Archive for the ‘Celebrity Points’ category

Franco the Great! (Franco is the “Picasso of Harlem”)

August 11, 2007

My first and second trips to Harlem were, in part, to find the handiwork of Franco the Great.  The local TV show “Cool in Your Code” had done a Harlem show and they had highlighted his work.  His key claim to fame are the murals he has done on the big metal shutters that protect Harlem businesses each night (in fact, they are everywhere in Manhattan; every relatively small storefront seems to have that as their first line of protection against thieves).  His work seems to be relatively immune from grafitti, too.  He does very bright and Black/African themed works.

When I was walking on 125th Street today, I noticed two guys doing some painting.  I looked a little closer and saw that one of them was none other than Franco the Great!  Huzzah!  He took a momentary breather and I asked if he was “the Franco”, he confirmed.  I said that I had seen him on the show and he was surprised.  He said he had never seen it and had no idea that it is still in re-runs.  I told him that I might have it on my DVR and, if so, would get him a copy.  Alas, it isn’t one of the ones I’ve saved.

He seems a terrific guy and was happy to pose.

Franco the Great!!!!

Here’s what he was working on.

Franco the Great working on 125th Street mural

He pointed me to a nearby store (Half and Half?) where he has an inside mural. 

Franco the Great indoor mural

Wonderful stuff.  He does have a website:  http://francothegreat.com/index.html

-H

Why are my ankles famous?

July 15, 2007

This is an inside joke from one of my previous “adventures” in Manhattan.  One thing that I’ve found out about myself is that I pretty much enjoy parades.  Not so much for the parades, but for what happens in them and the general aura of people-watching that it brings out in me. 

On April 22, 2007, I went to the Greek Independence Day Parade held on Fifth Avenue and found myself standing next to two incredibly cute twin girls about 4 or 5 years old.  They were dressed in traditional Greek outfits and their parents had them sitting on the curb.  The parents, apparently Greek in origin, taught the girls to cry out “Zito Elada”, which apparently is the phrase-of-the-day for that parade.  At first, the girls were a little quiet but, after encouragement from their parents, discovered that yelling out “Zito Elada” brought them lots of attention and they liked it.  The attention was such that people in the parade, including official-type photographers, were snapping these girls’ pics constantly.  In later comments to others, I joked that my ankles had earned celebrity points throughout all of Greece. 

Once I started thinking about doing a blog, I considered naming it something like “wanderingNYC” or “NYCwanderer”, but they just didn’t seem to have the cache of “famous ankles”.

-H