|
|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » Life in Sullivan County (RSS)
Sorry, but there are no more tags available to filter with.
-
We weren't quite sure what to expect. We were familiar with the 200-seat Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg, and we were pretty sure that it couldn't really accomodate an opera. The stage is quite small and there isn't even an orchestra pit. What's more, the tickets for the Delaware Valley Opera 's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni — a tragicomical chronicle of the last few days of archetypal sexual compulsive Don Juan — were only $25 a seat, which seemed frighteningly low for a three-hour opera with eight solo roles, chorus, and orchestra. Yesterday afternoon we discovered how it's done: The small Delaware Valley Chamber Orchestra — two violins, viola, cello, bass, French horn, bassoon, clarinet, oboe, flute, and timpani — occupied the space between the stage and the first row of center seats. DVO Director Jim Blanton conducted from behind a synthesizer set to a harpsichord program for the recitativi. The sets were minimal but otherwise it was complete authentic Read More...
|
-
About a month ago I complained about the dismal and insulting program offered by the New York Philharmonic in their only appearance this summer at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Completely opposite from that travesty is the Shadelee Music Festival — concerts of chamber music in a charming 150-seat pavillion just a few minutes drive from Livingston Manor in northwest Sullivan County. Although the performers may not be well known, the actual music is intelligently selected and quite often well played, and no fireworks are required as enhancements. Often my favorite concerts of chamber music mix the familiar with stuff I've never heard before, and that was true for all three Shandelee Music Festival concerts we attended last week. On Tuesday, cellist Andrey Tchekmazov appeared with pianist Cullan Bryant in a program anchored by the first and last of Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano. The concert began with Beethoven's first cello sonata, Opus 5 Number 1, which (like it's Read More...
|
-
New Yorkers know that the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 didn't actually take place in Woodstock. The concert happened in Bethel in Sullivan County, not far from where Deirdre and I spend our summers. Last year the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts opened on the site of the original Woodstock festival. Bethel Woods is designed as a venue for summer concerts, and in addition to a tedious line-up of geriatric rockers and contemporary snoozers booked for the first year was an appearance by the New York Philharmonic. I was eager to attend until the disappointing program was announced — works of such pure pap that I felt insulted on behalf of everyone in Sullivan County and, indeed, the entire state of New York. I wanted to complain at the time, but I let it go. I had high hopes for the future. There was some talk that Bethel Woods might become a summer home for the New York Philharmonic, and I felt confident that future programs would display just a tad more intelligence. Am I naive Read More...
|
-
Tuesday evening we had dinner at the Rockland House, about two miles north from our house on Route 206. All day Deirdre had been monitoring an approaching storm on weather.com, and we got a seat near the window to watch it if it came. The sky was dark, a few bolts of lightening struck the mountain, the lights occasionally flickered, but the rain just didn't seem to be coming. Soon after we got home, the heavy rain and lightening began — probably more lightening than we've seen since we've been coming here. We sat out on our porch for about an hour watching the show. We only discovered the next morning that the storm had been much worse than what we experienced. Just a couple miles further north beyond the Rockland House, across the Sullivan Country/Delaware County border in Colchester, flash floods as high as eight feet destroyed houses, swept away cars, and killed at least one person. Five more are still missing. A good chunk of Route 206 — a major thoroughfare in these parts Read More...
|
-
No this isn't a blog entry about global warming. It's about how Deirdre and I are spending the summer. Ever since Deirdre bought a little house in the Catskills about 4-1/2 years ago, we've been spending our summers here — pretty much the entire months of June, July, and August. This year we decided to add another couple weeks to the front end of the schedule and make the transition in mid-May. At the time we planned the early transition, I thought I'd have the WPF 3D book finished. The book is taking another month but the decision to transition earlier took on its own momentum and there seemed no way it could be stopped. I was nervous about losing book time. My head was full of rotation transforms and quaternions, and I was afraid that a little distraction would cause me to lose it all. The house is only a 2-hour drive from outside the Lincoln Tunnel, so theoretically we could be much more flexible about where we spend our time. And to a limited extent, we are flexible: During the Read More...
|
-
Why do people who live in New York City eat out at restaurants so often? One major reason is often the size of our kitchens. The kitchen in my apartment is about 5' by 7', stuffed with cabinets, a refrigerator, stove, sink, and modest counter space, leaving a floor area of about 5' by 28". Two people can fit in my kitchen, but it's best if they have an intimate relationship before attempting the feat. So, one of the pleasures of Deirdre's house in the Catskills is the roomy kitchen (although it's probably still pretty small by contemporary suburban standards). As obsessive readers of this blog may recall, I revealed my curiosity about a new technique for baking bread reported in the New York Times . That very same issue of the "Dining In" section also included a vegetarian crepe recipe (with roasted cauliflower, parsnips, and leeks) that intrigued Deirdre. These, we knew, were probably "Roscoe recipes." Shortly after these articles appeared, our friend Sarah emailed to say she was eager Read More...
|
-
Once we leave the Big City to spend the weekend at Deirdre's house in the Catskills, it may seem as if all the cultural opportunities just dry up. This is definitely not so! Last night we saw a wonderful one-person show by our friend Richard Hoehler at the historic and charming Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg. Deirdre has known Richard since her days in the theatre, and she took me to one of his Off Broadway performances a few years ago. Richard writes and performs monologues, often from the perspective of people juggling their blue-collar jobs with personal crises. Many of the monologues performed last night originated in his earlier one-person shows Human Resources and Working Class . In Richard Hoehler: For Real , the stage has been stripped down to a single stool, there are no costume changes, and all the props are in a small wooden box. In last night's performance, Richard introduced each of the five monlogues to discuss its origin and evolution. Richard began with a powerhouse: a man Read More...
|
-
It's August, which means it's the month for state fairs and county fairs, where hard-core city folk like Read More...
|
-
Sullivan County, which hugs the south-western edge of Catskill Park in New York State, is not known for Read More...
|
-
This is our third summer at Deirdre's house in Roscoe, N.Y., a one-traffic light hamlet in the Catskills Read More...
|
|
|
|