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We are honored to have won 5 Chronogrammies for 2024! Adams was chosen as the area’s best Gourmet Food Market, Garden Center, Grocery Store and Fishmonger, with a Second Place win for our spectacular charcuterie boards.
At Adams, we see everyday as an opportunity to share our unique shopping experience from the backyard to the kitchen table. At the heart of Adams is a friendly, knowledgeable staff dedicated to helping you get what you need and find what you love. We are incredibly thankful to everyone who voted for us, and to all our customers who allow us to provide you with farmstand quality products every day!
Krystalynn Brookins, chef/manager of Blue Devil Dairy Bar and Grill in Ellenville, winner of multiple Chronogrammies this year.
Photo by David McIntyre
CHRONOGRAMMIES, PAGE 38
6 On the Cover: Barbara Leon
An underwater photographer emerges.
10 Esteemed Reader
Jason Stern on the two books he keeps in his car
13 Editor’s Note
Brian K. Mahoney constructs a cabinet of curiosities.
14 Culinary Camper: Lee Kalpakis
Olivebridge native Lee Kalpakis returned to the Hudson Valley and wrote a cookbook of camping recipes.
17 Sips and Bites
Recent openings include Matilda in Hensonville, Shelter Woodstock, Via Cassia in Hudson, Underground Ales in New Paltz, and El Jaguar in Kingston.
23 Farmhouse Canvas
Howard Danelowitz and Mark Fischer have created a rural idyll for art and agriculture in Hillsdale.
33 Creating Space on the Spectrum
In a new book, Vassar professor Catherine Tan examines the autistic rights and alternative biomedical movements, which are reimaging autism from the inside out.
37 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards
The results of the Chronogrammies are in! Nearly 25,000 people voted to determine the 2024 winners. And again this year, we’re throwing a party for all the winners. Come celebrate with us on August 22 at Hudson House Distillery in West Park. Details on page 67.
54 Ellenville: Getting to a Good Place
Despite being faced recently with a $1 million budget hole, Ellenville is on the rise, with new businesses and established residents working together for the future.
60 Ellenville Portraits by David McIntyre
68 Warwick: A Language of Belonging
Warwick thrives on unity, tourism, and preservation, fostering growth and resilience through storytelling events, infrastructure projects, and cooperative initiatives.
65 Knit Picker: Fabulous Yarn in Tivoli
Judy Schmitz didn’t start knitting until after she had her first child. Struggling to find high-quality yarn, she saw an opportunity to bring them into the online retail space.
66 Rural Intelligence Events
Some things to do in the Barkshires region this month: the Litchfield Jazz Festival, a farm-to-table dinner at Hancock Shaker Village, and “Summertime” at Bernay Fine Art. july 7 24
Fancy hot dogs from Out There: A Camper Cookbook, a primer on cooking in the wild by Lee Kalpakis.
Photo by Brittany Barb
FOOD & DRINK, PAGE 14
72 Music
Seth Rogovoy reviews Maya Beiser X Terry Riley in C by Maya Beiser. Dan Epstein reviews Johnny Society Sings Cheap Trick by Johnny Society. Morgan Y. Evans reviews The Feelings Cure by Setting Sun. Plus listening recommendations from author Holly George-Warren.
73 Books
Susan Yung reviews The Paris Novel, Ruth Reichl’s latest, about a young copy editor content with her daily routine in New York until her mother dies and bequeaths her a plane ticket to Paris. Plus short reviews of Party Boys: How the Ballinger Brothers Built the Greatest Nightclubs on Earth by Lon Ballinger; I Make Envy on Your Disco by Eric Schnall; Trust and Safety by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman; Odie Is being Called Back, and Other Poems by Gerard Malanga; and Becasue of Eve by Rondavid Gold.
74 Poetry
77 Gandini Juggling brings its story of revenge, “Smashed2,” to PS21 in Chatham July 12 and 13.
78 “Pride and Protest,” an exhibition of photos by Fred W. McDarrah at the Center for Photography at Woodstock in Kingston, chronicles Manhattan’s early queer liberation movement.
81 Billy Bragg plays Bearsville Theater on July 19.
82 Live Music: Jandek, Richard Thompson, Matthew Shipp Trio, Bobby Previte, Ben Seratan, and more.
87 Listings of museum and gallery shows across the region.
90 Our picks for what to see during Upstate Art Weekend.
92 Ignite. Burn. Smolder.
Poems by Ryan Brennan, Esther Cohen, C S Crowe, Alice Graves, Frances Greenhut, Robert Harlow, Perry Nicholas, Megan Russell, Stephanie Sellars, Anna Maria del Pilar Suben, Ken Sutton, and Sigrid Wendel. Edited by Phillip X Levine. july 7 24
Cory Nakasue reveals what the stars have in store for us.
96 Just a Phase
A photo from J. Ryan Ulsh’s fine art photography book Cycles
Barbara Leon’s Lens Captures Mysteries Below the Surface
What lurks beneath the lily pads? Underwater photographer Barbara Leon knows. The Gardiner resident grew up exploring nature and was certified in scuba diving at age 15. Escaping pandemic stress, she was drawn to the mystery of the aquatic underworld more recently. “This all started when the pandemic hit. As many others experienced, I was feeling isolated and unconnected. Going beneath the water became my escape from the craziness of the world above. It was so much more than a new place to photograph. It was a sanctuary imbued with life and beauty and mysterious connections,” she says. Having worked as a podiatrist for 30 years, Leon seeks to merge science and art in her photography. “I have always been fascinated by
photographing the natural world. The scientist in me wants to see the inner, nitty-gritty of things. The artist in me wants to see, and reveal, light, form, and connections that occur in nature. It’s the hidden beauty in everyday things that captivates me,” she says.
Using a waterproof Olympus TG-6 camera to navigate challenging photographic conditions such as murky water and low light, she captures sights seldom seen by most humans. Leon’s perspective looks up toward the surface, and often she’s not alone.
“While kayaking in the pristine waters of Alaska, I came upon this luminous jellyfish. As I got closer, it quickly plunged out of view. I had the photographer’s adrenaline rush of wanting
to capture this incredible creature, but realized the jellyfish surely perceived me as a threat. I sat quietly and saw it appear again right next to me. I started shooting and, miraculously, this creature started swimming and diving around me. I can’t say why, but just as the jellyfish perceived I wasn’t a threat, I also didn’t feel threatened by it. We spent one mesmerizing hour together. I was not wearing a glove, and the water was frigid. I didn’t get stung, and I didn’t get frostbite!” she says.
Leon’s underwater photographs comprise her first solo show, “Sub-merged,” at the Muse, a new multi-arts venue in Rosendale from June 12 through August 11. An opening reception will be held on July 12 from 5 to 9pm.
—Mike Cobb
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney brian.mahoney@chronogram.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR David C. Perry david.perry@chronogram.com
DIGITAL EDITOR Marie Doyon marie.doyon@chronogram.com
ARTS EDITOR Peter Aaron music@chronogram.com
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POETRY EDITOR Phillip X Levine poetry@chronogram.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anne Pyburn Craig apcraig@chronogram.com
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FOUNDERS Jason Stern, Amara Projansky
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Founded in 1993, Chronogram magazine offers a colorful and nuanced chronicle of life in the Hudson Valley, inviting readers into the arts, culture, and spirit of this
Jason Stern
There are two books that have traveled with me in my car for several years. One is a small, hardback volume that lives in the glove box. It has a dark, handsome cover with a red rectangle enclosing the dramatic, serifed title—On Bullshit. It’s a pretty good book about the varieties of nonsense, particularly the twaddle expressed by so-called experts in opaque language to conceal ignorance. I found it in the giveaway box outside a used bookstore and haven’t opened it since the first read. The title alone serves as a mnemonic for discernment.
The other book, a worn paperback, is always in the pocket of the car door. I pull it out when I have a few moments to spare. Reading the book is difficult for me because it uses the jargon and syntax of academic science. As my schooling was in literature and philosophy the language requires a genuine effort of attention. I make this effort for a couple of reasons. I find that assembling meaning out of the dense, technical, and sometimes convoluted sentences arouses a kind of intellectual pleasure. Also, the ideas expressed in the book ring true.
As with On Bullshit, the title gives a good window into the case the book seeks to make, though it is more artful and precise: Wholeness and the Implicate Order by the quantum physicist David Bohm.
The book begins by naming the problem arising from the splintering of the Western mind’s study of the world into innumerable, disconnected specializations. In particular Bohm notes the effect of a fragmented worldview on the psyche of people. It drives us crazy, and indeed a degree of mental illness has come to be considered normal. “The notion that all these fragments are separately existent is evidently an illusion, and this illusion cannot do other than lead to endless conflict and confusion.” As a scientist, he’s got chutzpah in suggesting that precisely the specialized, i.e. fragmented, scientific and academic worldview “has brought about pollution, destruction of the balance of nature, over-population, worldwide economic and political disorder, and the creation of an overall environment that is neither physically nor mentally healthy for most people.”
The probable root cause of so much specialization, and this is my conclusion, not Bohm’s, is egoism. Ambitious professionals want to make a name for themselves, and the more areas available for specialization the greater the opportunity to generate arcane theories about how the world works, and the more dung heaps there are for crowing cocks to alight upon.
But apparently this is not a new situation, as the earliest known version of the story of the blind men and the elephant is at least 3,000 years old. In case you are not familiar, the parable describes the arrival of a mysterious animal outside the gates of a city. The inhabitants are scared, so they send out their group of scientific experts, who also happen to be blind. The experts proceed to grope the creature. The one who feels the ear says the beast is something like an undulating rug; the one who touches the trunk describes it as an awful and destructive pipe; the one who meets the legs says the creature is a mighty pillar. And even all the partial views added together do not yield the whole truth, that the creature is an elephant.
Bohm’s title is itself a subject for pondering. “Wholeness” is an understandable concept. It suggests something complete, which though it may comprise a unit within a larger whole, has a degree of independence. An example would be a cell in a body, and by extension, a body within a species, a species in an ecosystem, an ecosystem in the living body of nature, and beyond. Examples of wholes within wholes seem to go all the way up to the totality of the cosmos, which implies the heretical suggestion that the universe is, itself, a living body.
“The Implicate Order” is a bit more difficult to understand, as we are not used to considering the word “implicate” in its less common sense. Rather than suggesting incrimination, this latter sense, as defined by Merriam-Webster, and with a different pronunciation, is “to involve as a consequence, corollary, or natural inference.” So the implication is that the parts of a system are organized by the pattern of the whole. This is a revolutionary concept in the current specialized worldview which insists that parts magically and accidentally collide to give rise to complex whole systems.
I carry these two books because they remind me that fixation on disconnected parts yields decontextualized and irrelevant data, aka, bullshit; while seeking to perceive the immeasurable whole yields a sense of a harmonious interrelationship and reveals the meaning and purpose of the parts.
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by Brian K. Mahoney
Iwas in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway when the realtor called. He told me that the buyer had just done her final walkthrough at the house and that the closing would move forward as scheduled. It had been nearly two years since my brother Paddy died, five since Mom passed. And finally, after a few snags—a mysterious, 20-year-old open building permit; title issues; a 15-year-old fence needing to be torn down because it was four inches higher than allowed by city code; buyers dropping out at the last minute—we were actually selling the Ancestral Mahoney Estate, pictured below right.
The house in Bayside has been in my family for 75 years. My grandmother Nancy, a young widow, bought the 3,500-square-foot dwelling in the 1950s when my Mom was still in grade school. (Aside from attending college in Rochester, Mom never lived anywhere else and she died in her bed in the house. The same for Paddy—he attended SUNY Maritime in the Bronx and then returned home to live with Mom, dying in the same bed four years after her.)
The house is the site of countless celebrations past: christenings, birthdays, confirmations, graduations, Fourth of July parties, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas mornings, Easter egg hunts, and my mother’s famous New Year’s Day open house, which her children were compelled to attend—no matter how hungover we were.
The house contains the usual domestic sadness, mortifications, and disappointments as well: pets dying; my parents announcing their divorce; petulant adolescent behavior of the petty and criminal varieties; me, the night my mother died, riding the electric stair lift up and down the stairs for an hour, drinking vodka, and bawling my eyes out while the first responders looked politely away.
And the silliness and wonder that makes every home a cabinet of curiosities: Paddy, aged three, climbing onto the dining room table and swinging from the crystal chandelier, a most delighted monkey. Clancy, still a puppy, jumping onto the same table at Thanksgiving just before dinner and thrusting his snout in the mashed potatoes. (I’ve no doubt Clancy would have swung from the chandelier as well if equipped with opposable thumbs.) My father, having run out of lighter fluid, setting himself on fire trying to light the charcoal with gasoline and then sprinting toward the above-ground pool like a portly comet before vaulting over the side and saving himself thirddegree burns. The day the pool “broke”: the side
wall suddenly giving way and my five-year-old sister Alicia holding on to the ladder for dear life as the water tried to drag her with it—into Mr. Gunzaki’s yard, where Mr. Gunzaki, a sweet, old dude in socks and sandals trimming his hedges, watching 10,000 gallons of water rush past his ankles and into his basement.
All these milestones are on a timeline you don’t even realize exists until you’ve reached the end and there’s nowhere to look but backward.
With no particular purpose in mind, I stopped by the house on the way to the lawyer’s office to have one last look around. It felt necessary, at least so I could pretend to be sentimental about it later, not the hard-hearted person who drives right past their childhood home on the way to selling it and never being able to set foot in it again. A sense of duty compelled me as well—someone in the family should say goodbye to the house
The house was still full of stuff. We were selling it “as is,” which meant that we didn’t have to fix the leaky roof or escort the squirrels out or get rid of the baby grand piano, leather recliners, the enormous mirror bolted to the wall of the dining room, or the bed that two family members died in. The kitchen drawers were full of silverware. The pantry shelves were stocked. What hadn’t sold in the estate sale would become the property of— read: problem for—the new owner.
The reason that we were able to sell the house “as is”: the new owner planned to knock it down and build new. Anything left was landfill fodder. Knowing that, I decided to grab a few last things. Here’s a list of the items—chosen from many thousand possible objects—I went home with: Six picture frames with photos of relatives both deceased and living. An ebony letter opener with a clenched fist at one end, Black Power-style. A tea towel with a map of Ireland on it. Two bottles of Angostura aromatic bitters. Seven books from the Choose Your Adventure series, including my favorite, House of Danger. A 75-count box of long reach matches. A paint-spattered yardstick
from the Chicago Lumber Company. A conch shell as big as a football. A pie-serving spatula. Two books from the Great Brain series of young adult novels. A can of haggis, slightly rusted. Two metal dog chain collars. A coffee cup with seven red ladybugs on it. A Franciscan earthenware plate covered in painted plums. A crystal from the chandelier.
I think I should have taken the piano bench as well, but three things were unclear: where it would fit it in our small home, whether it would actually spark joy, and what Lee Anne would have to say about it. I left it behind. I probably should have grabbed it. Shit.
After loading my car, I stared back at the falling-down house—theoretically for the last time. There used to be two tall pine trees that stood like sentinels out front since I was child. One died over a decade ago, the other has hung on, spindly and sparse-limbed. It had definitely seen better days, and would soon be cut down. I walked over and gave it a hug. It was awkward. Then I drove to the closing.
Last month, in the Summer Art Preview, we printed information about the 2023 Powerhouse Theater summer season at Vassar College—not the current season. Our apologies for the error. An article on the 2024 Powerhouse season can be found at Chronogram.com/Powerhouse24. For more information and tickets to this year’s season, visit Vassar.edu/powerhouse.
By Melissa Esposito Photos by Brittany Barb
In her new book, Hudson Valley chef, recipe developer, and author Lee Kalpakis shares her minimalist approach to creating gourmet delights gleaned from two years of camper living in the Catskills.
There’s a romance to the idea of leaving it all behind: setting up a camper in the woods, cooking on an open fire under the stars, and taking in the calm and quiet countryside. In practice, however, the natural lifestyle can be a drag. The mosquitos alone are enough to make give up on nature after a week or two. But Lee Kalpakis and her partner, Sean Cynamon, gave it a go for a season in 2022 while building a house together on the outskirts of the Catskills.
Kalpakis, a food stylist, recipe developer, and chef, and Cynamon, a builder, documented the good, the bad, and the buggy on social media. Eventually, the gourmet-gone-minimalist recipes Kalpakis would cook in their tiny kitchen or over an open campfire caught the
attention of a cookbook publisher. Two years later, Kalpakis’ first book, Out There: A Camper Cookbook: Recipes from the Wild , was published in April by Weldon Owen.
“Out There is a book of recipes for small-kitchen cooking and open-fire cooking,” Kalpakis explains.
“I see this book as my way of taking what I’ve learned and making it accessible for anyone living in a tiny home, with a small kitchen space, or just who are interested in open-fire cooking. They’re not your typical campfire burgers, s’mores, hotdogs—there’s so much more that can be done with just the basic tools.”
The book includes 75 recipes divided among eight categories: breakfast, on the grill, one-pot meals, backpack recipes, salads, sweets, open-fire projects, and canteen cocktails. The breadth of options and gourmet flavors reveals Kalpakis’s extensive experience in the food industry as a cooking show host, recipe developer, culinary producer, assistant food stylist, and private chef,
having worked for the likes of Bon Appetit, Epicurious, Delish, Food52, and The Kitchn. She is also the culinary director at Camp Kingston.
But the truly distinctive part is that her recipes are pared down to the simplest prep and cooking methods, as she needed to do to accommodate living in a 22-foot 1976 Fleetwood Prowler—the type of camper referred to by afficianados as a “canned ham.”
You’ll find recipes that sound straight out of a five-star restaurant, like sumac-rubbed chicken wings with charred green onion dipping sauce or raspberry buttermilk breakfast cake; but also, easy delights begging to be snacked on, like spiced honey-roasted peanut granola.
“My favorite things to cook can be broken down to two categories,” Kalpakis explains. “One, I love a longer cooking project that takes more time and more care, where you slowly feed the fire, like the five-spice rib recipe in the book. Or cooking a whole chicken, which takes three
Left: Tongore Home Fries is a recipe from Lee Kalpakis’s Out There: A Camper Cookbook, based on potatoes she ate at the Tongore Trading Post in Olivebridge as a child.
Right: Kalpakis’s wild mushroom egg sandwich features foraged mushrooms—not that Kalpakis recommends foraging if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Opposite: Kalpakis, raised in Olivebridge, moved into a trailer at the edge of the Catskills with her partner, Sean Cynamon, in 2022 when they began to build a house. Out There: A Camper Cookbook is a record of the meals she cooked over an open fire and in their trailer kitchen.
to four hours over a campfire, but it’s fun because in the meantime you’re in the woods hanging with buddies, maybe drinking beers, checking the chicken—I love that process. But, on the other hand, sometimes I want something simple and easy. Someone who wants to start small might like recipes that are just exciting variations on a classic, like hotdogs with fried leeks and sauerkraut or this fun twist on dessert: I’m not personally a huge s’more fan because I find the chocolate too sweet, but if you swap the chocolate with lemon curd, your little s’more suddenly tastes like lemon meringue pie.”
The book wouldn’t be complete without a section on outfitting a tiny kitchen with essential tools—cast iron, of course, but also consider an easy-to-store immersion blender. There’s also tips on basic pantry necessities—spices, sauces, syrup, and so on—that make country living a little tastier.
“As a food stylist, sometimes you get high-end stuff from sets or as gifts, and you’re always learning about these fun luxury appliances, so we had a lot of that extra stuff in the
city because we lived in an industrial loft with a lot of space and room for all of these things,” she explains. “In the book, I talk about having to put these tools and appliances in storage while living in the camper, which made me realize that I didn’t really need a lot of it. It wasn’t a bummer to live without these things, it was more exciting to take on the challenge of seeing if I could make these really satisfying meals with just a knife, a cutting board, and a fire.”
So, what sparked the lifestyle change? Both natives of the region—Kalpakis from Olivebridge, Cynamon from Hurley—the couple lived the fast-paced city life for more than a decade until the pandemic forced a breather that was just enough time to make them nostalgic for the open space and quietude found in the Hudson Valley.
“We came up for two weeks during the pandemic and just ended up staying,” she says. “We talked about moving back to the Hudson Valley, but the market had changed drastically, especially since we were kids,” Kalpakis says. But since Cynamon, with experience building sets for HBO as well as houses, the couple decided to purchase a property and build their own home. “We figured we could stay on-
site in a camper while building,” she says. “We’ve had some help here or there but it’s been mainly the two of us—and a lot of learning for me. I was really homesick for everything up here and just always felt this pull back to the area, and he wanted it too, so we went for it.”
While sharing Instagram updates on the house, cooking, and country life in general, Kalpakis amassed a following and Food52 reached out to do an interview, which then led to a literary agent asking if she’d be interested in making a cookbook. “I was so excited that people found what I was doing to be fun and interesting. I had no idea it could lead to this, it’s still pretty crazy,” she says. “And even more so, because I tried to keep it real—to show that this lifestyle isn’t always easy.”
Kalpakis had no qualms with highlighting the unpolished side of living in the Catskills woods, where her closest neighbors were often black bears, coyotes, and fishers, among other four-legged creatures. “One morning at 7am I woke up to my dog Mack barking like crazy, and I just thought it was because sometimes the deer sleep openly on the property,” she explains. “I looked outside to see what was probably about a 250-pound feral pig lounging and eating our blueberry bushes. It was wild to see. I love being around all this nature, but it means that sometimes you’re dealing with baby raccoons in garbage, or one time a chipmunk got in the camper. And winter can be brutal; we got so much snow one year. It’s a different way of living in harmony with nature that builds character and grit.”
Now the house is nearly finished and the pair are officially living inside. The camper is still on the property, closed up until they decide its next purpose. “We’re not sure yet—it might make a fun guest home, but right now, we’re just so excited to have our house,” she says. “The camper served its purpose and allowed us to do incredible things in this pivotal point of our lives. In the Catskills we’ll always have bears, snow, mosquitoes, but it’s all a part of the beauty of the experience of living out here.”
39 Goshen Road, Hensonville
Established as the Hensonville Hotel in the early 1900s, the building that currently houses the Henson and its onsite restaurant Matilda has a sterling, century-long track record in the hospitality industry. In 2015, the property passed hands and after years of renovations bringing it into the 21st century, the hotel opened its doors this past Memorial Day weekend. A wood-fired grill is at the heart of Matilda’s kitchen, with plenty of seasonal offerings from grilled asparagus with spring onion, fiddlehead ferns, and Jasper Hill Farm’s Moses Sleeper cheese ($18) to a pair of wood-grilled oysters with bone marrow, sorrel, and pumpkin seeds ($15). The restaurant is committed to sourcing meat, vegetables, and dairy hyper-locally for a seasonally rotating menu that teases light-handed Asian influences, like the Amish chicken’s scallions and koji ($52) or the steelhead trout’s nori puree, garlic mustard, and sea beans ($28). Matildacatskills.com
21 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock
The spot at 21 Mill Hill Road on Woodstock’s main drag has had many incarnations—most recently as the twee diner Maria’s Bazaar and gift shop Sparkle. In May, like so many of its residents, Williamsburg bar and restaurant Shelter traded Brooklyn for the Hudson Valley after a decade-long stint. Like at their other spots, the newly Woodstock-based eatery spotlights open-fire cooking with a menu that ranges from pizzas to Argentine empanadas and grilled meats and fish.
@shelterbrooklyn
214 Warren Street, Hudson
Ca’Mea was a fixture of the old-guard Hudson dining scene for two decades. When owner Roy Felcetto retired earlier this year, the restaurant passed to a chef committed to continuing and elevating the tradition of Italian cuisine.
Chef Gaetano Arnone has trained in some of New York City’s top Italian ristorantes including Eataly, Babbo, and Otto before living in Italy for the past four years. Via Cassia is his homage to the country’s casual sidestreet eateries where you can get an aperitivo or a pasta to blow your socks off and a glass of exceptional wine. Like all good Italian food, the dishes are simple, focusing on execution. For pastas, think cacio e pepe ($21) and bucatini all’Amatriciana ($23). The concise secondi selection has one fish, one steak, and a grilled quail. With Arnone’s direct connection to Tuscan vineyards, this isn’t a spot to skip wine. Viacassiahudson.com
36 Main Street, New Paltz
Schatzi’s Pub was a staple of the New Paltz scene until its final night, New Year’s Eve last year. The space underwent a light makeover and recently reopened as the second location of Highland favorite Underground Coffee & Ales. With espresso drinks, tasty bar food, and a vast selection of craft beers, it’s the perfect fit for the college town, plus the spacious patio is open in time for the warm weather. Whether you spring for the iconic crispy chicken sandwich ($16), the fried buffalo Brussels ($12), or something breakfasty like the avocado toast ($14), the grub is the platonic ideal of pub food. Wash it down with one of over 100 beers on offer.
Undergroundcoffeeandalesnewpaltz.com
284 Wall Street, Kingston
After years of dreaming, siblings Jeremías and Raquel Pop have opened a new Guatemalan restaurant, El Jaguar, in Uptown Kingston. The spot on Wall Street, formerly a drab government office, has been reimagined with colorful touches and offers authentic cuisine from the siblings’ home country along with Mexican eats like tacos and select American dishes. Stumped on what to get? Try the churrasco platter, which includes grilled beef, chicken, and shrimp served with chirmol, rice, beans, potatoes, and from-scratch tortillas ($30). Eljaguarrestaurant.com
—Marie Doyon
It’s no secret that dining in the Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Berkshires is one of our favorite pursuits—and yours, too! With so many new establishments opening all the time it can be easy to make a full editorial meal of the latest and greatest, but we know that there are plenty of well-loved spots that deserve notice, too. Our new monthly dining guide provides a space for the voices of our diverse restaurant community, from the red sauce joint that’s been in the same family for generations to the top-notch sushi spot that opened last year.
If you want to know what’s happening in the region’s dining scene every week, make sure you sign up for the Eat edition of our email newsletter. Every Friday, we deliver the latest updates and in-depth stories on food and craft beverage that you’ve been craving.
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Ole Savannah Southern Table & Bar
100 Rondout Landing, Kingston (845) 331-4283 Olesavannah.com
Located in a historic steamboat repair shop in Kingston’s Rondout district, Ole Savannah offers up a heaping helping of Southern hospitality with a distinctive Hudson Valley twist.
Think classics like fall-off-the-bone barbecue, chicken and waffles, and fried green tomatoes, as well as globally inspired dishes like misomarinated salmon filet and pho. Add to that a fan-favorite Sunday buffet brunch spread, a diverse menu of hand-crafted cocktails, and some of the best waterfront views of any restaurant around, and there’s a reason Ole Savannah has been a Kingston go-to since restaurateur Dave Amato opened its doors in 2015.
With its exposed beams and high-vaulted ceilings that evoke the Rondout’s storied shipbuilding era, Ole Savannah has also become a favorite venue for intimate weddings, anniversary parties, bridal showers, and just about every other kind of shindig imaginable.
Brickmen Kitchen + Bar
47 N Front Street, Kingston (845) 882-7425 Brickmenkingston.com
In 2023, Amato and Jessica Mino opened Brickmen Kitchen + Bar in Kingston’s Uptown district as a love letter to the city’s rich history. The name Brickmen was inspired by its prominent 19th- and early 20thcentury brickmaking industry and Amato’s grandfather Joe, who worked in the brickyards before becoming a restaurateur himself.
The globetrotting menu at Brickmen, designed by consulting chef Certified Master Chef Dale Miller, is comforting yet refined. Mini mac Kobe sliders, lobster spaghetti al limone, bricked jerk roasted half chicken, Korean BBQ ribs, and a seafood and sushi bar are tailor-made for pairing with craft cocktails that borrow ingredients from an equally diverse international pantry. Sunday brunch is also a can’t miss affair at Brickmen, especially when enjoyed on the outdoor deck with quaint views of the neighborhood below.
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8373 State Route 28, Big Indian (845) 254-6500 Peekamooserestaurant.com
Pioneers of the farm-to-table movement, The Peekamoose Restaurant’s menu changes daily with the seasonal bounty, reflecting the close relationships that the Mills have established with local farmers. Chef Devin Mills grew up in the Catskills and spent his formative years working for some of the top eateries in Manhattan. Nightly bonfires, imaginative cocktails, and locally sourced farmhouse cuisine make this spot a must-visit. Peekamoose is celebrating their 20th year of being a Catskills destination.
Butterfield at Hasbrouck House
3805 Main Street, Stone Ridge (845) 687-0736 Hasbrouckhouseny.com
Experience rustic farm-to-table cuisine at Butterfield, nestled in the historic Hasbrouck House. Discover the new summer menus featuring seasonallyinspired dishes, complemented by a bar and cocktail program expertly curated by The Catskills Cocktail Club. Enjoy dinner and drinks on the picturesque gardenside patio, intimate candlelit dining room, or unwind at happy hour in the cozy bar.
5340 Route 28, Mt. Tremper (845) 688-2828 Emersonresort.com/catamount
Indulge in an unforgettable dining experience at the iconic Catamount Restaurant. Nestled on the picturesque edge of the Catskill’s famed Esopus Creek, enjoy the rustic elegance of our stunning locale as you select from a menu of contemporary comfort food favorites, locally sourced and expertly crafted to tantalize your taste buds with flavors that celebrate the essence of our community.
Begin the day with a delectable breakfast menu including Omelets, Eggs Benedict or The Big Boy Breakfast Sandwich - a Grilled Cheese with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Catskill Mountain Potato Cake and Two Eggs, any style. Treat yourself to a leisurely weekend brunch featuring breakfast and lunch entrees. For dinner, try the Cider Brined Pork Chop with Sweet Potato & Bacon Hash, Bourbon Maple Butter and Roasted Green Beans or the popular Prime Rib Mondays, featuring mouthwatering Prime Rib served with a House Salad, Broccoli and Potato side of your choice for only $42 per person.
Each dish is crafted with care, ensuring that every meal becomes your new favorite. Warm weather means outdoor deck seating where you can savor the sights and sounds of the Esopus along with every bite. Join us at the Catamount, where good food and good times await you.
35 Main Street, Poughkeepsie (845) 471-7026 Mahoneysirishpub.com
Mahoney’s is an award-winning Poughkeepsie destination for food and fun—in whichever order you’d like, since late-night pub grub is served until 2 am every night. And there’s something fun going on every night: open mic Mondays, jazz Tuesdays, karaoke Wednesdays, trivia Thursdays, and a DJ Thursday through Saturday, plus live music every Friday and Sunday (when football is off season) and the Laugh It Up Comedy Club on Fridays and Saturdays. On July 4th, Mahoney’s will host the Motown sounds of Steel Owl Band in the parking lot.
The lunch menu offers Irish classics like bangers and mash, fish and chips, and delectable burgers and sandwiches. Dinner adds fancier choices like seafood and a lineup of tender, juicy steak options. Specials change weekly.
You can dine outside, on the pet-friendly patio, or inside, in the historic building that once housed the original Vassar Brewery. Downstairs, you’ll find 23 flat-screen TVs, and you can bet your favorite horse without leaving the bar via OTB.
Mahoney’s offers three separate rooms for catered events and can handle parties up to 200; there’s plenty of free parking, and elevator access. Located across from the train station in downtown Poughkeepsie, Mahoney’s is close to the city’s attractions like the Walkway Over the Hudson.
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23 W Strand Street, Kingston (845) 514-2448
Krupabrospierogico.wixsite.com
Known for providing the highest quality frozen pierogi at your favorite grocery store (and being named 2024’s Best Dumpling), Krupa Brothers Pierogi Company invites you to enjoy hot, fresh pierogi cooked and served to order. Pick any flavor and choose how to top them. Keep it classic with house fermented sauerkraut and caramelized onions, or try specials like Krupa Brothers Signature Mac & Cheese. Takeout is available every Sunday from 10am-4pm. Sto lat!
55 Main Street, Cold Spring (845) 809-5480 Thefoundryrose.com
A small restaurant in the heart of Cold Spring village with indoor and outdoor dining options, just a short walk from Metro North and local hiking trails. They offer brunch all day, happy hour, and dinner on Friday evenings. Their craft cocktail bar specializes in premium small batch ingredients and the dining menu changes seasonally. They strive to source local and fresh menu items offering something for everybody.
Just over 20 years ago, Dia Beacon’s transformation of a dilapidated Nabisco factory on the banks of the Hudson River put the city on the art world map. As Beacon’s cultural prominence has risen, so too has its reputation as a home to artists and a must-stop for art lovers. This downtown renaissance is what inspired boutique hotel developer and former HGTV personality Bethany Souza to reimagine a hotel room as an art gallery. This first-of-its-kind hospitality concept will weave all disciplines of the arts throughout the guest experience, with an emphasis on visual, performing, literary, fashion, and furniture design.
Souza, who grew up in Beacon, spent much of her 25-year hospitality career in the Midwest transforming historic properties into experiential hotels filled with fantasy and whimsy. In 2020, she returned to her Hudson Valley hometown to redesign and reopen the Dutchess Inn and Spa that had been shuttered due to Covid.
That project soon blossomed into a partnership with investors Craig and Julie Corelli to develop the three buildings surrounding the Dutchess. But what started out as an expansion of the Inn and Spa quickly metamorphosed into a new hotel now known as The Factory. This creative enclave of 20 hotel rooms, artist residences, a fire-lit communal courtyard, sculpture garden, and event and workshop space offers guests a highly immersive experience that captures the dynamic spirit of the city’s arts scene.
The Factory is a gut-renovated 125-year old former sewing factory where World War II leather bomber jackets were once made. In a nostalgic tribute to this storied past guests will find eclectic design accents including original bomber coats displayed on vintage dress forms, large wooden spools of thread repurposed into coat hooks, and new rugs made from upcycled scraps of leather—Souza’s design interpretation of what the factory floor would have looked like during its production hay days.
During its 2024 soft-opening phase, The Factory has become a regular stay of choice for film production companies and artists installing new works at Dia. During that period Souza has been meeting with galleries and artists from around the globe to curate the next phase of her vision.
Currently, the Factory is welcoming the general public to book a room during the “Sneak Peek & Sleep” campaign, which offers hotel rooms in various stages of design evolution. Room decor ranges from 19th century industrial to `70s and`80s sophisticated glam, with statement pieces such as velvet bed frames designed by painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel; the former factory’s ironing boards as end tables; and an iconic lucite hanging bubble chair inspired by furniture designer Eero Aarnio.
Each week, additional art programming is being added to include artist-led workshops, live performances, and creative “Stay and Play” additions in guest rooms where guests become the art, with interactive installations such as poetry projected onto the ceilings and lighting that creates shadow art for sketching impromptu cameos.
The final phase of rooms are the “Gallery Rooms,” which Souza explains as “basically a showroom in the form of a bedroom, where guests can completely immerse themselves in the art while lying naked.” According to her, this new way of viewing art suddenly transforms into an intimate experience that will resonate deeply and have a profound effect on the viewer.
This journey is enhanced by QR codes displayed in the rooms, which incorporate video presentations directly from the artist that allow guests to gain a deeper appreciation of the work they are viewing. All art displayed in the hotel is for sale with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to the artist. An open call for artists interested in displaying, teaching, and performing with the Factory Collective will continue through 2025.
Thefactorybeacon.com
Danelowitz (left) and Mark Fisher
summer in their flower garden. They constructed their two-story red barn in 2021, completing some of the work themselves.
The classic barn exterior blends with Columbia County’s traditional vernacular; the barn’s interior serves as an expansive studio and gallery space for Danelowitz, an abstract painter. They call it the “barn-udio” to capture its dual design.
Howard Danelowitz is finally stepping back from his art—literally. He creates his playful oil on linen works exploring the interplay of shape, color, and scale by following his intuition and allowing his subconscious to process the imagery around him. Then he spontaneously splashes it back—in the abstract—onto the canvas. “I’m always planning but I don’t have a guide,” he says of his process. “Shapes and forms have always been a very natural way for me to express myself. I tend to use whatever is around me but I don’t think about it too much.”
We are in Danelowitz’s “barn-udio,” a second-floor gallery and studio space inside the classic country barn he and his husband Mark Fischer built behind their 1850 farmhouse. Around us now is Danelowitz’s work, some finished, some still in progress, where distinct themes of color and shape evolve from canvas to canvas. Viewed side by side, the paintings are like frames in a film, with a succession of circles, squiggles, trapezoids, and boxes flying through rich tones of red, blue, gray, or green. Oversized paned windows capture the dynamic, lush landscape. “I call it painterly geometry because it’s not hard-edged geometry but it is geometric.”
By Mary Angeles Armstrong
by Winona Barton-Ballentine
Outside, the geometry is less painterly, and more in the planning stages. At the back of the couple’s Colonial salt box, sitting perpendicular to a newer Federalist addition, the sunny brick patio is currently serving as a makeshift workshop where Fischer is plotting out a summer garden. Flats of tomato starts, which Fisher has been cultivating from heirloom seed, sit askew along the patio made of buckled stone squares. “This is ‘Mortgage Lifter,’” explains Fisher as he hands me a tiny square of soil with a bright green stalk. “It will produce huge, juicy tomatoes that are perfect sliced on bread—the man who developed it used the seeds to pay off his mortgage.” He hands me another square. “This is ‘Fireworks.’ “It will produce a ton of tiny orange tomatoes that just explode with flavor.”
Skirting the back patio, the late spring flower garden is already bursting with shape and color. Triangular, deep blue iris heads are juxtaposed with a riot of fat pink peonies. Fisher, the former director of horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, cultivated this garden, as well as the couple’s rectangular vegetable patch, carefully over the seasons, noting year by year what emerged. “I’ve planted a variety of vegetation including native magnolias and chestnuts,” he says. “I like to see what naturally thrives and keep things in a balance that benefits the environment and wildlife. ”
Both men have built a life—and a home—around their keen sense of observation. In 2021, after the two built their barn-cum-studio, those observation skills became particularly handy. “I saw him for years and years painting up close in tiny spaces,” explains Fisher of Danelowitz. “When he first started painting in the barn I went to watch him and he was still standing right up close to his painting. I had to remind him—you can step back.”
Danelowitz and Fisher began searching for a home upstate in 1993 when the two were living in Manhattan. Back then, Danelowitz turned a corner of the couple’s kitchen into a tiny studio and took his inspiration from dinner plates and pot lids. Both were drawn to the natural world and went searching for a small upstate canvas. “At first we wanted to be just right outside the city,” says Danelowitz. “Because of our modest budget people laughed at us and told us to keep going north.”
They wanted a Colonial with an acre in a picturesque setting and were willing to do some, but not too much, work. To find something that fit their budget they kept traveling north, through Westchester, which was way out of their budget, and past the more expensive towns of Cold Spring and Rhinebeck, until they landed in sleepy Hillsdale. “We
Top Left: Fisher, the former director of horticulture at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, has worked with horticulturalists from across the globe. Now he devotes his time to cultivating the couple’s 50 acres of agricultural fields, woods, and gardens. After 30 years living on the property, he’s amassed extensive notes on working with the landscape.
Top Right: Fisher in the couple’s vegetable garden. While some of his gardens are showstoppers and some are productive, others are completely hidden in the woods. “At the Botanic Garden, everything had to be just so,” he says. “Here, I like to see what naturally thrives and keep things in a balance that benefits the environment and wildlife.”
DESIGN + BUILD
86-88 Mill Hill Rd Woodstock, NY 845-679-9979
Special Includes:
12 Flat Panel Cabinets as shown
Wood boxes, soft close drawers, painted Maple doors
Door pulls, undermount stainless single bowl sink, pull down faucet
Choice of 3 countertop options
3 x 6 subway tile backsplash
2 Design Meetings, home & showroom
Demolition to Installation
Selections for the Summer Special are limited to a package to be reviewed with the customer Upgrades to include appliance packages cabinet accessories flooring and other items are available at additional costs
*Offer expires September 15, 2024
*Site conditions: In the event of unforeseen conditions, or additional labor, all project work shall stop until a solution is agreed upon.
fell in love with the rolling hills of Columbia County,” says Danelowitz. “The winter before had been especially brutal, so there was lots of inventory in our price range.”
Nothing seemed quite right until the two found their Colonial style farmhouse on a country acre. Originally a dairy farm, the three-bedroom home had two full baths and a back porch with no direct access to the house. Quirks aside, it was everything they were looking for so they bought it that year, and spent their weekends doing most of the updating themselves. “We are both handy, and we’re ready to throw ourselves into the home,” says Danelowitz. “Often we spent the whole weekend working on the house, then we’d joke that we were going back to the city to our jobs and to relax.”
When they weren’t working on the home, the couple spent weekends learning about antiques and exploring the local auction houses. They were especially drawn to Americana for the history and aesthetic of the pieces they found, and they began to use the pieces to inform their renovation decisions. After salvaging a Federal-style fireplace mantel from a teardown in Washington County in 1999, they were inspired to build a family room adjacent to the home’s country kitchen. “We wanted one room that wasn’t off kilter, with a fireplace and high ceilings,” says Danelowitz of the renovation. “We loved the mantel and so designed the whole room around it.”
They matched the mantel with two federal doors from a dealer in Chatham, added largepaned windows on all three sides, and then painted the room smoky gray. A mix of federal and mid-century-modern furniture in green, grey, and blue fills the room with a range of circles and squares all carefully angled and placed.
“Over the years my interest in modernist abstract painting began to reflect itself in the space,” says Danelowitz of the room’s design.
The couple also added antique touches to the corner kitchen. “We found two Federal doors from the same Washington County teardown,” says Danelowitz. They added them to the room’s pantry space. “Adding them really tied the design together and brought character and a piece of history into our kitchen.” Wide, 1820s floorboards bought from another dealer add more period charm to the room.
In 2004, the couple decided to convert the quirky outdoor porch into a studio space for Danelowitz. They captured extra space from a former bathroom and enclosed the outdoor space. The small back room with a view to the garden served as a studio for Danelowitz for years. He now uses it as an office to conduct online therapy sessions.
Top: The couple’s Colonial, salt box home dates from 1850 and was once the center of a dairy farm. Since buying it in 1993 they’ve updated the interiors with period details and fixtures and added a family room and office in the rear.
Bottom: Federalist pantry doors and salvaged 19thcentury floorboards give the kitchen antique charm. On the countertop, three paintings from Danelowitz’s Geometric Landscape series feature frames he designed and painted “to echo the color palette of the painting themselves,” he says.
The couple designed the home’s family room addition around a Federal-era mantelpiece they salvaged locally. They decorated the interior with a symmetrical mix of Federal card tables and secretaries, as well as Modernist lighting and chairs. The Italian glass chandelier dates from the 1960s. Above the mantel the abstract work Reign of Dew is by Irene Rice Pereira. A painting from Danelowitz’s
of Danelowitz’s plein air paintings
a
The broadest selection of the biggest trees and plants in the Hudson Valley.
The broadest selection of the biggest trees and plants in the Hudson Valley.
The broadest selection of the biggest trees and plants in the Hudson Valley.
The
The broadest selection of the biggest trees and plants in the Hudson Valley.
selection of the biggest trees and plants in the Hudson Valley.
and plants in the Hudson Valley.
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936
Spring Hours: Monday–Saturday, 8am–5pm and Sunday, 10am–4pm
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
AugustineNursery.com
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
8am–5pm and
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
Spring Hours: Monday–Saturday, 8am–5pm and Sunday, 10am–4pm
Spring Hours: Monday–Saturday, 8am–5pm and Sunday, 10am–4pm
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
9W & Van Kleecks Lane, Kingston, NY (845) 338-4936 AugustineNursery.com
Spring Hours: Monday–Saturday, 8am–5pm and Sunday, 10am–4pm
Spring Hours: Monday–Saturday, 8am–5pm and Sunday, 10am–4pm
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Danelowitz inside the “barnudio.” The all-white space has vaulted ceilings, ample lighting, and a streamlined design. The large space has made room for some very large artwork: Behind him his Times Square series explores imagery from past and current scenes. “I love finding remnants of the Times Square of yesteryear, dazzling marquees, old spotlights, and how the vertical shapes of buildings intersect with jarring elements,” he says.
Over the years, their postcard-sized canvas got larger. They bought the adjacent hay fields across the road, which they lease to a farmer. They were also able to buy neighboring forest land and a section of the Roeliff Jansen Kill behind their home. Eventually they turned their just-short-of-oneacre lot into 50 pastoral acres.
The “barn-udio” project came in 2021. Designed as a traditional barn on the exterior, the interior of the space was conceived to both create and display artwork. “We wanted the outside to look like a barn from this area,” says Fisher of the bright red building adjacent to the couple’s vegetable patch. “The idea was to create something that looked like it had always been here and worked aesthetically with our property but suited our modern purposes.”
The first floor was outfitted with specialized storage and a
garage that doubles as extra workspace. Upstairs, the interior design was inspired by MoMA, where Danelowitz often visits and which owns some of his early animation work. The couple first worked out the second-floor dimensions with a model, ensuring the angles, feel, and lighting would mimic both a gallery and a blank canvas, as well as mirror the surrounding property. They’ve been very pleased with the result. “It’s more than just a barn or studio,” says Danelowitz. “It celebrates history, fosters creativity, and marries heritage with modern design.”
Over the summer of 2024 the couple plan to share the barn-udio with fellow art lovers in a series of open studios. “We designed it to be versatile,” says Danelowitz. “We love the idea of people coming in and experiencing the art and atmosphere. Sharing the space makes it more than just a workspace; it becomes part of the community.”
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New Paltz 169 Main St.
By Jaime Stathis
We’ve come a long way since Rain Man,” says Catherine Tan, PhD, referencing the 1988 film starring Dustin Hoffman as an autistic savant. For decades, this movie comprised most of the popular knowledge and imagination about autism. While the conversation has become more nuanced, there are groups who are working to expand the understanding of autism further.
Tan is an assistant professor of sociology at Vassar College and author of a new book, Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge (Columbia University Press, January 2024), but her interest in autism began during college with a part-time job babysitting for a young autistic child. In the book’s introduction, she shares “being part of his and his parents’ lives, I learned to appreciate the complicated relationship between autism and the non-autistic world.”
According to her website, Tan “argues that science and health movements are important spaces for the cultivation and preservation of contentious knowledge—knowledge that aims to challenge dominant experts and authority. Such spaces organize the resources necessary to transform ideas into lived realities.” This is autism research through the lens of medical sociology.
In the preface to her book, she is careful to show respect for the worlds she’s been shown, acknowledging “I am writing this book as a
neurotypical person,” and expressing gratitude for the kindness of those she interviewed over more than three years of ethnographic research, appreciating the autistic people she interviewed, their parents, and practitioners alike, who trusted her enough to share their lived experience for her research.
The book investigates the beliefs of two groups deeply involved in expanding the popular and medical understanding of autism in the US, and leaves us knowing that better representation of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is helping us to move toward a more inclusive, accepting society.
ASD in the US wasn’t carefully tracked until 2000, when the Centers for Disease Control set up the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) at 16 sites around the country to collect health and school records from eight-year-old children. Tracking and monitoring autism features has since been expanded to include four-year-olds, and half the sites also now monitor 16-year-olds.
Incidences of autism have exploded since the ADDM began. According to their data, rates of autism in children were 1 in 150 in 2000 when they began monitoring, but by 2020 rates were 1 in 36. In addition, ADDM data shows that autism is four times more likely in boys, and 6.7 percent
of those diagnosed with ASD have “profound autism,” which includes 5.4 million adults in the United States.
Tan explains that some of this growth is due to deinstitutionalization, and to a lowering of the threshold for ASD diagnoses. Additionally, there is greater general awareness of ASD fueled by access to online information. Parents more easily notice when their children don’t hit physical and emotional milestones, and when they don’t, they seek answers.
For Spaces on the Spectrum, Tan focused her ethnographic research and interviews on two autism-focused movements—one group she calls the “alternative biomedical movement,” which she describes as “a community of parents and practitioners who contend that autism spectrum disorder is caused by harmful environmental exposures—notably, early childhood vaccinations—and that there are worthwhile alternative or experimental treatments.”
The other group she identifies as the “autistic rights movement,” which believes autism is a natural human variation, a neurodivergence, and not a disorder or something that needs to be “cured.”
Although these two groups operate within disparate frameworks with ideologies that are, in many cases, in direct opposition, they have a few things in common: both groups represent autistic
people and their needs, seek to gain legitimacy, and challenge the mainstream frameworks for autism. Tan uses these example groups to explore “knowledge-based resistances” that challenge the dominant autism paradigm.
“The two movements challenge the way autism spectrum disorder is understood by professionals, government, and even lay people,” Tan says. “Both movements are speaking to the same fundamental issue: In our current American society, we don’t have the infrastructure or the social safety nets to catch people when they need help.”
While the ‘alternative biomedical group’ is led by parents and practitioners who hope to reverse autism through treatments that aren’t scientifically accepted for autism treatment, the ‘autistic rights group’ believes autism and neurodivergence should be celebrated, and not medicalized as a disorder. This group seeks expanded civil rights, including more inclusivity and accommodation in a world designed for neurotypical people.
While the biomedical group is primarily led by parents seeking experimental interventions, the autistic rights group is comprised mainly of adults with ASD advocating for themselves and others like them, asking politicians to protect and expand their rights.
Tan observes that both groups have positioned themselves in opposition to researchers, professionals, and parents outside their communities, and, in many ways, insulate themselves from scientific and medical authority. She contends that because neither group’s needs are being met, they’ve moved themselves to the “fringes” in rejection of the mainstream narrative on autism. Further, she believes that both groups
are fighting against a neoliberal capitalistic society that favors those without disability and leaves little recourse for those it’s not designed for.
In Spaces on the Spectrum, Tan argues that if the US was better equipped to support people with disabilities, then neither group would be desperate to push against the mainstream, and sometimes, each other.
It’s no wonder these groups are looking for equity and inclusion. Through data collected by the Census Bureau, the National Disability Institute reports that “people with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty than people without disabilities” and many struggle with job security. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ final jobs report of 2023 reported that workers with disabilities feel 40 percent less secure in their jobs than people without disabilities, and are 75 percent more likely to have their job unexpectedly terminated. Because of concerns with job security—and a marked lack of sturdiness in the country’s safety nets—people with disabilities are more at risk of becoming homeless.
Tan notes that the people in each group draw hope from others making similar efforts, whether searching for cures, or advocacy and education. “For them to continue believing and holding onto this hope, they also have to be around other people doing the same thing,” Dr. Tan says, which is where what she calls “contentious knowledge” plays a part.
Tan’s research for Spaces on the Spectrum led to a 2021 article in Social Studies of Science titled “Defending ‘snake oil’: The preservation of contentious knowledge and practices.” In this piece, she discusses the concept of contentious knowledge, which loosely translates into “challenging the mainstream.”
For example, within the biomedical group, many blame vaccines and other environmental factors for their child’s autism even though, as Tan writes, “a link between vaccines and autism has been studied extensively and disproven definitively.” She also observes that parents, in absence of information, can blame themselves, wondering if they have somehow inadvertently caused the autism.
“Parents don’t start off doubting vaccines, they just want to know their kids will be okay,” Tan says. Because parents in the “alternative biomedical group” believe ASD can be cured—and they want to give their child the best chance of success—they tend to try controversial therapies, even when they are a long shot. Examples include helminthic therapy (an experimental immunotherapy using parasites) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (most well-known for treating decompression sickness and wound healing).
The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that 95 percent of kids with autism have tried complementary or alternative therapies, and
that many parents don’t share this with their pediatricians, a fact which is not surprising given that the organization officially warns against dismissing mainstream medical care in favor of alternative therapies.
The alternative biomedical community uses words like “recovery” and “cure.” “If it’s a physiological issue, it can be reversed, right?” Tan says. “It’s hard to reverse something in the brain, but if you’re thinking about it in terms of gut bacteria or inflammation, those things seem a lot more possible to treat.” Additionally, most of them believe that the medical system is flawed, and they greatly admire unorthodoxy. “These parents aren’t wedded to a potential ideology,” Tan says. “They just want something that will work.”
Hope is a common denominator for these two groups, and both groups agree that real change takes time. In Spaces on the Spectrum, Tan explains that “one of the trickiest parts of autism advocacy is determining who is best equipped to speak on behalf of those who have limited communication skills, cognitive disabilities, and intellectual disabilities.” It’s hard for these alternative groups not to be overshadowed by groups with bigger platforms and louder voices.
Efforts on behalf of both the alternative biomedical and the autistic rights movements have grown, in part, because of the increase in autism diagnoses over the past 20 years. Research in that time period also shows autism exists on a spectrum, meaning it impacts more people, leading to a rise in awareness and activism. “Autism is something that people are not just becoming more aware of, but it is something that is becoming less stigmatized,” Tan says. “And this is true not just for autistic people, but for all people and all disabled people as well. Representation is really important.”
“The change autism advocates are hoping for and working toward will require everyone to work together. The full spectrum needs to be represented. This includes the full spectrum of the disorder and also the full spectrum of how to approach autism, from the parents looking for a miracle “cure”, to the adults pushing for dimmer lighting and softer music in more restaurants and shops. Parents know that sort of activism, and that sort of social change, takes a long time,” Tan says. “And they accept that they might not get in their lifetime, their child may not see it in their lifetime.”
“It’s going to require a collaborative effort to represent the full spectrum and its needs fully,” Tan says. “Reform takes time.”
How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge By Catherine Tan, PhD Columbia University Press
109 Goldrick Landing Court, Kingston, NY
Perched high above the Hudson River is a 5000+ sq ft unfinished home awaiting your finishing touches. The approximately 4000 sq ft addition has radiant heat, with heated floors throughout, including the garage and basement floors. In addition to the Great Room, this home is comprised of 2 apartments, plus the original structure from 1920. One of the apartments has a special loft that could be used as a bedroom and walk-in closet or could be a child’s tree house! Spacious 24’ x 36’ 2-story barn. Swim in the above-ground pool overlooking the Hudson River. $849,900.
For more information, contact Kathy Shumway, Associate Broker – (845) 901-6555
HILLTOP HEAVEN! Magnificent Log Chalet sits in its own mini forest approximately 5 minutes from Uptown Kingston. This 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1180 square foot home has open beamed cathedral ceilings, imposing beams and open stairways with look down landings, wrap around porch/balcony, and attached spacious drive through carport. Imagine walking out of the spacious living room to relax on the front balcony or looking out the upstairs bedrooms with views of the sunsets over the the Catskills. Deer, birds and woodland creatures abide in your woods. Your friends, family and pets will love you for bringing them here. With 2.5 acres there is dream potential for subdivision or a cottage/guest home, gazebo, patio/fire pit, swimming pool, gardens, pond, nature trails. Equipped with a Navien high efficiency system with propane as its source, new septic, central air ability, community water, and underground electric. Designer Wolf Classic kitchen cabinet package waiting for your installation. Sheetrock on site to be installed and prepaid blown insulation. All included as part of the price! $750,000. For more information, contact Kathy Shumway, Associate Broker – (845) 901-6555
Own your own Tavern Home! – A Rare Find & A Real Opportunity – A true live work property. The possibilities are endless. So come get the facts. Right here in the heart of the Catskills. This landmark property has all the right elements. Tavern 214 ! Prime Restaurant Space Located in the verdant and acclaimed town of Phoenicia NY. – Easy 2 hrs from NYC – A charming and historic building that has been a landmark Restaurant & Inn for decades. Property includes all equipment. A fantastic location, ample parking, and abundant growth potential. A vintage space w/ rustic, retro modern feel. 1000 sq. ft. dining room w/ a beautiful updated bar! AND an additional 1000 sq. ft. floor space ready for what ever suits. Stellar out door dining on the expansive covered porch. **THE Upstairs!! is presently owner occupied. Perfect to revive for use as B&B. 4 Large rooms and additional renovate able space. Commercial Kitchen – loading area & drive – block garage – full basement. Active in all seasons, Phoenicia is minutes from Skiing, & the town is alive with summer recreation, vacationers, arts and culture. $699,000.
For more information, contact Kathy Shumway, Associate Broker – (845) 901-6555
9 East O’Reilly Street, Kingston, NY
Great Business & Location in Kingston! Established Laundromat serving Ulster County for over 55 years! Located on corner lot, this historical building was built in 1950’s and has been known as “New East O’reilly Street Laundromat.” The Primary space which is measured at 57.11 x 29.3 feet, includes 17 small loaders; 15 Super front loaders, 26 dryers, 2 coin changing dispensers, laundry folding tables throughout. In addition, transferable Airbnb contracts, and drop off services. Further, all counting machines and safe, along with all the mechanical tools (brand new lift & compressor). $899,000.
For more information, contact Kathy Shumway, Associate Broker – (845) 901-6555
1ST Place: Best Law Firm 2024 (3x winner: 2021, 2022 and 2024)
1ST Place: Best Law yer (Derek Spada)
2ND Place: Best Podcast (Upstate & Litigate)
Thanks to ever yone who voted!
Chronogrammies turns five this year. What began essentially as a way to bolster the local business community caught in the whirlwind of the pandemic has blossomed into our muchanticipated Readers’ Choice Awards.
Let’s quantify this year’s Chronogrammies voting: Over 25,000 readers participated, casting over 480,000 ballots across 270 categories.
There’s some familiar names among the winners: Ulster Savings Bank (Bank), Rossi’s (Deli), and the YWCA of Ulster County (Social Justice Organization, Racial Justice Orgainzation, and Youth Advocacy Organization). We introduced a new category, Bread, this year, which folks were very passionate about. Congrats to Challah on the Hudson for taking home top honors.
Catskill had a really good showing this year, with the following businesses all grabbing Chronogrammies: Story Farms (U-Pick Farm), The Lo Farm (CSA), White Mule Framing (Custom Frame Shop), Hemlock (New Bar), Body Be Well Pilates (Pilates Studio), Coldwell Village Banker Green Realty (Real Estate
Firm) Frank Guido’s Port of Call (Waterfront Dining), Citiot (Remote Work Spot), Spike’s Record Rack (Record Store), The Avalon Lounge (Dive Bar), Left Bank Ciders (Cidery), Subversive Malting + Brewing (Brewery), Bridge Street Theatre (Live Theater Venue), Captain Kidd’s (Margarita), Cone Zero Ceramics (Art Classes), and TZ Electric (Electrician).
And save the date: The Chronogrammies party we threw last year at Hudson House Distillery to honor all the winners was so great we had to do it again this year. Please join us on Thursday, August 22, from 6-8pm at Hudson House Distillery in West Park for an evening of celebration. This year’s theme is disco, so lean into the ‘70s vibe and shake your booty with DJ Dave Leonard.
Congratulations to all the Chronogrammies winners! You’re something special and everybody knows it. And big love to our readers and supporters. The “Readers’ Choice” Awards are nothing without you, our readers!
P.S. Scan the QR code to the left and enjoy the heartwarming spectacle of this year’s winners getting their victory dance on.
Youth
Cinema
Animal Welfare Advocate/Activist Valerie Ellsworth, Nothing But Love Canine Foundation
Each day, Valerie Ellsworth—cofounder and president of Nothing But Love Canine Foundation—starts her day with a mission in mind: improving the lives of dogs. Her work to do so has prompted readers to select her as this year’s Animal Welfare Advocate/Activist Chronogrammie winner. “I wake up in the morning and think of how many dogs I can save, and what I can do better,” she says.
Nothing But Love, based in Bloomington, began in 2020. “Our goal is to spay and neuter as many dogs as we possibly can, and provide financial assistance for heartworm treatment of rescue dogs,” says Ellsworth. The foundation’s hope is to ensure the well-being of these dogs so they can be placed in loving permanent homes. It started when Rocky, a severely injured pocket Pitbull being used as a bait dog, arrived at the shelter Ellsworth volunteered with in South Carolina. After learning more about him, she discovered that he required neutering and heartworm treatment. Ellsworth raised funds for his medical expenses through Facebook, and her husband Bruce Ellsworth (cofounder
and vice president) suggested they use the extra money to help other dogs in the shelter. Soon after, Nothing But Love was born. It has become Ellsworth's priority since leaving her full-time finance job in 2021. Rocky was adopted by the Ellsworths after they took him in as a foster. “We taught him everything just as much as he taught us how to love and forgive. Dogs are so forgiving, and they don’t hold grudges,” says Ellsworth
Nothing But Love helps shelters on a tight budget to get more dogs adoption-ready. After winning a $25,000 prize and lots of fundraising, they now aid shelters as far south as Alabama. In addition, they offer community spay and neuter services along with food and supplies donations for their partner shelters and local residents.
“These babies are precious, and they’re really a gift. I feel society has failed them in many ways,” says Ellsworth. “I want my rescue to be the one where people say, ‘That’s a step-up rescue that will do whatever the dog needs.’ I give them the support that they need.”
Nothing but Love accepts donations via Venmo @LoveForCanines. Nothing But Love merch is available on their website, where they also host post info on fundraising events their Pay It Forward program. Loveforcanines.com
Sculpture Garden
1st Opus 40
2nd Storm King Art Center
3rd Art Omi
Trivia Night
1st Rough Draft Bar & Books
2nd Keegan Ales
3rd Citiot
Bartender (person/business)
1st Yaza Goldstein, Camp Kingston
2nd Randy Benson, Old Drovers Inn
3rd Deanna Carr, Peekamoose Restaurant
Beer List (Bar/Restaurant)
1st West Kill Supply
2nd Camp Kingston 3rd Lasting Joy Brewery
Bloody Mary 1st Camp Kingston
2nd Ship
1st
When Jim Bailey began a small pottery manufacturing and supply company 45 years ago in Midtown Kingston, the city’s art scene was not what it is today. Windows were being broken nearly every week, and the Baileys would travel to Woodstock to attend art events, as few were held in Kingston. Jim and his wife, co-owner Anne Bailey, have watched the community change, and being one of the founders of the Kingston Arts Commission and the Midtown Arts District, Anne has helped facilitate this transformation. Today, Bailey Pottery supplies ceramicists and major art departments across the nation and is a leader in its field. It also won this year’s Chronogrammie in the Art Supply category.
The couple’s love for ceramics brought them together at the Rhinebeck Crafts Fair in 1976, around the same time Bailey Pottery Equipment was born with Jim’s first invention of many—the Bailey Slab Roller. Anne joined the company in 1984, adding a ceramic supplies division. Since then, Bailey Pottery has continued to grow alongside the art community—going from a small rented factory to a 22,000-square-foot space with a second 15,000-square-foot warehouse—but always remaining a staple for local potters.
Whether customers are looking to invest in a kiln or just buy a glaze, they’re being served by other clay lovers. As a professional potter, Anne knows how special working with clay can be: “People come to it, they feel it, they experience it, and they know in a way they’re going to a deeper place. That is what working in clay offers, and it offers a sense of community too.”
Bailey’s is rooted in the artistic community, priding itself on making art equitable for all. “The model was to make this affordable for artists and pay our people a living wage. Before it was popular to think this way, that’s what we were doing, because that’s where we came from,” Anne says.
The business offers more than just supplies; support is Bailey Pottery’s specialty. Bailey’s team of nearly 40, mostly comprised of experienced potters, make the complicated field more approachable to beginners and professionals alike.
“Our people are great, and they work awfully hard to make sure customers get what they need, and sometimes that may be less than what they thought to get started. In other words, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get started,” Anne says. “We are not a box store and our roots are in the arts and craft movement of the `70s. We remain committed to the idea that creativity is as important to humanity as clean air and nutritious food.”
—Devon Jane Schweizer
Now in its fourth season under the ownership of Brian Culwell, the Blue Devil Dairy Bar in Ellenville has become known for its over-the-top ice cream treats and twists on classic comfort foods. The 400-square-foot ice cream stand and snack bar is slightly larger than a food truck, but it offers a six-page menu with items such as mac 'n cheese with pulled pork on top of French fries (a bestseller) and monster shakes topped with pieces of cake or donuts. Blue Devil won in several Chronogrammies categories: number one for chicken wings, chili, and dog-friendly dining, and second in fries, gluten-free options, and hot dogs. Part of their success is that the menu constantly evolves with new items like specialty burgers, shakes, and sundaes. Blue Devil Dairy Bar strives to cater to everyone, including those with gluten-free diets. “We offer specially made gluten-free bagels, French toast, and buns for chicken sandwiches or hamburgers,” says social media manager Farrah Simon. “It sucks to be the
only one sitting out with just a cup of vanilla ice cream.” Additionally, customers can pick up a photo album at the stand and view nearly 100 pictures of every ice cream sundae and milkshake they serve.
A visit to the dairy bar is also a family affair, including your furry friends. “On hot days, we have bowls of water outside for dogs,” says Simon. “We encourage bringing your pets.” They offer pup vanilla ice cream, peanut butter pup cups, and puppy cakes.
Originally an ice cream stand that has changed hands more than once since the 1980s, Culwell bought the Dairy Bar four years ago. “It was a successful stand to begin with, and I always thought if we added food, we could make it that much better,” says Culwell. “So that’s what we did—took it over, added a kitchen, and the rest is history.”
“People seem to like the food,” says Culwell. “To be nominated 13 times for the Chronogrammies was mind-blowing to me. Win, lose, or draw, it didn’t make a difference; our customers thought enough of us to get us into 13 categories. I’m amazed and appreciate the outpouring of love.”
—Ryan Keegan
Hudsy
Whether you’re a Hudson Valley lifer, visitor, or new arrival, there’s always a lot to learn. No single human or medium could possibly capture all of what goes on here—but the filmmakers co-creating Hudsy have a gift for shining light on fascinating and often lesser-known people, places, and doings, and no one who’s familiar with the work will be surprised that our readers chose Hudsy for an Arts Organization Chronogrammie.
The Kingston-based cooperative is recently transitioned into a nonprofit to better serve the region's storytelling needs. In just their first couple of years they’ve generated hundreds of wildly varied pieces of video content—a rich compendium of regional lore crafted with love by superbly talented makers. The region is spotlighted in all its glory: making music, growing food, doing business, excelling at art or sport, advocating, exploring ruins and riverbanks. Given full expression in Hudsy’s films, the individuals and the terroir shine in ways that will make you thrilled to be here.
“We are deeply moved and incredibly grateful for the outpouring of love and support from our community,” says Angel Gates Fonseca, cofounder and executive director of production and development. “It’s heartwarming to see our efforts resonate with so many, and it fuels our passion to continue sharing the unique stories that make our community special. Your appreciation reinforces the importance of our mission and inspires us to keep pushing forward.”
Along with making content, Hudsy maintains a paid apprenticeship program that nurtures and trains aspiring filmmakers and can be hired by businesses and organizations that want their stories told with flair. “Our mission is to shine a light on the stories that define our community but also to create opportunities here,” says Fonseca. “We believe that every person has a story worth telling, and through our platform, we aim to connect, inspire, and celebrate the diversity and creativity within the Hudson Valley. What makes it all work is the incredible collaboration between our dedicated team, the storytellers who share their experiences, and the supportive community that engages with our content and events. It’s this collective effort and shared vision that drive us to create meaningful and impactful narratives.”
—Anne Pyburn Craig
OPEN TUESDAY-THURSDAY, 4PM-9PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY, 4PM-10PM
HAPPY HOUR
TUESDAY-FRIDAY 4-5:30PM
52 MAIN STREET, MILLERTON, NY
The Saugerties-based Rock Academy is what brought the teenage members of Rosegold—this year’s Chronogrammies winner for Local Band—together. The alternative rock group, formed in May 2023, consists of singer/rhythm guitarist Connor Mahoney (17), lead guitarist Fynn Hawkey (15), bassist Ben Visconti (17), and drummer Leo Beaumont (14). “We’re all part of the [Rock Academy] Showband, and multiple bands emerge from that program,” says Hawkey. “Rock Academy brings a lot of people together who usually don’t fit in with what the majority likes, like pop or rap. That’s part of why this band works. It also inspires our sound greatly and exposes us to different genres.”
Rosegold’s music is centered around alt rock with hints of grunge and garage rock. “We can’t really put a title on what we sound like. Over the years we’ve subconsciously developed all these ideas of how we would like our music to sound without realizing it, and over time we incorporate that into our work,” says Visconti. Inspiration from other artists is interwoven throughout the group’s creative process. “A lot of the time we’ll be sitting there listening to a song, and I’ll
hear something and say ‘that’s really cool, I want to do that,’ and I’ll spend a day trying to expand on that little thing,” says Mahoney. As for who their inspirations are, Hawkey says Queens of the Stone Age and Stone Temple Pilots are two rock groups who influence his role in the band.
The band’s creative process has evolved from working together at Rock Academy to collaborating virtually due to the physical distance between the bandmates. “We are young, so there’s been a lot of self-education in this,” says Hawkey. Original Rosegold songs are available for listening on their YouTube @ Rosegoldband, including “Rose Tinted Glasses”—a fan favorite. They hope to release a live album from a recent recorded performance at Pearl Moon in Woodstock soon. Updates about the band and performances can be found on their Instagram, @rose_goldband.
Receiving a Chronogrammie holds great significance to the group. “This recognition means a whole lot. I thought it was a complete losing battle,” says Beaumont. The youthful members of Rosegold prove that talent, drive, and dedication are independent of age, and they’re ready to embrace the path ahead.
—Mikayla Stock
Since opening its doors last fall, Willa has brought microseasonal, farm-to-table cuisine to Millerton, garnering the kind of community appreciation and engagement that earns the 2024 Chronogrammie for New Restaurant. Willa follows 52 Main, a tapas bar where Willa owners Alanna Broesler and Jim Buhs had worked for a combined 18 years before they bought the space. “Everyone at Willa is very happy with the news,” says Broesler. “We’re all so proud of what we have accomplished, and are very grateful for the continued support of our guests.”
Support from guests, indeed. Willa’s renovation was made possible by a hectic five weeks’ worth of manual labor done in large part by Millerton residents. Both restaurant and 22-seat bar, Willa balances a casual atmosphere and elevated fare, with emerald green walls, wooden accents, and Broesler’s floral arrangements. “52 Main prior to us was a community fixture,” head chef Daniel Meissner says. “We’ve changed that environment completely, but we still see a lot of the same crowd coming back.”
Beyond providing good eats, Willa’s prime directive is
supporting the regional agricultural ecosystem, and they believe you can’t have one without the other; they source the vast majority of their ingredients directly from local farms to ensure quality and freshness. The 15- to 20-item menu follows a seasonal calendar and adheres to what local farms have in stock, sometimes requiring Meissner to make modifications almost daily.
Dishes range from grilled squid flavored with garlic, miso, lemon and plated with kohlrabi, to the reliable Kinderhook smashburger that comes with all the fixings and fries. Pork, however, will never be found on Willa’s menu––the restaurant’s namesake is Broesler’s potbelly pig, a beloved neighborhood pet.
Willa’s leadership runs on longstanding relationships and shared roots. Broesler, Buhs, and Meissner all cut their teeth working in Hudson Valley restaurants before moving away for adventures, including sustainable agriculture and culinary school. Broesler and Buhs became a couple while working at 52 Main, and Buhs previously ran a video store in Amenia frequented by a young Meissner.
“We look forward to watching Willa evolve and grow,” Broesler says, “and hope that any readers that haven’t experienced Willa yet come out and give us a try.”
—Naomi Shammash
Turning on WKZE 98.1 FM in the morning feels like being greeted by an old friend—a mellowing presence with good conversation, music, and news. For over 16 years, Rick Schneider on the “Up and Running” show has been a companion to listeners during their early morning coffees and drives to work. Both Schneider and WKZE have earned a reputation for producing excellent local broadcasts, and were voted this year’s Chronogrammie winners in the Radio Personality and Radio Station categories.
Although the station got its start in Sharon, Connecticut, in 1987, WKZE decided to move their operations to Red Hook in 2006 after discovering most of their listeners were based in the Hudson Valley. The station advertises exclusively local businesses—a testament to the support they give and get in return from the community. Ultimately though, their mission is musical diversity.
“We’ll have a world music song into a contemporary song into a rock ‘n’ roll song into a jazz song,” says Schneider, who is also the station’s music director. On any given day, listeners can hear an eclectic range of music, with artists like the Who and Emmylou Harris playing back to back.
“Up and Running” starts bright and early at 6am with music hand-picked by Schneider. Throughout the week, he features musical guests ranging from up-andcoming artists to big names playing at venues locally. He used to read regular news on his broadcast, but for the last few years, Schneider has delivered “good news” and the weather every hour on the hour until 10am. Inspiring stories—like that of Amy Appelhans Gubser, a 55-year-old who swam 30 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands in May— raise listeners’ spirits.
“There’s always a story out there that’s going to sell a newspaper, but when you hear uplifting stories about great things, it affects people,” Schneider says. “You hear these things and you feel good about people and your community.”
His authenticity shines through in every segment— his song choices, his interviews, his good news, and his catchphrases. At the end of every broadcast, he signs off with his signature catchphrase: “Help people, don’t hurt people.”
“Some people wake up and listen to the station and that’s their weather. I’m the first person they listen to,” Schneider says. “I’m inspired every day to do something different that is an uplifting experience for people to enjoy.”
—Devon Jane Schweizer
Toy Store
By Ryan Keepan Photos by David McIntyre
Ellenville is on the rise. Since the pandemic, an influx of new residents have joined forces with longtime locals to revitalize the community. As new businesses have popped up—and existing ones have gotten spruced up—there’s been a palpable sense of optimism in the village. But that’s not to say that Ellenville doesn’t still have its struggles. At the end of 2023, when Evan Trent took over as mayor following Jeffrey Kaplan’s 21-year term, he had only been on the job for a couple of weeks before discovering that the village was facing an approximately $1 million budget hole. The budget gap resulted from a mix of factors over the years: failed property sales, decreasing sales and mortgage tax income, stagnant sewer rates with rising operating costs, and an unexpected forgiveness of a significant water bill payment from the Nevele Grande Hotel.
As a result, the Ulster County Legislature allocated about $170,000 from American Rescue Plan Act funds to address budget shortfalls, while Ellenville
tapped into $500,000 from its Mountain Money fund (originally formed in 1996 from selling land to the Open Space Institute). Additionally, Trent and the Village Board appointed Elliott Auerbach—former mayor, village manager, and state deputy comptroller— as interim village manager. Now they’ve tightened down their 2024-25 budget to prioritize the essentials.
“We just really need to have a good year,” says Trent. “And it’s just about looking at what we need to do specifically. We have basic services, you know: street department, police department, water, and sewer. And those are the kind of things we’re really focused on this year—making sure our base-level services are functioning well and efficiently. Getting through this budget year, and then we can start to look at what we can do to be more proactive.”
Trent, who works as an IT specialist for the Ellenville Central School District, prioritizes investing in the village’s youth. He aims to keep them in Ellenville or ensure they return with their skills, and one key
plan he had hoped to pursue was building a youth center. Despite financial constraints, he still retains the goal. “One of the things that’s been frustrating is that the municipality of Ellenville is very different from the community of Ellenville,” says Trent. “And I don’t want what we’re dealing with on the municipal side to cloud over a lot of the great things that are going on in our community.”
As for the great things in the community, Trent highlights the Ellenville chapter of the NAACP, which has been active for over 40 years. “They have one of the most active branches in the Northeast, and you wouldn’t think that some of these things would exist in a small mountain town,” says Trent. He also notes the Smiley Carriage Road that runs from Minnewaska State Park and Sam’s Point to Berme Road Park in the village as an overlooked asset.
But summer is promising a vibrant set of events and activities. On Wednesday, June 5, Market on Market, an outdoor farmer and artisan market, kicked off its weekly 2024 season. The event—a farmers’ market meets community hangout with picnic tables—takes place on the lawn of Morning Sunshine—a cafe, market, and specialty grocer that sells beer, wine, and cider during the market.
Housed in the village’s circa 1928 Home National Bank building, the Borscht Belt Museum debuted with a pop-up show called “Vacationland!” last July. Now, it’s gearing up for its second exhibit this month: “And Such Small Portions!” which will explore the culture and humor surrounding food in Borscht Belt resorts and bungalow colonies.
On July 27 and 28, the museum will be hosting its second Borscht Belt Fest, a festival featuring a street fair with vendors and traditional Jewish food along with workshops, lectures, exhibits, film screenings, and comedy shows (this year’s lineup is still in the works, but last year’s included comedians Rachel Feinstein, Yamaneika Saunders, and Dov Davidoff). “Andrew Jacobs, our board president, really poured his heart and soul into it,” says Auerbach, who serves as a museum board member. “If not for him, I don’t think we’d have the museum we have today.”
The Borscht Belt Museum also organized the Borscht Belt Comedy Club, a series of monthly stand-up comedy shows at Shadowland Stages, which has also been bustling with its own events and activities. This summer, the theater’s 2024 lineup includes heartwarming dramas like “Dear Jack Dear Louise” and energetic musicals like “Beehive: The `60s Musical.”
“Our season this year skews toward lighter fare,” says Brendan Burke, artistic director. “It’ll be a little bit of a respite from a pretty tumultuous summer, especially with politics and with the election and everything else that’s going on. The themes for a lot of these plays loosely have to do with connection. We wanted to get people to sit back, enjoy, and be reminded of how we are more common than we are separate.”
Top: Kenia Stephens and Stephanie Weiss of Elemental Awakening on Hermance Street.
Middle: The staff of Gaby's Mexican Restaurant on Canal Street.
Bottom: Alanah Allen of Mountaindale-based fashion brand Namai at a pop-up event at Everything Nice on Canal Street.
Opposite, top: Barbara Hoff outside her store, Top Shelf Jewelry, wher she sells handcrafted jewelry on Canal Street.
Opposite bottom: Designer Alpana Bawa in the doorway of her epoonymous boutique on Canal Street.
On July 20, coinciding with Upstate Art Weekend, Shadowland will be hosting a celebration for the vibrant geometric murals adorning its campus, designed by artist Amy Park and inspired by theatrical lighting. Park and her partner, sculptor Paul Villinski, transformed a department store downtown into a studio space. They’ve recently added five rolling walls and will be hosting “Pastoral,” a group exhibition, for Upstate Art Weekend. Designer Alpana Bawa will be showcasing work by Jeffrey Gibson (who is representing the US at this year’s Venice Biennale) in her eponymous clothing boutique for the weekend as well.
The Common Good bookstore and bar, the brainchild of Matthew Goldman, is scheduled to open in mid to late July. The store will occupy the middle and far right bays at 119 Canal Street. The leftmost bay is currently occupied by Pawel Zolynski’s exhibit “Old, New & Stupid,” which features his multimedia artwork through July 28.
The bookstore plans to stock both fiction and nonfiction books and will include a separate area for children’s literature. There will also be a full bar to accommodate 10 to 12 people, with a cocktail-forward menu featuring local spirits. The Common Good will also offer an array of prepared foods: hot and cold sandwiches, salad, a meat and cheese plate, as well as snack options and seasonal offerings.
Goldman’s vision is to make the store a community space where people can gather. “The name is obviously a little playful, because we’re selling goods, but it’s what I want the store to be about,” says Goldman. “We’re a very isolated, hyper-individualistic society at the moment.
There’s fewer and fewer times we come together, acting in accord for the broader interests of a community—of the common good. I really want to elevate students in the area and have events for people of all ages.”
Outside the center of town, there are major developments set to bring economic growth and job opportunities to the region. In September 2023, the Nevele Grande Hotel was sold for $5 million to 1100 Arrow LLC as part of plans by New York City-based developer Somerset Partners to create an entirely new facility with lodging and a 126-unit housing development. On March 19, the historic resort’s century-old Winter Lodge building caught fire, resulting in a devastating blaze that kept firefighters from 10 companies busy for 15 hours. While the main resort building and other structures were spared, all that remained of the Winter Lodge was a stone fireplace.
“[The fire] was sad—the place was one of the original homes of the Slutsky family,” says Barbara Hoff, a well-known village advocate affectionately known as the “fairy godmother of Ellenville.” Hoff, who has run Top Shelf Jewelry on Canal Street for 42 years, witnessed the fire from her home. “They lived there as they owned and managed the hotel, and many of the Slutskys still with us remember that as their home for a timeframe. But the developer owns the property now, so we’ll see. We’re all anxious.”
The cause of the fire is still unknown. Despite the loss of the Winter Lodge, the development plans for the Nevele property are expected to
proceed. “The fire was limited to that older building,” says Auerbach. “After talking to Somerset, I have a sense that most of the buildings would be taken down anyway.”
Chicago-based cannabis wholesaler Cresco Labs has been working to construct a marijuana facility in Wawarsing on the site of the former Channel Master and Schrade knife factory, which closed 18 years ago. Cresco claimed the project will provide 75 immediate jobs to the surrounding area by the spring of 2023—and 375 once it’s fully up and running—but has yet to create any local jobs, as the facility has yet to be built.
“Cresco has been very upfront and forthright about the challenges they are facing,” says Auerbach. “Federal banking regulations threw them a curveball, as well as the Office of Cannabis Management on the state level. But they’ve become a community member, gotten involved, helped organizations out, and planted a flag here. As far as the village’s perspective, they’ll be another outside water user. Both revenue streams will be a tremendous help.”
Despite the uncertainties surrounding these developments, there remains a sense of hope for the future of Ellenville. “We went from a bustling downtown, to people being scared to park their cars here, to now having no parking spaces in Ellenville,” says chef Marcus Guliano of Aroma Thyme Bistro. “When I opened in 2003, I was the only formal sit-down restaurant, and I couldn’t get farmers to deliver here. The village has come a long way in the past five, 10 years, and a tremendous way in the past 20. It’s really exciting to see what we have going on now and what’s in store for our future. I think the best is still to come.”
Our first pop-up photo shoot in Ellenville on June 5 at Market on Market was a smashing success. Kudos to all the Ellenvillians who came out to represent! Thanks to Victoria Messner and Natalia Moena of Morning Sunshine and Josh Cohen of the Ellenville Farmers' Market for hosting us.
Join us for the July issue launch party on Wednesday, July 3 at Market on Market, 3-5 Clinton Avenune in Ellenville, 4 to 7pm.
Any knitter worth their needles knows the name Fabulous Yarn. What they may not know is that the prolific online vendor of the world’s highest-quality yarns is based out of an unassuming storefront in Tivoli run by its spitfire founder, Judy Schmitz.
A youth opera singer turned fashionista punk musician turned early internet publishing expert, Schmitz didn’t start knitting until she had her first child in the early 2000s. She said she went to make the baby a sweater and hated the texture of manufactured wool. After struggling to find what she was looking for, she realized there was an opportunity to use her knowledge of online sales to bring better yarn to baskets everywhere.
“I didn’t want to put acrylic or plastics on my baby,” Schmitz says. “It felt awful. And interestingly, it turns out that my kids could tell, too.”
But back in those days, you couldn’t build relationships with yarn sellers without a physical store. So Schmitz opened shop in Tivoli in 2004, near what was then her weekend home in nearby Barrytown, while still working full time in the corporate world in Manhattan. She was busy. But the grind paid off ,and while Fabulous Yarn is now a major online presence, the storefront is a bit
of a hidden gem, where fiber artists can get their hands on some truly rare products.
Inside the door is a tight little shop packed floor to ceiling with skeins and balls and cakes of hand-spun luxury yarns. This downy-soft, kaleidoscopic textile smorgasbord is truly more a showroom than a store—a representation of the variety for sale on the Fabulous Yarn website. The massive inventory is stored behind the back wall in a much larger storage, processing, and shipping room.
“What we do is we put out one of everything,” says Schmitz. “And my husband likes to say it’s like Tiffany’s because it’s like a display case you can touch, but also because a lot of yarns can get really expensive.”
They are expensive yarns because they are the best, Schmitz says unapologetically, adding that she’s providing crafters with access to exhaustively sourced, hand-spun, hand-dyed yarns, made by the most sought-after artisans, using the highestquality materials. She’s not opposed to anyone using machine-spun, lower-quality wool in their projects, but if someone is looking for exceptional materials for a special garment, Fabulous Yarn is giving them all the options they could ever want.
In person or online, Schmitz offers access to
brands including Art Yarns, New Urth, Lanalpaca, Malabrigo, and many others from around the globe. She also has her own line, Fab Yarns, produced in partnership with small-scale makers and she even supports local artisan line Tivoli Yarns, which makes a Superwash Merino.
The Hudson Valley has a rich history in yarn, which Schmitz is happy to champion. Chancellor Robert Livingston had Merino sheep, widely regarded as producing the softest of all wool, brought to Dutchess County in 1802. There’s now plenty of Merino for sale at Fabulous Yarn, and a prominent painting of a Merino sheep hangs in the store. Schmitz is a major participant in the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival every year, takes part in many local events, and often offers knitting classes and workshops
“This is a great place to be,” says Shmitz. “Local people know where to find me and a lot of people will drive quite a long way to come here. Even people who have been buying from me online for a long time will come here to be able to touch things and be inspired.”
—Jamie Larson
July 6-21 at Great Barrington Public Theatre
Playwright Oren Safdie’s latest work focuses on a 30-something man still living at home, who introduces his new girlfriend to his parents. The four-hander is a dramedy (how could it be anything but?) about family dynamics and disfunction where honesty is dished up, along with just desserts. The play is directed by Matthew Penn. $25-$50.
July 12-August 17 at Bernay Fine Art in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Aptly titled, “Summertime” will feature the work of roster artists Karen Lederer, Jason Middlebrook, Janet Rickus, and Joy Taylor as well as Columbia County-based artist Lawre Stone. This group show offers five diverse interpretations of the eternally interpreted still life. Middlebrook’s paintings on live-edge wood slabs often retrace the history of each tree through its growth rings. Like seasoned chefs, Lederer, Stone, and Taylor reduce their subjects to shapes, textures, colors, and marks that intensify and enrich the beauty of natural phenomena. And trompe l’oeil paintings by Rickus, a Berkshire favorite, are expertly crafted studies of relationships—both literally and metaphorically.
July 13-August 25 at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Kent, CT
The natural world is the theme in this exhibition featuring four artists interested in the relationship between organisms and ourselves, and in artificiality that mimics and expands the vocabulary of observation. Peter Hamlin uses painting, drawing, printmaking, and prefabricated objects informed by elements of storytelling and mythmaking. Michiyo Ihara’s pen drawings explore the profound connection between the fleeting moments of blossoming flowers and the evolving essence of the soul. Catherine Latson’s organic wall-mounted sculptures blur the lines between animal and plant, realism and fantasy, sculpture and specimen. And Julie Maren’s “Biophilia” installations of natural, artificial, and recycled materials—such as acorn tops, glass beads, and glitter—conjure an engineered symbiosis or connectedness of nature and the artificial.
July 13 at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
The opportunity to share a repast in the heirloom gardens in front of the Round Stone Barn? Yes, please. A special dinner will be prepared by local farmer, designer, and chef Tu Le of 328 North Farm. The menu will include organic vegetables and meats from the village’s farm, plus Le’s specialty grown veggies, fruit, and flowers. Crafted cocktails, wine and cider are included. 6pm. $100.
July 26-28 at Frederick Gunn School in Washington, CT
The 29th annual festival features three days of jazz performances, commencing with its gala featuring student combos, followed by headliner, saxophonist Alexa Tarantino and her quartet. Saturday is full of stars (many Grammy Award-winners) from 3pm on, and the festival closes with its annual Sunday Jazz Brunch. $50-$110.
July 20 at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival
The Grammy Award-winning Imani Winds are celebrated for their revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through dynamic playing and adventurous programming. The program includes “Black and Brown II: A Celebration of Composers of Color,” featuring works by Paquito D’Rivera, Damien Getter, and others. The group are the featured performers for the festival’s 2024 gala on this night, so you can enjoy the concert or go all in on the gala events. $75-$200.
July 25-August 31 at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
While the Berkshire Theatre Group’s summer lineup includes several intriguing plays—“4,000 Miles,” “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” and “The Weir”—you can’t fault us for putting the spotlight on Rodgers and Hammerstein, particularly one of the duo’s shows that’s been seen by hardly anybody. “Pipe Dream” is the musical based on John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. Rarely performed, it has all the hallmarks of the Rodgers and Hammerstein genius and offers themes of love and resilience among the drifters and dropouts who call Cannery Row home. $60-$100.
ARKAI
July 27 at the Foundry in West Stockbridge
How about adding some electroacoustic music into your summer arts season? ARKAI, a violin and cello duo of Juilliard grads, has been making waves with their genredefying string music, fusing classical virtuosity with sounds of a rock band, jazz combo and a string quartet. They’ve played in the world’s most esteemed halls, and here they’ll be playing in the intimate space of The Foundry. $25.
—Lisa Green
By Jane Anderson
On a warm May evening, nearly all the chairs were filled at the A. W. Buckbee Center—the original library building for the Orange County village of Warwick. For five minutes at a time, speakers stood and shared a story. The stories were diverse during nearly two hours of tales: Some were adventuresome, others cheerful, and a handful were downright tragic. The storytellers, too, differed in age and mannerisms, and audience members listened in rapt silence before erupting in applause for each speaker. It was a microcosm of Warwick itself: People with separate backgrounds and differing opinions sharing common ground.
“We live in the most beautiful town in Orange County,” says Jesse Dwyer, former village mayor of Greenwood Lake. He’s now Warwick Town Supervisor, having taken the helm from Michael Sweeton, who retired at the end of last year. The town in southwest Orange County comprises three villages—Warwick, Florida, and Greenwood Lake, each with its own attractions and personality—and multiple hamlets. At 104.9 square miles, Warwick is the second-largest town in the state. Thanks to Community Preservation Fund efforts spearheaded
by Sweeton, 5,000 acres of farmland and parkland will never be developed.
The beauty of that wide-open land is evident to hot and hungry patrons waiting in line for an icy treat at Bellvale Farms Creamery; visitors practicing their asanas amid cloven-hooved friends during Goat Yoga at Pennings Farm Cidery; or imbibers sipping a local vintage amid the grapevines at several wineries throughout the town. Land preservation is important here; along with that, Dwyer says, comes infrastructure work on the developed sections to ensure the town remains as livable as it is now. “The Town Board has had an aggressive approach to sourcing funding outside of our tax base, and that is through grant opportunities.” More than $20 million in grants have either been awarded or submitted this year for a bridge replacement in the village of Florida, repairs in the Wickham Sewer District, and town park upgrades.
Grants will also improve walkability in the village of Warwick, where a plethora of businesses pack the sidewalks with shoppers. Michael Newhard, mayor of the bustling village since 2001, says public safety and traffic are the biggest focal
Opposite: Richard F. Regan
Photos by David McIntyre
points right now. “The village of Warwick is a crossroads—to get to Florida, Greenwood Lake, or [the hamlet of] Pine Island, we are sort of in the middle,” Newhard says. “We’re starting a campaign to slow people down and raise drivers’ consciousness of pedestrians.”
Cooperation between municipalities and the state is an important link to the town’s success. That rose to the surface in May, when a strong storm ripped from one side of Greenwood Lake to the other, causing severe property damage but no major injuries or loss of life. By the end of the day, emergency officials from county, state, and national agencies had assessed damage and assisted newly minted Mayor Tom Howley in evaluations and repairs. Howley himself went door to door, checking on residents and offering help.
Tourism is a big part of the town: Warwick village’s downtown brings visitors each weekend, and the town’s orchards, wineries, and breweries are a magnet for tourists— not to mention the restaurants that boaters flock to on the weekends after a bracing day on Greenwood Lake. “The beauty of where we live is huge in attracting businesses and visitors,” says Stefanie Keegan Craver, executive director of
the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce. As an example of the popularity of tourism in the town, Keegan Craver notes that the Chamber distributes 25,000 copies annually of its directory.
That’s still shy of the 30,000 people who fill downtown Warwick each October for Applefest. Now in its 34th year, the one-day Applefest includes vendors, exhibits, food, music, and activities. Big events in the town like Applefest can be inconvenient for locals trying to navigate their familiar routes, but “there’s an understanding that they are an important part of our economy,” Newhard says.
The chamber will get a boost with the opening this summer of a new tourism center in a former antique shop next to Village Hall on Main Street in Warwick. Open daily, it will offer information on places to go and things to do in all three villages and in the unincorporated parts of town, Keegan Craver says. Long-range plans include potential municipal bathroom facilities there, too, according to Newhard.
That cooperation between the town, village, and chamber isn’t unusual for Warwick, the chamber president says. “You know you’ll be supported here,” says Keegan Craver. “Everyone wants community, and we have a great community.”
We the People Warwick That sense of community has come with growing pains, though. StoryShare—that magical May evening of storytelling—is part of We the People Warwick (WTPW), a grassroots organization founded in 2021 by teacher and mediator Beverly Braxton to address tensions that had been building since 2016, when the seams of the nation were being teased apart politically. Warwick wasn’t immune to division, as evidenced by heated board meetings after the village approved painting a blue line down Railroad Avenue in support of its local police force, and then repainted it red, white, and blue in an effort to be more inclusive. The New York Times spotlighted the strife in an op-ed and film.
“It was so nasty and intense, it was shocking,” Braxton recalls of the post-blue-line meetings. Leaning on her training as a mediator, Braxton contacted the Mayor Newhard to offer her services. “He wanted to figure out how to tone down the violence that was threatening,” she remembers. “The tensions were just under the surface. Would Warwickers have it in them to resolve it?”
With Braxton’s direction, 10 groups met in four, two-hour sessions at Village Hall to discuss the issues and find a peaceful solution in May 2017. “I didn’t want people to just sit around and gripe; they had the opportunity to feel deeply and express those feelings, and we were using the
“I didn’t want people to just sit around and gripe; they had the opportunity to feel deeply and express those feelings, and we were using the language of belonging to make people feel safe. Things are feeling so much better, in an almost imperceptible way.”
—Beverly Braxton, founder of We the People Warwick
language of belonging to make people feel safe,” Braxton says. The efforts seem to have helped, she adds: “Things are feeling so much better, in an almost imperceptible way.”
Within five years after those heated meetings, WTPW was formed to foster communication, understanding, and common ground so everyone in the town feels welcomed. A multifaceted group, WTPW includes a dialogue series; facilitator training; mental health and teen wellness programming; A Day in the Life, where people talk about their daily lives and careers; and the storytelling series, among other programs. Braxton hopes to bring to light the effects of smartphones and our fast-paced culture on the health and wellbeing of children. “We’re looking for ways to build resiliency, and how to get youth involved in our community. People seemingly gave up civics education to go shopping,” she explains.
Braxton says most of what WTPW does has come about organically: “I’m not forcing anything. I’m inviting it,” she says. “I’m not going to live a life where nothing will be done. Let’s open a lens to our humanity and not our divisions.”
A little more than 32,000 people call the town of Warwick home. And as Dwyer described, it’s the job of the town and villages to ensure there’s safe, clean space for them. The secret sauce that makes the town popular are its solid school
districts, small-town businesses, good property values, and having a health facility—St. Anthony Community Hospital—right in the village, says Kim Corkum, Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce president and associate broker and director of luxury for Keller Williams Realty in Chester. That’s kept Warwick in the high end of competition for an inventory of homes that’s remained low since before Covid.
The median price of homes in Warwick this year is $502,000, an increase of almost three percent over 2023, Corkum says. Over the last 12 months, 210 homes were sold in Warwick, she adds. “Our inventory is quite low, lower than I’ve seen it for years,” Corkum says. Buyers are still intent on living here, despite bidding wars and interest rates that continue to fluctuate. “I tell my clients that you marry the home, not the interest rate,” Corkum explains. She doesn’t see the popularity of Warwick waning any time soon. “I see us remaining a destination area for a while— we have amazing stores and restaurants here.”
Dwyer agrees. “We have a unique town with three villages and many hamlets, each with their own distinct characteristics, joined by a common bond of a strong sense of community,” the town supervisor says. “It is our job, as a town board, to protect the very things that make Warwick great—our scenic landscape, bountiful natural resources, and the character of our town that is unlike anywhere else in the state.”
One of the founding texts of Minimalism, Terry Riley’s In C, composed in 1964, is typically performed by at least a dozen musicians, although sometimes ranging as high as 10 times that. In honor of its 60th anniversary, avant-garde cellist Maya Beiser has reinvented the piece—more a selection of instructions with choices, rather than a fully notated composition—for solo cello and wordless vocals plus two percussionists. The result is quintessential Beiser, whose creative reinventions have included works by Bach, Olivier Messiaen, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and a complete cello rendition of David Bowie’s Blackstar album.
Recorded at her home studio in the Berkshires and mixed in Saugerties, Beiser’s In C is both an intriguing conceptual achievement and a hypnotic, nearly ecstatic listening experience. Whereas Riley’s original was conceived as a kind of organized group improvisation, Beiser takes advantage of stateof-the-art looping technology to slowly build and layer her cello phrases into a monumental, near-orchestral statement of rhythmic and harmonic bliss, which can be equally enjoyed as a high-volume blast of pure pulsating energy or as a near-subconscious 55 minutes of ambient sound. Beiser makes full use of her versatile cellist’s tool kit, including buzzing rhythms, low-level drones, and soaring melody lines, all of which interlock into a musical construction of grand architectural proportions. The end result is joyful and poignant, haunting and alarming—a new kind of music of the spheres, a place where I want to live.
Seth Rogovoy
While it’s impossible to overstate Cheap Trick’s enduring brilliance, the jawdropping vocals of Robin Zander and wacky guitar theatrics of Rick Nielsen have often threatened to obscure the impressive quality of the band’s songwriting. On Johnny Society Sings Cheap Trick, the Catskill-based band Johnny Society (led by musician Kenny Siegal) demonstrates the bulletproof brilliance of a dozen Cheap Trick classics from 1977 to 1990 by deconstructing them in often unpredictable yet still innately tuneful ways. “C’mon C’mon”—which, along with four other tracks here, features guest vocals from British new wave luminary and longtime Hudson Valley resident Wreckless Eric—comes across here like good-time 1960s sunshine pop, while a stomping “Dream Police” amps up the song’s nightmarish subtext and “Surrender” becomes a twisted martial waltz. But the biggest surprise is “Walk Away,” which gets a Neil Diamond circa “Cherry Cherry” makeover that improves considerably upon Cheap Trick’s sleepily rendered 1990 original.
—Dan Epstein
New Paltz singer-songwriter Gary Levitt returns with The Feelings Cure, the latest full-length ear wormer from Setting Sun. “Cool” is a terrific opener: CSN&Y-honey harmonies paired with simmering indie pop that’s accented with light drum sounds and pleasing Hampus Ohman-Frolund brushwork. At times, the synths on the album almost evoke the sing-song nature of the Cars’ best hooks or a slightly less-quirky Rentals vibe. It’s always nice to hear avant-garde pop minimalist Erica Quitzow on anything; here, she lends her violin substantively to the Wilco-esque “Counting the Cows” and “A Symphony.” Levitt’s restrained-but-earnest vocals at times recall those of Lou Barlow during Sebadoh’s Harmacy era. “Same Face” is a twee-pop-meets-Americana home run, hefty enough songwriting to be a Wallflowers hit but imbued with DIY charm and syrupy Abby Hollander Levitt backup vocals. Long may this sun set.
—Morgan Y. Evans
Each month we visit with a member of the community to find out what music they’ve been digging.
I’m still waiting for this year’s song of the summer, but in the meantime, I’ve been listening to artists I’ve recently seen perform live. I’m a longtime fan of the Avett Brothers (from my home state of North Carolina!) and I went nuts over the video for “Country Kid,” the second single from their new, self-titled album. It’s such a nostalgic taste of growing up in small-town Carolina. And I adore Sierra Ferrell’s Trail of Flowers. Her “American Dreaming” hits me in the heart every time, and “Dollar Bill Bar” is another example of her fantastic songwriting and extraordinary voice. She’s the real deal! They played a double bill at Albany’s MVP Arena in May and turned it into an intimate space with their off-the-charts performances.
Another great artist I saw recently is Orville Peck; he’s got an amazing voice and his new album of duets, Stampede, is fantastic. A highlight is his duet with Willie Nelson, “Cowboys are Frequently Secretly
Fond of Each Other,” written by my ol’ pal Ned Sublette back in 1981. Willie recorded it in 2005, and Peck sang it at Willie’s 90th birthday concert at the Hollywood Bowl last year. Willie loved Orville’s version and suggested they cut a duet—which kicked off what became Stampede. Another choice cut is his slowburning collaboration with Allison Russell, “Chemical Sunset.” Speaking of Willie Nelson, his new album (his 152nd!), The Border, is superb, with a killer title track. I can’t wait to see the 91-year-old onstage for the third summer in a row, with his Outlaw Country Festival this year at Bethel Woods with a few pals you may have heard of: Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, and Allison Krauss. You’ll see me there, up front!
Holly George-Warren is the author of such books as Janis: Her Life and Music, A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years. She lives in Phoenicia.
Party Boys: How the Ballinger Brothers Built the Greatest Nightclubs on Earth
Lon Ballinger
INDEPENDENT, 2024. $24.68
The Ballinger brothers, three guys who grew up poor in rural Canada, were atypical Manhattan impresarios—in spite of, or because of this, they successfully reinvigorated iconic Webster Hall in the East Village, running it from 1988 to 2017 as a come-on-in antidote to pretension, a club where human decency ruled. “We made 40 million people dance,” Ballinger marvels. Now co-owner of Stewart House in Athens, he began writing it all down for his grandchildren and ended up with an insider memoir leavened with sound business advice.
I Make Envy on Your Disco
Eric Schnall
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS, 2024, $21.95
Sam Singer is 37, a disgruntled Manhattan art advisor who’s about had it with his work and his partner alike. At a crossroads that’s barely taken form, he decides to head to Berlin for a gallery opening and finds vivid human connection in a city at a crossroads of its own. Schnall, a Salisbury, Connecticut, resident and Tony Award winner for the Broadway revival of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” has won the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction for this latest novel.
Trust and Safety
Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman
DUTTON, 2024, $28
Rosie, fighting the feeling that she’s failing to launch, dangles the possibility of a baby to coerce hubby into her Hudson Valley dream house, which even the realtor admits is a nightmare. His tech job evaporates the night before the sevenfigure closing, but his domineering mama jumps to the rescue—what could go wrong in the land of fresh and local, renting a dilapidated outbuilding to an enviably hip poly couple? This second novel from Gleichman and Blackett is insightful, hilarious, and hard to put down.
Odie is Being Called Back, and Other Poems
Gerard Malanga
BOTTLE OF SMOKE PRESS, 2024, $15
Malanga, now a Hudson resident, began writing poetry as a teen and then, at 20, became Warhol’s first assistant at the Factory from 1963-1970, appearing in all of Warhol’s films, fully immersed in the chaos and glitter of the era, and beloved by many. Along with being a photographer and artist, he’s published 17 books of poetry over five decades; just this spring, he was elected Chevalier of Arts and Letters in France. His straightforward lyricism works beautifully in these musings on cats and humans and lives lived.
Because of Eve
Rondavid Gold
AUSTIN MACAULEY, 2023, $15.95
Into a world racked by conflict over reproductive rights and gender issues, ruled by greed and the hasty excesses of Big Pharma, Gold introduces an entirely new ingredient: a pill that enables women to clone themselves, producing little girl-babies without the need for spermatozoa. Introducing the concept through the eyes of a medical student who moonlights as a detective and is confronting a suspicious death, the debut novelist and Woodstock resident unfolds it over the course of 137 rapid-fire chapters full of intense dialogues between over 30 characters.
—Anne Pyburn Craig
As an omnipresence in food, literature, and pop culture, it’s hard to believe that Ruth Reichl is an actual person, and not a marvelous fictional character who has come to life on the page and screen. But, of course she’s real, and has just published her second work of fiction—The Paris Novel, the noun distinguishing it from her numerous delightful memoirs. In any case, if you’re looking for the perfect summer read, redolent with Parisian scenes, food, and eccentric characters, you’ve found it.
Reichl’s resume is rich: She part-owned a restaurant in California in the `70s, wrote restaurant reviews and edited New West magazine, was the food critic at the New York Times for most of the `90s, edited Gourmet magazine, and has been a regular judge on TV’s “Top Chef.” I follow her Substack entries and Instagram feed, which entertainingly ranges from photos of haute cuisine to a partial shot of a bear in the backyard of her Columbia County home. She has published books her entire career, remaining relevant as media outlets have shifted from the page to screens small and larger. And she was just awarded the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award in June.
The Paris Novel follows Stella, a young copy editor content with her daily routine in New York. Her distant and egotistical mother dies and in her will bequeaths her a plane ticket to Paris and a small chunk of money. Stella never knew who her father was. In Paris, a seemingly random stop into a dress shop (and the aggressive sales tactics of the shopkeeper) puts Stella, Cinderella-style, into a vintage Dior dress for a night. The shop owner even tells her where to eat (the iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots) and what museum to visit (Jeu de Paume). Thus, a chain of events unfolds involving an older art expert (Jules) and her discovery of Shakespeare & Company, the legendary bookstore whose proprietor, George (and his irrepressible young daughter Lucie), hosts “tumbleweeds,” or roving writers needing temporary shelter in exchange for work.
In due time, Stella finds her groove in Paris (sorry, Terry McMillan). After initial wariness she befriends Jules, her good fairy and local guide, and becomes acquainted with Jules’s son and his demanding and scheming wife. Stella previously cared little for food, and Jules introduces her to proper French cuisine and wine. At the museum, while impressed by Manet’s Olympia, Stella is fascinated by the backstory of the painting’s model, Victorine, a painter who had the misfortune of being female and thus ignored. Stella goes in search of these lost paintings, along the way identifying someone who might be her own father.
The storyline is engaging—mousse-light; somewhat predictable, but with twists enough. Reichl blends historic characters and locales with fictional ones amid the fabulousness of Paris and points south. She alludes to real restaurants and dishes that clearly made an impression on her, such as Robert et Louise and L ’Ami Louis; oysters, ortolans, and foie gras-scented lentils. Robert Olney, a real respected food writer, is enlisted as a conduit in Stella’s reluctant search for her father. (In her memoirs, Reichl’s mother played an outsized role in her upbringing, so frugal that she would somehow find ways to cook with spoiled food. In this novel, coincidence or not, Stella displays resentment toward her selfish mother, and becomes acquainted with father figures who provide guidance and material support.)
Stella had been content, if complacent, in gray New York, but her obligatory trip to Paris is like a film blossoming from black and white into technicolor. She eventually learns to cook, and cook well, possessing excellent instincts and remarkable taste buds. (This is somewhat heavily noted, as several characters quickly notice her powers of culinary observation in flowery prose.) This acquired skill coincides with a fuller appreciation of life, with food, art, and friends and family providing a newfound richness. Elements of Reichl’s own amazing career, touching on so many facets of food, may have seeped into the character of Stella. Regardless, Reichl is a champion of cuisine and superb food raconteur worthy of depiction in an entertaining volume—just like The Paris Novel
—Susan Yung
Losing someone is like losing ______. Fill in the blank on your own because there is no comparison, no simile or metaphor you can provide for someone other than yourself. Nothing comes close. If it hasn’t happened to you, then be grateful you don’t know what it is like. If you have, then you know exactly how to leave the blank empty. The thought of loss is part of the loss, so how do you prepare for that which has no preparation, for what you don’t want or need, and how do you give it a name? Doing so would be giving it somewhere to reside, and once it has an address, then it becomes a place you have to pass from time to time, streets you cannot avoid taking to or from home. No detour would be too far if one was available. Maybe that’s a useful metaphor.
First you learn there is no peace in the kingdom now, nowhere to abide like there was before. Just traveling without maps, nothing to point out the dangers ahead, far more than the ones in the past. That’s as close as I can come to finding any other words, simile, metaphor, to tell you what it is like. Like everyone else who found it before, and, like them, knowing, not just believing at the time, or far in the distance, There are no words to say, and knowing maybe there never will be.
—Robert Harlow
The smell, more provoking than the feel The dust, the old, scented trees, the mildew on the seats from after we swam I go every night
Past the antique homes of my friends and past crushes
Past the little red house that she lived through Past our places, the docks, the cafe, the rundown bowling alley now embraced by weeds I drive our loop
I stare at the new developments with contempt The black, harsh houses of newcomers It makes me uneasy
The thought of things changing without my observation
I do not oppose the progression I just need to be there to watch it take its course
—Megan Russell
New York Poem
(with apologies to Frank O’Hara)
Visiting my hometown, New York City, I hop on the Number 2 train at 96th Street get off at 14th Street where I walk west past Istanbul Grill where people lunch outdoors on babaganoush and kebabs even though it’s December.
I stop in Kiehl’s to sample the floral aromas of soft lotions and soaps. The window of Lululemon displays plush down coats, although I expected fruity sorbet. There’s even a cannabis store, too crowded to enter.
I turn left on Washington Street where Diane von Furstenberg’s classic wrap dresses are sold. I used to own one that I got at a clothing swap upstate.
Two blocks later I turn right on Gansevoort Street named after the Revolutionary War colonel and grandfather of Herman Melville.
Finally, I arrive at the Whitney, pay my money, take the elevator up, and there it is: the Jasper Johns retrospective flags, colors, neon, beer cans even some three-dimensional pieces, including the cast of a foot that belonged to the poet Frank O’Hara.
This foot, with its mate, all those years ago, trotted along the streets of Manhattan every afternoon to make lunch poems possible.
Frank O’Hara taught me that poetry doesn’t have hidden meanings, contrary to what Mrs. Rosen led us eighth graders to believe, even though I loved reading “The Highwayman” in her class, later put to music by Phil Ochs.
Now, in the museum’s rooftop cafe I sip a cappuccino and gaze at a rare blue sky.
—Alice Graves
before the shoe is on the other foot it has to come off the first —p
Separation Tanka
I.
I am not in love with anyone else since you like snow in April or birds singing in winter my heart beats out of season
II.
You make my heart sing was your romantic refrain now heart emojis accompany excuses hitting me like loud flat notes
III.
Fairy dust makes love from stolen childhood dreams I left Neverland no more your mother, your toy still I long to fly again
IV. Cats move between us messengers of love unsaid will bonds disappear when the same fur we inhale no longer replaces skin?
V.
I walk through portals into fresh lips and ripe legs part of the pleasure is not closing the old door keeping it open for you
—Stephanie Sellars
Friends next door
AIRbnbing their house. When I went outside this morning to bring in the garbage cans a young man with a dog tenant with his partner for the weekend was standing nearby. Friendly, he said: The dog is a puppy. He can help me with the cans if I like He and his partner live in New York City Then he started to tell me about New York City: it’s hot in the summer, you don’t see grass like this, and the dog doesn’t have much room to play. You’re lucky you don’t live there he said. You might not like it.
—Esther Cohen
Somewhere by a slow moving river beneath the willows that hang young lovers are opening up like yellow flowers that should last forever but won’t.
—Ryan Brennan Summer we pray for tomatoes and mock our bounty when it comes home, my mom cooks basil into oil cuts and burns mold off white bread buys half and half because it lasts longer but tomatoes are free to the good gardener we plant too many every year we plant more and when I drive back to the city, my car bounces the way a cherry falls into grass
—Sigrid Wendel
Look
Autumn leaves drift, Winter melts upon Spring buds, and Summer calls me to the beach.
—Frances Greenhut
Inspired by Poet Ken Holland
The last letter, not of the alphabet, but the letter you need to write, you know the one, to your friends, family, exes and etceteras,
before you bow out, exit the stage, bite the bullet or dirt, buy the farm, kick the bucket, give up the ghost, join the Choir Eternal—
you know, check out, as in dead as a doornail. Compose, then send it before you change your mind, before Charon turns back the ferry for non-payment,
before you find yourself lying about its contents like Bette Davis in the movie of the same name that reveals the truth about why she killed her lover.
Once you begin your letter, there is no stopping, and, really, who knows when you might sign off? You’ll not be around to endure any inquiries
from those who wonder, too late, why you chose to hold off so long, circle several long city blocks, before you finally found the nerve to mail it.
—Perry Nicholas
Dear Cole Sear
A ghost is a kind of demon That cannot be exorcised Because it lives inside of you.
I sat with a stranger on a bench, And they told me it reminded them Of that scene in that movie With that boy and that man. He laughed: Do you see dead people?
I have seen people who are dead inside.
People your age, why so obsessed with death? Don’t you know how good you have it?
No, it is an obsession with tenses. Participles. We spent our childhoods learning the water cycle. We spent our adulthoods watching it in action. How states of matter could change so quickly. Lake Mead’s elevation has dropped by 140 feet. Florida’s coast has risen by eight inches.
I watched six people die with tubes in their lungs. There is an entire generation Trying to convince me These things are not related.
You’re too pessimistic, He tells me, and then he Vanishes.
She keeps looking for the roadmap that will take her back to when he still thought he loved her, still believed the promises he made.
The kind they gave out at gas stations fifty, sixty years ago. The kind that never folded back to the way they were after first they opened to the world.
Every one she has ever held lied to her. Folded, the cleanly labeled destination unfolds, to one way streets and roads leading ever away to somewhen else.
The lie being that we have a choice, that we can choose a happy ending. Like the fox in the road she hit two nights ago, now Frisbee flat,
can hitch a ride back to his vixen and kits, who are beginning to realize something is wrong and will be forever, to tell them, No. I’m home now and it was all a mistake.
—Ken Sutton
You Reached into Guttural Spaces Inside Me and Pulled Out the Light
“Tell me love isn’t true. It’s just something that we do.”
—Madonna
Tell me like you did a thousand times it’s better to learn some lessons young. Learn to gentle my neediness. I was a furnace of shame.
You reached into guttural spaces inside me and pulled out the light. That summer, we ate cherries, sucked on their pits, caressed the ridges with our tongues. Flesh popped in our mouths like supernovae.
You squeezed my hand, said, “I can’t promise you I’ll never leave.”
Our fingers stained with juice, a relief map of whorls and ridges. Abandonment leaves no bridges to mend.
Promise a language I don’t speak. My mother tongue is wanting, is splitting apart.
Full submission guidelines: Chronogram.com/submissions
—C S Crowe
—Anna María del Pilar Suben
July 18-21, 2024 ART WEEKEND & all year round!
• SHOUTOUT SAUGERTIES presents JAZZED: Summer Concert Series Thurs, July 18, 7pm Alessandra Gonzalez, Latin Rock, Music that Moves at Catskill Mountain Moonshine, 31 Market St Saugerties, NY www.shoutoutsaugerties.org
• JANE ST. ART CENTER
Danceable Projects, Cuerpo Esoterico Sat July 20, Special Dance Performance Events Exhibition runs June 29 - Aug 3, 2024 Video, Installation, Art, Performance 11 Jane St, Saugerties, NY www.janestreetartcenter.com
• SAUGERTIES ARTIST STUDIO TOUR PREVIEW Art in the Barn 2024 Gallery open July 20 - 21, Sat, 11am - 5pm, & Sun, 1pm - 5pm, 119 Main Street, Saugerties, NY www.saugertiesarttour.org
• GREEN / FIGUREWORKS. Gallery Open Daily 1st Fl, William MacLean, 2nd Fl, Lorrie Goulet, Donna Maria DeCreeft, Carol Griffin 92 Partition St., Saugerties, NY 12477 845-303-5099 @modcatskills @figureworkssaugerties
• SAUGERTIES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Artist Painted Street Art. On View All Summer! www.discoversaugerties.com
• NEWBERRY ARTISAN MARKET
featuring over 35 local artisan vendors
Open Thurs - Mon 11 - 6pm
Including painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, etc. 236 Main St. Saugerties, NY
• WASHBURN STUDIOS
Artist residencies, retreats, workshops Summer Schedule www.washburnstudios.com
• DIALOGUES FOR THE EAR & EYE
Interdisciplinary Arts Series
First Tue of Each Month info go to Face Book @JoannePaganoWeber
• ARM OF THE SEA AND THE TIDE WATER CENTER Inspire wonder, spark joy, offer insight & enrich the public imagination. We accomplish our mission through the poetic visual / musical language of mask and puppet theater. Summer Schedule www.armofthesea.org
• SAUGERTIES LIBRARY: FOR KIDS!
Crafternoon Sat, 3:30 - 4:30 in July www.saugertiespubliclibrary.org/calendar
• SAUGERTIES ARTS COMMISSION
For more info on all the events all year round www.saugertiesarts.org
at PS21 in
on July 12 and 13.
GANDINI JUGGLING’S “SMASHED2” AT PS21 July 12 and 13 Ps21chatham.org
Nearly everyone, especially in childhood, tries to juggle, and finds it virtually impossible. Yet professional jugglers make it look effortless—natural as walking. Nine of these pros from the Gandini Juggling troupe will perform “Smashed2” at the Pavilion Theater at PS21 in Chatham on July 12-13.
Unlike circus performers, Gandini Jugglers work in a long form, creating movie-length narratives. “Smashed” debuted in London in 2010. Partially a satire of English society, it drew on the freighted symbols of teapots, teacups, and saucers. Its stylized movements and heated personal confrontations were influenced by the German neo-expressionist choreographer Pina Bausch. There’s something surreal about a man in a three-piece suit throwing apples into the air.
“Smashed” had seven men and two women; “Smashed2” features seven women and two men. “It’s about revenge and redemption,” says Sean Gandini, cofounder of Gandini Juggling. In other words, the battle
of the sexes, 2024-style. Jugglers must concentrate, so they are particularly vulnerable to attack. This is one of the themes of “Smashed2.”
The stage will be furnished with 80 oranges and seven watermelons. Juggling with actual food engages an audience. If you drop a ball, no harm is done, but a watermelon crashing to the floor is tragic. (Though the title of the piece suggests that this may happen.) “I bet they’ve got good watermelons out there,” Gandini says of the Hudson Valley. (He was speaking on the phone from his home in London.)
Gandini Juggling has pushed at the boundaries of public legerdemain since it was founded in London by Sean and his wife, Kati Yla-Hokkala, in 1991. (They met while Gandini was juggling on the street at Covent Garden.) “Life: A Love Letter to Merce Cunningham” (2022) uses dance motifs inspired by the avant-garde choreographer to transform jugglers into Picasso-like abstractions. The score by Caroline Shaw pays tribute to Cunningham’s partner, John Cage.
The troupe has performed numerous times in the Philip Glass opera “ Akhnaten,” in a scene Gandini designed. The spinning clubs perfectly mirror the repetitive tone clusters of Glass’s music. (Those juggling props that look like bowling pins are technically known as “clubs.”)
Also, the scene may be historically accurate. Egyptian
pharaohs apparently did have jugglers. In fact, the first depiction of juggling is on the wall of a tomb from the 11th Dynasty (approximately 2000 BCE).
The troupe’s other full-length works include “Mozart Glow Clubs,” “Blotched,” and “Don’t Break My Balls.” They’ve performed in over 50 countries.
The Gandini ensemble makes one realize how obsessive most jugglers are; they can’t stop tossing clubs into the air. But this group can pause, tease the audience, make them inwardly beg for more airborne balls.
All humans take pleasure in watching a flowing stream of flames in a fireplace. Juggling is one of those mesmerizing visual spectacles.
When you observe a juggler, you notice how rhythmic her motions are; it’s like tap dancing with hands. “Juggler” is related to the word “joker,” and at one time referred to a deceiver, or a hypnotist. Though the leaping balls seem to defy gravity, actually the performer is skillfully employing gravitation. Juggling is a metaphor in modern conversation: “I’m juggling three jobs” means that one is constantly active, doing more than is humanly possible.
Part of the pleasure of watching juggling may be astronomical. The Earth is one of nine balls being juggled by the sun. And the path of the planets is elliptical, like the arc of a juggler’s spheres.
—Sparrow
Untitled (Parade-goers during the Sixth Annual Gay Liberation Day March), by Fred W McDarrah, New York, New York, June 29, 1975
“PRIDE AND PROTEST: PHOTOGRAPHS BY FRED W. MCDARRAH” AT THE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK
Through September 1
Cpw.org
One of the great cultural legacies of New York’s early queer liberation movement is the photographs that captured its evolution: from jarring nighttime snapshots of police brutality to stirring daytime vistas of activists parading through the streets.
Yet as these images proliferate in history books, advertisements, and social media posts, it can be easy to lose sight of the courageous souls who captured them in the first place.
It’s an oversight that is beautifully amended in “Pride and Protest,” a new exhibition at the Center for Photography at Woodstock that documents LGBTQ+ visibility and activism in New York City during the second half of the 20th century. Curated by Vince Aletti, the show features 61 photographs by Fred W. McDarrah (19262007)—a Greenwich Village personality and the first photo editor and staff photographer of the Village Voice Aletti, who’s been writing about photography for more than 30 years, and who joined the Village Voice as
an editor in the ‘80s, remembers McDarrah as the “backbone” of the paper—both as an archivist and as an authority on the publication’s history.
“He was the emeritus guy,” says Aletti. “He was often at the office, and we relied on him for historic material. He was someone you could always turn to.”
When Aletti was asked to curate this exhibition, which was originally shown in Paris last fall, he jumped at the chance. “I was familiar with Fred’s work. I took the opportunity because I was hoping to discover something I hadn’t seen before,” Aletti says.
Though McDarrah photographed a wide range of subjects in his career, Aletti felt, going through the archives, that it made sense to focus on his LBGTQ+ material. Half of the photos in “Pride and Protest” are results of McDarrah’s personal efforts as a street photographer—documenting marches and demonstrations around the Manhattan neighborhood he knew so well—while the other half, Aletti says, would’ve been taken on assignment.
“Many of the portraits are of people he would’ve come into contact with because of the Voice.”
These include portraits of queer cultural luminaries like Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams, Susan Sontag, and W. H. Auden. But the general focus of the show is on the protest photos: a trio of trans women hamming it up for McDarrah’s lens during a pride march, members
of the Mattachine Society participating at a “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar in the mid-’60s, or a pair of mothers marching with their sons while holding signs that read, “I love my gay son,” and “I will not be a closet mother.”
Aletti hopes these images will highlight the importance of those early demonstrations. “These were people putting their reputations on the line,” he says. “It was a risky thing to do.”
Such a risk extended to the man behind the lens, too. What makes McDarrah’s output all the more striking is the revelation that he was not, strictly speaking, a member of the cause. “Fred isn’t the likeliest person to have done this,” Aletti remarks. “He was married with three children. But he was very open—very interested in what was going on.”
It’s an allyship that Aletti attributes, in part, to McDarrah’s roots as a beatnik. “I think he always saw himself as being part of the counterculture,” he says. “He recognized that what was happening with gay rights was an extension of that counterculture.”
For his part, Aletti is grateful to help his predecessor’s work find a contemporary audience. “I’m glad to have the opportunity to do this, and to do this now. As people’s rights are being challenged, it’s important to think about protest. I think we need to be prepared to go into the streets again.”
—Ben Rendich
BILLY BRAGG AT THE BEARSVILLE THEATER
July 19
Bearsvilletheater.com
Blending folk, pop, and punk, Billy Bragg has sung about the plight of the working class as well as cynical love songs for over 40 years. He is as much of a social activist as he is a musician.
When he was an early teen, Bragg’s parents gave him a reel-to-reel tape machine, which allowed him to create compilations from his sister’s musical collections It also opened his mind to the social-political zeitgeist of the late 1960s.
“There were American soul records like Motown Chartbusters. By Volume 5, the Civil Rights movement had pushed its way into Black America,” Bragg says.
“Listening to those records, I got the sense that music should talk about the world, not just about love. Music can make you feel a sense of solidarity and draw you to a cause,” he adds.
In the industrial East London of Bragg’s youth, the Labor Party prevailed, and liberal, working class values
were the norm. But it was the explosion of punk in 1977 that crystallized his political consciousness. “Rock Against Racism at Victoria Park in Hackney in East London was my first involvement. The Clash played, X-Ray Spex and Steel Pulse were also on the bill. It was a catalyst in my political sensibilities and the defining moment of our generation,” Bragg says of the 1978 concert attended by 100,000 people.
He recalls Tom Robinson performing “(Sing If) You’re Glad to Be Gay” when there was no Pride, and being “out” could get you beaten up.
“We’d marched under a banner that read 'Gays Against Nazis' and that made me realize that the issue at hand wasn’t just racism but discrimination of all kinds. My perspective changed forever,” Bragg says.
Having lived through the conservative Thatcher regime and its regressive policies and more recently Brexit, which he addresses with humor and heart in his song “Full English Brexit” on his 2017 Bridges Not Walls EP, Bragg knows about broken systems. “Ultimately, what the song says is that Brexitism isn’t about immigrants, it’s about us, not people from other countries,” he says.
“Neoliberalism isn’t working. The wealth gap between the top and the bottom has become ridiculously out of whack. The system is geared towards exploitation, and geopolitics is broken. We need an economic system that
delivers. This young generation is gonna be poorer than we were. That’s not the American Dream or what we were promised by the Welfare State in the UK. Things really need to change,” Bragg adds.
Besides the possibility of England’s men’s soccer team winning it all at the Euros this summer, what keeps Bragg hopeful? “If you’re gonna be a leftist you have to be a glass-half-full person,” he says. “You can’t give in to cynicism. Each generation has to find their way of dealing with challenges. I try to encourage the younger generation to engage by sharing the experiences I was involved in when I was their age. I recognize I’m an old geezer shouting at the clouds sometimes, but I still continue to speak up,” says the 66-year-old.
As to concerns about the direction the US may take with upcoming elections, Bragg says, “You can always trust Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else. I think we’re in the trying-everything-else phase at the moment. I have faith in the American people to engage in the election.”
This year will be the 40th anniversary of Bragg’s career, which he’s commemorating with his aptly named Roaring 40s tour. Bearsville will be the second stop of the tour, which continues across the US and Canada through the end of October.
—Mike Cobb
Barker Park Kids Summer Music Series
July 11-25. Barker Park in Troy.
Sponsored by Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, this threepart afternoon series of family-friendly live music at nearby Barker Park starts up with Andy “the Music Man” Morse. Morse’s performances interweave traditional and original songs that delight and involve kids through singalongs, dancing, play acting, and storytelling. July 18 brings Jordan Taylor Hill, whose distinctive style of traditional drumming and songwriting combines hip-hop, world, and traditional music from West Africa. The series wraps on July 25 with Heard, a collective with a sound that incorporates influences from West Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, and beyond. All shows start at 11am. Free. Troy.
Richard Thompson
July 12-13. Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock.
“If I don’t write, if I don’t perform, I get frustrated and I don’t feel like the human being I should be,” says guitarist and singer-songwriter Richard Thompson—which isn’t hard to believe, given the art, passion, and virtuosity that the influential English folk rock legend has unfailingly brought to the studio and the stage for nearly 60 years. 2024’s Ship to Shore, Thompson’s 20th solo album, was recorded in Woodstock, just up the road from Levon Helm Studios, where he’s doing this intimate two-night stint. (Duane Betts and Palmetto Motel ramble July 14; Langhorne Slim lays it down July 18.) 7:30pm. $65, $85.
Matthew Shipp Trio
July 13. St. Andrew and Luke Episcopal Church in Beacon.
In another presentation by the tireless jazz promotions group Elysium Furnace Works, world-renowned pianist Matthew Shipp and his trio (with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker), here make a return jaunt to St. Andrew and Luke Episcopal Church. Shipp burst on the New York scene in the 1990s as a member of the David S. Ware Quartet and among his fans has counted David Bowie, Thurston Moore, Chan Marshall aka Cat Power, and Henry Rollins, who has released Shipp’s music on his 2.13.61 record label. The Matthew Shipp Trio’s latest offering is New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz on ESP-Disk Records. 8pm. $23.
Jandek
July 20. Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale. Perhaps no musician working today embodies the descriptors “outsider” or “cult artist” more than Jandek, who has been recording and releasing albums—over 125 of them to date—on his Corwood Industries record label since 1978. AllMusic has dubbed him “the most enigmatic figure in American music.” Based in Houston, Jandek, the subject of the 2003 documentary Jandek on Corwood, creates idiosyncratic, lo-fi music that draws impressionistically from electrified and semi-acoustic folk and blues. He pays this beyond-rare area visit to perform at an appropriate space, the historic Widow Jane Mine. (“Cement Town” gets staged July 5-6; Taiko Masala pounds July 27.) 7:30pm. $25 advance; $30 day of show.
Ben Seretan
July 26. Avalon Lounge in Catskill.
Greene County musician Ben Seretan wrote his undergraduate thesis on the late experimentalist Arthur Russell, which should give you an idea of the unfettered approach he brings to his own songs and audio art. This packed local evening at the Avalon Lounge is being touted by the club as a record release party to celebrate Seretan’s new “insane Italian album,” Allora. The bill finds him joined by Boston-based experimental folk stylist Jackie West, Maui singer-songwriter Lea Thomas, and Brooklyn DJ Max Mellman. (Lia Kohl and Whitney Johnson improvise July 1; Leila Bordreuil, Apologist, and S.P.A.L.L. space out July 17.) 8pm. $12. Catskill.
Bobby Previte
July 27 at Hudson Hall in Hudson.
In support of the vinyl release of his new solo drum album Pathways for Drum Set, legendary Hudson Valley percussionist Bobby Previte will be playing “No Bells, No Whistles: A Solo Drum Concert”—his first ever, he says—at Hudson Hall. Previte has led his own bands and worked with luminaries ranging from John Adams to Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Nels Cline, John Medeski, Elliot Sharp, and John Zorn. “The drum set is a circle with the drummer as its fluid center,” posits the maestro.
“Rooted within the architecture but sending out flares of sound beyond the physical boundary.” (The Hudson Jazz Workshop holds forth August 4.) 7pm. $20-$30.
—Peter Aaron
1. 1053 Gallery
1053 Main St, Fleischmanns
2. 2773 Church Street Studios
2773 Church St, Pine Plains
3. Accord Market
21 Main St, Accord
4. ADS Gallery
105 Anne St, Newburgh
5. Alexander Gray Associates
224 Main St, Germantown
6. Alpana Bawa
148 Canal St, Ellenville
7. Analog Diary
1154 North Ave, Beacon
8. Ann Street Gallery
104 Ann St, Newburgh
9. AR
62B Tinker St, Woodstock
10. Archipelago
10 Church Ave, Germantown
11. Army Of Frogs Studio
282 Mohonk Rd, High Falls
12. Art @ Goshen Green Farm
3301-3317 Route 207, Goshen
13. ART at Bull Farm
347 Bull Rd, Rock Tavern
14. Art for Artists and Ghost of a Dream
9 Old Cross Rd, Wassaic
15. Art Mamas Alliance
838 Ashokan Rd, Kingston
16. Art Works for Change
83 E Market St, Rhinebeck
17. ARTNOIR
838 Ashokan Rd, Kingston
18. ArtPort Kingston
108 E Strand St, Kingston
19. ArtsWestchester
31 Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains
20. Assembly NY
397 Broadway St, Monticello
21. At Land
534 Broadway, Kingston
22. Athens Cultural Center
24 Second St, Athens
23. Atlas Studios
11 Spring St, Newburgh
24. Available Items
64 Broadway, Tivoli
25. Bard MFA Thesis Exhibition
110 Front St, Hudson
434 Columbia St, Hudson
26. Baxter St. At CCNY
838 Ashokan Rd, Kingston
27. Beacon Open Studios
4 Hanna Ln, Beacon
28. Beattie-Powers Place
10 Powers Pl, Catskill
29. Bes
50 Main St, Millerton
30. Bill Arning Exhibitions
17 Broad St, Kinderhook
31. Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum
45 Charles Hommel Rd, Saugerties
32. Blue Marble Arts
3410 Cooper St, Stone Ridge
33. Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project
219 Main St, Hurleyville
34. Calico x Small Talk
1 Tinker St, Woodstock
35. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts
149 Girdle Ridge Rd, Katonah
36. Catskill Art Space
48 Main St, Livingston Manor
37. Catskill Mountain Foundation
7971 Main St, Hunter
38. Catskill Mountain Shakespeare
7970 Main St, Hunter
39. Catskills Borscht Belt Museum
90 Canal St, Ellenville
40. Center for Photography at Woodstock 474 Broadway, Kingson
41. Charlotte Woolf at Foxtrot Farm & Flowers
6854 NY-82, Stanfordville
42. Chashama North (ChaNorth)
2600 Rte 199, Pine Plains
43. Collar Works x Baba Yaga 5821 NY-9G, Hudson
44. CREATE Council on the Arts
398 Main St, Catskill
45. Dia Beacon
3 Beekman St, Beacon
46. Distortion Society
155 Main St, Beacon
47. DVAA
37 Main St, Narrowsburg
48. ECOCA
108 E Strand St, Kingston
49. Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center 82 N Broadway, Nyack
50. Ethan Cohen Gallery at the KuBe Art Center 211 Fishkill Ave, Beacon
51. Female Design Council 838 Ashokan Rd, Kingston
52. FORELAND Presents 111 Water St, Catskill
53. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie
54. Gallery 495 495 Main St, Catskill
55. GARNER Arts Center
55 West Railroad Ave, Garnerville
56. Garrison Art Center 23 Garrison's Landing, Garrison
57. Geary
34 Main St, Millerton
58. Glasshouse Project 251-257 Springtown Rd, New Paltz
59. Good Naked Gallery
308 Cragsmoor Rd, Pine Bush
60. Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce Bridge St, Cornwall
61. Headstone Gallery 28 Hurley Ave, Kingston
62. Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College
30 Garden Rd, Annandale-on-Hudson
63. Hinterland 3107 Rte 28, Shokan
64. Howland Cultural Center 477 Main St, Beacon
65. Hudson Valley Photo Collective
365 Main St, Catskill
66. Interlude Artist Residency
171 Old Rte 82, Hudson
67. ISO Barn Upstate
241 Silver Hollow Rd, Willow
68. KinoSaito 115 7th St, Verplanck
69. KIPNZ Gallery hosts Walton Art Crawl 150 Delaware St, Walton
70. LABspace 2642 Rte 23, Hillsdale
71. Lexington Arts + Science 3879 NY-42, Lexington
72. Loose Parts
388 Main St, Catskill
73. Magazzino Italian Art 2700 Rte 9, Cold Spring
74. Manitoga / The Russel
Wright Design Center 584 NY-9D, Garrison
75. Mary MacGill
212 Main St, Germantown
76. Michael Robbins Studio
212 Main St, Germantown
77. Millbrook Arts & Open Studios
3 Friendly Ln, Millbrook
78. Minerva Projects: Peter Fulop & Brigitta Varadi
43 County Rte 7, Pine Plains
79. Mother-in-Laws
140 Church Ave, Germantown
80. Mott Projects
16 Livingston St, Catskill
81. N/A Project Space
137 Martin Sweedish Rd, New Paltz
82. Neuland 1955 Lucas Turnpike, High Falls
83. New Discretions at Catskill Octagon House
21 Walnut St, Catskill
84. NOISE FOR NOW
51 Maiden Ln, Kingston
85. Not Donuts
6063 NY Rte 82, Stanfordville
86. Olana State Historic Site
5720 State Rte 9G, Hudson
87. OSMOS Station / arts&rec
20 Railroad Ave, Stamford
88. Peekskill Flatiron
Artist Studios
105 S Division St, Peekskill
89. Perry Lawson Fine Art
90 N Broadway, Nyack
90. Pinkwater Gallery
237 Fair St, Kingston
91. Place Corps
16 Lucas Ave, Kingston
92. Powerhouse Arts
657 Lucas Ave Ext, Hurley
93. PUF Studios Community Printmaking Studio at the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory
8 N Cherry St, Poughkeepsie
94. RAVENWOOD 579 Samsonville Rd, Kerhonkson
95. River Hook 611 N Midland Ave, Upper Nyack
96. River Valley Arts Collective 26 Beechford Dr, Boiceville
97. Savaggi Gallery 94 Broadway, Newburgh
98. Sawkille Co.
82 Prince St, Kingston
99. Seasons of Greene Art Show
480 State Rte 385, Catskill
100. SEPTEMBER 4 Hudson St, Kinderhook
101. Shadow Walls
413 Silver Spur Rd, Purling
102. SHADOWLAND STAGES 157 Canal St, Ellenville
103. Sky High Farm 675 Hall Hill Rd, Pine Plains
104. Sleepy Hollow Mermaid Festival Kingsland Point Park, Palmer Ave, Sleepy Hollow
105. Stable Gate Winery 10-12 Linda Way, Castleton-On-Hudson
106. Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects 9 Market St, Ellenville
107. Steven Weinberg at West Kill Brewing 2173 Spruceton Rd, West Kill
108. Stissing Center for Arts and Culture
2950 Church St, Pine Plains
109. STONELEAF RETREAT 838 Ashokan Rd, Kingston
110. Storm King Art Center 1 Museum Rd, New Windsor
111. STRONGROOM 40 Front St, Newburgh
112. Studio Tashtego
158 Main St, Cold Spring
113. Sunfair Farm
210 Cold Spring Rd, Hudson
114. Susan Eley Fine Art
433 Warren St, Hudson
115. T' Space / Steven Myron Holl Foundation 60 Round Lake Rd, Rhinebeck
116. The Barn on Berme 1250 Berme Rd, Kerhonkson
117. The Capa Space
2467 Quaker Church Rd, Yorktown Heights
118. The Catskills Barn 1740 Betts Hill Rd, Delhi
119. The Church in Staatsburg 5 Market St, Staatsburg
120. The Dorsky 1 Hawk Dr, New Paltz
121. The Gallery at Citiot
404 Main St, Catskill
122. The Green Lodge 80 Center St, Chatham
123. The Hangar x Gray Nivas Collective at Whimsy Flowers Farm
1819 Berme Rd, Kerhonkson
124. The Hudson Eye
41 Cross St, Hudson
125. The Lockwood Gallery
747 State Rte 28, Kingston 126. The Macedonia Institute 1142 County Rte 22, Ghent 127. The Pocantico Center
200 Lake Rd, Tarrytown
128. The Post Office
158 W Main St, Port Ewen
129. The School | Jack Shainman Gallery
25 Broad St, Kinderhook 130. The Source 4228 Rte 212, Lake Hill 131. Thomas Cole National Historic Site
218 Spring St, Catskill 132. TRANSART
107 Henry St, Kingston 133. Trolley Barn Gallery
489 Main St, Poughkeepsie 134. Turley Gallery
609 Warren St, Hudson
135. UAP | Urban Art Projects
453 NY-17K, Rock Tavern
136. Unison Arts
9 Paradies Ln, New Paltz
137. Upstate Gnarly at Ashley Garrett & Brian Wood Studio
626 County Rte 5, East Chatham
138. Wassaic Project
37 Furnace Bank Rd, Wassaic
139. Weird Specialty Studio
77 Broadway, Tivoli
140. Wolfhouse x Roosi 624 River Rd, Newburgh
141. Woodstock Artists Association & Museum
28 Tinker St, Woodstock
142. Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild
36 Tinker St, Woodstock
143. Woodstock School of Art
2470 Rte 212, Woodstock
144. Yellow Studio
792 Rte 35, Cross River
145. Zero Art Fair
365 W Pond Lily Rd, Elizaville
LIST AS OF MAY 1, 2024
June 15 – November 3, 2024
Through
1053 GALLERY
1053 MAIN STREET, FLEISCHMANNS
“Colored.” Work by Dave Ortiz. Through July 28.
119 CANAL
119 CANAL STREET, ELLENVILLE
“Old, New, & Stupid.” Paintings by Pawel Zolynski. Through July 28.
510 WARREN ST GALLERY
510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Cognitationes in Res.” Work by Paul Nueckel. July 5-28.
AL HELD FOUNDATION
26 BEECHFORD DRIVE, BOICEVILLE
“On the Grounds 2024.” Work by Natalia Arbelaez, Nicole Cherubini, Re Jin Lee, and Katy Schimert. Through October 13.
THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT
“Eminem Buddhism, Volume 3.” Work by Elizabeth Englander. Through October 20.
“Layo Bright: Dawn and Dusk.” Work by Layo Bright. Through October 20.
ART OMI
1405 COUNTY ROUTE 22, GHENT
“Tune It Or Die!”. Scores and a set of reimagined flags by Nathan Young. July 6-September 3.
ART ON MAIN GALLERY
38 MAIN STREET, WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA
“The Nature of Our Mind.” Work by Gail Gelburd. July 18-28.
ARTPORT KINGSTON
108 EAST STRAND STREET, KINGSTON
“Changing Tides: Navigating the Currents of Change.” Group show. Through July 7.
“Game On.” Group show featuring Lucid Dream Mini Golf. July 18- August 31.
ATHENS CULTURAL CENTER
24 SECOND STREET, ATHENS
“Next to the Wild.” Work by Mary Ann Strandell and Michael Rees. Through July 21.
AVAILABLE ITEMS
64 BROADWAY, TIVOLI
“Do Not Decorate.” Works on paper by Nicholaus Jamieson. July 18-August 11.
BAU GALLERY
506 MAIN STREET, BEACON
“Juncture and Rift.” Group show.
“Get Stoked!.” Group ceramics show. Both shows July 13-August 4.
BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN
5 WEST STOCKBRIDGE ROAD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA
“Microcosms.” Works by Peter D. Gerakaris. Through August 4.
BERKSHIRE MUSEUM
39 SOUTH STREET, PITTSFIELD, MA
“Black Woman as Muse.” Work by Jerry Taliaferro. Through September 8.
BERNAY FINE ART
296 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA
“Art on Paper.” Work by Reed Anderson, Mike Glier, Simona Prives, Karin Schaefer, and Conny Goelz Schmitt. Through July 7.
THE CAMPUS
341 NY-217, HUDSON
“Inaugural Exhibition.” Group show of 80 artists including Jenny Holzer and Rachel Harrison. Through September 30.
CAROL COREY FINE ART
6 NORTH MAIN STREET, KENT, CT
“By the Sea.” Group show. Through July 21.
“Matthias Meyer: Lakes of Light.” July 27-September 1.
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY
622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“The Summer Show.” Work by Shawn Dulaney, Joseph Maresca, Bruce Murphy, Bill Sullivan, Stephen Walling, and Dora Somosi. Through August 11.
CATSKILL ART SPACE
48 MAIN STREET, LIVINGSTON MANOR
“Mary Lucier.” Video art and photography. Through August 30.
CHANGO LIFE ARTS
211 FISHKILL AVENUE, BEACON
“Urban Cuba/Cuba Urbano.” Work by Franc Palaia. Through July 31.
CHESTERWOOD
4 WILLIAMSVILLE ROAD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA
“Birth of a Shadow.” Work by Peter Barrett, Peter Dellert, DeWitt Godfrey, Wendy Klemperer, Michael Thomas, Natalie Tyler, and Joe Wheaton. Curated by Lauren Clark. Through October 21.
CLARK ART INSTITUTE
225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
“Edgar Degas: Multimedia Artist in the Age of Impressionism.” Through October 14.
“Guillaume Lethiere.” 80 works by Guillaume Lethiere (1760–1832). Through October 15.
“Invisible Empires.” Work by Kathia St. Hilaire. Through September 22.
“Fragile Beauty: Treasures From the Corning Museum of Glass.” Selected glass objects from antiquity to the present day. July 4-October 27.
Frenzy, Stephanie Anderson, graphite on clayboard, from "Drawn to Precision: In Monochrome" at Spencertown Academy of the Arts.
CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK
25 DEDERICK STREET, KINGSTON
“Pride and Protest: Photographs by Fred W. McDarrah.” Traces the history of gay and lesbian visibility and civil rights protests in New York City from 1959 to 1993. Through September 1.
CR10 CONTEMPORARY ARTS
PROJECT SPACE
283 COUNTY ROUTE 10, LINLITHGO
“Compossibility.” Experimental films and installations. Through July 28.
CREATE GALLERY
398 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL
“Seen Scenes.” Member group show. Through July 14.
DIA BEACON
3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON.
“Bass.” Installation by Steve McQueen comprising 60 ceiling-mounted lightboxes that journey through the complete spectrum of visible light in concert with a sonic component. Through December 31.
DISTORTION SOCIETY
155 MAIN STREET, BEACON
“Sunlight Through Our Eyes”. New work by Gemma Bailey. Through August 3.
DRAW
20 CEDAR STREET, KINGSTON
“Fervornova.” Work by Jacinta Bunnell, Meryl Bennett, Nick Carroll, Amy Cote, Micah Fornari, Phlegm, Kristen Schiele, Craig Wood. Through July 20.
ECKERT FINE ART
1315 MOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA
“By Their Hands: Women Artists.” Group show. Through July 27.
FENIMORE ART MUSEUM
5798 LAKE ROAD, COOPERSTOWN
“Banksy: The Haight Street Rat.” Work by the street artist. Through September 8.
“Bob Dylan Remastered: Drawings from the Road.” Drawings by the musician. Through September 15.
“Marc Hom: Reframed.” Photographs. Through September 2.
GALLERY 40
40 CANNON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Beyond the Curves.” Group exhibition juried by Nansi Lent. July 6-28.
GALLERY 495
495 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL
“Circo De Visões (Circus of Visions).” Paintings by Joao Salomao. Through July 27.
GARAGE GALLERY
17 CHURCH STREET, BEACON
“Main Street” and “Frozen Beauty.” Photographs by Scott Lerman and Susan Keiser. July 20-21.
GEARY CONTEMPORARY
34 MAIN STREET, MILLERTON
“Just Drawing.” New work on paper by Catherine Haggarty. Through July 28.
GRIT WORKS | GRIT GALLERY
115 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH
“No Place Like Home.” Work by Doron Gild, Rick Parenti, David Lionheart, and Steven Strauss. Through July 7.
HAWK + HIVE
61 MAIN STREET, ANDES.
“Sharp Teeth.” Work by Scott Michael Ackerman. Through July 28.
HESSEL MUSEUM OF ART/CCS BARD
BARD COLLEGE, ANNANDALE-ONHUDSON
“Carrie Mae Weems: Remember to Dream.” Revisits the range and breadth of Carrie Mae Weems’ prolific career through rarely exhibited and lesser-known works. Through December 1.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WOODSTOCK
20 COMEAU DRIVE, WOODSTOCK
“Woodstock Personalities: 40 Years of Photographs by John Kleinhans.” Through July 28.
HOLOCENTER
518 BROADWAY, KINGSTON
“The Art of Holography: Past and Present.” Group show of holographic art. Through September 1.
HOWLAND CULTURAL CENTER
477 MAIN STREET, BEACON
“Wind, Breath, Water.” Group show of artists of Chinese descent. Through August 4.
HUDSON HALL
327 WARREN STREET, HUDSON.
“Shapeshifters.” Paintings by Allan Osterweil and Ara Osterweil. Through July 28.
HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM
511 WARBURTON AVENUE, YONKERS
“Rivers / Flow: Artists Connect.” Group show. Through September 1.
HUDSON VALLEY MOCA
1701 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL
“Rise.” Art made by and curated by Peekskill High School students. Through August 31.
JACK SHAINMAN: THE SCHOOL
25 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK
“Lie Doggo.” Work by Nina Chanel Abney. Through October 5.
KAATSBAAN CULTURAL PARK
120 BROADWAY, TIVOLI
“2024 Visual Arts Exhibition.” Work by Emil Alzamora, Sequoyah Aono, Arthur Gibbons, Kenichi Hiratsuka, Ashley Lyon, Ian McMahon, Mollie McKinley, and John Sanders. Through September 30.
LABSPACE
2642 NY ROUTE 23, HILLSDALE
“Pauline Decarmo: ins and outs and ups and downs.” July 13-August 11, 1-5pm.
LAMB CENTER
41 MARKET STREET, SAUGERTIES
“For the Record.” Group show examining the relationship between art and music. Curated by Emerge Gallery and ShoutOut Saugerties. July 27-August 25.
LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER
124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence.” Through September 8.
“Photography as Data.” Group show. Through September 15.
LIMNER GALLERY
123 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Digital Art, Assemblage & Hand Cut Paper Collage.” Twenty three contemporary artists working in digital, assemblage and collage media. Through July 13.
MAD ROSE GALLERY
5916 N ELM AVE, MILLERTON
“The Gift.” Photographs by Han Feng. Through July 28.
MAGAZZINO ITALIAN ART
2700 ROUTE 9, COLD SPRING
“Germinal.” Paintings by Mario Schifano (19341998). Through August 9.
MARK GRUBER GALLERY
13 NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ
“The Shawangunks.” Group landscape show. July 13-September 7.
MARY MACGILL
212 MAIN STREET, GERMANTOWN
“A Rare Bird, Flower.” Watercolors and graphite drawings by Emma Larsson. Through July 15.
“Annual Layers.” Sculpture by Jonathan Kline. July 19-August 19.
July 18, 19, 20
Cuboricua & Christine Alicea
HAPPENSTANCE THEATER'S With support of a generous grant. This Triple performance package is made possible, in part, through funding from Dutchess Tourism, Inc. and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. Dutchess Partners in the Arts Programmatic Support Grant. howlandculturalcenter.org
Classic, FamilyFriendly Clown Duo Are Back!
FB: howlandcenterbeacon IG: howland_cultural_center 477 Main St., Beacon, NY
JULY 7 - 4pm: Kate Douglas, Matthew Dean Marsh, Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez AUG 4 - 4pm: Martha Redbone & Aaron Whitby at Ancram Center for the Arts
SATURDAY JULY 20, 8pm
experience celebrating Mid-Summer and The Lace Mill’s 9th Anniversary $20 Suggested Donation Saturday, July 6, 4-6pm
Pass Trio
Bruschini, guitar John Mulkerin, trumpet Chris Bowman, drums Dave Kearney, guitar Megan Gugliotta, electronic violinist Hosted by Charles Dennis Spaghetti Eastern Music Sal Cataldi
Founded during the first summer of the pandemic by art world veteran Helen Toomer to bring exposure to Hudson Valley art and artists and escape to quarantine-fatigued city dwellers, the first year featured 23 arts venues. In 2021, the number of participating sites numbered over 60. This year’s Upstate Art Weekend (July 18-21) has 146 participants, from galleries and museums (Bill Arning Exhibitions, Catskill Art Space, Magazzino) to lesser-known art destinations (Weird Specialty Studio), and artists’ open studios (dozens of them in Beacon alone). With so much to choose from, it’s hard to know where to point the arrow of one’s attention. Here are some suggestions on what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s not to be missed. Upstateartweekend.org.
“A Dyke Cabin of One’s Own” Danielle Klebes’s cheeky immersive installation at Mother-In-Law’s in Germantown is a transformation of a country cottage into a queer “man cave.” It’s in collaboration with the cool kids at Newburgh’s Elijah Wheat Showroom.
“Psychedelic Landscape: Portia Munson & Jared Handelsman”
At Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, the uber-talented Catskill art power couple exhibit their iconic work: Munson’s flower mandalas (Pileated Woodpecker, pictured above) alongside Jared Handelsman’s moonlight landscape photograms and bound-rock sculptures.
“Inaugural Exhibition”
The most anticipated gallery opening of the season was that of The Campus, the space opened in a former school in Claverack in late June by a consortium of New York City-based galleries. Timo Kapeller has organized the “Inaugural Exhibition,” which showcases the work of 80 established artists, including Jenny Holzer, David Shrigley, Gabriel Orozco, and Andrea Bowers.
MASS MOCA
1040 MASS MOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA
“Like Magic.” Work by Simone Bailey, Raven Chacon, Grace Clark, Johanna Hedva, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Cate O’Connell-Richards, Rose Salane, Petra Szilagyi, Tourmaline, and Nate Young. Through August 31, 2025.
MOTHER-IN-LAW’S
140 CHURCH AVENUE, GERMANTOWN.
“A Dyke Cabin of One’s Own.” Installation by Danielle Klebes curated by Elijah Wheat Showroom. July 4-September 21.
THE MOUNT
2 PLUNKETT STREET, LENOX, MA
“Sculpture at the Mount.” Juried group sculpture show. Through October 20.
THE MUSE
1 MADELINE LANE, ROSENDALE
“Sub-merged.” Underwater photography by Barbara Leon. July 12-August 11.
N/A PROJECT SPACE
137 MARTIN SWEEDISH ROAD, NEW PALTZ
“Second Nature.” Group show curated by Karlyn Benson. July 13-28.
ROBIN RICE GALLERY
234 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Connections.” Paintings by Janet Maya. Through August 1.
SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART
1 HAWK DRIVE, SUNY NEW PALTZ
“Global Connections.” Work by Miguel Covarrubias, Isami Doi, Aaron Douglas, and Winold Reiss. Through July 21.
SEPTEMBER 4 HUDSON STREET, KINDERHOOK
“Raw Footage.” Work by Annie Bielski. Through July 7.
“Taylor Davis: Until the Sun Goes Dark.” Sculpture and wall hung works. July 20-September 15.
SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY ARTS CENTER
790 ROUTE 203, SPENCERTOWN
“Drawn To Precision: In Monochrome.” Group show. July 6-August 4.
STORM KING ART CENTER
1 MUSEUM ROAD, NEW WINDSOR
Jeffrey Gibson
Hudson-based Jeffrey Gibson, who is currently representing the United States at the Venice Biennale, exhibits new ceramic paintings at Alpana Bawa, a colorful clothing boutique in Ellenville.
Jean Shin Open Studio
If you visit one artist’s studio during the weekend, this is the one to see. Shin, who’s known for her labor-intensive, large-scale installations—including locally at Olana and Storm King— opens her studio in Hurley for viewers to inspect the workplace of a materialsobsessed artist.
Beacon Open Studios
Beacon will be the place with the most participating venues in Upstate Art Weekend, so it’ll be the place to cover the most ground if you’re trying to bag the most sites. Over 100 artist’s studios will open for viewing on Saturday and Sunday. There’s also an exhibit of participating artists at Hudson Beach Glass from July 13 through August 4.
Audra Wolowiec: (waves)
Strongroom presents (waves) , an immersive, choral performance composed by Audra Wolowiec. Four performances will take place aboard the Estuary Steward , a passenger boat crossing the Hudson River between Newburgh and Beacon on Thursday and Saturday evenings at 7pm and 8pm.
Zero Art Fair
And now for something completely different: Artists Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida have created Zero Art Fair, connecting people who want to live with art but can’t necessarily afford it with artists with extra inventory. It’s not quite an art giveaway, but it’s not not that either. There’s a contract involved, and in perpetuity royalties for artists on future sales. Over 65 artists will be taking part in this experiment, held in an Elizaville barn.
—Brian K. Mahoney
NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM
9 ROUTE 183, STOCKBRIDGE, MA.
“What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD.”
This landmark exhibition explores the unforgettable art and satire of MAD, the first magazine to brilliantly and outrageously poke holes in all aspects of American life. Through October 27.
NORTH LOOP
112 WATER STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
“Edwin Arzeta: Green and Violet Blue.” Drawings. Through July 28.
“Haleigh Collins & SR Lejeune.” Abstract paintings, pressed paper, compositions, and machined metal sculptures. Through July 28.
OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE
5720 ROUTE 9G, HUDSON
“Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory.” At the heart of this exhibition are Frederic Church’s rarely seen memorial landscape paintings. Through October 27.
OLD DUTCH CHURCH
272 WALL STREET, KINGSTON
“Conditions for Growth.” Work by Dakota Lane. July 6-31.
OLIVE FREE LIBRARY
4033 ROUTE 28A, WEST SHOKAN
“Monochromatic.” Group show juried by Melinda Stickney-Gibson. July 20-September 7.
PALMER GALLERY, VASSAR COLLEGE
124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Life After War: Disturbed.” Photographs by Amy Kaslow. Through August 5.
PAMELA SALISBURY GALLERY
362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“All Us Come Across Water.” Work by Anina Major.
“Just the Thing.” Work by Mark Milroy.
“Paper Trails.” Work by Ying Li.
“Susan Jane Walp.” Paintings and drawings on paper.
“Water Works.” Work by Diana Horowitz, Adam Hurwitz, Michael Meehan, Eric Wolf. All shows through July 21.
PINKWATER STUDIO
239 FAIR STREET, KINGSTON
“The Karen Barth Archive.” Retrospective of painter Karen Barth. Through September 3.
PRIVATE PUBLIC
530 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON
“Shift.” Work by Deborah Dancy. Through July 14.
“Arlene Shechet: Girl Group.” Six large-scale outdoor sculptures—spanning heights of 10 to 20 feet and lengths of up to 30 feet—along with complementary indoor works in wood, steel, and ceramic. Through November 10.
SUSAN ELEY FINE ART
433 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Simple Gifts.” Monotypes by Rachel Burgess. July 5-August 18.
‘T’ SPACE
120 ROUND LAKE ROAD, RHINEBECK
“Peter Halley and Steph Gonzalez-Turner.” Wall painting and sculpture. Through July 28.
“James Casabere.” Large-scale wooden geometric sculptures. July 20-October 13.
THE LACE MILL GALLERIES
165 CORNELL STREET, KINGSTON
“Painters and Sculptors.” Group show. July 6-28.
THE RE INSTITUTE
1395 BOSTON CORNERS ROAD, MILLERTON
“Itty Neuhaus, and Bill Schuck.” Through August 3.
THE WASSAIC PROJECT
37 FURNACE BANK ROAD, WASSAIC.
“Tall Shadows in Short Order”. Thirty artists with large, site-specific installations. Through September 14.
THOMAS COLE HISTORIC SITE
218 SPRING STREET, CATSKILL
“Native Prospects: Indigeneity and Landscape.” Work by Thomas Cole and contemporary Indigenous artists. Through October 27.
WIRED GALLERY
11 MOHONK ROAD, HIGH FALLS
“Renaissance Recipes: The Art of Amelia Biewald.” Paintings and installations. Through July 14.
WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM
28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK
“Bloom: Symbols of Resiliency.” Documentation of art and poetry made by students. Facilitated by Dakota Lane.
“Far & Wide National.” National group exhibition juried by Jane Eckert.
“Kathy Greenwood: Catch, Cover, Carry.” All shows Through August 11.
By Cory Nakasue
July will serve as a meditation on the many expressions of heat: The friction that initiates new feelings and ideas, the desire to radiate and express oneself, and the strengthening and suppression of these very things. Multiple inner planet aspects to Uranus and Pluto during the entire month create a volatile and shadowy atmosphere under the bright rays of the Sun. Carl Jung describes this type of juxtaposition best with his oft quoted “the brighter the light the darker the shadow.” Multiple planets move into the sign of Leo throughout the month (the Sun enters on July 22). As they do, they will oppose Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, in Aquarius. Oppositions signify standoffs, stare-downs, bids for control, and deep excavations. That this is happening in the opposing signs of Leo and Aquarius symbolizes reckonings between self-interest and the welfare of humanity at large, celebrity/authoritarian culture and decentralized power structures, and the corrupted side of both elite pageantry and collective justice movements. Personally, this can be experienced as deep yearnings to be seen, and to hide.
A full Moon in Capricorn on the 21st looks especially powerful, as it is conjoined to Pluto and makes multiple aspects to Mars, Uranus, and Neptune. A tense aspect between Mercury and Uranus on this day promises startling news and breakthrough thinking. The crackling lightning rod of energy that is Uranus will also be felt this month with an explosive square aspect between Mars and Uranus on the 15th. This may provide rude awakenings of all sorts. While daunting, this could be extremely useful for removing stubborn blockages or ending stale circumstances of all kinds. Mars’s entrance into Gemini on July 20 fans the flames of this month’s incendiary astrology with unpredictable winds of change.
ARIES (March 20–April 19)
In the coming weeks you will be shown, beyond a shadow of doubt, who your true allies are. They are the people, organizations, and institutions that you feel safe with. If you find yourself curtailing your true expression, needing to omit aspects of yourself in the name of peacekeeping, or compromising your values to fit in with a particular group, it’s time to leave. Do not worry about being on your own. False alliances just make it more difficult for the right people and situations to find you. In fact, you are particularly supported in creating with those you love wholeheartedly.
TAURUS (April 19–May 20)
This is a month of liberation for you as you break free from the tyranny of certain stories that may be a part of your lineage. Even if we’re very proud of who and where we come from, we don’t always need to adopt the identities of our family line. We can look at the values, traditions, and imprints from our families as a foundation on which to build and begin to create our own ways of being in the world. Even if the urges you’re feeling now are temporary, it’s time to address and embrace your wild streak of aberration.
GEMINI (May 20–June 21)
The floodgates are open for ideas coming into your mind and out of your mouth! You’re probably not thinking twice about the appropriateness of what you’re sharing, because right now you feel like showing off. All of your thoughts and clever turns of phrase seem like gems. The truth is, your mental filters aren’t very discriminating at the moment, and there is unprocessed psychological material that wants to urgently escape. You may end up divulging something that isn’t ready for prime time. If you’re about to explode with expression, write it down first. Share later if you still feel good about it.
CANCER (June 21–July 22)
To secure your own safety and stability you must go your own way this month. If others want to follow you, terrific! Don’t be seduced into thinking that what other people are doing is correct, simply because most people are doing it. History has proven that it’s completely possible for most people to be wrong. Beware of over-valuing whatever is considered “normal.” We are living in times of rapid change. Seeking out the “weirdos” and people who seem to be on the vanguard of the things you’re interested in will pay off in big ways.
LEO (July 22–August 23)
Our enemies have so much to teach us. If you don’t have any, go out and find one. A worthy opponent can be more valuable than 10 of your most agreeable but unchallenging friends. A good nemesis energizes us, focuses our skills, and forces us to push our own limits. Of course, relationships of enmity will also reflect all of the places we feel insecure, ashamed, and weak. However, knowing these places in ourselves makes us whole. If finding an enemy feels extreme, take a chance on relationships or situations that feel revelatory, fascinating, or a little uncontrollable.
VIRGO (August 23–September 23)
Guilt is a pretty useless feeling. It doesn’t motivate us to improve, repair, or take action. If anything, all guilt does is promote hiding and shame. This leads me to believe that some people experience guilt itself as a guilty pleasure. If we are “bad” enough and “wrong” enough, why would we even bother trying to do something useful or brave? We’ll think we don’t deserve to succeed, let alone enjoy and express ourselves. All guilt does is let us off the hook for taking the risks we need to in order to claim our own joy. Please don’t fall into this trap.
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LIBRA (September 23–October 23)
I’ve studied dance for most of my life, and there’s one movement concept that I use for a lot of different situations: root to rise. Too often, we think that the way to ascend (or get longer and taller) is to reach and stretch ourselves skyward. This causes a lot of stress and unsustainable effort. Supporting ourselves at our foundations allows us to unfurl effortlessly into our full expression. Where are the weak, undernourished spots in your emotional, material, or relational root systems? Tend to them. The health of the roots is reflected in the leaves.
SCORPIO (October 23–November 22)
The familiar structures in your life, which include your ruthlessly organized mind, might need some freeing up. Don’t dismiss on principle new ways of interpreting the world around you, especially if those ways seem “soft.” Hard data tells only a small part of any story. Look beyond the usual sources to keep yourself informed. For example, if you tend to favor Western philosophy, complement that knowledge with Eastern wisdom studies. If you rely on local news outlets, broaden your scope by following a journalist on another continent. This will prepare you for some unexpected conversations with new people about to enter your sphere.
(November 22–December 22)
Every single thing that’s ever happened to you is a resource—something that supports you. When you realize the experiences, objects, and relationships you’ve accumulated up to this moment are things you can fall back on, you can be open to what’s in front of you. However, you do have to lean back. Do you trust in your own wealth? If you don’t, chances are you’ll close off to opportunities that are right in front of you. Take inventory. You have more than you think. You may even be able to get rid of false supports that are just taking up space.
(December 22–January 20)
You may be getting flashbacks from the major transformations you went through during the last stretch of the Pluto-in-Capricorn years (2020 to 2023). You are a very different person at this juncture, but before the door finally closes on that chapter, you have a chance to confront and reclaim one last detail from that time. This has to do with an important relationship that emotionally overwhelmed you. You didn’t have the tools to deal with it then, but you might have them now. A window is opening this month for you to repair a relationship of great importance.
(January 20–February 19)
You’re standing at the threshold of your own becoming. It’s as if you’ve been toiling away in obscurity on a project that required the utmost secrecy, sensitivity, and tenderness. The time has come for a great unveiling, and it looks like that project is located in or on your body. The whole “butterfly emerging from the chrysalis” metaphor is so cliche, but couldn’t be more perfect. There may be a bit of pain as you emerge, but only because you’re exposing some virgin skin. You will acclimate to the light and noise of the outside world. Take your sweet time.
(February 20–March 19)
Have you been exiled from school, your monthly book club, or favorite watering hole? Have you been diverted from your usual route to work? Whatever rude disruption is severing ties to your normal routines, go with it. For all we know, the rude disruptor is you! You may be sensing (correctly) that a period of discipline and serious work is on the horizon. Here’s your excuse to welcome all detours, and allow for a “wild hair.” Forcing consistency at this time may create the conditions for energy to explode at a deeply inconvenient time in the future.
The cyclical manner of life is a reminder that no experience within the natural world is truly new. The moon waxes and wanes much like the trees bare and bloom—month after month, year after year. These patterns align us with the universe and our place within it. Peekskill-based photographer, filmmaker, and author J. Ryan Ulsh sought to capture the rhythmic ways of our existence and our connection to nature in Cycles, his first book of fine art photography.
Ulsh’s global travels resulted in a rich slate of images. Mother, taken in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, shows the striking silhouette of a person set against
a deep golden sky as if they are one with the mountains. Aurora Borealis, shot in Skagabyggo, Iceland, captures the mystical Northern Lights—a reoccurring natural display, yet one that can be so magnificent.
Perhaps Ulsh’s work is as much a catalyst for change as a source of wonder. As our relationship with the Earth is weakened by the climate crisis, his images inspire humanity to once again see itself as part of the picture. 10 percent of proceeds for book sales (Cyclesbooks.com) go to the Nature Conservancy.
—Mikayla Stock
