Africobra in Chicago Opening at the Dusable Tonite!

Hot Fun In the Summertime!

Flashblacks….

At the… Celebrate Hyde Park Festival
on this previous weekend on 53rd St.....in Hyde Park

I saw a whole...lotta 'Nachals moving & grooving...at the the fest…..

It was all Retro/Nuevo like a good Coffy movie… 

and I was loving every second of it...

'Minded me ..of me.. being back in the Future…

Oops... Black to the Future … 

Sistas were looking all Umm-GAWA BLACK POWER…

Like they just stepped out of a magazine... 

Go on with 'cho BAAAAD Self…Sista!

AA7232013

A Perfect Summer Day In Bronzeville...

A PERFECT SUMMER DAY IN BRONZEVILLE…                    

This weekend in Bronzeville was off 2 a flow….Finally… 

I was looking out on Muddy Waters Drive… just chilaxing..

The orange day lilies and yellow daffodils had finally bloomed 

and I was into my  Zen…

Bronzeville is always beautiful in summer… 

With its stately Greystone  Mansions and the older trees moving gently in the breeze…. 

There are pots of flowers on many of the porches...

There's always the sound of some music as a car flows down the boulevards…

bumping some hip hop…or playing some smooth jazz... 

Somewhere  you can hear the the hum of a mower…… 

and smell the fresh  aroma of grass being cut… 

In Bronzeville ... in Chi-town... as the weekends morph into holidays….   

there's  always the smell of some Bar-B-Q  being cooked  somewhere…

on someone's grill ..all day.

On this Saturday morn…of 6-29-2013

I was walking my dog … my crazed ...Jack Russell Terrier who is "all that" …. 

All of a 35 lb.  combination of 'Marmaduke and Killer'…(at least in his mind) 

who was pulling at his leash…

and sniffing out all the spots  to leave his territorial mark on Bronzeville's dogworld….

We walked and chugged along as I picked up the trash from…

Bronzeville's  most beautiful acreage...  

The lots…the lots that I call the Lord's Gardens…

These Summer days…

When the summer rolls in, these dirt and rock filled vacant lots sprinkled throughout Bronzeville revert back to their  'Checagou' roots' transforming  them into prairies of wildflowers and weeds….

And to add to  the excitement of it all…in these summer days of 2013…. 
right here in my urban neighborhood….  

I've seen raccoons and possums and rabbits!.. Oh my!

Lately…these prairie gardens have become so lush with vegetation and undomesticated creatures darting in and out that… sometimes…. 
in my mind.... I feel like I'm on a Bronzevillian Serengeti.

   I was into my Zen… 

          my Native American mindset of being one with Mother Earth… 

of seeing green... 

and being at peace with the Earth…

It is a mindset that I pull from 

my African-American and Native American spirit...

 or  what I call my my Afro-Mestizo  生Life示Spirit…. 

I was into my celebration and appreciation of Mother Earth...

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. 

So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. 

Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. 

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. 

If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. 

All of  a sudden ….as I was looking on Muddy Waters Drive….(43rd St.)

I heard the music  jumping 

and I knew they were rolling….

Here they came… 

It was the  bikers rolling on….The  Historic Bronzeville  Bike Tour*….

(*The  Historic Bronzeville  Bike Tour is an annual bike tour through  the Bronzeville neighborhood sponsored by the Bronzeville Area Residents and Commerce Council (BARCC).

The tour of 2013 marked their 10th Annual tour of Bronzeville.

This year's tour highlights included the  Bronzeville Information Center (BVIC), 

the home of  trumpeter, 'Satchmo' Louis Armstrong home, 

the Nat King Cole home, 

Chess Records/Blues Heaven,

The Forum Building , 

the Quinn Chapel AME Church, 

the Grichard Gallery ,

the Dawson/Hybrid Garden,

Chicago's Chicken  & Waffles
Munchies/ Mississippi Rick's  

and the Welcome Inn B&B

A historical marker  notes the  home of  singer, pianist, Nat King Cole.

The  home of  singer, pianist, Nat King Cole at  4023 S Vincennes.

A historical marker notes the home of trumpeter and Jazz Ambassador, 

'Satchmo' Louis Armstrong.

The home of trumpeter and Jazz Ambassador, 
'Satchmo' Louis Armstrong 

at 421 East 44th St. in Bronzeville, Chicago.

And the bikers were rolling....

They were rolling down 43rd St.  a.k.a. Muddy Waters Drive….

 Down to where the two streets that intersect are named after two great Black men! ....

 Bluseman,  Muddy Waters and Nobel Peace Prize winner,  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

So... I got my Mojo ♪♫♬working.... 
and decided to join the roll through Bronzeville on the Historic Bike Tour!

The bikers were rolling on... to  43rd and Calumet to  the new art  installation  on at the Forum building and beyond….

And as they were rolling by, I decided that I had to roll out ...to catch up with them…

What an amazing experience it was.... just to roll through my neighborhood... 

and to see it with fresh eyes…

On this tour...to roll down the streets of Bronzevillle was simply an exquisite experience! 

To see… 

To see... the older elegant architecture of Grand Boulevard 
(King Drive), Oakwood Boulevard and Michigan Avenue 
mixed with newly restored, rehabbed and new homes, 
is like seeing the community come out a long winter sleep....

To see... the transformative spirit of lawns  and landscaping and flowers and freshly cut grass as opposed to weeds, is like a breath of fresh air for a community that has been kept littered and unkempt for  far too long....

To meet...

It was interesting to meet  some of Bronzeville's old and new residents....its stakeholders

To hear.. about the struggles of homeowners and elders who have spent their years growing up in Bronzeville and to learn about how they view its present and future..

To hear ...about the historic vision of those who blazed the trail in Bronzeville…

during the Great Migration of African Americans to Chicago.. and beyond..

To hear....about the businessmen and women who invested in this Historic Black Metropolis..

To stop in  at some of  Bronzeville's  established and new businesses and to meet their business owners.... 

To meet  a variety people from many  diverse cultures and ages who have moved here to be a part of Bronzeville's future..

To stop... and see the new gardens in Bronzeville... 

To take a look ...at the rehab work that  many homeowners have done... 

To learn about...  Bronzeville's  Musicians,  Artists and Cultural messengers...
To see the Bronzeville Walk of Fame 

To get a sense of ...Bronzeville's rich history  and  a glimpse into Bronzeville's future ....

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All photographs and video by Aki Antonia c2013