Cover Story
A New Moon Prelude to a New Year
‘I wish it need not have happened in my time’, said Frodo. ‘So do I’, said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’ — J.R.R. Tolkien I…
Peekskill’s Daisy Jopling Unveils New Album
The British-born violinist’s latest album combines classical music with rock, funk, Latin jazz, and other styles.
Cooking Classes at Panzur Restaurant and Wine Bar
Winter 2017 kicks off a new line of interactive culinary creativity classes at Panzur in Tivoli.
Eastern European Folk Invades Kingston
Blato Zlato, Sekanjabin, and G-String Orchestra will perform at BSP on January 12.
Jeff “Siege” Siegel Celebrates New Album in Rosendale
The drummer and his band will perform in honor of their latest album on January 17.
Pennings’ 3rd Annual New Year’s Eve Keg Drop
Celebrate a country-chic New Year’s Eve from 9pm-1am at Pennings Farm in Warwick.
Alejandro Escovedo Brings All-Star Band to Hudson
The Texas rocker will be joined on January 6 by members of R.E.M. and other top acts.
Encourage Creative Thinking with Contemporary Art
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut would love to be your go-to place when school is out.
Hank and the Skinny 3 to Tear it Up in Newburgh
The garage band will rock things up at the Wherehouse.
Hudson Valley Trumpeter Chris Pasin Offers Holiday Tracks
The tenured jazzman has recorded three seasonal standards, which are available via download.
Winter Break Programming Round-up
Spend time together and apart during the last week of 2016 with winter break programming around the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Astrological Gifts: Chimney and Stocking Not Required
If we put basic keywords for planets and their signs together, it might look something like: taking responsibility for religious beliefs + taking initiative for self-change + receptivity and valuing the welfare of the group + generosity and balance in all relationships.
Troy’s Sean Rowe Unveils New Video
The singer-songwriter recently released a promo clip for “To Leave Something Behind.”
Stockade Works Receives CFA Funding
Mary Stuart Masterson’s project in the works for Midtown Kingston just got a million dollar grant from New York State.
SUNY Ulster Presents Tuba Christmas Concert
The free Saturday event includes traditional Christmas music from around the world.
The final Night Sky Adventure of 2016
The last Night Sky Adventure of 2016 is happening on December 20th at the Dudley Observatory at miSci!
Jesse Malin Plays Pawling on Sunday
The New York punk front man turned solo singer-songwriter will perform at Daryl’s House.
Doing What You Must: Participating With Purpose
This week, it’s all about participation and getting involved.
Ulster County’s Steve Buscemi Collaborates on Spoken Word/Music Album
The accomplished actor worked with guitarist Elliott Sharp on a live album that pays tribute to writer William S. Burroughs.
Hudson River Anchorages: Tuesday is the Final Day to Comment
The deadline to write to the US Coast Guard concerning the proposal for new anchorages along the Hudson is this Tuesday, December 6.
An Oasis Pages Relaunch
On December 8th, Oasis Pages is being relaunched with an event at Fiber Flame in Rhinebeck. It’s a hands-on way for women and girls of all ages to share in the benefits of diary-writing.
“Unmasked!” A New Play by Raine Grayson
A new play about LGBTQ community and a female-to-male transition story comes to SUNY New Paltz December 2 and 3.
“A Holiday on Huguenot Street”
Celebrate the season at Historic Huguenot Street and the Reformed Church of New Paltz, December 2 and 3.
J.K. Vanderbilt Opens for Matt Pond PA
This local musician performs at Old Dutch Church in Kingston, opening for Matt Pond PA on December 3.
Making Values Count in the Face of Chaos
This week in the stars: giving back to others and listening within.
An evening with Chris Botti December 4th at the historic Paramount Theater!
Don’t miss Grammy Award Winning Chris Botti’s Only Hudson Valley Appearance!
“Augie Goes to the Library” book release and paw-tograph signing, December 7
Augie, SUNY New Paltz’s geese-herding dog, is back in his latest children’s book adventure, “Augie Goes to the Library.”
Poem: End of Now
End of Now What today is this? That hasn’t any name like Thursday or Shabbat.
Sheltered: Building Relationships Around Homelessness
Hillary Harvey looks into stats, shelters, and services surrounding homelessness in the Hudson Valley.
Poem: Big, Beefy Guys With Ponytails
Big, Beefy Guys With Ponytails There sure are a whole lot of those dudes! —George J. Searles
Poem: Tahiti
Tahiti The silvered man sipped his single malt Waved his cheroot and announced: “Before I die, I will go to Tahiti I will take with me Two volumes of Conan Doyle And one of Kenneth Patchen I shall wear white khakis And wade in the water I will watch the sky and map it Day…
The Artful Life: A Video Artist & An Art Librarian in Zena Woods
Books, art, and collections oh my in Ty Castellarian and Diana Termana’s contemporary Zena Woods home.
Poem: Welcome to the Suck
Welcome to the Suck I’m quitting cigarettes, probably until I start drinking again. I like butts. Thad says, “That’s okay, Jimmer.” But he always says that, like a wired reply. So I sit on the porch in the winter, and the sky looks trippy sometimes when I’m not on drugs. —Jim Hegmegee
Horoscopes: Aries
Aries (March 20-April 19) You’re not through finding yourself, though you’re less lost than you were at this time last year. You’re adapting to the idea that you wake up a slightly different person every day, in a different world every day. This means embracing being less certain, though what you’ve giving up is a…
CD Review: Jack DeJohnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matthew Garrison’s In Movement
It’s the day after the election. Your music editor, like so many others, is numb, gutted, gasping for air, and desperately struggling to comprehend an incomprehensible world. He sits down at his keyboard to contemplate in print the new album by the trio of drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, and bassist Matthew Garrison. The…
Unbroken Rhythm: Tani Tabbal
A profile of the Chicago-born, Woodstock-based jazz drummer.
Poem: Keep Yourself
Keep Yourself keep yourself on track keep yourself on track keep yourself on track keep yourself on track track on yourself keep keep track yourself on on track keep yourself yourself on track keep on yourself track keep on yourself track keep keep track on yourself yourself keep track on track on keep yourself keep…
Horoscopes: Taurus
TAURUS (April 19-May 20) You’re seeing the benefits of taking the long view, and the slow approach. Pace yourself, and use your plans as a kind of guide to the possibilities rather than as a firm commitment. One thing you’ve learned is that you must leave room for variables. Taurus is perhaps the most steadfast…
CD Review: Jack and Amanda Palmer’s You Got Me Singing
The cover image is immediately recognizable—it’s a recreation of Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home LP cover featuring Amanda Palmer, her infant son, and her father posing in the same room in Albert and Sally Grossman’s Woodstock home where the 1965 Dylan cover was photographed. This is an unexpected 12-track release from the eccentric…
Nightlife Highlights: Matt Pond PA
Singer-songwriter Matt Pond and his band perform a record-release show for his album, Winter Lives , at Old Dutch Church December 3.
Poem: Untitled
Untitled Poetry is Rapid Transit for the Soul IT WHISPERS IN THE DELUGE WHISPERS IN THE SUNLIGHT… WHISPERS IN THE MIDST OF ITSELF —Peter Coco
Horoscopes: Gemini
GEMINI (May 20-June 21) Everything about your charts is saying go deep: that you want to, and that you need to. This means having the real conversation sooner rather than later. No matter how apprehensive that may make you feel, you’re the bold person in the equation, the one who has a feeling for what…
CD Review: Satellite Paradiso’s Satellite Paradiso
An ambitious spirit is at the heart of ex-Psychedelic Furs guitarist and John Ashton’s Satellite Paradiso record, a sort of “music can change the world” sensibility that lends most of the songs here an air of importance you’d expect from Live Aid ’85. Even a leaner rocker like “Dream” wants to rise up and claim…
Poem: Philosophy
Philosophy They say I drive a little too close. I open up too soon, too much. I say yes too often. I’m too sensitive, too intense, too difficult. But I say life is too short to be moderate about anything. —Elizabeth Young
Horoscopes: Cancer
CANCER (June 21-July 22) The thing about love interests is that if you’re alive and friendly, there are likely to be a few of them around. This is true regardless of whether you consider yourself monogamous, polyamorous. or something in between. Regardless of your orientation, you cannot really endure jealousy for long; you feel how…
On the Cover: Christopher Kurtz
Kingston-based artist and furniture craftsman Christopher Kurtz’s Untitled (Fallen Star).
Poem: The Heart That Is Broken
The Heart That Is Broken A friend said, “Your heart is strong” No, my heart is broken Shattered And will never be put together again Not by all the king’s horses nor all the king’s men I wish it were not so With all of the pieces of my heart —Kate Skinner
Ruminant’s Delight
An excerpt from Chatham-based writer Elaine Khosrova’s Butter: A Rich History.
Horoscopes: Leo
LEO (July 22-August 23) You’re growing and changing in ways you may not understand; don’t let that stop you from appreciating them. You may, for instance, have noticed that the ground seems to be leveling between you and those you previously considered powerful or daunting. It’s a sign of maturity when you can meet people…
Esteemed Reader
Jason Stern, writing in honor of the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934-2016).
Poem: Zeroing In
Zeroing In She takes aim Careful aim Without hesitation and plants one to its final resting place on my lips —Bruce Groh
Clarifying Agent
A Q&A with Butter: A Rich History author and culinary explorer Elaine Khosrova.
Horoscopes: Virgo
VIRGO (August 23-September 22) When you are honest with yourself, the feeling is akin to tapping into a hot well of your own strength. If you swim down into yourself in the direction the heat is flowing from, you can make many discoveries about yourself. They are all part of the same thing. Your chart…
Editor’s Note: At Least America Is Going To Be Great Again
Editor Brian Mahoney’s response to Election 2016, and President-Elect Donald Trump.
Poem: Columbus Day
Columbus Day I like to think I become Atticus Finch whenever my children inquire about things they don’t understand. I don’t want them to discover as teenagers that the bad guys don’t always lose or that mommy and daddy aren’t perfect. So here I am watching the parade. The fire department and the Boy Scouts…
Angel By My Bedside
Wendy Kagan explores holistic and homeopathic approaches to wellness and healthcare.
Horoscopes: Libra
LIBRA (September 22-October 23) There seems to be some complex family situation brewing in your chart, and you have the ability to entirely subvert this from becoming a drama. As you do that, you have an opportunity to shift your perspective on your family history and all the ways that it relates to both your…
While You Were Sleeping
Hot pepper overdose, the end of free beer for Labatt’s employees, and more you may have missed.
Poem: The Corner of Reality and Mine
The Corner of Reality and Mine I’m from the land of getting over, where every child has the moral courage to take the last cookie. I’m from the land of the 2 a.m. talk show, where UFOs are identified by…
We Deal In Volume
Peter Aaron’s Q&A with the indie icons Dinosaur Jr., playing at Mass MoCA December 10.
Horoscopes: Scorpio
SCORPIO (October 23-November 22) Points of transgression often contain powerful sexual energy. This is one of the core paradoxes involved in any form of sexual healing. There are often mixed feelings, of being violated and of being turned on. This seeming split can be painful and confusing until it’s seen for what it is. It…
Matthew Shipp Trio
Newman Taylor Baker, Michael Bisio, and Matt Shipp bring their Jazz-infused sound to St. Andrew’s Church December 3.
Larry Beinhart’s Body Politic: What Happened?
Larry Beinhart’s reactions to Election Day 2016—what happened, and how it did.
Poem: Another Spin on the Loneliness Wheel
Another spin on the loneliness wheel She lives alone in her Studio City home in need of repair near the farmers’ market, won’t wear ear plugs ‘cuz you just never know, met a man thru JDate, set up a weekend together in Cambria halfway from Oakland where he lives and the San Fernando Valley where…
It’s Getting Hot in Here
Climate-change documentary The Anthropologist will be screening December 9 at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck.
Horoscopes: Sagittarius
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 22) The past year of your life has summoned a level of discipline in you that’s been most unusual. Yet the results have been worth it. You have come into a state of balance that has brought maturity, progress, and some actual achievements. Keep in mind that the most important of those…
Nightlife Highlights: Maucha Adnet and the Brazilian Trio
Jazzstock and Senate Garage partner to bring this Brazilian band, featuring singer Maucha Adnet, to the Stockade District on December 3.
Art of Business: Beginning To Look A Lot Like…
Founded in 1946, Williams Lumber has nine locations. Their flagship store in Rhinebeck is the region’s biggest independent Ace Hardware dealer. But it’s the friendliness and warmth that keeps them winning Best of the Hudson Valley awards. “Just last Friday, a friend I grew up with and hadn’t seen in years came in with his…
Poem: Released Into the Wild
Released Into The Wild I see the jungle as it is: I kill and eat every day, Members of my clan are sometimes taken away in the night. Floods and mudslides destroy our nests and we have to start all over again. It’s not all bad. I sleep well most days and spend time playing…
Acting the Dickens Out of Christmas
Shadowland Stages takes on an impressive and humor-saturated task this holiday season—”Every Christmas Every Told (And Then Some!)” runs December 2 to 18.
Horoscopes: Capricorn
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20) There’s a story developing in your chart about devoting your attention to those who are less well-off than you are. If you follow this story, it will become a calling, an invitation to do what you can for whomever you can. I recognize that these are instincts that must be followed…
Nightlife Highlights: Ipsa Dixit
Kate Soper performs her theatrical chamber music production December 9 in Troy.
Zen of Cheese: Bimi’s Cheese Shop in Chatham
“It’s a tough haul getting a shop like this off the ground in a tiny town,” says Ellen Waggett of Bimi’s Cheese Shop in Chatham. “But word is getting out; people are finding us.” Along with other specialty foods, the store stocks no more than 40 varieties of cheese—local and imported—at any given time; the…
Poem: The Blight
The Blight The robust memories of last year’s crop, Ripen with the promise of the fruit that this year’s will bring, Blue for the memory, pink for the promise. Yet blue gives way to pink in the unripening fruit, And yet-grown berries plucked from the branch not by fingers, but sickness, Fall pitiful to the…
Do You Believe in Magic?
“Nomina Magica” will be at the Seligmann Center in Sugar Loaf through January 9.
Horoscopes: Aquarius
AQUARIUS (January 20-February 19) In addition to being one of the most mentally intelligent signs of the zodiac, Aquarius can have a tendency to outsmart itself. This is the result of overemphasis on analysis as a means of answering questions or solving problems. Reason and rationality are essential tools, and they must be balanced by…
Nightlife Highlights: Rory Block/ Cindy Cashdollar
Blues and guitar fans rejoice—Rory Block and Cindy Cashdollar perform December 17 at Infinity Hall.
Art of Business: Auto Exotica
Remember Fiats? From 1966 till 1985, these sleek little Italian roadsters turned heads and drew drivers concerned with fuel economy and in love with style. When Fiat decided to reenter the US market in 2010, they were downright picky about who would get to sell their cars, giving preference to top-flight Chrysler dealers, requiring a…
Poem: Nesting
Nesting A red bird hides in the gutters of my grandmother’s house & I wake gasping from a dream where she was swallowed by a heaving ocean & the bird builds a nest out of the muck that hasn’t been cleared away & I learn that even in dreams you can never outrun the flood…
Work:Shop Winter Market
This artisanal holiday craft fair returns to Beacon’s Wickham Solid Wood Studio December 11 from 11am-5pm.
Horoscopes: Pisces
PISCES (February 19-March 20) The coming year is the last full year of Chiron in your birth sign. That journey began in April 2010, and represents a series of initiations that you’ve been through. You are no longer an aspirant. You’ve had little choice other than to rise to the occasion of whatever Chiron has…
Alexander Chee’s Fabulism: The Queen of Night
Author Alexander Chee sits down with Janet Hamill to speak about his new release The Queen of Night .
Art of Business: Q&A With Danielle Vajtay of Plattekill Mountain
Newyorkupstate.com calls Plattekill Mountain in Roxbury “one of four top places to hit the slopes,” with 38 trails, including 1,100 feet of the “true vertical” skiers crave, and four lifts. Plattekill has a rep as a laid-back, family-friendly ski destination, a great place for those who’d rather “keep it real,” as their tagline says. We…
Poem: Love
Love The rain falls Head over heels And I wonder Why no one told it That was such a bad idea. —Max Drew
Great Feats of Feet
Brenda Buffalino’s classic documentary, which relaunched Jazz into the American entertainment spotlight, showing forty years later at Rosendale Theatre December 11.
Parting Shot: Marisa Scheinfeld
Marisa Scheinfeld grew up in the western Catskills, and like many other Jewish families, hers vacationed there. The “Borscht Belt,” or “Jewish Alps,” was a hotspot for seasonal entertainment, pleasure, and leisure. The area experienced a golden age from the 1930s into the `60s—but the resorts have been abandoned now for decades. Nature has taken…
Holiday Gift Guide 2016
Find a new read for friends and family (or, maybe yourself!) from our selection of Hudson Valley-connected books and bookstores.
Lovin’ Cup: All That Java
In opening All That Java, Samantha Sapienza took her inspiration from the West Coast. “I grew up in New York City and Millbrook and then spent 15 years in Seattle before moving back to Rhinebeck four years ago,” she says, “and I felt like Rhinebeck deserved the kind of coffee place I loved so much…
Poem: Gone
Gone Before the cursor even hit the screen I was gone Inclined to give feelings the stage, but Without letting them spill Before the light even hit the concrete I was gone Dodging intense commutes Yawning out the night’s drips of insecurities Before an ounce was even consumed I was gone Holding on with intent…
Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night
An interactive and ambient street parade performance comes to Basilica Hudson December 3.
Poem: “Untitled”
Untitled The elephants, The candles, The DRUMS BONG BONG! Listen to the beat of the drums in your mind, bong bong. It makes you think of the elephants stomping, Pounding against the ground: thum THUP! Thum Mix the sound of the drums And the elephants feet pounding Bong Bong Thum Thump Bong Bong Thump And…
New Year’s Eve Events 2016
Make your plans for the New Year with our top picks from across the Hudson Valley.
Poem: Waking Up With The Blue State Blues
Waking up with the Blue State Blues America! How could you? I thought I lived in another country. Prayer will, I’m hopeful, help. Shall we watch the world spin out? No. I’ll put my weird shoulder to the wheel, push my own looming boulder Up my own personal mountain. With malice toward none, and… —Frank…
Imagining Your Voice on the Page
A poetry workshop featuring Gregory Pardlo and Robert Polito comes to the Garrison Institute December 16 through the 18.
Tom Chapin Celebrates 70 Years with New Album
The folksinger’s new album is highlighted by a heartfelt Pete Seeger song.
