UPTOWNflavor

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA Hall of Famer

Thursday, December 21
6:30 pm | The Museum of the City of New York
call 212-348-8300 to RSVP
FREE

Location for this event: The Museum of the City of New York, auditorium (in basement)5th Avenue between 103rd and 104th Street (Use side entrance on 104th just east of 5th

By bus: M1, M3, M4 or M106 to 104th Street, M2 to 101st Street.

By subway: #6 Lexington Avenue train to 103rd Street, walk three blocks west, or #2 or #3 train to Central Park North (110th Street), walk one block east to Fifth Avenue, then south to 103rd Street.

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

The Harlem born and bred giant, who moved back home recently, is completing a documentary that explores the relationship between jazz music, hip-hop and basketball titled, On the Shoulders of Giants. “We want to show how hip-hop, which kind of fuels today’s basketball stars, is directly related to jazz. When we show that connection we find that things haven’t changed at all.”“One of the professional teams that was considered to be the best team played out of Harlem,” Abdul-Jabbar recently told Hoopsworld.com. “They played out of the Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, which was a dance hall and a place where prominent jazz musicians played. The Renaissance team would play before the main attraction when they played their home games. They would play one half of the game, then they would have one minor band, then they would play the second half of the game and then they might have Duke Ellington until 3am.” The documentary, which will feature a soundtrack by Herbie Hancock, is slated for release in February 2007.