Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast

Arts & Culture Episodes

Feb. 11, 2025

Tapping Into Black History: Peg Leg Bates *LIVE* Special 🎙️

Exploring the Legacy of Clayton 'Peg Leg' Bates: The One-Legged Dancing Legend In this live episode of Kaatscast, recorded at the Emerson Resort & Spa on November 8, 2024, host Brett Barry engages in a detailed discussion wit...

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Dec. 3, 2024

Borscht Belt Brilliance: The Extraordinary Art of Morris Katz

This episode of "Katz"cast delves into the fascinating life and career of Morris Katz, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and acclaimed painter known for his lightning-fast painting technique using a palette knife and toilet pa...

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Nov. 19, 2024

Setting the Table: Kingston's International Museum of Dinnerware Desi…

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Kaatscast visits the unique International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston, New York. Founded by Margaret Carney in 2012, the museum recently found its new home, offering dedicated exhibi...

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Oct. 8, 2024

Teen Lens 🎬 Woodstock Film Festival's Youth Film Lab

This episode takes us to the Woodstock Film Festival's Youth Film Lab , a three-week intensive filmmaking program for teens in Kingston, NY. Each summer, participants learn filmmaking from industry professionals like Gregg Br...

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July 16, 2024

Catskill Mountain Shakespeare

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. Hark! On this day's Kaatscast , we journey to the quaint village of Hunter in fair New York, whereupon Catskill Mountain Shakespeare doth present a stirring rendition of the nob...

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June 4, 2024

Ralph Waldo Emerson 🎙️ LIVE at Emerson Resort & Spa

Join us for our very first LIVE show, recorded at Emerson Resort & Spa as part of their weekend celebration of Ralph Waldo's birthday (born May 25, 1803). Hear from Catskills scholars and writers Leslie T. Sharpe and Bill Bir...

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April 9, 2024

The Strange Recital –– featuring Paul Smart's "Overlook"

If you've been tuned in to local media for a while, you might Remember Paul Smart, writer for the Woodstock Times and author of the 1994 book, Rock & Woodstock . Paul lives in Mexico now, but he's still writing about the Cats...

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Dec. 5, 2023

Cup o' Cartography: Cheyenne Mallo Pottery

Cheyenne Mallo and partner Zac Schiff are the makers and purveyors of Cheyenne Mallo Pottery , in Olivebridge, NY. Their signature mugs feature raised topographic maps of Catskills places, like Overlook Mountain, North South ...

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Oct. 24, 2023

Bill Abranowicz Turns His Lens on the Catskills

Bill Abranowicz is a renowned photographer who started snapping pictures 50 years ago. Bill's career has taken him around the globe many times over, taking pictures for the likes of Condé Nast Traveler , The New York Times Ma...

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July 18, 2023

Brunel Sculpture Garden: Resurrecting a Roadside Attraction

Nearly a century ago, famed photographer and innovator Emile Brunel purchased Boiceville's Brown Hotel and transformed it into Le Chalet Indien, a world-class resort frequented by famed artists and politicians of the day. Bru...

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July 4, 2023

Wave Farm

Wave Farm –– in Greene County's Acra, NY –– is a 29-acre campus that's not only home to WGXC 90.7 FM, but a hub for terrestrial radio, transmission arts, and resident artists. Hear from Executive Director Galen Joseph-Hunter ...

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March 28, 2023

Radio Catskill 90.5 FM WJFF

Radio Catskill hit the airwaves in 1990 and operated out of a hydro-powered station in Jeffersonville. But when a building was recently offered in nearby Liberty, WJFF shed its 30-year skin and relocated to the now fully-reno...

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Jan. 3, 2023

Shea in the Catskills: Tarot, Art, Community

To start off the new year, we visited Shea in the Catskills , a tarot practitioner, artist, facilitator, organizer + contemplative, for a (deeper than perhaps expected) conversation on community, tarot, inspiration ... and so...

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Dec. 6, 2022

Kenny Bloodgood's Catskills Connection to a Famed Western Artist

Charles Shreyvogel was an Eastern artist who painted famous Western scenes. His favorite model was also decidedly non-Western. Greene County’s Kenny Bloodgood recounts tales of his great-uncle Grant and his unlikely appearanc...

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Sept. 27, 2022

Cidiot: the (other) Best Regional Podcast

If you've ever heard (or even ... uttered) the word "cidiot," to describe an urban transplant, likely that term wasn't used in a positive light. Podcast host Mat Zucker has been doing his best to rebrand the word in a podcast...

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Sept. 13, 2022

Empire State Railway Museum: Catskills Rails Then and Now

In our last episode we took a ride on the old Ulster & Delaware rails with Rail Explorers , a pedal bike experience in Phoenicia, NY. This week, we're at the neighboring Empire State Railway Museum , at home in the historic 1...

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Aug. 16, 2022

The Classical Concerts that Predate 1969's Woodstock: Inside the Mave…

Long before "THE" concert so closely associated with Woodstock, " Maverick Concerts " have been delighting fans of classical music for more than 100 years. We sat in the historic concert hall with music director Alexander Pla...

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March 20, 2022

Special: Pierogi for Ukraine

On March 19th, 2022, a Pierogi and Borscht fundraiser at the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jewett, NY, brought in thousands of dollars for the people of Ukraine. We spent some time in the kitchen with organizer Switlana Breigl...

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March 1, 2022

The Mountain Eagle

This year, The Mountain Eagle celebrates 40 years of newspaper publishing, and a relaunch in 2017 brought expanded coverage to Schoharie, Delaware, Greene, and northern Ulster counties. Join us for a conversation with publish...

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Feb. 15, 2022

The Wilderness Diary: Mental Health and Art in Roxbury

Delaware County artist Jessica Farrell was inspired by her aunt's journal from the 1960s and '70s to create "The Wilderness Journal," a series of portraits of adolescents who would go on to struggle with mental health issues....

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Jan. 4, 2022

Ten Million for Tannersville: Talking with The Hunter Foundation

Tannersville, NY , is a small mountain village, with big aspirations. And now, with the help of a very large grant from New York State, it's preparing for a basket of revitalization projects that would surely put a smile on R...

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Oct. 26, 2021

Reimagining a Classic Catskills Ghost Story

This week, we spoke with author Christine Wade about her retelling of a classic Catskills ghost story. In 1819 Washington Irving published his tale of Rip Van Winkle , who wanders off into the woods to escape his nagging wife...

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Aug. 17, 2021

Dowsing for Water with Bill Getz

Need water? Choose a random spot, drill, and drill some more, until you hit water. However, if you want to pinpoint the ideal location for clean, clear water, with minimal drilling, you might consider hiring a dowser like Bil...

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July 20, 2021

Arts and Culture along the CMSB

This week, we present an audio driving guide on arts and culture, produced a few years back, in association with the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway . Hear from artists, musicians, and farmers with tips on farms, galleries, m...

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