Does anyone here besides me have the album "When the Funk Hits the Fan" by our internationally renowned neighbor King Britt? He has an intro to a song that takes place in an imaginary (or maybe it existed at one point?) jazz club....he says, "Welcome to West Philly's own Cosmic Lounge." He had to go to London (LONDON!!!) to have a night by this name actually materialize. And who here, by a show of hands, knows that Friends of Clark Park board member Ursula Rucker is now a front-page-earning international sensation for her poetry? I'm not her biggest fan, but she is shining a lot of light on our neighborhood. Who else knows that Oba Funke, an African transplant in West Philly working with King, has had 2 releases on Karma Giraffe, one of the coolest of the cool nu-jazz record labels? Ever heard of Vikter Duplaix? Well, you're about to. And whoever doesn't know what The Roots have brought to Philly ought to get on the web and see, or move to Blandville Greens right this instant.
What, praytell, is my point? West Philly residents should know that our little neighborhood is considered around the world to be a bubbling birthplace of cool. Not just Philly as a whole, which is regarded with reverence for our funk scene in the 70s, but West Philly in particular with its grit and color. I can't tell you how many times I've been chatting with some fancy-pants over in the UK who got all excited when I told them where I was from. Attempts to squash creativity here or make UC into a homogeneous Bryn Mawr where "community" only means "my kind of community" is a real threat to the fabric of our neighborhood. On the other hand, it can be so easy to work out comprimises where everybody wins. I want to have music in Clark Park, you want it clean. So I play music, then clean the park. Easy. Everybody's happy. It seems odd that I do all the work and only get the permission to do it unharassed in return, but hey, that's the status quo at the moment. I sing the praises of this place high and low to people all over the world via the internet. What do you think I brag about? Do you think it's the power of local residents to rat out their neighbors or coerce them into acting or keeping their houses a ceratin way? Why, no, it's not. I brag about the fact that I can walk 5 mintues and get a huge bag of curry and a $.50 samosa. I brag about the community gardens, farmer's markets, the political activism, the international eats, the impromptu capoeira sessions, the trolleys and bikes, the Martin Luther King/Malcolm X mural, the general sense of freedom and diversity. I brag about dreadlocked hippies playing ball with cornrowed half-pints in Clark Park. I brag that you're as likely to meet a green-party-sympathizing astro physicist as a Fubu'd out struggling reggae artist. Or even a combination of the 2...maybe a student at West Philly high working on a solar car to enter in this year's Tour de Sol? (oh yes... see http://www.nesea.org/transportation/tour/philadelphia.html) That I have access to fresh yucca, and that living here has given me a little urban toughness. Our neighborhood has so much beauty brimming and I just can't believe my ears when I hear about people who want to create themselves a bubble rather than grow a thicker skin, and who don't even know the treasures they live amongst. West Philly is not a place to try to build an isolation tank or a picture-perfect anything, unless you consider a little entropy to be inherently beautiful, which I do. I'm shocked and embarrassed to hear that there are neighbors who would rather have an empty lot than the potential for music, who would rather rat each other out over aesthetic differences than deal with it personally, chalk it up to city living, or just move to place that's more tolerant of intolerance. My point is just to encourage people to look around and see the amazing beauty and ENTERPRISE! and potential for growth in some of the things that are so often unfairly construed as detriments and decay. Don't lump music, murals, and purple houses in with Napoleon Whatshisname and open drug deals. Because, in fact, the former are some of our greatest treasures. On Tue, 23 Apr 2002, David Miller wrote: > I can't help but agree with the sentiment that what Ucity really lacks are > more outlets with live music on a regular basis. I personally welcome the > proposed changes to the Track and Turf. It would be nice to not have to go to > CC to have a beer and hear a band (or vice versa). > > David > ---- > You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the > list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see > <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. > ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
