🌱 Bling Bishop Tacks On More Charges + Sky-High Seller + Tower Labs

Hello again, everybody. Carlie Houser here with your Thursday edition of the Brooklyn Patch newsletter, filled with all the things you need to know about what's going on in town. Including updates on:

• An update on the notorious 'Bling Bishop' and the rising charges against him
• The tallest building in Brooklyn is selling for a tippy-top price
• An old music company from the '60s makes a comeback in Williamsburg

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But first, today's weather: 🌤 Mostly sunny and breezy. High: 49 Low: 32.

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🗞 Top stories today in Brooklyn:

1. Investigation into Brooklyn's infamous 'Bling Bishop' suggests he faked bank records to finance his New Jersey mansion. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged Lamor Whitehead with "fabricated bank records" in order to get a mortgage approved for the sprawling Paramus estate — Whitehead made it appear that the LLC he controlled was valued at nearly $2 million, when in reality it had no more than $10. Wire fraud has been added to the handful of allegations against Whitehead who was arrested and charged in December 2022. However, the embattled pastor has been a point of controversy for years: with close ties to Mayor Eric Adams, Whitehead has also been known to flash his wealth by driving luxury cars and wearing expensive jewelry (hence the nickname, Bling Bishop). In late 2022, Whitehead was robbed of his signature bling during a live television sermon, an event which turned heads and dredged up scrutiny. (New York Post)

2. The tallest building in Brooklyn is for sale. The new 1,000-foot-tall residential Brooklyn Tower at 9 DeKalb Ave. is expected to sell for more than $600 million. According to Green Street, a real estate research and advisory company, only 13 of the residential buildings in New York City have sold for over $500 million. Included in the cost of 9 Dekalb its 398 rental apartments, the pool and fitness facilities that are provided by LifeTime Fitness in 77,000 square feet, and another nearly 50,000 square feet of retail. Thirty percent of the building's rental units are affordable. (New York Post)

3. And speaking of towers, Tower Records has revived its brand with the launch of a brand-new creative space. 2006 rang the death knell on Tower Records, a demise that signaled the official end to the 20th century's music business model. But in recent years, vinyl sales and been on the up, and so too has Tower Records made a comeback — specifically in 2020 as an online retailer. Yesterday, the company unveiled its latest incarnation: Tower Labs, a new creative space in Williamsburg "designed to engage and stimulate music fans with a range of offerings including live music events, album listening parties, and a new speakeasy style 'vinyl drop' window for limited edition music and merchandise releases." Longtime Tower fans will also be excited to know that the company will also relaunch a digital version of its long-running in-house magazine, Pulse, come April. (Variety)

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📆 Today in Brooklyn:

• It's Free Admission Thursdays at the Brooklyn Children's Museum (1:00 PM)
• Swing by the Young Readers Book Group hosted Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene (5:30 PM)
• New movie 'Champions' is screening in Prospect Park (6:00 PM)
• Laf Dance Saloon is a packed (and free!) evening of stand-up at Basik in Williamsburg (8:00 PM)
• And if you're in the mood for something a bit more risqué, don't miss Comedy Ugly: A Comedy Strip show at East Williamsburg's Easy Lover (9:00 PM)

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🐝 Brooklyn Buzz:

• A walk through the Brooklyn Heights that inspired 'Pineapple Street': "The novel takes a sharp shot at the WASP interior aesthetic endemic to Brooklyn Heights, where Jackson has resided — quite happily — for almost a decade. 'I've been deliriously in love with this neighborhood from the jump,' [author Jenny Jackson] tells me as we gaze up at her old apartment, a buttercream-yellow brick building on the real-life Pineapple Street (naturally). Jackson, her husband, and their two children have since moved to another Brooklyn Heights address, but Pineapple Street is still her favorite." (Dwell)
• "The 5th annual Coney Island Ritual Cabaret opens Coney Island USA's spectacular 2023 season! After canceling in 2020 due to COVID-19, this festival finally marks International Culture Lab's (ICL) 5th year of probing the fantastical blending of ritual and entertainment on Coney Island USA's (CIUSA) Sideshows by the Seashore stage. Once again, ICL has assembled an array of performance artists, musicians, puppeteers, sideshow performers and (butoh) dancers, all of whom have been tasked with presenting original works that define 'ritual cabaret' through the lens of their own particular aesthetic, discipline and lineage." (I Love NY)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Thursday! I'll see you around.

— Carlie Houser

About me: I'm a recent grad based in Brooklyn, NY. I love to write, run, read, and find new restaurants and venues around the city.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Brooklyn Patch newsletter? Contact me at brooklyn@patch.com