From Ariel Zangla in The Daily Freeman:

The fundraising deadline to help community radio station WGXC get on the air has been extended until July 1, the program director says. Tom Roe said that, as of Friday, the station has raised 40 percent of what it needs to match a $71,486 grant provided by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration through its Public Telecommunications Facilities Program. He said the station has raised $28,357, but still needs another $43,128. “It’s been going very well so far,” Roe said of the fundraising. He said $5,000 was raised in the past two weeks to get the deadline extended from March 31 to July 1. Roe said the money being raised will help the station buy the equipment necessary to get on the air. He said the grant, though, will only pay for large equipment, like the transmitter. The grant will fund half of the equipment needed to put the station on the air later this year at 90.7 on the FM dial. WGXC will be a 3,300-watt non-commercial community radio station with shows about local issues such as agriculture, history, the arts and education. It will reach most of Greene and Columbia counties and have studios at the Catskill Community Center and in Hudson. Another studio may be established in Cairo. Roe said the station is trying to get on the air by the end of September and that individuals interested in hosting shows have until May 1 to apply. The application form is available at www.wgxc.org. Most of the shows will be hosted by people from Columbia and Greene counties and feature topics of interest to those locales, Roe said. One of the station’s next fund raising events will be an open mic night on April 23 at Gallagher’s, 513 Main St., Cairo. The event will run from 7 to 9 p.m. and is being held in conjunction with the Cairo Public Library.

Congressman Scott Murphy, now also running a campaign against Republican Chris Gibson, to retain his seat in New York's 20th District, holds one of his town meetings this Monday, April 12, from 2:45 – 3:45 p.m. at the Weis Cinema in Bertelsmann Campus Center, at Bard College, 30 Campus Rd. in Red Hook.

WGXC staff will be in Hudson on Saturday, first in front of Jean Deux Books & Records at 339 Warren St. (though they just lost their lease and will be out of this space April 18), giving out information about community radio and taking Founding Memberships from 1-4 p.m. Then, at 6 p.m. we move to the Hudson Opera House, where WGXC and Incident Report present Incident No. 31: Julie Lequin One Night Performance of Top 30, with special guests Tom Morini, Jeremy Kelly on Saturday, April 10, from 6-9 p.m. The performance of Top 30 combines live presentation with video projection. Admission is free. Incident Report is an experimental viewing station for visual projects, located in Hudson, NY. We are a model of portability, non-site, no-budget and low-maintenance. We offer an interface between the many publics of the street, and the concepts and issues generated by artists and social thinkers in a wide yet coherent spectrum. Installation of Jule Lequin's "Car Talk": March 22 - April 19, 2010 Knitting together excerpts from the NPR show of the same name and my own fabricated responses, Car Talk presents a fictional conversation between myself and the two radio icons discussing my linguistic troubles, my Québécoise identity and life as an artist. Also one-night performance of Lequin's "Top 30," April 10 with special guests Thomas Morini and Jeremy Kelly. WGXC live broadcast on WGXC Online Radio at www.wgxc.org. Performances at the Hudson Opera House: April 10, 6-9 p.m. @ 327 Warren Street - Hudson, NY. One Night Performance of Julie Lequin's, Top 30 With Special Music/Sound Performances by Jeremy Kelly and Thomas Kiko Morini.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

From Nippertown!:

The Albany Sonic Arts Collective just keeps hitting ‘em the out of the ballpark: Saturday at Upstate Artists Guild in Albany, they’re hosting “Defragmented: A Concert of Emergent Systems,” featuring the Finnish based composer/sound artist Marko Timlin and thenumber46. Both acts use improvisation and non-linear analog systems to create music that teeters on the edge between control and chaos. Helsinki-based Marko Timlin has invented a variety of virtual and analog instruments and his music focuses on real-time interactions with electronic media with often unpredictable and surprising results. thenumber46, a duo comprised of electro-acoustic flutist (and free103point9 collaborator) Suzanne Thorpe and electronic musician Philip White, improvise volatile and explosive soundscapes by pushing and coaxing feedback systems to their limits.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwBG2j-1zQk&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Bella's Bartok plays original song "Satan's Song" at WGXC New Year's Masquerade Ball at Basilica Industria in Hudson, NY for radio station WGXC, New Year's 2009/2010.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmdRMcjoFCA&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Kelli Rudick performing at the Hudson Opera House, Jan 30 2010 (live webcast on WGXC Radio). Part one of five on YouTube.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylwn3bh7s6o&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Video, drum performance, and text (preverbs) by George Quasha. First full live performance of "Axial Drumming with Preverbs" using digital LED of Preverbs text (presentation design by Susan Quasha) on the occasion of a benefit fundraiser at Nicole Fiacco Gallery in Hudson, New York, for WGXC radio station --"Hands-on Radio 90.7 FM" (see www.WGXC.org). Event organized by Paul Smart and Max Goldfarb for WGXC.

From Chris Churchill in the Times-Union:

GlaxoSmithKline announced this evening that it would shift its toothpaste manufacturing from New Jersey to Greene County preventing the shutdown of its plant in Oak Hill. The British pharmaceutical giant had planned to shutter the Oak Hill plant by 2012, following its $3.6 billion acquisition last year of Stiefel Laboratories, which made skin products there. Glaxo will still shift skin-product manufacturing to a plant in Canada, as originally planned. But it will invest $56 million to remake the Oak Hill factory to manufacture Aquafresh, the company and Greene County officials said. The move will not save every Glaxo job in Greene County. After the transition, the Oak Hill plant will employ about 200 workers, down from the more than 260 who work there now. And some of the jobs will be taken by workers transferring from the plant in Clifton, N.J., which will close in 2012. "It's going to be a mix and match of current employees and new employees," said Alexander "Sandy" Mathes, the executive director of the Greene County Industrial Development Agency, which worked to save the plant. Glaxo's decision to close the plant stunned Greene County officials, who have depended on the factory as a stable source of employment in the mostly rural area. Officials described Thursdays announcement as a victory resulting from a long effort by several local and state agencies including Empire State Development, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal and others to keep the factory open. In part, they did that by targeting the factory for nearly $7 million in grants designed to boost energy efficiency and modernize the plant. Also, the Greene County IDA will freeze property taxes at the site and exempt Glaxo from some sales taxes. The Oak Hill plant consists of 250,000 square feet of manufacturing and laboratory space along Route 145.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Michael Ryan in the Windham Journal writes:

Thousands of dollars were handed out when the Schoharie Watershed Advisory Council awarded its second round of Stream Management Program funds, last week, during a meeting at the Windham Country Club. SWAC members awarded $77,627 to seven entities in Greene and Delaware counties for projects aimed at preserving water quality in the New York City reservoir system and increasing awareness of watershed related issues. All of the funds are provided by the Department of Environmental Protection, which has set aside $2 million to be distributed over a 5-year period, with two years having passed on the contract, administered by the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District. [Greene County] Funds were allocated in round two as follows:

—EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: The Mountaintop Arboretum in Tannersville, $6,810, with a $750 In-kind contribution to create landscape design plans for a Wooded Walk outdoor classroom, accommodating approximately 45 people. The natural amphitheater will offer year-round outdoor programming on ecological and natural history topics relating to the watershed such as wetland plants, insect and wildlife along riparian areas, birding, stream health and leaf pack workshops to learn about geology.

—EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: Greene County Cornell Cooperative Extension, $1,884 with a $498 In-kind contribution to set up a rain barrel workshop that will be held at the Sugar Maples Arts Center in Maplecrest. The hands-on workshop will take place during Schoharie Watershed Week, May 17-23, 2010, providing materials and instruction for approximately ten families, teaching them to construct a rain barrel for home use. While the rain barrels will be fun to build, they will also be functional. The workshop will also introduce participants to methods of stormwater control, non-point pollution prevention and conservation of water resources in a residential setting.

—EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: the SWAC Education and Outreach Committee, $5,100 with an In-kind contribution of $4,125 to conduct a series of events, activities and workshops for people of all ages during Schoharie Watershed Week, taking place throughout the region. On tap will be a watershed-related film series (at the Hunter Theater in the town of Hunter), fly-fishing demonstrations, downspout disconnect programs, an Adopt-A-Stream clean up, a watershed scavenger hunt and kayak and canoe demonstrations.

—RECREATION/HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS: the Town of Windham, $15,000 with an In-kind contribution of $6,536 (and a potential to raise more in community contributions) to be used toward the creation of a multi-use, non-motorized trail on the Batavia Kill. The 1.1 mile loop trail will be built on a 68-acre parcel owned by the town at the former Police Anchor Camp, along Route 23, on the eastern outskirts of the hamlet district, allowing for improved access to the popular fishing stream. Bridge and boardwalk materials are needed to cross over a wetland and a tributary. A trail committee of local residents and business owners is planning the Windham Path with assistance from the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District.

--PLANNING & ASSESSMENT: the Town of Hunter, $35,000 with an In-kind contribution of $5,000 to conduct a detailed review of current land use regulations with an intent to adopt revisions and write new regulations and/or guidelines promoting low impact design, climate smart and smart growth principles. In the absence of zoning, the town is seeking to investigate, and adopt as appropriate, innovative land use practices which will be an incentive to achieve desirable future growth related to private housing, development and commercial enterprises.

--PLANNING & ASSESSMENT: the towns of Ashland, Jewett, Lexington and Windham and the villages of Hunter and Tannersville, $12,000 with an In-kind contribution of $21,500 from the Catskill Watershed Corporation to hold “Mountaintop-wide Better Site Design Plan Workshops.” The workshops will guide each community through a comparison of the local codes against model development principles using a consensus building approach. Model principles will then be compiled into a General Guide for Mountaintop Communities, facilitating specific recommendations for each community.

SWAC has thus far awarded a total of $518,957.50 in the first two rounds of programming, leaving $1.481,042.50 for future projects. The application deadline for round three is August 2, 2010, with approvals formally taking place on October 27, 2010. Projects awarded funding in round one included improving stream access along the Schoharie Creek in the town of Prattsville by constructing a parking area and installing floodplain drains under Vista Ridge Road in the Town of Jewett, reducing backwater conditions causing channel aggradation. Stormwater retrofits were approved at the Mountaintop Library in the village of Tannersville and Town of Hunter, reducing the quantity of, and improving the conveyance of, stormwater runoff, vastly improving water quality.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-K5kh6NpYM&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Didi Barrett announces her campaign for NY State Senate in Poughkeepsie, NY April 7, 2010 in the video above. Later in the day, she also announced her candidacy at the Columbia Courthouse in Hudson, with about 50 onlookers, the Register-Star reported. Barrett so far is the first Democrat to announce a challenge for the 41st New York State Senate seat held by Republican Steve Saland that covers Columbia County, and Dutchess and other nearby area.

Diane Valden in The Columbia Paper reports:

The 122-acre cornfield between the hamlet and the Copake town hall--the proposed site of a controversial 138-unit senior and mixed-income housing development called Copake Green--is now up for sale [from Housing Resources of Columbia County]. The asking price is $1.2 million. And unless someone ready, willing and able to invest in the housing project shows up before the property is sold, Copake Green will be nothing more than a not-so-fond memory for many in town who never thought it was a good idea.

Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential reports:

Federal officials have sent a letter to Gov. David Paterson, warning him that his proposed closure of state parks and historic sites would put New York in “non-compliance” with the requirements attached to funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, possibly resulting in the loss of federal funding for parks or other areas. “In addition, closure of any park acquired through FLP (Federal Land to Parks) could result in reversion of the property to federal ownership and the possible sale of the property,” wrote Dennis Reidenbach, Northeast Regional Director for the National Parks Service. The letter, posted on Facebook by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, is dated March 31. New York received just under $1.9 million in federal parks funding in 2010, the letter said. Paterson’s proposed closures would save about $6.3 million; the state faces a $9.2 billion budget deficit.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Property rights issues are always the most intense and contentious issues, and Paul Crossman of the Chatham Courier tells one story:

Overnight RV parking and the construction of a new go-cart track at Lebanon Valley Speedway have been issues of contention in New Lebanon for quite some time now. But while one issue has been resolved — the go-cart track — the other has not. And racing season is fast approaching. At their regular meeting Tuesday night, April 6, the Zoning Board of Appeals, with the exception of board President John Dax, who recused himself due to a conflict of interest, voted unanimously to allow a special site use permit for the go-cart track, with certain conditions and restrictions. “It’s been a very long, tedious process,” said Lebanon Valley Speedway owner Howard Commander. “The board, in the end, acted fairly, but nothing changed [regarding the track] from day one.” Commander added that nearly all the conditions the board stipulated had already been met in his original plan for the track. Stipulations the ZBA instituted for the track and its use include taking steps to minimize sound and light pollution, including a landscaped buffer area at least 50-feet wide, 10 feet of which must be coniferous trees; no structures located within 100 feet of adjoining property lines; adequate off-street parking for up to 200 additional cars; and limiting track use to Wednesday and Sunday from May 1 to Oct. 31, when other races are already occurring to minimize sound discomfort to neighbors. The go carts would also have to meet standards for the quietest exhaust systems available. The ZBA also considered the fact that the closest neighbors live more than a mile from the track and reports indicate that the sound level at that distance would be around 48 decibels — less than the volume of a normal conversation.

UPDATE: Crossman apparently missed the news that track owner Howard Commander plans to hold a multi-day music festival there this summer, and there is now a kerfuffle between the town and Commander over the definitions of camping and "overnight parking," according to Gail Heinsohn's story in The Columbia Paper.

Rob Hervey, a Catskill-based musician who has performed at several WGXC fundraisers, has created "Chillavision," a public access television show of his music set to video footage with effects that debuts Wednesday, April 14 at 10 p.m. on Mid-Hudson Cable's Channel 11. "The first episode features songs from my 2006 release "Subterralembic" with locally shot video footage manipulated in such a way to entrance and mesmerize the viewer," Hervey says.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

The Hudson-Catskill Newspaper Corp. -- the company that runs the only daily newspapers in each county (The Daily Mail and Register-Star) as well as weekly papers in Chatham, Windham, and on the mountaintop -- bought Greene County's only remaining weekly, the Greene County Local Courier, and The Ravena News-Herald, from George McHugh, today's issue of the Courier reports. The story names frequent contributor Melanie Lekocevic as new editor, and says H-CN plans to continue publishing both weeklies. The story does not say whether the purchased papers will now get web sites. Earlier this year The Greenville Press ceased publication.

WTEN reports:

The Friar Tuck Inn didn't find a Robin Hood to save it. The massive resort and conference center in Catskill that had fallen into disrepair and bankruptcy has been closed. Ulster Savings Bank of Kingston had recently taken over the property and had been seeking a buyer. But at a hearing at bankruptcy court in Albany Wednesday morning, the bank's attorney said the resort is closed. The facility is still operating its timeshare and efficiency apartment businesses.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

The Solid Sound Festival is a new festival curated by the Chicago band Wilco. It debuts August 13 – 15 at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, MA. The Solid Sound Festival is an independently promoted and ticketed three-day event of music, art, comedy, interactivity and more. Wilco headlines the weekend, in the bandʼs only East Coast performance of the summer. This new festival also presents individual performances by all the Wilco membersʼ side projects including Glenn Kotcheʼs On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Singers, The Autumn Defense featuring John Stirratt and Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensenʼs Pronto. Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA also plays host to additional musical performances, a fully programmed comedy stage, interactive installations and exhibits (including the Solid Sound Stompbox Station, an interactive guitar pedal exhibit created and demonstrated by Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, a concert-poster screening demonstration, planned workshops by luthiers and more), plus film, video installations and djʼs. Festival attendees will have full access to the entire MASS MoCA campus, which incorporates 150,000 square feet of galleries. MASS MoCA, a renovated 19th century textile mill, is the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the U.S. Art on display in the galleries during the festival includes the Sol LeWitt Retrospective (chosen #1 exhibition of the year by Time magazine), Inigo Manglano Ovalleʼs Gravity is a Force to be Reckoned with, Petah Coyneʼs Material World: Sculpture to Environment, Leonard Nimoyʼs Secret Selves and a new installation by Michael Oatman. Tickets for Solid Sound FestivalL are on sale this Friday, April 9 through the bandʼs official website wilcoworld.net and through solidsoundfestival.com. From April 9 to May 31 tickets for the three-day event will be available for $86.50 (including all fees and parking) and after June 1 for $99.50 (including all fees and parking).

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The Jamie Larson story in The Register-Star today is incredibly detailed, but I still do not understand the big picture of the proposed switcheroo of a fire hydrant for a road closure. And which meeting did things get decided at, who says, or is that just implied? Can someone in Taghkanic explain?

The occasionally contentious inter-municipal deal to trade the installation of a hydrant for the Taghkanic Fire Department along the city of Hudson water supply line for the closure of the road along the city owned Churchtown reservoir has shifted course, according to town and city officials. At the Monday meeting of the Taghkanic Town Board, members and Highway Superintendent Tom Youhas said the two issues are now separate. Taghkanic Supervisor Elizabeth Young said the hydrant is a public safety issue that is up to the fire department and Youhas will have the ultimate say on whether the road along the reservoir and dam will be closed. Youhas has expressed disapproval of the proposal to trade Reservoir Road for a fire hydrant to be located on Post Hill Road. Hudson Superintendent of Public Works Robert Perry said he’s not sure whether they are separate issues or not. He said the city would like to alleviate a certain level of risk on the city’s end, meaning potential dangers posed to the dam by allowing vehicle traffic on its bank, if the city is going to assume the risk associated with installing and monitoring a hydrant that taps into the city’s pipe running from the smaller dam at a waterfall on the Taghkanic creak to the reservoir 10 miles away. “The ball’s in their court,” Perry said. “The negotiations have just begun. All we’re asking is some consideration to minimize risk elsewhere.” The forge, of New Forge Road, has also become a focus of concern for some in Taghkanic who take issue with the fact that during a drought the waterline can drop below the forge dam spillway and cut off the stream entirely. There is a valve in the dam that can release water past it but Perry said it may never have been opened in the nearly 100 years since it was installed and they aren’t going to touch it for fear that it may rust out and not close. “The DPW people are not sure if the dam is holding the valve in place or if the valve is holding the dam in place,” said Town Board Member Lawrence Kadish at the meeting Monday. “Even if we could open the valve it’s unlikely in a drought situation it would create flow. The obvious conclusion is you need to build a new dam there.” Perry said there is no need to build a new dam and such construction in a creek bed would never be approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation in the modern era. Destruction of the old dam, he said, would most likely have to involve blowing it up with dynamite. “You can clearly see it is lack of rain and not any appurtenance on the part of Hudson that reduces the amount of water in the creek during time of drought.” Taghkanic Creek runs right behind the town’s firehouse and the Taghkanic Volunteer Fire Company #1 uses the creek for water to put out fires. When the creek is dry, the fire company has to travel to one of five privately owned ponds and pump out of a dry hydrant into the four water-carrying vehicles. The dry creek is another reason a hydrant would be so useful. Perry said he does not have a problem with taking the road out of the deal but will hold his opinion until he hears the official request he expects soon from the fire department and not the highway department. All of these issues were discussed on April 24, at a meeting between representatives from both municipalities that included Young, Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera, Perry, Youhas and Kadish. Perry said at the end of the meeting he had the understanding that at the Monday Taghkanic Town Board meeting the idea of closing Reservoir Road to vehicle traffic but leaving it open as a pedestrian trail would be brought up to the public. On Monday however the topic was not brought up at the meeting.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

The Bindlestiff Cirkus is back in their hometown including at Hudson's Club Helskinki, which appears will be open at least by May 30 judging from this press release from the clowns of Bindlestiff:

*Saturday April 24- with Walking the dog Theater's Improv Theater Ensemble at Space 360, Hudson 8 p.m., $20 (more details below)

Sunday, May 30 and Friday, June 25: Bindlestiff Cirkus Cabaret- featuring a different cast of special guests each show, from NYC's circus, burlesque and variety community- accompanied by live original music! At the brand, spanking new Club Helsinki, located at 405 Columbia Street, Hudson showtime 9 p.m., tickets $15 (more details below)

the more details below:
SATURDAY APRIL 24 - a benefit performance for Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. and GhostWALK Hudson,
with Walking the dog Theater's Improv ensemble
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founders and variety artists Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu team up with Walking the dog Theater’s OFF LEASH! Improv Theater Ensemble for an evening of circus and improvisation at Hudson's Space 360 on April 24th at 8 p.m. Bindlestiff will bring to the mix a few of it's signature acts, featuring a twisted take on physical comedy and prop manipulation, in addition to some new, original collaborative fun with Walking the dog Theater's Improv cast. Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc., based in Brooklyn and Hudson, NY, is a non-profit performing arts organization dedicated to increasing the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the history of circus, sideshow, vaudeville, and related arts through activities including performances, lectures, print media, and workshops for the general public as well as creating opportunities for cultural exchange and fostering a sense of community. Walking the dog Theater, a keystone of Columbia County's artistic community, has been at the forefront of collaboration and support for other local arts groups, offering benefit performances of it's monthly OFF LEASH! Improv Theater Ensemble to raise funds and awareness for local artists and organizations. March's performance benefitted the Awgawamuck Project for the Fine and Practical Arts, a new educational-therapeutic initiative based in Philmont. Aprils' show will benefit Bindlestiff- Hudson's own Cirkus and Walking the dog Theater's partner in GhostWALK Hudson. To find out more about Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, please visit http://www.bindlestiff.org
Suggested donation: $20.
Location Space 360, 360 Warren Street in Hudson . For more information, please contact: David Anderson david@wtdtheater.org (518) 610-0909.

SUNDAY MAY 25 AND FRIDAY JUNE 30
BINDLESTIFF FAMILY CIRKUS CABARET
Where: Club Helsinki 405 Columbia Street, Hudson, NY
When: May 30 (Sunday) and June 25 (Friday), 2010
Showtime: 9 pm Doors: 8 pm
Admission: $20 ($5 discount for clowns in make-up)
Info: 1-877-BINDLES bindlestiff.org clubhelsinkiweb.com

On May 30 and June 25, The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cabaret comes to Club Helsinki's brand new home in Hudson, NY. The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cabaret features new, phenomenal acts each show from the world's best artists in the disciplines of Circus, Variety, Burlesque, Sideshow, and Physical Comedy. Live, original Cirkus tunes by our Maestro of Musical Mystery. Expect jugglers, clowns, acrobats, and trapeze artists to share the stage with musicians, magicians, dancers, daredevils, and more. Each show features a unique combination of acts, but all promise a legendary lineup of circus feats, sideshow marvels, and world-class entertainers. The New York Times said of the BFC Cabaret: “It’s old-fashioned variety entertainment of the sort Ed Sullivan so astutely scooped up, but with twists.” Every show features Ringmistress Philomena and Kinko the Clown, a/k/a Bindlestiff co-founders Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu, along with an amazing lineup of guest stars.
With the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus' first Winter Cabaret in New York City 1995, and subsequent national tours, the stage was set for today's far-reaching vaudeville and burlesque revival. Since then Bindlestiff has become a legend in the New York and national performance scene. The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus has featured over 400 guest variety artists; supported and presented original theatrical shows by other artists working in the variety arts field; launched Bindlestiff's Cavalcade of Youth, a mentoring program and showcase for young performers; brought vaudeville back to Times Square; fostered new variety artists and new acts by established performers at its monthly Open Stage; and toured nationally for 14 years. Since Bindlestiff co-founders Monseu and Nelson moved to Hudson in 2005, they have been teaching circus arts classes and workshops in the area, producing Bindlestiff Cirkus shows for youth and adults, and collaborating with local arts groups and organizations like The Basilica Industria, Time and Space Limited, Columbia County Council on the Arts, Perform Columbia, the Hudson Opera House, Operation Unity, Walking the dog Theater, The Hudson Department of Youth and the Morris Memorial.
For more information:
1-877-BINDLES HTTP://WWW.BINDLESTIFF.ORG

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4XeTSVaQT0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
(The Watershed Post interviews George and Duane LaFever, Catskill maple syrup producers.)

The Watershed Post reports on the lack of maple syrup production this spring:

It's the peak of New York's annual maple festival, and local tappers are saying the maple syrup yield in the Catskills is worse than it's ever been. Sugar producers in the Catskills are collecting under a quarter of the sap that they usually do at this time of year, says Helen Thomas, the executive director of the New York State Maple Producers Association. Production is down across the board in the warmer parts of New York, she adds, including at her own Syracuse farm. But the Catskills are seeing the most dramatic sap shortage. "It's pretty universal in the Catskill region that you're just doing lousy," she says. Jessica Ziehm, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, confirms that because the Catskills are the southernmost syrup-producing region in the state, they "might be a little worse-off than others." But it's been a bad season for syrup all over, she adds. At Catskill Mountain Maple, a sugar house in Delancey, 74-year-old George LaFever, a second-generation syrup-maker, says that this is the worst maple season in memory. "It's been a horrible season," says his son, Duane LaFever, who owns Catskill Mountain Maple with business partner Tom Kaufman. "We're probably at maybe 25 percent of normal." "Pretty much everybody I know in about a 50-mile circle from here is having the same type of terrible season," says Kaufman. "Nobody can figure out exactly what's going on." This winter's intense blizzards, which have been chased by freakishly early warm weather, are probably playing a role, says Thomas, who spoke with the Watershed Post by phone as she was cleaning her sap lines in an attempt to boost her own forest's yield. "The nights have gotten way too warm way too fast," she says. "It's supposed to warm up slow. That way the trees wake up slow." "We haven't had the freezing nights," Kaufman says. "And it seems like when we have had the freezing nights, it's still going wrong." But there might be another factor at play: the forest tent caterpillar, or as George LaFever calls them, "maple worms." Forest tent caterpillars eat leaves and can kill trees. Cornell's Sugar Maple Research & Extension program advises maple producers to spray for them if the defoliation is bad enough to hurt sap production. Kaufman says he has sprayed for tent caterpillars three times in recent years. However, according to Ziehm, there have been no studies showing a link between tent caterpillars and sap reduction in the maple industry.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.