Monthly Archives: June 2012

A Greater Barrington

April 21, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

I like knowing where things are. Where the bathrooms are? Where you can find pasta sauce at the Big Y? And I get used to things the way they are.

It’s taken me years to get used to Great Barrington. So I’m a bit unsettled by the fact that Great Barrington is about to become Greater.

South Main - Greater Barrington, MA

I know most people aren’t as neurotic as me. I imagine many of you are chomping at the bit to live in the new and improved version of Barrington.

The signs are everywhere. Greater Food. Greater Shopping. Greater Fun. A Greater Barrington in the Making. I see them when I drive into town. I see them when I go to the Pittsfield Cooperative Bank. I see them when I stand with my “It’s Time To Come Home” sign.

I appreciate the effort that’s gone into this campaign. I know it takes time to come up with a slogan. And it costs money to print signs.

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The Bestest Small Town in America

May 5, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

Gettya free money! Free money! Right over here!

Reminds me of the Marx Brothers and A Day At The Races. Gettya ice icream. Tootsy fruitsy ice cream here.

Free Money

I thought of this walking to Fuel at seven this morning as the machines tore up the street for the new water main. Imagining when the Little Dig morphs into The Bigger Dig.

Digging up and replacing what we’re told is the worst street in the Best Small Town in America. You know the Main Street with the worst flowering pear trees in the Best Small Town in America. You know the trees that reside beside the worst sidewalks in the Best Small Town in America.

What were those Smithsonians thinking when they decided Great Barrington was The Best Small Town in America?

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Bringing Life to Lennoxx

April 7, 2012
By Mickey Friedman
 
God works in mysterious ways. How else explain the near-magical events that once again put me and Abigail Starkfield-Crump in the same place at the same time?

Turns out some folks in Lennoxx weren’t happy with my columns about their new PR campaign. It’s ironic because I count myself a big fan of Abigail Starkfield-Crump’s work, especially her major market campaign for kale: “Kale – The Green Green.”

Kale

So now my normal sources in Lennoxx aren’t willing to talk to me about Smidley, Crump & Crump’s innovative campaign: “Lennoxx: We’re More Than We Were; We’re More Than You Expect; And We’re More Than You Imagine.”

Merchants I used to count as my friends won’t talk to me. Arnie O’Herlihy and I go back years. Arnie and I spent hours together at “Ye Olde Lenox Tavern.” Truth is, he and I were both in love with Melody Harkness, french horn player by day, bartendress by night. And when Arnie opened “Crate and Bait,” even though I had no need for crates and hated to fish, I stopped in every afternoon to lend my support.

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A Brief Apology

We are sorry crows, aware we have been derelict in our duties. DS Red Crow has been hard at work editing a newsweekly, raising his children and writing a play. BS Red Crow has been doing his best to transform politics as we know it by running a valiant campaign for Congress, and I, MF Red Crow, am editing a documentary film on jazz pianist, singer, composer Bob Dorough, the musical man behind “Schoolhouse Rock.”

Here are a few columns from the most recent past.

We look forward to red crowing in the near future.

Red Crow Everywhere

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An online newsmagazine based in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, Red Crow News covers what's happening and what we hope will happen.

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“A Red Family: Junius, Gladys & Barbara Scales” by Mickey Friedman

"An extraordinary set of reminiscences, beautifully put together by an extremely sensitive, even gifted interviewer. It is a jewel." --Glenda Gilmore, author of Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950

"Junius Scales is a fascinating character whose experiences tell us so much about his period, and Friedman's family approach opens up new angles on the story." --James R. Barrett, author of William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism

You can purchase the paperback edition of A Red Family for $25.00. Just click on the buy from amazon.com button:


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