The Rogovoy Report 1.9.23
From around the corner to around the globe...
REQUIRED READING
How We Learned to Be Lonely
(The Atlantic) - Going from surviving to thriving is crucial for healing and growth after a disaster, and scholars have shown that it can be a common experience. Often, the worst conditions bring out the best in people as they work together for their own recovery and that of their neighbors. COVID-19 appears to be resistant to this phenomenon, unfortunately. The most salient social feature of the pandemic was how it forced people into isolation; for those fortunate enough not to lose a loved one, the major trauma it created was loneliness. Instead of coming together, emerging evidence suggests that we are in the midst of a long-term crisis of habitual loneliness, in which relationships were severed and never reestablished. Many people —perhaps including you — are still wandering alone, without the company of friends and loved ones to help rebuild their life.
READ ALSO:
Williamstown's Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert can't stop thinking, and writing, about climate change. Learn what keeps her up at night. (Berkshire Eagle)
A bleak year for literary magazines (New Yorker)
Bookforum is closing, leaving ever fewer publications devoted to books (NYT)
FOOD & DINING
The Gnome Bistro Pops Up in East Chatham’s Legendary Cottage
(RI) EAST CHATHAM, N.Y. - The Gnome Bistro in East Chatham is diminutive and unassuming, but the new restaurant is steeped in local tradition and lore. Located at restaurant at 1267 Route 295, it occupies what used to be The Cottage, a straightforward and beloved stop for locals and tourists coming to the area for camping in the summer and skiing in the winter. After 30 years The Cottage closed and a new tenant moved in, and then another, before accomplished chef and Chatham local Zak Russell, decided to open his first solo brick and mortar here earlier this year. At The Gnome Bistro Russell can flex his culinary imagination while maintaining the nostalgic atmosphere the building has brought to town for so many years. The menu is updated comfort food made to modern tastes with some whimsical twists from the gnomes in the kitchen.
READ ALSO:
Espetinho Carioca brings homemade Brazilian cuisine to downtown Pittsfield (iBerkshires)
North Adams cafe to remain open while hunting for new owner (B Eagle)
Hop Aboard: Upper Depot Brewing opens in historic Hudson train station (Chronogram)
Two new restaurants to offer riverfront dining in Coxsackie, N.Y. (ATU)
Peta Walker hopes her Jamaican recipes will be dished out of a Hudson food truck by summertime (HV360)
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
At MASS MoCA, Jason Moran’s ‘Black Stars’ Pays Tribute to the Ghosts of Jazz History
(Boston Globe) NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - To be lucky enough to attend a solo piano concert by Jason Moran feels a lot like being dropped into a graduate seminar on American cultural history, albeit one with a lushly beautiful and moving live soundtrack.... Moran himself isn’t present at MASS MoCA, where “Black Stars: Writing in the Dark,” a new exhibition of his art, opened in late December. But human presence, his and others, is palpable all the same. The show is split between a pair of galleries: The first, with its high ceilings and industrial support columns, is lined with rough, gestural abstract works on paper in deep, elemental shades: Ruddy maroon and ash gray, dark cobalt and coal-black. The second gallery contains a pair of elaborate stage sets, brightly lit but conspicuously vacant, as though awaiting performers perpetually late for their call time.
Are Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan the Best Singers of All Time?
(Forward) by Seth Rogovoy - Rolling Stone magazine kicked off the new year with a list of “The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time,” updated for the first time since 2008, when it was limited to a mere 100 vocalists. The introduction to the list specifies that it is a list of great singers, not great voices, a nuance that allows for recognizing vocalists who may not have conventionally beautiful voices. Rather, it finds value in vocal originality and influence, rewarding those who “can remake the world just by opening their mouths.” The list is not limited to singers from the rock era or to Western pop music; the magazine cast a wide net that includes vocalists from the jazz era and from India, Africa and the Middle East, which allowed a nod toward Israeli singer Ofra Haza, one of a minyan of Jewish vocalists on the list, which includes Barbra Streisand, Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Leonard Cohen.
READ ALSO:
At the Clark, a glimpse of a French cultural storehouse (Boston Globe)
The annual I/O Fest at Williams College celebrates adventurous new music (Berkshire Eagle)
Great Barrington's Rees Shad offers song for 'harmony and healing' in wake of January 6 (B Eagle)
New website devoted to Bard College's esteemed musical history beyond Steely Dan and the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch (Chronogram)
MoMA installation and performances feature remains of Jacob's Pillow Doris Duke Theatre (B Eagle)
New York Public Library exhibition pays proper respect to native son Lou Reed (Boston Globe)
NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES
Great Barrington: Mind(ing) the Gap
(Chronogram) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - For a community where many full-time residents were already struggling to make ends meet, the pandemic created a crucible of sorts in Great Barrington — as evidenced by an ongoing housing crisis and a shortage of service industry workers (a pair of chicken-and-egg problems). While uncertainty prevails, so does the collective spirit to press on. Together, many hands are making light(er) work, ensuring often-marginalized populations have the opportunity to thrive here alongside the restaurants, shops, and businesses valued visitors continue to crave.
READ ALSO:
For many Berkshire businesses, the hybrid work model is here to stay (Berkshire Eagle)
‘Revenge travel’ after pandemic helped Lenox net over $4 million (B Eagle)
1,000 new applicants seek fuel assistance (B Eagle)
Making Beats: Lenox native Geoffrey Carter opens electronic music program for kids (RI)
Karema Deodato revives the art of millinery (hat-making) in Sandisfield (RI)
Shuttered Berkshire General Store in Pittsfield may be brought back to life by new owners (iBerkshires)
New DA Shugrue promises transparency, proactivity, and to fight hard against illegal firearms (Berkshire Edge)
Is any significant snowfall likely this week? (B Eagle)
NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY
Expensive, Treacherous, Beautiful: The Battle Over Dirt Roads Comes to Chatham
(NYT) CHATHAM, N.Y. - A century ago, Chatham was an agricultural town, its rocky hills dominated by small dairy farms. But as family farms have gradually disappeared, more and more weekenders have arrived from New York City, two and a half hours to the south. Dirt roads that once passed only a farmhouse or two can now be shared by 20 or more residences. Unlike some of its neighboring towns in the Hudson Valley, Chatham still has more dirt roads than asphalt ones. But traffic has grown, increasing the pressure to pave. Across the country, as development pressures increase, a growing number of towns are taking steps to preserve dirt roads. “It’s just kind of vital for the character of Chatham. If you pave the roads, it’s not Chatham anymore,” said Doug Welch.
READ ALSO:
City court at police station named site of Hudson City Mental Health Court (HV360)
Ex-alderman Rich Volo to chair Hudson Conservation Council (HV360)
Is Hudson's largest landlord ditching the Friendly City for Savannah, Ga.? (GoR)
Hudson landlords wonder if public murals are protected by copyright (GoR)
Catskill man's dancing goes viral on TikTok (ATU)
Roll Call: Founding Members
Erik Bruun
Benno Friedman
Richard Koplin
Rhonda Rosenheck