Hipsters Coming to Roosevelt Island, Our Version of the Brooklyn Flea, Waterfalls and Other Things To Do This Weekend

You Tube Video of Vampire Weekend at 2007 Accoustic BBQ on Roosevelt Island

Hipsters will be converging on Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park this Sunday, assuming weather holds up, for the annual Todd P's Springtime Accoustic BBQ. What is the Accoustic BBQ? Impose Magazine describes it as

... one of the most informal, esoteric, and unpredictable of the outdoor show circuit, Todd P’s Springtime Unamplified Accoustic BBQ.

The spectacle unfolded on a broad expanse of grassy public parkland the southern terminus of Roosevelt Island, against (pivoting in a slow circle) the highrises of the Upper East Side, the U.N., the East River sweeping out and under the Williamsburg Bridge, the giant Queens Pepsi sign, or the Queensborough Bridge, arcing over the weather-and-time-gutted shell of an 1850s-era smallpox hospital. A communal grill was running all day, fed by donated charcoal and hot dogs, and drinks surreptitiously circulated in plastic cups. As public space, the park required no booking, and was secluded enough for any amount of racket without anyone nearby to disturb. And, facing the constraints imposed by having no electrical outlets in sight, more than 20 bands and performers stepped up onto one of several impromptu “stages” (”beach blankets”) to play a quick set.

A Roosevelt Island hipster blogger (an oxymoron if ever there was one) Roman Games Diary says of last year's event:

I had a great time just listening to music, sunbathing and taking a couple of pictures and videos.

Maybe they can help save magnificent Southpoint Park waterfront and skyline views from what some call the Louis Kahn death box. (also incorrectly known as the FDR Memorial)

Other things to do include visiting Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls

You Tube video of Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls

And Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. I've been there several times. It's lots of fun with interesting things to see and buy as well as some good eats.

Brooklyn Flea video from NY Magazine

Or Roosevelt Island's version of the Flea Market from our Seniors.


Also, Newyorkology and the NY Post have weekend listings of things to do as well.

UPDATE - 6/29 The hipster's will not be coming to Roosevelt Island today. The accoustic bbbq was canceled because of projected heavy rain. From toddpnyc:

ACOUSTIC-BBQ-WEATHER-UPDATE------> ---- BBQ CANCELLED ----- sorry, it will be rescheduled! Though the sun is out now, a quick look at the weather websites and the hour-by-hour forecasts and the radar shows there are hella storms coming our way this afternoon. Please feel free to go down the park on the island (or any park, anywhere!) and have your own picnic and strum some acoustic guitars, but the official acoustic bbq is going to be postponed. apologies!!!!!

UPDATE - 6/30: Not everybody got the word in time that the Accoustic BBQ was cancelled due to projected bad weather although the few who did show up seemed to have a good time. From Impose Magazine:

I missed the memo that the BBQ had been postponed, just like I missed the impending clouds clutching at the city Sunday morning on my way to the F-train. And the sign at the gate of Roosevelt Island’s southernmost park, after all that travel, could not deter me. And so I was one of the handful watching the storm hunch in over Manhattan to whatever last, desperately excited strains of music could be tossed into rising wind before we were all swept away. Todd P’s yearly Roosevelt Island Unamplified Accoustic Summer BBQ will still happen some time in the coming weeks. This felt more like one of those rooftop hurricane parties.

Just missing, I’m told, a surprise performance by Arcade Fire to a crowd of approximately ten people, I wandered into the park to see an impromptu uptempo joint effort of the Eskalators and the Vultures, rolling on guitar, harmonica, and saxophone. I think seven people were playing, and three besides myself watching, two of whom were seated against the far fence. Soon, though, Todd P reappeared on bike, bringing drinks for the few who remained and — maintaining Roosevelt tradition — playing the single song he knows, favorite Neutral Milk Hotel b-side “Engine”, of which all recordings seem tantalizingly insufficient....

Image of Acoustic BBQ rain out from Impose Magazine