WAG Magazine November 2013

November 2013

voices

Eli Manning: Guiding Eyes for the Blind’s strong voice

Going once, going twice with Wallace Schmidt This lady’s not for burning Joan of Arc and the warrior woman dr. elizabeth Almeyda cries “Tallyho!’ throat doc Gwen Korovin makes (theatrical) house calls Chic choices for holiday gifts

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yada, yada, yada • 13 hearing voices • 14 girl power • 16 chinese opera • 18 tallyho! • 20 lending a voice • 22 going once... • 24 can’t stop the music • 28 is there a doctor in the house? • 30 Toughen your timbre • 32 a voice for the arts • 34 bardavon • 36 where sleepy is anything but • 40 a library like no other • 42 the voices of the yankees • 44 the quiet man • 47 Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in a Jean Paul Gaultier costume for Luc Besson’s 1997 film “The Fifth Element.” Photograph by Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment/Photofest. © Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment. (See Jean Paul Gaultier at the Brooklyn Museum, beginning on page 60).

Saying it with music • 56 chic choices • 66 Voicing the concerns of children • 82

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Features

Where history speaks

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A nose for voices

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The importance of your voice in health care

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With Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas

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10 Waggers 12 Editor’s letter Cover photograph by Charles Wenzelberg.

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is the digital editor with the Business Journals, an award-winning journalist and the host of “Say Hey!” on WVOX Radio. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School, he is the former editor-in-chief of Westchester’s Home Town Media Group, where he also wrote a weekly column. Lungariello lives in Brooklyn with his fiancée and a cat that wakes him up at 5 a.m. each day.

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My earliest memory is of myself singing. I was 4, accompanying my aunt and grandmother on a doctor’s visit. No doubt to amuse me, the nurse handed me a lollipop, and I made up a song about it. It took me a few minutes to realize that I wasn’t just singing the song in my head. Slowly, I gazed around at a full waiting room that was (let’s go with mesmerized here, shall we?

Probably more like horrified.)

“No, no,” the nurse said.

“Continue.”

My first audience. Little did she know what she had unleashed. Flush from appearances in the finest waiting rooms in Westchester, I quickly moved on to mimicking my aunt and uncle’s recordings of Renata Tebaldi and Anna Moffo. I sang it all – classical, church music, folk, Broadway – accompanying and accompanied by my sisters on piano and guitar in salons in our home. I studied violin, which turned out to be first-rate preparation for the voice lessons that followed, sang opera in college and served as a cantor in local churches.

Apart from writing, singing was the one thing I was good at. (To a certain extent.

“Stick to Mozart,” my aunt admonished whenever I strayed into torch songs like “The Man I Love.”) Singing helped define my writing as language has always been in part about rhythm for me. And it is certainly the soundtrack of my myriad moods. Many was the evening that I would return home from the journalistic salt mines, fling open the door and announce dramatically to my aunt, “It’s a ‘Tosca’ night.”

For all you would-be Floria Toscas out there – and you know who you are – this is an issue for you. Herein we consider the voice – the one that runs through your head and spills out into the world, that makes you who you are, for no two voices are alike. Here you’ll meet singers/ songwriters/instrumentalists like Byram’s Vinny Nobile and lyric coloraturas who also give voice lessons like the Music Conservatory of Westchester’s Jeanai La Vita.

But you’ll also encounter folks who use their voices in unusual ways, including in service to others, like cover guy Eli Manning. We know just what you’re thinking: He’s having one helluva year in the worst possible way. But he’s one of the loveliest young men you’re likely to meet, whose

quiet, steady voice pierced through the din of two improbable Super Bowl runs and takes on a compassionate tone in his work for the Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown Heights. And if that voice should break today, well, he’s entitled, isn’t he?

There are other Elis here – people willing to serve as a voice for others, like Westport Library’s Maxine Bleiweis, Cold Spring fused-glass artist Barbara Galazzo and Ardsley/Thornwood teacher Elena Olivieri. They are in turn helping readers, artists and children, respectively, find their voices.

Sometimes voices turn menacing, as you’ll see in our discussion of schizophrenia with Wilton psychiatrist and novelist Mark Rubinstein.

Yet throughout history, there’s been a fine line between madness and mysticism.

We include here a look at Joan of Arc, who heeded the voices in her head that told her to save France from the British and willingly died for them.

There is a power in the voice that wells within us and project itself out into the world where it unites with others. When I think of the voice, I think of that memorable scene in the 1942 movie “Casablanca.” A group of German soldiers are singing “Die Wacht am Rhein” at Rick’s Café Américain. But Paul Henreid’s freedom fighter Victor Laszlo will have none of it.

He orders the band, with the approval of Humphrey Bogart’s Rick, to strike up “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem – symbol of all that has been lost and still remains. Soon everyone else in the café takes it up, drowning out the sounds of tyranny.

That’s what one voice, harmonizing with others, can do.

Harry Belafonte in a 1954 photograph by Carl Van Vechten.

Édith Piaf singing in Rotterdam in 1962. Courtesy of the Nationaal Archief den Haag.

Yada, yada, yada Vocalizing from Homer to Kanye

By Georgette Gouveia A good way to get people yakking is to ask them how yakking started. There are lots of questions and theories, but no real answers to what some describe as the greatest mystery in science: How did speech/language start?

Was it a genetic mutation some 100,000 years ago that spontaneously got everyone talking – sort of a big bang in the brain – or was language something that evolved over time as a way for people to establish and maintain social connections with some while keeping others out? The latter seems the more persuasive. I’m foraging in one part of the forest. You’re foraging in another. How are we going to meet up later for coffee at some prehistoric Starbucks unless we vocalize our plans?

The one certainty is that from our first wail to our last breath – when “the rest is silence,” in the words of that great conversationalist, Hamlet – speech, singing and vocalizing help define human experience and individuality, for no two voices are alike.

“It’s that primal cry,” says voice teacher Jeanai La Vita of the Music Conservatory of Westchester, who’s fond of the line, “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.” It’s no surprise that the sentiment belongs to Walt Whitman, a poet. In ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greece and Rome, poetry melded with music, drama and dance as a way to praise God or the gods, exult in nature and explore the terrifying, wondrous mystery that is the human spirit. Homer was one such poet – or several poets – who held others in thrall with spoken-sung stories of the gods and their equally flawed but fascinating heroes.

From the ancient traditions, the early Church created various forms of chant – syllabic (one note per syllable for clergy and congregation), neumatic (several notes per syllable for choristers) and melismatic (many notes per syllable for soloists.) It was in the Middle Ages that chant was organized by Pope Gregory the Great (hence Gregorian chant), musical notation as we know it was established and singing moved from monophony, one melodic line, to polyphony – two or more lines beginning at different times, as in a round, or moving against one another in counterpoint.

Whether or not you were singing monophony or polyphony in public, the sound was always the same – pure and male, with little vibrato, the slightly tremulous quality of adult male and female voices. In other words, medieval vocal performance was sexless and definitely not feminine. Indeed, the aversion to women in liturgical singing or in the theatrical singing that began with the rise of opera in the Baroque led to one of the strangest and most barbaric performance practices – the castration of often impoverished prepubescent boys to preserve their beautiful singing voices. Castrati like Farinelli and Senesino, who combined great lung power with very high voices, were superstars throughout the Baroque and the 18th-century, when the taste for this style of singing – and the cruelty it took to accomplish it – began to wane.

Today, the castrati’s operatic parts are pants roles sung by mezzo-sopranos and contraltos, the lower two female registers, though there are still some naturally occurring male sopranos as well as male altos, or countertenors, like David Daniels, who thrilled audiences last season at The Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Handel’s “Giulio Cesare.”

Throughout the 19th century, under masters like Schubert, Wagner, Verdi and Puccini, opera and lied, or art song, were enriched melodically, harmonically and dramatically, so much so that it’s not surprising that they retrenched in the 20th century. Classical music became more abstract, atonal, posing some of the greatest challenges for singers since the metrically free, vibrato-less days of the Renaissance.

But just as classical music was becoming more austere, pop music was heating up, spurred by mass media and technology and inspired by the melding of classical and folk influences, especially the rhythms and spirituals of African-Americans. Blues, jazz, R&B, folk and rock required a different kind of singer, one who was not so wedded to the score or music sheet, who was willing to play with melody and rhythm and put his or her individuality on the line.

Though opera has always had its share of outsize personalities like Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti, they were stars first and foremost because they could sing.

As the great pop music critic Robert Christgau wrote in “Any Old Way You Choose It” (Cooper Square Press, 2000, expanded edition), classical singing is about beauty of tone, while pop singing is about projecting personality through the voice. It’s no surprise then that 20th-century pop music has produced some of the great, idiosyncratic singers from Billie Holliday and Al Jolson to Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald, to Barbra Streisand, Mick Jagger and Whitney Houston.

Today, everyone sings everything as musical styles come together. Renée Fleming might trill Mozart at The Met, warble jazz on CD and riff on opera’s greatest hits for David Letterman’s Top Ten. Gone are the days when Farinelli sang for popes. Now it’s Kelly Clarkson.

Meanwhile, the hip hop and rap – half-spoken, halfsung – echo recitative and Sprechstimme in classical music, the patter songs of Mozart and Cole Porter and the poetry of the ancients. Homer, meet Kanye West and Lady Gaga.

But perhaps the greatest change in, and challenge for, vocal performance has been the constantly shifting, everdeceptive technology. Microphones, recording equipment, YouTube, karaoke and shows like “American Idol,” “The Voice” and “The X Factor” can turn virtually anyone into a pro. Or can they? (Revisit – or don’t – Roseanne Barr’s controversial rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a 1990 San Diego Padres-Cincinnati Reds game.)

“It’s a double-edged sword,” voice teacher La Vita says of programming like “The Voice.” “I love that it makes people interested in singing. But the danger is that it makes everyone an expert, and for that reason, it cheapens the experience.”

And yet, that’s where we are in 21st-century America, with everyone wanting to sound his barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. n 13

Hearing voices It’s not always a sign of mental illness

By Georgette Gouveia

Dr. Mark Rubinstein

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When “A Beautiful Mind” – Ron Howard’s film about schizophrenic mathematician John Nash – debuted in 2001, it was criticized in some circles for its depiction of schizophrenic hallucinations. As a filmmaker, of course, Howard chose to unspool his tale of madness – and thus build suspense – visually.

But in fact, schizophrenic hallucinations are auditory, says Dr. Mark Rubinstein.

The schizophrenic doesn’t see images that aren’t there. He hears voices that don’t exist except inside his head.

The subject of hallucinations – which Rubinstein defines as “sensory perceptions by an individual with no perceivable source” – is a complex one. The Wilton resident has had more than his share of encounters with these as a general and forensic psychiatrist who is now a full-time writer and author of the new thriller “Love Gone Mad.” “Hallucinations run a spectrum from normal to extremely pathological,” he says.

Within the realm of normal experience are the auditory and visual hallucinations you experience while dreaming. You might also experience a flash of light or hear a bell or a voice – phenomena that are hypnagogic or pompnagogic, depending on whether or not they occur respectively as you are about to fall asleep or between sleep and wakefulness.

Other hallucinations are far more disquieting. They can be the visual hallucinations of “the proverbial pink-elephant kind,” Rubinstein says, caused by everything from alcoholism and cocaine addiction to certain kinds of fevers to uremic poisoning.

“Visual hallucinations have a toxic, metabolic or physical causation,” he says.

Then there are somatic hallucinations that manifest themselves as formications.

You feel as if bugs are crawling over your skin or a tingling sensation. Again, these can present themselves in cases of severe alcoholism.

Auditory hallucinations can be associated with severe depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. There are different types of schizophrenia, which in turn are just some of the forms of psychosis, “which involves an individual losing the ability to determine the difference between reality and fantasy,” Rubinstein says.

Not all of the schizophrenic’s hallucinations may be dangerous. They could be a pleasant voice saying “Hello” or a more insistent one commanding you to “Go to bed.”

But in some cases, the voices can be

accusatory or paranoid, leading to feelings of unworthiness and fear and spurring the schizophrenic to suicide and/or murder. Such appears to be the case of government contractor Aaron Alexis, a paranoid schizophrenic who heard voices and believed people were following him and using machines to cause vibrations in his body. His delusion, which Rubinstein defines as “a false, fixed belief that is not held by your peers and is contrary to actual experience,” may be what led him to kill 12 people in the Washington Navy Yard Sept. 16 before police killed him.

Alexis is also an example of how hallucinations take on “a cultural coloration,” Rubinstein says. Some 150 years ago, there were no hallucinations involving low-frequency radio waves, which Alexis believed were tormenting him. But though the means through which hallucinations present themselves change with technology, there are some constants, Rubinstein says.

These include Jesus, perhaps the seminal figure in Western civilization, and more generally God and the Devil.

Visions and voices date from at least ancient times. Rubinstein points to Saul of Tarsus, who persecuted the early Church but was converted on the road to Damascus, where he was struck blind and heard the voice of Jesus saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Rubinstein notes that Saul, better known today as St. Paul, was an epileptic, which might explain his Damascus moment – science not being in the business of validating mysticism.

The truth, Rubinstein says, is that we don’t know what causes hallucinations. In his provocative 1976 book “The Origins of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind,” the late Princeton University psychology professor Julian Jaynes suggests that they are a remnant of an early age when men received godlike commands (as in Homer’s “The Iliad”) that were nothing more than the nonverbal right brain instructing its chatty left-brain counterpart. When consciousness developed after a string of geopolitical crises, hallucinations became the exception rather than the rule.

But Rubinstein says there is no evidence for this. What is proven is that with antipsychotic drugs, therapy and strong family support, schizophrenics can lead normal lives.

Nonetheless, he adds, “what typically happens is the patient feels better, stops taking the medication, and then it’s back to square one.”

For more on Mark Rubinstein, visit markrubinstein-author.com. n

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Girl power

Joan of Arc died for her voices. Almost 600 years later, we’re still struggling to understand hers.

By Georgette Gouveia

Ingres’ “Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII” (1854, oil), Musée du Louvre.

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She’s a tween, a mere slip of a girl when it happens.

Out there in the fields of Domrémy, France, where her farmer-parents plow their 50 acres, unknown to the nobility and the mad Valois family that lost their kingdom to the Brit golden boy, Henry V. But he’s gone, died young, leaving a fragile babe, Henry VI, heir to England and France. So the time is ripe for a new kind of hero – a heroine who’s alone in the lush, sun-dappled greenery when the extraordinary takes hold. She sees and hears them – the dazzling warrior St. Michael and then the virgin-martyr saints Catherine of Alexandria and Margaret – visions and voices so beautiful that she cries when they leave. They tell her she’s been called to drive the English from French soil and see the Dauphin, the future Charles VII, take his proper place on the throne in Reims.

And she thinks, what? That they’re unreal, that she’s mad, as crazy as Charles VI was, bringing madness to two royal lines? No, like the patriarchs and prophets of old she keeps faith and goes forth to meet her destiny. It isn’t easy, of course. Nothing great ever is. But as with all who achieve greatness, she begins by chipping away at the problem – asking a kinsman to help her petition a garrison commander whose rebuff nonetheless spurs her to seek an introduction to the royal court at Chinon from two men of influence, Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy. And it’s in their presence that she makes a bold prediction – that the French will reverse their fortunes near Orléans.

Naturally, she’s right. You knew that’s how it would go.

And she gets to meet the Dauphin, who’s in much need of cowboying up and his mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, who’s made of sterner stuff and becomes one of the helping female hands along the way.

Still, she must pass rigorous tests, including intimate physical examinations to confirm her virginity, for the Devil could have no congress with a true maid. Her virginity, Marina Warner writes, is the seal on her mission’s integrity.

The real test, of course, will come at Orléans where dressed like a man and clad in borrowed armor – perhaps to protect herself as much from her new comrades as from the enemy – she leads the bold charge that will finally break the more than five-month-old siege of the city, this despite being wounded in the neck by an arrow.

Winning begets winning. English-occupied towns start falling to the French. Even food supplies appear at the right moment. And Reims readies itself for the crowning of the Dauphin as Charles VII on July 17, 1429.

Despite the odd wound, she fights on, at least as best as she can. For here politics rears its head. And also, winning begets losing. There are negotiations, truces, moments of inaction that are never good for soldiers, who are better at winning the war than winning the peace. As she attempts to defend Compiègne from an attack by English and allied Burgundian forces in the spring of 1430, she’s captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English.

And you think, where’s the new King Charles in all this, the one who would not have a crown on his head without her? (You might also think, it’s a good thing for the

French that Henry V dies young, because he would so absolutely mop the floor with him.)

The scene shifts. The English try her for heresy, but she’s one tough, smart cookie, this one, verbally jousting with them as they attempt to make the charge stick. But the cards are stacked against her. She can’t read and write.

She’s guarded by English soldiers. She’s still barely more than a girl, 19 now, playing a man’s game she ultimately cannot win.

And anyway, she won’t renounce her voices and the voice within that has told her this is what she was born to do.

Her male inquisitors think, what? She’s a witch? A bitch?

Or maybe she’s just an itch they can’t scratch. They concede on the cross-dressing stuff. What better way for a woman on the battlefield to protect her virtue?

Yet even that’s a problem, for she’s no mere virgin but what the Jungian M. Esther Harding calls a psychological virgin, a woman complete in herself. She’s got to go.

And go she does on May 30, 1431. After she burns to death at the stake in Rouen, the coals are raked back to expose the charred remains of a body that so fascinated comrades and enemies alike and that could never be violated in life. It’s then set on fire anew to reduce it to ashes to be thrown in the Seine.

But those ashes drift, so to speak, all the way to Rome, where Pope Callixtus III reopens the case and she is declared an innocent martyr on July 7, 1456.

Yet it’s not until 1920 that she is finally canonized. All saints need miracles attributed to them. Perhaps it is the tales of those gassed soldiers, crying out to her as they struggle for every breath in the trenches of the Marne, that finally turn the tide.

All in all, the modern era has been good to her, with plays by the likes of Jean Anouilh and George Bernard Shaw, operas by Verdi and Walter Braunfels, whose work is performed at Austria’s Salzburg Festival, films starring Ingrid Bergman, Leelee Sobieski and Milla Jovovich, provocative books by Marina Warner, Mary Gordon and Donald Spoto. (Even Xena, Warrior Princess and Katniss Everdeen, the character Jennifer Lawrence plays in “The Hunger Games” series, are riffs on her Athena persona.)

In the it-takes-one-to-know-one department, she is perhaps best captured by Martha Graham’s beautiful “Seraphic Dialogue.” A sort of “This Is Your Life,” the ballet depicts the about-to-be apotheosized saint watching her maiden, warrior and martyr selves perform. After she, too, dances, she takes her place among her saintly apparitions. As Catherine and Margaret close the tracery of Isamu Noguchi’s set on her and Michael, framing them in a living stained glass tableau, she spreads her arms and Michael kisses her forehead, spreading his arms, too, in a gesture of blessing and farewell.

She never leaves us though. She’s there in Reims Cathedral, the rose window giving her serene warrior’s countenance a pink halo glow.

And she’s there in Jules Bastien-Lepage’s Metropolitan Museum of Art canvas, a big farm girl lost in what the specters who peer from the foliage have just told her.

Watch the faces of the viewers who do a double take or pause before her. They are young, female faces for the most part. They smile before they dance away. They know her secret. It is the secret of all womanhood.

And perhaps some of them say quietly with the faithful: “Jeanne d’Arc, la Pucelle d’Orléans, priez pour nous.”

“Joan of Arc, Maid of Orléans, pray for us.” n

And anyway, she won’t renounce her voices and the voice within that has told her this is what she was born to do.

Her male inquisitors think, what? She’s a witch? A bitch? Or maybe she’s just an itch they can’t scratch.

They concede on the crossdressing stuff. What better way for a woman on the battlefield to protect her virtue?

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17

Chinese Opera: A glorious tradition

By Audrey Ronning Topping

A male performer in the Beijing Opera in Beijing. Photograph by Saad Akhtar.

18

y grandfather, a stately man of the cloth who spent many years as a missionary in China during the last imperial dynasty, had a passion for Chinese opera.

Long after he returned to Canada, he would entertain his grandchildren on special occasions by donning a brightly embroidered Chinese robe, painting his face red and singing falsetto through his nose while waving his long arms and hands in wildly exaggerated poses.

We all screamed with laughter, but he sternly reminded us that in China the opera was a very serious matter.

Chinese opera is a form of traditional theater that combines, singing, dance, mime and acrobatics.

It began in the Tang Dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong (712-756), who founded the Pear Garden opera troupe that performed for the emperor’s personal pleasure. To this day, operatic professionals are still called Disciples of the Pear Garden. There are many operatic forms all over China, but the Peking Opera (now Beijing Opera) became dominant and evolved into a popular entertainment.

By the time my grandparents arrived in the interior province of Hubei in 1891, during the late Qing Dynasty (16441911), Peking Opera was regarded as one of China’s cultural treasures. Beginning in 1894, the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi, who later during the Boxer Uprising tried to kill all foreigners, became a regular patron of Peking Opera and constructed elaborate theaters for the imperial court. My grandparents, the Ronnings, took their children to see the Pear Garden operatic troupes perform on a square outdoor stage that could be viewed from three sides. The musicians with traditional instruments, usually directed by a percussion player, were visible on the front part of the stage. The Ronnings sat with the common viewers on the south side of the stage. North is the most important direction in Peking Opera and as the performers entered from the east they immediately moved to “center north.” The characters always entered from the east and exited to the west.

My foreign family watched in awe and wonder as the actors, decked in dazzling costumes and symbolic masks in all colors, used unique skills of speech, song, dance, and traditional martial arts to perform the musical extravaganzas. The repertoire of Peking Opera now includes more than 1,400 works based on folklore and historical novels or traditional stories about civil, political and military struggles. Grandfather’s favorite was the well-known story of the Monkey King (Sun Wukong) inspired by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) classic legend “Journey to The West” by Wu Cheng’en. It tells of the trials and tribulations of the Buddhist Monk, Xuanzang, who journeyed to India in 630 to bring the Buddhist scriptures back to China.

The climax comes when the mischievous Monkey King stirs up trouble in Heaven and kicks over the oven that was baking pills to cure immortals. Burning charcoals fell from the sky and formed the Flaming Mountains (Huoyan Shan). When the pilgrim was returning to China, the white monkey cooled the Flaming Mountains with a palm leaf so Xuanzang could pass.

I know this is the fiery truth, because I have seen the Flaming Mountains with my own eyes. The red tertiary sandstone mountains stretch some 60 miles along the edge of the Taklamakan Desert (Desert of No Return) in modern-day Xinjiang Province and while riding over the “Singing Sands” between the furry humps of a Bactrian camel, I saw the mountains burst into flames at sunset.

The opera stories are symbolic and suggestive rather than realistic. The performers adhere to a variety of stylistic movements and conventions that help the audience navigate the intricate and complex plots. Although the Ronning children could not understand the archaic grammatical form of classical Chinese or colloquial speech used onstage, they soon learned that Peking Opera did not aim to represent reality accurately but was based instead on allusions that everyone could understand. Character types were determined by conventional gestures, with hand and footwork used to signal particular actions to the audience.

For example, walking in a large circle symbolizes traveling a long distance, and a character straightening his costume and headdress alerts the onlookers that an important character is about to speak. A whip is used to indicate a horse and an oar represents a boat. Ribbons and other props embody fire and brimstone.

At that time, Peking Opera was an exclusively male pursuit. The Qianlong Emperor had banned all female performers in 1772 and the ban was not lifted until 1912, although males continued to play female characters and sang falsetto. A majority of songs, usually sung in nasal tones, are within a range of an octave and a fifth.

High pitch is a positive aesthetic value, so performers try to pitch songs at the very top of their range. The Chinese make extensive use of vocal vibrato during songs in a way that is slower and wider than vibrato used in Western performances.

Vocal production is composed of “four levels of song,” with a sliding scale of vocalization that, when done well, creates a smooth continuity between songs and speech. (When Grandpa attempted to vocalize a dramatic aria, it always sounded more like the siren of a fire engine.)

When I first went to China in 1946 as a student at Nanking University, my favorite entertainment was Chinese opera.

But after the Communists came to power, Peking Opera became a focal point of identity for both the Nationalists and the Communists, who had fought the Civil War. Shortly before the Communists captured Nanking, I was evacuated and the newly formed government moved to bring culture, including the opera, into line with Communist ideology and “make art and literature a component of the whole revolutionary machine.” As a popular art form, traditional opera has usually been the first of the arts to reflect changes in Chinese policy. In the mid-1950s, it was the first to benefit under the Hundred Flowers Campaign, with the birth of Jilin Opera, which was later attacked.

Similarly, the attack in November 1965 on Beijing Deputy Mayor Wu Han and his historical play, “Hai Rui Dismissed From Office,” signaled the beginning of

the Cultural Revolution.

By the time I returned to China as a journalist for The New York Times during the Cultural Revolution (19661976), most operatic troupes had been disbanded, performers and scriptwriters were persecuted and all dramatic works without Communist themes were considered subversive and banned. Western-style plays were condemned as “dead drama” and “poisonous weeds.” Mao Zedong’s ambitious wife, Jiang Qing, a former Shanghai actress, used Chinese opera as a tool to transmit Communist ideology.

She produced eight, extremely boring “revolutionary operas” that became compulsory entertainment for reluctant factory workers and “special foreign guests.”

She claimed her “model” operas expressed Mao’s view: “Art must serve the interest of the workers, peasants and soldiers and must conform to proletarian ideology.”

But the night I attended “The Legend of the Red Lantern,” Madame Mao swept imperiously into the front row just as the curtain was rising, tossed the corner of her red opera cape over her shoulder and gave the audience a royal wave.

After the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976 and the suicide of Jiang Qing, Peking Opera enjoyed a revival. Both old and new works appeared. Revised and banned plays from China and abroad were reinstated in the national repertoire although many strained the limits of creative freedom and were alternately condemned and commended, depending on the political atmosphere. In modern China there has been a steady decline of audiences and patrons of traditional opera, which is attributed to both inferior performance quality and an inability to capture modern life. The influence of Western culture has left the high-tech younger generation impatient with the slow pace of traditional opera, but a modernized version is still drawing huge audiences abroad.

Audrey Ronning Topping’s new book, “China Mission: A Personal History From Imperial China to the People’s Republic” (Louisiana State University Press), is available on Amazon.com. n 19 140257 KOHUD WAG Magazine Ad.indd 1

10/17/13 9:28 AM

Tallyho!

By Andrea Kennedy

Dashing over hill and dale, Go hunters and their hounds.

Horses leap to keep the pace, Hoofing through the haze.

And riders hear the distance sounds Of huntsman’s horn ablaze.

Elizabeth Almeyda in formal hunting top hat riding Smokehouse Blues.

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The hunt is poetry in motion. A scene fit for “Downton,” our local verse is set on the rolling terrain of North Salem where the historic Golden’s Bridge Hounds practice and preserve the elegant tradition of foxhunting.

“It’s very beautiful,” Dr. Elizabeth Almeyda says. “There are two photographers that follow our hunts regularly because they like to take pictures of us and the hounds and the horses and everything.”

A renowned plastic surgeon with a nearly 30-year Manhattan practice, Almeyda has hunted with Golden’s Bridge Hounds for a decade. With her trusty steed, Smokehouse Blues, she’s galloped the open land for a hunt steeped in grandeur, ceremony and, of course, its share of hunting mayhem.

“It’s like anarchy,” she says with a laugh. “It’s crazy, like controlled chaos. When you first start hunting all you’re concerned about is staying alive on your horse.”

Start with the pack of hounds numbering at least “20 couple” – that’s 40 in hunt-speak – with top hounds in the front and stragglers in the back. (Saying top “dogs” would speak only of the males in the bunch.) On the heels of the hounds, a dozen or more hunters on their horses whizz by branches, with hounds doubling back under-hoof, zigzagging the “field” (the mounted lot) or leading the field over fallen trees and fences.

“It’s a relatively dangerous sport,” says Almeyda.

“You’re galloping over hill and dale, over terrain that might have holes, and then you’re going to the woods and there might be downed trees and branches in the way. So there’s got to be someone who’s a designated leader and you follow that guy.”

That guy is the master, identified by his or her scarlet (or “pink”) coat. Golden’s Bridge Hounds’ original master was founder John McEntee Bowman, the famed hotelier who established the club in 1924, just two years after he established the Westchester Country Club (where Almeyda is also a member). Austine Hearst, who with her husband owned a stud of purebred Arabians, was another Golden’s Bridge master.

Masters manage all aspects of the hunt and lead the hunt’s first “flight” – the more senior members who know their stuff – with a second and perhaps third flight following.

“I generally ride in the first flight,” says Almeyda. “I like to be up where the action is.”

The hierarchy – just one rule in the canon of hunting etiquette – dictates hunters who have earned their “colors” (indicated by a scarlet collar like Almeyda’s) ride in front with others not permitted to pass. All riders yield to the master; the huntsman, the hounds’ alpha dog; and his whippers-in, the huntsman helpers who watch and wrangle the dogs as they hunt – and stop traffic on Route 121 for hound crossing.

The rules of the field exist to ensure safety but also to

allow riders to optimize their hunting experience. Once the hounds start making music (a hunting hound’s howl) or the huntsman’s horn makes a high-pitched staccato signaling he has had a view of the prey, riders will fly in his direction to catch a glimpse. Vets of the hunt will even try to stay a step ahead.

“You try to figure out where the hounds are going to go,” Almeyda says, her voice quickening as if in pursuit of its own words. “Are we going to see the prey? Are we going to circle back? Are we going to have a view? And then if you do, you go, ‘Tallyho!’”

It’s enough for a hunter’s heart to skip a beat.

“It’s thrilling, because you know your hounds are doing what they’re supposed to do – what they’re bred to do,” she says.

Golden’s Bridge Hounds are bred for their keen scent, obedience, stamina and drive, tracking foxes sometimes for hours until the hunt ends with the fox “going to ground” (escaping to its den) or the pack losing the scent. (The hunt does not end in a kill.) So a tallyho – an 18th-century phrase from the French taïaut, used to excite hounds on a deer hunt – means you’re actually witness to an age-old chase. And for a moment, you’ve outfoxed the fox.

“They are wily, they are smart, and they hear us come a mile away,” says Almeyda. “Their faculties and their senses are much more honed than ours, so it is so difficult to find them, and if they hear you, they disappear in the brush. So just to see them is thrilling.”

The tallyho, of course, is just part of the lure of the hunt, says Almeyda, who is also an avid golfer and fencer. As with other sporting clubs, she says, hunting has a stimulating social circle with its own rules and vernacular.

(Covert, riot, brush, thong and lark do not mean what you think they mean.) The group shares hunt breakfasts, which can be casual or entirely grand. Almeyda’s was catered and featured a live band. From October through March, they hunt Saturdays and Tuesdays. They hunt Thanksgiving morning and then eat lots of turkey. They hunt in wind, rain and snow.

“The people who hunt, we’re sort of addicted to it,” Almeyda says.

Her home in North Salem is in fact a second home she bought to be closer to her hunting grounds. Its walls are painted in hunting history.

“The entire living room walls are an oil painting of the hunt,” says Almeyda, who considers herself entrusted to preserve the mural.

The home formerly belonged to a master of the hunt, a testimony to how hunters, like their hounds, seem to travel in well-bred packs. But to join the pack neither a hotelier nor news mogul nor plastic surgeon you need be.

Local riders with horses are welcome, says Almeyda, who will host a pace Nov. 17 in North Salem where riders can compete on a course similar to a hunt.

So saddle up, if you’ve got a horse. It’s never too early to practice your tallyho.

For questions or to enter the pace Nov. 17, contact Elizabeth Almeyda at eaa203@aol.com. For more information on Golden’s Bridge Hounds, visit goldensbridgehounds.org. n

Photograph by Bill Atherton Photography.

21

Lending a voice

By Patricia Espinosa

Hard work and determination are what separate the adults from the kids in the invisible world of voiceovers. Because simply having a wellmodulated voice doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to break into the business, says voice-over artist Brett J. D’Elia.

“You’ve got to spend tons and tons of time reading aloud,” says the Westport resident, who also spends a lot of time doing tempo and diction exercises to hone his craft. “It’s like working out to keep your body fit.” (D’Elia should know. He and his wife have owned Charged, a private fitness-training business in Fairfield for the past 10 years.)

Unseen and usually unsung, artists like D’Elia give voice to commercials, narration, promotion and animation.

The big money, though, is in commercials, like the Geico gecko gig. Each time the commercial airs, the voice of Geico’s cockney gecko (Jake Wood) collects a hefty royalty.

In recent years, you’ve probably noticed the influx of celebrity voice-overs, done by the likes of Jon Hamm, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman, among others. We may not always know their names, but the familiarity of their voices captures our attention and draws us in. And since voice-overs require a considerable amount of acting skills, said awardwinning actors are a natural fit.

Why do they do it?

“Generally, when you’re going to be in front of the camera, there are expectations about how you should look,” says D’Elia, who acknowledges that there’s something freeing about the anonymity of performing voiceovers.

Perhaps it’s that anonymity that has made the television show “The Voice” a resounding success. The show is a singing competition in which contestants begin the show with a blind audition where they are judged strictly by the quality of their voices, not by how they look.

In the new indie film “In A World…” actress Lake Bell plays a struggling vocal coach who strikes it big in the cutthroat male-dominated world of movie-trailer voice-overs. Written, directed and produced by Bell, the hilarious film made its debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, winning the young actress an award for best screenplay. Intrigued by the quintessential omniscient voice behind the movie-trailers and the noticeable lack of females narrating them, Bell was inspired to write the script.

“When most people think of voice-overs, what usually comes to mind is the classic big-voice announcer, ‘Buy this set of knives and get the second one free,’” D’Elia says in a resonant voice.

22

Brett J. D’Elia at his Fairfield studio. Photograph by Patricia Espinosa.

But what most clients are looking for today, he says, is someone relatable, like a neighbor, a brother or husband, someone who is comforting. “It’s the antithesis of the big-voice announcer.”

The voice-over industry has also changed, becoming less insular.

“Now, anyone with a computer and a microphone – because the quality of all this stuff has gotten so good over the years that anyone can compete – can vie for the same voice-over work as thousands and thousands of other people. It used to be that most people were locked out, because it was such an insider business, but now it’s blown wide open.”

So the good news is it’s easier to compete. And hence the bad news: More people are competing.

“If you have enough ability on your own to create a start-to-finish produced voice-over … you don’t have to go anywhere. And that’s what’s amazing about the industry now. …It’s that much more accessible. Because you don’t need to have as many inside contacts as you used to, the field is just a lot more level.”

Like a lot of people whose voice becomes a central part of their lives, D’Elia started at a young age singing as a member of his youth church choir in Fairfield and later played in bands in high school.

“So there was really no question in what direction I would go in college,” D’Elia says about his decision to

attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he graduated in 1998 with a degree in vocal performance, songwriting and music business.

“One of the things I learned from my teacher at Berklee College of Music is if you’re a singer, you have to literally treat your physical body like an instrument. I was actually introduced to fitness by my voice teacher at Berklee. So it made a lot of sense to me if you do intend to use your voice as a primary instrument, you’ve got to start taking care of it and, by extension, yourself. …It was my senior year of college when I started to devote more time to exercise and to fitness.”

After college the singer-songwriter took voice-over classes in Manhattan and then later at Edge Studio in Fairfield, where his instructors told him his voice would be best-suited for narration. Indeed, when we meet at his studio, I am immediately taken by the sound of his voice.

The tone is rich and full and when he speaks each word is crisp and clear, which makes me realize this man could make anything sound interesting.

Admittedly consumed with the nuances and versatility of the human voice, D’Elia uses his as an instrument in a matter of seconds to convey an extraordinary range of emotions that run the gamut from pain and sorrow to excitement and joy.

For more information about the artist, visit his website, voxploration.com. n

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Wallace Schmidt at one of his auctions.

24

Going once…

Auctioneer Wallace Schmidt gets the crowds bidding Story by Mary Shustack Photographs by Al DelBello and Mary Shustack On a recent morning in the sleepy town of Chatham, N.Y., Wallace Schmidt is assessing the community room of the town’s fire department.

One of Schmidt’s frequent auctions of Oriental rugs will start here in less than two hours and potential bidders are starting to trickle into the bare-bones Columbia County venue.

This isn’t the ritzy showroom of a Sotheby’s or Christie’s, to be sure.

Here, it’s all about the task at hand – getting antique and contemporary Oriental rugs into the hands of collectors, dealers, decorators and homeowners at prices that leave retail far behind.

Schmidt says hello to a few regulars, as others are pulling out tape measures to check the day’s offerings. He’ll then pause to chat about the business that’s been part of his life since 1967.

“I was 20,” he says before adding with a laugh. “I shouldn’t say I was 20. I should say I was 2.”

Schmidt, who grew up just north of Albany, was an antiques and auction regular who found he had an affinity for Oriental rugs. He would go to auctions in New York City, where he lived in the late ’70s and early ’80s, “days when I haunted all the auctions.”

He’d follow and learn from John Edelmann, considered one of the foremost authorities on Oriental rugs.

“That’s where I cut my teeth,” says Schmidt, who has been importing rugs himself since the late ’80s and now lives north of Saratoga Springs. He deals with one importer and features antique and new rugs, many in silks and wools and primarily from Persia (modern-day Iran), India, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, Tibet and Egypt.

Schmidt would go on to have his own antiques business in Albany, but also traveled the antiques circuit.

He speaks of estate sales, such as the one of noted New York dealer Tom De-

venish, and finds he uncovered in humble conference centers in western New York.

When Schmidt began an auction business, he gravitated toward Oriental rugs, which had long captivated him.

“It’s like a big mystery,” he notes. The colors, patterns and countries of origin prove ever fascinating, and he continues to collect the rugs himself.

And, Schmidt says, many share his passion.

“Some people are addicted,” he says.

“They just keep buying.”

Auctions, Schmidt says, are “in my blood,” and indeed he continues in the field as a marketing specialist and auctioneer with AuctionAdvisors, which specializes in commercial properties. He has also conducted auctions for hospitals and colleges to help raise funds.

At his Oriental-rug auctions, usually held nine times a year, it’s easy to see Schmidt’s love for his work.

Schmidt, who describes his auctioneer style as “kind of conservative,” encourages newcomers to stop in.

“Auctions are first choice all over the world, except (in) the United States,” he says.

He knows there is still some trepidation among many shoppers timid to take up a paddle.

“They don’t know what to do,” he says. “They’re afraid to move, to scratch their nose.”

But he says, attending an auction, seeing the goods and being part of the process makes all the difference. Online bidding, he says, just cannot compete.

“Cookie jars are fine, but when it comes to some kind of art, you have to see it.”

And that has brought a couple dozen people to this latest Schmidt auction.

“You get good prices and a good selection,” says Kim Armer of Charleston, N.Y., who’s been to past auctions and

25

Schmidt will be showcasing some 250 handmade rugs during his 1 p.m. auction. They’ll range from what he calls “scatter to palace” sizes, with colors in traditional reds and blues to the latest decorator colors. The rugs, which represent types ranging from antique Persians to Aubusson, needlepoint to Heriz, super silk to Tabriz, carry retail estimates from $250 up to $12,000.

26

finds Schmidt a true professional.

“I do think he knows what he’s talking about. He’s very direct, very simple – in a good way,” she says.

Though the economy has had an effect on sales, Schmidt says Oriental carpets are still desired, and rarity does add to value.

“No Persian goods come into the country anymore. That’s raised the prices,” he says.

On this particular day, Schmidt will be showcasing some 250 handmade rugs during his 1 p.m. auction. They’ll range from what he calls “scatter to palace” sizes, with colors in traditional reds and blues to the latest decorator colors.

The rugs, which represent types ranging from antique Persians to Aubusson, needlepoint to Heriz, super silk to Tabriz, carry retail estimates from $250 up to $12,000.

What attracts a bidder is never a guarantee, so plenty of options are always on hand.

“Some days you want to say, ‘You need sunglasses to look at this rug’ – but then people will buy it,” he says with a smile.

Soon, Schmidt must end the chat, as the auction is about to begin. His strategy for today? “Just to try to keep it running as smooth as you can.”

He greets the audience, gives a quick introduction to what’s ahead and reviews the format. He reminds that the auction is taking place in a firehouse, so the alarm may ring.

“All set? OK, let’s go.”

And indeed, things kick off a moment later as assistants hold up one rug after another, Schmidt detailing its features and starting and quickly pacing the bidding process.

Schmidt is clearly in his element, standing atop piles of rugs or pacing from side to side. Quips galore keep the crowd chuckling and the action moving.

When a circular rug fails to connect with the bidders, Schmidt demonstrates his years of experience: “What I always

say on the round rugs, ‘If you don’t have a round room, with the money you save you can build one.’”

Other rugs go fast, bids coming quickly and buyers not willing to let ones they have their hearts set on get away.

So a customer has too many? Schmidt has the answer: “If you don’t like the color, give it to your neighbor you’re fighting with over the fence… Give it to your mother-inlaw, maybe she won’t visit so often.”

And when one buyer takes a beat too long to signal he’s still in the hunt, Schmidt teases with “You can bid twice.”

The sale proceeds for a couple of hours before ending, as do all Schmidt auctions, with more than a few bidders heading home with some treasures.

Wallace Schmidt will next hold auctions Nov. 10 at the Litchfield Fire House and Dec. 15 at the Chatham Fire House. Schmidt is happy to answer any questions about any type of auction or the auction process. Contact him at (518) 649-9912, ext. 706, or wschmidt@auctionadvisors.com. n

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can’t stop the music

By Patricia Espinosa

Vinny Nobile with the Trummytones.

Photograph courtesy the Trummytones.

Front man Vinny Nobile knows a thing or two about performing.

After all, he’s been doing it ever since he was 8 years old, when he first played his trombone in front of a crowd of 500.

Since then the classically trained musician – he received a diploma in classical studies from The Juilliard School and a bachelor of music, jazz performance from the New England Conservatory – has earned his musical chops touring all over the world, playing with many bands, including the critically acclaimed Boston band Bim Skala Bim, whom he has toured and recorded with for more than a decade. In all, the international trombonist and vocalist has released more than 15 CDs of original music and has opened for such acts as Madness, Foo Fighters and Ziggy Marley. In 2004, he won the coveted John Lennon Songwriting Contest for best song in the children’s category.

I recently caught up with the accomplished musician at his home in Byram and asked him some questions about his versatile career.

Which instruments do you play?

“My main instrument is trombone, 28

but I also play trumpet, piano and guitar.

I play a little bit of drums, some bass, I sing and write songs.”

Which bands are you currently in?

“Currently, I’m in the Trummytones, a family-oriented music band and Bim Skala Bim, a ska band. I’m also playing with Spring Heeled Jack out of New Haven. And then I freelance all over the place.”

Do you write any of your own music?

“Yes. For Bim Skala Bim, I was sort of the fill-in writer. I had two songs per record that I would write, because the lead singer and the guitar player were the main writers, so I would fill in the gaps and come up with the instrumental songs. And on occasion, I would write the regular pop song. I was more of a background singer but front man on the trombone. Then when I moved to my next band, the Pilfers, I became more of a lead singer and I shared the role with our main lead singer. I probably wrote five songs on the album

out of 12. It was more of a move up for me as far as lead singing, which is completely different than background singing.”

petrifying at first, but you get used to it after a while.”

How so?

“No. I think I get more nervous when there aren’t enough people. When there’s a gigantic crowd, that’s when I’m into it.

I can actually relax because if there’s a big crowd, they’re there for you, which is a nice feeling.”

“The way you need to project your voice. When you’re singing in the back of someone, you try to mold your voice to theirs and their little nuances. But when you’re up front, you have to find your center and you have to project in a way that’s not background. …You’re the lead.

And if someone is singing behind you, they have to now follow your lead. So it’s a whole different feeling inside – the vocal chords and the chest area.”

As the lead singer, does it change your performance in terms of your showmanship?

“Yes, of course. It’s a whole different feeling. When you’re singing in the background, you have something to hide behind. When you’re the lead singer, you’re out in the open and there’s no place to hide. A lot of singers will use a mike stand for something to hold onto, because it’s

Do you get nervous before a performance?

Do you have any new music coming out?

“Yes, my band Bim Skala Bim has a new album out called ‘Chet’s Last Call’ and that’s up on iTunes and Amazon. And I’m still in the midst of finishing up the final details for a new Trummytone album, which will be available on iTunes soon. We also have a lot of live shows coming up in 2014 like the one at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and a festival in Brooklyn called Hip Tot.” For more information about Nobile, visit trummytones.com or bimska.com or email him at vinnynobile@hotmail. com. n

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Is there a doctor in the house?

Dr. Gwen, throat specialist to the stars, seems always toBybe on call Jane K. Dove Photograph by Bob Rozycki

Dr. Gwen Korovin in her Manhattan office.

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It’s a peaceful afternoon in Waccabuc, and Gwen Korovin, an ear, nose and throat doctor who specializes in the care of the professional voice, is relaxing in her weekend home after yet another busy week.

Her cell phone rings and she answers it to hear the anxious voice of a Broadway musical star in a panic over a strange rasp in her throat. She is due to perform that evening and needs immediate help.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Korovin agrees to take a car service down to Shubert Alley and administer what she calls “dressing room treatment” to her frightened patient. She also adds a healthy dose of comfort and compassion.

“I treat patients backstage many times a year,” she says. “It’s often between matinee and evening performances when they believe they may be losing their voice and are afraid that they will sound subpar or that performing may do damage.”

Korovin’s patient roster reads like a “Who’s Who” of top vocal performers, including Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, John Mayer, Hugh Jackman, Julie Andrews, Melissa Errico and Brooke Shields, to name only a few.

“I love what I do. And I take care of everybody, not just stars. It’s a very rewarding specialty, because most things I see in my patients are treatable and I can make them better. But I will say that I love to see my patients

perform. And I am thrilled when they say nice things about me to the public, like Celine Dion thanking me as she received her Grammy for ‘My Heart Will Go On,’ the Titanic theme song.”

Starting out

Korovin is a Brooklyn native who became interested in her specialty, called otolaryngology, when her father’s hearing loss led her to take an elective in the subject at SUNY Upstate Medical University at Syracuse, where she earned her M.D. After graduating in l984, she interned at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and completed a residency at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

“I was fortunate to be able to join the Upper East Side private practice of Dr. Wilbur Gould in 1989,” she says. “He was well-known throat specialist with patients that included Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy.” After Gould died in l994, his patients, including Pavarotti, stayed with Korovin.

“It was a smooth transition,” she says. “I had come to know his patients well and they all felt comfortable with me. I had the very good fortune to know and work with such an outstanding doctor.”

Treating the famous

Her practice is mostly based in her office on East 77th Street. She is also a clinical assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine and has privileges at Lenox Hill Hospital and its Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital (MEETH).

“The problems I encounter run the gamut from a simple cold, sore throat or cough to things that are more serious, like severe bronchitis or nodules on the vocal cords,” she says. “Performers are extremely protective of their vocal instruments, often worried that they have something more serious that could impact their careers.”

She can usually treat her performing patients backstage with steroids or anti-inflammatory medications to get them through their performances.

“The black bag I bring to their dressing rooms has everything I need to administer on-the-spot treatment,” she says. “If needed, I will see them later in my office.”

Much of what Korovin does so well involves understanding and compassion.

“A lot of my patients need calming down and reassurance they won’t be doing damage to their voice,” she says. “I am happy to say I have an excellent doctor-patient rapport with my clients. They trust me and confide in me. They know I will be there for them when I get that emergency call.”

In some situations, Korovin has had to tell a performing patient they cannot go onstage.

“That can get tricky, with managers, agents and producers all getting involved. But the patient’s health is the most important thing to me. Canceling can be difficult, but my clients usually take my advice, although some are willing to take the risk to go on.”

Korovin says one thing she often recommends to patients with vocal problems is simply rest for the voice.

“I tell them to keep talking to a minimum and communicate via email. Simply resting the voice can have tremendous benefits for the vocal cords and throat muscles.”

And everyone else

About half of Korovin’s patients are not from the performing arts world, but she enjoys taking care of them just as much.

“Patients come to me with a range of complaints and I treat them all, including performing surgery when needed – like the removal of polyps and cysts – and treating upper respiratory problems and cleaning out sinuses. I like to be conservative and go as far as possible with medical treatment before doing surgery.”

One thing Korovin cautions her patients about, whether famous or not, is to be prudent about using over-the-counter medications for assorted throat and respiratory problems.

“I tell my patients to check with me first,” she says.

“Some of these preparations can be irritating or drying. If used over time, they can end up doing more damage than they are worth.”

While Korovin and her husband, attorney Jack Uram, have maintained their Waccabuc weekend home for several years and also share an apartment in the West Village, she’s one doc who’s happy to make “house” calls.

“When they call,” she says, “whether I am in Waccabuc or Manhattan, I will be there as soon as I can to help.” n

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Toughen your timbre and polish your pitch

By Georgette Gouveia

It’s an ironic sign of the times: On the one hand, thanks to karaoke and shows like “The Voice” and “American Idol,” everyone fancies himself a singer. On the other hand, few in our visually driven culture take the time to consider how a beautiful singing voice or even a well-modulated speaking voice is produced.

Not so Jeanai (gen EYE) La Vita.

“The voice is our only instrument,” she says. “It’s the most important part of our self-expression.”

The lyric coloratura – who has brought her lush sound, pyrotechnical top notes and gift for vocal filigree to such roles as Konstanze in Mozart’s “The Abduction From the Seraglio” and Leïla in Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” – is also dedicated to helping others make the most of their native instrument. As a voice teacher, she offers not only private instruction, but also lessons two days a week at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains. There she works mainly with singers. But she has also trained actors – she herself is a member of Actors’ Equity – as well as businessmen and women looking for that edge in the corporate world. Her clients have included voice-over artists and even a lecturer on a cruise ship.

“Training singers is much more complex,” says La Vita, who also teaches music theory and directs the musical theater program and youth chorus at the conservatory. “The biggest difference between singing and speaking is that in singing you are sustaining pitched sounds over rhythm.”

But whether you’re a singer, an actor or someone just looking to improve the quality of his voice, you must work on the same three areas, La Vita says – posture, breathing and tone production.

“People who have less confident voices tend to have less confident body language,” she says.

In making her students more aware of their posture – standing straight with the body centered and balanced – La Vita employs principles from the Alexander technique. Developed by the 19th-century Shakespearean actor Frederick Matthias Alexander as a way to help him combat chronic hoarseness, the Alexander technique is actually more of an approach or process in which the practitioner learns how to move efficiently to free the body.

Now that we’re standing properly, 32

Jeanai La Vita. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.

Tips for a healthy voice We may not have pipes to compete with Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson or Angela Meade – three of Jeanai La Vita’s faves – but we can take steps to ensure that our voices remain in good working order.

1. Don’t smoke. Ever. Obviously.

“Horrendous,” La Vita says.

2. Watch what you eat and drink.

Alcohol is dehydrating; coffee and tomatoes, acidic. Soda and other sugary drinks just gunk up the delicate vocal cords, La Vita adds. Stick with plain tea and room-temperature flat water.

3. Develop an exercise program that

it’s time to breathe. No, not just inhale and exhale, but breathe correctly.

“The biggest challenge is breathing,” La Vita says.

That’s because many people think breathing means scrunching the shoulders, tightening the chest and making a big effort.

And they would be wrong. Proper breathing, particularly in singing, is diaphragmatic.

Or as La Vita puts it: “Breathe into the back and into the base of the ribs.”

includes weight lifting and aerobic/cardio activity. Swimming is a wonderful complement to singing, La Vita says, because so much of it is about breathing.

4. In selecting a voice teacher, particularly for a youngster, do your homework. “Some teachers say you shouldn’t study voice until you’re hormonally developed,” La Vita says, “but I don’t agree. If you have a good teacher, then you have to start early, because you must train the ear.” However, you don’t want to be belting out age-inappropriate stuff at 12, she adds: “Be very selective.”

She demonstrates this by placing her hands on either side of the bottom of her rib cage, taking a breath into the belly and then letting it out with a slow, sustained “S” sound, like a hissing snake.

In this kind of breathing – called ujjayi breathing in yoga – the abdominal muscles and diaphragm work as a kind of bellows, spurring the breath from the lungs through the trachea, or windpipe, into the larynx, or voice box, where it passes through the small

opening between the undulating vocal folds or cords and then through the critical, resonating pharynx.

“The nasal pharynx is akin to the soundboard of a piano,” La Vita says.

Now we’re ready for tone production, although easier said than done, because – again, particularly for singing – we have to add another element, the ear. What makes a voice appealing?

It’s not only its timbre, but the way and pace with which you produce words.

With actors and public speakers, La Vita uses less pitch-related vocal exercises and concentrates more on reading excerpts from magazines and other texts aloud.

With singers, especially those learning the classical repertoire, the emphasis is on tonal beauty and dramatic delivery achieved in part by keeping the sounds focused and forward. This means the vowels have to be pure, the consonants added just at the end, certain words elided and nary a diphthong in sight. (To which you would say “ah men” rather than “ay men.”)

We have a chance to observe much of this as La Vita coaches one of her students, 14-year-old Boris Morocho, a talented bass-baritone who studies music along with the core curriculum at Ossining High School and who good-naturedly tolerates the standard “Boris Godunov” joke that is the fate of any classical singer named Boris.

First, La Vita puts him through his paces with some vocal exercises, including an octave arpeggio on the phrase “It’s Easy,” the “ea” syllable being sung at the top of the arpeggio, with the idea being that the “ee” sound is the most forward and focused to produce. Then Boris sings from a selection of works he’s studied, including Giulio Caccini’s “Amarilli, mia bella,” a lateRenaissance, early-Baroque song that’s one of the standards of the repertoire.

At one point, La Vita asks Boris to step away from the music stand, which all voice students enjoy hiding behind.

And that is perhaps the fourth and most difficult thing a voice teacher must instill in her pupils – confidence.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” La Vita tells us.

“You’re not confident in your voice and your voice shrinks even more.”

Fear, however, is a funny thing. It can paralyze you, but it can liberate you, too.

“Mostly,” she says, “you have to learn to get out of your own way.”n

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Artist Barbara Galazzo at Gallery 66 NY in Cold Spring.

A voice for the arts

By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki and courtesy Barbara Galazzo

Artist Barbara Galazzo might just laugh if you say you imagine her spending leisurely hours in her Cold Spring studio creating the fused-glass work that has earned her national recognition.

No, these days are a bit more harried, to say the least.

Try to meet up with her, for example, and you’ll get a

“Mandalas” by Barbara Galazzo.

34

glimpse into what her days are like.

A recent span found her juggling everything from working on a mosaic mural at Peekskill High School to putting the finishing touches on the preview exhibition for the Open Studios Tour of Cold Spring Arts, an organization she founded.

And that’s not to mention the First Friday opening exhibition at her own Gallery 66 NY, helping her high school-junior daughter navigate the start of her college search, her participation in the Collaborative Concepts at Saunders Farm project in nearby Garrison and oh yes, completing

the pieces for her own art exhibition in the year-old gallery of hers on Cold Spring’s Main Street.

Time in the studio, clearly, isn’t a given these days.

“It’s when I can get in there,” she says with a knowing look. “I do have to make the time right now.”

Yet somehow she does – with her vibrant creations the trademark results –as this month’s exhibition at Gallery 66 NY demonstrates.

“Chromatic Visions” is a showcase of Galazzo teaming up with mixed-media artist Carol Flaitz to, as Galazzo calls it, “explore hue and shape.”

It’s a concrete way Galazzo brings her artistic voice to life, yet its collaborative nature also speaks to an approach Galazzo has taken over the years. It’s a way that finds her helping so many other artists have their own voices – and varied work – reach a wider audience.

A perfect example would be the ArtFull Living Designer Show House. Galazzo had the idea of gathering a group of Hudson Valley artists and integrating their work into a residential setting to show

just how easy – and fulfilling – it is to live with art. The result was a project that ran for several months in 2012, filling a home at Glassbury Court in Cold Spring with the work of dozens of artists – including Galazzo – who collaborated with regional interior designers.

At the time, Galazzo said the concept was to “show you can actually have art in your home. It doesn’t have to be over the top. You can live with it.”

It was a success on many levels, gaining exposure and commissions for the participants, educating the showgoers in a most low-key fashion and helping raise funds through its charitable elements.

It was, Galazzo says, something she’d like to repeat.

“I have to find a builder,” she says, one who would contribute the showcase space.

“I would like to keep it in Putnam, but the truth is, I would probably get more exposure if I did it in Westchester.”

That is a long-range plan. Others are more pressing. A few weeks’ before her gallery show opening, Galazzo says jokingly that the lack of studio time means the show “will be a surprise, what it’s going to be.”

But clearly, Galazzo doesn’t seem to leave things to chance. After all, she’s built quite a thriving career, one that actually happens to be her second act.

The New Orleans native spent 16 years as a professional ballet dancer before turning to glass as a new career in 1995.

A founding partner of the Brooklyn Artisans Gallery, she has now made her home in the Hudson Valley for nearly two decades.

Her work – which she describes as “all about color” – continues to be sold through galleries, museums and shows around the world, though locals can find it nearby at Hudson Beach Glass in Beacon.

These days, she says, her work focuses more on decorative rather than functional pieces. It’s simply a natural growth of her style and vision.

Over the years, Galazzo has participated in “Glass Now” at Philadelphia’s National Liberty Museum and “Urban Glass” in New York. Her award-winning work has been featured in galleries, museums and commercial installations from New York to Oregon to Armenia. In addition, she has participated in prestigious shows and venues such as SOFA (Sculptural Objects Functional Art + Design) in Chicago and the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.

Now, with her own gallery at her disposal, one might wonder if Galazzo would be tempted to use it as a showcase of her work, a vanity production if you will.

But that’s not Galazzo’s way. The first year found her only participating in one group show, choosing instead to spotlight artists including painters, sculptors, photographers and more.

In recognition of all she has contribut-

ed to the community, Galazzo received a “Cultural Achievement of the Year” award in March from the Cold Spring Area Chamber of Commerce.

For now, the day-to-day workings of the gallery remain at the forefront. There are related programs and plans to do plenty of special events and eventually, ecommerce.

“It’s interesting how everything has changed,” Galazzo says. “Galleries can no longer survive if they’re just storefronts.”

For now, her 2014 exhibition schedule is well under way, a welcome change from those early few months of the gallery.

“I just had to come up with ideas,” she says of that first slate of exhibitions. “This year, we’ve had a lot of artists come in.”

And when they do – and she feels their work is worth a showcase – they can be assured they have a found a faithful ally in Galazzo.

“Chromatic Visions,” featuring the work of Barbara Galazzo and Carol Flaitz, runs from now to Dec. 1 at Gallery 66 NY in Cold Spring. For more, visit gallery66ny.com. n

“Gem Sculpture” by Barbara Galazzo.

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Bardavon Poughkeepsie’s cultural oasis Story and photographs by Bob Rozycki

36

Sitting in a modern multiplex is like sitting in a sterile cube. Well, sterile except for the floors and armrests made sticky by spilled sodas or smooshed candies.

Sitting in the Bardavon theater in Poughkeepsie is 180 degrees – and innumerable generations – away.

If you find yourself lucky enough to sit in the last row of the balcony of the theater, you can feel the history of the opera house speak to you. You’re doubly lucky if you’re the only person in the whole house, as I was recently.

Sink into the seat, breathe in and let the theater envelop you in its womblike atmosphere of red velvet curtains and soft lights. Cast your eyes about this visual panorama; it’s all in the details.

Golden stars are splashed about the dome of the ceiling, itself encircled

in a band of gold with medallions inscribed.

On a side wall, a scary plaster head looks down, its mouth diabolical and its protruding tongue lascivious. Its twin lurks on the opposite wall.

In an arch, two griffins stand guard before a capped urn containing whose spirit?

On this day the stage lies hidden behind immense velvet curtains. It has served as the theater’s soul since 1869 bringing laughter, tears and wonderment to untold thousands of patrons.

Who has graced the floorboards?

Who hasn’t, is the answer.

An amalgam of theatrical greats – Sarah Bernhardt and the Barrymores – to curiosities such as General Tom Thumb and philosophizing gentlemen Mark Twain and Will Rogers all graced the early stage.

The stage was shared when silent movies arrived. Close your eyes once

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PRINCE WILLIAM HAS PRINCE HARRY, SNOOPY HAS SPIKE – YOU KNOW, THE BAD-BOY BABY BRO WHO’S A CHUNK OF CHARM AND A TON OF TROUBLE. That’s what WAG Weekly is to WAG. In our e-newsletter, we let down our hair (and occasionally, our grammar) to take you behind behind-the-scenes of the hottest parties and events, offer our thoughts on the most controversial issues of the day, share what couldn’t be contained in our glossy pages and tell you what to do and where to go this weekend – all while whetting your appetite for the next issue.

If you can’t get enough of WAG — or you just want to get WAG unplugged — then you won’t want to miss WAG Weekly, coming to your tablet each Friday a.m.

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more and imagine in the late 1930s being taken to your seat by an usher named Ed Wood. Yes, that Ed Wood, the cross-dresser who would go on to be a writer of inestimable pulp fiction, a screenwriter, and a film director and producer who would have the dubious distinction of being the Worst Director of All Time.

The Bardavon remembered Ed Wood this past Oct. 11 with a showing of his “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” the movie in which Bela Lugosi suffered a fatal heart attack and was replaced by

Woods’ wife’s chiropractor who filled in for Lugosi by covering his face with a black cape. In homage, dozens of fans attended the showing dressed in top hats and black capes.

Rumor has it the theater has a ghost or two. Sitting in the balcony that day I did hear footsteps behind me, but I did not see any spirits.

Who knows, maybe it was Mr. Wood looking for a good seat.

For more information on the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, visit bardavon.org. n

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Where Sleepy is anything but

By Georgette Gouveia

The Headless Horseman rode again in “Horseman’s Hollow” at Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow. Photograph by Tom Nycz.

Courtesy of Historic Hudson Valley

W

ith his satiric tales of Dutch and English settlers in the Hudson Valley, Tarrytown’s Washington Irving has long been a literary voice of WAG country. Recently, however, that voice has been tweaked – OK, overhauled – by the new hit Fox series “Sleepy Hollow.” Let’s just say the series – which has been renewed for a second season and is driving media and tourists to the Hudson Valley – is Irving meets Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” meets “The Da Vinci Code” meets “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Irving would be spinning in his grave.

And that would be nothing compared with the freaky goings-on in the seemingly quaint Westchester village.

When Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) of the Westchester County Sheriff’s Department investigates the beheading of her beloved mentor, Sheriff August Corbin, she soon realizes his death is part of a string of decapitations carried out by the Headless Horseman of Irving’s tale.

But he’s no ordinary serial killer, I mean, 40

apart from the no-head look. No, HH is actually Death, one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (see the Book of Revelation, folks), and Abbie is one of two individuals who’s been called either to witness the destruction of the world or end it.

The other is an Anglo-American gent, one Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), who’s been awakened from a slumber of 250 years (Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” sprinkled with his “Rip Van Winkle”).

This Ichabod is no gangly laughingstock of a schoolmaster out of his league in his quest for the hand of nubile heiress Katrina Van Tassel, but a dashing Oxford prof turned redcoat turned American revolutionary turned double agent for General George Washington, whose Bible and map of the Hudson Valley are the keys to the final battle between good and evil (get out your “Da Vinci Code”). Being “tall, dark and British,” as Abbie’s sister likes to point out, this Ichabod has long since wooed and won his Katrina (Katia Winter), a glamorous witch who resides in a mist-filled nether-woods and who cast a deep sleep over her darling hubby for his

own protection.

Still with us? Good, because it’s actually kind of fun, with Ichabod reacting with marvel to the newfangled world in which he finds himself – taken aback literally as he turns on the shower, constantly playing with the car windows, congratulating the consternated Abbie on her “emancipation.” (She’s African-American.)

She and he have a snappy rapport, while he and Katrina have a sexy one. And in late, lamented “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fashion, the show is smart enough to pace the overarching theme – apocalyptic Westchester – with episodic appearances

by Native American shamans, Tea Partiers (the real ones, from Boston), the Sandman (no, not Mariano Rivera), sin-eaters and assorted witches.

Local viewers will enjoy Hollywood’s reinvention of the East once again. (The show is shot in Wilmington, N.C.) There are stock views of the Hudson River. Otherwise, “Sleepy Hollow” plays fast and loose with the geographic truth, as in its scenes of the “Tarrytown Psychiatric Unit.”

Best of all is Mison’s Ichabod, who is not only gorgeous but sounds gorgeous as well. He’s a classically trained actor who’s played the Bard’s Prince Hal. It’s really worth tuning in just to hear his Ichabod remonstrate in clipped, posh tones over “the tariff on baked goods” (colonialspeak for the tax on doughnut holes).

Turning Irving’s nerd into a dreamboat is nothing new. (See Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s 1999 film “Sleepy Hollow.”) But Depp, as usual, added some Deppisms to offset his beauty, making Ichabod a Mr. Monk-like New York City copper out of his element among shifty Dutch burghers in the ’burbs.

Mison’s Ichabod isn’t afraid to be nerdy and commanding by turns – a guy guy.

Come to think of it, Irving would probably be pleased. But not before he checked the overnight Nielsens.

Watch “Sleepy Hollow” 9 p.m. Mondays on Fox. And for more on Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Sunnyside, his home in Tarrytown, visit hudsonvalley.org. n

A library like no other Maxine Bleiweis’ visionary leadership in Westport Story and photographs by Mary Shustack Anyone who enters the Westport Library for the first time is in for quite a treat and maybe even a few surprises.

There is art to admire and a coffee bar for lingering, gifts to purchase and cutting-edge technology at your fingertips.

And most telling is the fact that there are no “shh-ing” librarians lurking about the oversize building on the banks of the Saugatuck River.

This is not, as they say, your mother’s library – though it certainly is still a place filled with thousands of books and magazines where great value is placed on reading, intellect and creative thinking.

But it goes far, far beyond that.

And that’s exactly how Maxine Bleiweis, the library director for the past 15 years, likes it.

“The way we operate is to open the windows and the doors and invite everybody in to be partners with us,” she says.

“We’re true partners as opposed to us offering and them partaking.”

The library, in fact, is known for meeting the needs of the community, offering more than 1,400 programs each year.

Just skim a recent newsletter to get a glimpse into what’s included, from Jane Austen Day activities to a mystery-book discussion, a job-search seminar to a documentary screening, a tech-help session to a gathering of the chess club.

As Bleiweis says, people could come in and sit alone at a computer to create a business plan, learn about e-books or take part in a language conversation group where the various options include Japanese, Russian, French and Hebrew.

“These are people who have come together from all walks of life and have come together for that language,” she says. “That’s kind of a metaphor for the library.”

Still others may simply sit in the Great Hall and read the latest best seller.

“The perfect library has space for both – quiet sanctuary and the lively exchange of ideas.”

This is the kind of place that creates its annual report with elements that can only be seen with 3-D glasses.

“It’s just like the library,” she says.

“You’re learning something new and having a good time doing it.”

THROUGH THE YEARS

Bleiweis came on as director in 1998, which she likes to note is the same year Google got its start.

42

Maxine Bleiweis has been the director of the Westport Library for 15 years.

“Nobody knew how libraries were going to be impacted by the Internet,” she says on a recent afternoon.

What has happened, she says, is “the coming together to sort it all out as a community.”

Community is a big word for Bleiweis.

“The public library has no boundaries in terms of traditional age, demographics, stages of life,” she says. “It’s very much an open platform. That’s the magic of it.”

It is, she adds, the “ultimate democracy.”

Her goal, she says, is to have the Westport Library be “Apple Genius Bar meets MIT lab meets Chautauqua.”

And it seems she is well on the way to that goal.

“Libraries used to be errands, now they’re destinations,” she says, noting the average length of stay has gone from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

EARLY DAYS

“I’ve always been in charge,” Bleiweis says with a smile.

Indeed, her career has found her in leadership roles in a handful of libraries, starting with a short stint as a branch head in New Jersey.

“I decided I wanted to have more fun with it, so I became a director,” she says.

Her path would bring her to Connecticut where her last stop before Westport would be 18 years in Newington.

It was back as a young girl in northern

Rhode Island, when at a Lions Clubs’ father-daughter night, Bleiweis was told her career options were teacher, nurse or librarian.

“I liked people, and I liked books, so I decided at 12 I was going to do this,” she says.

Now living in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, Bleiweis says she savors the job that never becomes tiresome.

“The perfect day for me is meeting with lots of different people and hearing from lots of different vantage points.”

It’s ideal, since Bleiweis admits her vision is always forward.

“I am never ‘in the moment,’” she says.

Instead, she’s always thinking of the next steps, of “what the library is and can be for people.”

Forget thinking outside the box, as she says she’s so out of the box, “I don’t even know that there is a box.”

And to have a job where that mode is both admired and respected is invaluable.

“It just feels good, and you feel so fortunate that you found what you were put here to do.”

And Bleiweis’ efforts have been recognized, as she was named Outstanding Librarian by the Connecticut Library Association in 2011.

NOT RESTING

But honors and awards are not what it’s all about.

Bleiweis says she’s been visited by the

director of the Boston Public Library and Skyped with librarians in Anchorage, Alaska.

“It’s very flattering people want to know what we’re thinking,” she says. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s our obligation to share.”

She says in Westport that thinking goes back to the original 1908 building which had the words “open to all” on its façade.

“I think that libraries are about people,” she says.

And “all” includes a community that is rich in talent, a town filled with entrepreneurs and philanthropists, writers and filmmakers, actors and artists.

It’s about working with this community to serve its needs, from the practical to the fanciful.

“At every stage of life we need some different information or perspective,” she says.

Young people, she notes, embrace the library, particularly its MakerSpace, a showpiece introduced in 2012 where people are encouraged to “connect, invent and create.”

It’s a popular draw, especially for the younger audience that Bleiweis says is far from apathetic.

“When you find what you want to focus on, they’re there,” she says.

And for them, the library sometimes provides a true respite, free from school and family concerns.

“Nothing follows you here,” she says.

“It’s a clean slate.”

And it’s a busy slate, as Bleiweis notes that the library answers about 200,000 questions a year and during Hurricane Sandy became a “literal port in the storm,” offering heat, food and WiFi. None of it would be possible, she adds, without solid community support. She says that 80 percent of the library budget, approximately $5 million, comes from the town, with the remainder from private funding.

“If you’re a community that values education, that values intellect and improvement, you’re going to do that,” she says, noting such support that “gets you from a B-minus to an A-plus.”

Support is constant, especially for the annual late-spring gala, “Booked for the Evening,” a benefit event that has featured everyone from director Martin Scorsese to poet-musician-author Patti Smith.

“We’re like a thought incubator, and when you have the best minds, you have

“

The greatest gifts are not the material things we receive, but the love we give, the friendship we share and the hope we inspire.

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The Great Hall of the Westport Library includes a model plane created in its MakerSpace.

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F E A T U RI N G :: B E RN I E W I L L IA M S & H IS A L L - S T A R BA N D to have the best material,” Bleiweis says, which leads her to again discuss that innovative MakerSpace.

The centerpiece is a 3-D printer that has fueled imaginations young and old, helping people to share their stories.

She in turn shares that the library has recently been awarded, with partners Southern Connecticut State University and the Connecticut State Library-Division of Library Development, a $250,000 federal grant to further develop this offering and help establish how other libraries can become places of what she calls “participatory learning.”

Westport, she adds, has also become known in the publishing world as “a great venue for speakers in terms of great audiences.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Though the library itself is vast and im-

pressive, Bleiweis says it still has its limitations. Demand has meant that sometimes patrons have to be turned away.

A new building project, a privatepublic partnership, is under way. She offers a look at an artist’s interpretation of the glistening glass structure soon to be built.

Bleiweis says it’s three-and-a half years from opening, a time that will include a solid two-year construction period.

The design, she says, “just ‘strips away the façade’ and says ‘Come in, and when you come in, the sky’s the limit.’”

Until then, Bleiweis says the library makes changes every day, such as introducing a new logo, “The Westport Library …”

“What that means is we’re incomplete without you,” Bleiweis says. “You finish the sentence.”

In your own voice. n

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43

John Sterling

Uncle John, Aunt Suzyn and the voices of the Yankees

By Mark Lungariello

John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, the New York Yankees’ radio broadcasters, are known for their head-scratching asides, mixing baseball play-by-plays with references to Broadway musicals and sometimes forgetting to mention the score of the game for half an inning at a time (which is nothing new to fans who remember the days of Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto’s restaurant reviews and recipes from his “bride,” Cora.)

Sterling, with his over-the-top, Tarzanlike home run calls – “The Yankees win.

THAAAAAAAAH Yankees win” – and seemingly fading eyesight, and Waldman, with her distinct New England accent and unabashed “oh-my-goodnessgracious” rooting for the home team, are regular topics on snarky New York sports’ talk shows and easy targets for opposing teams’ fans looking to discredit anything Yankees-related.

With their contracts expiring this fall and the Yanks set to move in 2014 from CBS 880AM to WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, this duo’s place on the New York airwaves is still all but secured because of the fans who listen to their 44

for as long as they want to be. And when all is said and done, they will be remembered as some of the most memorable voices in Yankees history – though it’s hard to top Scooter’s Felix Ungerish discussion of flying, bugs and traffic on the GW Bridge.

ALLen

rizzuto

broadcasts with a mix of embarrassment and affection. Sterling and Waldman have attained the status usually reserved for a quirky aunt and uncle who wear socks with sandals, tell bad jokes and repeat the same stories over and over.

They are a strange pair, but they are our strange pair. Sure, they aren’t perfect or by the book, but their voices, like those that have come before them, are as much a part of the Yankees’ experience as the pinstripes on the home uniform. They are like family, and for better or worse, expect them to return next year with a whole roster of catchphrases – to match a whole new roster.

Sterling was hired in 1989 and hasn’t missed a day of work since. He quickly

kay

sheppard

became known in New York and beyond for his pun-laden, groan-inducing home run calls. “Bern, baby, Bern” for Bernie Williams, “a thrilla by Godzilla” for Hideki Matsui and “Justice is served” for David Justice were among his silliest, while “You’re on the mark, Texeira” for Mark Texeira, “Robinson Cano: Doncha know?” and “An A-Bomb from A-Rod” were some of the more cringe-worthy. Nonetheless, it’s become a bit of a game for fans to guess what the call will be for new roster members. (Here’s hoping, Oakland A’s outfielder Coco Crisp doesn’t end up on the Yankees roster any time soon).

Sterling and his broadcast compagnera Waldman, who joined the team in 2005, will likely be the voices of Yankees radio

Yankees’ voices over the years

Voice: Mel Allen Where you heard him: Radio, 19391942, radio and television, 1946-1964.

Cable television 1978-1985.

Maybe you hadn’t heard: Mel Allen, known as “The Voice of the Yankees,” was one of the first people inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame’s broadcaster’s wing, in 1978.

Memorable catchphrase: “How about that.”

Signature call: “There it is. There it is.

If it stays fair, there it is – No. 60.” (On Sept. 26, 1961, Roger Maris ties Babe Ruth’s then-record 60 home runs for a season. Maris would go on to break the record, with 61 home runs, a mark that stood until 1998.)

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Suzyn Waldman. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.

Voice: Phil Rizzuto Where you heard him: Radio and television, 1957-1996 Maybe you hadn’t heard: In his later years, Rizzuto, also remembered for his Money Store commercials, often left games in the seventh inning to beat traffic home to New Jersey over the George Washington Bridge.

Memorable catchphrase: “Holy cow.”

Signature call: “And here’s one ripped to right-center. They’re not gonna get this ball. Oh boy, I better shut up.” (Rizzuto overestimates a Wade Boggs fly-out in the early 1990s.)

Voice: Michael Kay Where you heard him: Radio and television, 1992-Present.

Maybe you hadn’t heard: Kay’s best buddy as a student at Fordham University was Mike Breen, now the broadcaster for the New York Knicks. Kay has said the two shared with each other their dreams of broadcasting for their favorite sports teams.

Memorable catchphrase: “See ya.”

Signature call: “The greatest closer in history now has the most saves in history…

He stands alone atop the closer mountain.”

(Mariano Rivera saves his 602nd game, against the Twins on Sept. 19, 2011, becoming the all-time career saves leader.)

Voice: Bob Sheppard Where you heard him: Yankee Stadium, 1951-2007.

Maybe you hadn’t heard: “The Voice of Yankee Stadium,” called by Reggie Jackson “The Voice of God,” was also the voice of the New York Football Giants as that team’s public address announcer from 1956 to 2006.

Memorable catchphrase: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman and welcome to Yankee Stadium.”

Signature call: “Now batting for the Yankees, No. 2, Derek Jeter.” Although Sheppard retired in 2007 and died in 2010, a recording of his voice introduces every home at-bat of Yankees’ captain Derek Jeter to this day. n

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mag.com 46

WHERE CLASS MEETS SASS FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF

quiet the

man

Eli Manning lets his actions do the talking

By Georgette Gouveia Photograph by Charles Wenzelberg.

47

Eli Manning lines up a pass just out of the reach of Texans’ defenders during a 2010 game at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Photograph by AJ Guel Photography.

f you were going to cast a classic movie star to play New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, whom would you pick?

Possibly a young Duke Wayne. Or maybe Jimmy Stewart. More likely, you’d select the Gary Cooper of either his “Meet John Doe” or “The Pride of the Yankees” periods – all “aw, shucks” charm, solid work ethic and bedrock decency that belie a certain canniness.

Here was Eli navigating a minefield of a question about his “rivalry” with Denver Broncos’ quarterback and bro Peyton Manning as he hosted the annual Guiding Eyes for the Blind Golf Classic this past June at the Mount Kisco Country Club: Q. Are you trying to be the No. 1 quarterback in your family?

A. “No, I don’t try to be the No. 1 quarterback in the family. I’m trying to be the No. 1 quarterback for the New York Giants.”

The answer was modestly submitted. Eli is a shy guy.

But when we offered a hand to thank him for taking time to consider the press’ questions, he stopped to shake it firmly and meet our gaze with “You’re welcome.” And right then we got the sense that his self-contained temperament is trumped by a desire to reach out and serve others.

“He’s a true gentleman,” says Michelle Brier, director of marketing and communications for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. “He has this innate kindness. He’s never selfpromoting.”

Yet he’s more than willing to raise his voice for a good cause; like Guiding Eyes. Since it began in 1954, the Yorktown Heights nonprofit has helped more than 7,000 visually impaired and autistic individuals by providing 48

them with free guide dogs that the organization trains.

Guiding Eyes’ golf classic, founded in 1977 by PGA legend Ken Venturi, has raised more than $8 million with an annual two-day event at Mount Kisco Country Club and Fairview Country Club in Greenwich. Eli has helped raise almost half of those funds since he got involved in the event seven years ago when Patrick Browne Jr., a perennial United States Blind Golf Association champ and Manning family friend, asked him to step in for the retired Venturi (who died this past May).

When Eli first started, he wasn’t much of a dog person, Brier says.

“He had never had a pet dog and he didn’t want to hold the puppies. Now he loves holding them and snuggling up with them.”

And he and wife Abby, who live in New Jersey, are the proud parents not only of two little girls, but of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Chester.

Brier said Eli is there throughout the two-day event – golfing, meeting the press, greeting donors at the culminating dinner and bidding on the auction items. He talks up Guiding Eyes wherever he goes, she says.

But perhaps the depth of Eli’s commitment to the organization can be measured in his willingness to stand on the putting green of the Mount Kisco Country Club on a rainy, bone-gnawing day more characteristic of November than June to try to sink a putt blindfolded to demonstrate what it’s like for a visually impaired golfer.

And he damn near sank the thing, a tribute to the true athlete’s sense of his body in a space, even when deprived of his sight.

Eli, however, knows what’s really awe-inspiring here.

A quarterback, of course, doesn’t use his voice for just charitable purposes.

He’s calling plays and exhorting players in the huddle and in the locker room. Though we tend to think of singers, actors and orators when we think of voices, a quarterback has to have a pretty good set of pipes, too, to be heard over the crowd, the so-called “12th man” in football. How does Eli make himself heard?

“I’ve seen firsthand how people have been helped because of these guide dogs. There are a lot of amazing stories,” he says, referring, for example, to how the Heeling Autism program gives autistic children a certain independence and their parents peace of mind. “It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this.”

A quarterback, of course, doesn’t use his voice for just charitable purposes. He’s calling plays and exhorting players in the huddle and in the locker room. Though we tend to think of singers, actors and orators when we think of voices, a quarterback has to have a pretty good set of pipes, too, to be heard over the crowd, the so-called “12th man” in football. How does Eli make himself heard?

“The team practices with loud crowd noise playing over the speaker so that players can get used to projecting their voices. Often practices are louder than games.”

With the Giants off to a terrible start, there are critics who wish Eli would make his voice heard off the field more as well.

“He does get up to speak in the locker room as team captain,” says sportswriter Ernie Palladino, who has covered the Giants for 24 seasons and is the author of the new “If These Walls Could Talk – New York Giants” (Triumph Books). “But he’s not a yeller. He’s not going to call people out or turn over furniture. He leads by example.”

Yet there’s no denying his on-the-field performance, has been hushed so far this season by too many interceptions, sacks and turnovers, in which the offense and defense must also share.

We’ve been there before, though, haven’t we? From the moment Eli bowed with the Giants in 2004 – after being drafted by the-then hapless San Diego Chargers and Eli Manning and a future guide dog candidate.

49

Eli making his way out to the stage of the 2011 New York Giants championship rally. Photograph by Schen Photography.

adamantly refusing to play for them – it’s been the same song. Not a take-charge guy. Not an elite quarterback.

Not Peyton.

Ah, yes, Peyton: No Eli profile is complete without a discussion of the rivalry – no doubt rooted in reality but also heavily media-manufactured – between the commanding, glamorous older brother and the retiring but resilient baby brother. They were born and raised in New Orleans, the second and third sons of American football royalty – New Orleans Saints’ quarterback Archie Manning and his soft-spoken wife, Olivia. The oldest son, Cooper, was a talented high school wide receiver sidelined by spinal stenosis, whose condition, according to the new documentary “The Book of Manning” had a profound effect on shaping Peyton’s career.

The more rough-and-tumble Cooper and Peyton were Archie’s boys; the laidback Eli, nicknamed “Easy E,” more his mother’s son, who enjoyed dining out with her and accompanying her when she went antiquing. She in turn helped him make his voice heard.

Stories about the Mannings of New Orleans are legendary and character-revealing – how Peyton would use his knees to pin Eli by the arms and make him recite the names of all the NFL teams; how Cooper and Peyton once watched Eli tumble down a flight of stairs. The 3-year-old picked himself up, dusted himself off and ran off to play.

That incident was perhaps a harbinger. On Dec. 29, 2007, an up-and-down Giants team faced off against an undefeated New England Patriots team. With nothing to gain – the Giants had already secured a playoff spot – and everything to lose by risking injury to their starters, Eli and the Giants nonetheless decided to go all in to attempt to stop the Patriots’ perfect regular season. The Giants lost 38-35 but they demonstrated that they could hang 50

with the best and echoed something that Teddy Roosevelt once said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Several weeks later, the two teams met in Super Bowl

XLII. As any highlight-reel buff will tell you, Eli threw a crucial pass in the last 2½ minutes that David Tyree nailed on his helmet and then another to Plaxico Burress for a touchdown. And the Patriots’ perfect season was gone. The Giants won, 17-14, and Eli was Super Bowl MVP. In the 2011-12 season, it was déjà vu all over again.

Now Super Bowl XLVIII is coming to New York and New Jersey, and Eli would love to be a part of that.

“Every year, you want to play in the Super Bowl. But to be the first team to play in your home city, that would be neat.”

The odds aren’t good, but as Palladino said, “He’s been a Captain Comeback, and he does that through his quiet voice.”

And by being the man in the arena, who takes his best shot, even with a blindfold on.

We wouldn’t bet against him. n

Eli’s and Peyton’s greatest hits Sure, sure Peyton is 3 and 0 against Eli on the field, but what about where it counts, in using their voices as rappers, pitchmen and hosts of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”?

Peyton has done some “Priceless” Master Card commercials. Eli has scored with Toyota and Dunkin’ Donuts. The two teamed as football-wielding cops and ’80s rappers for DirecTV. Peyton was at the top of his game hosting “SNL,” particularly in a fake public service announcement with a group of kids, in which he plunked one with a football, then banished him in disgust to a Porta-Potty

before teaching the gang how to break into a car. But Eli countered in his “SNL” gig with a fake PSA of his own endorsing Little Brothers, an organization that turns the tables on big brothers like you know who.

“Maybe now you’ll learn to treat your younger brother with some respect, Peyton,” Eli shouted as he locked Andy Samberg in a car trunk.

“My name’s not Peyton,” Samberg screamed.

“Whatever,” Eli said as he slammed the hood. You think there was more than a touch of Method Acting there?

As for who was more, um, Brando-esque, Eli told WAG, “Neither of us should leave his day job.”

way

speaks where history

By Mary Shustack Photographs by Bob Rozycki, Tim Lee and courtesy The Denton Family Presented by Houlihan Lawrence

HALL CHRISTY HOUSE at a Glance

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• Price: $1.75 million

52

Kevin and Lynne Denton

At Hall Christy House in Pawling, the voice of the past lives in serene harmony with the present.

And it’s all by meticulous design.

For every pane of original glass or plank of 18th-century wood, there is a cleverly hidden Jacuzzi or the convenience of central air.

The main house, which traces its roots back to 1747, has spent nearly the last three decades under the thoughtful ownership of Kevin and Lynne Denton.

Their loving stewardship has allowed a way of life from another era to again thrive in modern times.

The story behind the restoration of the Hall Christy House goes back to the time before the Dentons were married, when the couple came across the main house during a country drive.

They passed the Dutch frame saltbox, situated along the road and boarded up.

Both lovers of history and antiques, the Dentons would find their imagination captured by the neglected house filled with history.

Fast forward a few years and reality would soon get under way as the Dentons were able to buy the historic home in the mid-1980s.

When a vacant lot later became available in the Quaker Hill area of Pawling, the Dentons sprang into action. They would move the original home, built by Peter John Hall, from storage to its current site. In doing so, they became the first family other than the original builders and their descendants to call the house a home in more than 250 years.

“Near as we could see, the last resident was around World War II,” Kevin says.

The main house was originally built by the Quakers in the Hudson Valley Dutch style of architecture. The Dentons would go on to spend years to make it their own, all the while respecting and celebrating its history.

OUT OF THE ORDINARY

The work to Hall Christy House – and the way of life the Dentons have created – is truly unique.

Original details would be retained throughout, from the paneling in the parlor to the original paint in the dining room and most of the hardware.

“We try to think in an 18th-century manner by recycling as much as we can,” Lynne says.

Replacements, when needed, have been either antiques or faithfully created reproductions. Most lighting fixtures, as well, have been made in the Hudson Valley.

The couple, who long admired and collected antiques of the period, have filled the rooms with decorative objects that evoke the period in fitting detail.

The Dentons have chosen to live in two of its rooms only by candlelight. (They assure, though, that contrary to some local talk, the home is fully wired; many electric switches are simply hidden and rarely used).

Throughout, furniture and memorabilia related to the original owners and their descendants are found, much of which will remain with the home to maintain its connection to the past.

“There’s so many little details left in the house, it’s amazing,” Lynne says.

For the Dentons, every glance reminds them of work they put into the home.

“We scraped everything,” Lynne said.

“We scraped all the beams. I’d scrape until 2 o’clock in the morning and then Kevin would get up and do the morning shift.”

There are tales of bricks laid one by one in the courtyard, of trucks filled with objects to be moved, of plans made to eventually even connect the property’s two main structures.

Kevin, an attorney and judge, and Lynne, who has a master’s degree in American history, architectural training and is a designer, would tap all their experience to bring their vision to life.

That began with placing the house back from the road, a gently winding driveway revealing its singular style.

“There was nothing on this property when we bought it,” Lynne says. Indeed, not only did the couple reconstruct all the buildings but also designed all the gardens and plantings.

A WALK BACK IN TIME

A visitor steps up to the home by walking on the stones, seeing the “1747” set into the path and becoming enveloped in the weathered wood structure.

A step inside is truly like a step into another era, until the Dentons point out that today’s features are there, if you look.

“The modern doesn’t impinge on the 18th century,” Lynne says. Small original touches add to the personality, such as carved initials on a window that seem to signal a mischievous child of an earlier era.

A “keeping” room has a large fireplace with original paint and a cupboard with butterfly hinges. The parlor is a wealth of exposed beams, a fireplace surrounded by Dutch tiles and the original dogleg staircase.

The elegantly understated dining room, a treasure trove of original floorboards, panes and a Dutch ceiling yields to the kitchen, a workmanlike space where modern appliances blend in and mustard colors echo the original hue.

A library, an addition much more modern in feel, is still historic. The cathedral ceilings and fireplace add a warmth that makes it the perfect space to spend an hour or an entire afternoon.

“It’s more like a 19th-century England kind of room,” Lynne says, sharing a glimpse into a scrapbook that details the meticulous project, room by room, over the years.

The second floor is cozy, the master bedroom a charming escape complete with canopied bed. The walls’ vertical sheathing hides his-and-her closets.

“I call them ‘step-in’ closets rather than walk-in,” Lynne says, though the spaces are indeed ample.

A master bath, created to evoke the spirit of a vintage dressing room, is a study in surprises, with a shower and Jacuzzi tucked behind doors. Two adjacent rooms serve as extra bedrooms, easily converted to other uses.

A basement houses the necessary workings, from laundry to furnace room, exercise room to surprisingly vast storage space. A onetime animal pen has been converted into a wine cellar.

BEYOND THE MAIN HOUSE

The second building, originally called the Skidmore House, is a circa-1750 Dutch gambrel house that was made of brick and stone. It, too, was dismantled 53

and reconstructed on site.

“Originally, we just took that one down for the parts,” Lynne says. “It had to come down anyway. We liked the shape so much we just said ‘We’ll make it the garage.’”

Now housing a garage on the first floor, the second floor (entered through the most charming of courtyards) hosts a potting shed and guest quarters/office space. Historic details include the fireplace surround and window trim, while additions such as a built-in cupboard and period doors finish the look.

Over time, the Dentons have collected Skidmore family documents and furniture, which shall also remain with the space.

It’s no surprise that the home has been featured over the years on tours devoted to both historic homes and significant gardens.

Most of the fields of the five-plus acres have been left in their natural state, with the entire property surrounded by deer fence, artfully camouflaged to avoid spoiling the vision. Those with an eye toward 54

green living will further delight in the cistern, which catches rain from the roof, pumping it to areas of the gardens.

The courtyard – which contains lily pools, a perennial garden and shade gardens – is the home of a near-hidden heated, Gunite free-form swimming pool. A gazebo, elegantly appointed on a recent morning, serves as both dining and sitting area complete with chandelier and sound system. The natural surroundings seem endless, with meadows, a small orchard with an herb garden, a kitchen garden and hidden pond area in the woods.

That last is an area Lynne calls her “secret garden,” and indeed it creates a serene retreat filled with vignettes, levels and moods.

“This was designed to sort of have different ‘rooms’ in it,” she says. “In the spring it’s amazing. You have all the bulbs.”

Lynne, in most designs, is inspired by her travels, in this case to Inverewe Garden in Scotland. Apple trees create “an umbrella of blossoms,” in springtime, she adds.

“You take a little of this and a little of that,” she says of her varied natural and architectural inspirations, which range from a bridge in Prague to a bus station in Virginia.

A small barn near the pond, built of old parts to echo the 18th-century Dutch barns of the Hudson Valley, adds yet another touch of history that pervades every inch of the property.

“I almost feel I should put in a gift shop,” Lynne jokes about the home’s museum-quality restorations.

AU REVOIR, HUDSON VALLEY

Clearly, Hall Christy House has meant years of hard work, but also much enjoyment for the Dentons, who have often entertained family and friends.

“This house is so warm and inviting,” Lynne says.

The couple, though, is now hoping to find a home both far from Dutchess County and the 18th century.

“We’d like to move to France,” Lynne says. “We’d like to get earlier architecture.

It would have to be very different to move from here.”

So as the Dentons plan a move overseas, dreaming of another restoration of a home even older than Hall Christy House, they hope their home of nearly 30 years finds someone who will share their appreciation.

As Lynne so perfectly sums it up on a blog entry on hallchristyhouse. com, the Dentons’ site devoted to their property: “There are so many old houses out there to be purchased and lived in and to have more life added to their rich legacy. Living in one creates a subtle absorption of a more creative way of thinking, a depth of being and thought.”

For those with whom that sentiment resonates, Hall Christy House awaits.

For more information, contact Linda Finn at Houlihan Lawrence at (845) 222-2587, (845) 279-6800, ext. 305, or lfinn@ houlihanlawrence.com.n

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Karla Lemus, 32 years old, patient of Dr. Sunny Mitchell

Saying it with music

By Jane K. Dove

“Believe it or not, when my husband Jerry and I saw this magnificent French Normandy home for the very first time, we made an offer before we even saw the inside,” said Terry Feldman of her breathtaking country estate in Bedford Hills. “I had wanted a home on a hill with an expansive view, along with beautiful trees and grounds, and the place just spoke to us.”

And the house, Rabbit Run, had another element that Terry loved – strong ties to the music world. “(It) had it all, including a spectacular tree-lined driveway that we both love,” Terry said. “And when we did get inside, we were totally captivated by the layout of the rooms and other special features.”

Duchin connection

The couple was also intrigued that the house was built in 1974 by pianistbandleader Peter Duchin and served as a locus of fun and relaxation for his famous guests over the years, including Frank Sinatra, a regular visitor.

Duchin, the son of Swing-era pianistbandleader Eddy Duchin, built on his father’s stellar legacy. Clients from the highest social echelons the world over have delighted to his music, with Duchin and his orchestra performing at some of the most exclusive celebrations, including 56

inaugural balls, society weddings, private parties, cotillions, charity balls and corporate functions.

Terry was especially taken with the Duchin connection because of her own musical background.

Singing through life

“I grew up singing in the church choir in Greeneville, Tennessee,” she said. “My mother was a composer and my grandmother went to the Juilliard School of music. I had a nice alto voice and sang in my college choir. After graduating, I worked in television and had an assortment of singing roles in television shows.

Music has always been important to me and always will be. Today, I am active in the Music Conservatory of Westchester and have been for the past 15 years.

“I also belong to a local group, The Scarborough Singers. We just performed at the Scarborough Presbyterian Church with a program called ‘Pop, Be-Bop and Broadway: Great Hits through the Ages.’”

And the program Terry described was indeed an eclectic one, ranging from “Johnny Angel,” to “We’re in the Money,” “Music of the Night,” “House of the Rising Sun,” “One Singular Sensation,” “You Raise Me Up,” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

“We always have plenty of variety and

it’s a lot of fun,” says Terry, who along the way worked for fellow Tennessean Sen. Estes Kefauver and then-Sen. John F. Kennedy.

Jerry has no musical abilities, but he has excelled in business. After graduating from law school, he soon became interested in being an entrepreneur and started his own companies based on new technology, obtaining lucrative patents in several areas.

“The company I founded wanted to look for opportunities in the world that were new,” he says. “In the l960s, we went to the Soviet Union when Khrushchev was in power. We met with Russian leaders and others in the Eastern Bloc and developed scores of new technologies ranging from heavy industry to surgical instruments. While dealing with the Eastern Bloc, we found a new plastic that ultimately became the basis of the soft contact lens. We kept all of our licenses and patents and eventually partnered with Bausch & Lomb. We also started U.S. Surgical.”

Everything Jerry got involved with took off and flourished. In 2003, the company, the National Patent Development Corp., broke up into smaller units. Jerry took over one of them, GSE Systems Inc., where he holds the post of chairman.

“Our current focus is building simula-

tors for the nuclear industry,” he says.

Run, Rabbit Run

With two such creative, high-energy people, it’s nice to have a haven like Rabbit Run, which, by the way, is now on the market.

The 7,000-square-foot house, where the Feldmans have lived for 28 years and raised four children, is on 20 acres in the heart of Bedford horse country. The views from the grounds are nothing less than magnificent. Behind the stone wall and down the long wooded driveway, privacy and luxury abound. The estate is complete with fenced paddocks, manicured gardens, tennis courts and a pool.

The home has six bedrooms and four full baths, along with two half-baths. The main house has parking for two cars and there is an additional three-car garage with a bedroom, kitchen, two full baths, home office, family room and fireplace above.

The house radiates charm and graciousness, from the front entrance with a grand piano nestled nearby to the enormous family room with its vaulted ceiling and soaring windows, to the nearby paneled study. A spacious dining room, adjacent to a lovely sun room and a designer kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel appliances complete the public areas.

Upstairs a master bedroom with a bal-

Jerry and Terry Feldman

cony overlooking the back lawn and pool, a separate family bedroom-and-bath wing and a wood-paneled playroom/billiard room make for luxurious family time.

The home has several fireplaces, beamed ceilings and magnificent wood floors throughout, and a décor that is warm and inviting, filled with lovely paintings, sculpture and other collectibles.

There is a brick-floored screened-in

porch and a large stone terrace looking toward the back gardens and pool.

And the Feldmans say the acoustics in the great room, which is surrounded by a broad furnished balcony, are “the best.”

Perfect for a little night music.

For more on the $6.1 million Rabbit Run home, call Candice Stafford of Coldwell Banker Previews International Real Estate at (914) 234-3647. n

Landscape commerciaL events portrait willcookphotography.com will@willcookphotography.com 914-980-9542

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wonderful dining

RiverMarket Bar & Kitchen, above, and its farmers market. Photographs by Rana Faure.

Crabtree goes to market Building on legacy, RiverMarket earns own local laurels

By Andrea Kennedy

W

ith hot anticipation, Westchester awaited the opening of RiverMarket Bar & Kitchen in Tarrytown, John Crabtree’s hybrid, high-end eatery and farmers market that’s slated to be his second epicurean institution.

“The idea behind the RiverMarket was about marrying Hudson Valley products raised and grown organically, sustainably and humanely with Mediterranean-style cooking,” says Glenn Vogt, partner, general manager and wine director at RiverMarket as well as Crabtree’s Kittle House in Chappaqua. “We’re giving it a familiar or even a comfortable twist.”

It’s cool and classy. It’s organic and elegant. It’s polished and picnic-in-the-park.

It’s John Crabtree and Mason jars.

“It’s about doing something that’s special, that’s being more than just a restaurant,” Vogt says.

Nestled within the luxurious Hudson Harbor and a stone’s throw from the freshly-paved RiverWalk, RiverMarket is igniting an area once landmarked by the Tarrytown train station into a riverfront destination. Positioning itself as the voice of Hudson Valley bounty, it’s the perfect spot to pick up a loaf of pastry chef Caryn Stabisky’s fresh-baked bread with a jar of Wright’s Farm jam to enjoy on a stroll near the Tappan Zee. “You can come in and have a small meal that’s healthy and nourishing, or you could make it a long, multiplecourse meal,” says executive chef John Holzwarth, who previously propelled the Boathouse at Saugatuck in Westport to culinary acclaim.

Though RiverMarket has a Crabtree 58

imprimatur that’s enough to lure dignitaries – the Clintons (Bill and Hill, of course) inaugurated the eatery with a visit during the first Saturday night of full service – RiverMarket has a persona all its own.

Take its contemporary reclaimed chic architecture. Maple flooring came from a 200-year-old factory upstate. Local mushroom wood adds interest to the ceiling. Cedar from a farm in Pennsylvania lines the wraparound terrace. Antique apple crates hold bottles in the wine store.

Room separators are antique doors from Belgium with original glass and hardware.

Tables feature oak, cedar, birch, maple and cherry. The bar is black maple with inlaid copper butterflies to match their rare and striking all-copper beer tap.

“Everything has a story,” says Vogt, who worked with Connecticut designer Christian P. Arkay-Leliever on the RiverMarket’s look. “We believe very strongly in the local, sustainable, natural movement and food, and we felt that the design should reflect that.”

Each thoughtful detail establishes a look and feel of eco-friendly luxury.

And yet…

“I tell people it’s super-casual,” Vogt says over Buddy Holly piped through speakers.

Like his servers, he sports a slate-blue T-shirt reading “Naturally Raised” and Chuck Taylors. Patrons enter into RiverMarket’s daily farmers market where wood crates filled with squash and root vegetables rest on wine barrels. Fresh-cut wildflowers in low-maintenance Mason jars speckle the shop as well as beautify the dining tables. Flat-screen TVs line the bar for sports fans.

“That’s sort of the way it should be,” says Holzwarth. “No pretense, no pomp.”

Though the vibe is laid-back, attitudes about food are anything but relaxed.

“Always raising the bar is what our goal is,” says Holzwarth. “It’s being committed to the healthy, clean cuisine that one can eat regularly; and I can be proud of and a cook can be proud to serve and servers can be proud to sell. That’s the big picture.”

In addition to the chef’s daily specials that rotate based on market availability, fans of the Boathouse can find some familiar favorites like Montauk lobster salad heaped with market-fresh meat. A master with pastas who rolls them fresh daily, Holzwarth also kept the delicate and delectable ravioli “Lidia’s Way” – now filled with heirloom apple – plus another favorite of the house, spicy lobster linguini neri.

Vogt says its padrone peppers work beautifully with their 2012 Red Tail Ridge Estate Riesling on tap, a renowned selection from the Finger Lakes that not so coincidentally comes from the first LEED gold certified green winery in the state. If you prefer a rich red, he suggests one of their biodynamic selections, Teroldego from Trentino’s Elisabetta Foradori.

An abundance of food and wine knowledge – and the enthusiasm to share it – optimizes the RiverMarket dining experience, one that Holzwarth says is best enjoyed as a progression.

“You really want to try our raw or roasted oysters and one of our small artisanal salads along with your main course,” he recommends. “Or you can exchange a pizza for a pasta.”

At the mention of pizza, Vogt adds: “We have this crazy dream of Hudson Valley

duck pizza with duck confit and duck foie gras and a big duck egg right in the middle.”

The chef employs a “know thy farmer” philosophy to ensure RiverMarket offers the Hudson Valley’s best, like grass-fed beef from Amish farmers upstate (sealed with an affidavit of quality) to pouches of creamy burrata from Maplebrook Farm and produce from Blooming Hill Farm.

“We even had a beer together and made pizza together,” says Holzwarth of his visit to Blooming Hill.

His delicious due diligence doesn’t only serve the kitchen well, but the market.

Along with MaryAnne Vogt – market manager and Vogt’s friendly wife, who encourages suggestions for stock – they’re tasked with expanding the market to impressive proportions.

“Ultimately, what we look to see the market become is an extension of the dining room,” says Vogt. “… Everything that is on the menu will also be available in the market to go.“ So pasture-raised eggs from Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard in North Salem that the chef may use in his brunch skillet frittata can also be purchased to take home. The same would go for sirloin steak or fish fillets.

Their sky’s-the-limit vision sees RiverMarket as a hub of Hudson Valley fare luring city-dwellers and tourists with the promise of a destination food and wine experience that will get them back to Manhattan in time for theater tickets.

“Yes,” says Vogt. “We have big plans for RiverMarket.”

RiverMarket Bar & Kitchen is located at 127 W. Main St. in Tarrytown.

For more, call (914) 631-3100 or visit rivermarketbarandkitchen.com. n

Please call us to schedule a visit | 203.748.3800 | 1 Stacey Road, Danbury, CT 06811 | www.theamberroom.net

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wear

Blurred lines, Gaultier style

By Georgette Gouveia

Karl Lagerfeld’s photograph “Untitled (Alek Wek)” Numéro, March 2000. “Dubar” gown from Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Romantic India” women’s spring-summer haute couture collection of 2000. Camouflage evening gown featuring myriad khaki, cinnamon, and papaya tulle ruffles. © Karl Lagerfeld.

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A Grace Jones lookalike in one of the designs from Jean Paul Gaultier’s women’s ready-to-wear spring-summer collection of 2013. © Patrice Stable/ Jean Paul Gaultier.

One of the designs in Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Tribute to Amy Winehouse” women’s haute couture springsummer collection of 2012. © Patrice Stable/ 61 Jean Paul Gaultier.

Helen Mirren in a Jean Paul Gaultier costume from Peter Greenaway’s 1989 film “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.” Photograph by Miramax Films/Photofest. ©Miramax Films.

A

s a couturier, Jean Paul Gaultier has always been a voice for diversity – both social and aesthetic.

He helped put the ambition in Madonna’s 1990 “Blond Ambition” tour, armoring the chameleonic one in his signature cone bras and corsets that were like a second skin on the perkiest of breasts, the sleekest of figures.

He dressed male model Tanel Bedrossiantz in one of his mermaid gowns and festooned South Sudanese model Alek Wek with a gown whose camouflage bustier gave way to a cascade of khaki, cinnamon and papaya tulle ruffles.

For Gaultier, the lines between fabric and skin and male and female – as well as among various ethnicities and religions – have always been blurry at best.

It’s the reason he’s happy to be celebrated in a new exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

“On one of my first trips, I decided to walk all the way uptown from (Green62

Paolo Roversi’s photograph of Tanel Bedrossiantz, 1992, in a gown from Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Barbès” women’s ready-towear fall-winter collection of 1984–85. © Paolo Roversi.

wich) Village until Harlem,” he recalls in the press materials. “It took me the whole day, and I will never forget the pleasure of discovering this great city.

But most of all, it is a melting pot, a place where you can go around the world in one day, where all the races and creeds live together. I am proud and honored that my exhibition will be presented in Brooklyn, where the true spirit of New York lives on.”

“The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” (through Feb. 23) surveys his career in a presentation that is more theatrical than chronological, with 130 haute couture and prêt-à-porter ensembles accompanied by audiovisual materials, sketches, early designs and photographs in thematic arrangements.

“The Odyssey” sets the tone with Gaultier’s early use of nautical and religious iconography and includes his first design (1971), never-before-displayed, costumes worn by Beyoncé and gowns created for Marion Cotillard and Catherine Deneuve to wear to the Oscars.

“The Boudoir” explores the designer’s fascination with lingerie, which he plumbed in the conical bras and corsets created for Madonna. Also featured here are designs for Hermès, where he was creative director 2004-11 and his childhood teddy bear Nana in the first cone bra (circa early-1960s).

“Muses” gets to the heart of the Gaultier aesthetic as it considers how he erased boundaries in establishing a new ideal of beauty.

“Punk Cancan” takes us through his mélange of styles, from Paris chic to London punk. This section includes the strapless chiffon-camouflage ball gown that Sarah Jessica Parker wore to the 2000 MTV Awards, which required 312 hours to make.

“Skin Deep” looks at the idea of clothing as a second skin in the Gaultier aesthetic and how his use of trompe l’oeil effects conveys the illusion of nudity, a flayed body, a skeleton or tattoos.

“Metropolis” spotlights his collaborations with everyone from the late choreographer Maurice Béjart to Lady Gaga.

This section includes the first-ever display of pieces from a summer collection inspired by Grace Jones, Boy George, Sade, Madonna and David Bowie.

“Urban Jungle” mines the role world culture plays in Gaultier’s designs, where the influences range from Bedouin to Bollywood.

These themes come alive in a highly interactive, kinetic show – initiated by Nathalie Bondil, director and chief curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – that features revolving mannequins and a continuously moving catwalk.

For its part, the Brooklyn Museum is as happy to have Gaultier’s quirky designs as he is to be there.

Says director Arthur L. Lehman: “Jean Paul Gaultier’s mastery of the complex technical demands of haute couture is matched only by his rich and unrivalled artistic collaborations.

His unconventional designs, frequently spiked with his sense of whimsy and quixotic humor, reflect the richness of our cultures.”

For more, visit brooklynmuseum.org. n

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wear

VIVA velvet!

Winter revels in the plush stuff

By Andrea Kennedy

Alexander McQueen. Photograph courtesy Saks.com.

Christian Louboutin. Photograph courtesy Saks.com.

Monique Lhuillier. Photograph courtesy Monique Lhuillier.

Haider Ackermann.

Photograph courtesy Haider Ackermann.

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C. Wonder. Photograph courtesy C. Wonder.

V

elvet isn’t a fabric that comes out every day. Why is it that velvet has gained a reputation as a textile to be used sparingly? One theory is that velvet is simply too indulgent and thus reserved for special occasions. The notion isn’t far-flung considering the public seems to liken it to the socalled guilty pleasures to which the fabric has lent its name.

Take the ubiquitous red velvet cupcake or Isabella Rossellini in the super-sexual thriller “Blue Velvet,” named for the haunting tune made famous by Bobby Vinton. After all, a fabric so lush just begs to be touched.

An equally plausible theory behind velvet’s occasional use is that designers have often missed the mark by using velvet in looks that appear outdated or matronly. If you subscribe to the latter but still love a remorse- and caloriefree indulgence, then velvet may just be your wardrobe’s newest winter-weather friend. (Is it just me, or does velvet make clothes look so comfy you could wear them to sleep?)

This season, designers have taken to the runways with fine flocked frocks and separates both regal and wearable.

L’Wren Scott and Diane von Furstenberg take rich red velvet to the next level with elegant approaches featuring long sleeves and cinched waists – the latter a recurring element that’s vital for this thick material to optimize the female form. Scott stages a semi-structured look wellsuited to petite figures, a close-cut dress with a demure boat-neck and dainty brooches that draw a diagonal to a hip-hanging bow. The von Furstenberg ensemble features a flattering deep-V and oodles of voluptuous gathers plus an empire cut for plenty of womanly give. Lose the loose flowing pants and you’re left with a sultry minidress.

From red velvet to blue, Ralph Lauren’s midnightcolored beaded number may be the most luscious look of the season. A column of body-hugging silk velvet proclaims sexiness and timeless glamour as a train trickles behind so delicately you forget it’s velvet at all. Romantic and royal, the classic silhouette gets topped with a draped collar of abundant gold adornments that’s ready for a ball.

Christopher Kane has made a distinct statement by balancing deep blue velvet with a basic yet interesting interlocking loop motif to elongate the shoulders and arms and minimize the waist. Slit open sleeves hang well past the hands, so Kane has you just dripping in velvet. Where does he come up with this stuff?

As Kane presents a velvet top, Haider Ackermann presents fluid and functional velvet bottoms. Meeting a sleek boot mid-calf, the black slacks add a bit of softness to an overall austere look showing just how versatile – even edgy – velvet can be. So grab that blazer you usually wear with boring slacks and have some fun at work this fall.

While you’re at it, spruce up the rest of your day or evening looks with plush velvet accessories. C. Wonder has a set of delightfully adorable smoking slippers fit for Her Majesty, and Monique Lhuillier’s luxe crushed velvet bootie boasts a daring and beautifully constructed design.

Also in forest green, the fabric is a statement-making selection for arguably her best shoe of the season.

And if you’re still not convinced velvet has taken its finest turn yet, start with one of the lavish and stylish quilted clutches by Christian Louboutin or Alexander McQueen.

One luscious touch and you might just launch a love affair. n

Diane von Furstenberg.

Photograph courtesy Diane von Furstenberg.

Ralph Lauren.

Photograph courtesy Ralph Lauren.

L’Wren Scott.

Photograph courtesy L’Wren Scott.

Christopher Kane.

Photograph courtesy Christopher Kane.

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Chic

choices

Gifts for all occasions

Photograph by Bob Rozycki.

Pleasantly plump

When your dining-room table, sideboard or bookcase needs a whimsical-yet-luxurious accent, the Gift Galleries at Neiman Marcus in The Westchester in White Plains has a charming suggestion.

And it’s pumpkin-shaped. How ideal is that for this time of year?

WAG spent time on a recent morning with Karine Chitchian, the galleries’ manager, who helped us create this lovely vignette showcasing Hot Skwash creations.

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It’s hard, Chitchian cautions, to purchase just one.

“It starts like that,” she says with a laugh. “People buy them and they come back.”

And we can see why.

Hot Skwash is a family-run business founded by Daria Knowles that offers virtual bushels full of velvet pumpkins in a rainbow of hues and patterns. Based outside Portland, Ore., the company employs stay-at-home moms to fashion these tex-

tured treasures. Each feature “unwanted” pumpkin and squash stems culled from local farmers. Talk about clever recycling to create truly one-of-a-kind little works of art.

“It’s such a warming element,” Chitchian says, also suggesting these decorative accessories can easily transition from the holiday table to the library or other display space for year-round enjoyment.

Prices range from $20 to $60, with limited-edition designs $200 and up.

Replicate our display with other selections from the Gift Galleries. Chitchian artfully chose L’Objet Pour Fortuny’s three-tier server ($795), large jewel box ($1,200) and small jewel box ($395). And adding that final note of seasonal texture, a Neiman Marcus Private Label cashmere throw ($595), here in orange but also available in oatmeal, navy and charcoal.

For more visit neimanmarcus.com or (914) 428-2000.

– Mary Shustack

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CAMDEN JACKET Eggplant Black

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Chic

When splurge is the word…

Photographs courtesy Neiman Marcus.

The 87th edition of its legendary Christmas book has found Neiman Marcus again tapping into a gift lover’s wildest dreams. The recent unveiling of the 2013 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book reveals yet another treasure trove filled with gifts to lavish on the luckiest of recipients. As always, the “His & Her” fantasy gift gains the most attention – this year’s is a stunning “Ultimate Outdoor Entertainment System” that carries a $1.5 million price

choices

tag – but the well-edited pages offer quite the stuff of dreams in so many other categories. We were particularly captivated by one of the fantasy gift “experiences,” the chance to stay overnight in The Glass House, architect and art patron Philip Johnson’s noted weekend escape in New Canaan. The proceeds of this particular gift, a $30,000 investment, go toward the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, which supports Club Glass House (a program that provides educational tours for children). For more, visit neimanmarcus.com.

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Chic

choices

Say cheese (and cured meats and more…)

WAG was treated to a lovely sampling of the products, with a package of tasty treats including Creminelli Tartufo salami with black truffles, Gold Creek Farms aged white cheddar, Beehive Cheese Co. Barely Buzzed espresso/lavender-rubbed cheese, Snowy Mountain Sheep Creamery strawberry peak Alpine cheese, Butcher’s Bunches handcrafted preserves, Slide Ridge raw honey and Amour Spreads strawberry rhubarb jam. (Selections from $4.50). Alocaltable. com or (435) 214-2054.

Two former New Yorkers with Westchester ties have launched A Local Table from their adopted home of Park City, Utah.

Featuring locally produced gourmet foods from throughout the country – with a particular emphasis on Utah – the company run by Ken Kullack and Kylie Anderson offers a selection of cheeses, cured and dried meats, honey, crackers, condiments, pickles, preserves, handmade chocolates, organic dried fruits and nuts – and more.

Photographs courtesy A Local Table and by Bob Rozycki.

Here, the Savor Utah Gourmet Food Collection ($50) that features treats including Beehive Barely Buzzed cheese goat cheese rubbed with espresso and lavender, and YeeHaw No Frills Dills pickles.

Alocaltable.com or (435) 214-2054.

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Here, the Realtor Deluxe Gift Package – perfect as a hostess, thank-you or closing gift – features cheeses, salami, dill pickles, figs and a Brooklyn Slate Company cheese board and Boska Rosewood Presentation cheese knife ($100).

Alocaltable.com or (435) 214-2054.

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choices Need an Alibi?

You gotta love the promotional blurb sent along for Panache Beverages’ Alibi American whiskey: “Alibi is an elixir for the flawed human spirit in all of us… Alibi is for real people, real drinkers and believes that at one time or another, everybody needs an alibi.”

Wow. The company’s first foray into the “brown spirits” category is designed to be free of pretension, the choice for those who prefer it in a shot glass or flask. The corn-based whiskey contains elements of rye and malted barley, is aged in first-fill American oak casks, distilled in Indiana and blended in Florida. Suggested retail is $23.99 for a 750ml bottle. For more visit, Alibiamerican.com.

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Whips and spurs and… grapes?

We’ll forgive you if you think we’re talking “Fifty Shades of Grey” here. No, The Whip and The Spur are two spotlighted vintages from Murrieta’s Well, which produces estate blends from California’s Livermore Valley. The Whip is a 2012 tribute ($21) to some of the great white blends of the world, in this case a Chardonnay that also includes Gewurztraminer, Orange Muscat and more. The Spur, a 2011 offering at $25, is a celebration of the art of blending, here a Petite Sirah with Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc.

We suggest a few sips of each this holiday season. For more visit, murrietaswell.com.

Photographs by Bob Rozycki.

Chic

choices

Holiday glimmer

With a stylish roar

Larchmont-based jewelry designer Pam Older is all about inspiration. From her travels to the lovely gems she hand selects for the creations of Pam Older Designs, she delights in translating her vision into artistic and wearable pieces. Often, she is also inspired by the past, from history to antiques to design elements, also reflected in some of her newest collections.

Photographs courtesy Pam Older Designs.

High style for the home with a decidedly cutting edge is what it’s all about at Tiger Lily’s in Greenwich. Samantha Knapp has shared some of the design studio and custom workshop’s hottest creations for the cooler months, when Tiger Lily’s, as she says, “went ‘winter white’ incorporating Mongolian sheep skins into our home accessories collection.”

Photographs courtesy Tiger Lily’s.

Glistening golden green garnets seem to sum up the season in these delicate handcrafted earrings ($90) accented with gold-filled wires.

PamOlderDesigns.com.

The Antica Collection from Pam Older Designs features these eye-catching clip-on earrings ($85 to $150) as well as pierced earrings and handmade necklaces. The line features glass cabochons, pearls, natural stones and Swarovski crystals.

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Here, a pillow ($395) accented with whimsy sheep fur trim and decorative nail-stud detail. (203) 629-6510 or tigerlilysgreenwich.com.

Here, the Octagon Ottoman ($2,260) features a rustic metal base paired with the Mongolian sheep skins in gray (also comes in winter white).

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Broadway dreams Victoria Lynn Socci working toward the Great White Way

By Mary Shustack It’s not Broadway, but for Victoria Lynn Socci, Peoria is still pretty exciting.

That’s Peoria, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, where the 23-year-old South Salem resident is currently performing in the Arizona Broadway Theatre production of “Hairspray.”

Starring in the role of Tracy Turnblad through Nov. 10, Socci is acting, singing and dancing her way through the latest chapter of a career that she hopes will someday lead to the Great White Way. When WAG caught up with Socci by phone to see how things were going, the up-and-coming performer was filled with enthusiasm, sharing that the production has already proven “a lot of work – but it’s fun.”

The show, set in 1962 Baltimore, follows the “pleasantly plump” teen as she strives to dance on “The Corny Collins Show.” First featured in the 1988 John Waters film, Tracy – called the “big girl with big hair” – ends up helping fellow teen dancers fight against racial discrimination (and win the boy she loves) along the way.

Socci is continuing Westchester’s own connection with the role. The 1988 movie starred Ricki Lake, who grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, while Broadway’s 2002 production starred Marissa Jaret Winokur, a graduate of Fox Lane High School in Bedford.

“I didn’t always think that I could play this role,” Socci says, as she is slimmer than the previous Tracys. But then, she says, she started to see “similarities to myself” and thought “So what if they need to put a little padding on me.”

And seems she needn’t have worried.

In a regional review of the production for Talkin’ Broadway, critic Gil Benbrook not only offered overall praise (“Her singing, dancing and especially her acting are top notch,”) but also wrote: “While Socci slimmer than any of the actresses I’ve seen play this role before, she still manages to make Tracy the outsider, one that any of us who has ever felt like an outsider can easily identify with.”

The role, Socci well knows, goes far beyond the surface, and the “inspiring character” has already had an effect.

“She always challenges me to be a better person,” Socci says. Tracy, she notes, sees something wrong in the world and “doesn’t think twice, (saying) ‘We have to 74

Victoria Lynn Socci, left, as “Tracy,” right, in Arizona Broadway Theatre’s production of “Hairspray.” Photographs courtesy Victoria Lynn Socci and the Arizona Broadway Theatre.

do something about it.’”

A fast-paced rehearsal period with a cast who mostly hadn’t worked together before made for a challenge, but within days, all was well.

“As soon as we ran it, we said, ‘OK, we can pull it off,’” Socci says.

It was a hoped-for scenario for something that started when ABT, a professional theater, held a local casting.

“They come to New York once or twice a year to look for actors,” Socci says, noting the show held great appeal.

“I think I’m mainly attracted to musicals, because I’m so musical. My family is so musical.”

Her mother and father, Sheri and Carmine, met in a wedding band. Her brother, Philip, plays guitar and an uncle is a professional musician who also teaches.

With this run in “Hairspray,” it’s all coming together for the John Jay High School graduate whose early years included theater camp and school and community productions.

“During high school, I was dancing a lot,” Socci says. She also trained with the Music Theatre of Connecticut in Westport and The Pulse Performing Arts Studio in Bedford.

Socci would go on to earn a 2012 bachelor of arts degree in music and theater from

Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. “I was able to take dance classes and voice lessons from day one,” she says.

She also got to study abroad, training in theater and voice at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Her summer of 2012 included working with music at a local day camp in Lewisboro (other part-time jobs have included being a nanny and restaurant gigs) and a four-day workshop with Broadway Artists Alliance in Manhattan.

Then things heated up. Later that summer she played Paulette Bonafonte in “Legally Blonde: The Musical” at the White Plains Performing Arts Center, where she previously appeared in “Rent.” Next up, she would secure the role of Wendy Jo in a production of “Footloose” at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H. In her quest for an Actors’ Equity card – which signifies membership in the union – Socci has devoted most of this year plotting her next moves, always on the lookout for opportunities.

She has said she “decided to stop waiting to be hired and finally just started taking action and control of my career.”

That has meant a steady dose of classes and workshops, auditions and YouTube videos (check out “Fifteen Pounds”) that she submits to land auditions.

She’s always on the lookout for chances to perform and this summer took part in Seth Bisen-Hersh’s “Talent Showcase” at Don’t Tell Mama in Manhattan.

“There’s tons of opportunities like that in the city,” she says. “You just gotta go and start trying.”

As Socci has summed it up, she’s grateful for the role in “Hairspray,” but isn’t considering it a peak.

It’s the way she sums up her approach: “You can never really sit back and say, ‘Phew. I can relax now.’”

Instead, she continues to look ever forward.

“I think this first year has been about me trying to get my footing, find out as much about the business as I can. I’m really glad that I’ve had the opportunity to kind of figure things out for myself.”

She’s had her share of connections coming through to score roles or auditions at just the right time, but she knows it’s really about the hard work.

“If I really want to do this long-term, it’s not all these lucky things.”

And while luck may indeed be a part of it, when that big break does come it seems that Socci will have the right attitude – and talent – to take full advantage.

For more, visit victorialynnsocci.com or azbroadway.org. n

wanders

Vienna hits all the right notes

Johann Strauss II Monument in Stadt Park, Vienna. Photograph by Jorge Royan.

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A Mozart dinner concert at St. Peter Stiftskeller. Tourismus Salzburg photo.

The evening of Sept. 24 was joyous at The Metropolitan Opera as maestro James Levine – who had been incapacitated for two years with back problems, undergoing surgery and rehabilitation – finally returned to the podium. It was actually more like a rotating platform with an elevator mechanism named the “maestro lift,” which can accommodate the motorized wheelchair he uses.

Levine conducted a glowing and buoyant account of Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.” Writing in The New York Times, music critic Anthony Tommasini said, “Over many years I have heard Mr. Levine give some remarkable accounts of Mozart operas, and I don’t think I have ever heard a more vibrant, masterly and natural performance than this ‘Così fan tutte.’

That evening brought me back to my mid-20s when I visited Austria.

Music abounds everywhere there from the Salzburg Festival to “The Sound of Music.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born there in Salzburg on Jan. 27, 1756, and died in the capital Vienna Dec. 5, 1791 at only 35 years of age.

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If “Salzburg is the heart of the heart of Europe,” as the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal noted, the Salzburg Festival is the steady beat. Since 1920, the celebrated event has filled this lovely Alpine city with some of the finest opera, drama and concerts on the continent.

In 2014, the festival will run from July 18 to Aug. 31. From Mozart to modern, classic interpretations to daring experimentation, only the best are invited to Salzburg each year. A visit to the festival combines high culture with the sheer pleasure of vacationing in one of the most scenic places on the globe – and scrumptious. In Salzburg, I dined at the oldest restaurant in Europe, St. Peter Stiftskeller, enjoying a delicious three-course candlelit meal, prepared as it would have been in the 17th and 18th centuries, while local musicians and opera singers in period costumes performed Mozart.

Music is, of course, one of Vienna’s delights. Besides Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Schoenberg and the Strausses (Johanns I and II) all made a mark there. The

New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic – one of the world’s greatest orchestras – is broadcast around the world to 50 million music lovers in 73 countries, including the United States, where it is heard on PBS stations.

The Vienna Boys’ Choir is one of the best-known boys’ choirs in the world.

The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. The nonprofit has approximately 100 choristers between the ages of 10 and 14. The boys are divided into four touring choirs, named for Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert, that perform about 300 concerts yearly.

Each group tours for about nine to 11 weeks.

The Vienna Opera Ball is an annual event that takes place at the Vienna State Opera on the Thursday preceding Ash Wednesday. Next year it will be held Feb. 27. The Opera Ball is one of the highlights of the Viennese carnival season. The dress code is strictly formal – white tie and tails for men and floor-length gowns for women.

Dancers and opera singers from the

Wiener Staatsoper often perform at the openings of balls such as this.

A Vienna ball is an all-night cultural attraction. Major Viennese balls generally begin at 9 p.m. and last until 5 a.m., although I was told that many guests carry on the celebrations into the next day. The only ball officially associated with the Vienna Opera Ball is the Dubai Opera Ball. A similar ball takes place in New York City and another in Budapest, but they are not affiliated with the Vienna Opera Ball.

My blissful, musical memories of Austria even include the Lipizzaner horses, who are put through the elegant paces of dressage – a kind of horse ballet – at the Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg Palace.

In Austria, even the horses are musical.

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The Vienna Boys’ Choir take part in a Vienna concert.

Vienna State Opera House.

Festivalnight Salzburg. Tourismus Salzburg photo.

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wagging Getting to the heart of the bark

By Sarah Hodgson

Woof! Woof-wooof-wooofwooof! Grrr-woof-grrr.

It’s the classic soundtrack to this scenario: A dog is perched high on the back of the family couch – or the stair landing or the front porch – barking alertly. He’s warning potential intruders – be they a pizza delivery man, a deer or perhaps just a large, wayward bag blowing across his visual field – that he’s on guard and standing ground. Said dog may yawn, stretch or grumble as he settles back down and assumes his post. And then silence. At least until the next distraction.

“Dogs bark, though, right? Isn’t that just what they do?” It’s a question I get asked routinely.

Well, yes and no. Dogs do bark, and they vocalize for various reasons. In the above scene, the dog was alert-barking, also known as a protective or territorial behavior. These dogs get an adrenaline rush followed by a quick shot of endorphins as the perceived intruder generally passes. Still, beware the FedEx package that requires a signature.

Dogs also bark to get attention, and like kids, they don’t seem care if the acknowledgement is positive or negative. Whether they get a hug or a hollering, they’ll likely repeat the performance. The message this bark communicates is, “Hey, stop what you’re doing and focus on me.” While it’s nice to be needed, a dog should be taught more polite behaviors to garner affection.

As a dog trainer, I teach my clients to carry treats and reward their dogs when they sit or share their toys. Extinguishing attentionbarking can be as easy as just walking away.

Some dogs are just plain demanding, vocalizing whenever they need or want something. These barkers use their voices to target specific things, such as biscuits in the cupboard, tennis balls under the couch or a desire for a walk or outing.

Some needs should not be overlooked, like potty breaks, but others best be redirected or ignored lest they become a lifelong habit. The industry term for this behavior is “bratty-barking” and once addressed it may get more furious before it subsides. With my clients I suggest that

Pet of the Month In this our month of “Voices,” we’re pleased to present a dog who was named after one of the great – if not the greatest – composers of vocal music, or any type of music really. The irony is that 3-year-old Mozart can’t hear Mozart or anything else. He’s deaf, which is probably why he was abandoned. (And yes, the SPCA is aware that it was Beethoven – a student of Mozart’s – who actually went deaf. But the organization didn’t want to give a Bassett Hound/Corgi/ American Bull Dog the same name as the St. Bernard in the “Beethoven” movies.)

This Mozart has learned many hand signals and picks up on vibrations quickly, being very alert. He absolutely loves other dogs, which is good since the companionship of another dog would help him get around.

He loves everyone he meets so he could live with any type of family. He’s always looking to give you a big sloppy kiss and crawl on your lap like a lap dog.

To meet Mozart, visit the SPCA of Westchester at 590 N. State Road in Briarcliff Manor.The SPCA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m.

Sundays. To learn more, call (914) 941-2896 or visit spca914.org. n 78

they either initiate a lesson or calmly seclude their dog with a favored chew. The message that sinks in? Barking no longer elicits the intended response. When the vocalizing ceases to reinforce a sense of tyranny, it’s abandoned.

So, what of the territorial reaction, such as the dog who barks to defends his den (aka his master’s home and property) against a perceived foe? Though this emotional response arises from fear or frustration – or a combination of the two – the message comes across loud and clear: “Stay away. Stay far, far away from my personal space.”

Are the guardians of these reactive dogs thus condemned to a life of unpredicted interruption or is there something that can be done to curb the dog’s impulsiveness?

I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is yes, something can be done to modify the intensity of the reaction and condition the dog to everyday distractions, as I will explain. The bad news if you’re hoping for a silenced dog is that reactive dogs are bred to the bone. Once

an alert-barker, always an alert-barker.

The choice when this dog’s alarm sounds is to, first, shout out at the top of your lungs. While seemingly intuitive and sometime effective in the short term, it leads to more barking, not less. A person shouts: “QUIET, FLUFFY. QUIET. YOU’RE GOING TO WAKE THE BABY,” but the dog hears “Woof! woofwooof-wooof-wooof! Grrr-woof-Grrr.”

And voilà. It’s one big bark-fest.

Or you can go to plan B. Cheerfully call out “Thanks, Fluffy!” in a bright but directive tone and shake a cup of treats as you call your dog back to your side. Once together, you should redirect him to an opposing activity like fetching or chewing.

In time, the defensive, goal-oriented bark-phrase will meld into a new message: “MOM, MOM, CHECK IT OUT. SOMEONE’S JUST WALKING PAST THE FRONT DOOR!” Now your dog’s happier, because he’s part of a team – instead of an employee.

And really, which would you rather hear? n

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w’reel deal

Indignation over CGI

By Sam Barron

I may be 28 years old, but I still watch cartoons, which rely heavily on voice-overs. (I’m always impressed how I’m able to write a column that sticks to our monthly themes, no matter how tenuous.)

Movies like “Epic,” which elicited zero emotions from critics and audiences alike. It involves a battle between the Leafmen and the evil Boggans.

Yeah.

Metacritic, a site that aggregates reviews from critics, gave it a 52 out of 100, which basically means “meh.” Box office-wise, it became the lowest-grossing movie from Greenwich-based Blue Sky Studios. But while kids sat there shrugging their shoulders and parents sat there checking their watches, I sat there kind of angry, and I didn’t even hate the movie.

First off, I was misled and roped in by the first trailer, which made the movie look like something Pixar would be jealous of. Set to Snow Patrol’s “When the Storm Ends” it features swooping visuals, incredible animation and looks, well, epic. I was hooked.

Then I saw “Epic” a year later. There were no swooping visuals, the animation was average and most egregiously there was no Snow Patrol. What I got was every other lame CGI movie that has come out the last few years. There were talking funny animal sidekicks, a big G-rated climax that was not exciting, plus celebrity voice-overs that exist only so you can try to guess who is doing the voice.

I like Amanda Seyfried (who voiced the main character), but she added nothing. For some reason Beyoncé and Steven Tyler are in it, and Aziz Ansari voices the token funny animal sidekick. (See also John Leguizamo in “Ice Age”, George Lopez in “Rio” and Robin Williams in “Robots.” God, Blue Sky). Christoph Waltz is the only good voice-over in the movie, but he would give me chills just reading the phone book.

With all the technological advancements in CGI and incredible animation today, why do studios like Blue Sky continue to churn out these halfassed, cookie-cutter CGI movies?

Their next movie is “Rio 2.” Does anyone even remember “Rio 1?”

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The guy in this photo looks angry and intense, probably because he just sat through “Rock-aDoodle.”

This picture sums up my disdain for “Epic” perfectly. Photographs courtesy of Blue Sky Studios.

With all the technological advancements in CGI and incredible animation today, why do studios like Blue Sky continue to churn out these half-assed, cookie-cutter CGI movies?

Their next movie is “Rio 2.” Does anyone even remember “Rio 1?”

Growing up, I found animated movies sucked, aside from the annual Disney summer movie. When I was 7, my dad took me to Mount Kisco to see a movie called “Rock-a-Doodle” about a rooster that becomes a rock star. I also saw “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West” and “Tom and Jerry: The Movie” in theaters. A 7-year old Sam Barron would flip his sh-- if there had been an animated movie about robots.

Then he would get in trouble for saying “sh--.”

Pixar has mostly gotten it right in the CGI department. The trilogy of “WALL-E”, “Up” and “Toy Story 3” is something that will never be topped.

But “Cars 2” was such a slap in the face to everything Pixar (supposedly) stood for. I get that I’m going to come off as naïve and idealistic, but Pixar movies were about more than just making

gobs of money and selling toys. “Cars 2” was only made because kids love toy cars. The fact that it was so resoundingly rejected by critics and audiences warmed my heart.

This past summer, Pixar came out with “Monsters University” another movie with no real reason to exist other than money. And in 2016, we’re getting “Finding Dory,” a sequel to “Finding Nemo”? I mean, really? Don’t get me wrong, like everyone else, I rank “Finding Nemo” as one of my favorite movies of all time, but as self-contained movies go, that’s up there. I don’t think anyone walked out of “Finding Nemo” with dry eyes thinking, “Man, I really hope 13 years later” – because they either have run out of ideas or like rolling around naked in money – “they produce a sequel.”

By making movies that children can love and that resonate with adults, Pixar built up all this good will and it hurts seeing the studio piss it away with money-grubbing sequel after money-grubbing sequel.

I think my younger self would probably love DreamWorks Animation the most. DreamWorks is pretty upfront about how the game works. They started the funny voices trend with “Shrek” and their movies are purely made to make gobs and gobs of money, lessons be damned. “Shrek” is a movie about liking someone for who he is, but spends most of the movie making short jokes about the villain. But “Shrek” is hilarious.

DreamWorks mostly concentrates on making its movies as funny and entertaining as possible. The two “Kung Fu Panda” movies have no right to be as funny as they are. I couldn’t stop laughing at “Megamind”, “Madagascar 3,” “Over The Hedge” and “Monsters vs. Aliens.” “How To Train Your Dragon” is DreamWorks’ only movie to have any real acclaim in the bunch and that was great, too.

DreamWorks isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel like Pixar, but at least its movies aren’t bland and boring like Blue Sky’s. DreamWorks gets that kids like to be entertained and makes movies as funny and as entertaining as possible.

Provided you didn’t see “Rise of the Guardians.” What was that? No seriously, what was that? n

well

A nose for voices

By Dr. Michael Rosenberg

Nose jobs are so commonplace as to seem routine – to everyone but singers, that is.

But whether you sing or not, rhinoplasty, as nasal surgery is formally known, is not to be undertaken lightly. It changes the size and shape of the nose and can have functional consequences on breathing. Indeed, the overall result of even small changes to the nose on facial symmetry and proportion can be significant, with rippling effects on the appearance of the eyes, mouth, chin and profile of the face.

Internally, changes in the nasal septum (the cartilage-based structure that divides the nose in two internally) and turbinates (the hillocks located on the inner side of the nose that help warm and filter air) can improve airflow in nasal breathing and reduce or eliminate snoring.

Then why do singers avoid nasal surgery like they do air conditioning or anyone with a case of the sniffles? Perhaps they like what they have. As Barbra Streisand told Barbara Walters in a 1985 in-

terview: “The real reason (I didn’t fix my nose) is I didn’t trust the doctors to make my nose right ... I thought my nose went with my face, ya know, it’s all rather odd.”

But singers also know that the nose is the voice’s speaker system. Seven years earlier in a Playboy magazine interview, Streisand credited her deviated septum with giving her voice its unique timbre.

Fixing it “would ruin my career,” she said.

Such fears, however, would seem to be unfounded. The consensus among most plastic surgeons is that vocal changes are a rare and unusual consequence of the surgery. In addition, any change is so subtle that only a person who uses his or her voice professionally would notice it. (And therein lies the problem. If the singer thinks he sounds different, he may begin to use his voice differently.)

Here knowledge is the path to dispelling fear. Think of the nose as an upside down pyramid, with paired nasal bones attached at the forehead spreading out to upper and then lower cartilage that ends at the

opening of the nose. Overlying this bony framework is the inner surface or mucosa of the nose and the outer surface of soft tissue and skin. Nasal surgery begins by going through the skin under the nasal tip in an open rhinoplasty or through the inner mucosal surface in a closed rhinoplasty.

Either way, the surgeon gains access to the structural framework of the nose, which can then be reduced or enhanced with implants or grafts. When healing is complete, the skin and outer surface of the nose assume the shape and contour of the changed framework and the desired result can be obtained. In the same operation, if necessary, the septum and/or the turbinates can be reshaped or reduced to improve airflow through the nose. Packing is then placed in the nose for a day or two and a nasal splint or cast placed on the nose and healing occurs over the next seven to 10 days.

Depending on the extent of the surgery being contemplated, local anesthesia with intravenous sedation or general anesthe-

sia can be used. Swelling and bruising around the eyes are common and can last 10 to 14 days. Once the swelling has been completely resolved, which can take up to three months, the nose will assume its new, permanent shape.

As with any surgery, there are risks associated with rhinoplasty, and a frank discussion of the risks and benefits of the surgery with your surgeon is a critical step in deciding whether surgery is right for you.

Be prepared to seek out more than one opinion and make sure to look for beforeand-after pictures at your consultation. In addition, nasal surgery lends itself to computer imaging, which can show you how your nose might look after the proposed surgery. This is particularly important in rhinoplasty, as changing the width or tip projection can affect the overall look of your face in ways that you need to be aware of prior to surgery.

Please send any questions or comments to mrosenberg@nwhc.net. n

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Voicing the concerns of children

By Georgette Gouveia

Founder Elena Olivieri in eagle pose.

Photograph by Jessyka Calzolaio.

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As an elementary school teacher, Elena Olivieri wanted not only to be a voice for children but to help them cultivate their inner voices in battling the pressures they encounter in today’s world.

But that need was really brought home to her after a year and a half of teaching abroad at the American International School of Budapest.

“I decided to come home to re-ground myself,” she says. “But I wasn’t as excited to get back into teaching here as I thought I would be. I’d been hearing about a lot of stress in American education, and I thought it’d be nice if children had a place to re-center themselves.”

So Olivieri created just such a place, Child•cor, which opened its doors in Thornwood this past August. Renting a space in the American Legion building that looks out onto a brook and nature’s constantly shifting scene, this wellness program provides children ages 7 to 12 with the tools to deal with stress – yoga, meditation and improvisation. Olivieri, who teaches fourth grade at Concord Road Elementary School in Ardsley, is certified in all three. There are eight students in the program with a goal to add four more. Students can take two types of “journeys,” or series of classes – four twohour sessions on Saturdays or eight onehour after-school sessions. There is also an option for private sessions in the home.

“This is not about making money. My price point ($125 per journey) is low. I have kids from every economic class.”

What Child•cor is about is helping youngsters become more confident, focused and relaxed to cope with stresses that range from a Matterhorn of homework and stringent state testing to bullying. In yoga and meditation, the students work with the breath, inhaling on a count of four, holding it for four and exhaling on four. Or they’ll do a lion breath – inhaling and then exhaling explosively. The meditation is guided, with Olivieri suggesting an image or scene for the students to concentrate on, one that they may later draw.

The yoga asanas are simple, classic poses, such as child’s pose, a great relaxer in which, sitting on your calves and heels, you fold forward, drawing your arms out or bringing them back to rest beside your legs.

Olivieri describes improvisation as “boatloads of fun,” with students suggest-

Child•cor student Christina warming up with “Squeeze the Orange.” Photograph by Gina Downes.

ing ideas or scenarios that lead to lessons in team-building.

Child•cor touches her where she lives.

She has a background in drama, having studied it at the University of Miami and at a conservatory in Manhattan. At 21, she was diagnosed with panic disorder.

But it wasn’t until she got a job teaching third grade at the American International School of Budapest that the ideas that would guide Child•cor began to crystallize.

“I saw an ‘Oprah’ episode on affirmations and put a Post-it note on every child’s desk, asking him to write an affirmation anonymously.” At Christmastime, she made a video of the kids with their affirmations.

As the elementary drama teacher during her second year in Budapest, she incorporated relaxation techniques and yoga into the classes and started an after-school improvisational group for first- through fifth-graders.

“I definitely thought I bit off more than I could chew. But it turned out beautifully.”

That’s what parents are saying about Child•cor on its website.

“My daughter, Danielle, had a lot of self-esteem issues in school and developed anxiety,” writes Kristina M. “She got so discouraged and felt that she wasn’t able to succeed in school. She had failing grades until she had Elena Olivieri.

“Elena gave Danielle the courage to succeed and achieve her academic dreams.”

For more, visiti childcor.com n

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NOVEMBER 9

DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS

16 JOSHUA BELL, violin 22 YAMATO: DRUMMERS OF JAPAN DECEMBER 7

VIENNA BOYS’ CHOIR

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CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY, piano & MATT HAIMOVITZ, cello

JANUARY 26 ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA FEBRUARY 7

GARRICK OHLSSON, piano

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THE CROSSROADS PROJECT

15 DR. JOHN 22 UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE 23 KIM KASHKASHIAN, viola MARCH 2

DECODA

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DERVISH: MUSIC FROM IRELAND

16 FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA APRIL 5

CHANTICLEER

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THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR and Other Eric Carle Favourites

10 AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 12 LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO 13 eighth blackbird MAY 3

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN’S THE GERSHWINS AND ME

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ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET

HARLAN JACOBSON’S TALK CINEMA Select Tuesdays & Saturdays

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW! Pictured: Doug Varone and Dancers photo © Cylla von Tiedemann Major Sponsorship for the season is provided by The Vivian and Seymour Milstein Endowed Fund.

The Great Orchestras and Chamber Music Series are made possible by generous support from the Tanaka Memorial Foundation Special thanks to Corporate Sponsors Steinway & Sons and Pernod Ricard USA.

WWW.ARTSCENTER.ORG

914.251.6200

well The importance of your voice in health care

By Erika Schwartz, MD If we all had voices, medical care would be a lot better for us and the outcomes would be more positive and far less fear-driven.

It’s a pretty big statement, but I have been practicing medicine for too many decades and am a woman to boot, so I know all too well how true the statement is.

When I first ran the trauma center at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, the patients we saw in most dire straits were the ones without voices. They were very sick and most often unable to speak.

So much of the treatment we gave them was guessing based on what happened or what a relative or friend told us. In these cases, we had no choice and neither did the patients. This is the only situation in medicine in which it’s OK not to have a voice.

In the day-to-day doctor-patient interaction that occurs in clinics and offices

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all over the country, the circumstances are not dire, the opportunity to speak is there and the need to speak is imperative.

But the problem is most people just don’t speak and the results are disastrous.

How often do you go to the doctor and out of fear or sheer embarrassment don’t tell the doctor the truth about what is bothering you, the medication you are taking, the supplements, the hormones?

You just wait for the doctor to guess.

One of my first patients in private practice told me in no uncertain terms when I asked what was wrong with him: “You are the doctor. You should know.” How could I know? I don’t live in anyone’s body but my own.

I can assure you most women do not speak their minds when they are sitting on the examining table or across the desk from the doctor. They do not have the courage. They tell me they’re afraid the

doctor will disagree with their course of action or yell at them. Really, who is this doctor? And why are you still going to see him or her? The only thing you will get out of that type of relationship is bad care.

So they can’t find their voices and represent their own best interest in the relationship with the doctor. If they don’t, do you think the doctor will? Not so sure about that.

This is a sad state of affairs in 2013 in the U.S., where we profess to be equal and have voices that are heard.

Since all I do is listen to patients all day long, I can tell you without a doubt that we don’t have voices and if we do, we don’t use them where we can best benefit from them. I don’t want to say all doctors are uncaring and all patients have no voices, but unfortunately there are more who don’t than do.

Think back to your last visit to the doctor. I bet one of two things happened – either you didn’t tell the doctor what you felt, because the doctor bullied you or didn’t even notice you or you thought there was no use in telling him or her what you really thought, because the outcome would not be affected by what you said.

How sad is that: To think so little of yourself to allow the doctor, who doesn’t live inside your body and certainly has no clue how you feel, to decide what is right for you.

We aren’t little girls. These are our lives and health we are putting on the line when we become shrinking violets with little-girlish voices.

The other option is that you decided to confront the situation and make yourself heard. That usually happens as women age and wisdom brings them to a more outspoken and less fear-driven place.

The problem there is that instead of you coming across as your own advocate, the doctor, who has no training whatsoever in how to communicate with patients, becomes either scared of you or swats you away by telling you that you are being unreasonable, confrontational and bothersome, just to get you out of the office.

And then you leave with a prescription you probably don’t need anyway.

How often have you gone to the doctor and found yourself leaving intimidated and frustrated, not feeling heard?

When I first started to realize that doctors were treating women so badly, I became a patient advocate, because I recog-

nized this happens when women are too quick to accept status quo.

How about my friend who tells me she’s going to the gynecologist with the problem of low libido and the doctor pats her on the shoulder paternalistically, saying “What do you expect, honey, you are menopausal. It’s normal. You are getting older.”

So she leaves, feeling old and useless. To

Since all I do is listen to patients all day long, I can tell you without a doubt that we don’t have voices and if we do, we don’t use them where we can best benefit from them.

me that is unacceptable. There are many things she can do to feel sexier and one of them is find a better doctor to help her with medical and hormone support, and the other is to get a partner who turns her on.

When I started working with bioidentical hormones, many women told me they loved how they felt on the hormones but were afraid to tell their gynecologists, because the doctors didn’t agree with them.

So they told the doctors they were feeling great but omitted to tell them why. The doctors in their ignorance didn’t care and didn’t learn. By lacking courage and keeping their doctors in the dark, the women deprived many other women from getting access to the hormones that made them feel better.

That story comes from almost two decades ago. Unfortunately, it’s still true today.

How sad is that.

It may sound harsh and tough to absorb, but the truth is, unless you find your voice and use it now, time flies and the next generation of women will get only worse medical care and you will have missed the opportunity to make yourself heard.

It’s really all your choice.

For more information, email Dr. Erika at Erika@drerika.com. n

TRIPLE “E” FARMS

Specialists in EVERGREENS with a wide variety of outdoor plants and perennials Founded in 1977, Triple E is a wholesale-to-trade nursery nestled on 3 Starr Ridge Road in North Salem, N.Y.

Triple “E” Farms | 3 Starr Ridge Road, North Salem, N.Y. (914) 660-9453 | email tripleenursery@aol.com 85

Visit us with your landscaper and select from a vast array, plants that will enhance your home and gardens at the right pricing.

when&where Sunday

Monday

Tuesday THROUGH NOVEMBER 10

November 2013

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‘CRAFTS AT PURCHASE’

PAINTINGS ON EXHIBIT

This contemporary craft show benefits the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, and has been redesigned for this year’s presentation. (845) 331-7900, artrider.com.

Runs through Sunday, November 3.

Works by Jean Duquoc in the fiercely colored Fauve style are at Canfin Gallery in Tarrytown. (914) 3324554, canfingallery.com.

‘DREAM BALL’

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A benefit for Stamford Hospital featuring dinner, dancing, a silent auction and performance by the Doo Wop Project at Stamford Hospital’s Tully Health Center. (203) 2762554, stamfordhospital. org.

“Force et Magie” painting.

THIRD ANNUAL HARVEST TABLE FUNDRAISER

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A holiday fundraiser with cooking demonstrations, silent auction, luncheon and panel presentation to benefit a Stamford-based soup kitchen at The Italian Center in Stamford.

(203) 964-8228, ext. 2, nchstamford.org.

‘CRAFTWESTPORT’

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JUNIOR LEAGUE OF CENTRAL WESTCHESTER’S ‘27TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE’

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More than 170 contemporary craft artists gather to show their creations at Staples High School in Westport. (845) 3317900, artrider.com. Also Saturday, November 9.

‘GEORGIA O’KEEFFE AND THE CITY’

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PET SAFETY

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Guiding Eyes’ Pet First Aid Course at Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown Heights. (914) 243-2238, guidingeyes. org.

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Georgia O’Keefe

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‘FESTIVE STROLL OF HOMES’

Area house tours and luncheon at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club to benefit the Ossining Children’s Center. (914) 941-0230, ossiningchildrenscenter.org.

‘DECORATED GLENVIEW’

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Holiday decorations with a Victorian flair in Glenview, the Hudson River Museum’s historic home in Yonkers. (914) 963-4550, hrm. org. Runs through Sunday, January 5.

Alon Goldstein, The Symphony of Westchester. Photo Festive Stroll

by Meagan Cignoli. of Homes

Pianist Alon Goldstein opens the 17th season of the Symphony of Westchester at Iona College Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium in New Rochelle. (914) 654-4926, thesymphonyofwestchester.org.

Elena Rosenberg’s handcrafted knitwear.

Photograph by Bob Rozycki.

Classical music in the Music Room at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah. (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org.

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ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

Curator talk with Kristen M. Jensen and gallery tour at Hudson River Museum in Yonkers. (914) 963-4550, hrm.org.

Fun felt jewelry designed by Danielle GoriMontanelli.

Photograph by Mary Shustack.

THE DOVER QUARTET 2013-14 ERNST STIEFEL STRING QUARTETIN-RESIDENCE

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Drinks, dinner and comedy at the Hibernian Hall in Stamford. (203) 3249258, arict.org.

A shopping extravaganza with small bites, wine and spirit tastings, at Lake Isle Country Club in Eastchester. (914) 723-6130, jlcentralwestchester.org.

Also Thursday, November 7.

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‘FIFTH ANNUAL COMMEDY NIGHT’

KRAKAUER ACOUSTIC KLEZMER QUARTET

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A performance by clarinetist David Krakauer, known for his interpretation of Klezmer in a modern context, in the Music Room at Caramoor in Katonah. (914) 2325035, caramoor.org.

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wit wonders: What do you sing in the shower?

“I don’t really sing in the shower. It gets really quiet, and I listen to the shower. It sounds like you’re in the rainforest and it’s very soothing.”

– Michael Bick, owner/executive chef, Some Things Fishy Catering, Danbury resident “I don’t sing in the shower anymore. For me, it’s a time to reflect.”

– Jean Divney, White Plains Hospital Auxiliary Board member, White Plains resident “What I like to sing in the shower is something operatic, like ‘Time to Say Goodbye.’ It’s not opera, but it is Andrea Bocelli. And it’s romantic.”

– Mike Divney, chairman of the board, White Plains Hospital, White Plains resident “Show tunes. ‘West Side Story.’ I particularly love ‘Boy, boy, crazy boy.’ (Ed. note: Called ‘Cool.’) And I do all the moves. I also love ‘Carousel’ and ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.’”

– Troy Ellen Dixon, director of marketing and communications, Bruce Museum, Wilton resident “‘So This Is Love’ and ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ The acoustics in the shower allow you to free your secret voice.”

– Samantha Feig, massage therapist, THANN Sanctuary Spa, Castle Hotel & Spa, West Nyack resident

“I normally don’t sing in the shower, because that’s where I do some of my best thinking. But if I do, it’s because I’ve come up with a great idea or I’m in a really good mood, and then it’s some kind of Bee Gees, like ‘How Deep Is Your Love.’”

– Robin Garr, director of education, Bruce Museum, New York City resident “I sing Anthony Green. He’s an acoustic singersongwriter, but he’s also done experimental music, off-the-beaten-path stuff. That’s what I’m interested in and actually, the guy has a beautiful voice.”

– Max Pena, University of Connecticut student, Cos Cob resident “I sing Irish ballads. Somehow when I came to America (from Germany), I stumbled onto folk music, first American and then Irish….(My husband) plays the pennywhistle and sings ballads.”

– Anne von Stuelpnagel, director of exhibitions, Bruce Museum, Cos Cob resident “‘Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina,’ and I belt it out like you wouldn’t believe.”

– Barbara T. Vrooman, co-chair, Adopt-A-Park, White Plains Beautification Foundation, White Plains resident “I sing ‘This Girl is on Fire’ (by Alicia Keyes). I just feel that’s a waker-upper.”

– Joan Yankowski, Bruce Museum volunteer, Greenwich resident

Compiled by Georgette Gouveia. Contact her at ggouveia@westfairinc.com.

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watch AN OPENING MOST GRAND

Fashion designers and entrepreneurs April Bukofser and Marin Milio hosted the grand opening of the AprilMarin showroom and headquarters Sept. 26 in Armonk. The evening cocktail party attracted dozens of customers, family and friends, who were also treated to a sneak peek of the company’s latest designs.

Author and former WAG editor Emily Liebert added to the festivities as the special guest, signing copies of her new novel, “You Knew Me When.”

Photographs by Bob Rozycki.

1. April Bukofser and Alaina Mazzuca 2. Paul and Roseann Lettieri 3. Patti Brady, Carol Milone and Evelyn Guthrie 4. Maritza Dancsecs 5. Leslie Kumar and Jennifer Rasmussen 6. Sherry Levine and Kerrie Huxta 7. Emily Liebert 8. Marin and Carmelo Milio 9. Christine Magliari and Annalisa Klebers 10. Danielle Taylor and Ellice Longo 11. Medina and Sonja Vulic 1

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Stellar night for CFOs

More than 150 turned out for the Business Journal’s inaugural CFO of the Year Awards at Mapleton on the campus of Our Lady of Good Counsel in White Plains. The winners were: Gabriele Giudici of Heineken USA; Murray A. Goldberg of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; and Christopher Jones of Durante Rentals.

Photographs by Bob Rozycki.

1. Kurt Kannemeyer and John Leone 2. Richard Effman and Jason Campbell 3. Valerie Jaiswal and Emily Strebel 4. Laurie Wax 5. Front row: Robyn Goldenberg and Eddie Monroe; back row: Dave Cohen and James Coghlan 6. Maria, Jessica, John and Stefanie Mazzotta 7. Marissa Brett 8. Diane and John Durante 9. Leonard Schleifer and Murray Goldberg 10. John Kenny 11. Bonnie Rodney and John Tomlin 12. Diana Forgarty and Rosa Munoz Varta 13. Margaret Steinberg and Carol Brown 14. Jeanie Colangelo, Susan Bartow and Laila Plamondon 15. Matt Cotter and Deb Tegan 16. Stephanie Cornell and Christine Bosco 17. Christina Rae and Daniella Dimartino 18. Tracy Clayton and Susan Corcoran

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watch Take a bow, CFOs

The best in Fairfield County accounting were honored recently in Norwalk at the second annual CFO of the Year Awards, presented by WAG and the Fairfield County Business Journal. The winners were Donald J. Morrissey, executive vice president and CFO, Aquarion Water Co.; Carol Miller, CFO and comptroller, Integrated Medical Centers and imedcenter.com L.L.C.; and Eugene Colucci, CFO, Greenwich Hospital.

Photographs by Bill Fallon.

1. Michael DiScala and Joe Breault 2. Justin J. DeClerck and David Lutz 3. Alan and Cari Webber 4. Marina Anri 5. Donald J. Morrissey, Carol Miller and Eugene Colucci 6. Gerald B. Landau, WAG’s Anne Jordan and Jay Prince

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The family that works together…

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Families gathered in Greenwich Oct. 10 for the first-ever awards for familyowned businesses. Linda McMahon, the former CEO of WWE and U.S. Senate candidate, served as the keynote speaker of the event, which was presented by the Fairfield County Business Journal and the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.

Photographs by Bill Fallon.

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7. Linda McMahon and WAG’s Marcia Pflug 8. Jim and Ginger Donaher, Ted Giannitti, Megan Smith-Gill and Jim Hickey 9. Helen Koven and Christine Georgopulo 10. Donald Opatrny and Mark Soycher 11. Chista and Marria Pooya 12. Liz Osta, Suzy Lulaj and Nagi Osta 13. Gabriella, Michele, Rick and Michael Torres 9

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Legends unite

Celebrities, corporate leaders and more joined NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti his son Marc, and event chair Mark Dalton as they hosted a sold-out crowd in celebration of the 28th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner. Held at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, the dinner paid tribute to philanthropists and athletes who help those affected by spinal cord injuries and raised funds for research and the Human Clinical Trials Initiative.

Photography by Getty Images for The Buoniconti Fund.

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1. Jill Martin 2. Shawn Johnson and Bob Costas 3. Matthew Settle 4. Marc Buoniconti and Stewart Rahr 5. Dave Winfield and Nick Buoniconti 6. Jim Kelly and Terry Bradshaw 7. Kenny Smith and James Worthy

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Diva-dom

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It was a night fit for a goddess, or a Queen of the Nile, as Neiman Marcus at The Westchester in White Plains celebrated Bulgari’s “Diva Collection,” inspired by Elizabeth Taylor. The jewelry included necklaces with bell-shaped pieces in gold, diamonds and mother of pearl that mimicked the design of her makeup in “Cleopatra.” Other works sparkled with citrines and peridots. Guests savored these, along with canapés and Champagne, surrounded by images of screen sirens Claudia Cardinale, Sophia Loren, Monica Vitti, Anita Ekberg, Ingrid Bergman and, of course, La Taylor in their own Bulgari gems.

Photographs by Bob Rozycki.

8. Marcia and Leif Holgerson 9. Beth Sharkey and Michael and Leslie Christatos 10. Henry and Linda Harnischfeger 11. Eva Bele and Diana DiCarlo 12. Model Ksusha 13. Model Laura Petersen 14. Trio of models: Laura, Ksusha and Kystle

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watch Law and access

The 2013 Equal Access to Justice Dinner, held at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, drew more than 250 donors, attorneys, community partners and individuals supportive of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley’s work.

Barbara Finkelstein served as master of ceremonies for the event, which raised almost $170,000.

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1. Virginia Foulkrod and Renee Hernandez 2. Thomas R. Lalla Jr. and Alfred Donnellan 3. Barbara Finkelstein and Lawrence Otis Graham 4. Richard Menaker and Steven E. Obus

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“AID”-ing Ubuntu

A group of 16 athletes participated in the Jarden Westchester Triathlon to raise funds for Ubuntu Africa (UBA), a nonprofit that provides comprehensive care to 200 HIV-positive children in South Africa. Westchester-born Whitney Johnson founded UBA when she was just 21 and joined the triathlon team led by Bedford residents Paul O’Reilly-Hyland and Joelle Wyser-Pratte. The team reached its goal of raising $50,000.

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Cardinal virtues

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, dropped in on students at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains Sept.

18. William Plunkett Jr., chairman of the Stepinac board of trustees, the Rev. Thomas Collins, Stepinac president, and Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino were among the dignitaries on hand to greet Dolan. Looks like the students were as happy to meet the convivial cardinal as he was to see them.

5. Whitney Johnson 6. Joelle Wyser-Pratte and Andrea Sullivan 7. Paul O’Reilly-Hyland 7

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8. Cardinal Timothy Dolan greets students at Archbishop Stepinac High School 9. Cardinal Timothy Dolan at the high school

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Once in a Life Time

In anticipation of its 2014 Harrison opening, Life Time Athletic Westchester hosted a private reception Sept. 25 at 42 the Restaurant in White Plains. Attendees got an exclusive preview of the sports, professional fitness, family recreation and spa resort, which will be one of only 14 Diamond Clubs in the country.

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Kris Ruby of the Westchester public relations firm Ruby Media Group received the 2013 Business Leadership Award from Mercy College at the third annual alumni awards gala, held at Ardsley Country Club. Fashion designer Rolando Santana – who graced WAG’s September cover with one of his sculpted, textured cocktail dresses – was also honored with the college’s Alumni Rising Star Award.

4. Kris Ruby and Rolando Santana 5. Concetta Stewart 6. Doug Ruby 7. Caitlin Snyder

1. Wiley Harrison, WAG editor Georgette Gouveia, Susan Mistri, Janet Langsam and Elizabeth Bracken-Thompson 2. Stacey Velasco and Ellen Lynch 3. Jeff Zweifel and Joe Stout

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A great (Gatsby) night

Westchester Hills Golf Club in White Plains celebrated its 100th anniversary with a Gatsby-themed gala. Both Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach were on hand to offer congratulations and present the club with proclamations declaring Sept. 28 to be Westchester Hills Day in the county and in White Plains. More than 220 members attended the celebration, which included a cocktail hour on the first tee and a celebratory dinner-dance that continued into the wee hours. No doubt Jay and Daisy – to say nothing of F. Scott and Zelda – would’ve approved.

8. Mike Daly and Tomas Roach

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Teeing off for kids

The 19th annual golf tournament for the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester was held at the Glen Arbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills. The tournament raised $35,000 for the club’s programs and services.

9. Brian Skanes, Robert J. Levine, R. Todd Rockefeller and Jim Steets 10. John Beeman, Rick Suarez, Stephen Long and David McCollum

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Lyme fundraiser

The Lyme Research Alliance recently hosted its second annual Lyme Disease Awareness briefing and cocktail reception at Mercedes-Benz of White Plains.

More than 100 guests, some traveling from as far away as Canada, filled the Mercedes-Benz showroom for a presentation on “What You Need to Know About Lyme Disease. Now!” Photographs by Bob Capazzo.

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1. Suzanne Kelly and Susan Wakefield 2. Dr. Felipe Cabello, Debbie Siciliano and Dr. Henry Godfrey 3. Gary Turco 4. Julia Knox and Fran Herzog 5. Diane Blanchard, Rob Kobre and Dr. Harriet Kotsoris 6. Carolyn Forbes and Thomas Confino 7. Dr. Kenneth Liegner and Sharon Lazar Waxman

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Feeling the Burns

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The Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville honored founding board member Helen Bernstein and Westchester Community Foundation executive director Catherine Marsh at its annual anniversary celebration, “One Community, Many Voices.” Both were presented with Leadership Awards at the event, which featured a cocktail reception and a dinner catered by Abigail Kirsch.

Photographs by Ed Cody.

8. David Swope, James Atwood and David Barber 9. Janet Benton and Catherine Marsh 10. Joy Moser, Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Judith Economos 11. Steve Apkon and Helen Bernstein

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talking real estate

Commercial real estate was the topic during a lively 90-minute lunch at The Bristal, the new senior living facility in White Plains. The speakers were developers Bob Scinto, a veteran of Fairfield County properties from his Shelton office, who began his career as a plumber, and Jeremy Leventhal, whose youth, academic experience and international credentials constituted another path to real estate success. Howard Greenberg, president, Howard Properties Ltd., moderated, along with Liz BrackenThompson, partner, Thompson & Bender.

Photographs by Bill Fallon.

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1. Steven Schapiro and Andrew Hascoe 2. Bob Scinto 3. David Chau 4. Dennis Noskin 5. Ingrid Richards 6. Jeremy Leventhal 4

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Wishes for the children

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The Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS raised $17,100 for MakeA-Wish Hudson Valley at its recent “Wish Upon a Star” cocktail party, held at the Clubhouse at Patriot Hills in Stony Point. Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley is a nonprofit that makes dreams come true for local kids suffering from life-threatening medical conditions.

This year’s event featured guest speaker Anthony Gordon, 14, a Wish recipient, whose leukemia is in remission.

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7. Katheryn DeClerck, Richard Haggerty, Tom Conklin, Ann Garti and Russ Woolley 8. Marigrace, Anthony and Tina Gordon 9. Scott Gunst and Kathy Milich 10. Elsa Seguinot, Deborah Clark and Jill Wilkins 9

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Shining a light

Recently, ANDRUS held its annual “Light Up the Night” benefit dinner at the Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains, raising more than $228,000 for its family and children’s services. The event, in which more than 200 guests enjoyed a three-course dinner, live music and inspirational speeches, honored James J. Landy, CEO of Hudson Valley Bank in Yonkers and St. Faith’s House Foundation 11. James J. Landy and Tom Condon 12. Sarah Gardner and Mimi Corcoran 11

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Want to be in Watch? Send event photos, captions (identifying subjects from left to right) and a paragraph describing the event to hdebartolo@westfairinc.com.

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class&sass I don’t know if you caught the recent Teen Choice Awards but if you did, I think you’ll agree that Ashton Kutcher’s speech was spot-on and delivered to the perfect audience. (Check it out on YouTube. The video has already received more than 3 million views.) In a nutshell, he talked up the importance of hard work and played down the importance of sex appeal (even more poignant after Miley Cyrus’ recent MTV twerking debacle). Ashton told the young, highly impressionable crowd that “opportunity looks a lot like hard work.” (Reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that most “geniuses” aren’t born but rather become exceptional through hard work and dedication, 10,000-plus hours, starting from a very young age.) Ashton talked about the many menial jobs he had growing up and he added, “I never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a stepping-stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job.” He also warned his tween and teenage fans not to worry about being “sexy.” “Don’t buy it,” he said. “The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart and being thoughtful and generous. Everything else is crap. I promise you.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. So many women worked so hard to bring about gender equality and this generation of young girls seems to be foregoing their brains in favor of exposing their breasts and booties.

I concur. The number one hallmark J of success is not talent, intelligence or creativity (although, we’d all like to believe this). It is the stubborn will to succeed, tenacity. To quote my husband, “‘No’ to me means ‘just come back later.’”

But you need to focus on a goal to “get the ball in.” I’ll bet even Pelé himself – having, I am sure, put in his 10,000 hours – would have missed the net if he were tweeting while playing or posting a selfie on Instagram. Some studies have shown that the mind cannot successfully do two things at the same time. And this worries me, because we have become a culture that believes in multitasking. According to psychologists, the Internet, social media and smartphones are dividing and conquering our attentions, driving us to distraction and forcing us to lead fragmented lives. In his book “Emotional Intelligence,” Daniel Goleman states that nearly 20 percent of smartphone owners ages 18-34 report having used their phones while having sex. I can only hope

By Martha Handler and Jennifer Pappas

M

that they were looking up different positions. How can we have a voice, when there are so many voices in our heads? it interesting how often those M Isn’t with the loudest voices (most notably right-wingers) are discovered to be the biggest hypocrites? There are way too many to name here, so I’ll just list a few.

There is Newt Gingrich, who lambasted Bill Clinton for committing adultery and tried to get him impeached, while simultaneously cheating on his second wife with a woman 20 years his junior. And when he himself was exposed as a serial adulterer, he still had no problem playing the “family values card” during his bid for the GOP presidential nomination. Rush Limbaugh’s hypocrisy is legend, but I found his recent public attack on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke truly reprehensible. He not only called her a “slut” and a “prostitute,” but suggested she film a sexual act for his viewing pleasure, while at the same time publicly rallying against the adult entertainment industry. Yet Rush is considered the “true voice of morality in the U.S.”? And then there’s ultraconservative Mark Sanford, former governor of South Carolina, who also voted to impeach Bill Clinton and who claimed he was hiking the Appala-

chian Trail when he was actually in South America cheating on his wife with his Argentine girlfriend. My cousin, a fellow Carolinian, explained that it was all just a big misunderstanding: “Sanford never said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

He said he was going after some Argentinean tail.” This would all be hilarious if it weren’t so utterly stupid.

There are two subjects I’ve learned J not to discuss at a dinner party, or any other social gathering for that matter – politics and religion. That’s a venomous snake pit that I choose to avoid altogether at this stage of the game. I’ve gotten myself backed into a corner by angry supporters of the left wing, the right and the religious high and mighty more times than I care to admit, probably because I disagree with a lot of what is said, because I like a good debate and because I like playing devil’s advocate, much to my own chagrin. However, the one point I will always agree on is the hypocrisy issue. And although politics is rife with hypocrisy (which no one can deny), the slippery slope of the religious soapbox is an even steeper one. Still, I’m not as concerned with the ethics and morals of the “majority” as much as I am with its common sense. You would

think that the public humiliation of noted sports, religious and political figures (by noted sports, religious and political figures), time and time again, would somehow keep others from the same fall from grace. But they just keep tumbling down. Hasn’t it sunk in yet, that you can’t text, tweet and email your private lives and private parts around the cyber world? Anthony Weiner comes vividly to mind…

Ego seems to trump common sense M in many people and especially those in politics.

Wag Up • Dr. Ruth – not only does she have M an amazing sounding voice but she gives sexually sound advice.

• Ashton Kutcher – He has an J amazing everything.

Wag Down • The voices of electronic (and huM man) telemarketers. Why isn’t the Do Not Call registry working?

• I’m gonna double-down on that J one, Martha. I have stopped picking up my home phone because of telemarketers. And I no longer give my email out at retail stores. I am now being harassed via cyberspace as well.

Email Class&Sass at classandsass@westfairinc.com. You may also follow Martha and Jen on Facebook at Wag Classandsass or access all of their conversations online at wagmag.com.

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