Ask a naturalist: Deer antlers, squirrel nuts, shrew sustenance & bobcat comeback
When and why do deer lose their antlers? How do squirrels organize their nut hoards? What do shrews eat? Are bobcats making a comeback in the mid-Hudson Valley?
All posts by John Burdick
Ask a naturalist: When and why do deer lose their antlers?
Unlike horns, antlers grow anew each year. But why?
Acclaimed flutist Eugenia Zukerman writes about her journey with Alzheimer’s disease
In a contrary motion that J. S. Bach likely would have appreciated, Like Falling through a Cloud moves from an ethereal, poetic confusion in its earliest pages toward an all-too-grounded diagnostic clarity as the reality sinks in and the author advances, often with great reluctance, from consultation to consultation as the unnamable is named.
Mateo & Dougan Band celebrate release of Time to Fly at Catskill Pines
A fascinating and underdiscussed consideration of popular music is how the compositional instrument – the instrument upon which a songwriter
Janis: Holly George-Warren explores the complex mind of a legend
Woodstock reading on Sunday, November 3: Many of the myths regarding Joplin read out like cautionary, puritanical sermons, luridly celebrating her passionate performances as something inspired and beyond her control, meanwhile excoriating her for her weakness, the demons and hedonism that ultimately defeated her. The standard line on Janis has allowed precious little acknowledgment of her personal agency, her seriousness of purpose and her accelerating artistic growth and self-determination, all of which are major and richly substantiated themes in George-Warren’s deeply engaging new biography.
Colony hosts “Forbidden Fruit: Haunted Hotel”
Saturday, Nov. 2: When Colony opens its woody, elegant and historic space to the surging popularity of the drag and cabaret arts this weekend, that’ll be my child – Strawberry, six-foot-seven in heels – commanding the stage on which they still occasionally let me play guitar, a six-string fretted instrument popular in the Renaissance. As I have watched Strawberry’s bookings rise in the last few years, taking them to Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Calgary and filling their pockets with bills, I can’t help but notice that locally, they play all the same rooms I do, or used to. From the New Paltz bars to BSP and now to Woodstock’s elegant and historic room, I struggle to find gigs, while my child and their ilk are “killing it.” Circle of Life stuff, I guess.
Maya Hawke plays Colony
Thursday, Nov. 6: The daughter of actress Uma Thurman and actor Ethan Hawke made her screen debut as Jo March in the 2017 BBC adaptation of Little Women and starred as Robin in the third season of the Netflix series Stranger Things. As a musician, she works frequently with the Grammy-winning writer and producer Jesse Harris, who is well-known in this area, particularly for his work with Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux and others.
Ask a naturalist: Which kinds of trees make which color leaves?
Different tree species are associated with different colors. Hickory and sycamore leaves are golden-orange. Ash leaves tend to be yellow and purple. Oaks hold onto their leaves the longest and produce russet-brown foliage. Sugar maples take on an orange or red tone. There is evidence that red leaves are more prevalent when days are warm, dry and sunny, and the nights are cool (but not freezing). Red foliage has also been linked to fungus and drought.
Ask a Naturalist: When were apples first cultivated in the Hudson Valley?
The lower Hudson Valley region and the Lake Champlain region are two of the largest and most important apple production areas in New York state, which ranks second in the nation for apple production and first in the country for canned apple products, although much of that crop is produced in western New York.
Rosendale Theatre screens Rocky Horror Picture Show
Saturday, Oct. 26: The cult classic musical around which dozens of participatory material and verbal rituals developed was ahead of its time with the notion of interactivity. While its popularity has held steady for decades, the film now finds itself completely in sync with the cultural moment.
