Featured Point of View
Puerto Rico's Moment in the Sun
The U.S. is overdue in re-engaging with Puerto Rico, which landed in our lap as a stepchild of imperialism in 1898, and which we have never seen clearly.
For more of this opinion article by Michael Janeway, go to
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/opinion/22janeway.html
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Congrats to Mike Amadeo
I recently spent some time at Casa Amadeo, the legendary Latin music shop of Mike Amadeo on Prospect Avenue in the Bronx. Amadeo, who has composed songs interpreted by some of Latin music's greats such as the late salsa singer Hector Lavoe, is this year's godfather or padrino for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan, which is one of the largest cultural parades in the country.
And, he surely deserves this honor. He is a walking library of the Latin music scene of New York City. Felicidades.
For more photos of my day at Casa Amadeo, go to www.flickr.com/photos/clarisel.
For more information on the history behind Casa Amadeo, go to
www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/hispanic/2001/amadeo.htm
Or visit, Casa Amadeo's site at www.casaamadeo.com.
-- Clarisel Gonzalez
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Theater Festival to Celebrate Latinas
Latino Flavored Productions, Inc. is hosting the first ever all Latina Theater Festival at the Bank Street Theater from June 4th – 29th. The Ultimate Latina Theater Festival features 7 empowering plays written, performed and directed by the very best up and coming and seasoned artists in the New York City theater scene.
"This festival is about women's empowerment and it is an opportunity to tell our stories the way we need them told," says president and creator of the festival, Linda Nieves-Powell. For the entire month of June, audiences will have a choice of experiencing six humorous and thought provoking plays like the off-Broadway hit I AM LATINA!/YO SOY LATINA!, Dancing in the Mirror, Pink: The Chronicles of BC Jenny, Jose Can Speak, The Life of Me and Rum & Coke by Carmen Pelaez; all about Latina life, all humorous and all empowering. As well the Fantastic Experimental Latina Theater will be performing their version of the classic Moliere play “The Imaginary Invalid”.
All of this delivered from well-known Latino artists such as April Lee Hernandez from “Freedom Writers” and “30 Rock and Luis Salgado the Latin choreographer for the Tony-nominated Broadway musical “In The Heights” who will be joined by some of the hottest Latino Broadway performers in GRACIAS MUJERES! a charity event which will also pay a surprise tribute to a veteran Broadway star.
The festival will be held at the Bank Street Theater located at 155 Bank Street, New York, NY. Tickets range from $15-$25 and are on sale at the site www.ultimate.latinoflavored.com or www.brownpapertickets.com. For more information and discount promotions on each performance, contact Latino Flavored Productions Inc. at 718-720-7979.
source: press release
"This festival is about women's empowerment and it is an opportunity to tell our stories the way we need them told," says president and creator of the festival, Linda Nieves-Powell. For the entire month of June, audiences will have a choice of experiencing six humorous and thought provoking plays like the off-Broadway hit I AM LATINA!/YO SOY LATINA!, Dancing in the Mirror, Pink: The Chronicles of BC Jenny, Jose Can Speak, The Life of Me and Rum & Coke by Carmen Pelaez; all about Latina life, all humorous and all empowering. As well the Fantastic Experimental Latina Theater will be performing their version of the classic Moliere play “The Imaginary Invalid”.
All of this delivered from well-known Latino artists such as April Lee Hernandez from “Freedom Writers” and “30 Rock and Luis Salgado the Latin choreographer for the Tony-nominated Broadway musical “In The Heights” who will be joined by some of the hottest Latino Broadway performers in GRACIAS MUJERES! a charity event which will also pay a surprise tribute to a veteran Broadway star.
The festival will be held at the Bank Street Theater located at 155 Bank Street, New York, NY. Tickets range from $15-$25 and are on sale at the site www.ultimate.latinoflavored.com or www.brownpapertickets.com. For more information and discount promotions on each performance, contact Latino Flavored Productions Inc. at 718-720-7979.
source: press release
Thursday, May 22, 2008
In the Mailbox
The (one time) leading AIDS medical practitioner, Dr. Ramon Gabriel Torres, was the subject of a New York Magazine profile several weeks ago. The report, Another AIDS Casualty -- a poignant account of Dr. Torres’ significant contributions in the fight against AIDS and his tragic fall -- can be found on the New York Magazine website.
Since publication, his representatives are happy to report his living situation has improved.
The representatives of Dr. Torres, are seeking letters of support. If you wish to submit such a letter, please do so as soon as possible. It should note:
1. How you know Dr. Ramon Gabriel Torres.
2. How long you have known him.
3. Your affiliations with him, then and now.
4. How he contributed to the field of HIV/AIDS treatment and care.
5. Other positive things you know about him.
Letters should be addressed, "To Whom it May Concern," and sent directly to Dr. Torres’ lawyer:
Darius Wadia, Esq.
Woolworth Building
233 Broadway, Suite 2208
New York , NY 10279
source: Mexicanos Unidos e-mail list
Editor's Note: This is a must read story on this fallen boricua doctor who at one time did so much good. I remember reading this article and feeling sad and angry. I'm glad his situation has improved. I believe someone like him still has a lot of good to give if he sets his mind to it and gets the help he needs. To read the article published last month in New York, visit
http://nymag.com/news/features/45785/
The (one time) leading AIDS medical practitioner, Dr. Ramon Gabriel Torres, was the subject of a New York Magazine profile several weeks ago. The report, Another AIDS Casualty -- a poignant account of Dr. Torres’ significant contributions in the fight against AIDS and his tragic fall -- can be found on the New York Magazine website.
Since publication, his representatives are happy to report his living situation has improved.
The representatives of Dr. Torres, are seeking letters of support. If you wish to submit such a letter, please do so as soon as possible. It should note:
1. How you know Dr. Ramon Gabriel Torres.
2. How long you have known him.
3. Your affiliations with him, then and now.
4. How he contributed to the field of HIV/AIDS treatment and care.
5. Other positive things you know about him.
Letters should be addressed, "To Whom it May Concern," and sent directly to Dr. Torres’ lawyer:
Darius Wadia, Esq.
Woolworth Building
233 Broadway, Suite 2208
New York , NY 10279
source: Mexicanos Unidos e-mail list
Editor's Note: This is a must read story on this fallen boricua doctor who at one time did so much good. I remember reading this article and feeling sad and angry. I'm glad his situation has improved. I believe someone like him still has a lot of good to give if he sets his mind to it and gets the help he needs. To read the article published last month in New York, visit
http://nymag.com/news/features/45785/
Entrepreneur Spotlight: Michelle Cruz
(Michelle Cruz, left, promotes her East Harlem Café, serving coffee at an outdoor poetry event in El Barrio last summer.)
Michelle Cruz Creates Business and Cultural Space at East Harlem Café
Michelle Cruz’s East Harlem Café, with special Spanish Harlem coffee blends, holds back the tide of change and brings a taste of Latino coffee back home to the barrio.
East Harlem Café has found a home at 104th street and Lexington Avenue, a storefront Cruz is renting in NYC's El Barrio. The new café opens Friday, June 6, with an opening event planned for 2 p.m. that day.
"The idea originated because I love cafes, listening to Jazz, reading a book and hanging out," said Cruz, who grew up in El Barrio and wants to run a café that feels like home.
She knows about brewing and serving a good cup of coffee. She has spent her lifetime studying the cozy quality of a café where patrons can drink coffee from fresh roasted beans, hear Miles Davis, read and enjoy an element of culture in her café. And, she wants to bring her own vision of a café to her beloved El Barrio.
“What makes a good cup of coffee?” Cruz asked.
She responded, “Quality beans and friendly service…I’ve gone to almost every café in the city to get the vibe and get
the feeling of how I like to be treated and how I like to feel.”
Old grinds that sit on a shelf for too long, she said, make for a bitter cup of Joe.
Cruz has always wanted to her own business and a café is the perfect fit. Cruz has developed a business plan, lined up
funding and selected coffee vendors.
“The most important thing is to know how to run a business financially,” said Cruz who studied business
and accounting and graduated from Hostos and Baruch colleges. “We’re not only about serving coffee, but we’re about serving culture as well."
The community aspect is an important part of her business. That's why Cruz and her best friend Grace have showed glimpses of the future East Harlem Café for the past year at various community activities in East Harlem, giving customers friendly and professional service and a warm Latino home style feeling for every coffee cup they serve.
“I want a place where people meet up before events, socialize,” Cruz said. “When I’ve visited casitas, I like that whole idea of family. I want to create a third place. You know how they say the home is the first place, work is the second place and I want to create a third place where the community can feel ownership.” -- Robert Waddell
For more information, visit http://www.eastharlem-cafe.com/
(Photos courtesy of Michelle Cruz)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Nuyorican Theatre Blues
Commentary
Lack of theatre venues in El Barrio limit Nuyorican playwrights
By Eugene Rodriguez
A few months ago, I finally became a published and produced Puerto Rican playwright. This came after many years of rejections and of completely and deliberately being ignored! And that, my friend, gives me the Blues!
I was lucky enough to find an Internet company interested in publishing my work. After jumping through many hoops, I now have a book to sell. Called “A Mambo Duet,” it contains two of my musical plays that were produced to critical acclaim in Off Broadway theatres, “Mambo Louie & The Dancing Machine,” (The first Mambo musical produced in an Off-Broadway Theatre) and “The Mambo Café,” (a delightful bar play). And, I am willing to bet that you have not even heard of either play. And, that gives me the Blues!
As a respected Nuyorican playwright, I have been called to judge playwriting contests. Here’s how they go: Usually, they use five or six judges. Each of us gets 10- 12 plays to critique a year. I get six plays that are bad works, three that are fine stage plays, and three extraordinary works of art. In the end, only one play is produced. The others might never go beyond this stage. And, that gives me the Blues!
For a Nuyorican playwright to be produced in the theater capital of the world is an uphill battle.
What annoys me is that three of New York City’s finest theatres that are located in El Barrio are underutilized. Even though East Harlem is home to one of, if not the largest Nuyorican communities in the world, arrogant city policies remain inaccessible to Nuyorican theatre artists. Producers who can afford to pay the rent for our theatres don’t want to produce in them, and the Nuyorican artists, who want to produce in our theatres, simply cannot afford to rent them. Therefore, I, like many Nuyorican playwrights, have no theatre to showcase my work. And, that gives me the Blues!
The three underutilized theatres represent a tremendous community asset that should be used to fuel a cultural renaissance in El Barrio, which I call ELBA. Programming these Nuyorican theatres with Nuyorican plays in the Nuyorican cultural capitol of the world is not only good cultural sense. It also makes good business.
Theatre is known to pump money into the local economy. That’s why the city did everything it could to support Broadway after 9/11. So, if a theatre company could produce a show in a local theatre, it, in essence, would provide a public service to the local business community and to the overall city economy.
Because of outdated, intolerant policies, which insist that these theatres must make a profit for the city, the three ELBA theatres remain dark. That leaves ELBA without the economic boost and Nuyorican artists without local theatres to showcase their work.
Meanwhile, I stand on the unemployment line! And that my friend, if you’re any kind of Nuyorican, should give you the Blues!
Lack of theatre venues in El Barrio limit Nuyorican playwrights
By Eugene Rodriguez
A few months ago, I finally became a published and produced Puerto Rican playwright. This came after many years of rejections and of completely and deliberately being ignored! And that, my friend, gives me the Blues!
I was lucky enough to find an Internet company interested in publishing my work. After jumping through many hoops, I now have a book to sell. Called “A Mambo Duet,” it contains two of my musical plays that were produced to critical acclaim in Off Broadway theatres, “Mambo Louie & The Dancing Machine,” (The first Mambo musical produced in an Off-Broadway Theatre) and “The Mambo Café,” (a delightful bar play). And, I am willing to bet that you have not even heard of either play. And, that gives me the Blues!
As a respected Nuyorican playwright, I have been called to judge playwriting contests. Here’s how they go: Usually, they use five or six judges. Each of us gets 10- 12 plays to critique a year. I get six plays that are bad works, three that are fine stage plays, and three extraordinary works of art. In the end, only one play is produced. The others might never go beyond this stage. And, that gives me the Blues!
For a Nuyorican playwright to be produced in the theater capital of the world is an uphill battle.
What annoys me is that three of New York City’s finest theatres that are located in El Barrio are underutilized. Even though East Harlem is home to one of, if not the largest Nuyorican communities in the world, arrogant city policies remain inaccessible to Nuyorican theatre artists. Producers who can afford to pay the rent for our theatres don’t want to produce in them, and the Nuyorican artists, who want to produce in our theatres, simply cannot afford to rent them. Therefore, I, like many Nuyorican playwrights, have no theatre to showcase my work. And, that gives me the Blues!
The three underutilized theatres represent a tremendous community asset that should be used to fuel a cultural renaissance in El Barrio, which I call ELBA. Programming these Nuyorican theatres with Nuyorican plays in the Nuyorican cultural capitol of the world is not only good cultural sense. It also makes good business.
Theatre is known to pump money into the local economy. That’s why the city did everything it could to support Broadway after 9/11. So, if a theatre company could produce a show in a local theatre, it, in essence, would provide a public service to the local business community and to the overall city economy.
Because of outdated, intolerant policies, which insist that these theatres must make a profit for the city, the three ELBA theatres remain dark. That leaves ELBA without the economic boost and Nuyorican artists without local theatres to showcase their work.
Meanwhile, I stand on the unemployment line! And that my friend, if you’re any kind of Nuyorican, should give you the Blues!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
In the Mailbox
I came across your very interesting blog while I was searching the internet for how to move to Puerto Rico. I know this question is not directly related to your blog, but do you know anyone who would know how to ship household goods and car to move to
Puerto Rico from New York? I'm trying to find an alternative to moving companies (too expensive), but I am not connected to the Puerto Rican community. (I'm relatively new in the area and I live in southern Westchester Co., NY) Any leads would be useful. Many thanks!
Karen
I came across your very interesting blog while I was searching the internet for how to move to Puerto Rico. I know this question is not directly related to your blog, but do you know anyone who would know how to ship household goods and car to move to
Puerto Rico from New York? I'm trying to find an alternative to moving companies (too expensive), but I am not connected to the Puerto Rican community. (I'm relatively new in the area and I live in southern Westchester Co., NY) Any leads would be useful. Many thanks!
Karen
Politics
Featured story: Puerto Ricans Help Pick Nominee They Can't Vote for in November
From San Juan's streets to muddy backroads that skirt Puerto Rico's coastal farmland, backers of U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are wooing voters with dueling salsa and reggaeton tunes, thousands of flags and placards, and convoys of loudspeaker trucks and honking cars.
The tight Democratic race has made voters in this U.S. commonwealth more passionate -- and relevant -- than they have been in decades. The contest casts a spotlight on the question that's festered at the center of Puerto Rican politics for years -- U.S. statehood, independence or status quo? -- even as it cuts across the debate by uniting normally warring partisans.
For more go to,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080520/pl_bloomberg/ao0mp6ntt_h8_1
Featured story: Puerto Ricans Help Pick Nominee They Can't Vote for in November
From San Juan's streets to muddy backroads that skirt Puerto Rico's coastal farmland, backers of U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are wooing voters with dueling salsa and reggaeton tunes, thousands of flags and placards, and convoys of loudspeaker trucks and honking cars.
The tight Democratic race has made voters in this U.S. commonwealth more passionate -- and relevant -- than they have been in decades. The contest casts a spotlight on the question that's festered at the center of Puerto Rican politics for years -- U.S. statehood, independence or status quo? -- even as it cuts across the debate by uniting normally warring partisans.
For more go to,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080520/pl_bloomberg/ao0mp6ntt_h8_1
Monday, May 19, 2008
Free Registry
MediaNoche presents Diógenes Ballester's
Free Registry: Encounter, Mythology and Reality, an online preamble to his exhibition of the same title at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Visitors to this new media gallery in NYC's El Barrio will be able to see a projection of the Slave Registry of the Village of Ponce in Puerto Rico, a 19th Century text cataloguing African men, women and children as property to be sold on the auction block. The registry lists some of the ancestors of Puerto Ricans (white and black) by name and provides an eery entrance into a world that legitimized the sale of human beings.
The exhibition in El Barrio runs until June 19. The artist talk is planned for Wednesday, June 18, 6 p.m. Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Friday, 3 – 7 p.m., and by appointment.
As a counterpoint to the Slave Registry, the artist has created the Free Registry, allowing visitors to share in the historical process. According to Ballester, "We experience the slave trade as a specific, local event in our country's history, but it is and has always been a global phenomenon, affecting many people in different parts of the world."
Visitors to MediaNoche gallery can browse through the pages of the Slave Registry and comment in the Free Registry online at www.diogenes-ballester.com and www.freeregistry.blogspot.com.
Here's what one visitor to the free registry wrote about Ballester's exhibit:
"This exhibition is both powerful and hurtful reminding us of the inhumanity that enslavement has had in our history. It provides a historical context for understanding the continued destructive legacy of racism, discrimination and injustice. This important exhibition that connects us internationally allows us to examine how going forward we must actively work against injustice, racism and discrimination. Thank you Diogenes, Judy and Medianoche for helping us understand our history and define our future work." -- Marta Moreno Vega, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, NYC
Meanwhile, from June 5 – Sept. 7, el Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in Santurce presents:
Free Registry: Encounter, Mythology and Reality, an exhibition that challenges the visitor to rethink the official story. Through traditional and new media, Ballester interprets aspects of the African Diaspora in Puerto Rico. Encaustic drawings and paintings, sculptures and multimedia installations engage the visitor in an historical dialectic of personal discovery.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
DIÓGENES BALLESTER is a visual artist working in different media. His work explores oral history, memory, mythology, ritual, and cultural identity along a transnational spectrum. Ballester has exhibited in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2006, he presented two concurrent exhibitions at the National Museum of Catholic Art and History in New York City and the Museum of the History of Ponce in Puerto Rico. Cultural objects and historical artifacts from Ponce and Spanish Harlem were appropriated and reframed in the museums and together with painting, drawing and new media provided a way of accessing the past and re-interpreting the present in a transcaribbean dialogue.
For more information, call MediaNoche at 212.828.0401 or visit http://www.medianoche.us
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)