August 24, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local Life...

Local legend dies; carved out career for 69 years
by LEN LEAR

Richard Lieberman, a crusty, cantankerous, profane, brutally honest but basically lovable sculptor who inspired and challenged students at Allens Lane Art Center in West Mt. Airy, Temple University’s Tyler Art School in Ambler and other area schools and institutions for almost seven decades, died Thursday, August 17, at the age of 91.

Richard, who told me an interview at Allens Lane in 2000 that “I have lost six inches off my height in the past few years, but my feet have compensated by getting larger,” would have been an ideal subject for the old Reader’s Digest feature on “The Most Unforgettable Character I’ve Ever Met.”

Hill volunteer Jane Pollock is blooming wonderful
by PAULA M. RILEY

Jane Pollock stands in her large gardens outside her Chestnut Hill home. Pollock has been helping other Philadelphians gain their own garden space through her efforts volunteering at Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show. (Photo by Paula M. Riley)

This is the 18th in an ongoing series of articles by Paula M. Riley on Chestnut Hill volunteers

Although the Philadelphia Flower Show is seven months away, volunteer Jane Pollock is busy preparing for the annual show. For the last 11 years, the Chestnut Hill resident has dedicated countless hours working on this, the largest indoor flower show in the world.

An avid gardener, Pollock loves flowers and creating magnificent floral arrangements. A member of the Greene Countrie Garden Club, she joined fellow members volunteering at her first Philadelphia Flower Show in 1995. She was immediately fascinated and thrilled to contribute to the event she considers so unique to Philadelphia. “The Flower Show is so incredible, and I love what the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society does,” says Pollock explaining why she keeps volunteering year after year.

Insensitive remarks are a real pain in the neck
by LINDA HUNT BECKMAN

Linda Hunt Beckman, of Mt. Airy, knows a pain in the neck when she sees one (or feels one).

I have a pain in my neck. Literally. It’s osteoarthritis, and it hurts so much that often I can hardly hold my head up. At the moment the only thing that helps, besides an exercise a physical therapist told me not to do more than twice a day, is ice. So, like a shrimp salad, I am best kept on ice.

My icepack is unusually good because it stays cold. I got it at CVS for under $10, but if kept in the freezer for 12 hours, it stays really cold for about four (at which time I can get home and get another from my stack in the freezer). It is a large rectangle with what look like rows of blue buttons, which makes it noticeable. The other day I was in a university library when I ran into a neighbor who works there. She asked me what I was carrying. I explained, and, looking as though she had seen the contents of someone’s stomach, she said, “Eew. That’s sickening! I couldn’t stand having anything wrong with my neck. Just thinking about it gives me shivers. In fact, I won’t even let my husband touch my neck. Yuck.”

I was stung, but didn’t say anything more about my neck or about the only relief I have found for it. Instead we gossiped about the neighborhood and exchanged conventional Mt Airy-esque pieties about the outrageous war in Iraq. But I have been thinking a lot about what happened because it struck me as an exaggerated version of an attitude only too common — insensitivity about the “aches and pains” of arthritis. Compare her remark with what someone would say to a person with breast cancer or heart disease. (Imagine “Ooh! That turns my stomach!”) Granted, nobody dies of osteoarthritis. But in some cases (not mine, thank goodness), its lack of lethality is almost regrettable.

An obituary for the death of the personal letter
by LEN LEAR

Recently I’ve been reading two fascinating books of personal letters — Selected Letters of Virgil Thompson (former music critic for the New York Herald Tribune and composer of “serious” music) and George Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters, Volume 4.

Pastorius Park series saved its best concert for last
by MICHAEL CARUSO

MERMAID INN GETS THE MESSAGE: The Philadelphia Blues Messengers, featuring international jazz saxophone legend Byard Lancaster and didgeridoo guru Harold Smith, of Mt. Airy, will bring their African blues/jazz/rock sound to the intimate space of the historic Mermaid Inn, 7673 Germantown Ave., on Saturday, August 26. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. Seen here are Harold Smith (center); (from left) Mike Albrecht, guitar, vocals; Dave Doggett, pedal steel, tenor sax; Larry Hambrecht, harmonica, vocals; Pete Currie, drums, vocals; Tom Gittlemann, bass. More info: 215-247-9797.

The Chestnut Hill Community Association saved the best for last. The final concert of the 2006 season of concerts in Pastorius Park presented Time for Three last Wednesday night. The concert drew what seemed like the summer’s largest audience and the performance given by these three young musicians was the high point of the series of 10 presentations.

Time for Three is composed of violinists Zachary DePue and Nick Kendall and the double bassist Ranaan Meyer. The three are all recent graduates of Philadelphia’s famed Curtis Institute of Music, where they met and began playing non-classical music together. Little by little, they began expanding their stylistic parameters from their initial forays into country, western and bluegrass to include jazz and improvisation. The resultant mix is a heady blend of popular expressions built upon the virtuosic techniques characteristic of traditional classical musicians.