Charter Oak Cultural Center - Juneteenth Pilgrimage & More!

Photo courtesy of Charter Oak Cultural Center's Facebook page

I'm coming to you while taking a break from sipping iced tea on my lanai to tell you about some new haps here in the Capital City. (That's not entirely true. I don't really like iced tea I don't have a lanai. I don't even really know what a lanai is but ever since my girlfriend Charmane and I have started watching Golden Girls while we fall asleep every night, we've started referring to our balcony as a lanai.)

I've been meaning to write for a while about the Charter Oak Cultural Center. I'm sure you've seen the big and beautiful former synagogue (CT's oldest) when turning on Charter Oak Avenue, but may not have known what was inside. Since the late 1970's, it has been the home of a thriving multi-cultural arts center that offers a ton of arts and educational services to the community. From their website:

Charter Oak Cultural Center harnesses the power of the arts to create positive social change. We host cutting-edge, thought-provoking visual and performing arts, including dance, theater, film, concerts, readings, gallery exhibits and much more.  Our overall goal is to give access to the arts to all who hunger for them. 

I've been to a few events here at the Cultural Center over the last few months and all of them have been fun. My main thought when coming though is, "I really wish more people had come." I'll tell my friends and coworkers about it and they all say pretty much the same thing; something along the lines of, "Oh, I've never heard of that place." Well, now I'm telling you, so put them in your mental Rolodex of places in Hartford that you must check out.

Now to get black on you, as I like to do, I'll tell you about one of the brown events coming up. As always, EVERYONE is welcome at any event I post on my blog. The greater goal here is integration and working on this whole de facto segregation thing we've got going on. But the event I'm talking about is for Juneteenth, so I'm sort of inclined to lead with that because I don't want to get haunted by the ghost of Frederick Douglass, I just don't, guys. This coming Tuesday is Juneteenth, which is the holiday commemorating the abolition of slavery. The Charter Oak Cultural Center will be holding a pilgrimage to Hartford's African Burial Ground for a ceremony of "reflection and rejoicing". The cost is free and this is a very family-friendly event, so bring the kids for something enlightening to kick off their summer vacation.

Of course, this is only one event being held at the center. Be sure to keep up with their calendar and their Facebook page for new events, but just to let you know about a couple things coming up within the next month are musicians featured for the UMOJA Music Series and Indie Fest on July 14th, a huge roster of indie bands playing in the courtyard that sounds SUPER fun!

Then later in August, you need to mark your calendars NOW because MaPeach Productions will be coming to the Charter Oak Cultural Center putting on a production of The Wiz unlike any that you've ever seen! Of course I'll be writing about this in greater detail later because as you can probably tell, that's my partner Charmagne playing the role of the Scarecrow. But in the meantime, you can buy your tickets right now! The show will run from August 9 - August 12.

Here are the details for the Juneteenth pilgrimage once again:
When: Tuesday, June 19th, 2012
Where: Meet at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford, CT
Time: 5:30pm
Cost: Free

Additional details: The flyer says that it will be a pilgrimage, which means walking. Not a ton of walking, but you will want to wear comfortable shoes. Bring the kids!

Judy Blume Comes to Hartford!

What's up fellow fun-seekers? Happy almost summer! I love this time of year and the city is buzzing with things to do so I'll jump right in.


Next Thursday, June 21, the one and only Judy Blume will be coming to the Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford Campus. The event is being sponsored by The Mark Twain House & Museum.

I'm sure most of the 80's babies out there are familiar with Ms. Blume's work. I remember when my school's librarian hooked me on Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing back when I was a third grade nothing. And I'm pretty sure you couldn't be a girl starting 6th grade without a copy of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret that was embarrassingly given to you by a well-meaning aunt who stage-whispered "it's about getting your period!" in front of everyone at a backyard cookout...No, just me?

But the great thing about these books is that not just us 80's babies benefited. There's a reason that most people I know have a story of being gifted a Judy Blume book at some point in their life and that's because her writing covers such a wide range of topics. Reading Are You There God? as a sixth grader meant a lot to me simply because it was a book about a teenage girl (like me!) preparing for the big to-do that is puberty (like me!). But as I got older and re-read the synopsis, I realized the book covered some very real themes that I didn't remember, or possibly didn't catch the first time around. These books weren't just about kids that were bummed about their situation, but also stories of children dealing with things that people don't normally talk to kids so frankly about. Because of her frank delivery and subject matter, many of her books have been banned, much like a famous Hartford author you may know.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Judy Blume's career. I'm sure during her evening, she'll talk about all of that and much more. Your job is to buy a ticket, get your butt in the seat and have a great night in the company of a legend!

Here's the skinny, if you don't feel like reading the poster:
Where: Lincoln Theater (on the campus of The University of Hartford)
When: 7:30pm Thursday, June 21, 2012
Cost: Tickets are $25/$40 or VIP seating with pre-event reception for $85
Buy: To buy tickets online: http://harttweb.hartford.edu/tickets.aspx
By phone: (860) 768-4228

If you feel like you need a refresher course before you get to the event, Julia Pistell has been re-reading the Judy Blume collection and blogging the experience. Be sure to check that out before you walk in the door, just in case your memory isn't what you think it is!

Reminder: All Mixed Up is this Friday!

Tickets are still available for the show! Click here to buy now!

This Friday, April 13th MaPeach Productions is putting on All Mixed Up: A Comedy & Poetry Mesh. Darlene "Peaches" Brandon, Owner and Founder of MaPeach Productions, should be another familiar face to you as well. You can find her twice a month hosting The Love Jones Experience down at the Russell on Monday nights, as well as acting and performing her own poetry about town. She even directed two very successful productions of For Colored Girls... which I reviewed right here two years ago. This time, Darlene will take a step away from the scripts and host a show to bust your gut and soothe your soul. All Mixed Up will feature the poetry of NuNuu, M.I.D.N.I.G.H.T and Peaches herself. Three comedians who have graced the stages of places like Comic View on BET, HBO and prestigious comedy clubs nationwide will also be bringing down the house; Artie Rob, Solo and Hartford native Marshall Brandon. The beautifully talented, Grammy-award winning, TBPDIH-writer loving Charmagne Tripp will also be gracing us with some songs and to wrap up the evening, Big Jus is coming with his hot dance crew! All Mixed Up will be held at Vibz Uptown and the show starts at 8:30. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and call (860) 986-4483 or click here to buy.

Holla Back Hartford: National Poetry Month is Alive in Hartford!

Sorry for the last minute notice, but I had to let you in on a little something I was just clued in on (damn Facebook fast keeping me out of the loop!). This month The Center Without Walls and Billings Forge will bring you 4 nights of poetry and spoken word featuring 4 talented women. Unfortunately, I've had a glass of wine and I've been up since 4:30am, so I'm too tired to totally spill like I normally do. But I must say that I know Sarahi Yahaira, Mind.Evolution and NuNuu and their poems are not to be missed. Sarahi, emotionally open through her words, will take you on a journey through her life from childhood to now with love, laughter and tears. Mind.Evolution will uplift and inspire with her words that showcase her fierce determination. NuNuu will captivate you with her versatility, giving an energy and personality that changes from piece to piece. And I've never seen Tahani Salah perform in person, but her videos on youtube tell me that her words speak for people who often go unnoticed or forgotten, reminding us all to pay attention.

Now that I've kept it as short and sweet as I am reasonably capable of, I will tell you that this poetry series will take place at 7:30 on each Thursday during the month of April at the Studio at Billings Forge and it's free! Now you get out there and enjoy some poetry, dammit. I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. Wine makes "dammit" my favorite word.

Harvest Wine & Spirits

My girlfriend Charmane and I had the pleasure of stopping by Harvest Fine Wines & Spirits on the way to see some friends a couple of weeks ago. I've been following their blog for about a year and these people seemed to have a real passion for beer and wine. I guess I have a passion for beer and wine...well, I like to drink it. My love of drinking it usually reminds me of how passionate I am about things like bad commercials. Anyway, the day that I was there, I just grabbed a 6 pack of Naughty Nurse, (local brew from City Steam, if you haven't had the pleasure.) a 6 pack of Hooker Blonde (local brew from Hooker Brewery) and a bottle of Yellowtail. So as you can see, I'm not as nerdy about beer and wine as I am about, say, classic Simpsons trivia. But now I think I want to be.

That said, even during my short visit, I could tell that these guys knew their shit. The store itself is set to the side in a small plaza that shares a Chinese restaurant and a sushi restaurant. (Since our friends lived nearby, we actually ended up ordering delivery from the Chinese place later and it was great!) Coming in was a bit overwhelming at first. To the left of the entrance is a huge refrigerator full of single beers. I think I'd like to go back and take advantage of that so I can sample a couple things and not have to commit to a whole night with one beer. If you already know what you're looking for, there's an even bigger "beer cave" in the back that houses ALL.THE.BEERS. So many. I actually felt a little average buying my two regular favorites, which, when I buy them anywhere else usually make me feel so good. As it is, I normally have to drive to Bloomfield just to get it. But damn if I didn't want to buy some obscure beer that no one had ever heard of while in that store. Yeah, I had some beer hipster envy going on.

If there was any place I'd trust to point my inexperienced palate in the right direction, it's Harvest. I overheard one clerk helping some customers pair their beer with their dinner and that's an extra step that most package stores I frequent don't offer. Most are in the business of trying to sell me what's popular rather than offering me something similar. (Dear Atwood Liquors: If you're out of Sam Adams, Ciroq Peach is NOT a good substitute.) The guys at Harvest seemed eager to please the palate.

We finished our trip looking for the Yellowtail Pinot Noir/Shiraz blend. You'd think I'd feel bad about going for such a standard in a store that had oodles and oodles of fine wines, but I was already shamed about the beer. I was pretty maxed out. I will give a huge high five that they have it. I don't see that blend at a lot of stores and it's one of my favorites.

Overall, the customer service was extremely pleasant and I'll definitely return. Which is really saying something because I don't usually drive that far down Farmington Avenue. Beer nerds, make your way out to this store, not only for their impressive collection of both wines and beers, but the friendly and knowledgeable staff. I'll be back...ready to experiment. Get ready for a whole new level of judgement from me when I see you drinking a Heineken.

Set the Mic On Fire & All Mixed Up - Variety Shows in Hartford

Don't drink and blog, people.

Actually, that's not true. The internet would not thrive if not for a thought driven by a glass of wine. I guess I should say, leave edits to sobriety. On Saturday evening I came to my blog on my iPhone, simply to edit the title of this entry. Easy enough...when you haven't had a shot and a beer. The touch screen was not liking what I was doing and was giving me problems all along. Rather than just leave it alone til I was back on my laptop, my stubborn ass decided to force it to do what I wanted. All seemed well and good, but the result was seeing all that I'd typed completely erased on Sunday afternoon. Lesson learned.

So after taking a few days to curse and shake a fist at the screen, I've decided that I MUST get this post up again because the public needs to know what my drunken mistakes deprived them of.

This Sunday, Brighter Than Before Entertainment is bringing us a night of fun and laughter. On April 1st, Shish Lounge in West Hartford will be the home of Set the Mic on Fire. Though they've billed it as "a unique blend of comedy and poetry", you can trust these talented ladies to give you so much more than that. You may recognize most of the members of Brighter Than Before from the Greater Hartford/Springfield poetry scene or perhaps from their success putting on The Thick Chronicles this past winter. Whatever the case, you and I both know that they don't half-ass it when it comes to entertainment. The evening will be hosted by Shireal Renee and Big Chewy, and will feature the poetry of local favorites Alison McMeans, Brenda's Child, Crystal Senter Brown, Face, Hawk The Poet, Milton Jackson, Midnight and Mind.Evolution. Our comedians for the evening will be Jandayi Ms. Makinyoulaff and Veejay Wright and Evelyn Dillon will provide a tribute to the legendary Whitney Houston. Tickets are $15 if purchased in advance and $20 if you buy at the door. The festivities start at 7pm.

Then on Friday, April 13th MaPeach Productions is putting on All Mixed Up: A Comedy & Poetry Mesh. Darlene "Peaches" Brandon, Owner and Founder of MaPeach Productions, should be another familiar face to you as well. You can find her twice a month hosting The Love Jones Experience down at the Russell on Monday nights, as well as acting and performing her own poetry about town. She even directed two very successful productions of For Colored Girls... which I reviewed right here two years ago. This time, Darlene will take a step away from the scripts and host a show to bust your gut and soothe your soul. All Mixed Up will feature the poetry of NuNuu, M.I.D.N.I.G.H.T and Peaches herself. Three comedians who have graced the stages of places like Comic View on BET, HBO and prestigious comedy clubs nationwide will also be bringing down the house; Artie Rob, Solo and Hartford native Marshall Brandon. The beautifully talented, Grammy-award winning, TBPDIH-writer loving Charmagne Tripp will also be gracing us with some songs and to wrap up the evening, Big Jus is coming with his hot dance crew! All Mixed Up will be held at Vibz Uptown and the show starts at 8:30. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and call (860) 986-4483 to buy.

Syllable: A Reading Series

Looking for something to do on a school night? Follow me, kid, I'll show you around. If you're in the mood to be entertained tonight, Syllable: A Reading Series will be taking place at La Paloma. The night will get started at 7pm and the theme of the evening will be "Luck". I'll be reading my own piece tonight. Sorry for the short notice, but better late than never, as my mom would say. (I know other people say it, but my mom is ALWAYS obscenely late. I feel she has a master's degree in the phrase.)

Syllable is a monthly themed reading series for writers to showcase their work. This goes for all kinds of writers. The unintended theme for tonight is non-fiction, though many other types are welcome such as works of fiction and short story, poetry, scripts, essays, songs...really anything you can create and read in 10 minutes or less. I had the opportunity to speak with Julia Pistell, the founder of Syllable, and she tries to leave the idea of work that is submitted open-ended. She reviews the submissions beforehand in order to facilitate the flow of the evening and the variety of submissions, so it's not a completely "open-mic." But from what I understand, people's work varies from month to month. I'm interested in seeing what people will write when given only a one word idea. Did I mention that I'm a Syllable virgin myself?

If you're shaking your fist at me because I didn't tell you about this in enough time, I apologize, seriously. That was my bad. But there are already dates and themes posted for the next two months: April 18th's theme is Light and May 16th's theme is Labor. Get your creative juices flowing and submit something for next month! Hope to see you out tonight!

Syllable: A Reading Series
Upcoming Events:

2/15: Love

3/21: Luck

4/18: Light

5/16: Labor

7:00-8:30 PM

La Paloma Sabanera, Hartford

$5 Suggested Donation

Email your submissions to syllableseries@gmail.com

Little City, Big H(e)art

A while back, I started on some new projects. I've been traveling, moving, shaking and generally neglecting TBPDIH, but a lot of people have been asking when I'd come back. I've missed the blog, especially the part where I get to tell people what I think about things and they have to sit there and like it. And if they don't, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

My true favorite part of this blog is that a lot of times, people will just start to tell me what they think about Hartford. The good news is that it's mostly positive. I'm not blind: I see that my beloved City has some issues. But complaining about them in a bar to strangers doesn't really do much, so it's rare to catch me Hartford bashing. I'd rather hear what you as an individual want to do to help our fair city thrive. It doesn't even have to be anything big, but creating a street-wide phone tree to inform your neighbors when there's a parking ban is a great idea that someone told me, which also introduced her to a lot of her neighbors. My Uncle Horace works cleaning the streets of Downtown during the day, but even after he's punched the clock, he's been known to clean up around his own neighborhood on the North End. There's a ton of things we can do to make this city more to our liking that start at home.

The downside of taking my break is that I feel like my silence perpetuated the myth that nothing is going on here. This city is alive and thriving, people. Yet every now and then someone will mention to me how if you want to do anything, you have to go to New York because this city is so boring. Granted, we're not an action a minute city, but we're not all that bad. We just have to work a little harder to find it. Sometimes people will pepper me with suggestions on how to make this place more like New York, but seriously, they can save it. Hartford, or all of CT for that matter, will never be like New York. It's called the city that never sleeps because it's filled to the brim with insomniacs. The population of our state doesn't even come close to that of NYC. So let's stop comparing ourselves to them, or worse, trying to pretend to be them and support our own stuff. Go to Real Art Ways for a date night, take a walk in a park, check out a show, add The CT Science Center, Wadsworth Atheneum, Mark Twain House and all the other oodles of hotels to your friend's list on Facebook. They've always got great free and discounted days.

Another thing that you NEED to do as a Hartford resident in want of a social life is say yes. When a coworker asks you out for drinks after work, say yes. When you get an invite to an event that you never would normally go to, say yes. I find this to be a good motto for my life anyway, especially when I'm in a rut. It's a great way to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. Go out with a clear head ready to have some fun. Don't compare it to how much better it would be somewhere else, just enjoy it now because it's right in your backyard. Afterwards, stick around and talk to the coordinators. These are the creators who are making sure more shit that you enjoy keeps happening. Let them know you're hungry for a good time.

I understand that we all have a lot of things going on in our private lives, but the best way to make new things happen is to support what's already out there. What ARE you looking for in a night out? It may not happen often, but it's probably out there in Hartford if you look for it. Hell, there's a swing club in Hartford if you want to do that. (I don't know where it is though, and frankly, I probably don't want to know. With my luck, I'd run into my high school principal getting whipped by a dominatrix while a clown tickles his nipples with a feather. More power to him, but I don't wanna see that.) If you can't find what you're looking for, try something different else and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's sad the amount of awesome events that I go to with so many empty chairs.

We're not New York. We never will be. We're Hartford and we're awesome.

The Star has Risen...What Now?

Today The MetroHartford Alliance, along with Hartford Business Improvement District the City of Hartford and a ton of other people did something great. As we near the end of the Rising Star campaign that has been Hartford's motto for the past ten years, the City looks for a new image that just screams us. But not only should it flamboyantly shout "We're Hartford, we're fabulous, get used it it!" but it should say it to people who live close by, kinda think we're fabulous, but not fabulous enough to want to live here. You know, the people who like us as a friend and don't want to ruin it by taking it too far. Ooh! I got it! We're the friend with benefits of the suburbs! That's it. Shut it down. The search for a slogan is over. HARTFORD: Your Friend. With Benefits!

For the past few months the powers that be, along with the marketing company Cundari, have been putting a lot of work into a new campaign. And today they decided to do something really cool and share what they've been working on with the public. On one hand, it sounds like a royal pain in the ass on their part, listening to a ton of opinions when you could really just tell people to shove it and do what I want. But it's also really awesome because we all get to have a say in this process and people are actually eager to hear what we have to say!

There were two sessions for this event. The first was at the Convention Center this morning. The second, which I attended, was at the downtown branch of the Hartford Public Library. It was very well attended and I think most people were eager to see what they had in place. Read the actual presentation and then I'll tell you what I think about each concept:

Now before I start, I want to point out some things about this campaign that you should know before going in.
1. Like I mentioned, this campaign is to gain "regional interest in the city" as the city's Chief Operating Officer David Panagore stated.
2. Cundari conducted a poll of those outside the city and found that 33% of those surveyed would like to come to Hartford and 56% of THOSE people already work here. There needs to be something to make them stick around and they overwhelmingly wanted to see live events.
3. They also are aiming to attract a certain type of person. This isn't aiming for couch potatoes who don't have much of a nightlife. This is for people who want to go out and spend money, but rather than watch them go to Boston, New Haven or New York, convincing them to stay closer to home for just as good a time.

Concept #1
Logo: The logo is cute. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the star in the middle, I think my favorite view of it is the all-white on the posters showing musical nightlife. It's versatile and can be toned down or pepped up.
Campaign: I thought that the tagline "Make your own history" was very nice and commented that I loved how it was acknowledging that Hartford has a rich historical past, but also a future that we shouldn't stifle. It's mixing old with new and I think that design scheme in combination with the vibrant logo makes a happy marriage.

Concept #2
Logo: I went into this presentation not liking this logo. As someone else pointed out, when the H's are all together, it just looks like a big ole mess. And the colors are not ideal. But seeing it in person and how the mosaic tiles can be used to showcase pictures, I really began to see the concept of Hartford being a mosaic of different people, cultures and things to do. I was hooked.
Campaign: This interactive campaign was also lost on me when just reading it online. It's not that I didn't get it, it just kind of got an eyeroll from me. The trendy idea of checking in places on foursquare, the endless tweeting we all do. It was like pandering to our generation of short attention spans and oversharing. But once again, seeing the concept in person hooked me. The fact is that we ARE oversharers. We love telling people what we think when no one asked. So why not get visitors excited about oversharing in the capital city?

Concept #3
Logo: Not bad, not great. A friend of mine said that the arrows (meant to convey things happening in all directions in Hartford) seemed to direct people away from Hartford. I didn't really read that much into it, it just didn't appeal to me. It was a bit too tame for my taste.
Campaign: This was my favorite concept going in. I still think it's fun and creative, and I sort of hope they find some way to incorporate it if they go with something else. Maybe not make it the entire focus, but one TV commercial or something.

I'm really looking forward to hearing more about this campaign as time goes on. Make sure you check out the presentation and also take the survey on Hartford.com's page, which will be up for a few weeks! Make your opinion heard and keep the constructive criticisms going! What do you like, what don't you like and most importantly, what do you think would improve what you don't like? Get cracking!

My Guys Moving Service

The summer is in full swing and I hope you're enjoying yourself as much as I am! I've had the opportunity to travel a bit and as much as I love getting out and seeing how people live in other places, no one does it like the hometown!

It's the end of the month and maybe your lease is up and you're on the way to a new apartment/house that you swear you won't move from for a long time. As you pack your life away in nowhere near enough boxes (How did you get this much stuff? Didn't you swear that you wouldn't buy anymore stuff so moving wouldn't suck?) you send text messages to your friends to see who's available to help you carry your couch from the 2nd floor of your old apartment to the 5th floor of your new one. Suddenly the people that immediately text back while sharing their disappointment in the American Idol winner no longer have working phones. Two days later you send out a message promising pizza and beer to all who help you move, but you and your friends are almost 30 now; pizza and beer is not worth an aching back anymore. By the time Saturday rolls around, you're bargaining with a toothless man outside the gas station who passes on the pizza, takes the beer, and you're not sure but possibly the loose change you had on the TV stand.

The time has come to admit that you are a grown-up now, and even grown-ups that are near and dear friends hate helping you move. As always, I've painted this absurdly detailed picture to introduce you to the business I am recommending: My Guys Moving Service.

Recently I moved to my new place (which seriously, for real, no joking, I am staying at for a long time) and rather than beg and plead people to help Charmane and I, or worse, deal with it ourselves, I decided to be true to my nature and pay people to do work that I do not want to do. Worth every penny. Rashad Smith is the owner of My Guys and within minutes we had an appointment set up. About a half hour before he was scheduled to come by, he gave me a courtesy call just to let me know that he was on his way. On customer service alone, My Guys was already winning! He showed up to the house, took a mental inventory of all the items that we wanted moved and immediately got to work. What would have taken Charmane and I hours to put on the truck, Rashad and his staff had loaded in no time! If I had actually been better prepared for the move and had everything in place, they could've worked even faster. That was totally my bad. I'm not gonna lie, I partied til 3am the night before I moved from a 3 BR house with maybe 10 boxes packed beforehand. It was not one of my proudest moments. After a few hours of politely waiting for me to get my shit together, Rashad and his crew finished the job with a smile and if I can be perfectly honest, a reasonable dent in my wallet that I was happy to make.

My Guys Moving Service, LLC is relatively new, but they've had plenty of satisfied customers all over Connecticut. Before going in, you should know that they do not have their own moving truck just yet, so you'll have to rent your own truck. Once again, worth it. Going into work the Monday after a move and NOT bitching and icing down a sore hamstring was an experience that I enjoyed.


My Guys Moving Service, LLC
Rashad Smith, CEO
(860) 308-9472