I’ve been in a bit of a funk.  The state of the country.  The state of New York City.  Working for others at too many hours for too little money.  Can you dig?  I lost sight of what is meaningful to me, in life and work. So I’m making changes where I can. One of those changes is simple.  I’m refocusing my energy on what I love: the City.  I’m attending to the stuff I overlook when I’m running around from here to there.  The stuff I don’t engage with when I’m inside at this computer working for others.  

The stuff?  The artful, ingenious, and often unpredictable ways we humans and the city interact, negotiate, make ourselves heard, create value, carve out a little space and comfort, and in so doing impact one another in public space.  I call this an Aesthetics of the City.

So here’s an example.  The Blue Funk Orchestra.  I caught them at West 4th Street Station a while back.  Watching and listening to them, my funk lifted a little bit.  Enough to help me move forward into the rest of my day with renewed vigor.  I think they’ll lift your spirits, too.  The Smurf hat alone is worth the watch.

​The awesome Seis del Sur's Joe Conzo Jr. and Francisco Molina Reyes II photo exhibit chronicles DJ park jams and Hip Hop culture in the Bronx.
Come celebrate the last 13 years of keepin' it real.
DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore and Popmaster Fabel provide music at the reception!
FREE TO ALL!

Ok, that may seem backward.  It's usually the other way around, right?  But in this case, the long baseball journey begins in New York City with an empty box.  The small step is every donation of baseball/softball gear I receive in my ongoing drive to support the community of Boca Chica.  Those steps fill up the box.  All the steps together?  That's a whole lotta love.  Love from y'all.  

In gratitude for that love, I thought I'd tell you a little story of the journey of one box. The last box I sent.  In January 2015.  Um, a year ago.  Yikes.  Here’s how the box grew in New York City during the final week of December 2014.  My Big Santa Christmas box.

with a night of music and poetry from 19th century Puerto Rican and Cuban revolutionaries with roots in the Bronx.  Sery Colón emcees. Trova music performed by Pistolera’s Ani Cordero.  ​¡Viva la revolución!
Produced in partnership with SEA’s BORIMIX Festival.

A cool show.  And free! 
Contact City Lore and Elena Martínez for more info.
​Saturday November 21, 2015, 7pm-9pm
Bronx Music Heritage Center Lab
1303 Louis Niné Blvd
Bronx, NY 10459 United States

Vitilla is played with a palo de escoba (broom handle) and a vitilla (5 gallon water bottle top). Like these: 

Playing vitilla improves hand-eye coordination. 
Vitillas float and spin and fly in the air like crazy little knuckleballs.  
They are awesome for learning to hit a curveball.

“This is more than just a fun fight for your rights party, it’s a call to action to other musicians, the general public and members of the media to stand up, come together and demand justice for all.  These are our rights, and if we fail to use them then we’re going to lose them.”

The 8th NYC Busker Ball is looking to be a good one.  Art and politics.  Who knew?  

The lineup of NYC street musicians includes singer Grace Kalambay,  Theo Eastwind, Bandits on the Run, and the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn. 

Event organizer Theo Eastwind promises serious chat on what’s been going down with the increasingly aggressive (and legally ambiguous) police crackdown on street performers in NYC.  Expect to hear stories of the controversial “broken windows policing” as it plays out on the ground, with real living human beings.

Go.  Spend an evening with art and advocacy.  Listen to cool tunes.  Find out your rights as artists and as residents.  Fight for them. 

8th NYC Busker Ball
Thursday October 16th, 7pm-Midnight
Spike Hill
186 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249
$10 Suggested Donation

I conduct research on baseball at the local level in the Dominican Republic. I also collect donations of baseball and softball gear for the people with whom I work. 

This post is a big shout out to those who generously donated gear to my ongoing drive. I want to take a moment to introduce a community your donations impact: Club Juan Alberto Ozoria in Boca Chica. 

Juan Alberto Ozoria: Sport, Culture, and Recreation Club is a community center, like the YMCA. In baseball programming, it works a lot like US Little Leagues. Unlike them, it has no backing. Club Ozoria receives little financial assistance from the federal government. 

What, you say?  Baseball is so big in the Dominican Republic that the government must want to subsidize the growth of ballplayers.  And Boca Chica is a hub of MLB activity, with 14 player development academies located in or around it, so much money must come in from Major League Baseball. That’s crazy! 

Indeed. It is crazy. The state does not reinvest in its baseball future. Not much MLB money trickles down to the community level. That’s why your donations are so important.  

It’s hard to hold practice when 45 kids share the gear held in one duffel bag. It’s hard to work on hitting when balls and bats are dead. It’s hard to field and run without cleats. You really gotta get creative to make it work.

Disgusted with the destruction of 5 Pointz?  Interested in learning more about public and street art?  This event is for you. 

May 8th, City Lore hosts a panel of artists and arts administrators who discuss the fates of public and street art in NYC, where the cultural landscape is increasingly policed and new development prized over depth, continuity, and community.

The panel will be a good one.  Go.
Thursday May 8th 7pm 
Admission: $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
Buy Tickets here

More Info from City Lore:
The conversation in this program will discuss street art (independent) and public art (sponsored) that decorate marginalized communities in neighborhoods such as the South Bronx, El Barrio, the Lower East Side and parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and their place in the art world.  In these neighborhoods many works of public art, though government-funded, have deep roots in the community and challenge dominant discourses concerning art.  Part of the allure of street art is the ephemeral state it exists in and its insecure status, which evokes a sense of mystique and rebellion that challenges the establishments of art and society.  Both forms face obstacles either through the loss of funding or by the threat of erasure from this city’s memory with the quick stroke of a brush, white-washed to oblivion.

Featuring Bill Aguado, former director of the Bronx Council on the Arts and a founder of the Longwood Arts Space; John Ahearn, artist; Maria Dominguez, artist; Erotica67 of the Fly ID crew; and London Kaye, yarn bomber.  Moderated by City Lore Folklorist Elena Martínez. 

Where: The City Lore Gallery, 56 E 1st St. New York, NY 10003
How to get there: Take the F train to 2nd Ave or 6 train to Bleecker St.
For more information: 212-529-1955 x13 or [email protected]