Out & About NYC Magazine was founded to offer the arts and lifestyle enthusiast a fresh new look at New York City. We will showcase the established and the emerging, the traditional and the trendy. And we will do it with élan, and panache with a dash of fun.

2/22/15 O&A Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company Begin New York City Season at the Joyce

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Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company begin a one week New York City season Tuesday, February 24 through Sunday, March 1 at the Joyce Theater. The season will mark the 30th anniversary of the company. To commemorate this milestone the company will present two programs of Brown’s signature work.  Continue reading

2/22/15 O&A Gospel Sunday: The Canton Spirituals

GOSPEL SUNDAY

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The Canton Spirituals are regarded as pioneers in the genre of traditional gospel music. Founded in Canton, Mississippi in 1943, the original Canton Spirituals were Reverend I.S. Watkins, Claude “Bubba” Nichols, Warren G. Ward, Isaac Bolton, Eddie Jackson, Theo Thompson, Roscoe Lucious and founder Harvey Watkins, Sr. (December 5, 1929 – November 16, 1994). The present group is fronted by Watkins’ son, Harvey Watkins Jr., and consists of Cornelius Dwayne Watkins, Billy Voss, David Curry, Merlin Lucious, Shannon Lee, and Rodrick Jones.

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2/21/15 O&A Its Saturday: Pat Cleveland

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Pat Cleveland is a trailblazing international model.  One of the first black supermodels she rose to prominence in the 1970’s. Cleveland was a muse to the designers Halston and regularly opened his fashion shows. She also regularly appeared in the shows of Yves Saint Laurent and Stephen Burrows. Continue reading

2/20/15 O&A Shall We Dance Friday: Dances From The Cotton Club

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Out and About NYC Magazine is proud to present three dance and music clips from the legendary Cotton Club. Opened in 1923, the Cotton Club on 142nd St & Lenox Ave in the heart of Harlem, New York. The Cotton Club was operated by white New York gangster Owney Madden who used the club as an outlet to sell his alcohol to the prohibition crowd. 

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The Cotton Club at first excluded all but white patrons although the entertainers and most of staff were African-American.  Dancers at the Cotton Club were held to strict standards; they had to be at least 5’6” tall, light-skinned with only a slight tan, and under twenty-one years of age.

The Apollo Dancer sat the Cotton Club Revue in 1938.

Shows at the Cotton Club were musical reviews that featured dancers, singers, comedians, and variety acts, as well as a house band. Duke Ellington led that band from 1927 to 1930, and sporadically throughout the next eight years. The Cotton Club and Ellington’s Orchestra gained national notoriety through weekly broadcasts on radio station WHN some of which were recorded and released on albums. In this clip Duke Ellington and his orchestra perform  Rockin in Rhythm & Bugle Call Rag with dancers Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill from 1933.

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Cotton Club Dancers Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill

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The entertainers who played at the Cotton Club were some of the most widely known blues and jazz performers of their time including Cab Calloway. This is one of Cab’s broadcasts from The Cotton Club in the 30’s after Duke Ellington took to touring on the road. They later became co- house bands at the club.

Cab ( Cotton Club) Calloway 1934 Zaz Zuh Zaz

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Elegant black show girls ditch Opera for Jazz as they get seduced by a hot jazz tune in Red Hot. You’ve never seen this kind of action from the 1930s main stream Hollywood before, it was cut by the Hays Code. Red Hot stars Dorothy Salter and Maurice Rocco.

Red Hot 1930s Cotton Club Show

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The Silver Belles of Harlem are dancers who performed at the Cotton Club during its heyday era. Group members include Marion Coles, Elaine Ellis, Cleo Ellis, Fay Ray, and Bertye Lou Wood were featured in the 2006 documentary directed by Heather Lyn MacDonald, entitled Been Rich All My Life.

Been Rich All My Life

2/19/15 O&A Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company- 30 Years In The Making (Part One)

By Walter Rutledge

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Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company will celebrate the 30 anniversary of the company February 24 through March 1 at the Joyce Theater. Brown realized his gift as a choreographer and his desire to express him by making dances at the  beginning of his dance career. At age 19, when most dance artists are concentrating on performing, Brown formed Evidence Continue reading

2/19/15 O&A Throwback Thursday: TLC

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TLC was a girl group whose repertoire spanned R&B, hip hop, soul, funk and new jack swing. TLC originally comprised singer Tionne T-Boz Watkins, rapper Lisa Left Eye Lopes and singer Rozonda Chilli Thomas. The group was very successful in the 1990s and early 2000s in spite of numerous spats with the law, each other, and the group’s record label and management. Continue reading

2/18/15 O&A Wildin Out Wednesday: Eartha Kitt as The Catwoman on Batman’s TV Series

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Eartha Kitt took over the role of Catwoman in 1967 for the third and final season of the Batman television series. She replacing the statuesque Julie Newmar. Kitt’s  perrrrrrfectly delightful cat purr helped make the role truly her own.  Continue reading

2/17/15 O&A Reposted: Lloyd Knight 2012 Conversation

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During the 2012 New York City season of the Martha Graham Dance Company soloist Lloyd Knight was recovering from an injury. His name was listed in the program, but Knight was unable to perform. After a year of rigorous therapy his persistence and patience paid off and by the summer of 2012 Knight was again in rehearsal. Continue reading

2/17/15 O&A Inspirational Tuesday: 2014 ESPYS Stuart Scott Jimmy V Perseverance Award (Full Speech)

Inspirational-Tuesday

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Stuart Scott shares his emotional battle with cancer receiving the 2014 Jimmy V Perseverance Award. He follows Jimmy V’s motto to “Never give up”. Continue reading

(Repost) 11/16/20 O&A HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: Cotton Comes To Harlem- Iris, Officer Jerema and the Paper Bag

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Cotton Comes to Harlem was the beginning of short period in American film that featured black actors in leading roles and the themes dealt with issues from the African-American microcosm. With a screenplay by Arnold Perl and Ossie Davis, and directed by Davis this action drama represents the black prospective. Much of the film’s humor is urban black comedy, which was groundbreaking in 1970.

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