Frankly Mr. Shanley
For a luminous example of theatrical symbiosis, look no further than the two-decade relationship between playwright John Patrick Shanley and the Powerhouse Summer Theater program at Vassar College.
Dana Spiotta: _Eat the Document_ Excerpt
Five state borders, and then she was handing over the cash for the room—anonymous, cell-like, quiet.
July Portfolio: Pamela Wallace
Dutchess County resident Pamela Wallace has crafted for herself a life with a single organizing principle—the sheer act of making.
Poem: Peril
One leaned over to the other and exclaimed, “I tried dating for a while,but it was so depressing, I just became celibate—it was easier—it’s a control thing.”
Tea Masters: Harney & Sons Tea
Almost 25 years ago, Harney founded the tea business in the basement of his home in Salisbury, Connecticut, not far from the company’s current location in Millerton, NY.
On The Cover: July
Richard Deon discusses this month’s cover, _Death in the Long Grass_, and the inspiration for his unique brand of painting.
Local Luminaries: Michael Berg
For 35 years, the human services agency Family of Woodstock has been shaped by Michael Berg’s dedication and tireless pursuit of affordable housing.
Art and Allusion
Without a doubt, the sheer intensity of experience available at the Ulster County Jail is unmatched anywhere else in the Biennial.
Hunger Mountain Boys
The Hunger Mountain Boys bypass the ill turns country has made in recent times, instead taking the music back to its 1920s and ’30s rural, string-band roots.
Sacrament of Solipsism
Taking a leaf from Kurt Cobain’s book, Elliot Smith nosedived into depression, heroin addiction, and, in a shrewd career move, a 2003 suicide at age 34.
Ballads of Sinners and Strangers
Letters feels like a Midwest barn dance on one track and on the next, Jewell’s sultry, mature voice—at just 27 years old—resounds like it would in a smoke-filled lounge of another era.
Soap Opera
Sara Lamm has always been intrigued by Dr. Bronner’s soap, so much so that it inspired the creation of a performance piece based on the 3,000-word spiritual message found on the label.
Bob Dylan’s 115th Opus
Lundy represents a new generation of opera singers, unlike the classic rotund performers who would “park and bark” (stand in one spot and sing).
Rudely Stamped Richard
Known for their refreshing takes on Shakespeare classics the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has slyly reworked the tale of the bloodthirsty hunchback king, the bipolar villain we love to hate.
Metaphysical Ground
Vincent Serbin will exhibit new, landscape-based work through July 23 at Galerie BMG.
First Impression:July
One day I realized I was writing bumper stickers. I began keeping a list: WARNING: ANARCHIST ON BOARD DON’T BLAME ME—I VOTED FOR BRITNEY SPEARS IF THOUGHT IS OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE THOUGHTS
Featured Contributors: July
Abby Luby, Damien Tavis Toman, Teresa Horgan, and Barbara Strnadova contribute to _Chronogram’s_ July issue.
Hudson Valley Farmers’ Markets
A comprehensive list of farmers’ markets in the Hudson Valley.
Esteemed Reader: July
“Why?” has been called the Devil’s question. It is inherently unanswerable. Despite all the efforts of theology, science, and etiology, there are only explanations—not answers.
Editor’s Note: July
“A good question is never answered,” writes Ciardi. “It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of an idea.”
Coming Up Roses
Paetro told a friend she’s reached the point where her name will be linked to James Patterson’s in her obituary.
CD Review: Preferably Tapioca
Late, great bands like Talking Heads and The Clash created a punk-funk vibe that lay dormant until Preferably Tapioca picked up the spoon on _Girl Scout Pocket Songbook_.
CD Review: Kat Mills
The ideal combination of songs, players, production, and a compelling artist, _Two_ is an extraordinary outing. Mills got it right on this one.
Aging in Place
Over 80 percent of Americans 45 and older say they want to stay home as long as possible. The Town of Montgomery has created a program to help fulfill their wishes.
Currant Events
When the “U-Pick” signs start to sprout at our local orchards and farms, and canning supplies are massed in the supermarket aisles, the urge to make jam comes upon me.
July Portfolio: Mohawk Hudson Revival
The show Douglas chose, while possessing the Regional’s usual variety, is perhaps more weighted toward craft than is usual for a contemporary art exhibit—craft, in this sense, meaning the expert use of materials as a defining element of the work.
July Portfolio: Stephen Hannock
At a distance, his paintings look like traditional scenes of rivers, mountains, or city skylines. As you approach them, though, they envelop the eye in layers of visual and textual interplay.
Inner Vision: Messages from Merton
What lies beneath the “cheap and showy garment” is what we actually are: the parts of us that were not found in advertisements and cannot themselves be marketed.
CD Review (July)–Poem Rocket
Formed in New York City around the core, husband-and-wife duo of Michael Peters (vocals, guitar) and Sandra Gardner (bass, vocals, keyboards), Poem Rocket has been plying its highly individual brand of electroacoustic, post-punk art pop for nearly 15 years.
July Horoscopes
What Carl Jung called “big dreams” are possible—those revelatory journeys that show us the most poignant symbols of our lives, and reveal the myths we live by.
Heavy Traffic
Trafficking of human beings—the domestic or global transfer of people for cash, through deceit, exploitation, or force—is one of the most lucrative forms of international illegal trade, second only to drug smuggling.
Planet Waves: At Opposite Ends
The issue of this opposition is integrity: the integrity of the world, of our communities even though we are in denial that they exist, and our individual integrity, for which there are precious few examples and even fewer coherent definitions.
Parting Shot: Francisco de Goya
Francisco de Goya cast a cold eye on the cruelty and corruption of his fellow man, be he king or inquisitor, aristocrat or judge.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
The war in Iraq has cost about $434,000,000,000 (four hundred and thirty-four billion dollars) to date. Albany County’s share of this is $597 million; Ulster County is $354 million. So far.
CD Review: Brain Patneaude Quartet
The Albany-based tenor saxophonist/composer’s music is largely a synthesis of left-leaning major-label jazz from the ’70s and ’80s.
CD Review: Sheri Bauer-Mayorga and Lincoln Mayorga
This 20-track collection by the Valatie husband-and-wife duo of Sheri Bauer-Mayorga and Lincoln Mayorga is the aural equivalent of a Ken Burns documentary, a broad-scoped survey of American popular music.
Buttoned-Down Blues
Albert Cumming’s bland demeanor and unassuming way is in sharp contrast to his screaming guitar and heartfelt vocals.
Zazen Poetics
“The future of literary culture in this country is pretty much dependent upon the independent literary press. If we don’t do it, who’s going to? I’m a proselytizer for poetry. I’m passionate about it,” says Chase Twichell.
Wheeldon on a Roll
Christopher Wheeldon has whipped up more excitement in the ballet world than any dance-maker in decades.
Notes from Underground
A dynamic of eternal fame is the subject of Glimmerglass Opera’s 2007 festival season, as it explores the ancient story of Orpheus in four operas and a concert spanning a period of four centuries through July and August.
Cool Katz
The people inhabiting Katz’s paintings are of a type—slender and white, crisp and clean, conveying a certain ease (if not affluence). They are, in fact, more object than subject.
Blessed by the Bard
“The aesthetic that we espouse, which is Shakespeare’s aesthetic, is that the language leads the action of the play,” Packer explains. “You have to be deeply connected to the play, always involving the energy of the audience. There is no fourth wall.”
Bang in the Berkshires
The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival offers a full schedule of performances by composers from America and abroad, as well as workshops, live improvisation, children’s events, master classes, music business seminars, free gallery recitals, and more.
Local 111: A Grass-Fed Restaurant in Philmont
David Wurth, the chef at Local 111 in Philmont, uses the bistro’s close proximity to regional farmland to create new, rustic American cuisine that emphasizes local organic and grass-fed ingredients.
Editor’s Journal
_Chronogram_ is a place for the fluid exchange of thought, knowledge, observation, insight, pleasure, bliss, desire, imagination—all the active machinery of being human.
Capital Region Farmers’ Markets
A comprehensive listing of farmers’ markets in the Capital Region.
Tales of a Chaat Wallah
“I bought a big generator. I hung up Christmas lights, and had a 500-watt halogen light bulb shining on the side of the Ryder truck: _ Mike’s Fish Fry—One Bite and You’re Hooked _. You could see it from a mile away.”
Tales Out of School
Romano stopped struggling for a moment, and Sawchuk tried to push the gun away. The barrel was pointed at the ground, and he thought, _If this thing goes off now, it’s going to blind me or something_.
Standing on the Source
Many of us have heard of geothermal heating and cooling, but may not have a clear idea of how it works, and how it can be used to provide for a home’s energy needs.
Subversive Complications
The praise her first book received couldn’t match Kakutani’s exuberance over _Eat the Document_. Spiotta’s “stunning new novel,” the _Times_ critic proclaimed, possessed “the staccato ferocity of a Joan Didion essay and the historical resonance and razzle-dazzle language of a Don DeLillo novel.”
Book Reviews: Nine Ways to Cross a River: Midstream Reflections on Swimming and Getting There from Here
The epigraph, a quote attributed to Heraclitus, best captures the essence of these essays: “You could not step twice into the same river, for other waters are ever flowing on to you.”
Book Reviews: Varieties of Disturbance
Largely devoid of setting, definitive narrative structure, character development, and other familiar conventions, these 57 stories defy easy categorization.
Advance Directives
You take care of your health to enjoy a good quality of life. But what about a good quality of end of life?
