An occult bookstore in Bushwick is hosting a 24-hour variety show and streaming it online to fund the installation of a garden.
The Flushing Avenue store Catland has already raised $2,700 of the $15,000 it says it needs to spruce up the backyard and gussy up the store through an online fund-raiser. Co-owner Philip English hopes the store can conjure the rest of the money in one fell swoop with the Public Broadcasting Service-style pledge drive.
“It is our beg-athon,” said English. “We want as many people as possible hanging out here and we will be passing the hat. We hope people can donate money and acts of kindness in helping us beg for money.”
The lineup is not yet finalized, but the acts already on board include a magician and comedian who goes by Kat Toledo, Duchess Wendi of the electronic goth band Thorazine Unicorn, who will perform a kabuki dance, and Russ Marshalek, who makes eerie soundtrack music under the name A Place Both Wonderful and Strange. Marshalek says he is more than happy to lend his esoteric talents to the shop that is the borough’s go-to spot for practitioners of the dark arts.
“Catland has been an integral part of the occult community since the day they opened,” he said. “I hope that, by me showing up and being weird for half an hour, I can encourage people to donate.”
Catland will stream the performance marathon on YouTube so that fans of the store who cannot show up in person can tune in at home and be spellbound.
The cash that materializes will go towards the construction of an outdoor garden and performance space, removal of the plumbing supply store sign that still hangs over the entrance, and renovation and soundproofing of the indoor performance space, English said. English plans to send any money made beyond the goal to Best Friends Animal Society, an animal sanctuary.
“Cat-athon” at Catland [987 Flushing Ave. between Bogart Street and Evergreen Avenue in Bushwick, (718) 418–9393, www.allevents.inbrooklyn/cat-a-thon/1450674921845340, online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFJaHyHIlE]. May 24–25, noon–noon. Donations encouraged.
