You can feel it coming in the air tonight — Greenpoint.
Brooklyn fans of Phil Collins will celebrate the lugubrious crooner’s legacy on Tuesday in the only way they know how — with a parade on Franklin Street.
Greenpointer Heather Kramer began honoring her favorite chrome-dome crooner for the past five years on Feb. 15 partly as a reaction to excessively mushy Valentine’s Day celebrations.
“Valentine’s Day puts a lot of pressure on people, and we wanted to spread it out to people experiencing all levels of love, including heartbreak,” said Kramer. “Phil has experienced a lot of heartbreak himself.”
This year, Kramer has booked Brooklyn’s No Small Money Brass Band to play Collins tunes and is constructing a six-foot bust of Collins’s head, which will be affixed on a friend’s car as a parade float.
And Shayz Lounge on Franklin Street will offer a Phil Collins cocktail — made with peach schnapps, club soda and garnished with an orange wedge for only $7 — while Paulie Gee’s on Greenpoint Avenue near the end of the parade route is preparing a special “Phil Collins pizza.”
“It’s going to have pears and gorgonzola on it and we’re thinking of calling it either ‘Another Day in Pearadise’ or “In the Pear Tonight,” said Kramer.
Kramer hoped to secure a permit to march from Green Street to Greenpoint Avenue, but police rejected her application due to budget cuts that have reduced parades throughout the city including Greenpoint’s own Memorial Day Parade last year.
Policy aside, police officers remain mystified that the group is honoring Collins anyway.
“Heather said he is the ‘ultimate love song writer,’ but that describes Barry Manilow,” said 94th Precinct officer Steve Truglio. “You know, ‘Let the World Sing?’ ”
But the fan group has persevered — against all odds, you might say — and officers will provide security during the four-block, 20-minute parade, though it is unlikely that things will get out of hand.
The one thing that they don’t have is a public appearance from Collins himself. Kramer tried and failed to contact him, adding, “It’s difficult to get in touch with celebrities.”
Instead, she hired a Phil Collins impersonator to sing, “You’ll Be in My Heart,” “Take Me Home” and maybe a few other requests.
Phil Collins Day Parade (begins at Green Street at Franklin Street in Greenpoint), Feb. 15, 7:30 pm; ends at Shayz Lounge [130 Franklin St. between Greenpoint Avenue and Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 389-3888].
