CHRIS KELSEY’S WHERE THE HURT IS: A STORY OF MURDER AND SMALL-TOWN POLITICS IN 1960’S OKLAHOMA

 PAWLING, NY, JUNE 1, 2018: It’s an unseasonably hot April night in 1965. The social revolutions rocking America have mostly bypassed Burr, a tiny rural community in western Oklahoma. Like much of the state, Burr remains as it’s always been: Religious. Conservative. And 100% white. When an unknown young African-American woman is found murdered on the railroad tracks outside town, most of Burr would rather look the other way. The town’s police chief, troubled local hero and ex-Marine Emmett Hardy, doesn’t have that luxury. A lover of books and jazz in the land of football and country & western, Emmett is an outsider in a place he knows like the back of his hand. In his search for the killer, he’s forced to slice through layers of hate and hypocrisy to confront the ethical rot at the town’s core, while being haunted by the vision of a life and love that might have been.

NY Times bestselling novelist Anne Hillerman (Cave of Bones, Spider Woman’s Daughter) calls Where the Hurt Is “poignant and funny, studded with characters who haunt your imagination long after you’ve read the final page … Emmett Hardy emerges as a complicated, passionate and flawed lawman in the spirit of Joe Leaphorn and Walt Longmire. The story flows like the vintage jazz the sheriff loves, marked by surprising riffs, changes in cadence, and an ending that balances harmony and discord. The rich, evocative setting captures the best and worst of small town, post Dust Bowl Oklahoma. The story grabs you simultaneously by both the heart and the imagination until, at the end, you’re left wondering how author Chris Kelsey managed to tell such a fine tale and what he’ll dream up next.”

About the Author: Chris Kelsey is an acclaimed jazz saxophonist/composer and music writer. The Oklahoma native has recorded more than 20 albums of his original compositions for the CIMP and Unseen Rain labels, as well as his own Saxofonis and Tzazz Krytyk imprints. He’s written extensively on music for Jazz Times, Jazziz, and The All Music Guide, among other publications. Kelsey’s CD, What I Say: The Electric Miles Project, won the 2013 Independent Music Award for Best Tribute Album. Kelsey now lives in Pawling, NY, where he teaches, writes, and composes. He is currently Director of Instrumental Music at Trinity-Pawling School. Where the Hurt Is is his first novel.

Performed by Jonathan Kruk Master Storyteller

With music by Steve Kelman

February 16, 2018 7:30-9pm
Free, but donation encouraged.

Once upon time faerie tales enchanted adults.  They were gritty, rather erotic and terrifying. This performance features tales of love, heartbreak, and wisdom for older teens and adults.

Come join us in a gracious old stone. Listen to "The Girl Who Cried Flowers" an intriguing love story with a twist.  See if you would wear "The Happy Man's Shirt."
 

Come ready for an engaging theatrical performance, grippingly Grimm, and lyrically lovely.

For information about the event contact Library Director at 607.684.3785 or director@akinfreelibrary.org

Jonathan Kruk Biography

Born in El Paso Texas, raised in Westchester, NY Jonathan Kruk grew up on tall tales and day dreams. He toured the country in a Volkswagen beetle, watered Henry Kissinger’s office plants, and regaled his rambunctious brothers with bedtime tales.

Jonathan made storytelling his full-time career in 1989. Now, he’s renowned for performing at the Old Dutch Church, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “A Christmas Carol” in with all sixty shows selling out every year since 2010. His “Legend” show won an award at the United Solo Theater Festival, Theater Row, New York City, 2015.

Tens of thousands of children have listened and learned from Jonathan’s National Arts Standards based school programs. A master of the art, Kruk engages young children with finger fables and fairy tale theater. Jonathan books programs at over 200 different venues every year.

Kruk’s television features include; CBS Sunday Morning, BBC Great Train Journeys, The Travel & History Channels. He’s a regular on WAMC’s “Listen with the Lights On.” Jonathan’s performed at Pete Seeger’s Clearwater Festival, NYC Dragon Boat Races, the Hamilton Theater, Rahway, NJ, the New-York Historical Society, & the California Center for the Arts. Currently, he’s storyteller in residence for the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum.

He’s recorded eight award winning CDs at The Loft Studio in Bronxville. The Rainbow Dragon, Barkface & Rootnose, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Revolution on the River, Halloween Tales, Once Upon the Hudson, and Santa on the Hudson Jonathan was selected “Best Storyteller in the Hudson Valley.”

Kruk’s keynoted at; School Library Media Specialists of NYS, Parents as Reading Partners NYS, Archdiocese of NY, NYS Environmental Educators, National Native Plants Conference, Greater Hudson Heritage Network, & Rockland County Teachers

He’s performed ritual urban theater with Gabrielle Roth, and served as teaching artist with Early Stages. He’s a BOCES approved artist educator. Married to filmmaker Andrea Sadler, they live a cottage in Cold Spring on Hudson. He has a daughter Zosia. He is a Desmond/Fish Library trustee, past President of the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce, Philipstown Democrats Committee and an Eagle Scout.

Jonathan Kruk, Master Storyteller, M.A. Edu. / 845 216.9087 / www.jonathankruk.comJonathan Kruk, performing “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Photos by Alex Kruk & http://www.historytrekkershoppe.com/https://youtu.be/dfcDz_w74d8https://youtu.be/rsY-Aj9sEK8