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ALMANAC WEEKLY
February 16, 2017
BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR A PRESIDENT?
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here is not an American alive who can remember a time when we didn’t observe Washington’s Birthday, but Washington himself was criticized in his own time for just that by he National Gazette in 1793. That Washington celebrated his 61st birthday while in office heralded monarchical tendencies on the part of the president, it wrote. “Who will deny that the celebrating of birthdays is not a striking feature of royalty? We hear of no such thing during the republic of Rome.” Such remarks may have stung Washington, who is said to have been privately “inflamed” at times when the press questioned his republican principles; but among his many stellar qualities was his staunch support of the First Amendment. Years earlier, in 1783, Washington famously asserted that if free speech were taken away from the nation’s citizens, then “dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter.” – Sharyn Flanagan
stands and lunch houses in the vicinity of the docks and railroad depots, and known as Washington Pie, railroad cake, etc., are made up chiefly of the refuse and waste material of the bakeries, old and musty cakes, waste fruit, a little spice and much molasses.” Nobody seems to know where, exactly, Washington Cake or Washington Pie was first made. The desserts did find their way to New York by 1898, when the Astor House had them on their menu in New York City. And in the Hudson Valley, Alice J. Hasbrouck, married to a descendant of the Huguenot Street Hasbroucks of New Paltz, features two recipes for Washington Cake in her 1976 cookbook, As Our Ancestors Cooked, published by the Huguenot Historical Society. According to Beth M. Forrest, professor of Liberal Arts at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, “the sheer number” of 19th-century cookbooks that include Washington Cake or Washington Pie indicates that New York women, including those of the Hudson Valley, “would have known about the confection, and likely baked it. The cake also appears on many hotel restaurant menus from Bermuda to Portland, Maine, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey.” The Ellicott Club of Buffalo, New York, she adds, included a dessert called Gateaux George Washington on its menu in 1906. Forrest also notes a recipe found in a 1910 cookbook put out by the Altrurian Club of Troy, New York. In what seems to be a “next-generation” version of the original frugal practice of making Washington Pie by using up leftover or broken pieces of cake, its recipe suggested filling a piecrust with “rich, yellow cake dough, bake, let cool, then cover with blackberry or raspberry jam. Put a heavy meringue on top and place in the oven to brown.” And then there’s the philosophical Washington Cake recipe found by Forrest in the 1911 cookbook, Good Things: Ethical Recipes for Feast Days and Other Days by Isabel Goodhue. She advises combining “four cups of the flour of truthfulness; two cups of the butter of generosity, sweetened with two cups of high ideals; made light with courage and patriotism, flavored with sagacity. Add the fruits of fame and love, and when well-baked, cover with icing and decorate with preserved cherries and cut with a small, silver hatchet.” – Sharyn Flanagan
Suds in the Stockade Uptown Boogaloo to feature more than 40 breweries and cideries in Kingston on Saturday
CZARINA ALEGRE
eer World in Kingston and WDST Radio Woodstock will host the Uptown Boogaloo this Saturday. Held in the cavernous back room at BSP on Wall Street in Kingston’s Stockade District, the Boogaloo is a craft beer festival where your price of entry allows you to sample to your heart’s content from among 75 microbrews from more than 40 breweries and cideries, many of them New York State-based. There’s also live music from Simi Stone, J. K. Vanderbilt and American Film History, plus an illusionist, games, a photo booth and food vendors. This year, there will be two ticketed sessions: one from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 18, and another from 6:30 to 10 p.m. For an extra fee, VIP ticketholders get to arrive one hour early, and have access to ten additional hand-selected beers in the San Severia Spiegeltent, plus complimentary snacks from Yum Yum Noodle Bar. General admission tickets for each session cost $55 in advance, $60 at the door; VIP tix go for $125; and Designated Drivers get in for $15 ($45 for VIP treatment). This year’s brewery lineup includes Abita Beer, Adirondack Brewery, Awestruck Ciders, Ballast Point, Brewery Ommegang, Broken Bow Brewery, Brooklyn Brewery, Bull and Barrel Brewery, Butternuts Beer & Ale, Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., Chatham Brewing, Cisco Brewers, Coney Island Brewing Co., Cooperstown Brewing Co., Cricket Hill Brewery, Empire Brewing Co., Flying Dog Brewery, Founders Brewing Co., Golden Road Brewing, Goose Island Beer Co., Harpoon Brewery, High Point Brewing Co., Ithaca Beer Co., Keegan Ales, Millhouse Brewing Co., New Belgium Beers, Newburgh Brewing Co., Paradox Beer Co., Peak Organic Beer, Pine Island Brewing, Revolution Brewing,
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Mardi Gras Uptown to feature Soul Brass Band at BSP Ever more ceremonial and ritualized, Uptown Kingston is now adding a Mardi Gras celebration to its yearly calendar of chaos. Presented and curated by the music critic Brian Turk and Chronogram, Mardi Gras Uptown happens on Friday, February 24 at BSP in Kingston and features the music of the Soul Brass Band, a traditional second-line New Orleans brass band with an occasionally nontraditional repertoire, celebrated and award-winning in Nola itself. The doors open at 8 p.m., with WKZE’s Rick hosting a pre-party. A second-line parade starts at 8:30, and the stage show gets rolling at 9. The Catskill Brewery will be taking over the taps this night. For tickets and additional information, visit www.bspkingston.com. BSP is located at 323 Wall Street in Kingston. – John Burdick
“Standing together for the Hudson River” in Highland “Standing Rock on Hudson II: Standing together for the Hudson River, for Primal Unity and Primal Sovereignty” will take place at Boughton Place, located at 150 Kisor Road in Highland, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, February 20 (Presidents’ Day). Hosted by author Evan Pritchard, this all-day event will bring together environmental visionaries, indigenous elders, musicians, scholars, activists and peacemakers to discuss and unite in creating a plan of action for the ongoing protection of the Hudson River and its people. “Primal sovereignty” is a Native American concept/insight that embraces all sentient beings and which inspired the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. There will be more than a dozen guest speakers from various organizations, and those attending will be able to speak to them one-on-one. Author Evan Pritchard (Center for Algonquin Culture) will emcee and speak about the meaning of
sovereignty for human beings and all life forms. He will also talk about the proposal for anchorages in the Hudson. Standing Rock veteran Greg Quinn, director of CurrentC of Staatsburg, will give a talk called “We Are the Water Protectors.” Fidel Moreno (Northeast Standing Rock Support Group) will show clips from his new film about Standing Rock, North Dakota. Strong Oak (Mi’kmaq, Vision Bear Lodge) will give a talk called “I Love Diversity.” Kieran Conroy (Pastoral Support for Split Rock Camp at Ramapough) will speak about “The Internet as Council House.” Phil Emer and Stacy Lipari (White Pine Farm) will talk about the importance of teamwork. J. K. Canepa (Resist Spectra) will talk about the dangers of pipelines at the Indian Point power plant. Karin Wolfe (Sierra Club) will talk about “Water and Spirituality.” Sue Rosenberg (Citizens against Pilgrim Pipeline) will speak about how to stop proposed pipelines north of Indian Point. Jordan Huggins (Earth First) will give a talk called “The Bomb Train Stops Here.” Sally Bermanzohn (Neetopk-Keetopk) will speak about “The Two Row Campaign Moving Forward.” Shannon Flynn will assist with opening ceremonies. David Eberle (Beacon Sloop Club) will talk about the pleasures of civic responsibility. Creek Iversen (Seed Song Farm), Lisa Mitten and others will provide music. Breakout groups will be followed by a brainstorming session followed by individual statements of intent, with each participant inaugurating his or her own plan for a better New York. Admission is by suggested donation of $25 per person. Bringing a bag lunch is recommended. Overnight accommodations are available. For more information, email boughtonplace@ gmail.com or (845) 691-7578, or evan. pritchard7@gmail.com or (845) 377-1110.
Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell to perform in Hudson Best known as the lead singer, violinist, banjo-player and co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens has been exploring other waters recently. She has collaborated with Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Jim James and in the unlikely, Dylan-authorized, TBone Burnett-supervised supergroup the New Basement Tapes. Now Giddens takes to the road in a deeply and broadly traditional duo with the multiple Grammy-winning banjo- and fiddle-player Dirk Powell. The pair will make a stop at Helsinki Hudson on Friday, March 3 at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $45 and $55. For tickets and more information, visit www. helsinkihudson.com. Club Helsinki is located at 405 Columbia Street in Hudson.
Best of both worlds Great excitement! Almanac Weekly features a miscellany of art, entertainment and adventure from both sides of the Hudson. True, we’re called Ulster Publishing, for that was the land from which we sprang. Today we cover our historic homeland as well as Dutchess, Greene and Columbia counties.
Catskill
Hudson
Tannersville Saugerties
Phoenicia Mt. Tremper
Woodstock Kingston
Stone Ridge Kerhonkson
Ellenville
Germantown Tivoli Red Hook Rhinebeck
High Falls
Rosendale New Paltz Highland
Hyde Park Poughkeepsie
Gardiner
ALMANAC WEEKLY Rediscover the Hudson Valley
Marlboro
Wappingers Falls Fishkill Beacon