Unheard-of + The Gowanus Dredgers Present: System Architecture
2025-08-01 19:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Gowanus Dredgers Bunker (19th St.), 2 19th St., Brooklyn, NY
Multimedia exploration of digital excess and AI featuring ensemble and Vocaloid

System Architecture: Quiñones and Van Zandt Lane
Date: August 1st, 2025, 8PM Music, 7:30PM Boat Launch
Location: Gowanus Dredgers Bunker (2 19th Street Brooklyn, NY 11232)
🎟️ Free RSVP for land viewing, Paddle Tickets available here 🎟️
System Architecture features the workshop premiere of Eyecandy, a multimedia song-cycle by Christian Quiñones for chamber ensemble and virtual singer (Vocaloid Synthesizer), exploring themes of virtual excess, internet fatigue, and digital humor, drawing from personal experiences with mental health and the online world. Christian Quiñones is a Puerto Rican composer who explores personal and vulnerable stories through the lens of cultural identity. From sampling to auto-tune, interactive multimedia, Christian is interested in interacting with existing music to create intertextual narratives. We also feature Quinones’s Loud Music for Quiet Places.
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This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Unheard-of’s performances are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Weather may postpone event.

The Boathouse Jam
2025-08-06 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-08-13 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-08-20 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-08-27 18:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Wednesdays April 2 through October 29th, 2025 6:00 – 8:30 PM
The Boathouse Jam is hosted by the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club to activate our shoreline while fostering the continued resurgence of acoustical collaborations in Brooklyn. We are inclusive of all – young & old, new & seasoned musicians. Just bring a smile and your musical instrument and/or your voice to join our one night makeshift band.
Christian Apuzzo leads most sessions. He is a Brooklyn-based vocalist, guitarist, and music educator. Long Island-raised, this musician started his journey as a certified public school music teacher but has since found the wide-open pastures of the freelance music world in NYC. Playing mostly folk, bluegrass, and country music, Christian plays with numerous groups all over our five boroughs including bluegrass group Cole Quest and the City Pickers and local supergroup the Grass Messengers. He also teaches music lessons and classes for all ages at Jalopy Theatre in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Free but a $5 suggested donation is encouraged, limited beverages are provided.
The Boathouse is located at 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn NY between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal. Sessions are rain or shine, we gather outside the Boathouse unless it’s cold or raining then we move inside.

Gowanus Jug & String Band Sessions
2025-08-07 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-08-14 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-08-21 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-08-28 18:00 - 20:30 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Thursday evenings starting May 1st, 6-8:30 at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse 165 2nd Street between Bond and the Gowanus Canal. We are excited to expand our musical offerings with this new weekly jam.
Jam Leader: Papa Ernie Vega
Dredger Host: Liz Rabson Schnore
$5 Suggested Donation

What Jug band and String band music?

Let’s start with String band music. Black String band music, which will be our focus, was created by Southern Blacks and pre-dates the Blues & Jazz. Groups which consisted of mostly stringed instruments (guitar, banjo, bass, violin, mandolin, ukulele, etc) performed a wide variety of songs and styles for all manner of social functions and for personal enjoyment; two-steps, waltzes and breakdowns for dances, ballads and love songs, humorous & novelty songs, as well as blues, jazz, and pop tunes as they came into fashion. This genre, sadly, was under-represented by the burgeoning recording industry in the 1920’s and 30’s, which helped contribute to its already declining popularity in the wake of the success of the Blues and Jazz: though groups like the Mississippi Sheiks and the Dallas String Band did make great and popular recordings. The genre never completely died out, however, and is alive and well today thanks to the perseverance of its practitioners and the dedication of its fans, which has led to a rediscovery and a new appreciation by audiences young and old.
Jug band music developed in the early 20th century within Southern Black communities and was essentially a string band with a jug used as a “poor man’s tuba”, in the role of a bass instrument. Other household items as instruments were popular as well; washboard and/or spoons for percussion, washtub bass, and kazoo. These combined with the guitars, banjos, mandolins/violins of the traditional string band, along with the harmonica, made for a unique sound that won the hearts of the public in the early days of the recording industry. The Memphis Jug Band and Cannon’s Jug Stompers recorded well over a hundred examples of blues, ballads, pop and dance numbers – and they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The genre found new life in the Folk Music Revival of the 1960’s and remains popular to this day.
These sessions will be open to Intermediate and above players, and we encourage you to sing along and bring a song to lead. To lead a song, you will be expected to sing it loudly enough for those around you to hear, to know the key you will sing in, and to explain the chord changes and form of the song if need be. We may also discuss some ideas for performing in an ensemble to help everyone find their place in the music.

Papa Ernie Vega is a NYC singer, instrumentalist, bandleader, teacher, songwriter and performing/recording artist. He has over 20 years of professional experience and has performed at the Newport Folk Festival, the Jug Band Jubilee and the Osaka Jug Band Festival. He also taught and performed at the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival from 2016-2021. He is a lover of fine cheap food, old movies, humor, and photography.

Yacht Rock Pop-Up Choir: Join us at the Dock for some Soft Rock
2025-08-09 15:00 - 17:00 | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, 165 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231, United States
Yacht Rock Choir invites you to our next Pop-Up Choir, where we teach one smooth song in 4-part harmony and sing it together in a fun (and often nautical) location.
This time, we’re singing “Smooth Operator” by Sade!

Location:
Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse
165 2nd Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn (between Bond and the Gowanus Canal)

Date and time:
Saturday, August 9 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
What’s a Pop-Up Choir?
It’s all about singing a song you know and love (in 4-part harmony), with a group of laid-back folks and no pressure to be perfect. We teach by ear (no sheet music!) and end with a chill outdoor performance you’ll be proud to share. Here’s what it looks and sounds like:
I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) Pop-Up
Love Will Keep Us Together Pop-Up
I Keep Forgettin’ Pop-Up
What is Yacht Rock Choir?
Yacht Rock Choir is Brooklyn’s own no-audition “yacht-cappella” choir devoted to the soft rock hits of the ’70s and ’80s—the smooth stuff, with jazz and soul influences. Think Michael McDonald, Hall & Oates, Kenny Loggins, and Sade. We run by season (like a sports league, but smoother) and host occasional pop-ups like this one for folks who just want to dip a toe in.
RSVP HERE!

Space is limited, so grab your spot and let’s get yachty.

Instagram: @yachtrockchoir
www.yachtrockchoir.com
