Charming Disaster is a Brooklyn-based musical duo, formed in 2012 by singer/songwriters Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the noir storytelling of Raymond Chandler, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write songs that tell stories, combining vocal harmonies and clever lyrics with ukulele, guitar, and virtuosic foot percussion to explore dark narratives and characters with a playful sensibility. In their critically acclaimed albums Love, Crime & Other Trouble (2015) and Cautionary Tales (2017), they have explored themes like love, death, crime, ancient mythology, and the paranormal. Their song “Ghost Story” was featured on the hit podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and they have toured around the United States, playing bars, clubs, museums, and the occasional historic cemetery “Charming Disaster balances smart pop songs against a confident stage presence, sort of a swagger, that suggest the two people out front are destined for great things…these people are overflowing with musical ideas that simply defy categorization.” – The Vinyl Anachronist “Charming Disaster sound like the music that Pugsley and Wednesday Addams might have made after listening to the Decemberists, Squeeze and some Chopin.” – Yes! Weekly “Charming Disaster is a bit unusual. Ok, perhaps ‘unusual’ is putting it lightly. Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris, the duo behind the music, revel in the offbeat and uncanny. Since 2012, they have made a name for themselves with literature-inspired songs that meld folklore and mythology with croon-worthy melodies.” – Hudson Valley Magazine __ Stephen Bluhm's compelling music channels a myriad of time and style, including punk, songbook standards, synth pop, 60's girl groups and folk. The captivating amalgam is pop music but driven by imaginative arty twists both distinctive and singular. His compelling theatricality is enriched with Bluhm's captivating vocals and always catchy lyrical riffs. "There's a youngin like Stephen Bluhm who's got an old soul, writing Tin Pan Alley-ish fare and singing croon-y folk jazz in a voice that'd make Morrissey swoon. The Green Line Café regular is leaving town to help open Hudson, N.Y.'s Club Helsinki — "It's an adventure," he says. Bluhm also told me about a song he landed in the West Philly-shot Jennifer Love Hewitt / Jamie Kennedy flick Café that's due this spring. The team — director Marc Erlbaum and co-producer J. Andrew Greenblatt — wanted songs indigenous to their coffee-klatch setting. They snagged Bluhm's swank original 'Sing to Me.'" -- PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER

Join us for The Spotty Dog Trivia Night. Since 2006, we've held this bi-weekly trivia event. Teams of up to four people compete against each other over four rounds of 15 questions, a worksheet of (usually) 20 questions, and four bonus questions. The winning team gets their bar tab on the house. Anyone can play. See you there!

A portion of all book sales will be donated to the library’s History Room, which acquires holdings regarding the history and culture of Hudson, Greenport and Stockport and maintains, preserves, and protects the collection in a secure, conservation-quality repository while providing access to its holdings.

Often funny, sometimes personal, always entertaining, the collection of essays in The Hudson Valley: The First 250 Million Years offers a unique look at the Hudson Valley’s most important and interesting people, places, and events. From the dinosaurs and the glaciers to the first native peoples and the first European settlers, from Dutch and English Colonial rule to American Revolution, from slave society to the Civil War, from the robber barons and bootleggers to the war heroes and the happy rise of craft beer pubs, the Hudson Valley has quite a story to tell. 

David Levine is a freelance writer and editor. He is the author, coauthor, or ghostwriter of six sports books, including Life on the Rim (Macmillan) and In the Land of Giants (Little, Brown). He writes about everything from history and business to beer and whiskey as a contributing writer for Hudson Valley, Westchester, and 914INC. magazines. He has written about health and medicine, law, business, and sports for many publications, including the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, U.S. News and World Report, American Heritage, Governing, New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, and dozens of other publications, and his work has been selected for two editions of Best Sports Stories. He lives in Albany, New York, with his wife, Kimberly, daughter, Grace, and diabetic dog, Sadie.

Join us for The Spotty Dog Trivia Night. Since 2006, we've held this bi-weekly trivia event. Teams of up to four people compete against each other over four rounds of 15 questions, a worksheet of (usually) 20 questions, and four bonus questions. The winning team gets their bar tab on the house. Anyone can play. See you there!