Photos: ©Dean Zgoda/Eclipse Agency
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Review by Jason Panella, Beaver Falls, PA
The advance of technology has resulted in a wake of collateral damage, casualties not to strife but to convenience. As our cultures recent histories are solidifying in textbooks (or in PDFs), footnotes will hint at piles of Laserdiscs and pagers, or reference photos of families gathered around their radio for the evening’s entertainment.
This last one is especially sad; western society’s shift from radio drama to television drama was a bad thing per se, but it did help usher in a generation without any ability to use its collective imagination. The days of pulpy storytelling as art died with the flash of a cathode-ray tube.
That is, unless you’re James Catullo or Michael Rubino.
The Cellar Dwellers, a Beaver County based sketch comedy group, were contacted about performing at Café Kolache, a coffee shop in Beaver, Pa. Realizing that the Dwellers would have a hard time packing into Kolache’s cozy interior, two members — Mike and James — decided to work on a side project to debut at the coffee shop.
Both were interested in the golden era of radio dramas, and were interested in trying the form out. They listened to classic episodes posted online, and felt like they could do something with a pulpy character, akin to the Shadow or Sky King.
The concept for Dodge Intrepid, their titular hero, was born from their mutual love of local lore and history; the automobile and interstate highways in post World War II had drastic impact on many small cities, including Aliquippa and Beaver Falls.
Set in a fictional version of 1940s Aliquippa, Dodge Intrepid and the Pages of Time features the adventures of world famous librarian Dodge Intrepid (voiced by Catullo) and his intern Pluck Gumption (voiced by Rubino). Dodge and Pluck have a laundry list of enemies bent on Aliquippa’s destruction, including a soliloquy prone nigh-immortal gypsy and an army of penguins, and their journeys often take them through time and space.
While there’s a wide-eyed sense of wonder about the radio show, it’s written with tongue rooted in cheek. Mike and James (with addition voice guru Michael Hinzman) saturate their radio shows with deadpan and offbeat humor. And it works quite well. Their writing has grown significantly since they began; while the first few shows had a few laughs, the crew’s most recent shows have caused me to cry from laughing so hard. The interaction between the supporting cast is my favorite thing — Mike and James have created a world so intricate that minor characters like monomaniacal newspaper editor Ted Brubaker or Dodge’s pathetically inept grandfather Edsel Intrepid feel like real people.
One of the best aspects about Dodge Intrepid, though, is how balanced it is. While any given episode is littered with pop culture references or local humor, it’s never alienating. And while there is a lot of backstory that’s developed over the past few years, it’s easy for first-time listeners to jump in — it rewards newcomer and devotee alike. And there are plenty of small wink and nod moments for people paying attention (Mike and James’s personal interests in literature and film come out often).
The Dodge crew usually performs several times a year at Café Kolache, their shows consisteing of four 30-minute episodes broken up by short intermissions. In keeping with the radio drama aesthetic, they interlace their segments with fake advertisements and secret messages to their faux fan club (which, sadly, has yet to form). Mike and James have also done a few one-shot episodes at Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea Co., often in conjunction with a local musician.
Rubino and Catullo plan on having another batch of episodes to debut in the early fall, so check their website for more information. You can also listen to all of their previous episodes in digital format. I suggest the live recordings…as nice as the studio efforts are, they don’t have the spontaneity of the broadcast performances.
Photos by: G. Ryan Cerbus, Beaver Falls, PA
ryan.cerbus@gmail.com
See other photos, designs, and ideas by Mr. Cerbus @ ryancerbus.com
A few weeks ago I noticed an opinion piece in the times about cats running amuck in Beaver County. Since its short, I’ll post it in full:
Letting cats run wild is inexcusable
Everywhere I look there are cats.
Some are friendly strays that have wandered from home, were left behind by their owners or even dumped by neighbors fed up with the cats on their property.
Some are feral, the wild offspring of these unaltered stray cats.
Some do have homes, but the owners allow their cats to roam through neighborhoods in hopes that they will make it home every night.
Many I have found dead or near death on our streets.
How unfair is it to the neighbors to have to deal with your cats roaming in their yards and going to the bathroom in their gardens.
Even more cruel and unfair is allowing unaltered cats to roam where they will get pregnant and continue to litter communities with more unwanted cats. Horrible things often happen to these cats. They are hit by cars, poisoned, catch diseases, attacked by dogs and even worse.
The cats are the ones that suffer from their owners’ irresponsibility. These are lives, not objects. Many animal shelters have low-cost spay/neuter options for people who need help. Please look into these programs and consider keeping your cat safely indoors.
Melanie Ulicny
Ambridge
After reading this I started to realize exactly how right Melanie is. Here in Beaver Falls, there are cats EVERYWHERE. I know this because during walks with my 2 year old I hear little more than: “kitty,” “meow,” “cat,”… on a repeating loop. There are more cats wandering our streets than on Broadway in the late eighties.
I spend a significant amount of time at a local park working. One day a black cat showed up and spent the better part of three hours rubbing itself on my bare legs, purring, and licking my toes. It goes without saying, this made it a bit difficult to focus. With great mental fortitude, I ignored my obstinate feline friend and pushed on. Yet day after day the cat came back… skinnier and skinnier. After three weeks away from my park office, the cat was gone.
This week I returned to the park. While working this time I looked up to find a couple walking back to their silver PT Cruiser carrying a cardboard box. Strange. Then I realized: cat dumpers! Sadly, I missed their license plate number.
Walking over to the river they had come from I expected to find a kitten. Nope. I found six of them.
Although I called the authorities to try to bring some sort of aid to the kittens, I doubt anything will happen.
Come on people! Knock it off. Spay your cats or deal with the outcome in a responsible manner before Beaver County becomes Planet of the Cats.
Oh, and Mr. Silver PT Cruiser, I’m watching for you.
Over 2500 years ago Sophocles said, “I would prefer even to fail with honor than to win by cheating.”
Sophocles is so passé.
Bob Bauder writes on Blackhawk swim coach falsifying student-athletes’ times so they could qualify for the WPIAL championship swim meet. Allegedly, Jackman stood up on the bus and announced to the athletes his intention of cheating to a bus of athletes. One student reported this to the athletic director (Jack Fullen) who reportedly ignored the report.
Call me old fashioned, but, come on, really?
Cheating=bad.
Announcing to impressionable minds one’s intention to cheat=absurd.
But wait, there’s more. Jackman sees nothing wrong with what he’s done:
Jackman, the only swimming coach in Blackhawk history, said he doesn’t understand the controversy.
The former high school science teacher admitted sending inaccurate times to the WPIAL without Fullen’s knowledge, saying it was kind of like giving an “A minus to a kid instead of a B plus.”
“I really don’t understand the problem,” he said. “There were some times that were sent in that were not accurate. They went (to the WPIAL championship), and they swam once, and they didn’t go to (the state championship). We didn’t get any points from it. There was nothing major that came about as far as the WPIAL.”
Oh, OK, its no big deal, just like giving kids grades they don’t deserve? I hadn’t thought of it that way.
Priceless.
In the past few weeks, several things brought the question of the best places in Beaver County to take regionally based photographs. One of these is the creative Lost in Beaver County. The other is finding some semblance of this question in google analytics showing up.
So, for a quick question, where are the best places to take pics in Beaver County?
Personally (although I rarely carry a camera), I like taking pictures of decay and age: factories, Mayer China, the old railroad station in Beaver Falls, etc.
Someone was asking on twitter about fireworks in Beaver County. Well, this is a good question. It seems Beaver Falls’ fireworks are not happening. This is a bit of a bummer for our family as we could always watch from our front porch.
If you’re looking for fire in the sky, check out the following:
Hopewell, July 4 and 5 10:30 pm
Midland, July 4 Dusk
And if you can wait a few days:
Independence has their day of celebration (including fireworks), July 18
New Sewickley Township, August 1
For other 4th of July weekend activities see:
KDKA’s
BCT’s
By Greg Veltman
Last week I was listening to the news on local NPR affiliate: WDUQ - 90.5 FM. While most of Morning Edition consists of national stories from the DC office, near the end of each hour, local stories and news take to the airwaves. WDUQ was doing a series on the trend toward organic and sustainable farming in the Pittsburgh area. One of the first people the journalist mentioned was a local Beaver county farmer, Don Kretschmann.
He has been doing organic farming for a long time and was proud of the fact that it is now becoming the dominant and popular way to do farming. The WDUQ blog has a small synopsis and the complete audio of the series, Part 1 features Kretschmann and his work, but the whole series is a great way to learn more about local farming in the area and the methods and reasoning that farmers are taking a sustainable approach to caring for the earth and their communities.
AgMap is a great site for searching out information about Pennsylvania agriculture. Look up a local farmers market, co-op, or agriculture business.
by Tim Edris
In my opinion Kelly’s is still one of my favorite haunts in the Beaver Valley. Let me tell you why. While not the largest selection of beer in the valley, it certainly stocks enough on tap to keep everyone happy from the the beer snob to the IC light fan. They have a good pub menu with a a few classics like the Pub Burger and the Cuban Reuben. I have spent many a fond evening or afternoon sitting on the island themed open air dining area enjoying the food, spirits and atmosphere. But here is the story behind the story.
My wife had just given birth to our first child, not far from Kelly’s at the Beaver Valley Medical Center. I was in search of food having not eaten all day because I was in the labor and delivery area. As baby Marisol and Anna (mom) were resting I went down the road to one of the few places near there — Kelly’s. It was one of the few places open on a Monday. I ordered my usual dinner and got to talking with the bartender. I informed her that I had had my first child.
No sooner had I said that than the owner Jim Kelly was pouring me a a tumbler of scotch toasting my new child. It was a small but noted gesture. That is what I like about the place. The owner took time to celebrate with me. The story gets better. My wife upon my departure wanted cinnamon rolls. Where am I going to find cinnamon roles at 9 pm on Monday — Everything is closed. I mentioned this to Jim and the bartender and they decided to talk with the cook to make up their own version of a Kelly’s cinnamon roll. They improvised with what they had in their kitchen and came up with something I could present my wife and new mother in celebration of our daughter’s birth. Both the cinnamon roll as well as the drink were on the house.
So if you are looking for good pub grub this is the place to go. In addition they have a few traditional Irish dishes that are very good and some delicious salads for the health conscious. They make their own pub chips (a classic) with a tangy petal sauce. Treat your self to a nice relaxed pub experience try Kelly’s out. They are also smoke free inside which is a real plus for me.
I had a business meeting this week. The default was to go to chain restaurant in the area. Don’t get me wrong, the Chicken Fiesta Wrap was tasty and the service was fine. At the same time, I moderately wished we had gone someplace locally owned, supporting local commerce and people. The chains become our default because we know what to expect when we go there. They are all cut from the same mold.
Following up on Russ Warren’s Manifesto, one of the things would be helpful for the county is getting the word out about locally owned and operated restaurants.
We are looking for people to do short and sweet reviews of local eateries. Its simple. Write a few paragraphs about what you love about a local establishment and/or what fell short of your expectations.
Pitch in and help out!
Send reviews to: beavercountyonline@gmail.com
Twenty and thirty-s omethings throughout Beaver County bemoan the fact that there is nothing to do in the area. Looking for refuge in the South Side or North Shore of that other county, young people flee BC looking for adventure.
Come on, why leave people? We have polo! (sure Pittsburgh may have bike polo… but we have real horseys).
I have never been, but I have made a commitment that this is the summer of polo.
The chances of my attendance actually increased when, while reading a blog post by “Pennsylvania Wild Woman,” I came to find out that polo tail-gating is encouraged.
Check out the polo club’s website for details on matches (or whatever one calls a polo event).
People that have been out for Darlington Polo, give us a little review.
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