MOG

Urban Renewal The Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is one of those ‘hot” neighborhoods. The scenario-involving lattes, strollers, and distressed ironwork- is familiar to many urban denizens. Like Wicker Park in Chicago (step 7), Uptown in Minneapolis (step9), or The Haight in San Francisco (step 8), Williamsburg (step 3.5) is involved in the 13 step “Hot Cycle.”

The copy written formula for neighborhood gentrification is listed herein: 1. Artists and Musicians move in from downtown because yuppies have built condos where their lofts were. 2. The artists’ friends build coffee shops and turn old neighborhood bars into restaurants and nightclubs. The weekly papers take notice and herald a revival 3. Boutiques open and curious, rich, and in-the-know downtowners come a spendin’. 4. Original residents move out. 5. Yuppies or their 2K2 equivalents move in. 6. Trees get planted, schools improve, and attics get skylights. 7. Chain stores open. 8. Property values go up. 9. Artists get rich selling paintings to yuppies and move back downtown. 10. Yuppies move to suburbs. 11. Property values go down. 12. Area returns to its original state. 13. Rinse, Lather, repeat step 1. In 1986 Williamsburg was between steps 12 and 13, that is to say, not in great shape. That is when I met a cat named Fila. Born a stray, to the hardscrabble streets of a tough Brooklyn neighborhood in the midst of a crack epidemic, Fila was taken in by my college best friend and his roommates. The cat had a shiny jet black coat and his adopters outfitted him with a collar emblazoned with the sneaker company logo that gave him his name. Considering where he grew up, it was no surprise that Fila was nervous, untrusting, and mean. My friends, interested in harnessing his ferocity, were able to train Fila to become an attack kitty. More on that later. The mid-eighties were not necessairily a great time for Williamsburg, but they were the Golden Age of Hip Hop. Freddy Fresh-B Boy Stance captures that old school vibe to perfection. Jazzy Jay, Scott LaRock, JVC Force, and a crate full of classics are presented here by a cat who was there in the beginning. Although I met him in Minneapolis, at the late, great Northern Lights record shop, he had spent a number of years in The Bronx, and it shows. In fact, if you look at the shout out’s on BDP’s-Criminal Minded, you’ll see Freddy Fresh. One night back in the day, my friend and I went to a club in Manhattan call The Latin Quarter. After a long night of debauchery there, some food, and an extra long train ride back to Brooklyn (from whence the Beastie Boys get their , No Sleep til Brooklyn song idea, I think), we were wiped out. As I stumbled toward my sleeping accommodations for the night/day (a very short wire mesh, with thin pillow couch), I reached for the light switch and….BAM, FILA ATTACKED. The crazed, but by now trained-to-attack-any-idiot-who-dared-to-turn-on-the-light-in-his-house, cat had run from the other side of the apartment, jumped four feet in the air, and scratched the beejesus out of my hand. We are talking measureable blood loss here, but I was too tired to fight, so I slept. Fila and I did have words the next day, but I patched my hand and came to a compromise with the cat: You don’t scratch me and I will respectfully and ever-so-quietly flick your light switches. Things were better between us after that and in later years, after a conversion to Islam (Aknad was Fila’s Muslim name), the former hellcat mellowed considerably. In fact toward the end of his days he retired to New Jersey. Clarance Clemon’s- temple of Soul-Live in Asbury park is a record that has New Jersey written all over it. The BIG MAN recorded his band at the infamous Stone Pony, where he and THE BOSS started their careers. Songs include 7 Clemons originals and the Springsteen penned, “Small Things”. Blues, Latin and jazz flourishes make Live in Asbury Park, what Mr. Clemon’s calls”his best record to date.” Other October highlights include new music from Coolio- El Cool Magnifico, Club His Vol.1, a veritable plethora of the biggest club hits of the new millennium (As seen on TV), Meat Beat Manifesto- R.O.U.K?, featuring Z-trip and Alex Patterson, and many,many others you will find described elsewhere in this beautifully redesigned opus de journalism/promotion. Things are a whole lot different than they were in 1986, heck, they are a whole lot different than they were in 2001, but mercifully, it is quiet in New York tonight. One year after the noisiest and most chaotic day in my, and a lot of other people’s lives, it is nice to take a deep breath and get ready to go on. The President is going to be at The UN tomorrow, so I am definitely not going into Manhattan. I hope to see you on the highways and in the record stores of lovely Long Island, and as for Fila,may he rest in peace. Cody B 9-11-02