[COPY] The Rogovoy Report 7.22.24

From around the corner to around the globe...

Jul 22, 2024

Are You Being a Good Guest?

(New York) - Hospitality, like any cultural activity, is something that we learn. Embarrassingly for me, I did not learn how to do it until I was in college and I made friends with people from the South, who were nice enough to teach me. Don’t show up empty-handed. A sense of occasion is important, but don’t go overboard or you’ll make your guests nervous. Just make it nice. This means something different to everyone, and that’s the whole point. Over the past few years I’ve noticed a shift in the expectations of my house guests, especially around food. Families seem to be traveling with all of their own food, to the extent that the host’s food becomes redundant. Maybe the trend started during the pandemic, when people were avoiding restaurants on the road. Maybe it’s a byproduct of inflation, and people travel with all their groceries to save money. Whatever the cause, unloading one’s coolers into the host’s fridge upon arrival seems to be a new norm.

FASCIST TAKEOVER WATCH:

Pulitzer-winning author Anne Applebaum: ‘Often, for autocrats, the second time in power is worse’ (The Guardian)

Suddenly Trump looks older and more deranged (The Atlantic)

Aristopopulists like JD Vance can offer only empty promises to the working class (The Guardian)

JD Vance once worried Trump was ‘America’s Hitler’. Now his own authoritarian leanings come into view (The Guardian)

Separating fact from fiction in the sensational wake of Trump assassination attempt, by Donald Morrison (Berkshire Eagle)

Trump invites China to invade Taiwan if he returns to office (New York)

One Nation, Under Fist, by Jeff Sharlet (Scenes from a Slow Civil War)

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Maren Hassinger’s outdoor installation at The Campus, in Claverack, N.Y., near Hudson. In a 78,000-square-foot former school building, six New York galleries have combined forces with an 80-plus-artist show. (photo Tony Cenicola/NYT)

Upstate Art Weekend Offered a Year’s Worth of Art in Four Days

(NYT) - The list of official participants in this year’s fifth edition of Upstate Art Weekend, a sprawling festival that embraces nearly every art event or exhibition happening north of New York City, reached 145. It’s a dramatic rise from an informal band of some two dozen arts centers and galleries just four years ago, and it now spans 10 counties in New York State.

That Time Bob Dylan Played Elijah the Prophet in an Underrated Western — And Did a Better Job Than You Might Think

(Forward) by Seth Rogovoy - A new four-DVD box set of Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid makes a strong case for the film — which upon its original released in 1973 was met mostly with criticism and indifference — as a neglected, overlooked masterpiece. It also suggests that Bob Dylan’s minor role in the film, overshadowed by lead performances by Kris Kristofferson as Billy the Kid and James Coburn as Pat Garrett, was more than a mere celebrity cameo. As it turns out, Dylan’s character, who goes by the name of Alias, may well be the central axis upon which the story revolves.

READ MORE:

Back for the second year in a new form, Williamstown Theatre Festival’s cabaret will offer a different show every weekend (Berkshire Eagle)

REVIEW: ‘Comedy of Errors’ is comedy gold at Shakespeare & Company (ATU)

REVIEW: Barrington Stage’s ‘Boeing’ soars toward farcical perfection (ATU)

REVIEW: It takes more than two to tango at Jacob’s Pillow, by Tresca Weinstein (ATU)

REVIEW: At Jacob’s Pillow, Miguel Gutierrez invites the audience to join in grief, and in silliness (Boston Globe)

REVIEW: Concertmaster Nathan Cole makes BSO debut with stunning ‘Scheherazade’ (Boston Globe)

REVIEW: At Tanglewood, Wagner at twilight (Boston Globe)

REVIEW: The Clark brings Guillaume Lethière’s remarkable, singular story to light (Boston Globe)

NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

Keeping the Sound From Shutting Down: Great Barrington Radio Station Raising Funds to Replace Failing Mixing Board

(Berkshire Edge) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - The town’s community radio station, WBCR-lp, seeks financial help from the public to replace a 20-year-old audio-mixing console at the station’s office on 320 Main Street. The station has owned the Wheatstone Professional Audio Radio Mixing Console Board since its launch in 2004. According to acting station manager Asa Steady Hardcastle, the mixing board has reached the end of its functional lifespan. Hardcastle said that the station has had to conduct frequent maintenance on the board for the past five years. The station is now raising funds, $10,500, to purchase an Audioarts Lightning 16 mixing board.

READ MORE:

New Green River Farms occupants want to prove regenerative farming can work in Williamstown — and be profitable, too (Berkshire Eagle)

JWS Art Supplies of Great Barrington to move to former location of Evergreen Fine American Crafts (Berkshire Edge)

Hancock will play host to glampers in 2025 at former site of nudist colony (BEagle)

Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum in Lenox to mark 40th anniversary (Trains)

State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli talks $750K federal earmark for Lenox town hall restoration, economic impact of 2024 tourist season, and more (WAMC)

Williamstown Zoning Board considers Williams College art museum plan (iBerkshires)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

Brandy Distillery Klocke Estate Opens High-End Claverack Property

(ATU) CLAVERACK, N.Y. — Klocke Estate, a new brandy distillery in the rolling hills of Columbia County, officially opened Wednesday, unveiling a 160-acre farm that includes orchards, vineyards and a fine-dining restaurant with panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson Valley. The opening marked the beginning of what CEO and founder of Klocke Estate John Frishkopf described as a world-class culinary and brandy destination with tastings and tours. The culinary program combines the heritage and traditions of brandy-producing regions like Cognac and Calvados with the farm-to-table concept prevalent in the Hudson Valley, said Kristine Danks, Klocke Estate’s general manager of hospitality.

READ MORE:

Hudson boy raising money for veterans - with his mullet (HV360)

Will New York be the first state to pass a mega-warehouse rule? (The River)

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