The Rogovoy Report 7.15.24

From around the corner to around the globe...

Jul 15, 2024

A Nation Inflamed

(New Yorker) by David Remnick - Who is capable of bringing to this terrible moment the kind of moral sense that R.F.K. managed just hours after Dr. King was shot dead outside Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel? Many elected officials, Republican and Democrat, did issue statements denouncing violence and expressing relief that Trump had survived the attack. Many refrained from exploiting the event for political gain. But not all....

The Gunman and the Would-Be Dictator

(The Atlantic) by David Frum - Fascist movements are secular religions. Like all religions, they offer martyrs as their proof of truth. The Mussolini movement in Italy built imposing monuments to its fallen comrades. The Trump movement now improves on that: The leader himself will be the martyr in chief, his own blood the basis for his bid for power and vengeance.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: Trump’s VP pick will NOT be Marco Rubio or Gov Doug Burgum

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Jacob’s Pillow Favorite Camille A. Brown Returns to Present World Premiere of ‘I AM’

(Boston Globe) BECKET, Mass. - Director-choreographer Camille A. Brown has experienced a whirlwind of successes on many stages over the last five years. Since 2019, she’s had four Tony nominations — most recently for her choreography in the new Alicia Keys musical, “Hell’s Kitchen.” She’s celebrated her directorial debut on Broadway, helming “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.” She also became the first Black director to co-direct a show at the Metropolitan Opera, with “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” Amid these high-profile engagements, Brown has also remained devoted to her own New York City-based dance company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, now in its 18th year. This month, she prepares to return to Jacob’s Pillow in Becket to share her latest work, “I AM,” from July 31 to Aug. 4.

BSO music director Andris Nelsons rediscovered his passion for taekwondo during the pandemic. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

‘Strongest Maestro in the World!’: The Conductor Who Can Snuff Out a Candle with a Kick

(Boston Globe) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — To much of the world, Andris Nelsons is known as a globe-trotting conductor, a virtuoso interpreter of orchestral works with dual posts at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra. But to a small cadre of martial artists in Central Square, he’s known for something else entirely: the board-crushing side kick that helped earn him a second-degree black belt in April. Nelsons, 45, has been an avid student of taekwondo since picking it up again during the pandemic. He stretches each morning, works on his kicks, and practices a series of systematic movements, known as poomsae, wherever he has space, be it his dressing room in Leipzig or the empty stage at Symphony Hall.

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Director Susan Seidelman to discuss her film “Desperately Seeking Susan” following screening this Wednesday at Images Cinema in Williamstown (iBerkshires)

On staking out one’s territory at Solid Sound (New Yorker)

REVIEW: From the Royal Ballet, a heaping serving on a hot summer night at Jacob’s Pillow (Boston Globe)

REVIEW: A joyous Beethoven Violin Concerto and exquisite Strauss songs with the BSO at Tanglewood (Boston Globe)

Melodies of popular songs have gotten simpler over time (NYT)

NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

Farmhouse Canvas: An Artist and Horticulturalist’s Hillsdale Farm and Barn

(Chronogram) HILLSDALE, N.Y. - Howard Danelowitz and Mark Fisher began searching for a home upstate in 1993 when the two were living in Manhattan. Back then, Danelowitz turned a corner of the couple's kitchen into a tiny studio and took his inspiration from dinner plates and pot lids. Both were drawn to the natural world and went searching for a small upstate canvas. "At first we wanted to be just right outside the city," says Danelowitz. "Because of our modest budget people laughed at us and told us to keep going north." They wanted a Colonial with an acre in a picturesque setting and were willing to do some, but not too much, work. To find something that fit their budget they kept traveling north, through Westchester, which was way out of their budget, and past the more expensive towns of Cold Spring and Rhinebeck, until they landed in sleepy Hillsdale. "We fell in love with the rolling hills of Columbia County," says Danelowitz. "The winter before had been especially brutal, so there was lots of inventory in our price range."

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Marijuana dispensaries’ lawsuits against Great Barrington continue to wind through court system (Berkshire Edge)

Eagle Mill developers say they’re undertaking a cleanup for contaminants at site in Lee (WAMC)

Housatonic's drinking water darkens again, roiling residents faced with rate hike (Berkshire Eagle)

On visit to Berkshires, Mass. agricultural commissioner decries loss of farm acreage (WAMC)

Mobile Farmers Market’s traveling cornucopia works to expand access to fresh food by hitting the road (WAMC)

North Adams plans $350K restoration of library belvedere (iBerkshires)

North Adams’ Steeple City Plaza, now Parkade Plaza, has another new owner. They say they’re in it for the long haul (B Eagle)

New Marlborough Meeting House brings community together (B Edge)

The Foundry sound test may finally offer an answer to monitoring venue noise (B Edge)

Yankee Candle lays off 100 at Deerfield facility (Boston Globe)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

First Licensed Marijuana Dispensary in Twin Counties Opens in Downtown Hudson

(HV360) HUDSON, N.Y. - The first permanent, licensed marijuana dispensary in the Twin Counties is open for business. Riverbend Dispensary at 531 Warren St., the former site of the clothing store Riverbend Mercantile, opened July 1. The dispensary was given approval for its conditional adult use retail dispensary license last summer. Having the dispensary on Warren Street has made its launch “organic”, said co-owner Rudy Huston. “My neighbors have been coming in-everybody that I know,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine how many people are cannabis consumers. One of our first customers was an 87-year-old woman that I know, so it’s really interesting. I think we’re in the right location.”

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Albany’s “good cause” eviction law is signed by mayor (WAMC)

After “shocking” debate performance, N.Y. Rep. Ryan “not happy” to call on president to step aside (WAMC)

Advocates fault timeline in EPA's third five-year review of Hudson River cleanup (WAMC)

Pocketbook factory project in Hudson gets $7M in financing (HV360)

Hudson to impose owner fee next year to cover sidewalk repairs (HV360)

Income gap narrows slightly between people migrating in and out of Twin Counties (HV360)

Columbia County legislators votes down animal abuse registry law (HV360)

Catskill resident can keep native plant garden if she “cleans” it, judge says (ATU)

Neighbors scrutinize Round Top resort proposal as consultants seek local approval (WAMC)

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