Triple Cities Carousel June 2016

CAROUSEL triple cities

june 2016

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vol. 4 issue 5

your local arts and culture rag.

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inside. music...6 theatre...17 poetry...19 events calendar...20 art...22 food and drink...27

film...31 books...32 travel...33 fun stuff...35 star stuff...38 business directory...39

“ I think they just gave us, like, vegetarian food. I don’t remember too much about the food except for eating, like, pita bread with alfalfa sprouts.”

-Page 9

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From left: Futureman, Howard Levy, Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten. Photo provided.

The Flecktones Return An interview with Bela Fleck

by Phil Westcott 6 carouselrag.com

I

music.

N 1988, FOUR VIRTUOSIC musicians got together to play once, for a show on PBS. 28 years later, banjoist Bela Fleck, pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy, bassist Victor Wooten and his drumitar playing brother Roy (better known as Future Man) are still bringing innovation, creation, and beauty to music, whether in their own individual projects or as the world renowned Bela Fleck & the Flecktones.

whole new way. It’s kind of a league of innovators; putting our energies together, pooling our creative powers, we’ve helped all the ships arrive. But anyway, back to Howard. It was really great getting back with Howard.

It was kind of like getting back with an old girlfriend 30 years later; you’ve both learned a lot since then, and you’re better at getting along, you’re better at you, and you have a lot of different things to bring to the situation.

It’s been almost five years since the Flecktones last toured, but they’re hitting the road this month for two weeks of shows with the original lineup. That tour stops at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, June 7th. I caught up recently with the band’s namesake, the unparalleled Bela Fleck:

What is your favorite part about playing with the Flecktones, as opposed to playing with Abigail [Washburn, Fleck’s wife and frequent collaborator] or any of the other groups you’ve played with? What really stands out to you as the Flecktones sound, or ‘tone’ if you will...? Well it’s totally unique. It’s really the only situation I play in with drums.

Once in a blue moon I’ll go out and play with Dave Matthews Band, sit in for a couple of nights. Aside from that, most of my life is acoustic these days. Playing with that rhythm section, that sound is just unbeatable; they’re so cool. But we all grew up together; we all found our paths together, we all became men together. Not that anyone wasn’t before, but the years of playing together shaped us all.

When we get back together it feels so relaxed and so easy, and yet it’s some of the most complex music that we play. It’s an odd combination of familiar and comfortable, and that we push each other. We push each other like friends, not like competitors. We’re not competing for applause. We’re excited to see what we can bring out in each other, what new things we haven’t heard in each other.

It’s very exciting to get back together, and to prepare for that process again.

What inspired you to play banjo? Why the banjo, and not guitar or piano or something else? I heard the banjo when I was kid on the Beverly Hillbillies TV show, and it just kind of shook me up. Your question is a good question; I can’t really explain.

I have no answer. I grew up in the city; I had no exposure to folk music or country music in my family. I just heard that sound and it shook me up. Over the years, I figured out what it was, and my grandfather got me one at a garage sale in Upstate New York, and once I got it, I couldn’t put it down. I guess I still haven’t.

It’s such an interesting sound; when I’ve seen you play, you bring out a side of the banjo I don’t often see. You have an innate sense of how to play the instrument. Thank you, I’ve been playing a long time. I think I found my own way about it, found my own personality about it. I feel like it’s a cause, kind of a mission to get the banjo out of the stereotypical preconceptions that come with it. The truth about the banjo is that it’s so rich in history, it’s incredible.

It came over with the slaves and is a part of modern music in the United States. It’s a part of jazz, in Louis Armstrong’s band and classical bands and orchestras in the late 1800s.

By the time I was a kid, no one remembered that. They just associated Southern white music with it; which is a wonderful, wonderful music and I wouldn’t be playing if not for that music. But it’s not the whole story; it’s just a tiny piece of it.

It seems that’s kind of what drives the Flecktones in general. All of you bring out sounds on instruments that you don’t normally hear on those instruments. Was it a challenge returning to the original line-up, with Howard Levy? Or was it just sort of natural?

First of all, I have to say, all of the Flecktones feel the same way about their instruments in the way that [their instrument] is relegated to certain roles. For instance, Victor Wooten feels like the bass is a cause the way I feel like the banjo is, because of the way it’s normally played. Typically, it just does background stuff, and he feels like it should have a forward role as well; it should have a variety of roles. It’s his natural bent to push the boundary. Howard does similar things with the harmonica, and Future Man, he has found a

Is there a reason that you’re keeping the tour so limited and so short? It’s 14 gigs in 16 days, you’re gonna be beat, but - Yeah, we’ll either be invigorated and excited, or we’ll never wanna see each other [chuckles]. Actually, what happened is that we had been talking about getting together in 2017, but nobody could really make that work. Usually when we get together, we tend to shoot the moon, release a new record, go out and play some new music and go on tour for a year. But that wasn’t making sense for anyone right now, with me as a pretty new parent, and Vic has four kids, and everybody with all their different projects; so we decided to shelve it for now. Then I got this request from Telluride, would I consider bringing the Flecktones together for just one festival and I said ‘you know, let’s give it a shot. We’ve never gotten together for just one gig. Maybe everyone will be into doing it;’ we all do want to play together but we can’t commit to a whole year right now. I got in touch with everyone saying, ‘What would you think about getting together for Telluride with a few gigs to warm up?’ and everyone got back within an hour saying, ‘yes, let’s do it,’ because we all love playing at Telluride. Then, the problem was everyone wanted the band. What kind of tour can we put together that will lead us from Nashville to Telluride, and end at Telluride? Victor has a gig the day after Telluride; he has to leave on a midnight flight after the show. It was like that. We could have worked every day, had two gigs a day, but we didn’t

want to do that. We just want to go out and play and have fun, and luckily there’s still a lot of people that want to come listen to us.

So, basically, we could do this. Everyone has the space, the time; after that, we’ll talk. If everyone is excited and reinvigorated, we’ll find other ways to get back together. It’s an open question as to what happens, but we all love each other. We love playing together a lot; finding a way to keep playing together, and to make sure that it happens again is important to all of us.

It seems like the Flecktones are all so busy these days. What brings you back together with a newness and excitement? Well, it’s going to be four or five years now since we played together; but just the idea of playing together, for me. Playing with guys that play like them - there’s nobody that plays like them in the world. And nobody I play with typically brings out in me what they bring out in me. To hear them and see what things I can put on the table.

It’s an aggressive show - an unusual, eclectic show. I guess you could say that about almost anything that I do. Playing with Abby isn’t a typical show, playing with an orchestra [and banjo] is eclectic too; if I’m playing with Chick Corea as a duo, that’s eclectic. But this is something else; this is a whole band concept that is completely unusual: banjo and harmonica as the frontline instruments of a jazz group? And the jazz group has an electric drum, and the best electric bass player ever? It’s a very strange group. I’m proud of everything we’ve done together, and proud to get back together, and play in front of people again, and see what happens.

I don’t know exactly how to phrase this, but, Future Man’s drum is an interesting instrument. Can you tell me what your reaction was when you first saw it? First I heard about it, and I thought, ‘wow, I’m putting together a band for a TV show and this thing is going to be really interesting to look at; this guy’s going to be interesting.’ Talking to him on the phone, it sounded like quite a contraption. So that was the first thing. But I also knew - from people [who] knew Future Man - that he was an incredible trap drummer. I actually hired him to play for the show [...] without ever having met him in person, on the basis of the conversation and people’s recommendation.

People said he was a pretty unbeatable musician, and it proved to be true. But the instrument itself, it’s like a drum guitar, and people call it a drumitar. It’s an instrument that has a bunch of triggers, and if you think about a drum machine, the way you can press a button and hear snare, or press a button and hear a cymbal, or bass drum or high hat - that’s what it is. The buttons are so sensitive, that he can play real drum music and get to a lot of things that you can’t get to on real drums. Also, triggering sounds while you’re doing it. It’s incredible.

It sounds like a delicate instrument.

All instruments are delicate in their own way, but that instrument, it’s When you think about drums, drums are very physical. You’re using your whole body. But to be able to walk around the stage, which is

one of the amazing things, you can stand face to face with the drummer, and interact with him to his face. A normal drummer, you have all of this between you. Not only that, but you can go up to the lip of the stage, and interact with him. That’s something that, really, I don’t think has ever happened before. But none of it would work if he wasn’t an unbelievable musician. Luckily, he is.

I can’t imagine you would have played with him for too long if he hadn’t been.

Not in this band. In this band, everyone has to be the best that you can be. Everyone has to be incredible for it to work.

To that, you guys play such intricate music, in weird time signatures that you don’t normally hear, and the harmonies can be odd. But there’s also this element of freedom and conversation that you can see happening on stage. How do you manage that freedom; how do you balance that intricate structure, combined with that freedom? How do you decide where you’re going to go with that? We do create structures, and we work those structures. We kinda know what’s going to happen in what order. But the amount of time we’re going to be in various musical places can vary depending on who’s leading and what it’s feeling like. I wasn’t trying to create a group that was entirely avant-garde, musically. The truth is I’m one of the controllers, one of the controlling factors. If I can’t get it, if I think it’s too out there, I’m going to vote against it.

I want it to be pretty and complex. Individual and intricate, and all that kind of stuff, but still have a heart to it that most people could relate to. A warmth to it or something? I’m always looking for that in the music: how can we get heart into this thing?

That’s not too hard with the rhythm section of Victor and Future Man. They’re the heart of the music, and Howard’s the brains. I don’t know what I am, but that combination of heart and brains - that’s the thing about the Flecktones to me that makes it work. No matter what, the beat is danceable. Even if we’re playing in 9/8, 11/8, whatever we happen to be in, the way the Wootens play together is so infectious. They have James Brown all over it. They make it feel like you could get up and dance to it, if you could dance in 11. You kind of want to; so that makes my melody and Howard’s improvisations really soar. They’re not as esoteric as they seem when you put a rhythm like that to it. But they’re rhythms; they’re not simple. [Future Man]’s not just banging out kick and snare in an odd meter.

They’re doing really interesting things with the rhythm. That’s the thing I love playing with those guys. Howard is a very challenging as an improviser. He’s a very advanced improviser and conceptualist. So that combination of the head and the heart, that to me, is the key.

And isn’t that the key to everything? The Anderson Center is located at 4400 Vestal Parkway East in Binghamton University.

Show starts at 8pm, and tickets are $45 dollars inside, $23 dollars for lawn seating, and $15 dollars for student lawn seating.

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41 court street

binghamton LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR

6/2 Milkweed Folk songs about fish and taxis and whiskey

6/9 Adrienne Mack-Davis w/ feleciacruz Only 2016 Binghamton date!

With opening set by DJ Funky Leroy!

6/16 Ship of Phools Dead covers from Binghamton, NY

6/23 RNR Acoustic rock from Rob Locker & Robbie Sample

galaxybrewingco.com FOR FULL EVENT LISTINGS AND MORE INFO 8 carouselrag.com

Photo by Jana Perry.

to get to the next show each time.

Pita with alfalfa sprouts, that’s very California! Well, I think the company was from New York, that did the festival, or whatever. Anyway, we were happy with whatever they gave us. We got to play to huge audiences that would never normally have even seen us play, or any of these bands play, because most of the shows - from what I remember - were on college campuses. They would get, like, a permit to set up, and we would just play. And it was free. People would just be walking by between classes, or whatever, on the campus and just stop and check it out.

Plus, your normal punks knew that it was going to be happening, and they were all there.

Especially because it was free.

I’ve looked at DRI’s flyer collection on your website. You’ve shared stages with pretty much everyone who was anyone in the hardcore world! Yes, one of the perks of being in a band is that you get to see all the bands you like, but for free!

Tell us about your song “Acid Rain.”

Just me musing over how we have changed our environment in such a short time.

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles

The seminal hardcore/thrash band plays Fitzie’s Pub in Binghamton this month

by Doctor B.

You’ve gotta have some songs if you wanna get up there on stage.

T

How did DRI get its name? Our dad would call us different names. When it comes down to the wire and they say, “Okay, we got you a show, but what’s the name of the band to put on the flyer?” and we don’t really have a name yet, you’re kind of forced into coming up with something with the deadline, you know. You know all about deadlines.

HE HOUSTON, Texas-based band, DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) was formed by vocalist Kurt Brecht in 1982. Contemporaries of The Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, DRI was part of the initial wave of hardcore bands that came about in the early 1980s. Their first release, recorded in 1982, was the seven-inch The Dirty Rotten EP. True to the punk ethos of loud and fast, it contained 22 songs, which clocked in at about 18 minutes. Only 1,000 copies were made. It was eventually reissued as a 12-inch the following year (The Dirty Rotten LP). By 1987, DRI had developed what would become their signature sound. They fused hardcore with elements of thrash and heavy metal, and were one of the first bands to do this. Their approach influenced bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion of Conformity. The band’s logo, the “skanker man,” was created

by DRI’s original drummer, Eric Brecht, as a high school art project - he reportedly received an A on it.

I spoke recently with Kurt Brecht, in anticipation of DRI’s June 21st show at Fitzies Pub in Binghamton: How did DRI originally get together in 1982? Just four guys trying to get some songs together so we could play a live show.

Boy, do I ever! So yeah, we had to come up with something. And my dad used to - we practiced in our house, in my parents’ house - so my dad was yelling at us all the time because of the noise. And we practiced too late and all that kind of stuff. Can’t hear the TV, pictures are falling off the walls, all that kind of stuff. And that was one of the names we thought was the funniest that he called us: “You dirty, rotten imbeciles!”

Your band’s first record, “Dirty Rotten EP,” packed 22 songs into 18 minutes.

Now, that’s punk! Yeah, we didn’t have the cash to put out a 12-inch. Spike’s brother-in-law lent us the money, but he only had a certain amount, so we found a pressing plant that promised they could get all the songs onto a seven-inch. I think the quality of the sound suffered a bit, but the overall goal came out all right. Then we did eventually end up putting it out on a 12-inch. MDC [Millions of Dead Cops] did it on their R Radical

Records. They paid the money and put it out on a 12-inch. So, we got a little better sound quality there.

Your band went to San Francisco in 1983. How did that come about? We heard the scene was better there, and that a fast band like us just might do well. Bands that had been in SF came back and told us, like, “Man, you guys are pretty good. If you went there… they need a band like you guys there!” Somebody super-fast and everything.

So we said, “All right,” packed it up, and went. We booked one show, went there for one gig and ended up staying.

For how long? About 15 years.

DRI ended up in the Rock Against Reagan tour, with bands like the Dead Kennedys, MDC, and Reagan Youth.

How did you get into that tour and how did it go? Fellow Texans, MDC, invited us along. Our pay was food and gas money. We were living in the same area and they must have been in contact with the people that were promoting it and I think they were allowed to bring one band with them. The guys in MDC were arguing over which band to bring. In the end they brought us. And I think they just gave us, like, vegetarian food.

I don’t remember too much about the food except for eating, like, pita bread with alfalfa sprouts. That kind of stuff. And then I guess they gave us a little bit of money for gas, just

Your song, “Syringes in the Sandbox” is pretty intense. What inspired it? A news story in California, I think.

You started out playing hardcore punk in the early ‘80s. By ’87, with the release of your album “Crossover,” your musical style had changed into the fusion of punk, thrash, and metal you’re now known for. How did you arrive at that musical style? We let our earlier influences from our childhoods seep out a little. Plus, we needed some slower, heavier songs to mix in our set for the sake of variety.

We were out there playing every night. We had 30 songs or something, whatever it was, and they were all short and fast. It was cool, but for us it was kind of amazing to see it as the audience or whatever, but we were kind of getting tired of it, and we did have a few slower parts anyway. People seemed to really like that, so we wanted to have more of that in between the fast parts. Makes the fast parts seem even more intense, you know? You go from slow, heavy mosh to super-fast cuts and all that stuff. So, yeah, we were influenced by heavy metal and hard rock or whatever in our younger days. We just let some of that come out. Mixed it in.

You’re about to release the first record you’ve made since 1995, the EP “But Wait...There’s More!” Please tell us more about it. We recorded this record while on tour in LA. We used the same engineer as we used on Crossover.

Lots of metal and thrash bands point to you as being one of their major influences. I know! Wonderful, isn’t it? Now if some of them will just take us on a big tour!

DRI will be playing at Fitzies Irish Pub on 9 Main Street in Binghamton at 7pm, Tuesday, June 21st. Opening acts include HASTE, Strong Intention, Caste, and Dance-a-Tron.

Tickets are $15.00 in advance, $20.00 at the door. You can also check out their website, dirtyrottenimbeciles.com.

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MON - PROGRESSIVE WING NIGHT (wings get cheaper with each drink you buy after 6p) WED- DEEPCUTS PRO JAM (late), DEVINNE MEYERS (early) (Dinner tunes w/ Devinne at 6p, followed by an ever evolving collaboration feat. the area’s best musicians, 9p) THURS- TRIVIA (7:30p) FRI- B.Y.O. VINYL WITH DJ SPACE ONE SPECIAL EVENTS: (bring your best vinyl and get your second drink free) SUN- KARAOKE NIGHT (8P)

If we’re open, the kitchen’s open!

Burgers, Spiedies, Phillies, Reubens, Wings, Fries, Etc. (At the corner of Main and Beethoven)

190 main st.

binghamton

(607) 772-6313

Open Daily: Mon-Thurs 3p-1a, Fri-Sat 12p-3a, Sun 12p-1a

Have you danced with ransom yet?

6/1 Open Mic 6/2 Mel and the Boys 6/3 The Gunpoets & The Blind Spots 6/4 Gravelding Brothers w/ Randy McStine &John Kanazawich 6/8 Cruise In w/ Fifth Gear 6/9 Watts on Tap 6/10 Pages of Paul & Escuela 6/11 Beard of Bees & Voodoo Highway 6/15 Open Mic 6/16 Triple Down 6/17 Driftwood & the Crawdiddies 6/18 Driftwood & Merkley and Morgan 6/22 Gerard Burke 6/23 Claire Byrne and Brian Vollmer 6/24 Still Hand String Band w/ Serene Green, & Chris Mollo 6/25 Travis Rocco Duo w/ Quona Hudson & Adam Gates 6/30 Humble Beginnings Band

food and drinks and music and dancing est. 1831

552 Main Street

APALACHIN ny ransomsteeletavern.com 10 carouselrag.com

U Lee onstage last year for “Aliens Among Us.” Provided.

How did you end up in Binghamton?

In 2010, when I was in Taiwan conducting an opera, I saw a post from a conductor that I worked with in Sarasota Opera, and he wanted to find a mezzo-soprano to sing the role Giulietta in [Jacques Offenbach’s opera] The Tales of Hoffmann. I told him that I was just coming back from Taiwan at that time, and that I’d never sung that role, but I could just come in and sight-read, and he said, “Okay, so… could you come tomorrow?” So the day after I landed in the States, I went to the audition and I sang it, and he said, “Did you never sing this before?” and I said, “Never.” And he said, “You actually sang better than the ones that prepared for the role.” So then I got a job with the Tri-Cities Opera.

That makes a lot of sense. At the time, my visa expired, so I applied for a green card.

The whole process took about one-and-a-half years. While I was in Taiwan, I really didn’t have any operatic connections; I lost them, because I had spent a few years in the States.

So when I went back, I was like, what should I do? I wrote emails to a bunch of childcare facilities. And one childcare facility in a rural place contacted me back and said, “We really need people like you, but we cannot really pay you well at this time.” So I said, “Well, you can [pay] the very minimum and I’ll be able to put on a concert with your kids.” And we did, and they spent less than $200 total, and raised $10,000 on the concert. I went back to help them, and they got two cars out of it, and I went back again, and they made $15,000, so they could build new buildings.

Their headquarters were wondering why this site was doing so well, and then they hired me to do bigger events. So I contributed a few marketing ideas for them. For five months of work, we raised, I think, over a million dollars.

Progress over perfection The personal journey of Ü Lee

by Heather Merlis

MUSICIAN Ü LEE IS A RARE BIRD, bringing her effervescent energy to everything from operatic arias to community action projects. The classically trained multi-instrumentalist can hardly be categorized musically, let alone professionally. This month at Cyber Café West, she’ll be performing “Inner Monologues Out Loud,” a show which will combine comedic anecdotes with classical and contemporary compositions, including some of her own. She recently shared some of her personal monologue with Carousel: Could you tell us about your musical roots? I was born in 1982 in Taiwan; my mom is a housewife, my dad works as a customs officer at a seaport in Kohsiung. When I was five-and-a-half years old, my mom put me on the piano, started to teach me a little

bit, and she thought maybe I had some talent. I studied with a private teacher, who was really mean and strict, so I went and studied with someone else, and went into music school when I was ten.

There was a split-second when I had a thought of becoming a vet, but my mom thought it was not going to make money; now she says, oh, I wish you had become a vet.

Anyway, we had to take second major in the music school, so I started to play cello. At the time, I was watching this Japanese anime, and I saw this character that was really cool, and she played saxophone, so I told my parents that I wanted to play alto saxophone.

So then I took lessons, and I got into another special music class in junior high school.

That’s when I was introduced to chorus, and the chorus teacher encouraged me to take voice lessons, and study voice as my second major instead of cello.

So I started to take voice lessons, and got into National Taiwanese University as a voice major. I studied opera with Tseng Dau-hsiong, who is known as the “Godfather of Opera” in Taiwan. My sophomore year, I did my very first opera character with him; we performed in [the] National Concert Hall. So, my first role was Annio in [Mozart’s] La Clemenza di Tito.

The roles just kept getting bigger and bigger, so when I was a senior in college, I went to the States to study abroad. I had a tour of auditions; I applied for both piano accompanying programs and voice performance programs, and the funny thing was that I didn’t get into any voice performance programs - I only got into piano accompanying programs. I never stopped playing piano. It actually worked out really well, because, as an accompanist, I get to work in everybody’s studio. I think because of the frustration I had, I worked even harder.

Now that I’m in Binghamton, I’m trying to do things like that, as well. Starting small, probably, and I’ll be able to grow with some of the non-profit organizations here. Like, Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial Church – I am the musical director there now. I also do a concert for Mom’s House – they help single parents to take care of their children when they are trying to finish their studies.

It’s great that you’re here. This is the kind of community that, when people make the effort, you can really see the results. I always think that, if you can help people, they have more possibilities. If you can start very early, help them to grow on their own, the difference will be huge.

I think it’s important to be able to perform anytime. It has a lot to do with my experience going to the Dalí museum when I was working in Sarasota. Dalí said, “Do not aim for perfection, because you’ll never reach it.”

It’s important to listen a lot, and we tend to categorize ourselves too soon, too early, and limit our views. Music, art, is a huge word for an infinite variety, and my job is to enjoy it as much as I can, and to share my enjoyment with as many people as possible. Ü Lee will be playing at Cyber Café West on Friday, June 10th, at 9pm, $5 at the door.

Her array of musical work and fascinating projects can be found online at yumuse.com and on Facebook as “Auntie Strange.”

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music briefs MARV WILLIAMS AT MCGIRK’S

On June 1st, Marv Williams will return to the stage at McGirk’s Irish Pub. Marv is a seasoned veteran of the Binghamton music scene, playing both original music and covers. Influenced by the music of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and others, his original music is bluesy and heartfelt, and not something to be missed. Marv is also a member of local bands Acoustic B, L’Ectric Brew, and Elixer.

In addition to the original music he plays, he also covers bands such as Hot Tuna and the Grateful Dead. The show starts at 7pm.

McGirks is located at 1 Kattelville Road in Chenango Bridge.

MOSAIC FOUNDATION AT CYBER CAFE WEST

Mosaic Foundation returns to the Cyber Cafe West on June 3rd. Vocalist and percussionist Foli Yao Augustine, who hails from Ghana, will rock the stage with his soulful voice, and the band behind him absolutely reeks of talent. Their smooth reggae sounds combine with the best and most flavorful roots and dub imaginable. Mosaic Foundation is incredible; they elevate your mind and spread the cool vibes you feel when you dance to their music. Listening to Mosaic Foundation is like stepping into a different dimension.

Think Bob Marley, or Toots and the Maytals. In fact, check out their music, online at mosaicfoundationmusic.com. If you’d like to read more of their story, check out our very own Doc Bartlemania’s interview with them at carouselrag.com. Mosaic Foundation will take the stage at the Cyber Cafe West, 176 Main St. in Binghamton, at 9pm. For more information about the show, visit cybercafewest.com.

THE CAPTURES AT LOST DOG LOUNGE

The Captures captured (get it?) a sound so iconic and grandiose, that it killed Kurt Cobain. Grunge-y, dirty, and delicious, the twopiece, made up of Clint (of the Clint Show on 100.5 the Drive) and Moshi (of being a badass photographer), will enliven the atmosphere at the Lost Dog Lounge on June 3rd.

They bring an edge to the Binghamton music scene that can often be missed. Their original music is reminiscent of the best bands of the ‘90s, and none of the bad ones.

The Captures will be joined by Adam Ate the Apple for one set, bringing their “whiskey-soaked” sound downtown. Fronted by Dan Pokorak, Adam Ate the Apple’s sound traverses folk, rock, blues, and reggae. (Full disclosure: the compiler of these briefs plays in Adam Ate the Apple. He’s also drop-dead gorgeous.) The show starts at 9pm, and the Lost Dog Lounge is located at 222 Water St. in Binghamton.

SASHA DOBSON AT ATOMIC TOM’S

On June 3rd, Sasha Dobson will headline Binghamton Live’s Songwriter Series at Atomic Tom’s. Dobson hails from a wellknown California-based musical family; her father was a pianist, her mother a singer, and her brother a drummer. Her first per-

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Driftwood. Photo Provided. formance at the Monterey Jazz Festival was when she was only 12. Dobson moved to Brooklyn at age 17, and quickly fell into the New York City jazz scene. She has recorded four solo albums to date, and garnered accolades from TIME magazine. She has opened up for Willie Nelson, and worked with Black Keys and Tom Waits producer Joel Hamilton. She has played with Norah Jones and Catherine Popper since 2008, and, in 2014, the trio released a country album as Puss n Boots. Sasha Dobson will take to the stage at 9pm on Friday, June 3rd. The concert will be held inside of Atomic Tom’s, 196 State St., Binghamton. Prior to Dobson’s set, local singer-songwriters will perform on the veranda of Atomic Tom’s (weather permitting).

Name your ticket price at the door. Craft beer and wine will be served.

HINDER AT MAGIC CITY W.S.G LIKE A STORM

On Tuesday, June 7th, alternative rockers Hinder will take the stage at Magic City Music Hall, presenting a more ‘stripped’ version of their music. That is, they will be playing acoustically, with no frills - just pure, unadulterated raw talent. Hinder was formed in 2001, but in recent years has replaced their lead singer, probably because he lost his ‘Lips of an Angel’. Marshall Dutton replaced

original vocalist Austin Winkler due to artistic differences between Winkler and his bandmates, but Dutton has filled his shoes admirably, providing the band with the opportunity to keep performing.

run in a circle while listening to some great music! There’s music every Tuesday through July 19th:

Opening up the night will be New Zealand hard rockers Like a Storm, perhaps best known for combining the didgeridoo with baritone guitar, which is a pretty cool instrument to add to the general lineup of the hard-rock band. It adds an oddly appropriate dimension to their music, bringing an energy and robustness to the bottom end. Magic City Music Hall is located at 1240 Upper Front St. in Binghamton. Tickets are $25 advance, $30 day of. Doors open at 6:30pm, and the show starts at 8.

On June 7th, the Shambles will bring out their Celtic rock and make us dance all the way to Ireland. Or something like that; it will get you out of your comfy lawn chair and dancing to a new rhythm. Playing punchy music that grooves, it’s a show worth seeing.

On June 21st, Katie Scott and Persuasion will liven up the night with classic tunes guaranteed to please. Other bands scheduled to play include Rooster and the Roadhouse Horns, on June 14th, Brotherhood, on June 28th.

The event is free; alcohol and tobacco are prohibited. For more information, check out “Broome Bands Together” on Facebook.

BROOME BANDS TOGETHER AT OTSININGO PARK

CANS AND CLAMS AT BING HOLIDAY INN

Tuesday nights throughout the summer no longer need to be dreaded. There is something to do, other than visit the local ice cream parlor for the third time this week!

There is live music to watch and listen to at Otsiningo Park. For those of you who have never been to the park, you’re missing outit’s a gorgeous location, with plenty of room for walking and activities. You can even run if you want to! And on Tuesdays, you can

Throughout the summer, Cans and Clams returns strong as ever. The line-up is succinct, and for those who enjoy a free evening of music, this is the event for you. Rooster and the Roadhouse Horns start off on June 3rd.

Then, on June 10th, Brotherhood comes back with a vengeance. Brotherhood is a sprawling band that creates an intimate feeling for families. From Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen to Sinatra and the Phantom of the Opera,

Brotherhood plays what you want to hear.

On June 17th, prepare for Group du Jour.

Based out of Scranton, this party band will bring the coolest music that they can to the stage. Whether a current hit or fantastic oldies, Group du Jour will make you shake your booty. On the 24th, Rooster and the Roadhouse Horns return. Cans and Clams starts at 6pm every Friday throughout June on the Holiday Inn’s veranda, 2-8 Hawley St. Free admission; drinks are extra.

MILKWEED MAKE THEIR ORIGINAL’S DEBUT

On June 10th, your favorite folk trio will be making their debut at Original’s. Joe Alston (vocals and guitar), Jackie Colombo (vocals, guitar, and hand percussion), and Pete Lister (vocals and stand-up bass) will be rocking the bar at Original’s lounge. Their music links harmonious beauty with intricately crafted lyricism. Milkweed is one of the premier folk groups in the regional scene, with clear influences from Appalachian Americana and bluegrass. Listening to them play, you are transported to a place outside of time, where folks gathered around campfires and everyone was in the band. However, their music is designed intimately. Jackie and Joe’s vocal’s are heavenly, and when Pete joins in, the chorus rises to towering heights. The interplay between guitar and bass is layered and lovely.

Milkweed’s music is fun and fresh, yet somehow nostalgic as soon as it hits your ear drums. Come on out, and enjoy great tunes with some fabulous folks. Milkweed plays at Original Italian Pizza, 23 Lake Street in Owego, at 7pm. It’s free, so you have no excuse not to go.

KATHERINE GRADOJEVICH & BRIAN MANKER AT PHELPS

Binghamton has the pleasure of entertaining world-class classical musicians more often than we may realize. On Sunday, June 12th, we’ll welcome Principal Cellist of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Brian Manker, and his wife, violinist Katherine Gradojevich Manker, to the Phelps Manor. Katherine, along with her husband, has toured all over the country as part of the Adorno Quartet (as in Theador Adorno, who has been quoted as saying that “every work of art is an uncommitted crime”). Brian Manker’s Pietro Guarnericello, crafted in 1729, captures the mastery of his exquisite cello playing. Both of the Mankers love Beethoven, so his music is sure to be heard. The concert starts at 3pm on June 12th, at the Phelps Mansion, 191 Court St. in Binghamton.

TWO NIGHTS OF DRIFTWOOD AT THE RANSOM STEELE

Driftwood may be based in Binghamton, but they tour extensively on the East Coast and beyond. Luckily, they’ll be returning to the area for two shows on June 17th and 18th.

Driftwood unites the grassroots music of the Southern Tier with Appalachian Americana, rock, classical, and folk in a delightfully ener-

getic fashion. They bring together folk voices with intricate musicianship. Driftwood takes the best of old-time records and combines them with the energy of now. “We started off playing rock in high school. Then studying jazz and classical music in college. Then we dove headfirst into folk and bluegrass. At some point I guess we kind of met in the middle,” says guitarist-songwriter Dan Forsyth.

They are true musicians who know that they are being heard in the “right-now,” while recognizing the intimacy of the past. This is all to say, that for two nights, you can’t expect a better show in the Southern Tier.

On Friday the 17th, the Crawdaddies, a group formed on the premise of “why not, it just might work” opens the night. Combining Cajun, zydeco, roots, rock, and reggae, they create a groove-laden sound that is unquestionably original. The following night, June the 18th, the Americana-blues duo Merkley and Morgan opens up, recreating a sound that is mostly heard on the records of the ‘20s and ‘30s – this time, in person. The Ransom Steele Tavern is located at 552 Main St. in Apalachain. Tickets are $15 dollars in advance (highly recommended) or $20 dollars at the door. Both shows start at 8pm. This weekend of music is presented in part by Triple Cities Carousel. That’s us!

JOSH TURNER AT MAGIC CITY

Josh Turner, the clear-cut heir to the throne of current country music, is playing his Magic City Music Hall debut on Thursday, June 23rd. His music, entirely describable, begs no description. He launches into the suspected choruses and grooves, while creating a sound uniquely his own. Turner creates music for a populace yearning for it; he brings together the enthralling lyrics of heartfelt folk, with the resonance of popular country music. A Billboard artist, Josh Turner knows the beauty and hardships of success. Joining him on the bill will be Raquel Cole. An upand-coming artist from British Colombia, she has earned her place opening for Turner.

Magic City Music Hall is located at 1240 Upper Front St. in Binghamton. Tickets are $35 dollars in advance, or $40 dollars at the door.

LEON RUSSELL AT MAGIC CITY

Leon Russell has been a session musician since the 1960s. He has also been a solo artist; in addition to his unimaginable talent as a side musician, he is himself an extraordinary singer-songwriter. He started playing piano at the age of four, and found himself playing Tulsa nightclubs in 1960. He has recorded with numerous artists since then, including Elvin Bishop. He has an attitude to himself; Elton John describes him as a “mad-dog from outer space.” Leon Russell has been inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of fame, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Come out on Sunday, June 26th, and see a living legend in action. Details of the concert are still to be released; more information will be available at themagiccitymusichall.com.

Music briefs compiled by Phil Westcott: music@carouselrag.com

June 2016 triple cities carousel 13

WEDNESDAY! 6/1

Janet Burgan 6/8

Al Milus

MONDAY!

a binghamton tradition

starts at 8:30

TEAM TRIVIA!

Coffee!

Lattes!

Steamers!

FIRST TUES.

sign ups start at 7:30pm

music starts at 8

OPEN MIC!

6/15

Rod Serling String Quartet

Tyler Gilbert

FRIDAY!

6/29

6/3

6/22

Greg Neff

Mosaic Foundation

LIVE MUSIC!

6/10

22 Beers on tap!

U Lee 6/17

Free Wifi!

Study Nooks!

Comfy Couches!

THURSDAYS!

start your weekend early

with ugly dolphin!

LIVE MUSIC!

Genna & Jesse 6/24

TBA

LIVE MUSIC! 6/14 & 6/21

SATURDAY!

on the cyber stage

6/4

sing your little heart out

KARAOKE!

Adam Ate the Apple 6/11

Kindred Soul

1 76 M ain St. BINGHAMTON

cybercafewest.com (607) 723-2456 open daily 14 carouselrag.com

Sandwiches!

Soup! Salads!

Burgers!

Wraps!

Desserts!

6/18

Savannah & the Kings 6/25

TBA

LIVE MUSIC!

EXPLODING

FINGERS

GUITAR DOJO

A monthly lesson in music theory from guitar player extraordinaire Chris Arp

Hey guys! I hope you are keeping up with all of the material we have been covering. So far we have discussed the major scale, diatonic chord progressions, and the 12 bar blues. Last month’s column introduced the unit of measurement known as the “third”. We learned that there is a major and minor version of the 3rd. In Figure 1 we will review that major 3rds (M3) are 4 half steps apart and minor 3rds (m3) are 3 half steps apart. If you would like to review last months lesson, or any of the other previous lessons, please visit www.explodingfingers.com.

Fig. 1

This month we are going to use 3rds as a unit of measurement to create triads, the most fundamental chords in music. Simple major, minor, diminished and augmented chords are triads. Each of these four triads are created using a specific formula. This formula consists of different combinations of two major or minor 3rds.

The formula for a major triad, or the traditional “major chord”, requires a root note (R), plus a major 3rd (M3), plus a minor 3rd, or R + M3 + m3. In Figure 2 we see a C major chord with its root note C, its major 3rd E, and its perfect 5th, the new interval created by adding the minor 3rd to the major 3rd, being G. I hope that wasn’t too confusing.

Fig. 2

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In Figure 3 the formula for a minor triad, the traditional “minor chord”, is R + m3 + M3. So C is the root, the minor 3rd is now Eb, and the perfect 5th from C is still G. Fig. 3

In Figure 4 the formula for a diminished triad is R + m3 + m3. So C is the root, the minor 3rd is now Eb, and the diminished 5th from C is Gb. The diminished triad is less common than the previous two triads. If you remember the term diatonic from the first lesson, it is diatonically the 7th triad you will find in the major scale.

Fig. 4

starting 6/17/16 at carouselrag.com or by emailing binghamtonporchfest@gmail.com.

2nd Annual Binghamton Porchfest

And in Figure 5 the formula for an augmented triad is R + M3 + M3. So C is the root, the major 3rd is now E, and the augmented 5th from C is G#. This triad is less common than the diminished triad and is not found diatonically in the major scale. But it certainly does exist.

It is found in the harmonic minor scale, the jazz minor scale, and the whole tone scale.

Fig. 5

So these are the tools used for connecting intervals to create triads. You need to make sure you label your notes with their proper sharp, flat, or natural designations. You may notice that creating triads involves “skipping” notes. For example, with the C major triad (CEG) you start with C, skip D, and then land on E. Then you skip F and land on G. Let’s look at the A minor triad (ACE). Here you start with A, skip B, use the minor 3rd C, skip D, and end on the perfect 5th E. Learning to skip notes in 3rds will be a very useful tool for many reasons as you develop as a musician. If you would like to hear these intervals in relation to these chords visit the website below where you will find a video which demonstrates these triads.

Questions, comments, or interested in getting guitar lessons in the Binghamton area? Contact me at explodingfingers@hotmail.com.

explodingfingers.com/carousel.html June 2016 triple cities carousel 15

16 carouselrag.com

theatre.

Caitlin McNichol as Eva Peron. Provided.

known 1996 film starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas, and Jonathan Pryce. As a result, Fisher and his cast had to deal with highly charged lyrics, as well as significant artistic decisions about how to present the work.

“It turned out to be way harder than I thought,” he told us. “I struggled for a while to find a balance between a representative, realistic presentation versus a more stylistic one. I researched and looked at what they did with the original production, and then I looked at the revival. I liked aspects of both, and I decided it would be best served if we melded the two. The structure of the show requires a bit of stylizing, but I wanted it to remain relatable. You always think about how you’re going to communicate things to the audience, and whether they will get it. You don’t want to hand it to them on a platter, and you also don’t want to make it so obtuse that they can’t get their minds around what’s happening. It requires balance to do things with a real theatrical twist but avoid alienating the audience.”

Cry for Evita at Firehouse Stage SRO Productions profiles Eva Peron

by Charles Berman

A

FIRST LADY SEEKS national office on a centrist platform after already spending years in the public eye, but her position is threatened by a socialist who advocates revolution, calls her corrupt, and criticizes her willingness to work within the existing system. That’s the story of Evita, the Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice musical about the life of Argentina’s Eva Peron that is being staged by SRO Productions and will be presented at Johnson City’s Schorr Family Firehouse Stage the 3rd-4th, and 10th-12th of June.

Evita follows the life of its title character, who married Argentina’s president Juan Peron, became a much-admired advocate for his “third-way” political philosophy of Peronism (which claims to reject both Capitalism and Communism, and is the stated ideology of the Judicialist Party, still the largest in Argentina’s congress), founded the world’s first women’s political party, attempted to be nominated Vice President against the opposi-

tion of the military, and was given the official title of Spiritual Leader of the Nation before her death from cancer at the young age of 33.

Eva Peron still claims a devoted following, as does Che Guevara, the globetrotting (but Argentine-native) socialist revolutionary who serves as the musical’s ironic narrator. But for the SRO production’s director (and SRO board member) Scott Fisher, the political implications and echoes of the piece were something to be discovered later in the process of rehearsal.

“We chose this show at least nine months ago,” he says “It was quite a bit before the primaries came so much to the forefront of the news. We wanted to do something that would need a larger cast and involves more of our community, and something that had string name recognition – something people were familiar with but that hadn’t been done in the area.”

But as the rehearsal process went on, Fisher found that hearing echoes of current events was inevitable – and that it could be helpful artistically as well, without creating a need to make the production itself an overt political statement.

“We decided that Che seems a little Bernie Sanders and she seems a little Hilary Clinton,” Fisher explained. “It’s not a perfect parallel, but it did prove useful. And I think that was enlightening to the actors too. I think they came in and assumed that author skewed it one or another – but I don’t think that’s true. We have influence over what we put out there. The characters have differing points of view, but we found they have common ground. We wanted to present the show in a way that didn’t necessarily tip to one point of view or another but let people make their own decisions.”

The political and historical nature of the work does influence how it has to be prepared, he found, explaining, “Right from the start I want the actors to have a point of view, and to be very certain they understand what it is. I’m finding that more so with this show than with others we’ve done, because there is that political aspect to it.”

But politics did not present the only challenges or areas of artistic exploration that Fisher was to explore. Evita first came to life as a rock concept album in 1978, and has since been reinvented as a major Broadway production and later revival, as well as a well-

That task of making the events relatable while at the same time offering something new to theatregoers became a theme of the production. As Fisher points out, “There must be something about her that Eva Peron still elicits such strong reactions – over the top devotion and also contempt.” Peron was a populist, and like all successful populists could be said to have achieved the love of her people at the expense of ideological complexity or purity. Criticizing that role is where “the structure allows Che to interact when he wants, but then be above it and make his commentary on the action as well. It really does require a bit of theatricality.”

But in addition to the artistic challenges of bringing the piece to life, Fisher also had to deal with some more practical questions in his role as director. “There are so many costumes!” he told us. “That woman must have changed three times a day! There’s that iconic balcony scene that we actually had a dress custom made for the production – and it’s kind of awesome. It’s like four fee wide.

Our costume designer is working overtime – especially when one character alone has ten or twelve costume changes throughout the show!”

SRO’s production of Evita stars Caitlin McNichol in the title role, Gene Czebiniak as Juan Peron, Andrew Simek as Che Guevara, Hannah Truman as Peron’s mistress, and Eric Bill as Augustin Magaldi, as well as many others as the people of Argentina. The hard-working costume designer was Jan McMahon and the specially commissioned dress was designed by Wilfred McDaniels.

Performances will be the 3rd, 4th, 10th, and 11th of June at 8pm, and June 12th at 2pm at the Schorr Family Firehouse Stage at 4648 Willow Street in Johnson City. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at sroproductionsonline.com or by calling (607) 7222404.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 17

theatre briefs URINETOWN AT CIDER MILL

Urinetown is a funny and touchingly honest musical satire of corporate mismanagement, municipal politics, and musical theatre itself!

A terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity’s most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he’s had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom! An irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny, the cast includes Craig MacDonald, Shannon DeAngelo, Chris Nickerson, and Josh Sedelmeyer. Performances are every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 2nd–June 26th at the Cider Mill Playhouse Main Stage, 2 South Nanticoke Avenue in Endicott. Curtain is 7:30pm with Sunday matinees at 3pm. Tickets for all performances except Saturdays are $28 for adults, $26 for seniors over 65 and students aged 18 and under. All Saturday tickets are $32. For more information call (607) 748-7363 or visit cidermillplayhouse.com.

HOW TO SUCCEED… IN OWEGO

Armed with a “How To…” manual, an ambitious window washer sets out to climb the corporate ladder in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning satirical musical from Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows.

In his 1961 review of the smash-hit Broadway show, Walter Kerr of the Herald Tribune called the musical, “crafty, conniving, sneaky, irreverent, impertinent, sly, malicious, and lovely, just lovely.” The satire of corporate America remains timely and relevant, and the show has been successfully revived on Broadway several times in recent years and remains a perennial favorite of regional theaters. This production is directed by James Osborne. How to Succeed… runs June 3rd through June 19th on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center, 42 Delphine Street in Owego. Curtain Fridays and Saturdays is 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Cost is $25 for general admission, $20 for students (under 18 years old) and seniors (age 60 years and over). Lower cost season tickets are also available. Visit tiahwaga.com or call (607) 687-2130 for tickets or more information.

SIGHT UNSEEN AT KNOW

Just before American superstar artist Jonathan Waxman’s works are celebrated at an exhibition in London, he journeys to the village where his former lover, Patricia, lives with her British husband, Nick. Patricia has never forgiven Jonathan for leaving her, Nick despises Jonathan and the kind of art he produces, and Jonathan has never been able to recapture the inspiration and purity he felt when he painted Patricia. In taut scenes that dart from past to present and back, the characters are forced to deal with the unanswerable question of anti-Semitism, the legacy of the Holocaust and assimilation, and the

sadness of lost love. The New York Times says, “You can tell when a play has gripped its audience, for no one seems to breathe, let alone shift in his seat. This phenomenon can be observed […] at Sight Unseen, a smart and sad comedy by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies.” The play runs June 10th–June 26th at the KNOW Theatre, 74 Carroll Street in Binghamton. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm.

General seating is $20, senior tickets are $18 and student tickets are $15. Thursday, June 23rd at 8pm is a Pay-What-You-Can performance. For more information call (607) 7244341 or visit knowtheatre.org.

RAPUNZEL LETS HER HAIR DOWN AT EPAC

The Endicott Performing Arts Center Repertory Company presents this Classic Fairy Tales production. After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace by the king’s wayward sister, Gothel, who knows that the flower’s magical powers are now growing within Rapunzel’s golden hair.

To stay young, Gothel must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager, her hair has grown to remarkable lengths, she has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious about the outside world. One day, a bandit scales the tower and, in taking him captive, Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent experience of her life as she journeys home in this upbeat, funny, and charming musical adventure.

Stacy Ernst is the director with music direction by Paula Bacorn and choreography by Patrick Foti. The show is presented on June 24th–26th at EPAC’s Robert Eckert Theater, 102 Washington Avenue in Endicott. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors (age 65 and over), and $12 for children (age 12 and under). Go to endicottarts.com or call (607) 785-8903 for tickets or additional information.

DISCOVERY FROM PURELY TECHNIQUE

Purely Technique, an organization providing dance instruction to all ages and all levels, presents Discovery, their 4th Annual Fundraiser Showcase Performance. Artistic director/founder/instructor Erin Saddlemire says, “This event will be a lovely evening filled with the wonders of dance art as we discover and explore relatable topics.” This year the proceeds will go to the MacArthur Elementary Art Club. Performers will include students along with Our Company members from Purely Technique, as well as guest performers from Dynamic Dance and Movement, Dancer’s Alley, DanceAbility, Dance Stories, and more. The showcase takes place Wednesday, June 29th at the Helen Foley Theatre in Binghamton High School, 31 Main Street. Curtain is 7pm. Ticket cost is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students; children 5 and under are admitted free. Family rate ticket packages are also available. Additional information is available by calling (607) 2456366 or visiting purelytechniquedance.org.

Theatre briefs compiled by Felicia Waynesboro: stage@carouselrag.com

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poetry.

THE POETRY OF JOSHUA LINDENBAUM

Joshua Lindenbaum is an up-and-coming poet whose poetry has recently appeared in Blue Lake Review, 3Elements Review, Oddville Press, and The Write Room. He’s currently pursuing a PhD in English at Binghamton University, and will become a full-time professor despite a dismal job market. The pen has been his companion for quite some time, but it’s still waiting for him “to put a ring on it.”

SUBMITTING POETRY is like running through opposing rows of hands, smacking you as you move forward, creating an applause that no performer wants to hear.

Go ahead…put up your arms in a boxer’s stance: —their fingers will still bend against your face, sliding across your flesh’s arches, and sometimes leaving scratches or taking chunks of skin with them.

You take a break.

Seeing your face through touch, anger finds its way into you.

—finally your eyes fall upon the hands once again: fingers moving up and down like they’re playing pianos in the air.

Blood dripping off fingertips, moistening the dried up gore on the ground.

Body bent over— Chest heaving— Hands placed just above the knees— Eyes upturned— You take a deep breath, and charge toward the line of them, bracing for the impending pain that awaits you.

“REFLECT ON YOUR FEET” Quoted from a diabetes advertisement My psychologist gave me similar advice.

He had 7-inch long nails that rested on a window sill, the type that would’ve been pounded into Jesus’s wrists and feet.

“Isn’t nice to be able to wiggle your toes?” he would inquire with a slight smile, holding the nail in his palm, letting God get a good view of it.

—“And on those toes are socks, and you have shoes covering those socks— you don’t have to walk barefoot on the ground: isn’t that nice?

—The next time you feel that way, wiggle your toes— think about the shoes covering your feet and not having one of these— (he presented one of the nails to me) in your body.”

After a blood exam I was told I was pre-diabetic, meaning I was on the path to diabetes, possibly losing my wiggling toes.

But that didn’t stop me from overeating: Us breaking up did.

Seeing myself through a new lens Did

and my psychologist asking if I liked having limbs Did. I’ve lost 70 pounds since then, the weight of a child.

I used my mom’s boyfriend’s blood test kit: It read 96.

I did it!

I am no longer engaged to diabetes but the dissolved ring will always flow through my bloodstream.

THE DISCREPANCY 2nd grade is when I noticed the discrepancy.

“Why is our class so small?”

I asked Ms. Fisherman.

She bent down at the knees to come to my level—gently and slowly placing her hand on my right shoulder— as to not break me: “because you’re special, Josh… you’re special,” she whispered.

It made me feel good to be “special.”

But looking back at this moment, the moment of notice, I realize now these moments never stopped.

In an intro. to painting class in which I was the only one who needed an introduction, we would line up our completed pieces on easels in a semi-circle for critique.

“It’s amazing Josh: being around all these artists— and we still know which one is yours without you having to tell us.”

She was amazed by my ability to not be influenced by my peers, an ability that required no practice.

FLOATING Knowing where to settle is problematic as every new relationship is compared to the last.

I’ve heard several statements regarding them: “A relationship comes down to what you’re willing to put up with.” or “You have to weigh the pros versus the cons; you’re not going to like everything about the person.”

Although these well-meaning statements are helpful, they are so general, they don’t really help at all.

They are oceans that leave you floating amongst plants that twist to the surface in the yearning for their share of sunlight; one can’t even feel their sliminess in the cold, smaragdine depths.

Did I fall head-over-heels in love with the second because the first was so horrible?

I am I not falling in love with the third because the second was so great?

Someone rescue you me before I get crushed like the word Hashtag when it found out it was going to be Twitter’s bitch.

I see so many people settling, and what does that mean?

It means they think they can’t do any better or the practicality of laziness leaves them stagnant as cholesterol or they’re afraid to be alone or they stay together for the kids for the money for the fear for love lost for the time they’re already put in or they found their partner in life.

Can that be?

Can love exist when lust has faded and niceties have dwindled?

Can it be? or are we simply toys of nature’s determination?

In high school I asked to be declassified: I wanted the label that had two thin, plastic strips sewn into my flesh to be ripped out: “label 505” like Levi’s.

So I refused extra time on tests I refused help in resource room— I wanted out— I don’t want to be special anymore Ms. Fisherman.

—You can stand tall now, placing your hand firmly on my shoulder and watch me walk away.

Interested in having your poetry featured in an upcoming issue? Please email 3-5 poems and a short bio to Heather Merlis: poetry@carouselrag.com

June 2016 triple cities carousel 19

triple cities carousel carouselrag.com mon. sun.

tues.

wed.

01 05 06 07 08 12 13 14 15 19 20 21 22 26 27 28 29

Pete Ruttle (BTP) Janet Burgan (CCW) Jazz Jam w/Miles Ahead (LDC) Wine Tasting (LDC) Country Line Dancing (MGC) Vermont Cheddar (MGRX) Open Mic (RST) Deep Cuts (CAL)

Urinetown (CMP) Hit the Pavement Tour (MGC) Binghamton City Limits w/Pat Kane (MGRX) Digital Planetarium Show (ROB) Stella & Lou (CRT) Sip & Paint (BBW) Open Mic (PLC)

Jazz Jam #14 (FHS) Rob Perez (MGRX) BARK-9 (VPL) Argentine Tango Lessons (ATOM) Open Mic (BEL) Team Trivia (CCW)

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones (AC) Speakeasy Open Mic (CCW) Hinder (MGC) Team Trivia (MGRX/LDC) The Shambles (OTS) Swing Dance Lessons (TCK) Don't Worry, Eat Cake Launch Party (RRB)

Devinne Meyers (BTP) Al Millus (CCW) Sight Unseen (KNOW) Country Line Dancing (MGC) Wine Tasting (LDC) Jamie Renfro (MGRX) Ransom Steele Cruise-In (RST) Deep Cuts (CAL) Intro to Essential Oils (YHPL)

Urinetown (CMP) SRO Productions' Evita (FHS) Sight Unseen (KNOW) Bing. City Limits w/Christian Scezenias (MGRX) Chamber Concert Series (PMM) Digital Planetarium Show (ROB) Sassy Sundays Tony Awards Telecast (TRQ) Stella & Lou (CRT) Tikes & Trikes w/Johnny Only (ADV) St. Anthony's Italian Feast Days (STA)

Rick Iacovelli (MGRX) Argentine Tango Lessons (ATOM) Open Mic (BEL) Team Trivia (CCW)

Team Trivia (MGRX/LDC) Rooster & the Roadhouse Horns (OTS) Swing Dance Lessons (TCK) Karaoke (CCW) Book Disc.: Olive Kitteridge (YHPL)

Marv Williams (BTP) Rod Serling String Quartet (CCW) Sight Unseen (KNOW) Country Line Dancing (MGC) Wine Tasting (LDC) Greg Neff (MGRX) Open Mic (RST) 98.1FM the Hawk "Hitmaker" (TD) Deep Cuts (CAL)

Urinetown (CMP) Father's Day Jazz Concert (FHS) Sight Unseen (KNOW), Several Sons (MGRX) Fashionable in the Southern Tier (PMM) PATH Through History (ROB) Digital Planetarium Show (ROB) Driftwood/Merkley & Morgan (RST) Stella & Lou (CRT) Thom Ormsby/Edgy Sketch (ORG) Kilmer Mansion 1920s Garden Party (KLM) Pretzel Yoga (WSB)

Jazz Jam #15 (FHS) Argentine Tango Lessons (ATOM) Open Mic (BEL) Team Trivia (CCW) Summer Solstice Supper (BUF) Coloring Club (YHPL)

Team Trivia (MGRX/LDC) Katie Scott & Persuasion (OTS) Swing Dance Lessons (TCK) Karaoke (CCW) KevieMetal's Bday Bash w/DRI (FTZ) Movie Night: The Woman in Gold (YHPL)

Doug & Eamon (BTP) Open Drum Circle (BUN) Tyler Gilbert (CCW) Neil Berg Benefit Concert (FHS) Sight Unseen (KNOW) Country Line Dancing (MGC) Wine Tasting (LDC) Rob Stachyra & Rob Perez (MGRX) Gerard Burke (RST) Deep Cuts (CAL)

Urinetown (CMP) Rapunzel (EPAC) Sight Unseen (KNOW) Leon Russell (MGC) Binghamton City Limits w/Tom Westcott (MGRX) Digital Planetarium Show (ROB) Stella & Lou (CRT)

Edgy Sketch (MGRX) Argentine Tango Lessons (ATOM) Open Mic (BEL) Team Trivia (CCW)

Team Trivia (MGRX/LDC) Wizard of Oz Summer Carnival (DSC) Broome Bands Together Concert (OTS) Swing Dance Lessons (TCK) Karaoke (CCW) Brotherhood (OTS) Film Screening: GMO OMG (YHPL)

Chris Mollo (BTP) Sight Unseen (KNOW) Country Line Dancing (MGC) Wine Tasting (LDC) Not Sold Separately (MGRX) Laughing Yoga (BU) Deep Cuts (CAL) The Kirby Band (HICK)

(AC) Anderson Center, BU (ADV) Animal Adventures, Harpursville (ANT) Antonio's Bar & Trattoria, Endicott (ATOM) Atomic Tom’s, Binghamton (BBW) Black Bear Winery, Chenango Forks (BEL) Belmar Pub, Binghamton (BFH) Buffalo Head, Conklin (BSP) Blarney Stone Pub, Norwich (BTP) Blind Tiger Pub, Johnson City (BU) Binghamton University (BUF) Binghamton Urban Farm (BUN) Bundy Museum, Binghamton (CAL) Callahan’s, Binghamton

20 carouselrag.com 24

(CCW) Cyber Café West, Binghamton (CIT) Citrea Ristorante, Binghamton (CMP) Cider Mill Playhouse, Endicott (CRT) Chenango River Theatre, Greene (CTR) Citrea Restaurant & Bar, Binghamton (DSC) Discovery Center, Binghamton (DTB) Downtown Binghamton (DTO) Downtown Owego (EPAC) Endicott Performing Arts Center (FHS) Firehouse Stage, Johnson City

(FRM) Forum Theatre, Binghamton (FTZ) Fitzies Pub, Binghamton (GXY) Galaxy Brewing Co., Binghamton (HCS) HCS Skate Park, Vestal (HICK) Hickories Park, Owego (IHSC) Ice House Sports Complex, Binghamton (KLM) Kilmer Mansion (KNOW) KNOW Theatre, Binghamton (KOP) Kopernik Observatory, Binghamton (LDC) Lost Dog Café/Lounge, Binghamton

(MGC) Magic City Music Hall, Binghamton (MGRX) McGirk’s, Chenango Bridge (OTS) Otsiningo Park, Binghamton (ORG) Original’s Bar and Lounge, Owego (OUH) Old Union Hotel, Binghamton (PLC) The Place on Court, Binghamton (PMM) Phelps Mansion Museum, Binghamton (POW) KAPOW! Art Now, Binghamton (ROB) Roberson Museum, Binghamton (RPZ) Ross Park Zoo, Binghamton

(RRB) River R (RST) Ransom (SCPH) South (SIX) 6 on the (STA) St. Anth (TCK) Tri-Citie (TCP) Ti-Ahwa (TD) Tioga Do (TRQ) Tranqu (VPL) Vestal P

thur.

02 09 16 23 30

Ugly Dolphin (CCW) Urinetown (CMP) Stand-Up Comedy (MGC) Liz & Jim Hull (MGRX) Mel & the Boys (RST) Adam Ate the Apple (BEL) Poetry Open Mic (BEL) Cans & Clams/Live Music (BFH) Open Mic (BSP) Stella & Lou (CRT) Milkweed (GXY)

Acoustic Brew (BTP) Ugly Dolphin (CCW) Urinetown (CMP), Stand-Up Comedy (MGC) Toy Box Trophies (MGRX) Watts On Tap (RST) Adam Ate the Apple (BEL) Poetry Open Mic (BEL) Cans & Clams/Live Music (BFH) Open Mic (BSP) Stella & Lou (CRT) Adrienne Mack-Davis & feleciacruz (GXY)

Chris Mollo (BTP), Ugly Dolphin (CCW) Urinetown (CMP) Stand-Up Comedy (MGC) Humble Beginnings (MGRX), Triple Down (RST) Soulmate w/Tom & Melanie Paquin (SCPH Adam Ate the Apple/Poetry Open Mic (BEL) Cans & Clams/Live Music (BFH) Open Mic (BSP) Stella & Lou (CRT) Ship of Phools (GXY)

Edgy Sketch (BTP), Ugly Dolphin (CCW) Urinetown (CMP), Never Grimm (FHS) Josh Turner (MGC), Stand-Up Comedy (MGC) Hummel's Mug (MGRX) Claire Byrne & Brian Vollmer (RST) Baby Boom Baby (TCP) Adam Ate the Apple (BEL) Poetry Open Mic (BEL) Cans & Clams/Live Music (BFH) Open Mic (BSP) Stella & Lou (CRT), RNR (GXY)

03 10 17 24

fri.

calendar of events june 2016 sat.

Donal O'Shaughnessy (SCPH), First Friday Art Walk (DTB/DTO) The Gravelding Brothers (TD), Rick Iacovelli/Bluejays (BTP) Singer Songwriter Showcase (ATOM), Acoustic Peaches & Crime (CTR) East Coast Bigfoot (ORG), Mosaic Foundation (CCW) DJ SpaceOne (CAL), John Truth Exp. (BBW), Urinetown (CMP) Stella & Lou (CRT), SRO Productions' Evita (FHS) Peaches & Crime (CIT), The Captures/Adam Ate the Apple (LDC) Lunchbox Sessions w/Kevin Ludwig (MGRX) Yarn Bomb Project (DTO), Odd Man Out (MGRX) ARTifact Ceramic Bar Grand Opening (POW) Pete Ruttle & Friends (OUH), Gunpoets/Blind Spots (RST)

DJ SpaceOne (CAL), Venetian Happy Hour (ANT) Stella & Lou (CRT), Pasty White & Doublewide (BTP) Milkweed (ORG), U Lee (CCW) Pete Ruttle & Friends (OUH), Urinetown (CMP) SRO Productions' Evita (FHS) St. Anthony's Italian Feast Days (STA), Sight Unseen (KNOW) Lunchbox Session w/Steve Argento (MGRX) String of Pearls (MGRX) Pages of Paul/Escuela (RST) Mike Whittemore (SCPH) John Truth Exp. (BBW), Jason Wicks (TD)

Venetian Happy Hour (ANT), Bruce Beadle Band (BTP) Open Drum Circle (BUN), Genna & Jesse (CCW) Urinetown (CMP), Listen to My Heart (FHS) Sight Unseen (KNOW), Charlie Daniels Band (MGC) Lunchbox Session w/Terry Walker (MGRX) Masterpiece Energy (MGRX), Driftwood/Crawdiddies (RST) A Country Mile (TD), DJ SpaceOne (CAL) John Truth Exp. (BBW), Stella & Lou (CRT), Ultra Vibe (ORG) Pete Ruttle & Friends (OUH), Rev Now Bash (BFH) Owego Strawberry Fest (DTO), Sip & Shop (BBW)

Venetian Happy Hour (ANT), Voodoo Highway (BTP) Urinetown (CMP), Rapunzel (EPAC), Sight Unseen (KNOW) Lunchbox Session w/Steve Argento (MGRX), Beard of Bees (MGRX) Still Hand String Band/Serene Greene (RST) Baby Boom Baby (TCP) Travis Rocco (TD) John Truth Exp. (BBW), DJ SpaceOne (CAL) Stella & Lou (CRT) Mike Davis & Laughing Buddha Episodes (ORG) Pete Ruttle & Friends (OUH)

04 11 18 25

Farmers Market (OTS), Woodshed Prophets (BTP) Pride Flag Raising (DTB), Adam Ate the Apple (CCW) Mel & the Boys (BFH), Urinetown (CMP) SRO Productions' Evita (FHS) DJ SpaceOne (LDC) Dirt Farm (MGRX) Randy McStine/John Kanaz (RST) Doug & Eamonn (SCPH) Lara Tupper & Bobby Sweet (SIX) Toy Box Trophies (TD) Stella & Lou (CRT)

The Beatles Band (BTP), Kindred Soul (CCW) Urinetown (CMP), SRO Productions' Evita (FHS) Sight Unseen (KNOW), Rock for the Rack (MGC) DJ SpaceOne (LDC), Hi-Way Fruit Market (MGRX) Beard of Bees/Voodoo Highway (RST), Greg Neff (SCPH) Burns & Kristy (SIX), The Rum Runners/5th Gear (TD) PARROTBEACH (TD), Family Video Game Days (VPL) Stella & Lou (CRT), Farmers Market (OTS) Wine & Tapas Tour (DTB), 2KW Pro Rumble @ The Rink (IHSC) RocketFest (KOP), Pride Palooza (DTB) St. Anthony's Italian Feast Days (STA)

Just Passin' Thru (BTP), Savannah & the Kings (CCW) Urinetown (CMP), Sight Unseen (KNOW), Tim Dugger (MGC) DJ SpaceOne (LDC), Persuasion w/Katie Scott (MGRX) Fashionable in the Southern Tier (PMM), PATH Through History (ROB) Voodoo Acoustic (SCPH), Joe Crookston (SIX), Stealing Neil (TD) Stella & Lou (CRT), Farmers Market (OTS), Mel & the Boys (ORG) Strawberry Fest After Party (ORG) Knit in Public Day (YHPL), Zoo Brew (RPZ) Go Skate Day! (HCS) Strawberry Fest (DTO) Book Sale (YHPL

L Ectric Brew (BTP), Urinetown (CMP) Rapunzel (EPAC), Sight Unseen (KNOW) Divas of Comedy (MGC), DJ SpaceOne (LDC) The Shambles (MGRX) Travis Rocco Duo/Quona Hudson (RST) Baby Boom Baby (TCP) That 90s Band (TD) Stella & Lou (CRT) Farmers Market (OTS) Drafts with Giraffes (ADV)

Joe Stento & Friends (BTP) Stand-Up Comedy (MGC)Rick Pedro (MGRX) Humble Beginnings (RST) Baby Boom Baby (TCP) Adam Ate the Apple (BEL) Poetry Open Mic (BEL) Cans & Clams/Live Music (BFH) Open Mic (BSP) Stella & Lou (CRT) DJ Funky Leroy (GXY)

Read Books, Binghamton m Steele Tavern, Apalachin City Publick House, Binghamton Square, Oxford hony's Endicott es Karate, Endicott aga Community Players, Owego owns Racino, Nichols uil Bistro, Binghamton Public Library

(WSB) Water Street Brewing, Binghamton (YHPL) Your Home Pub. Library, Johnson City

From Ty Whitbeck, the Calendar Guru: "This is my last month doing the Events Calendar for Carousel, and I would just like to thank everyone who had submitted their dates to me over the last 3 years!

I've really enjoyed seeing the calendar fill up with local happenings and new places to visit. Looking at this thing every month has given hope to me, and to the community, in that if you build it, they will come. I just hope you continue to do your part by taping this to your fridge and folding it up in your wallet and I'll see you out there! Thanks again, Southern Tier!"

June 2016 2016 triple triple cities cities carousel carousel 25 21 June

Rich Harrington Autobiography in found image

by Ilana Lipowicz 22 carouselrag.com

A

T THE OPENING OF Rich Harrington’s currently running show, This is the way we play and learn, at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, the SUNY Broome art professor wore a button-down shirt patterned with tiny images of Charlie Brown and Linus, underneath a vest, topped off with a red bowtie that matched the red stripe on his fedora. Aside from making it glaringly obvious who was the artist in the room, the outfit perfectly demonstrated his keen sense of the interdependence between the parts and the whole so evident in his art.

The works are numbered few, but sized large, some of them requiring one to stand at the opposite wall to get a good look. For example, “Here We Are” is a single work made up of four blown-up pieces from an old board game called “Go to the Head of the Class.” Each giant game piece depicts the smiling bust of a Dick & Jane-style character with its role scrawled across its chest: Daddy, Brother, Sis, Butch.

Not a single image in this show was invented by Rich: all are found images from decades-old sources, manipulated with the intent to “articulate a world which has always existed, but was not acknowledged or represented,” he writes in the show’s statement.

The tone is not overtly critical, nor nostalgic, but searching. It is kitschy and ironic in the pop-art tradition, but Rich is building with his art not an exposé, but a mirror. His art glares outward upon society in order to look back inward at the artist.

This show, and much of his work, examines gender propaganda and gay politics, particularly “the origins of identity formation in the context of family, school, and play.” The reason so much of his imagery is from the ‘60s and ‘70s, is that that culture was the backdrop of the formation of his own identity.

“What I’m doing is I’m recontextualizing these things - taking them out of the original context, putting them into a new context that included me back then - but it didn’t, do you know what I mean? So it’s not like I’m rewriting my childhood. But I’m revisiting it.”

As a gay kid born in the postwar period, Rich grew to be in tune with the dichotomy of the visible and hidden worlds. “For somebody who grew up feeling invisible, this is pretty visible,” he says, gesturing to the walls of the gallery. “And I think inside that’s always what

art.

I wanted. And I’ve wanted to feel like I belonged - I never felt like I belonged! I never, you know... harassed in school, I was never into what other boys were into.” The intense, overbearing size of the pieces speaks to the experience of the being unable to escape that reality.

Rich grew up in Endwell, a place he identifies by its placelessness: “It’s not a town, it’s not a city: it’s a hamlet!”

His father was an IBM executive, and his mother, who had studied art, stayed home to raise Rich and his three siblings.

He was a white child of a middle class family (a descendant of the Mayflower) living in Upstate New York in the booming age of IBM. His life would have appeared to be as close the American Dream as one can get.

While he was bullied at school, he emphasizes the breadth of the support he received from his parents. “My parents were extremely encouraging, you know, from the art standpoint. When I used to doodle on the programs in church, they encouraged it the whole time.” His mother has now passed away, but his dad, who is 90, continues to offer undying support to Rich’s art, even though at the beginning, “he didn’t really get it.”

Rich and his family used to take trips to Vermont, where he would paint rural scenes. He was trained in traditional media: charcoal, pencil, and pen and ink. Some older work consists of landscapes in watercolor and pastel, and household items in oil monoprint.

While the look of these is miles from his

more recent projects, it has all come out of the same interest in the return to one’s memories. “Those were the places, the exterior places that I occupied. This is all about the interior spaces.”

Rich earned his BFA in Illustration at Syracuse University, and his MFA in Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art. During grad school, a “creative dead zone” led to an artistic turning point. “I was embarrassed

because everybody around me was just going crazy, and I was doing some really awful work. I was into old midcentury modern stuff: the culture, pop culture, toys and stuff, but I couldn’t do anything with it.” Then a friend of his mother’s gave him a Sears catalogue, in which he came across a page with rows and rows of women wearing hats. He cut them out, and then found another page with men wearing hats, then little girls, then little boys, which eventually became a gridded collage - and the beginning of the examination of the family unit, which shaped so much of his later work.

Because his process is so shaped by found images, the Sears catalogue is not the only book that has changed the course of his work.

“Back in the mid-‘90s I was in the bookstore in Owego, and I was at the end of one of the rows of books, and I tripped on something there was, like, a crate with a book on it. And I tripped on it and the book fell over, and the book was called The Rainbow Dictionary, from 1947, and it became my bible and the source of all the subsequent work.”

“Look-Say,” which is the largest piece currently displayed, takes all of its images from The Rainbow Dictionary. It consists of a grid of giant flashcards made of board. On the left, words like pansy, fruit, and queen are next to images of a flower, a fruit bowl, and a woman in a crown - while on the right, the same words all appear next to the repeated image of a smiling, dot-eyed young boy.

Repetition is a defining element of Rich’s

work, which, he reflects, is related to his artistic interest in the way the world teaches us. “That’s how we learned in school: say it, repeat it, and the more you repeat something, you learn it. Well, it’s the same thing with propaganda, you know. You tell somebody something long enough, they start to believe it, whether it’s true or not.”

While his imagery is entirely vintage, his process moves ahead with new technologies.

“I’m getting much more into motion and projection and graphics and stuff like that. My dad was an engineer, my mother was an art major, and I’m half of both of them,” he says, drawing a line down the center of his body with his hand.

He describes his work as process-intensive.

The newest piece displayed in the show is titled “The Perfect Fun Starter for Every Party.” It divides up the pattern of a classic Twister board into squares, on which images of different old-school items are sprawled with the appearance of randomness, as if they had fallen out of the invisible players’ pockets. The process of tracing and resizing images to life-size involved a wealth of behind-the-scenes tinkering on an ipad and computer. The projector is the handy tool behind the blown-up images.

Before projecting an image, he may further degrade the work to create a more aged look.

Once the image is projected, he hand-paints it in tiny detail in order to preserve every tiny imperfection.

As an adjunct professor at SUNY Broome, his goal is to help his students with such technical skills that they will need to achieve their own visions as artists. “If we have time we bring in the fourth dimension, which is time.

We do sight-specific outdoor installations around Roberson. I show them a ton of artists’ work, we talk a lot, we interact; it’s very hands-on.” With the offbeat exhibits at the Roberson, and the vast variety available on the internet, he is able to open up to them the possibilities of art beyond representation.

Rich is now pushing his own work even deeper in the direction of multimedia and technology.

Currently, he’s working on a piece with local artist Nick Rubenstein. It involves voice recordings from The Language Master Series, which used to be used in schools for speech therapy, along with projections of corresponding index cards, and video of a mouth speaking the words out of time. This project is in the works to be revealed at November’s First Friday Art Walk.

This is the way we play and learn remains on display through June 25th. The gallery is open to the public every Saturday, and of course First Friday, and private viewings can be arranged by contacting the gallery.

You can also view his work at rsharrington. com.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 23

art briefs MUFFIN RAY AT THE SALATI GALLERY

“Leonard Cohen Radio” is an expressive collection of large-scale paintings (essentially textile assemblages) by Provincetown and Colorado artist Muffin Ray, showcasing this month at the Orazio Salati Gallery in Downtown Binghamton . Ray transforms vintage quilt patches, found tapestries, and other sumptuous yet cast off textiles, into broad fields of texture and color. She creates deep mysterious surfaces soaked in resin and encaustic and oil based media that preserve embroidered textures like primeval insects in amber.

The Salati Gallery, 204 State Street in Binghamton, is open on First Fridays from 6-9pm, and Saturdays from 11am-3pm. For more information, go to oraziosalati.com or call (607) 772-6725.

TRASH! COLLABORATIVE ECO-ART AT COOPERATIVE GALLERY 213

This month the Co-op Gallery premiers its first environmental art exhibit, “TRASH!” According to curator Peg Johnston, “This exhibit is filled with amazing art made from all kinds of materials from paper to plastics, fabric to scrap metal, Styrofoam to recycled wood. I am fascinated with materials that most would call waste and creating art from them.” Beyond its use of non-traditional art materials, works in this show will bring attention to the plight of our environment and our role in both creating and remediating environmental destruction. Dual openings occur on Thursday, June 2nd (from 6-8pm) and during First Friday (June 3rd from 3-9pm). Expanding on the exhibition, on Thursday, June 16th at 7pm, a number of the exhibiting artists will be available on-site to discuss their art. Following this, on Saturday the 25th fr0m 1-4pm, former Broome County Poet Laureate Andrei Guruianu presents a free writing workshop and reading from his new book, Dead Reckoning, Transatlantic Passages on Europe and America. The workshop includes collaging and writing related to the exhibit.

Cooperative Gallery 213 is located at 213 State Street in Binghamton. Normal hours of operation are: First Fridays from 3-9pm, regular Fridays 3-6pm, Saturdays 12-4pm, and by appointment. Further information may be found at cooperativegallery.com, on their Facebook page, or by calling (607) 724-3462.

All events are free and open to the public.

JEROME WEINBERGER TRANSFORMS ROBERSON

“Transformations: The Visionary Art of Jerome Weinberger” is on exhibit at the W. Dickenson Gallery of the Roberson Museum through October. The show contains “found-object” sculptures representing broad areas of the human experience, including the humorous.

Roberson Museum and Science Center is found at 30 Front St, Binghamton. In addi-

tion to First Friday, the hours of operation are: Wednesday and Thursday from 12-5pm, Friday from 12-9pm, and Weekends from 125pm. More information is available online at roberson.org, or by contacting (607) 7720660.

SCHLAG EXHIBIT AT CHENANGO ARTS COUNCIL

Eileen Schlag’s exhibition, “Passage,” continues as part of the Chenango Arts Council Gallery series through June 10th. According to Schlag: “My artwork depicts my journey both to places in the world and the images in my imagination. These are pictures of things that I have experienced over time and place. I am also working on a series in which I have attempted to show the joy of being a child. I find I am becoming more playful and less structured with the materials and subject matter. The paintings in the Zen series are inspired by Buddhist and other words of wisdom, which to me paint a very visual picture.

They give me the opportunity to tap into the subconscious and places of both spirit and nature.”

The Chenango Arts Council Gallery is located at 27 West Main Street in Norwich. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 10-4pm, stop in the main office to access the gallery. Further information may be found at chenangoarts.org or by calling (607) 3362787.

EXTRAORDINARY IMPRESSIONS AT WINDSOR WHIPWORKS

The work of area printmakers Alexandra Davis, Carla Stetson, and Minna Resnick are on display at the Whipworks Gallery through July 9th. Also on display is the work Davis’ printmaking students: Kit Ashman, Mike Ashman, Mary Rose Griffin, Paulette Hackman, Helen Insinger, William Hackman, Pat Martin, Judy Salton, and Coleen Shelton.

Windsor Whipworks is located at 98 Main Street in Windsor and is open Fridays and Saturdays from 1-4pm or by appointment.

Further information can be found at whipworksartgallery.org or by calling (607) 6552370.

6 BY 6 AT THE BUTTERNUT GALLERY

A veritable smorgasbord of art and artists is on display this month at the Butternut: Kathryne LeSoine (mixed media encaustic and photography), Linda Truman (watercolor and pastel), Glen Fellows (hand carved benches and bowls), Alice Mischke (oil paintings), Karen Farmer (art quilts made with her own dyed fabrics), and Julie Crosby (wood fired pottery vessels). The exhibit opens on June 11th and runs through July 9th. Opening reception is June 11th from 7-9pm and is open to the public.

The Butternut Gallery & Second Story Books can be found at 204 Church Street in Montrose, PA. For information, contact (570) 278-4011 or go to butternutgallery.com.

Art briefs compiled by Ronnie Vuolo: art@carouselrag.com

24 carouselrag.com

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June 2016 triple cities carousel 25

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FISH TACOS- (3x) beer battered cod, chipotle/jalapeno slaw, salsa, cilantro, chipotle sour cream & chips.

food and drink. rants and caterers all around town. After several misses, he got a job at Daniel’s.

“Those guys knew me as a hothead in the kitchen; I’d question the chef. They kind of liked that I had an attitude.” They encouraged him to step up, but only if he truly enjoyed that level of freedom and responsibility in the kitchen. Soon enough, he found himself as Chef de Cuisine. “Up until then, I was a cook, but I learned how to be a chef when I worked there.”

Jim’s creations are timely and fresh, honest reflections of each day. “The idea of what I do is, I go out – I don’t have a truck come, because I don’t have that kind of budget – I shop at Maines, Butcher Boys, Wegmans. I go out for a few hours a day and talk to the people who are handling the food and ask them what’s fresh, what looks good.” He seeks out the best catch of the day, or a steak that’s cut just to his liking. He also sources directly from local farmers, for things like eggs and produce, depending on the time of year. “I let my food speak for itself.”

Photo by Stephen Schweitzer.

The Sach’s Secret

Blowing the lid off Chef Jim Buchta’s hidden gem

by Heather Merlis

I

N BINGHAMTON, A CITY OF hidden treasures, our best-kept culinary secret may be found in the First Ward.

Those who know what I’m talking about may hate me for putting it in print, but the rest of you will love me.

Sach’s Tee House is a homey bar tucked away amongst houses on Hazel Street, with golf paraphernalia lining the walls. The crowd reflects the neighborhood; there’s usually a golf game on the television, and rock music playing from the speakers. This is not a fancy place. But beyond the bar is an unassuming dining room, where Jim Buchta, the “Invisible Chef,” works his magic.

Something of a local legend, I first heard of Sach’s when I was told that there was an NYC expat chef who took up residence in the back of a dive. But none of that is true. Jim Buchta grew up in Binghamton, in its Second Ward, though he spent a little bit of time in Pennsylvania, and some in Kentucky.

On a recent trip to the Tee House, a friend and I got to enjoy a multi-course meal that demonstrated the variety, creativity, and care of Buchta’s craft. We started with a jerk pork appetizer and Asian Nachos, an old menu item that Jim plans on bringing back. The nachos are, basically, large fried Chinese noodles, sprinkled with cucumbers and peppers, drizzled with sriracha and wasabi may-

onnaise. They are addictive, and would be the perfect hangover cure.

As for the rumor of his past life as a five-star New York City chef? “Yeah, I heard that one,” Buchta says, though it’s not the only one he’s heard. “I died. That’s the most recent one. A guy said to me, ‘That guy died,’ and I said, ‘You don’t know who you’re talking to. I’ll have to let him know.’” He recently spent some time in the hospital because of problems with his back, but any tales of heart attacks were purely fabricated.

Now, Buchta is back on his feet, and fabricating transcendent meals. Our second course consisted of a grilled romaine salad and some of the best New England clam chowder I have ever tasted. He makes it from scratch, and it’s one of his staples.

What Buchta does is entirely different than anything I’ve ever witnessed in a restaurant before: he shops for his ingredients on a daily basis, conjures up a concise menu, and serves each table, all behind the humble façade of a neighborhood bar. If you ask the chef for a recommendation, he may point to the menu and say, “I wrote them all here.” When asked of his origin story, he replies, “Well, that’s still a work-in-progress.” He speaks softly, but with great certainty, and remembers everything. “It was just what happened. It wasn’t planned.”

Jim started out working at Sach’s making bar

food and meatloaf, but his background was in more upscale cooking. He began cooking there on Russian Christmas of 2009; he recalls, “It wasn’t going so well; I was making a burger or two a week.” That wasn’t working for him, and over the course of his first year at there, he began to elevate the offerings of the bar’s dining room. “I started mixing up the dinners, bringing in higher-quality stuff and making better meals. And it just took off.

Next thing you know, a handful of people are coming; another handful of people are coming. It was a hundred-dollar investment. It’s what I do, anyhow, so it’s not really an effort.”

After our soup and salad, we enjoyed a lamb shank served with wilted spinach over Israeli cous cous. While Buchta’s influences span the globe, his education was very local. “My mom started my culinary background when I was about seven. My brother and I were little hooligans […] we were wrestling under the bed or something, and she grabbed us by the ears, dragged us into the kitchen, put us up in front of the stove, and there was this massive cast iron pan, glowing red. She looked at us and said, ‘You kids are such little assholes, you’re never gonna have wives, so if you wanna eat, you better learn how to cook.’ And she taught us how to cook.”

Food is in his blood; his name dates back to the origins of Buchta bread, a Czechoslovakian baker’s bread traditionally served around Easter. Everyone in his family could cook, and Jim found himself working in restau-

The crab cakes served with baby bok choy spoke to me with an abundance of fresh crab, and no overbearing filler. As for the sirloin medallions with mushroom bordelaise, I was left speechless: the flavor of the dish completely justified the demolition of this intricate, miniature tower of meat and potatoes.

“That’s the art major,” Jim explains. “I was an art major in high school, and all three days of college. I was a sculptor, an illustrator, a drawer. I was never very good at painting. A plate is another canvas, in a sense.” He also enjoys writing, and considers himself a warrior-poet. He is currently working on a cookbook that is becoming something of a graphic novel. “A lot of it is things I remember from my life, from cooking.”

Our meal was finished with a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie and Countess Caroline flourless chocolate cake, which was divine.

Buchta draws inspiration from his experiences, and also from the images that he conjures when selecting ingredients. “You kind of get a vision in your head […] like, gosh, that would look really nice with this.” He says that, ultimately, most things taste pretty good together. “We have some stringent rules, but chefs have been knocking those rules down since the ‘80s, and that’s when I kind of got started.

We were doing kale in the nineties; no one liked it.”

Make another trip to Sach’s, or live it for the first time. Buchta dwells in the kitchen from Tuesday through Saturday, from around 5pm until whenever; hours sometimes vary.

Reservations are recommended, preferably a day in advance, as Jim buys food for the day, each day. There is also a standard bar menu, which boasts the best burgers in town. Cash only; drinks are separate from food (and very affordable). Sach’s Tee House is located at 34 Hazel Street in Binghamton’s First Ward. For reservations, call Sach’s Tee House at (607) 797-9628, or you can call Buchta directly at (607) 372-1025.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 27

food briefs FARMERS MARKET BACK AT OTSININGO PARK

The Otsiningo Farmers Market is out of the Metro Center and back where it belongs: in Otsiningo Park. What’s more, it’s back on its weekly schedule! It returned to its rightful place in May, and will be held there every Saturday through October, from 9am-1pm, though all savvy farmers market frequenters know that the earlier you arrive, the better the selection. Nonetheless, this is where you’ll find the freshest meat, dairy, produce, and baked goods in town. It’s the place where you can truly reap the benefits of our farming community. There are also always crafts, handmade jewelry, and home and bath goods for sale. We’ve already raved about some of our favorite picks from the market, but there are always new things cropping up, literally.

Visit otsiningofarmersmarket.com for more information, or just come down to the park to experience the real thing! Otsiningo Park is located east of Downtown Binghamton off of Bevier Street. Bring a reusable tote bag or basket, and make a farmer smile.

OWEGO STRAWBERRY FEST

As far as local traditions go, one of the most beloved and long-standing is certainly Owego’s Strawberry Festival. Now in its 36th year, they have taken to assigning themes to each festival; this year’s is “Peace.” In addition to spreading a feeling of camaraderie and prosperity throughout our neighborhoods and beyond, this is also an opportunity to rock some tie-dye and peace signs, while enjoying classic tunes played by local musicians. As always, there will be plenty of delicious food and strawberry shortcake on every corner, as well as an ever-improving assortment of crafts vendors. Of course, all of the shops and restaurants around town will be participating in the event, and there will be tons of activities for children, along with races and contests. Don’t miss the Friday night fireworks, or the beer and wine tastings. The 36th Annual Owego Strawberry Fest will take place on the third weekend in June, from the 17th through the 18th. Visit owegostrawberryfestival.com for complete information on the events, vendors, and parade, as well as directions to the festival.

WINE AND TAPAS TOUR

The city of Binghamton is quite loyal to its yearly events, particularly those that involve drinking and walking. Arguably, the classiest of these is the Wine and Tapas tour, during which participants are invited to enjoy wines from across the globe, paired with perfectly matched tapas, as they saunter around downtown on a late spring afternoon. Participating eateries include all of the usual suspects, like Tranquil, Uncorked Creations, and, well, pretty much every other restaurant downtown, including newcomer Garage, and even some on the South Side! All participating venues are within walking distance from each other, so you have no excuse to drive under the influence. As for getting rides home, there are always cabs, and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided to your responsible friend, to whom you owe your life. Binghamton Wine

and Tapas Tour 2016 will be held on Saturday, June 11th, from noon until 5pm. Tickets are available online at bingpop.com, and in person at Lost Dog Café, Little Venice, and South City Publick House. $12 per-person, plus an additional $3 for each wine and tapas tasting.

KILMER GARDEN PARTY

Once again, the Binghamton elite are being granted the chance to be swept back to relive everyone’s favorite time period. The Kilmer Mansion Garden Party is back, and promises to be better than last year, as they celebrate the era of the swamp-root swindler himself: Jonas Kilmer. There will be more attractions and activities this time around, but the best part will be back: tunes from the Basin Street Jazz Band. Perhaps the biggest draw (aside from having an excuse to dress like a flapper) will be the food, which will be provided by the esteemed P.S. Restaurant of Vestal. It promises to be an entertaining afternoon, with musical performances and an expanded cast of actors milling about the grounds. There will also be a photo booth, and bourbon and cigars (if you’re into that sort of thing). The event is a benefit for Hillel Academy, with a portion of the proceeds going to the upkeep of the Kilmer Mansion. Tickets, available at bingpop.com, are $65 per person and include a 6-station dinner from P.S., who will also be stocking and tending the cash bar. The party goes down on Sunday, June 19th, 2016 at 4pm, at the Jonas Kilmer Mansion, located at 9 Riverside Drive in Binghamton.

LOST DOG/VINES SUMMER SOLSTICE SUPPER

In a true act of community and creativity, culinary worlds will collide at the Summer Solstice Supper at Binghamton’s Urban Farm. All food will be sourced locally and prepared by Lost Dog Café at this outdoor farm-to-table feast. The array of dishes will draw inspiration from a variety of cultures to satisfy diverse palates, be they vegan or omnivorous, gluten-free or bread-loving. Here’s a taste: bacon jam with caramelized onion crostini, beet slaw with pistachio & golden raisin in apple cider vinaigrette, grilled French-cut chicken or tofu with peach glaze, and biryani with peas, lentils, and mint raita.

Don’t worry about having to decide: it’ll be buffet-style, and modifications are available on most of the dishes. Dessert options will include beet red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and there will be watermelon mint agua fresca to drink, as well as beer by Water Street Brewing Company, wine by Standing Stone Vineyards, and coffee by L’Aveggio. In addition to an inspired, fresh meal, guests will enjoy a live performance by cellist Hakan Tayga-Hromek of the Binghamton Philharmonic. Summer Solstice Supper will be held on Monday, June 20th, from 6-9pm at the Urban Farm, located at 16 Tudor Street in Binghamton. All proceeds will go to support VINES (Volunteers Improving Community Environments). Tickets are available on the VINES website or at the Lost Dog Café, 222 Water St Binghamton. Price per ticket is $65, $125 per couple.

Food briefs compiled by Heather Merlis: food@carouselrag.com

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OLD UNION

HOTEL 246 CLINTON ST. BINGHAMTON 607-217-5935 open daILY

ARTISAN BREAD, PASTRIES, COOKIES, SANDWICHES, & MORE

97 Court St, Binghamton

(607) 595-7612

“like” us on facebook to find out all about our delicious daily specials!

THYME & SPACE A featured monthly recipe from the kitchen of Galaxy Brewing Company’s Chef Brian Lovesky

Photo by Ty Whitbeck.

GRILLED FLANK STEAK TACOS WITH TOMATO, CORN & BLACK BEAN SALSA (serves 4)

FRI-SAT TAKEOUT & DELIVERY TIL 3:30AM

Residential l Commercial l Interior l Exterior

607-222-9225 Binghamton, NY

Fully Insured. Now Accepting Major Credit Cards!

Ingredients: -2 lbs. flank steak (excess fat trimmed) -steak marinade (recipe follows) -tomato, corn, and bean salsa (recipe follows) -cojita cheese or jack cheese -sour cream -lime wedges -shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce -corn or flour tortillas Steak Marinade: -1 tsp. ground ancho chili powder -1 tsp. ground chili powder -1 tsp. ground coriander -1 tsp. ground cinnamon -1 tsp. red pepper flakes -1 tsp. cumin -1 Tbsp. chipotle in adobo, chopped -4 garlic cloves, minced -1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped -2 limes, juiced -1 orange, juiced -2 Tbsp. soy sauce -2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar -1/2 cup olive oil -kosher salt and black pepper Tomato, corn and black bean salsa: -3 fresh tomatoes, small diced -8oz black beans, cooked and rinsed -1 ear sweet corn, grilled and cut off the cob -1 jalapeno, chopped -½ red pepper, small diced -1 small red onions, small diced -1 bunch cilantro, chopped -1 lime, Juiced -½ tsp. ground cumin -kosher salt and black pepper

1. Mix steak marinade together in a processor or blender. After cleaning any excess fat off the flank steak, place the steak in a large dish and pour marinade over.

Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate; let marinade for 3-8 hours.

2. When you are ready to make your tacos, preheat your grill on medium high heat.

3. In a mixing bowl combine salsa ingredients, and season. Then chop lettuce and set both aside.

4. Take steak out of marinade and season steak on both sides with salt and pepper.

5. Grill steaks for 7-10 minutes on each side till medium rare. After grilling, rest the steak on a cutting board for 5 minutes or until you are ready to slice.

6. While steak is resting, warm up the tortillas on the grill for a couple minutes on each side.

7. Slice steaks across the grain and begin to assemble your tacos 8. Stack 2 tortillas, place a couple pieces of sliced steak in center, top with lettuce, onion, salsa and cheese 9. Garnish with a squirt of lime and sour cream.

10. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Born and raised in Broome County, Chef Brian grew up surrounded by the many flavors of the different ethnic cultures of our area. He is the Executive Chef at Galaxy Brewing Company in Downtown Binghamton (and former Executive Chef at Tranquil Bar & Bistro). A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America with 20 years of restaurant experience in Upstate NY, New Orleans, and Nashville, Chef Brian currently resides in Vestal with his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 29

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film.

SHOWING THIS MONTH AT THE ART MISSON

-The Man Who Knew Infinity (May 27June 9) This 2016 biopic is based on the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a mathematician who grew up very poor in Madras, India, before being invited to Cambridge to study under G.H. Hardy. Dev Patel (who made his Hollywood debut in Slumdog Millionaire) plays Ramanujan, who leaves his young wife behind to pursue his studies at Cambridge, where he is met with prejudice and skepticism.

G.H. Hardy is played by Jeremy Irons, whose performance as the emotionally ambiguous genius has received high praise. The film doesn’t delve deep into the math itself, and some critics say it suffers for it by obscuring the would-be payoff of the story’s arc, but the story of Ramanujan’s life makes for an engaging film. Rated PG-13.

-The Meddler (Opens June 3) Susan Sarandon puts on a heavy New York accent to play Marnie, a recent widow who moves to L.A. to be closer to her daughter. Her constant phone calls and offers to help with this or that are too much for her daughter, so she goes on to try to mother everybody else. In the meantime, she is courted by two different men (played by Michael McKean and J.K. Simmons). It is a comedic and quietly sentimental story about the grief of both a wife and a daughter, as the absence of Marnie’s husband is a constant presence throughout the story. Rated PG-13.

The Art Mission & Theater is an art cinema and located at 61 Prospect Ave. in Binghamton. More info and full screening schedule at artmission.org.

WHAT’S PLAYING AT THE BUNDY?

-Where to Invade Next (June 2) In Michael Moore’s most recent documentary, the controversial filmmaker travels to several European countries to examine their ways of approaching work, education, health care, sex, equality, and other issues. Underlying his praise of certain policies, such as decriminalization of drugs in Portugal and shorter workdays in Italy, is a critique of American society and politics. Moore imbues his work with his cut-and-dry sense of humor, mocking American cultural and militaristic imperialism by carrying around a large American flag and pretending to plant it in a family’s living room floor. The film starts at 6pm with doors opening at 5:30pm. Some refreshments will be served, and a discussion will follow the viewing. Admission is free. Rated PG-13.

The Bundy Museum is located at 127-129

Main St. in Binghamton. bundymuseum.org.

More info at

VIEWING AT SPOOL MFG

-War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State (June 17) This 2013 documentary examines the role of whistleblowers in American democracy. The film highlights four whistleblowers that put their jobs on the line to expose what they saw as government wrongdoing.

Their accounts, along with those of journalists and legal experts, offer a picture of what risks whisThe Man Who Knew Infinity. tleblowers take and what challenges they continue to face.

The viewing will begin at 7pm with doors opening at 6:30pm. A $5 donation is suggested.

Spool MFG is located at 138-140 Baldwin St. in Johnson City. More info at spoolmfg.com.

SCREENING AT YOUR HOME PUBLIC LIBRARY

-Woman in Gold (June 21) This 2015 film is based on the true story of Maria Altmann, whose aunt was depicted in Gustav Klimt’s famous painting called Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (a.k.a. The Woman in Gold). Helen Mirren plays Altmann, a Jewish refugee living in L.A., who fled Vienna from the Nazis. 60 years later, she tries to recover the painting from the Austrian government, resulting in a decade-long court case. Ryan Reynolds plays her lawyer, Randy Schoenberg, who in the film is inspired by her rigid dedication to justice and unfaltering will to attain it. Rated PG-13.

Your Home Public Library, located at 107 Main St. in Johnson City, hosts regular movie nights and film screenings throughout the year. More info is available at yhpl.org.

UNADILLA DRIVE-IN OPENS FOR SUMMER

The Unadilla Drive-In recently opened for its 2016 season. Just a 45-minute drive down Rt. 88, and you don’t even have to leave your car to see a double feature every Friday and Saturday. Gates open at 7pm and the precise start time of the show ranges from 8:15 to 9:15, depending on when the sun goes down.

The first movie is usually PG (to keep it family friendly) and the following film PG-13 or R. A short intermission takes place between the first and second film, and there is a newly remodeled snack bar with inexpensive concessions. Admission costs $7 for adults, $4 for children, and $6 for seniors.

The selection changes weekly. Check out drive-in.ws for more info and up to date film listings.

Film briefs compiled by Ilana Lipowicz: film@carouselrag.com

June 2016 triple cities carousel 31

books. died of a series of mysterious ailments borne of contaminated water, and he spent every penny he owned trying to get a lawyer to take on the gas drillers.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERS (as of 6/1/16)

“In the end,” he writes, “it got too much and I let it go […]. The old gray dog took two days to run from Idaho Springs to Binghamton.”

Now the gas drilling has followed him home, and it seems to have sown destruction in its path. The short-term drilling crews have brought their own variety of lawlessness, and gas money erodes neighborly trust. “People were scooping up windfalls, but they were different sizes […]. Neighbors stayed neighborly, but kept an eye on their property lines.”

The plot opens with a dead stranger found out in the back woods; by the end of the day, Henry’s only deputy, a hard-drinking brawler with secrets of his own, turns up dead as well.

The only clues are Aub, the senile old man who owns the land and a family of reclusive, well-armed outlaws who want nothing to do with the police, particularly after a handful of meth labs are tossed in the search. Bouman colorfully evokes the suspicious anarchic flavor of his fictional town: “The whole Heights were interconnected with trails used with as much regularity as the county routes. Trails leading from home to home, spot to spot, hidden places you’d never see from any road.

A decent outdoorsman with sympathetic neighbors could run me around for weeks.”

1. ME BEFORE YOU

by Jojo Moyes 2. 15TH AFFAIR

by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro 3. THE WEEKENDERS

by Mary Kay Andrews 4. THE LAST MILE

by David Baldacci 5. THE FIREMAN

by Joe Hill 6. BEYOND THE ICE LIMIT

by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child 7. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

by Paula Hawkins 8. EXTREME PREY

by John Sandford 9. THIRTY-SIX AND A HALF MOTIVES

by Denise Grover Swank 10. THE BEACH HOUSE

by Jane Green 11. THE HIGHWAYMAN

by Craig Johnson 12. THE NEST

by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney 13. AFTER YOU

by Jojo Moyes 14. THE NIGHTINGALE

by Kristin Hannah 15. THE APARTMENT

by Danielle Steel

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Dry Bones in the Valley

Tom Bouman explores dark side of gas drilling in debut novel

by Natassia Enright

(on loan from Your Home Public Library)

T

H E M A R C E L L U S S H A L E drilling forms the backdrop of Tom Bouman’s tense, gritty police thriller. Set in the fictional town of Wild Thyme on the northern border of Pennsylvania, the story delves into the very real tensions unearthed by the influx of gas drilling and gas money in a small, poverty-stricken rural town.

The narrator is policeman Henry Farrell, a haunted character with deep roots in the troubled town and an unpleasant past that he reveals in dry asides (of a mutilated corpse

found in the woods, he remarks, “I’ve seen bodies— dry corpses crawling with flies in dusty streets, an old woman withered in her armchair, dead for weeks. To say they all seemed to belong where they were might not speak too well of me, or of the places I’ve been. This one didn’t belong where he lay.”) and abrupt detours. He has the feel of a man too mired in old grief to speak of it with any clarity, and his backstory comes in floods of narrative that dry up as quickly as they begin. He’s got no love for the gas drilling that followed him back home from where he was living out west, but it takes a while to find out why: his wife, who readers meet only though Henry’s sporadic trips down memory lane,

As it turns out, that’s more or less precisely what happens. The only suspect holds Henry at gunpoint and disappears into the woods; the small, underfunded local police department is too shorthanded to make any real effort at following him. That leaves Henry to walk the back woods alone, wandering between past and present, the tangled web of local history as vividly present as the current murder investigation: the old unmarked grave of a mysterious woman not far from where the initial victim was found, the deer trails where Henry’s father and his suspect’s father used to hunt before things went sour between them, the nearby summer camp where wealthy outsiders mingled with the locals, to sometimes disastrous effect.

While Dry Bones in the Valley is built around a mystery, at its heart is the story of lost loves and lost chances, of irrevocable decisions and family ties that hurt as often as they soothe.

Henry has come home seeking some kind of peace, and it’s not clear by the end whether or not he’s found it.

“They say you shouldn’t talk about the old days and how much better everything used to be,” he writes, “but my old days are still on the young side, and I often think about them.”

It’s a bittersweet ending to a story where there are no easy answers.

Tom Bouman is a former book editor and musician who lives with his wife and daughter in northeastern Pennsylvania. ‘Dry Bones in the Valley’ is his first novel.

travel.

OFF THE BEAT A monthly look at quirky nearby places, people, and things by our own Felicia Waynesboro

Provided.

THE LUCY DESI CENTER FOR COMEDY IN JAMESTOWN, NY

D

ID YOU EVER WONDER how it came to be that Lucy Ricardo – the madcap character that virtually all Americans love - and Lucille Ball, her iconic portrayer, had the same first name? There is “no definitive answer” to that question, according to Elisabeth Edwards, author of I Love Lucy: A Celebration of All Things Lucy: Inside the World of Television’s First Great Sitcom. “No agenda,” Edwards said to me in a 2012 interview.

“Lucille is Lucy; Lucy is Lucille. It’s just something we take for granted.”

We also pretty much take for granted that the 181 episodes of the program, which have been continually broadcasted since Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz created and began starring in the show in 1951, will be aired forever. In any case, Jamestown, NY - Lucille Ball’s beloved hometown - has become the center of preservation for just about everything to do with I Love Lucy. It also became a destination for comedy itself, ever since Lucille told the town in the late 1980s that she would like to perpetuate comedic arts as part of her legacy.

A little over a three and a half hour drive from Binghamton, you can step onto a recreated “Vitameatavegamin” set and have the opportunity never to be “unpoopular” again if you choose to get into the action and perform - with the dialogue from the original script provided - the part of Lucy making that famous, alcohol-infused “commercial.” This is an interactive experience courtesy of the Desilu Studios - a must-visit spot for any fan of the I Love Lucy show and one component of the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy. Among costumes and artifacts from the show, Desilu houses exact reproductions of the sets of the Ricardo’s New York apartment and the Beverly Palms Hotel suite where Lucy accidentally set her false nose on fire in front of screen idol William Holden and performed the classic mirror image pantomime with the always silent Harpo Marx.

The Lucy Desi Museum component of the Center displays memorabilia from the personal lives of the duo, like Ball’s 1972 gold-colored Mercedes and, to be introduced in August, a new avalanche of artifacts from Universal Studios and Museum archival storage. You could even party in a reproduction of Ricky Ricardo’s nightclub, the Tropicana Room, which may be booked for events and celebrations.

The annual Lucile Ball Comedy Festival (August 4th–7th this year) is huge with hometown tours, an intro to stand-up comedy class, Chatauqua Lake cruises, a conga workshop and much more, such as performances from comedians including Lewis Black.

Works-in-progress in Jamestown: The ground is already broken for a National Comedy Center which is to include a Hologram Comedy Club where comedians won’t just “die” on stage – they can already be dead (like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce) before performing in hologram-form! And if you’ve heard of the Scary Lucy statue of Celoron, NY you may be happy to know that she’ll be finding a new home in Jamestown’s National Comedy Center Park (that’s a story unto itself).

More info on the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy can be found at lucy-desi.com.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 33

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fun stuff.

“PLANETS”

by Paul O’Heron

B.C.

DOGS OF C-KENNEL

ACROSS 1. Queen singer Freddie.

(Planet #1) 5. Harlan _____: Hugo award winner for 1968 Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever.

9. De Milo who has no arms.

(Planet #2) 10. The side of a ship or aircraft that is on the right when one is facing forward.

11. _____ analysis can be used to derive many properties of distant stars and galaxies.

13. The now defunct company that marketed itself as a “different kind of car company”. (Planet #6) 15. Crime you stop with pepper spray?

17. The god of sky and thunder and king of the gods in Ancient Roman mythology.

(Planet #5) 20. “A revolution is interesting _____ as it avoids like the plague the plague it promised to heal.” - Daniel Berrigan 21. The god of freshwater and the sea in Roman mythology. (Planet #7) 22. The deity of the sky in Greek mythology. (Planet #8) 25. “Open your eyes, _____ _____ _____ the sky and see.”: lyric by 1-Across in Bohemian Rhapsody.

29. “A hug is like a _____ - you get it back right away.”

- Bil Keane 30. Another name for soil.

(Planet #3)

32. “Art _____ to what is inhuman in man.” - Alain Badiou 33. The name of various communications satellites first launched on July 10, 1962.

DOWN 1. Emotionally affects.

2. “Men are like mascara, they ___ at the slightest display of emotion.” - Kabir Bedi 3. “Only way you can you get _____ is when you expecting something.” - Bernie Mac 4. Igor’s catch phrase.

5. Acronym for space walks.

6. Constellation that holds Methuselah, the oldest known star located 190 light years distant.

7. Acronym for a situation that goes sideways.

8. Cain’s land located on the east of Eden.

12. “Kindness _____ everything almost as much as money does.” - Mason Cooley 14. “I’ve got a friend who is a lion tamer. He used to be a school teacher till he lost his _____.” - Les Dawson 15. Farewell to Paris.

16. Designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 MHz and 3 GHz used in satellite communication.

17. Angelina Jolie’s Oscar winning father.

18. How the weasel goes.

19. Defeat in an overwhelming manner.

WIZARD OF ID

by MASTROIANNI & HART

by MICK & MASON MASTROIANNI

by JONNY HART & BRANT PARKER

23. Cancel a mission.

24. “More than any other modern tool, computers are a total mystery to their _____.” - Clive Thompson 26. Solemn ringing for a funeral.

27. Is There Life On _____ Planets? – Isaac Asimov (1989) 28. Company that produces M&M’s and Milky Way candy bars. (Planet #4) 29. & 31. “He (Lindsey Buckingham) and I were about as compatible as a [31-down] and a [29-down] constrictor.” - Stevie Nicks Bonus clue: The “planet” that is in transit diagonally across the puzzle is fondly remembered as the former #9.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 35

exp.

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If you or a loved one has a drinking or drug problem...

HELP IS AVAILABLE AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) in the Triple Cities Region Hotline: (607) 722-5983 For a list of meetings: aabinghamton.org Al Anon/Alateen in Broome Co. and surrounding areas For info: (607) 772-0889 or (607) 387-5701 For a list of meetings: nynafg.com/district_10.html NA (Narcotics Anonymous) in the Triple Cities Region For info: (607) 762-9116 For a list of meetings: tcana.net

36 carouselrag.com

Morning People Just the freakin’ worst.

by Krissy Howard

I

LOVE BEING AWAKE EARLY. I love the way you can hear birds doing bird things and see dew on the leaves, and I love the way it offers the hope and encouragement that comes with having 16 hours to get all that work I put off until the very last minute done. I love all of that stuff.

I just hate waking up.

I’m not a morning person.

The morning person sounds like a member of a strange tribe whose beliefs seem really appealing, but whose practices I simply cannot comprehend, like polyamorous couples, or the Amish. I’m picking up what you’re putting down, but I just don’t think I could actually live my life like that. Becoming a morning person is no different. I am very attracted to the idea of breakfast and exercise and seeing the sun up in the sky, as opposed to retreating behind those trees, but I just can’t seem to get there when all that shit goes down. I’ve sought advice from a few members of this highly productive bunch, yet here I sit, awake at 2am on a Monday.

When you mention that you have a hard time waking up early, every single person in the world has the exact same advice: “You just gotta reset your internal clock!” They then proceed to instruct you to go to bed early so that you may then awake earlier the next day. The thing about that in relation to me, however, is that I cannot fall asleep early.

There isn’t enough chamomile or hot baths or guided meditations in the world to knock me out. I am physically disabled from going to bed early! Now give me a tax break, and all of your parking spots.

Of course that’s not true; I just really, really love staying up late. I feel like I’m getting away with something, which is strange, as I usually end up spending the better part of my late hours watching TV and being afraid of the dark. I’m not saying I imagine Robert “The Goblin of Galveston” Durst standing under a streetlight in front of my apartment, which he never is THANK GOD, but I can’t exactly say that I don’t do that either. What I’m trying to say is, I’m watching The Jinx again, and it just keeps getting better, I swear.

The only way I could possibly restart my internal clock is by waking up insanely early (8am), rendering myself exhausted and immobile by midnight. In an attempt to do so, I’ve resorted to the following tactics: Placing the alarm clock across the room. The idea behind getting up this way

is that you are literally GETTING UP, as in, moving your body out of your bed to turn your alarm off, and then out you go, into the world. I have actually set up to two alarm clocks this way, hiding them in various locations about my room, only to spitefully return to bed upon getting up to turn (read: hit extremely hard) them off. That’ll learn ya, clocks!

Wake up calls. I recently asked several friends to call my ass at 10am, like a hotel guest, or possibly just some incompetent human being with a highly inflated sense of importance. That lasted for about three days, or however long it took me to remember that I hate talking to anyone who isn’t my dog within the first hour that I am awake. Not only did I not wake up any earlier, I think I may have actually lost a couple of friends in the process.

Clocky™ The concept of Clocky™ is a simple one: irritate yourself into waking up. For my money, there really is no better way to start the day. You simply have not lived until you find yourself screaming at a motorized alarm clock on wheels, in your underwear. I was introduced to Clocky by a former roommate after discovering we shared the same inability to rise at a somewhat respectable time (before noon). She told me about this magical alarm clock on wheels that you have to chase around the room in order to shut off. As someone who always felt she would do pretty well in an obstacle course, my interest was piqued. She gave up on Clocky in less than a month, very on-brand for anyone I was able to call my roommate in my 20s, frustrated by the fact that Clocky would just drive itself under her bed and become stuck there, alarm blaring. I never actually got a chance to use Clocky because the dog I was fostering chewed the wheels off while I was in the shower. I would have tried placing it across the room, but I saved everyone time by just throwing it away instead.

The Rock Clock™ Perhaps one of the more embarrassing measures I’ve ever taken in an attempt to become a “morning person,” though not totally as the app is completely free, The Rock Clock is not only an alarm clock, but also a motivational tool, courtesy of one Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. You set both your alarm and a monthly goal, which The Rock helps you reach by sending these incredibly inspiring messages every day! I’m not actually sure what they say, as I have yet to use this app. It needs to remain open all night which just kills my phone’s battery, and I still keep meaning to buy an extension cord that will reach the outlet on the other wall, opposite my nightstand. Ironically enough, “buy extension cord” is my monthly goal, so I guess my hands are tied.

June 2016 triple cities carousel 37

star stuff.

ASTRO LOVE Cosmic guidance from Uranus. A monthly column by Binghamton’s favorite astrologer, Emily Jablon.

Gemini (May 21-June 21) This is your month, Gem! This may be your life peaking, so take it as far as you can. Those day trips to Apalachin or Owego are not just doable, but a triumph. Enjoy the brilliance, social graces, and the good vibe you give off and therefore attract.

Cancer (June 22-July 22) If I advise you not to hang out in your house and secretly hang out with your ex this month, would you listen to me, crab? No. You are going to do it regardless. The desire for something sexual and secure is out of your normally already very weak control. For a cancer, hanging with the ex is better than meeting a new lover you will also stalk until they die.

Leo (July 23-Aug 22) You may feel like you are burning the candle at both ends by the end of the month, with all of the new social obligations that you’ve piled onto your already full plate. Face it: you were bored. So stop wasting your time, and get rid of the friend or activity that your new one replaces. If you could handle this in a non-dramatic way… wait, never mind; you are not capable of that.

Virgo (Aug 23-Sept 22) Forget about June, Virgo. This month is so overwhelming that you should just give up now. Well, don’t give up, but revise some main areas of your life, so when shit hits the plan, you are prepared with your outline, to-do list, and PowerPoint on yourself. Don’t you feel better already?

Libra (Sept 23-Oct 22) Since Librans consider a mani-pedi to qualify as “super-busy” and treat a solo trip to the Oakdale Mall like a pilgrimage to Mecca, you may have a hard time this month. The planets challenge you on self-value, self-worth, and relationship to material goods. You are not set up for this kind of crap, and Libra, you are fine just the way you are. If you are really freaking out, get rid of your old clothes so you can get more next month.

Scorpio (Oct 23-Nov 21) You will meet new people that you have very strong feelings for, or against, this month. When you find yourself acting primal or foaming at the mouth, get a drink and go to bed. Scorpios believe they are never irrational because they are their own psychotic therapist, but this month, drop it.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21) This may be the month, centaur, when you are gently advised to seek the counsel or advice of a wiser person. Yes, this goes against who you are, what you know, how you got to where you are, and how you were raised, educated, and impacted by society, but hey, Sag, no one will ever have to know. Go ahead this is your month to ask someone a question that you do not know the answer to.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 19) I hate to break it to you Capricorn, but you do the same things in the same ways, over and over again to the same people, and it continues to annoy them all in the same way. Ditching this bad habit will allow you to grow in new and more annoying ways to a new group of people.

Aquarius (Jan 29-Feb 18) Friends take extra-special priority this month. So when your new BFF from last month hangs out with another friend, don’t get jealous or weird.

It’s better to not engage the jealously or butt-hurt BFF blues, because by the end of June, your amputation will be pain-free and you will no longer be attached at the hip. Detach as you do best.

Pisces (Feb 19-Mar 20) Hey, fish - this is a good month to realize you are a “caregiver” to say it nicely, or an “enabling floor mat.” You may want to force yourself to pay attention to how people get in the way of your third eye or insight (which is a Piscean version of common sense). Your kindness allows you to keep too many losers in your life.

It’s okay to have a couple in there, because it gives you a good reason to be confused, but max out at three.

Aries (Mar 21- Apr 19) With our ruling planet, Mars, in retrograde this month, we are naturally too simple-minded to handle backwards Mars energy. Despite the fact that your theme song, “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better,” is playing in your head, you can’t.

Obnoxiously focus on yourself and re-charge your batteries.

Taurus (Apr 20- May 20) Depending on your birth chart, open enemies or marriages are going to be a hot topic this month, or if you’re lucky, maybe both. Your spouse better have your back, because I read that 25% of the women on Snapped were Taureans. When things pop up from the past this month, you’re going to make sure it goes horrible, regardless of what I suggest. If anyone can kill a dead person, it’s a Taurus. Enjoy!

Emily Jablon, “Binghamton’s Astrologer to the Stars,” is a certified astrologer and public mosaic artist. Jablon has been studying astrology since college and specializes in relationship and personal astrology. She offers classes, private and group readings, and parties for a donation. Go to jablonstudios.com for more information or email emily@jablonstudios.com.

38 carouselrag.com

directory listings. arts organizations BROOME COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL Where the arts mean business!

81 State St. #501, Binghamton, NY (607) 723-4620 broomearts.org TIOGA ARTS COUNCIL Inspiring & supporting Tioga County 179 Front St. Owego, NY 13827 (607) 687-0785 tiogaartscouncil.org

art studios THE SPIRAL IMAGE STUDIO Affordable abstract art for any space.

2328 Colesville Rd, Harpursville NY (607) 349-2760/alla.boldina.art@gmail.com www.allaboldina.com KAPOW! ART STUDIO Unique Quality Art Classes for All Ages 186 State St. 2nd Fl, Binghamton, NY (607) 237-8246 kapowartnow.com

bars BELMAR PUB West Side World Famous 95 Main St. Binghamton, NY (607) 724-5920 belmar-bing.com CALLAHAN’S SPORTSMAN’S CLUB Drinks, food, and good tunes!

190 Main St. Binghamton, NY (607) 772-6313 Find us on Facebook!

FITZIES PUB Music, pool, and cheap shots!

9 Main St. Binghamton, NY (607) 217-5446 Find us on Facebook!

McGIRK’S IRISH PUB Music 5 nights/wk. Curated whiskey bar.

1 Kattelville Rd. Binghamton, NY (607) 648-9988 mcgirks.com

WATER STREET BREWING CO. Fresh. Local. Uncomplicated.

168 Water St. Binghamton, NY (607) 217-4546 waterstreetbrewingco.com

carousels ROSS PARK Undergoing renovations 60 Morgan Rd. Binghamton, NY (607) 772-7017 binghamton-ny.gov/carousels RECREATION PARK Round and round we go!

58-78 Beethoven Street, Binghamton, NY (607) 772-7017 binghamton-ny.gov/carousels C. FRED JOHNSON PARK Round and round we go!

98 CFJ Blvd. Johnson City, NY (607) 772-7017 villageofjc.com HIGHLAND PARK Round and round we go!

801 Hooper Rd. Endwell, NY (607) 786-2970 townofunion.com GEORGE W. JOHNSON PARK Round and round we go!

201 Oak Hill Ave. Endicott, NY (607) 757-0856 endicottny.com WEST ENDICOTT PARK Round and round we go!

Maple St. at Page Avenue, Endicott, NY (607) 786-2970 townofunion.com

dance instruction MANDALA BELLYDANCE & FLOW ARTS Classes/Fusion Bellydance /Fire & LED (607) 759-7551 www.facebook.com/mandalaflow mandalaflowarts@gmail.com

OLD UNION HOTEL “King of Wings” 3 Years in a Row! 246 Clinton St. Binghamton, NY (607) 217-5935 oldunionhotel.com

PURELY TECHNIQUE DANCE INSTRUCTION Ballet/Contemporary/Jazz/Tap Dance 32-36 Washington Ave. Endicott, NY (607) 245-6366 Purelytechniquedance@gmail.com

OWEGO ORIGINALS BAR & LOUNGE Music, pizza, drinks: Owego’s newest venue 25 Lake St. Owego, NY (607) 687-9510 Find us on Facebook!

TANGO MY HEART Argentine Style Classes/Practice: Mon. 7pm Atomic Tom’s, 196 State St. Binghamton, NY (607) 217-8731 tangomyheart.com

breweries GALAXY BREWING CO. Craft beers & great food in downtown Bing 41 Court St. Binghamton, NY (607) 217-7074 galaxybrewingco.com

dining CHROMA CAFÉ & BAKERY Artisan breads & pastries. breakfast/lunch.

97 Court St. Binghamton, NY (607) 595-7612 chromacafeandbakery.com

CITREA RESTAURANT & BAR Woodfire Pizza & Tapas 7 Court St. Suite 3, Binghamton, NY (607) 722-0039 citreapizza.com GROTTA AZZURA Late Night Pizza Delivery Fri.-Sat. 52 Main St. Binghamton, NY 13905 (607) 722-2003 grottaazzurraitalianrestaurant.com LOST DOG CAFÉ Global fare, specialty cocktails, music 222 Water St. Binghamton, NY (607) 771-6063 lostdogcafe.net MI CASA Authentic Latin Cuisine 58 Henry St. Binghamton, NY (607) 237-0227 Find us on Facebook!

VILLAGE DINER Check out our menu on Page 36!

255 Floral Ave, Johnson City, NY (607) 217-4134 JCvillagediner.com

hair salons ORION BEAUTY & BALANCE, INC. Hair, nails, body waxing, hair color. Aveda!

118 Washington St. Binghamton, NY (607) 724-0080 orionbeautyandbalance.com

home improvement BUTCH’S PAINTING Residental, Commercial, Interior, Exterior Binghamton, NY (607) 222-9225

jewelers CAMELOT JEWELERS Coins/repairs/custom designs.

We buy gold and silver!

48 Clinton St. Binghamton, NY (607) 722-0574

medical practices NY SKIN AND VEIN CENTER Natural good looks & healthy legs!

75 Pennsylvania Ave. Binghamton, NY (607) 417-0040 info@NYSVC.com

museums BUNDY MUSEUM Explore local Binghamton history!

127-129 Main St. Binghamton, NY (607) 772-9179 bundymuseum.org ROBERSON MUSEUM Exhibits, Events, The Mansion, & More 30 Front Street, Binghamton, NY (607) 772-0660 www.roberson.org

music instruction BANJO AND FIDDLE LESSONS with Brian Vollmer Binghamton, NY (301)385-4027 banjoandfiddle.com brian@banjoandfiddle.com

music venues CYBER CAFÉ WEST Binghamton’s home for live music.

176 Main St. Binghamton, NY (607) 723-2456 cybercafewest.com MAGIC CITY MUSIC HALL Back in action, bigger & better than before!

1040 Upper Front St. Binghamton, NY (607) 296-3269 themagiccitymusichall.com RANSOM STEELE TAVERN Do some dancin’ with Ransom 552 Main St. Apalachin, NY (607) 258-0165 ransomsteeletavern.com

specialty GARLAND GALLERY Custom framing, cool gifts, zany cards 116 Washington St. Binghamton, NY (607) 723-5172 garlandgallery.com

video production STEPHEN SCHWEITZER Video production and editing (607) 222-9281 vimeo.com/stephenschweitzer stephen.schweitzer@gmail.com

wineries BLACK BEAR WINERY NYS fruit wine. Stop by our tasting room!

248 County Rd. 1, Chenango Forks, NY (607) 656-9868 blackbearwinery.com

Be Inside Us! 18,000 discerning monthly readers.

200 regional distribution locations.

3 years of unrivaled arts coverage in the Triple Cities.

Get in touch today!

(607) 422-2043

advertising@carouselrag.com June 2016 triple cities carousel 39

Fri. June 17th with special guests The Crawdiddies

Sat. June 18th

with special guests Merkley & Morgan

Driftwood

performing live at the

Ransom Steele Tavern Apalachin, NY $15 advance, $20 at the door tickets available at ransomsteeletavern.com