Wednesday Evening in Red Hook: Summerstage + Lyricist Lounge in association with MoCADA's Soul of Brooklyn Initiative presents Rakim + Special Guests at Red Hook Park

Tuesday Morning in Williamsburg: CityParks Foundation Puppet Mobile presents "Bessie's Big Shot" at McCarren Park

Cowabunga! This morning lots of little kids enjoyed a terrific performance of "Bessie's Big Shot" put on by the CityParks Foundation Puppet Mobile in McCarren Park.

Unlike the previous great puppet shows put on by the group (like "Sleeping Beauty" last summer), "Bessie's Big Shot"

is an original story and production rather than one taken from Central Park's Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre.
And it's a great story of Bessie, a New York City cow who, though working a series of unsatisfying jobs (like serving lattes), has always had the dream of being a part of the circus.

With the circus coming to Brooklyn, Bessie the cow tries out for a role in the greatest show on earth.

Can Bessie lift tremendous weights like Ziegfried the strongest man on earth? Work with a monkey? Gracefully glide on the trapeze? Balance herself on a high wire?

Through funny trials and tribulations, she finally achieves her dream.

At McCarren Park, it drew a big crowd, some very young,

who seemed delighted by the skillful and entertaining show done by the expert puppet masters.

"Bessie's Big Shot" will stay in the neighborhood for another two days: tomorrow morning it will be in Cooper Park, the next day in McGolrick Park, and it will playing in parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs all summer.

We know some little people who would be grateful if you took them.

Friday Morning on the Lower East Side: Ballet Fiesta Mexicana at Sara D. Roosevelt Park

Ballet Fiesta Mexicana, a talented traditional Mexican dance troupe founded by Yloy Ybarra, came to the Lower East Side's Sara D. Roosevelt Park this morning for a performance and fascinating lessons about Mexican culture for little kids and many neighborhood adults. Here's a visual essay:

Thursday Morning in Clinton Hill: Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre's "Sleeping Beauty" at Underwood Park

An overflow crowd of little kids was entranced this morning in Clinton Hill by a performance of sublime puppetry by the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in "Sleeping Beauty."

It was an updated musical version set in Belvedere Castle, by the Swedish Cottage's home in Central Park.

The wonderful City Parks Foundation's PuppetMobile brings these shows out to neighborhood parks in the five boroughs over the summer.

Underwood Park was formerly the site of the elegant mansion of the typewriter mogul - our dad's pants company's showroom/warehouse at 87 Fifth Avenue had a 1940s Underwood we used to do office work on forty years ago - and the land was donated by his widow. You can't miss it if you get off the G train at the Washington Avenue side of Lafayette Avenue at the Clinton/Washington stop.

The kids in the audience, were mostly from First Choice Academy preschool from around the corner where we lived when we were their age, I.S. 218 Beacon on Fountain Avenue, the Beach 41st Street Houses (near where we spent our summers in Rockaway as a kid), and other day camps, day care centers and summer programs. But lots of kids were there with family members or nannies.

The show was very sweet but easily understandable. Princess Aurora is the victim of a spell by the evil witch Marisol when she turns 18, but helped by her royal parents' loyal servant Nicadou, the funky spirit Jack, and most of all by her constant companion, the unicorn Orion, of course a handsome prince comes to the rescue and wakens her from a long slumber with a kiss.

The puppeteers were skillful, the sets pretty (in the end so much time has elapsed, that the backdrop to Belvedere Castle includes skyscrapers), the marionettes with clear individual characters, and the songs whimsical and pleasant. It's ideal for young kids, with a little audience participation at the end, and not at all scary. The audience loved "Sleeping Beauty" and gave the cast a big hand at its satisfying conclusion.

As the kids exited, most to buses with their camp counselors and staff, some with their parents or nannies, the PuppetMobile got ready to head to the Bronx for tomorrow morning's performance of "Sleeping Beauty" at Crotona Park.

Monday Morning in Red Hook: BambaYo at the Bush Clinton Playground

We were at the bipartisan Bush Clinton Playground in Red Hook this morning,

joining a group of day campers from the Dodge YMCA in downtown Brooklyn for a terrific performance by BambaYo, the outstanding Afro-Puerto Rican teen dance/singing/percussion group founded in the Bronx by Jose Ortiz. As BombaYo's website says,

Bomba was developed in Puerto Rico over 300 years ago by enslaved Africans from parts of West Africa and the Kongo region and also includes influences from the Spanish colonizers and native Taino people. Bomba is more of an experience than a show. It's where singing, dancing and drumming come together in a community celebration of life. Boricuas on the island and stateside are reviving this tradition and in turn uncovering part of their cultural heritage.

BombaYo emerges from the streets and schoolyards of the Bronx, where salsa and hip hop were born. Under the direction of Jose L. Ortiz aka Dr. Drum and Melinda Gonzalez, this group of teens brings youthful energy to a centuries old Afro Puerto Rican music and dance tradition. BombaYo starts from within. At the core is a connection to the soul, where drum and dance become one. African inspired call and response singing complete the synergy. Beyond the appeal of a performance, they create an inviting and engaging experience. In the spirit of Sankofa, BombaYo draws from the bomba tradition to enrich their lives and embrace their cultural legacy.

It was more than just a performance for the kids. It was an experience. For us adults, too.



Exactly forty years ago, in July 1960, we were a little 9yo tourist hearing this kind of music for the first time on the streets of Old San Juan. Our incessant playing (with our younger bro) of the bongos and maracas we made our parents buy us eventually drove our neighbors crazy the rest of the summer after we returned from Puerto Rico to our bungalow on Rockaway Beach.





The beats and music and movements were infectious.





One little kid got up spontaneously and made some moves.

Then one friend joined him, then another.



Eventually more joined in.



Finally everyone got into the act.




We had to get going to downtown Brooklyn, but for all we know, the dancing hasn't stopped yet.


Here's a video of Dr. Drum and Bomba y Plena at Brook Park in the South Bronx over Memorial Day weekend.

And here's Jose Ortiz, aka Dr. Drum, and BombaYo, presented with the Yin Yang award in recognition of his inspiration, passion and daring to go beyond by R.Evolución Latina, a collective of artists and activists committed to empowering the artistic community in order to inspire growth within the Latino Community through collaboration, productions, and educational support programs.

We were very impressed.