The Schomburg Lives!!

Contrary to a widely circulated emailed statement , the world renowned house of black knowledge, the Schomburg Collection , is in no danger relocation. A well placed source in the office of Assemblyman Keith Wright has asserted that "the Schomburg is doing brilliantly", and that there are no plans in the works to move it.  

Hats Off to John Isaacs!

We too have Dreams!!

Hubris In Harlem

clipped from www.save-ml.org

Stellar and its partner Rockpoint are on the verge of defaulting on their $225 million mortgage for Riverton Apartments in Harlem. See articles in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters,Crain's New York and WNYC.

The likely default was predicted by the Partnership to Preserve Affordable Housing in its April 28, 2008 memo (click on "read more" below to see it), written by Thomas Waters, housing analyst for the Community Service Society. When equity funds invest substantially more than the rents will supply, the investment can only be repaid by evicting the rent-regulated tenants. Failure to do that means defaults, lack of maintenance, and disaster.

A Taste of Streetball

One of  the only  things that I enjoy more than the cacophony and cadence of New York City

Summer League Basketball is Jazz, and Jazz took a back seat on Monday.

A buzz has been building about a new  tournament called the Tri-State Classic played in Colonel Young Park on 145th and Lenox.  

Mousey, the coaching icon who is the architect of  legendary powerhouses in the EBC and Dykman tournaments has brought  the resources of Nike and the"House of Hoops" to bear in the storied park on the corner of  145th and Lenox. Historically  the site of the Holcolmb Rucker Tournament, it also recently served as the set for PeeWee Kirklands televised "School of Skillz".

The tournament which now in its second year has taken the hoop scene by storm.  I caught Diamond vs. Bingo's All stars and was not disappointed. A very competitive"Diamond" team, lead by James"Stix" Williams , and "Mookie" Thomas, were simply overmatched by RonRon"Tru Warrior" Artest of the Houston Rockets   and  "The Best Kept Secret".

The All Star game is thursday at 7:00pm. Get there early and don't leave your seat. 

Jazzmobile's 45th anniversary

There are few if any Harlem institutions that are more beloved than the Jazzmobile. The non profit Jazz advocacy and educational forum which was founded in 1963 by Rivertonian pianist extraordinaire, Dr. Billy Taylor and managed for many years by Dave Bailey;  is presently operating under the capable stewardship of Robin Bell-Stevens. Over the years, the familiar filigreed, flatbed truck(sustained by generous support from Chase Bank) has provided a stage and audience to virtually everybody who is anybody in the wide world of Jazz.
As regular as a Timex, its 8 week summer concert series,which is produced by Johnny Garry,   has become a cultural mainstay on the Harlem landscape. In addition to its concert programming, Jazzmobile also provides low cost musical instruction to the community and has been instrumental in passing the torch to generations of listeners, and musicians alike.
As we have lost the likes of Dizzy , Bags, and Blakey a new generation of standard bearers has emerged. At the vanguard of that group is the incomparable drummer Winard Harper, who fronted this slammin' sextet in 2002. He will be making several appearances this summer , and is a crowd pleaser without rival......see ya there!!