Music & Arts

(05/22/12) The Saranac Review is a literary journal published at SUNY Plattsburgh. Since 2004, the journal has slowly built a name for itself in the literary community. And this spring it received a big honor: two poems featured in the journal were nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. Sarah Harris has our story. more

(05/22/12) Long-time Canton resident Peter Van de Water is out with a new book, This is What I Thought at the Time. It's a collection of his essays originally published in the St. Lawrence Plaindealer: everything from farming to politics.

Todd Moe spoke with him about writing essays based on what he was reading, childhood memories on the farm and changes in society. Van de Water has spent most of his life in Canton, graduated from St. Lawrence University, retired in 1984 and says his essays were inspired by his father's newspaper columns in the Watertown Daily Times.

(05/18/12) Dr. Alexander Schreiber studies change--the metamorphosis of amphibians and flatfish. His St. Lawrence University biology lab teems with frogs and fish in various stages of development.

His enthusiasm for his subject sends him off campus to local grade schools. And at SLU, it attracts even English majors like our intern, Roger Miller. Schreiber told Roger he just never stopped being a kid.

Roger Miller is a senior at St. Lawrence University. He's worked as an intern in our news and web departments for the last couple of years. We'll miss him, and wish him well after graduation this weekend. more

(05/17/12) A crew from one of the country's most famous clothing companies has been at a historic Adirondack great camp this week to shoot photographs for its fall and winter 2012 catalog.

A crew of about 20 from L.L. Bean, based in Freeport, Maine, was at White Pine Camp on Osgood Pond on Monday and Tuesday. The rustic Great Camp was built in the early 1900s and served as the "Summer White House" for President Calvin Coolidge in 1926. Chris Morris dropped by the set. more

(05/16/12) While reporting on traditional work the last couple of weeks, we learned about a North Country craftsman who builds stringed instruments and applies inlay to them in a way that is the same as it has been done for generations. It wasn't long before Joel Hurd, a guitar enthusiast himself, was on his way to Parishville to meet Tracy Cox. more

(05/14/12) Nunsense II is running at the 1000 Islands Playhouse in Gananoque through June 16. Resident theatre critic Connie Meng was at the opening night and has this review. more

(05/11/12) Award-winning New Zealand pianist Nicola Melville will give two concerts in Elizabethtown this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, she'll perform piano rags of William Albright at the Hand House as part of the Piano by Nature music series. Melville has performed around the world and teaches at Carleton College in Minnesota. She's also a faculty member at the Chautauqua Summer Music Festival. Todd Moe has this preview.

(05/09/12) All sorts of radio stations these days are busy blending old content with modern technology. Staying relevant, while reaching out to new listeners.

Take CJHR, a non-profit station in Renfrew, Ontario. "Valley Heritage Radio" serves up an eclectic mix for a mostly-rural audience. The format is at least half Canadian content, and about 20% of that is local. The station saves space for something called Ottawa Valley music, a country style influenced by Celtic and French roots, refined in lumber camps that once spanned the region.

Lucy Martin dropped by the CJHR booth at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show in March to hear how they're making community radio happen. more

(05/08/12) When Vermont writer Allen Shawn was eight years old, his parents placed his twin sister Mary into an institution for disabled children. In his new memoir Shawn explores how that loss has shaped his life. Betsy Kepes has this review of Twin. more

(05/07/12) This week, we're continuing our conversations with artisans in the North Country who do traditional work. These are industries, and skills, that have been a way of life in our region for a century and more. This morning, we visit a forge operated by blacksmith John Scarlett in Rossie for thirty years.

Scarlett uses fire and metal to create everything from tools to works of art. On the day we visited, he was working on a sculpture of Asian poppies, forged out of steel and copper.