On this month's edition of "Specific Objects: Talks on Art in the Catskills," host Miriam Atkin speaks with Catskill-based composer and instrumentalist, Larry Chernicoff. We discuss his new compositions, which are informed by a long-standing interest in cloudy skies, architectural forms, the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and numerous other elemental, spiritual, and aesthetic influences. Larry’s most recent work has been in collaboration with the Higher Octave Ensemble—an 8-piece group comprising seasoned improvisers, composers, bandleaders, and educators—and our conversation comes just ahead of two performances with the ensemble, on 10/25 and 10/26 in Catskill and Pine Plains. For more information, visit www.larrychernicoff.com.

Larry Chernicoff is a self-taught composer and instrumentalist, an award-winning recording artist, a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Fellowship, and a record producer. His compositions combine jazz and classical elements, composition and improvisation, and unusual instrumental colors (often with “orchestral” instruments (clarinet, bass clarinet, cello, violin, oboe, English horn, bassoon, etc.)) in addition to traditionally “jazz” instruments (saxophones, trumpet). He has written for dance, theater, and film. Whenever possible, his ensembles perform with no amplifiers or microphones. He has a strong sense that the world needs acoustic music now more than ever, so his sound is organic, acoustic and unplugged – brass, metal, wood, reed.

Miriam Atkin is a Catskills-based writer whose work concerns the possibilities of poetry as a medium in conversation with avant-garde film, music, and dance. She is cofounder of Pinsapo, an international publishing collective, and teaches writing around the Hudson Valley region, at Bard College and the Otisville Correctional Facility.

Specific Objects is a monthly freeform discussion, hosted by Miriam Atkin, that invites artists from a variety of disciplines to describe, ponder, interrogate, interpret, and celebrate their current projects. The focus is on guests who live and work in the Hudson Valley/Catskills region, though people will occasionally visit from farther afield. Tune in to learn what artists in your neighborhood are thinking and making right now.

Intro music: "Sing Out" by Joanna Mattrey

On this month's edition of "Specific Objects: Talks on Art in the Catskills," host Miriam Atkin speaks with Catskill-based poet Stacy Szymaszek. Stacy reads from their forthcoming book-length poem titled ESSAY (Krupskaya, 2025), and we discuss the poems, covering topics such as loving beyond usefulness, the essay as form, literary lineages, cows, and poetry as a means of / challenge to survival. You can read learn more about Stacy's work at www.stacyszymaszek.org.

Stacy Szymaszek is the author of seven books of poetry: Emptied of All Ships (2005), Hyperglossia (2009), hart island (2015), Journal of Ugly Sites and Other Journals (2016), which won the Ottoline Prize from Fence Books and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in 2017, A Year From Today (2018), The Pasolini Book (2022), and Famous Hermits (2023). They are the recipient of a 2014 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, a 2019 Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant in poetry, and are a 2024 MacDowell Fellow. From 2007-2018, they were the Director of The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church. They live in New York’s Upper Hudson Valley.

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Specific Objects is a monthly freeform discussion, hosted by Miriam Atkin, that invites artists from a variety of disciplines to describe, ponder, interrogate, interpret, and celebrate their current projects. The focus is on guests who live and work in the Hudson Valley/Catskills region, though people will occasionally visit from farther afield. Tune in to learn what artists in your neighborhood are thinking and making right now.

Miriam Atkin is a Catskills-based writer whose work concerns the possibilities of poetry as a medium in conversation with avant-garde film, music, and dance. She is cofounder of Pinsapo, an international publishing collective, and teaches writing around the Hudson Valley region, at Bard College and the Otisville Correctional Facility.

Intro music: "Sing Out" by Joanna Mattrey

This month's broadcast is different in that, rather than conducting an interview, host Miriam Atkin shares archival recordings of conversations with artists she admires. The first half of the broadcast is an interview with WIlliam S. Burroughs by Kathy Acker. The second half is an interview with Will Alexander by Douglas Manuel.

Videos of these talks are available at:
https://ubu.com/film/burroughs_acker.html
https://youtu.be/xB_IGH8Nw9k?si=xQgMUB0f5ukwBW67

Intro music: "Sing Out" by Joanna Mattrey