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Good Monday morning,
I'm a little tired this morning after getting home from the Greg Brown
show at the Towne Crier after midnight last night. His two hour set was
simply amazing. Considering the last live performance I paid to see was
the hard core band Vitamin-X at ABC No Rio a couple of months back, I'd
have to say my musical tastes do run the gamut from one end to the
other.
At just around 9PM Greg
took the stage. Yes, funky hat, red bandanna, dark glasses, over sized
pants, baggy jacket and all and from the moment his fingers touched the
guitar and the vibrations from his vocal chords hit the electronics in
the mic, the rest of the evening was magic. It was a much better show
than I had anticipated and as his set ran for almost 2 hours, more than
fulfilling.
"The blues are just bad people feeling good" - GB
For the next two hours it was story song after story song with a few
older melodies dropped in here and there but you had to pay attention
sometimes to recognize what they were for their recorded forms were
altered to a degree giving the impression that they too were in the
evening's story song pattern. And the early folkie stuff? Now it's all
blues. The aged standard "Good Morning Coffee", his second number, was
interwoven with a
story about waking his wife up one morning with a fresh cup of coffee
that kept us all laughing
and wondering, is Iris DeMent really that rapacious in the mornings?
Pour warm water over the beans so they don't scald? She must be tough.
 Sometimes
it was hard to tell when his intro to a song ended and the song itself
began and all the while his blues guitar rang true. Brown
claims he doesn't work from a set playlist, that it doesn't work for
him and that all the patter was nothing but filler giving him time to
decide what to play next. True fans would have known from the way he
tuned what was coming next even, as I wrote before, if the folk was
relegated to history and the same songs reborn as the blues.
Brown played a version of "Canned Goods" and for those familiar with
the version on "A Live One" he didn't let us down. We got a different
story last night about why his grandma insists on planting ten rows of
green beans each year, for it is one way of pulling the family together
in late summer if for no other reason than to fill their trunks with 'a
little taste of summer'.
"Sometimes you have go look for your life" - GB
During the second half of the show Greg brought guitarist Johnny Irion
on
stage and let me tell you, while Irion plays well against Sarah Lee
Guthrie, (the opening act) he became enlightened when he sat in with
Mr. B. The two of
them together crafted the best music of the evening. There's a
remarkable degree of skill involved jamming with a guy like Brown when
you don't really know the songs and the riffs aren't standard and while
I, and the audience, already believed Irion could play well enough, it
was his set with Brown that truly solidified his abilities. He had to
work hard to keep up but the two musicians played as one and as the
hour became late the audience showed no signs of being tired or weary,
only electrified by the now four part blues harmonies emanating from
the stage.
At one point Brown called for requests from the audience: a woman
called for "Boomtown", a man in the middle of the room wanted "Oily
Boys". Greg played neither and I'm happy he didn't. While I understand
Pawling is a sprawling town and the megalopolis to our south creeps
inexorably towards us each day and I'm the guy that eats, sleeps and drinks the battle
against it
24/7/365. And, while I also understand that the junta in Washington is
a corrupt bunch of [fill in expletive here] I just didn't want to bring
that ugly world outside into the magical space created in the room and
Brown must have sensed that for he took other suggestions and played on
and on and on.
I apologize for the crappy cellphone picture. Had I known I could have
brought my camera along I would have done so and had a better image
representation for you all. Next time.
Now, if we must, on to the news:
- Bad habits - why are they
so hard to break? (On recycling)
- Robert Tendy takes
criticism in his first three months as Putnam Valley supervisor
- Libraries are vital during
tough times (NYJN Letter)
- New York environmentalist
donates $1 million to Pace Law School
- Court halts Trump from
working on North Castle road (Only Trump could build a road through a
nature preserve.)
- Soup kitchen to get a boost
from concert fundraiser
- Olympic Torch Extinguished
Twice in Paris (We really do need an Olympic boycott - China is not
free nor democratic even if they do own us all lock, stock and barrel.)
Bad
habits - why are they so hard to break?
On my desk the other day, a Poland Spring water bottle stood next to a
snappy little bag made from discarded juice packets.
There they were: environmental scourge next to recycled litter.
I was part of the problem AND part of the solution.
Granted I reuse my water bottle, but I did buy it at some point. Bad
habits are hard to break.
Plastic bags are another bane. On Friday, my colleague Greg Clary wrote
about a plan to require larger retailers in Westchester County to
recycle them. The Board of Legislators is to vote on the proposal this
morning.
Here is just one fact to demonstrate how damaging the bags can be: It
takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the ones Americans use every
year.
We consume that much oil for something we discard after using on
average only 20 minutes. You would think we would be eager to find a
way to wean ourselves of them.
But as Clary noted, many retailers in this area are already recycling
plastic bags - and the results have been less than remarkable.
Read
More
Robert
Tendy takes criticism in his first three months as Putnam Valley
supervisor
Barbara Livingston Nackman
The Journal News
PUTNAM VALLEY - The town known for controversy and disputes is
welcoming its new supervisor in characteristic fashion.
Robert Tendy, an attorney who spent five years as a town councilman, is
now supervisor after a second try for the post and a failed race for
county legislator.
Sitting last week in his newly remodeled and quite sparse office - he
made his quarters smaller by enlarging space for support staff and
restored a door which he says he leaves open - he spoke about his first
three months in office.
"It was a good experience not being supervisor. I saw a nonworking
government and now appreciate what we can do," he said. "I'm here and
have an open-door policy."
He wants more descriptive advance meeting agendas and set public
comment limits.
The Republican says he is at his Town Hall office 40-50 hours each week
and attends to his private legal practice Thursdays, Saturday mornings
and Monday evenings. His predecessor, Democrat Sam Davis, was
criticized for remaining at his Bronx teaching job his first month.
Tendy's win re-established GOP rule in the town. Disputes have arisen
of late in Lake Peekskill, the town's largest neighborhood, over site
plan approval for a tank-testing business and also about disbanding the
comprehensive plan committee and how town meetings are conducted.
Critics have nicknamed him "Little Caesar" and "Bully Bob."
Read
More
Libraries
are vital during tough times
As a longtime library volunteer, I am thrilled that libraries in our
area have become popular community centers in addition to their
traditional role as centers for lifelong learning. This is especially
true during these tough economic times. When our communities' residents
are struggling to make ends meet, they can turn to their libraries for
entertainment, community activities, health and recreation programs,
research and, of course, homework help.
The American Library Association has commissioned studies in the past
that demonstrate a clear connection between an economic decline and an
increase in public library use. One five-year study saw a match between
circulation increases at 25 of the nation's largest public libraries
and time periods labeled "recessions" by the National Bureau of
Economic Research.
I encourage all Journal News readers to visit your local public library
and find out all that it has to offer you and your families. You may be
very pleasantly surprised at what you find there.
At the Mahopac Public Library, our proposed 2008-09 operating budget -
in response to patron demand - restores hours and programs that were
previously eliminated. The demand for our services is very high, and we
work to meet the needs of our patrons. I encourage everyone in the
Mahopac school district to vote at the library on June 4 from 6 a.m. to
9 p.m.
Alice Walsh
Carmel
The writer is president, Board of Trustees, Mahopac Public Library.
Read
Original
New York
environmentalist donates $1 million to Pace Law School
Greg Clary
The Journal News
WHITE PLAINS - A veteran labor negotiator is donating $1 million to
Pace University Law School to fund a dispute-resolution program on
environmental issues, a discipline school officials say will grow with
burgeoning problems such as climate change and open-space protection.
Theodore W. Kheel, a member of the state bar since 1937 and author of
"The Keys to Conflict Resolution," spent most of his legal career
hammering out agreements between labor and management.
In 1988, The New York Times called Kheel "perhaps the most influential
industrial peacemaker in New York City" in the previous half-century.
He had worked to resolve airline, rail, newspaper and other strikes for
presidents and New York mayors since the 1960s.
His résumé, however, includes as much on sustaining the Earth's habitat
as it does on bringing stability to the workforces of major industries.
Read
More
Court
halts Trump from working on North Castle road
By Chris Serico
The Journal News • April 7, 2008
A Westchester County Court judge Friday issued an
injunction that
prevents Donald Trump from doing maintenance on a part of Oregon Road
that he wants to use as access to potential luxury housing he would
build on his Seven Springs estate.
Neighbors and the Nature
Conservancy, which owns part of Oregon Road through the Meyer Nature
Preserve, objected last month when Trump's workers cleared and graded
part of the road, which was closed to the public in the 1990s and has
overgrown into a hiking path. Lawyers opposing Trump challenged the
real estate mogul's claim that he has an easement over the road that
gives him access to Seven Springs.
Trump has been pursuing a 2006 lawsuit that seeks a
court
declaration that he has an unfettered right to use the road. Friday's
order by Westchester County Court Judge Rory Bellantoni in White Plains
halts maintenance on the road until the lawsuit is decided.
Read
More
Soup
kitchen to get a boost from concert fundraiser
By BY DEBORAH MEDENBACH
Times Herald-Record
April 04, 2008
KINGSTON
— If affluent businessmen wanted to swing by the Queens Galley on
Washington Avenue for a gourmet lunch, Diane Reeder would welcome them
the same as anyone else.
You don't have to
submit proof of poverty to eat at Reeder's soup kitchen, and everyone
deserves beautifully prepared food made from fresh, locally grown
produce.
Tip heftily if you can afford it,
though. Reeder gets no government funding to feed the hungry, and
financial help is welcome.
"My
grandfather was a chef at the Four Seasons in New York City. I worked
in resorts. It's in my DNA to feed people," Reeder said.
Reeder
started out by teaching WIC recipients how to make use of farmers
market vouchers and cook simple foods with fresh ingredients. Soon the
lessons moved to Trinity Lutheran Church's kitchen until they found
themselves using the kitchen more than the church did. When Washington
Manor needed a new food service director, Reeder found a permanent home
for her workshops and soup kitchen.
"That was
two years ago. We started out with 1,500 meals per month, and now we're
up to 6,000 meals per month," Reeder said. "Food should be like the air
we breathe, available to everybody. And just because you're on food
stamps doesn't mean you can't eat good food. Life's too short to live
on government cheese."
Read
more
Olympic
Torch Extinguished Twice in Paris
PARIS (AP) -- Security officials have extinguished the Olympic torch
for a second time amid heavy protests during the torch relay in Paris.
Police have escorted the flame onto a bus, apparently to move it away
from protesters.
The flame was being carried out of a Paris traffic tunnel by an athlete
in a wheelchair when it was stopped because protesters booed and began
chanting ``Tibet.''
It was the second time Monday that officials extinguished the torch
amid protests. The procession was apparently being continued on board a
bus. |
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