August 2017 Issue
Valerie Shaff’s Gothic cottage, the dirt on tree roots, Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship, and Maurice Hinchley’s degenerative speech disorder are just some of the things covered in this issue.
Fall for Art, Juried Art Show, Sale & Fundraising Reception
Fall for Art, a juried art show, sale and fundraising reception (hosted by the Jewish Federation of Ulster County) Thursday, September 7th at The Chateau in Kingston, 5:00-9:00 pm, features 29 area artists. Reservations: ($45 p/p) at www.fallforart.org, or 845-338-8131.
Fire Fire, Burning Bright
The upcoming astrological setup rings the bell of the August 21 eclipse, telling you that this astrology is connected to the patterns, processes, and goals you were in the process of setting around that time.
Ryan Montbleau Rambles into Woodstock
The Boston-based singer-songwriter will visit Levon Helm Studios on September 8.
John Abercrombie (1944-2017)
The influential Hudson Valley jazz guitarist passed away on August 22.
Ulster Alums
Ulster Alums, a new exhibition at Wired Gallery in High Falls, showcases the stylistic diversity and variety of media at play in the SUNY Ulster art department, and is a conversation among peers on the nature of inspired collaboration.
Astrological Alchemy, Post-Eclipse
As August’s two eclipses recedes in the rearview mirror, it is time to digest what you’ve just uncovered and experienced and gather whatever materials you need to manifest what emerged for you during the time between eclipses.
Punk Poet John S. Hall Performs in Hudson
The former King Missile frontman will bring his new outfit to Club Helsinki for the Rogovoy Salon series.
Robert Polito + Tina Chang: No Walls Here: Writing and Art along the Edges, Borders, and Margins
Join poet, essayist, and Bob Dylan biographer Robert Polito and Brooklyn poet laureate Tina Chang at the Garrison Institute for a transformative weekend exploring new hybrid forms in poetry, literature, and the visual arts. (September 8-10, 2017)
Newburgh-Linked Living Colour Unleashes New Album
Fronted by local vocalist Corey Glover, the platinum-selling hard rockers throw the light on Shade next month.
Traveling the Long Arc, Living in This Eclipse Moment
I know a lot of people who are really excited about the total solar eclipse of the Sun on Monday. I also know a lot of people who are tied up in knots of outrage, fear, and despair regarding last weekend’s white-supremacist attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the President’s response. You may even count yourself…
Brooklyn Raga Massive to Visit Hudson
The Indian-Western-fusion ensemble will perform Terry Riley’s “In C” on September 1.
Vanishing Hudson Valley
A conversation about hyper-gentrification is happening on Friday between blogger/author Jeremiah Moss and writer/editor Sari Botton.
WGXC Lodge Returns to Round Top
The benefit event features two nights of live music, DJs, experimental audio art, food, beverages, and more.
The Kingston Artist Soapbox Derby Reboots
With a fresh pair of organizers who affectionately call themselves the Derby Directors of Chaos, the Kingston Artist Soapbox Derby, that family-friendly arts happening, takes place this year on Sunday, August 20th, on the Rondout.
Navigating Mercury Retrograde Between Eclipses
Mercury enters retrograde in Virgo as the Great American Eclipse approaches on the horizon. This is a time for deliberate action and taking note of what body wisdom.
Rene Bailey Celebrates New Album in Rosendale
The August 20 concert will include songs from her upcoming gospel release and benefit the Rosendale Theater.
Hudson Valley Wine & Food Fest – September 9-10, DC Fairgrounds, Rhinebeck
Taste hundreds of wines from all over New York, sample craft beers and distilled spirits. Shop for gourmet specialty foods, fine crafts and home goods. Feast from unique food trucks and learn from cooking demonstrations. Discount tickets available online at HudsonValleyWineFest.com.
Hope Rocks Festival Happens in Saugerties
The two-day event will raise awareness about addiction and depression, as well as celebrate the release of new albums by three musical acts.
Peachtopia
With a bounty of pick-your-own juicy peaches and nectarines, a full menu of farm-fresh food and beverages, and live music, Peachtopia at Fishkill Farms is the perfect way to experience the sweetness of peach season.
Entering the Eclipse Room
The Sun in Leo speaks to that idea of being aware of one’s own presence, and the influence or impact you can have on others. The Moon in Aquarius, on the other hand, relates to how group structures, customs, and expectations affect you, particularly at the unconscious or emotional level.
27th Annual Taste of New Paltz
More than just food, the Taste of New Paltz includes beautiful art, carefully crafted jewelry, health and wellness, stroll the business showcase, enjoy live music and demonstrations. Family Friendly-bring the family for a fun day outdoors featuring many children events. Pony rides, magicians, petting zoo, and face painting.
The Chronogram Block Party is BACK for Year 5!
The Chronogram Block party returns to Wall Street in Uptown Kingston on Saturday, August 19.
Eat Drink 28 | Gourmet Row Grand Opening
Eat Drink 28 is a gourmet culinary collection on Route 28 made up of Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go, Cheese Louise, The Wine Hutch, La Bella Pasta, Hookline Fish Co. and KBBK Kombucha.
Wisdom Quest for Leaders | Garrison Institute
Join like-minded business leaders and professionals at the Garrison Institute for a wisdom-quest and leadership retreat.
On the Cover: Pete Mauney
Tivoli-based photographer Pete Mauney shoots timelapse photos of lightning bugs throughout the Hudson Valley.
Short Takes: August 2017
Short reviews of Hudson Valley Wine: A History of Taste & Terroir, Who Did You Say the Father Was?, Mad Monk: Improper Parables, The Suffragents, and Savage Joy.
Aries for August 2017
This month’s rare, magnificent total solar eclipse in Leo occurs on the line in your chart where your creative source meets your daily devotion to service, work and healing.
Roll Out the Barrels: Hudson Valley Brewery
Husdon Valley Brewery in Beacon specializes in sours.
Art of Business: Halstead Realty
Nancy Felcetto runs the Hudson Valley outpost of the leading metro real realtor Halstead Realty.
CD Review: Howard Johnson and Gravity
Seth Rogovoy reviews Howard Johnson and Gravity’s new album Testimony.
Taurus for August 2017
In many ways, you’re like a Porsche being driven around a parking lot. You need to get yourself on the open road.
From the Local to the Global
Maria Reidelbach supports local agriculture with her Stick to Local Farms scavenger hunt.
The Excelsior Scholarship
As another batch of fledglings prepares to fly the nest, Anne Pyburn Craig examines Governor Cuomo’s plan to provide tuition-free college education to middle-class New Yorkers.
Poem by Jack River O’Neill (Age 7)
“I’m going to break out of that jail.” (when asked about entering 2nd grade) —Jack River O’Neill (7 years)
Gemini for August 2017
The total solar eclipse later this month, which takes place in Leo, your 3rd solar house of thought and messages, is calling you to your full depth.
A Quiet Crusader
Always a fighter for the people, Maurice Hinchey now battles a rare brain disease.
Body & Soul: A Guide to Woodstock & Saugerties
The neighboring towns of Woodstock & Saugerties stay strong as centers of community, commerce, and creativity.
Cancer for August 2017
You are in the process of becoming a financial ninja. See if you can set aside all the mysticism associated with money, and the emotional baggage.
Forecast: Hibernation Culmination
Grizzly Bear plays 2 shows at BSP on August 15 and 16.
Nightlife Highlights: Hush
August 5. Albany sludge metal titans Hush are not for the timid of tympanic membrane. Even in small venues, the quintet, which kicks off this month by crushing the Anchor atop a four-band bill, has been known to perform utilizing a solid, stage-to-ceiling wall of mismatched, high-output amplifiers—actual fully functioning amplifiers, not the empty, false-front…
Chronogram Conversations: The Persistence of the Arts in Woodstock & Saugerties
The magazine’s roving discussion series came to Colony Woodstock on July 6 for a discussion with Michael Lang, Kitt Potter, Meira, Blaustein, Bravo Bravo, and Jen Dragon.
CD Review: Phineas and the Lonely Leaves
Mike Campbell reviews Phineas and the Lonely Leaves’ new album Stay Bright.
Leo for August
The Great American Eclipse on August 21 is happening in Leo’s sign. Take the opportunity to point your life in the direction you want to go.
Forecast: In Full Voice
Phoenicia Festival of the Voice returns with a distinctly French flair, bringing the creme de la creme of the musical world to the Hudson Valley
Nightlife Highlights: Belew, Levin, Mastelotto, and Friends
Veteran members of King Crimson play on August 11 at Colony Woodstock.
Poem: Seven Directions (based on a Native American concept)
A poem by Richard R. Binkele
Poem: Keelhauled
A canvas sail, wind-battered, heavy with salt and spray, and I don’t think you have the lungs to fill it, to move it we will be buried at sea There will be no ceremony the jewelry I gave you, now worthless, can’t pay for a casket we will be wrapped in sailcloth, weighted with cannonball…
Virgo for August 2017
You would benefit greatly from questioning and challenging the structure of authority that you’ve set up in your mind.
Forecast: Shining a Light through Darker America
Facts have been quite a hot topic since the most recent election. The very definition of the word seems to change daily. But for Anna Van Lenten, New York City-based curator and founding director of Hudson’s LightField Festival of Photography and Multimedia Art, skirting around the truth isn’t an option. That’s what birthed the theme…
Nightlife Highlights: Jazz in the Valley
The Hudson Valley’s longest-running jazz festival, Jazz in the Valley, marks its 17th year when it returns to Poughkeepsie on August 20.
Poem: Old Road, Lomontville
Up in the woods, signs of an old road, bounded by stone walls, parallel and straight, then turning, then parallel and straight again, slanting off across the neighbor’s lot and petering out, shagbark and ash on either side, big, old trees so some are dying, and where the road was—never paved, just a packed trail—soil…
Libra for August 2017
You have traction now; you have ideas about what you want to do; and you have an unusually strong sense of who you are.
Nightlife Highlights: Mazzstock 2017
Now in its 10th year, the three-day music festival Mazzstock returns to Marlboro August 25-27.
CD Review: Marco Benevento
John Burdick reviews Marco Benevento’s new album Woodstock Sessions.
The Fighting City: Peekskill
Peekskill dispenses with pretense in an earnest effort to redefine and revitalizes itself.
While You Were Sleeping
Snorting cacao, cruise ship predators, 101-year old sprinters, and other juicy tidbits.
Sagittarius for August 2017
One of the most challenging aspects of maturity, success, or bold achievement is clearing the psychological baggage of others out of the way.
Capturing the Wild
In photography, as in life, timing is everything. Portrait artist Valerie Shaff has built a career, a home, and a life by mastering this truth. Best known for her intimate photos of the living and the wild, her work, born of patience and skill, captures and reveals the essence of the creatures—untamed and domesticated—that live…
Huichica East
Late August brings the second installment of Huichica East, a music/food/micro-wine fest set on the beatific acreage of Chaseholm Farm (camping available). Performing this year are Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires, Real Estate, Doug Tuttle, Marissa Nadler, the Cass McCombs Band, MV & EE, Surf Curse, Currituck Co., the Mattson 2, Mail the Horse, John…
Capricorn for August 2017
You may experience yourself passing through a narrow passageway, which may have the feeling of giving something up. Take the trip willingly.
Plates, Not Mirrors
Michelle Sutton explains how tree roots grow and how to garden compatibly.
Art of Business: Dreaming Goddess
Dreaming Goddess in Poughkeepsie is a new age gift shop and workshop space.
Dutchess County Fair
In 1842, after the establishment of the Dutchess County Agricultural Society, the first official Dutchess County Fair was held in Pleasant Valley. It did not move to its present-day location in Rhinebeck until 1919. It’s now the largest six-day agricultural fair in the state. On Tuesday, August 22 the Dutchess County Fair returns for its…
Aquarius for August 2017
It’s time to break the tension of your relationships. To this end, letting go of expectations will be helpful; it’s the source of much stress, and of difficulty getting close to others.
Nightlife Highlights: Robyn Hitchcock
English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock plays the Woodstock Playhouse September 2.
Book Review: The Dark Dark: Stories
Carolyn Quimby reviews Samantha Hunt’s The Dark Dark: Stories.
“Pride and Prejudice” at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
Kate Hamill is a Janeite—a devotee and enthusiastic admirer of Jane Austen. The playwright and actress is committed to adapting all seven of Austen’s novels. Her latest adaption of the classic love story Pride and Prejudice, in which Hamill plays Lizzy Bennet, acting alongside her real-life partner Jason O’Connell (Mr. Darcy), is being performed at…
Pisces for August 2017
In the coming seasons, people from your past are likely to re-enter your life. Sometimes this will be for the purpose of completion. Sometimes it will be for continuation.
Jonathan Lerner: Memoirs of a Revolution
Sparrow interviews ex-Weatherman Jonathan Lerner about his new memoir detailing his days as a young, gay activist in the clandestine radical group the Weather Underground in the 1960s and ’70s.
Loving Awareness, Wisdom and Compassion in Tough Times
TIbetan meditation teacher Jack Kornfield teaches a workshop at the Garrison Institute.
Art of Business: Woodstock Art Exchange
Woodstock Art Exchange is a glassblowing studio and art exhibit space.
Wassaic Project
The Wassaic Project annual festival is back on August 11 and 12 with dance, film, theater and visual arts performances.
Esteemed Reader
Publisher Jason Stern offers tips for staying sane and human in a delusional world.
Art of Business Kaatsbaan
Kaatsbaan, in Tivoli, is an internationally renowned “cultural park for dance” founded in 1990 by four young dancers with Woodstock homes.
In Solidarity
Throughout his lifetime, Polish-born artist Jan Sawka refused to be confined to a single medium—he masterminded the cosmic, 10-story set for the Grateful Dead’s 25th anniversary tour; he designed buildings for Arab monarchs; he drew promotional posters and created theatrical sets for productions from Wrocław to Broadway. A student of painting and printmaking in Poland,…
Editor’s Note: “Oh Rats!” or, Lessons from the Infestation
Editorial Director Brian K. Mahoney deals with a rat infestation at home.
Active State | Aaron Dessner of The National
Peter Aaron speaks with Aaron Dessner of indie rock sensation the National about hometown flavor, charity, and his sustainable upstate recording studio Long Pond.
The Fulcrum, the Venturi, and the Cycle of Fire
As we accelerate toward the Great American Eclipse, prepare yourself for a big pivot.
