Rock(l)and Roll

Just picked up a new publication (The Rockland County Times) and already love working for them. See my next post to read this week's piece on Blimpie's 50th anniversary. 

The following is the woebegone tale of how I came to be united with my latest 'client.' (Man, that's really fun to write)  

The day was Wednesday, March 19, and

I happened to be in the immediate area when RCT's Dylan Skriloff offered a story to the first-responder who wanted to cover one of Governor Andrew Cuomo's press conferences about property tax reform.

I'd been stranded at my father's house all day due to a case of lost keys and remember wondering aloud to myself (and the neighboring kitchen appliances), "They say everything happens for a reason, but I just do NOT understand what reason could be behind this."

A police officer had even helped me break into my car using a wooden spoon earlier in the afternoon (I think I could, at this point, write a book called "Breaking In: the 5-0 Way) to see if I'd left them inside the vehicle. I had no such luck, outside the fact that car alarms will, eventually, stop sounding/alerting everyone within a mile radius that you are  the hugest idiot in the universe.

But I digress.

I had just hopped out of the shower when I was alerted that I'd received the email that I had a possible chance to do the job of journalism, and further, that I was a twenty-or-so minute drive away from doing so.

"Ahhhhhhh - so THIS is why I lost my keys," I said, triumphant finger pointed toward the heavens, as my father pulled said keys from between a chair cushion I'd already searched several times over and handed them over to me with a facial expression denoting exactly that I am the biggest idiot in the universe (But I digress)

Both this event and Katy's Courage 5K, which took place yesterday AM in Sag Harbor, taught me that 

IT. IS. TIME. 

for me to get new camera equipment because this Nikon D500 is just not cutting it. Not even slightly. 

It will make an excellent "extra" camera, so I can FINALLY graduate to being the kind of pro who has two cameras at any given time (three counting an iPhone)

The photos were bleh and though I had taken notes, my iPhone had decided to stop recording at some point because it was crammed full of content.

(I have since upgraded to one with more space/have established back-up techniques to cull content and keep that from ever happening again)

However, I did get to interview our state governor, which is a pretty righteous rite of passage for any young journo. 

I also need a new tape recorder....

Is there any rich journalist (cue the canned laughter), or at least one who now has a talk show, who wants to help me get new audio/visual/computer equipment? 

(Cue the cricket reel) 

Following the event, I flew to a nearby diner and began to write furiously, but as I have some horrific Dell without so much as a genuine version of Windows (which it reminds me about every two minutes) three-quarters of my copy blasted off into a nearby dimension never to return when I was nearly finished and I then spent the next few hours trying to recreate the article from memory.

I'm not sure what the moral of the story is - oh right - the moral of the story is, my dear, young journalism professionals, you need to somehow have enough money to be able to afford the best technology, or at least a computer with a genuine copy of Windows. 

I haven't quite figured out how to do that as a freelancer without going into further debt than my journalism degree has me, but once I do - you'll probably be the first ones I tell.

Revvin' up

                                       

I am incredibly excited to announce that I will be trimming down my daytime hours tending bar at Tweed's to focus exclusively on my freelance work.

Inserted above are my photos from Stephen Talkhouse's mid-winter beach party, taken on assignment for this week's issue of Dan's Papers.

I'm currently in New Orleans, but about to sit down and write a piece for them that will include a fairly big (IMO) local story scoop (my specialty!) - hopefully it will still be a scoop when it's published!

I will also be writing a feature for the Sag Harbor Express, which will be published in their upcoming 'Home & Garden' magazine. The newspaper takes a break from special pubs. in January and February, so I am way excited to be back at it for them. 

My editor, Kathryn Menu, always gives me incredibly interesting assignments, edits carefully without stomping out my voice or adding errors into my copy and is very thorough about her expectations for pieces, whether they be about deadlines, sources, style, etc.

I am blessed to have a number of truly excellent editors, but I have to give Ms. Menu credit for her kindness, patience and consistent diligence. 

Okay, that's enough yapping from this rookie for one afternoon.

I'm going to get writing over here in the French Quarter (which is ironic, as I am exactly one quarter Cajun) and continue revvin' myself up for the inevitability of national publication and super stardom!

And I will never forget those calculating few of you who have unjustly attempted to hold me back, knock me down or entirely destroy me.  

You are tiny people and I feel sorry for you. 

Bringing Sexy Back to Riverhead

                                  

Gianna Volpe Photo: James Hall Jr. (Left) and Calvin Kerr (Right) said Feb. 23 they signed a contract with Steve Siegalwaks of Green Earth Grocers to open JC's Cafe and Lounge in the back portion of the 50 E. Main St. building.

By Gianna Volpe

A new business in downtown Riverhead, JC's Cafe and Lounge, will have a soft opening at 8 p.m. next Saturday, March 15,according to co-owner and executive chef, Calvin Kerr. 

"We'll have signage by the rear entrance, which will be open between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. next Saturday night," Kerr, a Bellport Village resident, said of The soft opening. "We're also building a wall to separate us from the market with French doors in it so there will also be access to the lounge from the front."

No formal permit applications for the business had been filed with Riverhead Town as of March 7.

"We want to bring the sexy back to Riverhead," Kerr said Feb. 23 of the ultimate goal he and co-owner James Hall Jr. have for JC's Cafe and Lounge. "We've got a 52-inch television coming in, couches, ottomans, candles, lanterns and dim lighting. We want our customers to be comfortable."

Hall Jr., a Shirley resident who will serve as the business's floor manager, said he wants to ensure customers not only feel comfortable, but safe.

"I want this to be something where you can kick it and relax and don't have to worry about nothing," he said. "Our couches are going to be so comfortable that you may find yourself falling asleep in them and the guys I've got lined up [for security] are bigger than me."

Kerr and Hall Jr. do not yet have a liquor license for JC's Cafe & Lounge, but said customers are welcome to bring their own alcohol.

The establishment's menu of "eclectic food with a hippie gourmet style" was created by Kerr, a Jamaican native who said his 14 years in the restaurant industry began with a six-year stint at Gurney's Resort and Spa in Montauk.

"I'm really excited," he said of the imminent opening planned for JC's Cafe & Lounge. "This is the culmination of my career.

E-mail the author:

agentjanefox@gmail.com

Latest East End original cocktail round-up

Okay, okay, maybe it's incredibly lazy to post a fuzzy screenshot of my latest Dan's Papers piece (which incidentally features my "White Russian martini") but cut me some slack, people - I work all day everyday and most nights to make ends meet out here!

But truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Getting DBA for "Agent Jane Fox Inc." this upcoming week and plan to get tshirts made up at Peconic Bay Apparel - think they'll have my spine tat on the back!

AND - even more exciting - I'm getting internets installed in my little cottage on Saturday night! 

So hey, maybe in the soonwhile (made that up) you'll even see me set-up my first legit. web page and whatnot!

Think I'm going to start posting news I find blog-style so I can show off my scooping skills and use the posts to pitch stories to publications. 

Oh! And congrats to RHLOCAL on SoutholdLOCAL - maybe eventually I'll move to the South Fork and head up HamptonsLOCAL! 

Or maybe I'll be too super famous by then 😎

Over and Out

Scoopin' the East End

Scooped nearly every publication for the story on Long Island's first mobile slaughterhouse except one 

(which taught me a very valuable lesson about how pitching a story may mean having it stolen from you)

I ultimately gave the story to Dan's Papers, which has been giving me steady work as both a writer and photographer. 

Print version comes out on Friday, but check out the story on the Dan's Papers website:

http://danspapers.com/2014/02/browders-birds/

(Story inserted below for the truly lazy)

Gianna Volpe photo

Holly Browder sets up the Browder's Birds booth on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Riverhead Farmer's Market.

If you’ve ever bought one of Browder’s Birds to serve certified organic local free-range chicken at home or had one tantalizingly prepared for you at well-loved locavore paradise The North Fork Table & Inn, chances are you’ve been jonesing all winter long for another taste of the lean, local meat.

And you’re in luck, because not only are farmers Holly and Chris Browder the proud new owners of Long Island’s very first mobile slaughterhouse—thanks in part to a $61,375 grant awarded by the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council—but the farmers are also seeking a license that will mean they will no longer be subject to a 1,000-bird annual cap.

New York State’s small farm exemption currently allows the Browders to sell 1,000 chickens every year from their 16-acre farm in Mattituck.  They are looking into becoming licensed with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets as operators of an MPU, or mobile processing unit, which will increase that limit to 20,000 birds annually.

“Every small state exemption is different, so in Virginia that’s enough to make into a small business at 20,000 birds, but at 1,000 birds we sell out in October and then we’re done,” Holly Browder said of the difficulties in operating under New York’s small farm exemption, adding that she and husband will “never” reach 20,000 birds in hopes of maintaining their reputation as responsible, caring poultry farmers, who raise their local chicks free range.

“We’re not trying to be a huge chicken producer because the whole thing with pasture-raised animals is that you don’t want too many animals,” she said. “We just want to grow our business enough to be sustainable.”

Though Long Island’s first MPU is a 28-foot aluminum trailer filled with stainless steel equipment capable of processing upward of 500 poultry animals per day, Chris Browder, a former managing director at Bank of America and two-decade Manhattanite, said he isn’t looking to produce that kind of volume.

“Right now I’m just interested in learning how to use this thing properly,” said Browder, who has historically manually processed his chickens. “We’ll probably do 100 chickens at a time until we get super comfortable with it. Once we feel like we have everything under control, then maybe we’ll increase that number.” He said the facility “absolutely” has the capability to be moved around to other farms that have access to 100 amps of electricity, propane and potable water, but added he is not at a point where he has seriously considered doing so.

“Until I know the ins and outs of this thing, we’re just going to use it ourselves,” he said.

Browder plans to begin using the MPU come Memorial Day weekend, but added he will remain limited to 1,000 chickens until the licensing process is through.

“First order of business is getting the 5-A [license] so we can ramp up past 1,000,” he said. “Who knows if that will take two days or two years.”

Though Browder said the mobile processing concept is relatively new, he hopes the fact that the unit’s design has already been approved by New York State will help streamline the bureaucratic process.

“This particular unit was designed and built by a friend of mine named Ed Leonardi from WildCraft Farm upstate in Swan Lake,” Browder said of the facility, which he purchased last month. “I learned about him because of his MPU and called him shortly after he’d finished it in 2009 or 2010 and said that I would love to come up and take a look … It took him a long, long time to get that thing licensed, but he was finally able to get Ag and Markets to sign off on the design, so that unit is approved for [poultry] slaughter in New York State.”

Browder said though discussions of a mobile red meat slaughterhouse on Long Island are ongoing, he doesn’t believe it’s likely one will be rolling to the East End any time soon.

“Those things are expensive and they need a lot of throughput so the question is, ‘Is there enough volume out here to justify something that expensive?’” explained Browder. “The jury’s still out on that.”

Holly Browder said she is hopeful, adding that a recently-formed committee is looking at logistics on the subject looking forward. ”Everybody new is doing livestock,” she said of the East End animal raising trend.

Browder is a member on the Long Island Farm Bureau’s board of directors and was instrumental is the founding of Riverhead’s weekly indoor farmers market, Saturdays at 117 East Main Street, across from Suffolk Theater.

Gianna Volpe

Agentjanefox@gmail.com

Bylines Abound!

Hey there reporter's blog!

Just checkin' in with ya to let you know that I got my first hard copy bylines with Edible East End and Dan's Papers!

Unfortunately the Dan's Papers byline is coupled with an article that I did not write and (winemaker of Osprey's Dominion and Coffee Pot Cellars) Adam Suprenant's name was spelled wrong in it, but that's okay- my article about local wine for the holidays can be found in the Dan's Papers special holiday preview that came out about a week ago!

It's got a Christmas tree on it and my article is called "Wine Down," if you happen to see it on your travels around the East End/Manhattan.

I work my little squirrel tail off, so I haven't yet gotten the chance to post clips here for y'all, but I'll get there! (All in good time)

Super psyched to see the review I wrote about Leann Lavin's "Hampton and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook" when it gets posted on Edible's website 😊

In the meantime - check out this portrait of me from First and South in Greenport's "prohibition night," which was well attended by what seemed to be the entire population of the East End's 20-something hipsters--dressed to the nines in historic garb  (including yours truly)

Cheers, friends (and enemies too!)

Update to keep y'all up-to-date

Hey y'all,

I know I need to start scanning my pieces onto my craptop (crappy laptop), but I haven't had much time to myself these days, so there's that.

If I never showed y'all - this was the Long Island business news supplement containing my first piece for them about East Ender biz seasonal success stories, which contains a huge portrait I took of Otto and John Wittmeier of the Modern Snack Bar in Aquebogue.

I did three or four pieces for Dan's Papers that should be coming out soon - one about the Peconic Ballet Theater, another about holiday cocktails, and a third about local wine for the holidays. 

The fourth is one I've not yet written - and is really just an aggregation of original cocktails from this year's best of the best bartenders. 

                                                      

Also my monthly mag feature for the Sag Harbor Express should be out soon - it's about fireplaces and how they add to the ambiance of a meal (=

I've also written my first few pieces for Edible East End! 

I did about seven "giftable" pieces, which are little blurbs about holiday gift ideas, a small piece on whisper vineyards in saint James and another small piece about how Rich Vandenburgh of Greenport Harbor Brewery finally got around to planting that barley we talked about last winter when I broke the news that their Peconic location could be Southold's first brew pub. 

I am now about to write a 500-word "notable"on Leann Lavin's "Homegrown Cookbook," which was supposed to arrive in the mail, but hasn't yet, leaving me heartbroken. 

Blahblahblah I love freelancing, but being impoverished is no fun blahblah.