Global arts shape winter lineup in Flushing

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With Queens being one of the most diverse places in the world, Flushing Town Hall’s new Winter and Spring seasons surely reflects the global community through the arts.

From January to June, the venue will host dozens of performances and exhibitions ranging from jazz musical performances led by NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath to improv storytelling sessions. Last Thursday, Flushing Town Hall hosted a preview of those upcoming performances. Musicians such as Falu Shah took to the stage to sing or play classic traditional music, while artist Skip La Plante demonstrated a small sample of his unique Symphony of Chimes.

The Symphony of Chimes WHEN includes hundreds of items created into various chimes, including the use of forks, spoons, tweezers, compasses and license plates.

“This is an amazing opportunity because I lived in a loft in Manhattan for so many years and never thought to make a definitive piece until my building got sold,” La Plante said. “The place we have in RIdgewood now can hold about 30 chimes on the ceiling.

“Flushing Town Hall said we could make the piece here so there’s not much of a more definitive statement.”

Not only are the chimes visually quirky and appealing, but the harmonious sounds that the chimes can give off are quite surprising. One of the more unexpected, bizarre items that La Plante has used as wind chimes includes aspects of a broken lobster pot such as the metal cage, aluminum rings and string webbing. A lot of the process is trial and error, but the result is a wonderful interactive musical display.

Shah, meanwhile, will be backed up by her Bollywood Orchestra when she performs on March 26th. Trained in Northern Indian classical music, Shah comes from generations of female singers. She’s known for her involvement in the creation of a genre of music called Indie Hindi, where all the songs are in English but are based on Indian ragas, or melodic scales.

For her performance at Flushing Town Hall, Shah and the Bollywood Orchestra will perform classic Bollywood songs from the 1960s and 1970s.

“Those are my favorite songs, done before I was even born, but they’ve lived for 30 years and I want them to live for 30 more years in a way that my kids’ kids can love them too,” Shah said. “We try to figure out how to modernize the same songs to make them relevant while keeping the same melody.”

Read the full story here

Flushing Woman Accused of Keeping Two Korean Children As Slaves

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According to DA Richard Brown, A Flushing woman allegedly held two Korean children in her house as slaves for the past six years.

“The defendant lives on a quiet, tree-lined Queens street with neat brick veneer homes that offered no clues to the horrors that she allegedly made her two young victims endure beginning when they were nine and eleven in age,” said District Attorney Brown

She has been forcing them to do housework, give her massages, and work until 2 a.m. each night before going to sleep on the floor, the Queens District Attorney reported.

Park has been charged with labor trafficking, third-degree assault, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Over the six years the siblings were in Park’s captivity, they were regularly subject to physical abuse, according to the DA’s report:

Park routinely beat them by striking them with objects, slapping them, stepping on their legs and kicking them about the body for not obeying her orders, causing them to fear her…. In November 2015, Park allegedly scratched the female victim about the legs with a nail clipper, causing scratches and substantial pain, because the manicure and pedicure that the victim was giving her were not up to her standards.Two months later, on January 4, 2016, Park alleged became angry with the female victim and began kicking her on her leg, causing swelling and substantial pain, and the following day, Park became angry with her and cut off her hair and kicked her in the head, causing swelling and substantial pain.

 

 

Read the full release here.

Outline your health priorities for Flushing

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The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is hosting an information session for Flushing to outline the health priorities of their neighborhood to city officials. The program is part of Take Care New York, a initiative to narrow the health gaps between New York City neighborhoods.

“In New York City health outcomes differ dramatically between communities – poor health outcomes cluster in places where resources and opportunities are limited,” a flier about the event reads.

The event is Wednesday, Jan. 13 from 6-8 p.m. at the Flushing Library Community Room, 41-17 Main St.

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Recycle with the Queens Botanical Garden

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On Sunday, January 10, the Queens Botanical Garden will be hosting a day filled with recycling events for everyone in the family.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., there will be the 13th Annual Electronic Waste Recycling Event in conjunction with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. At the event, you can dispose of broken or unwanted gadgets.

The drop off location will be at the parking garden entrance at 42-81 Crommelin Avenue.

Children will also get the opportunity to learn about recycling at the Education building from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. In fact, kids will be able to create crafts out of recycled and repurposed items.

Could Flushing be the best neighborhood of 2015?

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Flushing locals, your neighborhood may become Curbed’s best neighborhood of the year.

The annual competition held by the real estate site has underdog Flushing competing in the final round against Gowanus for 2015’s best neighborhood in the city.

Apparently, Flushing has beaten out neighborhoods such as the Financial District, Brooklyn Navy Yard and the West Village.

Some positives for Flushing includes a development boom while the neighborhood still retains its cultural identity. Personally speaking, with attractions such as Flushing Town Hall and the impeccable cuisine, it’s not hard to see why Flushing may win.

You have until tonight to vote for the best neighborhood, Flushing or Gowanus, right here.

Men robbed at gunpoint inside Corona brothel

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Cred: NY Daily News

Brian Taylor, 40, and Walter Roth, 34, were jumped by three gun-wielding thugs who tied them with duct tape, and stole their cash.

The two men had $500 cash, wallets, iPhones, and a gold bracelet worth $1,200 boosted from them, and then were thrown onto a pile of other men who were robbed and duct taped just as they were.

Roth, the father of two, and Taylor told cops that they were just there to answer a Craigslist ad for a hoverboard.

 

P.S. 244Q receives Blue Ribbon School Designation

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Recently, P.S. 244Q, The Active Learning Elementary School, in Flushing was given a Blue Ribbon School Designation.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. It is meant to celebrate the hard work and effort by the students, teachers, administrative staff, families and communities.

Senator Toby Ann Stavisky and Council Member Peter Koo visited the school to congratulate Principal Robert Groff and the students. P.S. 244Q was just one of eight New York State schools to receive the honor.

Deadly crash in Flushing: Porsche driver charged with DWI

Screen Shot 2015-12-18 at 1.02.10 PMAt 3:30AM Friday morning, a Porsche crashed into the back of a parked school bus, killing a woman in the passenger seat.

According to the NYPD, Kyung Song, 29, of Island Park, was traveling west on Sanford Avenue in Flushing when he crashed into a parked school bus parked outside elementary school P.S. 22.

Song’s female passenger died at the scene after sustaining severe bodily trauma. Song was taken to New York Presbyterian Queens Hospital for treatment and is being charged with a DWI.

 

Police looking for grand larceny suspect

3093-15 114 sqd 11-10-15 PhotoThe NYPD 114th Precinct is looking to identify a woman wanted for grand larceny in Flushing on Nov. 11.

According to police, the woman in the image is accused of entering Chase Bank at 39-01 Main Street and withdrawing $3,250 from a 75-year-old woman’s account. The suspect was reportedly able to withdraw the funds using a withdrawal slip and the victim’s personal information.

The victim lives within the confines of the 114th precinct.

Flushing gas station robbers still on the loose

Authorities are still searching for the two men who robbed a Flushing gas station last month.

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According to police, the men entered the Mobil gas station located at 67-20 Main St. on Nov. 19 armed with a gun and demanded money.

The first suspect, described as a black male,  left on foot. The other suspect, a Hispanic male with tattoos on his left forearm and chest,  drove away in a red Jeep Grand Cherokee with an undetermined amount of cash and the victim’s cellphone.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS, or visit their website . All calls and messages are kept confidential.