Items tagged with 'people'
My Exit: Jen Acuna
Each week with My Exit our friends at WEXT give us a chance to check out what's on the playlists of people in the Capital Region.
Today's guest DJ, Jen Acuna, includes a mix of some powerful female vocalists from Joss Stone to Etta James.
Albany as his temporary hometown
When Graham Schultz first learned he would be moving to Albany, the Cathedral of All Saints organ fellow says all he heard from people was, "Oh, Albany. It sort of sucks." Well, they were wrong. And Graham figured that out pretty quickly.
Originally from Arkansas, he didn't really know much about the northeast or upstate New York in general. But now, after three years here, he'd probably be one of the best people to ask about Albany.
"I consider myself from Albany now, but I wouldn't say I'm a New Yorker," he says.
Graham's final performance at the cathedral is during services this Sunday (May 19) and he leaves Albany shortly after that for a new post in Dallas. But talking with him about some of what he's learned about the city and its history reveals what happens when someone embraces their adopted town.
Albany Bagel Co.
Albany Bagel Co. everything bagels.
Perhaps you are among the many who have been intrigued by the mysterious Albany Bagel Co., which appeared out of nowhere late last year. They have been tweeting, creating interesting maps of Albany, and teasing all of us with the promise of great bagels.
Well, the wait is almost over. The Albany Bagel Co. will begin retail operations at the Colonie Farmers Market at the Crossings this Saturday.
But who are they? Why are they doing this? And what can we expect when they finally start selling their bagels to the public? We talked with one of the founders to find out.
Cheese guru Gustav Ericson leaving Honest Weight
Next month, when the Honest Weight Food Co-op opens its new store on Watervliet Avenue in Albany, a mainstay will be missing.
Gustav Ericson, Capital Region rock star of cheese, won't be making the leap to Honest Weight's new building.
Yes, we said the rock star of cheese.
Ericson has presided over the cheese counter at Honest Weight for the last 12 years, listening to stories, doling out samples, and educating volunteers and customers. And in that time he's developed a passionate band of fans for a guy who sells cheese.
What's up in the Neighborhood
Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: the Albany app, St. Patrick's, scenes from the demolished, the next mayor, DARE, a flower CSA, bison, the good side, caveat emptor, unsolicited advice, bang for the buck in Saratoga, native trees, and Mother's Day.
No ordinary illustrations
Check it out: Talented local designer Phil Pascuzzo has illustrated a children's book -- No Ordinary Apple, by Sara Marlowe. It's about "mindful" eating (and an apple). Blurbage:
On an otherwise ordinary day, Elliot discovers something extraordinary: the power of mindfulness. When he asks his neighbor Carmen for a snack, he's at first disappointed when she hands him an apple--he wanted candy! But when encouraged to carefully and attentively look, feel, smell, taste, and even listen to the apple, Elliot discovers that this apple is not ordinary at all.
Lushly and humorously illustrated, No Ordinary Apple makes a traditional technique for training mindfulness a fun and enjoyable way for children to learn to slow down and appreciate even the simplest things.
"Lush" and "humorous" are good words to describe Phil's style -- his work is often colorful and witty. You've no doubt seen his work -- he's designed a bunch of book covers, as well a version of the Twitter bird.
Phil has designed a bunch of book covers, show posters, and even a version of Twitter's famous bird. (He also designed the AOA holiday banner this past December.)
Earlier on AOA: The book on Phil Pascuzzo
Ecovative in the New Yorker
The new issue of the New Yorker include a good article about Ecovative by Ian Frazier. Here's a clip:
Gavin McIntyre, the co-inventor of a process that grows all-natural substitutes for plastic from the tissue of mushrooms, holds a pen or pencil in an unusual way. Gripping it between two fingers of his right hand, he moves his arm across the paper so that his wrist grazes the inscribed line; because of this, he uses pens with ink that doesn't smear. When he draws an explanatory diagram of the chitin molecule--chitin is the principal component of mycelium, the white, rootlike vegetative structure of fungi--he bends over his work, then looks up earnestly to see if his hearer has understood. The gesture makes him appear younger than his age, which is twenty-eight. He wears glasses and has straight black hair, dark eyes, and several piercings, with studs in his lip and ears.
The other co-inventor, Eben Bayer, won't be twenty-eight until June. Bayer is almost six-five, and often assumes the benign expression of a large and friendly older brother. His hair is brown, short, and spiky, his face is long, and his self-effacing manner hides the grand ambitions that people who come from small towns (Bayer grew up in South Royalton, in central Vermont) sometimes have. When he says, of the company that he and McIntyre founded, "We want to be the Dow or DuPont of this century," he is serious. He is their company's C.E.O., McIntyre its Chief Scientist. People with money and influence have bet that they will succeed.
As you know, Ecovative is based in Green Island -- and both McIntyre and Bayer are RPI alumni.
The article highlight both of the founders' backgrounds, along with the key role of RPI professor Burt Swersey in encouraging them, and mycologist Sue Van Hook in helping to grow Ecovative's library of fungus. And it also includes a bunch of interesting bits about the company's beginnings, tech, and plans (fungal resistors for mobile phones?).
More than anything, though, Frazier elegantly lays out Ecovative's ideas alongside the history of Dow Chemical -- the producer of Styrofoam -- and explains why Ecovative could be such an important, industry-altering company.
Earlier on AOA: A whole bunch of items about Ecovative
Beer Diviner Kickstarter
Quick follow up on the Beer Diviner, the "nano-brewery" in Rensselaer County: Founder Jonathan Post has started a Kickstarter campaign to expand beyond his "out in the sticks" property to open a new tasting room and retail outlet in Stephentown. Blurbage:
In order to get the outlet up and running, increase beer production and hire someone, the outlet will need start-up money for inventory, furniture and renovation. We want to make this a comfortable, community oriented space, where you can taste New York State beer, wine and liquor, try different foods, bring your laptop and get free wifi, hang out at tables inside and outside, play ping pong, foosball and darts. We plan on decorating with pictures and descriptions about the history of beer and how The Beer Diviner got its start in an indigenous village in West Africa.
Post has set a $12,000 goal -- the funding deadline is June 27.
Award: The Beer Diviner's Got Your Back Stout took 3rd place in the "Best Individual Craft Beers in the Hudson Valley" category at the recent TAP NY event. (Beers from Olde Saratoga took the top two spots.)
Earlier on AOA: Casey visited the Beer Diviner brewery in April
What's up in the Neighborhood
Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: effort, frustrations, bike paths, Halfmoonssians, pistachio ice cream and life, St. Patrick's, a taxi, progress, a sabbatical, Fish & Game, Javier's, a sombrero, Indian food, eating in Boston, baby farm animals, a spring, pies on the windowsill, and 20 first graders.
Spa City Farmer's Market
From left to right: Shannon Campagna, The Peanut Principle; Sue Kerber, RAD Soap Co.; Colleen Zorbas, Zorbas Natural Foods.
What's the hardest part about starting a new farmers' market?
All the texting.
At least, that's what Sue Kerber, Colleen Zorbas and Shannon Campagna think. Together, they're the founders of the new Spa City Farmer's Market. And after three months of planning, the business owners admit 2 am texting has gotten old for them... and their husbands.
But that planning has the new Sunday market ready to launch later this month.
So why start another farmers' market?
Stranger Visions
Heather Dewey-Hagborg and her self portrait. (photo: Dan Phiffer)
Filed under... well, we're not sure: Heather Dewey-Hagborg -- a PhD student in RPI's electronic arts program -- has been creating 3-D "portraits" based on found DNA. From the statement for "Stranger Visions":
In Stranger Visions artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg creates portrait sculptures from analyses of genetic material collected in public places. Working with the traces strangers unwittingly leave behind, Dewey-Hagborg calls attention to the impulse toward genetic determinism and the potential for a culture of genetic surveillance.
A press release from this March explains how she creates the portraits. The process, boiled down: Dewey-Hagborg collects discarded hair, cigarette butts, and chewing gum. She then takes it back to a lab, extracts DNA from the sample, amplifies certain parts of it, then looks for certain segments that are associated with various physical characteristics. The info then goes through a 3-D modeling program and the portrait is printed on a color 3-D printer.
Her website has a bunch of the portraits, along with photos the samples and where they were collected.
Nearing the last word in the Bible
Phillip Patterson beneath a willow tree, from 2010. Photo by Laura Glazer.
A few years back Jess wrote about Phillip Patterson, a Columbia County man who was working to handwrite the entire King James bible. From 2010:
Phillip Patterson says he wouldn't necessarily classify himself as a religious person. In fact, some days he veers more toward agnosticism. But he found himself wondering about the bible.
"It's probably one of the most important tomes of Western Civilization," he explains. "We swear on it , we damn people with it, but no one's really read it. We read passages of it, but that's it."
So he decided that the best way for him to really, truly understand this book would be to hand-write it himself, line by line, page by page. He started working on in August 2007, and is now working on the third volume of what he expects will ultimately be 8 or 9 volumes in total.
As Patterson worked on the project, Laura Glazer -- of Hello Pretty City fame -- was documenting his effort through a series of photos.
Well, Patterson is now close to finishing the bible. He'll officially do so at an event at St. Peter's Presbyterian Church in Spencertown on May 11.
The AP's Michael Hill recently talked with both Phillip and Laura about the project now that it's nearing completion. As Phillip told him: "I hadn't counted on the fact that it would end up being beautiful ... Or that it would be so exhilarating. And so long."
My Exit: Hans Christopher
Each week with My Exit our friends at WEXT give us a chance to check out what's on the playlists of people in the Capital Region.
Today, Hans is back with a show that takes us from Culture Club to Candi Staton..
The 2013 Tulip Queen finalists
Left to right: Jerry Jennings (not in the running for Tulip Queen), Kate Bender, Meghan Cahill, Gigi Diffenback, Fendi Munoz, and Alexis Osborne. (photo: Rosalie Phan)
The finalists for this year's Tulip Queen are out. Bios after the jump.
The selection of this year's court started with 70 nominations. Semi-finalists are picked by a panel of judges that includes former Tulip Court members. The finalists are then chosen based on their interaction at the annual Tulip Tea and "their community service and leadership skills as well as their knowledge of Albany." (Knowing Albany trivia probably helps during the competitive tea party.)
The Tulip Queen will be crowned on the Saturday of the Tulip Festival, May 11 at noon at the Washington Park Lakehouse. The queen and court work on literacy initiatives in the city of Albany during their year-long reign.
What's up in the Neighborhood
A "slitscan" photo at the Saratoga Raceway, by Chuck Miller.
Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: the glass school, the future of Troy, Vale Cemetery, actual neighbors, recycling bins, the harness track, TAP NY, the Capital Region food scene, Centre Street Pub, a Utica standard, a tiny kitchen farewell, Mrs. Russell Sage, kindness in the drive-thru, and congratulations.
Laurie Anderson on EMPAC
"You can't explain it to someone, because there's nothing else like it in the world."
Laurie Anderson has a long history of mixing science and art. The experimental artist has invented instruments like a tape bow violin, done a residency at NASA and, for the last year, she's held the first distinguished artist in residence post at EMPAC, where she says science and technology have allowed her to do things she never could have done before.
EMPAC may be a bit of a puzzle to folks outside the media arts world, but inside that world, Anderson says, it's gaining quite a reputation.
"You can't explain it to someone," she says," because there's nothing else like it in the world."
Pizza at The Orchard Tavern
The distinctive rectangle.
Albany is filled with old food. And rightly so, it's an old town. Our fish fry and mini-hot dogs with meat sauce offer widespread examples around the region. But slightly less visible, inside one the city's oldest taverns, there is a remarkably old pizza.
The Orchard Tavern has been making its distinctive style of pizza from scratch for more than 70 years from the recipe of a former proprietor. Much of what is known about the pizza's origins is based on anecdotal evidence. But, since the recipe has remained unchanged for all this time, we can learn a lot about this pizza by understanding how it's made.
To unlock the secrets of The Orchard pizza, you have to start with a visit to their dungeon.
Albany Tweed Ride 2013 photos
Cheerio.
We stopped by Washington Park on Sunday for the second Albany Tweed Ride. It's pretty much what it sounds like -- people dressed in civilized attire, pedaling their way around town. This year the ride started at All Good Bakers on Delaware Ave, headed over to the Hudson River Coffee House on Quail, then into Washington Park for a stop, and then on to the Olde English for lunch.
It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of smiles. Here's a handful of pics from ride's stop in Washington Park...
What's up in the Neighborhood
Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: making stuff at home, value, the Orchard, wildflowers, the Catskills, Emma Willard, getting it right, a wedding, Aimee Mann, Tala, rogue taxidermy deferred, the Roosevelt Baths, rye toast, a dealership cat, and the fate of a cupcake.
Palazzo Riggi
A description of Palazzo Riggi, the new "docusoap" about the Riggi family in Saratoga Springs in development for the E! Network, from the Hollywood Reporter:
Through the eyes of the outrageous family who lives there and the staff that run it, this new docusoap takes viewers inside a unique, luxurious world filled with eccentric personalities and gives viewers a glimpse into a jaw dropping, elaborate 24,000-square-foot family estate in upstate New York that boasts an authentic English pub, Balinese wellness spa and perfectly heated lawn that is designed to keep the paws of the family's 35 dogs warm year-round.
Yep, the "family estate" is that enormous house on north Broadway in Saratoga Springs.
Michele Riggi confirmed the show to the TU, but there weren't details about when it will start shooting.
Flashforward headline: "Riggi dogs on strike, holding out for larger cut of revenue from reality show, tell tabloid scenes were staged"
Coccadotts back on Cupcake Wars
Colonie-based bakery Coccadotts will be back on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars this Sunday in a bid for sweet redemption. The ep airs at 8 pm, and will be shown again on April 29 (3 am) and May 4 (1 pm).
The bakery's first appearance on the show -- in 2011 -- was filled with drama, including a failed batch of cupcakes that got them bounced in the first round.
How the show works: four bakeries compete over the course of three rounds to create cupcakes that somehow relate to a theme set by the show. One bakery gets eliminated with every round.
The theme for Sunday's show: "Tiffani Thiessen's Birthday Bash." Yep, they're making cupcakes for Kelly Kapowski's birthday. We can only hope she likes Buffalo wings.
Coccadotts has organized watch parties in Colonie and Clifton Park for the episode.
Earlier on AOA: Trying the Super Bowl-themed cupcakes from Coccadotts
2011 screengrab: Food Network
My Exit: Karen & Ed
Each week with My Exit our friends at WEXT give us a chance to check out what's on the playlists of people in the Capital Region.
This week, Karen and Ed take us back...
Photos from AOA5
Here are a bunch of photos from AOA's 5th birthday party Thursday. It was great to see so many people -- both to meet some for the first time, and to catch up with others we don't see often enough.
Many thanks to the City Beer Hall for putting together some very tasty food and making sure everything went smoothly. And thank you to Andy Kainz Photography for the photos.
There probably weren't a lot of people who thought AOA would make it five years -- we're not sure we would have predicted it! We greatly appreciate all the support over the years. Thank you.
What's up in the Neighborhood
Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: Boston, the light in the dark, tragedy, movie shoots, car dealers, Dippikill, the lust for sensationalism, self defense, dashing, the Brook Tavern, sashimi, gems in Schenectady, Iron Throne, an ethical dilemma, and steak gone awry.
Electric City
A location scouting photo from the movie's Facebook page.
Another film -- appropriately titled Electric City -- is set to film in Schenectady this summer. Among its producers: Metta World Peace -- yep, the NBA player (formerly known as Ron Artest)*. Metta -- or, World Peace -- is even slated to appear in a scene at Newest Lunch. [Daily Gazette]
Here's a plot outline for Electric City. The director and writer is Nick DeRuve, a Schenectady native and Niskayuna High School grad. (One of his student films: The Inner Workings of William Balltown. Nisky reference?) Here's a little bit of background on both the movie and DeRuve. He's been posting bits about production on on Twitter and Facebook.
The Electric City cast includes Joey Lauren Adams, Emma Holzer (Boardwalk Empire, Spring Breakers), Liz Mikel (Smash's mom on Friday Night Lights), and Harrison Holzer.
* Our favorite Metta World Peace/Ron Artest Moment: When he thanked his psychiatrist after the Lakers won the title in 2010.
... said Dan about Albany Bagel Co.