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BOOKS BLOG |
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City Kid, Nelson George in Brooklyn April 8th and more news
By Nelson | april 6, 2010 | 3 comments
Spring/Summer 2010 is looking busy for the good folks at my company
Urban Romances with book, TV, film and internet projects on their way.
Thanks for checking out what's up at Urban Romances.
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success,
my memoir of growing up in New York City, has just been [...]
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Kingston: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 2 comments
BLACKATLAS.COM – KINGSTON,
JAMAICA
Kingston, Jamaica has a
tough reputation that dates back to the bloody political turmoil of the ‘70s
and the crack wars of the ‘80s. Even dancehall, the hot music that has replaced
traditional reggae as the island’s chief musical export, has a deservedly edgy
vibe. Before I headed down to Jamaica’s capitol I had all kinds of [...]
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Montego Bay: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 4 comments
BLACKATLAS.COM – MONTEGO
BAY
It is near Midnight as I
sit on the roof of a floating restaurant called the Houseboat Grill. The air is
warm and soft, and moonlight bounces off the lagoon’s placid surface. The menu
is filled with tasty Jamaican approaches to seafood. Standing on the deck below
you can look into the lagoon and see frisky fish [...]
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Toronto: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 2 comments
BLACKATLAS.COM - TORONTO
Where is the biggest
Caribbean street fair in North America? Brooklyn? Maybe District of Columbia or
Miami? Nope. It’s up across the Canadian border in the cosmopolitan city on
Lake Ontario called Toronto.
While you first thought
when you hear the name Toronto is probably hockey, Canuck accents and cold
weather, the reality of this city is much [...]
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London: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | Post a comment
BLACKATLAS.COM – LONDON
I’ve been going to London
since the mid-80s and have always enjoyed its vitality, culture and people. Its
food – not so much. But within the last decade the food in this great
metropolis has gotten better prepared and more diverse, making a trip to
Londontown more rewarding than ever. This city, once the home base for [...]
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Bay Area / San Francisco: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 1 comment
BLACKATLAS.COM – BAY AREA
When you talk about
African-American history in Northern California, you have to talk about Willie
Brown. He was the first black person to serve as speaker of the California
legislature. In that role, Brown was one of the most powerful people in the
nation's biggest state for 15 years.
After leaving that post he served as the [...]
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Miami: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | Post a comment
BLACKATLAS.COM - MIAMI
As I write these words I
am stretched out on a beach chair overlooking the Miami Bay. The sun hovers
over me but, in the distance I can see dark clouds
slowly rolling my way. Despite
being a busy, well traveled metropolitan area, the skies over Miami are quite
clear and you can spend lazy vacations afternoons watching [...]
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Philadelphia: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | Post a comment
BLACKATLAS.COM –
PHILADELPHIA
Few cities in the United
States have as rich, and still vital, African-American musical tradition as
Philadelphia. Powerful, inspiring music emerged from the city of brotherly love
(and sisterly affection) for decades, from the days of Harold Melvin & the
Bluenotes to Jill Scott’s soulful expressions.
A key figure in this
legacy is Kenny Gamble, one of half of the [...]
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Memphis: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 1 comment
BLACKATLAS.COM - MEMPHIS
On the night of April 4,
1968 I walked into the kitchen of my family’s Brooklyn apartment and joined my
mother as she sat in front of a black & white TV with tears in her eyes.
Together we watched the a news broadcast about the assassination of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. at the Lorraine Motel [...]
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Los Angeles: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | Post a comment
BLACKATLAS.COM - LOS ANGELES
For me there is Hollywood
and there is Los Angeles, two closely linked but distinctly different
places. When I fly to LA to do
business a spend a lot of my time in Hollywood, not the geographic area, but an
entertainment business state of mind, which encompasses a lot of buildings,
restaurants, clubs and sound stages.
So the [...]
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Barcelona: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 2 comments
BLACKATLAS.COM - BARCELONA
Barcelona – City of
Contrast
By
Nelson George
I’d seen Woody Allen’s
‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’ I’d seen Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Limits of Control.’ I
talked to several friends who’d either lived in or visited Barcelona. So I was
prepared to be disappointed because the city had been hyped in movies, media
and via word of mouth. Could it really be that beautiful [...]
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Milan: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | Post a comment
BLACKATLAS.COM – MILAN
DANCING IN MILAN
By
Nelson George
All of Southern Europe
goes on vacation in August, a very practical thing to do since air conditioning
isn’t nearly as universal as in the States. Milan, one of the world’s fashion
capitals, is particularly hard hit, as designers, craftspeople and models all
head for the beach or the mountains.
So my time in [...]
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Rome: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | Post a comment
BLACKATLAS.COM - ROME
The Eternal City has a
split personality, one that can work to your advantage when traveling there if
you are adventurous and willing to stay up late. On a summer day Rome is a city
of lines, if you want to tour the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Pantheon or any of
the many magnificent architectural marvels of [...]
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Madrid: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 1 comment
BLACKATLAS.COM – MADRID
Before landing in Madrid
my head was filled with visions of bullfights, flamenco and the writer Ernest
Hemingway and, to a great degree, the city did not disappoint. Plaza del Toros,
Madrid’s massive bullfighting ring, is a beautiful structure that host battles
between man and bull Sundays from March to October. Passionate flamenco
performances can be seen nightly [...]
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Chicago: BlackAtlas.com Blog
By Nelson | november 2, 2009 | 2 comments
BLACK ATLAS.COM – CHICAGO
My first trip to Chicago was in February back in 1985 and it
totally fulfilled every stereotype if the city. It was icy cold with wintery
blasts that cut through my coat like a hot knife through butter. Parts of Lake
Michigan were frozen solid and I swear I saw a wild dog scamper across [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid - BK, Philly, Boston & Chicago
By Nelson | may 11, 2009 | 1 comment
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Nelson George's Brooklyn: readings about Brownsville & Ft. Greene with Nelson George and Samson Styles of BET. City Kid books will be available via Mobile Libris. @ [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid - Brooklyn! Brooklyn!
By Nelson | april 27, 2009 | 1 comment
After a book tour that's taken me to Washington DC, the Bay Area and
Los Angeles, I'm back in Brooklyn doing events with the New York Times
at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library and at the Brooklyn
Historical Society. Following up on this local emphasis I'm back
shooting interviews for my documentary on the black artistic [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid - West Coast & NYC events / more videos
By Nelson | april 15, 2009 | 1 comment
As I roll through the West Coast with City Kid thought I'd post some more vids.. Los Angeles resident Akure Wall allowed me to adapt her spoken word piece 'Defying the Linear' a few years back and much of the footage of the then pregnant poet was shot at West Hollywood's Standard Hotel. '4 1/2 [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid - Bay Area & Los Angeles this week!
By Nelson | april 13, 2009 | Post a comment
Though I'm a native New Yorker, the West Coast has played a powerful role in my career and personal life. So I hope you can come out and join me at events in the Bay Area and Los Angeles this week. My schedule follows. Thanks in advance for your kind support.
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009[...]
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Nelson George: City Kid events NYC this week! SF/LA next!
By Nelson | april 6, 2009 | 2 comments
Monday, April 6th, 2009Hue-Man Bookstore 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd btwn 125th & 124th NYC 6pm-8pmTuesday, April 7th, 2009Barnes & Noble Brooklyn Heights 106 Court St btwn State & Schermerhorn BKNY 7pm-9pmWednesday, April 15th, 2009Marcus Bookstore 3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd btwn Brockhurst & 32nd St. Oakland, CA 630pm-830pmThursday, April 16th, 2009Book Soup 8818 Sunset [...]
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NELSON GEORGE: CITY KID in stores now!
By Nelson | april 2, 2009 | Post a comment
After
fifty plus years of life I've published a memoir, City Kid, that looks
at my life, friendships, loves, and sundry projects in print, film and
television. In conjunction with its publication I'm doing readings on
both coasts and posting plenty of content on the web. So come see me in
your town and check out my many videos (and [...]
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CITY KID: BookPage Review
By Nelson | march 20, 2009 | Post a comment
“Living for the City: Nelson George grew up in very different
surroundings, in the projects of Brownsville in Brooklyn, where he and
his kid sister were raised in a single-parent household. City Kid: A
Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success traces George’s
ascent to influential journalist, author (books on hip-hop, Motown and
more) and filmmaker (he is the [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid "Voices Inside My Head" (excerpt)
By Nelson | march 15, 2009 | 2 comments
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul SuccessbyNELSON GEORGEVOICES INSIDE MY HEADWhen
Baker made her New York concert debut at Avery Fisher Hall on the heels
of Rapture, I was in the fourth row. That night she certainly fulfilled
my need for the transcendental. Many in the crowd must have shared my
eagerness to hear her, [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid "Talking Head" (excerpt)
By Nelson | march 8, 2009 | Post a comment
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul SuccessbyNELSON GEORGETALKING HEAD (excerpt)Looking
back, I can see that my career, and that of my eighties peers, was
aided to a great degree by a profound change in white America’s
attitudes toward black creativity. Despite the outright hostility of
the ruling GOP administration toward the poor and people of [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid "Kings from Queens" (excerpt)
By Nelson | march 2, 2009 | Post a comment
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul SuccessbyNELSON GEORGEKINGS FROM QUEENS (excerpt)The
next big hip-hop event I attended was the Sugarhill Convention held at
the Harlem Armory. It was 1981, and rap records were becoming the
hottest items uptown. On the bill were Grandmaster Flash and the
Furious Five, the Treacherous Three, and several other uptown [...]
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Nelson George: City Kid
By Nelson | february 22, 2009 | 8 comments
A mini-doc of Nelson George's upcoming book release: "City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Succes" (April 2009, Viking).
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul SuccessbyNELSON GEORGEIntroductionThis
book is called City Kid because, well, quite honestly I couldn’t
survive in the suburbs or the country. I don’t drive. Malls give me
hives, [...]
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CITY KID: Publishers Weekly Review
By Nelson | january 24, 2009 | Post a comment
City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success Nelson George. Viking, $25.95 (248p) ISBN 978-0-670-02036-2
In his vivid and charming memoir, novelist and screenwriter George (Hip Hop America)
recounts incidents from an eventful life that has ranged from a tough
upbringing by his single mother in Brooklyn in the 1960s to a career of
assorted writing [...]
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Best Music Writing 2008 (DeCapo Press): PowellsBooks.Blog
By Nelson | january 14, 2009 | Post a comment
In honor of editing the Best Music Writing 2008 for DeCapo Press Powell's Book had me as a guest author for their blog the first week of December 2008. My five blogs are titled: The Author as Sociologist and Politcian, The Return of Rhythm and Blues, Sweet Melvin's Baadasssss Song, The Sundance Sofa and Bleak [...]
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Soul Stuff: The James Brown Reader and Soul Cities
By Nelson | may 9, 2008 | Post a comment
There’s a great review of the recently published The James Brown Reader in the LA Times this weekend. Veteran music journalist R.J. Smith gave the book a fantastic write up. Go look it up. There are pictures from party’s for the book held in LA and NY on my Facebook and MySpace pages… In more [...]
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My Life As an Erotic Writer
By Nelson | march 28, 2008 | Post a comment
Though best known as a writer of non-fiction about black culture, I have had a life n the DL as a writer of erotic fiction. My first foray was the swinger novel Show & Tell, which featured, not a love triangle, but a love square with four people involved in a series of erotic encounters. [...]
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