A Bit of a Change

Hopefully you've found your way here, so welcome! Apparently my previous domain name, which was simply thingsblackpeopledoinhartford.com has been taken over. I'll miss that name, but this will have to do for now. I hope to have some lovely new things here, so check back soon!

Healing, Heritage, Hanky-Panky and Health in Hartford

Whether you're looking for a low-key evening with friends or a chance to have a lively discussion with your neighbors, Hartford has it this weekend.

Thursday night has two different events in Hartford with two very different vibes. First is a Healing Circle on Child and Youth Violence. This is the first of three group writing and sharing events taking place to "address our individual and collective pain resulting from the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case and similar killings of Black youth, such as Robert Lawlor, that have occured in Hartford." This event will take place in the Community Room of the Albany Avenue Branch Library. Future dates are Thursday, August 15 at the Children's Program Room of the Downtown Branch Library, and Thursday, September 10 at the Conference of Churches at 224 Farmington Avenue. This event is free and refreshments will be served.

Also on Thursday is Wadsworth Atheneum's First Thursday event, the theme for this month being Emancipation! A Caribbean themed block party to get you warmed up for the Taste of the Caribbean & Jerk Festival. If I were to compile a list of things you must do in Hartford, (which I probably should) First Thursday would be on it. For $5 on the First Thursday of each month, you can come to the museum for a wide variety of events pertaining to the theme, all the while surrounded by the Wadsworth's beautiful collection. This month will include reggae music, a poetry reading, spray-on tattoos, stilt walkers and more. Children are welcome here as well.

On Saturday, the Taste of Caribbean & Jerk Festival comes to town. The Riverfront will come alive with music, games and vendors and so.much.food! This is a yearly event that always pleases. The actual festival is free, but you're going to want to bring money for the food and vendors. Obviously you can bring your kids.

Then you can drop them off at yo mama's house and drive to Springfield for the second edition of Brighter Than Before's Earotica: An Elegant Evening of Sensual Poetry, Music and Tantalizing Tips! If you went last year, then you know that this event gets steamy! Last year was quite the time with some hot area poets (including the hosts), raffles and vendors selling things from massages to...ahem...adult novelties. Last year the place was packed, so get there early! Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. As a note, this is rescheduled from their original date back in July, which you may also have heard about. You had your chance before, but don't miss it again!

Then on Sunday morning, calm back down, center yourself and act like you weren't all hot and bothered the night before.  The first installment of Yoga in the Park starts on August 4th. From now until October, Downtown Yoga, along with the City of Hartford are putting on a free weekly yoga class in different parks in Hartford. Bring a yoga mat, a towel, a bottle of water and wear something to move in. Start your week off with some stretching and moving! Here's the schedule:
Keney Park Aug. 4 9:30 am
Pope Park Aug. 11 9:30 am
Goodwin Park Aug. 18 9:30 am
Colt Park Aug. 25 9:30 am
Bushnell Park Sept 8 11:00 am
Elizabeth Park Sept 15 11:00 am
Keney Park Sept 22 11:00 am
Pope Park Sept 29 11:00 am
Goodwin Park Oct 6 11:00 am
Bushnell Park Oct 12 11:00 am

After any and all of this, support some local businesses and get some dinner at any of the participating Taste of Hartford restaurants. Taste of Hartford ends Sunday!

So Much To Do...So Do It!

This weekend is full of fun events! First things first, you should probably just camp out at HartBeat Ensemble's Carriage House right now. It's an awesome black box theater located on Farmington Avenue and since making it their home earlier this year, HartBeat Ensemble has put on some terrific shows there.

Tonight, Sea Tea Improv is going to be putting on a hilarious and raunchy long-form improv show called Sex and the Sea Tea. This is one of their highest recommended shows. If you've never caught a Sea Tea Improv show, this is the one to start with. The talented performers will "turn tales of dates by you (the audience) into a hilarious improvised play!" Unfortunately (fortunately?) you're going to want to leave the kids at home for this one. But I promise this show won't disappoint! Tickets are $10 and available online for a few more hours here: https://sexandtheseatea.eventbrite.com/ or you can buy them tonight in person if they haven't sold out!

Then tomorrow night, Hartist Mr. Qwes is putting on "An Intimate Live Music Experience" called Confessions of a Songwriter. You may recognize Mr. Qwes as one of the hosts of the Love Jones Experience on Mondays at the Russell or from his stunning performance as The Lion in MaPeach's production of The Wiz last August. Tomorrow he'll focus on himself and bring us an intimate evening of songs and stories, also at HartBeat Ensemble's Carriage House. He and his band will give us a soulful show with his sweet-like-honey voice on center stage. Think VH1 Storytellers but you actually have the privilege of being there! I had the opportunity to work backstage at Mr. Qwes's recent benefit concert "Mr. Qwes Live". The man puts on a hell of a show! Like most of my friends, he's no slouch of a performer, putting on a show that's as professional as it is impressive. Check out his website for a video that shows a snippet of what a fantastic show this was. There's two chances to see one of Hartford's treasures perform: the 3:00pm Family show and the 8:00pm "Grown Folks Show" Mr. Qwes is performing in the second installment of HartBeat Ensemble's 360 Music Series. Admission is free but seating is limited! Get there early!

To round out the weekend with some more laughter, check out the monthly show that the Hartford Advocate called one of the top things to do in Hartford. Get another dose of Sea Tea Improv at their short-form show at City Steam Brewery. This show has free admission and is one of the funnest things to do before Monday comes creeping back into your life. Short-form improv is the style that you may be more familiar with from shows like Who's Line is it Anyway? where performers play a series of games using audience suggestions. (No food. You'd be surprised how many people think of pineapples at any given moment.) If you miss tonight's show, or you have so much fun tonight that you need more improv (as is usually the case) come on out to City Steam this Sunday and get another helping! This is an all ages show, but because of the full bar downstairs, minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Miners must be accompanied by a canary.

Curse You, Rain!

Sorry to get your hopes up, but Hartford Riverfest and accompanying fireworks have been postponed due to flooding.

I know it's sad. But we will move on. We're a strong and resilient city. We will live to fight another day.

Hartford has a sad history with flooding, so we don't really like to mess around with the angry waters of Old Man Connecticut River. If they're predicting a flood, I'm inclined to believe them. We don't want anything like this going down:

That was the Bond Hotel back in 1936.

So sorry to break the news. Tell your friends and neighbors. 

Also, tell your other friends and neighbors to calm down with the firecrackers shooting off at all times of the night during the entire month of July. It scares my cat.

Free Movies After Dark are Back! So Am I!

It was nearly a year ago that I last posted. And I make my return with a post that is eerily similar to last year's. The City of Hartford is yet again doing Free Movies in the Park and I'll apologize in advance: As you can see from the schedule, they're already well underway.

After launching TBPDIH in 2010, I received a ton of feedback, gained a lot of readers both casually and through search engines. After two years, I felt like my job was done. I wasn't going out nearly as much as I used to and since Facebook is King of the World, I figured we were all in the know now. But I've heard the "there's nothing to do in Hartford" whispers. When I heard them in 2010-2012, I easily combated them by handing out my card and instructing the person to educate themselves on this site. But last year especially was lean. And it's hard to say that there's a ton of things going on and when asked what specifically, I respond, "Um...I dunno since I'm probably just going to be hanging out in my backyard tonight."

A few weeks ago, the list of Free Movies was put up on Facebook and was quickly passed around. I saw a couple people on my timeline who balked at the fact that there were no movies starring main characters of color. I'm not here to get into a debate about whether that's important or not so save your comments. I know how it seems weird to them that though most of these movies are playing in parks that serve communities of color, "Coming to America" or other classics aren't on any of the screens. But protesting didn't occur to me because I voted. 

Back in the wintertime, when we couldn't even fathom sitting outdoors to watch a movie, the Marketing, Events and Cultural Affairs office for the City posted a poll of what should be shown. Or maybe it was Hartford.com? I can't remember. Either way, I nominated a couple. Then when they put finalists up for a vote, I voted on them. I vaguely remember trying to suggest some "black" movies off the top of my head, but I also couldn't remember many. And I didn't ask for help because in my naivety, I didn't think anyone would care. If they would, they would be voting.

So when I watched my friends complain in mild ire about the final list, I first thought, "well, don't complain; you should've voted!" Then I realized...how many of my friends knew they could vote? How many know these pages exist? How many even know that Hartford.com is different than Hartford.gov and that they are involved in bucketloads of fun stuff and really do care about the residents in the city they serve, not just the visitors? MECA and I have 30 mutual friends, Hartford.gov and I have 31. Of those 30-ish people, only about 5 were a surprise to me, meaning they're not bloggers, they don't work with these groups in a professional capacity or aren't obsessed with all things Hartford like I am.

This blog and its page on Facebook are supposed to be telling you about things like MECA, Hartford.gov, remind you about The Wadsworth and The Bushnell, the parks, the parades, the nooks and crannies of the city that you may not know about or just forgot about. I'm supposed to remind you, as the saying goes, that Hartford Has It. So when someone's asking for suggestions on how to make you come out (and as always, this is "you" everyone. Not just POC) I should be relaying that message.

The reason that this blog was started, as I always say, is because I felt that there were people being missed when it came time to advertise. For example, I'm not West Indian. I have no idea when the West Indian Parade is this year. I usually don't know until steel drums are waking me up the morning of. Everyone is welcome to go, but for people like me with a busy schedule it's nice to know when things are happening so I can plan on going, not just hope I'm free. When this blog was really cookin', I had so many people say, "I had no idea that XXX happened at YYY for the last three years! How would I have found out about that before?" The answer is typically know the right people. Whether it's eating good Puerto Rican food or taking a yoga class. Somehow we're not all finding out the right information.

Obviously I can't do this blog forever, but please still check in because for as long as I can, I will. Also read Real Hartford: an extremely good blog that posts an in depth schedule of events happening in Hartford all over Hartford. (July's list just posted yesterday!) Like the Things Black People Do In Hartford FB page. Like Hartford.com's FB page and check their website often. Like MECA's FB page too! If you go to a local bar or club and you like it, find them on the internet. If in doubt, e-mail me and I'll see what I can do.