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Documentary explains why Binghamton is so creative

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A Binghamton native has returned to his hometown to produce a documentary the seeks to answer the question of why Binghamton is so creative. Everett De Morier with the help of his son Nick has created Binghamton Valley of Creativity. READ MORE HERE – SEE VIDEO HERE

Binghamton cool

There are few times in your adult life — maybe three times after your thirty and you might get one more in your forties — that you get to feel ‘cool’. I don’t mean the big ‘cool’ that you get to keep; the winning touchdown, the pushing someone out of the street right before the bus whizzes by, the snappy remark that wins the argument but also turns the crowd in your favor. And I don’t mean the forced cool, the notice me, the yeah, I just did that, kind. Nope. Cool, when it’s real, is a much deeper thing. It’s what you get when you don’t deserve it, but the people that are around you are so very cool, that before you know it, it’s all around your shoulders like a blanket. And you can’t believe how warm you are. And this is the real ‘cool’. Not a condition, but an action. Not people that are necessarily cool, but people that act cool to each other and to you. We are in Binghamton, New York and Binghamton has made me feel cool. This area is the place that used to be home and now just where all the memories are stored — which isn’t a bad thing — but a small group of people that I have spent the last day with, are very cool people. We are here doing two things. We are pre-launching the new book THE INVENTION OF EVERYTHING: Insights on Life, Food, and one good Thermos. And since the book has ties to Binghamton we have expanded that to making the book tour the frame for a documentary about the arts scene in the area entitled BINGHAMTON: Valley of Creativity. That we will be premiering at The Broome County Arts Council in February. Which is amazing. And we put together a team. Two videographers, a still photographer, a drone pilot along with my publisher and myself, to film all we need in two days and then go back and turn it all into a film to premiere in Binghamton in February. And yes, I spent five hours yesterday on-set getting to interview, one-on-one, some of the most talented and gifted people I have ever met. And I could ask them anything and it was open and real and true. Yup. And that was cool. But there was also having to shoot the same scene three hundred and eleven times in front of Mather Street, to get the ‘Walking tour of Cecils’ part just right — that wasn’t so cool. But the coolness that came later at the book signing at The Belmar, was worth waiting for. These people, these videographers — kids really, the age of my own kids — who had only known each other for minutes before I got to the first shoot — gelled like they had grown up together. This still photographer — a vibrant, confident, energetic young woman who seemed like she had been born with a camera in her hand — took her place like she had always been there. In minutes, five strangers became a team. Then the coolness came. When Jen at the The Belmar brought me a hamburger, guessing how I would like it and brought it over to the book table. When Emily fussed with the sleeves of my jacket then brought me her favorite beer because she ‘knew’ I would like it. When Will grabbed boxes of books and placed them out on a table, even though that wasn’t his job and wasn’t asked to do so. When Charles joked and laughed and then became a phantom and got shots when I never knew he was there. When Ed, the owner of The Belmar, refused to take our money for food. When Connie, who was rushing to meet her new grandchild on a different coast, spent days on the phone, organizing not only the best of Binghamton to interview but a place for us to shoot. When Tara, the most camera-shy person I have ever met, agreed to be interviewed and traveled from New Jersey just to support one of her authors. When my old friend Tejay who interviewed me on his radio station that morning, hugged me and told me that he was proud of me. That was very, very cool. Today is day two. Tara, the publisher and I will meet our team this morning for another busy day. It will be productive. It will be fun. But I’m already watching the clock and knowing it will soon end. We will all go our separate ways. And I will remember how cool these people made me feel.

The Gallery …

When we watch movies — smart people call them films by the way — there are certain areas of life that we accept as fact on screen, that never, ever happen in the real world. One example of this is called Standard Urban Groceries, of SUB. Now, this is something that you see when they want the audience to know that the character has stopped at a grocery store before the scene has started. So, the scene will open with he, or she, carrying a single brown paper grocery bag and sticking out of the top of it you will see a loaf of French bread and the greens from a bunch of carrots. Always. In real life you will never see these things together in this way. Ever. But in films — see how cultured I am? — it happens so often that you don’t even record it as strange. But if it were to happen in real life, you’d go, — “Hey, where did you get that brown grocery bag and did you steal those carrots?” The same is true with what people do in movies and TV. Things that are very common for people on the screen, aren’t so common on this side of it. A perfect example of this is cocktail parties. Cocktail parties are constantly going on in films and TV. And I mean, regular everyday people, just like you and me, are always trying to get out of boring cocktail parties. These will be held by the boss, some powerful figure, or a character that we don’t like very much. I mean, if you track it, TV and movie characters spend a third of their life trying to weasel out of cocktail parties. Oh, and Art Galleries are another one they always try to avoid. A friend of a friend is always having a show at some snooty Art Gallery — this usually occurs during playoff time where a difficult conflict is had by the male character — and the spouse wants him to go with her. Now here is a confession. In my fifty-five years of life, I can tell you that I’ve never been to, or been invited to, a cocktail party. Ever. I’ve gone to parties, I’ve gone to parties where they’ve served cocktails, and I’ve gone to cocktail hours at events, conferences, weddings and the like. But never the type of cocktail parties that are seen on TV and films. And up until last Friday, I had never gone to a show at an Art Gallery. See, we live in the small town of Dover, Delaware — which is not exactly teaming with Art Galleries. We have Mattress Stores. But there is one gallery, it’s in the old part of town, on Loockerman Street, and it’s called The Dover Art League. Now the Dover Art League has showings of local artists all the time and I always see these notices and for the eleven years we’ve lived here, I’ve never gone. So last Friday I finally did. There were two artists at The Dover League, one artist had the entire downstairs — of this great old building — and another artist had the upstairs. There were, I don’t know, maybe a dozen people there, milling around and there was a lot of ooh-ing and ahh-ing just like you’d expect. In the business world, this is called Tradeshow-Euphoria. Where people are so excited to be out of the office for three days, that they can’t tell you how amazing your product is.  Then, when they get home and start cooking their own meals again, this enthusiasm begins to fade. Now I don’t know anything about art. But I enjoyed the paintings I saw. But more importantly, I really enjoyed what I saw — with the artists. Because pride is a very delicate commodity. It can easily boil over and become boastful, even mean. It can bubble into arrogance or conceit. But these artists at The Dover Art League, had genuine — pride. Pride in their work, pride in having a showing, and pride in having others see what they did. This pride was contagious, it beamed from them, and you felt it as soon as you walked near. As soon as you spoke to them, as soon as you felt that smile on you. It was pure. It was genuine. And it was special.

The Loockerman Letter

The Loockerman Letter

The folks at First Sothern Baptist once again used the environs of Dover as a basis for its Christmas production. Specifically, they based the tale of a redeeming and revealing letter left sixty years ago in a time capsule upon the painting of a Loockerman Street cornerstone

THE PLAY’S THE THING: ‘The Mollywood Tree’ an original musical that tackles life, adversity and faith

The Mollywood TreeBy Jeff Brown / jeff.brown@doverpost.com / @DoPoJeff The First Southern Baptist Church of Dover presents an inspiring story of faith. It is December 1884, and the storm of the century is headed straight for Clayton Springs, Conn. By Christmas day, this tiny town will suffer devastation on a scale that might give its inhabitants cause to even question the meaning of life itself. But the people of the fictional Clayton Springs do not lose faith. How they survive is the crux of “The Mollywood Tree,” an original musical presented by the First Southern Baptist Church of Dover. “This is about a town that is literally destroyed, but it’s not a grim story,” said Pastor David Aubrey. “It’s a beautiful story about survival and faith and how a miracle happened, about how all the people in the town joined together.” At the center of the play is the titular Mollywood Tree, which almost is a character in its own right. “The Mollywood Tree is the most symbolic part of our story,” Aubrey said. “Our story is full of symbolism. In fact, every word, every song, every set piece, is a metaphor for the Christmas story and for salvation.” The play is the work of author Everett De Morier, who has penned all of First Southern’s Christmas productions. “When I approached him that first year, I told him the Lord had laid it on my heart to do a Christmas program. I just feel you are supposed to be a part of this,” Aubrey said. “His response was, ‘Dave, if you tell me you need me to go put on a duck costume, I’ll put on a duck costume.’” Much of “The Mollywood Tree” unfolds through the experiences of three youngsters, played by Kierstin Melnick, Chris Baldinger and Noah Pfenninger. “The one thing we wanted to do is tell the story through their eyes,” De Morier said. “At that age, the world is still huge, magical and exciting.” Despite the hardships the residents of Clayton Springs face, the children find by the end of the play that “everything they thought was important is important,” he said. This will mark the fifth year the church has put on an original Christmas production. Back in 2009, when Aubrey came up with the idea he literally had nothing to work with – no stage, no sets and no experience. But that year the church successfully presented “Dover: A Christmas Story,” using very simple background sets. Things went so well that when the play was repeated in 2010, Aubrey decided to kick it up a notch. “We’d been told that if you want to make your production really fantastic, you have to call in Eddie Seger,” Aubrey said. “He came in and built us this three-dimensional, full-stage set. It was unbelievable.” With Seger on board, productions of “A Gift to Remember” in 2011 and “The Loockerman Letter” in 2012 proved to be even more visually interesting. Seger, a retired Caesar Rodney High School art and drama teacher, tries to visualize the author’s thoughts when turning words on a page into a three-dimensional world. “It’s fun, because with an original play you get to make suggestions,” Seger said. “In this case, Everett has created one of his best shows. It’s got a real feel for the holiday season.” For “The Mollywood Tree,” Seger created a trio of periactoi, three-sided panels on rollers that can be moved to create new scenery. The sets also include a 10-foot high bandstand, a 35-foot-long sledding hill, a realistic-looking bonfire and, of course, the Mollywood Tree, which will tower 14 feet above the stage floor. The special effects centerpiece will be when the massive snowstorm actually hits Clayton Springs. “It will be a very interactive, three-dimensional, use-all-your-senses kind of storm,” Aubrey promised. “For about 30 seconds, there’ll be snow, wind and things falling on stage.” Some of the faux snowflakes might even land in the audience, he said. The play has a cast of about 50, including the choir, who also serve as townspeople. All of the songs are weaved into the storyline in a way that smoothly moves the narrative along. For more information, call the church at 678-3130. Pastor David Aubrey gives stage directions at the Nov. 4 rehearsal for “The Mollywood Tree” Set designer Eddie Seger creates a special effects bonfire that will be seen in several parts of the play Hannah Harvath and son Ayden, 4, play townspeople during a tree-decorating scene in the play SOURCE: http://www.doverpost.com/article/20131207/NEWS/131209830

Cornerstone’s ‘Welcome to Castlewood’ explores true meaning of Christmas

Cornerstone’s ‘Welcome to Castlewood’ explores true meaning of Christmas Dec 1st, 2016 · by Ashton Brown. Special to the Delaware State News DOVER — For its eighth annual Christmas show, Cornerstone Church is presenting the original musical “Welcome to Castlewood.” The production, written by David Aubrey and Everett de Morier, started with a discussion early in the year, like it has since the two first worked together in 2009. “I think every year we have a fear that we will exhaust every possible scenario because we want to have something different — a new perspective every year,” Mr. de Morier said. The two started with a simple scene in a barber shop and three main characters. “I think we just started to know these characters and added some unique ideas and imagery and from there, we’ve let this little idea really become a creation of our own and now we get to see it come to life,” Mr. Aubrey said. “Welcome to Castlewood” is set in 1937 and follows the stories of three very different people — an outcast, a stranger and an orphan. The three are all looking for joy, but looking in all the wrong places. “It’s a story that unites people,” Mr. Aubrey said. “You have these characters all doing separate things, looking for joy, but there comes crisis that can change everything and the characters begin to see things in a whole new perspective.” For almost everyone in the play, acting is like Christmas — it happens but once a year. Vic Jeffries and Lonna Baldinger are playing husband and wife for the second time in the annual Cornerstone production and started out in the choir. “We’ve been in the choir for a long time and this is both of our seventh or eighth years in the Christmas play,” Mr. Jeffries said. “It’s the first time I’ve had more than a few lines and it’s going to be really fun.” Since both only perform in the Christmas productions, their families and friends have made it a point to come out and support them every year. “My coworkers come out and even though I don’t really act often, I don’t think they’ll be surprised what I do on stage because I’m a real jokester at work,” Mr. Jeffries said. Ms. Baldinger said her bosses and their families come out every year to see her and that like the actors, they fall in love with each year’s performance. “It’s one of those things where we never think this year can be better than (the) last,” she said. “But somehow it always is.” But the actors usually don’t even know the premise of the play until after all the roles have been cast. “It’s a big deal and they keep the story under wraps,” Kierstin Melnick said. “I think it makes it more fun because once you get the script, you can read the story and dive into it and take on this totally original character you didn’t know outside the story.” Kierstin is 19 and has been in each year’s Christmas production. Since she started as an 11-year-old, she has taken full advantage of her experience at Cornerstone. “The first couple plays I did here at church, I really loved them,” she said. “So I got into theater in school and did shows all the way through high school.” Senior pastor at Cornerstone, Jeff Osgood, loves seeing the stories Mr. Aubrey and Mr. de Morier are able to develop that all tell the true meaning of Christmas. “I think everyone walks around and sees the lights and decorations but people forget the real meaning of Christmas,” he said. “I think people want to hear a retelling of the story of Christmas and the birth of Christ and the annual plays are a good way to tell the Gospel in a dramatic, unexpected way.” Even though the performance always brings home the meaning of Christmas, it’s hard to let go of the story once the curtain goes down for the final time. “For other types of art, the end is just the beginning. It’s when people can finally watch it or read it or view it. But for a play, the end is really the end,” Mr. de Morier said. “There was a time when it felt so real and everyone was so immersed in it but then you take the costumes off and put the props always and it’s finished.” But finishing the Cornerstone Christmas show isn’t a bad thing because everyone has the opportunity to see what next year has to offer. Mr. Aubrey will take the lead next year as Mr. de Morier is stepping down to spend more time with his family. “I’ve been in five (plays) and co-directed seven and it’s a lot of work,” Mr. Aubrey said. “This year alone, we have more than 70 people participating in the show in one way or another. So it’s a lot to manage, but we all still look forward to it, even though it’s hard work.” “Welcome to Castlewood” will be performed at Cornerstone Church at 761 S. Little Creek Road in Dover. Show times are 7 p.m. Dec. 9, 10 and 11 with an additional 2 p.m. show on Dec. 11. More information is available online at cornerstonedover.org or by calling 678-3130. Ashton Brown is a freelance writer living in Dover.   SOURCE: https://delawarestatenews.net/entertainment/cornerstones-welcome-castlewood-explores-true-meaning-christmas/