Cake Man Raven Celebration in Fort Greene

So this past weekend I felt the pull of summer sun and wandered down Fulton Street...

And as I am likely to do, I walked right into the middle of a big ol' something.
The details are below, check out the pics and video:

My approach and discovery...


Battle of the Bands!

A view of the parading Marching Band "The Approaching Storm"

The "Brooklyn Steppers" set up to "The Approaching Storm" and the battle is joined!

A Brooklyn Honoree shares the stage with Boro Pres. Marty Markowitz,
Cake Man Raven & Councilwoman Leticia James

I'd forgotten that it was the day of the celebration and block party in honor of neighborhood residents and Fort Green's own "Cake Man Raven" shop on it's 8th anniversary.

So as I walked to the Habana Outpost or as friends and I call it "the lunch room"I came upon an overflowing sea of people, traffic being redirected, and the sights and sounds of marching band battle.

In the midst of the pomp and circumstance there was Borough Pres. Marty and Fort Green Councilwoman Leticia James, as well as of course the Cake Man Raven.

And to my surprise and delight one of those marching bands was none other than "The Approaching Storm" who I first ran into a few weeks back as they played an impromptu midnight set on the Streets of Bed-Stuy. They in the blue uniforms were joined in a band battle with the yellow-clad "Brooklyn Steppers"

Now I have to confess, though I am "BrooklynBorn" and have lived in Fort Green, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy and Prospect and Crown Heights among other bk neighborhoods for over three decades, I did at one point think I had experienced much of what there was to Brooklyn, and I left the country. Not too extreme, right?

That was in 2000 which was when the Cake Man Raven set up shop, so to this day I am a little behind on my Cake Man knowledge. To improve that I basically try to eat as much Cake Man Raven Red Velvet cake as I can (to see if it improves my historical awareness) but the only thing getting bigger is this Brooklyn Born belly of mine.

I pulled from the Cake Man's website and found that among many culinary accomplishments the Cake Man Raven is originally from Harlem, (Uptown, Uptown!) and has won awards all over South Carolina and additionally he's created confections for the Grammy Awards and Patti LaBelle.

It was really amazing to see the intersection of Hanson and South Oxford transformed with a full stage and attendant audience. My mind started to wander back to the days when a carnival used to be held on the land that is now Atlantic Commons. All those newly built homes on either side of Cumberland were only built around 1994 prior to that the entire area was an open barren field most of the time, except in the late summer when the carnival came. That's probably a story I should get into deeper someday. My mind also drifted to the opening or re-opening of Cuyler Gore park, that tiny little triangle of parkland between Green Av., Fulton St. and Carlton Av. There was a big rededication when that park was restored which I remember because it was about 1981 and I was a Cub Scout whose troop was part of ceremony. We were told Mayor Koch was supposed to come for the open and he never did. I guess pols today have a better appreciation for how an appearance or lack-there-of can form memories.


I didn't stay distracted for long. The music, people, pageantry, warm weather and sunshine snapped me right back and if that weren't enough, some young brothers came by with free Red Velvet cupcakes. And ya know what? Just as the box came my way a group of old ladies bum-rushed and all I got was a good look. But a good look it was.

Putnam Parade: A real life BK Drumline the written account

I'm frequently lucky enough to fall into interesting things which is one of the main reasons I created this blog. My favorite of these experiences are the kinds of things that can only happen in Brooklyn. For example;

It was late, near midnight and I was making my way home, down Fulton St. Seemingly out of nowhere I heard a series of booms. I couldn't decide whether the sounds were thunder or yet another hyperactive set of car speakers. Although there were clouds in the night sky, there was a syncopated flow to the pounding percussion that suggested another sonic source. Ahead of me at an intersection stood a group of teenaged girls. They were standing, jabbering and alternating between looking at each other and pointing across the street toward something I couldn't see. As soon as traffic cleared the girls, giggled and sprinted across the street. By now I was at the intersection too, and that's when a series of "BOOMs" exploded.

What I saw was a crowd of people standing in a bumpy semicircle around the corner store at the intersection of Putnam and Grand Avenues (basically several inches away from the corner of Putnam and Fulton streets for those any trying to picture the location) And I have to say with a little embarrassment that my comprehension of the scene were totally confused. It was night near midnight to be exact. The focus of the crowd gathered seemed a corner store of the type familiar to anyone who's experienced New York city streets on a more than few occasions.

With its solid loud san-serif lettered awning whose primary colors (mostly yellow) express their inventory of unfortunately frequent street staples of beer soda and cigarettes, it's bulletproofed 24 hour service window and outer walls covered in weathered ads for Newports, these types of corner stores are far from upscale markets and at the same time they are vital spots in many neighborhoods that don't have better options. Also unfortunate is in many neighborhoods, these stores are the backdrop for street drama and street crisis often resulting in street crimes.



I have witnessed scenes with crowds like the one I was watching half circle the corner store on Putnam and Grand, and usually when I've these scenes have played out, there was no reason and nobody to smile.

So I was confused because because as I looked around at the faces gathered, everybody was smiling, and the booms were now vibrating over all of us. And I thought,"is that a helmet on that kid? Is he, wait, are all of these kids in uniform? Then the symbols hit me. Not actually, but crashing symbols will snap the presumption out of almost anything. And just like that it became clear. Dressed in silver helmets with blue plumage the style of Roman Centurions, instruments and dancers to boot; the assembled crowd was watching a group of Brooklyn teens performing as a fine marching band and they were putting on a show.


The marching band is called:The Approaching Storm
"The Only Southern Style Band in the North/East"
I hung out for about thirty minutes. It was marvelous, really.
The kids went through their routine with one break that I saw.
Their Band leader, a brother I later met by the name of Sergio (above in red) conducted their music while giving them instruction executing their choreography.
When I asked Sergio why his band was out in the streets near midnight, he explained that the had just come from a meet where they won yet another title, this one in North Carolina. (Their charted bus was parked across the street) Sergio was from the area and wanted to bring the kids back to share their music and victorious mood with the block. As Sergio told me, "People don't think anything good comes from these kids and I want these kids to show what they can do."
The kids looked coolly focused one moment, silly and laid back the next, and overall when they looked at their audience of happily surprised passersby the marching band seemed highly amused and reveling in their spotlight such as it was. Thanks to a constant barrage of camera flashes (mine included) the band's motions were momentarily illuminated and then lost in the alternating street shaodws to dance-clubesque strobe lighting.

But in addition to the impromptu audio visual sensations, what was just as marvelous was to see the crowd of obvious brooklyn new-comers (flip-flops!) crowding elbow to elbow with seasoned block elders and corner kids. Everyone was so enwrapped by the unlikely magic of a full marching band owning a Bedford-Stuyvesant street corner at midnight that they seemed sincerely unaware of how their own often unrelatable lives had converged happily into a magical mutual experience.