Admission: $4-children/students [aged 3 to 16); $7-adults; $6-senior citizens/SUNY Orange alumni, faculty, staff; group rates

DAVE SAMUELS - VIBES/MARIMBA

Dave Samuels gained his greatest fame for his years with Spyro Gyra (1979-mid-90's). He finally left this famous group because he no longer wanted to play the commercial music scene. Since then he has focused his work on the Caribbean Jazz Project, and is an accomplished Latin Jazz musician.

Dave Samuels started on his first instrument, the drums, when he was six, but eventually by the time he attended Boston University, mallet instruments were his main interest. Samuels also attended the Berklee School of Music, where one of his teachers was Gary Burton. Soon Samuels became an educator there himself. Samuels had the opportunity to work with Pat Metheny and John Scofield while in Boston, and then, in 1974, he toured and recorded with Gerry Mulligan. Other early experiences included working with Timepiece and Double Image and also Frank Zappa.

ALAIN MALLET - PIANO

Born in France, Alain Mallet moved to the States at the age of 21 to attend Berklee College of Music, Boston where he is now a professor in the piano and ensemble departments. He has performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz and pop including Phil Woods, Paul Simon, Paquito D'Rivera, and MadeleinePeyroux. He is a critically acclaimed producer, particularly for his work with Jonatha Brooke. His original compositions have been recorded by jazz greats such as Gary Burton, Dave Samuels, and Paquito D'Rivera to name a few.

MASSIMO BIOLCATI - BASS

Born December 22, 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden, Massimo Biolcati grew up in Sweden and Italy.  He began his musical career at age 16, performing jazz on acoustic bass in Torino, Italy. For five years he studied both classical and jazz bass while performing at area festivals and clubs. At age 21, Massimo returned to Sweden to study at the Royal Music Academy of Stockholm. He soon became a presence on the local jazz scene, appearing with an array of musicians at the city's most important jazz clubs and festivals. He also played with several Scandinavian folk music groups.

At age 23, Massimo received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and moved to Boston. There he performed and recorded with some of the best jazz musicians in town including such masters as George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Mick Goodrick, and Bob Moses. After five years in Boston, Massimo was selected for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California where he recieved his Master's Degree in Music and got the chance to study and perform with Jazz giants such as Dave Holland, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, John Scofield, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash, Mark Turner, and many others. After finishing the Thelonious Monk Institute, he moved to New York City where he quickly joined the NY music scene and started to play with his peers in addition to estabished masters such as Terence Blanchard, Paquito D'Rivera, and Ravi Coltrane among others. Currently Massimo shares his time between touring the world and being in New York where he regularly performs and records.

Performance and recording credits: (in alphabetical order)
Jeff Ballard, Kenny Barron, Terence Blanchard, Michael Buble', Ravi Coltrane, Hal Crook, Paquito D'Rivera, Russell Ferrante, George Garzone, Dave Grusin, Jeff Hamilton, Herbie Hancock, Bob Moses, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dave Samuels, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Luciana Souza, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Lizz Wright.

Instructors:
Anders Jormin, John Lockwood, Bruce Gertz, Paul DelNero, Dino Contenti, Bob Hurst, Dave Holland, John Clayton, and Darek Oles.

VINCE CHERICO - DRUMS

Vince Cherico has performed with the masters of Afro-Cuban drumming including: Candido, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Carlos "Patato" Valdez, and Ray Barretto. He has performed and toured around the world with The Ray Barretto Sextet, and can be heard on their latest CD "Time Was, Time Is."

Vince is the drummer for Jazz at Lincoln Center's "Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra" and appeared in their grand opening PBS -TV broadcast in October 2004. He also performs and tours with The Caribbean Jazz Project and The Paquito D'Rivera Quintet.

Vince has appeared in European concert films and documentaries with Ray Barretto as well as on BET Jazz TV with Warner's Jazz vocalist, Gabriela Anders. Vince has given clinics around Mexico, Europe, and the USA, and especially at the Thelonius Monk Jazz Aspen Summer Camp, at the NYU Jazz Program, and is a faculty member at Drummers Collective.

Admission: $10 adults; $7 senior citizens/alumni/faculty/staff; free all students; group rates

sponsored by Global Initiative

Sponsored in part by Global Initiative

Admission: free and open to the public

Awards & Honors: 

• Syracuse University Fellow, African-American Studies Department, 1995-1996
• Syracuse University Teaching Fellow, African-American Studies Department, 1993-1995
• Teaching American History Grant, Marist College and BOCES, United States Department of Education, September 2006-2009                                                               

Publications: 

• The Origins of Soul Food: From the Atlantic Slave Trade to Black Power, Columbia University Press
• “The Railroad and Its Radicals: African American and West Indian Transnationals in Caribbean Guatemala, 1882-1923”
• “Foreign Workers, Debt Peonage and Frontier Culture in Lowland Guatemala, 1884 to 1900,” Transforming Anthropology, volume 12, no. 1&2
• “Africans in the Caribbean and Latin America: The Post Emancipation Diaspora” in The Blackwell Companion to African American History, Alton Hornsby Jr., Editor. Malden, MA
• “Molasses-Colored Glasses: WPA and other Sundry Sources on Molasses and Southern Foodways” Southern Cultures
• “Eating, Dancing, and Courting in New York: Black and Latino Relations 1930-1970,” Journal of Social History

Research Interests: 

• Works in Progress
• “Black and Latino Relations in New York, 1930-1993” --book in advanced research stage

Athletic Awards & Positions:

• All-American Honors at Herkimer County Community College
• Lettered in Lacrosse at Syracuse University
• Member of the 1990 United States Men’s National Team
• The Hudson Valley Lacrosse Hall of Fame
• Currently, Faculty Advisor for the Marist College Red Foxes Mens’ Lacrosse Team
• Member of the board of directors for US Lacrosse.

Sponsored by New York Council for the Humanities' Speakers in the Humanities

Admission: free and open to the public

Dr. Salvador Rivera received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Rivera is preparing a publication on efforts to promote the political and economic unification of Latin America, which has led to extensive archival research on Senator Jacob K. Javits’ direction of several joint US-Latin American endeavors to achieve this goal.

This lecture examines efforts by United States Senator from New York Jacob K. Javits to promote Latin American economic integration during the 1960’s. His efforts coincided with the rising interest by the United States in the economic development of the third world. Javits invested an almost super human energy in promoting this policy, but did not operate independently from the foreign policy establishment.

The U.S. Government had considered supporting Latin American integration since at least 1953. Indeed, the GATT treaty, of which the U.S. was the executive, called for the establishment of free trade zones and common markets. The Senator helped create the ADELA bank for the purpose of promoting economic integration, sponsored congressional hearings on Latin American economic union, proposed a U.S.-based Action Committee for a Latin American Common Market, the Punta del Este conference and enthusiastically encouraged the youth of Ibero-America to become involved with unionism.

Sponsored by New York Council for the Humanities' Speakers in the Humanities

Admission: free and open to the public

The lecture illustrates the growth of a contemporary Latina and Latino literary tradition that now spans thirty years. An important phenomenon is occurring in American cultural and literary studies. Latina and Latino voices are attaining new prominence in American letters, showing the growing diversity of the discourse on culture and the arts in the United States. It is now clear that US literature has substantial and significant roots that reach beyond US borders by acknowledging the importance of a global learning. The American story is one that is increasingly being told by women and men from a hemispheric perspective rather than a single national one.

Raysa Elena Amador received both her MA and PhD from the New York University. One of her goals as a  teacher is for her students to become culturally literate. This means having knowledge based not only on the verbal language and information possessed by them but also an awareness of the world and of Hispanic culture. She is the author with Mireya Perez-Erdelyi of The Female Body: Perspectives of Latin American Artists. In addition, she is the author of numerous articles.

Regarding Dr. Amador’s Teaching Specializations and Interests, she states, "My scholarly work in the last ten years has been directed to the investigation and study of Latina writers and artists in the United States and in Latin America and Spain. Prior to this research I undertook a programmatic investigation of a series of questions pertaining to the Chronicle of Indies and the law. The first question that this research addressed was the important ways in which the law fulfills its legitimizing function. More specifically how cultural narratives/rhetoric grant the law its authority. These issues were addressed through interdisciplinary research. Investigation on the field of law, literature, rhetoric, anthropology and history made this research an original one."

Publications: 

• Books, Textbooks, Monographs
  • Raysa E. Amador and Mireya Perez-Erdelyi. The Female Body: Perspectives of Latin American Artists. Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
  • Una aproximación histórica a Los Comentarios Reales, Madrid: Editorial Pliegos, 1985. (A historical analysis of the works of Peruvian writer, Inca, Garcilaso de la Vega).
• Articles
  • Raysa E. Amador and Mireya Perez-Erdelyi, "Latina's Self Narrative," in Hispanic Women in the World: Accomplishments and Challenges (Madrid: Orbis Press, S.P.A. Publishing Co., 2001).
  • "Reconstruction of the Self: the Visual as the Text in Querido Diego." Reading a Woman’s Perspective. Studies of Gender in Literary Texts. Ellen S. Silber, Nora Glickman, and Virginia Skord-Waters, eds. New York: United States Department of Education, Undergraduate Foreign Language and International Studies Program, 1995. 35-38.
  • "The Papal bulls of the XVI and XVII century: Inter Caetera, Altitudo Divini Consiili, Dudum Siquidem, Eximiae Devotionis, Exponi Nobis Fecisti 1522, Exponis Nobis Fecisti 1567, Illius Fulciti Praesidio, Orthodox Fidei Propagationem, Sollicitudo Ecclesiarum, Sublimis Deaus, Universalis Ecclesiae Regimini, Veritas Ipsa." A Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire. James Olson, ed. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992. 468-473
  • "Legalidad y discurso: la Crónica de las Indias." Proceedings Rediscovering America 1492-1992. National, Cultural and Disciplinary Boundaries Re-examined. February 1992. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1992. 6-19
  • "Life and Works of Gertrudiz Gomez de Avellaneda," Women Writers of Spanish America: An Annotated Biographical Guide. Diana Marting,ed. Westport: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1987.

Sponsored by American Society for Industrial Security, Mid-Hudson Chapter

Admission: free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary.

Bruce Aitken, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremonies on August 2, 2007 of the Gilman Center for International Education, will be the first lecturer in the new facility at Orange County Community College, on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 7:15pm. 

The topic of Mr. Aitken's PowerPoint presentation is of a very timely nature: Homeland Security at the Micro-level- with practical applications of homeland security in neighborhoods, cities, and counties.  Discussion with Q & A will follow the lecture. 

Bruce Aitken holds a BA in Economics from Fordham University; an MBA from Columbia University; and a JD from American University.  He is President of Homeland Security Industries Association (HSIA)* which received a Letter of Commendation from the Department of Homeland Security for its role in forming the Consumer Electronics Security Initiative.  In addition, he is Co-chairman with former Congressman Ben Gilman of the Global Alliance for Homeland Security.  Mr. Aitken served as the only private-sector representative on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Task Force on Development of Counter-terrorism Guidelines for State and Local Governments, and is the only American to have been named to all the major international Dispute Resolution Panel Rosters: US-Canada FTA, 1991; NAFTA, 1994; WTO, 1996; WIPO, 1997.  He is also a Member of the Board of World Business Review as an Industry Expert for Homeland Security, and he Co-Anchors with Generals Alexander Haig and Norman Schwarzkoph the Homeland Security Shows of World Business Review/21st Century Business.

 Bruce Aitken is Managing Partner of the Aitken Berlin, LLP law firm, Washington, DC, New York, Kiev. 

This is the last of the 2008 Winter-Spring Lyceum Lecture Series that is presented by Cultural Affairs.  It is free and open to the public.   No reservations are necessary.

— featuring Willie Martinez [drums and vocals], Misha Tsiganov [piano], Jennifer Vincent [bass], and Renato Thoms [congas and percussion]. A Master Class is a class with the masters.

Admission: FREE

This event was rescheduled from February 22 because of inclement weather.

Admission: FREE

sponsored by the SUNY Orange English Department and Student Activities

On Monday, April 21, 2008, Poet Rachel Hadas will come to the Middletown campus of Orange County Community College to give a master class in the early afternoon and a reading of her poems in the evening. 

The Master Class will be held from noon to 1pm in the Bio-Tech Lecture Hall 207. During this time, Dr Hadas will share her creative work methods, give some background, and talk about getting published.  A discussion period will allow for questions from the audience.

Rachel Hadas is a poet, professor, essayist, and translator. She is the author of numerous books of poetry, essays, and translations. Most recent publications of poetry include

• The River of Forgetfulness (2006)
• Laws (2004)
• Indelible (2001)
• Halfway Down the Hall: New & Selected Poems (1998) which was a finalist for the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
• The Empty Bed (1995)
• The Double Legacy (1995)
• Mirrors of Astonishment (1992
• Living in Time (1990).

Dr Hadas has studied various disciplines at Radcliffe, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins, and Princeton University. She began at Radcliffe College where she studied classics, graduating magna cum laude with a BA in 1969. Rachel received her MA in Poetry from Johns Hopkins University and PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. She spent four years in Greece between college and graduate school, and the traces and influences of the classics are evident in much of her published work. 

Since 1981, she has taught in the English Department of the Newark, New Jersey campus of Rutgers University, and has taught literature and writing courses occasionally at both Columbia and Princeton Universities. She is currently a Board of Governors Professor of English at Rutgers –Newark.

Rachel Hadas has also served as faculty of the Sewanee Writers' Conference.

Among her honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant, and an award in literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. 

DAVE SAMUELS - VIBRAPHONE/MARIMBA

A talented vibraphonist and marimba player, Dave Samuels gained his greatest fame for his many years with Spyro Gyra, 1979- mid-1990’s. He started on his first instrument, the drums, when he was six, but by the time he attended Boston University (from which he graduated with a psychology degree), he was studying mallet instruments*. Samuels attended the Berklee School of Music, Boston where one of his teachers was Gary Burton, and soon became an educator himself. Samuels had the opportunity to work with Pat Metheny and John Scofield while in Boston, and then, in 1974, he toured and recorded with Gerry Mulligan. Other early experiences included working with Frank Zappa, Timepiece, and Double Image, where he interacted with fellow vibraphonist Don Friedman from 1977-1980. Samuels began his association with Spyro Gyra in 1979 by guesting on their recordings; finally, in 1986, he became a member and the one soloist with the band that jazz critics went out of their way to praise. Since leaving Spyro Gyra in the mid-'90s, Samuels has done  impressive work with the Caribbean Jazz Project.

* Mallet Percussion is a branch of instruments in the percussion family. It consists of instruments such as the vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, chimes, and crotales. Mallet instruments are played with two to six mallets and can produce more than one tone at a time.

The Vibraphone 

The vibraphone is sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes.

It is similar in appearance to the xylophone, although the vibraphone uses metal bars instead of the wooden bars on the xylophone. The standard modern instrument has a range of three octaves, from the F below middle C. Larger four octave models from the C below middle C are also becoming more common. The vibraphone is commonly played with cord or yarn mallets. Below each bar is a resonator, a resonant metal tube, with a metal disc of a slightly smaller diameter located at the top. The discs in each tube are connected via a rod which can be made to rotate with an electric motor. When the motor is on and a note is struck, the notes acquire a tremolo sound as the resonators are covered and uncovered by the rotating discs. The player can vary the speed of the tremolo. At slower speeds, the effect sounds more like a "wah-wah-wah." At faster speeds the tremolo is more pronounced. With the motor off vibraphone has a mellow, bell-like sound. The "vibrato" sound effect is what the vibraphne was named after. Because the amplitude is what varies, not the pitch, the name of the instrument is somewhat of a misnomer. The sound is dated and many modern vibists eschew the effect altogether.

The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that used on a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars are all damped and the sound of each bar is quite short; with the pedal down, they will sound for several seconds, so frequent rapid pedalling is common when playing a vibraphone.

The vibraphone was invented in the United States in 1921. It has a long history as a jazz instrument. However, the vibraphone has since been used in many other musical idioms, including popular music.

The Marimba

The marimba has keys or bars, which are usually made of wood, are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically.

The concert marimba is pitched an octave lower than its cousin, the xylophone. Both marimba and xylophone bars are usually made of rosewood, but presently, synthetic substitutions are becoming more and more popular. Another material also being used to make marimbas is glass. The bars of the marimba are wider and thinner than those of the xylophone, especially at the center; this change in shape causes the bars to respond a different set of overtones found in the overtone series, giving the instrument a richer tone. In particular the first overtone is two octaves above the fundamental frequency of the key, whereas a xylophone key's first overtone is an octave and a fifth above the fundamental. The result is that a xylophone will have a much brighter and shorter sound and is played with relatively harder mallets than the mellower marimba, which is typically played using comparatively softer mallets. Also whereas the xylophone's key widths are constant along its entire length, modern marimba keys are usually short (both lengthwise and widthwise) at the higher-pitched end and gradually "graduate" into the bottom octaves. This ensures that larger marimbas, such as 5-octaves, have enough material to generate low notes and overtones.

The Xylophone

The xylophone (from the Greek meaning 'wooden sound') probably originated in Indonesia. It consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by a plastic, wooden, or rubber mallet. Each bar is tuned to a specific pitch of the chromatic scale. The arrangement of the bars is similar to the layout of the piano keyboard. The xylophone has a brighter tone than its cousin the marimba, and the notes have less sustain. Modern xylophones include resonating tubes below the bars.

Admission: FREE

(Please note: this event was postponed from April 21.)

Larry Beinhart - Author and Novelist

Author/Novelist Larry Beinhart, best known for his satirical novel, American Hero which became the screenplay Wag the Dog, will be in the Gilman Center for International Education on Tuesday, September 16 to give a writing master class at 4pm and a reading of selections from his books at 7pm. Both the master class and reading are free and open to the public.

In addition, Beinhart will have on hand many of his books including his ‘hot-off-the-press’ Salvation Boulevard for book signing.  A short time during the evening will be devoted to Wag the Dog, which will be screened the following evening, September 17 at 7:15pm in Harriman Hall 111 Film Theatre.

Beinhart, who is a resident of Woodstock and an avid skier and sometime instructor at Hunter Mountain, Hunter, NY, is a political consultant and co-host/creator of In Your Face, a twice monthly political talk, music, comedy show, shot in Woodstock and distributed on Dish Satellite Network by Free Speech TV. His articles and essays have appeared in Newsday, the LA Times, International Herald Tribune, Esquire, Woodstock Times, and Chronogram, a Hudson Valley monthly magazine out of Kingston in which he has a regular commentary-column, “Larry Beinhart’s Body Politic.”

In addition, he was a Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellow in Detective and Crime Fiction Writing at Wadham College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, England and a lecturer at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

His awards include an Edgar (named for Edgar Allan Poe) in 1987 for Best First Mystery Novel (American) -- No One Rides for Free; a Gold Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association Macallan Short Story Award in 1994 – “Funny Story” in No Alibi; a gold medal at the Virgin Islands Film Festival; and two local Emmy Awards in Miami.

Author of

• American Hero (1993), the defining detective novel about the nexus of politics, war, and entertainment and the satire/book on which the film Wag the Dog is based. Eventually the book was renamed Wag the Dog-the Novel.
• No One Rides For Free (1986)
• You Get What You Pay For (1988)
• Foreign Exchange (1992)
• The Librarian (2004)
• Salvation Boulevard —his new book (September 2008)
• Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (2005) – “the non-fiction book against all others will be measured,” Robert McChesney
• How to Write a Mystery (1996) -- non-fiction, rated by The Denver Post as “The best genre specific book on writing we’ve seen.”

Admission: FREE

Admission: FREE

sponsored by the SUNY Orange English Department and Student Activities

Rachel Hadas will read her original poetry in historic Morrison Hall Mansion.  Seating will be set up in the mansion’s Music Room and Salon which are on the first floor of the historic building.

Rachel Hadas is a poet, professor, essayist, and translator. She is the author of numerous books of poetry, essays, and translations. Most recent publications of poetry include

• The River of Forgetfulness (2006)
• Laws (2004)
• Indelible (2001)
• Halfway Down the Hall: New & Selected Poems (1998) which was a finalist for the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
• The Empty Bed (1995)
• The Double Legacy (1995)
• Mirrors of Astonishment (1992
• Living in Time (1990).

Dr Hadas has studied various disciplines at Radcliffe, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins, and Princeton University. She began at Radcliffe College where she studied classics, graduating magna cum laude with a BA in 1969. Rachel received her MA in Poetry from Johns Hopkins University and PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. She spent four years in Greece between college and graduate school, and the traces and influences of the classics are evident in much of her published work.

Among her honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant, and an award in literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

About her work, Poet Grace Schulman has written, "The poems are urgent, contemplative, and finely wrought. In them, antiquity illuminates the present as Rachel Hadas finds in ordinary human acts 'what never was and what is eternal.'"

Joshua Marston, director/writer

Introduced by Geoffrey Platt

Alfonso Arau, director

Introduced by Paul Basinski

Marcel Camus, director

Introduced by Stone Lamb

Luis Puenzo, director

Introduced by Jean Carlos Cowan, PhD

Walter Salles, director

Roland Joffe, director

Introduced by Alex Jakubowski

Postponed from February 13, due to inclement weather.

Admission: $2 general; free all students

1997 film ~ political satire

Directed by: Barry Levinson

Starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro with Woody Harrelson, James Belushi, Willie Nelson, Denis Leary, Anne Heche, Catherine O'Hara, Craig T. Nelson, Harland Williams, John Michael Higgins, Kirsten Dunst, and William H. Macy

Dustin Hoffman received nominations for an Academy Award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe.

Robert DeNiro stars as a Washington spinmaster who needs a war to distract public's attention from a sex scandal involving the President. Dustin Hoffman plays a Hollywood producer hired to construct a fake war with Albania. The scheme enlists a musician, Willie Nelson, who creates a theme song for the 'war.' Hoffman's character was based directly upon Robert Evans; Hoffman emulated Evans' work habits, mannerisms, quirks, clothing style, hairstyle, and his large square-framed eyeglasses; the real Evans is said to have declared, "I'm magnificent in this film!”

Wag the Dog is based on the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart. The book, however, differs greatly from the movie. In the book, the president is specifically George Herbert Walker Bush (in the movie he is unnamed) and the fake war operation is explicitly Desert Storm.

The film explores serious themes, such as the manipulation of the mass media and public opinion, with a comedic sensibility. The film drew attention at the time for similarities to the Clinton sex scandal, although the movie also makes reference to the Persian Gulf War as an example of war used as an electoral tactic. The idea of war as a creation of the media is not, however, original to this film.