Talk Bronx New York

                     Ruben Diaz Jr., center, Joel Rivera, left, and Carl Heastie, right

 The call of “Don’t forget to vote on April 21st” practically overpowers the latest Hot 97 hits pulsing from an audio store on the corner of Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue in the west Bronx.

Evening rush-hour riders depart from the screeching number 4 train, slide down two flights of stairs to the street to get a flyer, a handshake and a wide, mustached smile.

“I am running for Bronx borough president in two weeks,” Assembly member Ruben Diaz Jr. says, stretching out his hand.

Running might be an overstatement. For Diaz, who practically has a set of keys to borough hall already, walking would be a better characterization.

The seven-term assembly member has only token, Republican opposition in next week’s nonpartisan special election to replace former borough president turned-Obama administration official Adolfo Carrión. For such a high profile position, the lack of opposition is relatively unheard of.

Just weeks ago, Bronx Democrats were preparing for a brawl between two political dynasties who have been wrestling over control of the county’s Democratic party for months. Since that race has failed to materialize, Bronxites — left with little choice — can now ponder what this means for the county’s new and old political guard. Read more..

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Lloyd Barnes, 64, is back producing music in his studio in the Wakefield section of the Bronx

 The elevated trains roar over the din of the streets and aging storefronts of Wakefield in the Bronx. Up a circular staircase in Moodie’s Records, past a wall of shrink-wrapped LPs and stacks of 45s, a neighborhood sound that began in the 1970s — Bronx reggae — is struggling to be reborn.

On a recent evening, Lloyd Barnes, 64, sat fixated at the mixing board as young and old collaborators moved around his studio, chatting over bottles of Red Stripe, a Jamaican beer, nodding to the reverberating beat and laying down tracks.

“If you have music in you, he’s going to bring it out,” said Lenny Chambers, 68, an auto mechanic who has begun recording with Mr. Barnes. Read more..

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