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AMBER S. CLARK
98 INNER VISION: Walking the labyrinth at UTS in Barrytown. NEWS AND POLITICS
21 THE HEAT ON ECUADOR Felicia Mello reports on the effects of global warming, which is vanquishing glaciers throughout South America, killing crops, and threatening the water source for millions across the continent. COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK
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THEY GOT GAME Nina Shengold profiles The Wayfinder Experience, a Kingston-based interactive play camp that is equal parts Joseph Campbell, Capture the Flag, and Monty Python & the Holy Grail. 35 ART OF BUSINESS Jonathan D. King visits Morehouse Farm in Milan, where Margrit Lohrer raises superfine Merino sheep.
ARTS & CULTURE
WHOLE LIVING GUIDE
42 PORTFOLIO Photographer Douglas Menuez's Heaven, Earth, Tequila.
92 FOODS TO BALANCE BLOOD SUGAR Ilyse Simon explains a few basic
46 LUCID DREAMING Beth E. Wilson reviews the group show "Gender" at Haddad-
principles of food and physiology to help thwart insulin resistance.
Lascano in Great Barrington and the photography of Patrick Taberna at Galerie BMG. 49 GALLERY DIRECTORY What's hanging around the region. 52 MUSIC Sharon Nichols profiles John Schrader. Plus Nightlife Highlights and CD reviews of the latest from Mark Brown, The Mammals, and a WDST compilation disk. 56 BOOKS Nina Shengold profiles Valerie Martin and John Cullen. 58 BOOK REVIEWS Queen of the Underworld and The Making of a Writer by Gail Godwin; Public Radio by Lisa A. Phillips; Joan Snyder by Hayden Herrera. 65 POETRY Poems by Louis E. Bourgeois, Mike Burhans, JDG, Adam LeFevre, Peter Remler, Johanna Richmond, Lorrie Safferman, Bill Shashaty,
turns, examining the ins and outs of labyrinth walking as spiritual practice.
BUSINESS SERVICES 85 TASTINGS A directory of what’s cooking and where to get it. 100 WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY For the positive lifestyle. 115 BUSINESS DIRECTORY A compendium of advertiser services.
THE FORECAST 121 DAILY CALENDAR Listings of local events. Plus previews of James Blunt at Belleayre, the Berkshire International Film Festival, dueling pianos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Mass Tango at the Bearsville Theater, Ruth Adams at the Center
Bert Shaw, Teddy Vachovetz, and Charlotte Visco.
for Photography in Woodstock, "Ever Ever" at Actors & Writers in Olivebridge, Q&A with
82 FOOD & DRINK Jennifer May treks into the woods with Michael Kokas of Upstate
The Judgment of Paris author Ross King, Marc Black's Stroke of Genius Project.
Farms to forage for one of spring's first wild edible: ramps.
PLANET WAVES HOROSCOPES
HOME & GARDEN 68 CLEAR WATER REVIVAL Susanne Turino Casal reports on the latest trend in
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98 INNER VISION Lorrie Klosterman takes a long stroll down a path with no wrong
138 THE EYE OF THE NUCLEAR NEEDLE Eric Francis Coppolino questions the wisdom of US nuclear posturing about Iran. Plus horoscopes.
backyard water features, imported from Europe: natural swimming ponds.
PARTING SHOT
70 BUSH LEAGUE The topiary creations of Keith Buessing.
144 SELF-PORTRAIT IN A CAP, OPEN-MOUTHED An etching by Rembrandt van Rijn.
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EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney bmahoney@chronogram.com ART DIRECTOR David Perry dperry@chronogram.com NEWS & POLITICS EDITOR Lorna Tychostup tycho56@aol.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jim Andrews jandrews@chronogram.com MUSIC EDITOR Sharon Nichols music@chronogram.com BOOKS EDITOR Nina Shengold books@chronogram.com WHOLE LIVING EDITOR Lorrie Klosterman wholeliving@chronogram.com POETRY EDITOR Phillip Levine poetry@chronogram.com COPY EDITORS Andrea Birnbaum, Susan Piperato INTERNS Alysabeth Anderson, Lara Buongiorno, Jenna Hecker, Brianne Johnson, Shannon MacGiffert PROOFREADERS Marly Booth-Levy, Laura McLaughlin, Barbara Ross CONTRIBUTORS Adam Allington, Emil Alzamora, Pauline Bartolone, Mike Burhans, Louis E. Bourgeois, Susanne Turino Casal, Amber S. Clark, Eric Francis Coppolino, DJ Wavy Davy, Hillary Harvey, Annie Internicola, JDG, Jason Kremkau, Adam LeFevre, Felicia Mello, Jennifer May, Julian Opie, Fionn Reilly, Peter Remly, Johanna Richmond, Carla Rozman, Bill Shashaty, Ilyse Simon, Lori Safferman, Bert Shaw, Sparrow, J. Spica, Pauline Uchmanowicz, Teddy Vachovetz, Charlotte Visco, Beth E. Wilson
SUBMISSIONS CALENDAR
To submit calendar listings, visit www.chronogram.com/calendar and click on "Add My Event" and fill out the form. E-mail: events@chronogram.com / Fax: (845) 334-8610 Mail: 314 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 Deadline: May 15
POETRY
Submissions of up to three poems at a time can be sent to poetry@chronogram.com or our street address, see above.
NONFICTION/FICTION
Fiction: Submissions can be sent to fiction@chronogram.com. Nonfiction: Succint queries about stories of regional interest can be sent to bmahoney@chronogram.com.
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PUBLISHING FOUNDERS Jason Stern & Amara Projansky PUBLISHER Jason Stern jstern@chronogram.com ADVERTISING SALES WEST OF HUDSON RIVER Jamaine Bell jbell@chronogram.com, x112 EAST OF HUDSON RIVER Ralph Jenkins rjenkins@chronogram.com, x105 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE MANAGER Lisa Mitchel-Shapiro lshapiro@chronogram.com, x101 ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Becca Friedman bfriedman@chronogram.com, x120 OFFICE ASSISTANT Matthew Watzka mwatzka@chronogram.com, x113 TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR Justin Zipperle PRODUCTION PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Yulia Zarubina-Brill yzarubina@chronogram.com, x108 PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Kiersten Miench kmiench@chronogram.com, x116 PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Jim Maximowicz jmaximowicz@chronogram.com, x106 Julie Novak jnovak@chronogram.com, x102 BUSINESS CONSULTANT Ajax Greene OFFICES: 314 Wall St. Kingston, NY 12401 845.334.8600 fax 334.8610 SUBSCRIBE Send $36/12-issues or visit www.chronogram.com/subscribe MISSION Chronogram is a regional magazine dedicated to stimulating and supporting the creative and cultural life of the Hudson Valley. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2006
LU M I N A R Y
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FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS HILLARY HARVEY In the past year of photographing for Chronogram, Hillary Harvey has done everything from sniffing the sweetest coffee beans, witnessing culinary art, exploring warehouses, and hanging out with bohemians. Her work has also appeared in Oprah Magazine, Whole Earth Review, and Chronogram’s sibling publications, Healthy Living and Upstate House. Her fine art photographs have been in exhibitions around the Hudson Valley and New York City and are included in private collections. Hillary lives and works in Woodstock. Portfolio at www.hillaryharvey.com. This month her photographic adventures have her chasing sheep (page 35) and Douglas Menuez (page 42).
PHILLIP LEVINE Phillip Levine has been a busboy, math PhD student, bike messenger, college ice hockey goalie, actuary, techie geek, Wall Street vice president, waiter, Pop Warner MVP, computer consultant, softball pitcher, record producer, stage manager, chess master, rugby fly half, band roadie, and now, poet, actor, director, peace advocate, yurt builder/yurt dweller, father, featured poet, published poet, president of the Woodstock Poetry Society, Woodstock Poetry Festival program co-director, and, for the past five years, host of “open-mic spoken every monday forever” at the Colony Cafe. Phillip is also the poetry editor of Chronogram. This month’s poetry selections appear on page 64.
ANNIE DWYER INTERNICOLA Annie Dwyer Internicola and her husband Billy moved to the Hudson Valley from Brooklyn five years ago. They live in Kingston with their two children—Jacob, almost 3, and newborn Josephine. In 2004, Annie put together an illustration portfolio with the hope of pursuing a freelance career. Her first illustration job was for Chronogram. Since then, in addition to Chronogram, her work has been featured in national and international publications, including Ode magazine, American Baby, and the Dallas Observer. To see more, visit www.billyandbean.com. Annie’s illustrations for this month’s Whole Living feature on bloodsugar balancing foods appear on page 100.
ILYSE SIMON Ilyse Simon is a Registered Dietitian new to the Hudson Valley. After years of cooking whole foods over a hot stove providing logistical food support for peace walks, hungry hippies, and natural foods coops, she traded in her spatula for a pen. She now has a nutrition counseling practice in uptown Kingston, and specializes in insulin resistance, eating disorders, and food allergies. Her writing can be seen in the national vegan magazine, VegNews. Ilyse also likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. Life is not black and white. Living is the full spectrum in between. Ilyse wrote this month’s Whole Living feature on blood-sugar balancing foods, which appears on page 100.
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COURTESY JULIAN OPIE AND BARBARA KRAKOW GALLERY, BOSTON
ON THE COVER
Sara dancing (sparkly top)
JULIAN OPIE | CONTINUOUS COMPUTER ANIMATION | 2004 Julian Opie achieved prominence in the public imagination with his cover art for the Brit-pop phenoms Blur on their 2000 compilation Best of Blur. The illustration, done in Opie’s distinctive coloring book style, is a portrait of the quartet in four quadrants, paying an homage to Warhol’s prints of Marilyn Monroe and eerily prescient of the iconic silhouettes made famous in the iPod commercials that were to come. Throughout his work in various media, Opie distills images into their essential forms, eliminating all extraneous information, creating seemingly standardized versions of reality. His bold portraits, subtle landscapes, unconventional wallpaper, playful sculptures of animals, buildings and cars, and computer films present simplified and iconic versions of the contemporary environment. In an interview at London’s Tate Modern in 2001, Opie described his style in this way: “I often feel that trying to make something realistic is the one criteria I can feel fairly sure of. Another one I sometimes use is: Would I like to have it in my room? And I occasionally use the idea, if God allowed you to show him one thing to judge you by, would this really be it?” Opie’s sculpture, Sara dancing (sparkly top), an LED (lightemitting diode) monolith measuring 73” high by 43” wide by 10” deep, will be exhibited on the front lawn of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, May 20 through October 1. A continuous computer animation version of Sara dancing can be seen at www.julianopie.com. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT. (203) 438-4519; www.aldrichart.org. 14 CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Esteemed Reader Esteemed Reader of Our Magazine: As you sow, so shall you reap. Jesus said it. He even demonstrated it. He fought the establishment with seeming foreknowledge that he was provoking his own demise. One might say he was a man of violence (“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”) and he got what he had coming. Unlike most aggressors who see violence as a valid means of achieving their goals, are drunk with power, or are simply psychopaths, Jesus used his revolutionary life and violent death to make a point. In either case the lesson is the same: Violence begets violence. Each day’s newspaper headlines depicting ever-increasing mutual destruction bring the lesson home. For me today’s are particularly striking. There was a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Reading further I find an account that brings tears to my eyes: A man in shock gathers his children who had just watched their mother torn apart. “The children were screaming: ‘Mom! Mom!’ She wasn’t answering, she was dead already.” My thoughts flew to my cousin who lives in Tel Aviv with her family and I vainly search the web for a list of the names of victims. This example is called “terrorism” because it is inflicted by a rogue individual or group. But most instances are institutionalized forms of terrorism, directed by official government policy (a laser-guided missile inspires the same terror as a man in a jalaba wearing an exploding belt). Indeed, the work of Palestinian suicide bombers is relatively small compared with the havoc wreaked by the Israeli army that kills almost daily in the occupied territories, under state sanction. Our own government is overt in its policy of torture and gratuitous killing as an acceptable if not laudable political tactic. At home there’s 1 in 14 citizens in prison cages—about 3,500 facing the death penalty (60 were executed in 2005). And abroad, the hundreds of thousands maimed and killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years demonstrate barbarity comparable to Genghis Khan and his horde (though at least his mission was clear and sincere—to wipe what he saw to be the evils of agrarian civilization from the land). “The enemy” is a constantly shifting target drummed up to support the industry of violence. For the last half of the 20th century our war was against the “Communists,” a convenient generalization that could be applied to any country or group that threatened US interests. Now there’s the “Terrorists”, and our absurdly general “War on Terror” which appears designed to produce precisely that which it claims to fight. Indeed, evoking new violence is the logical goal of those that profit from destruction. If violence produces more violence, it follows that peace begets peace. In recent history we have the example of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which helped opposing sides of a longstanding conflict understand one another. When the apartheid regime came to an end in South Africa many expected a bloodbath of retributive violence. By facilitating communication and understanding, the commission seemed to ease a transition into a new society and took the energy out of the cycle of destruction. What can we do to take the energy out of the cycles of violence and bring about reconciliation between the ever-shifting opposing sides of a conflict? To begin with we can begin to loosen our identification with contrived structures of political affiliation, nation, religion, and all the factional edifices of the old world. These institutions, as well as their more modern counterparts, the multinational banks, munitions manufacturers, war infrastructure, oil, and other corporations that profit no matter which side of a conflict “wins,” are like the dinosaurs. They have huge, sprawling, profit-driven bodies with tiny brains incapable of apprehending the havoc they wreak on humanity and life on the earth. They can’t see the bleakness of how these results will play out in the future. It is up to us not to subscribe to the shallow stories of “us versus the evil-doers” that dumb us down with banal dichotomies. It is up to us to recognize that we profit from peacemaking as richly as Halliburton and the Carlyle Group profit from warmongering. Only everyone profits from making peace. We become peacemakers by bringing the force of reconciliation into the small, personal events that confront us at home and in the world. Can we allow ourselves to be impinged upon? Can we let go of pride, and the need for credit and recognition? Can we yield in situations where we are drawn to fight? Can we give respectful attention even when we feel attacked and reactive? Can we consider the good of our community before our personal desires? If we can answer yet to one of these questions even once in a week we can call ourselves peacemakers. —Jason Stern
If you have ideas to share about how to make peace, or know of other examples of “peace begetting peace,” please share them on the Esteemed Reader forum at www.chronogram.com. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM 15
LETTERS Not to Touch the Earth
To the Editor: [Re: “No Place Like Home,” 3/06] No, Melissa Pierson you are not the only one that feels that way. We are pushing the Earth around till it is unrecognizable, physically and culturally. The unseen natural rhythms become distorted or are gone, so we need more and more artificial stimulants in attempt to find connections we do not recognize, physically or culturally. We want historic tours yet neglect our history. We want wholesome foods yet kick tofu farmers off their lands. We want good neighborhoods, then drive our superhighways through them. In the name of the “greater good,” we took communities of human scale and substituted the Ashokan [Reservoir], “The Big Dig,” theWorld Trade Center, downtowns, etc., etc. Who determines the “greater good” ? Who has the self-anointed vision to determine it for all the generations that follow? No one should change the Earth irreparably past this one lifetime. Does every square inch of stone and soil have to be “developed?” When will the “shakers and movers” of society be satisfied? The message of Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful is needed more than ever today. —Anne Wasserbach, Saugerties
The Expense of Spirit
To the Editor: After reading Jason Stern’s Esteemed Reader in [the April 2006 issue of] Chronogram regarding the “war against negativity,” I find it appropriate to share with your readers one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. I came across it while working on a project called “Rough and Tumble—Shakespeare’s Tempers.” [The sonnet] involves the mechanicals from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” running about while the moods of Shakespeare appear in his sonnet forms. A very rough idea. Sonnet 129 exemplifies one form of self-hating: The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight, Past reason hunted, and no sooner had Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait On purpose laid to make the taker mad; Mad in pursuit and in possession so; Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme; A bliss in proof*, and proved, a very woe; Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream. All this the world well knows; yet none knows well To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. (*experience) —David Aston-Reese, Saugerties Artistic Director, Bird-On-A-Cliff Theatre Co.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
In our April issue, we misspelled the name of cover artist Sophia Tarassov, as well as mischaracterizing her exhibition of paintings at the Chocolate Factory in Red Hook.Tarassov’s paintings will be shown with sculpture by MattWeinberger through May 28.A closing reception will be held on Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21 from 5-7 pm. For information, call (845) 758-8080. 16 CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
AMBER S. CLARK
CHRONOGRAM SEEN On April 22, Chronogram sponsored The Famous Americans party at the Bearsville
Theater. The evening featured DJ Caviar and DJ Misoh spinning tunes along with special guest DJ John Ashton of The Psychedelic Furs. Live music courtesy of Mechanical Bull, who brought their cowgirl posse for an onstage hoedown. Top left: Cool shoes. Second row: John Ashton at the turntable; DJ Miosh grooving the crowd. Third row: Alise Marie and Peter Aaron; Johnnie Wang; The Famous Americans: Nina Paturel, Luc Moeys, Fionn Reilly, David Perry. Fourth Row: Galen Green and Chris Zaloom; DJ Caviar and Jouke ter Hofstede; Cowgirl Shonda onstage; Avalon Peacock singing with Chase Pierson of Mechanical Bull.
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EMPTYPRESS now open for bookness.
david@emptypress.com www.emptypress.com
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Editor’s Note Last May in this space, I wrote: “A gallon of gas is currently $2.25.
In a few years, gas at this price may seem like a bargain.” Now, you don’t have to claim to be heir to the prognosticating prowess of Nostradamus to have predicted that the price of oil would have gone up in a year’s time, given the general instability of the world’s largest oil-producing region, increasing demand from the emerging consumer giants China and India, and continued avaricious domestic consumption—but who expected to be paying almost a dollar more per gallon a year later? (On April 25, gas was $3.05 per gallon in Kingston.) If we plot out this price increase over a decade—not adjusting for inflation, dwindling reserves, further instability, or adding in any logorhythmic doohickeys—in 2016, gas will be $13.05 per gallon.This number seems absurd—who would pay so much for gas?!?—but even as I balk at this figure, my mind is already rationalizing it away. Gas prices can’t go up so steeply forever, they’ll level out around $5 a gallon. There’s got to be some major untapped petroleum deposits they just haven’t found yet.This country will have created a comprehensive public transportation system by 2016 so I won’t need my car. I’ll switch my car over to biodiesel and drive on French fry grease. Solar panels on the roof might do the trick. I’ll trade in my Honda for one of those fuel-efficient European mini-cars that gets 100 miles to the gallon and fits in the trunk of a Cadillac. Maybe I’ll just be making a lot more money in 10 years and it won’t matter how much gas costs. Or maybe I’ll be riding my bike a lot more. The only fuel it requires is the kind I’m already getting—and I make it a point never to skip any refueling sessions. Just in time, National Bike-to-Work Day is here again: Friday, May 19. While we cannot all ride our bicycles to work (although sometime in the not-so-distant future we may all have to), if you live closer than 10 miles to your office, I urge you to oil up your chain, don your helmet, and pedal to work on that day; studies show that once people start bicycle commuting, they often stay bicycle commuters. Get your co-workers to join you! Last year, we organized a strong Luminary Publishing contingent, and plan to do so again this year. For more information on Bike-to-Work day, visit www.bikemonth.com. If you can’t bike to work on the 19th, there are some great bike events in the coming months, including the Five-Borough Bike Tour in New York City on May 7 (42 traffic-free miles); and the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Ride in Millerton on July 16. (Visit www.bikenewyork.org for details.) The park-advocacy group Parks and Trails NewYork also runs two multi-day rides during the summer months: an eight-day, 400-mile ride from Buffalo to Albany along the Erie Canal, July 9–16; and the Great Hudson Valley Pedal, a six-day, 200-mile tour from Albany to New York City, August 15–20. For more information, visit www.ptny.org.
Some facts about health, cars, and cycling:
Glen Wilson
• According to AAA, despite the rise in the price of gasoline, Americans are using 1.5 percent more fuel than last year. (So much for price hikes curbing consumption.) • 80 percent of Americans do not get the recommended 30 minutes of moderate daily activity. • The average number of barrels of oil consumed daily in the US is 19 million. Driving is responsible for 43 percent of them. • Motorized vehicles are responsible for 70 percent of the carbon monoxide, 45 percent of the nitrogen dioxide, and 34 percent of the hydrocarbons we produce. • Nearly a third of the gas used in the US goes for trips of three miles or less, usually to transport a single passenger. • More than half of all Americans live less than five miles from where they work. • One hundred bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build one medium-sized automobile. —Brian K. Mahoney
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING A pioneering air-pollution regulation pending to take effect in California next year would tighten emission requirements for lawn mowers, eliminating 22 tons of smog-forming chemicals from the Golden State’s air daily, the equivalent of 800,000 cars. Ounce for ounce, lawn mower engines in California contribute 93 times more smog-forming emissions than cars, accounting for two percent of all engine smog. The reason: Lawn mowers are not required to have catalytic converters, a requirement on all US cars since 1975. Briggs & Stratton and other small engine makers contend that adding the converter would create a fire hazard, adding heat to already hot engines. An EPA study concluded that no fire hazard existed, but Briggs & Stratton is paying $650,000 for an independent safety review in Sweden anyway. Source: New York Times On April 18, William Bennett, a former Reagan and Bush Sr. administration official and recovered gambling addict, declared on his radio program, “Morning in America,” that three journalists who won Pulitzer prizes the day before—Dana Priest of the Washington Post and James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times—were “worthy of jail” for their reporting. The prize winning articles—on secret prisons the CIA was running in Eastern Europe and the NSA domestic spying program—were both reports President Bush urged the papers not to publish. (The Times waited a year to publish its report on the NSA.) Source: Editor & Publisher
In March, Georgia Tech college student Ruth Malhorta filed suit against her school, claiming that GT’s ban on speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation infringes on her right to “free exercise” of her religion, as her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. Malhorta’s lawsuit is the result of a reprimand she received from college officials after sending a letter to a campus gay group, calling it “a sex club…that can’t even manage to be tasteful.” Malhorta is seeking unspecified damages. In a related case, an Ohio middle school student won the right last year to wear a T-shirt to school that proclaimed: “Homosexuality is a sin! Islam is a lie! Abortion is murder!” Source: Los Angeles Times The Food and Drug Administration announced on April 20 that “no sound scientific studies” support the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, citing a combined review by federal drug, regulatory, and research agencies. This statement contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s most prestigious scientific advisory group, that found marijuana to be “moderately well suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting.” Eleven states have legalized medical marijuana, but last year the Supreme Court overruled those laws, stating that the federal government could arrest anyone using marijuana, even those using it for medical purposes in states that have legalized it. Source: New York Times
On April 6, the Center for Media and Democracy released a report titled “Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed,” exposing how corporate-funded video news releases—fake TV news—are routinely aired, without disclosure, as though they were independent news reports. Over a 10-month period, CMD documented TV newsrooms’ use of 36 video news releases—a fraction of the thousands produced each year—by 77 stations in both large and small markets, collectively reaching half the US population. The video news releases were for 49 different clients, including General Motors, Pfizer, Intel, and Capital One, and in each case, the TV stations actively disguised the sponsored content to make it appear to be their own reporting. Source: Center for Media and Democracy On April 6, during an all-day conference on globalwarming policy, the Senate Energy and Resources Committee heard statements from utility and energy executives of eight corporations—including General Electric, Shell, and two of the largest utilities in the US, Duke Energy and Exelon—either actively welcoming or accepting mandatory federal caps on greenhouse gas emissions. This is the first time energy executives have requested caps on carbon emissions, and is a 180-degree about-face from previous denials that carbon emissions have anything to do with global warming. Industry players say they’re concerned about the patchwork of inconsistent climate regulations on the state level. Source: Grist.com
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NEWS & POLITICS World, Nation, & Region
FELICIA MELLO
THE HEAT ON ECUADOR
by Felicia Mello
Global warming is vanquishing ancient glaciers throughout South America, killing crops, and threatening the water source for millions. When Rosita Ramos was a child, she heard elders tell stories about the snow-capped mountain that towered above their Ecuadorean village. “Mama Cotacachi,” as the mountain is called, was a beautiful, pale-skinned woman with glowing white-blonde hair. She seduced Imbabura, the older mountain to the south, marrying him and forcing him to give up his philandering ways. Inside her skirt was a storehouse of grain, which she dispensed little by little to the lucky villagers who lived at her feet, never giving too much at once, so they would not waste it. Venture too close to the mountain’s peak, it was said, and her spirit might follow you home, to haunt you in your dreams. Ramos, now a 34-year-old mother of four, guards these stories like the seeds from native corn varieties that hang in brilliant rows from the ceiling of her cinderblock house. “Before we had respect for Mother Earth,” she says in a soft, high voice. “She was not something dead.The elders still have a sensation that Mother Earth hears them. She has to let them sow their seeds—otherwise they won’t have a good harvest. If someone is dedicated and close to the earth, they have a good energy.” Like many of the other indigenas—Quichuaspeaking indigenous people who make their homes at the base of this western Andean volcano—Ramos relies on the mountain for food, water and spiritual strength. But lately, residents of the town of Cotacachi and the 43 indigenous communities that sur22 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
round it—some 30,000 people in all—have noticed changes in their once familiar environment. In the last five years, the ice cap on Cotacachi’s craggy peak—there for as long as anyone could remember—has vanished, leaving her bare and brown. Since then, farmers complain that creeks they’ve relied on for years no longer give enough water to sustain their small plots of corn, potatoes, and beans. Waterfalls where shamans once performed healing ceremonies have all but disappeared. “We realize that it doesn’t snow much anymore, and that the soil is drier every day,” Ramos says. “Many people say they have no water in their irrigation ditches. When the corn harvest begins in the summer, it is like a desert here. Everything is ugly.” As conflicts break out over scarce resources, the struggle to explain Cotacachi’s water woes has divided inhabitants between old and young, indigenas and mestizos (people of mixed race), townspeople and country folk. The older Quichuas whisper that Mama Cotacachi is aging, just like a person, and she must be taken care of so she will continue to produce. Young fieldworkers curse greedy plantation owners for hogging the water for themselves. Some townspeople blame the glacier’s disappearance on merchants who climbed Cotacachi by donkey, hacked off chunks of ice, and carried them down to sell in the market below. But science offers a different explanation, one that is gaining credence with younger mestizos who
have studied outside Cotacachi. Rising global temperatures are melting glaciers throughout South America. At its relatively low height of 16,000 feet, Cotacachi was one of the first Andean mountains to lose its ice cap. Scientists predict that most small glaciers in the mountain range will disappear in the next two decades; 80 percent of glaciers in nearby Bolivia will likely be gone by 2015.The glaciers’ retreat could contribute to water shortages and flash floods across the continent. If the warming trend continues, Cotacachi’s problems may be a troubling sign of what lies ahead. GLACIAL RIVERS RUNNING DRY From the edge of Laguna Cuicocha crater, halfway down the mountain, three rivers descend Cotacachi’s green slopes, their channels cutting sharply into the rich soil. Farther down, the ravines divide into quebradas, or creeks, that nourish the fields on the mountain’s flanks where farmers eke out their living under the glaring equatorial sun. The creeks, in turn, reach their tiny fingers southward toward the valley, where the town of Cotacachi sits framed by taller mountains in the distance. Above, in the crater itself, the lagoon that feeds these waterways sits in almost supernatural stillness, a deep-blue jewel flecked with turquoise, with two small islands like sleeping animals at its center. Apart from a single cement factory pumping out puffs of smoke on the horizon, the landscape
Glen Wilson
PAULINE BARTOLONE
(OPPOSITE): DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING, MOUNT COTACACHI WAS THE FIRST ANDEAN PEAKS TO LOSE ITS PERMANENT ICE CAP AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. (ABOVE): FARMER SEGUNDO ALFREDO TABANGO DISPLAYS THE WATER-DEPRIVED PLANTS ON HIS FARM IN CUICOCHA, CENTRAL ECUADOR.
gives the impression of having changed little in the past century. But water-resources engineer Xavier Zapata knows better. On a clear January morning, he leads me up the steep dirt trail that rims the crater, sweeping his hand to indicate the rivers below. “These rivers supply the communities with irrigation and drinking water,” he says. “I say ‘rivers,’ but actually they have become very small, because they have lost their source of nourishment.” Zapata is a German-educated native of Quito, Ecuador’s capital; a short, solid man with a scrubbed baby face, he wears the customary fleece, khakis, and hiking boots of a Western scientist. He first came to Cotacachi in 2003 to study land use as part of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) project, a joint venture between the University of Georgia and Ecuadorean researchers. “At the beginning, I had no idea about climate change and its effect on glaciers here,” he says. “Then I saw old pictures of Cotacachi with a lot of snow and glaciers, and I knew that wasn’t the current reality.” After seeing villagers tapping their own wells in a desperate search for more water—one community tried to drill a tunnel to the lagoon—Zapata built a hydrological model of the area. He traced the tiny creeks and springs back to the three rivers and up to the very top of the mountain, where the glacier once sat. And he began to suspect that Cotacachi’s water problems stemmed not just from local weather pat-
terns, but from the practices and policies of people hundreds and even thousands of miles away. Scientists agree that global warming is melting much of the world’s ice. While many of the glaciers on the globe have been gradually retreating since the end of the Little Ice Age in the mid-19th century, the process has accelerated rapidly in the last 50 years, as factories and cars spew ever more pollution into the air. And glaciers like those in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia are especially vulnerable, because their tropical location makes them more sensitive to changes in air temperature. These countries, like most other third world nations, contribute little to the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air, but they will be among the first to feel the effects of climate change.While “tropical glacier” might sound like an oxymoron, much of the region relies on these ancient ice caps: Glacial runoff is a key source of water for millions of South Americans, and it supplies half of the drinking water for Quito. “What we’ve seen in the last 30 years is very troubling,” says Eric Cadier, a glaciologist with the French Institute for Research and Development, the primary group monitoring glaciers in South America. “And it’s only going to continue.” In the coming decades, Cadier says, Andean countries will face a radical change in the amount of water available from glaciers. “Quito’s water company is concerned, but they should be even more worried than they are.” Paintings of Cotacachi from the turn of the 20th
century show a massive glacier covering almost the entire mountaintop. By mid-century, the permanent ice cap had shrunk, but climbers still needed picks and crampons to scale the peak.Today, only the rare dusting of snow marks the path to the summit; otherwise, the mountain is completely bare. Scientists refer to the line between a glacier’s top half, where snow is accumulating, and its bottom half, where it is melting, as the line of equilibrium. In warming weather, the line of equilibrium may rise and the glacier can begin to retreat, giving off increasing amounts of water. Zapata believes that as Cotacachi’s glacier retreated, the rush of meltwater cascaded from the peak into Laguna Cuicocha and the rivers and creeks below, providing an ample supply for the area’s growing population. Other rivers that descended directly from the peak also swelled with the increased runoff. When the glacier disappeared, however, that flow began to dry up, leaving residents more dependent on rainwater. It also made for harsher droughts. A glacier acts like a bank account, storing precipitation during the wet season to release later when the weather becomes dry.With the account drawn down and the glacier gone, Zapata believes, Cotacachi’s farmers are no longer insulated against changes in rain patterns. Ecuador’s scientists often lack the resources to do basic research, so no glaciologist has specifically studied Cotacachi. But Cadier and his colleagues at the country’s National Institute of Meteorology 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM NEWS & POLITICS 23
PAULINE BARTOLONE
SHAMAN JOSE MARIA MONTALVO OF MORALES CHUPA, ECUADOR, BELIEVES HE HAS LOST PART OF HIS SHAMANIC POWER DUE TO THE RECEDING OF COTACACHI’S ICE CAP.
and Hydrology find Zapata’s hypothesis convincing. Cadier’s team has been measuring glacial retreat on several mountains in Ecuador—including Antizana, which provides drinking water and hydroelectric power to the capital—and their research suggests that when a small glacier disappears, stream flow in the area can decrease by about a quarter. “We could say that what is happening now in Antizana happened in Cotacachi a century ago,” Cadier says. “And in countries like Peru and Bolivia, where there is less rainfall, the effect will be a lot worse.” THE FIGHT FOR “BLUE GOLD” I meet Jorge Proaño, a tall, muscular mestizo, in the highland community of Imantag. It’s a relatively wild place: Large plantations known as haciendas still control much of the land; boulders and thick vegetation clog the roads; and gang violence has killed a dozen people in the last few years. Proaño, head of the local water council, agrees to take me on a tour of the community’s water sources. As our Jeep rumbles over the rutted road, he points to the parched riverbed we’ve just crossed, part of the river Alambi. “I remember when I was little that river could make you deaf with its noise,” he says. “My grandfather bought me a burro when I was 12. I used to send it over the river to get firewood. One day, while it was in the middle of the river, the water swept it away.” Looking down at the stony ditch, with its trickle of water only three feet wide, the idea seems almost 24 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
laughable. I ask Proaño if he thinks the river will grow again to its previous volume. “Only if there is once again ice on top of Cotacachi,” he replies. “And that is difficult or impossible.” Water councils in the communities face the daunting task of finding new water sources and meting out the precious supply to the area’s subsistence farmers. It’s but the latest chapter in the farmers’ centuriesold struggle with the land and those who own it. Until the 1960s, virtually all the land in the county belonged to a few wealthy hacendados, and peasants traded labor for the right to graze their animals or plant a few crops. After the government instituted land reform, indigenous farmers founded small, semiautonomous communities in the hills around the town of Cotacachi. But while land reform gave soil to the people, they lacked the legal rights to water, either for irrigation or drinking. Villagers in the community of Tunibamba tell of sneaking onto the local hacienda at night to collect water from the spring there. Only when they occupied the estate and won government support to purchase it from its owner did their situation improve. The occupation was part of a grassroots movement that brought basic services like sewerage systems to many of the communities and eventually elected the county’s first indigenous mayor. Today, 80 percent of the county’s population lives below the poverty line. Indigenous people dominate the outlying communities, while mestizos make their
homes in town, though a few mestizo farmers live side by side with indigenas and till the same land. Public works in the villages are performed by minga, a traditional system where women cook communal meals and each household head volunteers time to dig wells or plant trees. The two ethnic groups often view each other with suspicion, hold different outlooks on the world, and even speak different languages. But they share a need for the same precious resource—el oro azul, as it is sometimes called in Ecuador: blue gold. Higher up, the Alambi widens and we pass women leading their animals and catch sight of one-room houses with tin and tile roofs. We park at a grassy field and make our way past clusters of blue and purple wildflowers to the river’s edge. Hopping from rock to rock, Proaño leads me to the other side of the canyon where two irrigation canals meet and their contents mix. One delivers river water to Hacienda La Maria, one of the largest plantations in the area. The other is a bright blue overpass built by Imantag and two other communities, carrying water from two springs to the east that, according to Proaño, have been relatively unaffected by the glacier’s disappearance. In the summers, Proaño says, the Alambi dries up and virtually all the water in the joint canal comes from the communities’ springs. But the hacienda continues to take the same percentage as before, water he claims rightly belongs to the villages. “We
the ones who worked for 10 years to bring the water from so far,” he says. “There were entire weeks when everyone left their jobs to go to the minga. By hand, with sticks and picks we cleared the rocks from the canal. Now they want to take advantage of our ingenuity.” The hacienda’s administrator, Marta Camacho, argues that a legal agreement to share the canal established new water rights, with access to all the water divided between both parties. “The scarcity affects everyone, not just Imantag,” she says. “But the water councils have become very political.Water makes enemies of everyone.” Such clashes are not uncommon in the area, but locals say they have worsened since the glacier disappeared. Ecuador’s National Council on Hydrological Resources reports that requests to renegotiate water concessions have grown in recent years, as droughts and glacial retreat put pressure on the country’s water supply. The hacienda itself, a sprawling patchwork of organic vegetable plots, eucalyptus stands, and cornfields, suffers from a drought that has made half its land uncultivable.With little water for irrigation, workers must wait for the rain to plant. Camacho says she is spending thousands of dollars to convert from flood to drip irrigation, trying to squeeze as much as possible from her meager reservoirs. “Agriculture is no longer profitable here,” she says. “Investment is a Russian roulette. We never know when or how much it is going to rain.” Her problems do not move Proaño. “With the water that the hacienda is taking from us we could irrigate at least 250 more acres,” he says. “That would mean more work and more economic resources so our families can eat.” On the way back down the mountain, we pass two men trudging back from work in the fields, hefting shovels and lunch pails over their shoulders. Arturo Galindo, the younger of the two, tells me that shrinking water sources in his community have forced many to work on large plantations instead of tilling their own land. That often means less control over their time and a smaller share of the profits. “We had a good water flow,” he explains. “But now it’s drying up. Before you could keep the land moist, but now sometimes we lose our crops. We live off the land and water is a vital liquid for us, so it’s a disaster.” In an era when people in his town clamor for cell phones and the latest cumbia CD, Proaño talks about water like it’s a hot commodity. “You could say,” he remarks with a grin as we continue driving, “that [here] water for irrigation is a lot more popular than Coca-Cola.” WAY OF LIFE THREATENED Marcelo Sevillano guns the motor of his small tourist boat and guides it out onto the lagoon’s smooth surface. It’s a trip he’s been making for over 20 years, since he was 15. His family has led sightseeing trips at the lake for three generations. When he reaches the islands in the center, he lets the boat idle, so the travelers can observe the bubbles of gas rising through the water from the active volcano below. After a moment of silence, he begins in the deep, deliberate voice of a practiced storyteller to ex-
plain the lake’s history. “This site, because of its majesty, was a sanctuary for our ancestors,” he tells his audience. “Many rituals were celebrated here—some pleasant, others cruel.” Legend has it, he continues, that the Incas tossed infants overboard into the lake as human sacrifices to appease the wrath of their gods. Later they would release guinea pigs—both a sacred animal and a delicacy in the Inca culture —on the islands. The rodents housed the spirits of the martyred children and gave the lagoon its name, Cuicocha, or “lake of the guinea pigs” in Quichua, the Inca language. These days, indigenas still flock to the lagoon’s shores every June for Inti Raymi, the festival of the Sun God. They pray, dance, and bathe in the frigid waters to cleanse themselves of sin. The lake also anchors the county’s ecotourism strategy, an ambitious effort launched by Cotacachi’s first indigenous mayor as an alternative to less environmentally friendly industries like the flower plantations that are proliferating in the region. Fausto Garces, Ecuador’s former minister of tourism, has transformed the lagoon into a destination that draws 56,000 visitors to Cotacachi each year. He employs 25 families, with benefits, and likes to say that while tourism isn’t yet the most lucrative industry in the area, it is the one that distributes its income most evenly among the population. Sevillano tells me that the water level in the lagoon has fallen more than 10 feet in the last 10 years, a change that troubles the owners of the boat company. On the shore, three docks range like stepping-stones from a lakeside hotel down to the water; each was built and quickly had to be replaced as the water fell even further. Zapata sees this decline as proof of his theory that rainwater cannot sustain the lagoon.When he first learned of the glacier’s disappearance, he set up instruments to measure water levels and streamflow. At first, he was slow to believe the hotel workers who told of the changes in the lake. “I said to myself, five meters in 10 years? That’s not possible.” But Zapata’s own measurements over two years showed the same rate of change. “The lake is the star attraction of the county,” Garces says. “In the short term, it can drop a little and it won’t be a problem. But in the long term, we don’t really know what will happen.” The changes worry a local government that has staked its future on alternative models of development. Mayor Auki Tituaña took office in 1996 and promptly shifted 80 percent of the county’s budget from the richer urban areas to the resource-starved villages.The government taught townspeople to read using methods imported from Cuba, triumphantly declaring Cotacachi free of illiteracy last year. Posters of Che Guevara decorate the municipal building, and Tituaña has become so popular that he’s said to be considering a run for president. In 2001, the county’s General Assembly declared Cotacachi to be an “ecological county,” partly in response to an unpopular bid by a Canadian corporation to open a copper mine in the area. Everywhere in Cotacachi, there are signs and graffiti exhorting people not to litter, to conserve water, to take care of nature. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM NEWS & POLITICS 25
PHOTOS BY PAULINE BARTOLONE
(LEFT): ROSITA RAMOS GREW UP IN THE SHADOW OF “MAMA COTACACHI,” THE SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAIN THAT WAS SUPPOSEDLY A BEAUTIFUL, PALE-SKINNED WOMAN WITH GLOWING WHITE-BLOND HAIR. (RIGHT):MARIA PERUGACHE SIFTING QUINOA IN FRONT OF HER HOME AT THE BASE OF THE COTACACHI VOLCANO.
But the water shortage has proven more intractable than some of Cotacachi’s other ills. Along with the glacier’s inexorable retreat, local people report that the rain comes more irregularly than it did a generation ago, a view in line with international climatologists’ predictions for Latin America. Then there are the constant challenges of mismanagement and the lack of resources. Residents break the meters on their faucets to avoid paying fees, leaving little money to repair the system. The city’s environmental director, Francisco Grijalva, has focused on the things he can control, vowing to plant thousands of trees near springs in order to trap more moisture and increase streamflow. “We can no longer just sit around and wait for the ice to melt in order to capture water,” he says. “Unfortunately, we are suffering the consequences of environmental problems that other countries are producing. We in Cotacachi can pass a resolution to use our resources more sustainably, but other countries have yet to do that.” Back at the lake, Sevillano’s brother Elio, who runs a restaurant overlooking the lake, takes a more personal view: “Since we’ve known this area since we were kids, there’s no other place for us. I can’t tell you what we’d do if this lake wasn’t here.We’d try to adapt, but it would be extremely difficult.” MAMA COTACACHI AT THE GATE One day last December, snow fell on Cotacachi. Though it only lasted for a few days, Rosita Ramos ran around excitedly to others in the village, crying, “Look at Mama Cotacachi, how beautiful she is.” The neighbors just looked at her strangely. Ramos took 26 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
it as a sign of how much her culture has changed in only a generation. For her, the glacier’s disappearance symbolizes the loss of her community’s relationship with nature. Ramos wears the traditional glass-bead jewelry of Quichua women—several gold strands around the neck and brilliant red bracelets on each arm. Sitting on a couch in her three-room house, she describes how in the past, when people didn’t have enough water, they would go to a sacred spot on the mountain, bury grains and a fermented drink made from corn as an offering, and ask Cotacachi for help. “When I tell my older children these stories, they just laugh,” she says.The ceremony is no longer performed in her community, she says, and people have stopped taking care of the water sources. “They come in cars from the city and they dump trash in our creeks,” she says. “And the creeks have now been dry for six or seven years.” Married at 14 in an arranged match, Ramos straddles the divide between traditional and modern life. She works outside the home—rare among Quichua women—and in her spare time helps anthropologists from SANREM document her community’s legends. In the last few years, new stories have evolved alongside old ones, stories that hint at Mama Cotacachi’s changing fortunes. One has Imbabura leaving Cotacachi for Cayambe, a taller, snow-covered mountain nearby. He takes all of Cotacachi’s grain and gives it to Cayambe, leaving Cotacachi barren. Some people say the mountain is withholding water to punish them for their sins. During times of drought, a local midwife organizes groups of children
to pray to Cotacachi for more rain. Spiritual leaders, who listen for the earth’s rhythms, sense the changes most acutely. Jose Maria Montalvo’s wife says that when he was a baby, he startled his mother by crying when he was still in her womb, and his mother knew that he was going to be a yacha, or shaman. Today, Montalvo receives patients on reed mats in the patio of his tile-roof house, mixing potions of herbs intended to bring luck, vanquish enemies, or aid in finding a wife. When we visit him, he shows me a clear glass ball marked with latitude and longitude signs, through which we can see the dirt-stained creases on his hand. “This ball is the ice from the mountain, and I carry it everywhere,” he says. “In it I can see the world turning.” In the Quichua tradition, each shaman draws his power from an element of nature. Montalvo says he can communicate with the mountains and harness their energy to cure. But lately, he says, he can feel their energy waning. After farmers burned a field of grass to clear it, he had a vision of Mama Cotacachi. “Before, when people respected nature, Cotacachi was untouchable. And I had more energy too. Then she came to me in a dream and told me that they had burnt her. Since then, the water level has been falling, and her energy is also decreasing. I used to communicate with her, and she would come right inside the house,” he says, gesturing behind him to the darkened doorway. “Now she stays only at the gate.” Felicia Mello is freelance writer based in Berkeley, California.This article was reported with Pauline Bartolone and originally appeared on Salon.com.
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COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK
THEY GOT GAME by NINA SHENGOLD photos by JENNIFER MAY
Something strange is going down at a converted garage in a sketchy neighborhood in midtown Kingston. A young man in a shop full of weapons picks up his cell phone. “Hey, what’s up, man? Are we gonna do the hanging this weekend? I thought we were just gonna toss the bodies onto the fire.”
It may sound gruesome, but closer inspection reveals that the dozens of swords, spears, double-blade axes, and maces are crafted from play-safe foam. The cheerfully murderous man on the cell is Rueben Pacheco, a staff member at The Wayfinder Experience, a unique interactive camp based in Kingston. His armory and scene shop abuts a costume room stocked with over a thousand robes, capes, and gowns, plus a wall full of masks. There are neatly stacked bins labeled Armor, Fur, Claws, Lanterns, Small Melee Weapons, and Dragon Eggs. What is this thing called Wayfinder? “It’s a live-action role-playing game,” says Ed Kelly, 16. “It’s a theater camp,” says his classmate Emilie Ruscoe. Seventeenyear-old Clinton Graybill says, “Remember when you were nine and you had this really cool dream where you fought this dragon with a sword made of lightning and the princess gave you a castle made of chocolate? It’s like that.” An outgrowth of Adventure Game Theatre, run by Howard Moody and Brian Alison at Omega Institute in the 1990s, Wayfinder is equal parts Joseph Campbell, Capture the Flag, and Monty Python & the Holy Grail. With five fulltime staff members, 30 additional summer staff, 300-400 campers, and events
ranging from one to 12 days at locations throughout the Hudson Valley, it is truly a moveable feast. The former garage on O’Neill Street is the group’s first real office: Until last September, the vast archive of costumes, props, and armaments was stored in staff members’ basements and attics. Wayfinder President Reed Mollins says, “It’s pretty surreal. We come in here and feel like we’re playing businessmen.” All five full-time staffers are still under 30, and they’ve been friends for over a decade. When they argue about their titles, it’s like a revue sketch. Vicki Howland: “I’m the Human Resources Manager.” Ike Shaw: “Call me the Marketing Director.” Reed Mollins: “I liked Corporate Identity Manager better.” Shaw: “That makes me sound like I work for IBM.” Pacheco: “I’m—what am I? The Shaman.” Shaw: “Call him the Warehouse Bitch.” Mollins: “I’m technically the President, because I have the biggest desk.” (Genevieve Casagrande, who’s home sick, is identified as the Artistic Director.) They all played Adventure Game Theatre in their early teens. Mollins, a selfdescribed jock, “loved the athletics of swordwork.” Shaw was drawn in by the 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 29
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PREVIOUS PAGE: THE WAYFINDER STAFF INVOKE THE HIGHER POWERS BENEATH A KINGSTON SKY: RUEBEN PACHECO AS A SHAMAN, JOHAN SHERIDAN AS A DARK KNIGHT, REED MOLLINS AS A GREEK SAGE, JUD PACKARD AS AN ANGEL, IKE SHAW AS A DEMON, AND VICKI HOWLAND AS A LADY WARRIOR. THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JOHAN SHERIDAN AS A DARK KNIGHT AND VICKI HOWLAND AS A LADY WARRIOR; LEFT TO RIGHT: RUEBEN PACHECO AS A SHAMAN, REED MOLLINS AS A GREEK SAGE, AND JUD PACKARD AS AN ANGEL OUTSIDE WAYFINDER HEADQUARTERS IN KINGSTON. THE COSTUME ROOM AT WAYFINDER IS PACKED FULL OF VINTAGE AND NEW BALLROOM DRESSES, CAPES, HATS, ARMOR, MASKS OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES, CROWNS, TIARAS, AND FAIRY WINGS.
friends he made, Howland and Casagrande by the theatrics. Pacheco remembers his first close encounter with AGT at Stone Mountain Farm: When he saw a large group charge across a meadow with swords, he was “so entranced that I drove my car into a telephone pole.” Every Wayfinder program, from a one-day Bootleg Adventure to a weeklong sleepaway camp, starts with an Opening Circle and series of non-competitive New Games and warm-ups to loosen up newcomers. “We get really silly and get their defenses down,” Shaw says. Pacheco adds, “Some kids come in all freaked out, thinking ‘What is this?’ We make them laugh, let them know it’s okay to play.” At a typical weeklong camp, the first day includes Opening Circle and workshops in swordplay and improvisational theater. “And we start to talk about story a little,” says Shaw. “Just a teaser to get them excited.” Day two adds magical systems and ground rules, culminating in a campwide Capture the Flag game with foam swords, extravagant dying (“Act out your wounds” is the watchword) and resurrections; no one stays dead long at Wayfinder. Campers start to develop their characters based on archetypes in the story. By day three, they’re trying on costumes under Howland’s guidance and entering improv scenarios. The centerpiece of any Wayfinder event is the Adventure Game. These often take place over several days; night games are frequent, and the dark woods lend the action a thrilling immediacy. Though the players experience improvisational freedom, there’s a carefully wrought superstructure behind each Adventure Game. Called “The Flow,” it’s a scenario of planned occurrences, preassigned roles, and events that will carry the storyline to its conclusion. There’s also a set of safety procedures and a production list of scenery, props, and costumes gathered from stock or created to order. Some of Pacheco and Howland’s recent
challenges have included a glass coffin with breathing holes, oversized monster suits, and an entire haunted carnival. Story premises range from medieval fantasy realms to superheroes with comical powers to epic battles between good and evil. Mollins comments, “There’s something really special about large-scale role-playing. People develop a comfort level really fast. No one’s a stranger if he’s been your brother and saved your life.” The intensity of the game is followed by a community celebration called Bardic Circle, the one event parents may join. Around a crackling bonfire, campers get up and perform for their peers: original songs, recitations of fables or jokes, Shakespeare monologues, magic tricks; last summer, a six-year-old boy from the “Weefinder” group did a bellydance. Wayfinder brochures sport such buzzwords as “teambuilding,” “communication skills,” and “experiential learning,” but that’s not what hooks the kids. In the words of Sam Reeder, seven, “You get to act out dying and you get fun swords to keep.” The Wayfinder Experience also does birthday parties and school workshops, and recently visited Sam’s alma mater, Marbletown Elementary. One shy kindergartner wearing a velvet dress and white go-go boots started out looking scared of her sword. By the end of the game, she was gleefully whacking at boys twice her height, with a mile-wide grin on her face. Shaw comments: “They get to reverse roles. The bully becomes the bullied–this has effects that last way past the game.” The changes wrought in older participants may be even more striking. Kingston dentist Bruce Hottum has three sons in Wayfinder; when his oldest signed up at 14, “He was bored with school, bored with his friends, bored with himself. This brought him back to life. It sounds corny, but it’s the truth.” “We’ve had kids where it took years to loosen up, who were very resistant at first,” says Shaw. “ We’ve also had some who said ‘This isn’t for me’ and never 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 31
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CHAOS AMIDST THE TRANSFORMATION: REED MOLLINS, DRESSED AS A GREEK SAGE, LOOKS ON AS RUEBEN PACHECO, DRESSED AS A SHAMAN, GETS A MOUTHFUL OF IKE SHAW’S DEMON CLAWS IN WAYFINDER’S COSTUME ROOM.
came back–about two of them, over the years. Some kids are just into swordfighting, the aggressive aspect. They start out just wanting to whack kids with foam, and three weeks later, they’re crying at Closing Circle, saying how much they love everyone.” Mollins observes, “The kids come from such different places: jocky kids, theater kids, nerdy kids into video games and fantasy. A lot of them don’t hang out much, so this is a whole new experience.” Emilie Ruscoe learned AGT-style play in gym classes at Woodstock Day School. Her favorite aspect of Wayfinder is its female-centric New Moon games. “Boys have to sign up with a girl, so it brings the testosterone level down–or better, brings the estrogen level up.” New Moon downplays weapons; in one recent game, villains confronted other players with mirrors, calling them “ugly.” Needless to say, these self-esteem hags were vanquished. “We had all these powerful women running around in the woods, covered with mud,” Ruscoe exults. “It was awesome!” Clinton Graybill and Ed Kelly are transitioning from campers to staff. Graybill played the vampire Prince of the Gypsies in the recent Spring Thaw game, the one with the hanging. Kelly’s roles have included “a flying monkey from The Wizard of Oz, your standard Ninja samurai, rogue, sacrificial child, evil event planner, smuggler, random monsters, a fairy, warriors of course, necromancer, a very snobbish cleric, British naval officer, a half-Smurf/half-human, and a zombie from Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.’” Graybill, a misfit at school, found a different reception at Wayfinder. “You’re this instant rock star,” he gloats, noting that he found his first girlfriend at camp. “It’s like stumbling onto this community of friends you wish you’d had your whole life.” Between games, this community keeps in touch via online Wayfinder Forums. The main thing Wayfinder lacks is a place to call home. Though they enjoy hosting events at such scenic venues as the Ashokan Field Campus, Unison Arts Center, Woodstock Day School, and Epworth Center, Shaw says, “Our biggest vision is to get our own piece of land, build a castle, have permanent sets, hold festivals, live there.” It’s hard to imagine most CEOs dream about living at work. Mollins’s online bio concludes, “He wants to do this for the rest of his life,” and the others appear to agree, though Shaw admits, “It’s an epic task for us to be in business together–we’ve been friends for so long, we know all the right buttons to push.” Some disagreements are settled with foam sword duels. “And when we get sick of typing at desks, we go do something fun in the shop. It’s like working in Willy Wonka’s factory.” Indeed, as the staff dresses up for a photo shoot, the adrenaline surges. Voices take on a stageEnglish tenor: “Wear a mask, you should be ethereal.” “Not that, that’s terrifying.” “I would wear this to the mall.” “Rueben, where do the ripping claws go?” “These are definitely chick’s pants.” Mollins grimaces, struggling with ill-fitting velveteen. They troop outside, causing a pickup driver to slam on his brakes as the procession in sun-face masks, demon horns, capes, wings, and monster claws crosses the street to the Boice Dairy parking lot. Pacheco grins. “It’s like Halloween every week.” That may be as close as anyone comes to putting the Wayfinder Experience into words. As Clinton Graybill says, “It’s literally something you have to try. Show up at a Bootleg. The thing we do that gets you to love us is completely free.” The next Bootleg Adventure is scheduled for Saturday, June 10, at Epworth Center in High Falls; admission is free for newcomers and $35 for veterans, with a $5 discount for bringing new friends. Other fees range from $175 for an Empowerment weekend to $1,295 for a twelve-day Advanced Camp; most week-long programs cost $375 for day camp, $600 for sleepover. Discounts are available. For more information: www.wayfinderexperience.com. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 33
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THE ART OF BUSINESS
The Merinos of Milan Morehouse Farm’s superfine wool
BY JONATHAN D . KING
The birds advanced ominously, 100 strong, chattering and squawking. A mob of aggressive panhandlers. “Oh, it’s feeding time,” Margrit Lohrer said. She opened the can and began to scatter grain as roosters, ducks, Toulouse geese, sparrows, and wrens erupted in cacophonic celebration. A mallard hovered like a giant hummingbird, awkwardly attempting to eat while flapping above the jostling masses. A peacock strutted past as dogs loped around us barking with excitement. Two fuzzy Merino lambs curiously peered out from behind their mother in a nearby barn. This animal paradise, which could be easily mistaken for the set of a Disney movie and has doubled as the backdrop for Martha Stewart photo shoots, is the Morehouse Farm, draped over 35 bucolic acres in the rocky, rolling hills of Milan, just east of the village of Red Hook. Ms. Lohrer was a graphic designer in Manhattan when she and her husband, architect Albrecht Pichler, purchased this 200-year-old farmstead in 1977. They eventually made their upstate getaway a full-time home in the mid ’80s. After extensive research, Lohrer decided she wanted to grow superfine Merino sheep, renowned for their soft wool which rivals cashmere in thickness and texture. (To qualify as
PHOTOS BY HILLARY HARVEY
“superfine,” by law a textile must measure between 15 and 18 microns.) The only obstacle was that there weren’t any superfine Merino sheep to be found in the US at the time. Back in her retail store Sheep’s Clothing, located on Route 199 at the intersection of Route 308, just over a mile from the farm, Ms. Lohrer related some of the seminal events from the company’s 23-year wooly adventure. A sprightly woman with straight, graying hair, she is sharp, focused, and has a keen business sense. “As an agricultural business in Dutchess County,” she said, “today that is something of a contradiction, because the land is too valuable, quite frankly, and if you are sitting on a $3 million parcel, you know what? You’re not going to get up at four in the morning to milk your cows to make your $30,000 a year! So to succeed, you really need to come up with a new twist.” Everyone she initially asked about Merino sheep discouraged her for reasons including they are the greasiest, dirtiest, smelliest, wrinkliest, and slowest growing sheep breed on the planet. At a sheep breeding conference at Cornell University, a professor mocked Lohrer in front of a full auditorium. “Merino sheep? Leave those to the Australians!” Because they didn’t leave it to the Australians, CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 35
36 COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
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vidence shows that sheep were one of the first domesticated livestock and that shepherding goes back thousands of years. In addition to their meat, sheep have always been valued for their wool. But don’t go calling wool “hair.” Wool is only produced from the outer coat of sheep. A few qualities that distinguish it from hair are scales, which overlap like shingles on a roof, and crimps, with some fleeces showing fibers with more than 20 bends per inch. The other major difference is the fact that hair and fur have a hollow core, while wool has a solid core. A typical sheep produces 10 pounds of wool a year, which equals five pounds of processed yarn. With the average sweater weighing about a pound and a half, most sheep are wearing four sweaters by the time they are sheared. Black sheep are the product of a recessive gene, and traditionally undesirable. They were usually killed as soon as they were born, because one black sheep can contaminate the wool of an entire flock of white sheep. However, fortune has turned for black sheep: Their fleece is now more valued than white fleece. Lohrer related how at one point Ralph Lauren wanted an exclusive deal to buy all of the black wool Morehouse produced and she was forced to make a difficult decision concerning the desirable textile. “I figured Ralph Lauren would use it for a while and then he would be onto the next thing and then itwould be runied for all of our customers,” said Lohrer. Bold enough to turn down a brand name in favor of the bigger picture, their business didn’t suffer one bit. To this day, Morehouse Farm has one of the largest flocks of black merinos in the country and produces a gorgeous line of natural undyed yarns through blending white and black wools. —JDK 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 37
38 COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
PAGE 35: THE EWES AT MOREHOUSE FARM IN MILAN. PAGE 35: MOREHOUSE FARM’S VALUABLE BLACK SHEEP. THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: FRESHLY DYED YELLOW MERINO WOOL YARN HANGS IN A WINDOW TO DRY; YARN AND CLOTHING ON DISPLAY AT SHEEP’S CLOTHING, MOREHOUSE FARM’S RETAIL OUTLET MARGRIT LOHRER WITH HER PRIZE RAM.
Lohrer and Pichler are directly responsible for reintroducing the once-popular sheep to the US. At a convention in Edmonton, Canada, Lohrer felt an Australian fleece she recalls “resembled a cloud” and decided that was the stock she had to have. In 1986, they surreptitiously arranged for the anonymous purchase of two superfine rams at an annual international livestock auction in Australia. Following six months of quarantine in Hawaii, their prize rams arrived at Morehouse Farm just as the price of fine wool spiked around the world. She said with a laugh, “All of a sudden we came across as really smart cookies because we got these guys into the country at just the right time as prices—bang!—went through the roof. We were the owners of two of the finest merinos in the States, with the superfinest wool. So we began by advertising semen, and, man, they couldn’t produce enough.” Lohrer credits their success to their ability to recognize changes in the market and adapt their business model while staying true to her initial vision of producing the finest yarn available. The popularity of merinos surged with the price of wool, and Lohrer and Pichler found themselves providing breeding stock for farms across the nation as the surge became a craze. As supply caught up to demand, the craze subsided and the price of merinos came back to earth. In response, they turned the focus of the business from breeding to wool and yarn production. When she first opened Sheep’s Clothing more than 10 years ago on the farm, Lohrer, an expert knitter, initially planned on turning her superfine yarns into
finished goods, but soon noticed that it was the yarn that filled out the shop that was selling the fastest. At the same time, they were cultivating a wholesale business selling fine yarns to customers such as Ralph Lauren. As the shop began to support the farm, they briefly moved away from wholesaling and focused on retail, expanding their product line to include hundreds of various weights and colors of yarn. Then Lohrer came up with the idea that would shift the focus of the business yet again. She began to design custom knitting kits that included the pattern, skeins of yarn, and the needles, if needed. The response was overwhelming, and when the retail outlet on Route 199 opened up a few years ago, their success forced a move to accommodate their increased business volume. In only two years since making web orders available, Lohrer said that it has grown to almost 50 percent of their business. Gesturing to the shelves of books on knitting that dominate the back sunroom where people hold knitting classes, Lohrer said, “Knitting became so fashionable about two to three years ago, it’s just the hottest new thing, even with younger people. So why should I take time making things when there is this huge growth potential?” This remarkably busy woman recently found the time to write a book, Merino Knits: A Collection of 40 Farm Fresh Designs, which is both a pattern book and coffee-table history of Morehouse Farm. Lohrer and Pichler are currently on the Ram in a Van Book Tour with Alfie the book-signing ram. Check out www.morehousefarm.com or visit Sheep’s Clothing on Route 199 in Milan at the intersection of 308. Farm tours are available. (845) 758-3710. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 39
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40 PORTFOLIO CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
caption Patrick Taberna, Saint Jean de Luz, 2002
MAY 2006
ARTS & CULTURE Hillary Harvey
CHRONOGRAM
LUCID DREAMING, page 46 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM ARTS & CULTURE 41
Portfolio Douglas Menuez
ALL IMAGES BY DOUGLAS MENUEZ FROM HEAVEN, EARTH, TEQUILA: UN VIAJE AL CORAZON DE MEXICO. PHOTO OF DOUGLAS MENUEZ BY HILLARY HARVEY.
DOUGLAS MENUEZ TALKS ABOUT HIS WORK WAIST DEEP IN TEQUILA The basic reason that they think this [men standing waist-deep in tequila] evolved this way was, first of all, the practical issue: These agave hearts are 300 pounds. and you’ve got to chop them in half, roast them, and crush them. The easiest way to do that is in a pit, so they started with pits in the ground. They’re stirring with their arms and legs because there’s a naturally occurring yeast on your skin that starts the fermentation process. The drink of the Aztecs and the Olmecs and the Tolmecs and the Mayans is called pulque—fermented agave juice. It’s not distilled. They don’t use this process anymore— now they throw in buckets of yeast. But they’re still doing it for tourists at Don Julio [distillery]. [The picture in the book] is from Herradura [distillery], who stopped doing this five weeks after we were there. SOUL STEALING There are tribes in Africa and Indonesia that won’t let you photograph them because they believe you’re stealing their soul. It turns out to be true. We are. There’s no other way for me to look at this—I am definitely taking something from my 42 PORTFOLIO CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
subjects, something very precious, if the picture works. If I haven’t taken something precious from that person, then the picture won’t work and you won’t respond to it. The flip-side of that is that we have to leave something behind; there’s a price for everything. So you have to give of yourself completely and utterly without a moment’s hesitation to make the picture that you dream of making. You go in extremely humble and carefully into an environment that is not your own. You present yourself as an offering, with your intentions, which are good. But you recognize that your intentions are also self-driven and that you want to make great pictures. And there may be a benefit to these people if the photographs are good, [or] there may not. You may be exploiting them. You have to be open to that with your subjects, even discussing it with them. When I’ve done stories with people who’ve had disabilities or terrible diseases or who were in some way oppressed, there would be moments when we would discuss what would happen to them if these pictures were public, and how they would feel about it. I would ask them to think about that. Of course there were other times when I wouldn’t bring it up at all because I was manipulating them, I had to get the picture for my magazine.
Over the past 20 years, Douglas Menuez has photographed for Time, Newsweek, Life, and Fortune, covering such major news stories as the 1984-85 famine in Ethiopia, the destruction of the Amazon, the AIDS crisis, drug wars, presidential campaigns, the Olympics, five Super Bowls and the World Series. He’s done portraits of celebrities and dignitaries ranging from Bill Clinton and Robert Redford to Mother Teresa and Bill Gates. Menuez was selected to shoot on nine of the Day in the Life books, including A Day in the Life of Africa, for which he shot the cover. In 1989, Menuez coproduced 15 Seconds: The Great California Earthquake of 1989, which raised over $500,000 dollars for earthquake victims.
Menuez’s first book, Defying Gravity: The Making of Newton (First Glance Books, 1993), with Markos Kounalakis, was named one of the best 100 books of the 1990s by Graphis. Last October Waterside Publishing released Heaven, Earth, Tequila: Un Viaje al Corazón de México, Menuez’s visual exploration of Mexican culture through the manufacture and consumption of tequila. All publishing profits benefit the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Menuez is currently working on two book projects, one on HIV-positive children in Uganda, and another drawn from his 15 years of photographing “the visionaries, the geniuses, the liars, and the thieves” of Silicon Valley. (Stanford University Library recently acquired Menuez’s Silicon Valley archive, 100,000 images of all the major players—Netscape, IBM, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, et al.—for their collection.) Menuez lives in Woodstock with his wife and son. Portfolio at www.menuez.com. —Brian K. Mahoney
SELF-PORTRAITURE, FRIENDS, EMPATHY
BORDER ISSUES
A lot of times artists can go through their lives in denial about many, many issues because you’re just so involved in the work. You may be a lousy husband or a lousy father—it doesn’t matter, you’re focused on your work—and that’s what drives you. You could be a complete failure as a human being but people love your work. There’s no reason to deal with the issues that would make you a better person. One of the things about self-portraiture that may be important and useful for the artist is the pondering of the self. After all, the unexamined life is not worth living, as Socrates said. Just some of us delay that examination. A question I asked a group of young photojournalists at a conference where I was on a panel didn’t go over really well. The question was, basically: What if we spent more time with our families and friends? What if we had friends? I was questioning whether if we were able to develop relationships and spend more time and invest in that, then maybe we would become more mature people, more mature human beings. And then maybe we would understand our subjects more and be more empathetic toward our subjects.
There’s nothing in the American schools about Mexico, Mexican history, the true history of the border. You’re not hearing this on “Lou Dobbs” every night.” I’m glad he’s bringing up the issue, but we need to know that America, in one of two elective wars in its history, attacked Mexico, unprovoked, 20 years after the Alamo, after we had already taken Texas. We took an invasion force of Marines in 1848, raised the American flag over the Zacolo [Mexico City’s central square], conquered the whole country, and at the point of a barrel after six months took half the land mass of the country. When they look across the border, Mexicans don’t see America—this was only 150 years ago. They teach this in third grade in Mexico. So Mexicans are a bit nationalistic. I had the Mexican consul in Austin thank me. I gave this talk down there, and I mentioned the border issues, and he said, “You know, I’ve been trying to tell my 10-year-old here about Mexican history, and she keeps on bringing out her American history book from school. And she’s like, ‘Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s not here in the book, I don’t believe you.’”
It’s so frustrating, because we’re not taught anything about this. Most people don’t know that a rogue general went down to Mexico, that there was no war declared, that the war was financed by J.P. Morgan and some other Wall Street people to get the oil and the gas and the minerals—without apology. Where is that in the conversation about the border?
MISSING THE MOMENT As I got older, and started shooting news and invaded enough privacy, I started to put the camera down at times and go, this is so horrible, maybe it doesn’t need to be photographed. When you start thinking like that, you’re no longer a news photographer because you can no longer be really effective. You can’t ask permission. You’ll miss the moment. THE NECK-GRABBING DEITY I’m criticized for shooting too much, I shoot a lot of film, but every once in a while you get really lucky. I feel like the deity, god, or energy or whoever is running this universe reaches CONTINUED ON PAGE 45 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM PORTFOLIO 43
44 PORTFOLIO CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
down and grabs me by the neck and twists my head and says, “Shoot now!” And I turn around and I see stuff that I cannot believe is happening. Pictures are a gift. You could stage [photos] all day long and never make a picture. For a real moment to occur—it is occurring, and you’re capturing it or you’re not. You can’t say, “Do it again.” You learn to anticipate and you can create opportunities for yourself; you can encourage stuff, and you can manipulate events. I’m working as an artist. I’m not going in saying, “I’m a journalist.” I’m having an impact on these people; it’s a different set of rules. I have a different hat that I wear if I’m on assignment for a magazine than if I’m shooting for myself. I’m not misrepresenting anything, I’m saying, “I’m an artist.”
DOCUMENTING SILICON VALLEY PIONEERS [In the 1980s and ‘90s, Menuez documented the rise of Silicon Valley with unprecedented access to almost every major technology company, photographing digital pioneers like Steve Jobs.] You knew they were changing the world. You knew that these were geniuses, the best and the brightest, in rooms, saying, “What if you could put the power of a mainframe in a one-foot cube that would sit on a desk of a student at Stanford and he would cure cancer?” These were the kinds of conversations they had. “Alright, everybody, let’s work nights and weekends until we do it!” “Um, Steve, we are already working nights and weekends.” I thought, this is like when they were building the trains. Most of the stuff that I was shooting was infrastructure, like the trains. Most of the things that succeeded from that era were things like the Internet, the piping that runs the world, and the software that runs the pipes. The driving motivation for me was: The shit these people are doing is going to change the world and change everything; somebody ought to document it, even if it is boring. I hope I have a few pictures—at least a hundred—that aren’t boring.
STEVE JOBS There’s no doubt Steve has a genius for putting his finger on the pulse of a human-empowered world by technology. His design is driven by natural impulses and instincts and gestures that human beings already have, versus that we have to adapt for the stupid machine. That’s a very enlightened view. He has this genius for focusing like a laser and instilling this inspiration in his team. I think if you look at life in general people who are successful have that ability to laser-lock on a problem. That means they’ll fail big or succeed big.
who I am now. It’s more like, I want to be Larry Fink when I grow up. I want to be Larry Fink. Larry Fink is a god. Look at this. [Flips through Fink’s Boxing.] What you have is Larry Fink living with the boxers, and he’s interpreting it. He’s capturing it, it’s a document, it’s narrative, it’s literal. You put it all together and it’s his feeling for this, it’s his expression of it. You don’t have to look at it literally. But that’s where I’m heading now as an artist. I know how to tell a story, but there’s a deeper thing I’m trying to get to now that can’t be expressed with a caption.
THE KISS Doisneau’s The Kiss was set up. He used models. Shocking! The interesting thing about The Kiss is that it’s a spontaneous, fresh moment. It looks like it was a candid moment, because it is! I’ve been hired to do ad campaigns, and what the clients want is The Kiss-type of feel. Well, you can’t fake that. I could hire actors and models and tell them, “I want you to make this wonderful spontaneous kiss.” But you have to allow it to happen. There is a magic, indescribable thing that electrically courses through the people you are photographing to make that come alive and be a lasting moment. And honestly, I don’t know that you could make that happen. You can make an opportunity for it to happen, but you have to use every fiber of your being and your training and every skill you’ve ever learned, and then be lucky. So Doisneau, to get that picture, was damn lucky and damn skilled. Even though he might have hired models, he still had to get the moment.
NO CAPTIONS I apologize in a way [for the absence of captions in Heaven, Earth, Tequila] because the expectation is, particularly coming from the Day in the Life books, that there’s going to be a caption for each photo, telling you that this is that and this is that. I can’t do that book anymore, that’s not
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM PORTFOLIO 45
Lucid Dreaming BY BETH E. WILSON
The New Regionalism Regionalism once meant a peculiarly concentrated kind of art—work produced in and by a community largely sheltered from outside influence, reflecting some particular local character. But what would it mean to think something like “regionalism after globalization”? To quote Yeats, “The center will not hold.” New York has quickly metamorphosed into a place that’s more about selling art than making it. As pointed out in a recent article on artinfo.com, up-and-coming artists, who once flocked to the city for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, cheap industrial loft space and high-density artistic camaraderie, can no longer afford to live there. With average rent on a one-bedroom apartment approaching $2,500 a month, who can spare the time off from the frame shop (or the restaurant, or the office temp job) to squander time making work that may or may not sell? Which brings us back to the growing New Regionalism—especially here in the Hudson Valley, with its easy proximity to the city. Hundreds of artists, some born and raised here, others graduates of the art schools dotting the river who never left (or left and came back), and increasingly, artists who long for the lower overhead, the bigger spaces, and the less congested environment of upstate, have come to call the Hudson Valley home. Still at times marked by the particularity of this place (landscape is still one of the more popular genres), this New Regionalism is equally informed by cultural debates in broader society, a situation enabled by the new, omnipresent information technologies of the media, old and new. And so there’s plenty of artistic activity up here now, lots of artists to work and show together, in a critical mass that once was restricted to the big city. Proof positive of the scope and depth of this New Regionalism can be found in an exhibition on view through May 21 at Haddad-Lascano Gallery in Great Barrington, titled simply Gender. Artist/curator Richard Britell has assembled a diverse group of artists to address this incredibly broad and complex topic, 46 LUCID DREAMING CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
and the whole enterprise engages both art and ideas on a level that competes with any similar sort of “concept show” I’ve seen in for-profit galleries in Chelsea. Part of the new post-globalization dynamic (aka postmodernism) involves the fact that there are no really new formal developments left to be made in art—that in a sense, everything is up for grabs, each and every time somebody picks up a paintbrush or a camera or a chisel. This state of affairs is quite evident in Gender, as each of the 18 participating artists contributes a different approach, a different vision to the subject at hand. From Audrey Francis’s deeply personal (and fearless) painterly abstractions of her own body, to Anne Arden McDonald’s metaphorically rich photographic self-portrait (of herself pushing fruitlessly against a stone wall in Hungary), both the subjective and objective poles of representation and reality come into play. Carol Schulze wittily restages JeanAuguste-Dominique Ingres’s painting of the Valpinçon bather—a coolly exotic number, revealing her sensuously curved back to the viewer—by photographing a broad-backed male model in the same pose, with the same Orientalist turban wrapped around his head. The performative nature of gender itself becomes the theme in such work, as we come to understand the masquerade we stage each day in simply presenting our Self to the world. The presentation of the world, on the other hand, is the gist of what photographer Patrick Taberna’s work is all about. Or rather, the world as it presents itself to him, as he passes through from one place to another. Prints first published in Taberna’s book Au fil des jours (roughly translated, A String of Days) will be on view at his first American exhibition at Galerie BMG in Woodstock, starting May 12. It may seem odd to feature a French photographer in a column otherwise concerned with promoting the New Regionalism, but it’s precisely the freedom of movement and openness to expressive possibility embodied in Taberna’s
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(ABOVE): PATRICK TABERNA, SIBENIK 2002 (PREVIOUS PAGE, TOP): MATUSCHKA, EVERYONE HAS AN ACCENT, 2002 (INSET): TERRY ROWLETT, THE COUPLE, 2006
work that beats at the heart of this notion. The fact that such an international figure can make his American debut here, rather than at one of the high-end galleries in New York, helps to make the point indelibly. Taberna uses photography to frame interesting moments, and ultimately implicit, condensed stories, from people, places, and things that he encounters in his travels. As he puts it, “I do not want to be a photographer who travels, but rather a traveler who makes photos.” Frustrated in his desire to be a writer, he turned to photography to express himself, and has quite successfully found his voice through his pictures. Shot on film in medium format (using an old Russian plastic camera), he scans the negatives and has the images printed digitally, using pigmented inks on high quality papers, often using lush color, idiosyncratic cropping, and moody, atmospheric lighting to condense the scene before him into the visual equivalent of a well-crafted short story. Passing from one day into the next, from one place to another, Taberna seems to be searching for whatever provisional bits of meaning he can find—knowing that final answers of any sort are improbable at best, and not to be trusted in any event. When asked by an interviewer, “Have you gotten from photography what you hoped you would?” he responded, “I do not think I have reached anywhere in photography. If one day I do, I would, maybe, have to do something else. I often question my work and I constantly look for something I cannot grasp onto. It is this quest that keeps me going.” Knowing where we have come from is not the same as knowing where we will end up. This idea of the New Regionalism is not intended as a prescriptive formula for artworld, but rather a descriptive analysis of what has already come to pass, a way to recognize the current state of affairs. I look forward to the continuously unfolding story of art and culture here in the Mid-Hudson Valley—the traces of which you can follow here in Chronogram on a monthly basis—because it is a story without a definitive ending, an endless array of possibilities that continue to emerge and flourish in places I could scarcely have predicted just a year ago. Like Taberna, I’m in it for the quest. GENDER, A GROUP EXHIBITION, IS ON VIEW THROUGH MAY 21 AT HADDAD-LASCANO GALLERY, 297 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA. (413) 528-0471; WWW.HADDADLASCANO.COM. AU FIL DES JOURS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK TABERNA, IS ON VIEW MAY 12-JUNE 5 AT GALERIE BMG, 12 TANNERY BROOK ROAD, WOODSTOCK. (ARTIST’S RECEPTION AND BOOK SIGNING, SATURDAY, MAY 13, 5-7 PM.) (845) 679-0027; WWW.GALERIEBMG.COM.
Gifts with a Twist 299 WALL STREET KINGSTON, NEW YORK 12401 845-338-8100
In The Heart of The Stockade District LIGHTING • JEWELRY • ART • GIFTS • FUNKYETHNIC 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM LUCID DREAMING 47
gallery directory 48
GALLERY DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
galleries ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY AND ART
COFFEY GALLERY
125 WASHINGTON AVENUE, ALBANY. (518) 463-4478.
330 WALL STREET, KINGSTON. 339-6105.
“Excavating Egypt.” Through June 4.
“Judy Abbott: From the Catskills to California.” Paintings, prints, and drawings. May 6-May 27.
“Picture Perfect: Photographs of Washington Park.” May 6-September 3.
Opening Saturday, May 6, 5am-7pm
“From Burial Place to Green Space.” May 6-December 31.
“Judy Abbott.” From the Catskills to California. May 6-May 28.
ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
COLUMBIA GREENE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT. (203) 438-4519.
4400 ROUTE 23, HUDSON. (518) 828-4181 EXT. 3344.
“Homecoming.” Through August 6.
“Fine Arts Students’ Exhibit.” Through August 25.
“Tom Burckhardt: Full Stop.” Through August 6.
“Art Teacher Invitational.” May 9.
“Mary Temple: Extended Afternoon.” Through August 6.
DEBORAH DAVIS FINE ARTS ART SOCIETY OF KINGSTON 97 BROADWAY, KINGSTON. 338-0331.
“The Sky’s the Limit.” May 6-May 20. Opening Saturday, May 6, 5-8pm
345 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 822-1890.
“Inspired By Nature.” Connie Fiedler and Stanley Maltzman. May 4-June 18. Reception Saturday, May 6, 6-8pm
“Our Kingston.” Works featuring Kingston’s architecture, history and natural beauty. May 6-May 27.
DIA
Opening Saturday, May 6, 5-8pm
3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON. 400-0100.
BAU
“Vera Lutter: Nabisco Factory, Beacon.” 4 large scale pinhole photographs of the factory. Through September 4.
161 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 440-7584.
“Agnes Martin, “To The Islands”.” Through June 27.
“Comedies and Catastrophes.” Elizabeth Winchester: paintings, monoprints and Jim Coughenour: poems, essays. May 13. Opening Saturday, May 13, 6-9pm
ELISA PRITZKER STUDIO & GALLERY
BELLE LEVINE ART GALLERY
“Art as a Journey into Spiritual Awareness.” A crossing path between spirituality and art. Through May 13.
gallery directory
521 KENNICUT ROAD, MAHOPAC. 628-3664.
257 SOUTH RIVERSIDE ROAD, HIGHLAND. 691-5506.
“Crossing Boundaries.” Mixed media. Through May 21.
ELLENVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND MUSEUM BRIK GALLERY 473 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL. (518) 943-0145.
“In the Light.” Contemporary Visions of the Hudson Valley. May 12-June 25.
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY 622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-1915.
“Elements.” Air, water, earth and fire. Through June 4.
CCCA GALLERY
40 CENTER STREET, ELLENVILLE. 647-3554.
“Cover Girls and Other Whims, Paintings from 2005.” Artist Sandy Straus. May 3-May 30.
EMPIRE STATE RAILWAY MUSEUM STATION ROAD, PHOENICIA. 688-7501.
“John F. Gould.” The glory of railroading. May 29-October 9. “The Glory of Railroading, Past, Present and Future.” John F. Gould Centennial Exhibit. May 29-October 9.
209 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 671-6213.
“Artists of Chatham.” Through May 6.
FARFETCHED GALLERY 65 BROADWAY, KINGSTON. (914) 907-9332.
218 SPRING STREET, CATSKILL. (518) 943-7465.
“Two Friends in Black and Red.” Mixed media works in red and black by Jose Acosta and Judith Singer. May 6-May 29.
“Jasper Cropsey: Interpreting Nature.” May 7-October 29.
Opening Saturday, May 6, 5-10pm
CEDAR GROVE
Artist Talk Sunday, May 7, 2pm
FLAT IRON GALLERY CENTER FOR CURATORIAL STUDIES AND ART IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
105 SOUTH DIVISION STREET, PEEKSKILL. (914) 734-1894.
BARD COLLEGE, ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON. 758-7598.
“Views.” Recent paintings of the Hudson Valley. May 5-May 28.
“Curatorial Thesis Exhibitions: Series 3.” May 7-May 21.
Opening Sunday, May 7, 12-4pm
CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK
FLETCHER GALLERY
59 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK. 679-9957.
40 MILL HILL ROAD, WOODSTOCK. 679-44411.
“Ruth Adams: Unremarkable.” Through June 3.
“Recent Works by Paul Abrams and Jane Bloodgood Abrams.” May 6-May 28.
“Photography Now.” Through June 4.
CHISHOLM GALLERY 3 FACTORY LANE, PINE PLAINS. (518) 398-1246.
“Brazil Baroque Living Spaces.” Through May 4.
CLARK ART INSTITUTE 225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. (413) 458-2303.
“50 Favorites.” 50 works of art follow the Institute’s 50 years history. Through May 17.
Reception Saturday, May 6, 5-7pm
FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE. 437-5632.
“Grand Gestures.” Celebrating Remembrandt. Through June 11. “Grand Gestures: Celebrating Rembrandt.” Through June 11. “Forms of Exchange: Art of Native Peoples from the Edward J. Guarino Collection.” Through September 3.
“The Clark: Celebrating 50 Years of Art in Nature.” Through September 4.
FRIENDS OF HISTORIC KINGSTON MUSEUM
“Late 19th and Early 20th Century Pastels.” Through June 18.
“Julia Dillon Retrospective Exhibition.” May 7.
MAIN STREET, KINGSTON. 339-0720.
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galleries GALERIE BMG 12 TANNERY BROOK ROAD, WOODSTOCK. 679-0027.
“Transcendent Vision.” Photographs by Lawrence W. Oliverson. Through May 8. “Au Fil des Jours.” Photographer Patrick Taberna. May 12-June 5.
GALLERY 384 384 MAIN STEET, CATSKILL. (518) 947-6732.
MAXWELL FINE ARTS 1204 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL. (914) 737-8622.
“Unexpected Visitors.” Invitations group show from multiple genres. Through July 2.
MILDRED I WASHINGTON ART GALLERY DUTCHESS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE. 431-8622.
“Three Women’s Exhibit.” Fran Smulcheski, Molly Rausch, and Kathleen Sweeney. May 30.
“Earth, Air, Fire-Oil.” Works by Roberta Griffin. Through May 20.
GARRISON ART CENTER 23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON. 424-3960.
“School Invitational Theme Exhibit.” Works by elementary and middle school students. Through May 6.
GCCA MOUNTAINTOP GALLERY
MONTGOMERY ROW SECOND LEVEL 6423 MONTGOMERY STREET, RHINEBECK. 876-6670.
“New Orleans: Portrait of a City 2003.” Photography by John Rizzo. Through May 31.
MUROFF KOTLER VISUAL ARTS GALLERY SUNY ULSTER, STONE RIDGE. 687-5113.
MAIN STREET, WINDHAM. (518) 734-3104.
“SUNY Ulster Student Show.” May 3-May 19.
“Mirror Mirror.” Artists’ self portraits in all media. May 6-June 17.
Reception Wednesday, May 3, 12-1pm
Reception Saturday, May 6, 5-7pm “Betty Kratzestein Solo.” May 6-June 17. Reception Saturday, May 6, 5-7pm
NICOLE FIACCO/MODO GALLERY 506 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-5090.
“Painter Stephanie Rose.” Through May 26.
JIM COX GALLERY 4666 ROUTE 212, WILLOW. 679-7608.
gallery directory
“L’Estampe Originale.” French Exhibition posters 1947-1990. Through May 7.
JOHN DAVIS GALLERY 362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-5907.
NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM 9 GLENDALE ROAD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA. (413) 298-4121.
“National Geographic: The Art of Exploration.” Through May 31. “Dinotopia: The Fantastical Art of James Gurney.” Through May 20.
“Rosanna Bruno: Paintings.” May 25-June 18. Reception Saturday, May 27, 6-8pm
PORT OF CALL GALLERY MAIN STREET, WARWICK. 258-4796.
94 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH. 569-4997.
“Seeing Double.” Photographs and collages of paper and fabric. June 1-June 30.
“John F. Gould.” Centennial art exhibits. May 1-June 30.
Reception Saturday, June 3, 6-8pm
KARPELES MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY MUSEUM
“History and Art in Newburgh and Orange County.” May 1-June 30.
RIVER ROCK HEALTH SPA 62 RICKS ROAD, WOODSTOCK. 679-7800 EXT. 3002.
KLEINERT-JAMES ARTS CENTER 34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK. 679-2079.
“Flow.” Exploring matter in movement and changing states. Through May 20. “Unexpected Catskills.” Artists’ different responses to the Catskill landscape. May 27-June 25. Opening Saturday, May 27, 5-8pm
“The Mystical Landscape.” Oil paintings of the Hudson Valley by Ellen Perantoni. Through May 14.
RIVERWINDS GALLERY 172 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 838-2880.
“Signs of Springs.” Works by Erma Erman. Through May 8.
M GALLERY
“Colors of the Hudson Valley.” New pastels by “plein air” artist Linda Richichi. May 13-June 5.
350 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL. (518) 943-0380.
Opening Saturday, May 13, 6-9pm
“Geometry of Plagerism.” Andrei Petrov. Through May 5. “American Landscape Painting: A Tribute to the Catskill Region.” With original works by Patrick Milbourn. Reception Friday, May 12, 6-9pm.
ROCKEFELLER STATE PARK PRESERVE ART GALLERY ROUTE 117, POCANTICO HILLS. (914) 631-1470.
“Catching the Light.” Landscape paintings by Eleanor Goldstein. Through June 2.
SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY ART CENTER 790 ROUTE 203, SPENCERTOWN. (518) 392-3693.
“Representing the Self/Reflecting the Self.” Through May 14.
SUNY NEW PALTZ SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM, NEW PALTZ. 257-3844.
“Visual Offerings.” American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting. Through May 14. The Dead Tree by Patrick Milbourn
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THE ART UPSTAIRS 60 MAIN STREET, PHOENICIA. 688-2142.
“Spring.” Through May 14.
THE ARTS CENTER OF THE CAPITAL REGION 265 RIVER STREET, TROY. (518) 273-0552.
“Click.” Photography. Through June 4.
THE CATSKILLS GALLERY 106 PARTITION STREET, SAUGERTIES. 246-5552.
“Making a Scene.” Works by Véronique Brodeur and Jeremy Hoffeld. Through May 13.
THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 54 ELIZABETH STREET, RED HOOK. 758-8080.
“Oil & Steel.” Works in oil by Sophia Tarassov and metal sculpture by Matt Weinberger. Through May 21.
THE VILLAGE TEAROOM 10 PLATTEKILL AVENUE, NEW PALTZ. 255-3434.
“Water Colours of Landscapes By Katherine Gray.” Through May 15.
TIME AND SPACE LIMITED 434 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON. (518) 822-8448.
“TSL Archive Project.” Through May 15.
VAN BRUNT GALLERY
gallery directory
460 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 838-2995.
“An American Gothic.” Paintings and sculpture by Edward Wilcox. Through May 8. “Leonard Freed & Brigitte Freed.” Photographs. Through May 8.
WALLKILL RIVER ART GALLERY 910 OLD FORGE, NEW WINDSOR. 689-0613.
“Inaugural Show.” Many artists in multiple genres. Through May 26. “Plein Aire Paintings by Garin Baker.” Through May 21.
WILDERSTEIN HISTORIC SITE 330 MORTON ROAD, RHINEBECK. 876-4818.
“Daisy.” Journey through the life of Margaret (Daisy) Suckley. May 4-October 31. Opening Thursday, May 4, Call for times
WINDHAM FINE ARTS 5380 MAIN STREET, WINDHAM. (518) 734-6850.
“Works on Paper.” Through June 26.
YELLOW BIRD GALLERY 19 FRONT STREET, NEWBURGH. 561-7204.
“Forrest Myers: Right Brain/Left Brain.” Selections from 1960 to 2006. Through June 18.
Chronogram
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Music
FIONN REILLY
BY SHARON NICHOLS
SOLID AS A ROCK
John Schrader Survives the Blast
When we’re young and innocent, we believe we’re immortal. Death is so far away. It’s something reserved for the elderly, an inevitability shielded from us, a denied part of existence our parents can protect us from. But when a child loses a parent, it becomes irreversibly clear that he or she might be next.
At age nine, John Schrader got this hard dose of reality when his father went into the hospital with stomach problems and was to have surgery for an ulcer. The surgeons opened him up and immediately closed him up again. The cancer was everywhere. He was given four months to live. It was almost four months to the day that he passed away. As a boy, Schrader felt abandoned, angry, confused. Yet he carried on in his aspirations to be a musician. Snooping around in the attic when he was younger, he’d found a box of 45s and spun them endlessly—Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beatles, Motown. He’d reluctantly taken violin lessons, then took up drums, and later taught himself guitar and piano. Granted a scholarship to study music at Ulster County Community College, Schrader played every instrument he could get his hands on. Upon graduation, he began crafting songs and visiting recording studios. But he was experiencing some pain that had him puzzled. The 21-year-old was diagnosed with testicular cancer and was given three to five years to live. “I just went numb,” says Schrader. “I can’t even describe it. I saw my mom age 10 years in a week. I was thinking about college and doing music, and suddenly 52 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
I’m in doctor’s offices and they’re talking about Sloan Kettering [Cancer Center] in New York City. I found out that [testicular cancer] is the number one killer in men from 20 to 36. At 21, that’s the last thing you want to hear.” Schrader had surgery the same week he was diagnosed. Luckily, all the cancer was removed. He avoided chemo but was nonetheless subjected to other sickening tests. Physically, he was fine. Emotionally, he felt a bit scrambled. “I had a lot of anger toward my father for years. I had moments of elation and joy. I battled moments of guilt for coming through it when my dad had died, and my uncle had died, and there are children in hospitals struggling for their lives. And here I am. What’s the reason that I got through?” Schrader persevered in his music. He’d saved quarters in a milk jug as his “studio fund,” and when the jug was full, he learned the ropes from Eddie Flick at Salem Recording Studios in Port Ewen. Schrader returned to school to get a degree in film and audio production. He taught at SUNY New Paltz for a year in the media department and set up his own recording studio, JLS Sound, in Kingston (JLS are his father’s initials). He used Robert Bard’s Skytop Sound in New Paltz and Chris Andersen’s Nevessa Productions in Woodstock for mixing and mastering.
tering. His third CD, Daylight Crashing, will be released this summer, following on the heels of Discontent and Blood in the Wood. Schrader shot, directed, and edited three of his own music videos, has been a semifinalist in Billboard and Musician magazines’ songwriting competitions, and has scored, recorded, and performed for numerous indie films and commercials. If you dig classic rock like Mellencamp or Springsteen, hard rock, or even Top-40 power pop, Schrader is definitely worth checking out. His raspy, biting voice is an ideal layer to the driving intensity of his melodic hooks and upbeat grooves, and at times his passionate vocals are multilayered to produce a more prog-rock feel. Schrader’s original and diverse stylings are solid, morphing from tough rock to the occasional piano-based ballad. There’s an emotional depth that’s hard to ignore. He keeps it personal by writing, arranging, and producing everything himself and by playing all the instruments—guitars, keys, sax, and percussion. His ingenuity has landed him work with members of seemingly countless bands—Billy Joel, David Letterman, Muddy Waters, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, Sting, Shania Twain, Indigo Girls, Bo Diddley, and Van Morrison, to name a few. When he performs live, Schrader plays with friends and band mates Sean North on guitar, Dave DeGraw on sax and percussion, and Peter Bartash on drums, with all three lending backing vocals. The band’s live shows are exciting, captivating, and energetic, and Schrader will play several acoustic shows with his band in the next few weeks—they’ll be at Backstage Studio Productions in Kingston on Saturday, May 13 at 9: 30pm; and at the Kingston Holiday Inn on May 6 and June 10. (“They’re trying to change the reputation of the place,” muses Schrader. “Not so loungey with old ladies in blue eyeshadow.”) The band will also appear on WDST (100.1 FM) at 9:30am on Friday, May 12. Schrader’s music isn’t “cancer-based,” but the topic did wend its way into the music. “In Your Name” was written from his anger at his father. In this slice of catchy, guitar-based rock, Schrader’s emotive voice addresses Dad directly: “You never held up your end of the deal / this is all for you, you finally got your song / it’s all because of you, please sing along with the pain.” “Not that my father set out to die of cancer and leave a wife and two children behind,” says Schrader. “But I was young and he left us. Through the years I’ve come to grips and made amends. I eventually visited my father’s grave and apologized. The cancer affected my writing in so many different ways. There’s a rainbow of flavors—sheer anger and sheer elation and all perimeters in-between.” Schrader’s role as a cancer survivor still plays out in his life in ever-unfolding ways. One day while doing some research on the American Cancer Society website, he came upon the story of pianist Matthew Zachary, an eightyear survivor of brain cancer. Schrader felt compelled to contact Zachary’s organization, Steps for Living (www.stepsforliving.org). Zachary told Schrader he “wanted to put out
a benefit CD and told me all the people involved—Lance Armstrong, Deepak Chopra, a keyboard player for Bare Naked Ladies, lots of other names. He listened to my stuff and really liked it and chose a song to be on the CD. I was really honored,” says Schrader. “Their mindset is that some people will view their cancer as a gift. You go to the American Cancer Society website and they’ll tell you this year alone, 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer, and of those this many will die. Those numbers certainly need to be out there, but to me it puts a kind of negative spin on it. But [Steps for Living doesn’t] harp on that. They highlight artists such as myself to go to other people and say ‘look what we’ve done, we’ve made it through, we chose to live.’ Their whole motto is ‘Get Busy Living.’ You can choose to hide under a rock and die, or you can choose to fight, and they’re using music and art as a catharsis and healing opportunity.” Founded in 2004, Steps For Living is based on Zachary’s experience and his desire to teach others by giving survivors a creative voice—whether as an emotional outlet or inspirational tool—and a place to network and celebrate with other survivors. A sister site, Art of Survivorship (www.artofsurvivorship.org) helps raise public awareness through cultural arts events, including benefit concerts, gallery exhibits, and poetry readings, which showcase the works of survivors and their loved ones. The CD Schrader is part of, Sounds of Hope, will be part of a toolkit available later this year which also contains artists’ bios, resources, and directories to help support patients and their families. Schrader appears on the CD (performing the poignant “Funny Man”) with Zachary and two-time Grammy-nominated guitarist Cindy Bullens, concert pianist and oncology surgeon Adam Dachman, Grammy-nominated artist Kevin Hearn, Grammy-nominated composer Suzanne Ciani, and many others. All proceeds will support Steps for Living’s ongoing programming, development efforts and collaborative partnerships. “It’s an uplifting thing and a way to educate and empower survivors,” says Schrader. “If we can help others by just giving out the CD and saying, ‘Here, listen to this, it may make you feel better,’ or inspire other people to pick up their instrument again, or their pencil or paint brush, they can learn not to just be a patient, but a survivor. Matthew said, ‘It takes more than a cure to be a cancer survivor,’ and that really says a lot.” Today, at 40, Schrader has a clean bill of health. He goes in twice a year for bloodwork and chest X-rays. But his life is forever changed and humbled by his brush with death. “The only way you can really understand what is truly important is to be part of the club that I was a part of when I was 21. And membership only comes with illness. You’re only taking one thing with you. The Beatles said it beautifully: ‘And in the end, the love you take / is equal to the love you make.’ That’s all there is and that’s all there’s ever going to be. It’s all about how you treat people and how they treat you.” For more on Schrader, visit www.johnschrader.com. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM MUSIC 53
NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS
Handpicked by local scenemaker DJ WAVY DAVY for your listening pleasure. CINCO DE MAYO WITH MAMBO KIKONGO May 5. The Latin party band of choice returns to New World Home Cooking for this raucous fiesta, serving up some of the region’s best musicians mixed con sabor for your dancing pleasure. The musical portions are hefty this month, with Monica’s Kneepads (5/12,) bouncehall faves Lovewhip (5/19), and Murali Coryell (5/26) filling out Ric and Liz’s copious buffet. 9pm. No cover. Sauger-stock. (845) 246-0900. WWW.NEWWORLDHOMECOOKING.COM
WET PAINT May 5, 12, 19, 26. Out of hibernation at last, shaggy Lyonsville jazz artist Dug Elliot and Wet Paint score the coveted Friday happy hour slot at Bridgewater Grill (formerly West Strand Grill) on the Rondout. Elliot promises no covers, just his original blend of percussion and vocalese, accompanied by skillful local and New York City sidemen, including legendary bassist Don Pate. The club’s owners may have changed, but the hospitality remains. 6pm. No cover. Kingston. (845) 340-4272. WWW.WETPAINT.NET
BRUCE KATZ BAND May 6. The buzz on Bruce Katz isn’t a loose wire in his Hammond B-3 organ, but the phenomenal reputation this seasoned keyboardist brings to local line-ups. First touted by Big Joe Fitz of WDST 100.1FM’s Blues Break (Sundays. 10pm-midnight), now Katz brings his own smokin’ combo to the cozy Rosendale Café. Watch the windows get steamy as Katz’s cats, including fellow former members of Ronnie Earl’s Broadcasters, get down with a soul-jazz sound. 8pm. $10. Rosendale. (845) 658-9048. WWW.BRUCEKATZBAND.COM
DR. ROMO BENEFIT JAM May 7. Longtime area resident and Cajun bandleader Doctor Romo recently underwent brain surgery and this benefit show at Marbletown Community Center helps with the treatment. Music will be provided by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Cleoma’s Ghost with Jesse Lege, Soul Purpose, and Big Joe Fitz and the Disciples with Barbara Dempsey. A spirited jam session kicks off at 5pm (bring instruments), and a silent auction accepts bids all afternoon. Lunch and soft drinks will be served and BYOB is okay. (Donations also accepted c/o Cleoma’s Ghost, PO Box 426, West Park, NY 12493.) 1pm. $25. Stone Ridge. (845) 384-6673.
THE TRAPPS May 11. What’s not to love about a band with a clear-voiced singer, great lyrics, and a toe-tappin’ organic rock sound? The Trapps have all this and a few aces up their sleeves, too. Just off a really big show opening for Blues Traveler at The Chance, the boys return to the Gunx side and the Oasis stage, where it all began. 10pm. $5. New Paltz. 845-255-2400. WWW.THETRAPPSBAND.COM
HUDSON VALLEY MAMAPALOOZA 9 May 19. Poughkeepsie singer-songwriter Judy Norman (pictured right) is the queen of rock-and-roll philanthropy, with nearly 10 years of charity concerts under her belt. This year’s ninth annual soiree benefits the Dutchess SPCA and features Helan Avakian (also in her ninth appearance), the Judy Norman Project, Kristen Capolino, Elly Wininger, and many others at Club Crannell. 8pm. $10. Poughkeepsie. (845) 471-1966. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JUDYNORMAN.
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CD REVIEWS RADIO WOODSTOCK: 25TH ANNIVERSARY B-DUB MUSIC, 2005
In a land where corporate media is king and prefab puppets are littering the airwaves in the name of music, indie owned and operated WDST stands as one of the last sentinels of unique, thinking man’s rock. World-class rock, that is. If live is what you love, then Radio Woodstock’s latest twoCD gem, in honor of their silver anniversary, is for you. And it’s for a good cause, too. One hundred percent of net proceeds are being donated to the Dyson Center for Cancer Care at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie (they’ve raised more than $10,000 so far). There are 34 local concert recordings here, which were captured by the DST gang at venues large and small all over the Hudson Valley. The collection spans multiple genres, class act performances from artists that have stood the test of time: Ani DiFranco, Spearhead, Natalie Merchant, Warren Zevon, Jewel, moe., Tori Amos, The Jayhawks, Aimee Mann, Jeffrey Gaines, Dar Williams, Crash Test Dummies, Joan Osborne, and many more. Now being distributed nationally by Universal, you can pick this one up at larger retail outlets, or donate $20 directly at radiowoodstock.com. —Sharon Nichols
THE MAMMALS: DEPARTURE HUMBLE ABODE MUSIC, 2006
Pop start! Enter The Mammals’ two-legged, instrumentholdin’, song-creatin’ creatures. Long touted as a bluegrass/ old-timey band, the first track doesn’t sound like bluegrass at all. “Follow Me to Carthage” moves like ’80s pop, with synthesized vocals and head-bobbing riffs. The bluegrass bending continues as the songs weave and mix genres well, from blues to country to rock‘n’roll. This CD is an easy-listening treat for most music lovers, one to keep on random. I had the pleasure of seeing Ruth Ungar, one of the Mammals’ main creative forces, perform recently at a private party. She was great—calm, assured, and talented. Listening to Departure,, I hear her influence, her familial knowing of working with other musicians to create a unified, creative sound. Her intuitive, striking harmonies add to that mix with passionate perfection. The Mammals’ third CD release is well produced, smooth, musically varied, and attractively packaged. As well, it’s aptly named. With covers of Morphine and Nirvana, The Mammals are not afraid to be themselves. “I love that Departure could easily get put in the rock section of a record store,” laughs Mammals member Tao Rodriguez-Seeger. Have The Mammals gotten more rock‘n’roll, or has rock‘n’roll gotten more country? Perhaps both. www.themammals.net. —Carla Rozman
MARK BROWN: UNCLE BUCKLE MARK BROWN, 2005
Rambling his way from the Northern Pacific to Ireland, Mark Brown has lived the life of an iterant laborer and musician. Now back in Kingston, he and his band cover the musical journey on the gritty trail from youth (with songs like “Sex in Cars” and “Gravel Pit Girl”) to the drinking years of young adulthood in “PBR,” an ode to Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The musicians are Hudson Valley homeboys—Brown sings and plays guitar, John Hughes provides bass, Fooch Fischetti works the pedal-steel guitar and the fiddle, and Dean Jones supplies percussion and everything else. “Gravel Train” touches on the difficulties that forge one’s character, and Brown sings it as if Tom Waits went bluegrass. There are several musical poems that are under two minutes, one being “Paper Thin,” a hillbilly punk twang that makes fun of itself with the lyrics (“just a cheap little song, maybe a little too long.”) Uncle Buckle performs at Mezzanine Café and Wine Bar on Friday, May 26 at 8pm. www.unclebuckle.com. —J. Spica 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM MUSIC 55
Books
FELLOW TRAVELERS The Literary Lives of Valerie Martin and John Cullen
V
alerie Martin’s extraordinary new book, The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories, is a suite of indelible portraits of artists. There’s the arrogant painter who torments his muse in “His Blue Period”; the mercurial Hamlet of “The Bower”; the deluded hack of “Beethoven”; the still-bitter author who faces his ravaged ex-lover (and her final opus) in the title story; the unsatisfiable lesbian poet of “The Open Door”; the printmaker who inhabits a wildly different realm from her spouse in “The Change.” Written in crisp, limber prose, these six stories are Goldberg Variations on a shared theme: The only thing harder than being an artist is living with one. Given this worldview, it may seem surprising that Martin enjoys a longrunning affectionate partnership with a literary compatriot, noted translator John Cullen. They’re the sort of couple that touch each other unconsciously, a hand brushing a shoulder in passing. They sit side by side on the sofa, listening appreciatively or interjecting details as the other one speaks. Both their voices are tinged with a soft Southern purr; Cullen’s has a touch more New Orleans grit, like the chicory flavor in dark-roasted Café du Monde. There’s even a hint of physical resemblance; both are slight, fine-boned, and fair. Surely these people were made for each other. They met in New Orleans when Martin was 19 and Cullen in his early 20s, though it took them two decades to move in together. Meanwhile, Martin married, divorced, raised a daughter, and wrote, supporting herself as a bookstore clerk, welfare caseworker, and writing professor. Cullen roamed throughout Europe, living in Paris, Rome, Florence, Vienna, and Madrid. “You know that blues song, ‘All My Life I’ve Been a Traveler?’” He smiles. “I
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by Nina Shengold
photos by Jason Kremkau
liked it when I was young. I could fit all my belongings in a little Fiat.” But he often returned to his native New Orleans, where he ran into Martin “again and again.” Eventually, he followed her to Massachusetts, where she was teaching. “John had the terror of Yankees,” Martin says dryly. Cullen responds, “More terror of Yankee winters. I still have it.” Martin had already published two volumes of stories and three novels. After the breakthrough success of Mary Reilly, a Jekyll/Hyde reimagining (she calls the Julia Roberts film “inescapably awful”), the couple spent three years in Rome. They’ve lived in the Hudson Valley for nine years now, first in Lagrangeville, now Millbrook, in a tidy, white-porched colonial they share with “a very important cat.” They chose the area “because I love Adams,” Martin exclaims, lauding the neighboring grocery and garden shop. “Really, it’s the reason we live here.” Both writers work at home. They’ve set up their offices at opposite ends of the house, to minimize the distraction factor. Cullen says, “She’s upstairs back, I’m downstairs front. She gets the phone, I get the front door.” Their work hours are staggered as well. Martin prefers to work mornings; Cullen customarily starts around 5pm, breaks for dinner, and works until 3am. “It’s very, very quiet in Millbrook after 9:30,” he states with deep satisfaction, noting that neighbors’ incessant lawnmower din is the bane of his downstairs-front workspace. Cullen is a freelance scout for foreign books, evaluating works in French, Italian, German, and Spanish. “Usually the foreign publisher is pushing hard for an American edition, saying this is an important author, you must print this book.” He reads 10 to 20 a year, generally recommending just two or three
for translation. There’s a fringe benefit to scouting: “If I really like it and find it compatible, I suggest that it should be translated by me.” One such book was The Swallows of Kabul, by Yasmina Khadra (former Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul took this feminine pseudonym to avoid censorship by the military). Now living in France and writing full-time, Khadra earned international acclaim for his latest novel, The Attack. Set in an Israel ripped from the headlines, it charts an assimilated Arab surgeon’s descent into hell when he learns that his beloved wife was a suicide bomber. Cullen’s vivid translation debuts this month. “I learned languages rather quickly as a kid,” says Cullen, whose mother was Spanish. He took Latin and Greek (“the foundation”) in high school, and studied French at the University of New Orleans. After graduation, he took off for Europe, “not to become a translator, but someone who could read Proust and Dante.” He’d done some teaching in grad school, but “hated it,” and sought work outside academia. For some years, he worked as an abstracter for oil drilling companies on the Gulf Coast, translating old deeds from the French and Spanish. The leap from business translation to literature “was because of her,” Cullen says, patting Martin’s leg fondly. Martin introduced him to her editor, the legendary Nan A. Talese, who hired Cullen to translate Alice Miller’s introduction to Diary of a Young Girl. This led to jobs translating blurbs and reviews, then books by Susanna Tamaro, Margaret Mazzatini, Allessandro Barbaro, Carlos Ghosn, Adolf Holl, and Henning Boetius. Cullen met Yasmina Khadra for the first time in Toronto, since the post9/11 American government gave him visa trouble. “He’s a very proud guy. They wanted him to jump through more hoops than he was willing to jump through, so he just said no.” It remains to be seen whether Khadra will come to America when The Attack is released. Cullen’s artistry sometimes seems invisible. Martin cites a rave review in the Nation for a Christa Wolf novel that neglected to mention its translator, though the reviewer took pains to praise Wolf’s prose style. “That’s my style!” says Cullen, who’s surprisingly blunt about how much editorial power a translator wields. “We translators flatter ourselves that authors need a little help that only we can give them.” While careful “never to betray the author’s intent,” Cullen considers it kosher to prune purple prose. “Yasmina Khadra just needs a bridle sometimes.” He also points out that “all Western European languages sound more formal than English if translated literally; you need to loosen it up, find the equivalent diction.” In Martin’s story “The Open Door,” an American poet in Italy muses, “Would the double entendre on the words ‘ice pick’ get lost in translation? This seemed amusing, the idea that richness, nuance, got lost in translation. Where did it go? She imagined the land of what was lost in translation, imagined herself in it.” Cullen observes, “You can get a nuance, but it’s not the same nuance.” For him, the key is rendering the flavor of somebody’s speech, or a narrative voice. He spends far more time on a manuscript’s first 20 pages than the rest of a text, which he generally covers at four to five pages a day. Martin does the same thing when inventing a
narrator’s voice. “It’s like trying to tune in a radio,” she says. “You know when you’ve hit it.” Narrating in first or third person is “a strategic choice. When I choose first person, it’s always in self-defense. The character is trying to justify his existence by telling you a story.” (“Call me Ishmael,” Cullen grins.) Third person, Martin continues, “allows you to be a little more conscious, more distanced from the character. You can have a bigger palette, characters who don’t know things about each other that the reader knows, which is fun.” Cullen reads Martin’s books in translation, and praises the French version of Property and the Spanish Salvation. (Martin, who struggles with foreign languages, perused these as well: “If I’ve written the book myself, I can whiz right along.”) They both enjoyed the French book jacket for Property, with the title Maitresse (mistress) above Martin’s photo; Cullen displays it in his office. The couple rarely share work in progress, though they often consult about phrases or synonyms. (Cullen: “I talk about mine more than she talks about hers.” Martin: “Well, you would, wouldn’t you?”) Martin may spend years on a book, while Cullen translates several a year. “Tell you a secret,” he says, leaning forward. “Translators aren’t paid very well. I estimate my earnings at $1.03 an hour.” Martin smiles indulgently. She’s lived every kind of a writer’s life, turning out books in obscurity, finding mainstream success with Mary Reilly, challenging expectations with her remarkable follow-up novel, The Great Divorce, and finally achieving liter-
ary renown with the prestigious Orange Prize for Property, her tenth book. A pitch-perfect evocation of a Louisiana slave owner who chafes against her husband’s oppressions while unconscious of her own, Property is tight as a corset. The novel grew out of conversations with Cullen “about our education, lies we were told about the Civil War, the myth of the South. I wanted to knock all that down.” Martin is currently writing a novel set in the Hudson Valley, Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, and Croatia, ancestral home of many Louisiana oystermen. Her novel takes place in 2002, before Plaquemines was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Martin and Cullen have just returned from New Orleans, their first trip since the storm. She calls the experience “sad, shocking,” and says, “Everybody should go.” Wary of sentimentality, she adds, “It was also fun. Twenty percent of the city looks great. When you drive down Carrollton Avenue, you cross a point where the water stopped. It’s eerie to drive through those streets, miles and miles of abandoned houses.” Cullen goes into the kitchen, returning with pitchers of chicory coffee and warm milk as Martin serves fruit salad. Cullen tastes his and pronounces it “excellent.” “Thank you,” says Martin, dipping her chin with self-conscious enjoyment. Cohabitation with artists does not look so bad at the moment. Valerie Martin will read selections from The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck on Friday, May 12 at 7:30pm. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 57
SHORT TAKES Perhaps only the fertile soil of the Hudson Valley could yield two tomato-growing memoirs, published within the same week. Add an inspired Asian cookbook, a bestselling diet book, and a toothsome sci-fi novel, and you really have food for thought.
THE $64 TOMATO WILLIAM ALEXANDER ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL, APRIL 2006, $22.95
A Hudson Valley gardener chronicles the obsession that spiraled from a simple kitchen garden to 22 terraces of Brandywine tomatoes, frisée, and heirloom orchard trees. Recently featured on “Good Morning Hudson Valley,” Alexander tilts at woodchucks and Japanese beetles with quixotic fervor and comic finesse. A Book Sense Pick.
IT’S A LONG ROAD TO A TOMATO: TALES OF AN ORGANIC FARMER WHO QUIT THE BIG CITY FOR THE (NOT SO) SIMPLE LIFE KEITH STEWART ILLUSTRATIONS BY FLAVIA BACARELLA MARLOWE & COMPANY, APRIL 2006, $16.95
If Alexander scares you off growing tomatoes, buy them from Greenmarket demigod Keith Stewart. The Orange County organic farmer’s graceful essays depict many facets of farm life, from barn swallows to USDA regulations, sustainable agriculture, mesclun mix, and the mythos of tractors. Bacarella’s prints have the hand-hewn beauty of weathered wood.
THE ASIAN GRILL CORINNE TRANG CHRONICLE BOOKS, MAY 2006, $22.95
Drawing on her French and Chinese lineage, her American upbringing and her extensive travels throughout Asia, Stone Ridge resident Corinne Trang is uniquely positioned to bring insight and originality to the grill. She deftly plays the five flavor notes of Asian cooking—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy—offering simple menus that pair one grilled dish with a couple of easy sides.
THE BIOCHEMICAL MACHINE 2: EMPOWERING YOUR BODY CHEMISTRY ELEONORA DE LENNART BIG APPLE VISION BOOKS, 2005, $19.95
In the fourth updated edition of this bestselling diet phenomenon, published by Little-EngineThat-Could local publishers Big Apple Vision, De Lennart expands her crusade to eliminate yo-yo dieting and change the way Americans eat. As the press release says, “With the BioChemical A&B Method people will become a ‘big fat winner.’”
BOUNDARY ERIC FLINT & RYK E. SPOOR BAEN BOOKS, 2006, $26
In the wastes of Montana, a teenager finds a fossil like no other. This mysterious object will lead a team where no paleontologist has gone before: Mars. New York Times bestselling author Flint and Hudson Valley writer Spoor explore “the biggest badlands in the solar system” in this peerlessly original saga of spaceships and sauropods.
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Joan Snyder Hayden Herrera, with an essay by Jenni Sorkin, introduction by Norman L. Kleebatt Harry N. Abrams, Inc., October 2005, $50; paperback, March 2006, $20
J
oan Snyder is known for the globs of paint that slide down her canvases; for her choice of materials, such as straw, flowers, gels, gauze, newspaper, and frills; for the slashes that puncture cloth; for the symbolic fields, sunflowers, ponds, bare trees, screaming faces, and nude women; and for the grids that hold order. Joan Snyder, the book, offers a glimpse into the creative process behind the lush, rough, and gooey surfaces of Snyder’s iconographic canvases. In the essay, which fills a quarter of the book, art historian Hayden Herrera examines the links between Snyder’s life and work. The text is both personal and formal, refreshingly devoid of dreaded art-speak. (Herrera also wrote Mary Frank and the biography of Frida Kahlo that inspired the Oscar-nominated film.) One hundred and forty illustrations follow the text, from full-page reproductions of Snyder’s most acclaimed works to candid photographs of Snyder at different stages of her life. The book is primarily filled with paintings. Snyder knew early on that she was an autobiographical painter, although, as Herrera writes, “Because the message is conveyed through abstract language as well as through images or words, self-exploration never becomes trivial self-display.” We travel with Snyder through her youth, emotional breakdowns, marriage to photographer Larry Fink, a miscarriage, a birth, divorce, new love, thoughts of politics and the lives of women, deaths of family and friends, and changing environments. Through interviews and research, Herrera explores the context in which Snyder created her major series: the altar paintings, the flock/membrane paintings, the stroke paintings, the field paintings. In the 1970s, Snyder rebelled against color field paintings: “I’m a maximalist, not a minimalist,” she says. Herrera reveals Snyder’s processes: from symbolism to the meaning of the triptych to the necessity of the grid to inspiration culled from external and internal worlds. Snyder completes 15 or fewer paintings per year, and though she never repeats a work, images and icons reappear and transform. The cherry tree—which sometimes bears fruit, sometimes stands bare, and sometimes sheds its blossoms—was spotted by Snyder in Brooklyn as she drove to visit her dying father in his nursing home. The cherry tree became a metaphor of life and death. The color pink, says Snyder, “is always flesh.” Environment also informs the work. In 1990, Snyder began spending summers in Woodstock, and oval shapes and dark vertical lines begin to appear. The shapes reflect the trees and ponds of the area, so different than the open fields of Long Island, where she also lived (and which inspired the field paintings). Around the time of her parents’ deaths, her lover’s parents’ deaths, and the deaths of friends from AIDS, these pond symbols become black holes, which Herrera likens to open graves. The very format of the work is significant. Snyder began to think of her paintings as stories, to be read horizontally, from left to right. The end of the story was in the lower right hand corner. And despite the apparently random splatters and drips, and her unexpected choice of materials, Snyder asserts nothing happens by chance. Each work is structured and preconceived in her notebooks and, she says, “There’s not a mark or drip on that painting that isn’t meant to be there.” The glimpse Herrera gives us into Snyder’s life is an enriching addition to the visual experience that follows, in page after page of gorgeous reproductions, following Snyder’s philosophy of “more” versus “less” in adding one more layer to her work. The book was published to accompany the traveling exhibit “Joan Snyder: A Painting Survey, 1969-2004,” which opened at The Jewish Museum in New York City in 2005. Snyder is represented in the Hudson Valley by the Elena Zang Gallery in Shady, where group shows featuring her paintings and monoprints will be on exhibit this spring, summer, and fall. —Jennifer May
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5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 59
60 BOOKS CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Public Radio: Behind the Voices Lisa A. Phillips. CDS Books, April 2006, $25.00
R
adio is a medium that reaches its audience only through the portal of the ear. This lends it a special earnestness and intimacy, and cloaks its voices in near anonymity as well. This remove can be a refreshing option to the world of television, where visual distractions compete with content. (Wow, another earthquake in Pakistan. And what has Katie Couric done to her hair?) Public radio listeners may be a sophisticated lot, but still we are human. Haven’t you ever wondered if Terry Gross’s physical appearance matches her mighty interview abilities? If Garrison Keillor really lives on the folksy shores of Lake Wobegon? If Michael Feldman looks as sarcastic as he sounds on “Wad’ya
Know?”
Their voices, says Lisa Phillips, leave us hungry, and in Public Radio: Behind the Voices, she dishes up some satisfying sustenance. Phillips is a print journalist as well as a former public radio reporter who has worked in stations across the country, including a stint at our own WAMC in Albany. She’s still local, a Woodstock resident currently teaching journalism at SUNY New Paltz. The book is perfect fare for the “snobby arugula eaters” (as one host playfully dubs his audience), filled with information and insight. A compilation of 43 profiles and interviews of personalities from every sector of public radio, it’s a tasty, well-prepared meal that’s not without a generous assortment of spicy entrees. Like the fact that “Prairie Home Companion” host Garrison Keillor isn’t completely beloved in his much ballyhooed home state of Minnesota (his reaction to exuberant press coverage of his several divorces and marriages may have something to do with this), and that the octogenarian host of “Piano Jazz,” Marian McPartland, traded a world of upper class British privilege for the vagabond life of jazz. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal left a clerking job at Borders to work in radio, and the first time Neil Conan of “Talk of the Nation” was on the air, he wet his pants (but just a little). Phillips has a gentle but probing touch with her subjects, but some of the book’s best moments come when she lifts the veil on herself as well. She admits to being late for her appointment with Daniel Schorr, and to worrying throughout her interview with Michael Feldman that her napping infant would waken. When she couldn’t find a quiet place to record her talk with Marian McPartland, she took her into a bathroom. Collecting personal stories, says Phillips, was the main motivating force for this book, but the glimpses of the writer behind these profiles add an extra level of engagement. She has obvious heroes in the field; she’s idolized Terri Gross from “Fresh Air” since college, and waxes especially enthusiastic about “This American Life” host Ira Glass (who’s also, she says, the radio personality who looks most like he sounds). She details her pursuit of some elusive subjects (like when she called in to “Car Talk ” in an attempt to snare the Magliozzi brothers) and doesn’t hide her substantial disappointment that Terry Gross refused repeated requests for an interview. Phillips is an insider, a superior guide to this world, but she’s also unabashedly a fan. “We have an intimate connection with public radio hosts, the people who bring this magic to us,” she writes. “They are with us when we get up in the morning, when we drive to work, when we cook dinner, garden, sit in the bathtub. We know them mainly by their voices, not their faces. This voice-to-ear relationship is a startlingly radical one in an era where image is everything, swaying its hips to seduce us, vivid and lifelike on giant screen digital television.” This book does make some concession to the power of image: It includes photos. But you may not want to look at them. Like radio, the words alone may be just enough. —Susan Krawitz 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 61
Crane Zip Hoodie
Represent.
Tees, Long Sleeve Tees, Baby Tees, Long Sleeve Baby Tees, Hoodies. Design by David Perry. Printing by Circulation. Garments by American Apparel.
Buy Online. www.chronogram.com/tshirts
62 BOOKS CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Queen of the Underworld Random House, 2006, $24.95
The Making of a Writer: Journals, 1961-1963 Random House, 2006, $25.95
Gail Godwin
F
resh out of Chapel Hill’s J-school, 22-year-old cub reporter Emma Gant wears hand-monogrammed drip-dry shirts, uses words like “terpsichorean,” and after nightlong drinking, crawls naked into bed to grab an hour of sleep before a day on the job at the Miami Star. Self-assured and precociously bright, the winsome protagonist of bestselling author Gail Godwin’s enjoyable new novel, Queen of the Underworld, unsettles most men, her allure (reminiscent of Holly Golightly’s in Breakfast at Tiffany’s) owing more to calculated reserve than to gusto. As with many Godwin heroines, Emma takes her sartorial and sophisticated cues from older, wiser women, and is determined to secure a stronghold on life, despite thwarted romance and professional challenges. The time is 1959, the place Miami Beach, where Emma boards at the Hotel Julia Tuttle among wealthy Cuban exiles who have fled Fidel Castro’s revolution. Emma too is escaping—as much from her brutish stepfather as from provincial, rural North Carolina. Aiming to compete with top reporters at the Star and to avoid banishment among middle-aged women pouring over fashion layouts “segregated inside a glass cubicle,” she assesses coworkers (male and female alike) as either potential allies or rivals. Her nemesis, assistant managing editor Lou Norbright (called “Lucifer” by staffers), has gained newsroom infamy and risen to power on the basis of his colorful series featuring a local madam, “Queen of the Underworld.” Emma owes her place of lodging to the elegant Tess, a former Miss Miami Beach and friend of her mother’s who now works for a handsome Cuban dentist. At the hotel, Emma befriends literary, high-minded manager Alex de Costa, a recent Harvard graduate and grandson of the Cuban-American owner. With the political situation between the United States and Castro’s island nation lurking in the background, no character is as he or she appears. Neither is Emma, who has a twice-her-age married lover stashed on the side. Complicating the intrigue, hinted-at subplots never fully unravel, leaving the heroine stranded on the novel’s final page. A fleet narrative and trenchant dialogue (enriched by Spanish and Yiddish) propels this autobiographic tale. Godwin’s style embraces nonsequitur (indicative of life derailed), including “reprinted” newspaper items, dream sequences, mini history lessons, and excerpts from Emma Gant’s journal. Godwin’s second new publication, The Making of a Writer: Journals 1961-1963--itself an intertextual hodgepodge of personal reminiscences, travel précis, poems, short stories, expense accounts, and career aspirations—discloses how reporter Gant’s ambitions and circumstances in Queen of the Underworld are derived from those of her creator. Published at the urging of friend Joyce Carol Oates, The Making of a Writer chronicles (with somewhat mawkish editorial commentary by Rob Neufeld) its author’s unyielding efforts to practice her craft while living abroad as an employee of the US Travel Service. Populated by a cast of Godwin’s international lovers, friends, and adversaries in shifting settings (e.g., an ocean liner, Denmark, the Canary Islands, London), the journals provide a record of her intellectual and vocational awakenings as prompted by the writings of Thomas Wolfe, J. D. Salinger, Doris Lessing, Lawrence Durrell, Carl Jung, and Søren Kierkegaard (among others), as well as by exposure to classical music, live theater, and avant-garde film. The journals depict a tireless Godwin, drafting and revising manuscripts (some no longer extant) that would result in stories and novels composed over the course of nearly half a century. In particular, in Queen of the Underworld, Emma Gant’s personality, family history, and line of employment may be traced to a September 5, 1961, entry in Godwin’s journal subtitled “GAIL ON GETTING FIRED” (from the Miami Herald). Above all, The Making of a Writer sheds light on how the younger Godwin managed to hold down jobs, engage in multiple love affairs, party until dawn, and faithfully write it all down. —Pauline Uchmanowicz 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 63
POETRY
EDITED BY PHILLIP LEVINE. You can submit up to three poems to Chronogram at a time. Send ‘em if you got ‘em, either via snail-
mail or e-mail. Deadline: May 10. 314 Wall St., Kingston, NY 12401. E-mail: poetry@chronogram.com. Subject: Poetry.
I could tell she liked me by the way she walked away —p
Ghost Talk
Three AM
There was a ghost with not a name only a face and a familiar face in a familiar place which turned out to be the ghostliest of place The ghost could talk and asked the same question over and over and each time the ghost asked and with each nonanswer I became more of a ghost.
After a three-day drunk, I finally showered… washed the smell of you away the smell, lust, compassion, booze, confusion, energy electricity, your smell, I’m
—Charlotte Visco
Elastic Ode I’m in no mood to ghostwrite anybody else’s suicide note. It takes balls to compliment the pallid dominatrix on the color of her lipstick, so I expect a little something in return, compensation for all those years of polite insincerity. Look to the sky. God perfected loneliness long before we got to it. To pursue it further is just inventing the wheel again. I’m up to here with sadness, yet I sense there’s a lot more room. Look to the sky. Let the music swell. I’m in no mood for anything but. —Adam LeFevre
Whorl My first memories are of water. A lone fishing cabin off the coast of a lake on a cold high-winded December morning. Above, purple geese dot the sky. On the horizon, something dissolves. A man speaks to me from below the water, then broken glass scatters green all over the shore and an eye stares back at another eye. A mother cuts up her son. A father turns blood into water. Shrimpers work their trawls pulling up six legged gar fish, only mildly human. A cormorant dries its wings on a wharf. An explosion, its eye unraveling, leaves a residue of gold. Then another image of my losing arms and legs and regaining them momentarily...dolphins begin to sing and take me out far into the sea, to the very edge of the sea. —Louis E. Bourgeois 64 POETRY CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
walking barefooted on a razor blade tightrope with a pool of sharks waiting to catch me if I fall, and alive feels like this alive feels like this, alive feels like 3 am in someone else’s bed, feeling the tiny pin prick goose bumps raising on your thigh as I touch you, alive feels like picturing her home sleeping, everything ok in the world, alive feels like every moment I’ve ever been afraid of and searching them out all the small details tiny pieces of life we might otherwise over look, run away from, deny feels like alive, feels like walking barefoot on a razor blade tight rope you had walked like dried red roses on a victorian floor through life, hiding, and hiding still while it’s no secret your voice is so much louder then their ears your you is so much bigger then their fears and they don’t fit so well on you it looks like death, and this feels alive, I feel alive Did I want to lose it all? no. but taking the risk felt like alive, and I wouldn’t have changed a moment to walk on by —Mike Burhans
My Niece Alice alice is like a little bird who flits, flies, and flutters amidst the pine trees she sings ‘lookatmeee’ ‘lookatmeee’ i can turn, twirl and twist like a sparrow or a chickadee —Bill Shashaty
Yesterday in Brooklyn
No one’s gonna like this poem
Yesterday in Brooklyn The wind blew a man down, Down, down, down, Like Alice’s rabbit, Into a hole so deep There exists pleasures Not found beneath the sun. Of course it’s dark, But you adapt, Like those little fish that live in caves, Eyeless, but happy, No longer evolving into forms That threaten one another.
cause its ugly and it smells and it has pimples and bad breath because it is angry and won’t tell you why, this is a poem that doesn’t trust you ‘cause you are all liars and you have stolen everything I love,
Above, the gaping crowd gathered At the hole, Calculating velocity and impact. Police came, But no one knew anything Except there was a wind And the earth opened. A child said You must go down and get him, But the police cordoned off the area, Making access illegal.
so good-bye to you who wanders here, I will never talk to you, no matter how loud you beg, or wail or complain, or remind me of promises I made. Well all my promises are off, I hereby cancel them, sorry if you don’t like it actually I hope you don’t like it In fact I’m gonna sit here and smile thinking how you don’t like it No one’s gonna like this poem because it doesn’t give a damn because it stopped bathing weeks ago, because it is too tired to listen to you because it wants to be left alone. —Lori Safferman
—Peter Remler
Ivory Tower The Illusion of Ten O’clock Behind the black bar the brown bar man pours clear beer. No. At the brown bar The black barman snaps a painful rag. No. Eager young man flashes teeth beneath shadowset eyes shot blood red whispers to drink. No. The blue girls are teasing their hair gearing up for ice-colored alibis. No. An old man at a corner table clocks you with one eye. No. For a week there, I was maybe fifteen, My father’s favorite word was nugatory. —JDG
Epiphany
My ivory tower reeks of whale no matter how many times she scrubs it down with sea salt. —Bert Shaw
Blankets Under Words was the title of the book beneath your elbow; hair and forehead beneath your hand, white-bellied paper arching up under the point of your ink pen—writing lists when, lifting your cup from its saucer, the truth peeked out from under your eyelids; laughing, you held one palm above the steaming contents
“Mr. Vachovetz There’s been an accident. I’m sorry Your wife is dead.”
and you said (covering it) “Blankets We’ll need blankets tonight; It’s sure to be cold.”
—Teddy Vachovetz
—Johanna Richmond
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM POETRY 65
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CHRONOGRAM
HOME & GARDEN
A COMBINATION KOI POND/WATER GARDEN DESIGNED BY KEN SCHOEN OF WATERSCAPES
SPRING EXISTS HUGELY AGAIN, as the poet John Ashbery wrote of the first fierce days of the season’s unabashed showing. By now, the forsythia has already popped its yellow feathers and gone to green, followed by bluebells, crocuses, tulips, and daffodills. A prescient and resourceful vegetable gardener might be already harvesting early greens like spinach and kale. Around the house, spring cleaning is in high gear: the windows to be washed, the carpets cleaned. Perhaps a new coat of paint for the porch, maybe a new set of lawn furniture? A fresh look for the kitchen? Spring is the season of possibility around the home and garden.
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM HOME & GARDEN 67
CLEAR WATER REVIVAL
Backyard Natural Ponds
By Susanne Turino Casal
Nothing in the landscape attracts our attention like water. Its reflective stillness has a meditative quality that calms and renews. The still reflection of a lake, pool, or pond in motion, water excites us as it falls over a ledge, rushes over rocks, and glints with the light caught in its liquid prism. Water is also the source of many of our recreational activities—in hot weather we want total immersion. Bringing water home for our personal enjoyment is the coup de grace in home landscaping, and swimming pools have gone from being the province of princes in ancient times to becoming within reach of just about everyone in the modern era. There have been many innovations in pool design in the past five decades, including Gunnite construction, kidney shapes, waterfalls cascading from spas, ‘invisible edges,’ and edges studded with boulders and ornamental grass plantings. Each advance seems to be an attempt to make the pool approximate nature more closely. But recently, from “across the pond” in the UK, comes the most accurate approximation of all—a natural swimming pond, which has the benefit of being garden water feature, wildlife habitat, and a refreshing pool for swimming rolled into one. In Europe and Australia, natural swimming ponds have been built by specialized companies for years. Of the tens of thousands of pools installed in the US, only a few have utilized this model, but the trend is on the rise. With its waterlilies and attendant dragonflies and wildlife, the natural pool is visually delightful, looking and feeling like a naturally occurring pond, and with its lack of pool chemicals, it is surprisingly low maintenance as well as environmentally sustainable.. For most natural pond owners and builders, like Jay Archer of John Jay Land Management (www.landdesign.net), aesthetics and ecology are the prime motivation to go natural. The natural pond is, after all, alive, not static. With the wildlife the pond attracts, it is more interesting than a pool, always changing. 68 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Whereas swimming pools use chemicals to kill everything except the swimmer, natural swimming ponds maintain pristine water utilizing natures own processes to create an ecologically balanced system, while reversing wetland habitat loss which has resulted from unenlightened development. Ken Schoen, of Waterscapes in Kingston (www.koiponds.com), agrees with Archer’s assessment of the deathlike quality of conventional pools. “What you’re doing with chlorine is poisoning the water,” says Schoen. You’re turning it dead,” says Schoen. “It’s not like when you go into a natural pool, because it has bacteria it’s bad for you. A natural pool is like yogurt—there’s plenty of good bacteria in there.” Schoen, whose main focus is on the design of water features like koi ponds, streams, and waterfalls, also believes one of the main reasons consumers choose natural pools is the way water features easily integrate into the natural space of the backyard, as opposed to the rigid, (usually) rectangular artificiality of a swimming pool. Ten years ago Bert and Sue Holmes, who have a 70-acre parcel of land near Cooperstown, created a secluded 2,000-square-foot pond on a rise above their 1890s Victorian home. Over time, they added a tiny cabin with a sleeping loft and woodstove for camping out, and a brick barbeque for the annual summer parties they hosted. With its diving dock and amble size for rafts and swimming, the Holmeses’ pond became a magnet for the summer activities of their three sons and their friends. The Holmeses built their pond for about $8,000 using an excavator with experience building ponds, and soil maps from the Cornell Cooperative Extension. The pond is both stream-fed and supplied by natural springs. The soil was found to be marginal: not an optimal clay soil, but with enough clay content to hold form and water, and though the area is generally stony, there was no ledge rock which can contain pockets that leak water. Bert says the only maintenance is to declog the overflow occasionally, which consists of a dam
(OPPOSITE & ABOVE): TWO VIEWS OF A NATURAL SWIMMING POND DESIGNED BY KEN SCHOEN OF WATERSCAPES. THE 40,000-GALLON POND FEATURES A WRAPAROUND DECK WITH WATERFALL AND UNDERWATER LIGHTING.
over which water flows out, keeping the water on the move and constantly fresh. The pond is stocked with rapidly multiplying goldfish, chubs, yellow perch, and channel catfish. Minnows, frogs, and cattails have naturally found their way to the pond as well as several species of fish that have arrived as eggs on the feet of heron and ducks, who, in an elegant example of reciprocal maintenance, keep fish populations in check by feeding. At 16 feet deep, the pond stays cool throughout the summer. Sue says they chose to make a swimming pond because “there’s no maintenance for us. There’s no added expense. Plus, we could make it four times as big as a swimming pool for less money”. Not all of us are lucky enough to have natural springs and streams feeding our land, so most swimming ponds are constructed using heavy (45-millimeter) liners, and pumps to circulate water. Ledges or slopes at the edge of the pond are home to water plants introduced to act as biological filters, eliminating the need for chlorine or other chemicals. Cost estimates vary greatly depending upon the size of the pond, the difficulty of the site, and how much of the work you do yourself. The cheapest approach is to do it yourself—perhaps with a little help from the experts—by digging a hole with sloping sides, at a ratio of one foot vertical drop for every three horizontal feet. Unless you have the right soil, you’ll need to add a liner, available from garden centers specializing in pond construction. Under the liner are layers of sand, newspaper, and an underlying layer of carpet or woven fiber to protect the liner from stones or roots protruding from below. The liner is secured above the high water line with soil or stone. Another possible option is the addition of bentonite clay or a synthetic version to bond soil particles and prevent leakage. However, a synthetic rubber liner of ethylene propylene diene monomer, or EPDM, offering superior UV protection, is the method of choice for ease of installation and flexibility. In a natural pond, the planting and swimming zones are distinct. Plants can be floated on the pond surface and marginalized around the edges. The
goal is to create a balanced, self-maintaining ecosystem. Water chemistry is a complicated science and all ponds will differ according to runoff, rain, airborne pollutants, and the presence of fish among other factors, but change within an acceptable range is expected. The roots of water plants act as a natural bio-filter, clarifying and decontaminating the water. Fibrous roots contain bacteria which filter contaminants and excess nutrients to prevent algae, and decomposers to consume bacteria and underwater waste build up. The shallow plant zone is heated quickly by the sun and provides a breeding ground for frogs and other invertebrates which feed on mosquito larvae. Keeping the water moving with an electric pump makes the filtration constant and at the same time provides oxygenation for water organisms. Additional equipment for larger ponds can include compressors, aerators, and skimmers to remove leaves and debris, which change the pH of the water as they break down. To control erosion, and create a natural looking edge, plant stone and marginal plants around the perimeter. Waterlilies and lotus flowers, which are available in hundreds of colorful, hardy hybrids, can be floated in deeper areas.. On a trip to Wave Hill Gardens in the Bronx last fall, I heard a docent remark that her favorite plant in the water garden was the mosaic plant. Wondering what it could be, I searched until I spotted the one deserving of the name, with its unmistakable leaf configuration on the surface of the water. Unlike a traditional pool, a natural swimming pond provides four seasons of beauty and a habitat for wildlife, and it doubles as a fish pond and water garden. It requires filling only once and requires no chemicals or maintenance crew, resulting in a more economical, sustainable pool. It can be as large as space allows without breaking the bank, and blends seamlessly into the landscape for a cooling dip or some serious exercise in an idyllic oasis. Susanne Turino Casal is a garden designer and Master Gardener. She can be reached at (845) 358-2939. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM HOME & GARDEN 69
BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH
The topiary creations of Keith Buesing By Brian K. Mahoney Landscape designer and topiary artist Keith Buesing isn’t sure whether his 27-foot topiary on the corner of Routes 44/55 and 208 in Gardiner is a crocdile or a dinosaur. “When I transplanted it [from his nursery], it was comprised of maybe 30 plants,” said Buesing. “Now it has three plates coming up out of the back. It was a definitely a crocodile before, but now it’s something different, possibly a stegosaurus.” After Buesing moved his croc, he saw that it was growing differently than he first intended, but he used the natural direction of the plants (arborvitaes) to inform changes in his design; he’s currently adding a “a fluttering, yodeling tongue” to the mouth of the croc/stegosaurus. Buesing said most topiaries need trimming and shaping twice a year to keep their shape. Buesing, who cut his teeth working in his parents’ nursery in Rockland County, bought the business with his brother in 1986 and eventually branched out into topiary arrangements. Buesing works with clients in two ways: Some clients don’t know what they want beyond a living yard sculpture, and Buesing can create a topiary with existing plants onsite or build it from scratch. Clients also come to Buesing with quite specific, even fanciful ideas. “A woman called me recently who has Jack Russell terriers,” said Buesing. “She wants four Jack Russell terriers running across her back lawn chasing a fox.” Acknowledging that topiary isn’t for everyone, Buesing said the bread and butter of his business was traditional landscape design, but that topiary is a distinctive garden feature. “Topiary is for people who get off on seeing plants and thinking about sculpture,” said Buesing. “It’s for people who want to take plants a step further.” Keith Buesing can be reached at (845) 255-6634. 70 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
TWO VIEWS OF A BURNING BUSH IN THE SHAPE OF A HEART BY KEITH BUESING.
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5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM 81
Food
The Short & Savory Season of
Ramps
Legend has it that Rapunzel, that fabled damsel with exceedingly long hair, was named by her witch captor for the ramps—also known as wild leeks—that the girl’s father stole from the witch’s garden. Farmer Michael Kokas understands the spellbinding quality of this unassuming wild plant.
text & photos by jennifer may 82 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
OPPOSITE, TOP: RAMPS GROWING IN THE WILD AT UPSTATE FARMS IN RED HOOK. OPPOSITE, BELOW: HARVESTED RAMPS. ABOVE: MICHAEL KOKAS, OWNER OF UPSTATE FARMS STANDS WITH A BASKET OF FRESHLY DUG RAMPS. OVER THE SEASON KOKAS AND HIS CREW WILL HARVEST ABOUT A TON OF THE FORAGED DELICACY FOR UPSCALE LOCAL AND MANHATTAN RESTAURANTS.
At Upstate Farms, Kokas’s 80-acre farm in Red Hook, each season begins with telephone calls from eager chefs from Manhattan and throughout the Hudson Valley—inquiring about the state of his seven-acre ramp patch. Through the rest of the year, Kokas supplies these same chefs with organic heirloom tomatoes, strawberries, and salad greens from his own fields and greenhouse, as well as from a dozen other farms farther upstate. But there is a special tremor of excitement reserved just for ramps, and in a long, cool spring Kokas harvests and sells up to a ton of them—each one dug by hand and carted out of the forest in a basket. “We offer them washed and cleaned without any hexes attached,” he jokes. Ramps are a short-season crop beloved by foragers, chefs, and gourmands for their ephemeral nature and pungent taste. Their flavor is a combination of leek, onion, and garlic, and they are most prized when young and tender, with their bulbs as narrow as a pencil. At least, that’s how the New York chefs prefer them, says Kokas. In more southern parts of the country they are pulled later, when the older bulbs are big and sinewy, to be boiled down for soup. On a cool and overcast day in the first week of April, Kokas slipped on his Muck boots, grabbed a shovel and a basket from his barn, and strolled into the forest to survey his ramps. He has followed this routine every spring for the past decade, although he doesn’t start looking for ramps too early because, he says, “A watched pot never boils.” Officially, the ramp is a member of the onion family; young ramps resemble scallions though their leaves are broad and sword-shaped. Both the leaves and the white bulb of the ramp are edible. Native to eastern North American mountains, ramps thrive in marshy areas of hardwood forests filled with decaying wood. The balance of shade to sunlight has to be just right, and the living trees amidst which ramps grow can’t be too far apart or too close together. And while ramps are not as fussy as ginseng, nor as temperamental as wild mushrooms, they are picky. When ramps find a spot they like they multiply and divide like wildfire, but just a few feet away, an unfavorable direction will cause ramps to thin out and disappear.
Greedy for sunlight, ramps push their way up through the forest floor while their would-be competitors still lie dormant, and by the time the neighboring ferns, tiger lilies, nettles, and skunk cabbages have leafed out, ramps have already finished their aboveground cycle and retreated back into the earth—where they will rest out of sight until next year. “I can spot ramps at 60 miles an hour when I’m driving on the Taconic,” says Kokas from his perch on the edge of a cliff that overlooks a virgin forest sprung up in the place of an ancient riverbed. The leaves are still bare, and all around are fallen, half-decayed, 200-year-old trees. One enormous tree lays horizontally, pulled down years ago by a grapevine, six inches thick. It is a forest recently freed from snow, and last year’s leaves litter the ground in so many shades of brown that the overall color is monotone—except for the ramps, which glow like beacons in the dull light. “There is a dynamic energy here—life, birth, death. Ramps need this,” says Kokas. Once he has taken stock of the land, he sets his basket on the ground and demonstrates how to dig. He is a conscientious forager, and only digs if there is a clump of at least three ramps, so they can repopulate. He uses a sharp shovel so as not to destroy the root systems. If he sees another species, such as Jack-in-the-Pulpit, wound in with the growing ramp he moves on. From years of seasonal digging, the roots have spread beneath the ground, and seeds have germinated and established in churned soil. When Kokas crosses a stream by way of a fallen log, he leaves a trail of onionscented air in his wake. The aroma stirs the appetite and encourages thoughts of melted butter and wine. Pauline Yearwood, known as the personal chef Lagusta, has a passion for the intensity of the smell. “I wish some perfumer would make a perfume for cooks from ramps. I would buy it. I love that stink,” she says. Yearwood forages for local ramps in the produce isle at the High Falls Co-op and at the Sunflower Natural Foods Market in Woodstock. In her kitchen, she divides them into parts and chops the white bottoms like scallions for garnishing or cooking briefly. She then sautés or steams the green tops to use in place of spinach or other lightly cooked greens—sometimes folded into soft polenta. She also slices ramps lengthwise, sautés them, and pairs them with steamed 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FOOD & DRINK 83
���������������������������� ������������������������������������� ��� ������� �������������������������������� ������������
TOP: CHEF JESSE FREDERICK OF GIGI TRATTORIA COOKS RICOTTA DUMPLINGS WITH BALSAMIC BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS AND RAMPS FROM UPSTATE FARMS. BELOW: A GIGI TRATTORIA PASTA SPECIAL FEATURING FRESH, FORAGED RAMPS FROM UPSTATE FARMS PAIRED WITH RICOTTA DUMPLINGS WITH BALSAMIC BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS
local asparagus and vinaigrette. “I love ramps, but I think most of their excitement is that they are around for such a short time,” she says. Kokas simmers ramps whole in olive oil over a low heat. He adds some butter for creaminess, and a bit of vermouth (or white wine) for sweetness. “Don’t add too many other ingredients, otherwise you might as well use leeks,” he says. Ninety percent of the ramps dug by Kokas and his helpers from the acres at Upstate Farms will be driven to high-end restaurants in Manhattan, such as Blue Hill, Cru, and Craft, but Kokas also supplies local restaurants like Twist in Hyde Park and Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck. Chef Jesse Frederick at Gigi’s incorporates ramps into nightly spring specials like pasta primavera made of sautéed ramps and baby vegetables, tossed into handmade gnocchi; or includes ramps in side-dish specials, possibly accompanied by baby beets, young carrots, and fiddleheads. Frederick also likes to pickle ramps and serve them alongside soft shell crab, and sometimes he blends them into a Mediterranean tomato dressing as a topping on a whole roasted snapper. “Anytime I get seasonal produce it’s a good change of pace—especially when we are coming out of winter and I’ve been using root vegetables every day,” says Frederick. This spring, Jeffrey Gimmel and Nina Bachinsky of the Swoon Kitchenbar in Hudson will also slip out of their white aprons, don black rubber boots, and head for the hills. They’ll forage in the marshy streambeds of Columbia County for ramps to serve in their restaurant. “A puree of blanched ramp greens adds a seriously vibrant flavor to grilled fish or quail,” says Gimmel. Or he might sauté them before adding them to a fricassee of spring vegetables. He also likes the little bit of char that grilling adds to ramps. Long before the bounty of summer, a ramp is an early-season delicacy that springs from the earth as a harbinger of tastes to come. Ramps are among the most seasonal of vegetables, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Whether you can get them by foraging in the forest, searching through the grocery store, or spotting them on a menu, try them while you can. 84 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
tastings directory BAKERIES
MARKETS
The Alternative Baker
Rhinebeck Farmers Market
“The Village Baker of the Rondout.” 100% Scratch
The Hudson Valley’s best farmers bringing you
Bakery. Stickybuns, Scones, Muffins, Breads, Focac-
farm-fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry, dairy,
cia, Tartes, Tortes, Seasonal Desserts featuring local
eggs, wine, honey, bread, flowers, jam, pickles,
produce, plus Sugar-free, Wheat-free, Dairy-free,
herbs and much more.
Vegan, Gluten-free, and Organic Treats! Cakes and Wedding Cakes by Special Order. We ship our Lemon Cakes nationwide, $30 2-pound bundts. Open Thursday-Monday 8am-6pm; Sunday 8am4pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Well Worth The Trip! 35 Broadway, at the historic waterfront district, Kingston. Thursday-Monday 8AM-6PM. Sunday 8AM-4PM. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. 35 Broadway, Kingston, NY. (845) 331-5517 or (800) 399-3589 www.lemoncakes.com.
CATERING Blue Mountain Bistro Catering Co. On and off-premise catering. Sophisticated Zagatrated food and atmosphere in a rustic country setting - wide plank floors, rough hewn beams and a stunning zinc bar. Chef-owner Erickson’s Mediterranean cuisine has garnered praise from [i]Gourmet[/i] and [i]New York Magazines[/i] to [i]Hudson Valley[/i] 1633 Glasco Turnpike, Woodstock, NY 12498. (845) 679-8519 www.bluemountainbistro.com.
events all season long. Municipal Parking Lot on East Market St. Sundays 10am-2pm. www.rhinebec kfarmersmarket.com.
NATURAL FOOD MARKETS Beacon Natural Market Lighting the Way for a Healthier World...Located in the heart of historic Beacon at 348 Main Street. Featuring organic prepared foods deli & juice bar as well as organic and regional produce, meats and cheeses. Newly opened in Aug. ‘05, proprietors L.T. & Kitty Sherpa are dedicated to serving the Hudson Valley with a complete selection of products that are good for you and good for the planet, including an extensive alternative health dept. Nutritionist on staff. 348 Main Street, Beacon, NY. (845) 838-1288
PASTA La Bella Pasta Fresh pasta made locally. Large variety of ravioli,
Fresh Company
tortellini, pastas, and sauces at the factory outlet. We
At our kitchen in the Hudson Highlands, we gather
manufacture and deliver our excellent selection of
great local and imported ingredients for events of all
pastas to fine restaurants, gourmet shops, and cater-
sizes and pocketbooks, from grand affairs to drop-off
ers throughout the Hudson Valley. Call for our full
parties. True to our name, we emphasize the freshest,
product list and samples. Open to the public Monday
finest ingredients, because great food is the spark
through Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 11am to 3pm.
that ignites a convivial gathering. Our style is reflected
Located on Route 28W between Kingston and Wood-
in meals that encourage hospitality And leisure at the
stock. Monday through Friday 10AM to 6PM. Route
table, the elemental enjoyment of eating and drinking
28W,. (845) 331-9130 www.labellapasta.com.
well. Garrison, NY. www.FreshCompany.net.
Ladybird Home Catering Fresh, Seasonal, Balanced Meals Delivered to your Home. It’s the newest solution for your “what’s for dinner?” problems. Feast your eyes on Ladybird’s new sensational menus on line every week. Affordable Catering, Beautiful Party Platters and Gift Certificates available. Chef/Owner Tanya L. Lopez. (845) 568-7280 ladybirdho mecatering@yahoo.com. www.ladybirdcatering.com.
Pad Thai Catering Delicious, affordable, and authentic Thai cuisine served with authentic Thai hospitality to your group of
PUBS Snapper Magee’s Heralded as having “the best jukebox in the Hudson Valley” by the Poughkeepsie Journal, The Kingston Times, and Scenery Magazine. Snapper Magee’s is the Switzerland of pubs, a rock & roll oasis where everyone is welcome. Daily happy hour specials from 4-7 weekdays and noon-2 on weekends. Always open late. 59 N. Front Street, Kingston, NY. (845) 339-3888
RESTAURANTS
six or more. Lunch or dinner served in your home by
23 Broadway
Chef & Owner Nuch Chaweewan. Please call (845)
A wine-friendly bistro with creative Mediterranean
687-2334 for prices and information. (845) 687-2334
cuisine. Chef Rich Reeve has developed a menu fea-
HOME MEAL DELIVERY
tastings
Magazine (Best Tapas in the Hudson Valley 2004).
Free live music every week. Tastings and special
turing Spanish tapas, fine steaks, fresh seafood and pastas. In a restored historic building with exposed
Healthy Gourmet to Go
brick walls, brass-top bar, and a glass-enclosed,
See Vegan Lifestyle in the Whole Living Directory.
temperature-controlled wine room. This is a casual,
(845) 339-7171 www.carrottalk.com.
cool spot with big, bright, bold flavors, Zagat rated,
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM TASTINGS DIRECTORY
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tastings 86
TASTINGS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
and a CIA destination restaurant (SoHo and Kings-
featuring a wide array of selections, including several
ton). Dinner Wednesday through Sunday Brunch
vegetarian options. And wine director Finn Anson has
Sunday. 23 Broadway, Kingston, NY. (845) 339-2322
hand-picked the Emerson’s wines, appropriate for any
www.23broadway.com.
occasion and budget. The Emerson is available for
Agra Tandoor Restaurant Now open: “The Area’s Finest Indian Cuisine.” Open seven days a week with $7.95 lunch specials and $6.95 take-out boxes. BYOB. Open for Lunch: 12-2:30pm and Dinner: 4:30-10pm. Saturday and Sunday Brunch: 12-3pm. Buffet Dinner
birthdays/anniversaries, corporate parties and other occasions. Open for dinner, Tue.-Sun. 5:30pm to 10pm (9pm Sun.), brunch Sat. & Sun. 10am to 3pm. 146 Mount Pleasant Road, Mt. Tremper, NY. (845) 679-7500 for reservations www.emersonplace.com/ dining/woodstock.
on Wednesdays: 5-9:30pm. 5856 Route 9 South,
The French Corner
Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-7510.
Chef Jacques Qualin, former NY Times critically ac-
Aroma Osteria Aroma Osteria. 114 Old Post Road, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590. (845) 298-6790
Beso Located on Main St. in the heart of New Paltz is Beso. Spanish for “kiss,” Beso offers casual fine dining by Chef Owners Chad Greer and Tammy Ogletree. Fresh, modern American cuisine, seasonally inspired by local Hudson Valley farmers, using as many organic ingredients, including beef and poultry, as possible. Get cozy in the intimate dining room under skylights
claimed chef of Le Perigord in NYC, impresses with his innovative style of cuisine which cleverly combines ingredients typical of his native Franche-Comt France with the sumptuous ingredients available from the Hudson Valley. All of The French Corner recipes are made on premise by Chef Jacques including the breads, pastries, and desserts. Route 213 West, just off Route 209, Stone Ridge. Dinner-Wednesday through Sunday from 5 pm, Prix Fixe $25 available every evening. Brunch Sundays from 11am. Routes 213 West and 209, Stone Ridge, NY. (845) 687-0810 www.frcorner.com.
Gilded Otter
more casual experience. Housemade pastas include
A warm and inviting dining room and pub overlook-
gnocchi and cannelloni, Grilled Swordftish, or Braised
ing beautiful sunsets over the Wallkill River and
Beef Short Ribs. And for dessert, Maple Mascarpone
Shawangunk Cliffs. Mouthwatering dinners prepared
Cheesecake. International wine list. Private parties,
by Executive Chef Larry Chu, and handcrafted beers
children welcome. Dinner 5-10PM, Sunday Brunch
brewed by GABF Gold Medal Winning Brewmaster
from 11:30AM - 4PM, Sunday Dinner 4PM - 9PM,
Darren Currier. Chef driven & brewed locally!. 3 Main
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday. 46 Main St., New
Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 256-1700
Paltz, NY. (845) 255-1426 www.beso-restaurant.com.
Catamount Restaurant Located near Phoenicia and Woodstock, the Catamount Restaurant has been a locals and visitors favorite for years. Experience the pastoral beauty of the surrounding Catskills as you dine creekside in the warm, inviting dining room. Chef Mike Fichtel and his team have created a locally-inspired menu that features perfectly seasoned steaks and chops, creatively prepared fish and poultry and several vegetarian dishes. And don’t miss the desserts
Hana Sushi Best authentic sushi in the Hudson Valley! Superb Japanese sushi chefs serve the best authentic sushi with extended Dining Area. Sit at the counter or tables and enjoy all your favorites from Chicken Teriyaki and Udon to Yellowtail and Special rolls. Eat-in, Take-out, and private room is available. Tuesday-Friday Lunch 11:30AM-2:30PM. Monday-Thursday Dinner 5-9PM. Friday Dinner 5-10PM. Saturday Dinner 4:30-10PM. 7270 South Broadway, Red Hook, NY. (845) 758-4333 www.hana-sushi.com.
created from the Emerson Bakery. “The Cat”
Hickory BBQ Smokehouse
as locals call iT, has a full bar including a great
Located on historic Route 28 between Kingston and
selection of local and regional micro-brews and
Woodstock, Hickory offers diners Hudson Valley’s finest
international wines that can be enjoyed next to one
barbecue and smokehouse cuisine such as ribs, pulled
of our two large stone fireplaces. Panoramic views
pork, smoked beef, fish and free-range chicken. Whether
are the signature of The Cat, a perfect location for
enjoying your meal by the fireplace in Hickory’s three-
weddings and banquets under the outdoor pavil-
star dining room or sipping a cocktail at the wood bar,
ion. Open for dinner Wed.-Sat. 5pm to 10pm and
Hickory’s staff is trained to make you feel as comfortable
Sunday from 12pm to 8pm. 5368 Route 28, Mt.
as you would at home. Hickory also features several
Tremper, NY 12457. (845) 688-2828 for reserva-
vegetarian options, steaks, homemade desserts, happy
tions www.emersonplace.com/dining/catamount.
hour specials, a complete take-out menu, and catering
The Emerson at Woodstock Experience Woodstock’s newest, hottest restaurant. Chef Jessica Winchell uses her creative talents with a menu celebrating the Hudson Valley’s bounty of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Local trout and other wild fish, grass-fed poultry and meats, and
tastings
and glowing candlelit tables, or sit at the bar for a
and special events in our private dining room. You can enjoy live music featuring the area’s hottest bands on Friday and Saturday night. Open daily for lunch and dinner. 743 Route 28 (3.5 miles from NYS Thruway Exit 19.). 743 Route 28, Kingston, NY. (845) 338-2424 www.hickoryrestaurant.com.
small-farm produce highlight a menu that changes
Joyous Cafe
with the seasons. The Emerson features two
Is it any wonder that Joyous Cafe is the most excit-
dining atmospheres, the romantic Riseley Room
ing new eating experience in Kingston? Whether it’s
or the more spirited Rick’s Bistro, with one menu
Breakfast, Lunch, or Sunday Brunch, the wonderfully
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prepared food and attentive service are outstanding. Monday through Friday 8AM-5:30PM. Sunday Brunch 10AM-3PM. The Heart of Broadway Theater Square, Kingston, NY. (845) 334-9441 www.joyouscafe.com.
Kyoto Sushi Kyoto Sushi. 337 Washington Ave., Kingston, NY 12401. (845) 339-1128
Luna 61 “Best Vegetarian Restaurant.” Hudson Valley Magazine. “Food is simply delicious, four stars.” Poughkeepsie Journal. “Imagine spicy Thai noodles, delicate spring rolls, and the best banana cream pie you’ve ever eaten. Join the Culinary Revolution.” Dutchess Magazine. Luna 61 is relaxed and funky, candlelit tables, cozy, and romantic. Organic wine and beer. Now Accepting Credit Cards. Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday 59PM. Friday and Saturday 5-10PM. 61 East Market Street, Red Hook, NY 12571. (845) 758-0061
Machu Picchu Peruvian Restaurant The only authentic Peruvian restaurant in Orange County, NY.
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Family owned and operated since 1990. Serving the community traditional dishes from the mountains and coast of Peru. Trained in Peru, our chefs make authentic dishes come alive. Wine list available. Serving Lunch and Dinner Sunday through Thursday 10AM-10PM and Friday and Saturday 10AM11PM. Closed Tuesday. 301 Broadway, Newburgh, NY. (845) 562-6478 www.machupicchu peruvianrest.com.
Main Course Four-star, award-winning, contemporary American cuisine serving organic, natural, and free-range Hudson Valley products. Open Lunch and Dinner Tuesday-Sunday, and Sunday Brunch. Wednes-
BISTRO & BAR
day and Thursday nights, food and wine pairing menu available. Voted “Best Caterer in the Hudson Val-
“High quality sophisticated cooking” – The New York Times
Tel. 860.435.1011 Dinner Tuesday – Saturday Sundays – Brunch and Dinner
ley.”. 232 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-2600 www.maincourserestaurant.com.
Marcel’s Restaurant Casual and comfortable dining, warm country inn atmosphere. Price range $13.95-$23.95. Now offering daily 4-course Prix Fixe specials for $15.95. House
Lakeville, CT.
specialties: Beer-Battered Shrimp, Escargot, Coquille St. Jaques,
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Pistachio-Crusted Rack of Lamb, Steak au Poivre, and Duck Laparousse. Catering available. Reservations suggested. Call (845) 384-6700 for a fine dining experience. Thursday through Monday 5-10PM. Sunday 3-9PM. 1746 Route 9W, West Park, NY. (845) 384-6700
Mexican Radio Mexican Radio. 537 Warren St., Hudson, NY 12534. (518) 828-7770 cpmljs@ecoipm.com.
Monster Taco When you have a hunger that only Mexican food can satisfy, visit Monster Taco. With fresh food, reasonable prices, and a funky atmosphere, there’s no doubt you’ll keep coming back to feed the monster. Open for lunch and dinner. 260 North Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. (845) 452-3375 www.monster-taco.com.
Neko Sushi & Restaurant Voted “Best Sushi” Restaurant by Chronogram readers and rated four stars by Poughkeepsie Journal. Serving lunch and dinner daily. Eat in or Take Out. We offer many selections of Sushi & Sashimi, an
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extensive variety of special Rolls and kitchen dishes. Live Lobster prepared daily. Parking in rear available. Major credit cards accepted. Sunday-Thursday 12-10PM. Friday and Saturday 12-11PM. 49 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-0162
Osaka Japanese Restaurant Want to taste the best Sushi in the Hudson Valley? Osaka Restaurant is the place. Vegetarian dishes available. Given four stars by the Daily Freeman. Visit our second location at 74 Broadway, Tivoli. (845) 757-5055. 18 Garden Street, Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-7338 or (845) 876-7278
OII Food. Tapas. Wine. Gallery. Catering. The newly opened OII in historic Beacon has wide appeal. Dine on contemporary American fusion cuisine in the elegant yet casual dining room while admiring the work of local artists. Sample a medley of tapas and wine at the bar. Call for your off-premise catering needs. Reservations recommended. Serving Dinner Sunday-Thursday 5-9pm; Friday and Saturday 5-10pm. Closed Mondays. 240 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508. (845) 231-1084 www.oiiny.com.
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Plaza Diner Established 1969. One of the finest family restaurants in the area. Extensive selection of entrees and daily specials, plus children’s menu. Everything prepared fresh daily. Private room for parties and conferences up to 50 people. Open 24/7. Exit 18 off NYS Thruway. 27 New Paltz Plaza, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-1030
Pastorale Bistro and Bar Eat up, Dress down, in this hip country bistro. High quality, sophisticated cooking that could fit in anywhere says the New York Times. Serving updated bistro classics in a 1760’s colonial. Bar with signature cocktails, lively ambience. Private dining for up to 50. Tuesday-Saturday dinner. Brunch and dinner on Sundays 12-8PM. 223 Main Street (Route 44), Lakeville, CT 06093. (860) 435-1011
Soul Dog Featuring a variety of hot dogs, including preservative-free and vegetarian hot dogs, chili, soup, sides, desserts & many gluten-free items prepared in-house. Open for lunch Mon-Fri 11am-4pm. Redefining the hot dog experience!. Lunch
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Mon-Fri 11AM-4PM. 107 Main St., Poughkeepsie,. (845) 454-3254
Wasabi Japanese Restaurant Wasabi Japanese Restaurant. Open 7 days a week. 807 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. (518) 822-1888
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whole living
FOODS TO BALANCE BLOOD SUGAR A RETURN TO SENSIBLE EATING KNOWING A FEW BASICS ABOUT FOODS AND PHYSIOLOGY, AND HAVING SOME MENU IDEAS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, CAN THWART INSULIN RESISTANCE.
Remember the low-carb craze? Unfortunately, it’s not yet a distant memory like the grapefruit or vanilla ice cream diets. Each decade brings a new diet rage that sells billions in books, packaged foods, and supplements. But each time, consumers eventually realize that the heart of the matter was the same as it has always been: that balance and moderation in dietary habits are healthier and easier to maintain than sticking to counting carbohydrates, eating cardboard-tasting protein bars, and weathering yo-yoing weight gains and losses. Our culture has given us vast access to processed, refined, and ready-made foods, plus an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Gone for most of us are the days of milking cows, tending crops, chasing the chickens, baling hay—activities that simultaneously gave us nutritious whole foods and physical exercise. Instead, our current habits of inactivity and calorie over-consumption have led to an epidemic of plump Americans: nearly two-thirds of adults and 15 percent of children were overweight in the 19992000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; the number of overweight people has only increased since then, and many of them have insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, also called Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome, is a condition of chronically high blood sugar (glucose), elevated bloodstream triglycerides, and associated health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease. If not reversed, insulin resistance often progresses to diabetes mellitus type 2, the form of diabetes that accounts for 90 percent of cases (the other 10 percent are type 1, caused by autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing cells). According to the American Diabetes Association, seven percent of Americans have diabetes, and twice that many—about 41 million people—are in the prediabetic stage of insulin resistance. (In addition, about half of women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome are insulin resistant.)
Fortunately, most people with insulin resistance (and diabetes type 2) can improve or reverse their condition with fad-free, sensible eating and moderate physical activity. This article offers some background about insulin, and food basics we may have forgotten in the land of fad diets, that will help to prevent or reverse insulin resistance. INSULIN AND SUGAR BASICS
Our bodies are well designed to deal with the flood of food molecules that a modest meal delivers to the bloodstream, thanks to insulin, a hormone released by the pancreas in response to eating. Glucose especially stimulates insulin release. Carbohydrates are made of glucose (or similar sugars that are converted to glucose in the body), so a high carbohydrate meal stimulates a surge of insulin release. Once in the blood, insulin stimulates cells such as muscle, liver, and fat to take in the glucose from the meal for immediate use as an energy source to run the cells’ activities, or to store it for later use. In insulin resistance, cells don’t internalize glucose effectively, so it lingers in the bloodstream long after a meal has been digested. The cause for the resistance, though complex (with a genetic component and a greater prevalence among people with an “apple”-shaped body, who store fat in the abdomen), stems from chronic overeating. Cells become resistant to insulin’s effects because they are exposed to it so often. The excess circulating sugar has substantial health repercussions over time. Many of the body’s proteins become glycated (bound with sugar) and function poorly. They form free radicals that harm blood vessels, tissues, organs, and muscles, and accelerate the aging process. Recurrent insulin resistance may become full-blown diabetes with
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WHAT TO EAT
MENUS FOR BALANCING BLOOD SUGAR
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WHAT TO EAT
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its long-term correlates of high blood pressure, heart disease, arteriosclerosis, kidney failure, limb amputation due to poor circulation, blindness, and death. GOOD FOODS WITHOUT FADS
Why is insulin resistance so prevalent? It’s the SAD diet many have followed for years. That’s Standard American Diet, a very sad diet indeed. When most of the food intake is white, refined, or processed, it’s going to be high in carbohydrates, which means high in glucose. The SAD diet looks like sugar-sweetened cereal for breakfast, a sandwich of baloney and cheese on white bread with a soda for lunch, a quick candy-bar snack, and turkey pot pie for dinner, with some Oreos on the sly. Or it might be a bagel with cream cheese and juice for breakfast, burger on a bun with fries for lunch, and pasta primavera for dinner. The white flour and sugar in these foods translate into glucose overload and high blood sugar. Over time, the SAD diet causes weight gain and then wreaks havoc with the body’s glucose control mechanisms, causing insulin resistance. One thing the low-carb fad gave us besides high meat consumption and remarkable vegetable restriction is better recognition of carbohydrates. Unfortunately, we were taught to run from them. But what our bodies really need for proper control of blood sugar is a balance of carbs, protein, and fats. Many of us raised on the SAD diet have to learn this balance anew. Fortunately, doing so is not that hard! The bottom line is that food comes in three categories: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Our bodies need all three to be healthy. One is not better than the other, though the quality of each is vitally important. Carbohydrates are an important source of fuel needed to run our bodies. Composed of glucose and related sugars, carbohydrates include sweeteners like table sugar and corn and maple syrups, as well as starches like potatoes, corn, legumes (beans), flours, and grains. Anything made from those ingredients is also a carbohydrate: every bread, noodle, chip, cracker, or cereal. Fruits and juices are also carbohydrates because they
contain fructose, a sugar similar to glucose. There are nonstarchy vegetables like leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, summer squash, and onions that are not high in carbohydrates. They typically are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber (which helps keep food moving nicely through the intestine), so it’s good to eat a lot of them. Also, fiber helps to slow down digestion, which in turn helps to slow the rate at which sugar, from the carbohydrates in a meal, enters your blood. Proteins are part of every cell, and make up enzymes, antibodies, muscle, connective tissue, many hormones, and much more. As a food, proteins are more slowly digested than carbohydrates. A protein meal is digested into amino acids. As they gradually enter the bloodstream, they keep us from being hungry every hour. In relation to blood sugar, amino acids signal to the pancreas that food is on its way, initiating modest insulin release. No roller coasters here: Eating protein helps our blood sugar stay in the healthy range. Proteins come from many sources. We know that meats, poultry, and fish are high in protein, as are cheese and eggs. Certain plant foods also are rich sources of protein. Nuts, beans, and soy foods like tempeh are good protein sources and also contain fiber, which animal foods do not. What about fat? Fat means butter, whole milk dairy foods, and oils. There is also a fair bit of fat in avocados, nuts, seeds, meats, and fish. Every cell in the body uses fats (also called lipids) in many different ways. Each cell’s outer membrane, and many of its internal structures, are made of lipids, and lipids surround brain and nerve cells like insulation, making rapid signal transmission possible. We need fats for healthy skin and the production of steroid hormones. Essential fatty acids help cells be more responsive to insulin, and hence, better able to escort glucose out of the blood and into cells. Good quality fats include olive, fish, and flax oils; organic butter and dairy products; coconut oil; walnuts, and almonds. As with all foods, the key to eating fats is quality and moderate quantity. Fats to 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING GUIDE 95
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avoid are manmade “trans” fats like margarine. These are modifications of plant oils that are forced to accept more hydrogen atoms than they usually carry—in essence, they are morphed into a solid form. These hydrogenated fats have been correlated with increases in LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol associated with cardiovascular disease) and decreased HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Further, the higher the trans fats there are in the diet, the greater the likelihood of insulin resistance. THE BLOOD-SUGAR ROLLERCOASTER
Why is it important to know about carbohydrates, proteins, and fats? It can get you off the blood sugar rollercoaster and lessen your risk of insulin resistance and diabetes. If you can identify carb/protein/fat categories in the foods you eat, you can create a balanced menu as easy as cake (a carbohydrate!). As you make plans for dinner or go down a buffet line, think about what each item contains. Some examples: roasted turkey is protein; the gravy is likely to be fat (since it’s typically made from the “drippings”); rice pilaf is carbohydrate; broccoli is a low-carb bundle of fiber and vitamins; cheese sauce for the broccoli is a little protein and some fat. And the lasagna? It’s one of those foods that has several components: The noodles are carbohydrate; the cheese and meat both have protein and fat. Fats and proteins do not abnormally raise blood sugar, nor do carbohydrates in reasonable amounts in healthy people. But in high amounts, or in someone who is insulin resistant, carbohydrates make blood sugar go up and up and up. Remember, carbs are not bad. They give us energy. And the addition of fats and proteins helps to keep blood sugar steady. The big picture is that we need carbohydrates in balance with other foods. Creating balance is simple if you follow these food guidelines: Rule #1: Pair every carbohydrate you eat with some form of protein in similar serving sizes. That means every piece of whole grain toast (primarily carb) gets matched with a high protein source such as nut butter, an egg, or a piece of cheese. To balance cereal, add a handful of almonds. Rule #2: Choose carbohydrates with fiber: whole wheat pasta over white, oatmeal instead of cream of wheat, sweet potatoes over Idaho spuds. Try an apple with your peanut butter instead of crackers: Both apples and crackers are carbohydrates, yet fruits tend to have much more fiber than grains. Rule #3: Have a protein snack between meals if they are more than four hours apart. That will help keep blood-sugar and energy levels steady. This doesn’t mean eating a lot: It’s a handful of almonds, a thin slice or two of turkey, or a few slices of cheese. (Meals might become smaller, as frequent snacking may make you less hungry.) Including some carbohydrate is fine, as long as you
follow the above rules. So if you want popcorn, eat some peanuts or a piece of cheese as well. If you want crackers, choose a whole-grain variety and spread them with hummus or nut butter A pattern of meals and snacks might be: breakfast at 8am, lunch at noon, snack at 3pm, dinner at 6:30pm, and possibly a bedtime snack at 9:30pm if you are hungry. If you were to skip that 3pm snack you might be pretty famished and cranky by the time dinner rolls around, and moderation and balance will be the last thing on your mind. For times when you are really busy, keep a bag of nuts or a few energy bars with you, making snacking easy. MAKING REAL MEALS
Now to put those rules into practice! Here are some examples of what to actually put on your plate at mealtime to maintain good blood-sugar control. Portion-wise, your plate should look like this:
Half is low-starch veggies: stir-fried broccoli and snow peas, steamed kale, sautéed onions and peppers, etc. A quarter is protein and another quarter is carbohydrate: say, chicken and an equivalent amount of sweet potato, or three slices baked tofu and half a cup of brown rice. The hardest part about eating for insulin resistance is remembering that you can do it. Given the fast-food chains and prepackaged products that we’ve grown up with, eating a good balance of carbs, proteins, and fats doesn’t come naturally anymore. Cut out the page of menu suggestions that accompanies this article and put it on your refrigerator for inspiration. Eating nutritious foods in balanced proportions can eliminate the need for worrying about weight gain, help you to lose body fat and gain lean muscle, reduce sugar cravings and stave off insulin resistance, and help you feel great. For motivational bedside reading, pick up a copy of The Schwarzbein Principle by Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, which further outlines steps to control blood sugar and, subsequently, your health. Ilyse Simon, RD, is a Nutrition Therapist with an office in Kingston. She counsels using nutrition as a form of natural medicine, and works specifically with eating disorders, insulin resistance, and food allergies. Contact: ilysefood@yahoo.com. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING GUIDE 97
WALKING THE LABYRINTH The Path With No Wrong Turns
By Lorrie Klosterman Photos by Amber S. Clark
Discovering one’s deepest inner core, balancing left and right sides of the brain, meeting divine guidance, traveling the soul’s journey—these are some of the ways people describe their experiences of walking a labyrinth. A labyrinth is a pattern, usually circular in shape, whose lines, curves, and angles offer a path from an entry point at the outer perimeter that winds gracefully inwards toward the center, a place of sacred inspiration and connection with the divine, then back out. Unlike a maze, which also has multiple lines and turns but is a puzzle with dead ends, a labyrinth has no wrong turns. One need only enter and follow its course to find the right road, both literally and metaphorically. “It’s an archetype, a symbol of wholeness and unity that brings back healing energy,” explains Gillian Corcoran, creator and caretaker of the public labyrinth on a serene patch of field and garden at the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) in Barrytown. “Being in the labyrinth heightens awareness of your whole inner world. It meets you where you are, and allows you to see more clearly, and with kind and gentle eyes. A lot of why I do it is because I’m getting to know my authentic self, to work out issues, and listen to that voice of guidance.” The UTS labyrinth is patterned, as are many present-day versions, after the 11-circuit, 40-foot diameter labyrinth inlaid within the stone floor of Chartres Cathedral in France, built during the Middle Ages. Its center is the shape of six-petal flower, or rosette. Corcoran knows scores of stories of remarkable changes or connections people have noted in their lives after praying or meditating there. “The petals represent the different realms of creation: mineral, plant, animal, human, spiritual/angelic, and the mysterious divine,” she says. “You can go into each of the petals and connect with the healing energy of each one.” She also has arranged items in the very center honoring diverse religions and spiritual paths, plus stones from her own peace pilgrimages to the Middle East. At the four compass points surrounding the circumference Corcoran has planted flowers honoring Native American traditions.
Corcoran’s passion for labyrinths comes in part from discovering Lauren Artress’s book, Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice. Artress explains that labyrinthine patterns are found around the world (in depiction, if not in walkable form) and among virtually all religious or cultural traditions. Many patterns exemplified in ancient, medieval, and modern labyrinths are based on sacred geometry (mathematical relationships that occur in nature), though some are not. Artress assigns a key role in the resurgence of interest in labyrinths to psychologist and scholar Jean Houston, while Robert Ferré, a renowned labyrinth builder residing in St. Louis, has literally built awareness of them by constructing some 900 labyrinths over 40 years. Two international organizations, The Labyrinth Society and Veriditas (founded by Artress), support a vibrant membership of labyrinth enthusiasts spreading the experience to help create a global community of peace and tolerance. The Hudson Valley is home to several public labyrinths, besides the one at UTS, for individual or group walks, workshops, or special events and ceremonies, and some local creators have portable, painted canvas labyrinths to bring to schools, churches, social gatherings, conferences, peace vigils, and other events. The labyrinth at Roots & Wings in New Paltz was created by community effort and as a birthday present for Puja Thomson, a counselor and healing facilitator and a minister of the Healing Light Center Church. “The labyrinth here is an earth-energy labyrinth, with the passage marked by brick brought by friends from old buildings and farms nearby,” says Thomson. “It’s a beautiful, powerfully energizing area, above a large underground water-dome. It is based on the ancient Cretan form and helps to reestablish a long-lost rapport with nature, earth’s energy, and the feminine. It has a wonderful view over pastureland to the Shawangunk cliffs.” Roots & Wings labyrinth is open to the public in daylight hours. A summer solstice evening walk, to be held there on June 20, will be cohosted by the Oncology Support Program of Benedictine Hospital. Thomson explains that there are diverse ways to experience a labyrinth.
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(OPPOSITE): THE LABYRINTH AT ROOTS & WINGS IN NEW PALTZ (ABOVE): THE LABYRINTH AT UNIFICATION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN BARRYTOWN
“Energetically it’s a sacred pattern that can take you beyond ego and balance the hemispheres of the brain. But if you want to focus your walk consciously, you can walk with an intention. You can use it as a personal pilgrimage—walking toward the center of your being, releasing the past on the way in, or releasing any judgments or fears. In the center, you invite a deepening of your connection to the Divine, or blessings, or insight—whatever it is you are personally asking for. On the way out, you are walking in awareness of whatever you have been awakened to. You leave with renewed consciousness and clarity.” One can also walk for others or for a larger intention. “In the center you pray for those who have been hurt or traumatized to be comforted,” says Thomson. “Or pray for peace and justice, not retaliation, and for expanded love. As you walk out you can pray for wise decision-making and that your own action be for the highest good for everyone and peace.” Thomson has even conducted wedding ceremonies using the labyrinth, with the commitment vows spoken at its center. At High Valley in Clinton Corners, a labyrinth was created by a group of people associated with the Earth-based spiritual gatherings that take place at the retreat center. “We met several times to share ideas and teach each other about labyrinths,” says cocreator David Budd. “We even went on a field trip to Connecticut to visit and walk a labyrinth. The word was spread among the wider community to come, gather stones, and together create what is now a garden sanctuary.” A labyrinth journal is available for anyone who wishes to make an entry. The labyrinth at Boughton Place in Highland is a “living labyrinth,” says cocreator Clare Danielsson. “It is a sacred ecological site where the history of the earth can be experienced through its designs, its flora, and its earth-artworks. It is not just a path but also a garden and a timeline of the Earth’s history, inspired by the work of Thomas Berry.” Bob Moritz of Highland did the calculations for the design of its 840-foot path to represent the history of our planet, going back 4.5 billion years. “You can do a classic, three-circuit walk,” says Danielsson, “or you can learn the history from what is placed along the walk. The plants and trees that emerged during each time period are arranged in the garden according to their place in the biological evolutionary history.” Noting that Boughton Place’s labyrinth is a work-in-progress, Danielsson invites people with “work, wisdom, and wealth” to form a Living Labyrinth Club, and to visit on June 3 for celebration, time-line walk, corn-planting ceremony, and an honoring of food and the region before European settlement. Metaphorically, labyrinths are an encouraging reminder of trust in life’s journey. Thomson summarizes: “There may be times when you think you are almost at the center when you are not, or when you feel the path is taking you further away, when it is not! You will reach the center.” SELECTED LOCAL LABYRINTHS (CALL FOR PUBLIC HOURS): Roots & Wings, New Paltz: www.rootsnwings.com; (845) 255-2278. Unification Theological Seminary, Barrytown: www.uts.edu; (845) 417-1345. Boughton Place, Highland: (845) 691-7578; June 3 celebration info (845) 691-2888; Spirittus/Hudson Valley Labyrinth Project: www.spirittus.org; (845) 338-8313. Miriam’s Well, Saugerties: www.miriamswell.org; (845) 246-5805. Unison Learning Center, New Paltz: www.unisonarts.org; (845) 255-1559. Lakeside Labyrinths of Rhinebeck: labyrinthinquiry@aol.com; (845) 876-4443.
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whole living guide ACUPUNCTURE
AROMATHERAPY
Acupuncture Health Care, PC
Joan Apter
Peter Dubitsky, L.Ac., Callie Brown, L.Ac., and Leslie Wiltshire, L.Ac. Mr. Dubitsky is a faculty member and the Director of Clinical Training at the Tri-State College of Acupuncture, and a member of the NY State Board for Acupuncture. Ms. Brown and Ms. Wiltshire each have years of acupuncture experience in private practice and in medical offices. We are all highly experienced, national board certified, NYS Licensed acupuncturists. We combine traditional Asian acupuncture techniques with a modern understanding of acupuncture and oriental medicine to provide effective treatments of acute and chronic pain conditions, and other medical disorders.In addition to our general practice we also offer a Low Cost Acupuncture Clinic which is available for all people who meet our low income guidelines. 108 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-7178
Offering luxurious massage therapy, including Raindrop Technique, with therapeutic essential oils to relieve stress, boost the immune system, and address system imbalances. Natural animal care, individual consultations for a healthy home and personal concerns, spa consultant, classes, and keynotes. Essential Oils, nutritional supplements, personal care, pet care, children's and home cleaning products from Young Living Essential Oils. For more information, contact Joan Apter, CMT. (845) 679-0512 japter@ulster.net. http://joanapter.younglivingworld.com www.apteraromatherapt.coom.
whole living directory
Dylana Accolla, LAc Treat yourself to a renewed sense of health and well-being with acupuncture, herbal medicine, Chinese bodywork, and nutritional counseling. My emphasis is on empowering patients by teaching them how to practice preventative medicine. Great for gynecological problems, chronic pain, and managing chronic illness. Two locations: Haven Spa, 6464 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, and Woodstock Women's Health, 1426 Route 28, West Hurley. Haven Spa, 6464 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY. (914) 388-7789
Hoon J. Park, MD, PC For the past 16 years, Dr. Hoon J. Park has been practicing a natural and gentle approach to pain management for conditions such as arthritis, chronic and acute pain in neck, back, and legs, fibromyalgia, motor vehicle and work-related injuries, musculoskeletal disorders, and more by integrating physical therapy modalities along with acupuncture. Dr. Hoon Park is a board-certified physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation, pain medicine, and electrodiagnostic studies. His experienced, friendly staff offer the most comprehensive and individualized rehabilitative care available. Please call the office to arrange a consultation. New patients and most insurances are accepted. Half mile south of the Galleria Mall. 1772 Route 9, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590. (845) 298-6060
Stephanie Ellis, LAc, Chinese Herbalist Specializing in chronic pain, infertility, digestive disorders, and pediatrics. Now certfied by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in acupuncture treatment of people with cancer. Many insurances accepted, sliding scale. Evenings, weekends. In Rosendale since 2001, now with a new, expanded location at Rosendale Family Practice. Rosendale Family Practice, 110 Creek Locks Road, Rosendale, NY. (845) 546-5358 100
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ART THERAPY Deep Clay Art and Therapy Deep Clay Art and Therapy with Michelle Rhodes Licensed Master Social Worker, ATRBC. A creative and grounding approach for crisis management, transitions, and deep healing. Individual, couple, and group arts based psychotherapy. Weekly "Dreamfigures" group for Women in transition. Gardiner, NY. (845) 2558039 deepclay@mac.com. www.deepclay.com.
ASTROLOGICAL CONSULTING Eric Francis: Astrological Consultations by Phone. Special discount on follow-ups for previous clients from the Hudson Valley. Lots to explore on the Web at www.PlanetWaves.net. (206) 854-3931 eric@ericfrancis.com. www.PlanetWaves.net.
Essential Astrology Free Astrology Consultation. Call with a question and I'll give you a free 15 minute consultation to introduce you to my work and to the helpfulness of the Western and Vedic astrological traditions. Penny Seator, Essential Astrology. (518) 678-3282
BODY & SKIN CARE Absolute Laser, LLC Absolute Laser offers commitment to beautiful skin through outstanding care and service. Offering Laser Hair Removal, Microdermabrasion, Vitalize Peel, and Fotofacial RF. The Fotofacial RF is the next generation in high-tech skin enhancement. These gentle, no downtime treatments are used to improve cosmetic appearance of the face, neck, hands, and body. The results are brighter, smoother, more radiant and luminescent skin. This process delivers results that skin care products alone cannot do! Recover and rediscover
the youth and vitality of your skin. Call for a complimentary consultation: Janice DiGiovanni. Springbrook Medical Park, Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-7100 www.absolute-laser.com.
Blissful Beauty by Brenda Relax and revive with a professional beauty treatment from Brenda Montgomery, Licensed Esthetician. Specializing in Burnham Systems Facial Rejuvenation, Belavi Facelift Massage, Anti-Aging facials, Acne treatments, and Body treatments. Also offering airbrushed makeup for a flawless, natural look for your next big event. Your skin is not replaceable; let Brenda help you put your best face forward!. (845) 616-9818
BODY-CENTERED THERAPY Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC - Body of Wisdom Counseling & Healing Services By integrating traditional and alternative therapy/ healing approaches, including Body-Centered Psychotherapy, IMAGO Couples' Counseling, and Kabbalistic Healing, I offer tools for self healing, to assist individuals and couples to open blocks to their softer heart energy. Ten-session psycho-spiritual group for women in recovery. Offices in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz. New Paltz, NY. (845) 485-5933
Julie Zweig, MA
Rosen Method Bodywork Rosen Method is distinguished by its gentle, direct touch. Using hands that listen rather than manipulate, the practitioner focuses on chronic muscle tension. As relaxation occurs and the breath deepens, unconscious feelings, attitudes, and memories may emerge. The practitioner responds with touch and words that allow the client to begin to recognize what has been held down by unconscious muscle tension. As this process unfolds, habitual tension and old patterns may be released, freeing the client to experience more aliveness, new choices in life, and a greater sense of well-being. Julie Zweig, M.A., Certified Rosen Method Bodywork Practitioner. (845) 2553566 www.RosenMethod.org.
BODYWORK bodhi studio Through bodywork one can connect with the body's own inherent wisdom and self healing abilities. With skill, intuition, and care, we offer therapeutic massage, bodhiwork, Reiki, warm stone massage, aromatherapy, earconing, and a full range of ayurvedic treatments including Shirodara, Abyanga, and Swedna. Melinda Pizzano, LMT and Helen Andersson, D.Ay. Call for an appointment. (518) 828-2233
CAREER & LIFE COACHING Allie Roth Center for Creativity and Work Career and Life Coaching for those seeking more creativity, fulfillment, balance and meaning in life and work. Offer a holistic approach to career
David W. Basch, CPCC Transition Coach Change is inevitableî żgrowth is optional. Get your life, business, or career unstuck and moving forward. You become clearer about who you are and what you really want. We don't fix you because you aren't broken. Transitions occur more naturally and powerfully. Whatever you are up to in your career, business or key areas such as money and relationships, coaching can assist you in creating a fulfilling life, achieving goals and being more focused, present and successful. Contact David for a free session. (845) 626-0444 dwbasch@aol.com. www.dwbcoaching.com.
CHI GONG - TAI CHI CHUAN Second Generation Yang Spiritual alchemy practices of ancient Taoist sorcerers yielded these two treasures of internal arts. Chi Gong prepared the body to withstand rigorous training and overcome the battle with time. Tai Chi Chuan became the expression of the energy in movement and self-defense. These practices have brought health, vitality, and youthfulness to myself and my students. The only requirement is determined practice of the principles and the will to persevere. Call Hawks,. (845) 750-6488
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Verbal Body-Centered Psychotherapy utilizing doctoral level training in psychology and 15+ years of experience as a therapist, as well as the principles of Rosen Method Bodywork, but without touch. New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-3566
and life transitions Also specialize in executive coaching, and coaching small business owners, consultants and private practitioners. 25 years experience. Kingston and New York City offices. Kingston, NY. (845) 336-8318. Toll Free: 800-577-8318 allie@allieroth.com. www.allieroth.com.
CHI KUNG Ada Citron Explore the basics of Mantak Chia's Healing Tao System with Ada Citron, Taoist counselor and Healing Tao Instructor for over 10 years. Meet the Six Healing Sounds which transform stress into vitality. Learn the Inner Smile and the Microcosmic Orbit meditations. Also learn standing and gently moving practices that relax and rejuvenate. (845) 339-0589 www.adacitron.com.
CHILDBIRTH Catskill Mountain Midwifery - Home Birth Services Give birth as you wish, in an environment in which you feel nurtured and secure; where your emotional well-being, privacy, and personal preferences are respected. Be supported by a tradition that trusts the natural process. Excellent MD consult, hospital backup. (845) 687-BABY
Homebirth and Gynecology Practice of Judy Joffee, CNM This practice offers a unique and exquisite opportunity for woman care in a powerfully compassionate and sacred manner. I offer complete prenatal care focused toward homebirth. For the nonpregnant woman, individualized gynecological care, counseling, and self-determination await you. Also offering school, work, and general physicals for all ages. Call for consultation. (845) 255-2096 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY
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Kary Broffman, RN, CH A registered nurse with a BA in psychology since 1980, Kary is certified in Ericksonian Hypnosis, Hypnobirthing, and Complementary Medical Hypnotism, hypnocoaching with the National Guild. She has also studied interactive imagery for nurses. By weaving her own healing journey and education into her work, she helps to assist others in accessing their inner resources and healing potential. Hyde Park, NY. (845) 876-6753
CHIROPRACTIC Dr. Bruce Schneider Dr. Bruce Schneider. New Paltz, NY 12561. (845) 255-4424
Gabriels Family Chiropractic Come visit Dr. Christopher Gabriels at 381 Washington Avenue in Kingston. Experienced in a myriad of techniques (Diversified, Applied Kinesiology, SOT, Activator, Nutrition) and providing gentle adjustments iin a comfortable atmosphere. You only have one body, let me help you make the most of it by restoring your body's natural motion and balance. Call (845) 331-7623 to make an appointment. 381 Washington Avenue, Kingston, NY. (845) 331-7623
COLON HYDROTHERAPY Connie Schneider, Advanced Level I-ACT Certified Colon Hydrotherapist
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Colon Hydrotherapy is a safe, gentle, cleansing process. Clean and private office. A healthy functioning colon can decrease internal toxicity and improve digestion; basics for a healthy body. See display ad. New Paltz, NY. (845) 256-1516
CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY Craniosacral Therapy A gentle, hands-on method for enhancing the body's own healing capabilities through the craniosacral rhythm. Craniosacral aids in the release of stress-related conditions such as anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, depression, digestive, menstrual, and other problems with organ function, breathing difficulties, and headaches. Increase energy, reduce pain, and improve immune system function. Effective for whiplash, TMJ, sciatica, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, arthritis, low back tension, and chronic pain. Also helpful for children with birth trauma, learning difficulties, chronic ear problems, and hyperactivity. Hudson Valley Therapeutic Massage, Michele Tomasicchio, LMT. (845) 255-4832
DENTISTRY The Center For Advanced Dentistry - Bruce D. Kurek, DDS, FAGD; Jaime O. Stauss, DMD Setting the standards for excellence in dentistry for more than 25 years, the Center for Advanced Dentistry attracts clients from throughout the northeast and abroad. Their client-centered approach to providing comprehensive dental services for adults and children includes "old school" care and concern combined with the latest technologies. The office is conveniently located 1.5 miles east of the NYS Thruway, exit 18. 494 Route 299, Highland, NY. (845) 691-5600 | fax: (845) 691-8633 www.thecenterforadva nceddentistry.com.
EQUINE FACILITATED HEALING Equisessions with Ada Citron Taoist counselor of 10 years. Therapeutically oriented equine facilitated encounters are based on the model introduced in The Tao of Equus by Linda Kohanov, recent presenter at Omega Institute. Riding can be involved in later sessions. Ada, an equestrian herself, presented her program "Chi Kung for Horse People" at the 2005 Region 1 Conference for NARHA. (845) 339-0589 www.adacitron.com. 102
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FENG SHUI
HOLISTIC HEALTH
DeStefano and Associates
John M. Carroll, Healer
Barbara DeStafano has been the owner of DeStefano and Associates, an interior design business, for 18 years. She received certification in Feng Shui from the Metropolitan Institute of Interior Design and has completed advanced work with several Feng Shui Masters. Feng Shui is the perfect marriage to interior design. It brings a spiritual dimension to your space. Barbara can create a kind of beauty that touches your spirit, and brings balance and harmony to a level that transcends the superficial. Barbara is available for consultations, guest speaker engagements, and workshops. (845) 339-4601
John Carroll is an intuitive healer, teacher, and spiritual counselor who integrates mental imagery with the God-given gift of his hands. John has helped individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders, including back problems and cancer. Remote healings and telephone sessions. Call for consultation. Kingston, NY. (845) 338-8420
HEALTH & HEALING FACILITIES The Sanctuary: A Place for Healing A quaint healing center in a quiet part of downtown New Paltz. Specializing in Craniosacral Therapy, Stress Point Release through Chiropractic, Swedish & Sports Massage, Shiatsu, and Energetic Reiki. New offerings include meditation and nutritional counseling. Call for an appointment. 5 Academy Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-3337 and (845) 853-3325
HEALTH FOOD Pleasant Stone Farm
HEALTH PUBLICATIONS Hudson Valley Healthy Living A comprehensive directory of Mid-Hudson health services, products, and practitioners, along with articles on health issues of interest. Published biannually (April/October) by Luminary Publishing, Inc., the creators of Chronogram, 50,000 copies are distributed in the region throughout the year. Contents are also available on the Web at www.hvhealthyliving.com. See our website for advertising rates or call the HVHL sales team. (845) 334-8600 www.hvhealthyliving.com.
HERBS Kimberly Woods C. HOM. Physical and emotional symptoms are usually manifestations of inner turmoil or genetic factors. With 25 years of experience and extensive training from world renown master homeopaths and herbalists, she has helped 1000's of individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders, including musculoskeletal problems to cancer. Kimberly is truly gifted at educating the individual in natural approaches to health and well being. (845) 688 2976 www.naturalhealthsource.us.
Monarda Herbal Apothecary In honoring the diversity, uniqueness, and strength of nature for nourishment and healing, we offer organic and ecologically wildcrafted herbs using tradition as our guide. Certified Organic Alcohol Tinctures, Teas, Salves, Essential Oils, and more. Product Catalog $1. Workshops and Internships. (845) 688-2122 www.monarda.net.
Live with vibrant energy! Whole foods nutrition and lifestyle consulting can help you kick the junk food habit, achieve better health, tune in to your body, and eat well for life. Individual programs are customized to your health goals. Special People Pet Wellness program for you and your pet. Whole foods cooking parties - fun, educational, and delicious! Free consultation. (845) 338-4115 julieabarone@yahoo.com. www.peoplepetwellness.com.
Kimberly Woods C. HOM. Physical and emotional symptoms are usually manifestations of inner turmoil or genetic factors. With 25 years of experience and extensive training from world renown master homeopaths and herbalists, she has helped 1000's of individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders, including musculoskeletal problems to cancer. Kimberly is truly gifted at educating the individual in natural approaches to health and well being. (845) 688 2976 www.naturalhealthsource.us.
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Pleasant Stone Farm. 130 Dolson Avenue, Middletown, NY. (845) 343-4040 pleasantstonefarm@usa.net.
Julie Barone, Certified Holistic Health Counselor
Marika Blossfeldt, HHC, AADP Holistic Health and Nutrition Counselor, Yoga Instructor You were meant to lead a happy and fulfilling life. What's holding you back? Create change now. Discover the foods and lifestyle that truly nourish your body and soul. Infuse your life with radiant health! One-on-one counseling, lectures, wellness workshops, whole foods cooking classes, yoga, summer retreats. Beacon, NY. (646) 241 8478 marika@delicious-nutrition.com.
Priscilla A. Bright, MA Energy Healer/Counselor Specializing in women's stress, emotional issues, and physical illness, including stress-related anxiety, depression, and physical burnout. Women in transition, businesswomen, mothers, all welcome. Experienced counselor. Faculty, Barbara Brennan School of Healing. Convenient offices in Kingston & New Paltz. Initial phone consultation no charge. Kingston, NY. (845) 688-7175
HOMEOPATHY Kimberly Woods C. HOM. Physical and emotional symptoms are usually manifestations of inner turmoil or genetic factors. With 25 years of experience and extensive training from world renown master homeopaths and herbalists, she has helped 1000's of individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders, including musculoskeletal problems to cancer. Kimberly is truly gifted at educating the individual in natural approaches to health and well being. (845) 688 2976. www.naturalhealthsource.us. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY
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HYPNOSIS Achieve Your Goals with Therapeutic Hypnosis - Sharon Slotnick, MS, CHt. Increase self-esteem and motivation; break bad habits; manage stress, stress relatedillness and anger; alleviate pain (e.g. childbirth, headaches, chronic pain); overcome fears and despondency; relieve insomnia; improve learning, memory, public speaking and sports performance; Enhance creativity. Other issues. Change your outlook. Gain Control. Make healthier choices. Certified Hypnotist, two years training. See also Psychotherapy. New Paltz/Kingston, NY. (845) 389-2302
Kary Broffman, RN, CH A registered nurse with a BA in psychology since 1980, Kary is certified in Ericksonian Hypnosis, Hypnobirthing, and Complementary Medical Hypnotism, hypnocoaching with the National Guild. She has also studied interactive imagery for nurses. By weaving her own healing journey and education into her work, she helps to assist others in accessing their inner resources and healing potential. Hyde Park, NY. (845) 876-6753
One-Session Hypnosis with Frayda Kafka CHT
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Building on my success with smoking cessation in 1978, I have continued to help clients with weight loss, pain, childbirth, stress, insomnia, habits, phobias, confidence, and almost any behavior you can think of. Known for my easy, light manner and quick results, I have an intuitive knack for saying just the right thing at the right time so that a major shift can be initiated. Groups, home visits, gifts and phone sessions are available. Please call me at (845) 3364646. Kingston, NY. (845) 336-4646 info@CallTheH ypnotist.com. www.CallTheHypnotist.com.
A myriad of hand and arm techniques provides a detailed massage that's incomparable for sore muscles, aches and pains. When blended with Swedish massage strokes, the treatment is tempered with soothing comfort and relaxation. Whether you want a leisure hour and a half or a 15 minute "quick relief," or any other length of time you prefer. Also: Shiatsu, Sports & Medical massage. (845) 876-1777
Hudson Valley Therapeutic Massage Michele Tomasicchio, LMT, specializes in Integrative Massage - incorporation of various healing modalities: Swedish, Myofascial Deep Tissue, Craniosacral, and stretching to facilitate the body's healing process. A session may include all or just one modality. No fault accepted. Gift certificates available. By appointment only. 243 Main Street, Suite 220, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-4832
Joan Apter Offering luxurious massage therapy, including Raindrop Technique, with therapeutic essential oils to relieve stress, boost the immune system, and address system imbalances. Natural animal care, individual consultations for a healthy home and personal concerns, spa consultant, classes, and keynotes. Essential Oils, nutritional supplements, personal care, pet care, children's and home cleaning products from Young Living Essential Oils. For more information, contact Joan Apter, CMT. (845) 679-0512. japter@ulster.net. http://joanapter.younglivingworld.com or www.apteraromatherapt.com.
The Living Seed Yoga & Holistic Center
Kabbalistic Healing in person and long distance. See Body-Centered Therapy. (845) 485-5933
Open to the community for over 5 years. Inspiring movements of inner freedom and awareness. We offer Yoga classes for all levels of students, gentle/beginner to advanced. Including Pre & Post Natal Yoga, Family & Kids Yoga, as well as a variety of Dance classes, Massage, Acupuncture, Sauna & Organic Yoga Clothing. 521 Main Street (Rte. 299, across from Econo Lodge), New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-8212 contact@ thelivingseed.com. www.thelivingseed.com.
MASSAGE THERAPY
Shiatsu Massage Therapy - Leigh Scott
JEWISH MYSTICISM/KABBALAH Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC
Ada Citron, LMT Practicing since 1988, Ada Citron, LMT, has offered Swedish, Sports Massage, Reiki, Pranic Healing, Chair Massage, Shiatsu, Barefoot Shiatsu and Chi Nei Tsang (CNT) Chinese abdominal massage. Shiatsu and CNT are currently her preferred modalities. Classes offered in CNT. House calls fee commensurate with travel time. (845) 339-0589 www.adacitron.com.
Leigh Scott will be moving to Westport, Conn. to continue her practice. She will return every 5 weeks to do housecalls. For an apointment call (203) 247-6451 or email leighmscott@earthlink.net Blessings to all.
Susan DeStefano, LMT Healing Massage Swedish. Deep Tissue. Hot Stone. Shiatsu Craniosacral. Lymph Drainage Tibetan Reflexology. Reiki. Touch For Health. (845) 255-6482
bodhi studio Through bodywork one can connect with the body's own inherent wisdom and self healing abilities. With skill, intuition, and care, we offer therapeutic massage, bodhiwork, Reiki, warm stone massage, aromatherapy, earconing, and a full range of ayurvedic treatments including Shirodara, Abyanga, and Swedna. Melinda Pizzano, LMT and Helen Andersson, D.Ay. Call for an appointment. (518) 828-2233
Donna Generale Licensed Massage Therapist If you have not experienced the deep, penetrating, and rigorous effects of Tuina massage, you owe it to yourself and your senses to enjoy a session. 104
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Sunflower Healing Massage Kim Beck, RN Certified Nurse, Midwife and Licensed Massage Therapist. In home prenatal and postpartun massage. (845) 705-5906
Woodland Massage A healing practice for body, mind and spirit. Attention artists, activists, farmers, executives, builders, teachers, truckers, healers, helpers, merchants, mothers, and weekend wanderers. Strong, gentle, knowledgeable bodywork, personalized to meet your treatment goals. Flexible schedule and fees. Accord office/ home visits. Mark Houghtaling, LMT. Keep in touch. (845) 687-4650
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MEDITATION
NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
Zen Mountain Monastery
Kimberly Woods C. HOM.
Offering year-round retreats geared to all levels of experience: introductions to Zen meditation and practice; programs exploring Zen arts, Buddhist studies, and social action; and intensive meditation retreats. South Plank Road, Mt. Tremper, NY. (845) 688-2228
Physical and emotional symptoms are usually manifestations of inner turmoil or genetic factors. With 25 years of experience and extensive training from world renown master homeopaths and herbalists, she has helped 1000's of individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders, including musculoskeletal problems to cancer. Kimberly is truly gifted at educating the individual in natural approaches to health and well being. (845) 688 2976 www.naturalhealthsource.us.
MIDWIFERY Catskill Mountain Midwifery Home Birth Services Give birth as you wish, in an environment in which you feel nurtured and secure; where your emotional well-being, privacy, and personal preferences are respected. Be supported by a tradition that trusts the natural process. Excellent MD consult, hospital backup. (845) 687-BABY
Homebirth and Gynecology Practice of Judy Joffee, CNM
whole living directory
This practice offers a unique and exquisite opportunity for woman care in a powerfully compassionate and sacred manner. I offer complete prenatal care focused toward homebirth. For the nonpregnant woman, individualized gynecological care, counseling, and self-determination await you. Also offering school, work, and general physicals for all ages. Call for consultation. (845) 255-2096
Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center Dr. Thomas J. Francescott, ND. Free Your Mind - Release Your Body - Energize Your Spirit! Solve health issues, enhance wellness, and gain awareness. Scientifically proven naturopathic solutions for challenging and/or chronic health concerns. I offer naturopathic expertise in a sacred space to help you feel better. Graduate of the prestigious Bastyr University. Call Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center (845) 876-5556. Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center, Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-5556 www.drfrancescott.com.
NUTRITION Jill Malden, RD, CSW
Certified nurse midwife at the Women's Care Center offering a full range of holistic, alternative and traditional services. Serving Kingston, Benedictine and Northern Dutchess Hospitals. Kingston, NY. Rhinebeck (845) 876-2496. Kingston (845) 338-5575
Prominent Nutritionist specializing in eating behavior and eating disorders for 15 years. Warm, nonjudgmental treatment. Understand the effects of nutrition on your mood, anxiety level, cravings, concentration, energy level, and sleep, in addition to body weight. Recover from your eating issues and enjoy a full life!. 199 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 489-4732
Sunflower Healing Massage
Vicki Koenig, MS, RD, CDN
Kim Beck, RN Certified Nurse, Midwife and Licensed Massage Therapist. In home prenatal and postpartun massage. (845) 705-5906
Creating Wellness for individuals and businesses. Nutrition counseling: combining traditional and integrative solutions to enhance well-being. Health Fairs for Businesses wanting to improve employees' productivity. Providing help with Diabetes, Cardiovascular conditions, Weight loss, Digestive support, Women's health, and Pediatric Nutrition. Many insurances accepted. Offices in New Paltz and Kingston. Call (845) 255-2398 for an appointment. www.Nutrition-wise.com.
Suzanne Berger
NATURAL FOODS Beacon Natural Market Lighting the Way for a Healthier World... Located in the heart of historic Beacon at 348 Main Street. Featuring organic prepared foods deli & juice bar as well as organic and regional produce, meats and cheeses. Newly opened in Aug. '05, proprietors L.T. & Kitty Sherpa are dedicated to serving the Hudson Valley with a complete selection of products that are good for you and good for the planet, including an extensive alternative health dept. Nutritionist on staff. 348 Main Street, Beacon, NY. (845) 838-1288
Vitamin Navigator Confused about what to eat and what not? Find your own bioindividuality, your diet is as unique as you are, your optimum health can be achieved without serious deprivation. Andrew Wright Randel HHC AADP has 15 years experience with alternative and complementary health care. (914) 466-2928 www.vitaminnavigator.com.
Sunflower Natural Food Market At Sunflower we know the food we eat is our greatest source of health. Sunflower carries certified organic produce, milk, cheeses, and eggs; non-irradiated herbs and spices; clean, pure organic products to support a healthy lifestyle; large selection of homeopathic remedies. Sunflower Natural Foods is a complete natural foods market. Open 9AM-9PM daily. 10AM7PM Sundays. Bradley Meadows Shopping Center, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-5361 106
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Valerie Crystal, MS, Clinical Nutritionist "If I don't make time for healthy eating, I'll have to make time for illness." Valerie Crystal, MS, Clinical Nutritionist. Assessments and diagnostic testing for chronic disorders caused by poor eating habits. Learn how, what and when to eat and heal yourself! House calls available. Free Phone consultation. Call (518) 678-0700
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CHRONOGRAM
NUTRITIONAL COUNSELING
PILATES
Julie Barone Certified Holistic Health Counselor
Beacon Pilates
Live with vibrant energy! Whole foods nutrition and lifestyle consulting can help you kick the junk food habit, achieve better health, tune in to your body, and eat well for life. Individual programs are customized to your health goals. Special People Pet Wellness program for you and your pet. Whole foods cooking parties î ż fun, educational, and delicious! Free consultation. (845) 338-4115 julieabarone@yahoo.com. www.peoplepetwellness.com.
ORGANIC PRODUCTS
A fully equipped classical studio that tailors each workout to fit the individual's needs and abilities. Our class times and intro packages make it easy to get started. Beacon Pilates is a Power Pilates Participating Studio. For information on becoming a certified Pilates teacher please contact us. 181 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Beacon, NY. (845) 831-0360 www.beaconpilates.com.
The Moving Body 276 Tinker Street, Woodstock,. (845) 679-7715 www.themovingbody.com.
Pilates of New Paltz NewAgeProducts.Org Offers handmade Organic Soaps, All Natural & Organic Herbal Juice Supplements and many Organic Bath & Body Products. All high quality and very competitively priced. Your #1 place to get all your organic body care needs. An easy and convenient way to experience the difference of Organic & All Natural Body Care. www.NewAgeProducts.org.
OSTEOPATHY
We are a fully equipped studio of certified, experienced, caring instructors with the knowledge to challenge students while respecting their limitations (injury/illness, age, etc.). We are offering a specialpackage price for four introductory lessons and offer small group reformer classes and mat classes. We are open 6 days a week with a very flexible appointment schedule. Open 6 days a week. (845) 255-0559
Applied Osteopathy Joseph Tieri, DO, & Ari Rosen, DO.
PSYCHOLOGISTS
Drs. Tieri and Rosen are New York State Licensed Osteopathic physicians specializing in Cranial Osteopathy. As specialists in Osteopathic manipulation, we are dedicated to the traditional philosophy and hands-on treatment of our predecessors. We have studied with Robert Fulford, DO, Viola Freyman, DO, James Jealous, DO, and Bonnie Gintis, DO, and completed a two-year residency in Osteopathic Manipulation. We treat newborns, children, and adults. 3457 Main St, Stone Ridge, (845) 687-7589. 138 Market Street, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-1700. By Appointment. For more information call or visit www.appliedosteopathy.com. 257 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. New Paltz (845) 256-9884; Rhinebeck (845) 876-1700 www.appliedosteopat hy.com.
Jonathan D. Raskin, PhD
The AURACLE A Spirit Shop, offering aura photos, Reiki therapy, meditation, gifts, and tools for the mind/body/spirit. Specializing in aura and chakra imaging. Come and discover your aura colors! Discover the health and balance of your aura and chakras! Couples and pet readings available. 27 North Chestnut St,, New Paltz, NT. (845) 255-6046
PHYSICIANS Women Care Center Empowerment through information. Located in Rhinebeck and Kingston. Massage and acupuncture available. Gynecology - treating our patients through the most up-to-date medical and surgical technologies available, combined with alternative therapies. Obstetrics - working with you to create the birth experience you desire. Many insurances accepted. Evening hours available. Rhinebeck (845) 876-2496. Kingston (845) 3385575. Rhinebeck, NY. Rhinbeck (845) 876-2496; Kingston (845) 338-5575
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Licensed psychologist. Insight-oriented, meaning-based, problem-focused, personcentered psychotherapy for adults and adolescents facing problems including, but not limited to, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, life transitions, family issues, career concerns, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and bereavement. Free initial consultation. Sliding scale. 199 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 257-3471
Mark L. Parisi, PhD Licensed psychologist. Offering individual psychotherapy for adults. Specializing in gay men's issues, anxiety, depression, relationship concerns, adjustment, issues related to aging, disordered eating, body image, sexual identity, and personal growth. Medicare and some insurance accepted. 52 South Manheim Boulevard, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-2259
Mark S. Balaban, Ph.D. Licensed Clinical Psychologist offering individual and group psychotherapy for adults and adolescents. Experienced in working with relationship/intimacy issues, loneliness, depression, anxiety, current family or family of origin issues, eating/body image concerns, grief, stress management, and personal growth. Convenient after-work and evening appointments available. Rosendale, NY (845)616-7898. balabanm@newpaltz.edu.
Peter M. del Rosario, PhD Licensed psychologist. Insight-oriented, culturally sensitive psychotherapy for adults and adolescents concerned with: relationship difficulties, codependency, depression, anxiety, sexual/physical trauma, grief and bereavement, eating disorders, dealing with divorce, gay/ lesbian issues. Free initial consult. Sliding scale. 199 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (914) 262-8595 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY
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Rachael Diamond, LCSW, CHt Holistically-oriented therapist offering counseling, psychotherapy, and hypnotherapy. Specializing in issues pertaining to relationships, personal growth, life transitions, alternative lifestyles, childhood abuse, codependency, addiction, recovery illness, and grief. Some insurances accepted. Office convenient to New Paltz and surrounding areas. Free half hour consultation. New Paltz, NY. (845) 883-9642
PSYCHOTHERAPY Amy R. Frisch, CSWR
whole living directory
Psychotherapist. Individual, family, and group sessions for adolescents and adults. Currently accepting registration for It's a Girl Thing: an expressive arts therapy group for adolescent girls and The Healing Circle: an adult bereavement group offering a safe place to begin the healing process after the death of a loved one. Most insurances accepted. New Paltz, NY. (914) 706-0229
Change Your Outlook, Heal, and Grow Sharon Slotnick, MS, CHt. With combination of "talk" therapy for self-knowledge and hypnotherapy to transform negative, self-defeating thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Faster symptom relief. Feel better and make healthier choices. Sliding scale, Certified Hypnotherapist and Counselor. New Paltz, Kingston. See also Hypnosis. New Paltz, NY. (845) 389-2302
Debra Budnik, CSW-R Traditional insight-oriented psychotherapy for long- or short-term work. Aimed at identifying and changing self-defeating attitudes and behaviors, underlying anxiety, depression, and relationship problems. Sliding scale, most insurances accepted, including Medicare/Medicaid. NYSlicensed. Experience working with trauma victims, including physical and sexual abuse. Educator on mental health topics. Located in New Paltz, one mile from SUNY. New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-4218
Deep Clay Art and Therapy Deep Clay Art and Therapy with Michelle Rhodes Licensed Master Social Worker, ATRBC. A creative and grounding approach for crisis management, transitions, and deep healing. Individual, couple, and group arts 110
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based psychotherapy. Weekly "Dreamfigures" group for Women in transition. Gardiner, NY. (845) 255-8039 deepclay@mac.com. www.deepclay.com.
Ione Author and psychotherapist: Qigong, Meditation, Hypnotherapy, and Dreams. Specializing in the creative process. Healing retreats, Local and Worldwide. (845) 339-5776
Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC Body of Wisdom Counseling & Healing Services By integrating traditional and alternative therapy/healing approaches, including BodyCentered Psychotherapy, IMAGO Couples' Counseling, and Kabbalistic Healing, I offer tools for self healing, to assist individuals and couples to open blocks to their softer heart energy. Ten-session psycho-spiritual group for women in recovery. Offices in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz. New Paltz, NY. (845) 485-5933
Judy Swallow, MA, TEP
whole living directory
Integrative body/mind therapist using Rubenfeld synergy and psychodrama in her work with individuals, couples, groups, and families. Inquire for workshops and training, as well as therapy. New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-5613
Julie Zweig, MA Verbal Body-Centered Psychotherapy utilizing doctoral level training in psychology and 15+ years of experience as a therapist, as well as the principles of Rosen Method Bodywork, but without touch. New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-3566
Kent Babcock, MSW, LMSW Counseling & Psychotherapy Development of solutions through simple self-observation, reflection, and conversation. Short- or long-term work around difficult relationships; life or career transitions; ethical, spiritual, or psychic dilemmas; and creative blocks. Roots in yoga, dreamwork, spiritual psychology, and existential psychotherapy. Sliding scale. Offices in Woodstock and Uptown Kingston. (845) 679-5511 x4
Martin Knowles, LCSW Taking a systemic approach to well-being and relationships for over 20 years, Martin Knowles works with individuals, couples and families in Uptown Kingston. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY
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His effective, down-to-earth style amplifies and encourages natural talents and resources, bringing out the best in each of us. 845-3385450 x301
Rachael Diamond, LCSW, CHt Holistically-oriented therapist offering counseling, psychotherapy, and hypnotherapy. Specializing in issues pertaining to relationships, personal growth, life transitions, alternative lifestyles, childhood abuse, codependency, addiction, recovery illness, and grief. Some insurances accepted. Office convenient to New Paltz and surrounding areas. Free half hour consultation. New Paltz, NY. (845) 883-9642
Wellspring Evolutionary coaching using movement and breath to access and clear lifelong patterns and transform relationships. Rodney and Sandra Wells, certified by Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks. (845) 534-7668
REBIRTHING Susan DeStefano Heart-centered therapy for healing the body, mind, and emotions. Improve relationships, release the past, heal the inner child through personal empowerment. (845) 255-6482
REIKI
The Spa at Emerson Place The Emerson Spa is open! This Asian-inspired design invites guests into an oasis of relaxation that is surrounded by the Catskills' pastoral beauty. Individually-tailored treatments are created by the European-trained staff who are skilled at delivering virtually all the Emerson Spa's 40+ treatments. Men and women alike will enjoy the personalized attention they receive while enjoying experiences such as Ayruvedic Rituals, Aromatherapy Massage, Deep-Tissue and Four-Hand Massage, Hot Stone Therapy and Detoxifying Algae Wraps. (845) 688-1000. www.emersonplace.com.
SPIRITUAL Healing, Pathwork and Channeling by Flowing Spirit Guidance It is our birthright to experience the abundance of the universe, the deep love of God, and our own divinity! It is also our birthright to share our own unique gifts with the world. We long to do it. So why don't we? Our imperfections get in the way. As we purify, we experience more and more fully, the love and the abundance of God's universe. We can have it in any moment. We can learn to purify our imperfections AND experience heaven on earth. Jaffe Institute Spiritual Healing; Pathwork; and Channeling available. Contact Joel Walzer for sessions. (845) 679-8989. www.flowingspirit.com.
whole living directory
The Sanctuary - Reiki Rev. Denise Meyer offers Usui Reiki treatments. Experience the benefits of deep relaxation and energetic releases through this method of healing touch. Reiki energy supports and heals the mind, body, heart and spirit through the delivery of Light Energy into the energy field of the receiver. "Denise's work is way beyond the other Reiki treatments I have had." Vera P. The Sanctuary, 5 Academy Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-3337 ext. 2
SCHOOLS & TRAINING Hudson Valley School of Massage Therapy Student clinic supervised by NYS Licensed Instructor. www.HVSMassageTherapy.com.
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology ITP is an accredited graduate psychology school offering clinical and nonclinical certificates, MA and PhD degrees. The curriculum combines mind, body, and spiritual inquiry with scholarly research and self discovery. Graduates have strong clinical skills and can communicate in a variety of complex relational circumstances. (650) 493-4430 itpinfo@itp.edu. www.itp.edu.
SHIATSU Shiatsu Massage Therapy - Leigh Scott Leigh Scott will be moving to Westport, Conn. to continue her practice. She will return every 5 weeks to do housecalls. For an apointment call (203) 247-6451 or email leighmscott@e arthlink.net. Blessings to all. (203) 247-6451 leighmscott@earthlink.net. 112
SPAS & RESORTS
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Ione Egyptian Mysteries, Scarab TeachingsTM, Journeys to Sacred Sites. (845) 339-5776.
STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION Hudson Valley Structural Integration Structural integration is a form of soft tissue manipulation based on the lifelong work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf. It is a process-oriented whole systems approach that seeks to improve one's health and vitality by balancing the body and re-establishing appropriate relationships. Benefits include feeling lighter, more energy, greater freedom of movement, relief from chronic pain, and positive psychological effects. We offer a safe place for exploration and work with sensitivity and compassion. Krisha Showalter and Ryan Flowers are certified practitioners of the KMI method. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-4654
TAROT Tarot-on-the-Hudson - Rachel Pollack Exploratory, experiential play with the Tarot as oracle and sacred tool, in a monthly class, with Certified Tarot Grand Master and international Tarot author Rachel Pollack. All levels welcome. Tarot Readings in person or by phone. Also see ad. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-5797. rachel@rachelpollack.com.
THERAPY Legga, Inc. at Cedar Ridge Farm Specializing in Equine Assisted Discovery groups and individual sessions, for Children, Adolescents, & Adults. Saugerties, NY. (845) 729 0608
Toni D. Nixon, Ed.D. - Therapist and Buddhist Practitioner Offering a unique combination of techniques that integrate therapeutic goals and spiritual practice. The basic principles of Buddhism and psychotherapy are concerned with the goal of ending human suffering. Both paths to liberation are through greater self awareness, a broader view of one's world, the realization of the possibility of freedom and finding the means to achieve it. In essence, effective psychotherapy moves toward liberation and Buddhist practice is therapeutic in nature. Eidetic Image therapy is a unique and powerful method that encourages the liberation of the mind and spirit from obstacles that block the way to inner peace. Specializing in life improvement skills, habit cessation, career issues, women's issues, and blocked creativity. By phone, online, and in person. (845) 339-1684 www.eidetictherapy.com.
Wisdom Heart Individual sessions and workshops. Heart centered counseling, and expressive arts therapy. Located in Woodstock and Kingston. (845) 679-4827 www.wisdomheart.com.
VEGAN LIFESTYLES Andrew Glick - Vegan Lifestyle Coach
whole living directory
The single most important step an individual can take to help save the planet's precious resources, improve and protect one's health, and to stop the senseless slaughter of over 50 billion animals a year...is to Go Vegan. What could make you feel better about yourself than knowing you are helping the planet, your own health, and the lives of countless animals all at the same time? If the idea is daunting and seems undoable to you, then let your personal Vegan Lifestyle Coach take you through steps A to Z. Whether you're a cattle rancher eating meat three times a day or a lacto-vegetarian wanting to give up dairy, it's a process that can be fun, easy and meaningful. You can do it easily with the proper support, guidance and encouragement from your Vegan Lifestyle Coach. (845) 6797979 andy@meatfreezone.org. www.meatfreezone.org.
Healthy Gourmet To Go Try our colossal coconut macaroons dipped in dark chocolate or our delectable pan-seared cornmeal crusted homemade seitan cutlets over rosemary smashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. From old-fashioned home cooking with a new healthful twist to live/raw foods and macrobiotics, HGTG has dishes to please every palate. Weekly Meal Delivery right to your door. Organic, vegan, kosher. Baby Registry. Gift Certificates. Catering. (845) 339-7171 www.carrottalk.com.
WOMEN'S HEALTH Women's Health & Fitness Expo Women's Health & Fitness Expo. (845) 338-7140 womensexpo@hotmail.com.
YOGA Jai Ma Yoga Center Offering a wide array of Yoga classes, seven days a week, from Gentle/Restorative Yoga to Advanced. Meditation classes free to all enrolled. Chanting Friday evenings. New expanded studio space. Private consultations and Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy sessions available. Gina Bassinette, RYT & Ami Hirschstein, RYT, Owners. New Paltz, NY. (845) 256-0465
The Living Seed Yoga & Holistic Center Open to the community for over 5 years. Inspiring movements of inner freedom and awareness. We offer Yoga classes for all levels of students, gentle/beginner to advanced. Including Pre & Post Natal Yoga, Family & Kids Yoga, as well as a variety
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of Dance classes, Massage, Acupuncture, Sauna & Organic Yoga Clothing. 521 Main Street (Rte. 299, across from Econo Lodge), New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-8212 contact@thelivingseed.com. www.thelivingseed.com.
Satya Hudson Valley Yoga Center Satya Hudson Valley Yoga Center is located in the heart of Rhinebeck village, on the third floor of the Rhinebeck Department Store building. We offer classes for all levels, 7 days a week. There is no need to pre-register: we invite you to just show up. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-2528 www.hudsonvalleyyoga.com.
Yoga on Duck Pond
whole living directory
A new approach to yoga based on the premise that we develop habitual patterns of movement that can effectively be changed by bringing unconscious movement into conscious awareness. Only then can we explore new combinations of ways to move. Learn how to experience yoga poses comfortably and beneficially, from the inside out, without strain or struggle. When we slow down, we can sense and feel more clearly andA new approach to yoga based on the premise that we develop habitual patterns of movement that can effectively be changed by bringing unconscious movement into conscious awareness. Only then can we explore new combinations of ways to move. Learn how to experience yoga poses comfortably and beneficially, from the inside out, without strain or struggle. When we slow down, we can sense and feel more clearly and comfortably how we move. Experience a style of yoga that is dynamic, rejuvenating, empowering and transformational. Donna Nisha Cohen, RYT with over 25 years experience. Classes daily. Privates available. Comfortably how we move. Experience a style of yoga that is dynamic, rejuvenating, empowering and transformational. Donna Nisha Cohen, RYT with over 25 years experience. Classes daily. Privates available. (845) 687-4836 www.yogaonduckpond.com.
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business directory
ACTING Sande Shurin Acting Classes
Manny’s
Revolutionary new acting technique for Film/Stage/TV. The book: Transformational Acting...A Step Beyond, Limelight Editions. The technique: Transform into character using current emotions. No recall. No forward imagining. Shurin private coaches many celebrities. The classes: Thursday eves at 7PM, Woodstock. Master classes at the Times Square Sande Shurin Theatre. Thursday eves at 7PM. Woodstock, NY. (917) 545-5713 or (212) 262-6848
Since 1962, big city selection and small town service have made Manny’s special. We offer a full range of art materials, custom picture framing, bookmaking supplies, and the best selection of handmade and decorative papers north of Manhattan. Manny’s, it’s more than just an art store. 83 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-9902
ARCHITECTURE Inspired, Sensitive, and Luxurious...these are the words that describe the quintessential design work that is DiGuiseppe. The firm, with Design Studios in Accord, New York City, and Boca Raton, provides personalized Architecture and Interiors for each and every client. Whether the project is a Sensitive Historic Renovation, a Hudson Valley Inspired Home or Luxurious Interiors, each project receives the attention of the firm’s principal, Anthony J. DiGuiseppe, AIA RIBA, an internationally published architect and award-winning furniture designer. Accord (845) 687-8989; New York City (212) 439-9611 diarcht@msn.com. www.diguiseppe.com.
Internationally known manufacturer of Pigment Sticks and Encaustic paint right here in the Hudson Valley. Stop in for a tour of our factory, get paints at discounted prices, sign up for an Encaustic or Pigment Stick workshop, or check out bi-monthly exhibits in the Gallery. Monday-Saturday 10AM-5PM. 506 Broadway, Kingston, NY. (845) 331-3112 www.rfpaints.com.
ART THERAPY Deep Clay Art and Therapy with Michelle Rhodes ATR-BC, LMSW See Psychotherapy in Whole Living Guide.
ATTORNEYS Law Offices of Andrea Lowenthal, PLLC
Exhibiting the work of contemporary artists. Featuring abstract painting, sculpture, digital art, photography, and video, the gallery has new shows each month. The innovative gallery Web site has online artist portfolios and videos of the artists discussing their work. 460 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508. (845) 838-2995 www.vanbruntgallery.com.
Offices in Hudson and Manhattan, serving individuals and businesses throughout the Hudson Valley and New York City. Estate Planning (wills and trusts) and Elder Law (planning for you or your aging relatives), Domestic Partnerships (for GLBT families), Family Matters, Business Formations and Transactions, and Real Estate. Intelligent and sensitive approach to your personal and business legal matters. Hudson, NY. (518) 671-6200 or (917) 301-6524 Andrea@LowenthalLaw.com.
ART SUPPLIES
Schneider, Pfahl & Rahme, LLP
ART GALLERIES Van Brunt Gallery
Catskill Art & Office Supply Traditional fine art materials, studio furnishings, office products, journals, cards, maps, and gifts. Creative services, too, at all three locations: photo processing, custom printing, rubber stamps, color copies, custom picture framing, and full-color digital output. Pushing the envelope and creative spirit for over 20 years. Woodstock (845) 679-2251; Kingston (845) 331-7780; Poughkeepsie (845) 452-1250
business directory
DiGuiseppe Architecture
R & F Handmade Paints
Manhattan law firm, with offices in Woodstock, provides legal services to individuals, institutions, professional firms, companies, and family businesses. Specific areas include: Real Estate, Estate Planning, Corporate, New Media and Arts, and Entertainment Law. Each matter is attended to by a senior attorney, who develops a comprehensive legal plan with the client. Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-9868 or (212) 629-7744 www.schneiderpfahl.com www.nycrealestateattorneys.com. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BUSINESS DIRECTORY
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BEVERAGES
CLOTHING
CONSRTUCTION
Leisure Time Spring Water
Haldora
Phoenix Beautification
Pure spring water from a natural artesian spring located in the Catskill Mountains. The spring delivers water at 42 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The water is filtered under high pressure through fine white sand. Hot and cold dispensers available. Weekly delivery. (845) 331-0504
Haldora, a family name from Iceland meaning Goddess of the Mountains. Haldora designs a life style in women’s clothing and scarves - styles which are timeless, understated, and have a forgiving elegance. She designs and cuts her own line, then sends it to her seamstress where it is sewn locally in New York state. Her fabrics are mostly natural, including many kinds of silk, linens, and cotton in many colors, with wool added in winter. Also at Haldora, you will find other complimentary lines. In season she has wool, cotton, and cashmere sweaters, which include Margaret O’Leary and Kincross Cashmere. Haldora carries a full line of Hanro of Switzerland undergarments and sleepwear. Shoes are also important to finish your look. Some of the lines carried are Arche, Lisa Nading, and Gentle Souls. Haldora also carries jewelry in a wide range of prices. Open Daily. 28 East Market St., Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-6250 www.haldora.com.
Phoenix Beautification Construction and Contracting is a company dedicated to superior addition, remodeling, and renovation work through top quality materials installed by trained professionals. Along with a high standard of work, we pride ourselves on superior job site and budget management. Our close-knit network of subcontractors ensures the success of every project through proper delegation of it’s mechanical and specialist requirements. We deliver customer service coupled with quality assurance. Phoenix Beautification professionally handles all details so that you don’t have to worry. (845) 266-5222 www.phoenixb.com.
Pegasus Footwear
COLLEGES
Dr. Abraham is one of few surgeons double board certified and fellowship trained exclusively in Facial Plastic Surgery. He is an expert in the latest minimally invasive and non-surgical techniques (Botox, Restylane, Thermage, Photofacial), and also specializes in functional nasal surgery. Offices in Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck & NYC with affiliated MediSpas. Poughkeepsie, NY. (845) 454-8025 www.NYfaceMD.com.
Dutchess Community College
CRAFTS
BOOKSTORES Barner Books Used books. From kitsch to culture, Thoreau to thrillers, serious and silly. We have the books you read. Monday-Saturday 10-7. Sunday 12-6. 69 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-2635 barnerbk@ulster.net.
The Golden Notebook A feast for book lovers located in the heart of Woodstock, we are proud to be a part of Book Sense: Independent Bookstores for Independent Minds. In addition to our huge database, we can special order any book in or out of print. Our Children’s Store located right next door has an extensive selection of books and products exclusively for the under-14 set. We also carry the complete line of Woodstock Chimes. 25-29 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-8000 | fax: (845) 679-3054 thegoldennotebook@hvc.rr. com. www.goldennotebook.com.
business directory
Mirabai of Woodstock
Rambling Rose Fabulous clothing for fascinating women. 73 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-3899
M. T. Abraham, MD, FACS Facial Plastic, Reconstructive & Laser Surgery, PLLC
CARPETS / RUGS
Dutchess Community College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, was founded in 1957. The College offers an educational policy of access, quality, opportunity, diversity, and social responsibility. DCC’s main campus in Poughkeepsie is situated on 130 scenic acres with facilities that are aesthetically pleasing and technologically advanced. The College has a satellite campus, Dutchess South, in Wappinger Falls, and learning centers in Carmel, Staatsburg, and Pawling. Poughkeepsie, NY. (845) 431-8020 www.sunydutchess.edu.
Anatolia Tribal Rugs & Weavings
Mount Saint Mary College
Deep Clay Showroom
Direct importers since 1981. Natural-dyed Afghan carpets; Balouchi tribal kilims; Russian sumaks; antique Caucasian carpets; silk Persian sumaks; Turkish kilims. Hundreds to choose from, 2’x3’ to 9’x12’. Kilim pillows, $20-$55. We encourage customers to try our rugs in their homes, without obligation. MC/Visa/AmEx. Open 6 days a week 12-6PM. Closed Tuesdays. 54G Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-5311
An independent liberal arts college offering more than 30 undergraduate programs; graduate programs in business (MBA), education, and nursing; and noncredit courses. 2,500 women and men. Its beautiful campus overlooks the Hudson River and is conveniently located off I-84 in Newburgh. Newburgh, NY. (845) 569-3222 www.msmc.edu.
Pottery and Dreamfigures Wood-fired, raku, and stoneware. From everyday mugs and bowls to Tea Ceremony ware. Simple forms, natural colors, islands of calm, created by artist/therapist Michelle Rhodes. Studied pottery in Bizen and Tea at Urasenke. Open by appointment year-round. (845) 255-8039 www.michellerhodespottery.com.
CONSIGNMENT SHOPS
DANCEWEAR
Past ‘n’ Perfect
First Street Dancewear First Street Dancewear in Saugerties, NY offers quality dancewear for Adults and Children. We have dancewear, knit warm-ups, ballet, jazz, tap shoes, gymnastics wear, skatewear, accessories, and gift items. We also feature a line of women’s active wear clothing suitable for Yoga and Pilates. Saugerties, NY. (845) 247-4517 www.firststreetdancewear.com.
CINEMA
A quaint consignment boutique that offers distinctive clothing, jewelry, shoes and accessories, and a unique variety of high quality furs and leathers. Always a generous supply of merchandise from casual to chic; contemporary to vintage; with sizes from infant to adult. Featuring a diverse and illuminating jewelry collection. Conveniently located at 1629 Main Street (Route 44), Pleasant Valley, NY, only 9 miles east of the Mid-Hudson Bridge. Tuesday-Friday 10AM-5PM. Saturday 10AM-4PM. 1629 Main Street (Route 44), Pleasant Valley, NY. (845) 635-3115 www.pastnperfect.com.
Upstate Films
The Present Perfect
Showing provocative international cinema, contemporary and classic, and hosting filmmakers since 1972... on two screens in the village of Rhinebeck, NY. 26 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-2515 www.upstatefilms.org.
Designer consignments of the utmost quality for men, women, and children. Current styles, jewelry accessories, and knickknacks. Featuring beautiful furs and leathers. Monday-Saturday 10AM-5PM. Sunday 12-5PM. 23G Village Plaza, Rhinebeck, NY 12572. (845) 876-2939
The Hudson Valley’s oldest spiritual/holistic bookstore, providing a vast array of books, music, and gifts that transform, renew, and elevate the spirit. Exquisite statuary and other art works from Nepal, Tibet, Bali. Expert Tarot reading, astrological charts/interpretation available. 23 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-2100 www.mirabai.com.
CHILDREN’S ART CLASSES The School for Young Artists An Extraordinary Art Experience! The School for Young Artists provides you with the tools, materials, instruction and support to achieve your goals. Our studio is about the joy of learning and the power of making art. Classes and individual sessions for children and adults. Call Kathy Anderson. (845) 679-9541
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10 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-2372 www.PegasusShoes.com.
COSMETIC AND PLASTIC SURGERY
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Crafts People Representing over 500 artisans, Crafts People boasts four buildings brimming with fine crafts, the largest selection in the Hudson Valley. All media represented, including: sterling silver & 14K gold jewelry, blown glass, pottery, turned wood, kaleidoscopes, wind chimes, leather, clothing, stained glass, etc. Friday - Monday 10:30AM-6PM. 262 Spillway Road, West Hurley, NY. (845) 331-3859 www.craftspeople.com.
DISTRIBUTION Chronogram Is Everywhere! Have you ever noticed how wherever you go, Chronogram is there? That’s because our distribution is so damned good. We can distribute your flyer, brochure, business card, or publication to over 700 establishments in Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Greene, Putnam and Orange counties. Now in Westchester county with new stops in Peekskill. (845) 334-8600 distribution@chronogram.com.
EDUCATION RESOURCES Math Tutor Customized, creative tutoring for all ages. Get help with arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and precalculus. Prepare for Regents, SATs, GREs, and GEDs. I emphasize fundamental concepts, number sense, real life application and problem solving skills. Individual and group sessions. Contact Halle Kananack. (917) 232-5532 learn@mathwithhalle.com. www.mathwithhalle.com.
EVOLUTION Discovery Institute To Know. To Understand. To Be. Offering intensive training in a living school of psychotransformism in the tradition of G.I. Gurdjieff. (845) 255-5548 discover@bestweb.net. www.discoveryinstitute.org.
FAUX FINISHES Faux Intentions
FINANCIAL SERVICES Center for Financial Wellness, Inc. I don’t sell anything! I help you become financially independent: retire early, reduce your taxes, build an investment portfolio, do work that you love, get out of debt! Robin Vaccai-Yess, Certified Financial Planner, Registered Investment Advisor, Fee-Only. Visit www.financiallywell.com to receive my free E-newsletter and to register for workshops. (845) 255-6052 www.financiallywell.com.
FOOD SERVING PRODUCTS Cool Cover CoolCover keeps food cool, fresh and visible for hours using patent-pending air flow design. Perfect for entertaining at home, indoors and outdoors. CoolCover can be tipped back into stable, upright position for easy self serving. Clear, durable, food safe polycarbonate protects food from insects and pets. Great for everyday use as practical tool for healthy eating. No ice. 15 7/8” L x 11 7/8” W x 5 5/8” H. Price - $34.99. Toll Free (800) 601-5757 www.coolcover.us.
FRAMING Catskill Art & Office Supply Traditional fine art materials, studio furnishings, office products, journals, cards, maps, and gifts. Creative services, too, at all three locations: photo processing, custom printing, rubber stamps, color copies,
Manny’s Since 1962, big city selection and small town service have made Manny’s special. We offer a full range of art materials, custom picture framing, bookmaking supplies, and the best selection of handmade and decorative papers north of Manhattan. Manny’s, it’s more than just an art store. 83 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-9902
GARDENING & GARDEN SUPPLIES Mac’s Agway in Red Hook/ New Paltz Agway Specializing in all your lawn and garden needs. We carry topsoil, peat moss, fertilizers and organics, grass seed, shavings, straw, fencing, pet food, bird seed, bird houses, and more. Hours for both locations: Monday-Friday 8AM-5:30PM; Saturday 8AM-5PM; Sunday 9AM-3PM. Mac’s Agway, 68 Firehouse Lane, Red Hook, NY, New Paltz Agway, 145 Route 32N, New Paltz, NY, Red Hook, NY. Mac’s Agway (845) 876-1559; New Paltz Agway (845) 255-0050
The Phantom Gardener At Phantom we provide everything you need to create and enjoy an organic, beautiful landscape. Our dedicated and knowledgeable staff will help you choose from an unbeatable selection of herbaceous or woody plants, garden products and books. We offer professional design, installation, and maintenance services. Visit us!. Daily 9AM-5PM. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-8606 www.thephantomgardener.com.
business directory
Cat Quinn, professional decorative artist, setting the standard for excellence in Custom Faux Finishes for your home and business. With infinite possibilities, your walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces and furniture can be transformed using my faux finishing techniques. A full spectrum of decorative finishes using plasters, glazes and many other mediums, help to fill your home full of your unique personality and spirit. Don’t miss the beauty and exhiliration of transforming the rooms you live and work in every day into spaces that reflect your sense of style. Portfolio showing a phone call away. (845) 532-3067
custom picture framing, and full-color digital output. Pushing the envelope and creative spirit for over 20 years. Woodstock (845) 679-2251; Kingston (845) 331-7780; Poughkeepsie (845) 452-1250
GIFTS Earth Lore Walk into a world of natural wonder: amethyst caves and heart-shaped druzies, quartz crystal spheres and sculptures, orbs of obsidian, lapis and jasper. PLUS a gallery of wearable art. Navaho necklaces of turquoise and coral, pendants and bracelets of moldavite, tektite and meteorite; watches crafted from oxidized copper, brass, sterling; an array of Baltic amber in all its hues: honey, lemon, butterscotch, cognac...., fashioned into jewelry that makes a statement. Earthlore also offers unique objects of home decor such as a 100 yr old camel bell from Afghanistan, a Thai rain drum, and fossilized salt lamps from the Himalayas. A great place to find gifts from around the globe. Open Tues. thru Fri. 10am - 6pm. Sat 10-5. 2 Fairway Drive, Pawling, NY. (845) 855-8889
GUITARS McCoy’s Guitar Shop Specializing in professional stringed instrument repairs and the best set-ups in the area at reasonable, musician friendly rates. Psychotherapy extra. Used guitars and basses bought and sold. Services available by appointment only. Conveniently located in Rosendale. Rosendale, NY. (845) 658-7467
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HOME DESIGN Eco-Arch Design Works Janus Welton, AIA, BBEI An award-winning design architect, offering over 15 years of Traditional Chinese Feng Shui expertise to her Ecological and Healthy Building Design Practice: combining Building Biology, Solar Architecture, and Feng Shui to promote “Inspiring and Sustainable” environments for the 21st Century. Unlock the potentials of your site, home, or office to foster greater harmony, prosperity, spirit, health, and ecological integrity. Services include: Architecture, Planning, Commercial Interiors, Professional Seminars and Consultations. (845) 247-4620 ecoarchitect@hvc.rr.com. www.JanusWeltonDesignWorks.com.
INTERIOR DESIGN DeStefano and Associates
business directory
Barbara DeStafano has been the owner of DeStefano and Associates, an interior design business, for 18 years. She received certification in Feng Shui from the Metropolitan Institute of Interior Design and has completed advanced work with several Feng Shui Masters. Feng Shui is the perfect marriage to interior design. It brings a spiritual dimension to your space. Barbara can create a kind of beauty that touches your spirit, and brings balance and harmony to a level that transcends the superficial. Barbara is available for consultations, guest speaker engagements, and workshops. (845) 339-4601
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS Webjogger Blazing fast broadband internet access. Featuring symmetrical bandwidth, superior personal attention and technical support, rock-solid security and reliability, and flexible rates. Complementary services include email, Web hosting, accelerated dialup, server collocation and management, and customized networking solutions. Webjogger is a locally grown company with offices in Tivoli and Kingston. Kingston, NY. (845) 757-4000 www.webjogger.net. www.webjogger.net.
A unique mediation practice for couples going through divorce or families in conflict with the innovative, combined services of two professionals. Josh Koplovitz has 30 years as a Matrimonial & Family Law Attorney and Myra Schwartz has 30 years as Guidance Counselor. This male/female team can effectively address all your legal and family issues. Use our one-hour free consultation to find out about us. (845) 331-0100
Rodney Wells, CFP, Member AFM & NYSCDM If you’re separating, divorcing, or have issues with child support, custody, or visitation, choose mediation. On average, mediated agreements are fulfilled twice as often as litigated court decisions and cost half as much. I draw on my experience as a Financial Planner, psychotherapist, and pro se litigant to guide couples in a responsible process of unraveling their entanglements, preserving their assets, and creating a satisfying future. Cornwall, New Paltz, and NYC. Cornwall, NY. (845) 534-7668 www.mediated-divorce.com.
MUSIC Burt’s Electronics Good music deserves quality sound! Avoid the malls and shop where quality and personal service are valued above all else. Bring Burt and his staff your favorite album and let them teach you how to choose the right audio equipment for your listening needs. Monday through Friday 9AM-7PM. Saturday 9AM-5PM. 549 Albany Avenue, Kingston, NY. (845) 331-5011
CASH PAID for your VINYL RECORD COLLECTIONS!!!
Ione Writing workshops and private instruction for writers. (845) 339-5776
WVKR 91.3 FM
Submit to Chronogram Seeking submissions of poems, short stories, essays, and article proposals. Accepting pieces of all sorts. With SASE, send submissions to Chronogram,. 314 Wall Street, 2nd floor, Kingston, NY 12401. info@chronogram.com.
MAGAZINES Chronogram The only complete arts and cultural events resource for the Hudson Valley. Subscribe and get the lowdown first. Whether you live in the Hudson Valley or just visit, you’ll know what’s going on. Send $36 for yearly subscription to: Chronogram, 314 Wall Street, 2nd floor, Kingston, NY 12401. 314 Wall Street, 2nd floor, Kingston, NY 12401. info@chronogram.com BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Pathways Mediation Center
StarryNightRecords.com We BUY rock, jazz, blues, reggae, electronica, experimental, 20th century classical, Vinyl LPs, EPs, 7”, CDs and DVDs. We PICK UP in Ulster, Orange, Sullivan, Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester counties as well as in New Jersey, and the NY metro area. We will also help you SELL instruments. (212) 591-2105 starry@starrynightrecords.com.
LITERARY
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MEDIATION & CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. A listenersupported, non-commercial, student-run alternative music station. Programming is provided by students and community members, and includes jazz, new music, folk, hip hop, polka, new age, international, blues, metal, news, and public affairs programming. WVKR Web casts at www.wvkr.org. (845) 437-7010 www.wvkr.org.
MUSIC LESSONS Bibi Farber - Guitar Lessons Guitar Lessons Acoustic / electric Pop, rock, blues & folk Beginners welcome, age 11 and up. I offer very flexible scheduling & discounts for students teaming up. Lessons in Minnewaska area or in your home, if within a 30 minute radius. Songwriting coaching & demo recording also available. Let’s play! (646) 734-8018 www.bibifarber.com.
NURSERIES Great Plants for Adventurous Gardeners!. Tuesdays-Sundays, 9am - 5pm. Hudson, NY. (518) 851-9801 www.loomiscreek.com.
Complete studio facilities and lighting. Creative, warm, original, professional. Unconditionally guaranteed. The Corporate Image Studios, 1 Jacobs Lane, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-5255 www.michaelgoldsphotos.com and click on to the “Headshots” page.
PAINTING
Marlis Momber Photography LTD
Loomis Creek Nursery Inc
Serving the area since 1997 with pristine jobs for the economy-minded homeowner, as well as decorator and faux finishes, completed with old-world craftsmanship and pride. Wallpaper removal, light carpentry, plaster. Environmental paints available. Free estimates. (845) 679-9036
‘KEEP IT REAL’ Call Marlis for all your photographic needs: Commercial Photography, advertising, annual reports. Personal portraits, head shots, fine art reproduction. Weddings, family reunions, life’s events. Free in-depth consultations to meet your photographic needs and budget. Digital files send directly to you. PHOTO CDs or film and great prints all sizes. Studio in the heart of New Paltz. New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-4928 www.marlismomberphoto.com.
PERFORMING ARTS
PIANO
Powerhouse Summer Theater/ Lehman-Loeb Gallery
Adam’s Piano
Quadrattura Painting Interior/Exterior & Interior Decorator Finishes
Powerhouse Summer Theater/Lehman-Loeb Gallery. Vassar College Box 225, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604. (845) 437-5902 befargislanc@ pop.vassar.edu.
PET SERVICES & SUPPLIES Pussyfoot Lodge B&B
PET SITTING Dog Love, LLC Personal Hands-On Boarding and Daycare tailored to your dog’s individual needs. Your dog’s happiness is our goal. Indoor 5x10 windowed matted kennels with classical music. Supervised playgroups in 40 x 40 fenced area. Homemade food and healthy treats. 240 N. Ohioville Road, New Paltz, NY. (845) 2558281 www.dogloveplaygroups.com.
PHOTOGRAPHY China Jorrin Photography A Hudson Valley based photographer dedicated to documenting weddings in a candid and creative style. While remaining unobtrusive she is able to capture key, quiet and personal moments of the event. Please call for rates and availability. (917) 449-5020 www.chinajorrin.com.
France Menk Photography & Photodesign A fine art approach to your photographic and advertising needs. Internationally exhibited. Major communications/advertising clients. My work is 100% focused on your needs. (845) 256-0603 www.photocon.com.
Michael Gold Artistic headshots of actors, singers, models, musicians, performing artists, writers, and unusual, outlandish, off-the-wall personalities.
Piano Clearing House 8 John Walsh Blvd. Suite 318A, Peekskill, NY. (914) 788-8090 www.pianoclearinghouse.com.
business directory
The Pioneer in Professional Pet Care! Full house-pet-plant sitting service, proudly serving three counties for 32 years. Experienced, dependable, thorough, and reasonable house sitting for your pets’ health and happiness. Also offering a cats-only resort with individual rooms. Extensive horticulture and landscaping knowledge in addition to domestic and zoo animal experience. Better Business Bureau Metro NY/Mid-Hudson Region Member. (845) 687-0330
Featuring Kawai and other fine brands. 75 pianos on display in our Germantown (just north of Rhinebeck) showroom. Open by appointment only. Inventory, prices, pictures, at adamspiano.com. A second showroom will be opening in New Paltz in November. Superb service, moving, storage, rentals; we buy pianos!. (518) 537-2326 or (845) 343-2326 www.adamspiano.com.
PLUMBING AND BATH Brinkmann Plumbing & Heating Services A third generation plumbing company operated by Timothy Brinkmann and Master Plumber Berno Brinkmann. They handle all your plumbing needs with skilled, prompt, and attentive service. Call for further information or to schedule a free estimate. Free Estimates. Fully Insured. (518) 731-1178
N & S Supply N & S Supply. 205 Old Route 9, Fishkill, NY 12534. (845) 896-6291 cloijas@nssupply.com.
PRINTING SERVICES New York Press Direct At NY Press Direct we exist for one reason - to delight our customers! What does that mean to you? Worry-free shopping for all your printing and fulfillment needs. Our solutions are leading edge in the industry. Our pricing is among the most competitive in the northeast region. Call John DeSanto or Larry Read for more information. (845) 457-2442
PUBLISHERS Monkfish Book Publishing Company Monkfish publishes books that combine spiritual and literary merit. Monkfish books range from memoirs to sutras, from fiction to scholarly works of thought. Monkfish also publishes Provenance Editions, an imprint devoted to elegant editions of spiritual classics. Monkfish books are available at your favorite local or online bookstores, or directly from us. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-4861 www.monkfishpublishing.com. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BUSINESS DIRECTORY
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REMODELING Phoenix Beautification Phoenix Beautification Construction and Contracting is a company dedicated to superior addition, remodeling, and renovation work through top quality materials installed by trained professionals. Along with a high standard of work, we pride ourselves on superior job site and budget management. Our close-knit network of sub-contractors ensures the success of every project through proper delegation of it’s mechanical and specialist requirements. We deliver customer service coupled with quality assurance. Phoenix Beautification professionally handles all details so that you don’t have to worry. (845) 266-5222 www.phoenixb.com.
RESTAURANT SUPPLIES Cool Cover CoolCover keeps food cool, fresh and visible for hours using patent-pending air flow design. Perfect for entertaining at home, indoors and outdoors. CoolCover can be tipped back into stable, upright position for easy self serving. Clear, durable, food safe polycarbonate protects food from insects and pets. Great for everyday use as practical tool for healthy eating. No ice. 15 7/8” L x 11 7/8” W x 5 5/8” H. Price - $34.99. Toll Free (800) 601-5757 www.coolcover.us.
business directory
SCHOOLS Hudson Valley Sudbury School A radically different form of education based on the belief that children are driven by a basic desire to learn and explore. We trust that children, given the freedom, will choose the most appropriate path for their education. Our democratic School Meeting expects children to take responsibility for their lives and their community. Year-round Admissions. Slidingscale tuition. (845) 679-1002 www.hudsonvalleyschool.org.
High Meadow School Pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, committed to a child-centered education that engages the whole child. Intimate, nurturing, with small class size and hands-on learning. A program rich in academic, artistic, physical, and social skills. Fully accredited. Call Suzanne Borris, director. Route 209, Stone Ridge, NY. (845) 687-4855
Maria’s Garden Montessori School Cultivating independence, confidence, compassion, peace, and a lifelong love of learning. Serving children 3 years through first grade in a one-room country schoolhouse surrounded by gardens, woodlands, and streams. 8:30 am-3:30 pm, with part time options for preschoolers. Half or full day kindergarten. 62 Plains Rd., New Paltz, NY 12561. (845) 256-1875 info@mariasgardenmontessori.com.
Mountain Laurel Waldorf School At the Mountain Laurel Waldorf School, not only can all students do their best in academic basics, they can find and achieve a balance in rich programs of drama, speech, Spanish, Russian, painting, music, creative writing, woodwork, and more. Waldorf Education: for the head, heart, and hands. Nursery-8th Grade. Call Judy Jaeckel. 16 South Chestnut St., New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-0033 120
BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Woodstock Day School Woodstock Day School, a state-chartered, independent school and member of NYSAIS, providing quality education for pre-school through high school students since 1972. Small classes and a 6:1 student-to-teacher ratio allow us to give each child the individualized consideration necessary for a positive learning experience. PO Box 1, Woodstock, NY. (845) 246-3744 www.woodstockdayschool.org.
SPECIALTY FURNITURE Art of the Grape Let us give your tired cabinet a new life and convert it into a wine cabinet or custom design a wine cabinet to your style and taste, with matching cocktail table and/or wine tasting table. We also do bars and wine cellars. We supply everything you need to enjoy your wine. 11am to 4pm Thurs., Fri., Sat. or by appointment. 515 Columbia St., Hudson, NY. (518) 822-0770 deekeegan1@aol.com.
WEB DESIGN Beyond The Box Web Design We specialize in co-developing unique designs with clients, though we also work from pre-designed templates for fast, low-cost sites. We put friendly, patient, collaborative customer service first. Our sites adhere to current web design standards (like CSS) for coding and accessibility, and include secure e-commerce and other integrated features (like forums, calendars, blogs and forms). Many of our employees are gifted high school students, so expect great savings! Visit us online, and request an online quote. (518) 537-7667 www.beyondboxweb.com.
Curious Minds Media Inc. Want a website that works for you? We’ve got solutions to fit any budget, and we understand the needs of small businesses. Flash, E-commerce, database applications. CMM has what it takes to get you results. Mention this ad and receive 3 months FREE hosting! Call now toll-free, at (888) 227-1645. (888) 227-1645 www.curiousm.com.
WEB DEVELOPMENT Curious Minds Media Inc. Want a website that works for you? We’ve got solutions to fit any budget, and we understand the needs of small businesses. Flash, E-commerce, database applications. CMM has what it takes to get you results. Mention this ad and receive 3 months FREE hosting! Call now toll-free, at (888) 227-1645. (888) 227-1645 www.curiousm.com.
WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY fete accompli Why choose an ordinary photographer for your extraordinary event? fete accompli offers photojournalistic-style photography for all your gala occasions. We excel in artistic, journalistic imagery that records the most poignant and surprising moments of your event, capturing the details without interrupting the flow of the occasion. www.feteaccompli-photo.com or (845) 838-3990.
WINE & LIQUOR In Good Taste In Good Taste. 45 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-0110 ingoodtaste@verizon.net.
JP STOOP
the forecast
EVENT LISTINGS FOR MAY 2006
FORECAST
DAMIAN LEWIS AND ABIGAIL BRESLIN IN WIM VANDEKEYBUS’S BLUSH, A SELECTION AT THE BERKSHIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN GREAT BARRINGTON, MAY
12-14.
CELLULOID BERKSHIRES
For well over a century, the Berkshires have been a center for creativity and performance,
also highlight six Berkshire filmmakers. “It’s really great to give local directors this
including dance, music, visual art, and theater. But until now, one art has been
platform,” explains Vickery, “we have a number of very creative, exciting directors
missing—film—says Kelley Vickery, organizer of the Berkshire International Film
living right in our midst. ” Local filmmakers in attendance will be Theodore Collatos
Festival, to premiere this month. “Before I moved here, I had been coming to the area
(The Chosen One), Anne Makepeace (Rain in a Dry Land), Ben Hillman (Little Red
for years,” she explains. “I’ve always enjoyed the wealth of artistic expression that the
Jiving Hood), Academy Award winner Robert Houston (Mighty Times: Children’s
Berkshires have to offer.” So together with several local sponsors and volunteers, Vickery
March), David Eddy (Product of Peru), and Sanjiban (Self Arrest).
has organized the first ever Berkshire Film Festival, set to take place May 12-14.
Sure to attract music aficionados will be the much heralded Beastie Boys'
The festival will feature over 40 films from 10 countries, including two world
concert documentary Awesome: I F—n’ Shot That!, a film shot using live footage
premieres and 15 New England premieres. The films will be screened at two locations
by audience members at a 2004 Beastie Boys concert at Madison Square Garden.
in downtown Great Barrington—the Tri-Plex Cinema and Joan Ackerman’s Mixed
Another music documentary, Favela Rising, by Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist,
Company Theater, located conveniently across the street from each other.
chronicles the life and times of the man who spawned the nonviolent Brazilian cultural
Following an opening party at Pearl’s Restaurant, the festival will begin with what
movement known as “Afro-Reggae.”
many consider to be the star attraction, the New England premier of Robert Altman’s star-
Organizing a film festival from the ground up has been a challenge for Great
studded production of A Prairie Home Companion. The film is based on a backstage look
Barrington, but one Vickery feels will ultimately pay off. “It has been an awful lot of
at what goes on during the last broadcast of Garrison Keillor’s celebrated radio show.
work,” she says, “but the community has really embraced the project, and local
Far from a one-horse show, however, the festival will also include a number of
innkeepers who are normally empty this time of year are completely booked up.”
other high-profile works, including Michael Winterbottom’s documentary, The Road
In addition to the roster of films, two panel discussions are scheduled for Saturday
to Guantanamo, which won a Silver Bear Award at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival for
and Sunday; one titled “Is Hollywood Relevant?” will be hosted by Academy of Motion
its firsthand account of three British citizens who were held for two years without
Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis. The other, titled “Documentaries: The
charges in the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Also featured is
New Journalism,” will be hosted by a group of documentary filmmakers.
Iraq in Fragments, by James Longley, which won Best Documentary at this year’s Sundance Festival. Along with the cast of national and international directors, the program will
A full schedule of events as well as ticket and accommodation information, and submission guidelines can be found at the festival website, www.biffma.com. —Adam Allington
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
121
PHOTO PROVIDED
FORECAST
JAMES BLUNT
PUTTING IT BLUNTLY
If you’re into mainstream music—and even if you’re not—you’re probably familiar with
recorded on authentic ’70s instruments, with Blunt playing as many himself as possible.
the mournfully androgynous voice, the doe eyes, the pouty lips, and the touseled hair
The result is 10 intimate tracks with acoustic guitar-based, hook-heaped melodies, and
of the massively popular James Blunt, the man behind the number-one Billboard hit,
rich production that has drawn comparisons to the works of Damien Rice, David Gray, and
“You’re Beautiful.” Opinions of this British phenomenon are greatly divided—some love
early Elton John. Blunt befriended John while opening for him, and last year performed at
him madly, others punch the off button whenever he comes on the radio. Either way,
his wedding. John has since described Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” as the sequel to his own
overnight global phenomenon Blunty (as he’s often called) released his ballad-laden
“Your Song.” Not surprisingly, Blunt’s dramatic overnight success has reaped aversion
debut album, Back to Bedlam, last year and all hell broke loose in the industry. The pop/
from those who view him as an overrated commercial product with superstar backing
rock combo he spawned on piano, organ, mellotron, guitar, and marimba vouchsafed
who attracts mostly bored housewives and groupie types who can sing along verbatim
him as the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade, following
to the heartthrob’s girlie falsetto. The NME Awards granted Blunt “Worst Album” of 2006,
Elton John’s triumph in 1997.
and he’s been the parodied target of several videos, television sketches, and Internet
Musically, Blunt says he grew up without a stereo in the house but he played recorder,
games. This doesn’t seem to have made a dent in his popularity, though.
violin and piano as a kid. He was in boarding school when he first gleaned a taste of
Despite Blunt’s busy international tour schedule, he’s agreed to perform a benefit
The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, which started him
concert this month for the Belleayre Music Festival, which opens on Memorial Day
writing songs on guitar at age 14. Because Blunt comes from a military family, he felt
Weekend and runs through September. Proceeds from Blunt’s acoustic show will benefit
obligated to join the British armed forces at the age of 21. Serving for four years as
both the nonprofit Belleayre Music Conservatory and the Snuffy Suites dog shelter in
a commissioned officer in the Life Guard, Blunt found himself a captain in the British
Shandaken, named after the late canine companion of Phoenicia native and Atlantic
Army, acting as a NATO peacekeeper in Kosovo and commanding 30,000 troops as a
A&R executive Mary Gormley. This concert will sell out pronto, so get your tickets this
lieutenant at Pristina. He was also on duty at the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002. Upon
minute to avoid bedlam.
being honorably discharged, he became a full-time musician, and was quickly discovered
James Blunt will appear at Belleayre Music Festival in Highmount on Sunday, May 28,
and picked up by Elton John’s management, landing a publishing deal with EMI. While
at 7pm. Tickets range from $25 (lawn) to $100, and are available at www.ticketweb.com.
performing in Texas in 2003, Blunt was spotted by producer Linda Perry, who signed him
For more on the Belleayre Festival, visit www.belleayremusic.org or call
to her Custard label, which eventually led to his signing with Atlantic Records.
(800) 942-6904, ext. 344.
Back to Bedlam required a ’70s West Coast feeling, and was hence composed and
—Sharon Nichols
get it on. short, long, baby, hoodie. 122
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
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PHOTO PROVIDED
calendar NEW CALENDAR SUBMISSION FORMAT Attention Events Listers! You are now able to post your own listings online at www.chronogram.com/calendar. Just go to the website, click on “Add My Event” and fill out the Calendar Submission form, supplying us with all the details of your event. When you’re done, your event will be added to our online calendar within 24 hours, and ready for publication in the print version of Chronogram. Our calendar deadline is always the 15th of the month prior to publication (i.e., May 15 for the June issue). Calendar listings may still be submitted via e-mail, fax, or the US Postal Service. Full information available on page 8.
MON 1 CLASSES Swing Dance Class 6:30 Swing/7:30 Lindy Hop/ 8:30 Intermediate. 4-week series. Reformed Church of the Comforter, Kingston. 236-3939.
MUSIC Karl Allweier Acoustic, blues, experimental, funk, fusion, pop, rock. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
Community Gospel Singing Group
SPOKEN WORD Book Signing with Elizabeth Cunningham Call for times. Author of “The Passion of Mary Magdalene”. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100.
National Alliance on Mental Illness Meeting 4:15pm. Mental Health Association, Kingston. 339-9090 ext. 115.
Mood Disorder Support Group 5:30-7pm. Resource Center for Accessible Living, Inc, Kingston. 331-0541.
WORKSHOPS
Open Mike Featuring Elly Wininger
7pm. Presented by Gateway to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows. Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie. 454-1700 ext. 1020.
7-10pm. Alternative, blues, folk, acoustic. Mezzanine Bookstore & Café, Kingston. 339-6925.
Business Structures
SPOKEN WORD Lecture Series: Revolution and the Limits of Reason 4:30pm. On the Chinese Revolution. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7512.
Reading by Ron Silliman 6:30pm. Bard College, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7425.
THEATRE Death of a Salesman 3pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. $20/$18 children and seniors.
WORKSHOPS Weight Loss Using Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs 7-8:30pm. Gold’s Gym, LaGrange. 485-1770.
TUE 2 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Sitting and Walking Meditation 6-8:30pm. Six words of advice from Tilopa. Sky Lake Lodge, Rosendale. 255-4005.
FILM The Long Way Home
12-1pm. Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery, Stone Ridge. 687-5113.
CLASSES Swing Dance Class 6:30 Swing/7:30 Lindy Hop/ 8:30 Intermediate. 4-week series. Boughton Place, Highland. 236-3939.
2 Socks on 2 Circs! 6:30-8pm. 2 sessions. Yarn Swift, Poughkeepsie. 454-7444.
7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Kenridge Farmhouse, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204. $7/$4 members.
WORKSHOPS Natural Medicine: Homeopathic and Herbal 6:30-8pm. Hayfever, injuries, etc. Mother Earth’s, Kingston. 688-2976.
Tarot-on-the-Hudson Monthly Tarot Study
THU 4 ART Daisy Call for times. Journey through the life of Margaret (Daisy) Suckley. Wilderstein Historic Site, Rhinebeck. 876-4818.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Learn Raja Yoga Meditation 7-8pm. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
CLASSES Self-Defense for Women
MUSIC Jay Unger and Molly Mason Host the Old Time Jam
EVENTS Sake & Sushi Tasting
Call for times. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
United States Air Force Band of Liberty 7pm. Music that pays tribute to America’s musical and cultural heritage. Arlington High School, LaGrange. 454-1700 ext. 1000.
Bard College Band Concert 7:30pm. Classical and popular music played by the college band ensemble. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 687-5262. Free.
KIDS Mother’s Day Portraits
7:30-9:30pm. Pop, rock. Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie. 431-8970.
9:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.
Attracting Butterflies and Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
6-9pm. The Healing Cottage in the Brotherhood Winery, Washingtonville. 496-3020.
Spring Band Concert
MUSIC Acid Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio
5:30-7pm. Family of New Paltz, New Paltz. 331-0541.
WED 3 ART SUNY Ulster Student Show
7:30pm. The plight of Holocaust survivors and their battle to reach their Jewish Homeland. Temple Emanuel, Kingston. 338-8131.
4:15-5:15pm. Workshop for children. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $16/$20.
Mood Disorder Support Group
7-9:30pm. Rhinebeck. 876-5797. $25.
Open Mike Night Featuring Seth Ray 8:30-11:30pm. All genres of music, sign-up starts at 8pm. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
12pm. Topics on science, the environment, and religion. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7145.
FORECAST
7-9pm. Marbletown Community Center, Stone Ridge. joanna@joslyn.com.
Luncheon Lecture Series
7:30pm. Classical and popular music. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
Xoch
SPOKEN WORD Biography of Dorje Paldron and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism 10:30am. Study of the life of Dorje Paldron. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
7pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5/$20.
FILM Bug Call for times. Morton Memorial Library, Rhinecliff. 876-5946.
MUSIC Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio 8pm. Pamela’s On the Hudson, Newburgh. 562-4505.
Latin Jazz with Estrella 8:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
THE OUTDOORS Bimonthly Mid-Week Hike 3.6 moderate miles. Call for time and meeting place. 677-9909.
SPOKEN WORD From Barriers to Bridges: A Community Action Guide for Congregations and People with Disabilities 8:30am-12:15pm. That All May Worship...Houses of Worship... Houses of Welcome. Central Hudson Conference Center, Kingston. 331-0541. $20/$25.
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John Seed: Deep Ecologist 6:30pm. Earth, Spirit, Action. Vassar College Chapel, Poughkeepsie. mebooth@vassar.edu.
Tic Toc Tic Toc 6:30pm. Learn about heart disease. Office of Dr. Aruna Bakhru, Poughkeepsie. 463-1044.
FRI 5 ART Omnibus
Community Playback Theatre 8pm. Improvisation based on real-life stories of audience members. Boughton Place, Highland. 691-4118. $6.
Death of a Salesman 8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. $20/$18 children and seniors.
Gypsy
BFA Show II
Speak of the Devil
EVENTS Second Annual Yoga Vedanta Weekend Call for times. Woodstock. 679-5358.
Cinco de Mayo Dance Party Featuring Sonando 7pm. With Salsa Rueda workshop. Bearsville Theatre, Bearsville. 679-4406. $15/$25.
Friday Night Dinner Club Featuring Sonny & Perley 7pm. Jazz. North Pointe Cultural Center, Kinderhook. (518) 758-9234. $10.
FILM Darwin’s Nightmare
FORECAST
7-9pm. Musical theatre, comedy. Warwick High School, Warwick. 986-6686.
12:30-4pm. Graphic Design BFA Graduates Show. Old Library Building, New Paltz. 257-3846. 6-8pm. Student thesis exhibition opening reception. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz. 257-3846.
8pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491. 8pm. The Present Company. Sunnyside Theatre, New Paltz. 255-9081.
WORKSHOPS Introduction to Fly Fishing / Water Color Classes Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 305.
Introduction to Zen Training Retreat Call for times. Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper. 688-2228.
Writing Workshops for Teachers Call for times. Bard College, Annandaleon-Hudson. 758-7484.
SAT 6 ART Judy Abbott: From the Catskills to California
A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448.
5am-7pm. Paintings, prints and drawings. Coffey Gallery, Kingston. 339-6105.
MUSIC Spring Choral Concerts
1-4pm. Exhibit of photographs and news clips. Friends of Historic Kingston, Kingston. 339-0720.
12:15/7:30. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
Bard Choral Concert 12:15pm. Musical tapestry of many moods and themes performed by the College’s chorus. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 687-5262.
Whitley and the Hard Times Band
Kingston’s Greatest Generation
Greene County Arts and Crafts Guild 2-4pm. GCCA Mountaintop Gallery, Windham. (518) 734-3104.
Betty Kratzestein Solo 5-7pm. GCCA Mountaintop Gallery, Windham. (518) 734-3104.
Mirror Mirror
English Country Dance
The May Babies
8-11pm. Workshop at 7:30pm. Hurley Reformed Church, Hurley. 679-8587. $10.
8:30pm. Crest Bar at the Woodstock Lodge, Woodstock. 679-3213.
Latin Dance Party
Little Charlie and the Nightcats
9pm. Chowhound Cafe, Saugerties. 246-5158.
Raination
Darwin’s Nightmare
9pm. Hip-hop. Club Helsinki, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528 3394. $10.
A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448.
Car Show and Swap Meet Call for times. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-3554.
Family Fun on Historic Huguenot Street 10-11:30am. Tour the Bevier Elting House. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
Hurley Heritage Society Opening Day 10am-4pm. Includes opening of 3 exhibits, “Hurley in the Revolution” and “Dutch History and Influence in the Hudson Valley”. Film available for viewing: “You Might Have Lived in a Stone House”. Hurley Heritage Society Museum, Hurley. 331-0593.
Opening Day on Historic Huguenot Street 10am-4pm. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
Catskill Animal Sanctuary Open House Weekend 11am-4pm. Tours and encounters with animals. Open every weekend. Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Saugerties. 336-8447. $5.
Chicken Barbeque 4:30-6:30pm. Rondout Valley United Methodist Church, Stone Ridge. 6870319. $9/$8.50 seniors/$5 ages 5-12.
KIDS Solas an Lae 11am. Irish dance. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.
Art Fun for Kids 1-5pm. AIR Studio Gallery, Kingston. 331-2662.
5-7pm. Artists’ self portraits in all media. GCCA Mountaintop Gallery, Windham. (518) 734-3104.
8pm. Classical guitar, Latin American music. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $11/$15 nonmembers.
Recent Works by Paul Abrams and Jane Bloodgood Abrams
MUSIC
Sharon Klein
Our Kingston
Zaira Meneses-Fisk
8-11pm. Acoustic, folk, rock, solo, vocals. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Northeast Accordion Rock Tour 8:30pm. Featuring Uncle Moon and Julza. Black Swan, Tivoli. (917) 921-1091.
Exit Six Featuring Carla Rozman 9pm. Funky dance cover band in a Cinco de Mayo party. Minuteman Tavern, New Windsor. 561-9844. $5.
Girlyman
5-7pm. Fletcher Gallery, Woodstock. 679-44411. 5-8pm. Works featuring Kingston’s architecture, history and natural beauty. Art Society of Kingston, Kingston. 338-0331.
The Sky’s the Limit 5-8pm. Art Society of Kingston, Kingston. 338-0331.
Two Friends in Black and Red 5-10pm. Mixed media works in red and black by Jose Acosta and Judith Singer. Farfetched Gallery, Kingston. (914) 907-9332.
9pm. Swing, jazz, blues. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $25/members $22.50.
EVENTS
Skyhunters in Flight
8pm. Classic R&B. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
2pm. Birds of prey. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.
Guitar Parties with Helen Avakian and students Call for times. Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie. 431-8916.
Murali Coryell Call for times. Coryell’s masterful guitar and distinctive vocals are the future of the blues. Hickory BBQ Smokehouse, Kingston. 338-2424.
Suzuki Piano School Recitals Call for times. Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie. 431-8916.
Larry Chance & The Earls with Hotflash 7:30pm. Oldies, doo-wop. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
Nina Sheldon Jazz Duo 9pm. Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville. 647-3000.
Reality Check 10pm. Rock. Bridgewater Bar and Grill, Kingston. www.rcband.net.
THE OUTDOORS Mohonk Preserve Singles HikeUndivided Lot 9:30am-4pm. Meet at the Spring Farm Trailhead, New Paltz. 255-0919.
May Wildflowers 10am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
SPOKEN WORD Patricia Klindienst 11am. authors, The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Memory, and Justice in the Gardens of Ethnic America. Merrit Bookstore, Millbrook. www.merrittbooks.com.
THEATRE Death of a Salesman 8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. $20/$18 children and seniors.
Gypsy 8pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491.
Speak of the Devil 8pm. The Present Company. Sunnyside Theatre, New Paltz. 255-9081.
WORKSHOPS Herbal Intensive Workshop Call for times. 6 sessions with Dina Falconi. Lyonsville. 687-8938. $495.
Grow Your Own Organic Food Year Round 11am. New Age Center and Point of Infinity, Nyack. 358-6448.
SUN 7 ART Views 12-4pm. Recent paintings of the Hudson Valley. Flat Iron Gallery, Peekskill. (914) 734-1894.
Jasper Cropsey: Interpreting Nature 2pm. Cedar Grove, Catskill. (518) 943-7465.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Kundalini Yoga and Meditation Intensive 1pm. Ashtanga Yoga Studio, New Paltz. 334-8600 ext. 0. $45.
DANCE Swing Dance Jam
9pm. Folk, country, rock, pop. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $17.50/ members $15.
Abstracts: A Group Show
Xoch
Inspired By Nature
Baird Hersey and Prana
9-11pm. Pop, rock. Cubbyhole Coffeehouse, Poughkeepsie. 483-7584.
6-8pm. Connie Fiedler and Stanley Maltzman. Deborah Davis Fine Arts, Hudson. (518) 822-1890.
8pm. Overtone singing choir. Mountain View Studio, Woodstock. 679-8322.
EVENTS Lunch and Music Benefit
Dual Doubles Symphony Concert
Mambo Kikongo
Cy Twombly Dreamhouse
8pm. Hudson Valley Philharmonic. Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. 473-2072.
1-6pm. Benefit for Dr. Romo. Marbletown Community Center, Stone Ridge. 384-6673. $25.
10pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
Uncle Dad 10pm. Alternative, pop, rock. Bridgewater Bar and Grill, Kingston. 340-4272.
SPOKEN WORD Susan Sindall and Wanda Shafer Call for times. Calling All Poets series. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 831-0077. $4.
An Impressionistic Painter Looks at Nature 7-8:30pm. Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center, New Paltz. 255-0919.
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THEATRE Momsense
6-8pm. Tivoli Artists Co-op, Tivoli. 757-2667.
8pm. A program of music, dance and video. Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock. 679-2079. $20/$15.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Ecstatic Trance Postures 9:30am-4pm. Garden of One, Rensselaerville. (518) 797-3373. $80.
CLASSES Rigid Heddle Weaving
Matt Turk 8pm. Blues, folk, rock. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
North Sea Gas 8pm. Scottish and Irish folk music. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $14/$18 non-members.
Jazz Jam with Peter Einhorn
11am-1pm. 4 sessions. Yarn Swift, Poughkeepsie. 454-7444.
8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
DANCE Old Songs Contra Dance
Mark Raisch
8pm. Old Songs Community Arts Center, Vorheesville. (518) 765-2815. $10.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
8-11pm. Jazz, swing, vocals, American Standards. Brickhouse Restaurant Bistro, Marlboro. 236-4682.
6:30-9pm. Arlington Reformed Church, Poughkeepsie. 339-3032. $5.
Siete De Mayo Fundraiser 2-5pm. To support Garrison Art Center’s Gillette Scholarship Fund. Garrison Art Center, Garrison. 424-3960.
MUSIC Hazbins 1pm. Bluegrass, country. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
Lynn Miles 3pm. Morrison Mansion, Middletown. 343-3049. $20/$22.
Traditional Irish Music 4pm. American Legion Hall, Rhinebeck. 876-4429. $8.
CHRONOGRAM
PHOTOS PROVIDED
DUELING PIANOS “Colorful, lush, impressionistic, romantic and wonderful.” That’s the way Randall Craig Fleischer describes Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor. Fleischer will conduct this work with the Hudson Valley
FORECAST
AM
(CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT): PIANISTS BLANCA URIBE & RICHARD WILSON, CONDUCTOR RANDALL FLEISCHER.
Philharmonic at the Bardavon on May 6. The evening will also feature Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos, No. 2, Op. 36 in D major. Blanca Uribe, a prominent pianist and teacher, will play both concerti. The composer Richard Wilson will play the second piano on the Mozart piece. “I’ve always been a populist kind of music director,” explains Fleischer. He has conducted collaborations between symphony orchestras and numerous rock stars: Blondie, John Cale of the Velvet Underground, Garth Hudson of The Band, and Natalie Merchant. Last summer, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic performed with the group America. For these performances, Fleischer writes the arrangements. He has also led orchestras playing with jazz giants Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, and George Shearing. Surprisingly, Fleischer is one of the few conductors who is also a rapper. He and his wife, Heidi Joyce Fleischer, a former standup comedian, have rapped together accompanied by orchestras at the National Symphony and other venues, as part of their “Cool Concerts for Kids” series. How does a conductor begin? Fleischer took an introductory course as a degree requirement at Oberlin College, and “just fell in love with conducting.” By his junior year, he had decided not to be a high school music teacher, but to wield the baton. But it was not an easy path. After receiving his master's, Fleischer studied with Otto Werner Mueller, whom he calls “the greatest living conducting teacher.” (“By a happy coincidence, we just happened to live in the same building in New York,” Fleischer adds.) For a year and a half, Mueller—who also taught at Juilliard—”practically adopted” his new student. In 1989, Fleischer won a fellowship to study with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood. He was one of the last two students Bernstein taught. From there, Fleischer became assistant conductor of the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington. For five years, Fleischer had “what was essentially a paid apprenticeship” with musical director Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the towering figures in classical music today. In 1993 Fleischer conducted a private concert for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Currently, he leads the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra in Arizona and the Anchorage Symphony in Alaska. Based in Los Angeles, he is a guest conductor at orchestras around the country. The Hudson Valley Philharmonic performance will also include Beethoven’s Second Symphony, which Fleischer describes as “fiery, energetic, tuneful, brilliantly conceived, beautiful in the slow movements; the sort of work that just absolutely grabs the listener in a visceral sense.” The Hudson Valley Philharmonic will perform at the Bardavon Opera House, 35 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, on Saturday, May 6 at 8pm. Audience members are invited to a preconcert talk with Maestro Fleischer one hour prior to performance. (845) 473-5288; www.bardavon.org. —Sparrow
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7pm. Celtic music. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
Holly Near 8pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $25/members $22.50.
Meg Johnson Trio 8:30pm. Crest Bar at the Woodstock Lodge, Woodstock. 679-3213.
THE OUTDOORS Fly Fishing: The Catskill Tradition Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291.
Van Leuven Cabin Hike 10am-12pm. New Paltz. 255-0919.
WORKSHOPS Shobogenzo Intensive Call for times. Jishozammai: Selfenlightened Samadhi. Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper. 688-2228.
Microsoft Publisher for Fun and Pleasure 6-9pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 339-2025.
It Takes Money to Make Money 7pm. Presented by Gateway to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows. Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie. 454-1700 ext. 1020.
De-Clutter De-Stress Your Life 7-9:30pm. With life coach Denise Lewis. Vassar Hospital, Poughkeepsie. 227-3190.
SPOKEN WORD Booksigning with Marshall Karp 3-5pm. Author of The Rabbit Factory. Blue Mountain Bistro, Woodstock. 679-8000.
THEATRE Speak of the Devil 2pm. The Present Company. Sunnyside Theatre, New Paltz. 255-9081.
Death of a Salesman 8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. $20/$18 children and seniors.
MON 8 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Learn Raja Yoga Meditation
8pm. Series of short films. Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill. (914) 736.6400.
MUSIC Bard College Orchestra 7:30pm. Works by Bard student composers. Bard College, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7250.
Celtic Jam Seisun 7:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
Redwood Moose 8-10pm. Acoustic, bluegrass, folk, original, traditional. High Falls Café, High Falls. 687-2699.
MUSIC Open Mike Featuring Elly Wininger
Saxophonist Rob Scheps with Marvin”Bugaloo” Smith
Open Mike Night Featuring Seth Ray
FORECAST
WED 10 FILM World Premiere of Sex & Camping
7-8pm. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
7-10pm. Alternative, blues, folk, acoustic. Mezzanine Bookstore & Café, Kingston. 339-6925. 8:30-11:30pm. All genres of music, sign-up starts at 8pm. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
SPOKEN WORD Lecture Series: Revolution and the Limits of Reason 4:30pm. Student-faculty debate. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7512.
Time and Eternity 8pm. Contemplative meeting on the purpose of life. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
TUE 9 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Retreat in Silence: Feeling the Heartbeat of the Soul Call for times. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
Sitting and Walking Meditation 6-8:30pm. Meditation in Action-Bringing it Back Home. Sky Lake Lodge, Rosendale. 255-4005.
FILM The Hostages of Hatred 7:30pm. The story of the Palestinian refugees. Temple Emanuel, Kingston. 338-8131.
MUSIC Saxophonist Rob Scheps & Marvin “Bugaloo” Smith 7:30-9:30pm. Jazz. The Terrace Tavern, Newburgh. www.robscheps.8m.net.
Da Capo Chamber Players
9:15pm. Jazz. The Black Swan, Tivoli. kesairiddick@hotmail.com.
THE OUTDOORS Hike for Tykes 10am. For parents with children up to age 6. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
SPOKEN WORD Biography of Dorje Paldron and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism 10:30am. Study of the life of Dorje Paldron. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
Luncheon Lecture Series 12pm. Topics on science, the environment, and religion. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7145.
Mood Disorder Support Group 5:30-7pm. Family of New Paltz, New Paltz. 331-0541.
How to Create a Rewarding Social Life 7pm. And Perhaps Meet Someone Special. Institute for Human Development, Kingston. 339-6250.
9:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.
SPOKEN WORD Mood Disorder Support Group
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DARIO DASILVA AND FERNANDA CAJIDE OF MASS TANGO.
ONE BODY, FOUR LEGS “One body four legs,” is one expression tango aficionados use to describe the compelling Argentine art of tango. Woodstock Tango director Ilene Marder, organizer of the annual Tango-thon, set for Bearsville Theater during Memorial Day Weekend, describes it this way: “When you come to Tango you dance in a close embrace, as in a hug. It is a three-minute love affair with a stranger.” This year’s Tango-thon opens on Saturday night with a performance by Mass Tango, starring world-renowned tango musician Bernardo Monk, who will perform traditional tango music as well as his own original compositions on saxophone. He explains, “The saxophone is not at all a traditional tango instrument. I am creating a whole new vocabulary, playing the saxophone with the same approach as
Facing Invasives: How You Can Help Stem The Tide
the clarinet.”
7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Kenridge Farmhouse, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204. $7/$4 members.
which has become synonymous with tango music—as a special guest. Having shared the stage with
WORKSHOPS Simplify Your Life 6:30-7:30pm. Beacon Library, Beacon. 227-3190.
Natural Medicine: Homeopathic and Herbal 6:30-8pm. How to be prepared & know your remedies. Mother Earth’s, Kingston. 688-2976.
8pm. Bard College, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7250.
Acid Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio
PHOTO PROVIDED
Gaelic Storm
THU 11 CLASSES Self-Defense for Women 6-9pm. The Healing Cottage in the Brotherhood Winery, Washingtonville. 496-3020.
5:30-7pm. Resource Center for Accessible Living, Inc, Kingston. 331-0541.
MUSIC Songwriters’ Circle with Elly Wininger
Talk and Book Signing With Marc B. Fried
7-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore & Café, Kingston. 339-6925.
7pm. Author of Shawangunk Place Names. Senate House Museum, Kingston. 334-3855.
CD Release Party: “Voices of the Valley” 7:30pm. With singer Danielle Woerner. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Hector Del Curto will join Monk on the bandoneon—an instrument that resembles a concertina, and tango legends Astor Piazzolla and Osvaldo Pugliese, Del Curto has a long list of awards and devoted fans. Nick Danielson—the only non-Argentine in the show and formerly a cast member of the Broadway hit, “Tango Argentino,”—will play violin. Mass Tango is rounded out by pianist Octavio Brunetti and Pedro Giraudo working the double bass. According to tradition, of the twelve tunes to be performed at the Tango-thon, only the four in the middle of the show will be danced. Yet as crucial as music is to the Tango, dance is what Americans think of when Tango is mentioned, and the Tango-thon will not disappoint on that front. This year’s event features Dario DaSilva, one of the most important young tangueros on the East Cost, renowned as much as a teacher as well as a dancer. “I use my body to accompany the music, like an extra instrument,” says DaSilva. “I am a tango fan and if I didn’t dance in this show I would have a front row seat.” DaSilva’s partner for the evening is Monk’s wife, Fernanda Cajide, who began dancing and teaching in Buenos Aries in 1999 before moving to Boston with Monk to found Mass Tango in 2002. The Tango-thon opens on Saturday, May 27, at the Bearsville Theater at 8pm with the performance of Mass Tango. Woodstock Tango will host a Milonga, or social dance, 9:30pm to 1am. On Sunday, May 28, there will be a special dance and musicality workshop with members of Mass Tango. (845) 246-1122; imhmedia@yahoo.com. —J. Spica
DIVINE MOTHER
Revered around the world as the Goddess incarnate, Sri Karunamayi, also called Amma, returns to Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater on May 2425 to make the rare wisdom of India’s ancient Divine Mother tradition accessible to modern seekers. On Wednesday's program,
beginning
at
Bard Conservatory Chamber Orchestra 8pm. Featuring Spohr Violin Concerto No. 8 with violinist Luo-sha Fang. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7425.
Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio 8pm. Pamela’s On The Hudson, Newburgh. 562-4505.
Latin Jazz with Estrella 8:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
spiritual discourse, lead a short meditation, sing devotional
PHOTO PROVIDED
songs and bless attendees.
11pm. Rock. Oasis, New Paltz. 255-2400.
WORKSHOPS Cool Ties For Our Guys and Gals Call for times. Make special neckwear for our soldiers. East Fishkill Community Library, Hopewell Junction. 221-9943.
FRI 12
6-9pm. “In the Light- Contemporary Visions of the Hudson Valley.” Through June 25. Brik Gallery, Catskill. 518-943-0145.
DANCE May Dance 8pm. Senior Project and faculty choreography. Bard College, Annandaleon-Hudson. 758-7900.
7-10pm. Funk, roots, rock. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.
My Brothers Banned 8pm. Bluegrass, country, folk, rock. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
Kurt Henry Band 8-11pm. Acoustic, alternative, folk, r&b, rock, vocals. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
The Rob Scheps Core-tet 9pm. Jazz. The Would, Highland. 691-9883.
Monica’s Kneepads 10pm. Disco funk. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
SPOKEN WORD J. Edward Chamberlin 11am-1pm. Author of Horse: How the Horse has Shaped Civilization. Red Hook. www.merrittbooks.com.
THEATRE Gypsy 8pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491.
Mohonk Mountain State Readers Theater Presents Other Places 8pm. Three one-act plays by Harold Pinter. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $11 members/$15 non-members.
at noon. (718) 595-0555; (845) 679-9457; www.karunamayi.org.
6:30-9:30pm. Local artists include Judy Hoyt, Tom Stratton and Tom Sarrantonio. Marbletown Community Center, Stone Ridge. 687-9447. $10.
DANCE East Meets West Swing Dance Mix 7-7:45pm lesson followed by open dance. First Presbyterian Church, Highland. 494-0224. $10.
May Dance
SAT 13 ART Au Fil des Jours Call for times. Photographer Patrick Taberna. Galerie BMG, Woodstock. 679-0027.
Annual Spring Artists on Location Art Auction 5pm. Cheese, wine, view the art, and partake in the silent auction at 3pm. Garrison Art Center, Garrison. 424-3960.
9am-6pm. Over 25,000 books in 35 categories. Pawling. 855-3444.
FILM Darwin’s Nightmare A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria. Time and Space Limited. 518-822-8448.
Stroke of Genius 8pm. The story of stroke victim who survived. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $14/$18 non-members.
KIDS The Princess and the Pea 11am. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.
FORECAST
MUSIC Mr. E a.k.a. Greg Englesson
9am. Registration closes
6-9pm. Elizabeth Winchester: paintings, monoprints and Jim Coughenour: poems, essays. Bau, Beacon. 440-7584.
EVENTS Pawling Free Library Book Sale
8pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
from Amma, beginning at
Comedies & Catastrophe
In the Light- Contemporary Visions of the Hudson Valley
Baseball Field
receive one-on-one blessings
6-9pm. New pastels by “plein air” artist Linda Richichi. RiverWinds Gallery, Beacon. 838-2880.
6-8pm. Student thesis exhibitions. 257-3846.
7:30pm. Radical Jewish communities. Time & Space Limited, Hudson. 518-8228448. $7 general admission/$5 students and members.
will have the opportunity to
Colors of the Hudson Valley
8pm. Senior Project and faculty choreography. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
ART MFA Show I
FILM Young, Jewish, and Left With Director
On Thursday, attendees
5-7pm. Au Fil Des Jours: reception and booksigning. galerie bmg, Woodstock. 679-0027.
High Meadow School Art Auction
The Trapps
6:30pm, Amma will give a
Patrick Taberna
Paper Bead Making 2-4pm. Children ages 5-10 will create and string their own beads. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $8 members/$10 non-members.
MUSIC Project Mercury 2-5pm. Acoustic rock, modern folk. Warwick Valley Winery, Warwick. 258-4858.
Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria 3pm. Woodstock Chamber Orchestra with the Kingston High School Choir. Pointe of Praise Family Life Center, Kingston. 339-4615.
Mark Raisch & Michael Morano 7:30-9:30pm. Jazz, swing, vocals. Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, Poughkeepsie. 464-5836.
Barely Lace 8pm. Traditional Celtic and acoustic music. AIR Gallery, Kingston. 331-2662. $10 includes snacks.
Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra and Chorale 8pm. Classical, solo, symphonic. Newburgh Free Academy Auditorium, Newburgh. 562-1800.
Groovemama 8pm. Fiddle-intensive string band. Old Songs Community Arts Center, Vorheesville. (518) 765-2815. $15.
Hudson Valley Gamelan Spring Concert 8pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 679-8624.
Open Book and Todd Guidice 8pm. Acoustic, contemporary, original, Americana. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
Singer/Songwriter Chris Smither 8pm. Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock. 679-2079. $25/$20.
Siobhan Quinn and Michael Bowers 8-10pm. A cappella, acoustic, blues, celtic, folk. Hyde Park Free Library, Hyde Park. 229-7791.
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May Dance
8-10pm. Marc Black, Betty MacDonald, Mike Esposito playing folk. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.
3pm/8pm. Senior Project and faculty choreography. Bard College, Annandaleon-Hudson. 758-7900.
Helen Avakian
EVENTS Town of Rosendale Youth Program Car Show
8-11pm. Acoustic, alternative, new age. Maia Restaurant and Lounge, Poughkeepsie. 486-5004.
Jazz Jam with Peter Einhorn 8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Tribute To The Spirit & Music Of Jon George
3rd Annual Trooper Biathlon 9am. 2 mile run, 14 mile bike, and another 2 mile run. Hurley. 247-0271.
Pawling Free Library Book Sale 9am-5pm. Over 25,000 books in 35 categories. Pawling. 855-3444.
Traveling Max Modern Musical Marvel
Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market
John Schrader Band 9:30pm. Acoustic, rock. Backstage Studio Productions, Kingston. 338-8700.
Big Kahuna 10pm. Dance, pop, rock. Ramada Inn, Newburgh. 564-4500.
THE OUTDOORS Taconic Ridge Hike Difficult. Call for time and meeting place. 462-0142.
Mud Pond Hike 9am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
Mohonk Preserve Singles HikeNapanoch Point 9am-4:30pm. Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center, New Paltz. 255-0919.
A Historic Walk through Time 9:30-11:30am. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Annual MHADK Paddlefest
FORECAST
8am-3pm. Rosendale Recreation Center, Rosendale. 658 8982.
9pm. Beatles music. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. 9pm. Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville. 647-3000.
12-4pm. Plum Point, New Windsor. 297-5126.
10am-2pm. Municipal Parking Lot on East Market Street, Rhinebeck. www.rhinebeckfarmersmarket.com.
FILM Darwin’s Nightmare Call for times. Sci-fi/horror film. Time & Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448. $7 general admission/$5 students and members.
MUSIC Benefit Concert for Amma Karunamayi’s Visit to Woodstock 10am-3pm. Steve Gorn playing ragas, Woodstock Kirtan, poetry. Colony Arts Cafe, Woodstock. 679-9457.
Mother’s Day Jazz Brunch 12pm. Featuring Unicorn. Hickory BBQ Smokehouse, Kingston. 338-2424.
Sundad 1-3pm. Acoustic, New Age, World Fusion. Peekskill Coffee House, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
The Kennedys 4pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $20.
Traditional Irish Music
The World of Raptors
4pm. American Legion Hall, Rhinebeck. 876-4429. $8.
1-2pm. Trailside Museum and Zoo. 786-2701.
Joe Medwick’s Memphis Review Featuring Bruce Katz
SPOKEN WORD J. Edward Chamberlin 11am-1pm. Author of Horse: How the Horse has Shaped Civilization. Merrit Bookstore, Red Hook. www.merrittbooks.com.
Talk and Book Signing With Marc B. Fried 1:30pm. Author of “Shawangunk Place Names”. Kingston Library, Kingston. 331-0507.
Poets Bobbi Katz and Carol Graser 2pm. Woodstock Poetry Society meeting. Woodstock Town Hall, Woodstock. pprod@mindspring.com.
Author Alisa Kwitney Reads From Her Novel “Sex as a Second Language” 7:30pm. Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck. 876-0500.
8pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491.
THE OUTDOORS Walking and Wheeling: Hike and Bike The Catskills
WORKSHOPS Fiddle Tune Workshop for Young Melody Players 2-5pm. Old Songs Community Arts Center, Vorheesville. (518) 765-2815. $25.
SUN 14 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Pathwork Spiritual Lecture Reading/ Discussion/Potluck 10:30am. Phoenicia. 688-2211.
Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation 11am. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
DANCE
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350 4” X 5”
POLAROIDS AT THE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK THIS MONTH.
HEADSHOTS
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291.
In December 2002, Ruth Adams was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer that
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike - Top of the Gunks
assignment—to take one self-portrait a day for a year. The resulting show, “unremarkable,” is at the
spreads through the lymph nodes. Adams was 37. Being a photographer, she gave herself an
9:30am-3pm. West Trapps Trailhead, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Center for Photography at Woodstock this month.
Mom’s Day Hike and Rubber Ducky Picnic
realization that it wasn’t the cancer that was going to let people know I was sick; it was the treatment—the
11am-1pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
SPOKEN WORD Poetry Reading 4pm. Bau, Beacon. 440-7584.
2pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491.
MON 15
Hudson River Playback Theatre 8pm. Schultzville Masonic Lodge, Rhinebeck. 255-7716. $10/$8.
DETAIL FROM “UNREMARKABLE” BY RUTH ADAMS, AN INSTALLATION OF
8:30pm. Crest Bar at the Woodstock Lodge, Woodstock. 679-3213.
THEATRE Gypsy
THEATRE Gypsy
RUTH ADAMS
Stroke of Genius
MUSIC Mezzo-soprano Joan Fuerstman 7pm. Bard College, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7250.
“When I was first diagnosed, I didn’t look sick, I didn’t feel sick,” Adams recounts. “I made a very early chemotherapy. I was going to lose my hair, and lose weight, and turn that yellow skin color—‘the cancer pallor,’ I call it. So I wanted to document what I perceived as this horrible decline into illness.” Every day Adams would climb the stairs to her attic, to take a “headshot.” Always, she used the same background—a purple cloth. Some of the photographs have props in them—hypodermic needles, a chair. In three of them, she is holding a puppy. Sometimes she is naked, or clad only in a towel. Occasionally, Adams traveled, and carried her camera with her. We see outdoor views of Portland, Seattle, and Clamath, CA. One photo shows Mount St. Helens. There are exactly 350 Polaroids, all in color, all 4” by 5”. Each photo is dated, and some have short comments written beneath (“Tax Day,” “First faculty meeting”). Adams started photographing on December 20, 2002, her first day of chemotherapy. The chemo ended on May 30, followed by a break, and then a month of radiation treatments. For the rest of the year, her hair and skin began to regenerate. By January 1, 2004—the last photo—she has returned to health.
Open Mike Night with Sharon Klein
For Adams, the daily photograph was part of her cure. “That ritual every day of taking the
7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
photograph, and the progress of one more day towards my goal, was helpful,” she observes. The
Northeast Accordion Rock Tour 8pm. Featuring Uncle Moon and Julza. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. (917) 921-1091.
Half-Naked 8:30-11pm. Acoustic, alternative, experimental, funk, progressive, soul. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
Open Mike Night Featuring Seth Ray 8:30-11:30pm. All genres of music, sign-up starts at 8pm. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
only problem was ending the project. “It was really, really hard to stop,” she admits. “I almost had to force myself.” Ruth Adams teaches photography at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington. She continued teaching throughout her illness. (The title of the show, “unremarkable,” refers to a medical test showing no cancer cells.) “unremarkable” is at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, 59 Tinker Street, until June 4. (845) 679-9957; www.cpw.org. —Sparrow
RUTH ADAMS
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THE PRESENT COMPANY performs
Speak of the Devil A Dramatization of The Devil and Daniel Webster
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Alysabeth Anderson
THE SUNNYSIDE THEATER MAY 5,6,7 SHOW TIMES: Fri. & Sat. 8pm and Sun. 2pm. Call for reservations.
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
FORECAST
62 Plains Rd, New Paltz, NY 12561 / 845.255.9081 www.ThePresentCompany.org
129
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Sitting and Walking Meditation 6-8:30pm. Well-Beingthe Antidote to Spiritual Materialism. Sky Lake Lodge, Rosendale. 255-4005.
Learn Raja Yoga Meditation
The River, Restoration and Rebirth 7:30pm. Garrison Institute, Garrison. 424-4800.
THEATRE Social Security 8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12 members.
7-8pm. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
FILM What Corporate Media Does Not Want You to Know Call for times. Fear and Favor in the Newsroom. Sky Tree Gallery, Kingston. andi@re-media.org.
MUSIC Acid Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio 9:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.
SPOKEN WORD Defying Hitler: The White Rose Resistance
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Evenings of Psychodrama 7:30pm. Open group sessions. Boughton Place, Highland. 255-7502.
EVENTS Women’s Sacred Moonlodge
WORKSHOPS Microsoft Publisher for Fun and Pleasure
FILM Isn’t This a Time
7pm. Presented by Gateway to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows. Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie. 454-1700 ext. 1020.
WED 17 MUSIC Celtic Jam Seisun 7:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
FORECAST
7:30-9:30pm. Student thesis exhibitions. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz. 257-3846.
7pm. Old Dutch Church, Kingston. 338-8131.
Strategic Planning and Writing for Success
SPOKEN WORD Biography of Dorje Paldron and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism 10:30am. Study of the life of Dorje Paldron. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
Luncheon Lecture Series 12pm. Topics on science, the environment, and religion. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7145.
Mood Disorder Support Group 5:30-7pm. Family of New Paltz, New Paltz. 331-0541.
Going Native! 7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Kenridge Farmhouse, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204. $7/$4 members.
WORKSHOPS Natural Medicine: Homeopathic and Herbal 6:30-8pm. Treatment & not well since. Mother Earth’s, Kingston. 688-2976.
THU 18 CLASSES Self-Defense for Women 6-9pm. The Healing Cottage in the Brotherhood Winery, Washingtonville. 496-3020.
MUSIC Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio 8pm. Pamela’s On The Hudson, Newburgh. 562-4505.
Latin Jazz with Estrella 8:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
THE OUTDOORS Bimonthly Mid-Week Hike 3.6 moderate miles. Call for time and meeting place. 677-9909.
SPOKEN WORD Children’s Health 6:30pm. Office of Dr. Aruna Bakhru, Poughkeepsie. 463-1044.
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FRI 19 ART MFA Show II
7pm. Celebrate moon-time bleeding with ritual, song, and dance. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock. http: //www.herbshealing.com.
6-9pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 339-2025.
PHOTO PROVIDED
TUE 16
2003 Carnegie Hall concert to honor Harold Leventhal. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448.
DAN MOUNTAIN AND MARC BLACK.
MUSIC Judy Norman 7pm. Acoustic, folk, rock, jazz. Club Crannell Street, Poughkeepsie. 471-1966.
Acoustic Medicine Show Featuring Denise Jordan Finley 7:30pm. Red Hook Country Inn, Red Hook. 758-8445.
Rolf Sturm 8pm. Blues, folk, jazz guitarist, of the Tony Trischka Band. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
Mamapalooza 9: All Creatures Great & Small
THE OTHER SIDE OF OBLIVION Local musical polymath/chameleon Marc Black met Dan Mountain when he was in Los Angeles scoring music for commercials. Black explains: “Dan had a great reputation as an extremely poetic advertising writer. We became friends and would get together, usually at a bar, and enjoy each other’s company. He has a natural affinity for the multidimensional communication of music and we wanted to do something outside of advertising.” Then Mountain suffered a devastating stroke. Doctors were sure that even if he
8pm. Acoustic, folk, jazz, funk, soul. Crannell Street at the Chance Entertainment Complex, Poughkeepsie. 471-1966.
did emerge from his coma, there was “zero chance for a meaningful recovery.” Twenty-one days passed
Kurt Henry Band
Mountain began writing poetry that expressed what it felt like to journey back from the other side of
8-11pm. Acoustic, alternative, folk, r&b, rock, vocals. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Give Our Regards to Broadway 8pm. A musical salute with love to the Great White Way. Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac. 628-3664. $35/$30 PAC members.
Love Whip 10pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
Reality Check 10pm. Rock. Quiet Man’s Pub, Wappingers Falls. www.rcband.net.
THE OUTDOORS Babes in the Woods Hike 10am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
SPOKEN WORD Tom Lewis 6:30pm. Author of The Hudson. Merrit Bookstore, Red Hook. 677-5857.
THEATRE Gypsy 8pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491.
Mohonk Mountain State Readers Theater Presents Other Places 8pm. Three one-act plays by Harold Pinter. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $11 members/$15 non-members.
Social Security
and Mountain was removed from life support. Miraculously, he woke up and proceeded to rally his will, making an unprecedented bid for survival. After a dramatic and transformative period of adjustment, oblivion. Black created music for these poems, collaborating with Mountain, and the Stroke of Genius Project was born. Black and Mountain worked back and forth, responding to each other’s creativity until they both felt the project was complete. Black recalls, “Dan is hoping to use his second chance to be a positive force.” The result, an album titled Stroke of Genius, is a compilation of 14 tracks that feel like a two-act play, with seven songs on each side of this tale of before and after. Music and lyrics are a perfect fit, and most of the tunes, like the opening song, “These Days,” have spare arrangements that let the simplicity of the music shine through. The song “Rewind” has a spooky intro and complex layers of sound that ring forward into a techno/Frank Zappa-style translation of the experiences of someone who has just returned from space. Black is a musical adventurer, stretching effortlessly between techno-funk jams and classic Americana. He has collaborated with household-name musicians like Richie Havens, Rick Danko, Jack Dejohnette, and Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach). Stroke of Genius, his 10th album, has a roster of music legends performing on it as well. As well as cowriting the album’s songs with Mountain, Black sings and plays guitar. He is joined by Michael Esposito on bass and Theremin; Warren Bernhardt playing piano, organ and synthesizer; Steve Gadd on drums; and John Sebastian contributing harmonica and guitar. The Dixie Hummingbirds perform selected vocals, as do Art Garfunkel and Ellie Brown. On May 13 at 8pm, Unison Arts Center in New Paltz will host a CD-release party for Stroke of Genius. Black will be accompanied by a more compact band: Betty MacDonald on electric violin and Michael Esposito on bass, bicycle, and Theremin. The CD is only part of the story, however. Filmmaker Bahman Soltani has created a documentary following Dan Mountain’s transformation, which will also have its premier screening at Unison on May 13. This film brings the viewer through and the experience that Mountain, his friends, and family faced as
8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/ $12 members.
they finally reached a turning point in his ordeal. The Stroke of Genius Project is a powerful celebration
Witness for the Prosecution
out www.sonicbids.com/marcblack, and www.marcblack.com for the music.
8pm. Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder. Center for the Performing Arts. 876-3080. Adults 20$/Children and Seniors 18$.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
of Dan Mountain’s soul, as well as Mountain’s and Black’s hard work. Black sums up the project: “In a time of darkness, the mind begins to see.” (845) 255-1559; www.unisonarts.org. For film clips check —J. Spica
PHOTO PROVIDED
IMAGES PROVIDED
(LEFT): DEJEUNER SUR L’HERBE, 1863, OIL ON CANVAS, BY EDOUARD MANET, (1832-83) MUSEE D’ORSAY, PARIS. (RIGHT): ROSS KING PHOTOGRAPHED BY JERRY BAUER.
THE IMPRESSION OF IMPRESSIONISM BEW: The style in which you describe the very
But the great irony comes with the current consumption
now resides with his family in a small town near Oxford,
complicated artistic scene of mid-19th-century Paris
of Impressionism, this fascination with nostalgic images
England. While he has a PhD in English literature, he
is very accessible, almost novelistic. How do you
of 19th-century France, seeing it as so many pretty
has always been intensely interested in the history of
approach the telling of this story? Who are your
pictures of quaint subjects—this is exactly the appeal
art. After abandoning the idea of a career in academia,
influences in approaching the writing of nonfiction?
Meissonier’s work had in its own time, as he turned to
he wrote two historical novels (Domino and Ex Libris),
RK: I want to tell stories. As I work on a book, I’m always
look back at courtly bonshommes in 18th-century dress.
which he has followed with a string of successful
interested in plot, character, and action, and so that’s
It’s astonishing how similar the public appreciation of
nonfiction books. Brunelleschi’s Dome chronicled the
the way I put the information together. This is different
Impressionism has become.
Renaissance architect’s feat of completing the Florence
from the sort of writing that art historians and academics
I wanted to take the glow off some of the familiar
cathedral, and the complex social and cultural matrix
produce—they aren’t worried about writing for a broad
canvases, to see how the men who made them were
that enabled it. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling
audience, it’s just not their brief.
flawed and petty, and to understand the everyday
similarly chronicled the painting of the Sistine Chapel,
Back when I was 15 or 16, the first real adult book I
dynamic, the process through which the work was made.
and life in Rome during the early 1500s. His latest foray
ever read was Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy
I’m not interested in writing hagiography of these artists, as many others have done.
into cultural history is The Judgment of Paris, which
[a novelization of the Michelangelo/Sistine ceiling story].
explores the complex cultural ferment of Paris in the
Compared to my work, his books were more fiction-
1860s, which ultimately gave rise to the Impressionist
oriented, kind of “docudrama,” based on historical facts.
movement.
But thanks to Stone’s book, Michelangelo became a —Beth E. Wilson
Beth E. Wilson: How did you make the leap from
character in my head, and that’s an approach that’s carried through in my own nonfiction work.
FORECAST
Author Ross King was born and raised in Canada, and
BEW: What implications does your book have for today’s artists—you know, “here today, Schnabel tomorrow?” RK: The book begs this question in many ways. The lesson I’ve taken from it is that posterity will second
the Renaissance to the 19th century in this latest
BEW: What came as the biggest surprise to you, in
guess us, and will always have the last word. Over time,
book?
your research about the Impressionists?
it’s hard to tell which of our lionized figures will survive,
Ross King: Back when I was writing fiction, I had originally
RK: My book contrasts the fortunes of Edouard Manet
but it’s certain that our grandchildren will take a very
thought of writing a third novel set in late 19th-century
[“father” of the Impressionist movement] and the
different view than we do, and may well denigrate the
Paris, which I never quite got to. I had done some research
incredibly precise academic painter Ernest Meissonier,
people we praise.
for it, however, and picked up the idea again some 10
who was described as the opposite of Manet. They share
It’s absolutely impossible to predict this process—but
years later.
absolutely nothing but the initials “E.M.” One of the art
we should all remember that no matter how high an artist’s
While I didn’t think of it consciously, it occurred to me
critics said there was no room for both of them—either
star may rise, obscurity can still await him.
as I worked on The Judgment of Paris that in fact this
it was one or the other, and that’s the way it turned out.
brought to a conclusion many of the ideas that had started
Meissonier, lionized in his own day and valued as one
Ross King will be reading from and signing his
in Brunelleschi’s Dome and the Michelangelo book. If
of the leading painters of his era, was nearly forgotten a
book at two events in our area: Marist College, in
those were about the birth of a particular representational
decade after his death, while Manet, of course, struggled
the Nelly Goletti Theater, on May 3 at 7pm; Merritt
style, it seemed, the story of the birth of Impressionism
throughout his life, and now has replaced Meissonier in
Bookstore, 57 Front St., Millbrook, on May 6 at 1pm.
brought it to a close.
the public imagination.
(845) 677-5857; www.merrittbookstore.com.
5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
131
Cheryl Wheeler
Social Security
8pm. Morrison Mansion, Middletown. 343-3049. $32/$30.
Call for times. Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper. 688-2228.
Classical Concert with Pianist Warren Bernhardt
8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/ $12 members.
Qigong for Health and Vitality
8pm. Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock. 679-2079. $25/$20.
Call for times. Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper. 688-2228.
SAT 20 ART Painting Demonstration by Garin Baker 3-4:30pm. Wallkill River Art Gallery, New Windsor. 689-0613.
Kevin Cook and Keith Gunderson 6pm. Opening. Mark Gruber Gallery, New Paltz. 255-1241.
DANCE 4th Annual Multicultural Dance Celebration 7-9pm. Break dancing, tango, hip hop, ballet, Chinese cultural, and many more. Kingston High School, Kingston. 3387664. $20/$15 in advance/$10 students and seniors.
Contra Dance 8pm. Celtic, dance, folk, traditional, contra dance music. Arlington Reformed Church, Poughkeepsie. 473-7050. $10/$5.
Freestyle Frolic 8:30pm. Smoke, drug, alcohol, and shoefree environment to a wide range of music. Center for Symbolic Studies, Tillson. 6588319. $7/$3 teens and seniors.
EVENTS Going Green = Saving Green: Rosendale Energy Expo
FORECAST
Call for times. Learn about incentives and new products. Rosendale Community Center, Rosendale. 339-3062. $5.
Third Annual Benefit Fashion Show 5pm/7pm. Benefit the Kent Children’s Center. Kent Children’s Center, Kent, CT. (860) 927-1255.
Pawling Free Library Book Sale 9am-6pm. Over 25,000 books in 35 categories. Pawling. 855-3444.
Antique Machinery, Truck, and Motorcycle Show
8pm. 19th and 20th century love songs. North Pointe Cultural Center, Kinderhook. (518) 758-9234. $20/$16.
Pork Belly Futures 8pm. Fundamental folk, blues, and roots music. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. 8pm. Bluegrass, country. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
United States Military Academy Jazz Knights 8pm. The legendary West Point Jazz Knights. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5262. Free.
Project Mercury 8-10pm. Acoustic rock & modern folk. Chthonic Clash Coffee House, Beacon. 831-0359.
Rusty Boris 8-10pm. Jazz. 410 Espresso Cafe, Rosendale. 658-3659.
Jazz Jam with Peter Einhorn 8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Give Our Regards to Broadway 8pm. A musical salute with love to the Great White Way. Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac. 628-3664. $35/$30 PAC members.
Getting On Featuring Hot Flash 8:30pm. Variety, comedy. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
11am-5pm. Music, art, and the cooking and eating of the shad. Village of Catskill. (518) 622-9820.
The Sky’s the Limit Fundraising Gala 7pm. Cocktail party, buffet, live and silent auctions of artwork. Art Society of Kingston, Kingston. 338-0331. $75.
FILM Isn’t This a Time 2003 Carnegie Hall concert to honor Harold Leventhal. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448.
KIDS Double Vision: Mixed Nuts 10:30am. Kingston Library, Kingston. 331-0507.
The Princess and the Pea 11am. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.
MUSIC Cappella Festiva Chamber Choir & Orchestra 8pm. Mozart: Solemn Vespers and Schubert: Mass in G. Poughkeepsie United Methodist Church, Poughkeepsie. 454-0715.
SUN 21 ART Reverence 4-6pm. International contemporary art. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill. (914)788-1766.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation 11am. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
DANCE Swing Dance Jam 6:30-9pm. White Eagle Hall, Kingston. 339-3032. $5.
EVENTS Pawling Free Library Book Sale 9am-5pm. Over 25,000 books in 35 categories. Pawling. 855-3444.
16th Annual Duck Derby 10am. Benefits Winslow Therapeutic Center “Healing With Horses”. Winslow Therapeutic Center, Warwick. 986-6686. $5.
17th Annual Shad Festival and Hudson River Celebration
9pm. With Daniel Pagdon, bassist. Manna Dew Cafe, Millerton. 789-3570.
100 Years of Fashion
John Gorka 9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300.
Todd Giudice
3-6pm. Fashion show opening for a summer-long exhibit. Old School Baptist Meeting House-Baird’s Tavern, Warwick. 845-986-3236. $25.00.
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291.
Valley to Ridge Birds part two; Ridge Birds 7am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
Mohonk Preserve Singles HikeRock Rift 9am-3pm. Meet at the Spring Farm Trailhead, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Spring Wildflower Walk 2-5pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
SPOKEN WORD Author Susan Richards Reads From Her Memoir “Chosen By a Horse” 5pm. Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Saugerties. 336-8447.
THEATRE Social Security 2pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/ $12 members.
MON 22 CLASSES Learn to Meditate 8pm. Sponsored by the Sri Chinmoy Center. Woodstock Community Center, Woodstock. 797-1218.
MUSIC Open Mike Night with Mark Brown 7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Doug Siegel 8:30-11pm. Acoustic, Celtic, contemporary, folk, pop, solo, soul. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
THEATRE Admit One 7:30pm. Lycian Center for the Performing Arts, Sugar Loaf. 469-2287.
9pm. Folk, roots, Americana. Cubbyhole Coffeehouse, Poughkeepsie. 483-7584.
French Dinner Hosted by the Hurley Heritage Society
WORKSHOPS
Lowry Hamner
5:30pm. Twin Lakes Resort, Hurley. 331-0593. $35.
7-8pm. 4 sessions. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $45 members/$55 nonmembers.
Thunder Ridge
Historic Catskill Point Shad Festival
1:30-3:30pm. With life coach Denise Lewis. Arlington Branch Library, Poughkeepsie. 227-3190.
Denise Jordan Finley
Civil War Encampment
11am-12pm. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
WORKSHOPS De-Clutter De-Stress Your Life
12-5pm. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison. (800) 21-RIVER ext. 231.
9pm. Blues and roots. Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville. 647-3000.
Guided Tour of Historic Huguenot Street Graveyard
8pm. Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder. Center for the Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Tickets $20 adults, $18 seniors and children..
Uncle Wade
9am-4pm. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 266-5212. 10am-3pm. Re-enactment by the 150th New York Volunteers. Bevier House Museum, Marbletown. 338-5614.
132
Music for Fun
Witness for the Prosecution
THE OUTDOORS Songs of Spring: Birding and Wildflower Studies
9-11pm. Country and rock. Hickory BBQ Smokehouse, Kingston. 338-2424.
THE OUTDOORS Kaaterskill Hotel Site 4 easy miles. Call for meeting time, Haines Falls. 339-7170.
Valley to Ridge Birds Part One: Grassland Birds 7am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
Delaware River Paddle 8:30am. Meet at Furniture Options, Goshen. 457-4552.
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Walkabout 5 9:30am-4pm. Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center, New Paltz. 255-0919.
FILM Isn’t This a Time 2003 Carnegie Hall concert to honor Harold Leventhal. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448.
Isn’t This a Time - A Folk Tribute to Harold Leventhal
Acid Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio
Postcards About Summer 2-4pm. Postcard sized-art created by kids and their teachers. Children’s Art Workshop and Gallery, New Paltz. 255-7990.
MUSIC Unplugged Acoustic Open Mike
Cappella Festiva Chamber Choir & Orchestra
SPOKEN WORD Susan Richards, author of “Chosen by a Horse”
3pm. Mozart: Solemn Vespers and Schubert: Mass in G. Lyall Memorial Federated Church, Millbrook. 454-0715.
THEATRE Gypsy 8pm. County Players Falls Theatre, Wappingers Falls. 298-1491.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
TUE 23
KIDS
12-4pm. Difficult 7.5 miles. Call for time and meeting place. (518) 851-9089.
7:30pm. From My Father Married Your Mother: Writers Talk About Stepparents, Stepchildren, and Everyone In Between. Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck. 876-0500.
8-9pm. 4 sessions. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $45 members/$55 non-members.
MUSIC Community Shape Note Sing
YMG Mohonk Rock Scramble
Reading by Four Authors
Fox-Trot Workshop
Features a 2003 concert featuring many of folk music’s leading lights. Time & Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448. $7 general admission/$5 students and members.
Call for times. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.
5pm. The Golden Notebook, Woodstock. 697-8000.
West Coast Swing Dance
Jupiter String Quartet 4pm. Playing Haydn, Bartok and Beethoven. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 297-9243. $25/$12.
7pm. Songs from The Sacred Harp. Holy Cross Church, Kingston. 658-3485.
9:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 2552400.
SPOKEN WORD Mood Disorder Support Group 5:30-7pm. Resource Center for Accessible Living, Inc, Kingston. 3310541.
WORKSHOPS Microsoft Publisher for Fun and Pleasure 6-9pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 3392025.
Technology in Business 7pm. Presented by Gateway to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows. Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie. 4541700 ext. 1020.
Violinist Michelle Makarski 4pm. The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration, Cold Spring. 424-3825.
Tribute to Bill Vanaver 7pm. Featuring Pete Seeger, Natalie Merchant, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, the Klezmatics. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston. 339-6088. $50.
WED 24 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Amma Sri Karunamayi: Spiritual Discourse 6:30pm. Bearsville Theatre, Woodstock. (718) 595-0555.
CHRONOGRAM
WORKSHOPS Loving This Land, Being Saved by the Earth
ROY GUMPEL
& WRITERS; “EVER EVER” WILL BE READ ON MAY 27.
FORECAST
THE ODD FELLOWS THEATER, HOME OF ACTORS
I WON'T GROW UP! “I don’t want ever to be a man, I want always to be a little boy and to have fun,” says Peter Pan in J.M. Barrie’s classic novel Peter and Wendy (most often published now simply as Peter Pan). In the story, Peter invites a young girl, Wendy Darling, to come with him to Neverland and be a mother to his brood of Lost Boys. Wendy’s brothers John and Michael join her in Neverland, and as we all know, many thrilling adventures ensue, some involving the beloved Tinkerbell and evil Captain Hook. In the end, Wendy returns to London, leaving Peter in his perpetual state of pre-adolescence in Neverland. A new play, “Ever Ever,” explores the idea of Peter as a mark of maleness, and treats Peter Pan and Wendy’s relationship as symbolic of male-female relationships. “Peter Pan refuses to grow up,” explains Katherine Burger, author of “Ever Ever.” “He is the consummate solipsist, the eternal self-centered child, and has devolved from J.M. Barrie’s rarefied English icon into a buzzword in popular culture for a man who embodies these traits.” In “Ever Ever,” Burger poses the theatrical question: What would happen if the eternal boy was forced to grow up—if Peter’s pearly white baby teeth fell out, would he remain a child emotionally? Barrie wrote several versions of Peter Pan. In one version, Captain Hook isn’t killed by the crocodile, but goes back to London. It was from this variation that Burger drew inspiration for her play. In “Ever Ever,” Wendy, Peter, and the Lost Boys have grown up, and are living in a flat in New York City. Captain Hook, who has also fled from near-deserted Neverland, is their landlord. Wendy has created a home rich with games and ritual in an attempt to bring the youthfulness of Neverland to New York, but Peter continues to defy aging by living in a world of mourning. He can’t accept the loss of the island, and his magic. The play was written specifically for performance by a six-member theater group in Costa Mesa, California. “The given set-up of five men and one woman, seasoned actors who had evolved beyond ingénue roles, intrigued me,” said Burger. “Looking at their pictures on my wall, I tried to get a sense of who they could be, as a group, as individuals. When I thought of Wendy and the Lost Boys I knew I’d found a template that offered the starting point I needed. I wanted to write about Peter Pan and Wendy, long after the fairy tale has ended.” “Ever Ever” will be performed as part of the Actors and Writers Reading Series at the Odd Fellows Theater in Olivebridge on Saturday, May 22 at 8pm. Actors and Writers is a 26-member ensemble of theater and film professionals who live in the Hudson Valley. Admission is free. (845) 657-9760. —Jenna Hecker
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Learn Raja Yoga Meditation
Murali Coryell
7-8pm. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
10pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
EVENTS Singles Wine Tasting Mixer
Reality Check
8pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
FILM Dinner & A Movie - Spiritual Cinema Circle Call for times. Garden of One, Rensselaerville. (518) 797-3373.
MUSIC Celtic Jam Seisun
10pm. Rock. Pickwick Pub, Poughkeepsie. www.rcband.net.
THEATRE Social Security 8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/ $12 members.
Witness for the Prosecution
7:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
8pm. Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder. Center for the Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Adults 20$/ Children and Seniors 18$.
SPOKEN WORD Biography of Dorje Paldron and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism
WORKSHOPS Raja Yoga Intensive
10:30am. Study of the life of Dorje Paldron. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
Call for times. Peace Village Learning and Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
Valerie Paradiz 7-8:30pm. Author of “Clever Maids: the Secret History of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales”. Rosendale Library, Rosendale. 658-9013.
WORKSHOPS Natural Medicine: Homeopathic and Herbal 6:30-8pm. Childhood Acutes, Earaches, Fevers, etc. Mother Earth’s, Kingston. 688-2976.
THU 25 9am-12pm. Bearsville Theatre, Woodstock. (718) 595-0555.
FORECAST
EVENTS The Joy Of Tea Ceremony and Workshop 7:30-9:30pm. Koto performance and tea workshop led by Joshua Pearl. Mirabai, Woodstock. 679-7599. $15/$20.
MUSIC Jazz Night Featuring The Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio 8pm. Pamela’s On The Hudson, Newburgh. 562-4505.
Latin Jazz with Estrella 8:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
THEATRE Witness for the Prosecution 8pm. Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder. Center for the Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Adults 20$/ Children and Seniors 18$.
FRI 26 DANCE Swing Dance 8:30-10:30pm. Featuring Swingadelic. Poughkeepsie Tennis Club, Poughkeepsie. 454-2571. $12.
EVENTS Candlelight Tours of Historic Huguenot Street 7pm. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
MUSIC Fred Gillen, Jr. 8pm. Folk. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
The Brentano String Quartet 8pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
Big Kahuna 8pm. Dance, pop, rock. The Pavilion on The Hudson, Poughkeepsie. 471-2233.
Helen Avakian 8-11pm. Acoustic, alternative, new age. Maia Restaurant and Lounge, Poughkeepsie. 486-5004.
Mark Brown, “Uncle Buckle” 8-11pm. Acoustic, folk, rock, solo, vocals. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
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ART Craig J. Barber- Ghosts in the Landscape 5-7pm. Artist talk and book launch party. Center for Photography and Woodstock, Woodstock. 679-9957.
Unexpected Catskills 5-8pm. Artists different responses to the Catskill landscape. Kleinert/James Arts Center, Woodstock. 679-2079.
Made In China 6pm. Explore propaganda, global commerce, human rights, and consumerism. Time & Space Limited, Hudson. 518-822-8448. $7 general admission/$5 students and members.
Rosanna Bruno: Paintings 6-8pm. John Davis Gallery, Hudson. (518) 828-5907.
EVENTS Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market 9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
Patent Day with Revolutionary War Reenactors 10am-5pm. Celebrate the 329th anniversary of the signing of the New Paltz Patent. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
Rhinebeck Antiques Fair 10am-5pm. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-1989.
MUSIC Premik Tubbs 5pm. New Age jazz. Woodstock Community Center, Woodstock. 797-1218.
Amadeus 6pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.
Open Mike 8pm. Blues, country, folk, jazz, rock, world. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
Piano Meets Violin 8pm. Lecture and concert. Red Barn Performing Arts, Hunter. (518) 263-4908. $15.
The George Crumb Ensemble 8pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
Jazz Jam with Peter Einhorn 8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Ritchie Colan Band 9pm. Rock and blues. Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville. 647-3000.
Deuce 9pm. Acoustic, oldies, original, rock, rockabilly. Rondoutbay Cafe & Marina, Kingston. 339-3917.
Big Kahuna 9:30pm. Dance, pop, rock. Kingston Holiday Inn, Kingston. 338-0400.
CHRONOGRAM
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Amma Sri Karunamayi: Individual Blessings
SAT 27
THE OUTDOORS Duck Pond Scramble 9am. Moderate 7 miles. Parking Lot at back of Dunkin Donuts, Poughkeepsie. 876-4534.
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Rainbow Falls 9:30am-4:30pm. Minnewaska State Park Preserve Awosting Lot, New Paltz. 255-0919.
SPOKEN WORD I Love You Greene!
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2-4pm. Memorial Day tribute with readings by Jeanne Heiberg and Doreen Perrine. Greene County Council on the Arts, Catskill. (518) 943-3400.
Author Peter Richmond
MUSIC Open Mike Night 7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
Open Mike Night Featuring Seth Ray 8:30-11:30pm. All genres of music, sign-up starts at 8pm. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
TUE 30 MUSIC Saxophonist Rob Scheps & Marvin”Bugaloo” Smith
THEATRE Social Security
7:30-9:30pm. Two jazz Masters join younger players for a jazz jam session. Terrace Tavern, Newburgh. www.robscheps.8m.net.
Witness for the Prosecution
Acid Jazz Night Featuring the Steve Raleigh Jazz Trio 9:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.
8pm. Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder. Center for the Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Adults 20$/Children and Seniors 18$.
SPOKEN WORD Mood Disorder Support Group
SUN 28
WORKSHOPS You Are Not Alone... Available Resources
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Pathwork Spiritual Lecture Reading/ Discussion/Potluck 10:30am. Phoenicia. 688-2211.
Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation 11am. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
5:30-7pm. Resource Center for Accessible Living, Inc, Kingston. 331-0541.
7pm. Presented by Gateway to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows. Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie. 454-1700 ext. 1020.
WED 31 MUSIC Celtic Jam Seisun
11am-4pm. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-1989.
7:30-10:30pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
Olde Hurley Guided Walking Tours
Open Mike Night Featuring Seth Ray
2pm. Hurley Heritage Society Museum, Hurley. 331-0593. $3.
MUSIC Project Mercury 12-6pm. Tribute to Dylan. Warwick Valley Winery, Warwick. 258-4858.
Grand Montgomery Chamber Music Series 3pm. Featuring Robert and Patrick Gupta. Wesley Hall, Montgomery. 457-9867.
Victor Rosenbaum: Piano 4pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
Traditional Irish Music by Banshanachie & Friends 4-7pm. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 658-9048.
James Blunt Benefit Concert 7pm. Belleayre Mountain, Highmount. (800) 942-6904 ext. 406. $25-$100.
Karen Whitman & Rick Pantell CD Release Concert/Party 8pm. Acoustic, eclectic singer/ songwriters. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $10 includes free CD.
THE OUTDOORS Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike High Point 8:30am-4pm. Sam’s Point Preserve Visitor Center, New Paltz. 255-0919.
History Day 11pm. Trailside Museum and Zoo. 786-2701.
THEATRE Social Security 2pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12 members.
Witness for the Prosecution 3pm. Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder. Center for the Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Adults 20$/ Children and Seniors 18$.
FORECAST
EVENTS Rhinebeck Antiques Fair
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8pm. Sponsored by the Sri Chinmoy Center. Woodstock Community Center, Woodstock. 797-1218.
7:30pm. Reading from his biography Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Piggy. Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck. 876-0500.
8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12 members.
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MON 29 CLASSES Learn to Meditate
8:30-11:30pm. All genres of music, sign-up starts at 8pm. Rhinebeck Grille, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.
Saxophonist Rob Scheps & Marvin”Bugaloo” Smith 9:30pm. Two jazz Masters join younger players for a jazz jam session. The Black Swan, Tivoli. www.robscheps.8m.net.
SPOKEN WORD Biography of Dorje Paldron and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism 10:30am. Study of the life of Dorje Paldron. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
THU 1 MUSIC Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons 8pm. Belleayre Mountain, Highmount. (800) 942-6904 ext. 406. $15-$65.
THE OUTDOORS Bimonthly Mid-Week Hike 3.6 moderate miles. Call for time and meeting place. 677-9909.
WORKSHOPS 7 Secrets to a Slimmer and Healthier New You 1-2pm. WIth life coach Denise Lewis. Cornwall Library, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 227-3190.
FRI 2 EVENTS Gandalf Murphy and The Slambovian Circus of Dreams 8:30pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
MUSIC Denise Jordan Finley With Daniel Pagdon 7pm. Folk, jazz, acoustic. High Falls Café, High Falls. 687-7370.
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SAT 3
Flute Force With Ed Sanders and David Alpher 8pm. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.
Leslie Ritter & Scott Petito 8pm. Acoustic, contemporary, folk. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.
Elly Wininger and Elise Pittelman 8-11pm. Blues, contemporary, folk. Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe and Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Dorraine Scofield 9pm. Acoustic, country, folk, pop, solo, vocals. Hickory BBQ Smokehouse, Kingston. 338-2424.
The McKrells 9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300.
Graymoor 10pm. Rock. Mahoney’s Irish Pub, Poughkeepsie. 471-7026.
SPOKEN WORD Don Lev and Phillip Levine Call for times. Calling All Poets series. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 831-0077. $4.
THEATRE Community Playback Theatre 8pm. Improvisation based on real-life stories of audience members. Boughton Place, Highland. 691-4118. $6.
FORECAST
Social Security
136
6-8pm. Photographs and coloages of paper and fabric. Port of Call Gallery, Warwick. 258-4796.
DANCE East Meets West Swingdance Mix
7pm. “After Willoughby Station”. Warwick Valley Winery, Warwick. 258-4858. $10/$13.
Rodgers with Hart and Hammerstein: An Evening of Songs in Matched Pairs 8pm. Quimby Theatre, Stone Ridge. 6872687. $25/$20 seniors.
7-7:45pm lesson followed by open dance. First Presbyterian Church, Highland. 494-0224. $10.
John Schrader Band
EVENTS Spring Garden Party
Big Kahuna
Call for times. Fundraiser for the Garden. Garden of One, Rensselaerville. (518) 797-3373.
9pm. Pop, rock. High Falls Café, High Falls. 687-2699. 10pm. Dance, pop, rock. Ramada Inn, Newburgh. 564-4500.
THE OUTDOORS Minnewaska State Park Hike
Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market
Difficult. Call for time and meeting place. 462-0142.
9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Stony Kill Falls
The Great Millbrook Paint-out and Auction
9:30am-4:30pm. Minnewaska State Park Preserve Jenny Lane, New Paltz. 255-0919.
9am-6:30pm. Watch professional artists paint Hudson Valley scenes, view their work, and buy pieces at auction. The Thorne Building, Millbrook. 471-2550.
Beacon Hill Hike
Family Fun on Historic Huguenot Street
10am-1:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
10-11:30am. Tour the Bevier Elting House. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
THEATRE Social Security
8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/ $12 members.
KIDS Art Fun for Kids
WORKSHOPS Organic Beekeeping
MUSIC
1-5pm. AIR Studio Gallery, Kingston. 331-2662.
A workshop for active beekeepers and beginners. The Pfeiffer Center, Chestnut Ridge. 352-5020 x20.
Folk Music Festival
A Spiritual Approach-Creating Positive Experiences in the Workplace
Cornwall-on-the-Hudson Music & Arts Festival
Call for times. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
ART Seeing Double
Paul Siegel’s CD Release Party
11am-7pm. Sanctuary Coffee House, Rock Tavern. 695-6851.
12-6pm. Blues, progressive, r&b, soul. Donahue Park, Cornwall-on-Hudson. www.river-fest.com.
10am. Scenic 2-mile hike. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-2011.
National Trails Day Writer’s Hike.
8pm. Comedy about an upscale New York art dealer and his wife. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/ $12 members.
WORKSHOPS Organic Beekeeping A workshop for active beekeepers and beginners. The Pfeiffer Center, Chestnut Ridge. 352-5020 x20.
Direction and Inspiration Call for times. Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock. 679-9957.
FORECAST 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
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Planet Waves
Emil Alzamora
BY ERIC FRANCIS COPPOLINO
The Eye of the Nuclear Needle Reader Warning: There are intelligent people who believe that nuking Iran is a good idea. You may be one of them; I don’t know. If so, please don’t take offense. This article is not directed at you, personally. I’m just trying to save the world.
I
cannot believe I even have to spend my Thursday evening writing about this. Or my days thinking about it, for that matter. But, alas, I cannot seem to check my e-mail or any of the news sites without reading about it. I guess it’s better that we’re not being kept in the dark about it. And you have to admit, it’s all pretty suspenseful and awfully exciting wondering whether our species will survive the Cheney/Bush administration, even after Ronnie Reagan rode in on his white horse and personally saw to the downfall of the Evil Empire. I just finished an Instant Message session with an unidentified elder male relative, who grew up during the Cold War doing duck and cover drills as a kid, that went a little like this (after I pointed out the inconvenient fact that Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz were involved in setting up a plutonium program in Iran in the 1970s, under the Ford administration): Unidentified Elder Male Relative: So do you want me to believe that just because the names stay the same, the positions and alliances do, too? Me: It’s very lowbrow politics. These guys are arms traders. UEMR: Maybe, but the one problem with the critics is that they never have any solutions. Me: But this isn’t really a problem. It’s a manufactured crisis. And this is THE classic way to manipulate people, you quickly make an “us” and a “them” and it’s a done deal. UEMR: Tell me some solutions. Me: To what? UEMR: Reducing the threat of terror in the US and around the world, or should we all become Muslim extremists? Me: Iran is a country that can’t even manage to get nuclear power online, and 138 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
I can tell you that a solution is NOT bombing the Islamic world. This is how you make the problem worse. UEMR: It didn’t in Japan. So much for seeking ethical guidance and wisdom from our elders caught in The Spell. No, using nukes didn’t make the problem worse in Japan. Unless you happened to be in Hiroshima that day. Then it made your problem a lot worse, if you even had one. I used to have discussions with my unidentified elder male relative like this when I was five years old. This is why we’re both so good at it. We’ve been practicing since back in the days of Vietnam. So where else do we go for some guidance? If we look to astrology, there are at least three charts to consider. One is the chart for the Islamic Republic of Iran, from April Fool’s Day 1979. The second is a chart called the Nuclear Axis, which is the first time a self-sustaining atomic reaction was created in 1942, under the Manhattan Project. The third is the chart for Hiroshima a few years later. In reporting on these charts, I don’t mean to harsh anybody’s mellow, or interfere with the gradually rising tide of optimism that something good is going to come out of all this insanity that we’re seeing. I’m not here to get in God’s way, to trip Jesus, or draw a picture of Mohammed. Personally, I’m not allowing that to bias my interpretations. Nor am I predicting disaster. I’m just saying slippery when wet, and caution: Don’t stop on the tracks. Putting up a railroad crossing sign is not a prediction that somebody’s going to wipe out at the intersection. To the contrary. And there are quite a few trains going by these days. Here is what the charts say to me. The Iran chart is slightly disturbing, but mostly because it’s confused about some fundamental values and seeks to impose that confusion on other charts.
At first it looks innocent enough, with lots of sweet friendly Pisces, until you notice that there are six planets in the 8th house—the house of death. Say the word ‘death’ six times and then think of Iran and you’ll have a feeling for its chart. So many planets stuffed into the frightening, scary old 8th house, which is a relationship house where we strive to share our values, can make you a little obsessive in that department. It is also the house of sex, and can surely make you obsessive about that as well. Where Iran is concerned, it would seem that death gets higher official approval ratings than sex. You can be executed there for suspicion of being gay. But then, there are places in the United States this has also proven to be true in recent memory. Tucked into that 8th house is a conjunction of Mercury retrograde conjunct Mars. That is backwards rhetoric that should remind us all of the 14th century or so. Mars in Pisces seeks pleasure and creative expression. Mercury retrograde pretty much makes that a real struggle. The conjunction is square Neptune in Sagittarius. Slippery when wet. It turns out that the Nuclear Axis chart and the Iran chart have a lot in common, specifically, many planets placed early in the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces). When these planets come under transit, that is, when the planets where they are now align with the planets back then, the nuclear issue comes up, and it does so dependably. Extremely dependably. Usually there is an accident or a crisis of some kind. Chernobyl is a most unfortunate example, but they haven’t all gone so badly. For example, the June 2000 fire at the Hanford nuclear facility in Washington was a miracle, and a warning. As fate would have it, Uranus and Pluto are currently dancing around the mutable signs (Pisces and Sagittarius, respectively), stirring up both the Iran chart and the Nuclear Axis chart. These are the planets for which uranium and plutonium were named. Uranus is currently tromping all over that array of Pisces planets in the Iran chart’s 8th house. Uranus is always full of surprises, which tend to appear quickly. Often they are solutions or technological breakthroughs, and other times they are simply the unexpected. Pluto, the planet of obsession, is in Sagittarius, the sign of religious fervor, and it’s been making a lot of squares to Iran’s 8th house, and also making a lot of aspects in the Nuclear Axis chart the past few years. So, astrologically, we have something of a setup, at the very least, for the kind of rhetoric we’re now seeing: Iran proud that it’s made enough uranium to light up one of those little green glow sticks; and Washington proud that it has yet another evil country to save us all from. Both leaders are seeing this as the perfect opportunity to dazzle us out of noticing their idiotic choices and low public approval ratings. At the moment, Pluto is squaring both Mars and Mercury in Iran’s 8th house, which in part accounts for their apparent death wish. But it’s largely a head trip. It also accounts for all the talk, talk, talk—Mercury is involved, and you tend to talk about the Mercury aspects you have going on. And Uranus is basically provoking the
Iranian government to be extremely petulant and “independent” and not let anybody boss it around, kind of like a healthy 15-year-old, only this is a grownup country with a lot of guns and rockets. The planet that reveals the prevailing psychology of the moment is Ixion, which is in Sagittarius. You’ve never heard of this planet, about as distant as Pluto and somewhat smaller, unless you have really strange reading habits (such as visiting PlanetWaves.net), but it is a real planet discovered in 2001, and it was named for the first murderer in Greek mythical history. Ixion was brought to Olympus by Jupiter, for rehabilitation, where he hatched a plot to rape Hera, the Queen of Heaven. Ixion had problems, and astrologically, I give this new planet the keywords, “that which we are all capable of.” Ixion getting mixed up in the Nuclear Axis chart has been bugging me for a while, because this is anything but a rational influence. Ixion thinks like a perpetrator, but also reveals that quality of thought. It reveals something of the common thread that runs through the human psyche’s long shadow. In a sense, it does not matter who is wrong or right where Ixion is concerned; the subject matter arises, and we can all become accomplices, just as Zeus was the unwitting accomplice in the attempted rape of his wife (she outwitted the little brat, however). Ixion in this position would be about thinking the unthinkable, and assuming that people are capable of the undoable—that’s exactly the page we’re on. And whether we are actually risking a nuclear volley with Iran (or rather at Iran, since they can only retaliate with glow in the dark stickers at this point), we’re going to see more and more of the twisted psychology emerge that would underlie such a stupid possibility. In a sense, it’s a kind of purge that we’re seeing this kind of thinking come to the surface of consciousness rather than stay stuffed down. Once it comes up, we have a choice. Until then, it remains hidden and we have no choice. Then there is the Hiroshima chart. As you would expect, this is not a particularly pleasant chart. It drips with weight and karma. We need to think about Hiroshima every time we consider the existence of nuclear weapons. When you bring the chart up to date using a dependable method called “secondary progression,” you find out that we’re going through the eye of the nuclear needle. We’re at the end of a long cycle in this chart’s history, spanning about 30 years during which the world was in fact gradually becoming somewhat safer, from the standpoint of nuclear war, and during which time the Cold War ended (the chart is having a New Moon by secondary progression). The end of a long cycle like this does not portend a disaster, but it does raise the issue: What are we really doing at the turning point? What plans are we making for the next cycle? This is the moment of seeding, the nuclear dark of the Moon. Are we sowing the seeds of nuclear war or nuclear peace for the next generation? What will our kids be saying to us in the Instant Message sessions of the future? We are choosing, and we’re choosing now. 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM PLANET WAVES 139
Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino
ARIES
(March 20-April 19)
One theme of your chart for the past 18 months has been becoming what you’ve previously sought outside yourself. In a way, this involves embodying your opposite personality, or opposite qualities. You may want to notice what you seek in others for their soul mate qualities, and observe the way you are striving to become these things as well. What you may notice about this process is that it rearranges your dependency patterns. You may decide you need people for some things you never considered before, and that you don’t need them for other things that you had considered many times. You may also be feeling independent enough to decide that keeping the peace is not as important to you as it was last week or last month, and that you do run the risk of provoking conflict with domestic or intimate partners, particularly if you get the feeling they are keeping score of your transgressions. Proceed with caution.
TAURUS
(April 19-May 20)
For a while, the more truth you seek, the more chaos you may find. In fact, a lot of conflict and deception are wrapped around the simple facts of life, particularly because most people are driven by profit and not by their personal welfare or community necessity. Don’t let that deter you from seeking what is real and meaningful, nor from working for the best for the people around you. The psychic fog will clear quickly enough, leaving you energy and opportunity to pursue your priorities. There are currently profound changes unfolding in your heart and mind regarding your needs in relationships, particularly the whole concept of a “need” and challenging the ways in which you have sought emotional security. The question is, are you willing to sacrifice everything else in order to have some of that? Everything, such as passion, your best ideas, and your most creative dreams? I really hope not.
GEMINI (May 20-June 21) You will need to decide for yourself whether friends and associates have your best interests at heart, or whether they are only out for themselves. This will be complicated in part because, for the first half of the month, you will be less inclined to think of yourself and more inclined toward considering the needs of others—and you may project this tendency onto everyone and everything. Unfortunately, when it comes down to making an educated guess, we usually must assume that self-interest will prevail, but that at least gives us something to work with. Keeping a focus on what you actually need and really want—and making this known to close partners—will actually get both you and them pretty far, even if you have to go against the prevailing winds for a couple of weeks until the Sun arrives in your birth sign and the fog clears.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) This is a time to make some significant progress in your life, and to arrange your priorities in a way that makes some sense. It’s clear that the themes of marriage, commitment, and fidelity are high on your agenda, as if you’ve become a miner for a heart of gold. It’s also true that as much as people say they want these things, most are rarely able to buck up the honesty that it takes to convey that message in deeds rather than words. I suggest you judge people on the messages of their actions rather than what they say. To do that, you’re going to need to listen differently for a while, through observation rather than chatter. Remember that if something happens twice, it’s probably a coincidence. If it happens three times, it’s a pattern. This counts for your actions as well as those of others. Pay attention and see what you notice. www.planetwaves.net 140 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
Horoscopes
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Eric Francis Coppolino
LEO (July 22-Aug. 23)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) You seem to be hatching your plot to change the world. It’s a big one, and there are those times when you resemble a canary sitting on a goose egg. A whole series of recent episodes gave you some indication of what is possible in life, and what the world has to offer, but I think you’re working on something better, something entirely of your own design, and which genuinely expresses the new values you’ve been developing for so long. But I suggest you not fancy yourself too independent from the world or its influences, because you need them. And I suggest that you remember there’s always a bit of the old in what is truly new and innovative. A certain daring individual from your past with whom you now work will soon help you bridge the ever elusive gap between today and tomorrow. Don’t be fooled by this person’s off-putting demeanor or excessive charisma. This person is for real.
LIBRA
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It’s been fairly easy for you to make progress on taking authority over your affairs, but you’ve been operating with a missing factor in the equation. It’s not always easy to see what’s missing, and you will need to follow your intuition. The messages you’re getting seem like the ones people typically see and hear, but ignore. If a relationship seems to be under undue stress for no apparent reason, that is a message. If someone’s statements to you, or yours to them, don’t add up to the whole truth, there is a message you need to notice. Soon enough you’ll discover there is a way to clear the air, but this will happen slowly, steadily, and as a result of some steadfast commitment and solid thinking rather than clearing things up in one easy swipe. Meanwhile, I suggest that your mantra for the foreseeable future be, “Is it true?” You will get your answer.
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(Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
You may have finally decided to show up for a relationship that appears to be falling short of its potential. You may also fear that someone you care about has flown the coop, but I would suggest that what this person is looking for is a deeper level of commitment and involvement—not less, not something casual, but something solid and consistent. The question you may be pondering at this moment is who makes the first move when it comes to getting to the deeper level. I would suggest that the first move has already been made, and it’s up to you to make the next one. But you will need to be sensitive to your timing—principally, the timing of when you are actually ready. I suggest you be ready not just for a new beginning, but also for a real continuation that will be as healthy and productive as you allow yourself to be.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) Nobody could accuse you of being a pushover, but you do have your sentimental side. You also have your protective side, and your in-it-at-all-costs aspect as well. The stars seem to be describing a sacred marriage or partnership of some kind which, in your own heart and soul, is on the level of religious devotion. There may be a lot you have not said about how you feel. There may be certain factors you’re not sure about and are thus reluctant to express. But I can tell you this: The time for making your feelings known has hardly ever been better than it is now. I think you’ll find that anyone with whom you share a deep devotion will be ready to hear what you have to say, and welcoming of it. Just remember, there is enormous passion behind your carefully chosen words and apparently subtle feelings. www.planetwaves.net 5/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM PLANET WAVES 141
Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) There are definitely two ways to handle your current, somewhat delicate situation. I suggest you take the path of least resistance, which may feel like avoidance. I say this not because I think you can’t handle the more challenging way, but because there are too many hidden obstacles. I know you don’t see them; that’s because they’re hidden. The way to get around the obstacles is to follow the natural flow of the energy. This may involve keeping your focus on your work rather than domestic or personal matters; that will help the situation considerably. For one thing, you’ll stay on high ground, emotionally and morally. For another, you’ll get things done, whereas there are plenty of influences right now that could lead you to get absolutely nothing done. I think the equation is simple: Keep your focus, keep your productivity, and keep your power. Then, by no coincidence, you will have it when you need it.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) I hope you’re not feeling left out of the action. On one level it may seem like you’re the odd person out of the game, but there’s something to be said for not having to pick sides. You have plenty of the influence at the moment. Rather than doubt this fact, I suggest you look for confirmation—but don’t waste too much time doing that, either. At the moment, you are anchoring the stability of much progress in the world that would be slipping and sliding without you. In essence, you are holding the energy of the beginning, which is not over and is also necessary to get to the second and third steps—which are slowly materializing. If there is something you need to say over and over again until people hear you, I suggest you speak clearly rather than loudly. And you will be heard.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) If you’re feeling pressure or stress, I suggest you identify the source. It is entirely possible that you’re picking up somebody else’s vibes, concerns, or sadness, when in fact you have every reason to feel safe and secure. There will be occasional moments of clarity when you see precisely what is going on, and then you may suddenly find that you doubt your own assessment or revelation. It’s the doubt that’s the illusion—not the sense of clarity you felt a moment before. What’s important is that you not make major decisions feeling like you’re under some strange pressure that you don’t understand. When in doubt, let a week or two go by. Wait for additional evidence that you’re doing the right thing. Feel your way through the situation tapping into the resources of doubt and faith. Make your next move when you’re ready—and not a moment before.
PISCES
(Feb. 19-March 20)
You certainly have an interesting vantage point right now. You’re under no particular pressure to take action, but you have the option to do so. After the endless strange events earlier in the year, I could see you wanting to size things up and come to clear terms with yourself about how you feel, what you want, and moreover, what you really need. But the world may offer too many opportunities to pass up, and you know this is no time to lay in wait. You can trust that one solid step will lead to another, and that one encounter with an interesting person will lead to the next. But one particular meeting early in the month may hold the key to embarking on your journey to the next level of reality. You’ll know because the circumstances seem to open up and reveal an entire new constellation of possibilities that you had not considered. www.planetwaves.net 142 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM.COM 5/06
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Parting Shot
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669) Self-Portrait in a Cap, Open-Mouthed, 1630 College, Gift of Mrs. Felix M. Warburg and her children.
Etching in black ink on cream laid paper The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar
“Grand Gestures: Celebrating Rembrandt,” an exhibition including 33 works on paper and one etching plate from Vassar College’s permanent collection, and five loaned works, including two drawings, will be on display through June 11 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. “Grand Gestures” features many of the most important etchings in the Art Center’s Felix Warburg Collection of Old Master Prints, a gift to Vassar in 1941 and a highlight of the museum’s permanent collection. The etching above, Self-Portrait in a Cap, Open-Mouthed, is one in a series of small prints from early in Rembrandt’s career when the young artist mimed various emotions and preserved them in etchings. Scholars speculate that these may have been a series of exercises in making a ready store of references for future prints and paintings. “Grand Gestures” also showcases religious scenes, landscapes, and scenes from everyday life and the theater by Rembrandt, including his most well known etching, The Hundred Guilder Print (c. 1649), a stylistically complex work featuring a throng of exquisitely detailed figures surrounding Jesus. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. (845) 437-5632; http://flac.vassar.edu.
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