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Monthly Archives: September 2015

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Some Three Village residents became concerned when they received an advertisement for a deer management program offering its services. File photo

Residents living in the Village of the Head of the Harbor are up in arms due to a public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 16, that considered allowing deer hunting in the area.

Citizens in the community said they not only disagree with the proposal but they also have a problem with the way village hall handled alerting them on the issue.

“This is a huge concern to the residents,” Julie Korneffel, a Head of the Harbor resident, said in a phone interview. “This goes against the town, which should preserve the natural aspects of the woods.”

Korneffel said that the code written “seemed purposely vague,” and she was especially unhappy with how little notice she was given about this issue before it came to village hall.

“There is a big concern for transparency now,” Korneffel said. “When paving is going on or a bike marathon is going to be held, we receive an email notice. But for this extremely important issue there was no email notice.”

Mayor Douglas Dahlgard said he thinks village hall did all it could to let residents know what is happening.

“We followed the rules,” Dahlgard said in a phone interview. “We put notices in the paper and on our village website. We do not have the budget to send out info every week.”

Dahlgard put a letter on the village website after the public hearing, informing residents of the status of the issue and how the public hearing went. According to Dahlgard, the letter should be mailed to all residents by the end of this week.

The public hearing was meant to discuss amending the town code to allow for limited bow hunting for deer on certain properties.

Currently, Head of the Harbor village code doesn’t allow hunting unless you have the consent of the owner of the property you want to hunt on and have a hunting license from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Hunting then can only happen during hunting season, and you cannot discharge a weapon within 500 feet of any house or farm structure.

Dahlgard said the village board is looking to involve the Head of the Harbor police to help monitor where and when hunting would take place. If this happens, aside from the DEC and the property owner’s approval, a hunter would also need approval from the police. The board of trustees is also looking into the minimal size a property would have to be in order to hunt there.

Dahlgard said he recognizes the concerns for safety people have due to the deer population.

“I am for protecting village residents from the overpopulation of deer,” Dahlgard said. “We know there are deer causing traffic accidents and devastating crops, as well as the issue of Lyme disease. We are looking into alternative options; we want to bring in all the info we possibly can on this issue.”

Although Dahlgard said he and the trustees are looking into alternatives, he does not believe village hall should be responsible for the costs. “It is complicated, because the costs of methods like contraception are very expensive,” he said.

In his letter to the public, Dahlgard updated residents on where the board plans to go from here.

He said he has asked the DEC to make a presentation on the deer situation on Long Island at the next public hearing, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. Deer fencing, birth control, culling and other methods will also be discussed, and the board will appoint a deer commission, consisting of volunteer residents, to address this problem and advise the board. It was also recognized in the letter that some residents felt code changes needed to be more specific.

But residents said they are still unhappy with how the issue has been handled.

John Lendino, a Head of the Harbor resident and deputy highway commissioner for Head of the Harbor, distributed letters to residents to let them know of the public hearing last week and urged them to go.

In the letter he said that at the Aug. 19 meeting the board of trustees made an announcement to have this code change drawn up by the village attorney and put to the hearing on Sept. 16. According to Lendino, when one of the two town residents who were in attendance opposed, saying residents weren’t warned and that there should be a larger input before this decision is put to hearing, the resident was dismissed and the vote went forward.

“It seems that this is being done to rush this law into passage in order to kill deer in the village immediately,” Lendino said. “I don’t see any benefits to this, it’s just going to endanger people’s lives. It’s dangerous, and it’s even more dangerous when you have a board like we have.”

Lee Stein, a Head of the Harbor resident, said the only reason she knew of the meeting was because of Lendino. Korneffel said the same.

“I don’t want anyone hunting on my property with any weapon,” Stein said. “They should be representing us as our board. I have grandchildren that play in the woods. There have to be safer ways to remedy the problem.”

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Smithtown Town Hall. File photo by Rachel Shapiro

Smithtown Town Board candidates vying for a Republican spot on the ballot in November learned their fate on Tuesday as the Suffolk County Board of Elections tallied up the remaining absentee ballots, but there were no surprises.

As reported last week, Councilman Bob Creighton (R) came in third place out of three candidates seeking the Republican line in November’s general election, while the other two, incumbent Councilman Ed Wehrheim (R) and challenger Lisa Inzerillo came in first and second, respectively. Those results stood by Tuesday evening, but perhaps in a more disappointing fashion, as Creighton’s 1,306 vote tallies came in just 82 votes behind Inzerillo’s 1,388, the county Board of Elections said. Wehrheim led the pack with 1,830 votes.

In the initial aftermath of the primary vote earlier this month, Wehrheim had collected 40.49 percent of the vote — 1,673 total votes — and Inzerillo earned 31.27 percent, or 1,292 total votes. Creighton, who has served on the Town Board since 2008, came in close behind Inzerillo with 27.81 percent — 1,149 votes. In an interview after the primary election and before the absentee ballots had been counted, Creighton told Times Beacon Record Newspapers that he did not expect absentee votes to push him over the edge.

“There are still some … absentee ballots to count, but I have no illusions about that,” Creighton said in a previous interview. “I lost, period.”

Inzerillo and Wehrheim will appear on November’s ballot as Republicans, and Creighton will still run for re-election, but on the Conservative, Independent and Reform party lines.

Both Creighton’s and Wehrheim’s seats on the board will be up for a vote come November, with the incumbents facing off against Inzerillo and Democrat Larry Vetter, who announced his candidacy earlier this year. The winners will join incumbents not up for re-election, Supervisor Pat Vecchio, Councilman Tom McCarthy and Councilwoman Lynne Nowick — all Republicans.

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To reply all, or not to reply all, that is the question. But, seriously, when is replying to everyone by email necessary? I know we live in a world where we share every thought that occurs to us because we can. Distributing our thoughts electronically to as many people as possible gives new meaning to the words “publish
or perish.”

Still, something about replying all is the equivalent of spraying graffiti, with your initials on it, in my email box. I already get more than enough emails from all the stores that send me hundreds of discounts a day. With all these discounts, I feel like an idiot for paying the listed price for anything. But I digress.

I know there are times when replying all is helpful. You see that the conference room is unavailable. Sharing the news will allow everyone to be more productive through the day.

There might be a time when you need everyone on a list to know something, like not to park on a side street where the permit-parking-only signs might be hard to see.

But do all 100 of us on a long email distribution list really need to know that you, specifically, received the email? Not only do people tell us they got the message we all received, but some of them feel the need to embarrass themselves in the process.

A teacher asks all the parents in her six classes to confirm that they received her message. A reply-all message that says: “The Smiths received the email and couldn’t be more excited about the start of a new school year. Every morning, Johnny can’t wait to sit in your class,” is a surefire way to sabotage Johnny as he navigates through the middle school minefield.

Then there are the simple emails that don’t require any reply, such as an email with the address of a field or a meeting.

“Got it, Dan. We’ve been there so many times before.”

Of course you know where it is — everyone knows where it is. The directions and the address for the GPS make it possible for everyone to get there.

Seasonal greetings are not, repeat not, an opportunity to hit reply all, especially when the group includes people you’ve never met.

An email that “wishes everyone a healthy and a happy start to the new school year” is not an opportunity to echo the same, exact thoughts to strangers.

“So do we” is not an appropriate reply-all response, nor is “Ditto for us” or “Same to everyone else” or “The Dunaiefs feel the same way.” Adding emojis doesn’t make the email message more personal. It’s like doodling next to your graffiti. Cut it out, people — we’re not all 12.

I’m tempted, when these reply-all messages come through, to write something snarky, but in a distribution list that includes people I don’t know, someone will undoubtedly take it the wrong way because, let’s face it, there’s always someone ready to take offense.

Then there are the reply-all messages that seem to highlight a specialized talent or experience. Someone might, for example, be asking people to bring baked goods to a party, a meeting or a fundraiser. By indicating that you’ll bake miniature tarte tatin, crème brûlée or flourless chocolate soufflé, you seem to be bragging first and contributing to something a distant second.

It reminds me of that old joke about an 80-year-old man who goes to a priest to confess that he spent a magical evening with two 25-year-old women. The priest, in shock, asks the gentleman how long it’s been since last confession.

The man said, “Confession? I’ve never gone to confession. I’m not religious.”

The skeptical priest replied, “So why are you telling me this?”

“Are you kidding?” the man answered. “I’m telling everyone I know.”

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Linda Hallock, Jennie Sweeney, Kathy Sciacchitano, Jane Del Prête and Betty Baumach pose with their dollhouse. Photo from Mather Hospital

The women of Crafters for a Cause usually help their students learn to paint, but this summer the ladies decided to help people outside of the classroom.

Members Betty Baumach, Linda Hallock, Virginia Sweeney, Jane Del Prête, Kathy Sciacchitano and Martha Palermo recently donated a handmade dollhouse to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital to help fight breast cancer through its Fortunato Breast Health Center. The dollhouse will be raffled off at next year’s Families Walk & Run for Hope, an annual springtime fundraiser.

The women started building the roughly 2-foot-tall dollhouse in June. According to Baumach, a Lake Grove resident who leads the group, which meets at the New Village Recreation Center in Centereach, the volunteers teach people various forms of painting year-round — except during the summer.

“During the summer the teachers don’t teach,” Baumach said in a phone interview. “We still wanted to get together anyway so we said, ‘Oh, what could we do this summer to fill the time?’ so I suggested building a dollhouse.”

Baumach got the idea to donate the house to the Port Jefferson hospital because she brought her sick aunt to Mather in the past.

She had previously built five or six dollhouses, including this particular model of house, so drawing the plans was simple. Like all of Baumach’s dollhouse projects, it was made without a kit — the women designed and built each component by hand.

Until it is raffled off, the dollhouse will reside in the office of Cindy Court, the hospital’s development coordinator.

The eight-room house includes a living room, a dining room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a sewing room, among others. According to Court, the crafters brought individual boxes of furniture to decorate the house the day they donated it to the hospital.

“Each builder was responsible for decorating and furnishing one of the eight rooms,” Court said in an email. “They precisely [placed] each piece, down to the smallest detail.”

The group didn’t plan on furnishing the dollhouse until Sweeney found furniture on sites like eBay and Craigslist. Baumach provided the materials to build the house and was responsible for its exterior.

Court said the group used tongue depressors to make the roof shingles.

“I think it’s wonderful this group of women put so much time and love into this dollhouse and then donated it to Mather to help raise funds for the Fortunato Breast Health Center,” Dr. Joseph Carrucciu, who specializes in radiology at the center, said in an email.

While Crafters for a Cause enjoyed giving back to their community, it remains to be seen whether the dollhouse will become an annual effort.

“I think this was a one-shot deal as far as dollhouses go,” Baumach said in a follow-up email interview. “But they are trying to convince me to do another next summer.”

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Turn in dangerous or illegal animals at amnesty event

Brookhaven officials are urging residents to turn in endangered or dangerous animals on Oct. 10. Last year, people turned in alligators and marmosets. File photo

Residents can turn in any protected, endangered or threatened animals that require special New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits without fear of penalties or questioning on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Brookhaven Town’s second Amnesty Day at the Holtsville Ecology Center will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and people owning dangerous or illegals animals will be able to hand them over to trained professionals from the town, the DEC, the wildlife service and the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The agencies will relocate animals turned in that cannot be kept at the ecology center.

“All too often people will harbor unlicensed or illegal pets without realizing the dangers they pose or the amount of care they require,” Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said in a press release. “This often leads to these animals being dumped by someone who once had it as a pet. An example of this is the 25-pound alligator snapping turtle that was recently found in the Nissequogue River in Smithtown.”

That turtle, a freshwater reptile that officials said had enough power to bite off a human finger or toe, was discovered in the stream opposite the Smithtown Bull on Route 25 in Smithtown in late August. It is not indigenous to Long Island — it is usually found in the region from eastern Texas to the Florida panhandle.

At the Amnesty Day on Oct. 10, residents can “do the right thing for the safety of their neighbors and for the well-being of these animals,” Losquadro said.

Last year’s town event saw 25 animals turned in at the ecology center, including a western diamondback rattlesnake, a green anaconda, four boa constrictors, an American alligator and two marmosets. It was the most successful amnesty event the SPCA has ever had.

“The purpose of this effort is to get these illegally possessed animals into a controlled environment where they can be cared for properly,” SPCA Chief Roy Gross said. “People who are in possession of these animals unlawfully can turn them in to us without fear of prosecution. No one will be asked to give their name.”

The ecology center is located at 249 Buckley Road in Holtsville.

For more information, call the Suffolk County SPCA at 631-382-7722, NYSDEC at 631-444-0250 or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 516-825-3950.

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File photo by Elana Glowatz

Skygazers are in for a special treat this weekend — for the first time in 33 years, there will be a supermoon eclipse.

A supermoon occurs when a full moon reaches the point in its orbit that is closest to Earth, known as its perigee, which happens a handful of times a year. The proximity — of about 222,000 miles — makes the moon look brighter, and it appears about 14 percent larger.

The supermoon on Sept. 27 and 28 will coincide with a total lunar eclipse, which occurs when the moon passes through Earth’s shadow, covering its surface in a red tint.

That red tint occurs because of the refraction of light through Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the moon.

According to NASA, a supermoon eclipse is a rare event. It has happened only five times since the beginning of the 20th century — in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964 and 1982 — and those who miss it this weekend will not have another chance to catch it until 2033.

As a bonus, it will also be a harvest moon, which is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox on Sept. 23.

On the East Coast, a partial eclipse will begin at 9:07 p.m. on Sept. 27, according to NASA, with the total eclipse beginning at 10:11 p.m. It will last a little more than an hour before returning to a partial eclipse. The full event will end at 12:27 a.m. on Sept. 28.

At the time the partial eclipse begins for New York viewers, the \moon will be about 26 degrees above the horizon, in the east southeast direction. It will gradually move higher and southward in the sky, so that at the time the partial eclipse ends after midnight, the moon will be about 50 degrees above the horizon to the south.

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By Wendy Mercier

As summer fades into fall, many plants and flowers will continue to bloom until the first frost of winter. Annuals, such as geraniums, marigolds and begonias, can have an extended growing season with proper watering and pruning. Plants such as Montauk daisies, Black-Eyed Susans and hardy mums are just beginning to come into season, and are a sign that autumn is upon us.

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Black-Eyed Susans. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Geranium. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Mums. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Sunflower Suntastic Yellow. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Autumn Joy Sedum. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Rose of Sharon. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Scaevola New Wonder. Photo by Wendy Mercier
Hydrangea. Photo by Wendy Mercier

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By Bob Lipinski

Every Mediterranean country, in addition to California, and even Chile and Argentina, grow olives and produce various types of olive oil, including the much-praised “extra-virgin oils.” They are available in local supermarkets, as well as gourmet shops, and even stores specializing in these green-gold colored offerings.

Extra-virgin oil comes from a cold, first-pressing of olives, crushed using the traditional millstone method. The oil that comes from this first cold-pressing qualifies as extra-virgin if it contains not more than 0.8 percent of oleic acid. This cold-pressing method also produces an olive oil that retains both its intense natural aroma and a delectable flavor. Extra-virgin olive oil must also meet other high standards of flavor, color, and aroma. The color of an extra-virgin olive oil usually ranges from a deep golden to dark green; color however, is no indication of quality.

Extra-virgin olive has a low smoking point and is not recommended for frying and especially not deep-frying. Add it after cooking to finish a dish and add a rich, deep, fruity-olive flavor. In a shallow bowl, I like to add one cup extra-virgin olive oil, a head of mashed roasted garlic, grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, fresh black pepper, a hint of salt and hot pepper flakes. I mash it all up and spread over freshly toasted bread with a glass of red wine.

Balsamic vinegar is not wine vinegar, but rather vinegar made from the juice of freshly pressed grapes that is filtered and boiled, with no fermentation taking place during the process. After the juice has been reduced, it is aged in various types and sizes of barrels, for many years. Some of the barrels used are oak, chestnut, ash, cherry, and even mulberry, each imparting a different flavor and subtle nuance. These red-brown, pungent vinegars with a robust, sweet-sour flavor have been made in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy for than 1,000 years.

Balsamic vinegars are great in salads, to dress grilled vegetables and meat. Older versions are great lightly drizzled over some fresh chunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or even sweet strawberries for a special treat.

With olive oil and balsamic vinegar “It’s about tasting.”

Bob Lipinski has written nine books, including “Italian Wine Notes” and “Italian Wine & Cheese Made Simple.” He conducts training seminars on Wine, Spirits, and Food; and is available for speaking engagements. He can be reached atwww.boblipinski.com or [email protected].

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Some oppose East Northport gas station rezoning

Speedway on Fort Salonga Road. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

A Speedway gas station is hoping to get the Huntington Town Board’s green light to change its zoning to add a 24-hour convenience store — but some residents want to hit the brakes on the plan.

Speedway on Fort Salonga Road in East Northport wants to change its zoning from C-7 Minor Commercial Corridor District to C-11 Automotive Service Station District. At a board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16, residents of Huntington spoke out against the proposal, which was up for a public hearing, saying it poses traffic issues and questioning the need for a 24-hour convenience store. The gas station, which formerly was known as Hess, is located at the intersection of Catherine Street and Fort Salonga Road.

“Growing up in a commercial corridor as busy as we had was tough as a kid,” William Foley Jr., an East Northport resident who lives directly behind Speedway, said at the meeting. “A car once hit my brother when he was riding his bike. Adding more traffic to this commercial corridor would be a disaster.”

Foley Jr. went on to list a number of grocery stores and markets all within a close proximity, including a Stop and Shop, a Rite Aid, a King Kullen, a CVS, two liquor stores, a beer distributor, two delis, a pizzeria, two bagel stores and more.

“What is this convenience store going to bring to our community that we don’t already have?” Foley Jr. said “We have everything, all within a mile span.”

Speedway is hoping to get a C-11 rezoning instead of the current C-7, which allows for retail uses, food shops and convenience markets, but prohibits the sale of prepackaged food, soft drinks, newspapers and other convenience store-type products if the business is not part of a lawfully preexisting nonconforming service station or repair shop.

“Most gas stations operating in the Town of Huntington are preexisting nonconforming ones, as is this one,” Kevin O’Brien said, who spoke on behalf of the applicant. “The correct zone for gasoline and service stations is C-11.”

A C-11 zoning allows for the retail sales the applicant desires, and storage tanks must be on-site and underground.

Aside from building a retail mart, Speedway is seeking to make underground and aboveground improvements. This includes removing or replacing the underground gasoline storage tanks and reconfiguring the pump volume.

O’Brien expressed that Speedway was more than willing to work with neighbors and listen to their concerns. He also said that the company went through a very similar process with the Commack Speedway location, where they were able to change its zoning to C-11.

Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D) said he saw many differences in the two cases.

“[In Commack] it was an old, shuttered gas station, that couldn’t sustain itself as just as a gas station,” he said. “This particular station is very, very active. There are a lot of people going in and out of there all day just with gas.”

Kevin Papasian, branch manager of FST Engineers and who was also representing the gas station with O’Brien, said that although the station is popular, several other well-used gas stations in the area have secondary uses besides gas.

“Those all have car repairs,” he said. “This station does not.”

In terms of the repairs and renovations, Papasian said the underground storage tanks are old and need to be upgraded. Speedway also would like to move them closer toward Fort Salonga Road and farther away from the residents.

William Foley Sr., an East Northport resident who also lives directly behind Speedway, said that the site plan for this proposal requires many variances.

“Right from the start they showed gross disregard to the neighbors in the area by submitting a site plan that will need several variances before they can proceed,” Foley Sr. said.

According to Foley Sr., as per town code, no side yard adjacent to a residential property shall be less than 50 feet from the property line and Speedway’s proposing land is only 15 feet from the property line.

Councilwoman Susan Berland (D) also questioned the number of variances the plan needs.

“Mr. Foley said that your side setback and rear setback are off, as well as your square footage and height,” Berland said. “Maybe you should start over again and at least try to present something that doesn’t require four or five variances before you present it to the board.”

O’Brien said that the height was off at one point due to a decorative feature that has since been removed from the planning.

When reached Monday, Speedway declined to comment.

The public hearing was closed and the Town Board must vote within 90 days or hold another public hearing before voting.

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The band Half Step, from left, Scott Bardolf, Joe Chirco, Matt Iselin, Cindy Lopez, Tom San Filippo and Craig Privett. Photo by Joel Werner

By Stacy Santini

“Walk me out in the mornin’ dew, my honey, Walk me out in the mornin’ dew today…….,” the ethereal voice rises and silence falls upon the crowd. A kinetic energy begins to weave itself into the scores of bodies riddled with goosebumps that sway from side to side; the forlorn melody coming from the stage reinforces a brotherhood that this community of listeners knows all too well. Fortunately for Grateful Dead-lovers this is not a recollection of an endearing concert moment, observing Jerry Garcia chant the song, “Morning Dew.” It is an accurate and recent depiction of the infamous voice of Long Islander Tom San Filippo and the band Half Step.

Half Step will be participating this weekend in another Rich Rivkin event on The Great Lawn at the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport called Grateful Fest. Rivkin is the dynamic promoter of all things Grateful Dead on our island. He is an environmental consultant who soaked up the desire and need to keep up the 1960s peace, love and music movement. Many years ago, he passionately started to create “gatherings” at public parks for people to come, be together and enjoy local bands. Today, he is known as a cultural attaché for thousands of Long Island Deadheads, fusing art with live music, and holds full blown festivals at wondrous locations like The Vanderbilt.

On Sunday, bands such as Half Step will be joined by other Grateful Dead song masters like The Electrix, Reckoning and Unbroken Chain and play to droves of Dead aficionados. Perched on a hill, overlooking Northport Bay and the Long Island Sound, up to thirty visual artists will join them.

From the time San Filippo was a boy, growing up in an Italian family in Levittown, peering into the windows of the music store on the corner at the guitars for sale, he was drawn to all things artistic. Although an accomplished graphic artist today, it was music that grabbed his soul for good at an early age, and by seven, he had picked up his first guitar. Although his parents were traditional, they embraced the Beatles, and for Tom, that band’s influence would remain a mainstay throughout his prolific career. His first band, Galaxy, was formed with schoolmate Dave Diamond, of Zen Tricksters fame. In Dave’s basement, they would rehearse Beatles songs until their fingers bled. Tom recalls this time with childlike excitement, “There was no Internet, no digital anything, so in order to practice, we would have to play the record and slow it down by hand. It was a discovery of music, discovering this art form in a very pure way.”

In the infancy of San Filippo’s journey, he was a bass player, and not until Galaxy eventually morphed into The Mighty Underdogs did Tom take the lead with guitar and vocals. There was much discovery along the way and as musicians, San Filippo and his bandmates certainly paid their dues. He remembers how excited they were to play “Fun Day” at McDonald’s for free hamburgers. As they became more well known amongst their peers, they expanded their song repertoire from pure Beatles to include the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and popular Grateful Dead tunes like “Truckin’” and were unofficially the house band for all community events.

There is no doubt that San Filippo enjoyed the notoriety and still does, he openly admits this, but his ear-to-ear grin when confessing is so warm and welcoming that it does not, in any way, come off as egocentric. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Tom San Filippo has a way of drawing people in; he is outrageously funny and has a rare sense of humility. He is impassioned about his career choice and the music that carries his daily routine and simply just wants to share it with the world. It is impossible not to like the guy.

“Songwriting flows through me. Notes and rifts effortlessly come to me; the lyrics take a little longer,” he says, when discussing his song writing, which began at age nine. There have been numerous bends in the road for San Filippo and the bands he was so fundamental in creating, and moments that certainly made time stand still for him. All part of his migration towards Half Step. Today, as Half Step plays to adoring crowds, he can still remember the moment while on tour as the opening act for Debbie Gibson, when the stage crew permitted The Underdogs to jam on the stage of an empty Radio City Music Hall prior to their sold-out Gibson show. “It was surreal to say the least. I looked around as we belted out songs like Bertha and said to myself, this is it, this is where I belong. I really believed that.”

After moving to Amityville with his soulmate and extremely supportive wife, Rose, band members in Half Step, reached out to Tom asking him to join, as proximity was now a friend. By this time, San Filippo was finally embracing Jerry Garcia’s style, something that had been attributed to him over and over again throughout the years. “I just got Jerry’s style and music; he has a very melodic approach and embraces the whole scale. It comes naturally to me.” To this day, he spends a good portion of his time studying Grateful Dead archives and all things Jerry, including his gear.

San Filippo joined a stellar group of extremely talented musicians when he acquiesced to be the front man for Half Step. “Playing and listening to the Dead is like having an extra chromosome, a special musical vocabulary — either you get it or you don’t,” Tom states. “And you want to be around people who speak the same language. With Half Step, I found that.”

Joining Scott Bardolf, Cindy Lopez, Craig Privett, Matt Iselin and Joe Chirco on stage would be an honor for any musician. They are all individually accomplished and when they come together, pure magic happens. Founding member, Scott Bardolf on rhythm guitar, willingly embraces the Bob Weir role and is sublime as his fingers meander across the fret board. Cindy Lopez beautifully spins jazz and blues around the Dead vocals when she sings and as a twenty-year veteran on the Long Island music scene, she complements her fellow band members perfectly. A natural bass player, Craig Privett gives credence to his instrument that would make Phil Lesh smile.

Having the opportunity to share the stage with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, keyboardist Matt Iselin has been playing piano since he was a small child, and his musical ability is apparent with every string vibration. Joe Chirco has manifested his current role as drummer from as early on as he can remember. Once the drummer for the Donna Jean Godchaux Band, the diversity of his percussion skill set is vast and his love for Grateful Dead music reigns supreme; his joy at being a part of Half Step is evident to all who see him play.

It is crucial to note that referring to Half Step as a cover band would be highly insulting. Often compared to Dark Star Orchestra, a hugely popular national band that also plays the music of The Grateful Dead, Half Step channels music from a legendary group and is integral to keeping that music alive. The quality of their musicianship can sometimes challenge even the actual work of the Grateful Dead themselves. There are so many layers to Dead music that there is plenty of room for bands like Half Step to delve deeper and deeper into its complexity.

There’s a reason people flock to Half Step venues, one you just might want to discover yourself. Half Step at The Vanderbilt Museum,this Sunday — be there.

The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport will host the 4th annual Grateful Fest on Sunday, Sept. 27 from noon to 6:30 p.m. Rain date is Oct. 4. Bring lawn chairs, blankets and picnic lunches. Tickets are $25 adults online, $35 at the door; $10 children ages 5 to 15; children under 5 free. For more information, call 631-854-5579 or visit www.vanderbiltmuseum.org.

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