Don Silver relaxes with his German Shepherd, Bodhi.
by ELISABETH TORG
Ever wish you could walk away from your corporate job and write that novel brewing in your brain?
Don Silver, a Mt. Airy resident and Chestnut Hill area native, did just that.
Silver, who grew up in Erdenheim and attended Cheltenham High School, bagged his life as a corporate CEO in 1999 to try out the writing life. Now, five years later, after surviving a battle with cancer, he’s just published his first novel. The book, Backward Facing Man (Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins), was released in area bookstores on August 23. (It was reviewed favorably in the New York Times on Monday, September 12.)
Silver’s novel charts the experiences of three characters who first met in 1968 in Boston and explores their experience as ‘60s’ radicals and their lives 30 years later at the turn of the millennium.
Using the figure of Patty Hearst and the radical activities of the Symbionese Liberation Army as an historical framework, Silver’s novel touches on a host of themes. In addition to 1960s’ radicalism, the book is about “human nature and how the choices we make impact our lives over time,” explains Silver. “There’s criminal activity, family betrayal, unrequited love, business, politics and some big surprises.”
Publisher’s Weekly described the book as “a dark elegy for ‘60s’ campus radicalism … a complex, beautifully turned out thriller.” Janet Maslin’s review of Silver’s book in the New York Times called it a “memorably offbeat debut.”
“What can I do to help?” That’s the question on everyone’s mind as we continue to read about and watch the ongoing devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. A group of musicians — known and loved in the Northwest Philly area and beyond — are responding in the way they know best. They’re coming together for a concert to benefit the victims.
Dozens of musicians — each with strong ties to the music of Louisiana and Mississippi — will perform at a New Orleans style party on Friday, September 23, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., at the Commodore Barry Club, 6815 Emlen St., Mt. Airy. There is a suggested donation of $20 at the door with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross Katrina Disaster Relief Fund.
Musicians include Zydeco-A-Go-Go (zydeco, New Orleans rhythm and blues); The Dukes of Destiny (blues); Philly Gumbo (New Orleans funk, blues, reggae); Byard Lancaster (jazz); the Randy Lippincott Band (blues, soul); James Day’s Fish Fry (jump blues, swing); Timi Tanzania Dubway Reggae Band (reggae); The Wild Bohemians (New Orleans street parade jazz); Harold Smith (didgeridoo); and Men on a Mission (an a cappella gospel quartet).
The concert is the brainchild of Mike Garnett, a theatrical lighting control and design specialist. Although Mike resides in Delaware County, he comes to Mt. Airy often to hear his favorite zydeco and blues bands. “I’m really fond of New Orleans and its music and food. The allure of that city knocks me out; the music has had a proud influence on my psyche,” he said. “I was torn up inside by the news about the devastation caused by Katrina. I wanted to do something to help. So I called Pete Eshelman of Zydeco-A-Go-Go, who I’ve seen perform at the Mermaid Inn and at the Commodore Barry Club.”
Chestnut Hill resident Valerie Ciliberti, seamstress, graphic artist/designer, and knitter par excellence, knits beautiful miniature dolls.
by PAT STOKES
Once upon a time there was a little girl who, like many little girls, loved fairytales, and of course, fairies. There was also a doting grandmother who wanted very much to give the little girl a fairy doll. As luck would have it, the grandmother had a friend who loved knitting little dolls (really little, just the size for little hands to hold). So with the addition of some little (knitted) wings, presto! there were fairy dolls.
The magic lady who makes the dolls is Valerie Ciliberti, seamstress, graphic artist/designer, and knitter par excellence, married to artist Michael Ciliberti, who maintains a studio in town. They make their home here in the Hill House. Some background: Valerie has always lived in the Philadelphia area, having grown up in Fort Washington. She attended Dickinson College, planning for a major in English. But in her junior year, she went off to Europe for a “year abroad,” staying with friends in Geneva. She stayed for five years, actually, putting college aside. When she returned, though, after a period doing office work, college beckoned again in the form of an art major at Temple. Afterward she did some painting, at the same time doing needlework, crocheting, knitting and embroidery.
Putting her eye for design toward a practical purpose, she studied computer graphics, which led to a job as designer for an interactive business training company, Strategic Management Group, creating simulated situations used in their training program. Thirteen years later, rather recently, company changes brought about a layoff that she took full advantage of to, at last, “tend to her knitting.” She’s a member of the Knitting Guild of America. Having passed through the first two levels of expertise, she is working on the advanced level to achieve “Master of Hand Knitting.” BD (before the dolls), she knitted scarves, sweaters, ponchos, shawls, hats and afghans which were sent to Afghanistan by the American Friends Service Committee as part of their “Afghans for Afghans” program, just about the time we were going to war there.
But more creative ideas were beginning to take shape beneath Valerie’s fingers. She has always loved dolls, and knew someday she’d get into doll-making “when she retired.” So … one day, she knitted a tiny, two-and-a-half inch doll. She tried knitting a face. No good. Aha! Computer graphics to the rescue. Taking a photograph of a child’s face, she scanned it into the computer then printed it on transfer paper. No gluing for this needlework specialist, though. She sews the face on with invisible thread, a real challenge, since it tends to loop around tiny arms and legs.
by PAT STOKES