art we love :: a great day in brooklyn

Summer in NYC means that people are out in the parks, pools, beaches and dance floors across the city. One of my favorite places to hang in the summer is Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Not only is there a great park to BBQ and meet friends but all the friends you want to see just happen to be around. This was an understatement last month when over 100 artists were asked to participate in a historic photograph and documentary, A Great Day in Brooklyn.

If you’re a jazz or photography fan then you’ve probably heard of the photo entitled “A Great Day in Harlem” which gathered 57 of the top jazz musicians in 1958. The photo taken by Art Kane captures some of the all time greats such as Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and Horace Silver. With this photo as a source of inspiration for the founder and photographer, KalaLea, she set out to gather all of artists and entrepreneurs she has met while living and working in Fort Greene. All commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the original photograph.

Everywhere you turned you saw musicians, producers, DJs, vocalists, photographers, dancers, actors, designers, and film makers who have “influenced the Brooklyn arts community and in turn have made a significant impact in other parts of the world.” The day was sunny, humid and hot but nothing a cool breeze, a cold drink and a vegan cupcake couldn’t fix.

I loved seeing so many of my DJ colleagues representing – Spinna, Reborn, Dhundee, MKL, Missbehaviour – not to mention all the other wonderful artists present – Sol, Sarah White, Jamal Shabazz, Ray Bangs, Ferentz Lafargue, Ngozi, Asen James, NiLea’P and the list goes on and on.

For more information, make sure to check out the website – A Great Day In Brooklyn!

photos & words by Moni Pineda

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 7:07 AM and is filed under FWL BLOG and tagged with art, brooklyn, dhundee, dj, dj moni, djs, documentary, fort greene, frentz lafargue, friends we love, friendswelove.com, FWL BLOG, jamal shabazz, kalalea, love, mike vargas, missbehaviour, mkl, moni, moni pineda, music, new york, ngozi, nilea'p, nuyorktricity, photo, photography, ray bangs, reborn, sarah white, sol, spinna, web series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.