Nothing
compares with being in the midst of a group,
singing with good courage. From my soprano
days in a boys’ choir to leading audiences
on choruses, it’s the most fun that I’ve ever
had and continues to be so.
Column
Downstate
Most New Yorkers recognize … the heart of New York
City is not only found at the Met or Lincoln
Center, but in the hustle and bustle, the
c acophonous mix of ethnic groups, social
classes, folk, pop, and high art….With passionate interest in what’s distinctive
and local about New York, we have
issued, for the fifth year, the People’s City
Report Card 2015.
Good Spirits
The author travels to Machu Picchu in Peru to experience adventure and mountain magic.
Artist Spotlight
George A. Olsen, Jr., practices the art of wood turning to craft tools, including rolling pins, spatulas, and pepper mills.
Voices of New York
Sara Milonovich, a brilliant fiddler, singer, songwriter, and bandleader, released her CD Daisycutter in 2009. Described as “rural roots with an urban/world edge,” this album’s songs and music encompass folk, bluegrass, Celtic, zydeco, and American roots-rock music.
Good Spirits
Some Binghamton legends describe ghosts who struggle to reach their lost loved ones…. we think about connections between the past and the present, and bonds between the living and the dead. The column describes notes that Rod Serling’s ghost is said to haunt a carousel in his hometown of Binghamton.
Upstate
What was on the minds of Adirondackers in 1906? Through its weekly column “Neighborhood Notes,” The Warrensburgh News gave simple sketches of what mattered. The author wandered away from a genealogical search to discover the flavor of everyday life in upstate New York over a century before.
Downstate
High banter is a key ingredient of folk culture andfamily folklore. It’s also the essence of the poetry duels… Both on street corners and stages, poets riff off each other in rhyme, participating in traditions ranging from extempo in Trinidad, in Portugal, contrasti in Italy, freestyle rap in the US, and repentistas in Brazil. The banter between couples and others is also reminiscent of what happens when jazz musicians riff off one another.
ALN8BL8MO: A Native Voice
It was Arthur C. Parker
who, through his extensive writing, his
professional career as a museologist (his
own description of his work), and as an
activist, did much to dispel the stereotypes
about Indians that characterized his time
and make visible to the wider world the
history and the contributions of the
Haudenosaunee.
Artist Spotlight
Joe Crookston defines himself as “an artist,
writer, singer, guitar picker, painter, claw
hammer banjo player, fiddler, eco-village
member, and believer in all things possible.”
From the Waterfront
The boatyard has a long and impressive history, as one of the first to cater to recreational fishermen and boaters in this “Five Towns” community on Long Island’s South Shore….The architecture of boatyards is somewhat traditional, but there are unique structures
found in each one.
Upstate
Just as those of us who live up north like to protest that “there’s more to New York than New York City,” I like to say there’s
more to Upstate than wild rivers and rugged mountain peaks. There’s plenty going on culturally as well…. pancake breakfasts during maple syrup season, fish fries during Lent, chicken barbecues all summer long, harvest
dinners in the fall, and chicken and biscuit suppers and spaghetti dinners in the winter months. There are outdoor events all year long—maple festivals in the spring; firemen’sfield days, fireworks, parades, and county fairs in the summer; college homecomings and hunting club gatherings in the fall.
Downstate
Samuel Untermyer purchased what was then the Greystone Estate in 1899, and in 1915, he hired William Welles Bosworth, a École des Beaux Arts-trained architect and landscape designer, to createthe “greatest gardens in the world.” The centerpiece is the Walled Persian Garden, inspired by the Indo-Persian gardens of the ancient world, which, in turn, were inspired by descriptions of the Garden
of Eden.
From the Waterfront
On Long Island, many baymen earned extra money on the side, bringing booze from offshore boats that traveled from the West Indies to the waters offLong Beach. Their small garveys and skiffs were difficult to detect, especially at night, and waiting cars and trucks quickly collected the barrels and boxes of imported liquor.
Voices in New York
March is a busy month for Irish storytellers. I spoke with Bairbre McCarthy on the phone about her CD, The Keeper of the Crock of Gold: Irish Leprechaun Tales. Drawn from her book of Irish stories, the CD is a combination of “old retellings”and original stories by McCarthy that “stick up for the rights of Leprechauns.” Throughout the stories, McCarthy weaves in sean-nós singing by her daughter Mary Willems and fiddle playing by Maura McNamara. In our conversation, she tells me about her roots, about her activism for Leprechaun rights, and about becoming a professional storyteller in America: