Green Door Magazine: Fall 2012 with Vincent D'Onofrio

Got the latest issue.It’s really a work of art and a great magazine.Keep up the amazing work.

Evan Nass Riverdale,NY

I was moved by Rose’s tale [Actions Speak LouderSummer 2012] of unspoken love.For her to share the warmth of her emotions decades after her husband’s death speaks volumes to the love he must have wanted to shout from every treetop. We need to listen with our hearts.

Lilly Crane Rosendale,NY

I found your spring issue at Terrapin restaurant and enjoyed reading it with my dinner.I am sorry if I was supposed to return it,but I had to take it home to read it all.My favorite Chagall painting [Chagall in High Falls] has always been his Blue Violinist.It was wonderful to learn of the personal context of his time in High Falls – the Holocaust,bereavement,Communism – during which it and many other great works of art were created.

Allan Hanniman Rhinebeck,NY

Your story about Carmen Ejogo [Sparkling Outside & In- Summer 2012] reminds me that it’s possible to be beautiful,talented,and very smart at the same time.Green Door sparkles.

Eddie Bryant Stone Ridge,NY

Jim Hanas’insights into Irving’s fiction [Napster - Spring 2012] have reinforced my understanding of both the times in which Irving lived and the creative freedom he enjoyed.Having cast the Kaatskill Mountains and Hudson Valley out of whole cloth from cursory visits,his later works on the history of NY showed his love of satire. He became the inspiration for generations of American authors,but today would be feted for his marketing skills.Prior to the publication of his work,Irving placed a series of missing person advertisements in NY newspapers seeking information on Diedrich Knickerbocker,his pseudonym,who was missing from his hotel in NYC.He claimed that if Mr.Knickerbocker failed to return to the hotel to pay his bill,the hotel owner would publish the manuscript he had left in his room.Modern publishers could learn a great deal about marketing from this man.

Harold Walker Tarrytown,NY

EDITOR

Akira Ohiso

PUBLISHER

Ellie Ohiso

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Aaron Fertig

ADVERTISING SALES

Sharon Reich 845-254-3103

Simona Fish Leifer516-650-8398

COPYEDITORS

Donata C. Marcus

Eileen Weiss

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR

John A. Morthanos

CONTRIBUTORS

James Beaudreau

Gina Benenati

Jay Blotcher

Esa Cano

Heyrick Chasse

Peter Gordon Donald

Jennifer Farley

Keith Ferris

Jessica Fertig

Jim Hanas

Dashiel Harster

Dan Mayers

Misha Mayers

Kelly Merchant

Kirby Olson

Sophia Passero

Anne Pyburn Craig

Kyle Rabin

Catie Baumer Schwalb

Chris Zedano

CONTACTUS

Green Door Magazine P.O. Box 143 Liberty, NY 12754 info@greendoormag.com www.greendoormag.com 917.723.4622 facebook.com/greendoormag twitter.com/greendoormag pinterest.com/greendoormag greendoormag.tumblr.com

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Green Door Magazine (ISSN # 2161-7465) is published quarterly - Spring,Summer,Fall and Winter - by Green Door Magazine Inc. All rights reserved.Subscription rate is $14.95 annually.U.S. subscriptions can be purchased online at greendoormag.com or by mail.Every effort is made to avoid errors,misspellings,and omissions.If,however,an error comes to your attention,please accept our sincere apologies and notify us.Address all letters to editor@greendoormag.com.Postmaster:Address all inquiries to Circulation Department,Green Door Magazine,P.O.Box 143, Liberty,NY 12754.No part may be used without written permission of the publisher ©2012. The views expressed in Green Door and in advertising in the issue are those oftheir authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion,policy,or endorsement ofthe publication.

The Borscht Identity

Pump Up the Jam

LunaGrown Jams

Established since 2011, many of the fruits used for their gourmet jams, are grown by LunaGrown themselves right here in the Hudson Valley. Their jams are bottled the old fashioned way, by hand. LunaGrown will buy back any rinsed and empty LunaGrown glass for 25 cents. The jars are then sent back to the manufacturer to be crushed and recreated.

FOR MORE INFO www.lunagrown.com

Chemistry as an Art Form

A recent New York Times article by Peter Applebome queried if the Catskills needs to lose its Borscht Belt image and rebrand.Abandoned bungalow colonies and behemoth dilapidated hotels dot Sullivan and Southern Ulster County as aging bellhops and busboys die off with funny antidotes and stories.This past April,Grossinger’s famed Social Activities Director,Lou “Simon Sez”Goldstein,died at age 90 and the former Brown’s Hotel burned down.When change happens in the Catskills,the Borscht Belt always seems to come up.

These days,hipsters do a bit of urban exploration by snapping some compelling photos of decaying mossy pools,slanting bungalows and peeling ballrooms.Postcards and authentic curiosities of the period can be had in antique shops or garage sales around the area for cheap to give fuel to our fascination with the era’s demise.I bought a piece of the original Grossinger’s stage at a Liberty yard sale.

Occasionally,an interest story appears in a publication (mostly to a Jewish audience) about the Golden Age,but,otherwise,the Catskills trudge along.Little has replaced the resort industry since,whether you look at it has half-full or half-empty.Signs along Route 209 say “Welcome Back Nevele.”Developers and local politicians talk about a casino at the old Concord Hotel,but still nothing has stuck in our kishkes.A friend who grew up in the area remembers a branding campaign decades ago that read,“Casinos mean jobs.”

So is time to take off the Borscht Belt? Yes (and the suspenders too.) But this does not mean that we cannot honor our history.The Borscht Belt era sticks in our craw because of the way it went out,dying over decades like a washed up comedian.People feel they could have done more,so they pine for the past instead and kvetch about the future.A Borscht Belt museum would be a wonderful way to remember the era. The Bethel Woods Museum has captured the many forces of the 1969 Woodstock Concert with conviction and pride.I left wishing I lived in the sixties.

My guess is that once the Borscht Belt era is framed with the same reverence as Woodstock,people will let go,move on,and cash in. Tie-dye and peace signs are sold in every commercial permutation from Sullivan County up to Woodstock,NY.In New York City,a Kutscher’s Tribeca opened,which serves up the menu from the historic hotel. Perhaps a niche hipster venture,but still a nice homage.Until then,I can still make a nice hearty bowl of borscht the way bubby used to make it and even with a few updates.

Serve with a crusty artisan bread from Flower Power Bakery,use local beets from Willow Wisp Farms,serve a leafy green salad from Neversink Farms and trinken (drink) a shot or two of The Catskill Distilling Company’s Peace Schnapps (Vodka) to wash it all down.

Essen! But remember,Borscht has a way of repeating itself.

NaCl Theatre

The theatre space & retreat center in Highland Lake, NY presents a performance season that features work by local and visiting artists. They also support and create artistic drama opportunities with artist residencies, workshops and classes.

FOR MORE INFO www.nacl.org 845.557.0694

Quite The Folly!

Miniature Follies

Bill and Barbara Walsh make a variety of hand crafted pieces from unique cutting boards to mixed woods cabinets, incorporating reclaimed wood and found items into their work. The Follies are miniature worlds recreated from discarded woods scraps, ex nihilo. Beautiful, resourceful and eco-conscious, these little sparks of brilliance are hardly a folly!

FOR MORE INFO wwbc.etsy.com

Art Classes for Little Peas

SimplePea Children’s Art Classes

Bring your child and their creativity to the Old Stone House on Hasbrouck Road in Woodbourne, NY for weekly art classes designed to encourage experimentation. This program offers an entire room filled with art goodies, plus free first class, no art experience necessary. Unleash your child’s inner Picasso on Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 pm.

FOR MORE INFO www.simplepea.com/p/classes.html

Nestled in the Shawangunks and overlooking the Rondout Valley,the house has the feel of an aerie;a hawk rides an updraft in the middle distance,level with the back deck.“We walked in and saw the view and just knew,”says Chase Brock of the home he shares with husband Rob Berman.“We bought the house the same day we saw it for the first time,and never had a moment of regret.”

It's hard to imagine either of these two guys mooning about in regret over anything muchthey're too busy.Berman,a musical director with a lengthy string of credits like the Kennedy Center Honors,the Encores! series of concert productions of great American musicals,and a slew of Broadway productions. Brock,besides being the choreographer hired to help rescue Spiderman:Turn On the Dark last year,designed the “Broadway Experience”dance game for Wii and Playstation Active,and his own company,the Chase Brock Experience, regularly wins raves for its signature blend of whimsy,technical dazzle and joie de vivre.

more 8

In Living Color

BYANNE PYBURNCRAIG | PHOTOSBYKELLYMERCHANT

Broadway’s Chase Brock & Ron Berman bring a dazzle and joie de vivre to their interior decorating.

A riot of jewel tones and saturated hues, every room screams color and collectibles. The orange, yellow, purple, aqua and hot pink palette sets the stage for an array of found treasures - from rugs to lamps, books to pillows, and collages to kitsch, the rule is ‘color rules.’

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Joy,in fact,would seem to define the style in which the two lead their upstate lives.“We've basically fallen in love with the whole areaWoodstock,Kingston,High Falls,Stone Ridge,”says Berman.“We've gotten to know so many wonderful fellow artists - people like Denny Dillon and Kaete Brittin Shaw.One of my mentors,Rob Fisher,has the property that abuts ours - he walks over to visit.”

Besides the creative ferment surrounding them,the two have gone ‘native’, taking in the delights of a number of distinctly upstate sights and events such as the World's Largest Kaleidoscope in Mount Tremper,the Headless Horseman Haunted Hayride in Ulster Park,the collegiate carnival of downtown New Paltz and the homey delights of the Ulster County Fair.

It's not all play when they are up here.“We spent 110 days up here last yearit’s less than two hours and a great place to come and work.It's refreshing even if we're only up here for a day,”says Berman.“Our friends love it,”says Brock.“We've got three bedrooms and pullout couches,and we love to just mix up a batch of personalities.When you've been hanging out for two days,you tend to get deeper over Sunday breakfast than you can manage meeting for coffee in Manhattan.”

The décor bursts with jewel tones and saturated hues - orange,yellow, purple,aqua,hot pink.“If there's a theme,”says Brock,“maybe it's 'the parents are away so let's do everything we're not supposed to do.' There's a whole lot you can do with color that a lot of people are afraid of.”Among the lush riot of color,every room has an array of found treasures - a lamp encrusted with vintage toy cars,a Charlie Chaplin waste basket,a ruby-red plastic chandelier discovered at Home Depot.

Fine pieces by local artists and sculptors adorn nooks and walls.“We wanted to furnish with the work of those who live here,”says Berman.“We don't want to be 'those people.' We're just us.We wondered at first if we'd be accepted as part-timers,but everyone has been so great - people seem excited that we've come up,and we keep meeting more great ones.”

“A friend from the city actually remarked in surprise at how social we’ve become,”says Brock.“We threw a party last summer with friends from up here and it was an absolute blast.The cross-pollination is great.We've met true greats like Gillian Jagger - she’s a senior citizen sculptor who makes crazy enormous stuff.It's terrifying and awesome and just so hip.”

The fertile Rondout Valley soil offers ample sustenance for the body,not just the soul.“Being vegan up here is amazingly easy,”says Berman.“We absolutely love Saunderskill Farms,and the cooking at Aroma Thyme down in Ellenville.We eat very well up here.”

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The shared studio in the basement,with its Steinway and “Artists Always Welcome”sign,is a work in progress - and likely to be the birthplace of many a future musical coup to be enjoyed by folks who've no idea that there is such a place as the Rondout Valley.Brock's bold dance concepts (“I love all of it,from MTV to opera,I like to mix everything up.It's the era of remix,after all”) are delighting connoisseurs and casual observers alike,and Berman was tapped as musical director for the recent “Barack on Broadway”fundraiser that featured Obama and Clinton.(“They were very gracious.It was kinda surreal.”)

“Having this house has been just the greatest thing,”says Berman.“It brings a lot of balance to life.I feel so fortunate.”“It helps you appreciate the city more,too,”says Brock.“Driving down there to that magical tingly feeling and having this to come back to...I love being up here during the week in the winter when it's dead quiet.I'd hate to have to pick.”

The 13th Annual Woodstock Film Festival

Vincent D’Onofrio wants you to spend Fall at the Woodstock Film Festival.

Meira Blaustein,co-founder and executive director of the Woodstock Film Festival,has fond memories of the first film festival twelve years ago.On a shoestring budget,community centers and art galleries around Woodstock were retrofitted to screen films.Blaustein remembers Barbara Kopple’s My Generation,a film documenting the three Woodstock music festivals,as a highlight.The first year also celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of Stop Making Sense,the Talking Heads concert movie directed by Jonathan Demme.It was screened at the legendary Bearsville Theater in Woodstock where organizers removed the seats to create a dance floor.Confused audience members,not knowing what to do,chose to dance.

This embodies the magic of the festival where passion,spontaneity and creativity thrive. The festival is known for its exciting panel series where one can see some of the top professionals in their respective fields and get a serious crash course on the various topics being presented.Each year,Academy Award nominated animator,Bill Plympton,co-curates the world-class animation program.Originally conceived as part of the 1999 Woodstock Music Festival,the film festival continues to pay homage to its musical roots with live concerts that are tied to the movies being shown.Past performers include Levon Helm, Bela Fleck,Arlo Guthrie and Donovan.

Actor Vincent D’Onofrio,a strong supporter of the festival,says,“You meet the most interesting filmmakers;every time I go I end up having a two or three hour conversation with people in a room somewhere,impromptu conversations with filmmakers from all over the world.”Diverse programming showcases film professionals from Russia to Mexico to right here in our own backyard.

Now in its thirteenth year,the festival has become a premiere regional event where actors and filmmakers abound.You may run into celebrities at local restaurants,coffee shops,

PHOTO:CHRIS ZEDANO WWW.CHRISZEDANO.COM

BYAKIRAOHISO PHOTOGRAPHYBYCHRISZEDANO

panel discussions and,yes,movies.Past attendees include Steve Buscemi,Melissa Leo,Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo.The festival recently moved its operations to the new Film Center on Rock City Road.“We spent an enormous amount of time,energy, and a ton of money scrambling to find and renovate space each year to fulfill our needs,so the new Film Center offers us the opportunity to consolidate and grow to continue providing extraordinary programming and economic benefit to the region,”says Blaustein.

There is an ongoing capital campaign in conjunction with the Hudson Valley Film Commission to complete the center.The Film Center will host filmmakers,filmrelated workshops,classes,special events and serve as a hub for the film festival and film commission events such as casting calls, screenings and board meetings.

The festival is a non-profit organization with zero commercial drive other than showcasing worthy independent films and filmmakers.It relies on grants,sponsorships,philanthropic efforts and the residents of the surrounding Hudson Valley communities for support. "The Film Center will enhance our ability to continue creating,assisting and promoting sustainable,clean,economic development by bringing jobs,educational opportunities and revenue to the

community via film,video and media production," says Hudson Valley Film Commission Director Laurent Rejto.

The festival now receives about two thousand film submissions a year.Only one hundred and twenty-five films are selected.Blaustein also attends movie festivals around the world cherry picking film for possible inclusion. She likes filmmakers who may not have reached their peak but show promise.The selection process is highly competitive so Blaustein turns to the advisory panel and established filmmakers for their expertise.

The festival has expanded its reach by screening movies outside of Woodstock at the Rosendale Theater in Rosendale and Upstate Films in Rhinebeck.Festival organizers want to correct a misnomer that the Woodstock Film Festival is only for Woodstock.The festival is an artistic and economic generator for the entire Hudson Valley that highlights a region rich in location and talent.The festival works with the Hudson Valley Film Commission to foster and support the film industry in the Hudson Valley.

There is no doubt that the festival has grown, but,even so,Blaustein has not wavered in the festival’s mission.“We have a specific personality that has to do with fiercely independent films,singular vision,subject matter that is of value and groundbreaking styles.”Blaustein understands that there is a balance and getting too big would undermine the character of the festival.“Intimacy is one of its strengths.”

Blaustein has mixed feelings about recent trends in filmmaking such as the propagation of digital filmmaking.“Now anyone can readily make a movie,which democratizes filmmaking but also saturates the landscape with mediocre films and makes it harder for truly worthwhile films to stand out,”says Blaustein.

“I think we’re in a transitional period with digital,”added D’Onofrio.“The bigger budget films are all shooting digital, everybody is shooting digital and everybody is using the economy as an excuse to pay people less.”

With less pay and tighter movie budgets,the delineation between independents and block-

busters has become blurred.“It will be interesting in five years when the economy gets better",says D’Onofrio.“The only true independent films that are made right now are made for $100,000 or less and are shot in someone’s backyard.”

Regardless,Blaustein reminds us of what’s most important.“Storytelling hasn’t changed. In order to make a good movie you have to tell a good story.”

D’Onofrio started attending the festival as a fan and now wouldn’t miss it.He is impressed with the genuineness and artistic integrity of the festival.“Actors don’t need to be nervous about going to the Woodstock Film Festival because nothing is ever asked of you that’s in any way exploitive.”He is a member of the advisory board along with other actors like Ethan Hawke and he does anything he can to help promote the festival. A couple of years back,his movie Don’t Go Into The Woods was screened at the festival. It’s a horror/musical shot on his farm (backyard) in the Kingston area.Screened at an outdoor venue,the mix of Woodstockian night,gore and musical numbers made for pleased,if terrified,moviegoers.

D’Onofrio continues to work as an actor with five new films in post-production,but now devotes time to developing films from the ground up.He has several of his own projects in the early stages of development.“I think everything I make will be shown at Woodstock,”says D’Onofrio.

This year’s festival runs October 10th to 14th and tickets go on sale mid-September. Tickets will be available earlier at the Woodstock box office so make sure you check the website regularly for festival lineups, musical performers,ticket info and travel accommodations.There are a limited number of tickets available to the public for The Opening Night Party,The Friday Night Filmmaker Party and The Maverick Awards Ceremony and Gala.Merchants in Woodstock,Rhinebeck and Rosendale will have special offers for ticket holders and there are special lodging packages for weekenders up from the city.

Go to:www.woodstockfilmfestival.com.

Support the capital campaign: www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/ fundraising/capitalcampaign.php

Marveling

People praise her landscape paintings, attributing these dense, atmospheric works to an individual of a deep meditative personality. Yet when they meet the Northern Ulster County artist,she said, they are jarred by her self-confessed “wired personality”.

Taking to heart artist Milton Avery’s maxim,“You can always tell the quality of a painter by their edges,”Scheele concentrated on embedding details into the corners of her work.

“Mine just headed more into a blended,scumbled look.”(Scheele defines scumbling as the flat blend of paint with the texture of the canvas,achieved by dragging a thin or dry brush across the work.)

BYJAYBLOTCHER | PHOTOSBY KEITHFERRIS

“They almost think that it’s hypocritical or something,”she said,laughing,on a late spring day in her artist studio,sited by the lazy Oxclove Creek in the backyard of her rambling 1870 house.

Equally,students mentored by the cerebral Scheele,who vividly explains technique and art history with equal acuity,are surprised to learn her professional career began as a coloring artist for Marvel Comics.

For more than a decade,she worked on popular titles such as Daredevil , Spider-Man and The Avengers .“I liked the ‘mood’ books;the ones that happened at night.”She weathered the transition from the old-school system of 64 colors to the kaleidoscope of hues ushered in by the digital era and her reputation grew.“I became known as the mood colorist.”

While Marvel was her “bread and butter job,”Scheele learned a great deal about utilizing color during her years there.One glance at an unfinished comic panel page,she said,and she was able to mentally compose which colors were needed to complete the panels and heighten the narrative.

The Marvel gig afforded another benefit:co-worker Jack Morelli,a comic book letterer and logo designer there,would become her husband.

Concurrent with Marvel,starting in the mid-1980s,the Nebraska native began showing her figurative art in Manhattan galleries.

By her own admission,the restless Scheele took occasional career detours along the way,among them tai chi and teaching Spanish and English as a second language. “But painting was the constant.” When a set of twins joined the household,Scheele cut back on attending wine-and-cheese gallery openings,but maintained her own artistic output.

During those domestic years, Scheele and Morelli would visit coupled friends in the MidHudson Valley.Recurring trips convinced her that rural living full-time was not only a needed alternative to metropolitan chaos, but that the relaxed daily pace would allow more time for artmaking.

The New Yorkers made the leap.

“Living up here,”she said,“I gained space in a way,in my mind and in my heart,when I work,and I feel very fortunate about that.” (Ironically,within months of the family’s arrival,their circle of friends began breaking up and leaving the area.)

By this time the artist had begun working on her signature landscapes,a shift that was wholly unplanned.The transition was especially surprising because Scheele had come from a contemporary background where she reveled in the liberating break from classic tradition.“But then I fell into the most conventionfilled genre there is.”

The Scheele landscape series use nature as a reference point,the artist working from photographs taken in her travels.But when she returns to the studio,she leaps beyond the literal to create hybrids of “emotional memory”and artistic interpretation.

In the artist statement on her website,Scheele explains,“My

PHOTOS:KEITHFERRIS

ART | CHRISTIE SCHEELE

Painter Christie Scheele confounds expectations.

version of minimalism is about shape and atmospherics.I paint not just the light but the air itself, and how these affect the edges and colors of the scenes depicted… Nearly everything I paint could exist in nature,yet most often it does not… I see myself as being closer to the color field paintings of Rothko than to traditional or plain air landscape painters.”

There is a fragile beauty to her landscape work,as well as a melancholy,but Scheele does not seek to evoke specific feelings.“I try to leave the emotion open,so I’m not sewing it up or tying it up with a bow and handing it over to the viewer.”However,she will attribute one constant to her landscapes:“Rhythmic calm.”

“Silhouetted trees are like comfort food to me,”referring to a recurring leitmotif of her landscape work.Titles,she admits, are her weak point;she tends to create names at the insistence of her gallery owners.

It is not uncommon for the artist to work on three paintings concurrently,given that her process involves painting several layers on a single canvas over dark gesso and then allowing time for the work to dry between applications.Still,she is unsettlingly prolific,completing a painting a week.

Walks in the woods provide a break from studio work,she said, as well as inspiration.But they also impart a sense of humility.

“It’s a fail-safe mood equalizer.”

Scheele strenuously avoids what she calls “artistic napping,” unsettled by watching colleagues “almost painting the same painting over and over again.”After years of shrugging off patron requests to move beyond monochromatic canvases – “I was avoiding melodrama at all costs.”– she began injecting brighter hues into her work.

In 2001,she moved into a new category of art,utilizing found objects from the woods and antique stores as varied as centuryold wooden boxes,cupboard doors and flour sifters.In recent years, she began the “Affinity”series, melding painting with frayed linen and gridding.

The reason for yet another artistic

transition? “Because I wanted to push it in another direction;in a direction that called even more attention to the fact that this is an artwork and not a window onto nature only.”

Despite the erudite response, Christie Scheele is not a navelgazing artist;in addition to four hours every day at her easel,she serves as her own agent,striking deals with gallery owners across the country. This morning,she is packing eight canvases into her 2004 Volvo Wagon for a road trip to galleries in Cape Cod and on Martha’s Vineyard.She will also teach a workshop to fledgling artists at Provincetown Artists Association Museum.

“It’s been very gratifying," she said of the classes."I can help mold a body of work,as well as just say, ‘Show here,do this.’”

Two of her works enjoyed an extended cameo in the film Broken Flowers,directed by fellow Ulster County resident and indie veteran Jim Jarmusch.This happy accident occurred when the film’s set designer stopped in at The Tender Land Home,the Phoenicia gift shoppe that displays Scheele’s work.One day,Kelsey Grammer stopped in to The Tender Land Home and was captivated by the work.Owner Dave Pillard directed him to the studio on Oxclove Creek.Now a Scheele painting hangs in the actor’s home.

Scheele is proudest,however,of a large-format landscape acquired by SUNY New Paltz’s Dorsky Museum,which is exhibited often.

While Scheele's mercurial personality occasionally may puzzle her patrons,it has served her artwork well.

“I’ve got a coolness and then I step back and I've got a warmth and a kind of edge underneath and a bit of passion.”She pauses.“And definitely obsessiveness.”

She laughs.

“It’s great to have something to funnel it into.”

Freelance writer Jay Blotcher lives in Ulster County.He is currently co-writing a new musical about Harlem in the late 1960s.

scheele’s artwork

The landscape series use nature as a reference point, from photographs taken in her travels.

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COUNTER LIGHT BLUES Oil on Linen 16"X20"

SUMMER FOG Oil on Linen 20"X24"

WESTERLY SKY Oil on Linen 16"X20"

HIGH MOUNTAIN MEADOW Oil on Linen 20"X24"

By Design

Architectural Stylist Amy Lewis is guided by the spirit of place.

What is an architectural stylist?

An ‘architectural stylist’is someone with an architectural background (degree from accredited architectural program) and LEED Certified (accredited professional of ‘Leadership in Environmental Energy Design’by USGBC),who possesses solid knowledge of environmentally-friendly building practices,exceptional design talent and loving execution of projects,benefiting the clients,community and planet. Architectural Stylist itself,I formed in 2011,to help people bloom where they are planted - fall in love with their places (again) - and ‘live their dream space’through the healing power of design.

“Bloom where they are planted" - you seem to place importance on "location" in your work - can you explain?

Location,or genius loci,spirit of place,always serves as a source of great inspiration for my projects.Learning about the physical history of a site (built or un-built),what happened there over time, local customs,cultural idiosyncrasies,geologic and climatic patterns as well as picking up on the general vibe of a place is crucial for good design.Like ‘knowing your audience’for a presentation;‘knowing your location’for a project is essential.Taking time to be still,and listening to what the space (as well as the client!) says - what it calls for,what it needs - lets me see design opportunities. When I am in tune with a location,I can use this vision to construct a design that interlocks and interfaces symbiotically with its environment and users.This peaceful relationship is precisely what allows people to

bloom where they are planted - within a design that respects both the clients and the location - happiness grows.

How does knowing a place inform your design choices?

Places are puzzles,available for deciphering,exploring and learning.I’m always fascinated with new locations,or looking at familiar ones through a different lens.Through conscious awareness,I am able to discern many things through my senses about a location,tangible and intangible,and have always found this to be extremely helpful when approaching a project. Invaluable information can be gleaned for a design by understanding what is contextually suitable.What has been tried in an area before,and what hasn’t,and why? Sometimes a place cannot sustain certain designs, due to climate and ground conditions,but sometimes a design has just never been conceived to exist in a location and that is precisely what I like to understand.Finding the difference,to use trusted materials in a new form - or bringing an entirely new (yet appropriate) medium to a place - is my raison d’être for designing.Satisfaction,for me,is creating something new,yet when I truly know a place - and can make optimally site-specific design and material decisions - I feel not only satisfied but euphoric!

Can you give an example of a "new medium" working in an unconventional space?

Recently,as part of my comprehensive office beautification scheme for Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County, Executive Director Lee Reidy asked me to design a fountain for the exterior entrance of their building‘something appropriately rustic - but not the typical bubbling barrel.’ Tromping in the middle of a Sullivan County field - hunting for agricultural ‘things’(the specifics of which I couldn’t have explained,but would have known if I had seen)the concept of Agrisculpture was born,lovingly rethinking antique farming equipment to have a new function! GROW,the first Agrisculpture for CCESC (in the making,) will feature a trio of ‘stalks’ with disks from a disk harrowrotated vertically upward serving a series of stacked basins for water (which runs upward through the central spine) to collect into and trickle through.An important aspect of Agrisculpture,like all Architectural Stylist projects,is the physical crafting of objects in spaces I design.Possessing only intermedi-

ate welding finesse,I have enlisted the expertise of local FarmerWelder Doug Sweetman of Sweetman Farms in Warwick,NY. Doug believes it is important for his farm that he knows tertiary skills like welding to run it at peak efficiency.I believe that it is important for my Agrisculpture designs to be made with the hands of a Farmer-Welder because the energy with which they are crafted will come from a place of experience and material understanding - even though their form and function will be synergistically new.

For an Architectural Stylist,“new media”can be old things that I rethink,transform and combine to exist differently and serve a positive purpose.GROW,the premier Agrisculpture,is my most recent new medium - and as it is mainly comprised of soil tilling disksplacing it in an office building’s landscape may at first seem unconventional.It has proven to be quite appropriate however,as the second Agrisculpture design (a bench) has been commissioned to provide relaxation,balance and a beautiful place to sit and view GROW Agrisculpture. GD

PHOTOS:DAVID PFEIFER

The Icelandic Grower’s Tale

Spring Lake Farms delivers grass-fed meats.

BYJENNIFERFARLEY | PHOTOSBY KELLYMERCHANT

Native Icelander Ingimunder Kjarval looks like a Viking chieftain complete with four blonde daughters by his Manhattan-born wife.The grandson of a famous painter,he’s literally on a mission to bring to families,foodies and fad-followers downstate meat raised by ancient methods on his 250-acre farm in Delaware County,New York.

Well,not quite.“I’m not doing this to produce luxury food for the elite,I could not feel more strongly about that,”insists Kjarval. “America is very ill right now;we’ve come to an awareness that we’ve been much too trusting with our banking and also with our food.It’s a serious health issue.These bad practices to keep prices cheap.”

Spring Lake Farm sells meat that’s free of antibiotics and artificial hormones from animals the Kjarvals have raised themselves directly to consumers.The sheep and cows are solely fed grasses grown on the farm;the pigs are pastured,meaning they roam freely,but their diet includes an on-premises-mixed ration of hay with some corn.

“I’m trying to breed pigs who thrive on grass.One of the reasons they have so many problems on the huge commercial farms is they force the pigs to breed three times a year,weaning the piglets too young,before their immune systems develop,”says Kjarval.

The sleek animals look content.As we tour the lush terrain - the land was once a profitable dairy farm - the livestock brighten and

PHOTOS:KELLY MERCHANT

bellow when they see Kjarval.

Kjarval studies animal species,seeking to mirror his terroir.The cattle are mainly Highland,Hereford and Simmental,which he crossbreeds for specific characteristics.He thinks it’s immoral to breed animals for extreme characteristics at the expense of health and vitality.He tells me that Icelandic animal welfare laws insist dairy cows graze.Iceland is known for its butter;Whole Foods sells the Smjor brand.Don’t get him started on factory-farmed chicken.

The family has owned this particular property since 1996.It’s a threehour drive from Manhattan.Customers may visit by appointment.

Kjarval has been raising pastured meats in America for three decades; he met wife Temma Bell,an American painter of Icelandic descent, when both were throwing Scandinavian-style craft pottery at a studio in Reykjavik.They relocated to upstate New York in 1982.When ceramics failed to produce an adequate income,they turned to animal husbandry,at one point raising rabbits.But the number of family farms in the once-prosperous western Catskills foothills continues to dwindle.It’s extremely difficult to turn a profit.Most of his neighbors are weekenders.

“I’m trying to do this on my own,mixing the best farming practices of Iceland with what works in the states,”says Kjarval.“Grazing and

haymaking are very important in Iceland mostly because other crops don’t grow in the almost Arctic climate.”

The state doesn’t subsidize farms like Spring Lake.In fact,the USDA advised Kjarval “to just quit,”because the federal laws and subsidies are written to incentivize mammoth farms in the Midwest.But two years ago,a couple of new small USDA-certified meat-processing plants opened within a reasonable traveling distance from Spring Lake.Transport stresses the animals,which is also bad for the meat. Few know that it’s illegal for a grower to sell meat he personally butchers - it has to pass federal inspection.At the plant,Spring Lake’s meat is custom butchered,vacuum-packed,and flash-frozen.Kjarval then brings the certified packaged cuts back to the farm.Eventually Ingimundur and Temma load up the van and deliver the meat in coolers to mostly repeat customers,primarily in Manhattan.

Spring Lake Farm sells beef,lamb and pork on a case-by-case basis, depending on availability,season and particular client needs. Consolidated orders cut delivery costs,so they’re fond of buying groups.Kjarval says he enjoys looking his customers “directly in the eyes.”But a few city buyers just have it left with the doorman.

“My Parents Have Almost A Zero-Mile Diet”

Kjarval and Bell also keep chickens and grow fruit and vegetables. They live in a rambling Victorian farmhouse that for an unknown

reason features an astonishing 43 doors.Temma doesn’t know much about its history;it came with the land.The renovated kitchen boasts a huge picture window overlooking Temma’s garden.The dining room “paneling”is actually painted trompe l’oeil,no doubt the painstaking winter project of a previous female resident.There are lots of dogs, cats,and flowering houseplants.

“My parents have almost a zero-mile diet,”says eldest daughter Ulla, whose blog,Goldilocks Finds Manhattan,documents her life as a photographer,web designer,food columnist and grass-fed activist. “Not only is grass-fed much healthier for humans,it’s also more humane,better for the land,and it might just save the struggling rural communities of upstate New York.”

Ulla was the official policy and recipe advisor for the Grass-Fed Party, an Internet campaign promoting sustainable agriculture and grass-fed ranching.She’s currently on the board of the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship LLC.She believes the Internet holds many opportunities for farmers to promote their product and engage with the current clean food movement.

Ulla speaks fondly of growing up on the farm,but when she was in high school,growing most of your own food was far from chic.Some kids made fun of the Kjarval daughters,raised so far afield of rapacious consumerism,back when less was merely less.The youngest studies cinematography in London.Another works in marketing research.

Riding the Artisanal Wave

Taste experts say Spring Lake beef has an earthy tenor characteristic of the Catskill’s mineral-rich grasslands and abundant pure water. Spring Lake also sells several flavors of pork sausage,a business Kjarval would like to expand.

As artisanal food overtakes the public appetite for brand-name bling, e.g.Brooklyn’s newish Empire Mayonnaise boutique emblemizes this kinder,gentler pretension,it’s tough to find a better bragging right than name-dropping the farmer-cum-blogger who grew your family’s meat,not available in stores.

Surely there’s a Park Slope MILF prancing to Pilates with her BFF who longs to utter “Schuyler,remind me to get cash for the doorman, farmer Kjarval’s coming today with the pasture-raised half-pig we ordered.”

That idea makes Kjarval wince but he knows he’s doing the right thing.While his meat costs more,eliminating the middleman makes it affordable,considering the quality.

“We’ve only been doing this for two years,so it’s still an adventure,an experiment.But I’m enjoying the customer interaction,”he says.

1 Cannoli Floyd & Bobo’s - Liberty, NY 845.292.6200 floydnbobos.com

2 Lemon Drop Cookie $1.50 Catskill Harvest - Liberty, NY 845.292.3838 catskillharvest.com

3 Peace Sign Sugar Cookie $1.25 Flour Power Bakery & CafeLivingston Manor, NY 917.747.6895 flourpowerbakery.net

4 Pão de Queijo $5.99/20 PACK Samba Café - Jeffersonville, NY 845.482.5900 sambacafeandinn.com

5 Everything Bagel 85¢ Bodacious Bagels - Stone Ridge, NY 845.687.0472

6 Falafel $6.25 New York City Gyro - Roscoe, NY 607.498.4900

Full Circle

Bagel, breads and cookies from around the region that create a well-rounded snack.

For Starters

Despite the fact that they come first, the planning of hors d’oeuvres is often an afterthought. However, whenever I host a sizeable gathering I rely on them greatly.

They are the opening act.A preview of what’s to come.But much more importantly,hors d’oeuvres ideally keep guests entertained and occupied while I slip back to the kitchen to finish the meal.

Particularly around the holidays,it is better to keep this first course light,so as not to compete with the main meal in either flavors or digestive real estate.But a few thoughtful offerings with a clever combination of flavors,temperatures and textures are sure to be appreciated.And for your own stamina,particularly on days when oven or refrigerator space is at a premium,balance recipes that are a bit more labor intensive with those that can be entirely made in advance.

One bite.A couple of interesting flavors.And a vibrant color or two.

Welcome.

ONTHEMENU

Turnip Soup with Carrot Chips

Miniature Endive Salad

Southeast Asian Spiced Pickled Shrimp

Stuffed Fresh Figs

RECIPE & PHOTOGRAPHYBY CATIEBAUMERSCHWALB OFPITCHFORKDIARIES.COM

Miniature Endive Salad

Stuffed Fresh Figs

Southeast Asian Spiced Pickled Shrimp

Turnip Soup with Carrot Chips

Turnip Soup with Carrot Chips

This simple soup has long been a part of our holiday gatherings. Always a favorite, it is comforting and elegant all at once.

Serves six as a first course, or twelve to fifteen as hors d’oeuvres.

5 TABLESPOONS UNSALTED BUTTER

5 TABLESPOONS FLOUR

6 CUPS CHICKEN OR VEGETABLE STOCK

3 CUPS TURNIPS, PURPLE OR WHITE, PEELED AND CUBED

1 CUP WHOLE MILK

1/4 TEASPOON GROUND WHITE PEPPER SALT, TO TASTE

Melt the butter in heavy bottomed soup pot over medium-low heat.Sprinkle flour over the melted butter and stir to combine.Cook the butter-flour roux mixture on low for five minutes,stirring constantly,to cook out raw flour taste.Do not allow the roux to brown, turning down the heat if necessary.

Gradually whisk in the stock until all incorporated.Add the cubed turnip,bring to a gentle boil,and then reduce to a simmer until the turnip is tender.

Puree soup either in a blender or with an immersion blender.Return to low heat,add milk,and then season with salt and white pepper.

The soup can be made up to three days in advance,and can be served cold or warm. Garnish with carrot chips,if desired.

Carrot Chips

These chips are incredibly sweet, thanks to the natural sugar in the carrots, and compliment the earthy turnip soup beautifully.

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Wash and peel whole carrots.Cut long thin strips of carrot with a vegetable peeler. Carefully place the carrot ribbons in single layer on a silpat baking liner or parchment paper on a baking sheet.Sprinkle lightly with fine salt,if desired.

Bake for fifteen minutes or until crisp. Watch closely as they can burn easily.The carrot chips can be made a day in advance and stored in an airtight container.If it is humid in the kitchen,the chips may need to be crisped up again slightly in a very low oven before serving.

Miniature Endive Salad

Light, balanced and perfectly portable, this is a charming alternative to cheese and crackers, and a refreshing starter to heavy holiday meals.

Makes two dozen hors d’oeuvres.

24 WHOLE LARGE ENDIVE LEAVES, FROM 3-

4 HEADS

8 OUNCES GORGONZOLA DOLCE CHEESE, SOFTENED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

2 BOSC PEARS, CORED AND SLICED THIN

2 TABLESPOON LEMON JUICE

24 PECAN HALVES

Note:Gorgonzola Dolce is a younger,more delicate cheese than Gorgonzola Naturale.It is also creamier and easier to spread or pipe with a pastry bag.If not available,the more common Gorgonzola may be used,or your favorite blue cheese,and whipped gently with a few tablespoons of cream to smooth out the texture if necessary.

Heat oven to 325°F.Put pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about twelve minutes.Watch carefully as they can burn quickly near the end.Remove from the baking sheet and set aside to cool.

Thinly slice pears lengthwise and gently toss with the fresh lemon juice to prevent the slices from oxidizing and turning brown.

To assemble,with either a pastry bag or a plastic bag with a small corner cut off,pipe a dollop of Gorgonzola onto the end of an endive leaf.Top with a toasted pecan half and slice of pear.

The miniature salads can be made an hour or two in advance and kept chilled in the refrigerator.

Stuffed Fresh Figs

The warm rich colors of figs are a stunning addition to any holiday spread, and couldn’t look more festive than in this two-bite culinary sculpture.

Makes one dozen hors d’oeuvres.

12 WHOLE FRESH FIGS, BLACK OR GREEN, APPROXIMATELY ONE POUND

4 OUNCES FRESH GOAT CHEESE, SOFTENED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

1/3 CUP UNSHELLED, UNSALTED PISTACHIOS

3/4 CUP BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Heat oven to 325°F.Put pistachios in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about twelve minutes.Watch carefully as they can burn quickly near the end. Remove from the baking sheet and set aside. When pistachios are cool,roughly chop.

In a small saucepan,reduce the balsamic vinegar over medium heat to a syrup.Do not allow it to become too dry and burn.If you reduce it too far,and it is no longer pourable, but not yet burned and bitter,you can add a little water and then return it to the heat to return it to a syrup.

From the top,slice the figs in quarters with a sharp knife,almost all the way through, leaving the fig connected at the base.

Either with a pastry bag or a plastic bag with a small corner cut off,pipe a small amount of the softened goat cheese into the top of each fig,pushing the four sides out gently.The figs can be made up to this point up to one day in advance and refrigerated.

To finish,drizzle with a small amount of balsamic syrup and sprinkle with toasted pistachios.

NEED A DRINK?

For recipes on aperitifs that are a perfect accompaniment to our holiday hors d’oeuvres,visit www.greendoormag.com

Southeast Asian Spiced Pickled Shrimp

This is a brighter and more festive version of the familiar shrimp cocktail. It also can serve as a welcome departure from all the more traditional holiday flavors.

Serves ten to twelve as hors d’oeuvres.

2 POUNDS LARGE SHRIMP, DEVEINED AND PEELED, WITH TAIL SHELL LEFT ON. TO COOK THE SHRIMP:

3 INCH PIECE OF FRESH GINGER, SLICED THIN

2 STALKS OF LEMONGRASS, FRESH OR FROZEN, BRUISED AND CUT INTO 3” PIECES A SMALL HANDFUL FRESH CILANTRO STEMS, LEFT WHOLE OR IN LARGE PIECES TO PICKLE:

3/4 CUP RICE VINEGAR

2 WHOLE DRIED CHILI PEPPERS

1 TEASPOON WHOLE CORIANDER SEEDS

3 INCH PIECE FRESH GINGER, SLICED THIN

2 STALKS LEMONGRASS, FRESH OR FROZEN, BRUISED AND CUT INTO 3” PIECES

2/3 CUP NEUTRAL OIL, LIKE GRAPESEED OR

CANOLA

1/4 CUP FRESH LIME JUICE, FROM ABOUT ONE LIME

A SMALL HANDFUL FRESH CILANTRO STEMS, LEFT WHOLE OR IN LARGE PIECES

GARNISH: CILANTRO LEAVES & SLICED LIME

In a small pan,lightly toast coriander seeds over low heat,just until fragrant.

In a small saucepan,combine rice vinegar, chili peppers,toasted coriander seeds,slices of ginger from a three-inch piece,two stalks of lemongrass,and cilantro stems.Bring to a gentle boil,remove from heat and allow to steep for thirty minutes,infusing the vinegar and cooling slightly.

Fill a large pot with water.Add ginger from a three-inch piece,two stalks of lemongrass and cilantro stems.Bring to a boil and then simmer for ten minutes.

Add the shrimp to the pot,return water to a simmer and cook for two minutes,stirring occasionally.Drain shrimp,but do not rinse. Save boiling liquid for a soup base,if desired.

In an airtight container combine the lime juice,oil,and shrimp.Add the vinegar pickling liquid,and all its contents.Gently stir to evenly distribute the ingredients.

Allow shrimp to marinate and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours,but ideally overnight.Occasional turn over the container to redistribute the pickling mixture.

Serve shrimp cold on Chinese spoons,with toothpicks or in a bowl with tongs.Garnish with torn cilantro leaves and large slices of lime.

NEIGHBORS

Events & happenings around the Catskill Mountains & Hudson Valley

SEPTEMBER

1 Art & Craft Fair

Woodstock/New Paltz Art & Craft Fair,Labor Day Weekend. Juried crafts fair,with over 300 artists and craftspeople. Exhibitions,demonstrations, childrens center,furniture, supplies,food,entertainment, and more.Free parking.No pets. Saturday & Sunday,10am - 6pm, Monday 10am - 4pm.$8/Adults, $7/Seniors,children 12 & under free.Ulster County Fair Grounds,249 Libertyville Road, New Paltz.Ulster County.

1 Dave Channon Exhibit Paintings and Sculptures by Dave Channon.ThursdaySaturday 10am-5pm,through September 9.Sunday 10am3:30pm (Closed MondayWednesday).Information:518 263 2060.Kaaterskill Fine Arts, Route 23A,Main Street,Hunter. Greene County.

1 Antique Show

Stormville Airport Antique Show & Flea Market.428 New York 216,Stormville.Dutchess County.

1 La Bonne Chanson

A Celebration of French Song. Mary Nessinger,mezzo-soprano; Andrew Garland,baritone;Alan Murchie,piano;Sequitur Ensemble,Alexander Platt, conductor.Fauré:“La Bonne Chanson”Op.61.Harold Meltzer:“Variations on a Summer Day”(World Premiere, commission of the Fromm Foundation).Songs of Debussy, Duparc,Poulenc,Ravel and César Franck.Ravel:“Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé.” Maverick Concerts,120 Maverick Road,Woodstock,NY. Call 845-679-8217 or visit www.maverickconcerts.org for complete schedule information. Ulster County.

2 Harvest Festival Farmers market,crafts,music, children’s area,corn and hay

mazes,arts and crafts workshops and more at the Bethel Woods grounds,Hurd and West Shore Roads,Bethel,NY.Weekends through Columbus Day.Call 845-295-2448.Sullivan County.

2 Poetry: Poetry Potluck

Led by Mermer Blakeslee and assisted by Mary Hall,sponsored by Catskill Art Society,11:30am. Free.Information:845-4364227.Art Library,CAS Arts Center,48 Main Street, Livingston Manor.Sullivan County.

2 Barryville Farmers Market

Through October 8.Locally grown produce,flowers,freerange meats,eggs,baked goods, jams and artisanal cheeses. Sullivan County.

7 Exhibit: Robin Dintiman Paintings and installation, through September 29, sponsored by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance,Alliance Gallery, Delaware Arts Center,37 Main

Street,Narrowsburg,NY.

Gallery hours:TuesdaySaturday,10 am - 4 pm.

Admission:Free.Information: 252-7576.Opening reception: Friday,September 7,7pm - 9pm. Delaware Arts Center,37 Main Street,Narrowsburg.Sullivan County.

8 Pulling Strings

Saturday and Sunday Theater by Margolis Brown Adaptors,sponsored by NACL,Saturday 7 p.m.,Sunday,4 p.m.Admission: Sliding scale $12 - $25,children $5,family $20.Information: 845-557-0694.NACL Theatre, 110 Highland Lake Road, Highland Lake.Sullivan County.

8 Hudson Valley Wine & Food Fest

A two-day celebration of the gourmet lifestyle in the Hudson Valley.The Fest features hundreds of wines from all over New York and the world,more than 100 gourmet specialty food, fine art,& lifestyle vendors,food

sampling from some of the region’s best restaurants and live entertainment,from 11am to 5pm.Dutchess County Fairgrounds in historic Rhinebeck,NY.Parking is free and we’re a short trip from the Rhinecliff train station.Dutchess County.

14 Big Eddy Film Festival Sponsored and presented by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance. Information:845-252-7576. Tusten Theatre,210 Bridge Street,and Delaware Arts Center,37 Main Street, Narrowsburg.Sullivan County.

16 Kingston Farmers Market 9am to 2pm on Wall Street in Kingston.Creating a harmony of history,community and farmland with the best of Hudson Valley. Call 845-853-8512.Ulster County.

16 Taste of New Paltz 22nd Annual Taste of New Paltz event in the fall from the New

Paltz Chamber of Commerce.An oldfashioned day in the country with food as the centerpiece of the event, Children's events,the Artistic Taste, Business Expo,Wellness & Recreation Expo,crafts,music at center stage and more.11am to 5pm.Ulster County Fair Grounds,249 Libertyville Road,New Paltz.Ulster County.

16 Delhi Harvest Fest

Delhi's Annual Harvest Fest featuring 60 plus vendors,crafts,jewelry,food, music & fun throughout the Village of Delhi through September 18.Bring a lawn chair,blanket and your dancing shoes for some real good entertainment.

Hours:10:00am to 4:00pm - rain or shine.Free admission.607-746-6100: Main Street,Delhi.Delaware County.

16 Round Top Rally Mountain Bike Race

New York State Championship Series

Finale.Hours:7am to 5pm.$25/racers, free admission.Riedlbauer's Resort,57 Ravine Drive,Round Top,NY.Greene County.

20 Scarecrow Festival

Main attractions will take place at Veterans' Memorial Park and hayrides will be along the walking trail near Railroad Avenue.Craft and food vendors will be located throughout the festival.Everyone is invited to enter the Scarecrow Contest with his or her scariest scarecrow.10 a.m - 4 p.m. Veterans' Memorial Park,Stamford. Delaware County.

22 Parker Quartet

The Event Gallery at Bethel Woods presents Parker Quartet.Generous support provided by Barbara Martinsons and Larry Boutis.6:30pm doors open and concert begins at 7:30pm.$42.00 advance;$47.00 day of performance. Bethel Woods.Hurd Rd in Bethel. 845-583-2000.Sullivan County.

29 Annual Poetry Festival

Performance at 2pm at the Liberty Music and Arts Pavillion,North Main Street,Liberty.For more information call:845-292-2394.Produced by Walter R.Keller.Sullivan County.

29 Cauliflower Festival

Celebrating farming,cooking and culture in the past,present and future of the Catskill Mountains.Believe it or not cauliflower was a big crop up here in the mountains.With a strong history of dairy farming and fly fishing. Returning to this event will be the ever popular Cooking Demos and Tastings prepared by Chefs & Student Chefs from SUNY Delhi's Award Winning Hospitality Department,traditional music and clogging,local arts and crafts,food and products from Pure Catskills farmers and producers, historical displays and talks,and lots of activities for children.Free Admission. Hours:10:00am to 4:00pm.For more info call:845-586-2291.Village of Margaretville Pavilion,Margaretville. Delaware County.

29 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival

Two-day event garlic celebration with food,crafts,music,chef and farmer lectures,Arm-of-the-Sea Theater, Morris Dancers.Tons of garlic! (Please, no pets.) Last full weekend in September.Cantine Field Washington

Avenue Extension,Saugerties.Ulster County.

29 Roscoe Harvest Festival Street vendors and live music in Roscoe.Sullivan County.

29 Cat'n Around Catskill

2012 Auction & Gala:Don't miss the opportunity to bid on your favorite Catskill Cat,enjoy food and autumn from the Hudson Rivershore.Historic Catskill Point,One Main Street, Catskill.Greene County.

29 Octoberfest I

October is the time of the harvest and in the old country,after the harvest was in,it was a time for celebration.Join us in the finest old-world tradition. Featuring German-American music inside,and great local bands outside at Hunter Mountain,Route 23A,Hunter. Greene County.

OCTOBER

2 Heritage Harvest Festival Maple Shade Farms in Delhi will host a day of apples,cider pressing,baked goods,pumpkins,mums,gourds and fun.From 10am.607-746-8866. Delaware County.

2 Orange County Antique Fair & Flea Market

Through November 25,2012,Saturday, Sunday.Orange County Flea Market. Free admission and parking.Shop many vendors with plenty of items to choose from at great bargains and good food.Orange County Flea Market. Orange County.

3 Bluestone Festival Exhibits,demonstrations,food,live music.Bluestone craftsmen and quarrymen at the Hudson River Maritime Museum,50 Rondout Landing, Kingston,NY.Ulster County.

3 Bronck Museum Heritage Craft Fair Exhibit and sale of traditional American crafts on the grounds of a 346 year old Dutch Farmstead.Live music,food and wagon rides.Free admission.Hours:12-5pm.Visit: www.gchistory.org.Bronck Museum, 90 County Route 42 (Just off Route 9W),Coxsackie,NY.Greene County.

5 Exhibit: Elise Freda Through October 27.Paintings, sponsored by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance.Gallery hours:TuesdaySaturday,10am.- 4pm.Admission: Free.Information:845-252-7576. Alliance Gallery,Delaware Arts Center,37 Main Street,Narrowsburg. Sullivan County.

6 Quilt Show Wiltwyck Quilters Guild will host their 2-day biennial quilt show.Over 200 quilts will be on display,vendors,raffles, dream baskets and more.Included will be an art doll exhibit gathered from doll designers around the country.Rondout Valley Middle School.122 Kyserike Rd.Accord.Ulster County.

6 Apple Festival 24th Annual Goold's Orchard Apple Festival,9am to 5pm at Goold's Orchard,1297 Brookview Station Road,Castleton-on-Hudson. Rensselaer County.

6 Oktoberfest II

Our second weekend of this popular festival featuring German-American music plus great local bands.Join us in celebrating the finest old world tradition.Hunter Mountain,Route 23A,Hunter,NY.Greene County.

6 Taste of the Catskills

A family-friendly event that will showcase the food,beer,and wine of our region,during the Columbus weekend, on the grounds of Maple Shade Farm,a family-run farm in Delhi.Saturday’s events will be followed by a local foods buffet for $15.Following dinner,there will be a bonfire and barn dance. Sunday will feature the area’s first Bocce Tournament.A pig roast will follow featuring Maple Shade’s prize-winning Berkshire Pigs.$5 for adults and $1 per foot for children.Adults can prepurchase tickets online at www.tasteofthecatskills.com.2066 County Rte 18,Delhi,NY.Delaware County.

6 Chagall in High Falls

Following its successful 2011 inaugural exhibition,Chagall in High Falls has returned.Through October 28, Saturday,Sunday.D&H Canal Museum,23 Mohonk Road,High Falls.Ulster County.

6 Petersham Exhibition

“Inspired by the North Light”is an exhibition featuring the life and works of Maud and Miska Petersham.The Petershams were pioneers in a golden age of children’s book publishing in America.2:30 pm Lecture on the Petershams by Lawrence Webster.4 pm opening reception.Through December 31,2012 at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum,28 Tinker Street,Woodstock,NY.For more information call 845-679-2940 or visit www.woodstockart.org.Ulster County.

7 11th Annual Photography Exhibit

Through December at the Liberty Museum and Art Center,North Main Street,Liberty.For more information call:845-292-2394.Sullivan County.

8 Pumpkin Festival Festival runs through October 9th,with air-shows every Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting.The gates open and biplane rides begin at 10am,the air show starts at 2pm and ends at 4pm, and the Museum is open every day from 10am to 5:30pm.Biplane rides are also available during the week by appointment.The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is located in historic Rhinebeck,NY.Duchess County.

10 13th Annual Woodstock Film Festival

October 10-14.Each year film and music lovers from around the world gather at the Woodstock Film Festival for an innovative variety of films,firstclass concerts,workshops,celebrity-led panels,an awards ceremony,and fantastic parties.Festival mainstays include industry executives,television anchors,network and cable executives, magazine and newspaper editors,record label executives,writers,painters, models,entertainment lawyers,producers,critics,and publishers.Woodstock, NY.Visit:woodstockfilmfestival.com for venues.Ulster County.

10 Imagination Explorers

2pm to 4pm Browning Kay leads a tour focused on the spirit of exploration, featuring Isamu Noguchi’s Momo Taro, Kenneth Snelson’sFree Ride Home, and Alexander Liberman’s Iliad.845534-3115.Storm King Art Center,Old Pleasant Hill Road,Mountainville. Orange County.

12 39 Steps Theater:“39 Steps,”produced and presented by the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop,through 10/21. 845-436-5336.Rivoli Theatre,437 Route 42,South Fallsburg.Sullivan County.

13 Feltsman’s Russia

8pm with Vladimir Feltsman – Piano. Bardavon 1869 Opera House,35 Market St.,Poughkeepsie.Dutchess County.

13 Long Woods Run

The Greater Roxbury Learning Initiative Corporation presents the Long Woods Run:10 K,5 K and walking events.BBQ Dinner and Dance after Run.Call for information or to register 607-326-4754 or email at grlic100@gmail.com All proceeds benefit programs for youth.Delaware County.

13 Jazz Masters

Jazz Masters of the Piano Performance Museum:Kenny Barron.Solo classical jazz concert at 8pm.Tickets purchased ahead:$23;$18 seniors;$7 students. Tickets purchased at the door:$27;$21 seniors;$7 students.518-263-2063. This concert is supported in part by the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation.Doctorow Center for the Arts,7971 Main Street,Route 23A, Village of Hunter.Greene County.

19 Steep Canyon Rangers Event Gallery.Show at 8pm.Doors Open at 7pm.$35.00 Reserved;$40.00 Day of Show.Bethel Woods.Hurd Road in Bethel.845-583-2000. Sullivan County.

20 John Hammond in Concert

Legendary blues singer,harmonica and guitar player,sponsored and presented by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance,8pm. 845-252-7272.Tusten Theatre,210 Bridge Street,Narrowsburg.Sullivan County.

27 Stand-Up Comedy

Produced and presented by the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop,845-4365336.Rivoli Theatre,437 Route 42, South Fallsburg.Sullivan County.

NOVEMBER

1 The Art Journals of Jan Sawka Nov.1 to Dec.19,2012.Reception Wednesday,Nov.7 at 6:30pm.The Stevenson Library,Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson,NY.

1 Liberty Ridge Fall Festival 9am at Liberty Ridge Farms,29 Bevis Road,Schaghticoke.Rensselaer County.

2 Light and Landscape Exhibit

Featured 2012 exhibit at this 500-acre outdoor sculpture park is 'Light and Landscape,' a major exhibition devoted to artists who experiment with the

creative possibilities of natural light.10am - 5:30pm.845534-3115.Storm King Art Center,Old Pleasant Hill Road,Mountainville.Orange County.

3 Linda Russell

The Historical Society of Quaker Hill & Pawling invites you to hear Linda Russell, Balladeer and Story teller, present a free program of song and story about New York's involvement in the Civil War through personal accounts of those who faced the terrors of war and it's outcome.1pm at Christ Church on Quaker Hill, Lankler Hall,17 Church Road, Pawling.Dutchess County.

3 Woodstock Photographic Workshops

Katherine Wright:Alternative Digital Processes,in Woodstock.Ulster County.

3 Essential Elgar Hudson Valley Philharmonic’s 2012/13 concert series, celebrating the orchestra’s 53rd season.This also represents the HVP’s 14th year under Bardavon management and the 20th under the music direction of conductor Randall Craig Fleischer.8pm with 2012 HVP String Competition Winner Jiyoung Lee – Cello.Preconcert talk with the conductor and members of the orchestra one hour prior to each performance.845-473-2072.

Bardavon 1869 Opera House, 35 Market St.,Poughkeepsie. Dutchess County.

3 Family Landscape Volunteer Day

From10am – 3pm.Family Landscape Volunteer Day with three generations of the Osborn Family.Roll up your sleeves and meet other arborists,horticulturists,garden designers and landscape enthusiasts.845-424-3812. The Russel Wright Design Center,584 Route 9D, Garrison.Putnam County.

4 Banjo Summit

Béla Fleck,considered the most accomplished master of the instrument,will join fellow pickers Tony Trischka,Bill Keith,Eric Weissberg,Pete Wernick,Mac Benford and Richie Stearns and more to perform traditional banjo and play in new and unexpected ways.7pm.845-473-2072.

Bardavon 1869 Opera House, 35 Market St.,Poughkeepsie. Dutchess County.

5 Sand Lake Holiday Arts Fair Local Artists present gifts of distinction for your holiday shopping pleasure.10am to 4pm at the Sand Lake Arts Center,2880 NY 43,Averill Park.Rensselaer County.

6 Across the Great Divide Special Exhibit runs through

Monday,December 31 at the Museum at Bethel Woods.

Photographs by Roberta Price, a loving photographic diary of Roberta Price’s seven years as a resident of Libre,a commune in the Huerfano Valley in southern Colorado,exploring the back-to-the-land movement of the late 1960s and ’70s. Hurd Road in Bethel.845583-2000.Sullivan County.

11 The Whippersnappers Squire Jacobs Concert Series, 8pm at the Sand Lake Arts Center,2880 NY 43,Averill Park.Rensselaer County.

11 Light and Landscape Exhibit

10am to 5:30pm at Storm King Art Center.845-534-3115.

Storm King Art Center,Old Pleasant Hill Road, Mountainville.Orange County.

17 Oak Summit Vineyard Tasting

This very popular event affords the attendees the opportunity to taste 4 sequential vintages. 845-677-9522.Oak Summit Vineyard,372 Oak Summit, Millbrook.Dutchess County.

18 Picklefest

The 15th Annual International Pickle Festival,celebrating 15 Years of Picklefest! Sunday, 10am to 5pm.Community Center,Route 32 South, Rosendale.Ulster County.

24 Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra Robert Manno,conductor; Nancy Allen Lundy,soprano. 8pm.518-263-2063.Tickets purchased ahead:$23;$18 seniors;$7 students.Tickets purchased at the door:$27;$21 seniors;$7 students.This concert is supported in part by the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation. Doctorow Center for the Arts, 7971 Main Street,Route 23A, Village of Hunter.Greene County.

24 Handmade for the Holidays Quality craft show.Two weekends of gifts,food, merriment Nov.24 and 25 & Dec 1 and 2 from 11 am to 4 pm.At Duke Pottery,855 County Rd.93.Roscoe. Percent of sales to benefit FARMHEARTS.607-4985207.Sullivan County.

Want to be listed? Email Neighbors submissions to neighbors@greendoormag.com by October 1,2012 with subject line: Neighbors Submission.

Missed the deadline? Email anytime for inclusion into our digital Neighbors calendar available online at: greendoormag.com/neighbors.php

Ulster County

Culture-rich Ulster County offers a unique destination for just about anything.

Bookstore

Inquiring Minds

Saugerties, NY & New Paltz, NY

Inquiring Minds is what bookstores used to be before Barnes & Noble. There are nooks and crannies to sit and read among stacks of old and new books.Comfy and quiet,you can spend a whole afternoon tucked into a serendipitous discovery. Author readings,book groups, workshops and children’s programs are scheduled regularly.

FOR MORE INFO

65 Partition Street Saugerties, NY 12477 845.246.5775

inquiringmindbookstore.webs.com

Toy Store

Tinker Toys

Woodstock, NY

Located on Tinker Street in Woodstock,NY,this upscale toy store is right out of a Hollywood movie.From floor to ceiling,toys of every shape and size are waiting to be discovered by curious little hands. With toys for every budget,you won’t leave the store empty-handed and neither will your child.

FOR MORE INFO

5 Mill Hill Road Woodstock, NY 12498 845.679.8870

THE BIG CHEESE

Rosendale, NY

Worth the drive for the falafel alone!

Don’t Miss

Coffee House

The Last Bite

High Falls, NY

With a sandwich named Hungry, Hungry Hipster,you are bound to run into a few in this not-to-bemissed coffee shop.The Last Bite offers you more than your typical caffeine fix,as we’re pretty sure it is the anti-Starbucks.

FOR MORE INFO

103 Main Street High Falls, NY 12440

845.687.7779

www.thelastbitesite.com

Art Gallery

One Mile Gallery

Kingston, NY

Janet Hicks and Eddie Mullins,of One Mile Gallery,offer up the bottom floor of their 1790s home along the Rondout Creek in Historic Kingston to exhibit emerging and mid-career contemporary artists.Visit their website for current exhibitions.

FOR MORE INFO

475 Abeel Street Kingston, NY 12401 845.338.2035

www.onemilegallery.com

Home Decor

The Tender Land Home

Phoenicia, NY

From the country home to the big city apartment,The Tender Land Home offers an eclectic palette from which to choose.Items range from rustic to contemporary,and many are crafted by local artists and artisans.The perfect stop to find the perfect gift,no matter your style,or theirs.

FOR MORE INFO

64 Main Street Phoenicia, NY 12464 845.688.7213

www.tenderlandhome.com

DIAMONDMILLS HOTEL &TAVERN Saugerties, NY

A boutique hotel along the Esopus.

Don’t Miss

Wineries

Benmarl Winery

Marlboro, NY

With a focus on sustainability and new technologies,Benmarl Winery captures in small batches the unique flavor of their Hudson Valley wines. Visit the expansive 37-acre estate and tour the wine cellars for a chance to sip these award-winning wines.

FOR MORE INFO

156 Highland Avenue Marlboro NY, 12542

845.236.4265

www.benmarl.com

Restaurant

Gomen Kudasai Noodle Shop New Paltz, NY

It’s hard to find authentic Japanese food in these parts,but chef Youko Yamamoto is preparing traditional Japanese dishes far east of Tokyo. Ms.Yamamoto subscribes to the saying “e-shoku-doh-gen”which means “medicine and diet proceeds from the same origin.”Dishes are made with fresh local ingredients and have been enjoyed for generations for their healing powers.

FOR MORE INFO

232 Main Street New Paltz, NY 12561

845.255.8811

www.gomenkudasainy.com

BY GEORGE!

TIME FOR FALLHEALING

George Huraj, from Catskill Harvest Market in Liberty, dishes on his customers’ beauty favorites for autumn.

Our Publisher, Ellie, says this is her favorite!

$4

Moxie Alley

Livingston Manor, NY

LIPTREATMENT

Coconut Lip Balm

$5.99

Heirloom Botanicals

Livingston Manor, NY heirloombotanicals.com

GEORGESAYS

A customer favorite. This item goes out of stock as soon as we get it in!

CREAMS &LOTIONS

Lanolin Body Lotion

$13.99

Lanolin Cream

$15.99

Lambkin’s Callicoon, NY willowoolsheepfarm.com

FACECLEANSER

Honey Face Wash

$9.99

Heirloom Botanicals

Livingston Manor, NY heirloombotanicals.com

GEORGESAYS

Naturally antibacterial. Insanely moisturizing. And local. Doesn’t get any better.

FOOTREPAIR

Lavender Mint

Foot Salve

$14.99

Heirloom Botanicals

Livingston Manor, NY heirloombotanicals.com

Stu-Stu-Studio

BYJAMESBEAUDREAU

Most of the music we listen to on our phones,computers,CD players and turntables came out of that embattled vestige of the old music business,the pro recording studio.Abbey Road and Sunset Sound,FAME,Olympic,Electric Ladyland, Bearsville,and many others,great and small.(In case you're NOT a trainspotter,those facilities brought us music from,respectively,The Beatles, The Beach Boys,Aretha Franklin,Led Zeppelin,Jimi Hendrix and The Band.)

Recording studios have given us "Kind of Blue,”“Workingman's Dead”and "Beggar's Banquet." They've housed performances by real musicians;where sound waves met microphones and traveled down a wire into a mixer and straight into our hearts.But not all of our great recordings have come out of proper recording studios.Some music could only be captured outside of one.For example...

AT A RECORD STORE (2009)

The record store concert has probably been around as long as record stores,but we're in a golden age right now.These shops,threatened by the digitization of the music industry,are using every method at their disposal to bring customers into their old-fashioned corporeal establishments.The defining characteristic of the record store show intimacy.Take,for example,the Dirty Projectors’acoustic,strippeddown performance of "Temecula Sunrise" – a song that is very electric indeed in its studio version – recorded at NYC's tiny but mighty Other Music.(Dirty Projectors,Bitte Orca 2 CD edition, Domino,2010)

AT A MUSEUM (1972)

On April 10,1972,a Monday,Duke Ellington performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.The concert was held in the 2nd floor gallery of the museum's Breuer Building since the Whitney had no auditorium.Dan Morgenstern,who wrote the liner notes for the first commercial release of the music in 1995,recalls that the audience was seated on risers.Duke arrived for the gig with his rhythm section,but about half of the program featured the composer alone at the piano – an unusual format for him,and rare in his recorded output.It may be the unconventional setting that gives the concert the feel of a recital.Many of the tunes are short,charming miniatures,though we also have "New World A-Coming" – nine minutes of episodic,beautifully inventive piano music.There's also "A Mural from Two Perspectives,”a composition that is otherwise unknown in Duke's vast discography.(Duke Ellington,"Live at the Whitney," Impulse Records,1995)

OVER THE TELEPHONE (1972)

Sometime in 1972,Don Van Vliet,aka Captain Beefheart,called

the California radio station KSHU and hollered "Black Snake Moan" into the receiver.The song is commonly attributed to Blind Lemon Jefferson,although Victoria Spivey who was a sometime performing partner of Jefferson's recorded it in 1926,one year before Jefferson's version.Spivey's record,just to complicate matters,is called "Black Snake Blues." Though blues songs are fundamentally malleable and subject to extensive modification by the performer,the Spivey and Jefferson versions of "Black Snake" are unalike enough that they might as well be considered different songs.Van Vliet's take on the tune comes from Spivey.He belts it through the phone's transducer like a fireball blasting through a paper screen.The poor,overloaded device fractures Van Vliet's voice into a rich,over-saturated beam of squawking noise.Many of the Captain's recorded performances evince a manic,elemental energy – a state that he was able to tap into even,apparently,when he was phoning it in.

(Captain Beefheart,"Grow Fins:Rarities 1965-1982," Revenant, 1999)

AT A GENERAL STORE NEAR A TRAIN STATION (1941)

By the time Alan Lomax drove up to Klack's Store in Lake Cormorant,Mississippi with his Presto recording machine and his blank lacquer discs,Son House had returned to a normal life driving tractors.House had made his only professional recordings over eleven years prior in Grafton,Wisconsin,for the Paramount label.Lomax had already documented Muddy Waters’first recordings at Stovall's Plantation in Clarksdale on this particular trip down South.He was now about to make his second group of historic recordings.Klack's was a general store near a train station, and it became a recording site because it was the closest place with electricity.House performed with a small group that day,and the results – while not up to the olympic grandeur of his solo recordings of 1930 or 1942 – are nonetheless an invaluable document of his art. The band is loose,the players goading each other on,and yet the intensity that is a hallmark of all of House's recordings is there.And you're not going to get a freight train roaring past the band,as you do in “Walking Blues,”when you're recording at Abbey Road.(Son House,Alan Lomax recordings for the Folk Song Archive of the Library of Congress,available on numerous commercial collections, 1942)

James Beaudreau is a musician,recordist,composer and all-around music nerd living in the "upstate Manhattan" neighborhood ofFort George.He's currently at work on his fourth album oforiginal music and blogging about the process at www.jamesbeaudreau.com

James Beaudreau goes beyond the recording studio to the unexpected places that provide inspiration.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:LAURENT BLANCHETTE,GEOFF DIAMOND,ADIR L. COHEN,JED KOSINER

Fairweather Friends

Heading to Kingston to fall in with these up and comers of music.

BYAKIRAOHISO PHOTOBY KELLYMERCHANT

The Oxford Dictionary defines a fair-weather friend as “a person whose friendship cannot be relied upon in times of difficulty.”As a bass player, I’ve learned that bands have no time for a fair-weather friend.A band is like a gang and only the most committed stick around through tough times.Empty Tuesday night gigs and lugging equipment in the wee hours of the morning send most charlatans packing for “real jobs.”

Meet Fairweather Friends:Adir L.Cohen (guitar,lead singer),Jed Kosiner (percussion),Geoff Diamond (bass) and Laurent Blanchette (tuba,trombone). These guys are tight (musically too.) The band is young,passionate and a bit naïve, a dangerous combination that can lead to great things or destruction.I sat down with the quartet at the Rondout Music Lounge in Kingston,NY to find out which way they are heading.

Except for Jed Kosiner,age thirty,the remaining members are recent graduates of SUNY New Paltz.Jed Kosiner studied Jazz Performance at Hofstra University and then toured as a drum roadie for the jazz trio Medeski,Martin and Wood.“I really got to see the inside of an accomplished band,”says Kosiner.Two years ago, he saw Adir L.Cohen play an open mic gig and felt they needed to jam.They clicked instantly.

“I was a music major for like two days,”laughs Adir.As a self-taught guitar player, Adir is not defined by musical technique.He is purely feel,prompted by lyrics and poetic cadence.Growing up in Glen Rock,New Jersey,he was fed a steady diet of “basement concerts”where he saw indie bands like Real Estate and Titus Andronicus.He played bass briefly in a band called The Medics signed by Omad Records.“I fell in love with the fact that you can play guitar and sing a song that you wrote and have people really be moved.”

Adir and Jed starting gigging together and invited different musicians to play with them as needed.The original band name was Adir L.C.and His Fairweather Friends.They brought that same hired-gun concept to their debut album, These Years on the Boat,recorded in Jed’s house in New Paltz and nicknamed “the boat.”

It took roughly a year to record the album traveling through the choppy waters of ornery roommates,schoolwork,romantic breakups and graduation.“It was a tense year,”says Adir.A lyric on the track Fire sums up his collegiate angst:“No reason to move,no reason to stay,don’t want to build nothing but fire.”

Fire is elemental,which is a good word to describe Fairweather Friends.With the folk singer-songwriter roots of Adir Cohen and the more technical pulse of Jed Kosiner,the sound is interesting,meandering and unpredictable.Although Laurent Blanchette played on the album,he did not join the band until recently along with bass player Geoff Diamond.Both have helped expand the sound and give the songs an indie pop appeal,which has broadened the bands audience.“Adir has access to gigs he never had access to before,”says Geoff.

Salvation Recording Company,an indie outfit founded by Samantha Gloffke,now represents the band.Chris Daly,head engineer at Salvation and a musical mentor to several New Paltz bands,mixed the record.Bands like Nelsonvillians,Year of the Mountain,Fight a Scary Dog,Kyle Miller and Fairweather Friends are defining the New Paltz DIY sound.

The quartet spends countless hours experimenting,writing songs and incubating their second album.“That’s part of our growth and development and building the sound,”says Geoff.They seem to have no expectations other than growing together musically.“If your songs are honest and real that’s the key,”says Adir.

The succinct Blanchette adds,“I’d rather be nowhere else on a Saturday night than playing with my friends.”BEWARE:Stay a safe distance from Blanchette when he’s playing or you might get a trombone slide upside the head.

Sarah Fimm

BYJAYBLOTCHER | PHOTOBY HEYRICK CHASSE

They enter the grounds of Bearsville Theatre and the surrounding complex slowly,gravely, their faces fixed in judgment.They have come to assess the thousands of mirrors and solar-powered lights that dangle from the trees,bushes and buildings.

Within minutes the observers have become participants,eyes wide with wonder as they walk through a cocoon of prismatic light.The grim countenances of senior citizens melt.A face of a boy in a wheelchair illumines with joy.A group of developmentally challenged children,some unable to talk,is transformed: they run after the reflections,arms outstretched,literally chasing rainbows.

From the sidelines,a smile lighting her eyes, stands the artist responsible for this phenomenon,musician-activist Sarah Fimm. She is happy to witness the results of her environmental art installation,titled ‘Mirrors of Near Infinite Possibility’– a reference to a Hunter S.Thompson dictum about faith in the face of banality.

Calling herself “the instigator”of the installation rather than its creator,Fimm sidesteps any glory associated with the work.

“I knew,somehow in my heart,that the presentation of that would be inspiring to people,”she said.“I didn’t know the extent, and I certainly didn’t know the amount of relationships or beautiful things that were going to come of it.No one could predict that.And anyone who says otherwise has to be lying.”

The work – which she playfully calls Sparkle Park – was meant to honor fellow artists both alive and dead.As she constructed it over many hours,Fimm kept flashing back on the key line of the mawkish 1989 film Field of Dreams:If you build it,they will come.

“As ridiculous as that may be,that keeps me going,because I know that people want to be inspired,want to be uplifted,and they want to access that part of themselves that is eight years old,and simply want to run around

with their hands wide open and smile.”

However,Fimm is never content with simple joys.The greatest gift of this art piece,she insists,sprang from conflict.Someone was stealing selected pieces from the installation. The culprit was discovered to be a man with a history of mental illness.This revelation prompted Fimm,whose hunger for new causes is as ardent as her need to write songs, to begin researching how her activism could help raise awareness of mental illness in America.

That was “one of the most powerful out of all the beautiful and mystical things that have happened”during the installation,she said.

‘Mirrors of Near Infinite Possibility’is simply a matter of physics:Discs of glass and solarpowered lights have captured and thrown off light.But this art has,subversively,accomplished something more vital:It liberates hearts and minds from everyday burdens by reminding viewers of a belief usually discarded when childhood ends:there is magic in this world if we allow ourselves to see it.

In many ways,Sparkle Park achieves the same effect as Fimm’s insistent songs.Like mirrors,her compositions – which now fill eight CDs – gently throw back at us fragments of the beautiful and troubled world.And,if we regard them with patience, and at a certain angle,suddenly we will catch a glimpse of ourselves in them.

The penultimate night of the installation, June 30,Fimm played the Bearsville Theater, unveiling her newest release,the EP “The Barn Sessions”thus combining art forms to express her messages of love,hope,yearning and forgiveness.The umbrella title of the event is “Sarah Fimm’s Summer of Inspiration.”It is a call to arms with a simple, but urgent message:We must all connect with our innate artistry,in order to heal the world – and ourselves in the process.

Admittedly,Fimm’s work contains many moving parts,titles and purposes.Running

concurrently with ‘Mirrors’at Bearsville is an exhibition of art by friends and fellow activists under the rubric of Inspire Art, “created as a global call to all artists,thinkers, talkers,dreamers and anyone who wants to use their talents to fight for human rights.” Proceeds from the show will benefit SEVA, which brings doctors to developing countries to save the sight of indigent citizens.

Fimm’s music and art,as well as her activism – she teaches music to young people in Nepal,India and the Philippines – seeks to redress wrongs of the heart,mind and law. But the key to creating artistic truths,she said,lies in first being a keen observer.“And when we’re observers in life,we can learn a lot.I want to learn a lot.”

The Oklahoma native credits her social awareness to her grandmother,a survivor of the Holocaust,now 88,who visited Sparkle Park.Like her grandmother,Fimm said,she recognizes pervasive wrongs but refuses to become mired in them.

“In order to live after going through [the Holocaust],you have to be able to forgive people.There’s a lot of forgiveness involved in my blood.”

However,as a teen growing up in a Brooklyn tenement with her mother,Fimm was immersed in a relentless anger.

Born in tornado country,Fimm was,by her own admission,a “defiant,awful child.”Nine years of repressive Orthodox Hebrew School in Brooklyn only aggravated her rebellion.By 16,Fimm was enrolled in the Valley’s Storm King School,a destination for troubled teens, where her peers were substance abusers with rap sheets.

“It was a very powerful experience;I saw a lot of kids disappear and a lot of kids die.I decided around 17 that I didn’t want that to be my life.”

Mentor Franco Richmond,a veteran musician,helped Fimm channel her roiling

“It’s a very personal effort to send out some love from Woodstock.”

emotions into music and lobbied to get her into Berklee School of Music in Boston. Accepting help was a big step forward for her.

“I would definitely say that (respecting) authority has never been my strong point but when a person …is actually representing themselves as a friend,things change.”

A career in professional music soon began.As she completed her first recording,the singer was informed that a professional with the same name was already recording.She was in despair until a woman walked into her dorm room with a solution:to honor her celestial voice,she should call herself Sarah Fimm,a play on seraphim,the Hebrew word for angels.

When it comes to the creative process,Fimm is a restless spirit.“I have ideas all the time;I don’t sleep too much because I have a very active sense of imagination.”

Happily,she has allies in the creative process, many of whom she met when she first began recording here in Woodstock four CDs ago with producer David Baron.Among them: celebrated session players Jerry Marotta,Tony Levin and Earl Slick.

At the time,Fimm was still living in New York City.But one evening,after an emotionally taxing recording session with Baron,she stepped onto his porch and looked up at the star-scattered skies over Woodstock. The primal beauty of the sight caused Fimm to murmur,“My God,I have to leave wherever I am and come here right now.“

She kept her word.Her new CD,“The Barn Sessions”is a tribute to the musical heritage of her adopted home.Each CD has been personally signed by Fimm,and handdecorated with sparkles,ribbons and stencils. Tucked inside every package is a personal memento from the recording session.

“It’s a very personal effort to send out some love from Woodstock.”

FOR MORE INFO www.sarahfimm.com

Belonging

Some people are born out of place.From the time these people are children,they feel they are different from those around them.Some spend their lives searching for a home.But some get out,and find the place they belong.

Woodstock… it began as an artist colony, where people settled to create music, painting,poetry,and sculpture.Many big names have come and gone through our little mountain town- from Andy Warhol to Jimi Hendrix,Brad Pitt to the Dalai Lama.You may find Uma Thurman licking a mint-chocolate chip ice cream cone while dancing atop a park bench in the village green,or Bob Dylan dropping his groceries into the back of his Volvo,or maybe even David Bowie sitting on the patio to the pizza place elbow deep in a saucy plate of hot wings.Continuing you will find father Woodstock,a “wizard”in that he carries a twisted walking stick and wears a long grey robe,with beads and tattered textiles crudely fastened from his beard to his feet.Or you may cross paths with his son, Orion.He walks up and down the streets speaking to a figment of his imagination quite animatedly.All the girls have short hair dyed unnatural colors and pierced noses.All the men have longer hair than the women,knotted with dreads in dirty clothing.Strange though they may appear,most are quite normal.Yes,there are a lot of tourists.Yes,there is a film festival,and the town is overrun with art galleries and head shops.Yes,the majority of the residents are hippies.But

it is home.

My summer job is at Taco Juan’s.If you visit Woodstock,and want real Woodstock culture,eat at Juan’s.Burrito bar and ice cream parlor,we see every local and every tourist.The afternoon is filled with lines half a mile long with foreigners who complain we don’t have soft serve,or we don’t have a wide enough vegan ice cream selection,or about how they travelled two-thousand miles to find out the Woodstock festival didn’t take place here. Then the locals come in.

“The Captain”is a sweet older man who wears a sea captain’s hat and anchor earrings.One scoop of butter pecan.Uma comes in for her 5 oz cookies and cream. The local dentist over-tanned and on the fifth mile of his daily run comes in for coconut water.A full-grown man in fairy wings and carrying a wand appears.A little girl asks him “Why are you dressed like that?”he replies “Cuz I’m a big fairy! Ha ha ha!”Pirate lady,with no teeth and dreads escaping from the faded scarf tightly tied around her head,smells so strongly of patchouli it makes me queasy.She orders a Mexican hot chocolate.The smiley old man gets his green tea with honey.The shaved bald woman from the Buddhist monastery gets a bowl of beans with guacamole.

I hop in my ‘88 Nissan and drive into the woods to our arts & crafts style farmhouse.My mother pulls into the driveway and steps out of her truck

covered from head to toe in dirt from her first job.She was building a stone wall on John Sebastian’s property up the street. She pulls the head wrap off to let down her long dark hair that frames her hard Native American / Italian mix tanned face.In her heavy New York accent she tells me to get ready as she heads up stairs to rinse off.

The house is an assortment of antique furniture;all found on the side of the road over the years and refinished by various members our traditional Italian immigrant family.It is quite beautiful and eclectic for living on 10k a year.She returns to the kitchen in black leather riding boots,Levi’s,and a men’s white button-up with garlic and asparagus on the pocket that she painted for her chef’s clothing designs in the 90s.She takes a drag from her cigarette and signals to leave.

We head to our second job of the day, cleaning the country weekend home of the producer of “Mad Men.”This home is so tastefully done.There are grey-blue floors and white walls,country quilts and rough wood end tables.His kitchen appliances were all from the 50s and in perfect condition.We scrub the place from basement to rafters and,after 5 hours,we pick up our buckets and head back to town.It’s blues night at the Harmony Cafe.

We arrive at this hole-in-the-wall bar and dance our way in.Conner Kennedy,a 16year-old band that has recently gotten attention in the Hudson Valley,is doing some renditions of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Grateful Dead.We spend a few hours dancing with the locals,all moving as if they were flags in the wind.That’s when it hit me.I would be leaving for college in

Sometimes you have to travel to find your home.

BYSOPHIAPASSERO | ILLUSTRATIONSBY JESSICAFERTIG

the morning.

My dream is to become an architect.But I don’t want to just build homes,I want to make furniture,and more importantly, stage sets.I feel so trapped in Woodstock. Even I am too straight for these people.I feel the most free in New York City.The only place I can be satisfied intellectually and artistically.Oh…and Broadway is there.But right now,it seems so out of reach.Loans are out of the question due to bankruptcy issues.I rely entirely on State and Federal aid for college,which left me the state colleges from which to choose.My major,architecture,whittled the choice further to either Buffalo or Delhi.I was not going to travel 400 miles to Buffalo and so,I was left with the choice of SUNY Delhi…or…SUNY Delhi.

I roll out of bed at 5 am to be on the road at 6.It’s amazing how much can change in 70 miles. Buildings become scarcer. The season changes from late summer to early fall.The trees are already speckled with flaming reds and the temperature drops 10 degrees.The sky becomes grey and menacing.My ears pop;I know I am someplace strange.The only glimpse of home is seen ten miles out of Delhi,in a little town called Andes.It is the fusion of Delhi and Woodstock. Half of it is broken down and dirty,with old tractors parked under falling carports. The other half is comprised of a small gallery,a quaint hotel,an antique store and a vintage clothing shop,with a few well-kept,freshly painted Victorian homes.

I get to campus and walk into my first class.Principles of Wood Frame Construction.My black pointed heels slam on the concrete floors.Everyone lifts their heads in disbelief.A tall thin girl, with short,spiked hair,big shining earrings,at least five necklaces cascading to her waist,a floral collared shirt,a black tutu over black tights and faux stilettos.I clear my throat and take a seat.In the room are only two other girls,a big girl that I can be almost certain is a lesbian,

and another that weighs about 16 pounds in a huge dirty sweatshirt and sunken eyes.The other students,all odd-looking white boys with patchy facial hair, crooked teeth,cotton tees with various business and brand names printed on them,and carpenter’s jeans.I wipe the sawdust off the half-broken stool at the workbench before sitting.The big girl rolls her eyes.I then notice everyone is in work boots with safety glasses and are holding hard-hats.Guess I missed the memo.The professor walks in and stops to look me up and down.He laughs and makes some crack about how this is why women don’t belong in construction.The class shares a laugh as I reconsider my decision to

described it,“a little white farm house with a big blue barn.”In my head I picture the farm house I clean for the producer.Sounds fantastic.But as I approach,I see a “big blue barn.”The barn has chipping paint,is leaning,with siding missing.The house has a sagging, the roof rotting,and is stained by clay and moisture.There is a handicap ramp of unfinished wood to the front door.I let out a painful sigh.I park my mother’s Chevy Astrovan filled with my things in the driveway.I knock on the door.I hear dogs barking.I turn around to a pasture with three horses.The door opens to a man with a perplexed look on his face.

“Are you finally Sophia?”

“Yes,that’s me!”

“Uh…huh…I was beginning to think you didn’t exist.I’m Dave,Ginny’s husband.”

“Well…uh…I do! And, hello.”

“Mhmm.Well.Come on in I’ll show you to your room.”

I don’t see a single potential friend in the room.My friends back home and I get drunk with one pineapple martini and dance around the streets wearing hats shaped like lobsters and squids and parrots.We go to the mall in Albany and people watch.We will spend $80 to make a costume to wear to a theme party.We enjoy live jazz music and good coffee from local roasters.We are non-conformists and poke fun at the “culture”of the typical American college student.We will drive up to Albany,then back down to New Paltz looking for a good rave.We have game nights and make up rules to make it more interesting.We never stop moving,and we love to embarrass ourselves.But here,trying to even spark conversation is like pulling teeth.I know nothing about sports or what’s on T.V. Most of them have never even been to New York City.We have a mutual expression of “what the hell are you talking about”on our faces when we speak to each other.It looks like I will be focusing on my studies.

I am to live off-campus in,as the woman

Dave is a pot-bellied man with a wide nose,and a grey,thinning buzz cut. He wears a grey Hanes t-shirt with suspenders attached to carpenter jeans.I guess that is the style out here.He wobbles up the narrow carpeted staircase and rounds the corner to open the door to my white-walled,dormered bedroom. There is one window that lets in just enough light to see.The furniture is of a simple 80s country set in a walnut finish. “We have a desk for you,you know.”I reply that I had brought my own drafting table.“Oh,okay.Whatever you say.You can put it over here if you would like,” pointing to the blank wall opposite my bed.“Thank you.”

I finish settling in by putting down my rag-weaved rug,hanging my dream catcher,placing my hand-carved stone Buddha on my night stand,and setting up my IKEA chest of drawers next to my drafting table with swing-arm lamp.I hear Virginia call me from down stairs.I come down stairs to be met with open arms and a smile.Virginia is a wide woman with pin-straight gray hair and

huge blue eyes.She wears a floral print shapeless dress.She had worked in student accounts at the college.We met when my mother and I visited the college to straighten out financial aid and buy textbooks.My mother began telling Virginia that I would have to commute 1.5 hours a day in my 88’Sentra with no suspension and 200,000 miles on it because we only got enough aid for tuition plus an extra $1,000.Virginia relies “I have a room I could rent her.”She lit up.“Oh! Thank you! You have no idea what this means!”All I could think was…I would rather commute than live out here.

But alas,I moved in.Reluctantly.No cell service,and a cornfield for a view.In the mornings I would walk down the steps, pass the natural wood finish country table set with the plaid tablecloth,and into the cluttered kitchen.I would hear the blare of Fox News behind me and attempt to refrain from putting my fist through the television set.I open the fridge,80% condiments,milk,eggs,butter,cold cuts, and cheese.White bread on the counter. My diet at home is comprised of local vegetables,lamb chops,olives, whole-wheat baguettes,olive oil.I fry myself an egg and choke down the wonder bread with a weak K-cup coffee and head to my classes.

I learn I am the only person in my class with any experience in art.This should be interesting as we have to hand draw every plan,section,elevation,and perspective. From the first day I become the example for graphics.I can tell half the class wants to jump me.Going home each night,I have conversations with Ginny as Dave shakes his head and asks himself “why God?”It takes him about two weeks to figure out that I am a socialist atheist.He nearly kicks me out.We have many heated battles about all the problems of the world.I begin to just not respond or to attempt laughing off the ignorance.I then respond with an article that I print and leave on the counter about how people who watch Fox are less informed than people that watch no news at all. There are some nights I stay up in my room to avoid the conflict.Many nights I

cry from homesickness.This place feels so empty,so suffocating.I feel whipped like a Merrymounter. I want to quit in the worst way,and just go home to be with the people I love and can talk to and be with comfortably.But I push myself in the hopes I will graduate and head south.I

attempt to integrate myself in some way by sitting down and watching “American Idol”with them,and going out to feed and pet the horses (though I hate the idea of both). Ginny laughs at the stories I tell her over a cup of tea of my family and friends back home,something that has become a nightly affair.She gives me a discount on my room,knowing I don’t have a penny to my name.In exchange for her kindness I cook once a week and help clean.I throw together some chicken piccatta and broccoli rabe my first night cooking.They had never heard of either.Dave just asked “what’s this green stuff.”They both spit out the rabe but liked the chicken and I taught Ginny how to make it.The next night she made spaghetti…in a crockpot…and put sugar in the sauce. That is equal to burning the flag for an Italian.

I go home every weekend to preserve some sort of social life.I drive my bucket of bolts over the empty mountainside and then back on Sunday nights with a cooler of food from home.I found my car lately had been losing power from sitting in my driveway,so I decide to replace the battery before I set off.I don’t end up leaving until after midnight as my mother had an 11 o’clock clam sauce dinner.I get 60 miles into my trip.I let off the gas rolling down a hill into Andes.My lights dim.Shit.Alternator went.My cell service was shut off from a late bill,and even if it was on it would not have service.

It is 1:30 am.In the Boonies.I roll into the parking lot of the hotel.It appears to be closed and I see no lights or indication of a 24-hour office.I begin to shake and freak out.It is only about 35 degrees.I walk up and down the streets looking for a pay phone before I start banging on the doors to random houses on Main Street. Finally,above the art gallery,a woman angrily opens the upstairs window and asks me what the hell I want.Crying and shaking I tell her that my car broke down and I needed a phone.She sighed and slammed the window shut.I waited…uncertain as to whether she would come down or not.

The husband appears at the door and hands the phone through the door,only slightly ajar.I asked if he had a phone book.Realizing I was freezing and harmless,he allowed me inside and I called Ginny and Dave begging they pick up the phone.Dave answers on the second ring with a worried voice.I stutter that I was stranded.“I’ll be right there.” “O.K.”

I thank the couple in the gallery and leave.I sit in the car;sipping the tea I brought with me on my trip to keep warm.Dave pulls in with his huge truck about ten minutes later.He gets out and hugs me.“I knew something was going to happen tonight.I couldn’t sleep because of it.”He calms me down and blasts the heat for me.We talk more civilly than we ever have.He tells me he understands me, that I am a daughter to him.Something my own father would never say to me.I wipe my tears and smile.I tell him if I was in the same situation at home my mother probably wouldn’t even pick up the phone for me.He tells me he will get a new alternator put in the car the next day.That I don’t have to worry about the money. This is certainly the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.We pull into the driveway.I feel my heart full as I realize: These people are my second family.This place is a second home.I do belong.

Sophia Passero is a third year architecture student at the State University ofNew York at Delhi and aspiring writer/ set and furniture designer.Belonging is her first published story.

A League of Your Own

The closest I got to Little League as a boy was during the summers at my grandmother’s house on Staten Island.There,at a little Day Camp on the grounds of Staten Island Academy,we’d play softball and even a little baseball in the summer heat.I have to admit I was always a little scared of getting hit by the ball,which led to my becoming a soccer and tennis player,and a good one,until I decided that the ponytail I was growing – I didn’t cut my hair for ten years – was more important than sports.I hadn’t anticipated that longhairs like John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg would come along and show the world that “freaks”like me could make sports their chosen profession.I worshipped McEnroe – still do,and the way he and the Swede elevated each others’games was a big part of my counter-culture identity.

I also never could have imagined that decades later I would find myself,and by that I mean learn to like and even love myself,through the Mid Hudson Valley Little League.The league,a sort of collective uniting the teams of Woodstock,Phonecia,and Shandaken,is the brainchild of Kevin Christofora,whose day job is owning Woodstock Meats.

Kevin is an example of the people who present themselves to me from another time,almost Medieval.They have this iconic quality I would ascribe to the kind of men I would want riding with me on the very next horse into some ancient Braveheart battle,faces streaked with blue paint.And for some reason,maybe it is my destiny;a lot of these characters have appeared and presented themselves to me here since I moved to Woodstock a few years ago.

Another one is Mike O’Shea,a former New York City sewer worker, tall,giant,lumbering,with a thick and long goatee.If he were a baseball player,he’d definitely be hitting clean up,slamming balls out of the park.But now he’s a counselor to troubled and addicted youth in the Boroughs,running between the Catskills and the city.He spends as much of his time as possible here in Woodstock,though.I told Kevin about a walk I’d taken with Mike and his dog Harley around the gorgeous Comeau area earlier this year and how much it had meant to me.

Christofora looked at me from the wheel of his truck and said:“You have arrived.”

The look in his eyes told me he knew in his heart,as I did,that I had joined some kind of privileged yet egalitarian society.That I was one of those people,who,even though I’d been a lot of places,had finally come home.That I would never leave the Mid-Hudson Valley.

I had always felt different.Apart.Not included.For decades,growing up,in school,and while working in print,television and music,I never really felt too good about myself,or even really knew who I was.The road map was a series of failed geographical locations – Tennessee, Florida,California,Indiana – then many other states in rapid succession on a tour bus while managing the rock band Philpot.The problem was that whenever I got somewhere I was still there,and I really didn’t know who I was or for what I was looking.

BYPETER GORDON DONALD

Then,in 2008,after some bad experiences in Manhattan – I was deposited by my wife and loving friends in the woods of West Hurley. It was a beautiful old carriage house where I stayed.I was shaken up enough that I resembled some kind of shivering rescue animal.But gradually,the beauty and vibrations of the Hudson Valley,and its animals and people,started to heal me.The moment it all came together happened this year on that walk with Mike O’Shea,a place favored by Levon Helm and his dog.

Given my fear of getting hit by baseballs,I never could have imagined back on Staten Island,or in any place I ended up for that matter,that I would eventually learn to like and even love myself via the spiritual energy of Little League.

At that steamy summer day camp on Staten Island in the 60’s,I realize now that I was showing an early proclivity for loving and caring about other human beings,especially the underdogs,rescue animal people like Love Valentine,a boy who arrived at camp two weeks late,dropped off like an abandoned animal one day and by virtue of this,a complete outsider.Yes,that was the name Love’s parents,so cruelly or lovingly,depending on how you look at it,gave to their son.Love,who they sent to camp carrying the weight of a sad little Sears baseball mitt and a Wiffle bat.Love offered us the bat and glove as some kind of peace offering,already knowing he was in deep shit,and was summarily beaten by all the campers with the bat and glove.I felt for him and wanted to tell him that,but it was like some kind of Staten Island version of Lord ofthe Flies.I suppose Love played the role of Piggy or the boy with the glasses.I related to him.

One of the things I love about Little League,as I’ve gotten to know it here in Woodstock,is the love,tolerance,and respect for others and nurturing of family at its core.Good things are passed on to kids via the radiating magic of baseball.Tradition and history are instilled too, important concepts for youngsters overexposed to the transience of the internet.

“Do you want to see the fields?”Kevin asked me one day while I was picking up some cold cuts at the meat market.

I took him up on his offer,and we watched as an army of volunteers with big equipment laid tons of gravel on the Little League field in Olive,part of its resurrection and improvement.We then drove to two other fields.In Mt.Tremper,Christofora,the Little League’s head, pointed out the ruins of a house battered by Hurricane Irene.A divorced woman with two kids had lived there.She worked two jobs, and Christofora made sure those kids were able to get to Woodstock Little League and participate in the fun.Sadly,the house is empty now.

The ride ended in Shandaken.The Little League field there looked like it had been abandoned in the mid-90’s.We passed the snack hut and then unlocked a spider web-ensnared shack that contained uncollected trophies and old baseball gloves,helmets and uniforms. The experience was like opening a time capsule.I felt happy in the mystery,just as I did watching the 60’s television series “The Time

Tunnel”as a boy.By the summer,Ed West Memorial Field was back in action.It is one of the most beautiful baseball fields I have ever had to privilege to set my feet upon,nestled near a dog run with looming mountains views.Even the rest room building at the top of a hill looks beautiful.

A couple of months later,I went to Rick Volk Field in Woodstock for Tommy John Day.The Yankee great was there with Kevin and the other coaches waiting for me.You’d expect Tommy to be offering tutelage on the art of pitching,but instead,a rapt audience of Little Leaguers,relaxing on the grass,listened and watched as Tommy,bat and ball in hand,talked about hitting,and the attitudes,positioning and technique of great hitters he’d faced.

Picking out the shyest looking kid in the audience,John gently jawed him.“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions.”Deadpan.The tiny boy in uniform opened right up, smiling,and asked the legend about spitballs.You could see a weight had lifted off his shoulders.

Like Christofora and O’Shea,Tommy John is a big man who hearkens back to some other larger time and place.He is from Indiana,from a family of miners.At The Red Onion having dinner that night,he told me about an ancestor/relative who lost his legs in a mining accident. John seems cut from granite,and he is definitely someone you would want on the next horse going into some ancient battle.That is surely how teammates he loved dearly,like Thurman Munson,would view him.

“Thurman was greatly misunderstood,”John told me,nursing a bowl of leek soup at The Red Onion.“He had your back completely.And he liked donuts.Me and the guys actually were able to have a little comic relief at the burial.From Thurman’s grave,from a certain angle, you can actually see a Dunkin’Donuts.We knew he’d be happy about that.”

Then he started talking about Tiger Woods.John loves to golf. “He’s lost his joy for the game.He is too busy studying mechanics.”

About young pitchers today:“You got to let them pitch.”

John doesn’t get to spend much time at his New Jersey home.He’s constantly on the road,either instructing Little Leaguers,playing charity golf tournaments,or sharing his passion,memories and knowledge of the game.Kevin wanted to make sure he had a big jug of coffee for the long ride home after a weekend in Woodstock.

As Tommy John got into his car,alone,at The Red Onion,he was illuminated by what Hindus call a Purnima moon.It was brilliant.

And I thought of all those things that I was still learning from Little League.

Opening Day

BYKIRBYOLSON

Taking the arched bridge over the Delaware River

I see the nylon line of a fisherman cast As the fly lands in the water and drifts

It’s a musical town

A fisherman in waders hooks a rainbow trout.

I’m on the way to the optometrist’s

The fog over the town lifts like an opera curtain

Someone is singing an aria on NPR.

The trout jumps an arc:

In the calm pool a double rainbow.

Kirby Olson is a professor ofhumanities at SUNY-Delhi in the western Catskills.His poems have appeared in Poetry East,Partisan Review,and Cortland Review, among many others.

Frackenstein: Look Before You Lease

Grace Foundation’s Kyle Rabin warns against creating a monster.

BYKYLERABIN

On a weekend trip near Monticello,New York during the summer of 2010,my family and I visited some friends,a married couple we’ve known for years.Over lunch,I mentioned that we had passed by several anti-fracking signs on our way to their home. Gasland had recently aired on HBO and I was curious what our friends thought about fracking (aka high-volume,horizontal hydraulic fracturing),so I asked them.There was a pause;our friends looked at each other uneasily.Long story short,in 2009 they had leased some land they own in Pennsylvania to a gas drilling company.I can’t remember what I said but suffice it to say,I was taken aback.

I couldn’t help but wonder,what if my friends had seen Gasland first? The award-winning documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox – who has since followed up with Gasland 2 to be released later this year –marked a sea change in the awareness of the controversial natural gas drilling process.

The idea for the first film came about when Josh’s family was approached by a gas drilling company interested in leasing a property they own in northeast Pennsylvania.Prior to the release of Gasland, many homeowners living above shale-gas formations did not know about the hazards of fracking.So when they came a-knocking,some homeowners put their John Hancock on the gas leases.New York is another state where landowners have signed leases with gas drilling companies.Yet no horizontal drilling activity has come to fruition since 2008,due to a temporary ban on this type of drilling while the state assesses the impact on the environment.

And if many did not realize the potential environmental impacts of their decisions,no doubt more did not realize the impact a drilling lease might have on their mortgages.Attorney Elisabeth Radow, whose article Homeowners and Gas Drilling Leases:Boon or Bust appeared as the cover story of the November/December 2011 issue of the New York State Bar Association Journal,points out that many “upstate homeowners did not know about the hazards of fracking when they signed the gas leases;it did not occur to them to check their mortgages.”Why is this a problem? “Residential mortgages prohibit heavy industrial activity and hazardous materials on the property,”explains Radow.“Fracking brings both.”

While not a new issue,the subject of gas drilling leases is one of the more important aspects of the hydraulic fracturing debate as captured in last year’s “Drilling Down”series in The New York Times . Homeowners and taxpayers face complex questions about the hazards and uninsurable risks associated with fracking,and its impact on mortgages and the housing sector remains unknown.

Leases don’t get much press in the context of the never-ending flow of coverage that fracking draws.That is unfortunate given the risk.

Just what’s at stake? “The mortgaged property needs to stay safe and uncontaminated because lenders sell 90 percent of all home mortgage loans to the secondary mortgage market in exchange for funds to make new home loans,”says Radow.“Gas leases allow gas companies to truck in tankers with chemicals,transport flammable gas and toxic waste,operate heavy equipment 24/7 and store gas underground,for years,all in a person’s backyard.”

What does this mean for homeowners? “Gas leases also create easements which continue after the gas company leaves,with no funds for upkeep,”Radow clarifies.“Gas drillers can sell the lease without telling the homeowner,so there’s no way for a family to control who drills on their private property.Homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover risks from fracking and neither does the gas lease.Industrial-sized risks are so expensive,even gas companies don’t get fully insured for them.Homeowners can get slammed with risks for the dangerous activity they don’t even control.”

To be sure,it’s a grim prospect for homeowners and communities alike.But what does this all mean in the broader context of the economy?

Radow elaborates,“As fracking spreads across 34 shale-rich states,the $6.7 trillion secondary mortgage market — which holds 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgage debt — could get left bearing the liability;American taxpayers are next in line.

A growing number of banks won’t give new mortgage loans on homes with gas leases because they don’t meet secondary mortgage market guidelines.As a result,homeowners with a gas lease can be out of luck selling their homes since the lease impacts stick with the property. The impact falls not only on homeowners and taxpayers but also affects the banking,housing,insurance and secondary mortgage market interests and their investors.New construction,the sign of economic recovery,is threatened too because construction loans require a property to be free of the very risks that gas drilling brings.”

For those,like my friends,eagerly awaiting the return of a strong economy,this shift of drilling risks from gas companies to the housing sector,homeowners and taxpayers begs for immediate attention.In the meantime,property owners are learning that the leases and agreements that they signed just a few years ago may contain some industry sleight-of-hand.

This article is based on a post by Kyle Rabin,originally published at Ecocentric (ecocentricblog.org).To learn more about what’s happening on the fracking front,check out Ecocentric’s fracking series at http://www.ecocentricblog.org/tag/hydraulic-fracturing/.

The Crane Kick

In which Washington Irving’s Ichabod has the last laugh.

BYJIM HANAS

In 1996,the residents of North Tarrytown,New York,voted to rename their little village Sleepy Hollow,after the Washington Irving short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,”which was set in the vicinity.Not that there wasn’t debate over this belated renaming,which took place some 170 years after the story first appeared.“Many natives belittled the change in the 122-year-old name…as an empty,pretentious gesture that would do little to restore the glory days of the village's thriving General Motors plant,” The New York Times reported.“But proponents,many of them newcomers who commute to New York City,wanted to revitalize the town by giving it a fetching name that would bring in tourists,homebuyers,and investors.”

A fetching name it is.In Irving’s story,Sleepy Hollow is a magical place,preserved in perpetual reverie from the hectic influence of modernity.“For it is in such little retired Dutch valleys,found here and there embosomed in the great State of New-York,that population,manners,and customs,remain fixed; while the great torrent of migration and improvement,which is making such incessant changes in other parts of this restless country,sweeps by them unobserved.”A great place to escape from New York City,in other words,and perhaps to venture a pretentious gesture or two.

But what would Irving – who naturally was not consulted – have thought? Would he have been flattered? Or would he have seen it as the final victory of the worldly Manhattoes over the Dutch ancients of the Hudson River Valley? “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”is,after all – as Walt Disney faithfully rendered but Tim Burton did not – a nostalgic fable in which superstition trumps intellect,turning back progress that might otherwise have broken this magical spell that still held sway on the Hudson,according to Irving,as late as 1820.

At first glance,Irving’s legend is difficult to grasp even from a contemporary perspective.Ichabod Crane,a Connecticut Yankee, arrives in Sleepy Hollow and manages to woo Katrina Van Tassel, snatching her from the arms of the town brute,Brom Bones. Bones retaliates,by posing as the Headless Horseman,chasing Crane from town and then…nothing.That’s it.End of story.

It’s as if The Karate Kid ended with the members of Cobra Kai – dressed,a la Brom Bones,as skeletons – pummeling Danny LaRusso into inconsequence.No Mr.Miyagi.No second act.No opportunity for redemption via devastating “Crane kick.”

But the fact is that Ichabod Crane is no Ralph Macchio,which makes the tale somewhat more intelligible.Irving’s Crane is an

outsider,yes,but also a glutton and schemer,who values Ms.Van Tassel not just for herself,but also for her fortune.He is overly strict with the schoolchildren when no one is watching and overly attentive when everyone is.His intellect,meanwhile,is compromised by a fascination with the macabre,which sets the scene for his undoing,and the restoration of peace in the (in this case,literal) valley.

But for how long?

Not forever,we know.In 1839,two decades after “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”appeared,Irving – via one of his several aliases –returned to the topic of Sleepy Hollow in the pages of The Knickerbocker,a magazine named for another of his famous narrators,Diedrich Knickerbocker,the teller of the Sleepy Hollow tale.

Irving found that the spell he’d so carefully and lovingly described in the original story was on the verge of being broken,a suspicion definitively confirmed by the arrival of a bank.“The fate of the neighborhood is,therefore,sealed,”Irving concludes.“I see no hope of averting it.The golden mean is at an end.The country is suddenly to be deluged with wealth.The late simple farmers are to become bank directors,and drink claret and champagne;and their wives and daughters to figure in French hats and feathers;for French wines and French fashions commonly keep pace with paper money.How can I hope that even Sleepy Hollow can escape the general inundation? In a little while,I fear the slumber of ages will be at end;the strum of the piano will succeed to the hum of the spinning wheel;the trill of the Italian opera to the nasal quaver of Ichabod Crane;and the antiquarian visitor to the Hollow,in the petulance of his disappointment,may pronounce all that I have recorded of that once favored region,a fable.”

Sleepy Hollow,as Irving knew it,had vanished,as surely and completely as Ichabod Crane,who may – in fact – have gotten the last laugh.Progress was not averted.It came and went,first as a bank, then as a General Motors plant.Finally,residents – Ichabods all, up from the City – sought to bring back the magic,the forgotten fable,with an incantation of the name:Sleepy Hollow.

But,just as in Irving’s day,something – something deep – seemed to resist change,there on the banks of the Tappan Zee.''I've been here all my life,”a retired secretary told the Times.“And it's always going to be North Tarrytown to me.”

Jim Hanas is the author ofthe short story collection Why They Cried (Joyland eBooks/ECW Press 2010).He lives in Brooklyn.

Of Mice and Men

Unlike dogs,cats aren't purebreds based on their pedigree.Instead,a cat needs to have specific traits in order to be considered feline.Why is it that women are referred to as cats when men display many more feline characteristics? Cats and men both enjoy chasing balls,retiring to their cave,playing with prey and defending their independence.Both are curious to a fault about how things work and will continuously play with a mouse,whether alive or attached to a computer.

Women may have earned the title because cats have a powerful need to provide food,which is why a cat may bring prey as a gift for its owner,and because they purr when they are content,but also when they are frightened and need the company of others.

PHOTO BY ESA CANO,LIBERTY. WON 1ST PLACE IN COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT THE CATSKILL ART SOCIETY SULLIVAN COUNTY ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL ART SHOW.