Celebrate Brooklyn! & That Cute Koala.
I celebrate Brooklyn every day. I’ve been celebrating since I arrived here.
Celebrating the language I hear around me, the tongues flicking words unfamiliar to my ears, representing a culture I don’t know… but want to know. Celebrating the coexistence of races, of nationalities, of histories, of stories. Celebrating those unlike myself, who’ve lived in Brooklyn their entire lives, hardened by the cement streets that cradled them.
Brooklyn celebrates all of this and more each summer in a series of free rain-or-shine performances in Prospect Park hosted by BRIC Arts, called, appropriately Celebrate Brooklyn!
Featuring music, dance, theater and movies, there is something going on multiple nights a week from June 9th through August 8th.
I caught Kid Koala, a Montreal-based scratch DJ, graphic novelist, musician and producer (summed up= genius), who was playing with Hess is More and the Slew, including DJ P-Love in a little melange titled Short Attention Span Theater and The Slew.
It was a mix of madness, beginning with Kid Koala himself (himself includes three turntables), then growing to include DJ P-Love (another three turntables) in a collaboration battle throwing back and forth in a mind-boggling round robin and ending with Hess is More. Hess is More added drums, bass and keys lighting up the park.
My crew showed up early and lucked out, given tickets bumping us in to the VIP section due to the low crowd. But really, it was a late crowd that grew as night fell. The crowd eventually descended upon the foot of the stage, a flurry of dancing, arms waving, heads bobbing and hips swaying on a warm breezy summer evening.
Still coming up in Prospect Park this summer are Fab 5, Ozomatli, The Roots and Talib Kweli, Omar Pene, Rufus Wainwright and more. I anticipate a growing familiarity with the G train path over to Prospect Park between now and August 8th.
It’s free. It’s talent. It’s summer. CELEBRATE!
