Governor Preferring Goliath Image?

You can call him Governor — but many do not. You can call him Mr. Paterson, though fewer do. You can even, under 18th-century protocol, call him Your Excellency, but it does not appear anyone ever has.

Just be careful calling him David.

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HW Pick: Fairway by Thomas Collins

Photography

Fairway, Manhattanville, New York, December 24, 2009. By Thomas Collins (iPh4n70M), photostream on www.flickr.com

New Years at Minton’s in Harlem

Event

Celebrate New Year’s Eve with us!

$30 admission buys you champagne, dinner, and music as we ring in 2010!

To purchase tickets, email us at info@mintonsuptown.com or swing by the club to buy tickets.

We’d like to thank all of you for your support this year.  2009 was certainly eventful for the club, and we appreciate all of the support and love we’ve received from the fans.

We’ll be sure to keep the music going in 2010 and beyond!

You can always visit us on the web at www.mintonsuptown.com.  Any questions or comments, drop us a line at info@mintonsuptown.com.

Sincerely,

Uptown Lounge at Minton’s Playhouse

Where Americans Aren’t Moving?

.2 New York

Net loss: 98,178 residents

Like California, New York is, historically, a major exporter of it citizens. The state depends upon foreign migration for its population growth. But also like California, New York’s out-migration eased in the year ended July 1.

In 2006, nearly a quarter million more people left the state than moved in, two and a half times the 2009 total.

Photo: JupiterImages, Long Island, NY

The state has not gone through the same housing crisis that engulfed bubble states. The unemployment rate is lower than the nation as a whole and foreclosure problems have been relatively minor.

Still, New York is the decade’s biggest loser: The state a total of 1,686,583 residents, more than anywhere else.

Community Helps Restore Harlem Tennis Court

Cause

HW found this story of the Interactive One and Black Planet’s staff who recently lent a hand in helping restore the McCombs tennis court in Harlem on 150th Street and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., (aka 7th Avenue), where Althea Gibson learned to play.

See what happened and how you can get involved in Harlem’s community service (like Harlem CARES).

HW Pick: Making of a Maasai

World

Loita in Maasai land, where one man who obtained a masters degree from the United Kingdom is back home on a brand new quest.

With his academic certificate safely in the bag, Samson Lenjir embarked a grueling two-days of rituals in his ancestral village. And as Rita Tinina reports, the KWS Warden finally got the power to lead.

Palm Pre vs HTC Hero: Dogfight

Technology

A preview of the happy dilemma facing Sprint customers this Winter?

Could be. Noah pits the Palm Pre vs the HTC Hero in part one of the latest PhoneDog Dogfight!

Vaughn Harper and Friends in Harlem

Event

Legendary radio personality Vaughn Harper and a host of friends traveled uptown for a special celebrity toy drive benefitting Harlem Dowling West Side Center for Children and Family Service.  The event, which took place at Gospel Uptown, was hosted by WBLS-FM’s own Dr. Bob Lee, collected a wealth of donated toys and gift items for the numerous children and family members Harlem Dowling Service. 

Sheena Wright: Major Player in Harlem’s Real Estate Game

Depending on your perspective, the walk that Sheena Wright takes to her office each day on Harlem’s commercial corridor, 125^th Street, represents progress or the death of a community. The abandoned lots that were once weed-filled eyesores now house condominiums and retail chains. Of course, many longtime Harlemites are hard pressed to afford skyrocketing rents.

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The end of the Boys Choir of Harlem

News

From Ed D.

For more than three decades, they sang Mozart in Latin, Bach in German, and Cole Porter and Stevie Wonder in English, from Alice Tully Hall in New York to Royal Albert Hall in London.

For the audiences that marveled at the Boys Choir of Harlem, it was an additional wonder that the young performers with world-class voices had emerged from some of the most difficult neighborhoods of New York. December was always a busy month, as the choir toured the country’s premier concert halls and appeared on television Christmas specials.

But this year, the boys are nowhere to be found. Last week, Terrance Wright, a 39-year-old choir alumnus, picked up a microphone in front of the altar of Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem, the choir’s last home, and delivered news that surprised few people but saddened many.

Warhol’s Final (best) Years

Art

“Warhol’s final years, was the beginning of my years working at Interview Magazine” – Daniel Tisdale

Andy Warhol is undeniably America’s most celebrated artist, but he is also one of its most misunderstood. Nearly everyone knows Warhol for his Pop Art paintings of Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe, while others acknowledge him for launching the rock band The Velvet Underground; making avant-garde films, such as Lonesome Cowboys and Trash; and founding Interview magazine.

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Another Holiday in Shadows

Food

www.womensenews.org

In New York City, a food vendor celebrates her 20th Christmas without the documentation she needs to visit family back in Mexico. To her, the warm rice and hot tamales that she cooks and sells preserve the cultural connection every day.

This Christmas, Maria Lucia marks the 20th year of celebrating the holidays far from many members of her family.

The street vendor in East Harlem has lived in the United States since 1990 but does not have the proper papers to visit Mexico, where much of her extended family lives.

She lives here, with her two children, in an enclave of Manhattan where most of her fellow vendors also are women.

Lucia tends her cart on a stretch of Spanish Harlem along with a dozen or so other women who also sell homemade Mexican breakfast and lunch.

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