This week: Too much music. So much wine.

Hi Friends,

I don’t do resolutions, but for 2026 I did pick a theme:

You can just do things.

Start a newsletter! Pick up an old instrument! Buy a really weird houseplant! (Check if it’s toxic!). Do the thing. There’s actually very little stopping you.

Back in February, around the time I started this newsletter, I got this idea for an event that was highly specific to my interests - but maybe not just mine? Maybe the newsletter would find you folks, and you’d be into it too?

Pet-nat and punk rock. All made by women.

I wanted to spend an afternoon with my people, drinking wine and listening to music made by women who also said, “Fuck it. You can just do things.” I pitched it to my friend Kate, who reps Coeur Wines. She pitched it to her friend Meg, who owns Sunshine Colony. And thus, with three more women saying “Fuck it. We can just do this thing” we had the first Makers & Lovers event, Girls to the Front: A Vinyl & Wine Party.

Thank you to everyone who schlepped out to Livingston Manor this Saturday to hang, drink, and kick in for the raffle. Big big love to the prize sponsors, Accordion Wine, Upstream Wines, Soiled Doves, Canapé Vintage, The Flying Goose Tavern, The Catskill Cocktail Club and Rust Records.

Together we raised $500 for the New York Abortion Access Fund and directed $1,500 to women owned businesses! Two thousand dollars to support women’s physical and economic self-determination is pretty good work for a Saturday afternoon.

See ya at the next one. 😉

Do you know Malou Despoux?

Have you encountered a woman in Accord with an endearing French accent, purple stains on her clothes and an implausibly sunny attitude? Were the sounds of clinking bottles and popping corks nearby?

Then you do know Malou, our one-name-like-Cher winemaker. She is the founder, producer, chief grape picker and garagiste of Accordion Wines in, you guessed it, Accord NY. Since 2021 she has been producing wild and crazy, incredibly tasty low-intervention wines from grapes grown in New York. No chemicals, no colors. Just friends, a press, a pump and a garage.

Accordion boast a small but mighty portfolio of largely single varietals, all suited to cool climates like New York. Chromatic, which Malou has been producing for several years now, is a 75/25 blend of Noiret and Dechaunac - both French-American hybrids suited to New York. Appropriate, non?

Accordion Wines can be found at many of our favorite wine shops but I’d encourage you to take advantage of the 10% moving sale directly from the website.

Friday

Ambient Equinox @ Tubby’s in Kingston: A deeply vibey fundraiser for Veterans for Peace.

Prosharp Knife Sharpening at Lagustas in New Paltz: If you read this newsletter you probably cook at least a little bit, which means your knives need some love. Pop in, support a dying trade, and pick up Easter and Passover treats before they run out.

Saturday

Dinner with Four Corners @ The Caboose in Hudson: A four course dinner of seasonal delights from the team soon to open their own location in Chatham.

Finocchi Queer Italian Food Pop Up @ Return Brewing in Catskill: Queer and cozy cucina povera returns to Return Brewing.

HOSE New York Final Pop-Up @ Enoki in Saugerties: How Our Systems Evolve is (was) the beverage program of Queens-gone-Catskills project Deadass Beekeeping.

Sunday

Coffee Cupping at Big Mouth Roasters in Beacon: Free coffee!! Sample some roasts and get 10% a 12oz bag o’ beans.

Community Book Swap @ The Common Good in Ellenville: Bring a max of 3 books, take home as many as you like (I assume) and enjoy an excellently selected coffee, wine or cocktail from their gorgeous bar.

Monday

Talking Heads: Burning Down the House @ Orpheum Theater in Saugerties: Author Jonathan Gould will show clips and discuss his “provocative telling” of the bands’ development with fellow Talking Heads biographer Will Hermes.

Tuesday

Shattered Wine Seminar: Croatia at Kingston Wine Co in Kingston: Sam is doing the good work with her ongoing series of wine seminars in which she pulls in indie producers from all over the world.

I Cut My Nails For You Book Party @ Brunette in Kingston: Smutty smut poet KD Sims launches her new book with a reading including several sexy friends.

Community Rave Network @ Avalon Lounge

Never ever ever let anyone tell you that there’s nothing to do in the Hudson Valley.  This week is absolutely stacked with “wait, that guy did that????” music. 

The guitarist for the B-52s is playing ambient country in Kingston.  The guy who did vocals on one of the absolute best tearjerker songs ever is playing in Woodstock.  The guy who played bass on “Make it Funky” is playing a 50-cap basement at the edge of the Catskills.  Many of NYC’s electronic mainstays are doing somatic integration in a converted cathedral in Hudson.  

But for me this week, the can’t-miss gig is Community Rave Network at the Avalon Lounge.  Headliner LA-4A is a bona fide legend in the world of techno and I’ve been paitently waiting for him to come play upstate since he mastered and released local impresario Scotia’s newest record.   How often do you get to eat Korean food while listening to a Berghain regular?  Come on. 

Cheers,
Amy