Day 2
Exit the McPherson Square Metro Station, at the corner of I and 14th Streets. Watch out! Carefully, look both ways before crossing the bustling intersection. Turn right onto the walkway. That leads to the fountain, the epicenter of the greenspace named after a Founding Father. Forward north is the performance stage. A steel beam structure with canopy top protects the music equipment from torrential elements.… Continue
Day 2
2000
“Oh, I did aight.” Kenny Dixon Jr jokes with you the following afternoon. He walks arm and arm showing off his lady around Franklin Park. You marvel, he appears refreshed, his skin polished in the glowing sun.
Later that evening, Hostess Reesa Renee reminds the people. “Give it up for Moodymann last night,” with microphone in hand as if she is ready to spit bars.… Continue
Chaka Khan Hacienda
Grows Up
Ree De La Vega ain’t new to this. The Chaka Khan Hacienda curator has been at it for years, close to two decades. There is no time for the celebrated planner to party. She commands attention. Her signature black bangs, shoulder length mane, black stunners, red jersey dress and legs for days, struts across the hardwood to surprise someone with a heartfelt hug.… Continue
The Sun. The Rain. The Super Moon.
“Put em’ up. Put em’ up. Put em’ up.” The host yells into the microphone. There is not one but two of em yelling into microphones. Their mumblings about someone later giving hugs and then that someone giving two hugs after dark. All the while the deejay appears perplexed. Confused at the vocal back and forth between the two.… Continue
1600
Music. Is the reason for this journey. An expedition meandering through space and time. Arriving. At the V. Where 54th Street veers from Flushing Avenue. In Maspeth. A working class community located somewhere in the borough of Queens. That is New York City. Where a brick and motor mammoth slumps with two erected smoke stacks. That eyes you. Only if in your imagination.… Continue
2100
Darkness has crept up to slowly reveal its face. Black. Devoid of light. That traces around and about the atmosphere. Invisible. Upward, the stars keep watch over night. Night’s all seeing eye, the moon is lucent, keeps watch over the people, the party, the property.
OPEN AIR AND INTIMATE
Part I
Yeah, you are at the right place. As the car door closes, you overhear faint thumps where you are parked adjacent a curb monitored by vagrants. Walk a block pass the open air parking structure as the ontz expands in the atmosphere. Juxtaposed against the skyline of high rises, onward forward lies the destination.… Continue
