Grand Street Alliance Grand Slam – BBQ, Beers & Bands in Brooklyn

Free Music & Food Street Festival on June 3rd Expected To Be A “Mini Mooga” without the Ooga Booga!

The Grand Street Alliance has attracted the likes of Sailor Jerry Rum, Pabst Blue Ribbon, The Village Voice, Sir Kensington’s Ketchup, Domino Smart Guide, Main Drag Music and Williamsburg Greenpoint News & Arts hosting their first event of the summer, The Grand Slam. The day-long music and food festival, features a BBQ Competition, 40+ food and retail vendors and performances by 7 quickly rising bands.

Live performances headlined by experimental-psychedelic blues band Trophy Scars will kick off at
noon with Brooklyn-based Cleveland Jones, followed by all-hot-girl band Bad Girlfriend, dual-vocal, power punk Bugs in the Dark and The Living Kills, “Synth-Rock heroes” Herra Terra and underground progressive legend Jacobi Wichita. This is a serious lineup certain to draw an enthusiastic crowd Sunday near the water in Williamsburg.

Once the music is underway, Brooklyn restaurants and chefs will be firing up their grills to compete in a no holds barred BBQ Competition. Judging entries for Best Beef, Pork, Chicken, Vegetarian Entrees are Rev. Dave Ciancio of Burger Conquest, Yeah! Management and Idle Hands Bar, Pop’s of Brooklyn owner John Seymour, Todd Kanfer, founder of the Grand Street Alliance and owner of Williamsburg retail boutique Bad Wolf and Co., and Aaron Pierce, Founding Partner of The Law Offices of Aaron H. Pierce, Principal of Dragonfly Management Inc., and Owner of The Trash Bar.

While the “Best Of” winners will earn their share of bragging rights, the $1000 cash prize presented by the Grand Street Alliance and the GSA Grand Slam BBQ BattleMaster 2012 title will be awarded to the contestant with the highest cumalative score of their combine entries from all categories.

Local Williamsburg restaurants Le Comptoir, Miller’s Tavern and Williamsburger are amongst the contestants who will also offer festival goers an assortment of BBQ and non BBQ culinary treats. Some of the many other participants offering attendees smoky, meaty and creative dishes to nosh in between shopping and grooving are Village Voice “Best Bacon” Winner 2011 The Landhaus, Smorgusburg favorite The Fat Beagle will be serving up North Carolina Style BBQ, and Michelin star’d chef Saul Bolton’s Brooklyn Bangers will be “banging out” signature house-made sausages.

“We have aimed to produce an event that will offer attendees a really entertaining day filled with variety” said Todd Kanfer Grand Street Alliance Founder and President “with popular food oriented events like Smorgusburg we felt that we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel however, it was clear that combining a music and food festival model with the BBQ Battle concept, we could deliver another level of excitement, not to mention I happen to be BBQ aficionado myself!” Kanfer said with a grin.

Adding to the unique lifestyle marketplace shoppers will find imported cashmere throws from Himalayan Trading Company, herbal smoking blends and hand salves from Mullein and Sparrow and Men’s grooming products from World Famous Hawleywood’s makers of Layrite Pomade. Other vendors include American Deadstock, the Lower East Side’s Rock n’ Roll Cafe & Boutique Grit N’ Glory, cool newcomer Uye Surana and cult-favorite jewelry line Scosha.

While attending The Grand Slam visitors can take advantage of a neighborhood wide shopping promotion designed by the GSA to extend the virtual footprint of the event and stimulate sales for neighborhood merchants. The GSA’s new technology partner Domino Smart Guide www.dominobrooklyn.com will provide a free, interactive app for festival visitors to browse a growing list of participating Williamsburg retailers who will be offering a ticket for a PBR or Sailor Jerry drink with purchase, to be redeemed at participating neighborhood bars, exclusively listed in the Domino app.

Some of the retailers on the growing list of participating retailers are Bad Wolf & Co. Boutique at Eight of Swords Tattoo, Antoinette, Scosha, Sandford & Sven, Pop, Ida, Main Drag Music, Beautiful Dreamers, Fuego 718, Le Grand Strip, Whisk, Magic Cobra Tattoo, CupcakeLand, Milly & Earl , Skinny Skinny, A&G Merch and Janes Closet.

The Grand Slam, will mark the first of a series of neighborhood events planned by the Grand Street Alliance. The 2012 GSA event calendar tentatively will include a Food Truck Festival, a Hot Rod/Motorcycle Show, A Rock-n-Roll Circus and a ZombieFest in time for Halloween.