Harlem Stage Announce Their Feb 2010 Music/Film Events

FILM

Wednesday, February 3
761ST
A film by Pete Chatmon

7:30 pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (at West 135th St.)

Tickets: Free; RSVP required at www.HarlemStage.org or 212.281.9240, ext. 19 or 20

What the Tuskegee Airmen were to the skies, members of the 761st were to land, requested by General George S. Patton to assist with heavy fighting during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. The 761st was the first unit to enlist African-American soldiers to operate armored vehicles. Soldiers in its Tank Battalion fought for 183 consecutive days in six countries with great success, in the face of a 50-percent casualty rate. Despite these accomplishments, the Battalion did not receive its due credit until 1978, when President Carter issued the Presidential Unit Citation to them. Twelve 761st soldiers recount their experience in the United States Army, fighting for a freedom overseas they did not enjoy in America. Screening followed by a Q&A with Pete Chatmon and a reception. Part of the Harlem Stage on Screen series. Presented by Harlem Stage and co-presented by Black Documentary Collective.

MUSIC

Wednesday, February 10
HARLEM STAGE WATERWORKS SERIES PRESENTS
HOLDING IT DOWN: SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
by Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd

7:30 pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (at West. 135th St.)

Tickets: $15 at HarlemStage.org

Red-hot jazz musician/composer Vijay Iyer and celebrated poet Mike Ladd launch Holding it Down: Songs of Experience, a new work of music and poetry commissioned by Harlem Stage's WaterWorks program. Iyer and Ladd collaborated directly with young American war veterans of color initially developing a series of short performances from interviews with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The artists have now built an evening-length performance (also slated to become an album), woven from their testimonies into a mix of music, poetry, video and song. At its core, Holding It Down considers what it means for soldiers of color to move from a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically complex American context to the international context of war - and what it means when they return home. Co-presented with the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University and the Columbia/Harlem Jazz Project.Commissioned and presented by the Harlem Stage WaterWorks program.

Saturday, February 27
UPTOWN NIGHTS AT HARLEM STAGE PRESENTS
VAN HUNT featuring TreZure and DJ Cosi

7:30 pm at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (at West 135th St.)

Tickets: $25 at HarlemStage.org

In anticipation of his 2010 release, Grammy Award-winner Van Hunt graces the stage for an unforgettable Uptown Nights event. Hunt and his powerhouse band present classics from his albums, "Van Hunt," "On the Jungle Floor," "Use In Case of Emergency," and the unreleased "Popular." Opening the evening is alternative-soul songstress TreZure and DJ Cosi, of NY's famed Freedom Party, who provide seamless blends of ‘70s and ‘80s funk, pop, hip-hop, reggae, afro-beat, house and R&B classics. Part of the Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage series.

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