Photo by Chris Mottalini Chris Mottalini, his wife Nepal Asatthawasi, and their son Nino on a stone outcropping near their house. The 1950 home was originally handbuilt from bluestone harvested from the surrounding land by an Irish stonemason. “There are stone walls running all through the woods here,” says Mottalini. Even though he has an eye for interiors, it was Chris Mottalini s wife, Nepal Asatthawasi, who first spied the half-buried stone treasure at an online auction site. It was a total mess, says Mottalini of the 1,800-square-foot cottage in Staatsburg. The previous couple had lived here for 50 years and toward the end of their lives they weren t able to do much upkeep on the property. The whole place fell into disrepair. In 2015, after those previous owners passed on, relatives put the entire estate up for auction. Along
Taylor Swift at Long Pond, Aaron Dessner s Columbia County studio and residence. In September, Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Dessner assembled there to tape Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions, a documentary about the making of Swift s multiple-Grammy-nominated lockdown album. Welcome again to Mixed Media, wherein we showcase cultural news from within and around the Hudson Valley during these times of COVID-19. Although the impact of the virus has necessitated putting in-person events on hold, artists and arts organizations continue to make and present new work online and in other creative new ways. As we all anticipate the re-emergence of more in-person events, here is some of what has been going on recently in the regional arts community.
Photos by Bill Wright Railroad Street is a neat thoroughfare off Main Street that houses a number of restaurants and retail businesses like Baba Louie’s Sourdough Pizza and Karen Allen Fiber Arts. This year here, there, and everywhere was really, really bad, but in Great Barrington a surprising sentiment endures: optimism. We want the Berkshires to remain the Berkshires, says Betsy Andrus, executive director of the Southern Berkshires Chamber of Commerce. The key thing now is getting people to understand that shopping local isn t just a phrase. It s hugely important. You need to invest, eat, shop, and donate if you want to keep the character of your community intact.
Quality CBD from Seed to Sale Last Updated: 01/06/2021 11:23 am After the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp-derived CBD, THC s little sibling had a major glow-up. Walk into a natural foods market or even a well-stocked home goods store today and you ll find a dizzying array of CBD tinctures, oils, gummies, softgels, lotions, and salves. Since CBD (short for cannabidiol) isn t psychoactive like THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the Farm Bill made growing cannabis legal as long as it contains less than 0.3 percent of THC (which then classifies the plant as hemp). But with almost no other regulations in place, the CBD market has become a bit like the Wild West.