He-Bird, She-Bird (from left, Terri Hall, Todd Evans and Christine Kellar) will be one of the headliners at the festival this year. Photo by Erin Pelkey
Music tradition continues at Benner’s Farm
By Rita J. Egan
The air will be filled with the sounds of bluegrass, blues and folk music in Setauket on Sept. 10 when Benner’s Farm hosts its sixth annual Fiddle & Folk Festival.
The farm’s owner Bob Benner said last year nearly 300 music lovers attended the festival where they explored the organic, solar-powered working farm and visited the animals while listening to music. “It’s an old-fashioned festival,” Benner said. “It’s pretty much held all over the farm.”
Miles to Dayton performs for a large crowd at Benner’s Farm during a previous Fiddle & Folk Festival. Photo by Bob Benner
Charlie Backfish, host of the long-running, weekly WUSB radio program “Sunday Street,” said the festival’s location sets it apart from others. “There aren’t too many [festivals] that actually take place on a working farm,” Backfish said. “The locale is terrific, and the performers we have are top-notch performers; so it’s a nice combination.”
Emceed by Long Island guitarist and singer Bob Westcott, the festival will feature headliners Daisycutter, The End of America and He-Bird, She-Bird.
Backfish said he’s familiar with the groups and looks forward to their performances. He said the group Daisycutter, from upstate New York, features fiddler Sara Milonovich. The End of America comes from Philadelphia and consists of three singers with incredible harmonies, and they’ve been compared to the early days of Crosby, Stills and Nash, according to the radio disc jockey. He-Bird, She-Bird, a trio from Long Island who sing both originals and covers, Backfish said, perform a roots music type of sound.
“I think we have three interesting acts there,” Backfish said. “They’ll all be on the main stage, and then there’s a second stage at the festival — a meet-the-performers stage. That’s the one that I’ll be hosting, where the audience has a chance to ask questions of the musicians and hear them do some songs that they’re not doing on the main stage.”
A scene from last year’s Fiddle & Folk Festival. Photo from Bob Benner
Benner said the stage to meet the performers is the solar-powered Shady Grove Stage close to the woods. There will also be a Fiddle Workshop in Jam Hollow where attendees can bring their own instruments to join in on the musical fun.
Amy Tuttle, program director of Greater Port Jefferson-North Brookhaven Arts Council, said the Stony Brook Roots Ensemble will be on hand for a special performance. The local music group is comprised of classically trained musicians who share a love of American roots music.
“They are terrific,” Tuttle said. “I’ve found that many outstanding young bluegrass musicians across the country are classically trained, and I’m delighted that we have such a talented homegrown group to present at the Fiddle & Folk Festival.”
For those who aren’t musically inclined, they can participate in contra dancing with a live band led by Rusty Ford, and children can enjoy stories and create artwork in the Kids Corner.
Children can get creative at the Kids Corner. Photo by Bob Benner
Backfish said for WUSB there is a personal connection to the festival. The station’s radio programmer Gerry Reimer, who died in 2012, was in talks with Benner to bring back the Fiddle & Folk Festival, which was formerly held on the property of The Long Island Museum. “I think she would very much like what has happened and how this festival continues,” Backfish said
Tuttle said the members of the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council enjoy a variety of musical genres and have enjoyed the performers at past festivals at Benner’s. “They are also very supportive of independent artists,” she said. “The same audience that loves the artistry, lovely surroundings and feeling of community at the Sunset Concerts in Port Jeff also enjoys those same aspects at the Fiddle & Folk Festival.”
Benner said he is looking forward to the event and music lovers coming together as they have the last few years on the farm. “It’s a day to come out and leave the world’s problems behind for a few hours and enjoy some music and community,” he said.
Presented by Homestead Arts, Benner’s Farm, the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, TBR News Media and WUSB Radio, the music festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine. Benner’s Farm is located at 56 Gnarled Hollow Road in East Setauket. Admission to the festival is $18 for adults, and $13 for children and seniors at the door. Please bring seating. For more information, call 631-689-8172 or visit www.fiddleandfolk.com.
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. 2017. File photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Setauket Elementary School students were ready for the first day of classes, Sept. 5. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Under sunny skies, children filed off buses at Setauket Elementary School Sept. 5 ready to start a new school year. Many children could be seen smiling as they greeted friends and teachers they hadn’t seen all summer, and a few younger students were teary-eyed as they took in their new surroundings.
The air of excitement extended throughout the Three Village Central School District as students anticipated embarking on new adventures.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all my friends who I didn’t see over the summer, and meeting my new teacher,” said Jordyn Zezelic, a fifth-grader at Nassakeag Elementary School.
Allie Konsevitch, a seventh-grader at R.C. Murphy Junior High School, said she was happy about starting her first year at the intermediate school and changing classes.
Sophia Kornreich, an eighth-grader at Murphy who tested out of Spanish I, said she was looking forward to the challenge of Spanish II.
“I love Murphy because something about the building is very warm, and it feels like one really big family,” Sophia said.
Her sister Athena, who goes to Nassakeag, said she was excited about starting sixth grade, meeting her new teacher Ms. Safranek and taking part in upcoming activities.
“I’m very eager for the Halloween dance, car wash, buddies [program] and graduation,” Athena said. “I am thrilled to move on to sixth grade.”
A week before the beginning of the school year, the district conducted orientation programs for incoming seventh- and 10th-grade students of Ward Melville High School and R.C. Murphy and P.J. Gelinas junior high schools. Students were able to ask questions of administration members and upperclassmen were in attendance to help new students locate their lockers and classrooms.
Rachael Catalano, a sophomore at Ward Melville, said she is excited about “making many new friends and seeing the multiple opportunities that the high school has to offer to get involved in.”
Community members are banding together to raise funds for an accomplished musician and music teacher known throughout the Three Village area.
Richard Rabatin’s friends and fellow musicians knew they had to do something when medical bills started piling up for the owner and teacher at the Stony Brook School of Music in Setauket. In June, 67-year-old Rabatin was diagnosed with giant cell myocarditis, a rare cardiovascular disorder that can be fatal. He was put on a transplant list for a new heart, and an operation was performed to implant two heart pumps. A few weeks ago, the teacher received a transplant and is currently recuperating at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, while his wife Mary Emerson has taken an extended leave from her job as a nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital to care for him.
Richard Rabatin plays guitar with his band the Whiskey Rebellion at the Country Corner bar. Photo by Greg Catalano
A GoFundMe page, which has raised nearly $40,000, was set up, and friends including Alan Jones, Richard Wiederman and Jack Licitra began planning a benefit concert for Sept. 9 to help the husband and father of 8-year-old Thomas manage his expenses. Wiederman said Rabatin, a Port Jefferson Station resident, has been running the Stony Brook School of Music for 35 years, and plays guitar in the Whiskey Rebellion, a blues-jazz band that performs regularly at the Country Corner bar, located below the music school.
Wiederman, who plays trumpet with the Whiskey Rebellion, said Rabatin does all the arrangements for the band — which is currently on hiatus until the guitar player recuperates. The trumpet player said he’s been performing with Rabatin for 17 years and first met him in 1979.
“He’s just had such a profound impact on so many people,” Wiederman said.
The two met when Wiederman, who now teaches music at Setauket Elementary School, was attending college. He said Rabatin was a great help to him while he was studying music and would send him jazz transcriptions. When Wiederman would show them to his professors, he said they were so impressed because they had never seen such detail before.
Jones considers Rabatin his best friend and said he’s like a brother to him. He met Rabatin when they were freshmen at Suffolk County Community College in 1968, and they began performing together a year later.
“He’s an extremely intelligent, kind and generous man,” Jones said. “A wonderful father, husband, teacher and friend.”
In addition to his musical talents, Rabatin is a licensed attorney who holds multiple degrees, and is a contributing author to a number of scholarly works on English writer G. K. Chesterton and other notable figures, according to Jones. He said the teacher has been a mentor to many local musicians.
The “A Change of Heart for Richard” benefit will be held Sept. 9. Photo by Steven Ayles
“It’s been said that the difference between Richard and the other fine guitar and music instructors in Suffolk is that the rest of them have been Richard’s students,” Jones said.
Licitra, who owns a music school in Sayville, said he began teaching because of Rabatin. After touring with various musicians in his 20s, Licitra said he wanted to marry and settle down and thought about going back to college. It was then that Rabatin called and asked if he would like to teach piano at the Stony Brook School of Music.
“He taught me how to teach and convinced me that all my experiences as a performer would be really useful to young people,” Licitra said.
Licitra has played piano with Rabatin’s Whiskey Rebellion and said the guitar player is an expert at transcribing and analyzing music and then showing on paper to his students what is going on in the music and why a song can be emotional.
“He probably taught all of the better known players [in the area] who went on to be professionals,” Licitra said. “Heeither had a hand or influence in a lot of guys understanding and ability to play music.”
Wiederman said Rabatin has been recovering well but will be unable to attend the event, and he plans to live stream it for him and anyone who is unable to attend.
The benefit concert “A Change of Heart for Richard” will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 380 Nicolls Road, East Setauket, Sept. 9 from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Tickets cost $40 per person and include food and beverages. The evening will feature performances by Andrew Fortier, Emma Rae Borrie, Norman Vincent, Claudia Jacobs Band, jazz guitarist Matt Marshak and his band, and The Whiskey Rebellion which will featureguest player Teddy Kumpel, a member of Joe Jackson’s touring band, sitting in on guitar and Licitra on keyboards. Payments can be made by cash or check made payable to Mary Emerson. For more information, call 631-744-9556.
Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., Stony Brook University president, helps a student move into a residence hall Aug. 25. Photo from Stony Brook University
By Rita J. Egan
Stony Brook University has been doing its part to make campus life feel more like home for most students, by offering gender-inclusive housing.
For a decade, the option has allowed students to share a room with friends or siblings no matter what their gender, or choose housing based on the gender they identify with. The only requirements are that students have to be 18 or older and sign a contract stating they will respect everyone in their residence hall.
On Aug. 25, move-in day for freshmen and transfer students, resident assistant Derrick Wegner, who is transgender, was on hand to greet newcomers. The senior psychology major said he was happy to have the option when he came to Stony Brook. Wegner, who lives in Wurtsboro,said college is a great opportunity for a fresh start, especially for young people looking to transition.
Derrick Wegner stands in the gender-inclusive room he shares with his best friend Sydney. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Wegner said the gender-inclusive housing option at Stony Brook creates a happy and safe environment, and he feels being happy and healthy plays a big part in being a successful student.
“You’re of value, and you belong here,” he said.
This year the senior is thrilled to be sharing a dorm with his best friend Sydney Monroe Gaglio, who he met early on in college through mutual friends.
“She’s my best friend, and I’m her best friend,” he said. “Just having somebody that I know I can go home to, and [say] this happened, and she’s like ‘I’m sorry.’ She just gets it.”
Ian Rose, who majors in engineering chemistry and applied mathematics and statistics, was thrilled when he heard of the gender-inclusive option. The junior said last year he made friends with Daniel Mahoney, Brandon O’Rourke, Bianca Mugone and Brittany Voboril, and they all became great friends. They lived in the same residence hall — the males in one room on one floor and the girls in their own room on another floor. Many nights last year they would find themselves in each other’s rooms studying or talking and decided to live together.
“We’re friends just hanging out,” Rose said.
This academic year the five are living in a suite with three bedrooms and one bathroom. Rose said at first his only concern was how things would work out in the bathroom, but so far things are going smoothly.
“I just want this to show everyone that guys and girls living together isn’t weird or uncomfortable,” Rose said. “You’re living with your friends; friends are friends. It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or girl or different skin tone. It doesn’t matter; we’re all the same.”
Ian Rose, right, and friends settle in their three-bedroom suite after a long day. Photo from Ian Rose
Catherine-Mary Rivera, director of residential programs at SBU, said the program began as a small pilot initiative at the university 10 years ago, and grew slowly through the years. In 2016, approximately 40 students took advantage of the housing option, while this year more than 200 students — out of 10,683 living on campus — chose gender-inclusive residences across the campus.
She said the university wants to ensure that all students feel safe and welcome because it’s their home, and they have received plenty of positive feedback regarding the housing.
“The fact that it has grown from 42 to 200 has shown us students feel that they have a place here, and that they don’t have to either feel not comfortable being themselves or feel that Stony Brook doesn’t have a place for them, or they have to remain quiet about who they are or how they express themselves,” Rivera said. “That freedom has come through very clearly that this is a place they can thrive and be their true selves and live with their friends.”
The housing option also allows couples to live together; however, the university does recommend romantic partners think twice before making that decision.
“We want you to branch out and build a stronger community and have healthy relationships, and it may not be best to live with your significant other at this point,” Rivera said.
In addition to gender-inclusive housing, she said SBU offers all-gender, multi-stall bathrooms throughout campus and on the main floors of residence halls, in addition to all-men and all-women restrooms. Software updates have also been made to the school’s system allowing students and faculty members to choose their preferred names and pronoun if they would prefer to be addressed by something other than their legal name. The change means that identification cards and email addresses now show the name a person uses on a regular basis instead of their legal name.
Three artists present a seaworthy exhibit at Huntington gallery
By Rita J. Egan
Photographers Holly Gordon, John Ellsworth and Jeff Urquhart are celebrating the end of summer with their latest exhibit, A Boating pARTy, at Huntington’s fotofoto gallery. The show, which opened yesterday, will run through Sept. 23.
Gordon met Ellsworth years ago when he purchased one of her photos, “Foggy Harbor,” and Ellsworth introduced her to Urquhart, whom he met at a photographer’s seminar. Gordon, a fotofoto gallery photographer, said the friendships flowed, and their nautical artwork perfectly complements each other.
“We’re three different sets of eyes and souls who see and respond to the water and boating so differently,” said Gordon.
‘Kayaks at Bay’ by Holly Gordon
While she is not an active boater, the photographer and former teacher said she enjoys being on the water and has seen a lot of the world from a boat. Gordon has captured many of her photographs both locally and in places such as Antarctica and the Galapagos while on various types of vessels, including in a raft while on the Amazon River.
The photographer said when she was younger she would gravitate to areas that had water, and she would look to see how the water’s reflection affected colors and shapes. “Being on the water, and looking at water, has always given me a sense of serenity, or calm,” Gordon said. “To me, it’s a very nurturing rhythm. I know water can also be very powerful and cause a lot of problems and trouble, but my connection with water has always been one that’s been very soothing as well as creative.”
Ellsworth said he sees the beauty in everyday things and looks for unique compositions. Among the photographs he submitted for the exhibit is “Recovered Assets.” The piece features two dinghies filled with lobster markers that floated to shore and were collected by residents of Asharoken who gifted them to a Northport bay man. Ellsworth said to him they looked like beautifully colored candy. “I like to look at items that people walk by and don’t see the beauty in them.”
A former Northport resident, Ellsworth now lives in Maryland and said he has owned various boats in his lifetime and always had an affinity to water. He was a Navy quartermaster petty officer on a destroyer in the early 1960s, and in the 1970s, he traveled by sailboat from Florida to Belize and Guatemala. It was during graduate school that he began taking classes that involved photography and the part aesthetics play in it.
“I was trying to understand, and I don’t know if I ever will, why people are moved by certain images, and what are the dynamics of art that speak to people,” Ellsworth said. “I thought if I could understand that it would make me a better photographer, and it has in terms of composition and understanding the dynamics of subject matter.”
Ellsworth said sometimes he can take 20 to 200 photos to get one he likes. “There’s a feeling you get when you get a good image,” he said. “Your whole body resonates with the scene when you click that shot.”
‘Chasing the Fleet’ by Jeff Urquhart
Urquhart, a former Verizon worker who is now a finish carpenter/project manager in Huntington Village, said he loves to sail and kayak. Like Ellsworth he’s owned different boats through the years and finds the water to be a great escape.
The photographer said he has taken photos from schooners, leaned over boats and been on the water during foggy weather to get that coveted shot. Even though he’s taken photos for more than 50 years, Urquhart said it’s only been the last few years that he has learned the intricacies that speak to the public. “There’s a very fine line between taking a picture and making a picture, and I stepped over that line, and I’m now creating pictures instead of just documenting family birthdays and holidays,” he said.
Urquhart said water has been a part of his life since his family moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Long Island when he was a child. “It just feels right,” Urquhart said. “It just feels where I need to be.”
Having learned the compositional aspects of photography, he said there is so much to capture on the water and look at on a boat. “An older wooden schooner lends itself to texture and mechanical aspects that people often overlook or take for granted,” he said.
Urquhart will focus on a specific piece of a vessel and said, when taken in color and taken out of context, it can become crisp and something to admire. Even anchors and lines in a boatyard capture his eye. “It just speaks to me as rough, ready to go, security in the fact that it’s a heavy anchor, heavy rope, it’s not going to suffer any damage,” he said. “It’s the implied security. It’s the implied peace of mind.”
Urquhart is hoping the exhibit will inspire art lovers to visit the places he has and photograph them. “Experience what I’ve experienced,” he said. “Or, if they’ve already done that, and if they don’t have a memory or memento of that trip they took, maybe what I have would satisfy the need.”
Ellsworth’s creative mission is for exhibitgoers to look at things differently whether walking along a shore, boatyard or town. “I [hope they] look at common things in an uncommon way whether a photographer or not, and to enhance one’s viewings when they’re walking, when they’re bicycling, when they’re driving but mostly when they’re walking,” he said.
Gordon has chosen 30 pieces of art in canvas, metal and traditional mat frame and glass for the exhibit. She said the photographs represent the Huntington area, Nova Scotia, Maine and Martha’s Vineyard. Gordon said these places as well as others in the world are connected by water.
“Sometimes I think in terms of Mother Earth, and the water is her blood flowing through all of her veins and arteries and it encircles the whole planet,” Gordon said.
A Boating pARTy exhibit will be docked at the fotofoto gallery, 14 West Carver St., Huntington, until Sept. 23. A public reception to meet the photographers will be held on Sept. 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.fotofotogallery.org or call 631-549-0448.
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's alleged funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's alleged funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's alleged funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's alleged funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's alleged funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Residents gather outside the entrance of Renaissance Technologies in Setauket Aug. 23 to protest Robert Mercer's alleged funding of alternative-right causes. Photo by Rita J. Egan
By Rita J. Egan
A local activist group is asking a Long Island billionaire and his daughter to stop funding the alt-right.
According to a press release from the North Country Peace Group, Robert Mercer, billionaire co-CEO of the Setauket-based hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and his daughter Rebekah have allegedly contributed millions of dollars to alt-right causes due to his alliance with the online media company Breitbart News.
The group held a rally in front of the company’s entrance on Route 25A Aug. 23 because members feel Breitbart News has provided a forum for white supremacist, sexist and other racist voices.
Approximately two dozen protesters were in attendance with signs in tow. During the rally, Charles Perretti of Setauket grabbed a megaphone and addressed the crowd.
“What does [the Mercer family] want?” he asked. “They want to control the public dialogue. They want to advance their attitudes and values at the expense of true representative government and the spirit of one man and one vote.”
Perretti said Mercer supports the current Republican presidential administration, referring to that of President Donald Trump (R).
“What do we want, the people on the corner?” he said. “We want concern for the common good.”
The statement inspired protesters to respond repeatedly: “Concern for the common good.”
In recent months, the local peace group has organized or participated in several rallies covering various topics including Trump’s proposed transgender military ban, climate change, alleged use of force by police and a sister event to the Women’s March on Washington.
Peace group member Rosemary Maffei, of Setauket, has been in attendance for much of the group’s protests. She said attending political demonstrations is something she feels she needs to do for herself personally and for the country, and she appreciates being around like-minded residents.
“I feel it’s important to let people see that there is resistance to Trump and the Republican Party, especially here on ‘red’ Long Island,” she said. “Sitting home and doing nothing while the country is being torn apart is something I don’t understand.”
Mercer did not respond to a request sent through an executive assistant at his company for comments about the rally.
The home of one of Bethel AME Church’s first pastors Photo from Preservation Long Island
By Rita J. Egan
The Eato House located in Setauket’s Bethel-Christian Avenue-Laurel Hill Historic District has a chance to be restored and put to public use. The structure that is currently owned by the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Setauket was recently added to the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities List of Endangered Historic Places.
The house was once home to the Rev. David Eato, one of the church’s first pastors, and his wife Mary Baker, a freed slave. Bethel AME historian, Carlton “Hub” Edwards, said when Mary moved to the North after being freed from slavery she settled in Port Washington where she was an organist at a church. It was there that she met Eato and, after marrying, the couple moved to Setauket and the reverend became one of the first ministers of Setauket’s Bethel AME in the early 1900s. Mary took on the role of superintendent of the Sunday school and held the position until the late 1930s.
Edwards said the members of the Eato family owned the house until the church purchased it a few years ago. The historian would like to see the structure utilized to educate people about local African-American history and the influence of the Setalcott Native Americans in the area.
“I think they should do something with it because it’s one of the oldest houses here in the historical district, and I hate to see old buildings torn down,” Edwards said.
For the past few years, the church has been working with Higher Ground Intercultural and Heritage Association, a nonprofit historical group, to have the Eato House restored, according to Robert Lewis, president of the association.
“Higher Ground has a preservation interest and an intercultural interest,” Lewis said. “There is the Native American culture and African-American culture, so we were looking to create a portion of the structure for a historic interpretation study center.”
Rev. David Eato, circa 1910, was one of the first pastors of Bethel AME Setauket. Photo from SPLIA
He said the plot of land originally belonged to Richard Hawkins, who was known for setting up private sales for prospective buyers who were unable to get a loan from the bank during the Jim Crow era when African-Americans couldn’t borrow money. However, Lewis said he’s not sure if Baker had to buy the house privately from Hawkins or did obtain a loan.
Lewis said a preliminary sketch has been drawn to present to the Town of Brookhaven’s Historic District Advisory Committee, and the church had completed some work on the inside before running out of money for restoration. He said the recognition by SPLIA will help with plans to move forward.
Sarah Kautz, SPLIA preservation director, said many structures added to previous lists, which has been published every other year since 2010, have been saved and renovated. Among the success stories are the Roslyn Grist Mill and the John Coltrane Home in Dix Hills. She said the mission of the list is to raise awareness with the hope that community members will initiate conversations about what problems a structure might face and come up with ideas on how to save it.
“Each [structure] shares a broad story that is important for historic reasons, architectural reasons, and they lend an aesthetic value to communities,” Kautz said. “They’re great for tourism and a sense of place. Other than that, they really need the community to embrace them.”
Kautz said one of the reasons the home was added to the list is because it’s a significant representation of the story of African-Americans as well as freed slaves in the area.
“It’s a really important early story of home ownership of people of color, especially African-Americans in the Jim Crow era,” Kautz said. “This is before civil rights.”
She said another interesting factor is there are memories and photos that will make renovation easier.
“It has great potential to be restored,” the preservation director said. “We know a lot about it, we have a lot of photos. There is a lot of great oral history from within the community. People remember, people who spent time in the house or with their grandparents.”
She said many times buildings such as the Eato House are torn down or altered extensively, and the list can serve another purpose to those involved with older homes.
“[It shows] how homeowners and property owners can celebrate and recognize that part of their value,” Kautz said. “Rather than demolish or do inappropriate renovations that completely erase the historic character they can, instead, celebrate and recognize it.”
‘Rich Boy, Rich Girl’ starring C. Thomas Howell will be screened at the festival.
By Rita J. Egan
The Global Revolution Film Festival is coming to the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts on Aug. 25 to 27, and North Shore film lovers are in for a revolution of the creative type. The event will consist of 10 two-hour blocks of film showings — each block consisting of a combination of original shorts, documentaries and full-length films.
A scene from ‘I’m Still Here’
Ken Washington, theater director, said the Smithtown Performing Arts Council was approached by the organizers of the film festival, and the theater was fortunate to have the weekend open. “We have been trying to integrate films into our program, and this seemed like a good way to make that happen,” he said.
Filmmaker Andrew Henriques, one of the organizers of the festival along with founder Jamal Blair and Greg Pursino, said the first two years the event was held in Farmingdale, and this year they searched for a new venue.
“We’ve been looking for a while for a festival location that is close to a train station, and the Smithtown theater is just two blocks away,” Henriques said. “And it has access to places that the filmmakers can go right after their screening because a lot of times you want to keep the party going. You’re there with a bunch of friends; you saw an awesome film; you’re high on the applause and getting to see your movie on a big screen, so you want to go someplace … There are so many locations for them to go [in Smithtown] and continue the celebration.”
He continued, “For us it’s important that they have a place to go and talk, network and talk to other directors and just socialize and talk shop. That’s a big part of it.”
Henriques, who grew up in Bellport, said Pursino discovered the theater, and he was impressed when his colleague showed him the location and loved that it had a balcony — something not many theaters have anymore.
“It reminded me of a theater from New York City,” he said. “It’s beautiful inside, and it has so much character. I know other filmmakers and other creative artistic people are going to be blown away by the theater.”
A scene from ‘The Last Warriors’
Henriques said he met Pursino, a fellow filmmaker, at a film festival, and Blair, another filmmaker, through Facebook. The organizers’ motto is “Story Above Stars” a slogan they thought of after attending some film festivals and noticing the poor quality of a few movies even though they featured recognizable actors. Their theory is that many events include movies with famous stars, knowing they will show up for the movie’s screening and draw in audiences.
“We’re not star chasing,” Henriques said.
The Global Revolution organizers choose films from all over the globe with stories that they believe will make audiences think while being entertained.
“We don’t care who is in your film,” Henriques said. “If you have a great film and a great story, you’re in.” He said the organizers chose to include web series in the event, something most film festivals don’t do; and there were no restrictions when it came to submissions. They looked for “a great plethora of fantastic films with unique stories.”
“That’s what we look for mostly,” Henriques said. “Something different; something outside of the typical things you might see in Hollywood that are telling the same old stories and remakes over and over again.”
When judging submissions for the festival six judges look for aspects such as a good storyline, cinematography, production, sound quality and pacing. The filmmaker said they looked for films that made you feel as if you are not watching a movie.
“The more that you are drawn away from the story the less points you get,” Henriques said. “A lot of things can draw you away from a story — bad camera angles, bad acting, bad sound. So, anything that takes away from the story, we start deducting points.”
Henriques said there is no quota for how many films of a certain genre they include. What is presented is based on the quality of the movie. “If we get in all comedies that are better than anything else we get, we’re going to show all comedies,” he said.
However, this year’s festival includes a variety of genres from a film that explores the current worldwide issue of sex trafficking and is inspired by real events, “I Am Still Here,” to Henriques’ romantic comedy “Rich Boy, Rich Girl” that he co-directed with Judy San Roman. The filmmaker said the comedy is the only one in the festival that features a known actor in the states, C. Thomas Howell, who rose to fame with the 1983 movie “The Outsiders.”
‘Cat Planet’ will be screened on Aug. 26.
Ten two-hour blocks of movies will be shown over the three days. Friday’s films will run from 1 to 9:30 p.m. with a networking session for directors, actors and fans at noon. Saturday’s films will be screened from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., while Sunday’s screenings will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. followed by a closing awards ceremony from 7 to 8 p.m. Each block is $10 or $25 for a day pass (good for all films shown on one day) or $60 for a full festival pass (good for all days and all blocks).
Washington hopes that local film lovers will enjoy the new venture at the theater. “We’re honored to be hosting the event and hope it can be enormously successful and become an annual occurrence here in Smithtown,” he said.
Henriques said the mission of Global Revolution Film Festival is to show films that will have audience members thinking after they leave the theater. “My main hope is that they walk away and they have films they can talk about where it just doesn’t disappear five minutes afterwards,” he said. “The experience just continues on.”
The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts is located at 2 East Main Street in Smithtown. For more information, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org.
Film Festival Schedule
Aug. 25
Noon to 1 p.m. : Networking for directors, actors and fans
Former Stony Brook resident Chris Cantwell sprays mace in a man’s face during the protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo from Chris Cantwell’s Facebook
By Rita J. Egan
When Vice News premiered a documentary on HBO about the recent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the story took a local twist when it featured former Stony Brook resident Christopher Cantwell.
Cantwell, who currently lives in Keene, New Hampshire, is a white supremacist who hosts an alternative right call-in show, “Radical Agenda,” which is live streamed through Facebook and UStream. In the Vice documentary, he can be seen with other marchers holding torches and chanting: “Jews will not replace us” and “White lives matter.” During the filming, after being sprayed with mace in his eyes, he said he was attacked by counter-protesters and called them “communists.”
Cantwell did not respond to multiple different requests for comment. Calls to a residence connected to him on Skylark Lane in Stony Brook were not answered, and when a News 12 Long Island reporter approached a man in the driveway of the home, the man denied knowing Cantwell. It was seen on his website in recent days that Cantwell now fears for his life.
Vice documentary
After seeing the Vice documentary, one of Cantwell’s childhood friends, who declined to be interviewed, reacted on Facebook.
“I remember five years ago when I removed him from my page when he started spewing hate speech,” he said. “I may not agree with our government, but I’ll be dead before I align myself with people like this. All of this makes it too real, too close to home and too sad to even comprehend. I feel bad for them really, to live life based solely on hatred of people for a reason based solely in their minds.”
The last mention of a Cantwell in the Ward Melville High School yearbooks was in 1997. He was listed as a camera-shy sophomore.
His website provides insight into his white supremacist beliefs and why he participated in protesting the removal of a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park.
Cantwell during the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. Screenshot from HBO’s Vice News documentary
“Here at the Radical Agenda, we’ve made no secret of our utter contempt for the subhuman filth commonly referred to as the Left,” he wrote Aug. 7. “Their Marxist, anti-human war on reality is an ideological contaminant that makes HIV look appealing by comparison. So, we’ve literally made a career out of producing war propaganda against them.”
On Aug. 10, before the rally that resulted in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, he posted a message on his website that could only be seen in its entirety if the reader was an existing paying member to his site. He had disabled new membership sign-ups.
“I’m in Charlottesville, Virginia for the Unite the Right Rally this coming Saturday,” he said in a preview of the post. “Since we have been meeting so much opposition from both the criminal elements and the municipal government alike, we’ve had to exercise a great deal of caution in terms of operational security.”
Cantwell said he was with a reporter, Elle Reeve from Vice, who was covering the rally.
After the documentary aired on HBO, a photo surfaced of Cantwell attacking someone with pepper spray. In an Aug. 17 post on his website he referenced the photo. He said the man was coming directly for him and another person was approaching him from his left, and believed his safety was being threatened.
“I sprayed in self-defense, while holding a flashlight in my left hand,” he said. “In my mind, this was the minimal level of force I could use to deter this threat.”
He posted a YouTube video saying he feared he would be arrested, and appeared on the verge of tears. In the Aug. 17 website post, he said he was preparing to turn himself over to University of Virginia police. Calls to the police department to confirm warrants were issued were not returned. Although the Vice film showed him unloading guns strapped to his waist and legs onto the bed of a hotel room, he said he did not bring his guns to the rally.
Cantwell living locally
Cantwell is no stranger to run-ins with the law, according to Southern Poverty Law Center’s website, a watch group dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry. In 2000, Cantwell pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and driving while intoxicated in Suffolk County. He served four months of a six-month jail sentence. During a failed attempt to run to represent New York’s 1st Congressional District in 2009 as a Libertarian candidate, he was arrested a second time for DWI. He faced up to two years in prison. He eventually took a deal and served 28 days of a 45-day plea bargain.
Cantwell admitted to his DWI arrests in a speech he gave at a Suffolk/Nassau Libertarian Party Convention June 14, 2014. He said at the age of 19 he became very drunk and while driving his car realized he was too drunk to drive and parked his car to sleep. He said the next day he woke up in jail. Nine years later, he said he was out on a date and said he was careful with the amount of drinking he was doing. He was pulled over for speeding in East Hampton. His blood alcohol limit was measured at .01 over the legal limit. In the speech, Cantwell said before the trial his vehicle was seized and his driver’s license suspended. Due to paying thousands in bail and attorney fees, he lost his job and apartment.
“New York is a hopeless cesspool of government violence and corruption.”
— Christopher Cantwell
He began to study government, and said he started to “figure out that government is a violent, evil monster portraying itself as a peacemaker and savior.”
“That far from being that which brings order to society, it is responsible for more carnage and misery than any other institution in the history of mankind,” he said.
During the convention speech, Cantwell said he was leaving New York.
“New York is a hopeless cesspool of government violence and corruption,” he said.
In another Aug. 17 post, Cantwell said he was blocked by PayPal, Venmo, Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, and MailChimp. He discovered his online dating profiles at OKCupid, Match and Tinder were disabled — sites he said he used for the pursuit of romance.
East Setauket’s Stefanie Werner, although hoping that others don’t associate white
supremacy with the Three Villages, can see how a mindset like Cantwell’s develops.
“The news about a white supremacist with roots in the Three Village area, although disturbing, should not be altogether shocking,” she said. “I have lived here all of my life and began my teaching career at Ward Melville. Walking the halls of Ward Melville High School, or any other high school in the country, there exists a diverse set of personalities that have yet to fully develop. Adolescent ideals turn to adult ideologies, and it only takes one experience, positive or negative, to help mold these beliefs into a solid foundation. It is sad, and a tad frightening that this particular mindset developed in a community where many may turn a blind eye to the existence of this antithetical culture. However, the current political arena is nurturing this thought process, and this community needs to heighten its awareness of the clashing principles of the modern era.”
File photo of Ward Melville by Greg Catalano
Community reaction
Three Village residents and religious leaders were asked how they felt when they heard Christopher Cantwell was from Stony Brook.
Terry Shapiro: “As an American Jew, I am horrified. Anti-Semitism has a long history in Suffolk County. That is why it is so important to have a representative who speaks out firmly against bigotry in the White House. U.S. Rep Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) has not done so. He has not held Mr. Trump accountable. As long as we have a bigot in the White House and members of Congress who refuse to censure him, I fear that anti-Semitism will continue to resurface.”
Rabbi Steven A. Moss (chairperson of the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission): “There’s no place on earth that is exempt from this kind of behavior. The question then becomes what do the rest of us do. Therefore what we try to do is model ourselves on the idea that evil occurs when good people do nothing. So we organize task forces and people. We need to speak out and make sure we condemn when appropriate this kind of behavior and speak out against it and not simply turn aside.”
Shoshana Hershkowitz: “Chris Cantwell is a reminder that hate exists in all communities. It is deeply upsetting to me that a young man who was raised in our area, was taught in our schools, came away with this frightening worldview and ideology. We need to examine the racism that exists where we live and confront it in our homes and schools. This must be our response to hate if we are to combat it effectively.”
Arnold Wishnia: “I learned that Cantwell came from Stony Brook from you. I Googled him and discovered that I had in fact seen the TV clip where this vile Nazi boasted about strengthening himself for violence, and said he would kill if he had to. Cantwell may be an extreme, but I am not shocked that violence-prone racists can be found in Stony Brook.Suffolk County has a history of KKK and Nazi activity from the 1930s. My sons encountered this kind of unthinking, violence-threatening racism as students at Ward Melville High School, I am disturbed and disappointed to find out that anyone is a Nazi, but not surprised that Stony Brook has bred some.”
The Rev. Kate Jones Calone (director of Open Door Exchange at Setauket Presbyterian Church): “We cannot pretend that prejudice and racism do not exist in our area, whether explicit, subtle or unintentional. The question is how we address it. In my faith, God grieves over separation and longs for reconciliation. If we are to build a community grounded in equity and love, we need first to understand why things are not that way and take action to change it. This requires real commitment, hard work, humility and a willingness to confront what stands in the way. Starting in elementary school, schools, parents and adult leaders need to teach more than simple kindness; they need to teach kids to be affirmatively and actively inclusive and anti-racist. And we need to educate ourselves on why Long Island is among the top 10 most segregated places in the country.”
Tennis players participating in a mixed doubles game in 1967 including Andy Kevey, second from left, and Linwood Lee, right. Photo from Susan Falvey
By Rita J. Egan
The first tournament of the U.S. Open is scheduled for Aug. 28, but Flushing Meadows isn’t the only place in New York filled with tennis history. Since 1959, the Three Village Tennis Club on Main Street in Setauket has provided lifelong memories for its members.
Susan Falvey’s parents, Marta and Andy Kevey, were founding members of the club. She said the women would organize bake sales, fashion shows and dances to raise money, while the men helped maintain the property and the original court. In 1959, yearly dues were $15 for children, $25 for adults and $50 for families.
Marta and Andy Kevey after a tournament at the club in 1967. Photo from Ann Fossan
To her, the spot is a hidden treasure.
“The club is still very active today,” Falvey said. “It’s very simple — we don’t have a clubhouse or anything, but the courts are still in good condition.”
Falvey has fond memories playing as a child at the club and then afterwards riding bikes with friends along Main Street to go to the Jack in the Box near where the Setauket Fire Department firehouse is located today.
In an essay about the club, Andy Kevey wrote of the founding members securing a single tennis court, donated by The Setauket Neighborhood House located behind a barn.
“That old cracked asphalt court went through three metamorphosis each year: tennis court, to basketball court, to ice skating rink,” he wrote. “It had a net for tennis, two baskets for practicing shooting and 6-inch raised borders that allowed it to be flooded in the winter.”
The club hasn’t changed much through the decades, except for the number of courts and who can join. As the population in the area grew in the 1960s, the club limited its membership to residents of the Three Village Central School District.
As the club evolved, six green clay Har-Tru courts were added, and the original asphalt-based court was eventually converted to clay in the 1980s, as water doesn’t drain properly on a harder court. Once the asphalt court was converted to clay, interested players were able to join quicker. Before that, there was a five-year wait.
Wayne Mercer, who joined the club in the late 1980s and has served various positions on the board, remembers due to spacing issues that affected play, court four was moved away from court three and seven away from six. Improvements were also made so the courts would drain better.
“Courts that no one wanted to play on became very playable,” he said.
Current board member Randy Conard’s mother Marion was the first president, and one of the organization’s co-founders. He said the founding of the club was a community effort, where the original board members were trying to expand the popularity of tennis in the area.
Conard said his mother, who died in 2008 at 86, played tennis for decades at the club. His mother’s involvement, he said, “was all for the love of the community and tennis.”
Conard said members would take vacations together, going to resorts and playing tennis. Through the decades, families gathered on the club grounds for barbecues and picnics.
“It was a very tight-knit community,” he said.
Joe McDonnell playing tennis on court two at the club in 1967. Photo from Joe McDonnell
Joe McDonnell moved to Setauket with his family in 1964. A preteen at the time, McDonnell said he could walk to the club by cutting through his neighbor’s backyard. He played at the Three Village Tennis Club for years and as a young man would help maintain the courts. He said his years at the club led to him teaching tennis at Harbor Hills and the Old Field Club during his time in college and graduate school, and in the late 1980s he became a member of the Three Village Tennis Club board.
“It was a club with extraordinary spirit,” McDonnell said. “Like many organizations are when they are first founded, there’s that entrepreneurial spirit.”
McDonnell said he looked up to and learned a great deal about tennis from founding member Bob Pereira, who was also his dentist.
Among the many Stony Brook University professors who were members of the club was Linwood Lee, who still teaches at the college. He said as soon as he found a home in Stony Brook he looked for a tennis club for his family to play at, and enjoyed the camaraderie at the local club.
“It’s been a wonderful place to play tennis and a wonderful place to meet friends,” Lee said.
McDonnell said the club has always helped younger players improve and employed great tennis pros. He recalled Ineke Fisher, who lived in Florida with her husband. During the summers, the couple would come to New York, and Ineke would teach at the Three Village Tennis Club while her husband taught at the Old Field Club. McDonnell said Ineke’s instructions were a mixture of technique and court etiquette.
Once a year the club holds a Wimbledon Woody social event using old wooden rackets like it used to in years past.
“It was a far more finessed game,” McDonnell said, recalling the days he used to only swing a wooden racket. “It was a slower game, but it required you to move a player around a court and not just overpower them.”
Another annual competition at the club is the mixed doubles Van Slyke Tournament. McDonnell said he still remembers Dr. Don Van Slyke, for whom the tournament was named. Van Slyke was a biochemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, who played well into his 80s.
McDonnell moved to Maine six years ago, but said when he visits Long Island, he makes sure to stop and play at the club. He is considered an honorary member.
“This is a wonderful asset to the community,” he said. “It’s into another generation at this point, but it’s become very much established.”
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