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A Division of Salisbury Bank and Trust Company
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CONTENTS 10/06 NEWS AND POLITICS
INTERIORS
22 THE RADICAL PRESIDENCY
66 DETOX YOUR HOME
Journalist and former Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal chronicles the unprecendented changes the Bush administration is making to the executive office.
29 BEINHART'S BODY POLITIC Political pundit Larry Beinhart delves into the US government's treatment of journalists covering the Iraq war.
COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 31 BURNING AMBITIONS Shannon Gallagher meets the residents of the Common Fire Housing Co-op, whose Tivoli site was named the greenest building in the Northeast.
37 ART OF BUSINESS
Beth D'Addono explains the green approach to cleaning.
69 BREATHE EASY Melissa Knopper examines the overlooked dangers of indoor air pollution.
WHOLE LIVING GUIDE 100 A TALE OF TEFLON Rose Marie Williams investigates the hidden health threats of Teflon and other non-stick coatings and offers alternatives that don't endanger the family meal.
104 INNER VISION Pauline Uchmanowicz crosses over into the world of spiritual mediumship and talks to local practitionters about communicating with the deceased.
JEFFREY MILSTEIN
Jonathan D. King talks to Carl Frankel, the Kingston entrepreneur behind Carl's List and Our Community Networks.
37 How to Get a Head in Business:
Carl Frankel, founder of Our Community Networks
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CONTENTS 10/06 ARTS & CULTURE
THE FORECAST
42 PORTFOLIO
119 DAILY CALENDAR
Sculptor Hans van de Bovenkamp's colossal works at Yellow Bird Gallery.
44 LUCID DREAMING Beth E. Wilson reports on performance artist Eeo Stubblefield's Who Cares?
47 GALLERY DIRECTORY What's hanging in galleries and museums throughout the region.
54 MUSIC Peter Aaron profiles Newburgh free jazz multi-instrumentalist Kali Z. Fasteau. Plus local scenester DJ Wavy Davy's Nightlife Highlights and reviews of CDs by Altercation Records The 666 Rarities LP, reviewed by Jeremy Schwartz Aliza Hava Rise, reviewed by Sharon Nichols Nancy Donnelly A Greater Love, reviewed by J. Spica.
58 BOOKS Nina Shengold talks to Haitian exile Edwidge Danticat, whose The Dew Breaker is the focus of this year's One Book, One Community project in New Paltz.
56 BOOK REVIEWS Robert Miraldi reviews Cable News Confidential by Jeff Cohen Pauline Uchmanowicz reviews Crawl Space by Edie Meidav Susan Krawitz reviews The Curious Misadventures of Feltus Ovalton by Jo Treggiari
62 POETRY Poems by Julio Peralta-Paulino, Teresa Marta Costa, Christian Ward, Terence Chiesa, Gillian Gorman, Richard Phillips, and Bradley Earle Hodge.
78 FOOD & DRINK Eric Steinman experiments with locavorism, a growing movement that prostyletizes eating food grown within 100 miles of one's home.
Comprehensive listings of local events (daily updates at Chronogram.com). PREVIEWS 119 Beth E. Wilson previews an exhibition of the wire "drawings" of Eric Rhein and frottage by Joy Davis at BCB Art in Hudson. 120 The Hudson Valley Film & Video Festival and Film Columbia further cement the region's reputation as a cineaste's playground. Preview by Becca Friedman. 125 Jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd and the Mongolian Buryat Band perform at SUNY New Paltz's McKenna Theater on October 28. Sharon Nichols previews. 126 Jay Blotcher previews the seventh annual Woodstock Film Festival, October 11-15, with screenings, panel discussions, and parties across the region. 131 Ian Anderson brings Orchestral Jethro Tull to the Ulster County Performing Arts Center in Kingston on October 8. Robert Burke Warren previews. 135 Rebecca Wild Nelson previews the Dissident Folk Festival, October 14-15 at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon. 137 The Gate Theater of Dublin brings its production of Waiting for Godot to Bard's Fisher Center in celebration of the Beckett centenary. Jay Blotcher previews.
PLANET WAVES HOROSCOPES 142 WELCOME TO SYSTEM 2 Eric Francis Coppolino examines the implications of the International Astronomical Union's recent reclassifation of Pluto as a "dwarf" planet. Plus horoscopes.
BUSINESS SERVICES 81 TASTINGS A directory of what’s cooking and where to get it. 93 BUSINESS DIRECTORY
A compendium of advertiser services.
106 WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY
For the positive lifestyle.
140 PARTING SHOT
AMBER S. CLARK
Iceberg #23, a gold-toned gelatin silver print by Lynn Davis.
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Inside a Solatube skylight shaft at the Common Fire Housing Co-op in Tivoli
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EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney bmahoney@chronogram.com ART DIRECTOR David Perry dperry@chronogram.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Peter Aaron paaron@chronogram.com NEWS & POLITICS EDITOR Lorna Tychostup tycho56@aol.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jim Andrews jandrews@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 INTERN Rebecca Wild Nelson PROOFREADERS Laura McLaughlin, Barbara Ross CONTRIBUTORS Emil Alzamora, Larry Beinhart, Jay Blotcher, Terence Chiesa, Amber S. Clark, Eric Francis Coppolino, Teresa Marta Costa, Lynn Davis, DJ Wavy Davy, F-Stop Fitzgerald, Shannon Gallagher, Hillary Harvey, Bradley Earle Hoge, Annie Internicola, Gillian Gorman, Jonathan D. King, Melissa Knopper, Susan Krawitz, Jennifer May, Jeffrey Milstein, Robert Miraldi, Portia Munson, Sharon Nichols, Julio Peralta-Paulino, Richard Phillips, Susan Piperato, Fionn Reilly, Jeremy Schwartz, Eric Steinman, Pauline Uchmanowicz, Christian Ward, Robert Burke Warren, Rose Marie Williams, Beth E. Wilson
SUBMISSIONS CALENDAR To submit calendar listings, visit www.chronogram.com/calendar, 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: October15
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: Succinct queries about stories of regional interest can be sent to bmahoney@chronogram.com. 10 CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
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PUBLISHING FOUNDERS Jason Stern & Amara Projansky PUBLISHER Jason Stern jstern@chronogram.com ADVERTISING SALES Tania Amrod tamrod@chronogram.com, x121 Jamaine Bell jbell@chronogram.com, x112 Ralph Jenkins rjenkins@chronogram.com, x105 MARKETING & PROMOTIONS Elissa Jane Mastel emastel@chronogram.com 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 Julie Novak jnovak@chronogram.com, x102 Teal Hutton thutton@chronogram.com, x106 BUSINESS CONSULTANT Ajax Greene OFFICES 314 Wall St. Kingston, NY 12401 845.334.8600 fax 334.8610 SUBSCRIBE $36 for 12 issues 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
Robert Miraldi is an author and journalist who has taught at SUNY New Paltz for 25 years. His 2003 biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Charles Edward Russell was named the best book in the country in journalism and mass communication. Robert was a reporter for 10 years in New York City, where his reporting earned numerous awards. For eight years he wrote a newspaper column on freedom of speech, which also won numerous national and state awards. In 1992, he was a Fulbright Scholar lecturing in the Netherlands. Robert has a PhD in American Studies. His review of Jeff Cohen’s Cable News Confidential appears on page 56. Becca Friedman lives in Woodstock with her husband and two children. She’s Luminary Publishing’s part-time accounts receivable enforcer. She spends the rest of her time boxing with her trainer, Livingston Bramble; hanging with fantastic people at the Executive Success Program in Albany; reading Bukowski; and writing articles for Chronogram in the middle of the night. Becca’s tandem preview of the FilmColumbia festival and the Hudson Valley Film and Video Festival appears on page 120. Eric Steinman is a Los Angeles native who moved to the Mid Hudson Valley in November 2005. After surviving his first upstate winter, he bought an all-wheel drive vehicle and embraced the region for all of its seasonal wonders and climatic challenges. A former editor at CNet and www.Music.com, Steinman is currently a freelance writer who has contributed to Chow, Bon Appetit, the Los Angeles Times, and Slate, among others. He has also been seen hosting a semi-regular DJ set at Passerby on West 15th Street in New York City. Eric’s chronicle of his experiment in locavorism appears on page 78. Robert Burke Warren is a writer, sometime actor, preschool teacher, musician, and erstwhile Mr. Mom. He has become widely known in the Hudson Valley and beyond as Uncle Rock, and has two CDs available via www.unclerock.com. In the '80s, Robert toured the world as bassist with garage rock titans The Fleshtones; in the '90s, he played the lead role in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story in London’s West End. He has written for the Woodstock Times, Texas Music Magazine, and the Da Capo Press anthology The Concert That Changed My Life. Robert’s preview of Orchestral Jethro Tull appears on page 131.
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ON THE COVER
Chinese Lantern PORTIA MUNSON / SCANNED IMAGE ON RAG PAPER / 2006
Portia Munson's Flower Mandala series has certainly grabbed some attention. And no wonder: at 44 by 66 inches, these prints are hard to miss. “There’s a certain kind of strangeness when you increase the size [of the flowers] which becomes apparent,” she comments. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Munson began this series in 2001, and it has evolved simultaneously with the post-9/11 state of the world. The images are created by laying flowers directly on a scanner used as a large-format camera, and enlarging the scans in high resolution before they’re printed on large rag paper. Munson is used to working big. Her installations also include room-sized heaps of pink plastic and such artifacts as tampon applicators and Barbie-doll brushes. We see a lot of flowers in Munson’s work. Her installation piece, “The Garden,” creates a room of artificial flowers, its ceiling covered in floral-print dresses. The gender statement is not entirely lost once her medium has changed. “Flowers are the sexual organs of plants,” she says. “The flower is attracting bees and bugs to be pollinated and to procreate. I can’t help but play with the flowers. Maybe it’s just natural for me, maybe it’s a little perverse.” So where is the connection between her poignant installation pieces and the evocative flowers on the wall? “Each is about arranging and ordering,” she explains. “Taking things which are common, and changing how you see them based on how they are arranged.” Her current show at SUNY Ulster combines a signature installation, “Pink Project; Mound,” with her Flower Mandala series and several paintings. Munson is represented by the PPOW gallery in Manhattan. Her show will run from October 12 through November 10 in the Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery at SUNY Ulster. (845) 687-5113; www.portiamunson.com. 16 CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
TASTE OF NEW PALTZ: FIONN REILLY; FAMILY FARM FESTIVAL: HILLARY HARVEY; DALAI LAMA: JENNIFER MAY
CHRONOGRAM
SEEN
The events we sponsor, the people who make a difference, the Chronogram community. Here's some of what we saw in September: FAMILY FARM FESTIVAL / TASTE OF NEW PALTZ THE DALAI LAMA VISITS WOODSTOCK
Clockwise from top left: Eric Silver and Marlene Rubins enjoy blowtorched marshmallows at Taste of New Paltz; The Dalai Lama address the crowd in Woodstock; The crowd waiting for the arrival of the Dalai Lama; Sheep at the Family Farm Festival; Story Laurie at the Family Farm Festival; A bread-gator on the Bakery table at Taste of New Paltz.
CHRONOGRAM SPONSORS IN OCTOBER: CHRONOGRAM HALLOWEEN PARTY, WOMEN'S STUDIO WORKSHOP AUCTION, VAMPYRE'S BALL, BREAST CANCER OPTIONS BENEFIT, RANDOM ACTS OF VIDEO. For more info, visit www.chronogram.com Going to be there? Take a picture and if we print it, you'll win a stylish Chronogram tee-shirt! E-mail 300 dpi JPEGS (up to 10MB) to seen@chronogram.com. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM 17
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
In the September issue, we misspelled the name of Livia Straus, co-founder of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill in an article on the Peekskill Project. For more information on the Peekskill Project: www.hvcca.com/peekskillproject. Our apologies for the error.
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For dinner reservations, call Skytop Steakhouse (845) 340-4277 I www.skytopsteakhouse.com For information, visit
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Esteemed Reader Esteemed Reader of Our Magazine: In my column in the September ’06 issue of this magazine I recounted the experience of my partner giving birth to our second child without professional assistance. In response, I received a letter from a reader who felt I had missed something. She wrote: “In my very humble opinion [unassisted childbirth] takes more than just deep self-awareness. It takes the ability to be willing to accept any and every outcome, even if that may be death.” Reading this response gave me a shock—a good, healthy shock that brought my attention into my body. And I quickly saw that this reader’s message applies to much more than unassisted childbirth or other endeavors deemed by the world to be “hazardous.” At least it ought to. Healthy people do not want to die or be responsible for the death of other beings. To the contrary, our desire to live is so deep that we take it for granted. Try asking yourself, “Why do I want to live?” The answer is ineffable. And yet death is coming. It will take this body. It will take everybody you and I know and see. If not today, then tomorrow, or some number of tomorrows. And we need to be ready. I don’t think about death much. When I do it’s more worrisome than frightening—probably because I don’t really face it. Unlike the Samurai, who lived with the principle of facing death in every moment. From Code of the Samurai: “One who is a samurai must before all things keep constantly in mind the fact that he has to die. For existence is impermanent as the dew of evening, and the hoarfrost of morning, and particularly uncertain is the life of the warrior.” This approach of developing a readiness for death is common to many spiritual traditions. Among Christians there are the Jesuits, who, as part of their monastic training, spend hundreds of hours meditating on the image of Jesus hanging crucified on the cross. They visualize, and finally feel they have become Jesus as he suffers in humiliation and pain, bleeding, cooking in the desert sun, and finally, dying. Because of this the Jesuits were the toughest and boldest missionaries. They weren’t afraid to die because they already had. The Sufi’s admonition is to “die before you die.” Their method: to internally relinquish attachment to all the objects of life—the body, other people, possessions, standing—all the items ordinary people work so hard to accumulate. Instead, the Sufis strive to keep all their attention on God, the Beloved—in other words, Life itself. The Sufis were almost always peaceful. But on occasion they joined warriors on the battlefield and were known for their ferocity and bravery. One Sufi fighter in Saladin’s 12th-century battle to retake Jerusalem from the Crusaders is said to have picked up his severed head, placed it back on his neck and continued to fight until the battle was won, at which point, with permission from his sheikh, he died. Death is our blind spot. It is omnipresent, and yet we cannot bear to look at it, let alone make ourselves ready. Instead, we find every means to keep our minds off this subject. Entertainment, work, socializing, the news, food, sex—even religion—whatever means we have to divert our attention from the imminence of our demise. And yet, truly readied for death, we might live richer and more boldly, truer to our innate knowledge, and unalloyed by considerations of what the world says is sensible or possible. We might even come to find our heart’s desire. To further illustrate my point, I present the story of Attar, author of the poetic masterpiece Conference of the Birds. Attar means perfumer, and before he became a Sufi, this was his profession. “There was a perfumer who knew much about how to extract the essence of herbs and flowers in terms of their healing force and power. Over the years, he amassed considerable wealth from this knowledge. His thoughts focused solely on his work and the objects of his wealth. One day, a dervish began singing in the road in front of his shop. He was so busy with work that he did not notice the dervish. The dervish, however, noticed the perfumer. He approached the perfumer, who was standing in his doorway, talking with customers. The perfumer finally noticed him and, assuming he had come for charity, asked how much he would like. The dervish answered, ‘Nothing. I have a question. You may find an answer if you choose.’ The perfumer, surprised by this interruption of his daily routine and by the audacity of the dervish, said, ‘Ask your question but do not keep me too long from my work.’ The dervish said, ‘With all these objects of daily work and wealth you are attached to, how are you going to die?’ The surprised perfumer said, ‘I will die the way you die, the way everyone else will die.’ The dervish said, ‘Are you sure you will die the way I die?’ The perfumer said, impatiently, ‘Of course.’ The dervish said, “This is the way I am dying” and lay down on the ground with his head resting on the wooden bowl he had been carrying. The perfumer, having had enough of this, said, ‘Alright. I have seen you die. Now please get up.’ The dervish gave no answer and remained motionless. The perfumer repeated his demand, then shook the dervish. He soon realized the dervish was becoming cold and that there was no life left in him. The perfumer, astonished, could not understand how one could die out of free will. He arranged a funeral for the dervish and became very thoughtful. Out of awe for the seriousness of what the dervish had done for him, he decided to become a dervish. He searched and asked and wandered about until he heard about a certain sheikh.” The story continues—if you want the rest, send me an e-mail. —Jason Stern 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM 19
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This editorial is going to make some people angry. In the midst of all this fist-pumping and solemn vowing, some things remain unsaid: This is the best thing that could have happened for GeorgeW. Bush. Look, the man wasn’t legitimately elected. His political bungling cost Republicans control of the Senate. [James Jeffords switched from Republican to Independent shortly after Bush’s election.] He has mishandled every issue that has come along. His political fortunes were sinking with the economy. He didn’t even seem to care. But now he has a mandate.The attacks gave him, and the entire country, a purpose.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING On September 20, the United Nations released a report detailing an increase in the evidence of torture on many of the dead bodies found around Baghdad, including “acid-induced injuries and burns caused by chemical substances, missing skin, broken bones (back, hands, and legs), missing eyes, missing teeth and wounds caused by power drills or nails.” Torture is also widespread at Iraqi government detention centers, according to the UN, where detainees showed signs of beatings from electrical cables and “wounds in different parts of their bodies, including in the head and genitals, broken bones of legs and hands, electric and cigarette burns.” The report also revised upward the number of civilian deaths in the months of July and August in Iraq to 6,599 from an earlier report. Source: United Nations In its September issue, the journal of the Academy of Management Learning and Education published a study on cheating by students in the US and Canada; the study defined cheating as copying the work of other students, plagiarizing, or bringing prohibited notes into exams. The study found that business students are more likely to cheat than their counterparts in other academic fields; according to the study, in fact, 56 percent of the 5,300 graduate students who participated in the study admitted to cheating in the past year. Lead author, Prof. Donald McCabe, told Reuters that in their survey comments, business school students described cheating as a necessary measure and the sort of practice they’d likely need to succeed in the professional world. “The typical comment is that what’s important is getting the job done. How you get it done is less important,” McCabe said. “You’ll have business students saying, ‘All I’m doing is emulating the behavior I’ll need when I get out in the real world.’” Source: Reuters
Our religious fanatics aren’t so different from their religious fanatics. Bin Ladin tells his followers that killing Americans will cause them to go to heaven. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blame the terrorist attacks on gays, pagans, abortions, and the ACLU, all of which have caused God to stop protecting the USA. The next time some Christian terrorist blows up an abortion clinic, will our president declare war on Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson? We feel powerless. For a mighty country about to kick some major butt—just as soon as we decide whose butt needs kicking—we feel mighty powerless, don’t we? Why? Three reasons: 1) Deep down inside, we know we’d probably be safer if we refrained from kicking some major butt this time. 2) The major butt-kicking that’s about to commence is completely out of our control. 3)We can’t trust our government to kick the right butts, for the right reasons, and tell us the truth about it. Our president is trying to manipulate us. We weren’t attacked, as Bush claims, because we are a beacon of freedom and democracy.The Swiss are free, but you don’t see anyone blowing up watch factories. Also, evil cannot be eradicated from the face of the earth.That’s not an attainable goal, and it wasn’t a goal at all one month ago. And it isn’t really our goal now. Is it? In the current issue, Sidney Blumenthal, author of How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime, reviews the record of the current administration, including such lowlights as the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, media bullying, Guantanamo Bay, silencing political opponents via leaks, secret CIA prisons, Abu Ghraib, etc., ad infinitum. (An excerpt from Blumenthal’s book can be found on page 22.) We continue to strive to be a “diverse and antagonistic” force. After my talk, someone in the audience suggested that we should publish the piece every year in our September issue as a reminder. Not a bad idea. The full text of Todd Paul’s editorial from our October 2001 issue is available in the archives at our website. —Brian K. Mahoney
On September 20, Reuters donated $100,000 to NewAssignment.net, an experiment in open source journalism started by New York University professor Jay Rosen. Rosen’s idea is to draw “smart mobs”— groups of people configured to share intelligence—into collaboration at NewAssignment.Net and pursue “stories the regular news media doesn’t do, can’t do, wouldn’t do, or already screwed up.” In Rosen’s model, a network of volunteer citizen journalists, by combining their intelligence and dividing up the work, can team up to create compelling journalism outside the mainstream news paradigm, though Rosen concedes, “I think that’s most likely to happen in collaboration with editors and reporters who are paid to meet deadlines, and to set a consistent standard.” Dean Wright, senior vice president and managing editor for Reuters online, is optimistic about the prospects of open-source journalism: “By having citizen contributors, it’s a bit like having an army of stringers and sources at your disposal, generating tips and story ideas, and then taking another step: Gathering information in a volume and across geographies that a traditional news organization would find very difficult, if not impossible.” NewAssignment will launch in early 2007, according to Rosen. Source: NewAssignment.net Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen on his way home from a Tunisian vacation was seized by US authorities at Kennedy Airport on September 26, 2002. After 10 days of questioning, Arar was flown to Jordan and taken overland to Syria, where he was held for 10 months and tortured by Syrian officials. During his imprisonment, Arar confessed to having trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, a country that he had never visited. Syria released Arar in October 2003 and returned him to Canada after concluding that he had no ties to terrorism.
Glen Wilson
Last month, I gave a speech at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh on the role media consolidation has played in narrowing the range of political discourse while putting profits above journalism. I also spoke about the importance of independent media to serve as a dissident voice. (As Ben Bagdikian exhaustively notes in his book, The New Media Monopoly, in 1983, there were 50 dominant media corporation in the US; today there are 5: Time/Warner, News Corp., Viacom, Bertelsmann, and Disney.) It’s a subject I speak on fairly often, and one that serves three main purposes: 1) It gets me out of my office where I can directly engage readers and students in conversation about what media means in the contemporary moment and listen to their feedback. 2) It offers me an opportunity to inflate the importance of my job as the editorial director of an alternative magazine. 3) It allows me to shamelessly promote Chronogram as an example of what Justice Hugo Black referred to in the landmark media ownership case Associated Press v. US as a “diverse and antagonistic force” that he viewed as “essential to the welfare of the republic.” I gave the talk the week of September 11, in the midst of the patriotic hoopla and the often tearful remembrances of that that tragic day five years ago. Hoping to relate the commemoration in some way with Chronogram, I looked back to the magazine we published directly following the attacks, our October 2001 issue. I found a remarkable editorial written by one of our editors at the time,Todd Paul. It’s not the most elegantly written article, nor is it the most thoughtful political analysis we’ve ever published. But the editorial is clear, plain-spoken, and one of the pieces I am proudest of having published in this magazine. It’s also surprisingly prescient. I read it in its entirety at Mount Saint Mary.The editorial is titled “Unsaid Things: Why I’m Not Angry at Osama bin Laden.” It is excerpted below.
YOEL MEYERS
Editor’s Note
A Canadian government commission looking into the curious case of Maher Arar issued a report on September 18. (The Bush administration refused to cooperate with the commission.) The commission found that Arar first came to the attention of Canadian authorities on October 12, 2001, when he met with a man under surveillance by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). According to Arar, the men spoke of finding cheap printer cartridges, but the meeting set off an investigation of Arar which resulted at the end of October with Arar and his wife, an economist, on a “terrorist lookout” list, despite the evidence linking Arar or his wife to terrorism. The RCMP then alerted US border officers that Arar and his wife were “Islamic extremists suspected of being linked to the al Qaeda movement” and that Arar had visited Washington around September 11. Arar’s case is not the only instance of a terrorism suspect, abducted by the US government and removed to a willing US ally for interrogation, who was later exonerated. Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, was arrested by police in Macedonia in December, 2003 because his name was the same as that of another man suspected of terrorist links, and because Macedonian police believed he was carrying a false passport, according to former and current intelligence officials and US diplomats. He was held for five months in Afghanistan. After determining al-Masri was not a terrorist, he was flown to Albania, where he was dumped on a deserted road without money or identity papers. Both al-Masri and Arar have filed suit against either the CIA or the US government, though both suits have been dismissed by federal judges, who accepted government claims that the cases had to be dismissed because national security would be imperiled if the court looked into the rendition of the wrongly imprisoned men. Sources: New York Times, Washington Post
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NEWS & POLITICS World, Nation, & Region
THE RADICAL PRESIDENCY How Bush Rules By Sidney Blumenthal No one predicted just how radical a president George W. Bush would be. Neither his opponents, nor the reporters covering him, nor his closest campaign aides suggested that he would be the most willfully radical president in American history. In his 2000 campaign, Bush permitted himself few hints of radicalism. On the contrary; he made ready promises of moderation, judiciously offering himself as a “compassionate conservative,” an identity carefully crafted to contrast with the discredited Republican radicals of the House of Representatives. After capturing the Congress in 1994 and proclaiming a “revolution,” they had twice shut down the government over the budget and staged an impeachment trial that resulted in the acquittal of President Clinton. Seeking to distance himself from the congressional Republicans, Bush declared that he was not hostile to government. He would, he said, “change the tone in Washington.” He would be more reasonable than the House Republicans and more moral than Clinton. Governor Bush went out of his way to point to his record of bipartisan cooperation with Democrats in Texas, stressing that he would be “a uniter, not a divider.” Trying to remove the suspicion that falls on conservative Republicans, he pledged that he would protect the solvency of Social Security. On foreign policy, he said he would be “humble”: “If we’re an arrogant nation, they’ll view us that way, but if we’re a humble nation, they’ll respect us.” Here he was criticizing Clinton’s peacemaking and nation-building efforts in the Balkans and suggesting he would be far more restrained. The sharpest criticism he made of Clinton’s foreign policy was that he would be more mindful of the civil liberties of Arabs accused of terrorism: “Arab-Americans are racially profiled in what’s called secret evidence. People are stopped, and we got to do something about that.” This statement was not an off-the-cuff remark, but carefully crafted and presented in one of the debates with Vice President Al Gore. Bush’s intent was to win an endorsement from the American Muslim Council, which was cued to back him after he delivered his debating point, and it was instrumental in his win22 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
ning an overwhelming share of Muslims’ votes, about 90,000 of which were in Florida. So Bush deliberately offered himself as an alternative to the divisive congressional Republicans, his father’s son (at last) in political temperament, but also experienced as an executive who had learned the art of compromise with the other party, and differing from the incumbent Democratic president only in personality and degree. In his second term, Clinton had the highest sustained popularity of any president since World War II, prosperity was in its longest recorded cycle, and the nation’s international prestige high. Bush’s tack as moderate was adroit, shrewd, and necessary. His political imperative was to create the public perception there were no major issues dividing the candidates and that the current halcyon days would continue as well under his aegis. Only through his positioning did Bush manage to close to within just short of a half-million votes of Gore and achieve an apparent tie in Florida, creating an Electoral College deadlock and forcing the election toward an extraordinary resolution. The Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore, by a five-to-four margin, perversely sanctioned not counting thousands of votes (mostly African-American) as somehow upholding the equal protection clause of the 15th Amendment (enacted after the Civil War to guarantee the rights of newly enfranchised slaves, the ancestors of those disenfranchised by Bush v. Gore). In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia argued that counting votes would cast a shadow on the “legitimacy” of Bush’s claim to the presidency.The Court concluded that the ruling was to have applicability only this one time. By its very nature, it was declared to be unprecedented. Never before had the Supreme Court decided who would be president, much less according to tortuous argument, and by a one-vote margin that underlined and extended political polarization. BYE-BYE BIPARTISAN The constitutional system had ruptured, but it was widely believed by the political class in Washington,
including most of the press corps, that Bush, who had benefited, would rush to repair the breach. The brutality enabling him to become president, while losing the popular majority, and following a decade of partisan polarization, must spur him to make good on his campaign rhetoric of moderation, seek common ground and enact centrist policies. Old family retainers, James Baker (the former Secretary of State who had been summoned to command the legal and political teams in Florida) and Brent Scowcroft (elder Bush’s former national security adviser), were especially unprepared for what was to come, and they came to oppose Bush’s radicalism, mounting a sub rosa opposition. Bush lacked a mandate, but he proceeded as though he had won by a landslide. Immediately upon assuming office, Bush launched upon a series of initiatives that began to undo the bipartisan traditions of internationalism, environmentalism, fiscal discipline, and scientific progress. His first nine months in office were a quick march to the right. The reasons were manifold, ranging from Cheney and Rumsfeld’s extraordinary influence, Rove’s strategies, the neoconservatives’ inordinate sway, and Bush’s Southern conservatism.These deeper patterns were initially obscured by the surprising rapidity of Bush’s determined tack. Bush withdrew from the diplomacy with North Korea to control its development and production of nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Colin Powell, after briefing the press that the diplomatic track would continue, was sent out again to repudiate himself and announce the administration’s reversal of almost a decade of negotiation. Powell did not realize that this would be the first of many times his credibility would be abused in a ritual of humiliation. Swiftly, Bush rejected the Kyoto treaty to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming, and presented a “voluntary” plan that was supported by no other nation. He also withdrew the US from its historic role as negotiator among Israelis, Palestinians, and Arabs, a process to which his father had been particularly committed. In short order, Bush also reversed his campaign
REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH RESPONDS TO A QUESTION FROM A REPORTER DURING A NEWS CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, DC, ON AUGUST 21, 2006.
promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and canceled the federal regulation reducing cancer-causing arsenic levels in water. He appointed scores of former lobbyists and industry executives to oversee policies regulating the industries they previously represented. MAYBERRY MACHIAVELLIS As his top priority Bush pushed for passage of a large tax cut that would redistribute income to the wealthy, drain the surplus that the Clinton administration had accumulated, and reverse the fiscal discipline embraced by both the Clinton and prior Bush administrations. The tax cut became Bush’s chief instrument of social policy. By wiping out the surplus, budget pressure was exerted on domestic social programs. Under the Reagan administration, a tax cut had produced the largest deficit to that time, bigger than the combined deficits accumulated by all previous presidents. Bush confronted alternatives in the recent Republican past, the Reagan example or his father’s responsible counterexample of raising taxes to cut the deficit; once again, he rejected his father’s path. But, unlike Reagan, his decision to foster a deficit was completely deliberate and with full awareness of its consequences. Domestic policy adviser John DiIulio, a political scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, who had accepted his position in the White House on the assumption that he would be working to give substance to the president’s rhetoric of “compassionate conservatism,” resigned in a state of shock.
“There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus,” DiIulio told Esquire magazine. “What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. Besides the tax cut the administration has not done much, either in absolute terms or in comparison to previous administrations at this stage, on domestic policy. There is a virtual absence as yet of any policy accomplishments that might, to a fair-minded non-partisan, count as the flesh on the bones of so-called compassionate conservatism.” After just four months into the Bush presidency, the Republicans lost control of the Senate. Senator Jim Jeffords ofVermont, who had served for 26 years as a moderate Republican in the House and the Senate, left his party in response to Bush’s radicalism. “In the past, without the presidency, the various wings of the Republican Party in Congress have had some freedom to argue and influence and ultimately to shape the party’s agenda. The election of President Bush changed that dramatically,” Jeffords said on May 24, 2001. Overnight, the majority in the upper chamber shifted to the Democrats. By September 10, Bush held the lowest job approval rating of any president to that early point in his tenure. He appeared to be falling into the pattern of presidents who arrived without a popular mandate and lasted only one term. The deadliest foreign attack on American soil transformed his foundering presidency.The events of September 11 lent Bush the
aura of legitimacy that Bush v. Gore had not granted. Catastrophe infused him with the charisma of a “war president,” as he proclaimed himself. At once, his radicalism had an unobstructed path. Bush’s political rhetoric reached Manichaean and apocalyptic heights. He divided the world into “good” and “evil.” “You’re either with the terrorists or with us,” he said. He stood at the ramparts of Fortress America, defending it from evildoers without and within. His fervent messianism guided what he called his “crusade” in the Muslim realm. “Bring them on!” he exclaimed about Iraqi insurgents. Asked if he ever sought advice from his father, Bush replied, “There’s a higher Father I appeal to.” POLITICS OF POLARIZATION After September 11, the American people were virtually united in sentiment. Support for the Afghanistan war was almost unanimous. “The nation is united and there is a resolve and a spirit that is just so fantastic to feel,” said Bush. But two weeks after he made this statement, in January 2002, his chief political aide, whom he called “The Architect,” Karl Rove, spoke before a meeting of the Republican National Committee, laying out the strategy for exploiting fear of terror for partisan advantage. “We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America’s military might and thereby protecting America,” said Rove. His strategy was premised on the idea that Republicans win elections by maximizing the turnout of their conservative 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM NEWS & POLITICS 23
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FORMER CIA OPERATIVE VALERIE PLAME LISTENS TO QUESTIONS AT A NEWS CONFERENCE AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB IN WASHINGTON, DC, ON JULY 14, 2006. PLAME SUED VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY, TOP WHITE HOUSE AIDE KARL ROVE, AND OTHERS FOR THEIR ROLES IN DISCLOSING HER CLASSIFIED CIA EMPLOYMENT.
base; his method was to polarize the electorate as much as possible. Rove’s tactic was to challenge the patriotism of Democrats by creating false issues of national security in which they could be demonized. September 11 gave his politics of polarization the urgency of national emergency. Bush’s politics sustained his remaking of the government that had been the agenda of his vice president from the start. Even before September 11, when “wartime” was used to justify secrecy, Bush resisted transparency. He fought in the courts the disclosure of the names of the participants onVice President Dick Cheney’s energy panel. Kenneth Lay, Enron’s chief executive officer, was among them. Enron was the biggest financial supporter of Bush’s political career, before that had been a partner in Bush’s oil ventures and provided its corporate jets to the Bush campaign for its Florida contest. Bush, who referred to Lay as “Kenny Boy,” claimed he didn’t get to “know” him until after he became governor and then hardly at all. Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were the prime movers behind the concentration of power in the executive. Their experience going back to the Nixon presidency had imbued them with belief in absolute presidential power, disdain for the Congress (“a bunch of annoying gnats,” Cheney called its members, of which 24 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
he had once been one), and secrecy. Executive power was rationalized by a radical theory called the “unitary executive,” asserting that the president had complete authority over independent federal agencies and was not bound by congressional oversight or even law in his role as commander-in-chief. Bush constructed a hidden world of his “war on terror” consisting of “black sites,” secret CIA prisons holding thousands of “ghost” detainees deprived of legal due process and approved methods of torture. Cheney insisted it was necessary to go to “the dark side,” as he called it. TORTURE, DOMESTIC SPYING, THE DISAPPEARED Attorneys in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice wrote numerous memos to justify the “unitary executive” and the president’s unfettered right to engage in torture and domestic spying. Bush’s White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales (appointed attorney general in the second term) derided the Geneva Conventions against torture as “quaint” and Bush overruled strenuous objections from the military, Secretary of State Powell, and senior officials in the Department of Justice in abrogating US adherence to them. Indeed, Bush signed a directive stipulating that as commander-in-chief he could determine any law he wished in dealing with
those accused of terrorism. Revelations of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were the tip of the iceberg of the vast network of the detained and disappeared. The International Committee of the Red Cross was forbidden access. Those at the top of the chain of command were shielded from legal accountability while a few soldiers and the female general in charge at Abu Ghraib were offered up as scapegoats. After FBI agents witnessed gruesome spectacles of torture at Guantánamo, the Bureau issued orders that it would not participate in this netherworld. At the same time, Bush ordered the National Security Agency to conduct domestic spying dragnets outside the legal confines of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act and without seeking warrants from the FISA court. Conservative lawyers within the Justice Department wrote memos justifying the practice on the same grounds as they had rationalized torture—the right of the commander-in-chief to do as he saw fit. Once again, the presidency was construed as a monarchy. Bush and Cheney argued publicly that operating outside the FISA court might have prevented the terrorist attacks of September 11, though nothing stopped the administration from getting warrants to eavesdrop on calls from the United States to al Qaeda before or after. Foreign policy was captured by neoconservative
ideologues, a small group of sectarians rooted in the hothouse environment of the capital’s right-wing think tanks. Its principals had been fired from the Reagan administration after the Iran-contra scandal and banished from the elder Bush’s administration, but Bush rewarded them with positions at the strategic heights of national security. These cadres operated with a Leninist sensibility following a party line, engaging in fierce polemics, using harsh invective, and showing equal contempt for traditional Republicans and liberal Democrats. Cheney acted as their sponsor, protector, and promoter. Under his aegis, they ran foreign policy from the White House and the Pentagon. Secretary of State Colin Powell was sidelined. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, inserted by Cheney, blocked Powell’s initiatives and spied on him and his team, reporting back to the Office of the Vice President. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made a separate peace and turned the National Security Council into an augmented force for Cheney and the neocons. Meanwhile, Republican realists, including elder Bush’s closest associates such as Brent Scowcroft, were isolated or purged. The 60-year tradition of bipartisan internationalism was jettisoned. After the Afghanistan war against the Taliban, the administration elevated into a “Bush Doctrine” the policy of preemptive attack, previously alien to the principles of US foreign policy and expressly rejected as dangerous to the nation’s security by presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy during the Cold War. TELLING LIES, SILENCING CRITICS In the run-up to the Iraq war, an internal campaign was waged against professionals of the intelligence community and diplomatic corps who still upheld standards of objective analysis and carrying on the traditions of US foreign policy. Intense political pressure was applied to them to distort or suppress their assessments if they contained caveats and to give credence to disinformation fabricated by Iraqi exiles favored by the neoconservatives. A special operation of neocons was set up at the Pentagon, the Office of Special Plans, to “stovepipe” information directly into theWhite House without passing through the analytical filter of the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Cheney made several unprecedented personal visits to CIA headquarters to try to intimidate analysts into certifying the disinformation.The caveats and warnings of the State Department’s Intelligence and Research Bureau, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Energy, and the intelligence services of Germany and France were all ignored. In making its case for war the administration stampeded public opinion with false and misleading information about Saddam Hussein’s possession and development of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. Later his National Security Adviser Rice (promoted to secretary of state in the second term) admitted that President Bush had made a false statement in his 2003 State of the Union address about Iraq’s seeking uranium to produce nuclear weapons.Yet Bush, Cheney, Rice,
and other officials had constantly suggested that Hussein was linked to terrorism and those behind the attacks on September 11. Secretary of State Powell’s best-case presentation before the United Nations was later proven to contain 26 major falsehoods. Not a single substantial claim he made turned out to be true. He explained he had been “deceived.” He called it the biggest “blot” on his record. It was certainly the lowest point of US credibility. In 2003, the disillusioned Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill, the former CEO of Alcoa, a traditional business-oriented Republican, published a memoir, The Price of Loyalty, recounting that the deficit was deliberately fostered as a political tool contrary to economic merits. He disclosed that the invasion of Iraq was raised at a National Security Council meeting 10 days after the inauguration. And he described the president among his advisers as being “like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people.” The administration’s response was to investigate O’Neill for supposedly unlawfully making public classified materials. It was a patently false charge, he was exonerated, but it succeeded in changing the subject and silencing him. In July 2003, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote an op-ed article in the NewYork Times detailing that he had been sent on a mission by the CIA before the Iraq war to Niger, where he discovered that the administration claim that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase enriched yellowcake uranium there for building nuclear weapons was untrue. Despite his report and that of two others the president insisted in his 2003 State of the Union that Hussein was in fact seeking uranium for nuclear weaponry. The counterattack against Wilson was swift. A week after his piece appeared the conservative columnist Robert Novak wrote that “two senior administration officials” had informed him thatWilson’s wife,Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative, had been responsible for sending him on his mission.The intent was somehow to cast aspersions on Wilson’s credibility. (For his service as the acting US ambassador in Iraq during the Gulf War, elder Bush had called him “a hero.”) The disclosure of Plame’s identity was an apparent felony against national security, a violation of the Intelligence Identity Protection Act, and soon a special prosecutor was appointed, and the president and the vice president were interviewed, along with much of theWhite House senior staff. Cheney’s chief of staff and national security adviser, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Bush’s war on terror melded with his culture war at home. Never before had a president attempted so vigorously to batter down the wall of separation between church and state. Faith was as important in sustaining Bush’s politics as fear. Evangelical ministers and conservative Catholic bishops turned their churches into political clubhouses. At the behest of Karl Rove, right-wingers put initiatives against gay marriage on the ballot in 16 swing states that were instrumental in maximizing the vote for Bush there in the 2004 election. Near the end of the campaign, a senior White House aide explained the “faith-based” 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM NEWS & POLITICS 25
school of political thought to reporter Ron Suskind, who wrote in the New York Times Magazine: “The aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.’ I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued.‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out.We’re history’s actors. And you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.’” THE WAR ON SCIENCE No other president has ever been hostile to science. Russell Train, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator under presidents Nixon and Ford, observed, “How radically we have moved away from regulation based on independent findings and professional analysis of scientific, health and economic data by the responsible agency to regulation controlled by theWhite House and driven primarily by political considerations.” Bush’s opposition to stem cell research was just the beginning of his enmity toward science. The words “reproductive health” and “condoms” were forbidden from appearing on websites of agencies or organizations that received federal funds. At the Food and Drug Administration, staff scientists and two independent advisory panels were overruled in order to deny the public access to emergency contraception. At the Centers for Disease Control, scientifically false information was posted on its website to foster doubt about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing HIV/AIDS. At the President’s Council on Bioethics, two scientists were fired for dissents based on scientific reasoning. At the National Cancer Institute, staff scientists were suppressed as the administration planted a story on its website falsely connecting breast cancer to abortion.The top climate scientist at NASA, James Hansen, longtime director of the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was ordered muzzled after he noted at a scientific conference the link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.The president also suggested that public schools should equally teach evolution, the basis of all biological science, and “Intelligent Design,” a pseudo-scientific version of creationism. “I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” Bush said. In February 2004, 60 of the nation’s leading scientists, university presidents, medical experts, and former federal agency directors from both Democratic and Republican administrations, including 20 Nobel laureates, issued a statement entitled “Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking.” It declared: “The distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends must cease if the public is to be properly informed about issues central to its well being, and the nation is to benefit fully from its heavy investment in scientific research and education.” FEAR AND TREMBLING IN THE MEDIA The Bush White House, drawing harsh cautionary lessons from the Nixon experience, considered the press an extremely dangerous enemy that must be treated with contempt—isolated, intimidated, and, 26 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
if not made pliable, discredited. The administration favored Fox News and other conservative media, using them as quasi-official government propaganda organs. Joining the long project by the conservative movement, the administration sought to bring the press into disrepute and marginalize it. If journalists did not support the administration’s talking points or operate from its premises, they were assailed as unfair and biased. As giant corporate conglomerates with extensive holdings in industries subject to all manner of government regulation, media outlets were sensitive to pressure from the administration.The effort to make the mainstream media compliant was so dedicated that even Cheney himself called corporate owners to complain about individual correspondents and stories. (In 2005, Time Warner, which owns CNN, hired Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s chief of staff, Timothy Berry, as its chief Washington lobbyist.) Reality was often too radical and threatening for many in the press to venture covering. Those who dared were frequently thrust into fierce conflicts. Some were subject to legal investigations by the Justice Department (for example, the NewYork Times for reporting on Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance and the Washington Post for reporting on secret prisons for detainees). Some were even subjected to innuendo and invasions of private life (for example, after broadcasting a story on Army morale an ABC News reporter was outed as gay by right-wing gossip columnist Matt Drudge, who claimed he was given the information by a White House source). A gay prostitute without journalistic background, carrying press credentials from a phony media operation financed by right-wing Texas Republicans, was granted access to the regular White House press briefings and the press secretary employed the tactic of calling on him to break up the questioning of legitimate reporters. The White House also funneled federal funds to conservatives posing as legitimate journalists and commentators. Bush’s chairman of the Public Broadcasting System, Kenneth Tomlinson, drove distinguished journalist Bill Moyers off the air for his heretical views and approved a show for the Wall Street Journal editorial board. Tomlinson commissioned an enemies list of “liberal media” on PBS in order to guide purging the network. (Tomlinson resigned in November 2005 after the Inspector General of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting found he had violated PBS rules by meddling in programming and contracting.) By containing and curbing the press, Bush attempted to remove another constitutional check and balance on his power. A CHANGED PRESIDENCY Bush’s appointments to the federal judiciary were an attempt to reverse the direction of the law for at least 70 years. Nearly all of his nominees were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative group of lawyers who seek to propagate certain doctrines and advance each other’s careers. One of these doctrines is called “originalism,” the belief that the intent of the framers can be applied to all modern problems and lead to conservative legal solutions.Yet another is called the “Constitution in exile,” a school of thought that argues that the true Constitution has been suppressed since President Franklin D. Roos-
evelt began naming justices to the Supreme Court and that its hidden law must be revived. One of Bush’s judiciary appointments, Janice Rogers Brown, lecturing before a Federalist Society meeting, referred to the New Deal as the “Revolution of 1937,” and denounced it as “the triumph of our socialist revolution.” It was hardly a surprise that Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, federal appellate court judge Samuel Alito, was a proponent of the theory of the “unitary executive” and a wholehearted supporter of executive power. Bush has deliberately sought to institute radical changes in the character of the presidency and American government that would permanently alter the constitutional system. He used the “global war on terrorism” to impose a “unitary executive” of absolute power, disdainful of the Congress and brushing aside the judicial branch when he felt it necessary (for example, his domestic surveillance outside the FISA court). He issued many “signing statements” (a device originally designed by Samuel Alito when he served as an aide in the Reagan Justice Department) to express his own understanding of the meaning of enacted legislation and how the executive branch would or would not enforce it.The BushWhite House concept of the executive was the full flowering of the imperial presidency as conceived by Richard Nixon. Bush’s radicalWhite House depended on one-party control of the Congress. The Republican Congress supported the consolidation of executive power, even at the expense of congressional prerogatives. Oversight was studiously neglected. On any matter that might cause irritation to the White House, hearings were not held or quashed. The intelligence committees and the House Armed Services, among other committees, covered up administration malfeasance.The Senate Intelligence Committee skewed and distorted its report on intelligence leading into the Iraq war to acquit the administration of responsibility and refused to conduct a promised investigation into administration political pressures on the intelligence community. The Republicans in Congress enforced discipline by creation of a pay-for-play system. Lobbyists, trade associations, and law firms were told that unless they contributed to Republican campaign funds and hired Republicans they would be treated with disfavor. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay developed this political machine, called the K Street Project, to a high degree of control over Washington, until he was forced to resign his post due to indictment for criminal campaign fundraising practices. Bush’s presidency was uniquely radical in its elevation of absolute executive power, dismissal of the other branches of government, contempt for law, dominant power of the vice president, networks of ideological cadres, principle of unaccountability, stifling of internal debate, reliance on one-party rule, and overtly political use of war. Never before had a president shown disdain for science and sought to batter down the wall of separation between church and state. None of it seemed in the offing upon Bush’s inauguration in 2001.Yet these actions were not sudden impulses, spontaneous reactions or accidental gestures. They were based on deliberate decisions intended to change the presidency and government fundamentally and forever. George W. Bush’s father, Reagan’s vice president and successor, George H.W. Bush, pointedly blackballed the neoconservatives from his administration. Yet the son George dusted off Reagan’s discredited
REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL HOLDS UP A VIAL THAT HE DESCRIBED AS ONE THAT COULD CONTAIN ANTHRAX DURING A PRESENTATION TO THE UN ON FEBRUARY 5, 2003. POWELL’S SPEECH, WHICH PRESENTED THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S CASE FOR GOING TO WAR WITH IRAQ TO DISARM IT OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, WAS LATER PROVEN TO BE BASED ON FALSE EVIDENCE.
zealots and their doctrines to provide him with reasons for a war of choice in Iraq. His rejection of his father’s realism in foreign policy was pointed and that rejection signaled a larger radicalism. Nothing like Bush’s concerted radicalism has ever been seen before in the White House. Never before has a president so single-handedly and willfully been the source of national and international crises. In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt wrote a sympathetic biography of Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the short-lived English republic of the 17th century. While Roosevelt admired many of Cromwell’s intentions to create representative government, he described how Cromwell’s volatile temperament undermined his virtuous goals. “In criticizing Cromwell, however, we must remember that generally in such cases an even greater share of blame must attach to the nation than to the man.” Roosevelt continued: Self-governing freemen must have the power to accept necessary compromises, to make necessary concessions, each sacrificing somewhat of prejudice, and even of
principle, and every group must show the necessary subordination of its particular interests to the interests of the community as a whole. When the people will not or cannot work together; when they permit groups of extremists to decline to accept anything that does not coincide with their own extreme views; or when they let power slip from their hands through sheer supine indifference; then they have themselves chiefly to blame if the power is grasped by stronger hands. The tragedy that Theodore Roosevelt described is not reserved in its broad dimensions to Britain. Roosevelt wrote his history as a lesson for Americans, who had been spared the travesties of the English revolution. Instead of Cromwell, we had Washington. Ultimately, a people are responsible for its leaders. Bush’s legacy will encompass a crisis over democracy that only the American people can resolve. Sidney Blumenthal is a journalist who served as senior advisor to Bill Clinton from August 1997 to January 2001. This article is excerpted from his latest book, How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime (Princeton University Press, 2006). 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM NEWS & POLITICS 27
Commentary
Beinhart’s Body Politic
THE WAR FOR CIVILIZATION When this government doesn’t like what a media organization has to say, it will bomb their offices. It throws journalists in prison and holds them without charges. You would think that as a matter of self-interest, of self-protection, our media would be howling. They are silent. Or, if someone did protest, his management would back him up. But when a top executive did, he was gone. Proving that it’s best never to say that America does bad things. Does that sound over-the-top? Here are the facts: On November 14, 2001, the Northern Alliance took the city of Kabul from the Taliban. While the people poured into the streets to celebrate, long and loud, a US warplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on the offices of Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera was the first nongovernmental, truly independent news organization in the Arab world. It modeled itself on the BBC and CNN. When it first appeared the United States applauded. We here in the United States know from American television and newspapers, that all our bombs are smart. They only hit military targets selected by Donald Rumsfeld, who as a guest of PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on March 21, 2003, gushed, “Ah, the humanity of it,” in reference to the bombing. Hardly anyone dies. Certainly not civilians. But across the Arabic-speaking world, where Al Jazeera is the news source of choice, they have a different impression. During the Afghanistan invasion, Al Jazeera showed footage of the effects of American bombs, including the corpses of children burned to death in Jalalabad. Al Jazeera also played tapes from Osama bin Laden.That may have served his propaganda purposes, but it also informed viewers of what he actually said. Al Jazeera also broadcasts what George W. Bush and Condoleeza Rice say. Al Jazeera is based in Qatar. Colin Powell, who was then secretary of state, went to the Emir of Qatar and asked him to shut Al Jazeera up. Powell was not the first. Jordan, Bahrain, and Morocco had all complained and even shut down the network’s local offices. The emir told Powell that he had refused their complaints and that he kept a hands-off policy because democracy “requires you have free and credible media and that is what we are trying to do.” According to Ron Suskind, in The One Percent Doctrine, the CIA found that unsatisfactory. At the CIA, they said, “Well, let’s talk to them in a way they understand.” The Kabul, Afghanistan, offices of Al Jazeera were in the middle of a residential district.They had given the coordinates to the US military so that there would be no mistakes. Nonetheless, as the Taliban was driven out of Kabul the bombs fell exactly there. “Inside the CIA and theWhite House,” reports Suskind, “there was satisfaction that a message had been sent to Al Jazeera.” The NewYork Times did not mention the bombing of Al Jazeera in Kabul. I found a mention of it in the Washington Post, four years later. It was in a column by Howard Kurtz: “Yes, I know the US bombed Al Jazeera’s Kabul office during the 2001 war, but I have no reason to disbelieve the explanation that it was an accident.” He was referring to it in reference to discounting a story that still another Downing Street memo had George W. Bush talking about bombing Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Qatar and Tony Blair talking him out of it. That memo has never actually been published. But the man who leaked it was prosecuted under the UK’s Official Secrets Act and the Daily Mirror has been ordered not to publish any further details about it, according to the paper’s November 22, 2005, edition. It wasn’t on NBC, ABC, Fox News or CNN. 28 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
PHOTO: DION OGUCT
BY LARRY BEINHART
On April 8, 2003, two US missiles were fired at Al Jazeera’s Baghdad offices. Tarek Ayoub, in the middle of taping his broadcast, was killed. His cameraman was wounded. Once again, Al Jazeera had carefully informed the US military where its offices were. For its employees’ own protection, it was thought. Although it was reported by the BBC and mainstream British newspapers, The NewYork Times gave the story a pass. A web search does not reveal any stories about it from any of the other mainstream media sources in the United States. The three years of the Iraq war have been tough on journalists. Eighty-six have been killed. In 20 years in Vietnam, only 63 journalists were killed. Thirteen of the journalists in Iraq were killed by US forces. According to the Boston Globe, “In August 2003, US troops shot Mazen Dana, an award-winning Palestinian cameraman for the Reuters news agency, after he had received US permission to film outside of Abu Ghraib.A military investigation said the soldier who shot him acted reasonably, noting that the soldier saw a man with ‘dark skin and dark hair’ and mistook his camera for a grenade launcher.” Reporters Without Borders notes that in Vietnam, as in most previous wars, journalists were killed by accident, but in Iraq they are being targeted. They do not specifically accuse the United States armed forces of doing so. In every case the American military has ruled such killings to be accidents, inevitable in the fog of war, and determined that the American servicemen involved have acted correctly. Who is to say otherwise, barring a smoking gun? Someone did. Or he at least raised the question. Jordan Eason was chief news executive at CNN. He’d been there since 1986. He is credited with many of CNN’s successes in becoming a worldwide news organization. In November 2004, at a conference in Portugal, he said that US forces were arresting and torturing non-coalition journalists. Especially Arabic ones. Reuters reported on March 20 that several journalists were taken by US troops, stripped, beaten, threatened with rape, and forced to do humiliating things like putting their fingers in their own anuses and then being made to put them in their mouths. Eight journalists are on record as being detained.Three were released. Five are still being held without charges. Shipped off to the black hole of Guantanamo Bay. On January 27, 2005, Eason gave a talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In off-the-record remarks, he is reported to have said that US troops were targeting journalists in Iraq. That was reported on a blog at the political website www.truthout.org. Eason tried to backtrack. He said he never meant to say that the troops were doing such things deliberately. Nonetheless, the pressure was relentless. Two weeks later, after nearly 20 years as one of CNN’s best, he had to resign. Thomas Jefferson believed in the power of the press and said many things like, “The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.” Jefferson was also aware of how a despotic government could use the press to manipulate the people; “that government always kept a kind of standing army of newswriters who without any regard to truth, or to what should be like truth, invented and put into the papers whatever might serve the minister.This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper.” Which country do we live in? The one Mr. Jefferson was trying to invent, or the one that he rebelled against?
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30 COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK
BURNING AMBITIONS
Common Fire Housing Co-op Keeps it Green
A
paint-splattered desk sits in the center of a hay-strewn field of new grass. An early-September breeze slips through the far treeline, leaving a wake of gently trembling leaves like soft applause in an amphitheater. As though obliging his audience, Tom Caplan emerges from the house, laptop, water bottle, and throw pillows in hand. Propping the pillows on either side of the computer screen to block the midday sun, he begins typing. “He’s writing a play,” Kavitha Rao says, her eyes cast down to the yard where Caplan sits. With a lingering look that is at once proud and curious, the type of expression reserved for mothers watching their children at play, Rao leaves her roommate to his work and heads down the sunlit hall. She stops in the doorway of the bright kitchen where two young women sit at its large island, both leaning toward each other in focused conversation. They pause to acknowledge Rao as one humorously professes, “We’re talking about revolution!” Still dressed in sweats from the yoga class she taught that morning, Rao sits perched on a chair on her balcony, overlooking some of the 25 acres of foreverwild conservation land surrounding her Tivoli home, the Common Fire Housing Co-op. The greenest building in the Northeast, the Co-op was awarded a Platinum rating by the US Green Building Council; the 3,600-square-foot home uses 50 percent less energy than the average home of its size due to features such as geothermal heating, cellulose insulation, and Solatube skylights. Rao and her husband, Jeff Golden, and seven other roommates moved into the house upon its completion this past summer. With the belief that solidarity builds on the power of the individual, Rao and Golden founded the co-op to create a space in which individuals working for social change can support and learn from one another while living in an environmentally conscious way. Tucking a long strand of jet-black hair behind her ear, Rao speaks to the idea of holistic activism, approaching all issues of social injustice and environmental degradation as if connected by a thread. “How do we make it so that this commitment to our values is in all parts of our lives, and not just something we do on the streets when we’re protesting, or that we do in our office work, or in our lifestyle choices, but something more consistent?” she asks. “And how do we model that and make that easier for everyone to be a part of?” By living communally, Common Fire’s residents reduce their ecological
by Shannon Gallagher photos by Amber S. Clark
footprint while encouraging their lifestyle choices to embody the values they demonstrate in their work. It also requires that interpersonal relationships within the house reflect the same values, making their home a source of inspiration, support, and growth. Kate Griffith, a lawyer at the Workers’ Rights Law Center (WRLC) in Kingston, was one of the first two people accepted to the co-op. Introduced to Rao and Golden through an aquaintence at WRLC in August 2005, Griffith recalls never having given much thought to how environmental issues may affect the work she does representing low-wage and immigrant workers in the Hudson Valley. “Before [Common Fire] it was just ‘good farm, bad farm’ based on how they treat workers,” she admits. But sharing a home with Miriam Latzer, who runs Hearty Roots Community Farm in Tivoli, and seven others with varying diets and food philosophies, Griffith now professes a much broader awareness of agricultural issues and food politics. Though matters of sustainable farming may not affect the practicalities of Griffith’s daily work, sharing a home with others who have dedicated themselves to working against social injustice does. “Being in an environment that supports that struggle and understands...” Griffith trails off, shaking her head, seemingly unable to put into the words the immense value she gets from the co-op. “Imagine I was married, with three kids, living in Chicago or New York or wherever,” Caplan offers, sitting in his open-air, self-proclaimed office. “When would I have the opportunity to learn about the experience of an African-American college student [roommate Thalia Forbes]?” Caplan revels in the simple fact that his new home allows him to interact with people he may not otherwise meet. He goes on to further explain how the most casual of interactions with his roommates—cooking together, playing table tennis, dinner conversation—offers a most intimate and valuable spectrum of perspectives. A practicing Zen Buddhist who does anti-bias, pro-diversity experiential workshops for people working in schools, Caplan very anecdotally talks about the ways people judge each other and how such filters are often the underlying enemies of social progress. Just as high schools are divided into cliques or cities by socioeconomics, Caplan insists that even the most passionate of liberal circles are rendered ineffective by the perceptions of difference in focus or method; but Common Fire, he says, “is a rich stew.” 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 31
32 COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
THALIA FORBES, JEFF GOLDEN, KAVITHA RAO, AND ANYA RASKIN, IN FRONT OF THE COMMON FIRE CO-OP. PREVIOUS PAGE: HANGING OUT IN THE COMMUNAL KITCHEN AT COMMON FIRE.
R
ao and Golden met in San Francisco in the late ’90s when Rao, just graduated from college, joined Golden’s inaugural nonprofit The Odyssey, an educational organization inspired by Golden’s experience teaching at Mission Hills High School, which suffered from a 65 percent drop-out rate. Recognizing the Eurocentric nature of the curriculum, Golden saw a need to provide students, and teachers, with a more current and engaging world view. In January of 1999, as Golden was neck-deep in the politics of creating and running a successful nonprofit, Rao and a handful of other volunteers left on the WorldTrek, a journey through South America, Africa, and the Middle East. The WorldTrek volunteers wrote articles that were posted on The Odyssey’s website, offering up-to-date information on various political realities, highlighting grassroots movements and everyday people doing inspiring work for their communities. Rao recalls being brought to tears in the presence of these people who she saw doing such incredible work. “Time and time again they would be saying, ‘Don’t thank me. I’m not doing anything special. This is my family, this is my community. Of course I should be doing this. I don’t need extra attention for this.’” Rao spent two years on WorldTrek. During the trip, Rao and the other volunteers were detained overnight in a South African prison when they arrived from Buenos Aires, having not yet purchased the tickets that proved they intended to eventually leave the country. Rao was also detained in an evacuated Israeli airport when a broken part of her computer was mistaken for a bomb. Mishaps aside, she returned to the US with new eyes as to the distinction between activism as a hobby and activism as a way of life; she also found a renewed inspiration for Common Fire, which she and Golden had been discussing before she left on WorldTrek. “It seemed that the way [most activists] lived their lives wasn’t as harmonious and just as the stuff we were supposedly working toward.” In 2001, Golden was offered a job as the executive director of the Jonas Foundation, which runs Camp Rising Sun in Rhinebeck. The facility is a social-service summer camp for teenagers from around the world. The couple moved to the East Coast, and while Golden expanded upon his experience building effective nonprofits, Rao got involved with the Fellowship for Reconciliation (FOR), a nonviolence organization for which she facilitates youth workshops. Her work with FOR, and with Be Present, an Atlanta-based organization dedicated to facilitating dialogue across lines of racial difference, contributed significantly to the founding principles of the co-op and continues to feed Rao’s own need to deepen her commitment to her own values. “By thinking about the conscious and unconscious ways we let society’s ills, race, gender, class, all of these things, affect who we are, we can strive to really be present with understanding all the ways we let those things affect how we view our own potential for leadership and for action in the world,” she explains. While Rao applauds her husband’s ability to throw himself so entirely into the strategic behind-the-scenes work required to run an organization like Common Fire, she is quick to admit she craves the hands-on nature of the program, in which she seeks to inspire and challenge youths to higher standards of communication, awareness, and acceptance. While 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 33
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CAPTION
THE KITCHEN IS THE COMMUNAL HUB AT COMMON FIRE.
Golden plans on spending the next two years developing Common Fire’s board of directors, which he sees as the roots to the nonprofit’s tree, Rao hopes to develop the organization’s youth programs and retreats for change-makers. It is their hope to procure more land where they can run Common Fire’s intergenerational trainings and retreats; there is also the desire to build more green co-ops across the country modeled on the one here in the Hudson Valley. “Common Fire is not the silver bullet. There is no silver bullet,” Golden confesses. “But how can we move anything forward in a progressive, transformative way without doing the kind of work Common Fire is doing? These are the fundamental stages in which real transformative changes can happen. It’s about sustaining your spirit.” By holding each other, as Golden puts it, “tenderly yet firmly,” Rao, Golden, and the residents of the co-op, despite the pessimism and skepticism of others, have challenged themselves to be everyday models of what altruism looks like when it walks its talk. In times where the desire to create positive change is often deemed too idealistic or unrealistic, Rao and Golden remain optimistic, and not without cause. With a lanky arm, Golden gestures toward the woods where Rao says Golden retreats to even in the winter, when the computer gets to be too much. He smiles and recites one of he and Rao’s favorite quotes, “‘If you have an idea for something you want to do in the world, don’t go home and sleep on it. Do it. Immediately.’” On October 15, from 3 to 6pm, the Common Fire Foundation will host an Open House at its co-op in Tivoli, with tours, music, and special guest Julia Butterfly Hill. For more information: www.commonfire.org. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 35
36 COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
THE ART OF BUSINESS
THE POWER OF US Our Community Networks by Jonathan D. King photos by Jeffrey Milstein
H
era first met Carl Frankel, who proudest achievements. The other is his she playfully referred to as “the business—or as he refers to it, his social Mayor of Uptown Kingston,” enterprise—Our Community Networks, at swing dance lessons. The Woodstock which has a two-part mission statement: artist has also attended Frankel’s popu1) To build local community; and 2) To lar community gatherings from their support local businesses. He created the inception in 1999. “Being a sculptor, I system from a desire to see the rising tide am something of an entrepreneur,” she of the free-market economy truly lift all said. “I thought these gatherings were boats, not just the yachts. great because I found [them] a way to One can get an idea of the complexmeet other entrepreneurs and network ity of his business philosophy from the with people who were young and vital to central ideas in Out of the Labyrinth. The the Kingston community. It attracted me Cliff Notes version follows: Everyone is enough that I actually bought a house in comprised of three personae that live in Kingston.” Although she eventually sold a quest for balance—the Strategist, the the house, Hera said that she even landed Seeker, and the Citizen. The Strategist a tenant through Frankel’s e-newsletter, pursues goals in the objective domain; the Carl’s List. Citizen participates in the social domain; Frankel’s community gatherings beand the Seeker quests for meaning. Inhergan with the Ulster County transplant ent in the psyche of each of us is this triad getting a group of his friends together of subpersonalities. Frankel believes that for a monthly dinner at a now defunct true community could be the lynchpin of OUR COMMUNITY NETWORKS FOUNDER CARL FRANKEL uptown Kingston restaurant, The Tapbalancing these personae through cultiping Frog. It was as casual a concept as Frankel’s patronizing a restaurant he vating an interactive network of socially responsible businesses to help people liked and getting his friends together to break bread. He started an e-mail list break through society’s fragmentation. to inform people of the dinner times and it rapidly transformed into something Taking tangible steps to make this ideal community a reality, in addition to greater. We met on an afternoon in mid-August on the patio of Frankel’s the Carl’s List free classified service Frankel has also used his extensive contacts home in Kingston, where he told me, “I began collecting people’s e-mails to to build a network of service providers and retailers who accept a discount card announce these parties, and before I knew it I had this little e-newsletter go- called the Hudson Valley Passport. For a $40 initial investment, the card gets ing. The next thing I know, people started asking me, ‘Will you announce I consumers 10 to 25 percent off purchases at participating businesses. At this am selling a futon?’” point Frankel claims over 250 local businesses honoring the card, with more And thus was born Carl’s List, as a complimentary community newsletter, signing up daily. named by others as a playful poke at Craig’s List, the popular online classified “We are a network- and partnership-based organization, and we are setting ad service. In essence it has evolved into something very similar, with an added out to build relationships with organizations that will reach out to their congoal of fostering a sustainable community in the Hudson Valley. stituents,” he enthused. “Because it is all about building community. It takes a “I had never been community-minded, but I had over 1,000 people on my community to make this happen. And when people realize that they can save mailing list. There were 60-80 people showing up for my community parties,” money, that’s a great motivator to grow this.” Frankel explained. “I just woke up and realized that it was a success, even It’s free for businesses to sign up so long as they pledge a discount to holders though I hadn’t really tried to make it a success. I was just filling a need that of the Passport. It’s typically a 10 percent discount, in essence taking the cost of the community [had], and all of a sudden I found myself to be this node in the tax off of purchases at participating businesses. In addition, Frankel is committed local information network.” to taking 10 percent of his profits and putting them into promoting local comAs a struggling fiction writer in the late 1980s, the Princeton and Columbia merce in an attempt to create a positive-feedback loop. Among the businesses Law alum was supporting himself through technical writing when he decided that have signed up are Kenco sporting goods, New World Home Cooking to devote himself to eco-writing, focusing on sustainable and socially respon- and Le Canard Enchaine restaurants, the Golden Notebook bookstore, and the sible businesses. He became enamored with the idea of saving the concept of Harvest Café, as well as several service providers and health practitioners. He community in a disjointed age, an age that he viewed as a product of corporate even has deals in the works with a few larger local retailers. globalization. The major results of this interest were Frankel’s two nonfiction “We are inclusive thinkers,” Frankel said. “The world is full of negativity and books, 1998’s In Earth’s Company: Business, Environment and the Challenge of Sus- opposition to everyone, but what we are about is positivity and inclusive thinking tainability and Out of the Labyrinth (2004), which Frankel claims as one of his two and finding language to bring people to the same table. There is something in it 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 37
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CARL FRANKEL SITS AT ONE OF HIS FAVORITE COMMUNITY NETWORK SPOTS, BREAD ALONE IN UPTOWN KINGSTON.
for everyone, regardless of what their politics are. If people just want to save money, by using the card they don’t have to give a hoot about the community, and they can save hundreds of dollars a year just from joining.” Saving money is universal, something that everyone can grasp. For the most part, it is Frankel himself who does the majority of the dealmaking, strategizing, and marketing, with the help of a small support staff. Further postulating on the focus and goals of OCN, he said, “I don’t want to sound grandiose, but what we are doing here is laying the infrastructure for a postglobal capitalism corporate economy. We are creating alternative trading systems through Carl’s List and we are creating a local network of people who can trade and barter and do various things amongst themselves, whether it is shopping at locally owned stores or engaging in peer-to-peer exchange through Carl’s List.” And his potluck community parties are still happening affairs. A recent gathering at the Enchanted Manor Bed & Breakfast in Woodstock was the largest yet, with over 200 in attendance, and featured drumming and a bonfire. One of the attractions of the party is that there is an open “sharing” time for people to verbally announce their future additions to Carl’s List. Listings announced might include anything from art openings to adoptable pets. “We live in a world where we are at ideological loggerheads, and it is creating a paralysis in terms of preventing our ability for progress in society,” Frankel said. “But I am not interested in creating a business that is going to be ‘us against anybody.’ In reality, although we are a counterpoint to the national brands and malls, I don’t think of the Barnes and Nobles of the world as the enemy. That’s not a useful conversation. How I look at it is, Barnes and Noble doesn’t need our help. But the Golden Notebook could use it. I’m here for our neighbors.” Frankel’s ideal of empowering the community to aid people in taking charge of their lives has a simple motto: “The Power of Us.” His ultimate goal is to morph business into a force that is not destructive, but, rather, a dynamic agent of positive change. And it all arose from one of the first places of true community, the dinner table. The result is a system that gives people the framework to be in commercial relationships with one another on a personal basis. Oh, and it can save you money. Information about Our Community Networks is available at www.ourhudsonvalley.net, where you can also sign up for Carl’s List. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM COMMUNITY NOTEBOOK 39
40 PORTFOLIO CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
OCTOBER 2006
ARTS & CULTURE CHRONOGRAM
Hillary Harvey
Portfolio, page 42 “Your boundaries and your dreams, as you realize them, just get bigger.” —Hans Van de Bovenkamp
Roadway Confluence, Hans Van de Bovenkamp, aluminum, 40’ x 16’, 1976.
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PHOTO OF HANS VAN DE BOVENKAMP BY HILLARY HARVEY
Portfolio Hans Van de Bovenkamp
Hans Van de Bovenkamp moved to the US from his native Holland in the late 1950s, eventually settling in the Ulster County hamlet of Tillson after a fire destroyed his studio in Lower Manhattan in 1969. Trained as an architect, Van de Bovenkamp has spent the bulk of his 50-year career as a sculptor, creating oversized forms in stainless steel, bronze, and aluminum. Van de Bovenkamp, whose work is held in public and private collections from Boca Raton to Bratislava, speaks often about the spiritual dimension of his work, and sees art as a dialogue between “matter and spirit.” His most recent work, influenced by menhirs—tall standing rocks, like the collection of stones at Stonehenge—is an exploration of sensual organic forms that reference myth, dreams, and symbols. In 1998, Van de Bovenkamp left Tillson, where he had built an authentic Balinese house in the shadow of the Shawangunks, for the east end of Long Island, where he lives with his wife and collaborator Siv Cedering on a seven-acre farm-cum-sculpture park in Sagaponack. An exhibit of Van de Bovenkamp’s sculpture will be on display at Yellow Bird Gallery in Newburgh through November 12 (www.yellowbirdgallery.com). Van de Bovenkamp is represented locally by the Elena Zang Gallery in Shady. Portfolio at www.vandebovenkamp.com. —Brian K. Mahoney
HANS VAN DE BOVENKAMP ON HIS WORK Know the Instrument
Public Works
The Hamptons
In order to be in a good position as an artist, you have to know the instrument. And so craft to me was very important. Most people just start painting. But I think one needs to really study, the craft, let’s say, of sculpture, know all the aspects, how to make sculpture. Because once you know the craft, you know you can make anything with your mind. It synthesizes. Often, people make things and they don’t hold up, or it doesn’t last well. It is not structurally sound. And as I have studied architecture, I always wanted to do larger things, and large objects have to be safe. It has to hold up in hundred-mile-anhour winds with a few inches of ice attached to it.
I have large sculptures sitting in the centers of plazas. People drive around, get to see it. And a lot of people who don’t know about art, or are not interested in art, if they see it, they can build an interaction. Whether people have an appreciation or a dislike of it, either is fine. But at least there is some kind of interaction. And a lot of it is accidental. With a private work, in the house or outside of the house, the person has that passion, and they, I assume, they have disposable income; to buy art is pretty expensive. You have to have a few cars and refrigerators and enough color TVs in the household in order to buy art. These are passionate people, so you do something very scary, something one or two people may like. Which is very different from public work, where you have committees, you have to make presentations in a town for a board, or it is open to the public. It gets quite passionate: “I think this is disgusting,” or, “I think this is magic, I think this is just what our town needs, this will bring tourism to the town.” You know, they have all kinds of reasons. Often, towns will do it to get some attention, differentiate itself from the next town.
I found a dilapidated farm [in Sagoponack]. It was completely overgrown, so I was able to get an incredible buy. About a dozen little buildings on it, kind of a horse farm. But the horses had eaten everything. Everything was in pretty bad shape. Nobody wanted it. So for me, it was a jewel. We’d been fixing it up for several years and now all the buildings are functional, and we each have studios. People come and they get a big kick out of it. Most people come [to the Hamptons] in the summer, and the place will swell from 20,000 to 100,000. It’s fascinating and busy. But everybody comes here in their Ferraris from New York, or from anywhere in the world, to party for two and a half days. Then they go back and make their millions. Very different from Upstate. Upstate, everybody works hard. There’s not as much extravagance. But we have our space on our little piece of land doing our thing. I work the same way I worked Upstate.
Out in the Rain When you’re successful, you make a sculpture in bronze. When you’re not successful, you make it in cardboard. It doesn’t matter, it’s the same sculpture. Except [that] one you can’t leave out in the rain and one will be permanent.
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Clockwise from left: Ode to Charles Mingus, stainless steel, 168” x 84” x 60”, 2006; Rose Afternoon 3, bronze, 26” x 9” x 8”, 2005; Ode to Miles Davis, stainless steel, 180” x 96” x 84”, 2006 Mingus
Spirit
One of the big sculptures at Yellow Bird is called Ode to Charles Mingus. I was very friendly with Charles Mingus. And Miles Davis. I have another sculpture called Ode to Miles, a very large piece as well. These are monuments to these gentlemen whom I didn’t realize how brilliant they were. I thought they were very magnificent and special, very complex and difficult people. You know, they were pretty eccentric and weird, but they had to do that maybe to be in that space in which they could function with their visions and their work. Mingus was very fragmented as a person, so rather than having one smooth figure, I just did these fragments of pieces, like stylized stones. And I made him cling to the bass, because he would kind of drape himself over the bass as he played. He held it like you hold a lover. And that’s how he played. So this sculpture was kind of born that way I thought about it for years and years, then finally it all came together in this kind of flowing, rhythmic movement over this basic shape. When you look at shape, shape becomes music again. We play off of one another.
If we can step aside for a moment, away from our daily responsibilities and necessities—eating and washing and staying alive and we can take in all these things that surround us. That is really on a different plateau than on the physical. And I am fascinated by that part. I think after a while, we have one car, two cars, three cars, it becomes not interesting anymore. The beauty of nature, or the wandering of the mind is the most fascinating, it will take you on incredible travels. The word “spirit” is a little bit dangerous to use, because it means many different things to many different people. I am talking about the spirit of things that brings you into a different state. For example, if you have a beautiful chair, you look at it and think: “The design is magnificent, it is wonderful to sit in this chair.” And if you touch the piece of wood that is the armrest, you think, “Oh my God, this piece of wood came from this tree, and this tree was a hundred feet tall, full of birds and squirrels. And they had nests, and babies were born in this tree. And this branch is now my armrest.” That piece of wood contains different
types of weather too. It contains rain and wind and heat and sun, it has the song of the birds still in it. So if we can really feel interconnected to all things, things become very, very beautiful. And that’s what I want to direct people to with my work. Abstract art is basically a doorway to wonderment. Mindfulness An artist might go into his studio, and get so involved with work, over it and on top of it, looking at it, and touching it, and pushing it and bending it all of a sudden 10 hours have gone by. There is mindfulness. You are so involved. You think about many other artists, how they would have done it. How did Leonardo da Vinci do it? How did Rembrandt design the nose or the fingers? So you scan your learning experience, you scan your own inner library as you are working. So you pull emotion. You pull books off the shelf. You look through them and you remember literature and quotes and then you begin to incorporate it. And the more of this knowledge and experience you incorporate into the work, the richer the work becomes. Because it’s all interconnected.
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Lucid Dreaming
MICHAEL MONTELLA
BY BETH E. WILSON
VIEWS OF EEO STUBBLEFIELD’S WHO CARES?, PERFORMED IN ELLENVILLE ON AUGUST 20. BOTTOM CENTER: THE ARTIST, SPEAKING WITH MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE AFTER THE PERFORMANCE.
ART IN/OF THE REAL WORLD Normally, I try to focus this column on “current” art events and exhibitions—I use the scare-quotes here because the long lead time required in publishing a monthly magazine demands that, most of the time, I have to project a bit into the future, to exhibitions that haven’t opened yet when I’m writing the column. I am going to break with this informal rule, however, to report this month on a recent (but finished) event that deserves much wider attention than it received at the time. Over the summer, Cragsmoor resident Judy Sigunick organized an exhibition, “10x10x10,” which appeared throughout Ellenville in June, July, and part of August, inviting 10 artists from 10 other Hudson Valley communities to come install art in a number of storefronts (some active, some vacant) in the center of town, part of a noteworthy and admirable push to try to revive the cultural atmosphere of the place. (I recommended it at the time in my June column.) 44 LUCID DREAMING CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
As part of this effort, Eeo Stubblefield designed an amazing, deeply poignant, and truly beautiful performance piece, titled Who Cares?, a work that deserves much broader (and deeper) consideration than it received during the “10x10x10” show’s run. As an artist, Stubblefield is truly a natural. She meets the world with an open, attentive receptiveness to beauty, and a quick, native intelligence that enables her to envision works that are not only visually striking, but that also sound out a uniquely honest, emotional resonance. Her mentor was the modern dance legend Anna Halperin; unsurprisingly, Stubblefield’s works revolve around thoughtful (or should I say “mindful”), almost ritualistic repetitive movements. I first encountered this work when Stubblefield was preparing a major piece (and one of her first really public manifestations) six years ago, her Women Walking with Chairs in Phoenicia. Groups of mysteriously shrouded women (in either all black or all red)
wandered into the town, each carrying a chair of her own selection—everything from rocking chairs to folding lawn chairs to an inflatable plastic one—periodically stopping to sit and rest, or to perform one of several other simple acts as outlined in Stubblefield’s “score” for the piece. The result was visually exquisite, and a bit surrealist in its sheer surprise. It’s not every sunny August day that such a silent, focused group of women descends upon the town. Much has happened in the intervening years. First 9/11, and then, in 2003, our invasion of Iraq. Stubblefield, who up to that point had been making achingly beautiful but nonpolitical work, found herself drawn in the months after the invasion to photographs made available on the Internet, images that never made the American newspapers or television, images of killed or injured Iraqi civilians, many of them children. These pictures ate away at her until finally she had to do something—which meant using the powerful emotional language she’d been using in her performance work to help make these awful images speak. She began writing scores for street performances, in and around Woodstock, in which she began to appear wearing a full black burka, as a figure of mourning. To her surprise, the reaction on the street in the supposedly liberal hub of the hippie revolution was often far from welcoming. “After the first time I went out in the burka,” she told me, “the reaction was so bad it made me want to stay in it for a month.” For the Ellenville show, she developed a score to take advantage of the vacant storefront space offered her, playing on some of the themes that she had been using in the Woodstock area street performances. Organizing the space behind the large shop windows as a sort of glass-walled stage, she filled the space with sand to recall the arid deserts of Iraq, littering the ground with a few desiccated bones for good measure. Ever since 2003, she’s been collecting disturbingly graphic images (mostly from the Internet) of Iraqi civilian casualties, which she has had printed in color on squares of white fabric. A corner space by the wide entry door was reserved as the “laundry room,” where dirtied examples of these images could be ritualistically washed in a five-gallon plastic bucket (just like the ones used to fetch water over there, now that the infrastructure’s been destroyed), and hung to dry on folding laundry racks, or clothespinned to hanging lines. Sitting in the doorway was a black burka-clad woman (in most of the performances, this was Sarah Underhill), plaintively singing, a cappella, Sara Thomsen’s “Is It for Freedom,” which includes pointed lines like: “And prove to me America that you care/And prove to me America that you’re aware/Who’s dying for your freedom in this land/Who pays the cost for the liberties you demand.” After the “laundry” was finished, Stubblefield would move to the next space, in which she gathered fresh cut grasses and flowers, forming out of them totemic, child-sized figures, a balled-up bit of grass serving as the head, lengths of grass and flowers forming arms and a torso. Kneeling in the sand, the performer cradled this child’s “body” as a real mother would, lovingly, slowly, sadly, then she dressed it in a simple black rectangle of fabric, slit in the middle to allow the “head” to pass through. One of the photographic images on white was then pinned to this tunic, and the whole figure then hung from the ceiling, a haunting and surprisingly charged symbol of life so thoughtlessly destroyed. Stubblefield performed this work in Ellenville every weekend in July, and then again (with a larger ensemble cast, bringing more of the work out of the storefront and into the streets) for the exhibition’s closing party in mid August. This being downtown Ellenville, the size of the audience varied during the performance’s run, often boiling down to just a few people, whoever happened to walk by on a quiet Saturday afternoon. There is something a bit sad about the smallness of this audience for art so deep, so beautiful, and so genuine. Is a truly honest work something that can no longer find an audience? On the other hand, would it have meant more if staged in the middle of Times Square? (It would certainly have meant something different.) Those who saw the piece in Ellenville were compelled to stop, even if only for a minute, to wonder what it meant, and, hopefully, to tune in at least a little bit to the profound empathy that it elicited. Curator Judy Sigunick noted part of the brilliance of the piece was its lack of the inelegant pointed finger of blame. Framed as a series of questions (in both the actions engaged and in the lyrics of its musical accompaniment), the viewer is permitted to draw his or her own conclusions about the price of American freedom, and whether or not to understand the Iraqi casualties as a part of that cost. According to Stubblefield, the July performances were regularly attended by at least one man, who spoke to her once afterward. He was a Vietnam veteran, he said, who had found watching the performance a deeply calming, healing thing. Why? “Because I killed children, too,” he claimed. Somehow, Stubblefield’s performance permitted him to bring his own experience to a symbolic conclusion—a response that she could hardly have anticipated when writing the piece. But it’s just this unexpected glimmer, the openness (and responsiveness) of the work to many different perspectives and life histories that is the source of its strength. That, and the solidly grounded, emotionally honest, and fiercely focused figure of the artist herself. Bravo, Eeo—keep up the good work! Who Cares? was a performance by Eeo Stubblefield, staged as part of the exhibition “10x10x10” in Ellenville this past July and August.
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
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GALLERY DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
SKYTOP STEAKHOUSE AND BREWING CO.
237 FOREST HILLS DR., KINGSTON (OFF RT. 28 NEAR KINGSTON THRUWAY EXIT)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27 I 8PM
gallery directory
galleries ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY AND ART
CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK
125 WASHINGTON AVENUE, ALBANY. (518) 463-4478.
59 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK. 679-9957.
“From Burial Place to Green Space.” Through December 31.
“Perfectible Worlds.” Works by Sage Sohier. Through October 22. “Relationships: A 10 Year Bond.” Selections from CPW permanent print collection. Through October 22.
ALBERT SHAHINIAN FINE ART 198 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE. 454-2263.
“Nocturnes.” Paintings by Robert Hacunda. Through October 29. “New Work Initiatives 2006 No 5: Solo Exhibits.” Chris Metze and Leslie Bender. October 14-November 26. Opening Saturday, October 14, 5-8pm
ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM 258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT. (203) 438-4519.
“Bitter Fruit.” Photographs by Paul Fusco. Through February 25. “No Reservations: Native American History and Culture in Contemporary Art.” Through February 25. “David Haislip: Artists at The Aldrich.” Pictures of artists installing work at the museum. October 15-January 21. “Josh Azzarella: 2006 Emerging Artist Award Exhibition.” October 15-February 25.
BARRETT ART CENTER 55 NOXON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE. 471-2550.
225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. (413) 458-2303.
“Alpine Views.” Alexandre Calame and the Swiss landscape. October 8-December 31.
DIA: BEACON 3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON. 440-0100.
“Drawing Series.” 14 key works from Sol LeWitt. September 16 through September 10, 2007.
EAST VILLAGE COLLECTIVE 99 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK. 679-2174.
“The Art in War.” Photographs from Iraq by Benjamin Busch. Through October 15.
ELISA PRITZKER STUDIO & GALLERY 257 SOUTH RIVERSIDE ROAD, HIGHLAND. 691-5506.
“About Cats and Dogs.” Through October 21.
gallery directory
“New Directions.” 22nd annual juried contemporary art exhibition. October 21-November 18.
CLARK ART INSTITUTE
ELLENVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BAU 161 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 440-7584.
“Nexxxt- In The Waiting Room.” Works by Harald Plochberger. Through October 8.
40 CENTER STREET, ELLENVILLE. 647-5530.
“Ellenville: Then and Now.” Pen and ink drawings by Monica Cohen. October 4-October 31.
FABULOUS FURNITURE SCULPTURE GALLERY BCB ART 116 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-4539.
“Works by Eric Rhein and Joy Taylor.” Through November 19.
3930 ROUTE 28, BOICEVILLE. 657-6317.
“Sculpture Garden.” Sculpture and furniture from wood, metal, and car parts. Through November 15.
Reception Saturday, October 7, 6-8pm
FRANCES LEHAN LOEB ART CENTER VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE. 437-5632.
BE GALLERY 11 MOHONK RD., HIGH FALLS. 687-0660.
“Copies, Casts, and Pedagogy.” The Early Teaching of Art and Art History. Through October 22.
“King of the North Country.” Charles Atwood King’s plein air paintings. Through October 15. “reGroup.” Ever-changing exhibition of artists. Through October 20.
GALERIE BMG
“Art By Foot.” Group show by Marbletown Arts Association member artists in 12” format. October 6-October 8.
“Tseno.” Exhibit of photographs. Through October 9.
Reception Friday, October 6, 6-8pm “Martha Castillo Clay Monoprints.” Unique textures and layers of clay printing techniques. October 20-November 20.
12 TANNERY BROOK ROAD, WOODSTOCK. 679-0027.
“Garden Secrets by Steven Meyers.” Black-and-white botanical photographs, revealing the hidden secrets of nature. October 13-November 20.
GCCA CATSKILL GALLERY BELLE LEVINE GALLERY
398 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL. (518) 943-3400.
521 KENNICUT HILL ROAD, MAHOPAC. 628-3664.
“Leslie Yolen: Ceramic Sculptures.” October 7-November 11.
“The Environmental Show.” Through October 6.
Reception Saturday, October 14, 5-7pm
“Bronx Zoo Photo Series by Dr. Bernie Kessler.” Through October 6.
“RSVP.” Group exhibition by invitation of the GCCA Visual Arts Committee. October 7-November 11.
“44th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibit.” October 20-November 10.
Reception Saturday, October 14, 5-7pm
Opening Friday, October 20, 6-8pm
GCCA MOUNTAINTOP GALLERY CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY 622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-1915.
“Naive.” Works by 12 regional artists. Through October 29.
398 MAIN STREET, WINDHAM. (518) 943-3400.
“Less is More.” Contemporary artists. Through November 5.
HOPPER HOUSE ART CENTER CEDAR GROVE 218 SPRING STREET, CATSKILL. (518) 943-7465.
“Jasper Cropsey: Interpreting Nature.” Through October 29.
82 NORTH BROADWAY, NYACK. 358-0774.
“Impressionist Paintings by George Gallo.” October 1-October 29. Opening Sunday, October 1, 2-5pm
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galleries HUDSON OPERA HOUSE
MORGAN LEHMAN GALLERY
327 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 822-1438.
24 SHARON ROAD, LAKEVILLE, CT. (860) 435-0898.
“Wallpaper Exhibition.” 18th & 19th century wallpaper relating to Hudson’s past. Through November 11.
“New Works by Emily Buchanan.” Through October 22.
HUDSON RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM 50 RONDOUT LANDING, KINGSTON. 338-0071.
“Ship and Boat Building on the Hudson River.” Through October 31.
MUDDY CUP COFFEE HOUSE 129 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 440-7584.
“Bridges.” Abstract paintings by Susan Kleiner. October 14-December 3. Opening Saturday, October 14, 6-9pm
HUDSON VALLEY CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
MUSEUM OF THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS
1701 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL. (914) 788-7166.
“Alive in New York: A Growing Invasion.” 43 works illustrating plants considered to be an invasive threat. Through October 29.
“Reverence.” Work of 33 internationally renowned artists from 13 countries. Through February 26. “Only the Paranoid Survive.” Works addressing dissatisfaction with dominant controlling influences in our culture. Through January 21.
JAMES COX GALLERY
KENRIDGE FARM, CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON. 534-5506 EXT. 204.
NICOLE FIACCO GALLERY 506 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-5090.
“Parallel Passages: Lynn Davis at the Sites of Frederic Church.” Through October 30.
4666 ROUTE 212, WILLOW. 679-7608.
“Working the Floor.” Pictures in reclaimed linoleum by Bill Miller. Through October 15.
KARPELES MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY MUSEUM
PILGRIM GALLERY AND HOME 69 TINKER ST., WOODSTOCK. 679-2605.
“New York Rhapsody.” Selection of Elda Cusick’s paintings from the last 20 years. October 11-October 21.
gallery directory
94 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH. 569-4997.
“Paradise.” Recent works by Susan Miiller. October 4-November 1.
PILGRIM GALLERY/HOME STORE
Reception Saturday, October 14, 7pm
“New York Rhapsody.” Oil Paintings by Edla Cusick. October 11-October 21.
LASCANO GALLERY
69 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK. 679-2605.
Reception Friday, October 13, 5-7:30pm
297 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA. (413) 528-0471.
“The Art of Assemblage.” Florin Firimita, Patricia Gaines, Lee Mussleman, Ian Ramsay, Bob Rosegarten, Joel Seaman. October 12-November 12.
LYCIAN CENTER
PUTNAM COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM 63 CHESTNUT STREET, COLD SPRING. 265-4010.
“The Gilded Age: High Fashion in the Hudson Highlands, 1865 -1914.” Over 30 dresses worn by residents of the Hudson Highlands. Through December 3.
1351 KINGS HIGHWAY, SUGAR LOAF. 496-4785.
“Journey Through 70 Years of Art.” John F. Gould Centennial Exhibit. November 1-December 31.
M GALLERY 350 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL. (518) 943-2189.
“No Words Necessary: Photographic Explorations.” Fawn Potash and Thomas Teich. October 14-November 6. Opening Saturday, October 14, 5:30-8pm
PUTNAM NATIONAL GOLF CLUB 187 HILL STREET, MAHOPAC. 628-3105.
“Inaugural Exhibit of Public Art.” Through December 31.
RAINTREE GALLERY 107 MAIN STREET, HIGH FALLS. 687-2685.
“Work by Many Artists.” Featuring photographers, designers, painters, graphic designers. Through December 31.
“Far From Home: Interpretations of Natural Beauty.” Works by Latin-American painter, Ximena Hormaza D featuring landscape abstractions. Through October 5.
RED BARN
MARK GRUBER GALLERY
“That We Do This Together.” Printmaking, painting, video, sculpture, sound design and installation. October 6-October 9.
NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ. 255-1241.
“Robert Trondsen.” Recent paintings. Through October 18.
CORNER OF ULSTER HEIGHTS AND CANAL ST., ELLENVILLE. MINOTAUREMAC@GMAIL.COM.
Reception Sunday, October 8, 4-9pm
RICHARD SENA GALLERY MARLBORO FREE LIBRARY 1251 ROUTE 9W, MARLBORO. 236-7272.
“Art From The Heart Watercolors.” Through October 31.
238 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. (518) 828-1996.
“The Art of War.” Works by photographer Nitin Vadukul. Through October 14.
Reception Sunday, October 15, 2-4pm
RIVERWINDS GALLERY 172 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 838-2880.
MILDRED I. WASHINGTON ART GALLERY SUNY DUTCHESS, POUGHKEEPSIE. 431-8000 EXT. 3982.
“Fantasia.” Works by porcelain painter Paola Bari. Through October 9.
“Summergroup.” October 11-November 3. Reception Thursday, October 19, 5-6:30pm
S.K.H. GALLERY 46 CASTLE STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA. (413) 523-3300.
MONTGOMERY ROW SECOND LEVEL 6423 MONTGOMERY STREET, RHINEBECK. 876-6670.
“Remembering September 11th, 2001.” Color photos by John Rizzo. Through October 20.
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GALLERY DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
“Works By Joby Baker and Bernd Haussmann.” Through October 3. “Revelations.” Paintings and drawings by Robert Kipniss. October 7-November 7. Reception Saturday, October 7, 5-7pm
SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART SUNY NEW PALTZ, NEW PALTZ. 257-3844.
“Art and Identity.” Selected work from the museums collections. Through December 10. “Anfas listwa nou - Facing Our History.” Photographs taken in Haiti by photo-journalist Daniel Morel. October 4-December 10. Opening Wednesday, October 4, 5-7pm “Self-Portraits from The New Millennium.” Lilla LoCurto and William Outcault. October 7-November 19. Opening Saturday, October 7, 5-7pm
SILENT SPACE GALLERY 596 BROADWAY, KINGSTON. 331-7400 EXT. 101.
“Following Pollock.” Works by Tom Zatar Kay. Through October 31. Reception Saturday, October 7, 5pm
ST. GREGORY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 2578 ROUTE 212, WOODSTOCK. 679-8800.
“Three - Three Artists - Six Sculptures.” Outdoor sculpture exhibition, with by Anthony Krauss, Basha Ruth Nelson and Shelley Parriott. Through November 20.
TIME AND SPACE LIMITED 434 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON. (518) 822-8448.
gallery directory
“Fairview: The Strip.” Through October 14.
TIVOLI ARTIST CO-OP 60 BROADWAY, TIVOLI. 757-2667.
“Food! A Feast for the Eyes.” Artworks in all media on the subject of food. Through October 15.
UNISON ARTS AND LEARNING CENTER 68 MOUNTAIN REST ROAD, NEW PALTZ. 255-1559.
“Jeremy Steig: Drawings and Paintings.” October 7-November 5. Opening Saturday, October 7, 10pm
VAN BRUNT GALLERY 460 MAIN STREET, BEACON. 838-2995.
“Susan English & Kathy Feighery.” New paintings. Through October 2.
VAULT GALLERY 322 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON. (413) 528-0221.
“Flash.” October 7-November 11. Opening Saturday, October 7, 5-7pm “The Sensuality of Dance.” Sculpture, photographs, and paintings. Through October 7.
WILDERSTEIN HISTORIC SITE 330 MORTON ROAD, RHINEBECK. 876-4818.
“Daisy.” Journey through the life of Margaret (Daisy) Suckley. Through October 31.
YELLOW BIRD GALLERY 19 FRONT STREET, NEWBURGH. 561-7204.
“Sculptures by Hans Van de Bovenkamp.” October 8-November 12.
10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM GALLERY DIRECTORY
49
Music
F-STOP FITZGERALD
BY PETER AARON
ASTRAL TRAVELER KALI Z. FASTEAU’S ETERNAL JOURNEY For any musician, complacency is the kiss of death. To settle down into that metaphorical easy chair and forsake any challenges to yourself or your audience is to become nothing more than negative space. Nowhere is this truer than in jazz, a genre founded on ever-changing, creative reinvention. Which makes its current dearth of say-nothingness especially frustrating. Need proof? Just turn on the radio, check out those pricey Uptown Gotham clubs. Oh, and bring a pillow. You’re going to need it. Composer and multi-instrumentalist Kali Z. Fasteau, however, will wake you right up. So will her music, a creative improvised style with roots in world sounds and the 1960s New Thing of innovators like John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Cecil Taylor. And, like the music she has made as a leader and with Archie Shepp, William Parker, Rashied Ali, Joe McPhee, the late Dewey Redman, and many others, Fasteau, 59, is a ball of surprises. She is eternally embracing higher realms, other cultures, new challenges. Always moving. “For 14 years I lived on four continents, in thatched huts, [in] tents, on roofs, and on the ground, in tiny villages in India, Africa, and Turkey, as well as in cities, to experience many concepts of the divine in music,” she says. “I treasure these profoundly transformative and indelible experiences of both the social and natural world. But I also discovered that we carry our thoughts with us wherever we go, so the real work on improving our heart, mind, and spirit takes place within us.” In recent times, Fasteau has done most of her work in the contemporary Newburgh home she’s lived in since 1998. We have no problem believing the slender, black-haired musician is a former ballet student as she gracefully leads us through a hallway into her home’s long, sunny music room. There, it quickly 50 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
becomes apparent that the term multi-instrumental falls far short of defining Fasteau and her ever-expanding quiver of sound-making devices. The space houses a piano and cello, along with a few saxophones, a synthesizer, a drum kit. But what really catches the eye (and the ear, when Fasteau gives an impromptu performance near the end of our visit) is the kaleidoscopic collection of exotic instruments spilled across a tabletop near one of the tall, bright windows: AsianAfrican ney and Japanese shakuhachi flutes, North African mizmar (a cousin of the clarinet), Kenyan sanza (thumb piano), small and colorful hand drums. “I don’t really have a ‘core,’ or primary, instrument,” Fasteau, also a daringly expressive vocalist, explains. “It’s always changing. Sometimes it’s because of the circumstances—I couldn’t really travel across India with a piano.” It was there, in 1980, that a yogi gave Fasteau her godly first name, after the clairvoyant and all-powerful Hindu goddess of energy and protector of the country’s Dravidian class. “I asked him ‘Why not Saraswati, the goddess of music and knowledge, since I’m a musician?’” she recalls. “He told me that Saraswati is a Brahmin derivative form of Kali. He said that the energy I channel through my music embodies the power of Kali, rather than her more tame derivatives.” Fasteau spent her early childhood in Paris, where she attended the multinational UNESCO school; next, her family moved to Washington, DC, and finally New York City. Next to moving, music is another familial tradition. Her maternal grandfather was a symphonic cellist; her aunt an opera singer, concert pianist, composer, and conductor; her parents played piano and sang at home. At seven, she heard the great African folksinger Miriam Makeba, who opened her ears to world music, while her parents’ influential record collection included
A SELECTION OF HAND-MADE AFRICAN, MIDDLE EASTERN, AND ASIAN INSTRUMENTS, MANY OF THEM FASHIONED BY FASTEAU HERSELF, ARE DISPLAYED ON A TABLE. PREVIOUS PAGE: FASTEAU CONJURES THE “HEALING POWER OF MUSIC.”
titles by Miles, Monk, Errol Garner, and other jazz greats, as well as those of modern composers like Stravinsky, Bartok, and Debussy. Her multi-instrumental approach started with eight years of piano under Olga Heifitz (sister-in-law of legendary violinist Jascha Heiftiz), soon followed by studies in cello, flute, and voice. Fasteau’s interest in social activism also began early. As a high school student in 1963, she took part in the civil rights march that culminated with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech in Washington, DC; during her college years, summers spent doing social and voter registration work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Congress of Racial Equality took her to the Deep South. But it was in San Francisco that Fasteau’s life would next be changed, profoundly. In October of 1971, a friend bought multi-instrumentalist Donald Rafael Garrett to a jam session at Fasteau’s apartment. It was, she says, love at first sight. “There was an instantaneous and magical connection to both the sound and the person,” she says about Garrett, best known for his work as a bassist with John Coltrane. Garrett would become her first husband and main mentor, teaching her everything from new musical techniques to bamboo flute making to tai chi chuan to macrobiotic cooking. The pair formed a musical duo, The Sea Ensemble (“We were both Pisces,” Fasteau says), and took to the road for almost 15 years, living and performing in 16 countries and returning to the US only once, in 1974, to record the album We Move Together for the groundbreaking ESP-Disk label (live recordings the two made in Holland and Turkey during this time are preserved on the essential double CD Memoirs of a Dream, on Fasteau’s Flying Note imprint, home to many of the 16 albums she has made as a leader). “He (Garrett) had so much insight and wisdom about how to make music,” she says, “how to think about music, how to be music. He was a true genius.” Sadly, Garrett died of heart failure in 1989 at only 57. A more recent collaborator of Fasteau’s
is New Orleans tenor saxophone giant Kidd Jordan. Only days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Fasteau, Jordan, and percussionist Michael T.A. Thompson recorded People of the Ninth, a meditation on the devastation wrought by the disaster on Jordan’s Ninth Ward neighborhood—and the government’s infuriatingly inadequate response to it (the album is due out this month). The disc’s titles themselves tell the tale: “Levees, Lies, and Lives,” “Rising Winds,” “What Once Was,” “Rescue Denied.” But of course the music does an even better job. People of the Ninth is a cathartic, gut-wrenching ride—the dark rumbling of the gathering storm; the squealing, ever-increasing gales; the ferocious, shuddering Armageddon of the tempest making landfall; the waters rising, buildings falling, people screaming—and then… ghostly silence. Sorrow. Loss. Mourning. Frustration. Speaking from a family member’s home in nearby Baton Rouge while his own is still being repaired, Jordan says things in the beleaguered cradle of jazz are “still very sad. It’s still coming back [to prehurricane normalcy], but not nearly as fast as it looks on TV. Everyone’s waiting to see if the levees will hold the next time.” But his mood picks up when asked about his near decade of working with Fasteau. “I really enjoy playing with Kali,” he says. “She plays so many instruments so well, and she’s not inhibited. She plays what she feels.” One of the things Fasteau feels strongly is the inherently regenerative force of music, something she sees as central to her mission. “We as musicians know the tremendous healing power of music,” she maintains. “I believe we do have to make a special effort to find joy every day, in spite of the cruelties so evident around the world.” It’s an effort at which Fasteau has been extraordinarily successful for nearly 50 years, that of making music which is endlessly fascinating, never predictable, and deeply moving. Always, always moving. For more information on Kali Z. Fasteau, visit www.kalimuse.com. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM MUSIC 51
NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS
Handpicked by local scenemaker DJ WAVY DAVY for your listening pleasure. KURT HENRY BAND October 7. In addition to his exhaustive gig schedule, Kurt Henry has a new look and funky attitude. And he still delivers. Here, he lands at the Skytop Steakhouse and Brewery, Kingston’s best room with a view, with a rhythm section that can’t be beat (including Eric Parker, Tim Whalen, and Alan Groth). 9pm. No cover with dinner. Grab one of the tasty house-made brews and bounce back on Tuesdays for ping-pong night. Kingston. (845) 340-4277. www.skytopsteakhouse.com.
KINGSTON FOLK FESTIVAL October 8. Downtown Kingston sports prime real estate for recreation and this new street fest is a welcome addition to the scene. Legendary acoustic duo Aztec Two-Step headlines, to be joined by “subversive acoustic traditionalists” the Mammals. GaiaWolf (Saugerties), Meryl Joan Lammers (Rosendale), and others also perform. Cornell Park, corner of Wurts and Hunter Streets, Kingston. 4pm. Free. Kingston. (845) 331-1682.
SONANDO October 14. The Firebird Lounge, the hot little boite off Garden Street, has been hosting some hot sounds lately, including Woodstock’s JTD disc-spinning crew on Fridays and live music every Saturday. Burn up the rug tonight when top Hudson Valley Latin band Sonando shows chill the door. Mondays at the ’Bird are open-mic and Sunday the house opens early (3pm) with biker specials. Vrooomm! 10pm. Call first for cover info. Rhinebeck. (845) 876-8686. www.myspace.com/firebirdlounge.
KANSAS CITY SOUND October 28. If swing’s your thing, don’t miss the fantastic array of jazz talent in Harvey Kaiser’s tribute to the music of 1930s Kansas City, musical home of Count Basie, Lester Young, and others. At this Rosendale Cafe date, Kaiser’s combo also marks a new CD release, One for the Bishop, honoring the band’s late pianist-vocalist, Joel “Bishop” O’Brien. The living legends who will appear include trombonist Eddie Bert, guitarist Eddie Diehl, drummer Marvin “Bugalu” Smith, violinist Larry Packer, and others. These are some heavy cats, and this show is highly recommended. $15. 8pm. Rosendale. (845) 658-9048. www.rosendalecafe.com.
WDST PINK OCTOBER CONCERT: October 28. This winning series, launched nine years ago by WDST’s Carmel Holt, benefits the Cancer Center at Benedictine Hospital in Kingston. Tonight, the station and The Chance present Pink Floyd tribute act The Machine, featuring Newburgh neighbor Neil Alexander on keyboards (his out-funk side project, NAIL, drops a new CD this month). ‘DST’s fall concert series continues here November 9 with Michael Franti and Spearhead, supporting their acclaimed new CD, Yell Fire. 7pm doors. $20. Poughkeepsie. (845) 471-1966. www.wdst.com.
LIVIO GUARDI October 29. Guardi and his songwriting/performance partner, Wilson Montouri, travel often from Florence, Italy, to our area with guitars, banjo, mandolin, and other instruments in tow. Livio goes solo tonight at Gadaleto’s Seafood restaurant, performing original tunes that bridge the gap between musical styles of the Mediterranean and American folk and blues. The duo’s sublime CD, Diomedee, is a lover’s paradise of romantic, swaying songs and can be heard at the group’s website. 6pm. No cover. New Paltz. (845) 255-1717. www.tuscanduo.com.
AZTEC TWO-STEP PERFORMS OCT. 8 AT THE KINGSTON FOLK FESTIVAL.
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CD REVIEWS VARIOUS ARTISTS THE 666 RARITIES LP ALTERCATION RECORDS, 2006
Contrary to the cover art and title, one need not be an acolyte of diabolism to enjoy the sounds contained on this disc. In fact, the title refers to the release date of June 6, 2006. It’s refreshing and encouraging for this longtime punk rock aficionado to hear the stylistic diaspora of the four New York State bands featured here. Warwick’s Casket Architects are the wild card of the bunch. Effectively fusing Sabbath-style dirges and ramalama hardcore vocals, the Architects push the boundaries of the form with dollops of experimental industrial noise and electronic vocal effects that recall pre-major label Devo and LA synth-punk pioneers The Screamers. “Echo Dementoid” winds through churning guitars, manic drum fills, and carnival-like production before grinding into cacophony that would’ve made Throbbing Gristle proud. Kingston’s Dead Unicorn offers classic low-end sludge rock. The duo’s heaviosity dwarfs everything else on the record, and physically affects the listener. Playing against type, the band contributes the standout track of the album, “We All Burn Together,” an acoustic, windswept lament to the natural retribution of communal death in a volcanic eruption. The tone is funereal and apocalyptic in an Old Testament sort of way. Waterford’s Plastic Jesus delivers straight-forward punk with the social realist themes of Rancid and Social Distortion, while Albany’s Blasé Debris mines the horror-punk genre with production assistance from latter-day Misfits vocalist Michael Graves. —Jeremy Schwartz
ALIZA HAVA RISE FIREMUSICFAERIE PRODUCTIONS, 2006
I’ve penned on about Aliza Hava before, and with good reason: I’m a complete sucker for raspy, unyielding vox over wickedly dynamic guitar, this chick being no exception. A political activist who recently returned from Israel, the self-monikered FireMusicFaerie has just released her 12track, self-produced Rise.. Perhaps you think you’ve spun this one before, but you haven’t—this is a full-throttle follow-up to the 2003 recording of the same name. The distinction here is that Hava has magnified her sound and production, coming off richer and more loaded than ever before with five players behind her on bass, drums, synth, mandolin, and guitars. Some favorite gems appear again—“Independent Nation,” “Julia,” the title track, and several others—but they are thoroughly revamped. Additional, brand-spankin’ new grrrl-power tracks with mellow-ish rock grooves continue to reveal the ever-hopeful, enormous heart of this babe, beckoning listeners to sift their souls for nuggets of a higher good. Sure to charm fans of Tracy Chapman and Ani DiFranco, and lesser-known Hudson Valley powerhouses such as Journey Blue Heaven and Shamsi Ruhe, this indomitable sister never fails to pack a punch. www.alizahava.com. Aliza Hava performs with Liana Turner and Siobhan on October 21 at 8pm at Mezzanine Bookstore, Cafe, and Wine Bar, 79 Broadway, in Kingston’s Rondout. —Sharon Nichols
NANCY DONNELLY A GREATER LOVE NANNYJAZZ MUSIC, 2006
This Woodstock resident has cultivated a classic jazz performance for her latest offering. With a sassy style reminiscent of Sarah Vaughn, Nancy Donnelly’s smooth and smoldering vocals are matched with a band that can shift from standard to eccentric without double clutching. Their interactions are silky and clean. A Greater Love features pianist Peggy Stern, bassist Jay Anderson, drummer Matt Wilson, and saxophonist Jack Ryon. On the first track, “Close Your Eyes,” a romantic uptempo lounge tune, Donnelly’s seductive voice pulls you into a Latin-influenced lullaby. Romance is on the menu here and creates the perfect stage for the singer to act out her dreamy passion play. Donnelly wrote and arranged the complex instrumental “Why Can’t It Be?,” which begins on uncertain feet but quickly finds a solid groove and swings. She shows her versatility on “Alone Together” with a righteous scat-singing performance. Local jazz fans should check Donnelly’s calendar of upcoming appearances at nancydonnalleyvocals.com, as well as www.cdbaby.com for clips from A Greater Love. —J. Spica 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM MUSIC 53
JILL KREMENTZ
Books
ONE STORYTELLER EDWIDGE DANTICAT COMES TO NEW PALTZ by Nina Shengold
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dwidge Danticat has her hands full. It’s been raining for four days straight in Miami, workmen have been in her home fixing leaks, and her 17-month-old daughter, Mira, just woke from a nap. Still, she agrees to a phone interview. “This is as good a time as any,” she says with a knowing laugh. Her voice is soft but forthright, with the musical cadence of her native Haiti. Danticat’s acclaimed 2004 book, The Dew Breaker, is the subject of this fall’s One Book, One New Paltz project, an ambitious multi-event celebration including an author appearance on October 5. “We’re very, very delighted that she can come here, says Dean of Liberal Arts Gerald Benjamin, who launched the One Book, One New Paltz project last year. The 12-member committee discussed many titles before choosing The Dew Breaker. “We wanted a book with a broad appeal for different audiences: young people, old people, as well as students,” says Benjamin. “The whole point is to get the campus and the community interacting.” 54 BOOKS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
Committee member Rachel Rigolino notes that there’s a large immigrant population in the Hudson Valley, including Haitian communities in Port Ewen, Spring Valley, and Rockland County. There were other serendipitous connections: Haitian photojournalist Daniel Morel and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jane Regan, just moved to New Paltz, and Vassar College’s Haiti Project, which sells Haitian art to raise money for rural schools, was eager to broaden its base. Danticat’s book became the centerpiece for a vibrant exploration of Haitian culture, including an exhibit of Morel’s photographs, a concert by Roy “Futureman” Wooten in tribute to Haitian composer Le Chevalier de Saint-George, two documentary screenings, a traveling art show by the Haiti Project, and discussion groups at such venues as Elting Memorial Library, the Village Tea Room, and The Bakery. Danticat couldn’t be happier. “Part of my excitement is that when I’m writing these stories, I always hope people will go beyond the book to learn more–especially about the era when this is set, the Duvalier era.” (From
1957 to 1986, Haiti was ruled by father-son dictators Francois “Papa Doc” and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier and their notoriously brutal enforcers, the Tonton Macoutes.) The Dew Breaker is a complex and resonant work about the legacy of torture. (The title, from the Creole phrase “choukèt laroze,” refers to the early hour at which victims were dragged from their homes.) Some reviewers have called it a novel, others a suite of linked stories. Danticat started by writing the opening story, “The Book of the Dead,” in which a young artist takes a trip with her aging father, who reveals his long-buried history: in Haiti, he was not a torture victim, as she’s believed all her life, but a torturer. Danticat wrote the title story to flesh out the dew breaker’s background, and soon found that “everything I wrote seemed to relate to that character.” Moving forward and backwards in time, from the mountains of Haiti to the US, she constructed her book in discrete sections that reverberate off one another. Novel or stories? Danticat isn’t telling. “Because there’s so much ambiguity about the character, I like the idea that the form itself is ambiguous,” she demurs. “It’s up to the reader.” The book offers a complex prism of shattered lives, illuminated from certain angles by love and forgiveness. The New York Times Book Review wrote, “In The Dew Breaker, Danticat has written a Haitian truth: prisoners all, even the jailer.” The subject of torture was problematic for some One Book committee members, who worried about reinforcing negative stereotypes about a country already stigmatized by media associations with poverty, political chaos, boat people, and AIDS. Danticat is no stranger to such arguments. Her debut novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, published when its author was just 25, provoked a firestorm of response in the Haitian community. Some accused Danticat of airing dirty laundry in public. “It’s a particular issue faced by writers of color, an issue of representation,” she says, noting that Alice Walker was similarly criticized for portrayals of violent black men. “People said, ‘They already write bad things about us, how can you add to it?’” In a recent interview in the Progressive, the author voiced her discomfort with being cast as spokesperson for a whole culture. “I don’t really see myself as the voice of the Haitian-American experience. There are many; I’m just one.” And a very impressive one. Danticat speaks with articulate ease on any topic, and, apparently, in any circumstance: Though young mothers are famously adept at multitasking, not every author could discuss complex topics of culture, race, and perception while changing a diaper. (“Too much information,” Danticat laughs into her cell phone, resuming her discourse without breaking stride.) In fact, choosing a work that explores the farreaching effects of torture on its perpetrators, victims, and family members seems painfully apt in light of recent revelations about US prisons in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. “I hope it will spark a lively discussion,” says Danticat, noting the morning headlines about secret CIA prisons. Danticat was born in Port-au-Prince in 1969, five years after Duvalier declared himself president for life. Her father emigrated to the US when she was two, and her mother followed two years
later, leaving young Edwidge to be raised by her beloved aunt and uncle. At 12, she rejoined her parents in Brooklyn, switching languages from Creole at home and French at school to English. “My transition was easier because of books,” says Danticat, a shy child overwhelmed by the foreignness of her surroundings. “I wanted to learn English so I could read all the books in the library.” She attended ESL classes at the Jackie Robinson School in Crown Heights. By 16, she had become a serious writer in her third language. She attended Barnard College, and completed Breath, Eyes, Memory as her MFA thesis at Brown University. The book garnered raves and became an Oprah Book Club selection;
The injustice sears Danticat. “I’m certain that if he’d been from Cuba, that wouldn’t have happened,” she asserts, noting the dichotomy in US policy towards immigrants from the two countries. “If a boatload of Haitians picks up Cuban rafters, the Haitians will be returned and the Cubans will stay in Miami.” Haitians were even deported during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Jean; Danticat likens this to returning people to New Orleans after Katrina. “I think it has to do with poverty and it has to do with race. Haitians are singled out.” Danticat’s books are not widely available in her native country, where they’re published only in expensive French translations. “The irony is that
“When you write, it’s like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring them unity. Your fingers have still not perfected the task. Some of the braids are long, others are short. Some are thick, others are thin. Some are heavy. Others are light. Like the diverse women in your family. Those whose fables and metaphors, whose similes, and soliloquies, whose diction and je ne sais quoi slip into your survival soup, by way of their fingers.” — from Krik? Krak! Granta named Danticat among 1994’s Best Young American Novelists. Next, Danticat published the story collection Krik? Krak!, whose title is a traditional Haitian call and response among storytellers and listeners. Her other books include American Book Award winner The Farming of Bones, two young adult titles (Behind the Mountains and Anacoana), and After the Dance: A Walk Through Carnival in Jacmel, Haiti. She’s also found time to edit two anthologies, teach fiction writing at NYU and the University of Miami, and consult on several documentary films, including Jonathan Demme’s The Agronomist and Jane Regan’s Unfinished Country, both of which will be screened for the One Book project. She is currently writing a nonfiction book about her uncle, father, and daughter. Its genesis was painful. The uncle who raised her, Joseph Dantica (the t in Danticat’s surname stems from a misspelling on her father’s birth certificate), was a priest in what Danticat diplomatically terms a “difficult” neighborhood. Last October, UN forces shot several gang members from the roof of Dantica’s church. In retaliation, the gang burned the church and ransacked the priest’s home. He escaped to Miami, where he’d visited regularly since the 1970s, but when he requested temporary asylum and a longer visa, US immigration authorities put him in jail. He became ill there, and died in the hospital. He was 81.
when I lived in Haiti, I wouldn’t have been able to afford one of my books,” says Danticat, who recalls her uncle giving her books as a wonderful luxury. Most of her early exposure to stories was oral: the storytelling tradition thrives in a nation whose literacy rates are still around 40 percent. Danticat is heartened by the recent flourishing of Creole-language radio broadcasts of literature, including her own stories, which reach a much broader audience. Television and Haitian-produced movies are also making incursions. “Instead of listening to stories, people are watching TV,” Danticat says with a tinge of nostalgia for the days when “Krik?” was eagerly answered by “Krak!” “I think the oral tradition will always exist in some quarters, in some ways. But there’s something else in the mix now, just like everywhere else.” In one household in Miami’s Little Haiti, there seems little doubt that imaginative traditions will still be passed down from mother to daughter. When told that her toddler seems miraculously quiet and content, Danticat reveals that she’s been pushing Mira’s stroller around their apartment throughout our long interview. “We’re just pretending we’re out for a stroll.” Edwidge Danticat will speak at Studley Hall on the SUNY New Paltz campus on Thursday, October 5, at 7:30pm. For related events, exhibits, screenings, and discussion groups, visit www.onebookonenewpaltz.org. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 55
SHORT TAKES Local authors journey through Parisian alleys, down Highway 61, and deep into the human brain in this quintet of striking new titles.
CHARLEY POEMS LARRY BERK GOLDEN NOTEBOOK PRESS, 2006, $12.00
A graceful cycle of simply voiced, lyrical poems about the daily ramblings and nocturnal passions of an open-hearted, immensely likable man-about-Montmartre, the fictitious alter ego of the arts-in-education visionary of SUNY Ulster. Through Charley, Larry Berk will always have Paris—and so will the rest of us.
THE BOB DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA MICHAEL GRAY CONTINUUM, 2006, $40
Zimmerman by the pound! An impressive compendium for serious fans, with 26 pages of photos and a searchable CD-Rom. Gray’s magnum opus is authoritative, opinionated, and often downright funny: shortly after a seven-page disquisition on The Band, the following entry appears in its entirety: “Beatles, the. A pop group.”
INSIDE THE BOARD ROOM: REFLECTIONS OF A FORMER SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER HOWARD GOOD ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD, 2006, $16.95
Good, a SUNY New Paltz journalism professor and former president of the Highland school board, writes with insight, humor, and a well-ground axe about the inner workings of the American public education system and the often insoluble issues faced by the hardworking people who volunteer for school board service.
CUT LOOSE: (MOSTLY) OLDER WOMEN TALK ABOUT THE END OF (MOSTLY) LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS EDITED BY NAN BAUER-MAGLIN RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006, $21.95
Woodstocker Marita Lopez-Mena contributed a powerful chapter, “Growing Up MiddleAged,” to this eye-opening mix of personal narratives and scholarly essays on the fertile topic of getting dumped late in life. The 26 female contributors offer a surprising variety of perspectives and emotional responses, from rage to resilience.
THE HEALING POWER OF NEUROFEEDBACK STEPHEN LARSEN, PH.D. HEALING ARTS PRESS, 2006, $19.95
Stone Mountain Center for Counseling & Biofeedback Director Larsen provides a comprehensive introduction to LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System), a pioneering approach to restoring brain function after physical or emotional trauma, which may also provide a noninvasive alternative therapy for ADHD, anxiety, and depression.
Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media Jeff Cohen, foreword by Jim Hightower PoliPoint Press, 2006, $14.95
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eople who kiss and tell are often scorned. But media critic and reformer Jeff Cohen should be applauded for telling us what life was like when he entered the belly of the corporate beast—working for CNN, Fox, and MSNBC as the token progressive commentator for a right-tilting establishment. Cohen, who lives in Woodstock, recounts his 15 years as a liberal voice on national television in his new book. It’s an amusing and fast-paced read, but his two-pronged attack—on cable TV news’s unwillingness to give the left a chance and the stifling power of corporate ownership—is actually an old story. For more than 40 years, critics have lamented that progressive voices cannot get a fair hearing, whether because of advertisers or right-wing owners. What makes Cable News Confidential a “must-read,” as Molly Ivins dubbed it, is that Cohen was inside the “breathless, wheezing world of 24-hour cable television news” from 1987 to 2002. He found a “drunken exuberance for sex, crime, and celebrity stories, matched by a grim timidity and fear of offending the powers that be—especially if the powers that be are conservatives. The biggest fear is doing anything that could get…your network accused of being a liberal.” The irony is that conservatives fiercely attack the media for its supposed left-wing bias, and have successfully cowed some into not giving voice to genuine liberal views. While cable TV news only garners a nightly audience of 3 to 5 million (CBS, NBC, and ABC get 27 million!), it is watched closely by opinion elites, setting the agenda for discussion. Cohen might have been naive to think he could make a difference. But he tried nonetheless, starting with CNN, the first 24-hour news network. He appeared often on Crossfire, a nightly show with representatives from the political left and right. He found, however, that the representative of the left, with whom he was supposed to side, was usually a centrist. The left never had a chance as conservatives Bob Novak and Pat Buchanan pounded away. Cohen recreates some of his fiery exchanges in detail. But CNN kept inviting Cohen back, probably because he’s articulate and knowledgeable—and because he came from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a national media watch group that is respected for marshaling facts about media performance. Cohen was one of its founders. In 2002, Cohen joined Fox—a surprising move since the station was owned by archconservative Rupert Murdoch and run by Roger Ailes, who ran Richard Nixon’s 1968 advertising campaign. At “fair and balanced” Fox, Cohen learned, “Even the weather and sports guys were rabid rightists.” He admits, “It felt strange to collect even a small check from Murdoch, a symbol of all that was wrong with corporate media.” Oddly enough, Fox gave Cohen room to attack. “I savaged the corporate media week after week and got paid for it,” he writes. Eight times he appeared with Bill O’Reilly. Though they did not get along, Cohen says, “most of my appearances were cordial, often embarrassingly so.” He has some not-so-cordial words, however, for Ann Coulter (“a cross between Joan Rivers and Eva Braun”), and nightly anchor Brit Hume (whose “ignorance is equaled only by his arrogance”). Cohen went to MSNBC (owned by General Electric) when his friend Phil Donahue convinced him they had a chance to provide a liberal voice to counter Fox. But that dream was quickly shattered. “Genuflecting to the right was the natural bent of every cable executive I ever met,” he concludes, citing the quick demise of Donahue’s nightly talk show, which constantly questioned the lead-up to war. Instead of viewing it as a strong counter-message to Fox’s O’Reilly, MSNBC saw it as unpatriotic. Cohen writes, “I’d always thought…it was our patriotic duty to be skeptical, in times of peace or war.” Think again, Jeff. In the end, he learned, “If you’re wild and wacky and on the right wing…you’ll find a home in cable news.” I suspect Jeff Cohen won’t be going home again. —Robert Miraldi
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Crawl Space Edie Meidav Picador, 2005, $15
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napologetic anti-Semite and Nazi collaborator Emile Poulquet, who deported thousands of Jews while serving as a rural French prefect during World War II, narrates this striking novel, a selective remembrance of his morally ambiguous life. A surgically disguised fugitive and assumer of serial aliases, he has evaded justice for 50 years. In 1999, after barely surviving a high-profile trial, he fled Paris to avoid a second trial and all-but-certain sentencing. Poulquet returns—for the third time in his 84 years—to the fictional Finier, his native village in the Pyrenees and the scene of his “crimes against humanity,” a categorization he rejects in equivocating his actions as born of personal slights endured throughout his youth. There, he hopes to confront his primary childhood tormentor, Arianne Fauret (obsessively recollected in his self-pitying account), who is currently hosting a reunion of wartime refugees. Also on the scene is his former best friend, Israel “Izzy” Horowitz Lisson, who the onetime prefect ultimately betrayed with a check of his bureaucratic pen. Awash in irreconcilable contradictions issuing from his past, and cloaked in yet another identity, Poulquet takes up with a band of young, anarchist-styled wastrels. He winds up squatting with this homeless “tribe” in a crawl space, an architectural feature common in buildings of the region and emblematic of the narrator’s delusional memories. “You know that being a fugitive from others’ ideas eventually makes you into a sort of eternal child, forever peeking through slats,” he relates without remorse. Edie Meidav, now teaching at Bard College, crafts a complex narrator in Crawl Space, his detached and distant dominant tone reminiscent of the protagonist’s in André Gide’s The Immoralist (1902). But as a master of disguise, Poulquet is likewise a verbal chameleon. Oscillating between charming erudition and prolix solipsism, he also embraces the argot of his immediate milieu, whether echoing the drug-addled shorthand of the profligates (“How about it? Might do you good.”) or imitating newspapermen (“I said Nowheresville”). Similar displays of linguistic virtuosity have earned creator Meidav a slew of literary accolades, including the Bard Fiction Prize for writers under 40 and the Kafka Award for best novel by an American woman. She received wide critical acclaim for The Far Field (Houghton Mifflin, 2001), and with Crawl Space, Meidav extends the range of her prodigious talent—both as a savvy stylist and visionary storyteller. Meidav also attempts to capture the taciturn cynicism of the French bourgeoisie, often in comedic gestures. For instance, in silently assessing a chamber-piece rehearsal, Poulquet observes, “It had the crash and thud of arbitrary modernity, as if a demolition crew had taken a liking to cello, violin, clarinet, piano.” Meidav is also adept at exposing hermetic quirks hidden behind her characters’ blasé masks: Poulquet swings a watch-and-fob pendulum to decide what to eat, or whether to advance or retreat. Adrianne is a compulsive hoarder, while her husband Paul, a French Resistance fighter and Poulquet’s nemesis, spirals into insanity. The portraits of central players in Poulquet’s life drama, mainly rendered in detailed flashbacks or cartoonish glimpses, sometimes appear forced and unconvincing. The wastrels, however, emerge from this turgid undertow like rainbow trout, particularly tattooed, Bodhisattva-like junkie Moses and hard-edged beauty Cerb-X, whose “weird eloquence” the narrator admires. Asked by Poulquet to explain her recent piercings, “tiny golden and silver hoops descending from the tip of her nose in a pagan’s straight line,” she replies in part, “It’s like hermeneutic magic? Like Sir Isaac Newton? He was an alchemist. And I’m like a witch.” While the novel’s connect-the-dots denouement feels somewhat contrived and predictable, Meidav deserves credit for ambitiously tackling multifaceted characters against the difficult backdrop of the Holocaust and its aftershock ideology. Under a sky “turned a poisonous blue,” Poulquet admits to Moses, “Our imprints are everywhere, it’s inescapable…you can’t run from humanity.” —Pauline Uchmanowicz 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 59
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The Curious Misadventures of Feltus Ovalton Jo Treggiari Lobster Press, October 2006, $9.95
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ver since 12-year-old Feltus Ovalton LeRoi’s parents moved him from a comfy suburban home to a city apartment, he’s been miserable. His new school is packed with bullies, and his parents, a self-absorbed duo obsessed with upward mobility, seem barely aware of him any more, let alone of his growing anguish. He copes by adapting; his parents ignore him, so he ignores them. As he’s bullied at school, so he bullies others. But just before Feltus gives up all hope that things will ever be better, he finds a tattered old binder in the back of his closet and chants some strange words that are scrawled inside it. He’s not really surprised when all that happens is that the lights flicker briefly. And he tells himself he’s not disappointed—he just doesn’t care anymore. But soon after, a relative arrives for an unexpected visit, Great Aunt Eunida, who neither parent seems willing to claim. And for good reason: She’s a smelly, slovenly creature who totes an enormous toad, spouts nonsense, and wears crinkly tinfoil hats. She eats odd, malodorous food combinations, preferably featuring sardines. But as Feltus soon discovers, Eunida will leave them with more than just greasy blots on the couch. She’s a prophet who’s having trouble with her gift. Strange smells fill the apartment and strange beings soon follow: first a moth who screams “Help!” just before Feltus hits it with a shoe, and then a group of fancy-furred critters who call themselves “PoodleRats.” There’s a portal to other worlds, they tell Feltus, right under his dining room table, and they’ve come to scavenge food because their land has been invaded by a mob of predatory rodents. There’s little hope for them, they say, except for an ancient prophecy that tells of a savior who will vanquish their foe. For some incredible reason, they’re convinced that savior is Feltus. How can someone who can’t even go to the boy’s bathroom without getting pummeled save an entire world? It’s an enormous responsibility made even more weighty by the discovery that the ancient binder was once Eunida’s, and all these strange arrivals were caused by a tear in the veil that separates worlds—a rift made by Feltus himself when he recklessly chanted those odd words. The Curious Misadventures of Feltus Ovalton is a middle-grade children’s fantasy with thematic elements that may ring familiar: a boy who lives with awful people, a prophecy he’s supposed to fulfill, and a magical talent he never suspected he had. But this heroic anti-hero has more story DNA from Roald Dahl than the creator of He Who Must Not Be Named. The grownups here are grievously ignorant of the world of children, and Feltus is an unwilling champion who’s nearly forced into strapping on a hero’s mantle. The effects of his efforts open yet another rift, this one in the cold, shriveled lump that used to be Feltus’s heart. Like Dahl’s work, this wildly original book is saturated with dark humor, and author Treggiari has a knack for terrific character names. An angelic-appearing guardian of the veil is called Dare Al Luce, which in Italian means “give to the light,” and the PoodleRats’ enemies are the Kehezzzalubbapipipi, a name that mandates giggling. Though children, especially boys, will find relevance and entertainment in Feltus’s magical adventures, the book could have used more judicious editing; at 334 pages, it’s a bit long for the younger part of its intended eight-and-up audience. Additionally, it serves up vocabulary that will send even the most precocious young reader repeatedly to the dictionary, another characteristic that makes this book more potentially appealing for imaginative ’tweens and teens. Woodstock resident Jo Treggiari will read from her book at 5pm on Saturday, October 28, at the Woodstock Wool Company in an event sponsored by the Golden Notebook bookstore. For more information, visit www.feltusovalton.com. —Susan Krawitz 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BOOKS 61
POETRY
Edited by Phillip Levine. In November, Chronogram will be publishing our Literary Supplement. For that is sue, we are seeking poetry along the theme of “Art & Artists” (artists or artworks, or about the process of painting, sculpting, etc). Deadline Oct. 5. Email to poetry@chronogram.com Subject: Literary Supplement Poetry Submission.
i am the juggler dropping balls, knives, and pins -p
Thick as Thieves
Brainstorming
How to Feed a Gato
In this hoopla city, sparrows are made of metal and yes they do villanelle or sonnet among stray bread crumbs and restaurant debris.
Let’s play with something: A Ouija board. A bowl of fruit. Spin images in your skull until fingertips drip lightning.
Cats do not like sandwiches. Bread is a consistency Strange to feline rough tongue.
I felt clever upon the round, anxious delights of the sweet, new day. Where, in the start of sun’s truth, the wind breathes happily. There was only a hint of the question; can the future prevail where the past has failed? In the near-green farmlands, the wild horses were arrogant and flooded the hillside with the charging language of worried knees. I walked the roadside to a magazine dance hall and scrambled up a slow two-step with a stranger, for breakfast. Our legs interviewing each other as those distributed looks kept waving lust. Hand in hand, our palms made moisture. Her name was a whisper and I had a pint of Guinness with the prosciutto. Later, at the inorganic museum, I looked at the Tanning, with a perfect sigh. When a mirror is held up high, some people tend to look away. A few might stare too long and forget that it is only a reflection.
Create spider webs out of ink and neurons. Waste nothing. Time is watching. Avoid eye contact. Start sketching images blindly, let the hand run as it fumbles through an open zoo in your mind. Don’t be afraid as the animals start running. Get it down, get it all down.
Rather, Bathe a cat’s mouth With a tender flesh More akin to rodent Or blue jay. Whenever resistant, The dark fluid of kitty eyes Will overwhelm Your logic of placing brown, Commercial flakes On its concave platter.
This is great material.
That neglected crunchy pile, Our foremost reminder That we can stand between Earth and stomach.
—Christian Ward
—Gillian Gorman
Slipping Thru Untilted
Looks repetitiously bleak Rain Snow Ice -Cold Wind
They will wave to the passing boats each brown-skinned not bashful naked each shining face uplifted
& one tiny puddle of mangy wooly bear caterpillar the cat puked up.
The river of their birth racing muddy after the rains carries to them the cotton cloth the smiling men
Extending his arms in front of him and moving his hands in circles as if he were an elephant swinging his trunk gracefully in the air he tiptoes lightly down Tinker St. in his cowboy hat slipping thru the molecules invisible tipping the brim down over his brow smiling at the pleasure of his thoughts— the images— the unraveling story that is his life then turns right into the alley by the liquor store and out of sight.
—Teresa Marta Costa
—Terence Chiesa
—Richard Phillips
Guiding my expedition into evening, the curious air of moonlight. Where the hollow calm before dreaming reminds me of my muse; that kleptomaniac who stole my heart. Now, to touch her is to hold the best of me while the rest of me expands into a smile. —Julio Peralta-Paulino
On the Orinoco the Indian women still wash their bright dresses on the rocks You can hear their singing clear faint mysterious riding the high notes in the dazzling heat Simple buoyant songs of love like the cries of magical birds winged-beating up and down the wide river
Tomorrow’s Forecast
62 POETRY CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
Critiquing “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams so much depends 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 How much of the beauty ibid—of cypress knees of aerial roots of mangroves cowering rain clouds reaching for soil from black box sky 2 I remember you in the shadows. You ask for memories I don’t have. 3 regardless of any dogma any meaning or lack of regardless of desire to ignore facts ignore ignorance ignore bias and hope and fear 4 I am in need of solitude, of slow time. 5 Lonely sounds of lake freezing, water molten. 6 Latent state of being where no amount of heat will raise the temperature. 7 a drop of dew falling from a leaf explains the humid winds blowing through window screens on a night without electricity
1
upon 8,9,10,11,12 That’s how I fell in love— That point at which steam rises yet I know it will not take me. Into the humid air. Into the current’s convecting flow. 10 and the fog that follows becomes the reason to sleep as crickets chirp and neutrinos crash and grass decays into soil 11 bacteria in porous rocks a mile below earth’s surface 12 regardless of those preaching impending death threat of nothingness regardless of rock and roll alternative viewpoints alternative lifestyles alternatives to evolution to science to cosmology
8
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a red wheel barrow 13,14,15,16,17 —the light from above your left shoulder, your leaning forward ardent deflecting the light onto walls like hands forming my interest in ambiguity in restlessness. I remember the restlessness. 14 ecumenism universalism Catholicism Baptism of fire of water of ashes of mud 15 Thunder clouds boiling, plates subducting, kids competing for attention, harmonic traffic. Ennui freezing into routine. 16 becoming justification for fossil fuels and wind through hair and gunshots 17 insects crawling over leaves fossils hanging in lime cliffs ripples of rain drops
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glazed with rain 18,19,20,21 18
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of the trickster the wolf the crow the man behind the curtain ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny progeny legacy 20 The early inhibitions and inadequacies, the sensations of exploration and mystery, of you in the white shirt and black cardigan sweater. You are always colder than me. 21 as anger becomes excuse for almost anything
water 22,23,24,25,26 fallacy mendacity complicity regardless of philosophy religion piety sin or innocence having faith keeping faith 23 I like arctic landscapes, ammonites scattered like leaves on Seymour Island, the uncertainty, it inspires me to act as if to itch, to approach you seduce you trick you fool you inveigle you with my chivalry and deep waters. I like caves and the processes that form them, the time the time the time the time the time. My only talent is time. The knowledge that mountains will come and be leveled and come again, that all meaning is contained in moments too short for time to stretch and imprint and inveigle into memory, and the shadows fell across your face, except for the crystalline blue of your eyes. I’ve always preferred winter landscapes, the beauty of ice on branches, the sky and ground fused, a fog rising, 24 There’s more than renewal, more than freedom, more than eternity. 25 in placid water flowers emerging slowly oceans lapping against mottled shores rainforests competing canopies whole ecosystems huddled around deep-sea volcanic vents diatoms surviving in Antarctic ice 26 except the tears that fall pulling leaves from trees suspending dust fertilizing oceans driving hurricanes and acts of God
22
beside the white chickens.27,28,29,30,31 means only this you must believe in the value of human spirit over any pursuit of meaning 28 like the soul of the earth, with just the contrast of your eyes penetrating, proving life still exists, proving to me the worst event in any life is to lose the shadows, the details of ambiguity. 29 all because life requires meaning 30 comes from the knowledge that all of this is meaningless to me 31 There is nothing.
27
There is more than sanctuary within time outside of time, mind outside of skin.
—Bradley Earle Hoge
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“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than any magician ever spoke, or spirit ever awakened to, in the strongest conjuration.” —Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit
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DETOX YOUR HOME
The Green Clean Approach By Beth D’Addono
As if we don’t have enough to worry about, tracking down trans fats, avoiding dangerous over-the-counter drugs and monitoring our kids’ page on myspace.com, now our own homes might be hazardous to our health. “There are so many toxins in our homes that are linked to illnesses,” says Lisa Beres, a California interior designer whose personal health crisis inspired her to start Green Nest, a company specializing in environmentally sound products, including air purifiers, water filters, and organic linens. In her own case, toxins in textiles, furnishings, and building materials in her new home gave her a case of chronic fatigue syndrome, combined with hormonal imbalances, that totally immobilized her. When traditional doctors couldn’t diagnose the problem she started exploring alternative medicine and doing research on her own. “I found out that paint, particle board cabinetry, carpeting, and upholstery could outgas dangerous toxins like formaldehyde into the air.” As she gradually made changes, her health dramatically improved. Of course, Beres acknowledges that not everybody has the same level of sensitivity to environmental factors; in fact her husband had no health problems at all, despite living in the same home. Raising awareness Pesticides, something most of us keep out of the way on a shelf in the garage, are another offender. They can enter our home by being tracked in from the outdoors, or, according to Debbie Foster, owner of Organic Nest in Morristown, New Jersey, as residue on cotton textiles. Foster, who sells eco-friendly sheets, clothing, bedding, and mattresses, believes babies and small children 66 INTERIORS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
are especially vulnerable. If you’re like most people, the very notion of tracking down toxins in your home fills you with dread. What are you supposed to do, rip up the rugs, throw out your furniture and deep six your mattresses? Who can afford to do that? “One of the things that public health folks are reluctant to do is tell the public about a health risk if there’s nothing they can do about it,” said Brenda Afzal, a community health specialist with the Environmental Health Education Center at University of Maryland School of Nursing. “I try to raise awareness, give people information, and just get people to think about the reasons they make purchasing decisions. It’s impossible to reach a completely non-toxic level, but we can choose less toxic alternatives.” For Ellen Kranefuss, 45, who lives in Madison, N J with her husband, Jack, and their daughters, Caroline, 8, and Olivia, 6, awareness of environmental issues within her home came gradually. “I think of it as taking baby steps,” she said. “It’s an evolutionary process. The more you become aware of the products you’re purchasing, the more you read, then you start to feel that you can make a difference. So many times we feel powerless in our lives. But in this area, in our home, we can have an impact.” Thinking about impact Once she’d made the switch to buying organic milk, fruits, and vegetables, she started thinking about other products. “It’s all about consumption. If we consume less things that need plastic and packaging, we burn less fossil fuel and we emit less carbon dioxide into the air, which we all know is creating all
the nasty problems that go along with the greenhouse effect.” Making green choices for the home has the extra benefit of reducing toxins, both inside the home, and in the greater global landscape. Cleaning products were the first order of the day. Many store-bought cleaning products emit toxins and leave unhealthy chemical residues behind. “The message we get from commercials is that if we don’t buy antibacterial cleaning products that make our house smell better, we’re not good parents,” said Afzal. “Recent science tells us that we don’t need to be germ free, in fact it’s a bit of a problem if children aren’t exposed to a normal range of germs. Good old fashioned soap and water works the best.” Instead of spraying a chemical in the air, follow the EPA’s recommendation to “Eliminate or control the source of the pollution and dilute and exhaust the pollutants through outdoor air ventilation.” In other words, open a window. Once she switched to green products to clean her home, including forgoing a chemical cleaner for a simple solution of vinegar and water to clean glass surfaces, Kranefuss and her husband made a commitment to become better recyclers, even involving their daughters in the process. “Our garbage is truly just garbage. We separate every can, every scrap of paper, and every single piece of plastic. Cutting down our garbage by half of one large trash bag per week saves at least 1,100 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. That really adds up.” Other changes included replacing incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescents. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only one-quarter the energy of an ordinary bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. One of these bulbs replacing an incandescent can cut CO2 emissions by 822 pounds in five years. Running the dishwasher only when full, using a low-flow showerhead and washing clothes in cold or warm water only were other measures the family instituted. They also installed a carbon water filter for the household water supply, eliminating the need to purchase bottled water. “For us, it’s as much about the health of the planet as our own health,” she said. “We counted it up, and by making 12 different changes, we reduced CO2 emissions by something like 25,000 pounds a year. And that’s just our one house.” Being more thoughtful about consumption and aware of what products they bring into the home has had a positive effect on the entire family, she said. “We really try to get the girls to think about want versus need. Energy is used to make everything, and we need to think about that.” Organic bedding When it was time to buy big beds for the girls, she invested in a mattress made from natural and organic materials, purchased from Foster’s shop, Organic Nest. “I didn’t like the idea that the sheets we were sleeping on were made from cotton treated with pesticides,” she said. Mattresses are typically stuffed with polyurethane foam and other materials that may have been treated with flame-retardants and covered with material treated to resist water, stains, and wrinkles. These chemicals can contribute indoor air pollution. And while the toxins from most products dissipate in time, especially with exposure to sunlight, mattresses can release gaseous chemicals for years. “Children spend eight to ten hours a day sleeping in their beds,” said Foster, who sells only natural, organic, fair-trade, and sustainable products. For Foster, it’s important that the vendors with whom she works practice fair trade, which refers to an equitable and fair partnership between North American marketers and producers in other parts of the world. It aims to guarantee a living wage for those producers and support environmentally responsible practices, healthy and safe working conditions, and no abuse of child labor. “We have choices,” she says. And while she admits that her own sons didn’t sleep on organic crib mattresses—”I didn’t know about them!”—the idea is to make the most informed choices when you are ready to make a purchase. Buying organic textiles, just like buying organic food, costs more. A twin size mattress at Organic Nest costs somewhere around $1,500, a set of sheets $150, more on the par with a luxury mattress or designer sheets sold at a high-end department store than at a discount chain. “The cost can be a factor. But you can pick and choose what’s important to you. It can seem monumental,” said Kranefuss. “For me, I just started with the areas of the home that I thought changes would have the most impact, like with laundry or cleaning products. Then it moved on from there. Now, when we do something, whether it’s a construction project, painting the bedroom or buying items for the home, we think about buying products that don’t hurt us or the Earth. It sounds trite, but I truly believe we’re making a difference.”
CLEANING GREEN
Here’s a list of household ingredients that won’t make your family sick and won’t pollute the environment. Furniture Polish Mix a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and olive oil. Spray on surface and wipe with a clean cloth. Floor cleaners Most hardwood floors can be cleaned with 1/4 cup white vinegar per quart of water. Marble, tile, and granite floors can be cleaned with very hot water. Scouring Powder Baking soda can be sprinkled on dirty area, soaked and then scrubbed with a damp sponge or cloth. Oven Cleaner Mix a concentrated citrus cleaner with baking soda. Scrape off residue and then scrub with mixture. Air Freshener Boil a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water for several minutes. Stubborn Stain Remover For carpet, clothing, and upholstered furniture: foaming shaving cream (not gel). Spray on surface and let set for 15 to 30 minutes, then rinse with 1/3 cup white vinegar per quart of water. Washing soda, available in detergent section or in pure form as “sodium carbonate,” cuts grease and removes stains. Drain Opener Pour one cup baking soda down the sink (not on the side with the garbage disposal) and follow with one cup white vinegar. For mold and mildew in your drain, substitute one cup hydrogen peroxide for vinegar. Wait two to three hours and then flush with warm water. Window Cleaner In a spray bottle, combine 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol with 1/3 cup white vinegar and fill with distilled water. (Tap water can contain impurities that smear glass.) Silver Polish Put a sheet of aluminum foil into a bowl. Sprinkle foil with salt and baking soda and fill bowl with warm water. Soak silver in bowl. Tarnish migrates to the foil. Toilet Bowl Cleaner Sprinkle baking soda around inside of toilet. Pour in 1/3 cup white vinegar and scrub with nylon brush. Once a month pour one cup white vinegar into the toilet. Disenfectants When used with hot water, borax is a hospital-quality disinfectant. It cleans, deodorizes, and softens water to increase the cleaning power of soap. Washing soda cuts grease and removes stains, disinfects and softens water. Laundry Soap biodegrades safely and completely and is non-toxic. Sold as liquid, flakes, powder, and in bars, which can be grated to dissolve easily in hot water. Available in grocery stores and health food stores. Insist on soap without synthetic scents, colors, or additives. Even phosphate free, biodegradable laundry detergent contributes to water pollution.
RESOURCES For more information on sustainable cleaning products, visit the websites of two local natural cleanings gurus: Annie Berthold-Bond and Ann LaGoy. Ann LaGoy is the owner of Fishkill-based Clearly Natural cleaning products, a line of nontoxic cleansers for glass, mold, floors, grime, wood, and all surfaces. Also available are linen sprays, air fresheners, a volcanic rock odor-removing sponge, and a “brick” for removing hair and dust. www.clearly-natural.com. Rhinebeck resident Annie Berthold-Bond is the author of a number of alternative housekeeping guides, including Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Nontoxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping, The Green Kitchen Handbook, and Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living. www.betterbasics.com.
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BREATHE EASY
BATTLING HOUSEHOLD AIR POLLUTION By Melissa Knopper
Most people look to the sky for billowing smokestacks when they’re concerned about air pollution. But Karen Spector of the Los Angeles-based Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC) says parents of young children usually look down. “We get so many calls from people concerned about new carpeting—they’re worried about the strong smell,” Spector says. And rightly so. EPA researchers estimate the air inside our homes is two to five times more polluted than the outside air. While indoor air pollution is an important priority for everyone, parents of babies and toddlers tend to worry about it the most. Statistics show childhood asthma rates are rising, along with certain types of childhood cancer. Approximately 20 percent of American children have asthma, and it sends 160,000 kids to the hospital each year, according to the Mt. Sinai Center for Children’s Environmental Health. As adults, we spend hours working inside unhealthy office buildings with very little control over what we are breathing. As a result, more doctors are diagnosing people with immune system disorders such as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).
HOUSEHOLD DANGERS
Health experts believe the large number of chemicals we use in our homes contribute to the problem. Luckily, many companies are now starting to offer viable alternatives, such as nontoxic paint and organic cotton shower curtains. To make your home less toxic, it makes sense to start from the bottom up, says CHEC’s Spector—especially if you have a crawling baby or toddler. Many well-meaning parents invest in new wall-to-wall carpeting in the nursery to create a cozy and fall-proof environment for their baby. But synthetic carpet probably isn’t the best choice, Spector says. “Solvents used in the manufacturing process, or volatile organic compounds (VOCs), give wall-to-wall carpet its strong smell,” she explains. And those chemicals have caused seizures and neurological damage in some children and chemical hypersensitivity in adults. Once the carpet is installed, it’s like a sponge that soaks up dirt, germs, mold spores and dust mites. It’s hard to clean. And often, the spot cleaners or toxic chemicals professional cleaners use are worse than the carpet itself, Spector says. (The most reputable companies have an Institute for Carpet Cleaning and Restoration certification: www. iicrc.org.)
Instead of synthetic carpeting, Spector suggests a natural-fiber throw rug made of wool, cotton, jute, or sea grass. “Area rugs are easier to care for and replace,” she says. For people who need to keep their wall-to-wall carpet, Spector suggests going with a company such as the Atlanta-based Interface Carpets (www.interfaceflor. com), which has made a commitment to environmental health. Interface agrees to air out all of its carpet in a warehouse before installing it. The company’s residential line, Flor, comes in tile-sized squares. “You can take the affected section and either replace it or clean it and put it back,” says Daniel Price, an Interface microbiologist. Price helped develop a special nontoxic preservative to prevent mold and bacteria growth in the carpet. Flor products are made of postconsumer plastic, and they can be recycled. If you must buy traditional carpet, Spector says it’s wise to plan a vacation around the installation. Let the new carpet air out for at least 48 hours. Avoid VOC-laden glue; tack strips are better. Check out the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus program for low-VOC products (www.carpet-rug.com).
THE MISERIES OF MOLD
Moisture, and the mold it creates, is another top indoor air concern, according to Gina O’Connell, a health educator with the American Lung Association’s Health House program. Tiny mold spores can get into the lungs and cause asthma and other respiratory problems. Dust mites reproduce more quickly in humid weather. Humidity also causes formaldehyde gas to seep out of pressed-wood furniture, O’Connell says. In humid parts of the country, it’s probably wise to invest in a dehumidifier, she says. The Lung Association says it’s best to keep the humidity between 35 and 55 percent. At the very least, homeowners should install exhaust fans in the bathroom and kitchen, O’Connell adds. Other top indoor air threats include radon gas, which seeps into basements through foundation cracks, and carbon monoxide gas (from malfunctioning furnaces or auto exhaust). Carbon monoxide can be a killer and justifies the expense of a detector. Often, indoor air problems will disappear with common-sense solutions such as washing bedding once a week in hot water to kill dust mites or using a fancier pleated furnace filter. But some families need to be more vigilant. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM INTERIORS 69
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WHAT ABOUT FILTERS?
“If you have a child with asthma, and you’ve addressed all the sources of air pollution as best you can, then maybe you should look at a portable air cleaner for the bedroom,” O’Connell says. In fact, people are buying more air purifiers these days, says Jill Notini, a spokesperson for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM). Interest also peaked after September 11, when the federal Department of Homeland Security endorsed air cleaners in case of a chemical or biological attack (see www.ready.gov/clean_air.html). AHAM, a trade association for air purifier manufacturers, does independent testing on different air cleaner models and gives the performance data to consumers. This information is particularly helpful because, as air cleaner sales picked up over the past few years, several companies began selling questionable products via e-mail spam. So how do you know if you should spend thousands on a whole-house system or $200 on a small High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter? Many health experts say air-cleaning machines really aren’t necessary for most of us. But for those struggling with environmental health issues, these machines can offer relief. Notini advises measuring the size of your room so you can get an appropriate type. Consider the overall design, noise issues and how often you must change the filter. Next, take a look at the performance ratings. Some families may do just fine with a portable HEPA filter, which cleans larger particles, such as pollen and pet dander. To remove chemical gases, such as formaldehyde, a carbon filter is needed. Many new homebuilders offer a central vacuum system that feeds into a whole-house filter. Also, consider how much ozone the machine produces, either as part of the service (ozone can kill mold, for example) or as a byproduct. While ozone can be helpful, too much can cause serious health problems, Notini says. Ask the manufacturer—and your doctor—before purchasing an ozone-producing machine. The EPA offers a helpful report on the ozone issue at www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/airclean.html. Meanwhile, houseplants may be a cheaper alternative, says retired NASA researcher Bill Wolverton (www.wolvertonenvironmental.com). While trying to improve indoor air quality for astronauts living in a sealed chamber full of toxic materials, Wolverton discovered that plants cleared the air by absorbing chemicals and converting them into food and energy. Top air-cleaning plant species include philodendron, Boston fern, peace lily, and English ivy. Wolverton recommends using two or three houseplants per 100 square feet of room space, although some critics counter that the air cleansing abilities of plants have been exaggerated. If you want sweeter air inside, don’t forget to check outside, says the Lung Association’s O’Connell. For example, lawn chemicals usually waft indoors, so it’s best to avoid them. If you must have them, invest in an outdoor storage shed. All of these changes can add up, acknowledges CHEC’s Spector. But it doesn’t take a lot of money to get started. Get an inexpensive throw rug, mix up some homemade cleaning solutions and throw open the windows. “If you try to make your home as nontoxic as possible, it will give you a sense of control and well being,” says Spector. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM INTERIORS 71
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www.schneiderpfahl.com
Woodstock Landscape, Prudence See, oil on board, 10x8’
Real Estate • Estate Planning Arts & Entertainment
SCHNEIDER PFAHL & RAHMÉ LLP 31 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY 12498 845-679-9868 2 Park Ave., 19th Fl., New York, NY 10016 212-629-7744
www.nycrealestateattorneys.com 72 INTERIORS CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
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Victorian Conservatories
Straight Eave Wood/Glass
Straight Eave Aluminum/Glass
Warmer in Winter...cooler in summer
Come Visit Our Showroom
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tastings 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM
77
Food
Living La Vida Locavore The Challenges of Keeping It Local by Eric Steinman illustrations by Mike Dubisch
Dining with my sister has always been a challenge. Since we were kids, she has exhibited a near pathological desire to uncover what exactly is, or is in, her food, lest it have “cooties.” When she goes to restaurants, she insists on asking the waiter multiple questions. The inquisition goes on for what seems like the same amount of time it would take to prepare and consume the food in question: “What is good tonight?” “Are your chickens organic?” “Are the scallops ocean or bay scallops?” “Is the salmon wild, Atlantic, or Pacific?” “Is it made with sugar or honey?” “If so, is the honey raw or pasteurized?” And this goes on and on as my neck muscles tense and my growing sympathy for the waiter compels me to casually order the least-demanding item on the menu, therefore revealing ourselves as an onerous “Mutt and Jeff” routine. Over the past few weeks, I have had to relive the discomfort of the demanding diner. This time, my sister was nowhere in sight, and I was the food apologist, the demanding diner, and the locavore. A locavore, by definition, is an individual choosing to consume—exclusively—food that has either been grown, farmed, or produced locally. The catchphrase and ethos are the creations of three San Francisco Bay Area locals who, out of concern for the environment and the viability of local farmers, began a movement to compel friends, family, and the fanatical to consume only what has been created within a 100-mile radius of where they live. Other reasons to join the fray include supporting the local economy, attaining fresher product, eating seasonally and reasonably, promoting sustainable farming, and even protection from bioterrorism. (If I eat Hawaiian pineapples, have the terrorists won?) So, as a personal endurance test, I became a temporary locavore and began my selective grazing, sticking to it for all of August and for three more weeks, only eating food raised within the fertile Hudson Valley. Now, it is fitting that this locavore concept would have been the brainchild of Californians. I don’t say this with disdain or judgment. I was born and 78 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
raised in California, and consider myself quite intimate with the mindset, as well as the agricultural landscape. Of course, in a state that supplies roughly 80 percent of the nation’s produce and bestows the indulgence of backyard avocados year-round, it makes enormous sense to get on your culinary high horse and feed. However, Upstate New York (regardless of how bountiful the summer months may be) does not hold a carrot to the vast quantity and quality of California produce. Much like carnivores, locavores are strong adherents to their own ethos, and take their mission very seriously. There are numerous websites devoted to their mission (including www.locavores.com, www.eatlocalchallenge.com, and www.foodroutes.com) and the discipline of keeping it local. Challenges with wording vaguely reminiscent of goads and enjoiners often seen in the Jenny Craig Diet world abound on many discussion boards. This brought back memories of the one and only time I had ever attempted a diet. It was less a diet and more of a fast/cleanse that consisted of lots of salt water and lemonade and promised to detoxify my system. The dominant memories I have from that time are that of nonnegotiable hunger and a ruling narcissism that compelled me to think of only what was going in and coming out of my body. Needless to say, if I could avoid it, I will never saunter down that path again. But this was different, eating locally had everything to do with bounty and pleasure and nothing to do with deprivation. I could eat to my heart’s content, and feel mighty neighborly in doing so. The most sensible place to begin my new regimen was the market. Since it was Monday and there were no local farmers markets happening, I decided to hit Adams Fair Acre Farms in Poughkeepsie. Less a farm now and more of a supermarket, Adams has long-established roots as a roadside farm stand. In business nearly 100 years, the store proudly displays colorful “Buy Local” banners throughout its interior. So I picked up my Bear Naked Granola from
Darien, Connecticut (65 miles away); organic milk from Ronnybrook Farm in Ancramdale (25 miles away); wheat bread from Bread Alone (16 miles away); and peanut butter from Woodstock Farms (30 miles away). Things became ever more challenging when I hit the produce aisle. The raspberries were from California. The kiwis were from Chile. The lemons were from Chile as well. The tomatoes were from a hothouse in Canada and the apples were from New Zealand, on the complete other side of the Earth. I flagged down Paul Fitzpatrick, an employee and produce buyer at Adams, to inquire about how one was to stay local in a produce aisle that represented the United Nations more than the United States. He explained that Adams is committed to buying locally but cannot afford to do it exclusively, due to seasonal issues and growing demand from customers. “As local crops come in, we faze out the imports. When we have a choice, we go local,” he assured me. Upon telling him what I was trying to do with my locavore regimen, he gave me a halfsmile and told me that “with half a billion people in the world, I find it hard to believe that everyone would be able to eat locally all the time.” With that, he directed me to a pile of local peaches from Milton, and went on stocking oranges from Mexico. I had better luck at Taliaferro Farms in New Paltz. There, husband and wife Peter and Robin Taliaferro have been providing locally-grown and organic produce to their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members and local farmers markets for almost a decade. They both are huge supporters of the locavore movement and prophesize that we, as a nation, “are running at a tremendous deficit, and this time of abundance will eventually end.” Peter urges me to think about all of the Styrofoam, plastic, and gasoline used to package and transport foodstuffs all over the globe, and he goes on to champion how the CSA functions as a much-needed counterweight to a system of burden and excess. I see his point and stock up on chard, tomatoes, onions, and wonderfully knobby organic carrots. Midway into my second week, I begin to realize the enormous financial cost, along with my many transgressions, of being a locavore. In order to maintain the integrity of my mission, I had to shun several foods already existing in my refrigerator and pantry as I either replaced them with local alternatives or watched in futility as they rotted. Nearly all my food from Trader Joe’s was inedible based on the fact that all of it, even if produced somewhere in the Northeast, was likely shipped from a distribution center in California. All my cheeses were replaced with Poughkeepsie-based Sprout Creek Farm’s cheese, which runs upward of $14 per pound. Yogurt was summarily disposed of and replaced with Sprout Creek yogurt, at twice the price. And I had no luck finding local seafood, being nearly 70 miles landlocked. Also, I had the sinking realization that I had been drinking coffee and tea all week long. Even though they were organic (which is the second tenant of the locavore ethic), they were certainly not grown anywhere within 2,000 miles. I ventured into New York City for the day and landed at Cookshop in Chelsea
for dinner. Part of the 10th Avenue culinary gulch, Cookshop specializes in farmer-direct vittles served at high-ticket prices. Dishes like the Berkshire pork chop with sautéed rapini, along with marinated Catskill Duck breast, made for a guilt-free meal. I even ordered a bottle of Shinn Estate sauvignon blanc from Long Island, to keep it local and not to patronize any of those French of California wineries. Amazingly, I remained geographically confined at the cost of $85. Not cheap, but a small victory to realize that you could make it as a locavore in the big city (for the record, Manhattan is 93 miles from my home). Well, into my second week of locavoring, I hit a major obstacle. My wife went into early labor with our first child, and we were immediately uprooted to clinical hospital life for nearly four days. While enormously happy with my firstborn, I was exceedingly anxious that my endurance project was blown. As my son happily nourished himself with mother’s milk (possibly the most local food there is), I harangued the hospital staff about how to get answers about the terroir of their served food. I was suddenly channeling my sister’s panicked neurosis, and trying to get definitive assurance that their mashed potatoes and mystery meat were not only local, but edible. Utter futility. I wound up making a few mad dashes to the local health food store, but, ultimately, I broke the rules with two slices of limp toast and a paper-thin cheese omelet (origin unknown). From this point on, the guise of remaining local became more and more illusive in light of new parental time constraints and responsibilities. The practice of eating local felt like a deceptively simple path that was fraught with numerous wrong turns and potholes. Too many fruits with uncertain origins, citrus were all but verboten due to the fact that Florida was the closest supplier, and I had even discovered that my trusty Woodstock Farms peanut butter was not from the local Woodstock area but from about 165 miles away in Dayville, Connecticut. As soon as I had all but abandoned my mission and written it off as a quixotic drill in conscientious consumption, I found myself locked in a stirring conversation with produce manager Brendan McDonough of Sunflower Natural Foods Market in Woodstock. McDonough was forthcoming about the challenges and difficulties in eating locally year-round, but made a convincing argument that, very soon, economics (rising gas prices, environmental concerns, international instability) will undoubtedly dictate how and where we buy our food and the choice will arise, not from fancy, but from necessity. Eating locally, which at the moment may seem like a bourgeois indulgence, will be the most economically sensible thing we could do. So maybe I faltered as a true “locavore.” I was unable to adhere to the guidelines and ate outside of my locale on a number of occasions. I couldn’t help feeling that pragmatism trumped idealism in my case, but what was revealed to me is that we, as consumers, no longer have the luxury of eating for simply the sake of eating or mere sustenance. Food has become profoundly ethical, political, and economic by nature, and we are no longer eating for one, we eat for many. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FOOD & DRINK 79
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tastings directory BAKERIES
Fresh Company At our kitchen in the Hudson Highlands, we
The Alternative Baker
gather great local and imported ingredients
“The Village Baker of the Rondout.” 100%
for events of all sizes and pocketbooks, from
Scratch Bakery. Stickybuns, Scones, Muffins, Breads, Focaccia, Tartes, Tortes, Seasonal Desserts featuring local produce, plus Sugar-free, Wheat-free, Dairy-free, 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-Mon-
grand affairs to drop-off parties. True to our name, we emphasize the freshest, finest ingredients, because great food is the spark that ignites a convivial gathering. Our style is reflected in meals that encourage hospitality and leisure at the table, the elemental enjoyment of eating and drinking well. Garrison, NY. (845) 424-8204. www.FreshCompany.net.
day 8am-6pm; Sunday 8am-4pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Well Worth The Trip! 35 Broadway, at the historic waterfront
Ladybird Home Catering Fresh, Seasonal, Balanced Meals Delivered
6PM. Sunday 8AM-4PM. Closed Tuesday
to your Home. It’s the newest solution for your
and Wednesday. 35 Broadway, Kingston,
“what’s for dinner?” problems. Feast your eyes
NY. (845) 331-5517 or (800) 399-3589.
on Ladybird’s new sensational menus online
www.lemoncakes.com.
every week. Affordable Catering, Beautiful
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district, Kingston. Thursday-Monday 8AM-
Party Platters and Gift Certificates available. CATERING Blue Mountain Bistro Catering Co.
Chef/Owner Tanya L. Lopez. (845) 568-7280. ladybirdhomecatering@yahoo.com. www.ladybirdcatering.com.
On and off-premise catering. Sophisticated Zagat-rated 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 Gourmet and New York Magazines to Hudson Valley Magazine (Best Tapas in the Hudson Valley 2004). 1633 Glasco Turnpike,
Pad Thai Catering Delicious, affordable, and authentic Thai cuisine served with authentic Thai hospitality to your group of six or more. Lunch or dinner served in your home by Chef & Owner Nuch Chaweewan. Please call for prices and information. (845) 687-2334.
Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-8519. www.bluemountainbistro.com.
FARMERS MARKET
Claudia’s Kitchen Personalized celebrations and weddings,
Rhinebeck Farmers Market
using fresh local ingredients to create
The Hudson Valley’s best farmers bring-
delicious and elegant menus. Homemade
ing you farm-fresh vegetables, fruit, meat,
artisanal breads, Hudson Valley cheese,
poultry, dairy, eggs, wine, honey, bread,
fabulous appetizers, meat and vegetarian
flowers, jam, pickles, herbs and much
entrees, out-of-this-world desserts. Claudia
more. Free live music every week.
works one on one to custom design your
Tastings and special events all season
menu, your party, your wedding or special
long. Municipal Parking Lot on East Market
event. (845) 868-7338 or (914) 475-9695.
St. Sundays 10am-2pm.
www.claudiascatering.com.
www.rhinebeckfarmersmarket.com.
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HOME MEAL DELIVERY
Beso Located on Main St. in the heart of New
Healthy Gourmet to Go
Paltz is Beso. Spanish for “kiss,” Beso offers
See Vegan Lifestyle in the Whole
casual fine dining by Chef Owners Chad
Living Directory. (845) 339-7171. www.carrottalk.com. NATURAL FOOD MARKETS Beacon Natural Market
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 and glowing candlelit tables, or sit at the bar for a more casual
Lighting the Way for a Healthier
experience. Housemade pastas include
World...Located in the heart of historic Bea-
gnocchi and cannelloni, Grilled Swordfish,
con at 348 Main Street. Featuring organic
or Braised Beef Short Ribs. And for dessert,
prepared foods deli & juice bar as well as
Maple Mascarpone Cheesecake. Internation-
organic and regional produce, meats and
al wine list. Private parties, children welcome.
cheeses. Newly opened in Aug. ‘05, propri-
Dinner 5pm-10pm, Sunday Brunch from 11:
etors L.T. & Kitty Sherpa are dedicated to
30am - 4pm, Sunday Dinner 4pm - 9pm,
serving the Hudson Valley with a complete
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday. 46 Main St.,
selection of products that are good for
New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-1426. www.beso-
you and good for the planet, including an
restaurant.com.
extensive alternative health dept. Nutritionist on staff. 348 Main Street, Beacon, NY. (845) 838-1288.
Catamount Restaurant Located near Phoenicia and Woodstock, the
PASTA
Catamount Restaurant has been a locals and visitors favorite for years. Experience the
La Bella Pasta Fresh pasta made locally. Large variety the factory outlet. We manufacture and deliver our excellent selection of pastas to fine restaurants, gourmet shops, and caterers throughout the Hudson Valley. Call for our full product list and samples. Open to the public Monday through Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 11am to 3pm. Located on Route 28W between Kingston and Woodstock.(845) 331-9130. www.labellapasta.com.
as you dine creekside in the warm, inviting dining room. Enjoy the locally-inspired menu
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of ravioli, tortellini, pastas, and sauces at
pastoral beauty of the surrounding Catskills
that features perfectly seasoned steaks and chops, creatively prepared fish and poultry and several vegetarian dishes. And don’t miss the desserts created from the Emerson Bakery. “The Cat” as locals call it, has a full bar including a great selection of local and regional micro-brews and international wines that can be enjoyed next to one of our two large stone fireplaces. Panoramic views are the signature of The Cat, a perfect location for weddings and banquets under the outdoor pavilion. The Catamount is
PUBS
open for dinner Wed.-Sat. 5pm to 10pm; Sunday brunch from 9am to 2pm, dinner
Snapper Magee’s Heralded as having “the best jukebox in the Hudson Valley” by the Poughkeepsie
until 8pm. 5368 Route 28 , Mt. Tremper, NY. Call (845) 688-2828 for reservations. www.emersonresort.com.
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.
The Emerson at Woodstock Using locally raised meats and produce, Chef and Culinary Institute graduate Jessica Winchell’s dishes celebrate the area’s bounty of right-off-the-farm ingredients. Enjoy specialties like an Apple-butter Glazed Double-Cut Pork Chop ($23), Green Garlic
RESTAURANTS Aroma Osteria
Pesto Smothered Chicken ($19), Crusted Tofu, Avocado, Arugula and Pesto Sandwich ($8), or Seared Arctic Char on a caramelized
Aroma Osteria. 114 Old Post Road, Wap-
fennel bed ($20). Savor a fine wine, micro-
pingers Falls, NY. (845) 298-6790.
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magnificent bar while you enjoy the atmosphere of the transformed 19th Century farmhouse. The Emerson is available for group parties and other private occasions. Open for dinner, Tue.-Sun. 5:30pm to 10pm (9m Sun.), Brunch Sat. & Sun. 10am to 3pm. Located at 109 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY. Call (845) 679-7500 or visit us online at www.emersonresort.com.
The French Corner Chef Jacques Qualin, former New York Times critically acclaimed 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 A warm and inviting dining room and pub overlooking beautiful sunsets over the Wallkill River and Shawangunk Cliffs. Mouthwatering dinners prepared by Executive Chef Larry Chu, and handcrafted beers brewed by GABF Gold Medal Winning Brewmaster Darren Currier. Chef
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driven & brewed locally! 3 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 256-1700.
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 5PM-10PM. Saturday Dinner 4:30-10PM. 7270 South Broadway, Red Hook, NY. (845) 758-4333. www.hana-sushi.com.
Hickory BBQ Smokehouse Located on historic Route 28 between Kingston and Woodstock, Hickory offers diners Hudson Valley’s finest barbecue and smokehouse cuisine such as ribs, pulled pork, smoked beef, fish and free-range chicken. Whether enjoying your meal by the fireplace in Hickory’s threestar dining room or sipping a cocktail at the wood bar, Hickory’s staff is trained to make you feel as comfortable as you would at home. Hickory also features several vegetarian options, steaks, homemade desserts, happy hour specials, a complete take-out menu, and catering 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.), 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM TASTINGS DIRECTORY
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Kingston, NY. (845) 338-2424.
Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-2600.
www.hickoryrestaurant.com.
www.maincourserestaurant.com.
Joyous Cafe
Marion’s Country Kitchen
Is it any wonder that Joyous Cafe is the
Nestled inside the beautiful compounds of
most exciting new eating experience in
the Woodstock Lodge, near Woodstock’s
Kingston? Whether it’s Breakfast, Lunch, or
charming center is a romantic getaway
Sunday Brunch, the wonderfully prepared
where European hospitality and delicious
food and attentive service are outstanding.
food is created by Marion Maur (excellent
Open Monday through Friday 8 am - 4 pm.
awards by Zagat survey). It is the perfect
Sunday Brunch 9 am- 2 pm. Serving Dinner
place for a cocktail at our rustic elegant
evenings of UPAC events. 608 Broad-
wood bar. Then be pampered in our cozy &
way, in The Heart of Broadway Theater
intimate dining room, ensuring you and your
Square, Kingston, NY. (845) 334-9441.
guests the enjoyment of Marion Maur’s light
www.joyouscafe.com.
and flawless cuisine which consists of European contemporary and updated classics
Kyoto Sushi Kyoto Sushi. 337 Washington Ave., Kingston, NY. (845) 339-1128.
provided by local Hudson Valley farmers. And do not forget to compliment your meal with a selection from our unique, refined and eclectic wine list. Marion’s Country Kitchen is a wonderful location for rehearsal dinners,
Luna 61 “Best Vegetarian Restaurant.” –Hudson
receptions & family events! 20 Country Club Lane Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-3213. www.MarionsCountryKitchen.com.
Valley Magazine. “Food is simply delicious,
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four stars.” –Poughkeepsie Journal. “Imagine spicy Thai noodles, delicate spring rolls,
Monster Taco
and the best banana cream pie you’ve
When you have a hunger that only Mexican
ever eaten. Join the Culinary Revolution.”
food can satisfy, visit Monster Taco. With
–Dutchess Magazine. Luna 61 is relaxed
fresh food, reasonable prices, and a funky
and funky, candlelit tables, cozy, and
atmosphere, there’s no doubt you’ll keep
romantic. Organic wine and beer. Tuesday
coming back to feed the monster. Open for
- Saturday 5pm-10pm. Sunday brunch
lunch and dinner. 260 North Road, Pough-
10am-3pm, dinner 5pm-9pm. Now Accept-
keepsie, NY. (845) 452-3375.
ing Credit Cards. 55 Broadway, Tivoli, NY.
www.monster-taco.com.
(845) 758-0061. Mexican Radio Machu Picchu Peruvian Restaurant
Voted best Mexican restaurant in NYC,
The only authentic Peruvian restaurant
Mexican Radio’s 3-year-old branch in
in Orange County, NY. Family owned
Hudson features the same award-winning
and operated since 1990. Serving the
homemade dishes and the world’s greatest
community traditional dishes from the
margaritas! Everything made fresh daily.
mountains and coast of Peru. Trained in
Extensive vegetarian/vegan choices. A great
Peru, our chefs make authentic dishes
place for parties! open every single day - 11:
come alive. Wine list available. Serving
30am - 11pm. 537 Warren Street, Hudson,
Lunch and Dinner Sunday through Thurs-
NY. (518) 828-7770. www.mexrad.com.
day 10am-10pm and Friday & Saturday 10am-11pm. Closed Tuesday. 301 Broadway, Newburgh, NY. (845) 562-6478. www.machupicchurest.com.
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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
Four-star, award-winning, contemporary
many selections of Sushi & Sashimi, an
American cuisine serving organic, natural, and
extensive variety of special Rolls and kitchen
free-range Hudson Valley products. Wednes-
dishes. Live Lobster prepared daily. Parking
day and Thursday nights, food and wine
in rear available. Major credit cards accept-
pairing menu available. Voted “Best Caterer in
ed. Sunday-Thursday 12-10PM. Friday and
the Hudson Valley.” Open Lunch and Dinner
Saturday 12-11PM. 49 Main Street, in the
Tuesday-Sunday, and Sunday Brunch. 232
Village of New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-0162.
Osaka Japanese Restaurant
in the heart of historic Red Hook/Rhinebeck
Want to taste the best Sushi in the Hudson
NY has it all. This 6 room Federal style
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) 8767338 or (845) 876-7278.
OII
colonial, built in 1842, offers guests a walk back in time as they enjoy modern amenities including luxury bedding, linens, jacuzzis, fireplaces and wireless internet. The dining room at the Inn, Roasted Garlic, features a mixture of French, American and Mediterranean menus with a focus on flavor and affordability. Meet Chef Nabil Ayoub and Hostess Patricia Holden as you enjoy
Food. Tapas. Wine. Gallery. Catering. The
charm, exquisite cuisine and warm hospital-
newly opened OII in historic Beacon has
ity. Red Hook, NY.
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. (845) 231-1084. www.oiiny.com.
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. up to 50 people. Open 24/7. Exit 18 off NYS Thruway. 27 New Paltz Plaza, New Paltz,
Located in Beacon, NY, offers a delicious menu full of authentic Thai cuisine. From traditional dishes, such as Pad Thai and Som Tam, to custom dishes created exclusively by our master chef, our menu is sure to please any palate. Take–out is also available. 516-518 Main St. Beacon, NY. (845) 790-5375.
Soul Dog Featuring a variety of hot dogs, including preservative-free and vegetarian hot dogs, chili, soup, sides, desserts & many glutenfree items prepared in-house. Redefining the hot dog experience! Open for lunch Mon-Fri 11am-4pm. 107 Main St., Poughkeepsie,
NY. (845) 255-1030.
NY. (845) 454-3254.
Roasted Garlic at the Red Hook Inn
Wasabi Japanese Restaurant
Elegant environment, comfortable atmo-
Wasabi Japanese Restaurant. Open 7 days
sphere, internationally acclaimed chef/ owner, the Red Hook ‘Country’ Inn, located
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Private room for parties and conferences
Sukhothai Restaurant
a week. 807 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. (518) 822-1888.
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business directory ACTING Sande Shurin Acting Classes 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.
ANIMATION 8 Hats High
California, EcoArch DesignWorks specializes in Planning, Architecture and Interiors for Single family or Multi-family homes, entertainment, retail or office environments. Recent projects in New York include the Oriental Emerson Spa, the Ram Dass Library @ Omega and numerous Private homes and Additions. Unlock the potentials of your site, home or office, to foster greater design harmony, prosperity,spirit, health, and ecological integrity. (845) 247-4620 | fax: (845) 247-4620. ecoarchitect@hvc.rr.com. www.JanusWeltonDesignWorks.com.
ART GALLERIES Imari Arts
Hudson Valley Showcase
Van Brunt Gallery
Expect the unexpected at the Hudson Valley’s newest antiques and crafts center. The multidealer Hudson Valley Showcase in Newburgh, minutes from the acclaimed Riverfront is open 7 days, has ample parking, a café and offers superb quality at affordable prices. Come check out the unique array of antiques, jewelry, collectables, crafts and more. 280 Broadway (9W), Newburgh, NY. (845) 494-1135. www.hudsonvalleyshowcase.com.
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.
business directory
ANTIQUES
Hudson’s newest craft shoppe/art gallery is worth a one block walk off warren. Imari features hudson valley painters, sculptors, and craftsmen you will find one of a kind items ranging from fine art and sculpture to decorator items and wearable art. Open Thur-Sat 11: 30-6; Sun 11-2. moconnellhudson@aol.com. www.imariarts.com.
23-27 West Main Street 3rd Fl., Middletown, NY. Please also see our Illustration directory. (845) 344-1888. www.8hatshigh.com.
ART SUPPLIES ARCHITECTURE DiGuiseppe 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.
EcoArch DesignWorks Janus Welton, AIA, BBEC, IFSG, Architect Award winning design,harmonizing Spirit, Health and the Environment, Solar and “Green” design. Licensed in New York, New Jersey and
Beacon Art Supply A source for locals and tourists selling art and design-related gifts, specialty papers, kids stuff, note cards, books & journals in addition to art supplies. Papers. Paint. Gifts. Canvas. Crayons &Then Some. Create Something! Open daily 12-6, Thurs until 8pm, closed Tues. 506 Main Street, Beacon, NY. (845) 440-7904. www.beaconartsupply.com.
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.
Manny’s Since 1962, big city selection and small town service have made Manny’s special. We offer 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BUSINESS DIRECTORY
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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.
R & F Handmade Paints 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
business directory
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.
Schneider, Pfahl & Rahme, LLP 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.
BED & BREAKFASTS / INNS Storm King Lodge Bed and Breakfast Come and enjoy our cozy lodge, converted from an early 1800’s post-and-beam barn, and guest cottage in a country setting with gardens, pool, and mountain views. The Great Room offers a comfortable place to relax, with a roaring fire on winter evenings; or enjoy those summer nights on the covered veranda. Choose from six comfortable guest rooms with private baths. Comforts include central AC, several fireplaces, spacious lawns, gardens, and the grand swimming pool. Located near Storm King Art Center, West Point, DIA: Beacon, Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, and 1 hour from NYC. Great restaurants nearby. 100 Pleasant Hill Road, Mountainville (Cornwall), NY. (845) 534-9421. www.stormkinglodge.com.
BEVERAGES Leisure Time Spring Water 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. 94
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BICYCLE SALES / RENTALS / SERVICE Bicycle Depot Open Every Day Except Tuesday. 15 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-3859. www.bicycledepot.com.
BOOKSTORES Barner Books Used books. From kitsch to culture, Thoreau to thrillers, serious and silly. We have the books you read. Mon.-Sat. 10-7. Sun. 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.
Mirabai of Woodstock 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.
business directory
CARPETS / RUGS Anatolia Tribal Rugs & Weavings 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.
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.
CINEMA Upstate Films 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.
CLOTHING Pegasus Footwear 10 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-2372. www.PegasusShoes.com.
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COLLEGES Dutchess Community College 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.
Mount Saint Mary College 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.
CONSIGNMENT SHOPS
specializes in functional nasal surgery. Offices in Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck & NYC with affiliated MediSpas. Poughkeepsie, NY. (845) 454-8025. www.NYfaceMD.com.
CRAFTS 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.
Deep Clay Showroom 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.
business directory
Past ‘n’ Perfect 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 MidHudson Bridge. Tuesday-Friday 11am - 6pm. Saturday 10am - 6pm. 1629 Main Street (Route 44), Pleasant Valley, NY. (845) 635-3115. www.pastnperfect.com.
The Present Perfect 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.
CUSTOM HOME DESIGNERS Atlantic Custom Homes Atlantic Custom Homes is an independent distributor of Lindal Cedar Homes, the world’s largest manufacturer of quality cedar homes. Lindal is known around the world for their signature post and beam home designs, quality building materials and detailed craftsmanship. We believe that your home should be a realization of your wishes. We take the time to explore them with you, and to develop your design in accordance with those wishes, your budget and your property. (845) 265-2636.
Phoenix Construction Phoenix 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 Construction professionally handles all details so that you don’t have to worry. (845) 266-5222. www.phoenix-b.com.
COSMETIC AND PLASTIC SURGERY M. T. Abraham, MD, FACS Facial Plastic, Reconstructive & Laser Surgery, PLLC 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 TM
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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.
FAUX FINISHES Faux Intentions 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.
FRAMING Catskill Art & Office Supply See also Art Supplies directory. Woodstock (845) 679-2251; Kingston (845) 331-7780; Poughkeepsie (845) 452-1250.
Manny’s See also Art Supplies directory. 83 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-9902.
GARDENING & GARDEN SUPPLIES DANCEWEAR First Street Dancewear
CONSTRUCTION
DISTRIBUTION
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.
DENTISTRY Tischler Dental With over 35 years experience, Tischler Dental is the leading team of dental care experts in the area. Dr. Michael Tischler is currently one of only two Board Certified Implant Dentists in the Hudson Valley Region of NYS and one of only 300 dentists in the world to have achieved this honor. Sedation dentistry, acupuncture with dental treatment, dental implant surgery, cosmetic makeover procedures and gum surgery are just a few of the many unique services Tischler Dental offers. Their practice philosophy is that each modality of dental treatment is performed by the practitioner that is best trained in that area. Working as a team, they deliver ideal dental care. Woodstock NY. (845) 679-3706. tischlerdental@hvc.rr.com. www.tischlerdental.com.
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-6pm. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 876-8606. www.thephantomgardener.com.
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 Is your guitar or bass performing up to its fullest potential? Do you have fret buzz? Is your action too high/ too low? Is your instrument just plain old hard to play? Guitars and basses regularly need set ups, much like cars need oil changes and tune ups to keep them running well. Here at McCoys Guitar Shop our aim is to make your instrument play as well, or better than, you ever thought possible. Remember, if your instrument isn’t playing up to par, perhaps neither are you! Come to McCoys Guitar Shop and fall in love with your instrument all over again! McCoys Guitar Shop: Expert repairs, restoration, guitars and basses bought, sold and traded. Give us a call: 845 658-7467. You’ll be glad you did! Rosendale, NY. (845) 658-7467.
pricing...Want more? How about: free software, extra e-mail, K56Flex support, personal web space, helpful customer service, and no setup charges. (845) 255-2799. www.hvi.net.
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 e-mail, 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.
K9 CONSULTANT K9 Consultant WANTED:DOG’S WITH ISSUES: Digging, barking, aggression, chewing, phobias, obsessions, etc. A simple, proven approach to banish your dogs unwanted behavior. Let me help. The K-9 Consultant. (845) 687-7726.
LITERARY Ione
ILLUSTRATION 8 Hats High 8 Hats High is a full service animation studio and production house located in Middletown, NY. We specialize in Animation, Illustration, Storyboarding, Television Production, Photography, Post Production, Web design and more. Production: It’s what we do! For more information check out. 23-27 West Main Street 3rd Fl., Middletown, NY. (845) 344-1888. www.8hatshigh.com.
business directory
Writing workshops and private instruction for writers. (845) 339-5776.
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
INTERIOR DESIGN DeStefano and Associates 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 Hudson Valley Internet Local Internet access and commercial Web site hosting. Fast, reliable, easy to use, flexible
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.
MEDIATION & CONFLICT RESOLUTION Pathways Mediation Center 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. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM BUSINESS DIRECTORY
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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.
Joshua Pearl’s Whole Musician Workshop Develop and liberate your unique musical potential through customized music lessons, workshops, or artist development programs. For aspiring and developing musicians and bands. Explore your music in a supportive environment. Call (845) 679-7599 and receive a free lesson during September. Studios in Woodstock and Manhattan. www.joshuapearl.com.
business directory
WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. A listener-supported, noncommercial, 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
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.
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.
PET SITTING Dog Love Personal Hands-On Boarding and Daycare tailored to your dog’s individual needs. Your dog’s happiness is our goal. Indoor 5x10 matted kennels with classical music and windows overlooking our pond. Supervised playgroups in 40 x 40 fenced area. Homemade food and healthy treats. New Paltz. 240 N. Ohioville Road, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-8281. 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.
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.
REMODELING Phoenix Construction See also Construction directory. (845) 266-5222. www.phoenix-b.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) 750-5261. www.France-Menk.com.
Michael Gold Artistic headshots of actors, singers, models, musicians, performing artists, writers, and unusual, outlandish, off-thewall personalities. 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.
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. Yearround Admissions. Sliding-scale tuition. (845) 679-1002. www.hudsonvalleyschool.org.
Bibi Farber - Guitar Lessons
High Meadow School
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.
Pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, committed to a childcentered 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.
PIANO Adam’s Piano
Loomis Creek Nursery Inc
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.
Great Plants for Adventurous Gardeners! TuesdaysSundays, 9am - 5pm. Hudson, NY. (518) 851-9801. www.loomiscreek.com.
Piano Clearing House
NURSERIES
8 John Walsh Blvd. Suite 318A, Peekskill, NY. (914) 788-8090. www.pianoclearinghouse.com.
Lehman Loeb Art Center/ Powerhouse Theater Season (845) 437-5902. Vassar College Box 225, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604. (845) 437-5902. befargislanc@pop.vassar.edu.
PET SERVICES & SUPPLIES Pussyfoot Lodge B&B The Pioneer in Professional Pet Care! Full house-pet-plant BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
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
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PRINTING SERVICES
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.
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 Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-0033.
Music Institute of Sullivan and Ulster Counties The Music Institute of Sullivan and Ulster Counties (MISU) provides an opportunity for people of all ages and levels to experience music in an environment that acknowledges and nurtures the whole person. MISU offers ongoing private instruction in violin and viola, a Suzuki program,
adult education, chamber music, and a community chamber orchestra. To register call (845) 647-5087 or visit or website. www.misucatskills.org.
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.
SINGING LESSONS Ann Panagulias - Singing Lessons Concepts of classical, Italianate technique complimented by alignment and deep breathing rhythms of Eastern callisthenics; repertoire grounded in 17th-19th century Art Song extending to vintage and contemporary musical theater; training at Oberlin College and San Francisco Opera; performing professionally on three continents for twenty years. (845) 677-1134. annpandora@aol.com.
WEB DESIGN Beyond The Box Web Design
business directory
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. www.curiousm.com.
WEB DEVELOPMENT 8 Hats High 23-27 West Main Street 3rd Fl., Middletown, NY. Please also see our Illustration directory. (845) 344-1888.
Curious Minds Media Inc. See also Web Design directory. Toll-free, at (888) 227-1645. www.curiousm.com.
WEDDINGS HudsonValleyWeddings.com The Only Resource You Need to Plan a Hudson Valley Wedding. Hundreds of Regional Wedding Service Providers. FREE, Extensive, On-line Wedding Guide & Planner . . . and much more. 120 Morey Hill Road, Kingston, NY. (845) 336-4705 | fax: (845) 336-6677. judy@hudsonvalleyweddings.com. www.HudsonValleyWeddings.com.
WINE & LIQUOR In Good Taste In Good Taste. 45 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-0110. ingoodtaste@verizon.net.
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whole living
A TALE OF TEFLON NONSTICK COATINGS SLIP OUT
OF THE
SAFETY ZONE
WHEN TEFLON-COATED PANS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED, THEY PRACTICALLY SOLD THEMSELVES. TWO GENERATIONS LATER, WE ARE ONCE AGAIN LEARNING THAT BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY OFTEN CARRIES A HIDDEN PRICE.
W
e are all familiar with the wonders of nonstick cookware. Omelets slide off pans and scrubbing stuck-on food is no longer a chore. Teflon and nonstick coatings (all spawned from Teflon) have found application in myriad other products, too. We now have stain-resistant drapery and upholstery fabrics, Stainmaster carpets, and Gore-Tex water-repellent clothing. Microwave popcorn is packaged in oil-resistant bags and pizza boxes are lined with grease-resistant coatings, as is packaging for bakery items, fast food, and candy. Firefighting foam, computer chips, phone cables, and even lamps are coated with nonstick chemicals. It’s not so surprising, then, that recent studies show 95 percent of Americans have detectable levels of Teflon-related chemicals in their blood. With so much Teflon flowing through our veins one could hope for slippery blood, less plaque build-up, and thus fewer strokes and heart attacks. Alas, that is not the case. Instead, health concerns about Teflon are coming to light. The chemicals from which nonstick coatings are made, and fumes from heated cookware, are toxic to birds and laboratory animals. Virtually no studies have verified the safety of Teflon and related chemicals among the millions of people using nonstick cookware and coated products, though several of the off-gassed chemicals are considered to be highly toxic and are persistent in the environment.
TEFLON SLIPS IN Teflon is the brand name for the synthetic chemical polytetrafluoroethylene (a term that does not easily slide off the tongue), or PTFE. It was introduced for commercial use by DuPont in 1946. The original version had the problem of being easily scratched by 100 WHOLE LIVING GUIDE CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
ordinary cooking utensils. Instead of getting trace amounts of iron from food cooked in cast-iron pots, we were getting trace amounts of Teflon. Silverstone, the next generation of nonstick cookware, is more durable than Teflon. It is chemically related to Teflon, however, as are all nonstick coatings in use today. In 1960 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Teflon for contact with food, based on a study of cooking hamburgers on an old, worn Teflon pan. This did, in fact, result in higher levels of Teflon chemicals in the meat, but the FDA decided it was not a health risk. Since then, neither government nor industry has conducted full-scale tests on the safety of this ubiquitous consumer product. Teflon’s potential health risks to humans and animals managed to slip by our governmental regulatory agencies back then. But now the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonpartisan, nongovernmental watchdog agency conducting its own studies on Teflon-related toxins, is raising serious questions about the health risks associated with Teflon and other nonstick chemicals. Jane Houlihan, vice president of research at EWG, comments, “How could they not be in our blood? They’re in such a huge range of consumer products: Teflon, Stainmaster, Gore-Tex, Silverstone. If you buy clothing that’s coated with Teflon, or something else that protects it from dirt and stains, those chemicals can absorb directly through the skin.” PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid, used to make Teflon) is known to cause cancer and other health problems in laboratory animals, and Houlihan is especially concerned because in people, “blood levels are too close to the levels that harm lab animals.” Additional animal studies show that other chemicals used in food packaging, carpets, and clothing break down into PFOA in the environment, as does Teflon when ingested. The FDA says that PFOA
in microwave popcorn bags migrates into the oil during heating, but that levels are too low to be of concern. But US EPA spokesperson Susan B. Hazen indicated in a January Washington Post article by Juliet Eilperin that consumers using household products with nonstick coatings need not worry, because scientific studies have not established an increased risk of cancer. But then, no studies have been done to clearly establish there is not a risk.
THE SMOKING PAN There are two concerns with Teflon and other coatings: the potential toxicity of residual chemicals used to make the coating, and release of chemicals during product usage. PFOA is a key chemical in the first category. It is listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a persistent chemical and potential human carcinogen (cancercausing chemical). DuPont maintains that all Teflon-coated cookware is safe because no PFOA remains in the finished product. But the company acknowledges that when heated in excess of 660 degrees Fahrenheit (340 degrees C), an empty Teflon-coated pan can release toxic fumes into the air. Independent tests show that during preheating on a regular kitchen stove, nonstick cookware can easily reach a temperature of 736 degrees—in as little as about three and a half minutes—and release toxic fumes. Two chemicals in those gases are linked to cancer or tumors in laboratory animals (PFOA and TFE, tetrafluoroethylene), two are potent global warming gases (PFB, perfluorobutane; and CF4, tetrafluoromethane), and one is used as a warfare agent (MFA, monofluoroacetic acid). At higher temperatures achievable on kitchen stove tops, additional extremely toxic gases are released, including PFIB (perfluoroisobutene) and a chemical analog of the World War I nerve gas phosgene. In fact, the Environmental Working Group found 16 studies conducted over the past 50 years showing that heated Teflon decomposes to over a dozen types of toxic gases and particles. Many of the studies were done by scientists at DuPont who were looking into “polymer fume fever,” a condition documented among workers making Telfon products. Symptoms (which can be confused with flu) include malaise, shortness of breath, headache, chills, cough, sore throat, and fever. Pulmonary edema, a potentially fatal condition, may also develop. Cases of polymer fume fever from home
kitchen exposures have been reported in medical journals, leading some doctors to recommend stove ventilation whenever using nonstick cookware. Several states have filed a class-action suit claiming Teflon releases PFOA under normal cooking use, and that DuPont failed to warn consumers about the dangers. This and increasing public concern have motivated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action to restrict use of PFOA. Specifically, DuPont, 3M, Ciba, and other companies that use or manufacture it have been advised to reduce their environmental releases by 95 percent by 2010, and to eliminate sources of exposure by 2015. The companies would still use it to manufacture nonstick and stain-resistant coatings, however, using new technology they claim would ensure that PFOA would not get into the environment or into products. To protect industry from unnecessary economic loss, however, the sale of current supplies of the controversial chemical and products that contain it will be allowed for an additional five years. EWG continues to push for a reclassification of PFOA as a “likely” carcinogen in humans rather than a “potential” one. Health advocates are hoping an independent federal science advisory board which has been convened on the topic will concur. PTFE itself (Teflon) has no current toxic designations due to insufficient data (and the assumption that, as a durable polymer, it is inert), though gaseous particles of it are generated while heating cookware and it is detectable in urine of workers.
CANARIES IN THE KITCHEN Odd though it may sound, many bird owners are already aware of the dangers of Teflon—at least to their birds, for whom the fumes emitted by preheated nonstick cookware and other products have long been known to be deadly. Teflon-fume poisoning is described by veterinarian Darrel K. Styles as a “rapid and lethal gaseous intoxication of all species of birds.” There is usually little or no warning before a pet bird will fall off its perch and/or show signs of severe respiratory distress, such as open-mouth or raspy breathing and erratic tail-bobbing—followed quickly by death. And these aren’t just little canaries or parakeets. One grieving bird owner wrote “Dear Abby” in May 2005 about losing his much-loved Amazon parrot to toxic fumes from a burned Teflon pan. (He wanted to warn others “that Teflon fumes are deadly to birds,” and “harmful 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING GUIDE 101
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to small children.”) A decade ago, nearly two dozen birds died at Texas’s San Antonio Zoo when they huddled for warmth around heat lamps coated with Teflon, as some light bulbs are. In birds, toxic emissions from stove-top pans at temperatures far below 680 degrees can be sufficient to cause severe pneumonia and death. The risk is especially high for small birds, for birds kept in or near the kitchen, and during the winter months, when homes are tightly closed and air circulation is poor. Dr. Styles recommends keeping pet birds out of the kitchen as a safety measure. Some retailers advise purchasers about the delicate respiratory systems of pet birds, and to be especially careful when using nonstick cookware and aerosol sprays of nonstick coatings, and other Teflon-coated appliances. Reminiscent of the canaries carried into coal mines to detect dangerous fumes by their deaths, pet birds’ susceptibility to cookware fumes may be a warning for us.
GOING COATING-FREE Safer alternatives to nonstick cookware are plentiful. Time-tested classics such as stainless-steel pans with a layered core for increased strength, cast iron, ceramic (e.g., Corningware), and glass (e.g., Pyrex) are plentiful and versatile. Eve Felder, associate dean of culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, says chefs are becoming increasingly aware of the health concerns of nonstick cookware, and many prefer cast iron. She recommends this procedure for properly “seasoning” new cast-iron cookware to reduce food sticking: 1. Wash pan very well. 2. Heat in 400-degree oven one-half hour and remove. 3. Add two tablespoons cooking oil to an eight-inch skillet (three for a 10-inch), roll it around the pan, and rub it in with a cloth; wipe out excess oil. 4. Sprinkle in enough kosher salt just to cover the bottom and rub into the pan (this helps seal the surface); discard salt. 5. After first few uses, repeat steps 2 to 4 once more. Seasoned cast iron should be washed in very hot water with a small drop of liquid soap, then rubbed dry to prevent rusting. To maintain a smooth, water-repellent surface, it periodically may be necessary to heat the pan on a burner and repeat the oiling and salting procedures. This same procedure will repair a pot that has been left soaking in water, which can rust and degrade the surface (remove rust with a scouring pad before retreating the pan). Stainless-steel cookware doesn’t have a curing procedure. To reduce food sticking in stove-top skillets, wait to add food until the cooking oil’s surface has a wave of movement to it but is not smoldering. Add food carefully to maintain an oil layer beneath it, and do not attempt to move food until it loosens (as it cooks) and can be easily flipped or moved. Note that some stainless-steel products are Teflon-coated. If casting out that nonstick cookware seems like too much to ask, reduce toxic gas emissions of coated pans by using low cooking temperatures, never preheat pots without food or liquid, and always use a stove vent. In addition, experiment with new recipes and cooking techniques other than frying, which causes the most problems with sticking. This will also save time by not having to clean up spattered grease from the stove and surrounding area. “Fried” eggs and omelets, for example, can be cooked in a small-diameter skillet in a shallow layer of boiling water, instead of a pool of oil. As for the plethora of other nonstick-coated products, there are uncoated options. You may wish to avoid stain-resistant carpeting and clothing, especially for children, because the chemicals are easily absorbed through the skin. Presoaking dirt-stained garments may be worth the extra effort to avoid exposure to clothing treated with stain-resistant chemicals. Think creatively, too, about changing some behaviors. For instance, ask for a sheet of foil under your next take-out pizza and reheat pieces on a tray or plate, not in the box. Store and reheat fast-food items in ceramic or glass containers. Rediscover popping your own popcorn on the stove, instead of in coated microwave bags. And review the most common items that use nonstick coatings. You’d be surprised where they turn up.
COMMON COOKWARE/APPLIANCES WITH NONSTICK COATINGS Bread makers, broiler pans, ceramic-top cooking stoves, coffee makers, computer printers, crock pots, drip pans, electric skillets, griddles, hair dryers, heat lamps, hot-air poppers, ironing-board covers, irons, never-stick stainless steel, pizza pans, pots/pans, roasters, space heaters, stockpots, stove-top burners, tortilla presses, waffle makers, woks, and many others.
MORE INFORMATION: www.epa.gov/opptintr/pfoa/index/htm (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) www.ewg.org (Environmental Working Group) www.dupont.com (DuPont Chemical Company) www.oldworldaviaries.com/text/styles/teflon.html (Old World Aviaries)
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Theodor Prinz, A Ghost, c.1900, Germany, gelatin silver print, 22.8 x 17 cm, private collection. (Image from The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult, a catalog of photos from the exhibit of the same name at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2005. Published by Yale University Press, 2004.)
ENCHANTED BOUNDARY MEDIUMSHIP BRIDGES LIFE AND AFTERLIFE BY PAULINE UCHMANOWICZ My father died unexpectedly this past spring. He donated his remains to medical research; there was no body, no wake. We survivors held a simple funeral mass. Later the same day, I attended the “blessing” of a friend’s business, where a medium reputedly able to communicate with those who have passed into spirit officiated. Afterward, the medium embraced me, surges pulsing through my body as she pronounced, “He’s fine.” Releasing me and passing her hand over her abdomen, she added, “I’m getting something right here—maybe a ruptured appendix.” No autopsy had been performed on my father, but my family suspected an intestinal aneurysm was the cause of death. Father’s birth date was the obverse of auspicious: October 29, 1929. So he liked to substitute Allhallows, when a portal purportedly opens between the realms of life and death. Can entities pass between opposite sides of this imposing boundary? Yes, claim recent scientific studies. In Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death (SUNY University Press, 1993), Carl B. Becker reviews empirical evidence and counterarguments in this debate, distinguishing among various phenomena implying survival after death: hauntings, ghostly apparitions, memories of past lives, and out-of-body experiences (OBEs), including so-called “near death.” Extrapolating from quantum physics (the study of minute energies), he posits life after death as a continuing OBE, “producible experimentally and confirmed by independent testing agencies.” Researchers investigating the survival-after-death hypothesis also study mediumship, the ability to enter an altered or heightened state—either conscious (aware and able 104 WHOLE LIVING GUIDE CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
to recall) or trance (unaware and not able to recall)—and psychically receive information from disembodied intelligences. Sometimes called “channeling,” mediumship was popularized in the 19th century by “Poughkeepsie Seer” Andrew Jackson Davis and is practiced today in various forms, including by adherents of the Spiritualist Church, who “affirm” in their creed the continuity of “personal identity after death” and who acknowledge “communication with the so-called dead [as] fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.” Marisa Anderson, acclaimed psychic and spiritualist medium based in Newburgh, extrapolates from her understanding of astrophysics (the study of stars, including electromagnetic energy) when describing the passageway between physical and nonphysical existence. “You can be on both sides of the universe at the same time. In physics, it’s not an impossibility or an improbability that we can be crossing a city street and be somewhere else; it happens naturally in other dimensions of time and space.” She adds that, similar to videotaping, “you can relive events or transmute thoughts in time and space. An event in history can actually be replayed over and over again in time and space if certain circumstances are occurring.” Mediums tap this cosmic network, and for those who think that idea far-fetched, Anderson contends, “A videotape would have been insane 200 years ago.” Anderson, a member of the American Society for Psychical Research, New York Academy of Sciences, and American Association for the Advancement of
Science, has appeared on radio and television and has helped solve numerous homicide cases. Her interest in this ethereal landscape evolved from having “died” by drowning as a child. “I didn’t get beyond a particular corridor—not into the Beyond,” she explains. But she perceived “death” as an abandonment of the corporeal body combined with an awareness “that there are limitless actions in time and space. People do not die; they go somewhere.” While some mediums practice in the privacy of religious or family settings, others offer their services to a wider public. Though séances are now passé, some mediums still offer public demonstrations by initiating contact with spirits, then delivering their messages to specific audience members. Others provide “readings” at small-group parties; some work with law enforcement to aid in solving homicides; most conduct private sessions with individual clients, either in person or over the phone. A private, one-hour session can range in cost from $50 to $150. Mediumship is not credentialed, though the field is moving towards professional certification, chiefly through the apprenticeship system. For instance, Tannersville-based Adam F. Bernstein has completed courses in channeling and advanced mediumship with internationally renowned medium/author Sharon Klinger at Lily Dale, a longtime spiritualist assembly thriving in far-western New York State. Bereavement counseling is a major reason someone consults a spiritualist medium. Anderson and Bernstein, along with Laurie (last name withheld by request), a channel who conducts sessions at the Awareness Shop in New Paltz, all say that people come to them inquiring about family members or pets who have passed. Such clients may seek closure, resolution, or comfort. Bernstein says people sometimes sense a loved one is still around and want proof. Laurie notes that potential clients might be having dreams or receiving messages—verbally, impressionistically, or symbolically—from those who have passed, and seek her services because they “need to know that their parent or child is okay.” Mediums vary widely in their methods, but many conceive of a session as a “conversation” between human and spirit-world beings. A client, known as a “sitter,” takes a comfortable position and relaxes (often through prayer or meditation). Next, the medium opens his or her “channel,” then dictates impressions or messages that the client subsequently corroborates or clarifies. Anderson, whose method might be best described as spontaneous-psychic transmission, works mainly over the phone. She begins a session by asking only a client’s name then tells the person what he or she wants to know. In rare cases, she prompts, “Give me the reason why you’re here because I’m not getting it.” She then receives “impressions from the other side,” which vary according to where the person-spirit is located. She likewise may visualize sight, sound, or smell, or intuit visual or verbal narratives. In certain cases, she might actually “see” files or documents, known as “remote viewing.” I was convinced by the authenticity or her tone when Anderson told me that my father “knew” in advance he would pass. “He had circulatory weakness—something related to the heart.” (Indeed, he had a pacemaker.) She also gave correct names or initials for a neighbor and a sibling, determined that my father had built a “cabin” and planned for more expansions (blueprints discovered after his death confirm this), and that he reunited with a small, furry pet (a rabbit). “He’s in a place where he’s still resolving issues,” she concluded. Laurie inaugurates a face-to-face session with causal, information-gathering conversation, then follows with a tarot reading. What happens next is akin to conscious channeling. “Someone will come through as a voice I hear in my head—my own voice, but not coming from me,” she says. Laurie also gets sensory impressions, such as aromas of perfume, cigarettes, or flowers, and usually asks spirits for communication more specific than “I miss you” or “I love you.” Frequently, the deceased show her how they died. One such case involved a young son who Laurie sensed perished in a bombing; his mother corroborated that he died in a manhole explosion. Bernstein instructs clients not to tell him who has passed, preferring to work from “intuitive rather than intellectual information.” He has sitters relax in a chair while he achieves “a heightened state of vibration through meditation, raising [his] energy to the level of spirit entities.” During phone sessions, if information does not readily arrive, he may throw a tarot card for inspiration. In addition to receiving names, occupations, and past events the client recognizes, messages typically are encoded in symbols and empathetic sentience. “Images are more subtle than everyday images; you have to be calm and receptive and acknowledge every symbol—universal as well as pop culture. If you see Lucille Ball, you get that the person was a little zany.” Or coughing may signify a lung-cancer victim. Bernstein likens his mission to grief counseling. “One of the reasons I have a calling to this work is that I see the healing when people realize we really don’t die. As those fears fall away, people can see their potential. We are all spirits in bodies; we contact spirits out of bodies.” When I confess lingering curiosity about the life-after-death hypothesis, his soothing voice suddenly drops to a heavy, resonant monotone, imparting: “Your dad was supportive in body; he will still be with you and supportive, in your challenges and triumphs.”
RESOURCES Marisa Anderson (845) 795-1173; www.marisaanderson.com Adam F. Bernstein (212) 330-8198; www.betweentheworlds.net Laurie (845) 255-5756; www.awarenessshop.com 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM WHOLE LIVING GUIDE 105
whole living guide ACUPUNCTURE Acupuncture Health Care, PC 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.
bodhi studio Offering Massage, Acupuncture, Natropathic medicine, Cranio sacral therapy, Skin Care, Body waxing, earconing, Reflexology and Reiki. See also our Massage directory listing. (518) 828-2233. www.bodhistudio.com.
Dylana Accolla, LAc
whole living directory
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 18 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 Ms. Ellis is a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia University in pre-medical studies and has been practicing acupuncture in Rosendale since 2001. In 2003 she completed post-graduate work in the study of classical Chinese herbal medicine. Ms. Ellis trained at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for the treatment of cancer patients with acupuncture. Ms. Ellis also has special training in infertility treatment, facial acupuncture and chronic pain. Her new, expanded location is at the medical offices of Rosendale Family Practice. Evening and weekend hours and sliding scale rates. Phone consultations available. Rosendale Family Practice, 110 Creek Locks Road, Rosendale, NY. (845) 546-5358. www.HudsonValleyAcupuncture.com.
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE Judith Muir - The Alexander Technique The Alexander Technique is a simple practical skill that when applied to ourselves enhances coordination, promoting mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Improve the quality of your life by learning how to do less to achieve more. Judith Muir, AmSAT. (845) 677-5871.
APOTHECARY Dr. Tom's Tonics - A Modern Apothecary A vision of Dr. Tom J. Francescott, Naturopathic Doctor, Dr.
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Tom's Tonics is inspired by the old apothecaries from years ago filled with cutting edge and professional grade products backed by the expertise and support of a Naturopathic Doctor. Walk into Dr. Tom's Tonics and ask Dr. Tom or Dr. Winnie your health questions. Closed Wednesdays. 845-876-2900.
AROMATHERAPY Joan Apter See also Massage Therapy directory. (845) 679-0512. japter@ulster.net. www.apteraromatherapy.com.
ART THERAPY Deep Clay Art and Therapy Deep Clay Art and Therapy with Michelle Rhodes Licensed Master Social Worker, ATR-BC. A creative and grounding approach for crisis management, transitions, and deep healing. Individual, couple, and group arts based psychotherapy. “Dreamfigures� group for women in transition. Gardiner, NY. (845) 255-8039. 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.
AURAS AND ENERGY The AURACLE A Spirit shop offering aura photos/ readings, Reiki attunements/ certifications, Reiki healing, meditations, gifts, and tools for the mind/ body/ spirit. Specializing in aura/ chakra imaging. Come discover your personal aura colors, and the health and balance of your aura and chakras! Join us in our weekly Sunday chakra balancing group at 11am! Couples and pet readings available. 27 North Chestnut Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-6046.
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.
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 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.
BODYWORK bodhi studio See also Massage Therapy directory. (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. Offers a holistic approach to career and life transitions. Also specializes 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.
David W. Basch, CPCC Transition Coach
Dr. Bruce Schneider Dr. Bruce Schneider. New Paltz, NY 12561. (845) 255-4424.
Nori Connell, RN, DC Nori combines 28 years as a registered nurse with 18 years of chiropractic experience to offer patients a knowledgeable approach to removing the interferences in the body that lead to disease. She combines accredited techniques such as Neuro-Emotional technique, kinesiology, and Network Chiropractic to work with the body's innate intelligence and its ability for healing. Dr. Connell also offers workshops on natural health care for the family and is also one of the directors of Alternatives Health Center of Tivoli (845) 757-5555 and Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center (845) 876-5556. Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center, Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 757-5555 or (845) 876-5556.
COACHING Jeanne Asma, LCSWR See also Psychotherapy directory. (845) 462-1182. www.JeanneAsma.com.
COLON HYDROTHERAPY Connie Schneider, Advanced Level I-ACT Certified Colon Hydrotherapist 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
whole living directory
Change is inevitablegrowth 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.
ibility, and strength faster than standard treatments will allow. If you have an injury that has not responded to treatment, call Dr. Ness for an appointment today. (845) 255-1200.
Craniosacral Therapy
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.
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.
CHILDBIRTH
DENTISTRY
Catskill Mountain Midwifery – Home Birth Services
The Center For Advanced Dentistry Bruce D. Kurek, DDS, FAGD; Jaime O. Stauss, DMD
See also Midwifery directory. (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.
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.thecenterforadvanceddentistry.com.
EQUINE FACILITATED HEALING Kary Broffman, RN, CH See also Hypnosis directory. Hyde Park, NY. (845) 876-6753.
Ada Citron Taoist Counselor and Instructor
CHIROPRACTIC
Equisessions® with Ada, a lifelong rider, are therapeutically oriented, equine facilitated encounters based on the Epona Method from The Tao of Equus, by Linda Kohanov. Riding is involved in later sessions. This year Ada will present an all day pre-conference workshop for Region 1 of NARHA, the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, on Chi Kung as a tool for mounted equine facilitated healing work. She will also present, for the second time, her Chi Kung for Horse People at the conference itself. Kingston. (845) 339-0589. www.adacitron.com.
Dr. David Ness Dr. David Ness is a Certified Active Release Techniques (ART) Provider and Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner specializing in helping athletes and active people quickly relieve their pain and heal their injuries. In addition to providing traditional chiropractic care, Dr. Ness utilizes ART to remove scar tissue and adhesions in order to restore mobility, flex-
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FENG SHUI
HEALTH & HEALING FACILITIES
DeStefano and Associates
Guidance of Spirit, Wisdom of Heart
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.
Heart-based Intuitive Healing, Karma Release with Crystals, Space Clearings & Blessings, Long Distance Healings, Endof-Life Transitions, Guided Meditation/visualization. Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm. Self healing is a process of self-discovery. Within the space of the heart discover what you need to heal. Kate DeChard M.Ed. The Soul Sanctuary, 6052 B Route 9, NY 12572.
Janus Welton, AIA, BBEC, IFSG Architect and Feng Shui Ecological & Building Health Consultant EcoArch DesignWorks A pioneer of Feng Shui In the U.S. since the 1980's, Janus Incorporates The Wisdom Traditions of Classical Feng Shui and Advanced Compass Techniques as well as Vastu Shastra from India ; and grounds these practices into the 21st Century Architecture & Design combined with Ecological and Building Health practices. Not confined to Interiors, Classical Feng Shui begins with good site planning & siting of a building, and follows through the design placement of important Entries, Rooms, and Functions, and recommends the most appropriate Directions,Elements, Colors and Shapes and Timing for the Site, the Clients, and for the Building itself. Both new and existing Residential and Commercial Buildings can be balanced and enhanced with these cutting edge techniques! (845) 247-4620 | fax: (845) 247-4620. ecoarchitect@hvc.rr.com. www.JanusWeltonDesignWorks.com.
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 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 FLOWER ESSENCE THERAPY
Flower essences are a unique vibrational healing modality for mind-body health and emotional well-being, that are safe, effective and compatible with other medications or therapies. If you are seeking the missing piece in recovering from crisis, breaking behavioral patterns that no longer serve you, or if you simply desire support for personal growth, an individualized blend of flower essences can be the gentle loving partner that makes the difference. Call (845) 266-0230 for more information or to schedule your personal consultation. (845) 266-0230.
GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY Group Psychotherapy Many people avoid intimacy in romantic relationships or friendships because of the fear of being hurt or rejected. Group psychotherapy is a very effective way to develop insight into one's patterns regarding intimacy and learn and practice new behaviors. Currently, there is an evening group in Uptown Kingston co-led by an experienced male and female therapist which offers a safe environment to develop greater connection in relationships. For further information call Thaddea Compain, LCSW at (845) 247-4059 or Clayton Horsey, LCSW at (845) 679-2282.
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.
whole living directory
Cheri Piefke Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner
Monarda Herbal Apothecary
HOLISTIC HEALTH John M. Carroll, Healer 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.
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.
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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. With 25 years of experience and extensive training with world renowned master homeopaths and herbalists, she has helped 1000's of individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders, from physical problems to psychological illnesses. Kimberly is truly gifted at educating the individual in natural approaches to health and wellbeing. (845) 688-2976. www.naturalhealthsource.us.
HYPNOSIS Achieve Your Goals with Therapeutic Hypnosis Sharon Slotnick, MS, CHt.
whole living directory
Increase self-esteem and motivation; break bad habits; manage stress, stress-related illness 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; broad base in Psychology. 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 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) 336-4646. Kingston, NY. (845) 3364646. info@CallTheHypnotist.com. www.CallTheHypnotist.com.
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INTUITIVE HEALING Guidance of Spirit, Wisdom of Heart Heart-based Intuitive Healing, Karma Release with Crystals, Space Clearings & Blessings, Long Distance Healings, Endof-Life Transitions, Guided Meditation/ visualization. Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm. Self healing is a process of selfdiscovery. Within the space of the heart discover what you need to heal. Kate DeChard M.Ed. The Soul Sanctuary, 6052 B Route 9, NY 12572.
JEWISH MYSTICISM/ KABBALAH Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC Kabbalistic Healing in person and long distance. See Body-Centered Therapy. (845) 485-5933.
LIFE COACHING Shirley Stone, MBA, Certified Empowerment Life Coach
whole living directory
Want to convert fear into courage, stress into power, depression into joy, worry into satisfaction? Consider empowerment life coaching. Get clarity on the life you want plus the tools and techniques to make your dreams a reality. Stop being a problem solver and become a vision creator. Rhinebeck, NY. (845) 8762194. Shirley@findingthecourage.com. www.findingthecourage.com.
Shannon Fasce – Certified Holistic Life Coach Medical intuitive-Intuitive consultant- Restoring balance for the Body, Mind, & Spirit. Using techniques such as Energy Medicine,Guided meditation,Charka Balancing, Bach Flower Remedies & Integrated Energy Therapy .To schedule an appointment call (845)758-8270.
MASSAGE THERAPY 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.
Affinity Healing Arts Alice Madhuri Velky LMT, RYT Massage Therapy Reiki - Yoga Deeply effective, intuitive and client-centered bodywork incorporating Swedish/ deep tissue, myofascial, aromatherapy and energy balancing. Integral YogaÂŽ private, restorative, group classes. Poughkeepsie location. (845) 797-4124. home.earthlink.net/~affinityhealing.
bodhi studio Bodhi Studio is a lovely and calm space nestled in the heart of downtown Hudson. We have brought together experienced and caring therapists to give you the care you need at an affordable price, so that taking care of yourself can happen often and easily. Offering
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Massage, Acupuncture, Natropathic medicine, Cranio sacral therapy, Skin Care, Body waxing, earconing, Reflexology and Reiki. (518) 828-2233. www.bodhistudio.com.
NATURAL FOODS
Hudson Valley Therapeutic Massage
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.
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
Beacon Natural Market
Sunflower Natural Food Market
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. (845) 679-0512. japter@ulster.net. www.apteraromatherapy.com.
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. 10AM-7PM Sundays. Bradley Meadows Shopping Center, Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-5361.
The Living Seed Yoga & Holistic Center
NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
See also Yoga directory. 521 Main Street (Rte. 299, across from Econo Lodge), New Paltz, NY. (845) 255-8212. contact@thelivingseed.com. www.thelivingseed.com.
Susan DeStefano, LMT Healing Massage Swedish. Deep Tissue. Hot Stone. Shiatsu Craniosacral. Lymph Drainage Tibetan Reflexology. Reiki. Touch For Health. (845) 255-6482.
Sunflower Healing Massage See also Midwifery directory. (845) 705-5906.
Naturopathic Medicine 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.
Sublime Bodywork- Sabura Goodban
whole living directory
Healing from the inside out. Zen Shiatsu. Raindrop Therapy. New York Licensed Massage Therapist. (845) 246-4180.
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.
MEDITATION
NUTRITION Ilyse Simon RD, CDN Nutrition Therapist Diet is a four letter word. Nutritional therapy for emotional eating to chronic eating disorders, body image issues, insulin resistance and diabetes. Teaching normal eating based on hunger cues. Specializing in teens to adults. Bastyr University of Natural Medicine educated with non-diet approach including whole foods. Many insurances accepted. "Life is not black and white. Living is the full spectrum in between." 318 Wall St, Suite 3A, Kingston, NY. (845) 331-6381. ilysefood@yahoo.com.
Jill Malden, RD, CSW Zen Mountain Monastery 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.
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 See also Childbirth directory. (845) 255-2096.
Suzanne Berger 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.
Sunflower Healing Massage Kim Beck, RN Certified Nurse, Midwife and Licensed Massage Therapist. In home prenatal and postpartum massage. (845) 705-5906.
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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! 1 Water Street, New Paltz, NY. (845) 489-4732.
Vicki Koenig, MS, RD, CDN 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.
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.
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. (518) 678-0700.
NUTRITIONAL COUNSELING Delicious Nutrition Marika Blossfeldt, Holistic Health and Nutrition Counselor, Yoga Instructor Discover the foods and lifestyle that truly nourish your body and soul. Infuse your life with balance, vitality and joy! Empower yourself through awareness, mindfulness and kindness. Take charge and create change now. I can help you live your life fully. Contact me for a free initial consultation. One-on-one counseling, group programs, wellness workshops, lectures, whole foods cooking classes, yoga, retreats. (646) 214-8478. marika@delicious-nutrition.com.
ORGANIC PRODUCTS 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
whole living directory
Applied Osteopathy Joseph Tieri, DO, & Ari Rosen, DO. 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. 257 Main Street, New Paltz, (845) 256-9884. By Appointment. For more information call or visit the website. www.appliedosteopathy.com. 257 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. New Paltz (845) 256-9884; Rhinebeck (845) 876-1700. www.appliedosteopathy.com.
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, NY. Rhinbeck (845) 876-2496; Kingston (845) 338-5575.
PILATES Beacon Pilates A fully equipped classical studio that tailors each workout to fit the individual's needs and abilities. Our class times and
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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.
PSYCHOLOGISTS Mark S. Balaban, Ph.D.
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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
whole living directory
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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. 199 Main Street, New Paltz, NY. (914) 262-8595.
Rachael Diamond,LCSW, CHt See also Psychotherapy directory. (845) 883-9642.
PSYCHOTHERAPY Amy R. Frisch, CSWR 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. NYS-licensed. 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.
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Deep Clay Art and Therapy
Kathleen Calabrese, PhD
“Dreamfigures” group for women in transition. (845) 2558039. deepclay@mac.com.
Kathleen Calabrese has worked as a psychotherapist for over 20 years with offices in Buffalo, New York City, and now, Kingston. Her empathic, practical approach enables people to understand their past, assess presentday choices, and live more authentically and creatively in the future. Call for an appointment. 17 John St. (845) 688-2645.
Heart Centered Counseling & Expressive Arts Therapy Dr. Nancy Rowe, PhD, LMHC Emotional healing for children and adults using talk, imagery, sandplay, expressive arts, and/or movement. Background in transpersonal psychology, play therapy, family therapy, spiritual guidance, authentic movement, and expressive arts therapy. Dr. Nancy Rowe, PhD, LMHC, Kingston, NY. (845) 679-4827. www.wisdomheart.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 See also Body - Centered Therapy directory. (845) 485-5933.
Janne Dooley, LCSW --Brigid's Well--Psychospiritual therapy, Gestalt, EMDR, with a specialty in childhood trauma, relationship issues, recovery, codependency and inner child work. Brigid's Well also offers life coaching and workshops to intergrate healing and help create a richer, more satisfying life. Call for information or free consultation. New Paltz office. (347) 834-5081. Brigidswell@verizon.net.
Judy Swallow, MA, TEP 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.
Individual, couples and group sessions for adults. Women's issues groups now forming. Specializing in relationship issues, improving self-esteem, binge eating and body image, life transitions including divorce and grief issues, trauma and abuse. Many insurances accepted or sliding scale available. Office located in Poughkeepsie location. (845) 462-1182. www.JeanneAsma.com.
Julie Zweig, MA See also Body-Centered Therapy directory. Offices in Poughkeepsie and 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. Woodstock, NY. (845) 679-5511 x4. kentagram@gmail.com.
Taking a systemic approach to well-being and relationships for over 20 years, Martin Knowles works with individuals, couples and families in Uptown Kingston. His effective, down-to-earth style amplifies and encourages natural talents and resources, bringing out the best in each of us. (845) 338-5450 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.
whole living directory
Jeanne Asma, LCSWR – Psychotherapist and Life Coach
Martin Knowles, LCSW
REIKI Affinity Healing Arts Alice Madhuri Velky LMT, RYT Massage Therapy - Reiki - Yoga Deeply effective, intuitive and client-centered bodywork incorporating Swedish/deep tissue, myofascial, aromatherapy and energy balancing. Integral Yoga® private, restorative, group classes. Poughkeepsie location. (845) 797-4124. home.earthlink.net/~affinityhealing.
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.
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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.
International Feng Shui Institute Workshops in Woodstock and Manhattan. Starting October 20, 2006 over 6 weekends /year. The IFSI is the only Institute of Professional Feng Shui Training to integrate Classical & Compass Chinese Feng Shui with BTB Tibetan Bhuddist Feng Shui techniques with a focus on Individual Coaching, Consultations, and Design Applications w/ a practicing architect. Brought to you by Director, Eric Shaffert, BTB Feng Shui Coach and author of Feng Shui and Money; Janus Welton, AIA, Architect, Classical & Compass Feng Shui & Ecology in The 21st Century; and Susanna Bastarrica, President, United Nations FSRC; BTB transcendental teacher and Universal Minister. Call for registration by Oct. 20. (845) 247-4620 | fax: (845) 247-4620. ecoarchitect@hvc.rr.com. www.JanusWeltonDesignWorks.com.
Joshua Pearl's Whole Musician Workshop Develop and liberate your unique musical potential through customized music lessons, workshops, or artist development programs. For aspiring and developing musicians and bands. Explore your music in a supportive environment. Call (845) 679-7599 and receive a free lesson during September. Studios in Woodstock and Manhattan. www.joshuapearl.com.
SHAMANISM, HEALING & TRAINING
whole living directory
Janet StraightArrow – Woman of Medicine, Energy Healer, Medical Intuitive, Shaman Heal and enjoy your entire life. No need for pain, depression, or disease. Holistic Healing System — Be The Medicine — works! Develop your innate abilities to be the self-healing being you are. Learn to work with your body, mind, emotions, spirit and soul in new and exciting ways. Live your life purpose. Free initial consult. Exciting classes, sessions, ceremonies, deep healing & training. Phone and in person work. Woodstock and other locations. (845) 679-7175. Janetoasis@aol.com. www.oasisforthesoul.com.
SHIATSU Sublime Bodywork Sabura Goodban. Zen Shiatsu, Raindrop Therapy. New York Licensed Massage Therapist. (845) 246-4180.
SPAS & RESORTS 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 experienced staff who are skilled at delivering virtually all the Emerson Spa's 40+ treatments. Spend the day enjoying the Spa's hot tubs, steam showers, sauna, resistance pool, cardio equipment, yoga/meditation room and relaxation area... all included with your Spa visit. For appointments, call (845) 688-1000. For fall menu, visit www.emersonresort.com. (845) 688-1000. www.emersonresort.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.
Ione Egyptian Mysteries, Scarab TeachingsTM, Journeys to Sacred Sites. (845) 339-5776.
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SPIRITUAL COUNSELING Spirit Asked me to Tell You Spiritual channeling and guidance. Individuals and groups, will travel for groups. Native American spiritual teachings. I have spent ten years out West learning Native American teachings and rituals. Telephone sessions by appointment. All information in private sessions are confidential. (845) 679-0549.
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 Dianne Weisselberg MSW, LMSW
whole living directory
Individual Therapy, Grief Work and Personal Mythology. Stuck? Overwhelmed? Frustrated? Depressed? THERE IS ANOTHER WAY! Dianne Weisselberg has over 16 years experience in the field of Counseling and over 8 years of training in Depth Psychology. Sliding Scale fees. Office hours in Woodstock and Willow. (845) 688-7570. dweisselberg@hvc.rr.com.
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.
VEGAN LIFESTYLES Andrew Glick - Vegan Lifestyle Coach 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) 679-7979. 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.
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WORKSHOPS Wallkill Valley Writers Creative writing workshops in New Paltz led by Kate Hymes, poet and educator. Aspiring and experienced writers are welcome. Wallkill Valley Writers provides structured time, a supportive community and a safe place for you to fulfill the dream of writing your stories, real or imagined. Many writers find the community of a workshop benefits their work and keeps them motivated. (845) 255-7090. khamherstwriters@aol.com.
YOGA Jai Ma Yoga Center
OASISOUL for the
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
whole living directory
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.
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 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 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. (845) 687-4836. www.yogaonduckpond.com.
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EVENT LISTINGS FOR OCTOBER 2006
IMAGE PROVIDED
the forecast
FORECAST
ERIC RHEIN’S HUMMINGBIRDS—FLOCK OF
6 (WIRE AND PAPER, 20 X 21 INCHES, 2003 ), ON VIEW AT BCB ART IN HUDSON THROUGH NOVEMBER 18.
THE PENCIL OF NATURE One of the inventors of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot, published a book
The Leaf Project, conceived in 1996, is Rhein’s tribute to friends and loved ones lost
to publicize his invention in the 1840s titled The Pencil of Nature. Talbot had been
to the complications of AIDS. Each individual is represented by a single fallen leaf,
driven to invent his new, mechanical process—one that would allow nature to "hold
accompanied by a little inscription weaving in some personal story or memory. This
the pencil" as a result of his own frustrated attempts at drawing. The result was a
work should provide a sobering contrast with the seasonal cycle of light-hearted
medium that continues to captivate, largely due to the immediacy of its contact with
leaf-peeping, for those prepared to comprehend it.
the objects that it represents.
Rhein’s work is paired with equally innovative drawings by Joy Taylor, who
BCB Art in Hudson is presenting an exhibition of unconventional drawing this
engages in the delicate art of frottage, or rubbing, by laying sheets of frosted
month, pairing two artists whose work, while not photographic, plays with the dynamic
Mylar across textured objects found in her garden—leaves, flowers, and so on.
of presence and absence that one finds in photography, as well as thematically
Gently rubbing graphite into the Mylar with her fingers, she picks up the delicate
connecting with the broader theme of nature.
textures on both sides of the sheets to create exceedingly delicate abstractions
Eric Rhein’s drawings border on sculpture as he deftly bends wire to create
with a surprising sense of visual depth. These tactile drawings engage the direct
three-dimensional line “drawings” of birds, leaves, and other elements of nature.
address of nature embedded in the process with the sensual, almost Romantic
Their playfulness recalls the circus figures of Alexander Calder, and their tactility
sensibility to be found in the final product. These elegant and unusual works
is balanced by their mode of presentation: Mounted against plain sheets of artist
successfully combine the objective world with the flights of fancy possible only
paper, the subjects are doubled as they cast shadows against the flat plane of the
in the imagination.
paper. Just as with Talbot, this strategy puts the pencil back in nature’s hand once
Nature’s pencil has never been busier.
again, raising intriguing questions about the relationship between the human hand
The Eric Rhein and Joy Taylor exhibition is on view through November 19 at BCB
and the mechanical, and even the very nature of drawing itself as it is so radically
Art, 116 Warren Street, Hudson. An opening reception will be held on Saturday,
redefined in contemporary art.
October 7, from 6 to 8pm. www.bcbart.com; (518) 828-4539.
One major piece in the show takes on powerful metaphorical meaning as well.
—Beth E. Wilson
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IMAGE PROVIDED
DANIEL LONDON AND WILL OLDHAM STAR IN OLD JOY, SCREENING THURSDAY, OCTOBER
19 AT FILM COLUMBIA. SET IN THE WILDERNESS OF OREGON’S
FORECAST
CASCADE MOUNTAINS, KELLY REICHARDT’S SELF-DESCRIBED “NEW AGE WESTERN” WAS THE TOAST OF THIS YEAR’S SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.
DOUBLE FEATURE This month, in addition to the Woodstock Film Festival, Hudson Valley film lovers have
some point] everyone figures out that art that is too rooted in its own loftiness of being
two more film festivals to check out. A new company, 15 Years In Productions, has
art, is boring, impractical, and dishonest.”
joined the film festival lineup and will present the Hudson Valley Film and Video Festival.
If you’re looking for more star flavor in your independent film selections, beginning
This is an independent, experimental grouping of films and videos that will be shown
October 19 the Film Columbia Festival returns to Chatham for its seventh season.
gypsy-style in various volunteers’ homes on October 14 and 15 in Cornwall-on-Hudson,
Author Truman Capote is depicted in Doug McGrath’s Infamous, featuring Sandra
and on October 22 in Saratoga Springs.
Bullock, Jeff Daniels, and Gwyneth Paltrow. While Phillip Seymour Hoffman starred in
One of the festival’s highlights is Joe Larocca’s 10-minute video, Black House
last year’s Capote, this year it’s Toby Jones who plays the eccentric writer. “What was
Terrace, in which zombies take over the world. But that’s a minor back drop to the real
it about this tiny man that made him big enough for two pictures?” asks MacGrath.
story: two traumatized post-grads grappling with the reality that school’s out—forever.
“I’ll tell you what it was for me. What I found fascinating was that Truman Capote was
Larocca explains, “The original idea came out of a long discussion about zombie
a gay writer from the very top of New York society going to Kansas to write about this
movies and the concept of having major events that would normally be the focus of
crime. He was court jester and confidante to the cream of Manhattan high society,
a film be something just taking place in the background, a setting for an unrelated
and I placed everything in the story within that context.” McGrath will be on hand to
story.” It’s like the Breakfast Club rat pack sitting in detention while Apocalypse Now
introduce his film.
occurs outside the windows.
Various gatherings will be tucked into different times during the weekend, giving
Unlike other film festivals, instead of spending money on hosting parties, 15 Years
participants ample opportunities to meet and shop their films. According to Calliope
In. Productions offers a distribution deal to all of its showcased artists. The company
Nicholas, the festival’s director, “Film Columbia’s mission is to bring the very best in
will package their work on DVD free of charge, and sell it through its website,www.15
prereleased, world-class films. Many of these films screened during the festival will
yearsinproduction.com. You can also check out the site for details on the festival.
go on to garner awards. Other films are chosen because the festival will be the only
Steven Strauss, HVFVF’s production director and 15 Years In. Productions’s artistic director, shared his main goal. “As artists, we want substance and content to take the
opportunity for audiences in this area to enjoy them.” Their schedule is available online at www.filmcolumbia.com.
driver’s seat. We want to bring about awareness in a potential viewer,” he said. “[At
get it on. 120
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
short, long, baby, hoodie.
—Becca Friedman
buy online.
www.chronogram.com/tshirts
IMAGE PROVIDED
calendar SUN 1 ART
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
Impressionist Paintings by George Gallo
Five Mountains in Five Days: Hiking the Catskill Peaks
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
Rainbow Falls Hike
10am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
SPOKEN WORD
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
2pm. Author of The Despised Poor: Newburgh’s War on Welfare. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
11am. A guided meditation for clearing and balancing the chakras. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
EVENTS
Ione’s 11th Annual Dream Festival Opening Reception
2pm. Opening reception and piano concert with David Arner. Alternative Books, Kingston. 338 5984.
Crafts at Rhinebeck
10am-5pm. 18th annual juried craft fair. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-4001.
Free Speech Festival 2006
12pm. Pre-election music festival with political satire, entertainment and information. Dream Away Lodge, Becket, MA. (413) 623-8725. $30.
Columbia-Greene Chili Cook-Off & Riverfront Fair
12-5pm. Hudson Riverfront Park, Hudson. (518) 828-7770.
Horse and Carriage Day
Michaelmas at Threefold: A Community Festival for All Ages
2:30pm. Puppet show, biodynamic preparations. The Pfeiffer Center, Chestnut Ridge. 352-5020 ext. 20.
Family Tours
3pm. Build relationships with art and create a connection to the sculptures. Storm King Art Center, Mountainville. 534-3115.
FILM
Shorty Shorts
Call for times. Film festival of films for kids by kids from around the globe. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 644-9040 ext. 107.
War Tapes
5pm. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5.
Screening of Local Color
7:30pm. New film by George Gallo. Hopper House Art Center, Nyack. 358-0774.
Author Talk with Joe Ritz
Ione’s 11th Annual Dream Festival Opening Reception
2pm. Opening reception and piano concert with David Arner. Alternative Books, Kingston. 338 5984.
Vassar Faculty Concert
3pm. Todd Crow, piano. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Alan Semenovich
6-9pm. Acoustic. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 255-1717.
Gaelic Storm
7pm. Celtic. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
Al Stewart with Terrance Martin
8pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $30/$27.50 members.
MUSIC
4pm. Presented by The Present Company. Sunnyside Theater, New Paltz. 255-9081.
THE OUTDOORS
WORKSHOPS
Early Birds
8am. Bird walk. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
Sparking Your Creativity
2-4pm. Create an environment that supports your unique creative process. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
Tuning the Brain with Tuning Forks
2-4pm. Brain wave patterns, balancing left and right brain hemispheres and using tuning forks. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
Firewalking
6:30pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $125/$85 in advance/ $75 members.
MON 2 ART
SPOKEN WORD
Berkshire Museum Camera Club Meeting 7:30pm. Historian/photographer Ralph Lieberman on architectural photography. Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA. (413) 298-5440.
WORKSHOPS
Release Your Pain Using Trigger Points 11am-12:30pm. LaGrange Library, LaGrange. 485-1770.
How to Prepare Your Own Healing Essences
7-9pm. Learn to convert simple everyday items into profound healing tools. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
CLASSES
Learn to Meditate
7:30pm. Woodstock Community Center, Woodstock. 797-1218.
MUSIC
Open Mike Night
7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Open Mike & Hootenanny with Seth Ray
8:30pm. Featuring The Other Tom Kelly. The Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
SPOKEN WORD
Men Aren’t Women! Women Aren’t Men!
12:30pm. Understanding and Appreciating the Differences Between the Sexes. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
Innovative Contemporary Fiction Reading Series
Student Debate: Plato’s The Republic
1pm. Celtic, ethnic, Jewish, klezmer, original, world. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
4-5:30pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $250.
9pm. Blues jam. The Roadhouse, Pleasant Valley. www.freewebs.com/totallyblues.
Two Comedies: Helena’s Husband and Sisters of Susannah
10am-4pm. Hayrides, face painting, crafts, apple picking, cider. Prospect Hill Orchards, Milton. 795-5345.
Lisa Gutkin
Kids on Stage Theater Workshop
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
4pm. Bertelsmann Campus Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
MUSIC
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
THEATER
KIDS
Kid’s Day
Hudson ArtsWalk
WED 4 ART
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
Anfas listwa nou - Facing Our History
5-7pm. Photographs taken in Haiti by photojournalist Daniel Morel. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz. 257-3872.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Peace
Menla Mountain Retreat, Phoenicia. (212) 807-0563.
FILM
El Norte
3-5pm. Bowne Hall Room 112, Poughkeepsie. 431-8039.
Communications Society Wednesday Night Film Series
6pm. Series of truly independent films. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8612.
MUSIC
Bard Conservatory Chamber Orchestra
8pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
4:30pm. What Is Enlightenment? The Science, Culture, and Politics of Reason Lecture Series. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Violinist Laura Hamilton with Pianist Warren Jones
Poetry Open Mike
SPOKEN WORD
7pm. Featuring Bonnie Singman and Judith Boggess. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $3.
An Introduction to the School of the Golden Rosycross
8pm. The Quest for Life’s Meaning-Building a Bridge from Time to Eternity. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
THEATER
Bunker Mentality
7pm. One-act tragicomedy written & performed by Bob Balogh. Berkshire S. Regional Community Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 442-2223.
WORKSHOPS
Release Your Pain Using Trigger Points 7-8:30pm. LaGrange Library, LaGrange. 485-1770.
FORECAST
1-4pm. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-onHudson. 265-3638 ext. 115.
ART
KIDS
2-5pm. Hopper House Art Center, Nyack. 358-0774.
Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation
TUE 3
THE OUTDOORS
8pm. Olin Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson. 7587425.
The Showings of St. Juliana of Norwich 10:30am. Study of the writings of Juliana of Norwich. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
Kim Wozencraft Book Signing
7pm. Signing her new psychological thriller The Devil’s Backbone. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.
Art Lecture Series: Ron Gilad
7:30pm. SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center, New Paltz. 257-3872.
WORKSHOPS
De-Clutter & De-Stress
7-8pm. Ellenville Library, Ellenville. 227-3190.
Knitting in the Round
7-8:30pm. Four needles or circular needles to create socks, mittens or hats. 5 sessions. Craft Studio Workshop, Chestnut Ridge. 4250055 ext. 24. $115.
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Parenting Workshop
7:30pm. Raising environmentally aware children in today’s “throw away” society. Museum of the Hudson Highlands, Cornwallon-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
THU 5 ART
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Psychic Readings by Shyla O’Shea
12-6pm. Please call for an appointment. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $40.
7:30pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Manuel Barrueco
8pm. Classical guitar. Studley Theater. 2551559.
Sonia & Disappear Fear and Dave Connelly
8:30pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. $17.50.
Stolen Crown
8:30pm. Punk, rock, rockabilly. The Loft, Poughkeepsie. 471-1966.
Alan Semenovich
Sufi Zikr
8:30-10:30pm. Acoustic rock and roll. New Paltz Cultural Collective, New Paltz. 705-3614.
EVENTS
Joe Beck & Joyce Lyons 9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $20/$17.50 members.
5:45pm. St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock. 679-7215. $5-$10.
Sunset Sensations
5-8pm. Food and wine sampling. Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie. 454-4500 ext. 17. $22/ $18 in advance.
Los Taino
KIDS
Dance with DJ G-Pace
Anime, Cartooning, and Creative Writing with Chris McWilliams
Call for time. Three four week sessions in Anime, Cartooning, and Creative Writing. 255-7990.
10pm. Afro-Cuban. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900. 10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
SPOKEN WORD
Raphael Kosek and Samuel Caliborne
Call for times. Calling All Poets series. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 831-0077. $4.
MUSIC
Chanticleer
8pm. Choral ensemble. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
9pm. Blues jam. Spanky’s, Poughkeepsie. 485-2294.
Music and Poetry Reception
12-1pm. Reading of literature by Spanish accompanied by the sounds of Brazil and the Spanish Guitar. Ritz Lounge, Poughkeepsie. 431-8039.
Poetry Open Mike
Karaoke with PJ the DJ
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
7-9pm. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
SPOKEN WORD
THEATER
2pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
8pm. Improvisation based on real-life stories of audience members. Boughton Place, Highland. 691-4118. $6.
The Fate of Humanity and the Future of Science
Oliver
Breast Cancer Support Group
The Oldest Profession
The Plight of Hudson Valley Song Birds
Two Comedies: Helena’s Husband and Sisters of Susannah
Choral Lecture and Demonstration
FORECAST
Toronto Children’s Chorus Chamber Choir and Vassar College Women’s
6pm. Presented by Steve Fuller. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-2849. 6-7:30pm. Shandaken Town Hall, Shandaken. 657-7010.
7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Evening Speakers Series. Painter’s Tavern, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
FRI 6
Community Playback Theatre
8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors. 8pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 3926264. $15/$12.
8pm. Presented by The Present Company. Sunnyside Theater, New Paltz. 255-9081.
SAT 7
ART
ART
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
Call for times. More than 30 Kingston-area artists will open their studios. Kingston.
Off the Shelf
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for time. New forms in contemporary artists’ books. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie. 437-5632.
Art by the Foot
6-8pm. Group show by Marbletown Arts Association member artists in 12” format. Be Gallery, High Falls. 687-0660.
EVENTS
DCC Foundation Annual Auction
6-10pm. Dutchess Golf and Country Club, Poughkeepsie. 431-8403. $75.
ASK Artists’ Studio Tour
Hudson ArtsWalk
Song of the Earth
Call for times. A group show featuring works by Matt Kinney, Kai Ladzinski, Laura Moriarty, Jaanika Peerna, and Barbara Rusillon. Van Brunt Gallery, Beacon. 838-2995.
Robert Kipniss at SKH Gallery
Call for time. Robert Kipniss shows his work. SKH Gallery, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-3300.
Manhattan Educator Reception 7pm. Learn about educator discounts and products, refreshments, giveaways, meet author Donna Ducker. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.
FILM
LoudQuietLoud: A Film About the Pixies Call for times. Documentary on the influential ‘80s/’90s alternative rock band. Time & Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448.
10am-6pm. Call for locations. 687-9440.
Artists in the Garden Show and Sale 11am-4pm. Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, Hyde Park. 229-6432.
Pixelations
8pm. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
MUSIC
Woodstock Artists Studio Tours
7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Superman Returns
Shannon Early
5:30-8:30pm. Jazz. The New York Cafe, Poughkeepsie. 452-7001.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
Ceramic Artists’ Open Studios
11am-5pm. The Pixelation Series infuses mosaic tiles of paper, vinyl and canvas cutouts with small found objects in oil and mixed media paintings. Works range from small, jewel-like pieces to expansive, wallengulfing compositions. Influences include Modigliani, Van Gogh, Mondrian & Klimt. VARGA Gallery & Studio, Woodstock. 679-4005.
Waiting for Godot
122
Call for time. Paintings by Derek Reist. Gallery 25N, Peekskill. (914) 293-0811.
11am-5pm. Tours begin at the center of Woodstock. 679-6234. $5.
Melissa Harris: Open Studio Sale
11am-6pm. Visit studio of internationally known artist Melissa Harris. Original paintings as well as prints on view and for sale. Melissa Harris Studio, Hurley. 340-9632.
Open Studio
1-4pm. Works by sculptor Carl Grieco. Sculpture in the Garden, Hyde Park. 229-9029.
Johnny Appleseed Cider Festival
10am-4pm. Prospect Hill Orchards, Milton. 795-5345.
Art About Water: The Moodna Watershed
2-4pm. Music, lecture, and art. Black Rock Forest Preserve, Cornwall. 534-5284.
Susan Zimet for NYS Senate Fundraiser
Manhattan Artist Reception
4-7pm. A reception with Derek Reist. Gallery 25N, Peekskill. (914) 293 0811.
2-4pm. Performances, live auction. Woodstock Community Center, Woodstock. sauchincloss@earthlink.net. $25.
Following Pollack Opening Reception
Family Tours
5pm. Reception for Tom Zatar Kay’s “Following Pollack” show. Silent Space Gallery, Kingston. 679-2490.
3pm. Build relationships with art and creating a connection to the sculptures. Storm King Art Center, Mountainville. 534-3115.
Following Pollock
Breast Cancer Options Fundraiser and Silent Auction
5pm. Works by Tom Zatar Kay. Silent Space Gallery, Kingston. 331-7400 ext. 101.
Autumn Glory
5-7pm. Photos of the Hudson Valley by Robert Lipgar. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Flash
5-7pm. Vault Gallery, Great Barrington. (413) 528-0221.
Revelations
5-7pm. Paintings and drawings by Robert Kipniss. S.K.H. Gallery, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-3300.
Robert Kipniss at SKH Gallery
5-7pm. Artist cocktail reception and art show. SKH Gallery, Great Barrington, MA. ( 413) 528-3300.
Self-Portraits from The New Millennium
6-11pm. Featuring Sonando, comedienne MC, a silent auction. Bridgewater Bar and Grill, Kingston. 657-8222. $35.
Fifth Annual Gala and Silent Auction 6-11pm. Anderson School, Staatsburg. 889-9208. $175.
28th Annual Benefit Auction
7pm. Bearsville Theater, Woodstock. 679-9957.
FILM
LoudQuietLoud: A Film About the Pixies
Call for times. Documentary on the influential ‘80s/’90s alternative rock band. Time & Space Limited. (518) 822-8448.
Ohio Impromptu
5pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
5-7pm. Lilla LoCurto and William Outcault. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz. 257-3872.
War Tapes
Open House
Endgame
5-8pm. Art of Julian Lesser. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
5pm. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5. 7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Eric Rhein and Joy Taylor Artist Reception
KIDS
Recent Works
10am. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Farmhouse, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
6-8pm. BCB Art, Hudson. (518) 828-4539.
Harvest Fest
6-8pm. BCB Art, Hudson. (518) 828-4539.
10am-3pm. Face-painting, hay rides, pony rides, petting zoo, food, and more. Adams Fair Acre Farms, Poughkeepsie. www.adamsfarms.com. Free.
Jeremy Steig: Drawings and Paintings
Songs Along the Hudson
Works by Eric Rhein and Joy Taylor
10pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Mini Psychic Fair
9am-2pm. Fundraiser for the Pine Bush NY Farmers Market Pumpkin Festival. Pine Bush NY Farmers Market, Pine Bush. 744-3960. $10-$25.
Sweat Lodge
2pm. Held at sundown. Center for Symbolic Studies, Rosendale, NY. 657-6431.
11am. Bindlestick Bill. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $8/$5 children.
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
3pm. Catskill Mountain Chamber Orchestra. CMF Red Barn Performing Arts Center, Hunter. (518) 263-4908 ext. 202. $7/children free.
MUSIC
DCC Music School Recital
1pm. Ritz Lounge, Poughkeepsie. 431-8916.
Michael Sheetz: Piano
DANCE
4:30pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
7:30pm. Lesson at 7pm. Reformed Church of the Comforter, Kingston. 236-3939.
Scott Helland and The Traveling Band of Gypsy Nomads
Swing Dance
Free Style Frolic
8:30pm. Alcohol-free dance event for all ages. Knights of Columbus, Kingston. 658-8319. $5/$2 teens and seniors/children free.
EVENTS
6pm. Neomedieval acoustic rock instrumental duo. Esoterica, New Paltz. 255-5100.
Big Kahuna
7-10pm. Dance, rock. River Rose Cruises, Newburgh. 562-1067.
Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market
Leaf Peepers Baroque Concert
9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
7:30pm. Traditional and contemporary chamber music. Copake United Methodist Church, Copake. (518) 325-3805. $20/$60 season pass.
Work/Learn Day
Catskill Mountain Chamber Orchestra
10am. Two-hour herbal class in exchange for work. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock. 246-8081.
Family Fun on Historic Huguenot Street
10-11:30am. Tour the Bevier Elting House. Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660.
Rhinebeck Antiques Fair
10am-5pm. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-1989. $9.
18th Country Seats Tour
10am-5pm. Visits to private homes that are architectural treasures. Hudson River Heritage, Rhinebeck. 876-2474. $50/$40 members.
FORECAST
6-8pm. Abstracts by Reginald Madison, paintings by Joan Kiley, glass sculptures by Pat Bennet. Athens Cultural Center, Athens. www.athensculturalcenter.org.
Terrific Trees!
8pm. Red Barn Performing Arts, Hunter. (518) 263-4908. $15.
Francesca Tanksley Trio
8pm. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 658-9048. $15.
Glorious Mozart
8pm. Hudson Valley Philharmonic with director/conductor Randall Craig Fleischer. UPAC, Kingston. 339-6088.
Jeremy Steig & Cameron Brown
8pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $18/$14 members.
Livingston Taylor
8pm. Taconic Hills Performing Arts Center, Craryville. (518) 325-0447. $5/$3 students.
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Music for String Orchestra
8pm. Catskill Mountain Chamber Orchestra playing Mozart, Brahms, Grieg, Holst, and Elgar. CMF Red Barn Performing Arts Center, Hunter. (518) 263-4908 ext. 202. $15.
Vassar College Orchestra
8pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Cosy Sheridan
8-10pm. Acoustic, folk, original. Hyde Park Free Library, Hyde Park. 229-7791.
Modern Man
9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $20/$17.50 members.
Top Cat
9pm. Blues, jazz, oldies, pop, progressive, r&b, rock. Holiday Inn, Kingston. 338-0400.
Kurt Henry Band
9pm. Dance music. Skytop Steakhouse, Kingston. 340-4277.
Dorothy Cowfield CD Release Party 10pm. With live music. The Alamo, Rosendale. 658-3300. $10.
Change Your View
Call for times. Alpine Views: Alexandre Calame and the Swiss Landscape. The Clark, Williamstown, MA. (413) 458-2303.
Ceramic Artists’ Open Studios
10am-6pm. Call for locations. 687-9440.
Woodstock Artists Studio Tours
11am-5pm. Tours begin at the center of Woodstock. 679-6234. $5.
That We Do This Together
4-9pm. Printmaking, painting, video, sculpture, sound design and installation. Red Barn, Ellenville. minotauremac@gmail.com.
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Breakneck Ridge
9:30am-3:30pm. Meet at the New Paltz Thruway Park ‘n Ride, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Gertrude’s Nose
10am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
SPOKEN WORD
WWII Veterans Conference
Call for times. Holiday Inn, Kingston. 336-8880.
Book Reading with Barbara Enor
2pm. Author of “Cinderella (As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story)”. Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck. 876-0500.
Lecture: Martin Wood
FORECAST
2pm. Talk and slide presentation. The Stray Bar, Hudson. (518) 822-1061. $10.
A Deconstructive Reading
5pm. In conjunction with art exhibit. Bau, Beacon. 440-7584.
Angels in Action
8-10pm. Performances followed by discussion on songcraft. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $5.
THE OUTDOORS
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Walkabout 8
9:30am-4pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Color-Coded Autumn Leaves
10am-2pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
10:30am. Phoenicia. 688-2211.
SPOKEN WORD
Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation
10:30am-12:30pm. Local writers, poets, and musicians offer uplifting and controversial works. High Falls Cafe, High Falls. 687-2284. $15.
Pathwork Spiritual Lecture Reading/ Discussion/Potluck
11am. A guided meditation for clearing and balancing the chakras. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
EVENTS
10am. Two-hour herbal class in exchange for work. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock. 246-8081.
Civil War Reenactment
10am-4pm. Presented by the Third Regiment of the Ulster County Militia, 1777. Hurley Heritage Society Museum, Hurley. 331-0593.
Catskill Mountain Ginseng/ Medicinal Herb Festival
10am-5pm. Historic Catskill Point, Catskill. (518) 943-0989.
18th Country Seats Tour
10am-5pm. Visits to private homes that are architectural treasures. Hudson River Heritage, Rhinebeck. 876-2474. $50/$40 members.
Rhinebeck Antiques Fair
11am-4pm. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-1989. $9.
Bluestone Festival
12-6pm. Demos, tradesmen, geologists, exhibits, music. Gallo Park, Kingston. 338-0895.
A Taste of Ulster County
Feed Your Head: A Literary Brunch
Nancy Lancaster and English Country House Style
2pm. Talk and slide presentation. The Stray Bar, Hudson. (518) 822-1061. $10.
Readings in Contemporary Literature: Denis Johnson 2pm. Readings from her recent work. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45. $15/$10 students and seniors/$3 members.
Authors Visit with Da and Sunny Chen 2-4pm. Celebrate the publication of China’s Son and Mona Lisa’s Awakening. Merritt Books, Cold Spring. 265-9100.
THEATER
The Oldest Profession
2pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12.
Oliver
3pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
Waiting for Godot
3pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7900.
Two Comedies: Helena’s Husband and Sisters of Susannah
4pm. Presented by The Present Company. Sunnyside Theater, New Paltz. 255-9081.
8:30pm. Variety, comedy. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
THEATER
FILM
2pm/8pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
4pm. Worldwide political wars of the 60’s and 70’s. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
Open Pit Firing
Rockaby
Sparking Your Creativity
Waiting for Godot
Show Boat--The Concert!
2pm. The Ritz Theatre, Newburgh. 913-7094. Oliver 8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors. The Oldest Profession 8pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12.
Two Comedies: Helena’s Husband and Sisters of Susannah
8pm. Presented by The Present Company. Sunnyside Theater, New Paltz. 255-9081.
WORKSHOPS
Create the Life of Your Dreams 9am-1pm. New You Coaching, LaGrangeville. 227-3190.
Costume and Mask-Making Workshop 10am-2pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
Siberian Shamanism: Dream Healing 2-4pm. Learn tools to become aware and lucid during a dream state. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
SUN 8 ART
ASK Artists’ Studio Tour
Call for times. More than 30 Kingston-area artists will open their studios. Kingston.
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
Second Sunday Songwriters Series
2-5pm. Fine cuisine tastings of Ulster County by The Bowery Dugout, Blue Stone Country Inn, Kirschner’s Catering, New World Home Cooking & Catering, Portobello Ristorante, Mariner’s Harbor, Wolfgang B. Gourmet Foods, Rip Van Winkle Restaurant, and more. Rip Van Winkle Golf & Country Club, Palenville. 334-2760. $45 per person.
8pm. Stage reading of Cup of Coffee. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.
Hotflash and the Whoremoans
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7pm. Anderson presents “Orchestral Jethro Tull.” UPAC, Kingston. 339-6088.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Work/Learn Day
THE OUTDOORS
Ian Anderson
A Grin Without A Cat
5pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Krapp’s Last Tape
7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Unfinished
7:30pm. Political, social and cultural life of Haiti. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.
MUSIC
Kingston Folk Festival
10am-6pm. Cornell Park, Kingston. 339-6925.
Chapel Music Series 2006
2pm. Con Brio Ensemble. Chapel of Our Lady Restoration, Cold Spring. 265-5537.
Hilliard Greene
3pm. Alternative Books, Kingston. 338-5984. $10/$8 students and seniors.
Sonny and Perley
3pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
The Con Brio Ensemble
4pm. The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration, Cold Spring. 424-3825.
Handel’s Celebrated Water Musick Compleat 6pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.
Adam Mafosake & Chris Macchia 6-9pm. Jazz. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 255-1717.
Auditions for Assassins
7pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 758-9287.
WORKSHOPS
The Artist’s Way
11am-1pm. Discover your creativity and realize your dreams. Mezzanine Bookstore, Caféamp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. 11am-2pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $80/$75 members. 2-4pm. Being a fulfilled artist. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644. $20.
MON 9 ART
Hudson ArtsWalk
Call for times. Music, dancing, shows, exhibits, auction, children’s activities. Various locations, Hudson. (518) 671-6213.
Garden Secrets
11am-6pm. Steven Meyers shows his work. Galerie BMG, Woodstock. 679 0027.
FILM
Act Without Words II
5pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Happy Days
7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
KIDS
Is There Really a Human Race? Storytime
3pm. With stickers, activities, and a new picture book by Jamie Lee Curtis. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.
Fencing Workshop
4:15-5:30pm. 8 Monday sessions. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $120.
MUSIC
Open Mike Night
7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
IMAGE PROVIDED
ROSWELL RUDD AND THE MONGOLIAN BURYAT BAND PLAY AT SUNY NEW PALTZ ON OCTOBER
28.
SULTAN OF SLIDE Many artists take pride in the lofty moniker “avant-garde,” but this label really rustles Roswell Rudd’s feathers.
FORECAST
“Avant-garde has come to mean offensive, abrasive, and to have negative connotations,” rants the world-class jazz trombonist. “Call me fun, call me Dixieland, call me innovative... But don’t call me late for dinner, and certainly not avant-garde!” The roots of modern free jazz lie in the Dixieland genre, the very beginnings of jazz. Here, musicians lay claim to what’s known as collective improvisation or free-counterpoint. “That’s the thing that appealed to me most about this music. To this day it appeals to me most about any music, because it’s always been the future of music, what people can improvise collectively.” Originally from Connecticut and now residing in Kerhonkson, Rudd credits “radio, church, school, the American Legion marching band, and my father’s jazz records” for his earliest musical education. Middle and high school granted him French horn and trombone lessons, and he sailed off to Yale University, gigging with his first jazz band. Initially, he was dazzled by the French horn, but there was a dearth of that instrument on jazz records. “The trombone was the closest-sounding thing to [it], and there were plenty of great trombonists in jazz music.” Rudd’s list of accomplishments is impressive, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition, Trombonist of the Year three times in a row (Jazz Journalists Association), two Grammy nominations (1999’s Monk’s Dream), “one of 2003’s best” (Downbeat Critic’s Poll), and appearances on 50 albums. In recent years, Rudd has become known for his crosscultural musical collaborations. He’s a frequent visitor to the African nation of Mali, his works presented on 2001’s MALIcool. His most album is 2005’s Blue Mongol, recorded with the Mongolian Buryat Band, a string ensemble featuring Battuvshin Baldantseren on flutes, jaw harp, throat singing and traditional horsehead fiddle; and Badma Khanda on vocals. In addition to trombone, Rudd takes on mellophone and scat singing, while other players chime in on horsehead fiddle, dulcimer, and zither. When asked to describe the sound, Rudd says, “Listen, you’d have to be in the same room with this ensemble; it’s really beyond description. What it amounts to is new music.” He admits that it’s the blues—not just sound or music—that unites him and the Mongolian musicians. “I’ve always maintained that the blues is a universal kind of music. It’s not the American blues at all, not the same as African singing or Indian singing, but there’s more similarity than difference in the styles. It’s the similarities that we’re connected into, and the individual differences are what color what we do. It’s so refreshing playing with these folks. We really surprise ourselves at what we can come up with.” Unison Arts Center kicks off a three-week national tour for Roswell Rudd and the Mongolian Buryat Band on Saturday, October 28, at 8pm, at SUNY New Paltz’s McKenna Theater. Other performances at SUNY this month include classical guitarist Manuel Barrueco on Friday, October 6; Black Mozart, featuring Roy “Futureman” Wooten on Friday, October 13; and Trio Globo on Saturday, October 21. (845) 255-1559; www.unisonarts.org. —Sharon Nichols
10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
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Let It Roll WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL 2006 PREVIEW Even those wags returning from Park City, Utah, with brimming swag bags are beginning
Rejto remain dedicated to showcasing music and films about music. Every festival opens
to slam the Sundance Film Festival, the head honcho of indie-film gatherings. For the past
with a concert that has a cinematic connection; in the past, headliners have included
few years, Robert Redford’s showcase in the wilderness for bold filmic voices has become
funkster Bernie Worrell and crossover banjo player Bela Fleck, both of whom were featured
a playground for studio suits in slacker mufti; folks who fancy themselves outsider hotshots
in documentaries those years.
because they’ve created a boutique section for quirky pseudo-indie releases with studiosized budgets. The rising dissent over what Sundance has devolved into means that the
Magic). Blaustein calls it “an Argentinean Buena Vista Social Club.” Director Carolina Neal
Woodstock Film Festival joins an ever-narrowing group of festivals that offer substance over
follows a group of young musicians from Buenos Aires intent on reviving the classic music
mere style.
created for the libidinous tango. They successfully coax maestro Emilio Balcarce, 87, out of
FORECAST
Now in its seventh year, The Woodstock Film Festival (October 11-15) clings with quiet
retirement to tour the country.
pride to its slogan, “Fiercely Independent.” In an era when international strife continues to rip at
The documentary Wetlands is an elegy for the Lower Manhattan music club that was a
the seams of humanity, and when artists seeking to tell the truth are often cowed into silence,
second home to the Deadheads and lefty political firebrands who partied and organized in
the event has not wavered from its pledge to exhibit films that focus on politics (mostly of the
the titular, tie-dyed cradle. Ilko Davidov’s Unauthorized and Proud of It tells the story of Todd
progressive stripe), music, and the myriad joys—and challenges—of counterculture living.
Loren, who fought and won a First Amendment rights case for the right to publish unauthorized
Over the course of four days, festival stalwarts and newcomers alike will attend the cinematic
comic-book biographies of rock stars. Unauthorized includes interviews with unabashed
stories of people as disparate as a female suicide bomber, the creator of hot rods, an Israeli
Republican Alice Cooper and the legendary Cynthia Plaster Caster.
soldier, a master tango composer,
The closing night film is catnip for
lost souls, would-be guitar heroes,
cinephiles who crave a film in which
and three outspoken Texan women
music and politics collide loudly. Dixie
who remain at the top of George W.
Chicks: Shut Up and Sing dissects the
Bush’s shit list.
fallout after one member of this chart-
“Many [festival] films are about
topping group verbally bitch-slapped
individual reflections,” said Meira
the Chief Executive in 2003. Blacklisting
Blaustein, co-founder of WFF with her
from red-state radio followed. So did
husband, Laurent Rejto. (She is also
death threats. Shut Up is codirected
the festival’s director and programmer.)
by Cecilia Peck and veteran filmmaker
“Not individual struggles, but an
Barbara Kopple.
individual looking for meaning and
Kopple is the recipient of this year’s
understanding and trying to come to
Honorary Maverick Award, a WFF
terms with the world around them.”
distinction given for a body of work that
The most stunning example of
marries film to progressive politics. A
this genre, and one guaranteed to stir
two-time Academy Award winner,
debate on Tinker Street, is Day Night
for Harlan County, USA (1976) and
Day Night by Julia Loktev, which stunned the judges at Cannes, who gave it two awards. Day
American Dream (1991), Kopple also filmed the 1994 Woodstock concert in Saugerties. She
Night Day Night follows a 19-year-old woman from New Jersey to Times Square, a typical
currently serves on the board of the American Film Institute. Past recipients of the Woodstock
daily commute—except that this individual has a political agenda and a bomb strapped to
Film Festival’s Honorary Maverick Award include Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, and Tim
her back. The cast includes Luisa Williams, Josh P. Weinstein, Gareth Saxe, and Nyambi
Robbins; documentarians D. A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and Les Blank; and director
Nyambi. Director Lokev, an émigré from Russia to the States at age nine, won the Directing
Mira Nair. This year’s Trailblazer Award, honoring an industry kingpin in indie-film circles, will
Award at Sundance for her feature documentary, Moment of Impact.
recognize the Independent Film Channel’s founder, Jonathan Sehring.
Perhaps less incendiary, but just as compelling, are other films that deal with our
The festival will open with Infamous, the second recent film to dramatize the life of
collective social ills. Autumn’s Eyes (directed by Paola Mendoza and Gabriel Noble) views
literary gadfly Truman Capote. Toby Jones and Daniel Craig lead a dream cast. Infamous
the problem of poverty now affecting the third generation of a New Jersey African-American
is produced by indie veteran Christine Vachon. WFF’s centerpiece film is After the Wedding,
family. This documentary tells the tale in cinéma vérité style, bypassing overt politics and
by Danish director Susanne Bier. This narrative film follows a man struggling to improve life
mawkish filigree, but it will easily break your heart. James D. Scurlock’s muckraker, Maxed
for orphans in India. When funds dry up, he is offered $4 million, but with strings: He must
Out, dissects life on the installment plan in this debtor nation and chronicles how credit card
return to Denmark and marry the donor’s daughter. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse
companies delight in getting you to overspend. Rachel Libert’s Beyond Conviction spotlights a
Babett Knudsen, and Rolf Lassgård.
program in Pennsylvania’s correctional system in which victims and criminals are reunited for
Throughout the year, Blaustein travels to film festivals and cherry-picks the films that
understanding and closure. Libert’s harrowing documentary benefits from brave and eloquent
reflect WFF’s agenda. In addition to fundraising, she also schedules screenings, in addition
people who demonstrate the humanity often obscured by an unforgiving penal system.
to operating the Woodstock Film Commission, which woos film makers to shoot in this
The Woodstock Film Festival grows quietly but steadily. Its screening venues sprawl
region.
across the region, encompassing Woodstock’s Tinker Street Cinema and Bearsville Theater,
“Our goals keep on expanding,” Blaustein said, “and the job grows with it.” Asked to
Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, the Catskill Mountain Foundation Theater in Hunter, and the
describe how an ideal festival would play out, Blaustein said it occurs when “everyone walks
Rosendale Theater.
away feeling more empowered than when they came in; that’s really what it’s about.”
By design, WFF remains a home-grown affair, and the grassroots vibe is reassuring. The
The Woodstock Film Festival never courts glitz; visiting celebrities possess more art-
opening night party at New World Home Cooking remains modest. The same handful of
house appeal than Hollywood wattage. Attendees have included Parker Posey, Matt Dillon,
sponsors underwrite the event (although showbiz magazine Variety is a new backer). Each
Frances McDormand, the Coen Brothers, and local residents Aidan Quinn, David Strathairn,
year, filmgoers can expect that the small venues will be overcrowded, the microphones
Tim Blake Nelson, and Ethan Hawke. This year, Timothy Hutton, who appears in a couple of
at industry panels will emit a piercing feedback squawk, and friendly interns will clumsily
films in competition, is slated to appear.
wrangle the audience lines that snake out onto the sidewalks. That is unlikely to change, Blaustein said: “ The festival is strictly independent and still runs on a very low budget, and runs on volunteer power.”
126
A documentary that affirms the power of music is Si Sos Brujo: A Tango Story (If You Know
While she takes chances with film topics, Blaustein vows to keep the Woodstock Film Festival of modest size. “Paris Hilton is not going to come to the festival,” she said. Blaustein pauses and
Another festival tradition is music. Despite its relocation to Bethel, the 1969 music and
reconsiders her comment, the adds, “If she does, she will be very dressed down, I’m sure.”
arts festival that defined a generation was originally slated to be held here. Blaustein and
—Jay Blotcher
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
ALSO ROLLING...MORE WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
FORECAST CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: TOM WOLFE IN TALES OF THE RAT FINK; NICK NOLTE AND JOHNATHAN TCHAIKOVSKY IN OFF THE BLACK; ABORIGINAL LEGENDS COME TO LIFE IN TEN CANOES; THE BROOKLYN-VIA-ITALY COMEDY THE ORANGE THIEF; DANCING ISRAELI SOLDIERS IN FORGIVENESS. OPPOSITE: C-DIDDY PERFORMNG IN AIR GUITAR NATION.
FORGIVENESS. DIRECTED BY UDI ALONI. In Forgiveness, director Udi Aloni doesn’t
Dubose and is forced to perform chores for her: After she dies, he realizes how much
shy away from the big issues: the Holocaust and the quest for a Palestinian homeland.
he helped her. That plot line is echoed in Off the Black, the debut feature by James
David Adler is the son of a camp survivor, living in Brooklyn. Against his father’s wishes,
Ponsoldt. Nick Nolte plays a dissipated small-town umpire whose home is vandalized
he joins the Israeli army, but the brutalities of war eventually unhinge his mind and land
by disgruntled high schoolers. He nabs one kid and forces him to fix the damage. The
him in a mental hospital. Aloni overloads his script with plot twists and magic realism that
two eventually form a heartwarming bond. Nolte's and Timothy Hutton’s naturalistic
beggar credibility, but still delivers emotional highs. Forgiveness is also unexpectedly sexy,
performances as tortured souls are unable to cut through the schmaltz.
featuring a hypnotic musical score and a stand-out dance number with Israeli soldiers.
TEN CANOES. DIRECTED BY ROLF DE HEER & PETER DJIGIRR. An Aboriginal legend
TALES OF THE RAT FINK. DIRECTED BY RON MANN. American drag racing is powered
from Australia’s remote Arafura Swamp is brought to life in Ten Canoes by writer Rolf de
by a combination of gasoline and testosterone. The reason is explained lovingly and
Heer, who codirected with Peter Djigirr. Hypnotic and primitive, the film is narrated by
irreverently in the documentary Tales of the Rat Fink, directed by Ron Mann. Through an
David Gulpilil, the memorable lead in the Nicolas Roeg 1971 classic Walkabout.
explosion of archival footage, vintage music, and mind-bending animation by Mike Roberts,
THE ORANGE THIEF. DIRECTED BY BOOGIE DEAN, VINNIE ANGEL & ARTHUR
Rat Fink canonizes Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, a wiseacre-genius from the 1950s responsible
WILINSKI. The title The Orange Thief suggests de Sica neorealism, but this comedy's
for designing hot rods and even the first message T-shirt. Narrated by John Goodman.
tone recalls Wertmuller’s brutal send-up of the Italian social order. The eponymous
AIR GUITAR NATION. DIRECTED BY ALEXANDRA LIPSITZ. Only a handful of us
fruitpoacher (played by Andrea Calabres) steals as a way to thumb his nose at the
ultimately achieve rock-star status. But in our metaworld, even the pretenders have a shot
wealthy. He always ends up bloody, unbowed, and incarcerated. During one prison
at fame, as proven by Air Guitar Nation (directed by Alexandra Lipsitz), a documentary
stay, a cellmate offers him a new life as landed gentry if he can accomplish a mission
that follows a pair of stateside practitioners of air guitar—known by the tongue-in-cheek
when he’s sprung. This shaggy-dog tale was shot on location in Lucca-Sicula, Italy,
stage names of C-Diddy and Bjorn Turoque—when they head for the 2002 championships
by three Brooklyn directors—Boogie Dean, Vinnie Angel, and Arthur Wilinski—in an
in Oulu, Finland. Air Guitar celebrates underdogs and the power of make-believe so
exquisite-corpse style. And the results are indeed exquisite, right down to the poetic
exuberantly that you’ll be holding your lighter high by the finale.
cinematography and an intoxicating musical soundtrack. —JB
OFF THE BLACK. DIRECTED BY JAMES PONSOLDT. Perhaps you recall the subplot in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird where Jem falls into the clutches of the irascible Mrs.
FOR SHOWTIMES, VISIT WWW.WOODSTOCKFILMFESTIVAL.COM
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Open Mike & Hootenanny with Seth Ray
8:30pm. Featuring Rick Z. The Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
SPOKEN WORD
An Introduction to the School of the Golden Rosycross
8pm. The Quest for Life’s Meaning-Building a Bridge from Time to Eternity. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
Fiddling for Beginners with Dr. Romo Call for time. Three four week sessions in fiddling, singing, and art. 255-7990.
Hot Diggity Dog Music After School Program
4-5pm. Ages K-7. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $120/$110 members.
MUSIC
Informal Singing Group
THEATER
A Piece of Monologue
7pm. The Beckett Centenary at Bard. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $12.50.
Auditions for Assassins
7pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 758-9287.
Bunker Mentality
7pm. One-act tragicomedy written & performed by Bob Balogh. Berkshire S. Regional Community Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 442-2223.
TUE 10 EVENTS
Speed Dating Event for Single Professionals
7-8:30pm. Folk songs accompanied by guitarist. Meeting House, New Paltz. 2554724.
Faculty Sampler: Music Inspired by America
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
9pm. Blues jam. The Roadhouse, Pleasant Valley. www.freewebs.com/totallyblues.
THE OUTDOORS Early Birds
8am. Bird walk. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
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WED 11 ART
New York Rhapsody
Woodstock Writers Workshop
6:30-8:30pm. Writing poetry, short story, novel, memoir, or creative non-fiction. Woodstock. 679-8256. $15/$75 series.
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7:15pm. Boudu. SUNY Orange, Middletown. 341-4891. $2.
Da Capo Chamber Players
Autumn’s Being
8pm. Ganesh Kumar, T.H. Subahash Chandran & special guests. Omega Institute, Rhinebeck. 266-4444. $10.
Call for time. Group art show. Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie. 431-8610.
8pm. Olin Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7425.
Master Drummers of South India
THE OUTDOORS CLASSES
Radiant Heating for Architects Class
Call for time. Course for architects, building designers, building contractors, and specifying engineers. Holiday Inn, Kingston. 687-0044. $150.
A Course In Miracles
7:30-9:30pm. Study group with Alice Broner. Unitarian Fellowship, Poughkeepsie. 229-8391.
FILM
Woodstock Film Festival
Communications Society Wednesday Night Film Series
6pm. Series of truly independent films. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8612.
Art Lecture Series: Lilla LoCurto/William Outcault
7:30pm. SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center, New Paltz. 257-3872.
MUSIC
Selection of Elda Cusick’s paintings from the last 20 years. Pilgrim Gallery and Home, Woodstock. 679-2605.
Call for times. Woodstock. 679-4265.
WORKSHOPS
FORECAST
7pm. Ages 42-56. Holiday Inn, Middletown. 457-2541. $34.
Lyceum Silent Film Series
KIDS
Hikes for Tykes
10am. Explore at a toddler’s pace (up to age 6). Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
THEATER
Worstward Ho and Texts for Nothing III, VIII & XII 8pm. The Beckett Centenary at Bard. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $35.
THU 12 ART
Portia Munson Opening
7pm. Slide show and lecture followed by opening reception. SUNY Ulster. 687-5262.
SPOKEN WORD
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
10:30am. Study of the writings of Juliana of Norwich. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
12-6pm. Please call for an appointment. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $40.
The Showings of St. Juliana of Norwich
The Ongoing Struggle for Environmental Justice: Lessons Learned from Love Canal
5:30pm. Lois Gibbs, speaks about her experiences fighting for justice. Lecture Center 100, New Paltz. 257-3447.
Lecture by Wendy E. Harris
7pm. Discussing Yama Farms Inn. Ellenville Public Library, Ellenville. 647-1497.
Psychic Readings by Shyla O’Shea
Sufi Zikr
5:45pm. St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock. 679-7215. $5-$10.
FILM
The Sixth Section
6:45pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
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IMAGE PROVIDED
IAN ANDERSON BRINGS ORCHESTRAL JETHRO TULL TO THE UPAC ON OCTOBER
8.
MINSTREL IN MIDTOWN “The object here,” says longtime Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson, “is not to force together two unlikely combatants in unholy musical matrimony.” He’s speaking of the tricky alchemy involved
FORECAST
in combining rock music with a chamber orchestra, which is what he’ll be doing with Ian Anderson Presents Orchestral Jethro Tull with a 14-piece orchetra from Boston's New England Conservatory of Music at the Ulster Performing Arts Center on Sunday, October 8. “This is a more ambient setting, where all of the musicians can leave the theater with both eardrums and dignity intact. We try for a vigorous rock feel without brute-force volume.” Acts ranging from Metallica to The Who to P. Diddy have performed with the accompaniment of full-scale orchestras, and depending on your taste, the results have either been rapturous or embarrassingly bombastic. Or both. But the music of Jethro Tull—still touring the world after an astonishing 37 years—is arguably among the best suited for the symphonic treatment. With consummate showman, multi-instrumentalist, and master flautist Anderson at the helm, the band has artfully mixed Celtic folk, classical music, rock’n’roll, sea shanties, synth-pop, and various world rhythms and textures. Tull’s two number-one albums—1972’s Thick as a Brick and ’73’s A Passion Play—were conceived not as individual songs but rather as suites and movements. This is not the first time Anderson has performed in our region with an orchestra. In fact, much of the dynamic fervor and striking power of classically trained instrumentalists sawing away at a rock song can be heard in a version of the Tull classic “Locomotive Breath,” recorded in Poughkeepsie for 2004’s Live at The Bardavon compilation CD. Over the years, Anderson has not limited himself to reigning as an elder statesman of rock. In the ’70s, he hit it big in the salmon industry, making a fortune raising and harvesting salmon and, eventually, employing hundreds of people in rural Scotland. Jethro Tull never stopped recording and touring while he became a wildly successful—yet environmentally conscientious—businessman. In addition to that, he is an eloquent and effective voice of ecological conservation, specifically working to protect many endangered species of small wildcats. In addition to performing in Tull, which plays about 100 dates a year, Anderson has done much for charity, including raising tens of thousands of dollars for Hurricane Katrina relief. With Ian Anderson Presents Orchestral Jethro Tull, audiences can expect hits from the band’s catalog—“Aqualung,” “Thick as a Brick,” and “Locomotive Breath,” among others—in addition to some of Anderson’s solo work and the occasional improvisation. The show’s featured guest is violinist Ann Marie Calhoun, who has played with the Dave Matthews Band. The arrangements vary from expressive string quartets to delicate woodwind duos to all-out Wagnerian rock dramas. In the center of it all is dervish Anderson, who commands the proceedings with humor, admirable musical chops, and authoritative grace. The Bardavon presents Ian Anderson Presents Orchestral Jethro Tull at the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC), 601 Broadway in Kingston, on Sunday, October 8, at 7pm. (845) 339-6088; www.upac.org.
—Robert Burke Warren
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MUSIC
Master Class with Pianist Richard Goode
2pm. Olin Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7425.
You, Me, and Dupree
8pm. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
KIDS
Lemony Snickett Party
Dallas
6-9pm. Jazz, soul, vocals. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 255-1717.
6-9pm. Celebrate the arrival of “The End”, the final book in the Series. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
9pm. Blues jam. Spanky’s, Poughkeepsie. 485-2294.
MUSIC
Adventures in Improvisation
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
Call for times. Participants experience musical and vocal improvisation and facilitation techniques. Omega Institute, Rhinebeck. (860) 491-3763. $295/$125 Sat. only.
SPOKEN WORD
PJ the DJ
7pm. Bertelsmann Campus Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Sarah Morr
Karaoke with PJ the DJ
Bach, the Bench, and Beyond: Career Opportunities in Biomedical Research and Development
Cervantes and Don Quijote
7pm. With writer Mario Vargas Llosa. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-6822.
Poetry Readings
7pm. Featuring Bobbi Katz & Ken Vanrensal. Bohemian Bookbin, Kingston. 331-6713. $2.
Readings From Literature from the ‘Axis of Evil’ and Other Enemy Nations
5-8pm. Alternative, blues, funk, hip hop, pop, r&b, reggae, rock, soul. The New York Cafe, Poughkeepsie. 452-7001. 7pm. Alternative, folk, rock. Tuscan Cafe, Warwick. 987-2050.
American Symphony Orchestra
8pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Black Mozart with Roy “Futureman” Wooten 8pm. Studley Theater. 255-1559. $20 members/$25 in advance/$30.
7:30pm. The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, Sleepy Hollow. (914) 332-5953. $5/$3 members.
Ratboy
The Hudson River School and Scenic Preservation
Sam Lardner & Barcelona
7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Evening Speakers Series. Painter’s Tavern, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. 9pm. Special guest Dan Navarro. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $20/$17.50 members.
The Good Rats
THEATER
9pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. $20.
8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
Exit 19
Oliver
Serious Money
FORECAST
8pm. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
David Kraai & The Saddle Tramps
Urinetown
SPOKEN WORD
8pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. 8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
Replace Stress with Serenity
7-8:30pm. Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center, Haines Falls. (518) 589-5000.
Intro to Tantra Workshop
7-9pm. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
FRI 13 ART
New York Rhapsody
5-7:30pm. Oil Paintings by Edla Cusick. Pilgrim Gallery/Home Store, Woodstock. 679-2605.
EVENTS
Sunbridge College Open Day
Call for times. Attend a class, take part in an artistic activity, meet and talk with directors. Sunbridge College, Chestnut Ridge. 425-0055 ext. 24.
Halloween Theme Weekend
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
Civil War Living History and Recruitment Weekend
10am-5pm. Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660. $10/$5 children.
Speed Dating Event for Single Professionals
7pm. Ages 42-56. Fishkill All Sport, Fishkill. 457-2541. $36.
Women’s Sacred Moonlodge
7pm. Celebrate moon-time bleeding with ritual, song, and dance. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock.
FILM
Krapp’s Last Tape
5pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Endgame
7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
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Dance with DJ G-Pace
The Beckett Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
WORKSHOPS
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10pm. Funk, soul. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
11pm. Country, folk, original, rock, rockabilly, traditional. Snug Harbor, New Paltz. 255-9800.
IAT Fall Luncheon Lecture Series
12pm. The Gnostic Jesus. Bertelsmann Campus Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Worst Lemony Snicket Day Ever
4-6pm. Unveiling of the final book in the Series of Unfortunate Events. Merritt Books, Cold Spring. 265-9100.
Open Mike Poetry Reading
7pm. Featuring Robert Milby and Will Nixon. Morning Brew Cafe & Coffeehouse, High Falls. 687-4750.
Readings From Chance of a Ghost: An Anthology of Contemporary Ghost Poems
7:30pm. The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, Sleepy Hollow. (914) 332-5953. $5/$3 members.
THEATER
A Piece of Monologue
7pm. The Beckett Centenary at Bard. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $12.50.
Oliver
8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
Serious Money
8pm. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
The Oldest Profession
8pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12.
Three Sisters
8pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Urinetown
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
WORKSHOPS
Think Pink Breast Cancer Prevention Call for time. Sivananda Yoga Ranch, Woodbourne. 436-6492.
How To Read Tarot Cards
6-9:30pm. Class will cover card meanings, spreads. The Healing Cottage, Washingtonville. 496-3020. $35.00 class/ $20.00 for cards.
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ECONOSMITH
THE FLAMES OF DISCONTENT
FOLK FLAME BURNS IN BEACON FORECAST
Take your concept of the traditional folk festival and twist it even further to the left. The burgeoning art scene in Beacon will be the backdrop for the first-ever Dissident Folk Festival on October 14 and 15 at the Howland Cultural Center. But don’t expect to see only a bunch of white men playing acoustic guitars. The festival is an attempt to redefine folk music by featuring younger musicians like anarcho-feminist punkfolker Holly Goanarchy and New York anti-folk pioneer Lach while still paying appropriate homage to radical greats Woody Guthrie and Paul Robeson. “Nobody at this festival is concerned about being ‘too radical,’” said John Pietaro, the festival’s organizer and singer-banjoist of the Flames of Discontent, one of the acts set to appear. He sees the event as an attempt to wake folk music of complacency and back into the radical roots of Guthrie and Robeson. Speakers, musicians, and activists— ranging in age from the 16-year-old political poet Arianna Dejesus to the tellingly named Pittsburgh Raging Grannies protest-performance group—will sing and speak out about labor rights, social justice, the upcoming congressional elections, and about leaving those taboos against radicalism behind. The Hudson Valley continues to form its identity as a worthy hotbed for the radicalist folk movement. Beacon is also home to Pete Seeger, who assisted in selecting musicians for the festival. In 1946, members of the KKK and the American Legion incited a riot in nearby Peekskill, preventing a scheduled concert by Paul Robeson. Robeson promised to return to the valley, declaring, “My people and I won’t be frightened by crosses burning in Peekskill or anywhere else.” (The concert was rescheduled, and more rioting followed.) The event is open to all ages, because, as Pietaro says, “Usually, most of the audience [at folk festivals] is over 60. But we’re breaking that down.” The Dissident Folk Festival will take place at the Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main Street, Beacon, on Saturday, October 14, from 2 to11pm and on Sunday, October 15, from 12 to 6:30pm. (845)831-4988; www.howlandculturalcenter.org. —Rebecca Wild Nelson
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Magics for the Celtic Halloween
7-9pm. With author Cait Johnson. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
SAT 14 ART
Artists on Location
Call for time. Silent Art Auction. Garrison Art Center, Garrison. 424-3960.
Beacon/Bronx 4+4
Bannerman Island Benefit Dinner 6pm. Benefit dinner and silent auction. Torches. 234-3204. $110.
FILM
An Afternoon with the Directors
1-4pm. Film symposium with directors David McDonald, Josh Apter, Peter Olsen, Tad Fettig, and Karena Albers. Bard College Avery Film Complex. 338-8182. General Admission $20, Students and HVTC members $10.
Call for time. Tony Moore shows his work in his Fall Exhibition series. bau/beacon artists union, Beacon. 265-3097.
Catastrophe
Artists on Location
Happy Days
4pm. Live art auction. Garrison Art Center, Garrison. 424-3960.
Deep Forest Opening
5-7pm. Opening for Chris Gonyea’s gallery show. WAAM Woodstock Artist Association & Museum, Woodstock. 338-8353.
Leslie Yolen: Ceramic Sculptures 5-7pm. GCCA Catskill Gallery, Catskill. (518) 943-3400.
RSVP
5-7pm. Group exhibition by invitation of the GCCA Visual Arts Committee. GCCA Catskill Gallery, Catskill. (518) 943-3400.
New Work Initiatives 2006 No 5: Solo Exhibits
5pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
SPOKEN WORD
Cool Communities, Living Economies
8:30am-4:30pm. Conference produced by Sustainable Hudson Valley. SUNY New Paltz Science Center, New Paltz. 331-2670.
Art About Water: The Moodna Watershed
2-4pm. Lecture. Moodna Viaduct, Salisbury Mills. 534-5284.
Woodstock Photography Lecture Series
8pm. Featuring photographer Chad Kleitsch. Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock. 679-6337. $7/5.
THEATER
Worstward Ho and Texts for Nothing III, VIII & XII
KIDS
2pm. The Beckett Centenary at Bard. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $35.
10am-4pm. Face-painting, hay rides, pony rides, petting zoo, food, and more. Adams Fair Acre Farms, Kingston. www.adamsfarms.com. Free.
Enough
Sylvia Markson’s Magic Trunk Show
Oliver
Harvest Fest
11am. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.
Halloween Masks
2-4pm. Ages 5-11. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $12/$9 members.
7pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
Serious Money
8pm. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
5-8pm. Chris Metze and Leslie Bender. Albert Shahinian Fine Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie. 454-0522.
MUSIC
The Oldest Profession
No Words Necessary: Photographic Explorations
Call for times. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
Three Sisters
5:30-8pm. Works by Fawn Potash and Thomas Teich. M Gallery, Catskill. (518) 943-2189.
Bridges
6-9pm. Abstract paintings by Susan Kleiner. The Muddy Cup Coffee House, Beacon. 440-7584.
Paradise
7pm. Recent works by Susan Miiller. Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Newburgh. 569-4997.
Electric French Horn, Poetry and Percussion
The Dissident Folk Festival
Call for times. Protest-oriented music and poetry. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 831-4988. $10/$8 seniors and students.
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
2pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45. $15/$10 students and seniors/$3 members.
DCC Music School Faculty Group Concert
4pm. Ritz Lounge, Poughkeepsie. 431-8916.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
An Introduction to a Silent Retreat
Call for times. New Age Center and Point of Infinity, Nyack. 353-2590.
Leaf Peepers Baroque Concert
7:30pm. Traditional and contemporary chamber music. St. James Catholic Church, Chatham. (518) 325-3805. $20/$60 season pass.
CLASSES
Open Class With Writer Mario Vargas Llosa
10am. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-6822.
DANCE
Contradance
8pm. David Kaynor calling, music by Jay Ungar & Molly Mason. Call for location. 246-2121. $8/$7 members/$4 children.
John Street Jam
7:30-10pm. Featuring Vickie Russell, Sean Schenker, Johnny BE, David Michael Peters. Dutch Arms Chapel, Saugerties. 943-6720.
American Symphony Orchestra
8pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
8pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12.
8pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Urinetown
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
WORKSHOPS
Intro to Digital Printing
Call for times. Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock. 679-9957.
Winter Health
10am-5pm. Learn remedies for winter health troubles. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock. 246-8081. $75 includes lunch.
Around the World Cooking Series
1pm. Recipes from Latin America. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
Authentic Poetry Workshop
1:30-3pm. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
Open Pit Firing
5-8:30pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $85/$75 members.
SUN 15
The Blue Ribbon Boys
EVENTS
The Horseman’s Ball “A Venetian Masque” 6am. Benefit for Winslow Therapeutic Center. Winslow Therapeutic Center, Warwick. 986-6686.
Crafts on John Street
9am-2pm. Juried crafts marketplace. Kingston. oxbowart@hotmail.com.
Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market
9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
Classics Under the Gunks
10am-4pm. Benefit for the Library Building Fund. Kiernan Farm, Gardiner. 453-3241.
Quaker Fair
10am-4pm. Arts and crafts, baked goods, books. Friends Meeting House, Cornwall-onHudson. 565-8210.
Civil War Living History and Recruitment Weekend
10am-5pm. Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660. $10/$5 children.
Wiltwyck’s 16th Biennial Quilt Show: A Rainbow of Quilts
8pm. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 658-9048. $10.
Hope Machine
8-10pm. Folk rock, Americana, rockabilly, songs for peace and justice. Chthonic Clash Coffeehouse, Beacon. 831-0359. $5.
Lennon Birthday Bash with Pete Santora
8-11pm. A.i.r. Studio Gallery, Kingston. 331-2662.
Art From The Heart Watercolors
2-4pm. Marlboro Free Library, Marlboro. 236-7272.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Contemplative Meeting
10am. Readings alternate with music. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation
Strawbs
11am. A guided meditation for clearing and balancing the chakras. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
Thunder Ridge
DANCE
8:30pm. Acoustic. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. $20.
9:30pm. Country rock. Kingston Holiday Inn, Kingston. 338-0400.
Swing Dance Jam
6:30-9pm. Lesson at 6pm. White Eagle Hall, Kingston. 339-3032. $5.
Sonando
10pm. Latin. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
EVENTS
THE OUTDOORS
Call for time. The first of two Sunday open houses. Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh. 1-888-YES-MSMC.
17th Annual Ridge Hike
6:30am-4:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
10am-5pm. 150 quilts in show, demos, art doll exhibit, dream baskets. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. www.wiltwyckquiltersguild.org. $5/$4 seniors and students.
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Table Rocks
Apple Shindig
Wonderful Waterfalls
5:30pm. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-onHudson. 265-3638 ext. 115.
ART
9:30am-12:30pm. Meet at the Spring Farm Trailhead, New Paltz. 255-0919.
10am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
Mount Saint Mary College Open House
Civil War Living History and Recruitment Weekend
10am-5pm. Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660. $10/$5 children.
Wiltwyck’s 16th Biennial Quilt Show: A Rainbow of Quilts
10am-5pm. 150 quilts in show, demos, art doll exhibit, dream baskets. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. www.wiltwyckquiltersguild.org. $5/$4 seniors and students.
IMAGE PROVIDED
THE GATE THEATER’S PRODUCTION OF “WAITING FOR GODOT” STARRING BARRY MCGOVERN, LEFT, AS VLADIMIR AND JOHNNY MURPHY AS ESTRAGON IS PERFORMED AT BARD COLLEGE ON OCTOBER
7 & 8.
GODOT ARRIVES AT BARD The best-known photographic portrait of author-playwright Samuel Beckett depicts him as how Western citizens perceive our God: a gray-haired man of extreme gravitas, his face deeply furrowed, frozen in a pungent mixture of infinite patience and contempt. It’s the turtleneck shirt that grounds him, reminding us of his earthbound status. But only barely. For this hoary old Dublin mystic and philosopher, who— despite appearances to the contrary—was less an absurdist than a humanist, created a body of writings that underscore an almost divine understanding of the scarred human psyche. In this, the year of his centenary, Bard College offers an exhaustive (and, no doubt, emotionally exhausting) festival of Beckett’s works created for stage and adapted for screen, running October 6 through 15. Let the canonization continue. Beckett captures a world that may or may not destroy itself by utilizing the very instruments it has chosen as salvation: religion, tribalism, technology, blind faith. Like Harold Pinter, he identifies the profound in the pedestrian. One's appreciation of Beckett’s work has always been the ultimate Rorschach test. If you're a pessimist, Beckett affords you a field day of hand-wringing on the subject of man’s future. However, if you see the human vessel as half full, there is also ample cause to celebrate. Consider his best-known work, which is the centerpiece of the Bard festival. Originally written in French, En Attendant Godot is more widely known as Waiting for Godot, and winkingly subtitled “A Tragicomedy in Two Acts.” Premiering in 1953, it was a minimalist rebuke of flashy theater and an incisive allegory for the Cold War. Two unkempt clochards share a bare stage with a single tree. They talk, double-talk, debate, and mediate upon the impending arrival of one Godot. (Scholars a century from now will continue to debate whether the eponymous character—messiah or monster—will ever arrive.) When the elliptical play came to New York in 1956, it polarized audiences (always a good sign). If you wax melancholy, then Godot is a figurehead for our willful ignorance. If you retain hope for our species, Waiting for Godot is proof of our humanity and the multiple blessings of unquestioning allegiance. Relevant in 1953, it now provides lacerating commentary on our Bushian crises. This production will be mounted by the premier Beckett torchbearers on this Earth. The Gate Theatre of Dublin secured Beckett’s personal permission shortly before the writer’s death to perform all 19 of his plays, which the company has since toured internationally, beginning in 1991. The Bard staging of Waiting for Godot reunites most of the 1991 cast: Barry McGovern as Vladimir; Johnny Murphy as Estragon; and Alan Stanford as Pozzo. Recent recruit Stephen Brennan plays Lucky. The production is being directed by Walter Asmus, a longtime friend of the master himself. Performances are at Bard’s Sosnoff Theater in the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Saturday, October 7, at 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, October 8, at 3pm. Tickets are $20, $35, and $55. (845) 758-7900; www.fishercenter.bard.edu. —Jay Blotcher
Rainbow Quilt Raffle
5pm. Senate Gymnasium, Stone Ridge. 679-8587. $1-$6.
Sparking Your Creativity
2-4pm. Taking your creativity out in the world. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 3310644. $20.
Vonn New’s Dreaming in the Proximity of Mars: Healing
8pm. Electroacoustic music, dreams, and incandescent dance. TR Gallo Park, Kingston. 338-5984.
MON 16 CLASSES
Women’s Assertiveness Training
FILM
6:30-8pm. 4 Monday sessions. Jeanne Asma Psychotherapist and Life Coach, Poughkeepsie. 462-1182. $120.
3pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Dance Lesson Sampler
Iraq for Sale
What Where
5pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
Waiting for Godot
7:30pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900. $7.50.
KIDS
Ione’s 11th Annual Dream Festival
1pm. Dream workshop, puppet/mask Procession, dreaming ceremony, music, and incandescent dance. Heritage Area Visitors Center, Rondout Kingston. 338-5984.
MUSIC
Flying Fox String Band
10am-4pm. Bluegrass, folk. Forsyth Nature Center, Kingston. 331-1682 ext. 117.
7-8:30pm. Waltz and East Coast Swing. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $75/$60 members.
2pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45.
Baird Hersey and Prana
6pm. Meditation, overtone singing, chant. Mountain View Studio, Woodstock. 679-3804.
Roy Strever & Kevin Monahue
6-9pm. Bluegrass. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 255-1717.
Acoustic Alchemy
FORECAST
8pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $40/$37.50.
4:30-6pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088.
SPOKEN WORD
The Showings of St. Juliana of Norwich
Urinetown
Art Lecture Series: Luc LaTulippe
ART
7pm. Reading and discussion of An American Tragedy. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
WORKSHOPS
Prescription Drug Abuse: Signs and Symptoms
MUSIC
1-2pm. Burroughs Hall, Stone Ridge. 687-5192.
7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Orientation Course
Open Mike & Hootenanny with Seth Ray
8:30pm. Featuring Cheri Dahl. The Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
7pm. Rosycross and Gnosis--Philosophy and Realization. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
De-Clutter & De-Stress
7:30-9pm. Kinderhook Library, Kinderhook. 227-3190.
Lecture and concert. American Symphony Orchestra
4:30pm. What Is Enlightenment? The Science, Culture, and Politics of Reason Lecture Series. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Poetry Open Mike
7pm. Featuring Lee Gerstad and Richard Bruner & Esther Rosenfeld. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $3.
An Introduction to the School of the Golden Rosycross
8pm. The Process of Transfiguration. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
THU 19 ART
Summergroup
5-6:30pm. Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie. 431-8000 ext. 3982.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Psychic Readings by Shyla O’Shea
12-6pm. Please call for an appointment. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $40.
Sufi Zikr
5:45pm. St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock. 679-7215. $5-$10.
Late Autumn Hikes of The Catskills
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike High Peters Kill 10:30am-3:30pm. Meet at the Coxing Trailhead, New Paltz. 255-0919.
The Language of Reverence: Conversations on Art and Spirituality
4pm. Featuring Hermann Nitsch. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill. (914) 788-7166.
Readings by Poets Brooks Haxton and Elaine Sexton 4:30pm. The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, Sleepy Hollow. (914) 332-5953. $5/$3 members.
THEATER
The Oldest Profession
THEATER
Bunker Mentality
7pm. One-act tragicomedy written & performed by Bob Balogh. Berkshire S. Regional Community Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 442-2223.
Grand Opening Lashlee School of Fine Art
Call for times. Offering art lessons for grades 1 through 12. Lashlee School of Fine Art, Poughkeepsie. 729-0087.
11:30am-12:30pm. 6 weeks. Crush Fitness, LaGrange. 227-3190.
TUE 17 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Be Your Own Medicine
Call for times. Rhinebeck. 871-1794.
Urinetown
4pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $6/$5 members.
3pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
The Beckett Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
3pm. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Three Sisters
3pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Enough
7pm. Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Serious Money
8pm. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
WORKSHOPS
The Artist’s Way
11am-1pm. Discover your creativity and realize your dreams. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Call for times. Crandell Theater, Chatham. (518) 392-1162.
Skyhunters in Flight
10am. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088 ext. 13.
Dan Einbender
6:30pm. Music. Andes Library, Andes. 676-3333.
Organize Your Life Series
MUSIC
Oliver
Film Columbia Film Festival
KIDS WORKSHOPS
2pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 3926264. $15/$12.
2pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3880. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
FILM
Unplugged Open Acoustic Mike
Charles Ives and Friends
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts 9pm. Blues jam. The Roadhouse, Pleasant Valley. www.freewebs.com/totallyblues.
THE OUTDOORS Early Birds
8am. Bird walk. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
Nature Strollers: Hiking Group for Families
9:15am. Museum of the Hudson Highlands, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
WED 18 FILM
Communications Society Wednesday Night Film Series
6pm. Series of truly independent films. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8612.
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
MUSIC
Clave: The Key, A Rhythmic Journey from Africa to the New World Call for times. Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
The Mambo Kings
6:45pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
FRI 20 44th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibit 6-8pm. Belle Levine Gallery, Mahopac. 628-3105.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Native American Sweat Lodge
Call for time. Sivananda Yoga Ranch, Woodbourne. 436-6492.
Psychic Attunements Retreat
Call for times. Weekend of psychic expansion, spiritual growth, and fun. Lanesville House, Lanesville. 688-5672. $295.
Yoga, Meditation, and Dialogue on Yogic & Buddhist Philosophy
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
Art About Water: The Moodna Watershed
7:30-9:30pm. Lecture, art, film, music. Walter Reade Theatre at Storm King School, Storm King. 534-5284.
The Mid-Hudson Photography Club Open House 7:30-9:30pm. LaGrange Town Hall, Poughkeepsie. 297-1875.
Vampyre Ball
8pm. Second annual gothic and industrial kaos. Black attire mandatory. The Black Ballroom and Bar, Woodstock. 679-5342. $6.
FILM
Art About Water: The Moodna Creek Watershed
7:30pm. Kitui Sand Dams: Local adaptation to global climate change. Walter Reade Theatre, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5284.
Been Rich All My Life
7:30pm. Chorus dancers of the 1930’s Harlem scene are still dancing together. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
The Ant Bully
8pm. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
MUSIC
Shannon Early
SPOKEN WORD
Dream Action Theater and Dream Festival ‘Crawl’
6:30pm. Readings, performances and bizarre dream moments. Inspired Books and Gifts, Uptown Kingston. 338-5984.
Dutchess Quarry Caves: A PaleoIndian Site in Orange County, New York 7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Evening Speakers Series. Painter’s Tavern, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
Call for times. Hudson Opera House, Hudson. (518) 828-7042.
IAT Fall Luncheon Lecture Series
12pm. The Gnostic Jesus. Bertelsmann Campus Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
FDR and the Post Office
7pm. Author Tony Musso will be discussing and signing his book. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.
Easter Island
7:30pm. Multi-media presentation on the history of the island, its folklore, and art. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $10/$8 members.
The Healing Qualities of Bees
THEATER
Halloween Theme Weekend
The Nature of Improvisation and Its Application to the Composition of Music
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
Hudson Poetry Circle
EVENTS
Call for times. Music and dance workshops, crafts, hiking, jamming. Nevele Grande Resort & Country Club, Ellenville. (718) 549-1344.
Karaoke with PJ the DJ
SPOKEN WORD
7:30pm. With Gunther Hauk, author of Toward Saving the Honeybee. The Nature Institute, Ghent. (518) 672-0116. $12/$8 students and seniors.
Folk Music Weekend
9pm. Blues jam. Spanky’s, Poughkeepsie. 485-2294.
10am. Hike for grown-ups with babes in arms using a backpack or all terrain stroller. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
Call for times. Menla Mountain Retreat, Phoenicia. (212) 807-0563.
7:30pm. Nature of Improvisation and Its Application to the Composition of Music. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5262.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
Babes in the Woods Hike
David Sancious and Friends
7:30pm. Performance and discussion with SUNY Ulster artist-in-residence David Sancious. SUNY Ulster. 687-5262.
Dance with DJ G-Pace
THE OUTDOORS THEATER
Literary Lives of Crime Book Discussion
Call for time. Children’s art and music workshop teaches three four week sessions in percussion, singing, and art. 255-7990.
Open Mike Night
8pm. Celebrating her new book, Letters from Linda Montano. Alternative Books, Kingston. 338-5984.
Oliver
7:30pm. SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center, New Paltz. 257-3872.
Singing with Rhythm and Beat
Linda Montano’s We Are All Authors of Our Own Lives
10:30am. Study of the writings of Juliana of Norwich. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
THE OUTDOORS
SPOKEN WORD
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Sound Design
KIDS
SPOKEN WORD Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
KIDS
5:30-8:30pm. Jazz. The New York Cafe, Poughkeepsie. 452-7001.
From Boccherini to Brazilian
8pm. Maria Zemantauski, flamenco guitar. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872.
Vampyre Ball
8pm. Black Attire required. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 340-0220. $6.
Woodstock Chamber Orchestra
8pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 246-7045. $15/$5 students.
A Woman’s Voice
9pm. Women’s Resource Center Benefit. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $35 in advance/$40.
Studebaker John & The Hawks
9pm. Blues. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. $12.50.
Voodelic
10pm. Gospel, blues-rock and funk. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
Oliver
8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
The Oldest Profession
8pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 392-6264. $15/$12.
Three Sisters
8pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Urinetown
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
WORKSHOPS
Be the Medicine
7-9pm. Healing tools and new perspectives for healers from all modalities. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
SAT 21 ART
Hardie Truesdale
Call for time. Showing by the renowned Catskill nature photographer. Mark Gruber Gallery, New Paltz. 255-1241.
Art and Nature
Call for times. A collection of sculptures by Patricia Mooney and Leah Ellen Kucera. The Catskills Gallery, Saugerties. 246-5552.
Rimer Cardillo and Judy Sigunick Opening Reception
6-9pm. Rimer Cardillo and Judy Sigunick gallery show opening. The Pearl Arts Gallery, Stone Ridge. 687-0888.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
A Yogic Lifestyle for Today’s World 1-3:30pm. Learn techniques to look and feel your best. Arlington Yoga Works, Poughkeepsie. 797-4124. $35.
DANCE
Contradance
8pm. Caller Melanie Axel-Lute with The Brooklyn Swing Ensemble. Arlington Reformed Church, Poughkeepsie. 473-7050. $10/$5 students.
Free Style Frolic
8:30pm. Alcohol-free dance event for all ages. Knights of Columbus, Kingston. 658-8319. $5/$2 teens and seniors/children free.
EVENTS
Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market 9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
State Senator Stephen Saland’s 14th Annual Golden Gathering 9:30am-12:30pm. Columbia-Greene Community College, Hudson. (518) 822-2027.
Jack-o-Lantern Jubilee
10am-4pm. Prospect Hill Orchards, Milton. 795-5345.
Savor the Flavor: The CIA Asian Food Demonstration
10:30am-12pm. Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park. 452-2230. $10.99.
THE OUTDOORS
FILM
9am. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
5pm. Chorus dancers of the 1930’s Harlem scene are still dancing together. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
Survival
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Gertrude’s Nose
10:30am-3:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
MUSIC
SPOKEN WORD
2pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45.
2pm. Monthly group meeting. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
Woodstock Chamber Orchestra
Every Dog Has His Day
11am-4pm. An event for dogs and the people who love them. Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown. (518) 537-4240. $7 per vehicle.
Harvest Moon Hayride
4-7pm. Prospect Hill Orchards, Milton. 795-5345.
Italian Night
7-11pm. Live music, dancing, Italian cuisine. Wappingers Knights of Columbus, Wappingers Falls. 298-2868. $25.
FILM Silvia
7pm. About the life of political prisoner Silvia Baraldini. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $10.
KIDS
NYS Sheep & Wool Family Festival
Call for time. Family Festival with haunted house, scavenger hunt, hay maze, crafts, petting zoo. Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck. 876-4001. General Admission $10.
Jonathon Kruk: Tales of the Hudson 10:30am. Kingston Library, Kingston. 331-0507.
George Sunshine’s One Man Variety Show
11am. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088.
Harvest Fest
11am-4pm. Face-painting, hay rides, pony rides, petting zoo, food, and more. Adams Fair Acre Farms, Newburgh. www.adamsfarms.com. Free.
12pm. Creative activities for kids. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
MUSIC
Family Festival: Beth, Scott, and Friends
11am. Children’s songs. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
Bernstein Bard Trio
1pm. Antiques Barn at the Water Street Market, New Paltz. 255-1403.
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
2pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45.
Romantic Troika: Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms
6pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.
Art About Water: The Moodna Creek Watershed
7:30pm. Concert with Paul Winter. Walter Reade Theatre, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5284.
Hudson Valley Folk Guild Song Circle 7:30pm. Highland Methodist Church, Highland. 849-1775. $4/$3 members.
The Cavani String Quartet
7:30pm. Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck. 876-6122. $25/$5 students/under 13 free.
Trio Globo: Music for the Worldly Mind
Anime Orange
Woodstock Poetry Society Meeting
Julien Balenstein & Chris Macchia
Ron Rosenstock Photography Lecture
THE OUTDOORS
3pm. Artist lecture and slides of his work. Daniel Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. photomel@msn.com.
Ledig House Writers Residency Program Reading
5-8pm. Hudson Wine Merchants, Hudson. (518) 392-4568 ex. 100.
8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Xoch
8:30pm. Pop, rock. The Chance, Poughkeepsie. 471-1966.
Kurt Henry Band
9pm. High Falls Cafe, High Falls. 687-7370.
9am-4:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Mohonk PreserveVan Leuven Cabin Hike
10am-12pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
THEATER
THEATER
2pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 3926264. $15/$12.
The Oldest Profession
Oliver
2pm/8pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
Urinetown
The Oldest Profession
Oliver
8pm. Ghent Playhouse, Ghent. (518) 3926264. $15/$12.
Three Sisters
8pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Urinetown
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
WORKSHOPS
Expressive Drawing and Painting Workshop
Call for times. Explore and expand your creative process using both imagination and technique. Artists Sudio, Hurley. 340-9632. $225.
Workshop on Bees and Beekeeping
9am. With Gunther Hauk, author of Toward Saving the Honeybee. The Nature Institute, Ghent. (518) 672-0116. $85.
Mask-Making Workshop
10am. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
The Natural Singer
2pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3880. $18/$16 seniors, students and staff.
3pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3088. $22/$20 students and seniors.
Three Sisters
3pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
WORKSHOPS
Japanese Needle
10am-4pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $60/$50 members.
Spirit Lake 1 Class
10am-6pm. Woodstock. 679-7175.
The Artist’s Way
11am-1pm. Discover your creativity and realize your dreams. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Kabalistic Healing for Transformation
2-4pm. With Rabbi Alvin Bobroff. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
Aromatherapy
6-8pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $10/$8 members.
10am-5pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $140/$120 members.
7 Secrets to a Slimmer & Healthier New You
2-3pm. Cornwall Public Library, Cornwall-onHudson. 227-3190.
Your Sacred Self as Co-Creator
2-5pm. Manifesting abundance through your soul. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
MON 23 FILM
Film Screening Presented by the First-Year Seminar
4:30pm. What Is Enlightenment? The Science, Culture, and Politics of Reason Lecture Series. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
MUSIC
Open Mike Night Aromatherapy
6-8pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $10/$8 members.
SUN 22 10:30am. Phoenicia. 688-2211.
Stone Soul Soup
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Escarpment Loop
8:30pm. Variety, comedy. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
Woodstock Chamber Orchestra
8-10:30pm. Acoustic, folk, original, traditional, vocals. Hyde Park Free Library Annex, Hyde Park. 229-7791. $9/$6.
6-9pm. Jazz. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 255-1717.
Hotflash and the Whoremoans
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Ken and Julie Folk Duo
3pm. Bearsville Theater, Woodstock. 2467045. $15/$5 students.
2pm. Featuring Jordan Smith and Juliet Patterson. Woodstock Town Hall, Woodstock. www.woodstockpoetry.com.
8pm. Studley Theater. 255-1559.
8pm. Pointe of Praise Family Life Center, Kingston. 246-7045. $15/$5 students.
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
FORECAST
Kids’ Art Trail
Been Rich All My Life
Pathwork Spiritual Lecture Reading/ Discussion/Potluck Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation
11am. A guided meditation for clearing and balancing the chakras. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Early Music New York
8pm. Red Barn Performing Arts, Hunter. (518) 263-4908. $15.
Open Mike & Hootenanny with Seth Ray 8:30pm. The Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
THE OUTDOORS
Halloween Extravaganza at Sam’s Point
1pm. Minnewaska State Park, New Paltz. 255-0752.
EVENTS
Wine Tasting
3-5pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $20/$15 members.
Wildlife Trust’s Hudson Valley Awards Dinner
4pm. Fine food, wine, and dancing to the sounds of Saints of Swing. Belvedere Mansion, Staatsburg. (212) 957-9155. $125/ $250/$500.
SPOKEN WORD
British Bobbies: Mystery Monday Book Discussion
7pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
Poetry Open Mike
7pm. Featuring Richard Boes and Dan Wilcox. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $3.
10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
139
THEATER
Bunker Mentality
7pm. One-act tragicomedy written & performed by Bob Balogh. Berkshire S. Regional Community Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 442-2223.
TUE 24 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
An Evening With the Afterlife
7-9pm. An evening of channeled messages from your spirit loved ones and guides. Mizuna Cafe, Kingston. (518) 929-5397. $25/At door $30.
CLASSES
Track & Field Officiating For Fun & Maybe Profit
7-8:30pm. Range of topics to prepare for possible certification. SUNY Ulster’s Stone Ridge Campus, Stone Ridge. 339-2025. $89.
Informal Singing Group
7-8:30pm. Folk songs. Guitarist to accompany the singing. Meeting House, New Paltz. 255-4724.
Faculty Jazz Ensemble Plays Ellington and Strayhorn
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
9pm. Blues jam. The Roadhouse, Pleasant Valley. www.freewebs.com/totallyblues.
SPOKEN WORD
Gospel of the Living Dead
Wine Tasting: The Wines of South America 7pm. Includes dinner. Monteverde at Oldstone Manor, Cortlandt Manor. 914) 739-5000 ext. 1. $85.
Red Morocco
10pm. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $10.
Dance with DJ G-Pace
FILM
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
7:15pm. Nosferatu. SUNY Orange, Middletown. 341-4891. $2.
SPOKEN WORD
MUSIC
Acoustic Thursdays
6-9pm. Featuring Peggy Atwood. High Falls Cafe, High Falls. 687-2699. $5.
Gina Piaino
6-9pm. Acoustic, bluegrass, country, folk, rock, vocals. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 2551717.
Little Scotty and the Knockouts
9pm. Blues jam. Spanky’s, Poughkeepsie. 485-2294.
Thinking in Dark Times: The Legacy of Hannah Arendt
Call for times. Conference. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
IAT Fall Luncheon Lecture Series
12pm. The Gnostic Jesus. Bertelsmann Campus Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Whoopi Goldberg
8pm. Beloved comedienne comes to Kingston. UPAC, Kingston. 339-6088.
THEATER
On the Verge
Karaoke with PJ the DJ
10:30pm. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
8pm. Mohonk Mountain Stage Readers Theater. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $15/$11 members.
WORKSHOPS
SPOKEN WORD
Three Sisters
6:30-8:30pm. Writing poetry, short story, novel, memoir, or creative non-fiction. Woodstock. 679-8256. $15/$75 series.
The Heart of Relationships
7-9pm. Learn the keys to unlocking greater harmony, peace, passion, freedom and appreciation. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $15/$20.
WED 25 FORECAST
Kurt Henry Band
7pm. Author Kim Paffenroth will be discussing and signing his book. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.
Woodstock Writers Workshop
EVENTS
Entrepreneurs’ Forum
8-9:30am. Hudson Valley Business Center, Lake Katrine. 943-5660.
Building Green Communities
9am. Strategies and Tools for Sustainable Development. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
7:30pm. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Evening Speakers Series. Painter’s Tavern, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
FRI 27 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
9 Day Yoga Spiritual Fasting Retreat
MUSIC
David Sancious and Friends
1pm. Nature of Improvisation and Its Application to the Composition of Music. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5262.
The Showings of St. Juliana of Norwich
10:30am. Study of the writings of Juliana of Norwich. Community Room of the Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
Reading and Book Signing with Norman van Valkenburgh
7-8:30pm. Author of Heart of the Catskills: Old Stone Walls. Rosendale Library, Rosendale. 658-9013.
WORKSHOPS
Chakra Therapy
Sivananda Yoga Ranch, Woodbourne. 436- 6492.
Halloween Mountain Retreat
Call for times. Enjoy a weekend “in Spirit” with Adam F. Bernstein. Lanesville House, Lanesville. (518) 929-5397. $295.
Fall Dance
8pm. Dance featuring Moderation and other student choreography. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandaleon-Hudson. 758-7900.
Featuring Peter Davis and Friends
8:30-11:30pm. Lesson at 7:30pm. Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie. 473-6955. $10.
EVENTS
10th Annual Quilting Weekend
New Moon Shamanic Drumming & Healing Circle
Haunted Huguenot Street
Orientation Course
7pm. Rosycross and Gnosis--Philosophy and Realization. Lectorium Rosicrucianum Conference Center, Chatham. (518) 392-2799.
Parenting Workshop
7:30pm. Providing learning opportunities in your own backyard. Museum of the Hudson Highlands, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
THU 26 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Psychic Readings by Shyla O’Shea 12-6pm. Call for an appointment. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $40.
Sufi Zikr
5:45pm. St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock. 679-7215. $5-$10.
Three Songs in Search of a Voice
8pm. A glimpse into the landscape of a dreaming mind. Alternative Books, Kingston. 338-5984. $10/$8 students and seniors.
SAT 28 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Scavenger Hunt for Truth
6:30-8:30pm. Find the best representation of your personal truth. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
Learn How to Read the Tarot
7pm. Tarot reading made simple. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $25.
CLASSES
Drawn Home: A Life Drawing Life Experience
Call for times. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $190/$180 members.
DANCE
6:30-9pm. Learn about the body’s seven energy cents. The Healing Cottage, Washingtonville. 496-3020. $30.
7pm. Monthly healing circle with Janet Straightarrow. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $25.
8pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Mute Swans of the Hudson River
Poetry Retreat
SPOKEN WORD
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
6-10pm. Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660. $5/$2 children.
Whoopi Goldberg
DANCE
Learn to Dance in a Day: The Balboa
10:30am-12:30pm. Reformed Church of the Comforter, Kingston. $30/$35.
Fall Dance
8pm. Dance featuring Moderation and other student choreography. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
EVENTS
Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market
9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
Historic Hudson Old House Tour
8pm. Actress and comedienne. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. 339-6088.
10am-5pm. 7 private residences representing two centuries of architecture. Hudson. (518) 828-1785. $35.
FILM
Halloween Masquerade
Aristide and The Endless Revolution with Carline Seide-Murphy
7:30pm. A look into former Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
6-9pm. Enjoy paintings and glass sculpture. Athens Cultural Center, Athens. athensculturalcenter.org.
Haunted Huguenot Street
6-10pm. Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660. $5/$2 children.
Rocky Horror Picture Show
KIDS
THEATER
10am. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Boulevard Location, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
8pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. (518) 943-2680.
Super Spiders
11am. Presented by The Puppet People. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 8763080. $8/$5 children.
Call for times. Improvisation. Inspired Books and Gifts, Kingston. 331-0644.
Mini Psychic Fair & Holiday Bazaar
Less Deluxe
The Master Class: Liszt as Teacher
10am-12pm. Bard College, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7900.
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things 2pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45.
Fall Dance
3pm. Dance featuring Moderation and other student choreography. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Annandaleon-Hudson. 758-7900.
The War of the Romantics: Weimar and Leipzig
EVENTS
3pm. Pre-concert talk at 2pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
Leaf Peepers New Faces Concert and String Trio World Premiere
Ione’s Dream Festival Finale- Marathon of Dreamers 1pm. Dream related presentations, potluck reception. Center for Symbolic Studies at Stone Mountain Farm, New Paltz. 338-5984.
7:30pm. Traditional and contemporary chamber music. St. James Catholic Church, Chatham. (518) 325-3805. $20/$60 season pass.
El Dde los Muertos Parade and Concert
Kansas City Sound
Family Tours
8pm. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 6589048. $15.
Roswell Rudd and the Mongolian Buryat Band
8pm. Jazz, world fusion. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $25/ $20 members/$12 students.
Vassar Faculty Concert
8pm. Robert Osborne, bass-baritone, with Malcolm Halliday, piano. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Maggie’s Music Saloon
8-11pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Hunger Mountain Boys and Moonshine Creek
8:30pm. Bluegrass and Americana. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. $17.50.
Bill Miller
9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $22.50/$20 members.
Halloween Costume Party
10pm. Live music by The Greyhounds. Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
2pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
3pm. Build relationships with art and creating a connection to the sculptures. Storm King Art Center, Mountainville. 534-3115.
FILM
Aristide and The Endless Revolution with Carline Seide-Murphy 5pm. A look into former Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
MUSIC
Jim Conklin Benefit Concert
1-6pm. Benefit to support his fight with cancer. Marbletown Community Center, Stone Ridge. 255-8730. $20.
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things 2pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 45.
Songwriters Circle
2-5pm. Original compositions by Elly Wininger, Elise Pittelman, Todd Giudice, Susan Cohen, and others. Mezzanine Books, Cafe & Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925. $5.
I Believe In Music
Ver Nooy Kill
9:30am-2:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
3pm. The Evergreen Sweet Adelines Chorus. Wappingers Junior High School, Wappingers Falls. 691-6912. $15/seniors and students $12/children free.
The Undercliff / Overcliff Hike
Pianist Chris Chalfant
10am-1pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
3pm. Alternative Books, Kingston. 338-5984. $10/$8 students and seniors.
SPOKEN WORD
Saugerties Pro Music Concert
THE OUTDOORS
Relating to Your Aging Parents
10am-12pm. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 563-3619.
3pm. Featuring the Hamilton Bacon Duo. Saugerties United Methodist Church, Saugerties. 246-3522. $12/$10 seniors/ students free.
Ivo Mesquita on Blinky Palermo
1pm. Dia: Beacon, Beacon. 440-0100 ext. 44. $10/$7 students and seniors/fre for member and children.
Witches, Ghosts & Hauntings
1-5pm. Learn the myths and realities of witches, ghosts, and hauntings. Ulster County Community College, Kingston. 3392025. $55.
The Plumb-Bronson House: Nomination of a National Historic Landmark
FORECAST CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
3-6pm. Woodstock. 679-4024.
3pm. The Evergreen Sweet Adelines Chorus. Clifford Miller Middle School, Lake Katrine. 691-6912. $15/seniors and students $12/children free.
Jekyll and Hyde
The New German School and Musical Narrative
Visit With Lama Guru Gyaltsen and Lama Kunga Dhondhup
DANCE
MUSIC
8pm. With live, original score. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.
11am-4pm. Fundraiser to support the Walden Fire Dept. Ladies Auxiliary. Walden NY Fire Dept. Social Hall, Walden. 744-3960. $10-$25.
I Believe In Music
2pm. Bill Krattinger from The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation speaks. (518) 8281785. FREE.
5-8pm. Alternative, blues, funk, hip hop, pop, r&b, reggae, rock, soul. The New York Cafe, Poughkeepsie. 452-7001.
Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl Chakra Balancing Meditation
11am. A guided meditation for clearing and balancing the chakras. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $7.
7:30pm. Chorus dancers of the 1930’s Harlem scene are still dancing together. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
PJ the DJ
SUN 29 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
MUSIC
FILM
Been Rich All My Life
Three Sisters
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
10pm. Louis Greenspan North Cafeteria, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
8pm. Pre-concert talk at 7pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
140
8pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
9pm. Dance music. Hickory BBQ Smokehouse, Kingston. 338-2424.
EVENTS
Lyceum Silent Film Series
MUSIC
Vassar Chapel Pierre Pincemaille
Historic Hudson Lecture
2pm. Given by Bill Krattinger. Call for location, Hudson. (518) 828-1785.
What’s Your Era? A ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ to Western Music
3pm. Olin Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7425.
Livo Guardi
6-9pm. Acoustic, vocals. Gadaletos, New Paltz. 255-1717.
THE OUTDOORS
Zaidee’s Bower Singles Hike
9:30am-3:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
SPOKEN WORD
Book Reading with T.A. Barron
12:30pm. Author of “The Eternal Flame”. Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck. 876-0500.
The Great Tree of Avalon Book III: The Eternal Flame
12:30-2pm. T.A.Barron presents his latest book: The Great Tree of Avalon Book III: The Eternal Flame. Oblong Books & Music, Rhinebeck. www.oblongbooks.com.
Historic Hudson Lecture
2pm. Authors Peter Pennoyer and Anne Walker talk about their recent book, “The Architecture of Warren & Wetmore.” Stair Galleries, Hudson. (518) 828-1785. $10.
THEATER
Three Sisters
3pm. Beattie-Powers Place, Catskill. 518) 943-2680.
Rob Cannillo & Friends
9pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595. $15.
PeachJam
10pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.
SPOKEN WORD
Wynn Klosky and Bob Wright
Call for times. Calling All Poets series. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 831-0077. $4.
IAT Fall Luncheon Lecture Series
12pm. The Gnostic Jesus. Bertelsmann Campus Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
WORKSHOPS
The Artist’s Way
11am-1pm. Discover your creativity and realize your dreams. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
MON 30 MUSIC
Open Mike Night
The Language of Reverence: Conversations on Art and Spirituality 7pm. Featuring Rev. Galen Guengerich, Amy Myers, and Steven Burke. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill. (914) 788-7166.
Community Playback Theatre
7:30-10pm. Mezzanine Bookstore, Café amp; Wine Bar, Kingston. 339-6925.
Open Mike & Hootenanny with Seth Ray
The Trip To Bountiful
8pm. Van Cortlandtville School Theater, Mohegan Lake. (914) 528-4145. $15/$10 seniors and students.
SAT 4
SPOKEN WORD On Islam
8pm. Classical guitar. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $15/ $11 members.
Travis Tritt
8pm. Pop country king makes rare small-club appearance. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. www.bardavon.com.
The Strawbs
9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300.
The Sugar Beats
10pm. Rock, 60’s American & British garage band and psychedelic. Seany B’s 101, Millbrook. 677-2282.
THE OUTDOORS
The Geology of the Shawangunk Mount
9am-1pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
SPOKEN WORD Dementia Care
THEATER
8pm. Improvisation based on real-life stories of audience members. Boughton Place, Highland. 691-4118. $6.
8:30pm. The Firebird Lounge, Rhinebeck. 876-8686.
Hugo-Andres Larenas
4:30pm. What Is Enlightenment? The Science, Culture, and Politics of Reason Lecture Series. Sosnoff Theater, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Poetry Open Mike
CLASSES
Woman of Darkness
Ione, Kingston. 339-5776.
9am-1pm. Business Resource Center, Kingston. 339-2025. $49.
Wilderness First Aid
9am-5pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
Jesus: The Last Week
10:30am. Classics in Religion series. Kingston Library, Kingston. 334-8404.
Hotflash and the Whoremoans
8:30pm. Variety, comedy. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.
THEATER
The Trip To Bountiful
7pm. Featuring Dennis Wayne Bressack and Donald Lev. Colony Cafe, Woodstock. 679-5342. $3.
Yoga Fitness Instructor
8pm. Van Cortlandtville School Theater, Mohegan Lake. (914) 528-4145. $15/$10 seniors and students.
TUE 31
Green Home Building and Renovation
BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
EVENTS
9:30am-12pm. Business Resource Center, Kingston. 339-2025. $49.
6-8pm. The Bakery, New Paltz. 255-8840.
DANCE
11am-4pm. Fundraiser to benefit the Walker Valley Fire Dept. Walker Valley Schoolhouse, Walker Valley. 744-3960. $10-$25.
Haunted Huguenot Street
6-10pm. Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 255-1660. $5/$2 children.
MUSIC
3pm. Beyond the Wild Blue Yonder acrobatic dance. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.
EVENTS
WORKSHOPS
9am-2pm. Organic and traditional fruits & vegetables, breads, flowers. Wall Street, Kingston. 331-3418.
Blue Ray Workshop
7pm. Bohemian Book Bin, Kingston. 336-6450. $35.
THU 2 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT
Psychic Readings by Shyla O’Shea 12-6pm. Please call for an appointment. The Auracle, New Paltz. 255-6046. $40.
SPOKEN WORD
Breast Cancer Support Group 6-7:30pm. Shandaken Town Hall, Shandaken. 657-7010.
WORKSHOPS
The Rose Meditation
7-9pm. Story, music and the powerful energy of roses. Mirabai Books, Woodstock. 679-2100. $35/$40.
FRI 3 FILM
Clerks II
8pm. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
MUSIC
Betty MacDonald Quartet Tribute to Billie Holiday
8pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $16/$12 members.
Open Book/Terence Martin
8pm. Acoustic, contemporary, original. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.
Vassar Mahagonny Ensemble
8pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Mini Psychic Fair & Holiday Bazaar
Streb Family Show
Boston and Vienna
8pm. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872.
SUN 5 FORECAST
Night of 100 Pumpkins Pumpkin Carving Contest
9am-5pm. Business Resource Center, Kingston. 339-2025. $499.
Kingston Old Town Stockade Farmers’ Market
Work Exchange
10am. Two-hour herbal class in exchange for work. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock. 246-8081.
Dutchess County Veterans Service Agency Information Day 12pm. Louis Greenspan Dining Room, Poughkeepsie. 431-2060.
Women’s Studio Workshop 30th Annual Auction
6pm. Food, live music, and entertainment. Bearsville Theatre, Woodstock. 658-9133. $25/$40 for 2/$30 at the door/ $50 for 2 at the door.
KIDS
Tracking Coyotes
10am. Museum of the Hudson Highlands Farmhouse, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.
Steve Johnson’s Magic Variety Show
11am. James and Betty Hall Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 431-8050.
Wild Life with Bill Robinson
1pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $10/$7 members.
MUSIC
Evan James: Tenor
2pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-7404.
Electric Junkyard Gamelan
8pm. Music made from invented instruments. Time and Space Limited, Hudson. (518) 822-8448. $7/$5 students and members.
CLASSES
Pendulum Magic
1-3pm. Learn the purposes of a pendulum and how to use it for guidance. The Healing Cottage, Washingtonville. 496-3020. $20.
EVENTS
Classical Music in the Mountains: Bach and Tao in the Catskills
Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.
Work Exchange
10am. Two-hour herbal class in exchange for work. Wise Woman Center, Woodstock. 246-8081.
MUSIC
The Colorado Quartet
3pm. Olin Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7425.
The Strawbs
8pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300. $25/$22.50 members.
THE OUTDOORS
Mohonk Preserve Singles Hike Walkabout 9
9:30am-3:30pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.
WORKSHOPS Humor Writing
10am-3pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559. $30/$25 members.
Develop Your Healing Business as a Spiritual Practice 11am-7pm. Woodstock. 679-7175.
Want your event listed in the Chronogram events calendar? Visit www.chronogram.com Online event submission deadline is the 13th of the month prior to the publication issue date
10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM FORECAST
141
Planet Waves
EMIL ALZAMORA
BY ERIC FRANCIS COPPOLINO
Welcome to SYSTEM 2 W
e’ve all heard by now that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to demote Pluto and take away its full status as a planet. What actually happened, however, is that Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, along with Ceres and something called 2003 UB313. For several reasons, we can set aside the fact that, from a scientific standpoint, the new definition of a planet is pretty much a joke. In order to come up with the definition and exclude all new discoveries since 1846, the guys really had to stretch. There really is nothing that the eight remaining official planets all have in common, except for not having been discovered in the 20th century. The alternative, however, seemed frightening to the myopic scienceminds gathered in Prague: If a broader definition were accepted, and Pluto, Ceres, and UB313 were admitted as official planets, about 50 more objects would qualify immediately. This would, in theory, be confusing 142 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
to schoolchildren and ruin the “magic” of the solar system—ah, yes, once again, the excuse of trying to protect kids. But this makes as much sense as entomologists saying, “There are enough kinds of insects. This new sixlegged critter walking around on that log is not a bug. He’s small, and he might have cousins.” The change makes more sense astrologically than it does scientifically. Anyone who has looked at the subject is aware that minor planets make a big difference as they move through your chart. No astrologer thinks Pluto is less important now that it’s a minor planet; we all have way too much experience, and respect, for that. Rather, most of the people I’m hearing seem to welcome the reclassification as a way of rethinking Pluto and its heavy themes, as well as welcoming Ceres and this newcomer, 2003 UB313, into awareness. Basically, scientists have perhaps inadvertently opened the door to minor planet astrology. The implication is that because Pluto is so effective, these
other things might have some use as well. Meanwhile, the solar system doesn’t get officially rearranged every day, so this is a big metaphor for something. (It does get physically rearranged every day because there are new discoveries on a near-daily basis.) But face it, the fact of constant discoveries of planets, pretty much since 1977, has not been taught in school, and most astrologers have, frankly, not given a holy darn or half a thought about discoveries like UB313 until very recently. Astrology is slow to catch up with new developments in science. Pluto was not a widely accepted planet (by astrologers) until the mid-1970s. The great thing about what has shaken down the past couple of weeks is that it’s more true to say that the solar system consists of eight planets, plus a number of unusual things like Ceres, Pluto, and Xena, than it is to say nine planets and leave it at that. At least if we say eight planets plus other stuff, we remember the other stuff. If the solar system is a model of consciousness, expanding its boundaries suggests that awareness is changing in some way. If the solar system is some kind of collective body, then there is something about us that is changing, in the collective or transpersonal sense. Even if you sell used cars and the most important thing in your life is baseball, you’re vaguely aware that the Earth and Sun are part of a solar system and the model of that critter can conjure vivid mental images and stir us on the psychic level. When more planets are acknowledged, the energy they represent stirs to life in our minds, and in our larger collective life, including as events in both. There are always collective shifts around the time new planetary discoveries are acknowledged, and it happens that in the era of the solar system being redefined we are experiencing more collective change than most of us have yet imagined. Astrology is the study of where all these things intersect. From this standpoint, our new model does something that I think is very helpful. We can start with the presumption that Pluto is a force that you can’t really reckon with—you can only deal with it, embrace, and grow with it. Now we have a new dimension of planets that starts with Pluto, this magnificent little anti-planet on the edges of the solar system. Then we include another factor presumed to be on a similar level: Ceres. Ceres (Demeter in the Greek version) and Pluto (Hades in the Greek version) have two astronomical parallels: One is the biggest object in the inner asteroid belt; the other is the biggest known object in the Kuiper Belt, the icy outer belt of objects that surrounds Neptune. Ceres and Pluto have a long relationship in mythology, which involves the daughter of Ceres (Demeter), called Proserpina (Persephone in the Greek version). First off, Ceres is the goddess of fertility and food—a meaningful counterpart to the lord of the underworld and the god of the dead. I would say that in the world lately, we have way too much death and not nearly enough food. So that’s a decent metaphor for balancing. Wikipedia states that Ceres “was depicted in art with a scepter, a basket of flowers and fruit, and a garland made of wheat ears. The word ‘cereal’ derives from Ceres, commemorating her association with edible grains. The name Ceres comes from the protoIndo-European root ‘ker,’ meaning ‘to grow,’ which is also the root for the words ‘create’ and ‘increase.’ Ceres factors into the mythology of Pluto because the lord of the underworld abducts her daughter, the aforementioned Proserpina. Ceres’s loss of her daughter is one mythological basis for the changing of the seasons; as Proserpina is down in the underworld, Ceres is grieving and the world cannot bear fruit. While in the underworld, Proserpina, as Pluto’s consort, becomes the queen of the dead. Eventually, she is reunited with Ceres, but several months of each year she must return to the underworld, and this is why we have winter. The story, as told at Wikipedia, is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to read, and there are many nuances that I’m leaving out so I can stick to the main point. (One that I’ll touch upon is that the whole myth may really be a commentary on marriage as a kind of abduction, more than it is about the seasons.) So Ceres and Pluto share an important relationship via Proserpina, and it actually makes a lot of sense for the two to be considered planets of the same class, of equal stature and presumably of astrological significance. Astrologers, however, will need to go back and make some new notes on the role of Ceres in the charts of their clients. I can tell you that even as someone who has cast Ceres into every chart I’ve done since 1995, I’ve paid a lot more attention to Pluto. Given Ceres’ emphasis on food, and how important of a life-theme food is for so many people, and for everyone at this stage of history, I would rate all the awareness about Ceres as a most welcome development. Then there is the X factor: 2003 UB313, nicknamed Xena. She brought the whole discussion to a head. Larger and considerably brighter than Pluto, she expands the boundary of the culturally accepted solar system to an orbit of 557 years. And whether you count this discovery as an archetypal blank slate or as having something to do with the bisexual warrior-goddess-priestess who can transcend space, time and history, we have a new and interesting astrological factor to consider, and one that, thanks to the fuss, we all agree is there. The unknown has a way of inspiring curiosity, and I would imagine that plenty of people are pretty curious about where this planet (I’ll call it a planet, if nobody minds), happens to land in our charts, and what story it tells. 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM PLANET WAVES 143
Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino
ARIES
(March 20-April 19)
It’s time for the sex review. Since it’s always likely that the S word will be misunderstood, I am referring to the details of erotic pleasure and surrender, including commitment and its relationship to conjugal partnerships. Here is a question: To what extent is money a factor in these things, and why? How does that relate to your ideas about commitment? Forthcoming developments associated with Mercury’s retrograde in Scorpio will present you with a series of opportunities to allow pleasure, commitment, and economics each to exist independently and for their own sake, not as one unified package. This is a boundary issue: creating healthy divisions between aspects of life that need, at the very least, to be considered separately before they are considered together. It’s possible that some relationships will find the process challenging, and if that’s the case, it would be wise to define improving communication as a theme of its own.
TAURUS
(April 19-May 20)
You asked for more action and excitement, and you’re about to get it. You asked to be more visible, and to be seen for who you are, and it’s starting to happen. As the momentum picks up pace, you’re going to need to be a pro: on top of your schedule, and keeping clear with those who seem to want you so much. For as much as people say they want to be desired and noticed, much observation of life has led me to have serious doubts about the truth of that. There are responsibilities that come with being appreciated. There is the sense that we have expectations to live up to. Managing your personal affairs will more than anything come down to making choices about who to associate with, and when, based on your motives—not theirs. The clearer you are at the beginning of the month, the easier it will be in a few weeks when the energy really heats up.
GEMINI (May 20-June 21) Autumn promises to be one of the genuinely strangest seasons in years, and by that I mean interesting, intriguing, and even satisfying in some unique ways. In sum, I see an adventure that looks or feels like a series of misadventures. It may not be possible to know both who you are and where you are; there is an uncertainty factor at work, one that perpetuates tension that keeps pushing or at least luring you into the next intrigue. Meanwhile, this is a time to take care of any matters of sexual health—a topic which always begins with taking the privilege or responsibility of being able to talk about what you need to talk about. Stay in the moment, and make sure you say what’s on your mind exactly, precisely when it’s on your mind. This will be what guides you through the matrix.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) As much as a deep, intuitive sense has been calling you in the direction of increased devotion to erotic and creative experience, there have been many other factors that have been getting in the way. It’s fair enough to wonder: Does it always need to be this hard? I suggest, however, that you not let any adversity or lack of success keep you from trying, and from persisting in your experiments. The history of both art and science is the history of those who tried again and again until they experienced a breakthrough. And many times, the cosmic wisdom of delays and blocks becomes apparent when the timing of positive and unusual developments is noticed for what it is. For as much effort as you’ve been making, you can trust that at least three times the energy has been gathering behind the scenes, and before too long, it looks set to begin moving all at once. www.planetwaves.net 144 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino
LEO
(July 22-Aug. 23)
Pay close attention to the influence of house guests, social events in your home, long-term visitors, and even friends who drop in for the evening. There are times when perfectly ordinary things are charged with all the power of the supernatural, and any of the above could strangely take on dimensions of an epic scale even as you watch. In any event, what you encounter this month is likely to raise questions of how people “make you feel.” There is something deep in here about choosing your friends based on whether they invest a feeling of stability in your life, or whether they just stir the pot. But a third category could be made for those who ask all the right questions, who question all the presumptions that keep you stuck, and whose presence, unsettling though it may be, compels you to notice how good you really have it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) As simple as you aspire to be, it rarely works. So I suggest you devote yourself to complexity management. It’s not really going to be possible to orchestrate the many factors of your life in a linear fashion. Your mind doesn’t work like that, anyway. What I suggest you do is let things proceed naturally for a while, but paying particular attention to patterns in the seeming chaos. Certain factors, messages, and events will tend to repeat. If something repeats three times, you can figure it’s here to stay and that you need systemic a way to address it. Three bits of data in any category; three people in a certain role in your life; three physical spaces to manage—once you get to three, create a minimalist solution, something on the level of a file or a page in a notebook. The key is noticing those patterns. They are precious pictures of what’s going on your mind.
LIBRA (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) Developments at the end of last month seem to have done two things: set you free from your anxiety, and handed you the missing crystal of self. There is a relationship, of course, because when we’re walking around with our sense of self hung up in a state of anxiety, that cannot really be called living. But really living has its challenges, and your personal growth has now landed on the great plateau of sorting out what is personally meaningful to you from what is not. You may, on the one hand, feel like this is a huge bother. But I would suggest you recognize the miracle that exists in your ability to have a choice in precisely this dimension. In truth, there really is nothing more important than knowing what you value. As you go through the process of sorting out, let each decision contain that miracle.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) By month’s end, five planets will be in Scorpio (Mars, Sun, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury, which counts for extra points because it’s about to station retrograde). We’re all going to be getting a lot of Scorpio through October and November, which basically means an expanded role for you on the command crew of Spaceship Earth. Notice that these planets are all what astrologers call “personal planets”—not the far-flung, out-there, and supposedly spiritual processes like Pluto, but rather the ones that speak of human beings having a human experience. Under this astrology, mastery would involve connecting with the most basic motives in yourself, in important partners, and in the wider community around you. Pleasure, prosperity, satisfying emotional and erotic contact, and a good book to read are what you can assume will be motivating you and those close to you. Your role is to send a signal, by example, that this is all just fine. www.planetwaves.net 10/06 CHRONOGRAM.COM PLANET WAVES 145
Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) It’s as if your life is being lived in a parallel world. Here’s the image from the astrology: While you walk around on the planet, you are having another experience in dreamtime or an alternate plane of existence. It includes deep encounters in relationships, certain challenges involving the freedom and decisions of others, gain and loss in financial transactions (fortunately, mostly gain, but some intriguing experiences with business challenges and/or market conditions), and most of all, an unusually strong sense of self that finds you being exceptionally attractive. It’s like all these things are true in a book you’re writing about what could be your life. The question is: Why can’t you call this life today? Well—you can, as long as you use your talent for grounding visions and ideas right here in the world. In other words, borrowing from Frank N. Furter, don’t dream it, be it.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) If I were you, I’d be feeling a heck of a lot better. For many moons you’ve had the two Pisces planets—Jupiter and Neptune—pushing on you, getting you to melt some of your resistance to life, and most of all, luring you to have a little faith in the unseen and unknown. I would imagine at this point that you do believe a bit of the unbelievable, and have started to see the invisible. There’s a lot of Sagittarius in Jupiter, and you may have even begun to do the occasional seemingly reckless thing every now and then (one of my Capricorn friends even bought a new car, but has yet to mention it). Anyway: There is no time like the present to be outrageous. Forget what other people think. Feel the limits and boundaries you’ve put up inside yourself, and give some of them a good kung fu kick.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Your experience of life is typically a tense balancing act between individuality and selflessly meeting the expectations that you perceive are put on you. Existence is for you less a game about what you can “get away with” (unfortunately, typically human) and more a process of balancing a fairly high level of responsibility to both yourself and the world around you. Over the past few seasons, the transpersonal forces have been all over your life: a sense of intense pressure related to the condition of the world, the need for correct action in relationships, and a sense of how delicate the web of life really is. Suddenly you’re free of these silent and invisible pressures. It would seem that, at the moment, living your life your way, and aspiring to your most important personal goals, would be serving the greatest good of all concerned.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Great opportunity from far away; the stunning birth of a new vision for your life; second and third chances to do important things right; finally feeing free enough to connect with people you care about—all these are images abundant in the astrology of October and November. You must feel the potential, and the sense of relief that has come even with having survived this far, through the kinds of challenges you’ve faced. You surely feel the reality-fields loosening up and the options to actually choose becoming increasingly real. I suggest you start with a fairly simple vision for yourself, something new and distinctly different—mainly, in feeling, setting, and philosophical approach to life. Identify the main theories that have kept you going the past few years, and try some different ones. But remember, this is about what is really possible, not a study in some kind of vague potential. www.planetwaves.net 146 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM.COM 10/06
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Parting Shot
Lynn Davis, Iceberg #23, Disko Bay, Greenland, gold-toned gelatin silver print, 40” x 40”, 2000
Before photographer Lynn Davis made her first trip to Greenland, she had been shooting nudes. But when she arrived at Disko Bay, she realized, “The icebergs looked a lot like the nudes. And the icebergs looked a lot like grand architecture. They awoke the path that I wanted to go on. ” Davis had no political motive, i.e., attempting to call attention to global warming, in her attraction to the icebergs. “It didn’t start politically, but it became that every time I went there, it was warmer. And the icebergs began changing shape.” Davis talks about working with the transient nature of civilization. “Lebanon was there, and now it’s gone. And with ice, you shoot and, the next day, what you’ve been working with is entirely gone.” Her current show, “Parallel Passages,” includes work from her most recent trips to Greenland and evokes the physical majesty captured in the work of 19th-century Hudson River School painter Frederic Church. “Parallel Passages,” curated by Donald McKinney, is at the Nicole Fiacco Gallery in Hudson through October 30. (518) 828 5090; www.modogallery.com.
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