On the first Saturday of each month, the Brooklyn Museum hosts live music, performances and workshops from 5pm to 11pm. Everyone is welcome and everything is free (except food and drinks). Last Saturday was Ladies Night at the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturday: a celebration of women’s stories from around the world inspired by the exhibition Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958–1968.
This is how it looked like:
Prince Arala Osula has no lavish palace but rules the downtown train platform at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. If you’ve taken a four, five or six train, headed downtown from that stop, you have probably heard him. And if you had a hankering for some reggae or rock that day, you may have even spoken with him.
Prince isn’t into performing just to get the royal treatment. He claims he was called by God to play not just at 125th and Lexington, but specifically to play on the downtown platform. Whether it was a calling from God or the desire to be discovered, Prince is serious about his work.
He’s been at the station for five years and has regulars. Fans range from school kids to the New York Police who Prince ubiquitously calls “Finest”. But Prince also welcomes tourist and often has a song from a visitor’s native country.
Here is a brief “backstage” tour with Prince.
Rabbi Mendel Bendet and his brother Samuel have recently brought their faith from Brooklyn to northeast Pennsylvania – a predominantly Christian area with a small Jewish population (most of which also come from Brooklyn). In an attempt to galvanize this underrepresented population, the Bendet’s hold a public Menorah lighting every year while leading the group in song and prayer.
Last week, Boys & Girls High School, the reigning PSAL City Champions, started a new season in style: with bling. Community leaders from Bedford Stuyvesant, where Boys & Girls is located, are raising money for championship rings and on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the team collected their winnings.
A staple of Fulton St. for the past 20 years, the Senegalese Fashion Center continues to delight its West African-couture-loving clients in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Shortly after he arrived from Senegal in 1990, Abdou Diop, 53, opened the tailor shop to serve the fashion needs of the West African community in the neighborhood. Most of the colorful, pattern-rich and embroidered fabrics are imported from Africa.
Give Diop a few hours, and he will transform the fabrics into perfectly-fitted traditional African garments.
For the loyal clientele that consists not only of African, but also African-American women, the gowns he creates are a favorite.
Max Schmidt, a Bed-Stuy resident who is originally from Belize, shares what keeps her coming back to the shop.
The game is simple.
Six players race down an asphalt court, homemade polo mallets in hand. The goal is to slam an orange ball past a goalie and between two road cones. The most important rule? You can’t let your feet touch the ground.
New York’s bike messengers and fixed gear enthusiasts have been playing bike polo since 2003. It’s latest home, twice a week, is “The Pit” and Chrystie and Broome streets. Interested in playing? Grab a solid, but well-worn bike and show up at a game. Newcomers are welcome.
by Tuan Nguyen
When he received the draft 42 years ago by the army to go to Vietnam, Richard Hughes, an actor of 24-year-old, then decided to defy the order, which, in essence, put him subject to being jailed. He then still went to Vietnam with borrowed money from a close friend, two sets of clothes and a press pass from his college paper with view to do something different about the war. He ended up setting up “Shoeshine Boys House” for street kids in Sai Gon and Da Nang, two largest cities of the Republic of Vietnam then. After 8 years (1968-1976), Hughes’ organization has helped around 2,500 street kids with houses and education.
Returning to the U.S. after the war, Richard Hughes continued with his acting career, featuring in films like “the Departed”, “Salt” and comedy shows like “30 Rock”. He also continued working with different humanitarian organizations to help Vietnamese people to overcome the legacies of the war.
In the soundslides below, Richard Hughes talked about his experience in Vietnam and his reunion after 25 years with the street kids in 2001.