The summer concert series sponsored by State Senator Marty Golden kicks off tomorrow, July 10, when the Head Over Heels band plays at the Shore Road Park at 79th Street, starting at 7pm. The concert series comes back to Shore Road Park four more times over the next two months, and also makes several visits to Marine Park and Dyker Park, before finishing the summer with a Family Day event on August 22 at McKinley Park in Dyker Heights.
The complete schedule is below. The Shore Road Park events are available on our events calendar.
This year’s concert series will be organized by the South West Brooklyn Parks Task Force and produced by Blu Buffalo Consultants. Emil “Chip” Cafiero, the prodigious community events organizer, is attached to both, as the head of the SWB Parks Task Force (according to City & State and The Home Reporter) and as a Special Events Coordinator for Blu Buffalo (LinkedIn). Cafiero was honored in 2010 for his event and foundation organizing efforts with a Brooklyn “Do-Gooder” award – one of two Bay Ridge recipients, and one of six recipients overall. However, he was also named by Chris Bragg of City & State in a January 2012 exposé of the patronage shell game between Senator Golden’s office and the non-profits that have received funds from Golden’s member item or campaign budgets.
In particular, Bragg noted that Cafiero was a part-time Community Events Coordinator in Golden’s office from 2003 to 2007, “yet he also worked as a paid consultant organizing many Bay Ridge-Bensonhurst Beautification and Preservation Alliance festivals and parades, funded by Golden’s member items.” As member item grants have dried up in the past three years in order to balance the state budget, Golden has given $31,000 out of his campaign funds to the South West Brooklyn Parks Task Force. At the time of Bragg’s article, Kip of the Bay Ridge Journal said that “in a style reminiscent of the Tammany era, Cafiero and Golden have cleverly branded practically every family-friendly event in Bay Ridge, a major source of Golden’s political strength,” and the summer concert series is one of the events most closely associated with Golden’s sponsorship.
Schedule – All start at 7pm unless otherwise noted
Shore Road Park at 79th Street
- July 10 – Head Over Heels (Bay Ridge Party Band)
- July 17 – Out of the Blue (Classic Rock and Dance)
- July 31 – Frankie Marra (Classic Rock Party Band)
- August 14 – Risky Business (All your favorite oldies)
- August 21 – On A Good Run Band (Classic Rock)
Marine Park (Fillmore Avenue)
- July 11 – Brooklyn Keys (Oldies thru ’90s)
- July 18 – Generation Gap (’60s thru ’90s)
- August 1 – Sound Affair (’60s thru ’90s Dance)
- August 8 – Plastic Soul (’60s, ’70s, Classic Rock)
- August 15 – Out Of The Blue (Classic Rock and Dance)
Dyker Park (86th Street and 14th Avenue)
- July 24 – Rave On (Buddy Holly and Oldies)
Avenue U and Van Sicklen Street
- July 25 – Carl Thomas (Sinatra, Darin, Dean)
Parkville (65th Street and 8th Avenue)
- August 17 – City Sounds (Oldies, Dance, and more)
McKinley Park (75th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway) – 5pm to 7:30pm
- August 22 – Family Day (Rides, games, karaoke, more)