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  • Daybreaker Unveils Initial Lineup for ALIVE : NYC, a New Kind of Sunrise-to-Sunset Sober Music & Wellness Festival, Headlined by NYC Dance Music Legend Danny Tenaglia

    Daybreaker Unveils Initial Lineup for ALIVE : NYC, a New Kind of Sunrise-to-Sunset Sober Music & Wellness Festival, Headlined by NYC Dance Music Legend Danny Tenaglia

    Free September 26th experience at Brooklyn Bridge Park brings together NYC dance music legend Danny Tenaglia, Marianne Williamson, Matthew Morrison, Taryn Toomey, leading voices on belonging and social connection, and some of the world’s leading wellness brands around one purpose: to make people feel fully alive

    Rather than a traditional music festival, ALIVE combines dance, movement, wellness, spirituality, storytelling, food, play and human connection into a full-day participatory experience

    Saturday, September 26th, 2026
    Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 3
    New York City
    FREE

    FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO RSVP, PLEASE VISIT:
    https://www.daybreaker.com/alive/
    After thirteen years building dance floors around the world, Daybreaker is preparing to turn Brooklyn Bridge Park into something it has never attempted before.
     
    On Saturday, September 26th, the Brooklyn-born global movement will present ALIVE : NYC, a free, sunrise-to-sunset sober music and wellness festival at Pier 3 bringing together music, movement, spirituality, wellness, art, storytelling, science, food, play, family programming, and human connection in one immersive experience.
     
    Today, Daybreaker unveiled the first major wave of programming for the event, headlined by legendary New York DJ Danny Tenaglia, and revealing a lineup that could only happen in New York: dance music icons alongside spiritual teachers; Broadway performers alongside social-connection researchers; contemporary artists alongside yoga teachers; and some of the leading names and brands in modern wellness bringing breathwork, transcendental fitness, sauna, cold plunge, movement, recovery, and other experiences into the festival environment.
     
    The idea connecting all of it is deceptively simple: What makes us feel fully alive?
     
    ALIVE is Daybreaker’s attempt to answer that question at city scale. Rather than organizing the day around a traditional succession of headliners and spectators, ALIVE is being designed as a participatory journey whose purpose is to help people experience as many different pathways to aliveness as possible. Guests will be invited to dance, sing, move, listen, sweat, breathe, play, eat, talk, learn, recover, meet strangers, spend time with family, and experience the park together from sunrise through sunset.
     
    Music remains central, but it is one ingredient in a much larger design.
     
    The newly announced Dance + Music programming will be headlined by Danny Tenaglia, the legendary Brooklyn-born DJ whose five-decade career has made him one of the defining figures in New York dance music culture. He’ll be joined by globally acclaimed New York DJ Nickodemus, Brooklyn block-party favorites Saint James Joy, Matthew and Renee Morrison, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Somewhere In Between, MC Elliott Larue, Elew & Friends, and additional artists.
     
    Rather than placing audiences behind barricades watching a distant stage, the musical programming is being built around participation, communal singing, dancing across generations, and the emotional release that can happen when thousands of people move together.
     
    The Spirituality programming brings another unexpected set of voices into the same space. Marianne Williamson, bestselling author of A Return to Love, will deliver a sermon centered on aliveness, while The Earth Elders will lead an opening ceremony and Jivamukti + Sky Ting will bring yoga into the festival environment.
     
    The festival’s Belonging programming moves directly into questions around friendship, loneliness, community, and social connection. Participants include Daybreaker founder Radha Agrawal, whose forthcoming book How to Make a Friend explores the science and practice of friendship; leading social connection researcher Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad; bestselling author and learning expert Jim Kwik; Dr. Scott Lyons, founder of The Embody Lab; artist and storyteller Peter Tunney; Miki Agrawal, founder of TUSHY and HIRO Technologies; and Catherine Burns, former longtime artistic director of The Moth and founder of The Thin Places.
     
    That programming reflects a larger question sitting beneath ALIVE: what happens when the social infrastructure of a city is intentionally designed to help people interact? It’s a question Daybreaker has spent much of the past thirteen years exploring through its events, and one that has become increasingly urgent amid growing concern around loneliness, digital isolation, disappearing “third places,” and the role technology is beginning to play in human relationships.
     
    The Wellness portion of the festival is equally central to the concept. Daybreaker is partnering with leading wellness brands and practitioners to build an environment where attendees can move between high-energy communal experiences and opportunities for restoration throughout the day.
     
    Taryn Toomey, creator of The Class, will bring her transcendental fitness practice to the park, alongside Othership breathwork, Viva Bodyroll devotional dance, guided run and walking clubs, and mobile sauna and cold plunge experiences from Bathhouse, Recoverie, and Huht.
     
    The result is an unusual festival rhythm: dance and music followed by breathwork; communal singing alongside cold plunges; spiritual reflection beside movement classes; storytelling, wellness, art, and recovery all occupying the same public space.
     
    Elsewhere throughout Pier 3, ALIVE will include an intergenerational kids zone, magic, art, storytelling, international food trucks, local vendors, community experiences, and open spaces overlooking the New York City skyline.
     
    The intentionally intergenerational design is central to the experiment. Children, college students, young professionals, parents, grandparents, longtime Daybreaker community members, and people experiencing the movement for the first time will all occupy the same space. Organizers see that mix as a defining part of the day, reflecting a belief that some of the most meaningful public spaces are those where generations and communities who rarely gather together are given a reason to do exactly that.
     
    “This isn’t a music festival,” Daybreaker founder Radha Agrawal said when ALIVE was first announced. “It’s a festival for people who still believe humans need humans. For thirteen years we’ve watched hundreds of thousands of people discover that joy, belonging, friendship, romance, healing, and celebration don’t require alcohol or the middle of the night. ALIVE is what happens when we take everything we’ve learned from those dance floors and build an entire world around it.”
     
    That philosophy is also reflected in what ALIVE leaves behind from the traditional festival model.
     
    There are no bottle-service tables or alcohol-centered VIP culture at the heart of the experience. Guests are encouraged to participate rather than simply consume, and programming is deliberately spread across disciplines instead of being built solely around the largest names on a concert poster.
     
    The result is what Daybreaker describes as an “experience festival”: a sunrise-to-sunset environment where music, wellness, movement, spirituality, food, creativity, and human connection are intentionally designed together around one goal: to make people feel as alive as possible.
     
    ALIVE also arrives during a significant period of expansion for Daybreaker. The organization is currently in the midst of its global Let’s Be Friends Tour, a 100-plus-event campaign responding directly to rising loneliness and social isolation through gatherings across North America and Europe. Recent Daybreaker experiences have included a sober morning hip-hop dance party with Jermaine Dupri during FIFA World Cup festivities in Los Angeles, a sunrise takeover of One Times Square, large-scale events inside the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., sauna raves, and appearances from artists including Mel C (Sporty Spice), BLOND:ISH, Mahmut Orhan, and ARODES.
     
    The movement itself began in Brooklyn in 2013 with approximately 180 people gathering before work to dance without alcohol. Daybreaker has since grown into a global community reaching over one million people across 66 cities and all seven continents.
     
    ALIVE brings that journey back to where it began. For one day, Brooklyn Bridge Park will become the physical expression of an idea Daybreaker has been testing since its earliest mornings in New York: that people are hungry for spaces where music, wellness, celebration, friendship, family, spirituality, and community can coexist within the same experience.
     
    “People often ask us if we’re in the wellness business,” Agrawal says. “We’re really in the belonging business. The loneliness epidemic isn’t going to be solved with another app. It’s solved when strangers become neighbors, neighbors become friends, and people remember what it feels like to gather together in real life.”
     
    ALIVE : NYC is free and takes place Saturday, September 26th at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 3. Additional programming and surprise participants will be announced in the coming weeks.
     
    For more information and to RSVP, please visit:
    https://www.daybreaker.com/alive/
     
    INITIAL ALIVE : NYC LINEUP
     
    DANCE + MUSIC
    Danny Tenaglia – Headlining DJ Set
    Nickodemus – DJ Set
    Matthew + Renee Morrison – Broadway and Glee star alongside Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus
    Saint James Joy – DJ Set
    Somewhere In Between
    Loren Berrier – Vinyl Set
    Elew & Friends
    Leah Siegel & Lexie Lowell
     
    BELONGING
    Jim Kwik – Author of Limitless and Limitless Daily
    Dr. Scott Lyons – Founder of The Embody Lab
    Catherine Burns – The Thin Places, former Artistic Director of The Moth
    Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad – Leading Social Connection Researcher
    Peter Tunney – Artist and Storyteller
    Miki Agrawal – Founder of TUSHY + HIRO Technologies
    Radha Agrawal – Founder of Daybreaker + Author of How to Make a Friend
     
    SPIRITUALITY
    Marianne Williamson – Sermon, Author of A Return to Love
    Jivamukti + Sky Ting – Yoga
    The Earth Elders – Opening Ceremony
     
    WELLNESS
    The Class by Taryn Toomey – Transcendental Fitness
    Othership – Breathwork
    Sauna + Cold Plunge – Bathhouse, Huht, Recoverie
    Run + Walking Clubs
    Viva Bodyroll – Devotional Dance
     
    Additional programming includes intergenerational experiences, a kids zone, magic, storytelling, spirituality, community programming, international food trucks, vendors, wellness experiences, and additional surprise moments throughout the day.
     
    EVENT DETAILS
     
    DAYBREAKER ALIVE : NYC
    Saturday, September 26, 2026
    Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 3
    Brooklyn, New York
    Sunrise to Sunset
    FREE
     
    Powered by SweatPals.
     
    Festival partners include AG1, Belong Center, Zespri Kiwifruit, GT’s Living Foods, Justice Tea, CoAqua, Grace & Stella, TUSHY, Best Day Brewing, HIRO, BjornQorn, Maui Nui Venison, and Unplugs, with additional partners to be announced.
     
    ABOUT DAYBREAKER
    Daybreaker is a global sober dance and social wellness movement born in Brooklyn, now spanning 66 cities worldwide and reaching over one million community members. Through sunrise dance parties, music-driven gatherings, immersive wellness experiences, and community-centered events, Daybreaker brings people together around joy, movement, self-expression, and human connection. Majority female and minority-owned, Daybreaker is 100% independent.
     
    https://www.daybreaker.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/dybrkr
    https://www.facebook.com/dybrkr
     
  • David Fagin Chronicles a Lifetime on the Edge of Rock Stardom in his New Memoir, Confessions of a Musical Masochist

    David Fagin Chronicles a Lifetime on the Edge of Rock Stardom in his New Memoir, Confessions of a Musical Masochist

    Out on September 22nd, the musician, songwriter and former Rosenbergs frontman recounts his unlikely journey from an early internet-era battle with Universal Music and partnership with Napster to Robert Fripp, Jimmy Iovine, Howard Stern, Gene Simmons, Duran Duran, Oasis and decades of glorious near-misses.

    Listen to a preview of the audiobook,
    narrated by none other than the author himself
    Hours before the biggest concert of his life, David Fagin was sitting in a New Jersey jail cell for stealing supermarket sushi.
     
    His band, The Rosenbergs, was scheduled to open for Duran Duran at Jones Beach that evening. Miraculously, Fagin got bailed out of jail, fought his way through hours of Long Island traffic and still managed to make it to the gig on time.
     
    Ironically, nearly 25 years later, he found himself in an Atlantic City nightclub playing an afterparty, for who else, but Duran Duran with his cover band The Counterfeiters.

    The fine line between “making it” and “falling short”  is at the heart of Confessions of a Musical Masochist: My Life As An Almost Rockstar, Fagin’s candid, funny and frequently unbelievable new memoir, out September 22, 2026 via Scout Media in association with Noshpit Entertainment.
     
    With a foreword by journalist Rob Tannenbaum, co-author of I Want My MTV, the book traces nearly four decades of chasing a career in music through record deals, disastrous tours, industry feuds, empty clubs, national television, celebrity encounters, financial calamities and repeated opportunities to quit that Fagin somehow never took.
     
    As Fagin writes early in the book: “Be prepared to have a safe dropped on your head 363 days a year. Once or twice a year, there’ll be a gig that makes everything feel worth it. A night where you think, This. This is why I do this.”
     
    At the center of the story is The Rosenbergs, the New Jersey power-pop band Fagin formed in the 1990s. After years of showcases, personnel changes and near-deals with major labels, the group suddenly became a music-industry cause célèbre at the dawn of the digital era.
     
    In 1999, The Rosenbergs were invited to perform on Farmclub.com, the heavily financed Universal Music TV show and label venture launched by Jimmy Iovine and Doug Morris. When Fagin received the performance agreement, he was stunned by what he viewed as an extraordinarily restrictive contract tied to the appearance. Rather than quietly sign it, he wrote an email criticizing the terms and sent it to other musicians.
     
    The message, often credited as being the first to go viral, spread like wildfire throughout the industry.
     
    Within days, the band was fielding interview requests from outlets including CNN, CNBC, the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Spin and Wired. Universal executives threatened legal action. Then, in one of the stranger reversals in the memoir, the conversation shifted from suing The Rosenbergs to potentially signing them. Courtney Love reached out in support, and Fagin soon found himself breaking bread with Iovine in NYC whilst discussing how the two sides might resolve the standoff.
     
    The episode pushed Fagin into the center of the emerging debate over artists, record labels and the internet. He began appearing on industry panels alongside figures including Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, Chuck D, Darryl McDaniels, Bob Ezrin and others, arguing for greater artist control at precisely the moment file sharing was beginning to destabilize the traditional record business.
     
    In hindsight, The Rosenbergs seemed to have a strange habit of arriving early.
     
    The Rosenbergs were one of the earliest acts to experience an industry-wide viral moment, before “going viral” became part of the cultural vocabulary and things like MP3’s were thought to be Star Wars droids. Years earlier, the group had also been involved in an ambitious attempt at one of the first live rock concerts streamed over the internet, only to watch the technology collapse in real time. Later, The Rosenbergs would structure a maverick-yet-unconventional deal that allowed them to retain ownership of their masters and would partner directly with Napster at the height of the file-sharing wars.

    Photo caption: David Fagin; Photo credit: Noah Arkwright
    Long before artist-owned masters, direct-to-fan digital distribution and viral music-industry moments became common talking points, Fagin and The Rosenbergs had already stumbled into all three. The recurring irony, and one of the book’s central themes, is that being early rarely meant being rewarded for it.
     
    That Farmclub controversy also caught the attention of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and his business partner David Singleton, who approached The Rosenbergs about becoming part of Discipline Global Mobile, their artist-focused independent company. The resulting agreement allowed the band to retain ownership of its masters and attempted to create a different relationship between artist and label years before ownership of masters became a mainstream music-business conversation.
     
    The experiment was noble, complicated and, in classic Fagin fashion, financially disastrous.
     
    The Rosenbergs then aligned themselves with Napster while much of the recording industry was trying to destroy it. Napster sponsored the band’s tour, put The Rosenbergs on its homepage and helped manufacture a special two-disc edition of the band’s album Mission: You, with a second “file-sharing” copy specifically intended for fans to give to friends. Thousands joined the band’s mailing list almost immediately. Their poor bass player was tasked with entering each address by hand, Amish-style.
     
    To their utter dismay,  the band soon discovered many of those new fans were too young to enter the clubs where The Rosenbergs had been booked to perform.
     
    Thus, they dubbed it the No Fans Allowed Tour.
     
    That combination of genuine music-business history and almost comically bad timing runs throughout Confessions of a Musical Masochist.
    Fagin recounts sharing bills with artists including Duran Duran, No Doubt, The Strokes, Supergrass, Echo & the Bunnymen, Modern English,Night Ranger, Big Star’s Alex Chilton and others. He writes about kicking a soccer ball around an empty theater with Liam Gallagher during Oasis’ first U.S. tour; getting booted off the bill at the last minute at Bush’s first show in the states, working behind the scenes on concerts for U2, The Who, KISS, Stone Temple Pilots, Beck, Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow, the Allman Brothers and Neil Diamond; watching Bob Dylan disappear from a festival before his band had seemingly finished; and attempting to pitch his own music to Butch Vig while working a Garbage concert, an act that nearly got him fired.
     
    There is also the morning Fagin appeared on The Howard Stern Show alongside his childhood idol Gene Simmons, after convincing Simmons to join a discussion about record-industry treatment of artists. The Rosenbergs waited for hours, finally made it into the studio, and then watched much of their presence disappear from the television edit.
     
    It was another fitting chapter in a career filled with moments when Fagin appeared to be inches from the center of the action, only to somehow remain on the outside. Like his landing the theme for Jenna Elfman’s CBS sitcom that followed the gargantuan Two and Half Men, then watching as the network slowly killed the show.
     
    Behind the celebrity stories is a less glamorous reality familiar to generations of working musicians: playing empty rooms, sleeping on floors, driving through the night, losing money on tours, begging clubs for bookings then being blacklisted, replacing unreliable band members, funding recordings on credit cards and repeatedly watching supposedly career-changing opportunities disappear. To the point where he now compares himself to ‘Reek,’ the tortured, castrated former prince, courtesy of the Game of Thrones saga.
     
    “In short, this is not a story about success. Or failure. It’s a story about survival,” Fagin writes. “And, while it’s no doubt hard to keep a successful band going, keeping an unsuccessful one going is even harder.”
     
    That perspective eventually led Fagin through several musical reinventions. He spent years touring with journalist Rob Tannenbaum in the satirical duo Good for the Jews, later built a career performing with his Jersey shore cover band The Counterfeiters, and today fronts The Wankers, his deliberately over-the-top Britpop tribute built around Fagin’s alter ego, “Damon Gallagher.”
     
    Tannenbaum’s foreword sets the tone for the book by cheerfully admitting he did not read it before writing it. After years performing alongside Fagin, he explains that he had already heard his friend’s best stories repeatedly and his worst stories even more often. He ultimately recommends the book anyway, particularly to anyone considering a career in entertainment. As a warning.
     
    But beneath Fagin’s sarcasm and self-deprecation is a deeply personal story.
     
    He grew up in a show-business household in New Jersey. His mother, Diane, performed for decades throughout the Catskills and had recorded for Decca and MGM as a young singer before her recording career collided with the upheaval surrounding the payola era. His father, Richard, was at once Fagin’s harshest critic, financial safety net, occasional manager and eventually his biggest supporter.
     
    Their complicated relationship becomes one of the emotional through-lines of the book, culminating in Fagin’s dedicating the book to him.
     
    For Fagin, the stories eventually add up to a question that extends far beyond music: What does success actually mean when the dream you have spent your life chasing never arrives in the form you expected? Further, what happens when it turns into a nightmare?
     
    At an age when many musicians have long since traded vans, loading docks and empty clubs for stability, health insurance, and “something to fall back on”, Fagin is still playing. He’s still booking gigs. At least, trying to. And, against substantial evidence that the universe may be trying to tell him something, like Wile E. Coyote, he still believes tomorrow might be the day.
     
    Confessions of a Musical Masochist: My Life As An Almost Rockstar will be released September 22nd, 2026 through Scout Media / Noshpit Entertainment.
     
    http://www.davidfagin.net/
  • Justice Plant Prepares to Release His New Demo Project, “Me, Toxic?”

    Justice Plant Prepares to Release His New Demo Project, “Me, Toxic?”

    There’s a new unique talent emerging out of the Carolinas and his name is Justice Plant! The Columbia, South Carolina native is next up, and delivering his potential in a different way than most. Justice Plant is a soulful singer who is paving his own way. His voice and style already make him a standout, but his new “Me, Toxic?” project has positioned him to be in a league of his own!

    Justice Plant decided to take a different approach with his official debut. Instead of the standard single, or album rollout, he chose to introduce himself with a raw, uncut presentation in the form of a demo. In the music industry before social media, demos were often the only way to get noticed. Executives weren’t necessarily concerned with the mixing and mastering, just the raw talent. While the traditional way has faded over the years, Justice Plant bringing the classic concept back was genius, and puts him in his own spotlight. 

    While still on the way, the “Me, Toxic?” demo EP is infused with soulful vocals and captivating lyrics. The project holds several standouts, including “How U Livin”, and “Last Time”, which has garnered over 50,000 plays. Through seamless storytelling, intentional world-building, and emotionally charged vocals, Justice Plant creates music that feels less like performance and more like lived experience.

    For more information, please visit justiceplant.com, and be sure to follow him on Instagram at @ohjusticeplant.  

    Music Preview:

  • Melanie C – The Story Behind ‘Wannabe’

    Melanie C – The Story Behind ‘Wannabe’

  • Sunny Hostin, Angela Yee, Jamie Hector & More Celebrate Moving Mountains Gala

    Sunny Hostin, Rod Strickland, Jon Ledecky, Angela Yee, Jamie Hector, Michael Raymond James & More Celebrate Moving Mountains for the Arts Gala at the Brooklyn Museum

    Founded by The Wire and Bosch star Jamie Hector, Moving Mountains provides free year-round performing arts training, mentorship, and leadership development for New York City youth

    Hi-res photos from the 19th Annual Moving Mountains for the Arts Gala are available HERE

    Moving Mountains celebrated its 19th Annual Moving Mountains for the Arts Gala on Monday, June 8th at the Brooklyn Museum, bringing together leaders from entertainment, sports, media, education, philanthropy, and the Brooklyn community for a powerful evening in support of the organization’s free arts education and mentorship programs for New York City youth.
     
    Founded in 2007 by actor, mentor, and two-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer Jamie Hector (The Wire, Bosch, Ballard, Queen of the South, Cape Fear, Vacation Friends), Moving Mountains is dedicated to empowering young people through professional training in acting, dance, vocal performance, film, theater production, stage management, creative writing, mentorship, and leadership development.

    This year’s gala honored Emmy-nominated journalist, attorney, author, producer, and co-host of The View Sunny Hostin with the Power of Voice Award; NBA legend and Head Coach of the LIU Sharks Rod Strickland with the Visionary Leadership Award; and New York Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky with the Humanitarian Trailblazer Award. The evening was hosted by award-winning media personality and entrepreneur Angela Yee.
     
    The star-studded celebration welcomed notable guests and supporters including Jamie Hector, Angela Yee, Sunny Hostin, Rod Strickland, Jon Ledecky, Lorraine Bracco, Naturi Naughton, Michael Raymond-James, Harry Lennix, Melle Mel, Mona Scott-Young, Aisha Hinds, Hisham Tawfiq, Saycon Sengbloh, Pastor A.R. Bernard, Geoffrey Canada, Renée Neufville of Zhané, and others.

    The evening opened with Moving Mountains students taking the stage for a live performance from Rent. Junior hosts McKayson Bowen and Victoria Goldsburry welcomed guests, followed by an invocation from Pastor A.R. Bernard and a special video presentation, “A Day at Moving Mountains,” highlighting the organization’s year-round work with young artists across New York City.
     
    The program continued with remarks from Moving Mountains alumna Harmony Browne, who first joined the organization at age eight, went on to graduate from Howard University in 2025 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and has now returned to Moving Mountains as a dance instructor. Guests also experienced live student performances featuring vocals, drama, and dance, followed by a video spotlight on alumnus Isaiah Collins and keynote remarks from nationally recognized educator and Harlem Children’s Zone president Geoffrey Canada.
     
    A major focus of the evening was the recognition of this year’s Ken Thompson Award student honorees: Jewel Davis, Micah Wong, and Raquel Duverger. Davis, a vocalist, actress, songwriter, and musician from Harlem, will continue her artistic journey at LIU Post. Wong, a graduating senior from Brooklyn High School of the Arts, has already released original music on major streaming platforms and is pursuing a future as a songwriter, producer, and recording artist. Duverger, a gifted actor, vocalist, student-athlete, and trilingual student, will attend the University of Connecticut to study chemistry on a pre-med track after being accepted to 45 colleges and universities.

    One of the night’s most emotional moments came when Sunny Hostin’s daughter Paloma, a junior at Cornell University, surprised her mother onstage to present her with the Power of Voice Award. Hostin had brought Paloma as her guest for the evening, but was visibly moved when she realized her daughter would be part of the program, and spoke from the stage about how much Paloma inspires her.

    Rod Strickland received the Visionary Leadership Award after choosing to attend the gala in Brooklyn instead of an NBA Finals game. A Bronx native, first-round New York Knicks draft pick, 17-season NBA veteran, former league assists leader, and current head coach of the LIU Sharks, Strickland was honored for a career that has extended from the playground to the pros to the sideline.
     
    Jamie Hector presented Jon Ledecky with the Humanitarian Trailblazer Award, recognizing Ledecky’s work as co-owner of the New York Islanders and his broader commitment to philanthropy, education, community, and youth opportunity. The evening also included a special performance by Renée Neufville of the platinum-selling R&B group Zhané, who performed a medley of hits for the crowd.

    After Hector’s closing remarks, the energy in the room shifted into a full New York Knicks viewing party inside the Brooklyn Museum, hosted by the New York Islanders. Guests including Angela Yee, Sunny Hostin, Rod Strickland, Curtis Martin, Michael Raymond-James, Harry Lennix, Melle Mel, Mona Scott-Young, and others watched the game side by side, cheering as the gala became a spirited celebration of New York sports and community.

    For 19 years, Moving Mountains has provided a safe, rigorous, and inspiring creative home for young people across New York City. The organization serves more than 300 youth annually, has produced more than 23 youth theater and film productions, and reports a 100% high school graduation rate among its alumni. Alumni have been accepted to colleges and programs including NYU, Howard University, Buffalo, SUNY New Paltz, Morgan State, SUNY Purchase, AMDA, and others.
     
    Hector founded Moving Mountains after his own experience with arts mentorship as a young person growing up in Brooklyn, where exposure to theater helped shape his life and career. As his role as Marlo Stanfield on HBO’s The Wire brought him national recognition, Hector deepened his commitment to creating similar opportunities for the next generation.
     
    All proceeds from the gala directly support Moving Mountains’ free programming for youth.
     
    Hi-res photos from the 19th Annual Moving Mountains for the Arts Gala are available HERE.

    ABOUT MOVING MOUNTAINS
    Founded in 2007 by actor, mentor, and two-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer Jamie Hector, Moving Mountains is a 501(c)(3) theater-based youth organization providing free professional performing arts training to New York City youth. Through drama, dance, vocal performance, film, creative writing, theater production, stage management, mentorship, and leadership development, Moving Mountains helps students develop skills, talents, and abilities while building character.
     
    The organization has trained more than 5,000 students and provides year-round programming free of charge. Moving Mountains prepares young people for the stage, the screen, the entertainment industry, and life.

  • Atlanta Female Artist Sparoh Previews New Single “Panama”

    Atlanta Female Artist Sparoh Previews New Single “Panama”

    Sparoh is an Atlanta-based artist creating music at the crossroads of melodic trap, alternative pop, and punk-fueled rebellion. Equal parts vulnerable and unapologetic, her work explores identity, liberation, and the complexities of Black womanhood.

    Raised in the DMV on a foundation of jazz, funk, and blues, Sparoh was drawn early to artists who challenged convention and redefined what was possible. Influenced by trailblazers like Joyce Kennedy, Betty Davis, and Tina Turner, she later expanded her sonic palette to include contemporary icons such as Beyoncé and the raw intensity of bands like Slipknot. The result is a genre defying duality that is uniquely her own.

    Before fully stepping into music, Sparoh spent time in New York as a professional dancer, an experience that deepened her understanding of movement, storytelling, and performance. After relocating to Atlanta, she embraced her identity as a multidisciplinary artist, weaving together music, poetry, movement, and visual expression into a creative world that is both intimate and electrifying.

    Now entering her next chapter, Sparoh is preparing to release her latest single, “Panama.” Bold, hypnotic, and emotionally unfiltered, the record signals an evolution in her artistry while remaining rooted in the themes that have defined her work from the beginning: self-discovery, confidence, and creative freedom.

    At the heart of Sparoh’s music is an invitation to live without apology. “I want people to be fearless, to do what the f**k they want to do, and to express themselves however they see fit,” she says.

    “Especially as Black women, we often put ourselves in boxes based on what we think others expect from us. There’s so much more to us than that. I hope my music encourages people to embrace every part of who they are.”

    With a sound that resists categorization and a presence that commands attention, Sparoh is carving out her own lane—creating a soundtrack for the rebels, the outsiders, and anyone courageous enough to be fully themselves.

    PANAMA TRAILER https://youtube.com/shorts/4vHyWg0zKWw?feature=share

    CONNECT WITH SPAROH
    https://www.threads.com/@sparoh
    https://www.tiktok.com/@iamsparoh
    https://www.instagram.com/SPAROH

  • Hudson Yards’ Bella Abzug Park Announces Over 200 Free Events Bringing Wellness, Music, Film, Dance, and Family Programming

    Hudson Yards’ Bella Abzug Park Announces Over 200 Free Events Bringing Wellness, Music, Film, Dance, and Family Programming



    Bella Abzug Park, the four-block public greenway in the heart of Hudson Yards operated and programmed by the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance (HYHK), has announced the return of its free seasonal programming lineup, featuring more than 200 public events running from May through October 2026.
     
    Stretching from West 33rd Street to West 37th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, Bella Abzug Park has quickly emerged as one of Manhattan’s most active and accessible outdoor programming hubs, offering a wide-ranging calendar of wellness classes, dance parties, live music, family programming, cultural events, outdoor films, and neighborhood festivals designed for New Yorkers of all ages.
     
    As the green center of the rapidly evolving Hudson Yards neighborhood, the park has become a gathering place for residents, workers, and visitors seeking affordable, community-driven experiences in the heart of Manhattan. Named after pioneering lawyer, activist, and Congresswoman Bella Abzug, the space reflects a broader spirit of accessibility, public participation, and cultural engagement.
     
    As more New Yorkers look for meaningful ways to spend time outdoors, Bella Abzug Park is embracing the role public space can play in everyday city life – transforming Hudson Yards into an active destination for culture, connection, and community throughout the warmer months.
     
    “Bella Abzug Park was designed to be an active gathering space for the community,” said Ariana Cipriani, Director of Programming and Marketing for the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance. “The goal is to create a place where people can actually spend time, connect with each other, discover something new, and experience the city in a way that feels welcoming and accessible. Whether someone is coming for yoga after work, bringing their kids to a concert, dancing at Vinyl Nights, or watching a movie under the stars, we want the park to feel alive every day of the season.”
     
    The 2026 lineup reflects that vision, with recurring weekly programming and larger seasonal activations spread throughout the park’s central corridor between West 34th and West 35th Streets. Among this season’s highlights:

    Wellness Programming



    Beginning this month, Bella Abzug Park will host free outdoor yoga classes every Monday and Wednesday through September in partnership with Bien Good Well, featuring bilingual instruction in English and Spanish and an emphasis on mindful movement and accessibility for all experience levels.
     
    Saturday morning mat pilates classes will also return throughout the season, alongside Bootcamp, a HIIT-style outdoor workout series led by Hell’s Kitchen-based gym Speakeasy of Strength every Tuesday evening from June through September.

    Music & Dance



    The park’s popular music and dance programming also returns this season, led by the long-running Vinyl Nights series, which celebrates its seventh year at Bella Abzug Park with evenings dedicated to disco, funk, soul, house, Latin music, and classic hip-hop played entirely on vinyl.
     
    This year’s lineup includes a special Pride Ball-themed edition in June featuring drag performances and expanded partnerships with the Colored Colors festival series.
     
    Starting June 17, Pa’ La Calle Wednesdays will bring free weekly salsa and bachata nights to the park in partnership with Somos Latin Dance, featuring beginner dance lessons followed by open-air social dancing with live DJs throughout the summer.

    Kids & Family Programming



    Family programming remains a major focus of the 2026 season.
     
    Every Tuesday morning, Mike Messer Music will host acoustic sing-along concerts designed for babies, toddlers, and young children, while the House of SpeakEasy Bookmobile returns twice monthly with free books and literacy programming for all ages, transforming the park into an open-air community library.


    Spring Fling Arts & Music Festival



    One of the season’s largest recurring activations, the Colored Colors Spring Fling Arts & Music Festival, returns for its sixth year with expanded programming across multiple weekends in May and June.
     
    What began as a grassroots neighborhood arts festival has evolved into a major public celebration featuring local artists, independent vendors, live music performances, food programming, and community-driven cultural activations.
     
    This year’s expanded “Spring Forward” edition takes place May 30, June 6, June 13, and June 27–28.


    Movies Under the Stars



    Returning in August, Bella Abzug Park’s “Movies Under the Stars” series offers free weekly outdoor screenings every Tuesday evening, complete with popcorn giveaways and open public seating.
     
    This year’s lineup includes Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Jaws, National Treasure, and Clueless.
     
    Unlike some of the city’s more crowded outdoor film series, Bella Abzug Park’s screenings have increasingly become known as a more relaxed and accessible moviegoing experience, with attendees encouraged to arrive early with blankets or claim one of the park’s Adirondack chairs.

    The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance serves as the official maintenance and operations partner for Bella Abzug Park in partnership with NYC Parks. Since launching in 2015, HYHK has worked to enhance quality of life throughout the district through sanitation, beautification, pedestrian improvements, horticulture, and year-round public programming initiatives.
     
    HYHK has also continued developing Bella Abzug Park as a site for public art, cultural programming, sculpture, and community-driven activations serving the broader neighborhood and greater New York City.
     
    Located directly above the 34th Street-Hudson Yards 7 train extension, Bella Abzug Park sits at the crossroads of one of New York City’s fastest-growing neighborhoods, welcoming residents, office workers, and visitors alike into a public space increasingly defined by participation rather than passivity.
     
    Additional programming, registration links, and event updates will continue to be announced throughout the season. For the full 2026 calendar, visit HYHK Alliance.
     
    Follow updates on Instagram:
    @hudsonyardshellskitchen