By Led Black
December 1 – December 6
I am writing this newsletter still in awe of what I just witnessed, right here in Washington Heights, at the venerable United Palace. The Hip-Hop Nutcracker was quite simply fantastic. The New York City debut of the show exceeded all of my expectations. Just image Tchaikovsky’s classic score augmented by some of the most imaginative and innovative hip-hop choreography you will ever see. Add to that hip-hop legend Kurtis Blow, electric violinist Filip Pogády, DJ Boo and a state of the art digital backdrop and you have all the makings of a new holiday classic. This is a show for the entire family. If you missed it, you are in luck. Due to overwhelming demand, an encore performance of the show has been added for Saturday, December 13th at 1 pm. So there you have it, get your tickets ASAP or you just might have to wait until next year.
If you have never been to a Room 28 shindig then you are in for a real treat. Uptown’s own raw and racy comedy troupe are back at it on Saturday, December 13th at the Julia De Burgos Cultural Center (1680 Lexington Avenue). They will literally bring you to tears with their zany and hilarious antics. This is sketch comedy with sazón. It’s time to get your Holiday Humor on!
Word Up Books has a new Indiegogo campaign to increase the breadth and width of their Spanish language selection. Please spread a little Uptown Love and donate to this worthwhile cause.
Our Time Travel Tuesdays post harkened back to February 21st, 2005 to the cusp of the opening of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center. The article, written by Corey Kilgannon, examined the fateful assassination of Civil Rights giant Malcolm X and how the center dedicated to his legacy came into being.
Frantz Fanon was, in many ways, the Che Guevara of the French-speaking world. The Wretched of the Earth, published the very same week he died in 1961, was his master opus. The book is also the basis for the latest film by director Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975), Concerning Violence. The gripping, poignant and powerful documentary takes a long and unflinching look at the exercise of power by the colonial powers in Africa.
Keep checking us out at www.uptowncollective.com.
Led Black
Editor-in-Chief
The Uptown Collective
The UC’s mission is to become “the” definitive, transformative and community-based force impacting the arts, culture, business and New York City’s overall perception of Upper Manhattan. Its objective is to reset, reboot and positively redefine Uptown’s artistic, political, cultural and business spheres via the online space as well the collective’s initiatives and functions.
