Words and Music

From the Fields Dept .: Much has changed for the Van Amburgh family since I wrote this piece. They moved to a larger farm in Schoharie Count...

La favola d’Orfeo Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, Mass., June 21 THE GREATEST TRIBUTE to the power of Claudio Monteverd...

12 June 2015 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

The Epic of Gilgamesh Directed and designed by John Sowle, Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill, June 20 BEFORE GOD, THERE WAS GILGAMESH. His ...

From the Bookshelf Dept .: And while we’re on the topic of books, here’s a revisit of my 2003 review of Bob Rosen’s Nowhere Man , a fascinat...

From the Bookshelf Dept .: Another journey back a quarter-century, for my review of a book that itself saluted the nautical traditions of an...

The Cistern | 13 June 2015 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

WE’RE NEVER FAR from a cup of coffee, be it an overpriced Starbucks concoction or a cup of diner joe. We do unspeakable things to our coffee...

From the Food Vault Dept .: I had to start somewhere, I guess, but the ignorance the review below reveals is staggering. And as noble as was...

CLASSICAL MUSIC LOVES SPECIALISTS, or, to put it a better way, is most comfortable with performers who are easy to pigeonhole. Pianist Marc-...

For no other reason than the melacholy joy of the arrangement and Wiley's smokey voice. Recorded 17 March 1934 with Johnny Green and His...

12 June 2015 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

From the Vault Dept. : Here’s my Schenectady Gazette review – from a quarter-century ago – of a double-bill of fascinating contemporary oper...

Treading the Boards Dept .: My review of one of the summer’s offerings from Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Mass.                         ...

Current Offerings Dept.: Metroland asked its writers to limn a memory of a food of summer and a ditto song. I discovered that even as a chi...

... via Albany, as Susan Whiteman explains a characteristic  dessert. 6 June 2015 | Photo by Lily Whiteman

From the Food Vault Dept .: Arirang was one of several short-lived Korean restaurants that have tried to gain a following in the Albany area...

Work for Hire Dept. : My ideal kitchen is a compact wonderland of stainless steel and tile. Just as there should be no wasted food, so shoul...

31 May 2015 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

28 May 2015 | Photo by Susan Whiteman