Follow me on a journey to Harlem, the black capital of America. To the glory days of the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom, to a time when swing was king and bets were taken as to who could jitterbug the hardest and lindyhop the longest. To the Harlem of Malcom X's youth where the hustlers, pimps and prostitutes rubbed shoulders with the lawyers, doctors and street corner preachers, and where black was not only beautiful, but was also driving a shiny new Cadillac with out-of-state plates. From all over America black people flocked to Harlem believing the streets to be truly paved with gold.Harlem ain't that easy. As Miss Cynthie discovered when she arrived there to see her grandson, leaving her whistle-stop home in the countryside for the first time in seventy years. While King Solom Gillis, on the run from a lynching party in the Deep South, arrives in Harlem determined to make it big time. But Harlem ain't that easy and before Joy & Pain is over, Harlem would have swallowed him up. Joy & Pain will make you laugh, make you cry and make you wanna holler.