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Year
In Pictures 2008
Creating
the Future
(clockwise
from top left) Students from Albany High School’s first playwriting
class performed their works for the Promising Playwrights
Festival; a few days before the scandal that ended his term,
then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Silda Wall Spitzer celebrated
with the new state author Mary Gordon and state poet Jean
Valentine (center, l-r); performance artist C. Ryder Cooley
explored the boundaries between man and animal in a series
of regional, um, happenings; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
president Shirley Ann Jackson, surrounded by dignitaries and
muckety-mucks, opened the new EMPAC building on the RPI campus.
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| Photo:
John
Whipple |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Martin
Benjamin |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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Honoring
the Past
(clockwise
from top left) The New York State Museum displayed a 1960s-era
model of a futuristic Albany that was, thankfully, only partially
built; for two weeks in August, a Tokyo-based film company—and
producer Shohei Kotaki—filmed the feature Orion in Midsummer
aboard the Albany-docked U.S.S. Slater; Mark O’Connor previewed
his newest work, Hudson River String Quartet, commissioned
for the Hudson River Quadricentennial, at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon
Library Center; and after a $10 million expansion, the Arkell
Museum in Canajoharie opened new doors to a collection eight
decades in the making.
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| Photo:
John
Whipple |
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
John
Whipple |
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Remain
in Spotlight
(this
page, clockwise from top left) David Byrne did the Eno/Byrne
thing at the Egg—minus Eno—but with some fine angelic threads;
the Armory received a proper haunting thanks to Dream Theater
(singer James LaBrie is pictured); Rick Nielsen and Cheap
Trick loved you to love them at SPAC; Robert Randolph waged
a three-pedal-steel assault on the Empire Plaza.
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| Photo:
Martin
Benjamin |
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| Photo:
Julia
Zave |
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
Julia
Zave |
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(facing page, clockwise from top left) New Pornographers chanteuse
Neko Case brought her Canadian Americana to the Egg; Lyn-Z
of Mindless Self-Indulgence kept it tasteful at Revolution
Hall; Marco Benevento brought his trio and all his circuit-bent
gadgets to Revolution Hall; Girl Talk was careful to wear
protection at Skidmore; the Police were in top form at SPAC.
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
Julia
Zave |
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| Photo:
Martin
Benjamin |
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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Rock
Locally
(clockwise
from top left) Goodship brought the beat-heavy good shit to
“official unofficial” Troy Night Out afterparties all year
long; Charlie Everywhere hit the scene with a one-two “street-beat
psych-pop” punch; Aficionado waged prog-rock warfare with
an epic concept album Circus Music; the B3nson Family
(including Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned, Scientific Maps,
Beware! The Other Head of Science, and other local acts) all
but coined their own currency in the name of music and friendship;
Katie Haverly and Vox Celeste splashed in the superlatives
with their latest, Around the Bend.
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| Photo:
Alicia
Solsman |
|
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
Leif
Zurmuhlen |
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| Photo:
Leif
Zurmuhlen |
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| Photo:
Alicia
Solsman |
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You
Lose
(clockwise
from top left) Former New York State Senate Majority Leader
Joe Bruno surprised the Capitol by hurriedly retiring under
the cloud of an F.B.I. investigation; Republican Roger Cusick’s
hastily-put-together campaign against Albany District Attorney
David Soares was driven by attack politics that weren’t enough
to pull off a victory; 20th Congressional District candidate
Republican Sandy Treadwell was unable to overcome his trust-fund
image and was defeated by popular incumbent Democrat Kirsten
Gillibrand in a landslide; and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s
fall from grace was one of New York’s great moments of political
tragedy.
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| Photo:
Martin
Benjamin |
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| Photo:
Alicia
Solsman |
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| Photo:
John
Whipple |
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| Photo:
Chris
Shields |
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I
Protest!
(clockwise
from top left) A protester at the Republican National Convention
in St. Paul, Minn., faced off against a small army of riot
police; Dania Chavez, a peer member with Housing Works, came
to Albany to demand more state support for people living with
HIV/AIDS; to mark the grim milestone of 4,000 troops killed
in Iraq, protesters from around the state gathered in downtown
Albany to call for an end to the war; and immigration-rights
advocates gathered from across the state to support initiatives
that would ease the lives of immigrants.
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| Photo:
Chet
Hardin |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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Out
and About
(clockwise from above) Volunteer John Gharime served up fresh
popcorn at the first annual Ballston Spa Film Festival; a
trio of tiny trumpeters tooted their horns at Albany’s St.
Patrick’s day Parade; (l-r) Ashley Lane and Amanda McConkey
donned pink cocktail attire and indulged in pink drinks and
pink sweets at Upstate Magazine’s Pink Party, a fundraiser
celebrating local artists; Trashion brought garbage-to-glam
couture to Troy and turned Revolution Hall’s stage into a
catwalk to raise money for the local arts community.
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| Photo:
Alicia
Solsman |
|
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Alicia
Solsman |
|
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| Photo:
Alicia Solsman |
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That’s
Troy
(clockwise
from top left) Opposing sides faced off outside the Sanctuary
for Independent Media as the nonprofit arts space played home
to the controversial artwork of Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal;
Republican Harry Tutunjian, Troy’s mayor, debuted his spiky
new hairdo at the announcement of a planned research facility,
accompanied by power-brokers Gov. David Paterson, then-Senate
Majority Leader Joe Bruno, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, and
RPI President Shirley Jackson; the man, the myth, the legend:
Robert “Three-Job Bob” Mirch kicked back and enjoyed the notoriety
that comes from being Rensselaer County’s premiere political
brawler; and Sgt. David Dean helped to found Troy’s controversial
and results- driven plainclothes operation, the Street Crimes
Unit.
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| Photo:
Alicia
Solsman |
|
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Shannon DeCelle |
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You
Win
(clockwise
from top left) Former Assemblyman Paul Tonko waited until
the last minute to announce his candidacy for the 21st Congressional
District, then swooped in for an easy victory; Albany District
Attorney David Soares squared off against a motley coalition
of political insiders for a win against Republican Roger Cusick
that secured Soares’ second term; a little girl at a primary
rally in Harrisburg, Penn., held an Obama sign above a crowd
of the future president’s fervent supporters; and U.S. Rep.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Greenport) trounced her floundering
opponent, Sandy Treadwell, in her bid to continue representing
the 20th.
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| Photo:
Joe
Putrock |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
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| Photo:
Shannon
DeCelle |
|
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| Photo:
David King |
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