Sinterklaas Goes Bi-Coastal – Kingston to Rhinecliff Holiday Celebration

November 8th, 2011

On Saturday, November 26, 2011 Kingston’s Rondout will host the Opening Event of Sinterklaas, an Old Dutch Tradition, the must-see holiday celebration that has been bringing thousands to Rhinebeck for the past three years.  With funding from the New York Council on the Humanities, a full afternoon of events and activities are planned, including music, food, merchant Open Houses and featuring a Crowns & Branches Workshop for children and a special Parade to celebrate the Arrival of Sinterklaas.  Kingston will send off Sinterklaas on a tugboat across the Hudson River to his destination in Rhinecliff in a reenactment of the Dutch Sinterklaas’ annual sailing from Spain to Holland.  This traditional start to the holiday season has been celebrated in the Netherlands for centuries.  While the original inspiration was the old Dutch holiday, this Sinterklaas has been updated and reinvented to directly involve the community in creative activities.  The celebration turns away from the commercialized images of the holiday season and concentrate on hand-made, from-the-heart participation.

Crowns & Branches Workshop

To help children of all ages feel extra special – the young Royalty for the day – they are invited into come to this bustling, artful workshop, hosted and co-sponsored by the ASK,  Arts Society of Kingston at 97 Broadway.  Children will make their own bejeweled Crowns & Branches to wear and carry in the parade. The workshop will be held from 12:30 -2:30pm and all children must be accompanied by an adult.  The workshop is free, but donations are always welcomed.

Workshop shelves will be with all kinds of bangles, beads, ribbons, gems and fabrics to paste and attach to crown forms.   The Branches they make are their Royal Scepters.  The old fashion tool of punishment – The Switch made from a willow branch– is transformed by their imaginations into a symbol of empowerment and joy.  On the branches, children hang strings of beads or ribbon to make an original creation.  Each child will be asked to tie 3 WISHES in their branch—one for their family, for their community and for the World. Be sure to see the Wish Lady!

What is the meaning of the Crowns and Branches that are made by and carried by the Children in the Parade? Since St. Nicholas loved children so much, it makes sense on his name day, that children—who at all other times of the year the least powerful people in the society—are turned into the most powerful for just one day. Children are crowned kings and queens!

The birch rod—the indispensable instrument of medieval education— is transformed by the power imagination and art into a symbol of empowerment and love. The birch rod becomes the Branch—the Royal Scepter—a symbol of creative power in the hands of today’s children.  And so, on this day children are raised up from being those least powerful to the most powerful for one glorious day! The rods are turned to Royal Scepters and the Children are crowned royalty for the day!

Arrival of Sinterklaas Parade

All are invited to join The Arrival of Sinterklaas Parade down Broadway with a crafty boat created by artist Michael Lalicki complete with stars, puppets, music and costumed players, as well as the children sporting their handmade crowns and branches.   Following the parade, there will be a special reception at the Downtown Visitors’ Center with a tree lighting at dusk hosted by Kingston’s Waterfront.

Some form of Sinterklaas has been celebrated in Europe since the Middle Ages.  The character of Sinterklaas is based on a 4th century bishop, Nicolas of Myra (present-day Turkey).  St. Nicholas is now a patron saint of children and mariners.  He, along with many others of that time, was persecuted for his religious beliefs, but he never wavered in his support of children and those less fortunate.  Over the centuries, he has become a universal symbol of tolerance and kindness.  Sinterklaas is his Dutch name and it is in Holland where national celebrations take place today, with millions watching in person or via TV as Sinterklaas rides his white horse on the streets of Amsterdam spreading cheer.

For more information about the Sinterklaas event, contact Susan Linn at 845-339-4280 or visit sinterklaasrhinebeck.com

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ONE STOP FOR ONE-OF-A-KIND

November 8th, 2011

 When artist and entrepreneur Karen Berelowitz visited her friends in Kingston’s Rondout, she thought it would make a great place to open the first retail store to sell her unique line of Karmabee products. Unlike other areas she had considered, she found Rondout to be, “A village.  It is a community in the middle of a larger city.  It has all the conveniences of city living but it has the feeling of a small town.”   When she saw the space at 73A Broadway, with its original tin ceilings above a lofty storefront, Karen knew that she had found the perfect home for her “new” store.

The storefront location is new, but Karen has been retailing her unique line of  Karmabee products since 1997.  If the simple, yet evocative, black drawings on t shirts and note cards seem very familiar, it is probably because we have seen them at the Kingston Farmers’ Market Craft Fair (and over 100 other craft fairs), at the Omega Institute, at the Cornell Studios” “Wild About Butterflies” exhibition, and on line on Etsy and at Karen’s on-line sites at karmabee.com.

People who attended the jam-packed November 5th opening got to see the wide range of available Karmabee products. The storefront features original black & white drawings printed on clothing for babies, kids and adults, as well as notecards, dog tees, winter hats, framed prints, jewelry, and other unique gifts. There are coloring books that are just the right size for tucking into a stocking, with Karen’s bold drawings to inspire original coloring combinations from young artists. For those who would like to send a holiday card that did not come in a pack of 25 identical cards from the department store, Karen’s most popular holiday themes are available in a specially priced packet.  There are also stocking caps and home decorative items.

Now that she has a retail space, Karen is also going to feature framed works and crafts by other carefully selected artists.  The shop will also feature classes, workshops, and special events.  Visitors to the store’s website can sign up for a monthly newsletter listing all the upcoming events.

Karen was born in South Africa and has traveled around the globe, and has lived in California, Costa Rica, and Washington DC before settling in the Hudson Valley, NY.  She received her Master’s Degree and spent 12 years in the field of International Development, with emphasis on development in Central America.  In 2006, she took a “short vacation” to the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck…and she never left!   In fact, she lives at the Institute during its open season!  It was at the Institute that she was finally convinced that her intricate and expressive “doodles” that she’s been doing since her school days might have a commercial future.  As an experiment, she printed a few designs on postcards, and was amazed when they sold out, at the Institute’s craft events.  Karen began retailing on Etsy in 2007.

While some designs, like a gleefully ornate elephant and a festively howling coyote, have become customer favorites, Karen is unlikely to ever run out of new designs, or new ideas for products.  Having a retail store as a “home base” is a new experience she is relishing–her operation has been developed to be portable, since she has been living at Omega from April through October, and then moving to a temporary studio, or traveling around the United States from craft fair to craft fair.  As long as she has music, and “coffee in the morning, chocolate in the afternoon, and wine at night,” she can “doodle” a seemingly endless stream of her unique images of the world around her.  Fortunately she also enjoys the production part of the business, scoring note cards, silk-screening stocking caps, and  filling computer orders.

Shoppers in the Rondout can now have the instant gratification of stocking up on Karmabee originals for the holidays without having to boot up the computer or visit a craft fair.  Karen can even accommodate special orders, for those whose gifts have to be absolutely unique!  Karmabee will be open  Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm for the holiday season!

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A Waterfront Blossoming of Art

July 19th, 2011

The Kingston Sculpture Biennial opened last Saturday, and though it’s smaller than in years past—all the pieces are concentrated on or near the Rondout waterfront—the show continues to surprise and delight residents and visitors, the carefully placed pieces transforming the city environs in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. They represent a range of materials—including hand-blown glass, stone, steel, painted and unpainted wood, bus wrap and woven plastic bags–and approaches, from the traditional piece-on-a-pedestal to installations to artworks that lie on the ground and even float (in the case of Marisa DiPaola’s Floating Island, a cork construction on the Rondout Creek).

 

Sponsored by the Arts Society of Kingston and entitled “Insight/Onsite,” this year’s biennial was curated by Robert Johnson, a sculptor and painter from Stone Ridge who’s participated in shows in the past. While many of the 23 participating artists are from the region, a few were selected from points farther afield, such as Saratoga Springs and Westchester County. Johnson met with each artist and spent a lot of time walking the Rondout to figure out the best placement for each piece, moving two works at the last minute to optimize their impact. He also worked with the artists on the installations, which in some cases were a bit tricky. For example, Kurt Swanson’s Blue Chain, consisting of a string of blown glass forms whose color and shapes suggest Baroque-era splendor, is suspended over the entrance to the Downtown Visitors Center; it required a climb up into the cramped faux attic of the building. In essence, curating the show was a “mini part-time job,” said Johnson, who is on the ASK board and works as an art director at SUNY Ulster.

Artist Bennett Wine and "Man in the Middle"

 

One of the most striking pieces, which serves as a kind of gateway to the exhibition, is located on the median of lower Broadway. Entitled Man in the Middle, it consists of giant photographs—printed on durable bus wrap—of the surrounding streetscape on a four-sided plywood structure topped by a fractured representation of a man bending over backward, clusters of rocks (or rather, photographs of rocks) suspended from either arm. “It’s like Fiddler on the Roof,” said artist Bennett Wine, who pointed out that the pose mimics the form of the neighboring lamp post. Wine’s piece acts like a prism of the surroundings, a multi-dimensional funhouse mirror that echoes, distorts and dramatizes the mundane setting. (It also has a top image, visible from the neighboring roof tops.)

Other highlights are Tatana Keller’s Blue Line, which scales the incline of Company Path for a substantial distance and consists of crocheted blue plastic bags; Patty Mooney’s Navigating Change, a fin- or sail-shaped assemblage of wood, steel and concrete that simultaneously suggests movement through space and time; and Paul Bouchard’s High Modernist yet light-hearted Converging Arcs #7, located on the Broadway median in front of Mariners Harbor, and R. Jane Bouchard’s Circle, whose curved rusted metal strips hints at the waterfront’s industrial past and meanwhile lends the intersecting spheres an engaging warmth and tactility (the Bouchards are married and reside in Saratoga Springs). Susan Togut’s Waves of Transformation is a park-like installation, complete with seating, at the foot of the new walkway constructed out of distressed boat parts. It punctuates the space of an otherwise vacant stretch of lawn and would be a nice permanent addition to the waterfront.

That’s just a sampling of the rich assemblage of art. So as not to miss anything—works are also exhibited at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, Gallo Park, and in the ASK building—pick up a free map at ASK, 97 Broadway. The sculpture show is an outstanding example of how imagination can transform a cityscape; it doesn’t always take a lot of expensive brick and mortar. The show will be up until the end of October.

The 2011 Kingston Sculpture Biennial sponsors are Ulster Savings Bank, JK’s Wine & Liquor and Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union.

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Two Generations of LaLimas Span the Old and the New

April 12th, 2011

LaLima’s Barber Shop, founded by Joseph LaLima in 1968, has been located at 680 Broadway since 1974, across from the Sunoco station. The $9 hair cuts and $8 shaves—a microwave oven has been reconfigured as a “UV towel warmer”—glass case stocked with boxes of hair gel, and two barber chairs reside in a narrow, linoleum-floored space resplendent with personal mementoes: framed Marine Corps. certificates, antique barber paraphernalia, a Harley Davidson sign, a postcard of Kingston’s old post office, and several paintings by Joseph’s son, Joseph Jr., including a large, black-and-white portrait of  local boxer Billy Costello, gloves at the ready. One has entered not just a store, but a psychic space, redolent of old Kingston. It’s hardly a surprise to discover that the mustached customer who is having his neck powdered is a county legislator, his presence confirming LaLima’s assertion that it is his steady clientele, loyal over four decades, that have kept him in business all these years.

As someone who’s been located on Broadway for a very long time, LaLima, who owns his building and rents out an apartment upstairs, has a valuable perspective. He said the city’s first priority should be attracting businesses, to fill the vacant storefronts. He also had some good news: the building next door has been bought and the empty ground floor is about to reopen as an art studio.

LaLima said that despite the out-of-control school taxes, rising Central Hudson bills and costs of opening a business, Kingston is still relatively affordable. Having traveled across country on his Harley—a framed picture on the wall shows him riding his bike in the wide-open spaces out West, his hair blowing in the wind—LaLima said he’s always glad to come to back to his home town. He was born in Kingston, raised in a house on Greenkill Avenue, and attended St. Joseph’s; his father, who was born in Italy, arrived in Kingston as a baby and worked on the railroad.

LaLima had an uncle who was a barber and decided to one become himself. He enjoys being his own boss, and no matter how bad the economy gets, people always need a haircut. His prescription for improving the city? A Giulani-style clean up of Midtown. Midtown, he said, “is forgotten…it’s on the back burner.”

Meanwhile, Joseph Jr. and his girlfriend, Liz Baker, are opening a combination art gallery-café-clothing boutique in the expansive, handsome corner storefront at 63 Broadway next month. After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1995, Joseph returned to Kingston and did a variety of jobs, including creating special effects for the World Wrestling Federation, which required him to travel. The store will be called Aesthetics, and it will sell vintage and new clothing, jewelry (including hand-crafted pieces by Joseph’s friend Nicole Pagano), and baked goods provided by the family (specifically, Joseph’s mother, who is a partner) and local eateries.

Paintings by Michael Hart

The May show will feature paintings by Joseph and Mike Hart. Joseph said he plans to  show overlooked local artists and hopes to eventually offer classes for kids, as well as sponsor mural projects in Midtown.

It’ll be a real family business, involving the couple’s children, nieces and nephews, as well as Joseph’s mother Susan. “We’ll have lots of help,” said Liz. They plan to be open by the first Saturday in May, so that they can participate in the city’s weekly gallery walk.  –Lynn Woods

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ASK’s Mission: Arts for Everyone

February 28th, 2011

The Arts Society of Kingston started as an organization representing visual artists, but in recent years, following its acquisition and renovation of the handsome, former Jewish community center building on Lower Broadway, it’s greatly expanded its reach. In any given month, ASK is hosting readings of new plays in development, showing films, and offering improv and youth acting classes, poetry jams, and concerts.   At these events and especially, during the First Saturday gallery opening,  ASK brings hundreds of people to the Rondout, filling local restaurants and bars. (It’s a symbiotic relationship: Ship to Shore often donates the food for the opening.)

The group’s activities aren’t limited to the building. It shows large reproductions of a few member artists’ watercolors in the Hudson Valley Mall and hosts the Kingston Sculpture Biennial (this year, it will be curated by Robert Johnson, a graphic designer who teachers at SUNY-Ulster; the sculptures will be placed on the median of lower Broadway and along the Rondout waterfront). The organization serves not just the city but the entire region, drawing in artists from as far away as Newburgh and Red Hook.

Board President, Lewis Gardiner

President of the board Lewis Gardner, who resides in Woodstock, said his initial attraction to the organization was its accessibility. “There’s no automatic nay-saying. Anyone with a good proposal can get an open hearing.” Gardner added the limited amount of space—consisting of two galleries, one quite large—is the main barrier to doing more.

There is room to expand, with a large, open space on the second floor. Gardner noted that the raw space should be available on a limited basis this summer, given that the funds have been raised to replace the not-to-code fire escape with an external staircase. Eventually, ASK hopes to renovate the former social hall, transforming the small stage into a sound and light booth and erecting terraced platforms for audience seating, which would face a designated performance area on the floor, Gardner said.

Once the building can offer this bona fide professional performance space, the sky’s the limit in terms of programming. In the meantime, ASK offers an impressive cultural menu, particularly in the drama department. The Playwrights Lab that Gardner started at SUNY-Ulster moved to ASK three years ago, providing playwrights, actors and directors with a workshop in which they can assess and get feedback on new work. “It’s a chance for a writer to hear his work,” Gardner said, noting that both experienced playwrights and novices can participate. “ASK serves the entire community of artists, both skilled professionals and people just starting out.”

Yet it also strives to offer quality art to the public. For that reason, in the summer months the staged readings are of selected work by more seasoned playwrights. The performing arts committee also can host a production, as is the case with With or Without, a play by an Emmy-nominated playwright that’s currently being presented. “This is a writer who wanted to become part of the Hudson Valley community,” Gardner said, noting the contact was made through the suggestion of a local actor.

Gardner said ASK also has partnered with other organizations to better serve the community. For example, in April it’ll be showing works by 20 or so artists at the Hudson Valley Mall, each of whom will have a table. The mall already displays and sells banners based on watercolors by local artists. ASK planned to have the artists set up in the corridor where the banners are displayed, but “the owners said why don’t we use the whole mall,” so the tables will be located throughout the facility. ASK will also be hosting a history day on April 9, with presentations, music and children’s activities.

Of course, ASK continues its commitment to the visual arts, with 24 exhibits on the roster each year. Currently there’s also life-drawing sessions, a class on the Sedona method, which is a way of fostering creativity, and Photoshop classes.

Executive director Vindora Wixom noted that yet another appeal of ASK is its health insurance program, which is open to freelancers. Wixom added that the ASK monthly gallery openings are always a big smash. Last month’s opening—featuring a show of Chronogram covers and a member’s exhibition linked to Valentine’s Day—attracted 600 people, despite a snowstorm. ASK has approximately 450 members. The annual membership is $60 for individuals and $100 for couples. —Lynn Woods

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Let’s Dance!

February 14th, 2011

From their J & B Dance Center, at 734 Broadway, Jean and Bill Keehan have been teaching amateur as well as professional dancers the nuances of the foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha, tango, rumba, quick step, salsa, samba, West Coast swing and hustle for the past 25 years. They are a direct link to a grand tradition: Bill started ballroom dancing when he was 19 and taught at the Arthur Murray School in Manhattan under Arthur Murray himself, as well as appeared on the school’s famous TV show in the 1950s. Eventually he moved upstate and purchased Roger’s Dance Studio, renaming it after hooking up with his wife, Jean. Jean started dancing at age 17 and taught ballroom dancing in the city while commuting back to her home in central New York to attend business school—training that’s come in handy all these years of owning a business. 

With so many years under their belt, the couple have been through several cycles of lagging and reviving interest, with interest right now on a definite upswing; many students are in their 20s and 30s, as well as 40s, 50s and 60s. The couple teach two classes a week, from 8 to 9 on Tuesday and Friday nights, and charge only $10 a person. Only couples qualify, and each class covers one of five dances. Once a month, the center hosts a studio party, which includes a workshop on a type of dance not covered in the classes (last Sunday, it was Western swing).

Jean and Bill Keehan

 “People who come to us like variety,” said Jean, noting that students have included dance team members from nearby colleges. She herself enjoys them all: “Each dance has its own personality. The foxtrot is nice and easy going. The waltz has hills and valleys, with a rise and fall, elegance and grace.” The merengue and cha-cha are fun and for parties, while the rumba “is a more romantic, sensual dance. With the Argentine tango, you want to fill the music inside of you. It’s very strong and passionate.”

Linda and Chester

If you want to swing to Benny Goodman or Duke Ellington the way everybody used to, check out the Lindy Hop classes taught by Linda and Chester Freeman Monday nights at the Arts Society of Kingston. The classes are scheduled from 6 to 9 pm, with the first hour devoted to a basic lesson for beginners, the second hour for intermediate-level students, and the last hour for advanced dancers.

Coming into vogue right after Lindbergh’s landmark flight across the Atlantic, for which it was named, the Lindy Hop refers to original swing dance from the 1930s and 1940s. Chester described it as a magpie art form, with borrowings from a variety of styles, which is why it’s so fun.  (He noted that West Coast swing is a variant that evolved out of  Hollywood and Texas swing music.) The classes cost $65 and are taught in four-week-long series. You don’t need to have a partner—partners rotate in each class—and a lot of the emphasis is on learning how to lead and follow; that aspect of dancing with a partner is what those of us who grew up wriggling solo to rock or soul music never learned.

Chester said he and Linda got interested after they were married and didn’t want to plunk themselves down in front of the TV every night. They ended up taking swing-dance lessons at a music school right around the corner after the teacher, who hadn’t had any students for a while, told them he’d hold a class if they could get a group together (it ended up consisting of another adult and a dozen and a half girl scouts).

That was 11 years ago. The couple started teaching dance in the mid-Hudson Valley in 2004, concentrating on  “every style of dance we could find, from Argentine and American tango to zydeco to West Coast swing.”

He’s competed in some dance contests and taken home prizes, so you will be learning from a couple of pros. For more information about the other dance classes they teach in the area, visit www.got2lindy.com.

 Maybe rather than looking back, you’d rather keep up with the innovative dance forms of our times. Zumba, of course, is the new craze, and is offered at area fitness centers and the YMCA of Ulster County as well as at Cornell Street Studios (on Wednesday nights) and the Center for Creative Education (CCE). But if you’d like to really hook into youth culture and learn those seemingly impossible hip-hop moves you see performed by kids in the New York City subway, CCE has an adult hip-hop class that promises to unlock the mystery—and really get you into shape.

Drew teaching break dancing for boys at CCE

Located at 20 Thomas Street, CCE is known for its youth performance ensembles. The Energy Dance Company is not just locally renowned for its fast-paced hip-hop, reggae and Latin moves, but has also performed out of state, including the International Youth Music Festival in Germany last summer. The Percussion Orchestra of Kingston, or POOK, has since its founding 12 years ago involved over 100 young drummers.

Besides its music classes, CCE has an extensive program of dance programs. For adults, besides the aforementioned Zumba and hip hop, it offers beginner salsa and meringue on Monday nights and a West Coast swing dance workshop on Thursdays at 7 pm. For kids, it teaches break dancing for boys, break dancing and hip-hop for boys and girls, hip-hop for older kids (age 11 and up), and a dance class for tots and children up to age 5. The cost is $10 per class, or $50 a month, which includes all classes.

 With so many dance classes to choose from, there’s no excuse not to get out and start getting with the rhythm!    —Lynn Woods

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New Kingston Media Factory

January 11th, 2011

Mean Girls-January 9th performance

On Sunday night, the normally deserted corner of Greenkill Avenue and Sterling Street was the site of a major parking jam. The 75-car lot adjoining the factory building at 5 Sterling Street was full, and cars jostled for position on Sterling. The event was Castaway Players’ performance of Mean Girls, Sean Matthew Whiteford’s workshop production of a musical about the new girl at school. Inside, on a stage at one end of a large loft space furnished with 130 chairs, dozens of talented performers, including Whiteford as an over-the-top gay student, belted out songs with such zest they seemed destined for Broadway (the one in Manhattan, that is). It was produced by Stella May Productions, a new company founded by Lou Spina (former tenant at the Seven21 Media Center) and Stephen Tenner. The two men recently transformed the first-floor loft into their two-stage performance space (one a smaller venue envisioned as a café-style space).

The show was an upbeat introduction to one of the latest redevelopment efforts in Kingston, the remaking of a former brush factory into the Kingston Media Factory. The 48,000-square-foot structure, one of a triad of industrial buildings owned by Mike Piazza—the others are the Shirt Factory and a former pajama factory, located a block away on Greenkill—currently has 12 tenants: besides Stella May, which also occupies an office on the third floor, they include Hutchings Photography, which produces children’s books and photographic illustrations for textbooks; Angel Textiles, a textile design broker; Duet Woodworking; Blackcreek Mercantile and Trading, a company that makes wood-turned bowls; Medrex, a record storage facility; Kaas Poort, a Dutch musician, who lives with his wife on Fair Street; a sculptor; a Chronogram employee; and an insurance-related management company.

Several of these companies, including Hutchings Photography and Angel Textiles, moved to Kingston from metropolitan New York within recent months. Though the neighborhood is still a bit rough—located across from the railroad tracks, 5 Sterling Street is rich with the poetic evocations of the industrial past–the building has fabulous proportions and space. The top floor is lined with skylights and has a unique mezzanine, which Piazza has divided into seven units. Another attractive feature is the community vibe within the building. It has a synergistic aspect. For example, Jacob Hutchings, son of Amy and Richard, who own Hutchings Photography, does the head shots for Stella May Productions, charging half of what he’d charge in the city.

While Piazza gets a lot of calls from the city, word of mouth accounts for most of his new tenants. He’s currently in discussions with a sound business for the Media Factory as well as an art supply retailer for the Shirt Factory (which is currently 75 percent occupied). He said he works closely with his tenants in order to come up with a plan that will help them flourish. “With start-up companies and entrepreneurs, you need to develop a relationship,” he said.

Amy Hutchings said she and her husband and son moved their business to the Media Factory from New Rochelle, where they’ve maintained a studio for 25 years, a month ago. They live in Rhinebeck and moved upstate because they wanted to be closer to home. The Hutchings’ photographs were featured in Spina’s Art on the Line show last fall.

“Kingston seems like a great opportunity for us,” she said, noting that the company has  already begun using local school children as models for a high school physics text book being shot for McGraw-Hill. (In New Rochelle, the company photographed approximately 5,000 kids, who were paid a modest fee.) “This is much more affordable for our clients who aren’t commercial,” she said. “Our rent is less, and the resources are so exciting. Mike is a real visionary and a real supporter of the arts.”

Hutchings said she’s been inspired by her new environs to work on a proposal for books on a beekeeper and a dairy farm. She’s also close by her other two sons, whose company, BCDF Pictures, is based in Kerhonkson.  (A recent project was the film Art of Love, which was written by one son; the other wrote the music.)

Will Smith at the Stella May Theatre

Meanwhile, Spina, who moved in three months ago, has been working hard on fixing up the performance space. On the roster for January 21 is the Will Smith Trio, the first of what Spina hopes are many jazz gigs. On January 22 Stella May Productions will be coproducing Knockout, a play about how boxing manager Cus D’Amata fought the mob by Tenner, who is a Catskill-based playwright. Later in the year Stella May Productions will host the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice, bringing opera to Kingston. Spina is committed to keeping ticket prices affordable (Mean Girls was $15 in advance, $20 at the door).

From his third-floor office, Spina also runs Second Chance 4 Me, which produces videos, commercials, and films and operates a media lab with classes on digital art and other computer technologies as well as a job development center.

 “People are moving here from all over the country,” Piazza said. “They look at the logistics and the expense, the distances between Manhattan and Albany, the quality of life, the affordability and accessibility…Kingston will come into its own.  In the next three years people will look back and say, ‘I always knew this would happen.’”

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UPAC: The Show Goes on in Midtown

November 30th, 2010

Since it re-opened four years ago under Bardavon ownership, after a $2 million investment, the Ulster Performing Arts Center has been injecting new life into Midtown. Its sold-out performances are bringing thousands of people to Kingston, boosting the local economy and introducing folks who otherwise would never have visited to the city’s charms. UPAC is proof that a well-run operation with excellent programming can thrive in the city—even in a struggling neighborhood.

Four years ago, the Poughkeepsie-based Bardavon took over the Ulster Performing Arts Center, transforming the dying vintage theater into a vibrant performing venue for top acts. UPAC has been a big success, its shows bringing thousands of people into Midtown, who patronize the city’s restaurants and gas stations. Each year just gets better and better, according to Chris Silva, who as executive director for the Bardavon also oversees UPAC. “Last year was an extraordinarily strong year. It generally takes three years to turn a business around, and I feel we have done that.”

At the same time, Silva said for the first time this past fall, there was a slight falloff in ticket sales, which he attributes to the lousy economy. “People are being more careful,” he said. Despite the general downward trend, some acts still sell out, regardless of ticket prices. Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, and Jackson Brown, for example, each sold out in a few days, despite ticket prices of $75 or more. “The higher priced tickets are often the first to go,” Silva said. And because UPAC has 600 more seats than the Bardavon—total capacity is 1,500 seats–“it’s the one place we can make money. UPAC has given us the ability to book huge names, which would be too expensive for the Bardavon.”

Silva said that the upcoming acts of Cyndi Lauper, Loretta Lynn, Ron White, and Garrison Keillor are all selling strongly—though the shows are still months away. UPAC has also presented such stellar names in the classical music world as Itzhak Pearlman and Yo-Yo Ma; he expects Ma to return in 2012. UPAC also features performances by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic (which the Bardavon also owns), and it does extensive children’s programming, which brings dozens of school groups from the surrounding area to Kingston.

Three years ago, after obtaining grant money from Assemblyman Kevin Cahill that funded a new projector and updating of its screen and sound system, UPAC began showing movies. Silva said the accounting firm of Kevin and Brian Ginty sponsor the films, and the Daily Freeman provides free advertising. The movie showings are starting to attract more people. People who arrive in a costume themed to the film get in free. “We had 40 zombies when we showed Night of the Living Dead,” Silva said. “It was a blast.” Commenting on the admission policy, Silva noted that “we like to see a little effort, although we’re pretty liberal.” One zombie who simply had an ax wedged in his head got in free. Coming up this month is Princess Bride, with pirates and princesses getting in free.

UPAC has also been showing live broadcasts of Metropolitan Opera productions (of the Bardavon’s 12 Met broadcasts this year, five were at UPAC.) The showings have been a big success. Tickets are a fraction of the cost of an orchestra-seat opera ticket–$23 to $16; the lower prices are for seniors and kids 16 and under. Silva said the broadcasts enable people to experience a top production at close range, plus go backstage with the singers between acts.

New this spring will be a program for seniors, Crazy about Patsy, presented in April, featuring a talented and witty impersonator of Patsy Kline (the show sold out last year at the Bardavon). Silva said UPAC will probably follow up with another senior-targeted show in the fall.

One challenge is the theater’s creaky ac and heating systems, which date from the 1920s. Because of the risk of an in-show breakdown—it’s happened a couple of times in four years—UPAC is closed during the hottest months of July and August. Repairing the broken-down system is expensive, with each fix costing approximately $21,000. Silva said he’s resigned to coping with the old system for now, since it would cost approximately $3 million to replace the aging infrastructure—an investment that would enable the theater to be open year round. However, Silva said the money simply isn’t available right now.

Silva said many local businesses support UPAC, including most of the financial institutions; Stewart’s and the Klock Foundation, which is based in Albany, have also donated generously. However, the lack of large, well-endowed foundations on this side of the river perhaps explains why the Bardavon got a new ac/heating systems, at a cost of $1 million, and UPAC hasn’t. The Dyson Foundation is the one of the few “that cross the river. We never could have taken over UPAC without its support.”

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Kingston Businesses Turn On to Art

November 2nd, 2010

The Art Uptown

The Kingston office of Coldwell Banker Village Green, located at 268 Fair Street, not only shows art, it also participates in the First Saturday gallery walk. The business is a member of the Arts Society of Kingston, and owner Joan Lonergan, who also shows art at Coldwell Banker Village Green’s Woodstock, New Paltz and Windham offices, even hands out an award each year to each location’s volunteer curator (who is agent Sara Gorman in Kingston).

Art in Coldwell Banker Village GreenTurns out Lonergan’s commitment to art is no afterthought: she earned a B.F.A. in pottery and painting, later attended the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, and worked as a graphic designer before starting her real estate business in 1990. Shortly after opening her first location, which was in Woodstock, Lonergan started showing local artists as a community service. Lonergan said the Kingston gallery-cum-office “is a venue that’s always open,” with passers by welcome to come in and take a look. The business does set criteria on the art it shows, excluding works that contain nudity, heavy religious symbolism, and morbid or depressing imagery. Artists also have to meet a certain standard of professionalism, with their work attractively framed.

Art in Coldwell Banker Village GreenThe business doesn’t take a commission; all that’s required of artists is that they spackle over any holes left in the wall. Currently the Kingston realty office is showing the colorful figurative paintings of Laura Shelley. Lonergan said she’s often bought a painting from the exhibitions, including an oil by local fauve painter Todd Samara. She also participates herself on occasion: currently, Lonergan’s photos from a recent trip to Japan are on display at the Woodstock office.

“I love the idea of having the walls continually change, so you don’t get bored,” said Lonergan. “When people come to the opening, it’s like inviting them into your living room. Anyone is welcome to come in and look at the pictures.” An added benefit is that a walk-in just might be a future customer; it never hurts to let people know you are there.  Showing art is “good for everybody”—the artists, community, employees, and business owner, Lonergan concluded.

Up the street and around the corner from Coldwell Banker Village Green, on North Front Street, Half Moon Books has also served as a gallery venue in Uptown, participating in the First Saturday gallery openings. Last month, the shop showed the representational works of Sasha Finlay, a combination of fantasies and landscapes; this month it will show paintings by David Hecht.

Art on the WallA few doors away, Oderkirk has been showing art in his vacant storefront for several months. Architect Brad Will, who owns the Wall Street building where Hudson Coffee Traders cafe is located and has been displaying art in his Art on the Wall gallery space–the rotunda area in the back that serves as the café seating area–for years, is organizing the displays, drawing from the inventory he and his mother, a resident of Kingston and retired art teacher, have accumulated. Oderkirk said the art displays in the storefront are changed regularly, to keep things fresh.

Art at Win Morrison

Win Morrison Realty, at 54 John Street, also shows art, generally displaying a different artist each month. Agent Frey Johnson curates the shows, and the business doesn’t take a commission. “It brings people in and establishes a friendly relationship with the community,” noted owner Win Morrison. “I’ll do whatever I can to bring culture to Kingston.” Currently on display are paintings of nudes by Nicholas Marsicano, who died in 1991; the well-regarded painter was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation and traveled in Europe and North Africa in the 1930s. He taught at Cooper Union, Yale University, and a host of other top art schools before retiring in 1990.

Downtown Also into Art

The brick walls at Dolce café, at 27 Broadway, are hung with the paintings of resident Todd Samara, including some large, monumental works that stunningly translate the familiar Rondout urbanscape into a poetic realm of orange skies, blue nights and gabled buildings infused with mystery. Samara is surely our resident poet, and his works are eagerly sought after by many in the community. Up the block, the At Home Antiques at 81 Broadway Antique Store and Gallery is expanding into a small artist collective giving spaces to artists to show their work. For the month of November Sadee Brathwaite will be showing her there.

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Push for 323 Wall Street Highlights Performing Arts

September 28th, 2010

Backstage Productions, the performance space at 323 Wall Street whose events have been a highlight of Uptown nightlife for the past decade, has taken on new energy. Owner Teri Rossin, who purchased the 1872 building, which houses a former theater, more than a decade ago, has strived to establish a thriving performing arts center in the space, and her inviting of Sevan Melikyan last month to manage BSP’s production company, 323 Wall Street, is a huge step in that direction.

“My initial goal is to keep this building open for all kinds of use,” said Melikyan, who has put up a comprehensive website of all upcoming events and related initiatives, www.323wallstreet.com. An Armenian who was born in Turkey, Melikyan was a theatre rep in Manhattan before becoming marketing director for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition series in Fort Worth, prior to moving to the mid Hudson Valley with his wife and son. As a musician himself—he plays piano and drums—Melikyan is sensitive to the needs and requirements of performers, and he is active on numerous fronts promoting the space’s multiple facilities:

  • The New York-certified sound stage (meaning a production utilizing the space would receive a 30 percent rebate from the state), which he hopes to rent out to film and TV productions companies comprising the region’s fledgling film industry;
  • The second-floor dance studio. Classes for both kids and adults, held six days a week, recently started up in the space, led by dancer/choreographer Erin Parsch;
  • The 25,000-square-foot theater with its original 19th-century proscenium.  Melikyan said he’s talking to promoters to get live pop and touring acts into the space. Two advantages are its proximity to the Thruway and the lower rental rates, compared to venues in Albany or New York. “I’m contacting people who specialize in these tours and see if their acts could stop by here on a week day.”  The space is also suitable for benefits and larger private events. The Woodstock Film Festival is having its Maverick Award in there this Saturday.
  • The front-room bar and performing space, a perfect venue for private events, corporate events such as mixers and upcoming Holidays parties, open mics (one is scheduled this Thursday, at 8 pm), live music by small bands, and events sponsored by various community groups. Bands performing as part of the O+ Festival on Oct. 9 and 10 will play here, followed by a jazz concert on Oct. 19 and a Halloween bash on Oct. 30.

Melikyan said he hopes to book theater companies and events for children in the space, as well as host art exhibitions. He would also like to present concerts of classical music and has put the word out that he’s looking to obtain a baby grand piano, which would make this possible. If you know of one—or are interested in making a donation–please contact him.

“The potential to bring in hundreds of people is great,” he said. “I feel a tremendous responsibility in succeeding in this neighborhood.”  Clearly, Uptown has the facilities, talent, and ideas needed to thrive.

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