greater Astoria Historical Society, and A. King McCarty present “The Hell Gate Kid.”

Plus, a live performance from Natalia ‘Saw Lady’® Paruz!

Thank You

Shout out to our wonderful story coaches, Tim Lindner and Pichchenda Bao.

Bios

Jackie Sherbow is the Woodside, Queens-based author of Harbinger (Finishing Line Press, 2019), publisher at THRASH Press, and senior managing editor of Ellery Queen’s and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazines. Their poems and stories have appeared in places like The Sierra Nevada Review, Luna Luna, Mystery Magazine, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. They are the former editor-in-chief and currently serve on the board of directors of Newtown Literary, the journal and organization dedicated to the writers of Queens.

Mia Arias Tsang is a writer and freelance editor based in New York City. Her work explores themes of queer desire, intimacy, and disconnect. A Tin House Summer Workshop alum, her work has appeared in Copy, Autostraddle, Half Mystic Press, Fatal Flaw Magazine, and Broad Recognition Magazine, among others. She is a copy editor for the literary magazine Identity Theory and program coordinator at the literary nonprofit House of SpeakEasy, and writes a newsletter called Overripe Peach. She lives in Queens with her cat, Peanut, and is currently working on a novel.

Alicia Lieu, Jackson Heights/Elmhurst based composer/conductor hails from San Jose, California. As a composer, she has been awarded grants from QCA and City Artist Corps. She is the creator of Dance-it-Yourself Nutcracker and co-founder of nonprofits Composers Collective, Pitches Brew, and New York Conducting Institute. She spent two years living abroad in Shanghai, China, before moving to NYC and conducting has taken her to Russia, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. She earned her B.A. in Music Composition from UC Santa Barbara, M.M. in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from UT El Paso.

A. King McCarty (Ashley King) is an artist, writer, actor, musician and founder of Artstoria New York with her husband and fellow creator, Graham McCarty. She is a two-time recipient of the Queens Community Art Grant and an Art Hotel resident artist. She lives near the Hell Gate Bridge with her husband, son and lots of plants and comic books. Visit her on Instagram at @artstoriany and @akingmccarty

Natalia ‘Saw Lady’® Paruz can be heard playing the musical saw on movie soundtracks such as Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, HBO’s The JinxTime Out of Mind with Richard Gere, Fox Searchlight’s Another EarthDummy with Adrien Brody, etc. She performed with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta, with the Westchester Philharmonic, Royal Air Moroccan Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and at Lincoln Center with PDQ Bach composer Peter Schickele and with the Little Orchestra Society. She was chosen by Time Out New York and the Village Voice for their “Best of New York” lists and was featured in articles by the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th St, Astoria)

Meet “Hell Gate” Storyteller Jackie Sherbow

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Our show is next week! Get your tickets here and meet our final storyteller Jackie Sherbow!

Jackie Sherbow is the Woodside, Queens-based author of Harbinger (Finishing Line Press, 2019), publisher at THRASH Press, and senior managing editor of Ellery Queen’s and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazines. Their poems and stories have appeared in places like The Sierra Nevada Review, Luna Luna, Mystery Magazine, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. They are the former editor-in-chief and currently serve on the board of directors of Newtown Literary, the journal and organization dedicated to the writers of Queens.

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th St, Astoria)

Meet “Hell Gate” Storyteller Alicia Lieu

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Our next storyteller is a Jackson Heights/Elmhurst based composer/conductor who hails from San Jose, California.

Meet Alicia Lieu and get your tickets here for our “Hell Gate” show!

Alicia Lieu, Jackson Heights/Elmhurst based composer/conductor hails from San Jose, California. As a composer, she has been awarded grants from QCA and City Artist Corps. She is the creator of Dance-it-Yourself Nutcracker and co-founder of nonprofits Composers Collective, Pitches Brew, and New York Conducting Institute. She spent two years living abroad in Shanghai, China, before moving to NYC and conducting has taken her to Russia, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. She earned her B.A. in Music Composition from UC Santa Barbara, M.M. in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from UT El Paso.

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th Street, Astoria)

Fantastic “Hell Gate Bridge” Sip & Scribe

Together
Ever-exploring
The evolving landscape as beautiful as it is exhausting
Alone
– “Hell Gate Bridge” poem by artist A. King McCarty

Did you know that Kelly Jean leads a monthly Sip & Scribe at Sunnyside Arts? Last Friday, our four “Hell Gate” storytellers attended the sold out evening of writing, mingling, and drink-sipping with other Queens creatives.

Want to join us next month? Register here for the 10/4 Sip & Scribe or email kjfitzsimmons@gmail.com to be added to Kelly Jean’s weekly newsletter of upcoming writing fun.

This community event also helped the storytellers generate ideas for the true tales they will trade and perform at our upcoming 9/25 “Hell Gate” show at Grove 34. Grab a ticket to come hear the stories the night inspired!

Everyone explored the history of the Hell Gate Bridge from the Greater Astoria Historical Society archives. One breathtaking fact: The February 2005 issue of Discover magazine estimated that, if humans were to disappear, the Hell Gate Bridge could last for at least a millennium; most other bridges would fall in about 300 years.

Or, as Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, put it:

“With a regular coat of paint that bridge can last as long as the pyramids.” – from Hell Gate Bridge, an Astoria icon, turns 100 years old in AMNY, March 27, 2017

Key takeaways:

  • As strong as it is, the Hell Gate Bridge is overlooked the most. What other structures and marvels do we overlook in Queens? In our lives?
  • “How do bridge?” I want to learn more about how bridges even work!
  • Personal bridges in our lives that transport us back to safe harbor: friends, family, old journals.
  • Art as a bridge to communicate through writing, theater, and drawing. 

Participants also rotated through the “Four Seasons of Hell Gate” for some guided writing inspired by the spectacular artwork of A. King McCarty.

The night culminated in a lovely sharing of “Hell Gate Bridge” poems like this one from founding member and story director, Erika Iverson:

Breeze
Blows Suddenly
Rain pulls down the blossoms like an angry mom at the end of a party
Still

This fantastic poem from story coach and social media guru, Timothy Lindner, captured the energy of this magical evening:

Summer is over, and we’re here
writing about Hell Gate Bridge, somewhere
I’ve never been – it’s stood
for a lifetime and will be here longer
than any of us. How does one decide
which books to read, what shows
to start, when we have so little time,
we can only cross this bridge so much.
Summer, can’t you be more durable?
Let me swim in your oceans
for a little while longer?
Two more minutes, two more minutes.
Winter beckons. I’m never ready
for the fading, migrations, but spring
sips her wine, fall dons her overalls,
both waist-deep in the revolution.
We’ll keep circling, circling, crashing
into the shore, longer than our bodies.

Hell Gate Tickets Available

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 is an intimate venue, so get your tickets for our No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” show.

For this Bookend Event, four Queens storytellers are trading tales inspired by the iconic Hell Gate Bridge. Plus, a special presentation from the Greater Astoria Historical Society and story trivia for fun literary prizes!

Want to meet our four storytellers and learn more about the Hell Gate while doing some writing of your own? Join us at Sunnyside Arts on Friday, 9/6 for Kelly Jean’s monthly Sip & Scribe.

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th Street, Astoria)