Haines Falls - Kaaterskill Falls hiking/biking path

This article appeared in the Greene County Daily Mail on November 26, 2010.

Poet's Walk Park

Country Road 103 run north-south on the Dutchess County side of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, intersecting State Route 199 (between Route 9G and the River Hudson). Turning north from 199, up half a mile, sits the Poet's Walk Park. Said to have inspired Washington Irving, it is a lovely spot even in the throes of late autumn.

Ongoing CPOA grounds rehabilitation

Steel beams were back in place, and planking was being added, to make a temporary foot bridge.

Little by little, progress being made in rehabilitating the grounds.

Dining Out: Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia

An article appearing in the 12 November 2010 issue of the Times Herald-Record discusses our favorite and renown local eatery. Its subtitle sums it all up: Order a stack of bliss at this Ulster treasure

Watershed coalition reaches land agreement with NYC

From the Daily Freeman.

Hiking Diamond Notch

Off Route 214, in Lanesville

Onteora Lake and trail

In West Hurley, along Route 28 (just before the Hobo Deli area), there is a New York State DEC site, Onteora Lake: aside from the lake, there is a hiking trail.

October 18 pictures of CPOA grounds

Finally, later on Saturday the 16th, Jerry Ciacciera managed  to start, and move, his truck:

The Phoenicia Times

As Janis Chron wrote in her email of Friday 15 October, a column appeared in the New York Times edition of  Wednesday 13 October, written by Peter Applebome, about the demise of the Phoenicia Times (and of the Olive Press).


There’s often something appropriately operatic about a newspaper’s farewell, but as far as group hugs go, it would be hard to beat the one that accompanied the final edition last week of The Phoenicia Times, with its memorable slogan, “Covering the Town of Shandaken, Wild Heart of the Catskills’ High Peaks.” 

There were farewell columns by the food columnist, the hiking columnist, the farming columnist and most of the paper’s regular voices. There were heartfelt farewells from readers (“Loss does not describe it. I see it as creating a very bleak vacuum”). And there was a quite lovely front-page obituary, with its reference to long-dead Catskill papers: The Hancock True Flag, The Pine Hill Sentinel, The Star of Delaware.

“When newspapers die, there’s no headstone to mark their passing. But I’d like to imagine that somewhere in the Catskill Mountains, in a clearing on a hillside ringed with a crumbling stone wall, there’s a little plot where mourning readers can pay their respects.”

What was most interesting about the tribute was its provenance. It began as a post on a relatively new Catskill Web site, The Watershed Post, and it was written by the site’s editor, Lissa Harris.

Tanbark Trail, Phoenicia

Behind the Phoenicia Post Office, inside of the Phoenicia Park, in the back, there is an access to the Tanbark Trail. A group of volunteers have carved out a mountain-side trail that is somewhat over 2 miles long, something strenuous at intervals, and a fun hike with some incredible views. We were there on a beautiful autumn day. Some of our views:

A young hiker with, Inchie, a friend on his hand.

A view from the Phoenicia Overlook.

Route 28, headed east from Phoenicia.

Far off in the distance, the Shawangunk Mountains.

October 10 & 11 pictures of CPOA grounds

Additional October 1 flood pictures

Lee Wecker and John Boudreau sent along pictures of the flood damage, including this near-miss to their house:

The Ostrander Bridge collapsed into Stoney Clove Creek, alas.

DELUGE!

Story in the Daily Freeman reporting on the flood; includes photos and videos.

Flood Damage Reporting for FEMA

The Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County sent along this posting.

October 1 flood - Chichester photos

Amy and Len Lerner sent these photos along:

(above) Looking down from the Stoney Clove Lane Bridge.

Stoney Clove Creek seen from the Lerner estate.

Remains of the Ostrander Bridge leading from Route 214 to the community house.

Our intrepid reporter on the job.

October 1 flood article

This e-article in the Kingston Daily Freeman includes photos and videos on the flooding in Phoenicia and damage to Route 214.

Rt. 23A study reveals development strategy

This article appeared in the Green County Daily Mail. A two-year long look at how to best prepare the Route 23A corridor through the Town of Hunter for future development was unveiled at a workshop for community and public officials at Hunter Mt.’s Kaatskill Mountain Club.

Leaf-Peeping and Time Travel

A New York Times article on train rides and viewing autumn foliage includes a bit on the Catskill Mountain Railroad. An accompanying slideshow includes pictures of the railroad and views along the Esopus.

Labor Day 2010

Blast from the past

Found these pictures in my archives

Last night at the Lobster

O'Nan, Stewart. (2007). Last night at the lobster. New York: Viking.

Book discussion, CPOA clubhouse.

Cowgirl

Holly George-Warren read excerpts from her new book, The cowgirl way : hats off to America's women of the West (2010). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Robert Burke Warren serenaded us with cowgirl (and cowboy) songs, including Dale Evans's Happy Trails to You.

Après le déluge

Rain began falling on Sunday at 6am, and kept raining all day long. All that water, and it was much; how much? this much:

wrought many changes with the volume of water and the subsequent modification in its course and speed. Our beautiful swimming hole is now inundated.

By one measurement, 6.14 inches of rain fell in Phoenicia. Our home-made measurement was 8 inches of rain. If one inch of rain equals one foot of snow ...

Phoenicia voice to be annual event

This article that appeared in the Daily Freeman, on 17 August 2010. Click here to see entire article.

PHOENICIA — The first Festival of the Voice in Phoenicia this past weekend proved to be such a success that organizers plan to make it an annual event. Audiences for the main stage productions were several hundred each. At the smaller inside venues, events were sold out to the point that, after packing as many people as could fit, some ticket holders were given refunds and an apology. After being turned away, some stood outside and listened through open windows to catch some of the experience. For a three days starting last Friday, Phoenicia was converted into a haven for lovers of music, voice and stage.

Hanging out with the boys

After the tubing ends, the Esopus rambles on its way to, eventually, the Ashokan Reservoir. West of Route 212, east of Phoenicia, it meanders along. A small byway, Mount Pleasant Road, begins by the Antiques sign (at the east end of Emerson), Turn left if approaching from Phoenicia, or right if approaching from 212. Immediately after, there is an angler's parking area. Leave the car, and go ahead. No, that is not Stonehenge, just a whimsical collection of rock sculptures. On Monday, we took a walk along this stretch of the Esopus.

Mosque-Erade

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mosque-Erade
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Chichester writers

3 Chichesterites, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Roni Natov and Linda Meyers, graced us with reading samples of their writings. For the meaning of the Queen Anne's Lace, ask Professor Natov.

Grahamsville Fair Horse Pull

A few of us went to the Little World's Fair in Neversink Township, Sullivan County. We went to see Randy O and Randy J in the Horse Pull event.

Despite having had his leg injured, Randy J soldiered on

Progressive Dinner 2010

Bagel Breakfast 2010

It simply never gets old, and one must never get complacent: this year's Renowned Bagel Breakfast was better than ever (did you notice the leaf-shaped dishes used to serve olives?).

Sing along with Mitch

Mitch Miller, an influential record producer who became a hugely popular recording artist and an unlikely television star a half century ago by leading a choral group in familiar old songs and inviting people to sing along, died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 99. His daughter Margaret Miller Reuther confirmed the death Monday morning, saying her father had died after a short illness at Lenox Hill Hospital. Mr. Miller lived in Manhattan.

Louis Nemeth - Mitch Miller and Louis Armstrong in New York’s Central Park in the 1950s.

{Dig the white socks on Satch}

Mr. Miller, a Rochester native who was born on the Fourth of July, had been an accomplished oboist and was still a force in the recording industry when he came up with the idea of recording old standards with a chorus of some two dozen male voices and printing the lyrics on album covers. The “Sing Along With Mitch” album series, which began in 1958, was an immense success, finding an eager audience among older listeners looking for an alternative to rock ’n’ roll. Mitch Miller and the Gang serenaded them with chestnuts like “Home on the Range,” “That Old Gang of Mine,” “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” and “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”

Miller played on at least one Parker with Strings session, playing his oboe. Indeed, found links thereto: All About Jazz, which includes a photo I recognize: Miller stands to Bird's left, Buddy Rich is on drums, Ray Brown on bass; a blog post in the Charlotte Observer, which includes a link to a YouTube video of Parker Strings doing "Laura" - which is audio with accompanying photos; the ever-present Wikipedia link; and so on.

When the concept was adapted for television in 1961, with the lyrics appearing at the bottom of the screen, Mr. Miller, with his beaming smile and neatly trimmed mustache and goatee, became a national celebrity. By then he had established himself as a hit maker for Columbia Records and a career shaper for singers like Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Patti Page and Frankie Laine. First at Mercury Records and then at Columbia, he helped define American popular music in the postwar, pre-rock era, carefully matching singers with songs and choosing often unorthodox but almost always catchy instrumental accompaniment. Mr. Bennett’s career took off after Mr. Miller persuaded him to record the ballad “Because of You,” backing him with a lush orchestral arrangement by Percy Faith. It reached No. 1 on the pop charts in 1951.


 NBC, via Photofest - Mr. Miller conducting “Sing Along With Mitch” on NBC in the 1960s

 Ms. Clooney was making a mere $50 a recording session when Mr. Miller asked her to record “Come On-a My House,” an oddity based on an Armenian folk melody written by the playwright and novelist William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian, who later went on to create Alvin and the Chipmunks. Ms. Clooney was dubious. “I damn near fell on the floor,” she recalled. They had a heated argument. But in the end Ms. Clooney agreed to record the song, and it became a giant hit, establishing her as a major artist. “Nothing happened to me until I met Mitch,” she later said.

By the end of the 1950s Mr. Miller’s eye and ear for talent and songs had been critical in making Columbia the top-selling record company in the nation. Mr. Miller was the Midas of novelty music, storming the charts with records like Jimmy Boyd’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and providing singers with unusual instrumental backing: a harpsichord for Ms. Clooney, French horns for Guy Mitchell. One of his earliest hits, “Mule Train,” was recorded by the muscular-voiced Frankie Laine with three electric guitars, and Mr. Miller himself using a wood block to simulate the snapping of a whip.

Mr. Miller was a studio innovator. Along with the guitarist Les Paul and a few others, he helped pioneer overdubbing, the technique by which different tracks are laid over one another to produce a richer effect; he employed it memorably with Ms. Page, whose close-harmony “duets” with herself became her signature. He also achieved what he called a sonic “halo” on numerous recordings by the use of what came to be called an echo chamber — actually an effect an engineer produced by placing a speaker and a microphone in a tiled restroom.

One Miller specialty was developing crossovers from country to pop. He had particular success with Hank Williams’s songs: he transformed “Hey, Good Lookin’ ” into a hit for Mr. Laine and Jo Stafford and did the same for Mr. Bennett (“Cold, Cold Heart”), Ms. Clooney (“Half as Much”) and Ms. Stafford on her own (“Jambalaya”). His touch was not always sure. When he had bagpipes accompany Dinah Shore on a song called “Scottish Samba” the result was, in Mr. Miller’s own words, “a dog.” And probably the nadir of Frank Sinatra’s recording career came after Mr. Miller left Mercury and took over pop production at Columbia in 1950.

Slide Show

Singing Along With Mitch Miller

Sinatra complained that Mr. Miller forced him to record inferior material like “Bim Bam Baby,” “Tennessee Newsboy” and, perhaps most notoriously, “Mama Will Bark,” a 1951 novelty duet with the television personality Dagmar that included dog imitations. Sinatra even sent a telegram to a Congressional subcommittee complaining that Mr. Miller had denied him “freedom of selection.” (Sinatra did sometimes veto Mr. Miller’s song choices. When he refused to record “The Roving Kind” and “My Heart Cries for You,” Mr. Miller replaced him in the studio with a young singer named Guy Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell’s versions of both those songs became hits and made him a star.)



In 1960 his singalong concept was given a one-time television test on NBC. The response was so favorable that “Sing Along With Mitch” became a mainstay of family television, running — every other week at first, then weekly — from 1961 to 1964, then returning in reruns in the summer of 1966. Viewers were encouraged to sing along and instructed to “follow the bouncing ball” — a large dot that bounced from word to word as the lyrics were superimposed on the screen. Among the singers featured, in addition to the male chorus, was a young Leslie Uggams.

Her I remember, clearly, as well as that bouncing ball.

The ratings were good, but the critics were mostly unimpressed. Brooks Atkinson, writing in The New York Times, suggested in 1962 that “Sing Along With Mitch” might best be viewed with the sound turned off. Even at the singalongs’ height, many Americans considered them hopelessly corny. That sense only intensified as a younger generation came of age in the 1960s and musical tastes changed. There were news reports that shopping malls had begun piping Mitch Miller music on their sound systems as a way to discourage teenagers from congregating. Years later, in 1993, when David Koresh and members of his Branch Davidian cult were holed up in their compound in Waco, Tex., F.B.I. agents tried to flush them out by blasting “Sing Along With Mitch” Christmas carols.

By the time Mr. Miller’s television show left the air, his era of popular music had largely ended with the emergence of rock. He was sympathetic to blues and folk music and had one of his biggest hits in 1951 with Johnnie Ray’s “Cry,” a histrionic performance often cited as a rock ’n’ roll precursor. He had also tried to sign Elvis Presley for Columbia before being outbid by RCA. But he turned down an opportunity to sign Buddy Holly, and he was outspoken in his dislike of rock ’n’ roll in general. “It’s not music,” he was quoted as saying, “it’s a disease.” When Bob Dylan, soon to become one of rock’s most influential artists, joined the Columbia roster in 1961, it was not Mr. Miller but another label executive, John Hammond, who signed him.

Mr. Miller told Audio magazine in 1985 that his opposition to rock ’n’ roll had been based more on principle than on taste. The so-called payola scandal, in which record companies were found to have paid disc jockeys to play rock ’n’ roll records, had dismayed him, he said. He also complained about “British-accented youths ripping off black American artists and, because they’re white, being accepted by the American audience” — although that hardly explained his opposition to rock ’n’ roll in the ’50s, a decade before the advent of the Beatles and other British bands.

His wife of 65 years, the former Frances Alexander, died in 2000. In addition to his daughter Ms. Miller Reuther, Mr. Miller is survived by another daughter, Andrea Miller; a son, Mitchell; two brothers, Leon and Joseph; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mitchell William Miller was born on July 4, 1911, in Rochester, one of five children of Abram Calmen Miller, an immigrant from Russia and a wrought-iron worker, and Hinda Rosenblum Miller, a former seamstress.

Mr. Miller’s own musical career began with the oboe. The composer Virgil Thomson called him “an absolutely first-rate oboist — one of the two or three great ones at that time in the world.” He took up the oboe almost by chance. Seeking to join the orchestra at Washington Junior High School in Rochester, he showed up late for the tryouts and found it was the only one of the instruments, offered free to students, that had not been claimed. By the age of 15 Mr. Miller was playing with the Syracuse Symphony. After high school he went to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, graduating cum laude in 1932.

He played with the Rochester Philharmonic and then made his way to New York City, where he played oboe for a season under David Mannes in concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He later got a job with the CBS Symphony, performing with it during the notorious Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast in 1938. He also played in orchestras under Andre Kostelanetz and Percy Faith and performed in another that accompanied George Gershwin on a concert tour as a pianist. When Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” opened on Broadway in 1935, Mr. Miller was in the pit orchestra. He continued to play the oboe after he became a record producer, most notably on the recordings the great jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker made with a string orchestra.

Great saxophonist, indeed.

Mr. Miller went to work for Mercury Records in the late ’40s, initially as a producer of classical music and then as head of artists and repertory in the pop division. In 1950, at the invitation of a former Eastman classmate, Goddard Lieberson, executive vice president of Columbia Records, he took the equivalent position there. In the early 1950s he was also musical director of Little Golden Records, which made widely popular recordings for children.

After rock came to dominate the record business and the singalong craze ran its course, Mr. Miller left Columbia and ventured into the Broadway theater, with limited success. He produced “Here’s Where I Belong,” a 1968 musical based on John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden,” which closed after one performance. He was later involved in the production of several other Broadway shows, few of them hits. In the 1980s and ’90s he was a frequent guest conductor of symphony orchestras.

“What pleased me the most,” he said in an interview with The Times in 1981, “was a fellow who came up to me after a concert in Chicago and said, ‘You know, there’s nobody in this whole country who hasn’t been touched by your music in some way.’


“That really made me feel good.”

Correction: August 2, 2010: An earlier version of this obituary misstated the number of years Mr. Miller was married to his wife. It was 65 years, not 74.

August 2, 2010 - Mitch Miller, Maestro of the Singalong, Dies at 99

By RICHARD SEVERO

Great blue heron

Saw one flying gracefully over Stoney Clove Creek this morning, around 9 (the one I saw was heading down toward Phoenicia, right to left).

Outliers

Book discussion at the CPOA Community House, 10am.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: the story of success. (2008). New York: Little, Brown and Co.

Dewey Decimal number: 302 G

300 – Social sciences
302 Social interaction


The book is divided into two parts; in turn, each part is subdivided into chapters:


I. Opportunity

1. Matthew Effect
2. 10,000-hour rule
3. Trouble with geniuses, part 1
4. Trouble with geniuses, part 2
5. Three lessons of Joe Flom

II. Legacy

6. Harlan, Kentucky
7. Ethnic theory of plane crashes
8. Rice paddies and math tests
9. Marita's bargain

An Epilogue follows: a Jamaican story.

Several points of interest are raised; these are some of the hyperlinks that lead to some of these points:

Eli Wald. Legal Ethics and Legal Profession. Charles W. Delaney Jr. Associate Professor of Law. University of Denver. Gladwell cites Professor Wald's work in discussing Jewish law firms (in chapter 5). One of the professor's publications is The Rise and Fall of the WASP and Jewish Law Firms, 60 Stan. L. Rev. 1803 (2008). A companion paper by Professor Wald is: The Rise of the Jewish Law Firm or is the Jewish Law Firm Generic.

Reference is made to: Howe, Michael. Genius explained. (1999). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Harold C. Schoenberg is quoted as saying that "Mozart developed late."

Geert Hofstede's work on cultural dimensions is cited.

Concepts and programs:
TIMSS (http://nces.ed.gov/timss/) - Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
KIPP - KIPP: Knowledge Is Power Program

Other books mentioned:

Auchincloss, Louis. (2003). The scarlet letters. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Skadden.
Caplan, Lincoln. (2003). Skadden: power, money, and the rise of a legal empire. New York : Farrar Straus Giroux.




Googling certain terms and scouring the daily media produced other results:

Perfection in the Horseshoe Pit: an article in the New York Times directly relevant to Gladwell's thesis of 10,000 hours of practice.

Malcom Gladwell's new book Outliers The Story of Success: a blog post at Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips.

And a good time was had by all

John Zirinsky's Birthday party, Saturday, 17 July 2010

Crickets, Bonfires And Dance Alfresco

An article in today's edition of the New York Times is about, among other topics, the Mt. Tremper Arts Festival.

Mathew Pokoik -The Mount Tremper Arts Festival is a summertime dance destination in the Catskills where cellphones aren’t much use. 

MOUNT TREMPER ARTS FESTIVAL Through Aug. 15; (845) 688-9893, mounttremperarts.org; all events, $15.
HOMER AND LANGLEY’S MYSTERY SPOT ANTIQUES 72 Main Street, Phoenicia, N.Y.; (845) 688-7868, lauralevine.com/mystery-spot.
KAATERSKILL FALLS TRAIL localhikes.com, search for “Kaaterskill Falls.”
SWEET SUE’S 49 Main Street, Phoenicia, N.Y.; (845) 688-7852.

JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL Through Aug. 29, 358 George Carter Road, Becket, Mass.; (413) 243-0745, jacobspillow.org; $10-$68 and more than 200 free events.

APPLETON HOUSE BED & BREAKFAST 455 Chapel Street, Lee, Mass.; (413) 243-9093, appletonhouse.com.

BECKET LAND TRUST HISTORIC QUARRY AND FOREST Hikes and more, 456 Quarry Road, Becket, Mass; (413) 623-2100, becketlandtrust.org.

DREAM AWAY LODGE 1342 County Road, Becket, Mass. Web site has driving directions; (413) 623-8725, thedreamawaylodge.com.

FANCYPANTS CONSIGNMENT CAFÉ 28 Park Street, Lee, Mass.; (413) 243-0011.

CITY BALLET Through Saturday, Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, 108 Avenue of the Pines, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; (518) 584-9330, spac.org; $18-$72.50.
DOCKSIDE LANDING Boat rentals, 47 Canada Street, Lake George, N.Y.; (518) 668-4300, lakegeorgeboats.com.
RERUNS CONSIGNMENT SHOP 1 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; (518) 583-9153.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times - Samantha Taylor serving brunch at Sweet Sue’s in Phoenicia, N.Y., a popular spot near the Mount Tremper Arts Festival.

July 4 BBQ & Dance

early July