Flags Were Raised
East Hampton
August 28, 2019

To the Editor,

Mario Deslauriers and his 20-year-old daughter, Lucy, wound up going head to head in Sunday’s $300,000 Doha Inc. Grand Prix jump-off, joined by Devin Ryan. They were the only ones to enjoy fault-free trips among the 39 horse-and-rider combinations who vied in the Grand Prix’s first round.

For people who perform and rely on a single item for success in their chosen profession, especially when they’re on a big stage, you can be assured that not just any run-of-the-mill knockoff will suffice. And that's particularly true of tennis rackets.

Groundworks Landscaping and the Clubhouse won East Hampton Town women’s and men’s slow-pitch softball playoff trophies, thanks largely, in the women’s case, to Emma Beudert’s high-arc backspun lobs, and, in the Clubhouse’s case, to some solid slugging last Thursday night.

The East Hampton and Shelter Island High School boys and girls cross-country teams turned out for the 42nd running of the Great Bonac 5 and 10Ks at the Springs Firehouse Monday, and, predictably, the 5K’s top 20 largely comprised those teams’ members, who have been running all summer.

Frank Ackley of Springs continued to climb the ladder in his United States Tennis Association age group by reaching the semifinal round of the U.S.T.A.’s national Level 1 grass court championships at the Philadelphia Cricket Club recently.

Bobby Riggs on his epic “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match with Billy Jean King, plus a fond look back at lifeguarding contests and women's slow-pitch.

High school sports go full bore, while the Steve Tarpinian triathlon is Sunday in Noyac.

It’s September, the favorite month for hurricanes. The shorebirds that went to the tundra to breed are already halfway south. We humans have very high I.Q.s, but we can’t fly. Some butterflies and darning needles are also on their way south. They have lower I.Q.s than birds, yet they can also fly and know where the winter is warm.

It felt like only yesterday that we were all celebrating Memorial Day in joyful unison. The summer season was upon us. Time to relax and take in the lazy, hazy days of sunshine, fishing, barbecues, and beaches. But, while the calendar technically states that it is still summer, the party is over for many people. It went fast, too fast for me.

I recently had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Bobby Flay and Michael Symon, Food Network superstars and occasional residents of Amagansett and East Hampton village respectively. The interview time allotted (20 minutes) was not quite enough to construct a meaningful story, but I got a few tasty morsels of cumin-scented, perfectly seared Tomahawk steak nonetheless.

Zoodles are such a thing right now, you can find them already spiralized at grocery and gourmet stores.

Like a rolling stone, Michael Weiskopf has been on the move. Last year, he recorded a fourth solo release. He has recently lived in Portugal, performed in Slovenia’s two largest cities and elsewhere in Europe, and written a book.

‘Who Gets to Call It Art?” is a sprawling collage of a film. Made in 2006, it has a style not unlike the era it covers, jerky and jump-cut with a groovy garage band soundtrack.

The East End Food Institute’s Food Lab conference, featuring panel discussions with chefs and local farmers, wine and food tastings, and cooking classes, will be held on Friday, Sept. 13, and Sept. 14 at Stony Brook Southampton.

John O’Malley’s “Urethane Revolution” is a surprisingly compelling and sometimes moving firsthand history of how the development of urethane wheels took skating to where it is today — a cultural phenomenon and, as of next summer, Olympic sport.

“Paradise,” Edsel Williams's latest exhibition at the Fireplace Project in Springs, features Andrew Brischler and Lee Relvas, who are getting notice for their individual showings in galleries and art fairs, but who also seem as if they are on the precipice of something bigger.

Two years ago, Sara De Luca, the proprietor of Ille Arts in Amagansett, discovered that early September, when the weather is still lovely and the roads are relatively passable, is an ideal time for a circuit of artists’ studios.

The summer season has ended, but Guild Hall hasn’t gotten the message. A trio of music programs and a solo performance that takes place in a bathtub are on the calendar for the coming week, starting tomorrow evening at 8 with a performance by the composer and pianist Bruce Wolosoff and his daughter, Juliet Garrett, a singer-songwriter.

Concerts, auditions, a weekend doc film fest, new classes at Bay Street, and more