Guest blogger, Julia Chance reminisces…
Say it ain’t so!
That was my initial reaction upon learning from Sharon that Grand 275 was closing. Grand was like my Cheers – a place where everybody, well, a lot of people knew my name. And I knew theirs. Since its opening back [...]
Many years ago, in the late nineties, there was a tiny coffee shop on Grand Avenue between Lafayette Avenue and Clifton Place in Brooklyn called Edge City Cafe. Proprietor Ted Harris brought among other things, gourmet café , wonderful scones and a beautiful chrysanthemum tea to neighborhood largely devoid of such, not to mention employment [...]
Thanks in large part to the dedicated effort of artist Berton Ridley, the life of artist Adrienne A. McDonald was celebrated this past weekend in a most moving ceremony by family, friends, fellow artists and arts supporters, fittingly, at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn. Though Adrienne had been beautifully [...]
The Righteous One herself, Toshi Reagon took us to church on Grand Avenue last night. Backed by the marvelous Fred Cash on bass and the angelic vocals of Gina Breedlove, Toshi–in positively beautiful voice–performed a rousing, audience-participatory set in a moving send-off to her “absolute favorite place,” Grand 275. The mélange of her own [...]
Patrons of Carmen Grau and Mark Chung’s Grand 275 were stunned last night by the news that the well-loved neighborhood hang will be shutting its doors on Friday, so Meshell Ndegeocello’s appearance there was welcome but bittersweet. She lent her talents in tribute to the popular gathering place with an intimate, but rocking [...]
The much ballyhooed public art project by Olafur Eliasson is here. The New York City Waterfalls, posted at four points along the East River are now henceforth and until October 13, flowing. From the DUMBO office I frequent, there is an unobstructed view across the very active waterway to the post [...]
This past Sunday on the monumental steps of Fort Greene Park, photographer and restaurateur, KalaLea assembled a large gathering of Brooklynites who have impacted the Brooklyn arts community for the documentary project, A Great Day in Brooklyn, inspired by Art Kane’s iconic A Great Day in Harlem. I was honored to take part in this [...]
We disembarked for our own Poseidon Adventure…
Brooklyn’s answer to Mardi Gras melds the lore of the sea with campy good humor and sideshow freakishness. The annual Coney Island USA Mermaid Parade is yet another thing I love about this borough. I went with my seven year-old friend and fellow Piscean Aria, for her [...]
On heels of the miscommunication and technological misfires that are a hallmark of a Mercury retrograde period, this weekend was a soothing balm filled with art, music, food and friends. I kicked it off with my Prefuse 73-loving friend, Lafiya, at Whitney Live, the museum’s Friday night showcase of eclectic musical performances. The [...]
Note: the list has been updated yet again. Download the latest at the Free v.3 blog post.
Okay folks, be sure to download version two ( free08v2 ) of my summer freebie list. Some updates include the MLK concerts in Wingate Park (Erykah Badu, y’all!), Movies With a View in the shadow of the Brooklyn [...]
