Alina Simone: Brooklyn, New York
Today, Brooklyn based Alina Simone, who was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, the daughter of political refugees, is now both a critically acclaimed singer and author. In 2008, Simone’s powerful release Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware, an homage to the music of Russian cult icon, Yanka Dyagileva, a Siberian punk-folk singer who drowned under mysterious circumstances in 1991, received universal praise from major outlets, including: The New Yorker, Billboard Magazine, Spin Magazine, NPR, and Pitchfork. In addition, Alina was named one of the ‘Top People of 2008’ by USA Today’s Pop Candy and hailed as one of ‘2010 SXSW Standouts’ by New York Times Magazine. Make Your Own Danger, her second original album is on the way - “promising to be Simone’s most lush and fully realized work to date.” Moreover, You Must Go and Win, Alina’s collection of essays about “Russia, family and the tragic-comic struggle to make it in indie rock,” was published by the prestigious publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2011.
Go to iTunes to download wonderful music by Alina, and visit Alinasimone.com for her tour schedule and much more!
The Concierge Questionnaire: Alina Simone, Singer and Author
What is your favorite word to describe Brooklyn?
Electric.
What word best reflects the people of Brooklyn?
Ambitious.
What is the most creative, spiritual or emotional place in Brooklyn?
The Green-Wood Cemetery, a national historic landmark, is gorgeous and brings you to a time out of mind…
“Founded in 1838 as one of America’s first rural cemeteries, the Green-Wood Cemetery, a magnet for history buffs and bird watchers, soon developed an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the fashionable place to be buried.”
The Green-Wood Cemetery: 500 25th Street
Please visit the Green-Wood Cemetery for detailed information regarding entrances and opening hours.
What is your favorite outdoor activity in Brooklyn?
Walking and window shopping in Carroll Gardens or 5th Avenue in Park Slope, cafe-hopping and summer rooftop barbeques.
What is your favorite indoor activity in Brooklyn?
Eating! My longtime favorite is Nana's on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. The food is very fresh. My menu favorites? The Curry Laska Noodle Soup with Seafood, the Green Curry with Tofu and their Saketinis are killa.
Nana’s Restaurant & Bar: 155 Fifth Avenue
Hours: Monday-Thursday 5pm-11pm,
Friday-Saturday 5pm-12pm and Sunday 12pm-11pm
What is your favorite sound or noise in Brooklyn? The sound of cars rushing on the street outside my window, 11 stories below.
What is your favorite smell or taste in Brooklyn?
A fresh hot bagel with chive cream cheese from Brooklyn Bread on a cold winter morning.
Brooklyn Bread Cafe:
436 Court Street or 384 5th Avenue
Hours: Daily, 6am-9pm
What drink best reflects Brooklyn?
Espresso! The new Cafe Grumpy coffee outpost on 7th Avenue in South Slope, Southside on 6th Avenue, Gorilla on 5th Avenue and Cafe 474 on 4th, are my current faves.
Café Grumpy: 383 7th Avenue
Hours: Monday-Thursday 7am-7:30pm,
Friday 7am-8pm, Saturday 8am-8pm and
Sunday 8am-7pm
Southside Coffee: 652 6th Avenue
Hours: Monday-Friday 7am-9pm and 8am-8(ish)pm
Gorilla Coffee, Inc.: 95 Fifth Avenue
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 7am-9pm and
Sunday 8am-9pm
Cafe 474: 474 4th Avenue
Hours: Monday-Friday 7am-7:30pm, Saturday 8am-6pm and Sunday 9am-3pm
What song or type of music best reflects Brooklyn?
Indie rock. Two amazing indie rock venues in the Gowanus/Park Slope area are: The Bell House and Union Hall. Union Hall boasts an intensely devoted bocce club (they have an indoor court) and an amazing, and always-sold-out, Sunday comedy night hosted by Eugene Mirman called "Tearing the Veil of Maya".
The Bell House: 149 7th Street
Please visit The Bell House for their current music schedule and more!
Union Hall: 702 Union Street
Please visit Union Hall for their current music schedule, bocce club information and much more!
If Heaven were Brooklyn, what would God say to a visitor when they arrive at the Pearly Gates? Ok, I’m stumped. I’ve never been good at figuring out what God would say in any circumstance…
Alina Simone: Brooklyn, New York • Brooklyn, New York • Phone: ***
