August, 4 2016 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

PRESORTED
STANDARD
PERMIT #3036
WHITE PLAINS NY
Vol. XI, No. XVI
Westchester’s Most Influential Community Newspaper
Historic DNC Nomination
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Becomes First U.S. Female
Presidential
Nominee
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Republicans Nominate
Businessman
Donald J. Trump
Political Novice Defeats GOP Career Politicians
With Grass Roots Campaign for Presidential Bid
By Mary Keon Page 3
Chase Away Your Brews
and Cure What Ales You
By Joseph P. Griffith Page 8
AmaWaterways
Danube River Cruise
By Richard Levy Page 11
W W W.W E S T C H E S T E R G U A R D I A N . C O M
Nearly Purrfect
By John Simon Page 12
US+U Gallery
By Biagio Civale Page 15
Page 2
THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
Thursday, AUGUST 4, 2016
GOVERNMENT
NEW
ROCHELLE
The New Rochelle City Council Report
By Mary Keon
The City Council met briefly
on Tuesday July 19th for a Regular
Legislative Meeting. The minutes of the
Regular Legislative Meeting of Feb 24,
2015 were approved and the Minutes for
the Committee of the Whole Meeting
March 10 2015 were submitted.
The Consent agenda was adopted:
The City Manager is authorized
to enter into a contract with 38 Roslyn
Associates, d/b/a The Lombardi, to
operate a dog run.
The City Manager is authorized
to enter into a Use and Occupancy
Agreement with the Coca-Cola
company to provide vending machines
at designated city-owned facilities.
The City Budget will be amended
to reflect the acceptance of a $4000
donation to the P.L.A.Y. Program in
memory of Estella Dorn and Florence
T. Babcock.
The City budget will be amended
to reflect appropriation of funds for
the NYS Health Dept. Adolescent
Pregnancy Protection Program initiative.
The City has accepted the lowest bid
for sidewalk improvements from Tony
Casale, Inc.; Project No. 004-999-P115.
The City has waived formal
bidding for the contract with Software
Consulting Associates for the MuniCity 5 Work/Order Mobile Connect/
Service Request Solution Program for
the Dept. of Public Works, in an amount
not to exceed $50,000, and the budget
has been amended to reflect this.
The College Student Housing
Ordinance has been re-written and was
adopted. Units rented to three or more
college students must be registered with
the City and will be tracked during the
current academic year. Properties that
are rented to three or more non-students,
fall under the regular building code.
City Manager Chuck Strome III has
increased funding to the budget from
the contingency fund to hire an outside
contractor to fill numerous nuisance
potholes and repair roads, allowing
the City Pothole Crew to focus on the
larger ones. Mayor Bramson suggested
that funds to hire an outside contractor be included in the next budget. The
City Manager, in consultation with the
Planning Commissioner, has already
planned to do this.
The City of New Rochelle will cosponsor of Thanksgiving Day Parade
and Mayor Bramson thanked the
Valenti family, on behalf of the City,
for their sponsorship of the parade over
many years.
Following the Public Hearing, the
City adopted revisions to the tenant base
rental assistance program.
No action on the Leaf Disposal
facility was taken.
The main topic of discussion was
Councilman Fertel’s request to increase
the salaries for members of the City
Council, pegged to the CPI (Consumer
Price Index), only if the Reserve Fund
balance does not fall below 5% of the
Budget, in light of the current, ample
Fund balance. Fertel pointed out that
the job is labor-intensive and Council
members have no staff or offices. The
last raise was given 8 years ago. The
proposed raise would amount to approximately $6000/council member.
Councilman Rice observed that
other communities have given their
council-members raises and a fair, consistent system needs to be put in place
“that reflects what we do.”
Councilman Hyden agreed that
he does spend a great deal of time on
City business, stating that the proposal
and method of calculation is reasonable. However, he observed that “a lot
of people in his district are struggling
with no raises in their jobs, given the
economic situation across the country,
and property taxes are a big issue for
them.” He would feel much better
about re-visiting a raise when the City
is collecting revenue from development.
Hyden is open to discussing a formula to
implement a raise for the long term, but
not in adopting it this year. He also commented that the present low stipend does
not even allow him to do one mailing to
his district, one of the few ways he has to
reach all of his constituents.
Councilman Trangucci would
support the proposal if his $2000
stipend, which he uses for a Community
P.L.A.Y. Program, could be doubled.
The City Manager offered to include
funds for the P.L.A. Y. Program in his
next budget.
Liz Fried and Mayor Bramson supported a cost of living raise.
Councilman Tarantino agreed that
the raise would not be large but feels
“extremely uncomfortable taking more
money the way things are going in the
economy at the moment and personally
would not support it,” although he might
consider it if the City adopted term limits
that means “none of us could turn this
into a forever job and allow others to
run.”
A legislative proposal will be developed for further discussion and a Public
Hearing would be required before this
can be adopted.
Councilman Trangucci also
observed that no council person has an
office and asked if a community Council
office space can be created at City Hall
where members can meet with constituents. Mayor Bramson pointed out that
this this was done 12-13 years ago and
was not utilized but he is open to trying
this again.
The Council will convene again in
August to wrap up outstanding business.
Commercial • Industrial
& Residential Services
Roll-Off Containers 1-30 Yards
Home Cleanup Containers
Turn-Key Demolition Services
DEC Licensed Transfer Station
www.citycarting.net
City Carting of Westchester
Somers Sanitation
B & S Carting
AAA Paper Recycling
Bria Carting
City Confidential Shredding
DEP Licensed Rail Serve
Transfer & Recyling Services
Licensed Demolition Contractor
Locally Owned & Operated
Radio Dispatched
Fully Insured - FREE Estimates
800.872.7405 • 203.324.4090
On-Site Document Destruction
8 Viaduct Road, Stamford, CT 06907
Same Day Roll Off Service
Table of Contents
New Rochelle............................................. 2
Cover Story................................................ 3
Government............................................... 4
Comments on Congress............................. 6
Business...................................................... 6
Creative Disruption.................................... 7
Local Business........................................... 8
Day Trip................................................... 10
Travel........................................................ 11
Arts & Culture......................................... 12
Eye on Theatre......................................... 12
Regional Theatre...................................... 13
Local Lore................................................ 16
Calendar................................................... 16
International Film.................................... 17
Mary at the Movies.................................. 18
Sam Zherka, Publisher
Mary Keon, Editor /Advertising
Publication is every other Thursday
Write to us in confidence at:
The Westchester Guardian
Post Office Box 8
New Rochelle, NY 10801
Send publicity 3 weeks in advance of your event. Ads due Tuesdays, one week prior
to publication date. Letters to the Editor & Press Releases can only be submitted
via Email. Typewritten press releases forwarded by mail are not acceptable and
will not be considered for publication. Please forward press releases as Word dox to
[email protected] three weeks prior to anticipated run date; space closes
Thursday, 8 days prior to dateline. Please forward ad inquiries to
[email protected] or call/text: 914.216.1674.
Original photos submitted for publication must have a resolution of 300 DPI.
[email protected]
Office Hours: 11A-5P M-F
Phone: 914.216.1674
Read us online at: www.WestchesterGuardian.com
Page 3
co v er stor y
Democrat Hillary Clinton Makes History as the First U. S. Female
Presidential Candidate. She Faces Political Novice, Businessman
Donald J. Trump, in the November Election
VOTE SEPTEMBER 13th
By Mary Keon
On Thursday, July 28, 2016,
Former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton made history as the 2016
Democratic nominee for President
and the first woman to lead a major
party ticket in the U. S. Presidential
election. Her nomination occurs 32
years after Geraldine Ferraro, also a
Democrat, became the country’s first
female Vice Presidential candidate,
running alongside Walter Mondale,
and 96 years after ratification of the
19th Amendment (August 18, 1920),
giving American women the right to
vote. In securing her party’s nomination, Mrs. Clinton has shattered a glass
ceiling that had seemingly been made
of Plexiglass.
Mrs. Clinton is also the former
First Lady of the United States and of
Arkansas. She and former President
Clinton reside in Chappaqua.
Following her move to New York,
Mrs. Clinton won election to the U. S.
Senate, representing New York from
January 3, 2001 to January 21, 2009.
Video and speeches presented at the
convention highlighted Mrs. Clinton’s
early career as an advocate for children
and the disabled, along with her extensive experience in government.
The past few months have, no
doubt, been challenging for Mrs.
Clinton, who was faced with running
a national Presidential campaign
while under investigation for the
handling of classified documents on
her personal email server. The government declined to press charges and
she seems to have put this behind her.
In July, internal Democratic National
Committee emails disparaging
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and
documenting how the DNC undermined his campaign became public,
leading Party Chairwoman Deborah
Wasserman Schultz to step down. She
has been replaced by Donna Brazile.
Mrs. Clinton defeated Sanders,
an avowed Socialist with a populist
message, who ran a spirited campaign
and developed a wide following, but
did not generate enough support to
overtake Mrs. Clinton’s lead. Sanders’
vocal supporters let their dissatisfaction with the outcome be known at the
convention and Mrs. Clinton will need
to win them over during the remaining weeks of the campaign, if she is to
prevail on Election Day. Senator Tim
Kaine of Virginia is her running mate.
In a year where all precedents are
being shattered, New York real estate
developer Donald J. Trump, running
a grass-roots campaign, defeated
a crowded field of mostly career
politicians, that included former
Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas
Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor
John Kasich and Florida Senator
Marco Rubio to become the 2016
Republican Presidential nominee on
July 21st. Many Republican Party
luminaries declined to attend the convention this year, in protest. Cruz was
widely criticized for failing to endorse
Trump during his convention speech,
angering top donors and putting his
political future in jeopardy. Trump
has selected Indiana Governor Mike
Pence as his running mate.
Throughout his campaign, Trump
has extolled his business management and negotiation skills as the
answer to the many problems that
face the country, promising to build
our economy and repair our infrastructure. He advocates a leaner more
cost-effective government, treaties
and trade agreements that protect
American interests and a wall to
secure our border with Mexico.
Those who live far from our
Mexican border scoff at the idea of
a wall but residents of border states
live in daily terror from illegal border
crossers running through their yards,
some of them armed criminals. None
of us would find this acceptable in
our communities. Citizens in the
Southwest are desperate for protection
and Mr. Trump’s message finds wide
support there. We have no idea who is
crossing our border on a daily basis or
what their plans are and this is a prescription for disaster.
However, Mr. Trump’s tendency
to “shoot from the lip” gives many
would-be supporters pause and he
will need to rein this in to be seen in
a presidential light. Despite his lack of
experience in government, Trump’s
brash, “tell it like it is” style resonates
with broad groups of Americans who
are struggling in a stagnant economy
and worried about the future. Trump’s
candidacy drew record numbers of
voters on Primary Day. He too, now
presides over a divided party and must
win over disaffected members during
the remainder of the campaign.
And yet it does not matter who
wins the popular vote on Election
Day. The United States does not
elect presidents by popular vote, but
by a majority of delegate votes in
the Electoral College. Many political analysts believe that the Electoral
College vote favors Secretary Clinton.
Can Mr. Trump amass enough votes
in the Electoral College between now
and Tuesday, November 8th to win a
decisive majority? This remains to be
seen, but so far, he has proven to be
a quick study in a game that is much
tougher and a whole lot meaner than
New York real estate. Page 4
GOVERNMENT
Lowey Announces $475,000 Grant for Burke Medical Research Institute in White Plains
JULY14, 2016, WASHINGTON,
DC– Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey
(Westchester/Rockland), the Ranking
Member on the House Appropriations
Committee, announced a $475,000
National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grant
for the Burke Medical Research
Institute in White Plains to help
improve sight in people with traumainduced neurological injuries.
“Every day, some of our nation’s
most cutting-edge medical research is
being performed right here in the Lower
Hudson Valley,” said Congresswoman
Nita Lowey. “I am proud to fight for
federal resources for the Burke Medical
Research Institute and other outstanding local facilities whose important
work keeps New Yorkers healthy
while dramatically improving health
outcomes across the country. Funding
for NIH has nearly tripled since I joined
the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds medical research, and I
will continue working to increase the
$2 billion the NIH pumps into New
York’s economy each year.”
The $475,000 grant will be used as
seed money for a device that improves
sight in people with neurological
injuries. This specialized equipment
was developed from studies of children
who have sustained traumatic brain
damage as a result of car accidents or
falls from a bike. Patients are shown
pictures or other stimulants and asked
to visually track them across a screen.
Music plays when the images are
tracked properly but stops if they are
followed incorrectly. Because these
patients’ extensive brain damage has
left them unable to communicate what
they see, the device helps doctors
understand what is being perceived
visually while also stimulating and
improving the patient’s visual system.
“We are thrilled,” said Dr. Rajiv
R. Ratan, Executive Director of the
Burke Medical Research Institute.
“While much of what we are doing
here promises improvements in clinical
care in five or ten years, this new piece
of equipment can improve care almost
immediately.”
NINDS is a division of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
whose mission is to seek fundamental
knowledge about the brain and nervous
system and to use that knowledge
to reduce the burden of neurological disease. It supports and conducts
research on the normal and diseased
nervous system; fosters the training
of investigators in neurosciences; and
seeks better understanding, diagnosis,
treatment, and prevention of neurological disorders. NINDS serves as a prime
source of neurological information for
scientists, clinicians, and the public.
Lowey fought to include a $2
billion increase in NIH funding in the
December 2015 year-end omnibus
government spending bill.
County,” Tubiolo said. “I’m honored
to accept Bernice’s endorsement and
continue her legacy. I will continue
to be a strong voice for the people of
Yonkers and Mt. Vernon in making our
community cleaner, safer, more affordable and more attractive to businesses.”
Before she spent 23 years as
County Legislator, Spreckman served
on the Yonkers City Council as as
an at-large Council member and as
Councilperson for the 2nd ward. She
established a national profile as an
advocate for senior citizens and was
nicknamed “the unsinkable” Bernice
Spreckman.
“David Tubiolo was more than just
my senior aide these past five years,”
Spreckman said. “David continues
to be a friend and someone I trust to
fight passionately for important issues
that affect seniors. I know that we can
trust David to work toward making
Westchester a more affordable place to
continue to live—not just for us, but for
all of our families.”
Retired County Legislator Bernice Spreckman Endorses David Tubiolo
JULY 27, 2016YONKERS,
NY –Yonkers resident David Tubiolo
spent over five years as the chief staffer
to long-time Westchester Legislator
Bernice Spreckman. Today, he
received Spreckman’s endorsement to
replace her on the County Board in the
August 9th special election.
“I spent three decades in public
service. How did I get elected time
and again?” Spreckman asked. “By
putting people first. With all those
years of experience I know a good
Bernice Spreckman and David
Tubiolo courtesy of David Tubiolo.
public servant when I see one and that’s
why I’m endorsing David Tubiolo to
replace me on the County Board of
Legislators.”
Spreckman said that David
Tubiolo would continue her legacy
as a legislator who puts people before
politics and will fight for a more affordable Westchester.
“I’ve learned from Bernice first
hand what it means to put people before
politics, to make the necessary decisions for the betterment of Westchester
Senator Murphy Announces $500,000 Appropriation for Croton Point Park Meadow Restoration
JULY 25, 2016 ALBANY, NY:
Croton-on-Hudson, NY - On what was
undoubtedly one of the hottest days of the
year, it seemed appropriate that Senator
Terrence Murphy, an avid outdoorsman,
would be outside making an important announcement about the future of
Croton Point Park. To help maintain the
park, Senator Murphy announced he had
secured $500,000 for a critically needed
meadow restoration project.
The funding will be used for
grasslands design and management specifications on the constructed meadow cap
of the old Croton landfill. In addition to
enhancing the overall aesthetics of the
park, the project will eradicate invasive
species and improve the ecological health
of the park and the Hudson River Estuary
bald eagle habitat, the largest in the lower
NYS Senator Terrence Murphy and Westchester County Executive Rob
Astorino at Croton Point Park. Photo courtesy of Senator Murphy’s office.
Hudson flyway.
“I am proud to partner and fund one
of the largest conservation projects in the
history of Westchester County,” Senator
Murphy said. “Restoration of the area
as grassland will provide a nesting place
for migrating birds and other wildlife.
Restoring the area’s natural habitat will
create something of lasting value and
beauty. I wanted to make sure the park
will remain a vibrant and attractive place
to visit for generations to come.”
“As stewards of the environment
we have a responsibility to conserve our
natural resources today and for future
generations and efforts like these are
important down payments on our endowment for the future,” said Westchester
County Executive Robert Astorino.
“Thanks to Senator Murphy and all our
partners for this wonderful restoration.”
“The Croton Point Meadow restoration project will improve the ecological
life of the landfill, protect the Hudson
River Estuary from persistent and
invasive species and make the park
a natural, year-round habitat for bald
eagles,” Carol Griffiths, Co-President
of the Federated Conservationists of
Westchester County added.
The grassland area was established in
the mid-to-late 1990s on a capped landfill
that operated from the late 1920s through
1986. The grassland is now managed
by the Westchester County Department
of Environmental Facilities, which also
monitors and manages methane emissions for the capped landfill.
Page 5
GOVERNMENT
A Statement by NYSAC Executive Director Acquario on the Property Tax Cap Announcement
JULY 18, 2016, ALBANY, NY–
Counties remain concerned about the
state and regional economy and its
impact on our ability to serve in our
communities.
Today, NYS Comptroller Thomas
P. DiNapoli reported that local
property tax revenues will be capped
at .6% percent over last year, based
on low inflation. This announcement
comes after the State Department of
Taxation and Finance presented 2nd
quarter sales tax revenues, which
showed 37 counties collected less in
the 2nd quarter of 2016 than they did
in the same quarter last year.
County operations are funded
through a combination of sales and
property tax revenues. From those
revenues, counties must first fund
state mandated programs and services,
the cost of which is growing faster
than the revenue counties receive.
Whatever is left then funds local
quality of life programs like 9-1-1
emergency response, road patrols,
aging and youth services, parks and
recreation, and capital programs.
In the past five years, counties
have sold assets and depleted reserves
to meet the state’s property tax cap
requirements.
The low sales and property tax
revenues announced in the past few
days will require counties to further
reduce local programs and services.
To learn more about NYS
counties and the property tax cap visit
www.nysac.org/propertytaxcap
The New York State Association
of Counties is a bipartisan municipal
association serving the counties of
New York State. Organized in 1925,
NYSAC’s mission is to represent,
educate and advocate for member
counties. www.nysac.org
Senator Murphy Helps Croton Shed the Meds
Upcoming Dates and Locations for Other Communities
Croton-on-Hudson, NY - Since
taking office last year, Senator Terrence
Murphy has been fighting to keep drugs
and drug dealers from flooding our
neighborhoods. Part of his plan in the
war against drugs is to dispose of dan-
medications in a safe and responsible
manner.”
“’The Shed the Meds’ program
helps ensure that old and unwanted
drugs do not wind up back on the street
or in the hands of children,” said Crotonon-Hudson Police Chief
Anthony Tramaglini.
“It also helps protect
our environment. Too
many people think that
flushing away their old
medications will not do
any harm. They forget
that these drugs can get
into our water system.”
“In light of the
escalating drug crisis,
Officer Eric Seymour Croton-on Hudson Police it is important for us
to eliminate as many
Department, Senator Terrence Murphy, Laurie
dangerDean, Croton Community Coalition Chairwoman potentially
ous
drugs
as
we
can,”
and Coordinator, Croton-on Hudson Police Chief
said Laurie Dean,
Anthony Tramaglini, Miki Carver and Emily
Community
Ruppert, Interns, Senator Murphy’s Office. Photo Croton
Coalition
Chairwoman
courtesy of Senator Murphy’s office.
and Coordinator. “The
gerous prescription medications. Earlier Croton community is happy to support
today, Senator Murphy partnered with Senator Murphy and the “Shed the
the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, the Meds’ program.”
Croton Police Department, and the
Safe disposal helps protect the
Croton Community Coalition to bring environment and eliminates the risk
his “Shed the Meds” program to the of these drugs getting into the hands
Croton area.
of small children or those who might
“The cost in human lives of pre- misuse them. Improper disposal of
scription medications ruining our medications, such as pouring them
communities is staggering,” Senator down the drain or flushing them down
Murphy said. “With a drug epidemic the toilet, can potentially pollute local
invading our neighborhoods and waterways.
schools we have to be more vigilant for
Upcoming dates and locations for
the sake of our families and children. additional “Shed the Meds” summer
Removing hazardous drugs is another programs:
step in the right direction. ‘Shed the Brewster - Thursday, July 28 at the old
Meds’ offers communities the oppor- Village Offices, 208 Main Street near
tunity to dispose of their expired
Peaceable Hill Road, Brewster.
Peekskill - Tuesday, August 9 at Hayes
Plaza, outside Field Public Library, 4
Nelson Avenue, Peekskill.
Sleepy Hollow - Thursday, August 11
at the Village of Sleepy Hollow Police
Department, 28 Beekman Avenue,
Sleepy Hollow.
Yorktown - Wednesday, August 17 at
Jefferson Village (parking lot area), Hill
Blvd.
Somers - Friday, August 26 at the
Somers Police Department, 100
Primrose Street/Route 139, Somers.
From One Piece to Large Household Residential & Commercial
www.affordablemoversny.com
FREE
1-MONTH
STORAGE
WITH ANY
INTERSTATE MOVE
Dot T11979
US DOT 1049459
Reliable packing techniques
State-of-the-art moving trucks & trailers
at Affordable, we move for you.
Call now for a reliable price quote
914.769.1159
No Extra Charge for Weekend & Holidays
Short Notice Moves Welcome
To Florida & All Points in Between
LOWEST HOURLY RATES!
Time and again, people everywhere choose us.
120 FULTON ST. WHITE PLAINS, NY 10606
C
M
Y
CM
CY
CMY
K
©2016 Hudson Valley Surgical Group | All Rights Reserved.
MY
Colon Surgery: The Advantages of
Laparoscopic and Robotic Procedures
Hudson Valley Surgical Group’s Minimally
Invasive Center now provides patients another
choice for colon surgery.
“The doctors understood
the need for me to be mobile
within days.”
Vincent L., colon patient
New York Magazine Top Doctors
Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors™ in America
Hudson Valley
Surgical Group
MINIMALLY INVASIVE CENTER
777 N. Broadway, Suite 204, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
914.631.3660 | HudsonValleySurgeons.com
Page 6
COMMENTS ON CONGRESS
Where the Election Stands
By Lee H. Hamilton
July 21st, 2016
The next few weeks
in politics are a little
like the All-Star break
in baseball. With the Republican and
Democratic national conventions
upon us, it’s a good time to step back
and assess this year’s election. Which
carries bad news for both parties.
The Republicans face a steep
electoral challenge. If Hillary Clinton
carries Florida (where polling shows
a very close race) plus the District of
Columbia and the 19 states that have
voted Democratic in each of the last
six presidential elections, she wins.
Yet victory for Donald Trump is
hardly out of the question. He’ll have
to retain the support he already has
from white voters - especially working-class whites in swing states - and
try to make some inroads among nonwhite voters. He’ll also need to hope
that any third-party candidates take
more votes away from Clinton than
from him.
Trump floated through the
Republican primaries by tackling
the anger and discontent that course
through this year’s electorate. His
talk about a broken system and his
emphatic, brash style appeal to a lot of
people. His ability to dominate news
coverage without spending much on
advertising has been extraordinary.
And even though he’s passed through
a difficult period for his campaign, the
polls have grown quite close.
On the other hand, the Republican
Party is splintered and off its game.
Its leaders are having a difficult time
with a Trump candidacy. A sizable
number of GOP stars are finding
excuses not to attend the convention,
which is remarkable. Conventions
are where parties fire up the faithful
and gird for the general election; to
find elected officials staying away is
clearly a problem. And any revolt at
the convention will be messy - though
fortunately for the GOP, the months
from August to November are an
eternity in politics.
Yet the Democrats should take no
comfort from this state of affairs. For
starters, below the presidential level
the party is struggling. Since 2008,
Democrats have lost 69 seats in the
U.S. House, 13 Senate seats, 12 governorships, and over 900 seats in state
legislatures. Nor do they have much
of a bench. The two most prominent
Democrats this year, Clinton and
Sen. Bernie Sanders, are both senior
citizens: Clinton is 68, Sanders 74.
Despite President Obama’s relative
youth, his years in office did not
usher in a new generation of national
was Franklin Roosevelt, in 1940.
The British vote on Brexit is
a reminder that resentments and
anger can fly under the radar. And
Washington, where there’s money
everywhere you turn, is a ripe
target for “take-our-country-back”
populism. The anti-establishment,
anti-Washington mood captured by
both Sanders and Trump should make
both parties uneasy.
But then, so should the course of
this election, which has put a premium
on sound and fury at the cost of true
engagement with the issues confronting the country. On that score, we all
lose.
Democratic leadership.
And while Clinton’s path to
the presidency may be wider than
Trump’s, that doesn’t mean she’s a
strong candidate - at least, not for this
particular year. She’s put out carefully
thought-through, even impressive
position papers on a wide variety
of current issues that get very little
attention in the press. At a moment
when voters clearly want change, she
appears to favor incrementalism as the
way to get things done in Washington.
And despite the FBI’s decision
that it wouldn’t bring criminal charges
on her handling of emails when she
was Secretary of State, the issue is
clearly dogging her. She went into
this election facing a lot of voters
who simply didn’t trust her, and that
has only gotten worse. In politics, you
cannot talk someone into trusting you
- you have to earn it, inch by inch.
Moreover, if Trump faces tough
arithmetic in the electoral college,
Clinton faces her own difficult
equation: It is extremely hard for
a political party to win a third consecutive term in the White House.
It happened 28 years ago, when
George H.W. Bush succeeded Ronald
Reagan. The last candidate before that
Lee Hamilton is a Senior Advisor
for the Indiana University Center
on Representative Government; a
Distinguished Scholar, IU School of
Global and International Studies; and
a Professor of Practice, IU School of
Public and Environmental Affairs. He
was a member of the U.S. House of
Representatives for 34 years.
For information about the Center’s
educational resources and programs,
visit the website at www.centeroncongress.org.
“Like”
the
Center on Facebook at “Indiana
University Center on Representative
Government,” and share their
postings with your friends.
Reprinted with written permission
from The Center on Congress.
BUSINESS
Orange County Trust Becomes Orange County Bank and Trust
On Friday, July 29th, 2016,
Orange County Trust CEO Michael
Gilfeather and Board Chair, Louis
Heimback unveiled their new corporate image at the Bank’s headquarters
in Middletown, NY. Going forward,
the 124-year old bank will be known
as Orange County Bank and Trust.
The name change was approved by
the Board of Directors on January 22,
2016 and the Bank has trademarked
the new name.
The decision to change the bank’s
name occurred following a 2015 strategic research and branding campaign
when focus groups from neighboring
counties told marketers that “‘Orange
County Trust Company,’ sounded
Orange Bank and Trust CEO Michael Gilfeather addresses business leaders
and public officials Friday, July 29 at bank headquarters, on Dolson Avenue
in Middletown, during the unveiling of its new name and signage. Photo
courtesy of Kevin Ferguson.
more like an investment house than
a full service commercial bank,” a
concern that is addressed by adding
Bank to the company’s new name.
With assets of approximately $900
million, the bank has added branches
and expanded into Westchester,
Rockland and Dutchess Counties and
is now affiliated with Hudson Valley
Investment Advisors to provide investment advice to its customers. The
bank plans to “remain independent,
position itself for future growth and
expand its operations regionally, with
a focus on business banking,” said
Gilfeather, who attributes the bank’s
success to “conservative banking
practices, innovation and commitment
to its community. We focus on community-based relationship banking for
businesses, organizations and individuals,” he added.
“Although our name and logo
are changing, we are still the same
community-focused bank continuing
to deliver top-notch relationship based
service to our customers in Orange,
Dutchess, Westchester and Rockland
Counties” said Gilfeather. “Orange
Bank & Trust is committed to growth
by expanding geographically and by
enhancing the products and services
we offer. To that end, we have opened
two new branches in Mamaroneck
and Mount Pleasant, with more to
come. In order to support this growth,
we move into the future with one
clear, consistent, name and message.”
Page 7
me digital.” This is profound. It is an
example of the dramatic change that
had made the movement to cyberlife
exciting, rapid, and disruptive.
In the history of recorded music
(up until digital), we moved what
seemed to be rapidly for the times
– through vinyl, first 78RPM (“revolutions per minute’), then 33 1/3, and
then 45 to 8 track tapes to cassettes and
finally CDs (compact disks). Along
the way, we often had to buy new
equipment, even, perhaps, buying the
music in a new format. Some people
kept the older equipment and music or
upgraded to new equipment that contained a 3 speed vinyl turntable and a
CREATIVE DISRUPTION
Cyberspace Is A Vast … And Complex World
By John F. McMullen
There are many
books about the Internet
on every possible aspect
of it – from how to use it
through to books on the
technology underlying it. And while
children don’t have to be taught how
to use the Internet, there are many
books specifically aimed at senior
citizens who are in need of much
help. Books have been written about
every possible impact that the Internet
has and will make on our lives – education, social interaction, security,
privacy, business, politics, employment, and the overall future.
Author Virginia Heffernan
photo by Francis Hill Courtesy of
Simon & Schuster
While this is at times overwhelming, it is to be expected. The
Internet, or rather what I will refer to
as “Cyberspace” for the rest of this
article, is replacing so many aspects of
physical life, that one must consider as
many different ways to look at it, as
there are to look at our physical world.
One only has to consider the number
of books that could be written about
Manhattan Island – its geography,
history, demographics, Broadway
stage, Wall Street and finance, opera,
music, the culture of Greenwich
Village and Harlem; museums,
colleges and the list could go on
and on. Manhattan has also been the
subject of countless works of fiction,
including great mysteries, television
series and movies. I use the term
Cyberspace in this context because it
implies a place to which we go and in
which we immerse ourselves when
we get there. The term Internet, for
many, causes a focus on the tools that
we use to get there – the computers,
tables, smartphones, connections,
browsers, servers, etc.
I’ve recently been spending some
enjoyable time with two books published this year dealing with life in
cyberspace. There are some superficial similarities between “Magic
and Loss: The Internet As Art”
by Virginia Heffernan (a very
recent guest on my weekly radio
show – www.blogtalkradio.com/
johmac13/2016/07/24/weeklyjohnmac-radio-show and Thomas
Rid’s “Rise Of The Machines: A
Cybernetic History.” Both have
black covers with praising blurbs
on the back cover from Wired
Magazine cofounder and author, most
recently of “The Inevitable,” Kevin
Kelly (another recent guest on the
show -- www.blogtalkradio.com/
johmac13/2016/05/01/weekly-johnmac-radio-show). They also contain
references within the works to a
mutual friend, Grateful Dead lyricist
and cofounder of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, John Perry
Barlow.
Yet, despite these similarities, the
books are very different – just as we
could have two books about Ireland,
one a travel guide and the other a
history.
This week, I’ll discuss Virginia
Heffernan’s book – it is a delight
as it looks both at what we do in
Cyberspace and what it means. We
often get so caught up in what we are
doing that we don’t take the step back
and consider how we got here, where
we might go, and how it may matter.
Case in point – In the section of
the book entitled “Music” (there are
separate sections – “Text,” “Images,”
“Video,” and “Music”), Heffernan
writes “To me, that was the iPod’s
magic: it transformed me and made
Continued on page 8
“I received such excellent care and personal
attention, I would rate the total experience on
a scale from 1 to 10, a 12.”
– Crestina A., anterior hip replacement patient
NEW WESTCHESTER
ORTHOPEDIC CENTER
IN DOBBS FERRY
■
Hospital Based-Complete Orthopedic Care
■
Westchester’s Leading Orthopedic Surgeons
■
MAKOplasty® Precision Robotic Technology
■
Private Reserved Rooms
■
Pre-Op Education for Patient & their Coach
■
Shorter Hospital Stays
99% of Patients Recommend Westchester
Orthopedic Center*
■
Nicolas Bavaro, MD
Charles Edelson, MD
David Lent, MD
Howard Luks, MD
866.732.9650
WestchesterOrthoCenter.com
Evan Gains, MD
James Joseph, MD
Robert Myerson, MD
Eric Spencer, MD
Nicolas Bavaro, MD, David Lent, MD
Howard Luks, MD, James Joseph, MD
*Source: Based on WOC follow-up survey
© 2016 St. John’s Riverside Hospital | All Rights Reserved
Page 8
CREATIVE DISRUPTION
Cyberspace Is A Vast … And Complex World
Continued from page 7
cassette and / or CD player so they
could use old and new formats. The
traditional “record stores” sold both
the old and new equipment and music
in multiple formats.
Then mp3s hit! The iPod wasn’t
the first mp3 player but it was the best
and the most elegant and millions sold
immediately. It further made shoplifters of many as “piracy,” formerly
only the activity of computer gamers,
became a way of life for young and
old. Apple’s “iTunes Store,” with its
low-cost downloads of mp3s, brought
music lovers back to legality but
effectively killed all of the music retail
stores, formerly two or three to a mall.
This was disruption never seen before
in the industry.
The mp3 technology could be
seen, in one way, as a logical progression from the earlier formats, yet
it was different. It was a movement
away from the physical (vinyl, CDs,
etc.) to digital, something that we
can’t touch. Additionally, it did not
add a new type of player or format of
music to a retailer’s shelves; rather, it
put him out of business!
This type of disruption was, of
course, not limited to music. One only
has to look at the advent of digital
photography, a technology that put
the small film processing stores out
of business and drove the developer
of digital photography, Kodak, into
bankruptcy.
The development of the digital
music and photography technologies
did not stop with the replacement of
the previous technologies. Once we
had music and photos in digital format,
entrepreneurs and companies appeared
on the scene to offer software and
services that expanded the power of
these technologies in ways not dreamed
of before. “PhotoShop” put previously
very expensive darkroom tools in the
hands of the home computer user,
“Flickr” gave us a way to store and
share our pictures all over the world,
and “Instagram” combined them both.
On the music side, “Pandora” and
“Spotify” are apps that allow you to
listen to music that you don’t own and
“Shazam” will identify music that you
hear but can’t quite place.
In “Video,” Heffernan takes us
through the rise of “YouTube,” its sale
to Google and its continued impact on
the Video world. She writes about
the disruption of the on-air and cable
worlds by the new Netflix, Amazon,
and Yahoo original television series,
and then takes us into the world of
3D Virtual Reality with Oculus. Once
again, we see the tearing down (or at
least chipping away) of traditional distribution methods and the provision of
more choices to the consumer.
In her conversation with me on
the radio, Heffernan stated that this
movement from the “physical-to-theabstract” is always a benefit, even if the
“magic” does bring a “loss” (job loss,
loss of physical control of items, elimination of previously valuable skills,
etc.). She used money as an example.
– We began with barter and we had to
have our goods at the same place as
the goods which we wished to obtain
– and then moved to money, allowing
us more freedom to obtain goods when
we did not have goods to trade with the
owner of the goods we wished (while
creating gold and silver mining jobs).
–This evolved to paper money, (eliminating the need to haul heavy metals
around) – then to checks, allowing
payment to be safely mailed.
The evolution of internet technology enabled us to do our banking
online with automatic, digital transfer
of funds. Paychecks can be directly
deposited into our accounts and we
can then have bill payments automatically be sent from our accounts. This
automatic transfer of funds opened
the door for Amazon to rule the
online retail world– and now “Internet
money” such as “Bitcoin” that will
apparently ease even further our commercial activities (“apparently” as
it has neither at this time large scale
acceptance nor understanding).
In this limited space, it is difficult
to portray well the depth of “Magic and
Loss.” Heffernan uses her background
in philosophy, (undergraduate – she
also has a PhD in English Literature),
to explore the meaning of these transitions –she causes us to focus in ways
Heffernan concludes with a chapter,
“Even If You Don’t Believe In It,” in
which she takes us through her intellectual and religious development.
As she said on the show, she was
apprehensive about doing this –there
have been many memoires detailing
a person’s sexual experiences or difficulties with drugs or alcohol but what
she does here is unusual – it opens up
her intellectual path to us in a very
frank manner.
The book is deep without being
difficult and I recommend it thoroughly. It is available in hardcover and
in Kindle, Nook, and “epub” formats.
(Aside – and it relates to embracing the new while still having motor
and physical memory of the old. Seeing
my reference in the preceding paragraph to Kindle made me think of an
occurrence this evening. I have literally
hundreds of books on a Kindle since
I ordered one on the day Jeff Bezos
introduced it. Earlier this evening,
I was reading a mystery, the tenth
in the Catherine Coulter “An FBI
Thriller Series” that I’ve read in the
last two weeks (I binge read through
series), while I was waiting for Fala
The Wonder Dog to finish her dinner
so that I could take her out. When she
finished and I was closing the Kindle,
I reached for a piece of paper to mark
my place! A piece of paper to mark
your place on a Kindle?? That’s the
first time I’ve ever done anything like
that. I caught myself but it bewildered
me. Perhaps it was the influence of my
conversation with Heffernan and/or
reading her book.)
Back in 2 weeks with “Rise of the
Machines”!
I welcome comments on this
piece to [email protected].
Beer garden at Heartland
Gladys coffee from Coffee Labs in
Tarrytown, and Howling Fantods
Imperial Stout, with an 11-percent
alcohol content. The Brewery offers
takeout and a more extensive food
menu than most breweries, but be
advised: The beer here is expensive,
some premium cases going for $96 to
$120.
The Green Growler (thegreengrowler.com) in Croton-on-Hudson
is a tap room, bottle shop and home
brew shop that serves beer on tap to
Clemson Bros. Brewery
Creative Disruption is a continuing
series examining the impact of constantly accelerating technology on
the world around us. These changes
normally happen under our personal
radar until we find that the world as
we knew it is no more.
John F. McMullen is a writer, poet,
college professor and radio host.
Links to other writings, Podcasts, &
Radio Broadcasts at www.johnmac13.
com, and his books are available on
Amazon.
© 2016 John F. McMullen
LOCAL BUSINESS
Chase Away Your Brews and Cure What Ales You
By Joseph P. Griffith
The great Nat King
Cole sang about “those
lazy, hazy, crazy days
of summer, those days
of soda and pretzels and beer.” Well,
today some people want to tax your
soda, and others keep telling you that
the salt in the pretzels is bad for you.
That leaves only the beer. Here is a
short list of breweries and bars in and
around Westchester so you can douse
the inferno of summer.
Frankie & Fanucci’s Wood Oven
Pizzeria (fandfpizza.com), which has
been in Mamaroneck since 2010,
recently opened a tap room with a
unique concept. Patrons can play bartender, using a chip card to activate
more than 30 beer and wine taps and
serve themselves. The system calculates the tab by the ounce and allows
you to try small amounts of each
beverage.
“We were looking for something
to really differentiate, and what you
see is a lot of trends in the market
now of customers serving themselves,
being part of the actual experience,”
said co-owner Brad Nagy. “So when
we started doing research and wanted
to bring in a better craft beer and wine
experience, we looked at the self-pour
technology, and it was perfect. We
pushed it out on social media that it’s
coming soon. I expected it to be wellreceived but I was really surprised at
how much interest there was in it.”
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.
(captainlawrencebrewing.com)
is
the oldest brewery in the county and
one of its best. Scott Vaccaro, who
had previously worked at the Sierra
Nevada Brewing Co., opened it 10
years ago in Pleasantville and moved
to larger quarters in Elmsford in 2012.
The move allowed the company to
greatly expand its capacity and distribute bottles and cases throughout the
metropolitan area. Captain Lawrence
brews up a large variety of beers,
conducts tours and has a tasting room
and beer garden with entertainment
and games. It also offers a limited food
menu along with regular concerts and
events.
The Peekskill Brewery (peekskillbrewery.com) creates unusual
beers with exotic hops. These include
Wake Up Call Pale Ale, brewed with
more than four pounds per barrel of
Ahtanum hops and Columbian Villa
drink and take home, wine by the
glass, beer and cider in bottles, home
brew supplies and live music.
Besides the many draft and craft
beers it offers, Sleepy Hollow’s
Bridge View Tavern (bridgeviewtavern.com) has a beer garden, TVs
showing numerous sports events and,
true to its name, views of the Tappan
Zee Bridge, old and new.
One of the best bargains around is
Continued on page 9
Page 9
LOCAL BUSINESS
Chase Away Your Brews and Cure What Ales You
the Bronx BBQ Pit (bronxbbqpit.
com), a gastropub at West 233rd
Street and Broadway in Kingsbridge.
This friendly place has an indoor beer
garden with communal tables, more
than 30 craft tap, canned and bottled
beers and 20 selections of bourbon. A
$5 happy hour Monday-Friday from 4
to 8 p.m. offers cheap drinks and good
pub food.
The Bronx Brewery
The Bronx Brewery (thebronxbrewery.com), at 856 E. 136th St.
in Port Morris, is located in one
of those sections that gentrifiers
are always touting as “the next big
up-and-coming area.” Translation:
Not a great neighborhood. The industrial street is virtually deserted on the
weekend and may be an adventurous
trip for some, but they do have a beer
garden with live music and a small
tasting room. They brew pale ales,
stouts, saisons and IPAs. Best for millennial urban pioneers.
The Bronx Beer Hall (thebronxbeerhall.com) isn’t much more than
a small bar inside the Arthur Avenue
Retail Market, but it’s a good oasis at
which to refresh from all the shopping
that neighborhood has to offer. They
have tap and bottled beer and growler
refills from breweries around the
region.
Manhattan’s Dyckman Beer
Co. (dyckmanbeerco.com) does not
have a venue where you can try its
products, but its beer is available
in numerous locations in the upper
Bronx and Manhattan. These include
the Bronx Ale House (bronxalehouse.
com) at 216 W. 238th St., which serves
a variety of local and New York state
beers. Dyckman’s is also available at
Growler’s Beer Bistro in Tuckahoe
(growlersbeerbistro.com), whose tap
beers come from all over the country.
Nearby in Tuckahoe, Broken Bow
Brewery (brokenbowbrewery.com)
has an unusual assortment of lagers,
ales and stouts, including Lucy’s Sour
Strawberry Wheat and a Hazelnut
Praline Coffee Stout. (Sounds like
something Starbucks would brew if
it turned to beer.) It has occasional
live music and food delivered by the
nearby Italian restaurant Polpettina.
The Craftsman Ale House in
Harrison (craftsmanalehouse.com)
regularly stages beer events including
nights devoted to a single brewer.
The Heartland Black + Gold Bar
and Eatery (heartlandbandg.com),
adjacent to the Port Chester train
station, is in a historic 1890 building
and features an extensive menu.
Fireplaces will keep its beer garden
going into cooler weather (if you can
ignore the Metro-North and Amtrak
trains roaring by).
The
Bohemian
Citizens’
Benevolent Society of Astoria, formed
in 1892, operates the 106-year-old
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden
Brad Nagy, left, and Angelo
Viscoso, right, owners of Frankie &
Fanucci’s
Frankie & Fanucci’s beer and wine
on tap, accessible via chip card
(bohemianhall.com) at 29-19 24th
Ave. in Astoria. Besides Czech and
Slovak tap and craft beers, it serves
ethnic barbecue and presents live
music in its large walled garden.
Farther afield, Clemson Bros.
Brewery in Middletown (clemsonbrewing.com) began as an industrial
mechanics company and metal smith
in 1890, eventually branching out into
beermaking. The brewery is located
in an old brick building at 22 Cottage
St., another of those areas that has
seen better days but is undergoing a
revival. There is an extensive menu
of pub food, a beer garden and an
outdoor concert series.
The New York State Brewers
Association has an online map of
breweries with extremely limited
information, but with a little ingenuity
you can use it to lead you to the brew.
http://beermap.thinknydrinkny.
com/nysbrewers.
Hudson Valley Craft Beer Week
(hvcbw.org) is designed to promote
the offerings of craft brewers in the
region. It is scheduled for Sept. 9-18.
This summer will soon be a
memory, and as Nat King Cole sang,
you’ll wish that summer could always
be here. But as you quaff that golden
brew, and look forward to Oktoberfest,
you can pretend for a minute that it
always will be.
Photos by Joseph P. Griffith.
Page 10
DAY TRIP
Asbury Park’s Fortunes Have Risen With the Tide
By Joseph P. Griffith
The seaside city
of Asbury Park, in
Monmouth
County,
N.J., was developed in
1871 as a residential resort by James
Bradley, a New York manufacturer.
A number of tourist attractions were
installed over the years, including a
boardwalk, an orchestra pavilion, a
pier and several hotels. Homes with
Victorian architecture sprang up
around town, and in 1973, a young
musician named Bruce Springsteen
called his first album “Greetings From
Asbury Park, N.J.,” adding to its fame.
Since then, the city’s fortunes
have gone up and down. Over the
years it experienced cycles of urban
blight and subsequent renewal. Today,
the city of a little more than 16,000
people is in its latest, fortunately latter
stage, as vibrant and popular as it has
ever been. There are buildings that
remain dilapidated, such as the Casino
and the hulking shell that once housed
the famed carousel, but the rest of the
boardwalk and the city have experienced a renaissance. The nearby
downtown bustles with restaurants,
shops and hipsters.
To walk on the boardwalk is
to experience something of the
Mermaid mural, Asbury Park
Boardwalk
quintessence of the “Jersey Shore”
lifestyle. The boardwalk is a bit
tawdry, as such places usually are,
which is what makes them fun. It is
equal parts Atlantic City (minus the
gambling casinos), family entertainment and party town. Some streets off
the boardwalk still look rundown and
vacant, but there are many new condominium developments and attractive
hotels. Even the buildings that have
seen better days have been spruced up
with murals created by local artists.
At one end of the boardwalk stand
the former Casino and carousel, which
now serves as a kind of art installation.
The Casino, which is something of an
aging eyesore by contrast with the
rest of the refurbished boardwalk, is a
gateway out of the city and into neighboring Ocean Grove.
At the other end, the Asbury Park
Convention Hall has been subdivided
into smaller commercial spaces, now
home to the Asbury Oyster Bar, the
Beach Bar, the Anchor’s Bend restaurant and the Paramount Theater.
One of the major draws, a block
off the boardwalk, is the Stone Pony
nightclub, where Springsteen and Bon
Jovi got their start. During the day,
when no concerts are taking place,
you can peek inside and see where
history was made, if that’s your idea
of history. In recent years an outdoor
Summer Stage has been erected next
to the club, a large and very loud
venue whose acts can be heard without
buying a ticket. The Wonder Bar is
instantly recognizable for its trademark logo, the “fun face” of Tillie.
The vintage Asbury Lanes bowling
alley has a bar with live performances.
On a quiet, sweltering day last
month, with the temperature approaching 100 degrees, police officers stood
by at several places or rode motorized
carts along the boardwalk, apparently
with nothing to do. It was the type of
day that was too hot for anyone to
become rowdy, the atmosphere about
as low-key and mellow as it gets.
Beachgoers lay on the sand, soaking
up the sun, rising only to cool off in
the water. Even the waves seemed too
hot to be bothered.
But on weekend nights or concert
days, the atmosphere is altogether different. Crowds stream up and down,
patrons file in and out of clubs and
restaurants and the night is filled
with anticipation. There are shops,
galleries, clothing stores, bars, restaurants and cafes, and more than
enough visitors to qualify as a prime
people-watching destination. Dare we
compare it to Venice Beach? North of
the Convention Hall, away from the
shops and bustle, the beaches are a
little quieter.
The restaurants along the boardwalk are heavily influenced by Latin
cuisine, particularly Cuban. There are
many small shops and stands serving
fast food, and one Korean stand was
doing bustling business.
Victorian home, Ocean Grove
Like most Jersey Shore beaches,
Asbury Park charges for access.
Beach badges cost $5 on weekdays
and $7 on weekends. Seasonal passes
are also available. Asbury Splash Park
on the boardwalk is a small water park
where admission is $9 for children, $5
for adults and $20 per family. There is
ample street parking for $1 to $2 an
hour, and lots charging $10 to $20.
The downtown area centered
around Cookman Avenue is home
to numerous restaurants, boutiques,
antiques shops and arcades. Among
the restaurants downtown is the
Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten at
527 Lake Ave. This cavernous space
and rooftop beer garden is about as
close to approximating the Munich
Oktoberfest as you are likely to find.
Among the special events scheduled for Asbury Park in the coming
weeks are:
• Erotic Film Festival, Aug. 5-7
• The Historical Society’s Art on the
Boardwalk, Aug. 21
• Mermaid Promenade, Aug. 27
• Oysterfest, Sept. 10-11
• Zombie Walk, Oct. 1
• Octoberfest, Oct. 7-11
• Columbus Day Re-enactment, Oct.
9
• Polar Bear Plunge, Dec. 27
Immediately south of Asbury
Park is the unincorporated community of Ocean Grove, located within
Neptune Township. Ocean Grove has
only about 3,300 residents, but a fine
collection of architecture and history.
Founded in 1869 as a religious camp,
it became known as “the Queen of
Religious Resorts” and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Its many Victorian homes are
reminiscent of the “painted ladies”
of Cape May, colorful dwellings
with American flags and bunting.
Residents take pride in displaying
Ocean Grove pier
Window of the former carousel
the dates they were built; many of
the homes are part of the original
founding. It is the kind of place where
people give their houses names, like
Seabiscuit and What the Heck House
(on Heck Avenue). Parts of the community are like a miniature version of
Newport, R.I., and the Main Avenue
commercial strip is like a hippie town
or Martha’s Vineyard.
Aside from the beach, the
most prominent feature of Ocean
Grove is the Great Auditorium, a
wooden building designed for religious camp meetings. Originally,
it could seat 10,000 people, though
its current capacity is 6,250. The
personalities who have appeared
there have included Billy Graham,
Norman Vincent Peale, Billy Sunday,
William Jennings Bryan, Booker
T. Washington, John Philip Sousa,
Enrico Caruso, Tony Bennett, Mel
Tormé, Kenny Rogers, Ray Charles,
Johnny Mathis and the Beach Boys.
Tents that function as summer bungalows adjoin the auditorium and are
highly colorful in themselves.
A day trip to these two communities is a good chance to grab what’s
left of summer.
ASBURY PARK and OCEAN
GROVE
cityofasburypark.com
oceangrovenj.com
visitnj.org
Photos by Joseph P. Griffith
Page 11
GOVERNMENT
TRAVEL
Cruising Along the Blue Danube on AmaWaterways
By Richard Levy
Although I have
traveled the world
throughout my life,
when I sat down to plan
my summer vacation I
suddenly realized that I have never taken
a River Cruise and resolved to address
this oversight. After carefully considering my options, I selected an Ama
Waterways cruise, an easy choice, since
the firm won 6 Travvy Awards in 2016.
However, deciding which of their many
interesting cruises to take was a real challenge! Given my Hungarian ancestry and
love for music, I settled on “Melodies
of the Danube.” This route starts in
Budapest, the birthplace of my mother,
where I could plan to arrive early to spend
a few days exploring my heritage.
An AmaWaterway’s River Boat
makes its way up the Danube.
Our 7-day itinerary stopped in
Bratislava, Slovokia, Vienna, the
Wachau Valley, Durnstein, Melk, and
Linz, in Austria; Passau and Vilshofen
in Germany; and included six UNESCO
World Heritage sites, ending in Vilshofen,
a two-hour bus ride from Munich. My
girlfriend and I thoroughly enjoyed our
excursions to the idyllic villages and
cities along the Danube. The food was
exquisite, like dining on a floating Guide
Michelin restaurant.
As we sank into our comfy bed each
night, it was hard to believe we were not
in a 5-Star luxury hotel or on a private
yacht. The boat offers massage services,
a hair salon, a fitness room and a heated
pool on deck, among other amenities. The
lounges double as performance space and
feature floor-to-ceiling windows so you
don’t miss out on the spectacular views.
With only 150 guests on board, we were
able to relax and get to know our fellow
passengers – a sophisticated, worldly and
engaging group.
AmaWaterways offers state-of-theart, sleekly designed riverboats, –the most
highly -rated ships in Europe. Their luxurious staterooms feature lovely balconies
where you can enjoy the passing scene
Lightning Protection!
ASSOCIATED
LIGHTNING
Rod Company, Inc.
www.alrci.com
The AmaWaterway’s River Boat, AmaSerena.
from the privacy of your room: gnarled
fortresses, ancient castles, Baroque
churches, Rococo palaces, vast vineyards, soaring mountains, rolling green
hills and picturesque medieval villages.
All from a perspective that only a River
Cruise can offer.
The inspiration for countless artists
and musicians throughout the centuries,
the Danube was immortalized by Johann
Strauss in the Blue Danube Waltz – the
dance that captivated Europe in 1867.
So mesmerizing was my seven-day
vacation. that I braved separation anxiety
and turned off my cell phone for the
duration of the trip.
Nick, our Cruise Director, orchestrated every day of our tour like a maestro,
while the crew and ancillary staff made
us feel like family in every possible way.
Local performers came aboard when
we docked, to entertain us at night. We
enjoyed a classical quartet, Austrian folk
dancers and Gypsy musicians. Our ship
even had a world-class pianist onboard
who performed daily, throughout our
stay.
AmaWaterways was founded in
2002 by river cruising pioneer Rudi
Scheier, travel professional Kristin Karst
and the late Brendan Tours entrepreneur, Jimmy Murphy who was also the
co-founder of the U. S. Tour Operators
Association. The cruise line won six
gold awards during the 2016 Travvy
Awards annual awards gala: Best River
Cruise Line • Best Cruise Ships, River
Cruise: AmaSerena, AmaBella • Best
River Cruise Line, Asia • Best River
Cruise Line, Europe. They are the only
river cruise ever to be inducted into the
Confrérie De La Chaîne Rôtisseurs, one
of the world’s most prestigious culinary
organizations.And if that was not enough,
they were recently inducted as a member
of La Connétablie de Guyenne – the third
oldest vinous brotherhood in Bordeaux.
Our award-winning Chef procured
regional, seasonal fresh vegetables, fish
and meat from local suppliers along the
Danube at every stop.
Each guest was invited to a Chef’s
tasting dinner on one evening, for a meal
that included three appetizers, two main
courses, and assorted desserts- all paired
with 3 astute wine selections. There were
many entrees to choose from at every
meal and one night, when I just couldn’t
decide, the wait staff graciously brought
me both! The menu also included glutenfree selections. Some of the regional
featured dishes were Bavarian Roast
Sucking Pig, Beef Stroganoff, Viennese
Weiner Schnitzel, Fisherman’s Pot of
Poached Fish and Herb-Encrusted Lamb
Medallions.
Day 1- 2: Budapest –We boarded
our lovely ship, the AmaSerena, in
Budapest harbor. After a welcoming
dinner, we took a “Budapest Illumination
Cruise to see the magnificent Parliament
building, castles, cathedrals, palaces, fortresses and bridges lighting up the night
as their reflections made the Danube
come alive. On deck, the “Blue Danube
Waltz” beautifully underscored this
amazing light show.
The next day we took a walking tour
of Budapest and I bought a few small
sacks of fresh paprika or “Hungarian
Gold,” in the Great Market Hall. (My
mom sprinkled it on everything she
cooked.) I took an enlightening half-day
walking tour of this beautiful, historic city.
Upon our return to the ship we
enjoyed a festive performance of
Hungarian Gypsy music and dancers.
That night, we silently cruised down the
shimmering Danube under a full moon.
If you listened carefully you could almost
hear “The Blue Danube Waltz” echoing
in the breeze as our long, sleek ship glided
past the shores of the Danube, the second
Continued on page 12
(518) 789-4603
(845) 373-8309
(860) 364-1498
Free Estimates
Free Inspections
Looking for a “Sunny Escape?”
How about
“The Islands Club”
Seven Mile Beach Grand Cayman
866.533.0934
theislandsclub.com.ky
Venite a Celebrare L’Anno Della Cultura Italiana Negli States!
Want to become bicultural and bilingual in Italian?
Need to Express your thoughts and ideas in Italian?
Fascinated with Italy, her Language and Culture?
Here’s your golden opportunity to learn Italian in the Bronx!
Interested?...Contact:
Cav. Maestro Signor Jackson, PhD.
718.597.7545
[email protected]
Page 12
tra v el
Cruising Along the Blue Danube on AMA Waterways
longest river in Europe. (The longest is
the Volga in Russia which has no song
and it’s not blue.)
Day 3: Bratislova –We took a
lovely walking tour of Bratislova, the
historic and beautiful capital of Slovokia.
Once back on board, we headed for
Vienna. After dinner, we went ashore to
a local old tavern for an authentic traditional Viennese wine and music evening.
Day 4: Vienna –We spent the
morning walking through Vienna, the
city of Classical music and incredible
architecture, accompanied by our guide.
In the afternoon, we explored on our own
and took a time-out at the famous Belle
Époque Sperl Kaffeehaus. American
Johannes Diodato opened Vienna’s first
kaffeehaus, in 1685, following the Turkish
siege of Vienna in 1683, when Turks had
to leave quickly, without their treasured
coffee beans. The Johannes Diodato Park
is dedicated to his memory. * After dinner,
we attended a private “Mozart & Strauss
Concert” at a small palace in Vienna. It
was beyond wonderful.
Day 5: Durnstein & Wacchau
Valley – Dürnstein is one of the most
famous attractions in the area, wandering
through the fairy tale Medieval village
of Dürnstein in Austria is like traveling back in time. The ancient Dürnstein
Castle Fortress, where Richard the LionHeart was imprisoned, towers over the
town. On his way home from the Third
Crusade, unlucky Richard was captured
just before Christmas, 1192, trying to
sneak through Austria in disguise. He
spent most of his captivity at Dürnstein,
until he was ransomed in February, 1194.
The Old Town is paved with cobble
stones and shaded by thousands of
apricot trees. We visited an apricot shop
and devoured a few apricots that had
been preserved n Apricot brandy. Yum!
Upon our return to the ship, we
relaxed on deck with a glass of Austrian
wine and took in the views as we glided
past one of the most famous landscapes
in Austria, the beautiful rolling green hills
and picturesque villages of the Wacchau
Valley wine country.
Day 6: Linz & Salzberg –On day
6, there was so much to do and see in
Linz and Salzberg that we had a choice
between three excursions. I decided to
spend the day in the Baroque city of
Salzberg, Mozart’s birthplace and the city
where THE SOUND OF MUSIC was
filmed. The other two options were also
compelling: a tour of the Austrian Lake
Districts or a tour of Cesky Krumlov.
Austria’s Lake District has 76 crystalclear mountain lakes nestled among
storybook villages. Cesky Krumlov is a
town that also dates back to the Middle
Ages, located just across the border in the
Czech Republic and now a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in
Salzberg. It is difficult to overstate the
charm of this city, filled with numerous
Baroque mansions, churches and fountains. We toured the home where Mozart
was born in 1656, visited Residenz Place,
where he performed some of his first
concerts as a child and took the funicular
up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, one
of the largest in Europe. However, I was
sorry to miss the alternate excursions and
look forward to exploring these areas
when I return.
Day 7: Passau & Vilhofen –Passau,
the Baroque “City of Three Rivers,”
and one of Germany’s most beautiful, is
located in lower Bavaria. The majestic
fortress of Veste Oberhaus sits high on
the mountain above, overlooking the
city. Fifty-two churches serve a population estimated at 50,000. St. Stephen’s
Cathedral is the most imposing and is
home to the world’s largest pipe organ.
Napoleon described Passau as “the most
Italian city north of the Alps.”
In the afternoon, we sailed to our last
destination, the charming German town
of Vishofen, also in Bavaria where, after
dinner, we enjoyed an authentic Bavarian
Folk and thankfully, there was no
shortage of the amazing Bavarian beer.
Throughout our tours, we found our
local guides to be engaging and spontaneous. Small, digital lightweight personal
audio headsets made it easy for all of us to
follow our guides as they spoke and our
shore excursions were free, which is not
the case with many other river cruises.
Recognizing that passengers have
varying levels of endurance, tours are
tailored for gentle walkers, brisker walks
and tougher hikes. For the more adventurous traveler, the ship carries 25 bikes
that guests may use, at no additional cost,
to explore on their own or as part of a
guided bike tour.
On May 4, 2016 AmaWaterways announced that its ships have taken the
top ten spots in the second annual edition
of the Berlitz: River Cruising In Europe
travel guide. “AmaWaterways has helped
to redefine European river cruising.
The company fully owns, operates and
markets its own river ships, all of which
are new-builds,” wrote Douglas Ward in
his review. “…AmaWaterways spends
considerably more on high-quality food
ingredients and wine and on hotel crew
service training than any other river
cruise company.”
Ama Waterways has also been recognized for excellence by numerous
other Travel publications, including:
TravelAge West’s WAVE -- Editor’s Pick
Award for “Best Overall Cruise Line
for River Cruising”. “Best Onboard
Dining,” “Best New Ship – AmaSerena,”
Conde Nast Traveler’s counts
AmaWaterways among the “Top 20
River Cruise Ships.”
Travel+Leisure includes AmaWaterways
among their “top five” rankings in their
annual “World’s Best Awards.”
Luxury Travel Advisor gives them their
Award of Excellence for “Best River
Cruise Company.”
Travel Weekly give AmaWaterways their
“Gold Magellan Award for its ships” and
“Overall River Cruising.”
After seven magical days, Vishofen
was our final destination. We took the bus
to Munich and caught a flight to Berlin
where we spent a few days sightseeing,
before heading home. And though were
sad for our spectacular vacation to end,
we are already looking forward to our
next AmaWaterways cruise.
*http://europeofdiasporas.eu/
points-of-interest/johannes-diodato
Photos courtesy of AmaWaterways
ARTS & CULTURE
The Arts at Mount Vernon Presents Encore Performance of Dreamgirls
August 5, 2016, 7 PM at the Mount Vernon High School
JULY 26, 2016 MOUNT
VERNON, NY — The Arts at
Mount Vernon will present an encore
performance of the stage musical
Dreamgirls on August 5 and 6 at 7:00
p.m. and August 7 at 3:00 p.m. in
Mount Vernon High School’s auditorium. The production was produced
and directed by Evelyn Collins, the
district’s Director of Arts & Gifted
and Talented Education, and features
30 students from Mount Vernon,
Thornton, and Mandela/Zollicoffer
High Schools as cast and stage crew.
“The spring performance was
so well received that we decided to
offer the public one more opportunity
to catch this outstanding show,” said
Director of Arts & Gifted and Talented
Education Evelyn Collins. “The
students worked very hard and I know
they will once again deliver for their
audiences.”
Tickets are available at the
box office one hour before performances. For more information, email
[email protected].
EYE ON THEATRE
Nearly Purrfect
By John Simon
If you love cats, as
millions of Americans
do, but probably even
if you don’t, you will
embrace the revival of the musical
“Cats,’ which in 1982 and beyond,
ran for 7,485 performances. A hit in
1981 London, its text is based on T.
S. Eliot’s collection of poems, “Old
Possum’s Book of Practical
Cats,” humorous verses theoretically aimed at children,
although a bit more apt for
adults.
To showbiz-musicalize the
Practical Cats was quite a challenge
to Andrew Lloyd Webber and his coproducer Cameron Mackintosh, but
judging from all those performances
and the mostly mixed but mainly
positive reviews, it was a case of the
cats getting more than our tongues: a
good deal of our hearts and something
too, for our minds.
There were two big problems for
the creators. One, how to translate
four-footedness into only half that
supply of feet, and two, how to make a
musical where there couldn’t be much
plot. But both problems were solved.
The second by endlessly polymorphous, irresistible choreography from
Gillian Lynne (now somewhat refurbished by Andy Blankenbuehler) and
a largely captivating score by Lloyd
Webber and, mostly, T. S. Eliot.
The Company of CATS on Broadway - Photo by Matthew Murphy
Page 13
EYE ON THEATRE
Nearly Purrfect
As for the problem of near-plotlessness—so, instead of a traditional
musical comedy, we get a musical
revue, a perfectly legitimate, respectable form of spectacle even if a
nowadays rather neglected genre. One
can compensate for a lack of story, as
here, where superior feet, arms, body
and voices are accorded accomplished
Georgina Pazcoguin as
Victoria in CATS on Broadway
Photo by Matthew Murphy
music and lyrics, able to go—or
dance—the distance on their own.
The acrobatic bounds and boundless élan of the choreography are
supported by the wonderfully encompassing set and costume design by
John Napier. The stage and auditorium evoke a stylized junkyard and a
suitable locus for moonlit feline bacchanalia; the cat cosumes with infinite
variety in tawny and brindled, black
and white fairytale-worthy cattiness.
The terrific Natasha Katz (how well
named!) has provided unsurpassable lighting that features all sorts
of unique, newly--minted wonders,
including one dancer’s chest where
brilliant, rainbow-colored mini-light
bulbs constantly change colors.
There are, further, Brad Peterson’s
kaleidoscopic projections and Mick
Potter’s surrounding sound design
adding support as we get (as I wrote
back in 1982) “from every part of the
theater, high and low, cats, cats, cats,
scampering, scurrying, scrabbling and
slithering across the stage, sometimes
even spilling into the auditorium,
as the whole world becomes an allencompassing catwalk. (How could
I forgo additional participles, such as
crawling and slinking?)
The Lloyd Webber music stretches
from the proto-operatic and quasisymphonic to the eminently catchy,
irresistibly hummable Broadwayish.
The consistently clever director,
Trevor Nunn, replicating his canny
staging, again charms us, having,
with Richard Stilgoe’s help, expanded
and reiterated or tweaked some of
Eliot’s lyrics into arrestingly danceable numbers. Nunn also conceived
the appealing lyric for “Memory,” the
hit number not based on Old Possum,
but chiefly on that lovely lyrical
Eliot poem “Rhapsody on a Windy
Night,” sung by Grizzabella, the aging
Glamour Cat, recalling her irretrievable former happiness.
That is the one shaky point of
the current revival. This is etiolated
Grizzabella’s melancholy farewell
song as she heads up toward the
Heavyside Layer, i.e. Heaven,
accompanied by the oft-reborn Old
Deuteronomy. It brought tears to
our eyes as sung by Elaine Page
(London and TV) and Betty Buckley
(Broadway), but with the incumbent,
Leona Lewis, not so much. She is a
British Pop Star who can sing plenty
loud, but fails at both modulating
and acting. Nor is she helped by the
current staging, which, dispensing
with a suitable stairway, flubs her
ascension with a bit of flying.
In other ways, though, especially
the dancing, the production is the cat’s
meow. I can’t begin to name the other
29 cast members, mostly little-known
but hugely talented. Check it all out
for yourselves.
Small Mouth Sounds
The problem with a play about an
Esalen-style retreat is that it is hard to
tell whether it is meant as reportage
or satire. Are we to laugh at the weird
and ridiculous, or empathize with the
troubled and touching?
That is the difficulty with Bess
Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds,” in
what was well-received last season
as a limited-run Ars Nova production, but is now back open-ended at
the Pershing Square Signature Center.
The cast—half old, half new—is again
adroitly directed by Rachel Chavkin,
and well acted by its six members.
At one end, raised, are six lined-up
chairs, often occupied by the patients;
the rest is a long, empty rectangle
with a couple of rows for audience at
its sides. At the other end, also raised
but only heard, is the invisible, highly
peculiar guru-styled Teacher. He
partly instructs, partly voices his own
problems for the supposedly silent
six, though they do get to make some
small mouth sounds.
They are diverse specimens. The
oldest patient is the amiable, confused
whole 100-minute piece is
mostly pantomime, especially when sleeping mats
have to be uncomfortably
shared. This allows the cast
some seemingly improvised
gesturing, and leaves the
audience challenged to draw
conclusions.
Some of this is undeniably amusing, but leaves
Brad Heberlee, Zoë Winters, Max Baker, Babak the spectators befogged.
The characters fluctuate
Tafti, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, and Marcia
DeBonis in a scene from Bess Wohl’s “Small between the stymied and the
Mouth Sounds” directed by Rachel Chavkin at hysterical, as those mats are
the Pershing Square Signature Center (photo by steadily shared or contested
by one or another patient.
Ben Arons).
But what are we to make
Jan. The youngest, the most yoga-ish
of
the
text’s
“Everyone
in the play is in
and sometimes naked Rodney, will
some
kind
of
agony.
In
this way, they
have a fling with the sexy Alicia, who
are
not
unlike
the
rest
of
us.” Or of:
is largely on the cell phone with her
“Joan
turns
and
leaves,
Judy
sits on
faithless lover. Poor Ned, in a skullcap,
her
mat.
Numb.
Stunned.
Alone.
She
underwent multiple head fractures in a
opens
her
mouth
and
makes
a
small
mountaineering accident, only to learn
that while he was hospitalized, his wife sound, just testing the wall.
Another one. Another. It sounds
was sleeping with his brother. Middlesort
of like ‘Ahhh. Ahhh. Ahhh.’ She
aged lovers, Judy and Joan, have
stays
there, continuing to make sounds
problems with their relationship, partly
as the time passes and day becomes
because Judy has developed cancer.
As the director states in the night.”
And what about the unseen
program, the cast must “create full,
Teacher,
who sounds as if he was
well-rounded characters via mute
“sipping
tea”?
Do we know whether
gestures, muzzled interplay, basic
it
isn’t
coffee,
and
what, in any case,
body language, and the occasional
does
it
matter?
And
what about
whispered word.” Above the audi“All
nudity
must
be
in
the spirit of
ence’s heads, windows register the
respect”?
This
said,
the
actors
are all
changeable weather, for no apparent
good:
Max
Baker,
Babak
Tafti,
Brad
reason.
Heberlee,
Marcia
DeBonis,
Quincy
There are shared traits, such as not
knowing whether to keep footwear Tyler Bernstine, Jojo Gonzalez and
on or off, as well as quirky ones such Zoe Winters. In the end, their week is
as reaching in one’s bag for a book over and all leave, So might we have,
of questionable guidance. But the without major loss, much earlier.
regional theatre
Review by Mary Keon: Million Dollar Quartet
On Tuesday, December 4, 1956,
Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl
Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis turned up
at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN for an
impromptu jam session. The recording,
produced by Sam Phillips, was dubbed
the Million Dollar Quartet, by reporter
Bob Johnson, writing the next day for
the Memphis Press Scimitar.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET,
now on stage at the Westchester
Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, recreates that day, based upon the official Sun
Records story. The book for the show
was written by Collin Escott and Floyd
Mutrux; with original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux,
“Rockabilly”
transformed
American music and all four musicians
soon became nationally famous. “By
December, 1956, Presley had topped the
music charts five times and the album
charts twice, over the preceding 12
months. His Sept. 9, 1956 appearance
on the Ed Sullivan Show reportedly
pulled 83% of the national audience that
night – an estimated 55 million viewers,”
according to the show’s production
notes. Presely had already moved on
to RCA records and though he was a
phenomenal success, was not happy
there. Accompanied by then girlfriend,
Marilyn Evans, he stopped by Sun
Studios to talk to Phillips.
In his autobiography, Cash asserted
that he was the first to arrive that day, as he
had something he needed to discuss with
Phillips. A recording session was already
Sky Seals (Johnny Cash), Dominique Scott (Jerry Lee Lewis), Ari McKay
Wilford (Elvis Presley) and John Michael Presney (Carl Perkins) in the
Westchester Breadway Theatre production of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET.
Photo by John Vecchiolla.
Page 14
regional theatre
Review by Mary Keon: Million Dollar Quartet
in progress for Carl,Jay and Clayton
Perkins, accompanied by drummer W.S.
Holland and pianist Jerry Lee Lewis,
who were re-working Matchbox. At
the urging of the cagey Phillips, Cash
and Presley jumped in to the recording
session while Phillips shrewdly left the
tapes running, “for posterity.”
If you love Rock and Roll and the
musicians who started it all, you must
see this show. John Michael Presney
plays Carl Perkins, who wrote Blue
Suede Shoes, famously also recorded by
Presley, among others. Presney delivers
Matchbox and Who Do You Love well,
but blows the roof off with See You
Later, Alligator. Sam Weber is cast as
Carl’s brother Jay, who plays the bass
like an electric guitar –and delivers an
amazing performance.
I have always felt that Johnny
Cash embodied the soul of traditional
American music. Sky Seals evokes
Johnny Cash effortlessly, with jet black
hair, high cheekbones and a voice that
is very close to Johnny’s. The show
includes Folsom Prison Blues, Sixteen
Tons, I Walk the Line and Riders in the
Sky. He is wonderful performer and you
will want to hear him singing all of your
favorite Johnny Cash hits.
Ari McKay Wilford is Elvis Presley
with the swivel hips and slicked back
The Cast of MILLION DOLLAR
QUARTET: Sam Weber as Brother
Jay Perkins and Bligh Voth as
Dyanne
pompadour singing: Memories are
Made of This, That’s All Right, Long
Tall Sally, and Hound Dog. Wilford’s
voice is very close in pitch to Presley’s
and he is persuasive as this iconic figure,
knocking it out of the park with “You
Ain’t Nothin But A Hound Dog.”
The irrepressible Jerry Lee Lewis is
perhaps the most challenging musician
to emulate and Dominique Scott
delivers a tour-de-force performance,
singing, dancing and playing the piano
with reckless aplomb throughout the
show. The show features early hits Real
Wild Child and Great Balls of Fire.
These actors-musicians have a
phenomenal skill set and work together
well as an ensemble singing: Blue Suede
Shoes, Down By the Riverside, and a
Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On.
Bligh Voth is engaging as Presley’s
girlfriend, the fictitious, Dyanne, who
sings Fever, joining the quartet to sing
Peace in the Valley and Party.
Jason Loughlin is excellent as
Sam Phillips who also narrates the
show. Phillips lauched Sun records in
1952 and produced 226 singles over
16 years in addition to 71 singles on
the sister label, Phillips International.*
He will be forever remembered as an
amazing talent spotter and the man
who made Rock and Roll a world-wide
phenomenon.
Technical Director Steve Loftus
recreates Sun Studios effectively and
director Hunter Foster does a good job
staging the show for this very alented
cast.
Onstage now through September
11: this is a Smoking Hot ticket! Don’t
miss it!
RockHall.com*
Music in the Park: Manhattan & Westchester’s Summer Venues
By Scott Silberberg
We all feel it:
it’s that summer heat
coming down on us
once again. What better
way to beat the heat than with some
ice cold tunes?
New York’s Summerstage is
a great outdoor music festival that
features a host of free and ticketed
performances across multiple venues
throughout the city. An easy and inexpensive way to listen to big-name
bands as well as up-and-coming
artists, Summerstage incorporates
various genres of music for anyone
and everyone to enjoy.
In Westchester, too, there are
plenty of music venues and seasonal
festivals going on throughout the
county. Many of the cities and towns
in Westchester put on weekly shows in
public parks and waterfronts that are
open for all ages to enjoy.
Below is a list of concerts and performances that are happening in New
York and Westchester. The best part of
all? It’s all free!
Mbongwana Star, Batida,
Young Paris – Rumsey Playfield,
Central Park. 8/14, Doors open at 5 p.
m. The show runs from 6 -10 p.m. –
Mbongwana Star hails from Kinshasa,
the capital of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Mbongwana Star is
an electronic funk band, but their
sound also incorporates traditional
Congolese rhythms played on
recycled instruments that are miked
and distorted in clever ways. Angolan/
Portuguese DJ Pedro Coquenão, aka
Batida, remixes classic 1970s Angolan
tracks with contemporary electronic
dance music to generate a sound that
is uniquely modern and energetic. A
native of NYC, Young Paris bridges
Congolese rhythms and drumbeats
with electronic dance music, all of it
being driven by his dense rap vocals
mostly sung in English.
Jungle Brothers – Clove Lakes
Park, Staten Island. 8/4, from 7– 9
p.m. A pioneering hip hop group from
New York, the Jungle Brothers were
one of the first groups to fuse jazz with
hip hop (and later with house music)
through their unique production
techniques and careful sampling of
materials. Dropping their first album
in the late 1980s, the Jungle Brothers
showcased their Afrocentric and, in
contrast to other more gangsta rap
groups, open-minded lyricism to the
world. Because the Jungle Brothers
are a mixture of jazz-inspired beats
and abstract yet calming lyrics, they
are a core member of the Native
Tongues – a collective that represents
like-minded hip hop artists whose
Afrocentricism and distinct sampling
techniques distinguish them from
other groups of their time. This is a
show not to miss!
The New York Jazz Exchange
- Waterfront Park, Dobbs Ferry. 8/10,
The JT Project ; photo courtesy of
Yonkers BID
from 6:30 – 8 p.m. The 17th Annual
Dobbs Ferry Summer Music Series
presents the New York Jazz Exchange
on August 10th. Musicians Sean
Nowell (tenor sax), Fredrik Olsson
(guitar), Leo Lindberg (piano), Lars
Ekman (bass) and Joe Abba (drums)
play in the styles of hard bop, ballads
and modern jazz. A collection of
American and Swedish players, the
New York Jazz Exchange offers audiences modern covers of jazz standards
as well as the group’s original work.
Rejoice! – Hudson Park
Bandshell, New Rochelle. 8/5, 7:30 –
9:30pm. The New Rochelle Council
on the Arts (NRCA) presents its Friday
Night Live performing act Rejoice! as
part of its ongoing Summer Concert
Series @Hudson Park. Rejoice!
is a night full of gospel music and
dance performed by the Kay Boyd
Ensemble, the Voices of Praise and
the Praise Dancers. The performance
offers strong, powerful choir vocals
and gospel dance that will make you
want to jump out of your seat and join
the fun.
Gaida – Hudson River Museum
Amphitheatre, Yonkers. 8/5, 8-9:30
p.m. Syrian singer Gaida is a hidden
gem in the New York music scene.
Her delicate yet powerful vocals –
oftentimes accompanied by piano,
bass, trumpet and percussion – soothe
and captivate audiences. Yonkers
warmly welcomes Gaida to the stage
for an unforgettable night of Syrian
folk music as well as Western tunes
covered in Arabic.
Audrey Silver Quintet – Pierson
Park, Tarrytown. 8/12, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Widely praised as one of New York’s
most refreshing and creative singers,
Audrey Silver brings to Tarrytown her
quintet of skilled musicians as well as
her love of jazz in an amazing waterfront venue. With years of study in
jazz piano and an insatiable passion
for singing ever since she was a child,
Audrey Silver has a large repertoire
consisting of original versions of jazz
standards and classic French songs.
La Vie En Rose will take the
stage, on August 5th performing French
chanson and hits from the golden age
of swing at the Friday Night Jazz,
Blues & More on the Waterfront Series
– Yonkers Waterfront Amphitheatre.
As the name suggests, the City of
Yonkers in partnership with Domino
La Vie en Rose; photo courtesy of
Yonkers BID
Sugar and the Yonkers Downtown
Business Improvement District, Inc.
is putting on a three-month long free
concert series in one of the nicest
venues in the city. Rain or shine, bands
and performing artists will play every
Friday night, 6:30 – 8 p.m. In homage
of the late great (and Yonkers native)
Ella Fitzgerald, Jazzmeia Horn will
Jazzmeia Horn; photo courtesy of
Yonkers BID
perform numbers from Fitzgerald’s
songbook on August 12th.Finalist on
NBC’s The Voice, Nicholas David
and the Soul Synergy Orchestra will
perform soul, RnB and funk tunes
on August 19th.Lastly, on August
26th, The JT Project will perform
modern jazz fusion and soul original
compositions.
Page 15
A rts
No Boundaries at US+U in Yonkers
By Biagio Civale
In Cleveland, Ohio,
2,472 Republican delegates chanted “USA,”
indifferent to the heat of
July, while in Yonkers, NewYork, 247
visitors crowded the opening of the
Summer Show at US+U, the Urban
Studio+ Unbound Contemporary Art
Gallery.
Yonkers is now home to five art
galleries: the Hudson River Museum,
Blue Door, Riverfront Public Library,
YOHO Open Studios and most
recently, US +U, which opened in
October, 2015. They are complemented by three local framing shops.
US+U is incorporated as a
non-profit and was launched with
the assistance of a Community
Development Block Grant, which partially funded the gallery. It is member
supported and artist run, with a structure similar to that of a co-op. Why is
US+U important? Because it is positioned in one of the hottest and fastest
growing art scenes in the tri-state area
Current President, Richard Pitts
is a New Jersey born contemporary
sculptor, printmaker and painter who
has exhibited since 1974 in several
states: Connecticut, Louisiana, Ohio,
New York, North Carolina and
Virginia as well as in Washington D. C.
and internationally. Roddy Wildeman,
also born in New Jersey, is a multimedia artist and the current Director of
US+U. He also owns Torche’ Galerie
in Belmar and is widely known for
“Composite Memory Artwork.”
Wildeman re-purposes and re-cycles
salvaged wood and other debris to the
utmost for his creations.
Melissa Starke, the current
curator and co-director, works at FIT
as a Department Coordinator and a
pre-college instructor. She has exhibited her paintings and sculptures at
various Manhattan venues. Starke
has also facilitated public art installations and exhibitions during Art Basel
Miami over the past ten years. To me
she will always be the curator who
put together the best, absolutely best,
contemporary art show in Yonkers for
the inaugural Yonkers Arts Weekend
Exhibition and it is etched in my
memory.
The high caliber of artists whose
work is presented at US +U leads to
exhibitions that are on par with the
quality of shows you would see in
Chelsea, today. The gallery is positioned to be an important part of the
development of the community as
Yonkers continues to move forward
with revitalization. The Summer
Show offers a selection of seventy
gallery signage has three planes, the
letters, the foreground and the background. Of note, is the word “gallery”
that sticks out, projecting its shadow
on the background. Wlodarcyk’s
artwork in the gallery is a mixed
media canvas, partially covered by a
thin wood screen placed in front of it.
Another artist on exhibit is
Szprengiel who provides a unique
Lee Romero, In the Gardens, Acrylic
George Gutierrez, Guitar and Flag series, Mixed Media on Canvas
artworks by thirty-eight artists, from
NY, NJ, CT and even New Zealand.
US+U is a clear example of the
Art of Our Time; Picasso opened the
door for many developments in the
plastic arts, such as assemblage and
“found” art. Robert Rauschenberg
was one of the first to drift away from
pure Abstract Expressionism. He
combined pure, fluid brushwork in
pigments with foreign materials like
old mattresses, wireless sets, photographic images and stuffed animals
attached to the canvas.
At this point, and philosophically Shakespeare would ask: “with
this rage shall beauty hold a plea?”
I believe that in this group of artists
there is a secretly febrile enchantment
allowing an individualist subjectivity
and providing a piecemeal introspection of the infinite possibilities. It is a
visual life, after all, that attracts us to
visit Art Galleries. The diverse array
of voices, while empirical and intuitive, gives us a palpable sense of what
was distilled by the artists.
The new attraction is the brand
new gallery signage, designed by
Marcin Wlodarczyk as a 3-layer
aluminum relief, executed with the
help of sculptor David Boyajian. The
perspective on beauty, deriving from
the decaying architecture and life of
Communist Eastern Europe. His five
small pieces are basically etched on
burned wood.
Alexandra Momin combines
various mediums: painting, film and
photography, to create suggestive
images of environments that point
to a new reality. She offers a photo
composite using Ultra-Violet ink on
aluminum.
George Gutierrez, whose studio
is located at YOHO, in the Carpet
Mills Arts District, paints canvases
interspersed with newspaper articles
and sheets of music: quite a metamorphosis from a Pulitzer price-winning
photo journalist.
Omer Abramson uses a mixture
of mediums, incorporating acrylics,
watercolors, pencils and photography.
David Boyajian, the sculptor/
welder who helped to execute the new
gallery signage, has done a great job
really, in my estimation. His Torso
with Seeds in the center of the gallery
suggest a guitar with fruits emerging
or even the feminine torso shape
inviting one to play.
Beverly Karnell from Abington,
PA, is also a fashion stylist: a couture
clothing designer who, as an artist
painter develops an opportunity for
the viewer to have a dialogue with a
piece. When we met, I discovered that
we have both studied and worked at
Il Bisonte and also at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Florence. We are both
represented by Saatchi Art. Patricia
Myers carries a message of peace and
beauty in her works.
Regina Ruff makes use of various
antics: illusion, hard edge shapes,
and she also reveals the process by
defacing the painting. In other words,
the viewer is never fully allowed to
relax into contemplation.
Britta Siddell from Auckland,
New Zealand, provides a conscious
focus on formal elements. Her traditional craftsmanship techniquesare to
be respected and appreciated.
Personal narrative subjects can
be contemporary–even today. Donald
Silverman, with a studio at YOHO,
had career in TV before becoming
a painter. His work offers a great
mixture of fiction art, poetry and
memoir–like an on line magazine.
Night hipsters and Hospice
Care Diner depict a cross-section
of America. Again, this is also contemporary. Chris St. Lawrence is a
creative thinker and a constant innovator. He has a unique perspective
with a desire to manipulate the environment via time and space, as well as
technique. His photographic styles are
in a constant flux due to his frequent
experimentations.
Arle’ Sklar Weinstein is a fiber
artist from Hastings-on-Hudson. In
this show, her work is undecided
whether to climb to the ceiling or
come down to earth.
Kate Winn from Maine offers
landscapes that are as detailed as
Alexandra Momin, Invisible City,
Photo Composite/UV Ink on
Aluminum
portraits.
A new photographic work to note
here is by Paco Vazquez with the live
color of weeds against a golden sky
before night fall.
Lee Romero, now a full time
painter working in his YOHO studio,
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for
Breaking News as a staff member oft
the New York Times for the series on
“Race in America.” Romero’s studio
is certainly one of the most interesting
artist’s studio to visit in the Yonkers
area. His work, rich in color, is as
varied as the history of art and certainly can be enjoyed and appreciated
even by those not-educated in fine
arts.
Michael Cuomo, also with a studio
at YOHO, is an interdisciplinary artist
who concentrates on assemblage. He
uses found objects to create sculpture
assemblages. Cuomo’s work may
remind us of Adolf Wolfli’s art, but
in essence is Outsider Art; –Brut Art
presenting a raw vision that is Naive,
Intuitive and certainly Visionary.
US+U asks the participating artists
to sit one day a month in the gallery
during the exhibition time, allowing
for a unique experience when visiting,
to have opportunity to meet the artist
and dialogue with him/her.
So, like Radio City also US+U
has a Summer Show and it is scheduled to remain open until September
10, 2016.
US+U is contemporary and
modern, which means that it is in
sync with the current pulse and pace
of Art; though definitely operating
outside traditional boundaries. Now I
am repeating myself; I thought I said
already “no boundaries at Urban
Studio + Unbound”.
Photos by Biagio Civale
Page 16
LOCAL LORE
Brickmaking V: The Annals of Hudson River Brickmaking: Burning the Kiln
By Robert Scott
Although the basic
methods of American
brick kiln building had
been brought from the
Old World, firing techniques were
uniquely American. Thanks to the abundance of wood, American kilns could
burn larger amounts of fuel, resulting in
shorter firing times.
In Holland, bricks were burned
with slow-burning peat, and firing lasted
three or four weeks--sometimes as long
as six weeks. Around London, where
bricks with were burned with “breeze”
(a mixture of unburned coal and ashes)
and brush, firing also lasted from three
to six weeks.
By comparison, Philadelphia brickmakers burned their bricks in a scant
six days using from 50 to 60 cords of
wood to yield only 140,000 bricks. The
Hudson Valley’s strong clays were not
easy to burn, and burning times were
longer than in Philadelphia but less
than in Holland or England. Although
the actual firing time here is uncertain,
early in the 19th century it was probably
around two weeks.
Burning a kiln of bricks was an
around-the-clock operation. When
firing began, small fires were started
at the mouth of each arch. These were
increased gradually, but were not raised
to a higher level until all the water had
been driven from the green bricks.
For the first three days of burning,
a steamy white smoke, called “water
smoke,” came from the top of the kiln.
After about three days, the color of the
smoke would change from white to
black, and the platting at the top of the
kiln would become hot. When small
tongues of flame could be seen at the top
of the kiln at night, the bricks making
up the platting were turned face down,
the roof boards were removed, and
the intensity of the fire was gradually
increased.
Now all the skill of the kiln burner
came into play. If the fires were too hot,
the bricks in the arch would become
fused and the entire arch could be in
danger of collapsing. The kiln burner
judged the intensity of heat by the color
of the bricks in the arch. Kiln temperature was maintained somewhere above
red-hot but below white-hot. The goal
was to keep the arch bricks just below
their melting point. For Hudson Valley
clays, this was about 1800 degrees
Fahrenheit.
The kiln burner also had to achieve
a uniform distribution of heat, judging
his success by studying the top of the
kiln. Once the top platting bricks began
to glow, cooler areas of the kiln could be
identified because they emitted a darker
shade of red or no color at all. For these,
the temperature could be raised. If an
area of the kiln became too hot, the fire
was damped by restricting the air supply
to the appropriate arch.
When the temperature of the bricks
came close to the point of fusion, they
began to shrink, causing the kiln to
settle. With kilns of bricks made from
Hudson Valley clays, settlement was
usually about nine inches. As reference
points, the kiln burner would have suspended several previously burned bricks
from the kiln shed by wires.
After the desired amount of settling
was reached, burning was complete.
The arches were then closed, causing
the fires to go out. The kiln was allowed
to cool down slowly for about a week.
Once the bricks were removed, virtually
no trace of the kiln remained.
Scove kilns were far from perfect.
Their major problem was their failure to
distribute heat evenly through the mass
of bricks. For Hudson Valley clays, the
critical range of temperature was rather
narrow. Moreover, the kiln’s large size
made it difficult to heat all parts uniformly to the proper temperature. As a
result, a scove kiln tended to produce
a larger proportion of improperly fired
bricks.
Scove kilns produced three grades
of bricks. Like Goldilocks’ porridge,
some were heated too much; some
were heated too little, but most were
heated properly. In general, bricks in
and around the arch were overburned.
Twisted, crushed and blackened, they
were called “eye brick” or “arch brick”
and can be seen at low tide at many
former brickmaking locations along
the river. In contrast, bricks occupying
the upper layers and sides of the kilns
tended to be underburned. Much softer
than properly burned bricks, they failed
to develop the characteristic red color
and were called “pale brick” or “salmon
brick.” So-called “pales” could still be
used in building, but not where they
would be subjected to heavy loads or to
water, which could erode them.
Bricks in the center of the kiln
usually were properly burned. These
gave a ringing sound when knocked
together, and were called “hards” in
the trade. Because hard bricks brought
the highest price, brick burners tried to
increase their numbers in each kiln.
The percentage of pale and eye
bricks produced by the brick burners
of the early 19th century is difficult
to estimate. Professor Heinrich Ries
of Cornell University cited losses
between 10 and 15 percent at the close
of that century. Brickyard workers were
allowed to help themselves to unsalable
bricks. Certain homes in Croton and
other communities are said to have been
built from such bricks.
The hard bricks were left under
the kiln sheds until they were shipped
to the New York market. During the
early decades of the 19th century,
this was done by the famous Hudson
River sloops. The 1820 Census of
Manufactures reveals that ten sloops of
ninety tons each were required by the
upper Hudson River village of Athens
to transport its bricks to New York. If
each brick weighed about five pounds,
then each sloop could transport around
36,000 bricks per voyage.
In the early 19th-century, brickmaking in the Hudson Valley was still a
craft process, but signs of change were
already becoming obvious. The highly
concentrated New York City market
was beginning to grow. Between 1790
and 1800 the city’s population nearly
doubled. It more than tripled between
1800 and 1830. Disastrous fires in 1835
and 1845 wiped out much of the city,
leading to a call for brick construction.
The combination of a ready market
linked by cheap transportation to apparently unlimited supplies of wood, clay
and sand encouraged the rapid evolution of the Hudson Valley brick industry.
Soon brickmaking would become
highly mechanized to meet the voracious appetite of the city for bricks. The
larger yards would eventually employ
hundreds of workers and produce
millions of bricks each year.
Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of
Commerce. Enjoy a summer’s day
at the festival and the bounties and
benefits of our region: Music-ArtsFood-Craft Beer-Wine and more.
Peekskill is known for its emerging
restaurant scene, and many of the
local restaurants will be on hand with
food offerings representative of their
cuisine. Stroll the Arts and Artisan
Market for arts and crafts made in the
Hudson Valley. Visit the Community
Tent to find community groups and
organizations who work daily to make
the region a better place to live.
Head over on Saturday and
Sunday, August 6 & 7 to Muscoot
Farm in Somers to see artworks by
artist Hillary Hostetler on view in the
Main House Gallery.
We all know how I like to relax
whenever possible…so there’s a
good chance I will be going over to
the Somers Library on September
7th joining Reiki Practitioner
Andrea Deierlein for a conversation about the relaxing power
of Reiki, which helps restore the
body, clear the mind, and refresh
the spirit. Reiki is a natural
healing practice that originated
in Japan. People use Reiki for
relaxation, stress reduction,
and symptom relief to improve
overall health and well-being,
for example when coping with
anxiety, chronic pain, recovery
from surgery and other health
conditions, for more information
call 914-232-5717.
The next Hasting-on-Hudson Flea
Market is set for Sunday, August 14th
from 10am to 4pm. The market brings
CALENDAR
News & Notes From Northern Westchester
By Mark Jeffers
My sense of direction is really not a
sense at all, I always
choose the wrong lane
in a traffic jam and as
NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that an order entered by
the Honorable Sam D. Walker, J. S. C., Supreme
Court of New York State, Westchester County, on
the 13th day of July, 2016, bearing Index No. 218316, a copy of which may be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 110 Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Blvd., White Plains, NY, 10601, grants
me the right to assume the name DAMATO. My
present address is 111 Hoover Road, Yonkers, NY
10710; the date of my birth is May 31, 1969. My
present name is TRAUB. Upon full compliance
with the provisions of this order, petitioner shall
be known by the name KIM M. DAMATO which
he/she is authorized to assume and by no other
name.
my family often points out, I get lost
backing out of our driveway. So, if &
when I find my way home I will finish
up this week’s “Wrong Way” edition
of “News & Notes.”
You’re never too young to experience the joy of helping others.
Summer is the perfect time for high
schoolers and college students to
give back to the community by volunteering at the Community Center
of Northern Westchester in Katonah.
If you or someone you know is interested, contact Executive Director
Clare Murray at 914-232-6572.
I am not sure why my wife pointed
this event out to me, but our friends at
Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown
Heights are offering a program I think
she wants me to look into. For those
folks who might have trouble focusing
or concentrating or have general brain
fog Hilltop Hanover wants you to
join in the discussion on August 13th
from 10:00am to 12:00pm on foods
and herbs that will help enhance
your brain power. The cost is $10.00
which includes the lecture and materials for an herbal remedy to help with
focus. Of course, always check with
your physician first, to be sure herbal
remedies will not interact with any
medications you are taking.
The Hudson Valley Exposition
is back this summer at Peekskill’s
Riverfront Green Park, with a full
day festival on Saturday, August 6th
from 1 to 10pm presented by the
Page 17
has been awarded nearly $2.6 million
in federal grant money to provide
scholarships for economically disadvantaged students pursuing careers in
nursing or other healthcare fields over
the next four years.
With all the heat & humidity, I
just have two words to leave you with,
“Central Air,” see you soon…
CALENDAR
News & Notes From Northern Westchester
together local vendors, live entertainment, food and community.
Westchester County is once again
teaming up with The Sharing Shelf,
a program of Family Services of
Westchester (FSW), to collect and distribute school supplies so that children
in need can start the school year ready
to learn. This year people can donate
online at www.fsw.org/backpacks.
The Field Library in Peekskill
invites families to “Juggling Funny
Stories,” on Thursday August 11th, a
free performance starring humorist
Chris Fascione. Nationally-known,
award-winning performer Chris
Fascione acts out the best of children’s literature and folk tales in a
high-spirited and innovative performance. Full of energy, humor and
imagination, Chris creates colorful
characters through his unique combination of acting, storytelling, comedy
and juggling. Chris will offer a
workshop before the show (workshop
is at 4:30 pm) for kids in second grade
and up. Children must sign up beforehand to participate in the workshop.
On Saturday, August 6th the
Marshlands Conservancy in Rye
will hold a “Volunteer Work Project,
bring work gloves to control and learn
about problematic plants, hand tools
provided.
The College of New Rochelle
THE ROMA BUILDING
COMMERICAL SPACE FOR RENT
INTERNATIONAL FILM
Tuk Tuk: Get Ready For Rush Hour With the Kid Drivers of Cairo
By Sherif Awad
Aw a r d - w i n n i n g
documentary films don’t
get enough exposure on
our satellite channels or
in our local cinemas. Though these
films are educational and informative,
movie theater operators throughout
the world are focused on movies
that offer entertainment and generate
ticket sales. Egypt is no exception.
Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, cinemas
in Downtown Cairo and Alexandria
used to routinely show a short documentary, produced by the Egyptian
State Information Office, before the
main feature, a custom that faded
away when multiplexes replaced
smaller independent theaters. As a
result, filmmakers, who spend months
and years shooting their documentaries and then promoting them around
the world, can only present their work
to the small segment of the moviegoing audience that participates in the
film festival circuit.
One of these filmmakers is
Egyptian director Romany Saad,
whose new 75-minute documentary,
Tuk-Tuk, was screened at the official
competitions of four leading film
festivals in 2015: Hot Docs, Warsaw,
Montpellier and EBS Korea.
Tuk-Tuk depicts the daily lives of
three children who became Tuk-Tuk
drivers across the busy streets of Cairo.
The drivers are underage kids who,
having lost their childhood innocence:
speak like adults, smoke cigarettes and
speed across the streets dodging taxis,
buses and police officers, without a
driver’s license. These children risk
their lives and the lives of others, all
for a few pounds to support siblings
and parents who cannot work due to
illness or laziness.
A graduate of the Faculty of
Applied Arts in 1998, Romany Saad
worked in advertising for ten years
before enrolling in film direction
studies at the French University in
Egypt. Saad completed his graduation
project two years later. Titled, Gowa
Abdallah Twelve Year Old driver of
Tuk Tuk
Sharon, Abdallah’s brother
Romany Saad
al-Bahr (In the Sea), his debut was
a short narrative film about a young
woman called Reda, who looks after
her elder sister, the mentally challenged Ne’na’a. The film was selected
for screening in the 2010 Cairo,
Alexandria and Jordan film festivals:
an auspicious beginning for Saad’s
filmmaking career.
The January 2011 revolution
inspired Saad’s the second documentary: Bard Yanayer (Cold January).
The film co-starred a pre-fame
Mohamed Ramadan with actress
Emy. The story was about a poor,
uneducated mother (Emy), who
was trying to raise some money by
selling Egyptian flags in Tahrir Square
during the revolution, to buy a door
for her unfurnished room and protect
her children from the cold January
winter. The project was awarded Best
Film, depicting the revolution from
Alexandria Film Festival in 2011, the
only film festival that was not cancelled that year. Bard Yanayer was
then screened in many festivals, going
on to win twelve international awards,
including Best Short Narrative at the
Busan Film Festival in South Korea.
Following the success of his first
two films, Saad decided to leave his
day job and focus on filmmaking.
Shehab
Prime Yorktown Location
Great Visibility • Centrally Located
O
STORE
B
950 Sq. Ft. Rent: $3250 /Month
OFFICE SPACE:
470 Sq. Ft. Rent $850/Month • 1160 Sq. Ft. Rent $1650/ Month
914.632.1230
2022 SAW MILL RIVER RD., YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY
E
Page 18
INTERNATIONAL FILM
Tuk Tuk
Open 7 Days A Week
NYC’s #1
TOPlESS
SPORTS
BAR
• Gentlemen’s Club
• sushi RestauRant
• Fine DininG
NYC’s oNlY BoDY SUSHI
252 West 43rd St.
212-819-9300
(Between 7th & 8th Ave.)
www.mycheetahsnyc.com
FREE ADMISSION WITH THIS PASS
The New
Don’t
Don’t Waste
Waste Your
Your
Time
Time Anywhere
Anywhere Else
Else
Club
Club
New York
NEW YORK’S
NEW
YORK’S
PREMIER
PREMIER
GENTLEMEN’S
GENTLEMEN’S
CABARET
New York
CABARET
Escape Reality…
Escape
The VIP Club!
Escape toReality…
First Class Adult Entertainment,
Sushi Bar and Lounge.
HAPPY
HOUR
THE VIP!
First Class
Adult@ Entertainment,
2-For-1BarDrinks
Sushi
and Lounge.
Mon – Sat Before 9PM
Escape to The VIP Club!
HAPPY HOUR @ THE VIP!
COMPLIMENTARY
ADMISSION
2-For-1
FOR TWODrinks
WITH THIS PASS
Mon – Sat Before 9PM
20 W. 20th ST. (btwn 5th & 6th)
COMPLIMENTARY
ADMISSION
212-633-1199
FOR
TWO WITH THIS PASSs thevipclubnyc.com
20 W. 20th ST. (btwn 5th & 6th)
212-633-1199 s thevipclubnyc.com
He started receiving commissions
from several NGOs to direct short
documentaries about their activities as
his reputation grew.
The inspiration for his third film,
a documentary about Tuk-Tuks, was
simply born because Romany Saad
lives in the neighborhood of Shubra
whose streets are populated by these
three-wheeled motorized rickshaws.
“I take a Tuk-Tuk every day to bring
my son to his school along the tight
backstreets of Shubra,” said Saad,
who noticed that their Tuk-Tuk driver
is a cigarette-smoking young child,
every time.
Saad met many kids who drive
Tuk-Tuks across Shubra, before he
began shooting. “I wanted to follow
them to shoot their daily routine
across the streets and their lives with
their families whom they support,”
explained Saad, who did not want to
interfere by giving the kids any direction to alter their daily realities.
Tuk-Tuk has three main protagonists. The first interviewee is a
twelve years-old boy called Abdallah
who looks like a child actor with his
green eyes and blond hair. He has
been driving the family’s Tuk-Tuk to
support his brothers and parents who
are not working. Abdallah was taught
how to drive by his elder brother
Sharon who first showed him how to
drive microbuses then motorcycles.
Every day, Abdallah, who does not
go to school, wakes up to work from
seven in the morning until two in the
afternoon when he goes home to split
the money he gets with his family,
keeping some pocket money for
himself to buy cigarettes.
His friend and neighbor Shehab,
nicknamed Bika among other kiddie
drivers, learned how to manage a
Tuk-Tuk only by watching another
child doing it. Bika then convinced his
mum to invest in getting a Tuk-Tuk
on the installment plan to support his
whole family. He also keeps some
money for himself: five pounds or so
to play videogames with his friends
at cybercafés. Also appearing in the
film, is Abdallah’s brother, nicknamed
Sharon by the neighbors, because
he likes to play with fireworks on
national holidays. Romany Saad shot
the film with long lenses and wireless
microphones across the streets of
Shubra in order to capture their daily
routines without his interference.
“The only difficulties I faced
during the shooting was with trying
to make the interviewees not digress
and speak about former President
Mursi and The Muslim Brotherhood,”
explained Saad, who was shooting few
weeks before the second revolution
Tuk Tuk
in June 30, 2013. “I think I have six veteran documentary filmmaker,
hours of video footage with them Hashem al-Nahas, for its pacing and
insulting Mursi and the Brotherhood,” realism. Flash-forward to Ismailia
laughed Romany.
Film Festival last April: Tuk-Tuk
Tuk-Tuk was the first Egyptian was selected at the long documentary
film ever to be selected in the official competition where it received Best
competition of HotDocs, the leading Egyptian Film Award.
documentary festival in Toronto,
Romany Saad has so far managed
Canada. The film was acknowledged to finance all of his three films with his
by the festival’s programmers because own money instead of relying on interit did not judge the lives of these kids national funds to support his work. “I
and their families and so the viewers am not that enthusiastic about interwill not decide to love or hate them.
national funds because, one way or
Back in Cairo, Egyptian viewers the other, these entities try to alter the
were shocked after watching the concept of the films whether during
lives of these kiddie drivers although development, shooting or editing
Tuk-Tuks frequent our streets every phases,” he explained. “Some filmday. When the film was screened at makers wait to get various supports
the Cairo International Film Festival different funds, Arab or international,
(CIFF) last year in the Critics’ Week just to make one film every five years.
Section, it was praised by Egyptian And I don’t want to be like them.”
MARY AT THE MOVIES
Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond
By Mary Keon
Star Trek fans are an insatiable lot:
the franchise boasts 2 TV series that
enjoyed re-runs for years and 13 films.
STAR TREK BEYOND, produced by
J.J. Abrams, covers an alternative time
line –portraying the years prior to the
original series, as did STAR TREK,
INTO DARKNESS.
We meet Captain Kirk of the
Enterprise three years into a 5-year
deep space exploration while he is
docked at The Yorktown, an interstellar
star base. Kirk is offered a promotion
to Vice-Admiral and giving it serious
thought. The handsome, earnest Chris
Pine reminds one very much of the
young William Shatner –though not
quite as cocky as Shatner and with no
hint of his lady-killer charm.
Spock (Zachary Quinto) has
just broken up with Lt. Uhuru (Zoe
Saldana) (who knew!!!). Carl Urban
is a good choice for Dr. McCoy; John
Cho plays Commander Sulu and
Simon Pegg is Scotty. Sofia Boutella
plays Jayalla, an alien the Enterprise
crew meets on their mission. The film
is dedicated to Leonard Nimoy, who
died last year, and to the late Anton
Yelchin, (Chekov) who, tragically,
died on June 19th.
When an escape pod lands on
The Yorktown, an alien named Kalara
begs the command to rescue her
crew, stranded on a planet inside an
unexplored nebula, and the Enterprise
is dispatched to the site where things
don’t go exactly as anticipated.
The movie has incredible special
effects. The Enterprise is battered and
badly damaged during an alien attack,
while the Yorktown is an amazing
piece of set design. The actors represent their characters well and though
the story doesn’t exactly break
new ground, it is classic Star Trek:
encountering strange beings on alien
planets, as the crew explores Space,
the final frontier. I enjoyed the film
very much, as did my fellow audience
members at the 9:30 p.m. showing on
Saturday, July 23 in White Plains, who
applauded as the credits rolled.
With an opening weekend gross
that reportedly stands at $59,600,000
against a production budget of
$185,000,000*,
STAR
TREK
BEYOND is well on the way to being
a summer blockbuster. “Live Long
and Prosper!”
.*BoxOfficeMojo.com
Page 19
MARY AT THE MOVIES
Left to right: Zoe Saldana plays Lieutenant Uhura and John Cho plays
Sulu in Star Trek Beyond from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, Bad Robot,
Sneaky Shark and Perfect Storm Entertainment. Photo Credit: Kimberly
French. © 2015 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. STAR TREK and
all related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc.
Movie Reviews
THE INFILTRATOR
In 1986, accountant turned
DEA Agent Bob Mazur, “THE
INFILTRATOR,” gained access to the
highest level of the Medellín Cartel’s
organization, to combat the flood of
South American drugs into the U. S.
Mazur’s life was in constant
jeopardy during his time undercover and though the war on drugs
is never-ending, his efforts saved
countless lives. The evidence Mazur
collected took down a staggering 85
cartel members and the top leadership of BCCI (Bank of Credit and
Commerce International): drug launderers extraordinaire, which led to the
bank’s implosion. The screenplay, by
Ellen Brown Furman, is based upon
Mazur’s book, “The Infiltrator: My
Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks
Behind Pablo Escobar’s Medellín
Cartel.
Bryan Cranston is excellent as
the quick-witted, charismatic Mazur,
who struggled to retain his values
in a world vastly different from his
own. John Leguizamo is Emir Abreu,
Mazur’s wild cowboy partner and
entrée into the cartel. Ben Bratt plays
drug lord Roberto Alcaino, a lieutenant in Pablo Escobar’s organization,
whom Mazur befriends and then
betrays. Though a drug lord is never a
sympathetic figure, Bratt does manage
to humanize him.
When Mazur tells a cartel member
he was engaged to be married, his
supervisor had to find a fiancé fast
and selected Agent Kathy Ertz (Diane
Kruger), who managed to gain the
trust of Alciano and his wife. Though
committed to their mission, both
agents had difficulties with the moral
dilemma of befriending someone,
only to betray them.
Juliet Aubrey plays Mazur’s
loving and loyal wife, Evelyn, very
effectively and through her, we can
see the sacrifices family members are
forced to make when their loved ones
are on dangerous assignments. We can
only marvel at the strength it must take
to live through days and weeks of not
knowing whether or not their loved
one will come home safely.
Olympia Dukakis is hilarious as
Mazur’s outrageous Aunt Vicky, a
(L-R) Benjamin Bratt stars as drug
trafficker Roberto Alcaino and
Bryan Cranston as undercover U.
S. Customs Agent Robert Mazur
in THE INFILTRATOR, a Broad
Green Pictures release. Photo:
David Lee / Broad Green Pictures
Simón Andreu stars as Gonzalo
Mora Sr., Rubén Ochandiano as
Gonzalo Mora Jr., Joseph Gilgun
as Dominic, Bryan Cranston as
undercover U.S. Customs agent
Robert Mazur, John Leguizamo as
his partner Emir Abreu, Yul Vazquez
as Javier Ospina and Xarah Xavier
as Lau in THE INFILTRATOR, a
Broad Green Pictures release.
Diane Kruger stars as undercover
U.S. Customs agent Kathy Ertz
and Bryan Cranston as her
partner, undercover U. S. Customs
Agent Bob Mazur in THE
INFILTRATOR, a Broad Green
Pictures release. Photo: Liam
Daniel / Broad Green Pictures.
spunky grey panther who pulled off
a star-turn as a real estate maven to
help her nephew with his undercover
assignment. Yul Vasquez disappears
into the role of Javier Ospina, a key
player in the cartel who saw through
Mazur’s deception.
One of many films this year,
inspired by real events, THE
Open 10AM - 8PM Mon-Sat.
Juice Bar • Smoothies • Salads
Paninis • Rice Bowls
Dine In -Take-Out • Dobbs Ferry Delivery
914.479.5555
MIXONMAINNY.com
63 MAIN ST., DOBBS FERRY, NY
Page 20
MARY AT THE MOVIES
Movie Reviews
INFILTRATOR underscores the
bravery of the many men and women
in law enforcement who serve our
country, at great personal risk.
Rated R for strong violence,
language throughout, some sexual
content and drug material.
When the girls learn that their
father has died, they decide to attend
his funeral where they meet their
14-year-old half-sister, Suzu Asano
(Suzu Hirose). Upon learning that
Suzu, who nursed her father through
his illness, has no-where to live, they
invite her to live with them, despite
the reservations of their great-aunt.
This is a charming story about
sisters who mostly get along really
well, borrow each other’s clothes
(not always with permission!) and
know how to decode each other’s
behavior. Things go well until their
unpredictable mother returns to
town for a brief visit and the sisters
are apprehensive as to how she will
treat Suzu.
OUR LITTLE SISTER is beautifully filmed by Mikiya Takimoto
and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda,
Masami Nagasawa, Suzu Hirose,
Haruka Ayase and Kaho in Our Little
Sister. Produced by Fuji Television,
Shogakukan, Toho and Gaga
Corporation.
Haruka Ayase, Suzu Hirose, Kaho
and Masami Nagasawa in Our Little
Sister. Produced by Fuji Television,
Shogakukan, Toho and Gaga
Corporation
Our Little Sister
OUR LITTLE SISTER is a
Japanese film about three sisters
whose father abandoned the family
when they were little. Their mother,
unable to cope, also left the home,
moving to another city. The girls
were raised in their grandmother’s
house, in Kamakura, which they
inherited, following her death. The
movie is based upon the best-selling
manga series Umimachi (Seaside
Town) Diary by Akimi Yoshida.
29-year-old
Sachi
Kouda
(Haruka Ayase) works as a nurse.
Yoshino Kouda (Masami Nagasawa)
works at a bank and 19-year-old
Chika Kouda (Kaho), works in a
sports store where her boyfriend, a
former mountaineer, is the manager.
W W W.W E S T C H E S T E R G U A R D I A N . C O M
who also wrote the screenplay. In
Japanese, with sub-titles. This is
the ultimate Chic Flick: see it with
your sister and then take her out for
a glass of plum wine.

August, 4 2016 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

Similar documents

Application for Summer Employment 2016

Event Invitation

I`m helping to end MS by participating in the 2016 Jayman BUILT MS

The Board of Directors of Qatar Fuel (WOQOD) is pleased to invite

5 `S` Training Program at ABV-IIITM, Gwalior on 21.07.2016

print flyer - Rosh Pinah Chavurah

Building Blocks - New York League of Conservation Voters

4 star ALOE HOTEL, PAPHOS

Hospital Trustees Celebrate Quality Initiatives

WESTCHESTER Best Places To Live