Jazz and wine & food, too, at ‘Pop Pairings’
Guyana-born Erwin Caesar, owner of Brooklyn’s 333 Lounge, has catered to Mayor Bill de Blasio, then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and other high-profile customers in the past. But lately he’s reaching out to — and expanding the perspective — of everyday folks by coupling with the “Pop Pairings” wine consultant firm, which promotes winemakers of color with jazz music performances.
“There’s never jazz without wine,” says Caesar, who is hosting Pop Pairings’ “Wine & Jazz” nights on Wednesdays at the lounge. It’s emceed by singer Lezlie Harrison, host of WBGO Jazz Radio 88-FM’s popular “Come Sunday” program.
“Most Black-owned business don’t have a wine program,” admits Caesar, who opened his bar-restaurant on the Park Slope-Prospect Heights border in 2014. “I wanted to craft a program around wine and spirits,” with the help of the wine consultants, he said.
Pop Pairings partners Sally Stewart and Sandye Wilson curate a wine list, and give Caesar suggestions on operations, design and sales promotion. Michael Brooks, co-owner of Brooklyn’s 10-year-old Bed-Vyne Wine & Spirits, is a key Pop Pairings team member.
Among their suggested food-wine matchups at the lounge are an “André Hueston Mack Pinot Gris” and Jerk Chicken Lasagna, and South African Ntsiki Biyela’s “Aslina Cabernet Sauvignon” with shrimp and grits.
Under its goal “to introduce, educate and expand the wine experiences for the masses,” Pop Pairings will host a “Food and Wine Pairing” on Dec. 19 at the 333 Lounge, featuring veteran African-American sommelier Marquita Levy. Pop Pairings regularly posts videos on its YouTube channel. The shows are produced by Caesar’s 10 Media film production company.
For information, visit 333 Lounge at 333lounge.com and Pop Pairings on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
PROBLEM IN THE D.R.?
Though the Dominican Republic denies any wrongdoing, the U.S. Embassy in the Caribbean nation issued an alert late last month — a warning that dark-skinned Black Americans may unintentionally be targeted and detained in the country’s roundup of Haitians.
The embassy also included a list of advisory measures for U.S. citizens visiting the nation, which borders Haiti on the island of Hispaniola.
According to the embassy, news reports say Dominican authorities have detained people “they believe to be undocumented migrants, especially persons of Haitian descent. These actions may lead to increased interaction with Dominican authorities, especially for darker-skinned U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens of African descent,” cautioned the embassy.
But responding sharply to criticism from human rights agencies and other nations, the Dominican Republic says the U.S. has “no evidence” of any sort of systematic human rights violations and charged that there was a lack of international support to help solve its problems with illegal Haitian migrants, reported The Associated Press.
In response to the American warning, the Dominican Foreign Relations Ministry questioned why “an ally that has been subject to accusations of xenophobic and racist treatment of migrants, including in parts of its own population,” would make such accusations against the Dominican Republic.
HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS
The Brooklyn-based Tropical Fete cultural organization is presenting “The Finale,” a show of entertainment this holiday season, and touting a catalog of classes sponsored by the Brooklyn-based arts and social service organization. “The Finale” holiday show will be held Dec. 18 at The Theater at City Tech, 275 Jay St. in downtown Brooklyn, at 4 p.m. General admission is $20 with VIP seating available. For tickets, visit The Finale.
Tropical Fete is also offering workshops in steel pan music, stilt walking, art and more. Visit Tropical Fete, review the “Programs” and select the “Register Now” tab to sign up.
WOMEN’S FILMS SCREEN
Actor-director Sandye Wilson’s films “So Many Things to Consider” (1996) and “notsoprivate” (2004) will be featured in the “Let’s Just Do It Ourselves” screening of Black women artists Friday at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave., Manhattan, starting at 7:30 p.m. The screenings are presented by the Alfreda’s Cinema and the African Film Festival. For info, visit Let’s Just Do It Ourselves and t the African Film Festival New York.