Hey! Learn all about the new Greater Newburgh Parks Conservancy and how these great folks are helping to make us all greener and healthier. I’ll be there talking about the City’s Conservation Advisory Council, which works closely with this “sister agency.”
See you there!
These are some really good people, trying to get more and bigger and better parks and green spaces around here. Hope to see you at this meetup!
Monday, Feb. 10 this year is Tu B’Shevat: The Jewish New Year of Trees.
In the Jewish tradition, all trees have the same birthday: the 15th of the month of Shevat (kind of like how all racehorses are considered to have been born on Jan. 1.) We celebrate trees as one of the greatest gifts of G-d because they provide us with:
the oxygen we need to breathe
removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
beauty
shade
fruits, nuts and flowers
air-temperature moderation
filtering of toxins from the soil
vantage points for birds watching for food, rivals and potential mates
perfect locations for trail blazes
building materials
fuel for wood stoves and campfires
homes, food and shelter for wildlife
places to picnic under, talk under, rest under, marvel at, swing from, learn from, climb on and thank G-d for
There’s probably a tree you can hug right in your own ‘hood.
The University of Texas Press has published “Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield’s Life in the Blues,” by my friend David Dann, of Livingston Manor. At 740 pages and weighing in at more than 3 lbs., this thing is not a book — it’s a TOME.
Over 10 years of meticulous research, Dann conducted hundreds of interviews with Bloomfield’s family, friends and colleagues, to present Michael Bloomfield’s entire life for the first time. Rock ‘n’ roll fans know Bloomfield as the great Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag guitarist, but he was so much more than that: He was also the guy whose astonishing artistry brought appreciation for the blues to white Americans. And here we have the behind-the-scenes story of Bloomfield’s life and adventures, both onstage and off.
Dann chronicles Bloomfield’s early years as a well-to-do, suburban Jewish kid who wanted nothing more than to be a poor, black Chicago blues player, and takes us through the acquisition of his astonishing musical skills and knowledge; his loves and friendships with the greats of blues and rock; the tragically short trajectory of his career; and his mysterious, drug-related death. Every lick of it is carefully notated, and there’s a bibliography, discography, and beautiful black-and-white photos as well.
There has not been a more thorough history of any 20th-century musician and there have been few more entertaining and heartbreaking stories of any human being, than “Guitar King.” Of course, it’s the biography of Michael Bloomfield, but it’s also the history of rock and the blues, and the social history of mid-20th-century America, as well.
You’re gonna love it.
“Guitar King” should be nominated for a Pulitzer for biography. WHAT a great book!
My Republican friends have been begging me, since summer, to take down my “Impeach Trump” poster from my front porch window. I am happy (so very, very happy) to announce that I have finally done so.
Here’s my new sign in my front porch window. Hope you like it!
Scenic Hudson is once again holding its Winter Fest at Newburgh’s hidden gem, Crystal Lake. There’ll be arts and crafts, fat-tire biking, guided hikes, snowshoeing, baked goodies and hot chocolate, environmental and historical info about the area, and much more … and it’s all FREE! I’m sooo looking forward to it!
This is such a good time! Take a guided hike, see the lake, ride the fat-tire bikes and try snowshoeing, enjoy arts and crafts for the kids, and much more, while enjoying baked goodies and hot chocolate or coffee around a cozy campfire. See you there!
I’m proud to have voted today, even though I could have waited until Nov. 6. I have never failed to vote in my life, and I have always done so on Election Day. So when the Two Ladies came to my door yesterday and asked me to vote early, i told them, “Don’t worry; I’ll vote on Election Day.” But they made a very good point: A lot of good people worked very hard to enable Newburgh residents to vote early. There are too many people here who fail to vote on that ONE DAY because they’re sick; because their ride failed to show up; because they had to work, or they had to work overtime; because it’s raining and they have no way to get there; or because they just plain FORGOT. This cures all of that. Voting early adds my voice (and ballot) to say HURRAH to those who fought for it.
In Republican-infested Rensselaer County, the legislature failed to put ANY early-voting polling placesin Troy, where most people (and most Dems, students, and people of color) live. Instead, they’re way out in the rural and suburban parts of that county.
NEWBURGHERS: PLEASE VOTE EARLY, so that the large number of early voters will convince our politicians to keep our polling place (the Activity Center, 401 Washington Street) as the early-voting site forever. In fact, next election season, they should ADD another Newburgh site. The library or 123 Grand Street are both in heavily populated areas, and as for location, they are to northeast Newburgh what the Activity Center is to the southwest of the city. COME ON OUT AND VOTE EARLY!
All this AND a sticker that says, “I VOTED TODAY!” Do it!
The first-ever Newburgh Literary Festival brought some great writers, artists and poets together: Folks of national fame like Mitchell Jackson, Gretchen Primack, Poet Gold, Danielle Trussoni, Edwin Torres, Crystal Kim, Ruth Danon and more, plus a bunch of us local writers to mingle with, and learn from, both these superstars and one another.
The artwork at Ann Street Gallery, curated perfectly, provided an illuminating accompaniment to all the joyful, thought-provoking and uplifting words. The food, catered by Newburgh’s unique Shelter House Cafe, was yummy, nourishing and plentiful. Even the goodie-bags, provided by Thornwillow Press, were outstanding. How delightful to receive a gorgeous blank journal and several keepsake-quality letterpress-printed poems as only Thornwillow can create! I was blown away by all of it.
WHAT a good time! Let’s do it again … and again … and again.
Here’s to everyone involved in the 2019 Newburgh Literary Fest at Safe Harbors of the Hudson!
The Newburgh Literary Festival begins Friday, Oct. 18 with the Spring Street Reading Series, featuring author Mitchell Jackson, winner of the Whiting Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction; and poet Gretchen Primack, whose work has appeared in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, The Antioch Review and many other poetry journals. This event will be at the Atlas Industries Building, 11 Spring St. in Newburgh. There will be a 6:30pm reception, with readings starting at 7. It’s FREE, though donations will be gladly accepted!
Then, Safe Harbors of the Hudson will host the Main Event on Saturday, Oct. 19, with a program of readings, interviews, podcasts, film clips and Q&A with nationally recognized authors and poets. Among them will be Maria Dahvana Headley, creator of the celebrated, topical adaptation of Beowulf, The Mere Wife; Molly Ringwald, actor and author of the critically acclaimed story collection When it Happens to You; Bettina “Poet Gold” Wilkerson, Dutchess County poet laureate; Edwin Torres of Nuyorican Poets Café; and award-winning novelists Panio Gianopoulos, Danielle Trussoni, Crystal Hana Kim, and Elizabeth (Betsy) Crane. This will all be held at the Safe Harbors Lobby at the Ritz, 107 Broadway, Newburgh, from 2pm-6pm. Topping off the festival, there will be a 6pm-8pm Local Authors Fair and Meet-and-Greet Cocktail Reception.
For some reason, they are letting me participate in this, so I’ll be there Saturday evening alongside the luminaries to meet you and to sell SIGNED copies of my new novel, “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch.” Tickets to this full day’s events are available online at http://bit.ly/2oDL9ld until noon on Friday and at the door on Saturday. (Students can pay just $10 at the door with valid ID.)
Sunday, Oct. 20 will feature two writing workshops, How to Tell the Story of Your Life, led by novelist and memoirist Danielle Trussoni at the Ann Street Gallery, 104 Ann St., from 10am to noon; and Surprise Yourself; Surprise Your Reader, with poet Ruth Danon at Atlas Studios Gallery, 11 Spring St., 1pm-3pm. Tickets are $25 per person, per workshop, at http://bit.ly/2oDL9ld. Seats are limited, so get your tickets soon!
And finally, as if that weren’t cool enough, on Friday and Saturday, the Ann Street Gallery will be presenting TEXT, a group exhibit of text-based art which has been curated in conjunction with the Literary Festival. Check out the art either day, for FREE!
Yeah, you can get a SIGNED copy of my new novel at the Newburgh Literary Fest this Saturday night, Oct. 19!
My new novel, “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch,” is on sale now at the Oliver & Chatfield giftshop, at the corner of Liberty and South William streets in Newburgh. Get your SIGNED copy at this ultra-cool venue!
Pick up your signed copy and then — BONUS — enjoy a cup of coffee from Rob’s Roast, right next door!
One of our great Newburghers, my little friend Asa, clearly has good taste in literature, as can be seen in this photo taken Sept. 29 at my Book Signing and Publication Party on Liberty Street. I have no doubt that he has finished it already and is busy reviewing it for the New York Review of Books. Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/31O2g28 or here: http://bit.ly/2MZbeXe or, better yet: at 6 pm on Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Newburgh Literary Festival at Safe Harbors, Broadway and Liberty Street, for just $15 (cash or check). I’ll sign it for you! Hope to see you there.
Asa is NOT waiting for the movie version.
Still don’t think Global Warming is a thing? On this hottest-ever day in September, I can look across the river from my porch and see brush fires breaking out all over Sugarloaf Mountain, just south of Beacon.
And you can’t drag fire hoses up there, friends.
Thanks for all the good times, Dairy Island!!
After Tim mows the lawn, it looks like the outfield at Yankee Stadium. After I mow the lawn, it looks like the infield at the Colloseum … the Roman Colloseum, when the lions were done chomping on the gladiators.
Somehow, the yard doesn’t have that peaceful, “Tim’s-Been-Here” look to it, after I mow.
Congress can stop terrorism in the U.S. in three simple steps. How, you ask?
1. Look at your clothes. Right now. Look at them. Are you wearing the uniform of a municipal law-enforcement officer, or of an active-duty member of the United States armed forces? No? Then, Congress should TODAY, not tomorrow, outlaw your carrying a handgun or any automatic or semi-automatic firearm, whether “concealed” or not. Notice that this will not apply to rifles of the caliber used for hunting animals that you intend to eat. Notice also that it does not apply to blunderbusses, or matchlocks, or flintlocks, or whatever you call them, that re-enactors use.
2. Congress should also TODAY, not tomorrow, outlaw buying or selling ammunition for any guns at all, except those hunting guns referred to above. Congress could also make an exception for non-lead ammo for shooting animals that you intend to eat. I have nothing against hunters, and I’d much rather have you shoot and eat a deer than hit one with our car (again). But birds eat many animals that have been shot, and when those animals have been shot with lead bullets, the birds die.
3. Congress should also fund TODAY, not tomorrow, meaningful, no-questions-asked gun-buyback programs in every county in the U.S. The returned guns could be melted down and made into musical instruments, or memorials to the thousands of American citizens killed each year by terrorists – by which I mean, people with guns.
These three steps may sound too “Big Brother” for you. If so, I ask you to recall a certain Christmastime at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And then recall the many, many mass shootings that have happened in our country since then, including, most recently, three in one week.
Guns don’t kill people: People with guns kill people.
Notice that I say the three steps outlined here are “simple,” not “easy.” Our elected representatives have shown a wretched, supine reluctance to do anything about terrorism. We must redouble our efforts to let them know their NRA-funded cowardice is unacceptable, and for their part, they must grow a pair of ovaries and take these three simple steps. Right now. Before school begins.
Meanwhile, here is a great article from the new New Yorker: http://bit.ly/2KqYAfi
The Barking Goose Bookstore, Bar & Cafe is selling signed copies of my new novel, “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch.” The Barking Goose is the place to go to enjoy good friends, good books and good beers. It’s on North Plank Road in the little “mall” that’s DIRECTLY across from the I-84 East exit ramp, in the Town of Newburgh. (If you’re on that exit ramp, stay in the left lane.) http://bit.ly/2SK6LXW
Of course, “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch” is also for sale at Amazon.com and BN.com, but it’s sooo much better to buy local — and The Barking Goose has signed copies!
In this sequel to “Louey Levy’s Greatest Catch” (which is also for sale at the Barking Goose), Louey is in college during the late 1960s. The battle for abortion rights is on; the Vietnam War is on; the Sexual Revolution is on; and somehow, despite everything, the hilarity is off the charts. Get your copy today, and let me know how you like it!
My new novel, “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch,” is now for sale at The Newburgh Vintage Emporium, that cool place on Rt. 9W just before (or after, if you’re headed south) the ramp to Rt. 84 East. The shop has lots of great Newburgh-related stuff, and it’s a fun place to wander around after picking up a copy of “Louey Levy’s Greatest Catch” or the brand-new sequel, “Perfect Pitch.”
While you’re there, say hello to my friend Anthony.
Let me know how you enjoy “Perfect Pitch!”
The “secret passage” into and out of the Newburgh Vintage Emporium is off of North Plank Road, next to the V&V Steakhouse. (This tip is provided for anyone who can’t figure out how to get into the Emporium parking lot without ending up in Connecticut.) Stop by to get your copy of “Louey Levy’s Perfect Pitch!”
First they tell you one thing, then they tell you another thing. Have you, too, heard these contradictory “things”?
THE THING THEY TELL YOU: Park as far away from the Mall entrance as possible, so that you get some exercise walking to and from your car when you do your shopping.
THE OTHER THING THEY TELL YOU: Park as close to the Mall entrance as possible, even if you have to drive around for 20 minutes to get a good spot, to minimize your chances of getting mugged in the lot.
THE THING THEY TELL YOU: Always put your emergency brake on when you park, so your car doesn’t roll away.
THE OTHER THING THEY TELL YOU: Never put your emergency brake on unless you’re on a steep hill, to avoid wearing out your emergency brake.
THE THING THEY TELL YOU: Keep written records of all your financial information, especially your taxes, so that when you need to turn them over to your family (or a lawyer) some day, they’ll be easily accessible.
THE OTHER THING THEY TELL YOU: Keep all your records electronically, so you don’t waste paper.
THE THING THEY TELL YOU: Toss out all expired medicines; if you use expired ones, they can make you sick, or at least be ineffective. The dates are on the bottles for your protection.
THE OTHER THING THEY TELL YOU: You can use medicines, including over-the-counter ones, almost indefinitely. The dates are on the bottles so the manufacturers can get you to buy more.
THE THING THEY TELL YOU: Sign the back of your credit cards as soon as you receive them, so you can prove they’re yours.
THE OTHER THING THEY TELL YOU: Never sign the back of a credit card; if it gets stolen, now the thief has not only your credit card, but also your signature.
THE THING THEY TELL YOU: Let water run from your faucet for 5 minutes before drinking it, to make sure the lead and other toxins are flushed from your pipes.
THE OTHER THING THEY TELL YOU: Hold your glass under your faucet immediately upon turning it on, so as not to waste water.
What contradictory bits of advice have you heard? I have a feeling this is just “Part 1” of a series of blogs on this theme.
You’ve seen the Palisades a thousand times from the train on the east side of the Hudson, just before you reach New York City. Don’t you ever wish you could hug those rocks, spidering all the way to the bottom? Tim and i started at the top, hiked past an oddly friendly deer and a castle, and then down to the shore. Steep as it was, that was the fun part. Getting back up was a bit much. Here are some photos.
The New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs built this “castle”, halfway down the Palisades, for … some reason that must have made sense at the time. You can climb to the top for great views across the Hudson, though.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Palisades, on the New York-New Jersey border. They are steep and they are very far above the river. Don’t fall down!
“We can see Jon’s apartment from here!” Our son Jon lives in the Grystone building, in Yonkers.
It is a loooong way down to the river. Don’t jump!
But then finally you reach the bottom, and walking the shoreline trail feels like the most glorious thing anyone could do.
Enjoy the sun on some yellow poplar leaves as you start the long trek back up to the top. What a great hike!
One hundred years ago, our nation was still in the throes of the era of Jim Crow. Yes, the 13th Amendment had abolished slavery in 1865 and yes, the 14th Amendment, in 1868, had granted former slaves citizenship, and yes, the 15th Amendment, in 1870, had even given male former slaves the right to vote (50 years before any women in the U.S. won that right).
But 11 Southern states had formed their own country rather than give up slavery, and those states began concocting other means of keeping black folks from enjoying the benefits of the law of the land.
As soon as the last federal troops withdrew from Southern soil and Reconstruction ended, in 1877, the former Confederate states fought on the local and state levels to thwart all federal laws recognizing black people as citizens, much less as equals to whites. They pointed to “states’ rights” as their rationalization for instituting poll taxes as a voting requirement and for mandating the segregation of blacks and whites in education, employment, housing, transportation, restaurants, pools, parks, hotels, theaters and more. This is not even to mention the discriminatory Southern justice system, or the constant terrorism aimed at blacks in the form of lynchings, home burnings, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. All of these lasted well into the 20th century.
Since 1973, we have had a new law in this land – the Roe v. Wade decision, enshrining the right of women to choose whether and when to bear children. But today we are seeing the rise of Jane Crow: harmful laws enacted by fearful men in various state legislatures that are making a federally legal medical procedure, arrived at by a woman and her doctor, nearly impossible to obtain.
Reactionary state legislators saw President Trump’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as an invitation to pass anti-abortion legislation. They’re actually hoping these laws will be challenged and end up before the now conservative court, which would overturn the right to have an abortion.
Most states abide by the Roe decision, which legalizes abortion until the fetus reaches viability, usually at 24 to 28 weeks. But Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio have prohibited abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. In reality this is a complete ban, since most women do not even learn they are pregnant until they are more than six weeks along. Alabama recently passed a ban on all abortions, even in cases of rape.
And now that we have entered the era of Jane Crow, who knows what will happen next?
The assault on women’s reproductive rights is in full swing. Ninety percent of the counties in the U.S. have no abortion clinic at all; in Texas, it’s 96%. We now have to travel many miles for this crucial service. Who can take off from work to do that? Who can afford childcare during that time? Unsurprisingly, Jane Crow laws harm minority women more drastically than white women.
The Jim Crow era really dragged on until the 1960s, with the advent of that decade’s Civil Rights laws. Let’s keep the Jane Crow era from lasting a similar hundred years or more. If politicians don’t trust women to make good decisions about our health and our families’ wellbeing, we shouldn’t trust them to lead our states or our nation.
Vote them out: End Jane Crow now.
Did I enjoy the Newburgh Illuminated festival today? Why, yes. Yes, i believe I did. One of the fun booths I visited was that of my neighbor Joshua Brown, videographer and photographer extraordinaire, who had a cool “self-photo” setup hat I tried out. Results here!
HAH, I’m not even in the Top Twenty, Brian!
Welcome to my website, featuring my podcast, The Newburgh News. Always on tap: ideas, photos, interviews with intriguing people, and news of the goings-on and comings-up around Newburgh, N.Y., and the greater Hudson Valley.
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