INSIDE
Fall for Fela!
Free Coney concert celebrates the Afrobeat pioneer
By Bill Roundy They got the ’beat!
A free concert in Coney Island
will celebrate the music of Fela
Kuti, the Nigerian artist who fused funk
and jazz with African rhythms to create
Afrobeat. “Fela! the Concert,” at the Ford
Amphitheater on July 26, showcases songs
from the biographical Broadway musical
“Fela!,” and has played continuously since
that show closed in 2010, said its musical
director.
“It’s kind of incredible that it still
lives,” said Greg Gonzalez, who also
plays drums in the band. “I feel great
about it. For me, it’s been an amazing
experience.”
It features a 10-piece band, along
with nine performers who both sing and
dance, all working together to create an
incredible show, said the Williamsburg
drummer.
“This band has a lot of really talented
NYC singers and dancers, and I want to
display all their talents,” he said. “We’ve
got a lot of talented musicians, and it’s
going to be damn good show.”
And the dancing is not limited to
the stage — the performers will teach
the audience some African dance moves
during the show.
“We give the audience a quick dance
lesson on shaking your booty,” said
Gonzalez.
The free concert is part of the city’s
Summerstage series, which brings music
to parks across the five boroughs. “Fela!
the Concert” has toured the world,
including a stop at Kuti’s home country
of Nigeria, where they were warmly
received, but the Coney Island concert
will mark the first time the show has
played in New York City. Gonzalez said
that the band members are excited to play
their hometown.
“Playing Summerstage is definitely
a big deal for those of us who are from
here,” he said. “We’re psyched, all of our
friends are coming out, and we’re going
to bring some people on stage.”
Concert-goers who want more of the
Fela Kuti’s music can find similar sounds
throughout Kings County, said Gonzalez.
There are plenty of local bands that play
He’s a jolly good Fela: Singer Duain
Richmond and eight other dancers will
sing the music of Afrobeat pioneer Fela
Kuti in “Fela! the Concert,” at the Ford
Amphitheater on July 26. Aric Thompson
Afrobeat, including Brooklyn acts Antibalas
and Underground System, he said.
“There’s a bunch of little bands, and a
lot of jazz musicians playing Afrobeat,”
said Gonzalez. “Definitely in Brooklyn
it’s still alive.”
The unique music style pioneered by
Kuti has also evolved into new forms
around the world, he added.
“It’s kind of morphed into this new
style they call Afrobeats — with an ‘s’ —
which is pop music with an African and
Caribbean sound,” said Gonzalez. “It’s
become a part of the African Diaspora.”
“Fela! the Concert” at Ford Amphitheater
(3052 W. 21st St. at the Boardwalk in Coney
Island, fordamphitheaterconeyisland.com).
July 26 at 8 p.m. Free.
Your entertainment
guide Page 35
Police Blotter ..........................8
Editorial .................................22
Letters ....................................23
Now on Brownstoner ......... 26
Standing O ............................34
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HEAT WAVE LEADS TO
into her daughter’s crib was the
low point of an already grim
evening.
“I took my fl ashlight and
phone to get her stuffed animal,
and there was this huge mofo
running around in her crib,”
said Kaplan. “I can’t live like
that.”
Many residents fl ed their
homes to take refuge in their
vehicles, basking in the gaspowered
air conditioning, desperate
for relief and a few hours
sleep.
“It was a nightmare man, it
was a nightmare all night,” said
BY CHANDLER KIDD
Service has been restored to
nearly all Con Edison customers
in Brooklyn who were without
power as a result of last
weekend’s brutal heat wave and
Monday night’s thunderstorm.
ConEd had shut off power
in parts of southern Brooklyn
— including Canarsie, Marine
Park, Mill Basin and parts of
Flatbush — around 8:30 p.m.
Sunday night, and some customers
did not have power restored
until Tuesday.
One Georgetown resident
who endured the Sunday night
blackout described a near-apocalyptic
scene of utter darkness,
with the only the visible light
emanating from car headlights
and the lights of emergency vehicles
in the distance, and the
roads pocked by car accidents
— including one at Avenue T
near E. 65th Street, and another
on Avenue N near Ralph
Avenue — as traffi c signals remained
unpowered throughout
“There were so many accidents,”
said Jamie Kaplan,
whose E. 73rd Street home between
avenues L and M lost
power Sunday evening. “All
you saw were accidents and ambulances
and glass on the fl oor.
Everything was pitch black and
we heard gunshots too. We constantly
heard car alarms going
Kaplan said she was up all
night soothing her 19-monthold
daughter, Ellie; the mother
wearing her bathing suit, the
daughters down to diapers —
both drenched in sweat. The
heat was so terrible, she said,
that she preferred the pitch
blackness over lighting candles.
“She was screaming until 3
a.m.,” Kaplan said of her daughter.
“We were dripping, dripping
sweat.”
Adding to the surreal misery
of the night, Kaplan claims
that two-inch-long water bugs
fi lled the streets and invaded
their homes amid the searing
heat. Her discovery that one
massive insect had crawled
Ricky Zawacki, another E. 73rd
Street resident. “I wasn’t able to
sleep. It was atrocious. I had to
stay in my mom’s car with the
AC on.”
Zawacki, who said power to
his block was restored at 11:26
a.m. Monday morning — an
interminable 16 hours following
the blackout’s 7 p.m. start
— was furious to learn that a
power outage in Manhattan
had been corrected after only
six hours.
“How does it take six hours
to reapply electricity to half of
Manhattan — which is huge
the night.
off.”
COURIER L 2 IFE, JULY 26-AUG. 1, 2019 PS
— but where we live it takes
another 16 hours?” Zawacki
railed. “What kind of b------- is
that?”
While each of the fi ve boroughs
were affected by the
blackout, Brooklyn residents
suffered the most, according to
Councilman Chaim Deutsch,
who represents Sheepshead
Bay and other areas who were
affected by the blackout.
“Although my district was
fortunate to be minimally impacted
by power outages these
past few days, Brooklyn as a
whole was hardest hit,” he said.
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