(Pamela Badila at the WGXC event on Warren St. in Hudson, Aug. 1, 2009. Photo by Dharma Dailey.)

Badila family gathering Saturday in Hudson
Click on mp3 audio files to download or listen online:
WGXC's Allan Skerrett talks with Pamela Badila about community radio, community, and more
Kuyla Badila interviews Pamela Badila
WGXC's Kaya Weidman interviews Goonga Badila
If you attend any musical, cultural, or artistic event or opening in Hudson these days, you have probably run into a Badila. The family includes Pamela (pictured) and Andre Badila, who run the International Folkloric Theater in Hudson; Ngonda Badilla of Lady Moon and the Eclipse (playing at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington on Aug. 13) and four other Hudson-based bands including Nobody Parts (playing at The Spotty Dog Books & Ale on Aug. 21); and Milandou Badila, or Young Paris, who has a mixtape release party Sat. Aug. 29 at Jason's Upstairs Bar. This Saturday in the Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, the entire family will be performing, including Diata Diata (African Ensemble), Lady Mood & The Eclipse, and Young Paris. The gathering starts at 2 p.m., with drums at 7 p.m., and is sponsored in part by the City of Hudson, and WGXC. We will be recording the event and playing it back on WGXC Online Radio next week. Listen to the links to the mp3 interviews with various Badilas above to get an idea how important the family is to the local cultural community. Watch the Young Paris "Euro Swag" video below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfHStLOImE&hl=en&fs=1&]

Gypsy Kings perform in Catskill
Reported by Paul Smart
CATSKILL - Folks in the High Falls area of Catskill, adjacent to the town's Ulster County border with Saugerties, found themselves faced with weekend parking problems a few weeks back when new owners of the falls themselves threw a summer bash for 170 or so of their friends. Several complaints were made to the local police, and a number of cars were then reportedly towed from the area. According to those who attended the party from the area, much of the creekside brush below the falls was cleared around the site of the old Civil War-era munitions mill plant there, and a bandstand was erected where the renowned Gypsy Kings played for partygoers' pleasure. The new owners of the falls are said to be partners in a series of restaurants based out of Miami Beach, who moved to the area after visiting other designer and architect friends making homes throughout Catskill.

Court nixes Republican, Independence petitions
From The Daily Mail

CATSKILL - The New York State Supreme Court has invalidated petitions by the Republican and Independence parties seeking “Opportunities to Ballot,” a procedure that would have allowed write-in candidates for a Sept. 15 primary and making Linda Overbaugh's bid to join the Greene County Legislature more unlikely. All four of the petitions — the GOP’s for Catskill and Independence petitions for Catskill, Athens, and Durham — failed to include names for a “Committee to Receive Notices,” and the three Independence ones also failed to name a “Contact Person to Correct Deficiencies.” Tuesday Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough ruled that not designating a Committee to Receive Notices was, “a fatal defect in the four petitions,” and declared them invalid. The Republicans were trying to add write-in names to the primary after they initially petitioned to nominate Linda Overbaugh for a Catskill seat on the legislature, but listed the wrong Linda Overbaugh on the petitions (Catskill has two). Overbaugh, was expected to win a seat, perhaps at the expense of incumbent Democrat Forest Cotton, who was a party to the suits keeping Overbaugh and write-in candidates off the ballot. The Democrats say any candidate who can't get the filing paperwork correct, might not be able to get the county's business correct, while Greene County Republican Party Chairman Brent Bogardus counters that they let the Democrats' filing mistakes slide. “Republicans discovered in [Democratic District No. 1 candidate] Forest Cotten’s petition filing for this year,” said Bogardus, “that there were inadvertently papers for [Democratic District No. 7 candidate] Larry Gardner included. I suppose we could have chosen to challenge Forest Cotten’s petition in court because of that error,” he said. “Instead we advised the Democrats of what we discovered,” said Bogardus, “and allowed them to remedy it.” Catskill Republican Committeeman Peter Markou said the case would continue on appeal in the court system.

Ulster-Greene ARC workers choose SEIU
From Mid-Hudson News

KINGSTON – Direct care professionals, nurses and service workers from the Ulster-Greene ARC have voted to join Service Employees International Union Local 200 United in a National Labor Relations board supervised election last Friday. Two-thirds of the 600 employees eligible to vote cast ballots at polling places in Kingston, Ellenville, and Catskill. The new union group will now enter contract negotiations with ARC.

The son also rises
From The New York Post

ALBANY - New York State Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. secured a newly-created $120,000-a-year Senate job for his son as "deputy director of intergovernmental relations." The Senate Democrat and another, Hiram Monserrate of Queens, switched to the Republican side in early June, putting the Legislature's upper house under GOP control, and into a prolonged state of paralysis. Espada is under all sorts of investigations, while Monserrate is under investigation for beating up a woman.