Baristanet | Coffee With

Jim Pond: Local Businesses & the MFF

Monday, Apr 30, 2012 3:52pm | COMMENTS (0)

I am excited that Montclair is sponsoring a Film Festival. It looks legit too. I am surprised the local businesses have not seized the moment and embraced the Festival. Continue Reading

Coffee With…Jefrey B.

BY Jenn Schiffer | Sunday, Apr 01, 2012 11:00am | COMMENTS (3)

Jefrey “Burrito” Beansprout is a 5-year-old black cat with a heart of golden kibble. He’s a bad dude with cattitude. BaristaJenn sat with him this morning to learn more about his thoughts on the upcoming Montclair Election, development on South Park St., and the local school budget.

BaristaJenn: Jefrey, what are your thoughts on the upcoming Montclair Election, development on South Park St., and the local school budget?

BaristaJenn: No, Jefrey! Those are my toasted waffles! This interview is over!

Baristanet Profile: Yogi Berra

BY Carolyn Maynard-Parisi | Wednesday, Mar 28, 2012 10:16am | COMMENTS (10)

Yogi Berra (credit: Kristi Cataffi)

What better way to start a Wednesday morning than with a dose of Yogi? Through David Kaplan, who runs Montclair’s Yogi Berra Museum, we asked Yogi if he would do a Baristanet Profile with us. Here are his answers. Continue Reading

Rhyme of the Modern Mariner

BY Katherine Milsop | Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 10:30am | COMMENTS (2)

Nick Starace with his sternwheeler, Dorine, named after his daughter.

Nick Starace II always knew his life’s passion.

A U.S. Navy veteran, licensed Coast Guard Captain, supertanker designer for Exxon and highly-skilled ship modeler, there was never any doubt for Starace that his passion was the sea.

In his 70s and “semi-retired”, Starace, who lives in Short Hills, now spends every Wednesday volunteering at the VA hospital in East Orange.

“Everything I do at the hospital outside of my family is the most important thing I do with my life these days,” said Starace. “I’ll continue there as long as I can walk!”

Coffee With…Joan Fisch

BY Nancy Rubenstein | Friday, Mar 23, 2012 12:00pm | COMMENTS (0)

Nancy Rubenstein talks with Montclair’s Joan Fisch, a past-president of Temple Sholom of West Essex in Cedar Grove who has been involved in Commitment of the Heart, the temple’s Torah and Ark Restoration project. Fisch and her husband, Ron, own Hampton House furniture store in Montclair.

The congregation's Holocaust scroll from D'vur Kralove (Czech Republic) in the original mantle and crown commissioned for the Torah. Both mantle and crown made by Moshe Zabari (then head of the Toby Pascher Workshop of the Jewish Museum in New York).

Q. What attracted you to Commitment of the Heart, the temple’s Torah and Ark Restoration project?
A. This project, really spoke to me because of its spirituality and sacredness. It represented the essence of why we have a synagogue and who we are as a people. The Torah we are restoring is a rescued Holocaust scroll from D’var Kralava, a small town in Czechoslavakia. Although our congregation has had this scroll since 1975, it is, in fact, 200 years old. As I learned more about this scroll, I was overwhelmed by the sense of history and the responsibility we have to maintain it for the previous generations who have perished and for future generations. Continue Reading

Don Fleming and The Global Jukebox

BY Brian Glaser | Monday, Mar 05, 2012 12:00pm | COMMENTS (8)

Some of the most important audio recordings of the 20th century are being made available to the public this year, and the man with his finger on the Play button is sitting in Montclair. Musician and producer Don Fleming is the Executive Director of the Association for Cultural Equity and Director of the Alan Lomax Archive, which means he’s heading up what might be the single most ambitious cultural project in the world: loading thousands of hours of musical field recordings into a Global Jukebox.

Starting in the 1930s and continuing until he was sidelined with a stroke in the early 1990s, Lomax traveled around the U.S. (and eventually the world) recording local musicians and tracing the history of songs and musical styles. “We’ve digitized about 17,000 recordings and now have them online,” says Fleming. “It’s about 1,000 hours.” Plus, his team has scanned around 5,000 photos and uploaded nearly 300 videos—culled from 400 hours of footage Lomax shot in the 1970s—to the ACE’s YouTube channel. “And we’re kind of in the middle of the whole project,” Fleming says with a laugh.
Continue Reading

Baristanet Profile: Don Katz

BY Debbie Galant | Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 12:15pm | COMMENTS (7)

Name: Don Katz
Town: Montclair
When did you move there? 1989
How do you make a living? Founder & CEO Audible.com, Newark NJ
Coffee, tea or …. ? Tequila – preferably reposados. Into good tequila for a decade.
What’s your idea of a perfect Saturday? Working less than most of the day to start; playing hockey; catching up with far flung kids; reading versus glancing at the Times; dinner with friends.
What’s your favorite local restaurant? Too hard because there are so many – Satish Palace, Blu, Beyond Pita, Egans (when it’s not too jammed).
What’s on your nightstand? A Kindle Fire (reading Art of Fielding); and old world physical books too: The Stuff of Thought (Steven Pinker); A History of Reading (Alberto Manguel). Continue Reading

Baristanet Profile: Kit Schackner

BY Debbie Galant | Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012 11:00am | COMMENTS (18)

Kit Schackner self-portrait

Name: Kit Schackner

Town: Glen Ridge, N J

When did you move there? 1987!! This makes my husband, Kelly, and me the oldest ones in our immediate neighborhood. It doesn’t confer venerability, but I think we do add an avuncular comfort to the street.

How do you make a living? Co-owner of an architectural woodworking company (fancy cabinetmaking) with my husband. Now in our 35th year.

Coffee, tea or … ? Coffee. And after 5:00, a glass of wine. And after 9:00 PM, a Black Russian.

What’s your idea of a perfect Saturday? In the morning, silence & good coffee with two newspapers. Then gardening and making bad art, uninterrupted … Sunday too.

What’s your favorite local restaurant? This one’s hard for me. I’m not a foodie, though I travel in foodie circles. I’d be as happy with a food pill as a molecular gastronomic meal, so long as 1) I could see the menu
In the dim lights, 2) I could hear my dinner companions over the ambient noise, 3) either we brought a good bottle of wine or they have a liquor license, and 4) either they salted the dish or put salt on the table. 5) It should have a component of something fresh I’ve never tasted before. But I’ll settle for Wendys or McDonalds. Continue Reading

Coffee With … John Schreiber of NJPAC

BY Tara Williams | Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 9:00am | COMMENTS (0)

In July 2011, John Schreiber joined NJPAC as president and CEO after “putting the spinach in the popcorn” as executive vice president of social action and advocacy for Participant Media, the global entertainment company that brought us Waiting for Superman, Food, Inc., The Cove, Charlie Wilson’s War and other socially-relevant movies.

As a student at Haverford College, Schreiber got his first taste of show business when he coordinated music events at the school. Shortly after graduating, he was hired by George Wein, the creator of the Newport Jazz and Folks Festivals, and worked for him almost 20 years. Since then, he has produced films, and created, curated and produced a multitude of events including the KOOL and JVC Jazz Festivals, Hard Rock Live (VH-1), the Emmy and Tony Awarding-winning show, Elaine Stritch At Liberty, The President’s Summit for America’s Future, the Kennedy Center’s Open House multi-cultural festival, George C. Wolfe’s Harlem Song and Carnegie Hall’s American Popular Song celebration.

Tara Williams sat down with Schreiber to talk about his programming plans for the sixth largest performing arts center in the U.S. (Hint: Grammy Award-winning bassist and Baristaville resident Christian McBride will be involved), creating social action campaigns and working with George Wein and Elaine Stritch. Continue Reading

Coffee With … Fred Guterl

BY Christina Gillham | Friday, Jan 06, 2012 9:00am | COMMENTS (31)

If you live in Baristaville, you may have seen Fred Guterl writing on his laptop at the recently departed Café Eclectic or playing trumpet with the Montclair Community Band. But the Montclair dad of two also has a day job as the Executive Editor of Scientific American, which last year won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

In June, Guterl’s first book, “Fate of the Species,” will be released by Bloomsbury USA. An engaging look at the threats that face humankind, the book examines the end-of-the-world scenarios that worry scientists, and offers solutions to how our species can survive (hint: switching your light bulbs is nice, but it’s not going to solve our problems).