3.8.10
Berkshire Living Finalist for Six National Awards
One of only nine magazines in the nation to win six or more nominations
2.18.10
Community Radio Station Gets Full-Power License
WBCR to become regional powerhouse in three years
2.15.10
[Eagle Watch] Whoops! They did it again.
Berkshire Eagle headline contradicts story
2.11.10
FILM REVIEW: Crazy Heart
by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
1.20.10
The Filibuster Fiasco
The majority party must wield the reins of power delivered unto it by the people
1.14.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights 1.15-1.18
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
1.5.10
Yiddish Book Center receives 'transformative' $3 million bequest
[Press Release]
12.30.09
Emanuel Ax Plays for Mahaiwe, Lola Jaffe
Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010
12-30-09
FILM REVIEW: Up in the Air
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
11.26.08
MASS MoCA DIRECTOR to BRING SOL LEWITT SOUTH
Rest of the Story event at the Triplex on Dec. 14
11.28.09
Taylor-King Tour to Reunite Original Musicians
Setlist to be based on 'Tapestry,' 'Sweet Baby James' albums
11.12.09
James Taylor and Carole King Reunite for World Tour
Will tour stop at Tanglewood?
11.4.09
An Original Joke
Did you hear the one about the funeral director?
10.31.09
The Return of Israel's Existential Dread
from the Wall Street Journal
10.23.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
10.23.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
|
Remembering Joel Librizzi
6.16.09
In the late 1980s, I was on staff at the Berkshire Eagle, back when the paper was still located in the old Eagle building in downtown Pittsfield.
Joel Librizzi was a ubiquitous presence there, and pretty much everywhere you went around the Berkshires, until recently, when he succumbed to illness and, sadly, died this week.
Joel was one of a kind. He would wander into our office -- our office being that of Berkshires Week, under the reign of editor Nada Samuels -- and just engage in some colorful anecdote about something that happened that day or something that happened thirty years ago. Half the time I had no idea what he was talking about, but he and Nada seemed to share a wavelength, and it was just fascinating to sit back and watch the two of them go at it.
Later I realized it was that Joel was no mere photojournalist -- and I distinctly remember Nada telling me this -- but Joel was an artist. Or at least he had the temperament of an artist. His brush was his camera, and having worked with many photographers over the years, Joel was pretty much one of the classics -- someone who saw the world, through the lens or otherwise, through his unique F-stop.
He had a great voice, inflected with an ethnic accent even though he was a Berkshire native, and a sweet soul and a kind heart. Nothing seemed to faze him while at the same time everything did. But even when he went off on one of his rants, he never lost his temper or became ill-mannered. He always smiled and laughed in the end.
For years after I left the staff of the Eagle but continued to contribute to the daily paper, and then afterwards when I turned my attention to Berkshire Living, I'd run into Joel, and it was as if time stood still. He was as friendly and outgoing as ever, and would launch into one of his good-natured rants or tirades, or talk about some crazy thing his father did, or what have you.
Like I said, I didn't always know what he was talking about. But I did feel his passion, and for that alone I'm thankful to have known Joel Librizzi, may his memory be for a blessing.
|
