The Top Left Corner

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

The Top Left Corner is a locally focused daily live internet radio show and podcast based in the Northern Berkshires, Mass.

We spoke with Shannon at the Sunny Side Diner today about some amazing-sounding specials! Who should we contact next?

Welcome to today’s episode of the Top Left Corner! 

Listen and comment LIVE Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. Eastern, on Radio Free Berkshires

Get in touch by e-mail at [email protected]

Become a patron of, and subscribe to, the show on your favorite platform!

If you’re here for the first time, the Top Left Corner is a locally focused daily live internet radio show and podcast based in Williamstown, Mass. 

We do our best to wade through the spin and biases and bring back the important stuff that most of us really care about. Every week, we’re going to tell you what we think about local current events and the national stories that directly affect the people of Williamstown and Berkshire County. We also interview amazing guests.

You can listen live—and participate live. You’ll find a chat box you can use to comment live–anonymously if you wish. We do our best to read and address everyone’s comments on the air: 

This show was mostly a test of what a daily, one-hour show at 6:00 a.m. would fee like. It feels good!

We DID invent a new feature on the fly, too. Call up places that serve breakfast and asking the special are.

We got in touch with Fabian at The Misty Moonlight Diner, who just about slew us with their list. Could I decide between the omelette of the day and one of their many Eggs Benny variations. No. But I love breakfast. I can make room for both.

Enjoy!

— Jay

We spoke Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington about justice reform in the county and beyond broadly, and about bail reform specifically.

Andrea Harrington — submitted bio.

District Attorney Andrea Harrington is Berkshire County’s chief government prosecutor and top law enforcement official. She and her staff of 22 prosecutors, together with their law enforcement partners, handle 7,600 criminal matters each year. She is Berkshire County’s sixth District Attorney, and the first female elected to this position.

The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office prosecutes cases in Superior Court (major felonies), District Courts, Juvenile Courts, and the Massachusetts Appellate Courts. It also collaborates with local law enforcement and state police on criminal investigations, directs homicide investigations, and conducts grand jury proceedings.

The District Attorney is a public servant whose primary duty is to seek justice. According to the Supreme Court, the prosecutor’s aim is two-fold: “that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer.” *

In that same spirit, under District Attorney Harrington’s direction, the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office has two principal goals – the vigorous prosecution of those who pose a danger to our community, and the implementation of meaningful legal reform to address persistent and pernicious systemic inequalities in our criminal justice system that have caused needless hardship for less-advantaged members of our community. She views crime prevention and legal reform as a group civic effort and proactively seeks public input through collaboration and partnerships with community groups, non-profit organizations, schools, businesses, and service organizations, as well as local law enforcement.

As chief law enforcement official for the county, it is District Attorney Harrington’s job to help keep Berkshire County safe from criminal harm. This means a laser focus on the prosecution of serious and violent crimes. In addition to protecting our communities through the vigorous prosecution of criminal behavior, District Attorney Harrington has also enacted substantive criminal justice reform. These include the implementation of  a smarter cash bail policy to address systemic bias against poorer non-violent defendants, the creation of a Berkshire Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force to shine light on a less-publicized area of violent crime typically perpetrated against women, and the use of a “vertical prosecution” model that provides continuity for crime victims through the assigning a of single prosecutor and victim witness advocate to all District Court cases. The overarching goal of these reforms is to focus the office’s limited prosecutorial energies on serious and violent crimes, while adopting preventative crime measures, victim’s services, and less costly and more effective alternatives to traditional prosecution for lesser infractions.

District Attorney Harrington believes that diversion programs can help stop crime before it happens. The office strives to reduce recidivism by diverting low-level offenders out of the criminal justice system and into drug treatment and/or mental health counseling where they can get the help they need. Similarly, her office launched the Berkshire County Juvenile Diversion Program to reduce juvenile crime and encourage Berkshire County youth to make smart decisions. This program intervenes in the lives of our at-risk youth by redirecting eligible kids away from the criminal justice system and into programs and counseling, which research shows reduces recidivism.

Under her direction, the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office is also updating its information infrastructure with the digitization of fou...

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Top Left Corner! 

Listen and comment LIVE Thursdays from 9 – 11 a.m. Eastern, on Radio Free Berkshires

Get in touch by e-mail at [email protected]

Become a patron of, and subscribe to, the show on your favorite platform!

If you’re here for the first time, the Top Left Corner is a locally focused weekly live internet radio show and podcast based in Williamstown, Mass. 

We do our best to wade through the spin and biases and bring back the important stuff that most of us really care about. Every week, we’re going to tell you what we think about local current events and the national stories that directly affect the people of Williamstown and Berkshire County. We also interview amazing guests.

You can listen live—and participate live. You’ll find a chat box you can use to comment live–anonymously if you wish. We do our best to read and address everyone’s comments on the air: 

— Jay

OUR GUESTS THIS WEEK

Eddie Pepitone

(from his website) “They call him the Bitter Buddha, comedian Eddie Pepitone is a master of the dark art of comedy. Hailed as a modern day cross between Jackie Gleason, Don Rickles and Eckart Tolle.

Eddie PepitoneSeptember 29, 2021; 8:00 p.m.HiLo North Adams55 Union Street, North Adams, Mass.In addition to Eddie, the show will include featured comedian JT Habersaat(Comedy Central, Stand Up! Records), a host, a a guest comedian.Lineup subject to change without notice.Be sure to listen to our exclusive interview with Eddie on the Top Left Corner,LIVE every Thursday from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. !TICKETS

Eddie Pepitone is scheduled to bring down the house at HiLo North Adams on Wednesday, September 29. Tickets are limited.

“Eddie is a force of nature on stage, switching between social rage and self-doubt. His shows are an energetic combo of calm and chaos, blue-collar angst and sardonic enlightenment. Few comedians working today channel the power of the rant better than Eddie Pepitone.

In addition to his regular stand-up shows, Eddie is stand-out comic/character actor. Beginning in New York City’s improv/sketch scene (where he quickly became a regular face), and continuing on to recurring roles on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Eddie has also appeared on numerous comedy TV shows, including The Life and Times of Tim, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,

Be sure to listen to the show live, Thursday mornings from 9:00 – 11:00 Eastern on Radio Free Berkshires!

In this episode, we speak with Jonathan Wysocki, writer and director of the bittersweet Dramarama — strong contender for The Greylock Glass’ “Best Drama” selection 2021. And that’s saying something, since we’d have to engineer an awards ceremony from scratch to be able to award such a prize.

DRAMARAMANow through September 2Q&A with Jonathan Wysocki on 09/02/2021Images Cinema50 Spring StreetWilliamstown, Mass.Find out more!

This debut film is a coming of age movie that strips out the schlock, leaving audiences with the sense of having witnessed a slice of raw humanity.

About The Film

Escondido, California, 1994. It’s the end of summer and Gene is preparing for his high school drama friends’ final murder mystery slumber party. Before the group heads off to college, however, Gene wants to come out of the closet – but is terrified of what his sheltered Christian friends might think. What was planned as a celebration of friendship becomes a reckoning, and this formerly tight-knit group will have to decide whether to cling to the past or move forward in uncertainty.

Jonathan Wysocki’s nostalgic, funny debut feature Dramarama is a poignant love letter to drama nerds, late bloomers, and the intense friendships that mark our youth. Find out more about the film at its website.

About the Director

Writer and director of Dramarama Jonathan Wysocki; photo courtesy the filmmaker.

Jonathan Wysocki is a Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs Fellow as well as an Advisor for Sundance Co//ab who has made a collection of award-winning short films that have screened for audiences across the globe. Film accolades include the Sundance Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship, the Busan Cinephile Award, the Stanley Kramer Award, and two Annenberg Grants. Wysocki is a UCLA alumnus, a Project Involve Fellow at Film Independent, a Berlinale Talents Fellow, and a lecturer at Occidental College, Chapman University, and Cal State Long Beach. For more information: jonathanwysocki.com

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Top Left Corner! 

Listen and comment LIVE Thursdays from 9 – 11 a.m. Eastern, on Radio Free Berkshires

Get in touch by e-mail at [email protected]

Become a patron of, and subscribe to, the show on your favorite platform!

If you’re here for the first time, the Top Left Corner is a locally focused weekly live internet radio show and podcast based in Williamstown, Mass. 

We do our best to wade through the spin and biases and bring back the important stuff that most of us really care about. Every week, we’re going to tell you what we think about local current events and the national stories that directly affect the people of Williamstown and Berkshire County. We also interview amazing guests.

You can listen live—and participate live. You’ll find a chat box you can use to comment live–anonymously if you wish. We do our best to read and address everyone’s comments on the air: 

–Jay and Steve

OUR GUESTS THIS WEEK

Allyn Burrows

Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company, Allyn Burrows, discusses the remainder of the 2021 Season, the challenges of the pandemic on the company and how it responded and adapted, and the upcoming benefit concert with Robert Miller’s Project Grand Slam.

Project Grand SlamAugust 17, 2021; 8:30 p.m.Shakespeare & CompanyTina Packer Playhouse70 Kemble Street, Lenox Mass.Project Grand Slam (PGS) is the brainchild of acclaimed leader/bassist/composer Robert Miller. PGS is a celebrated fusion of Rock and Jazz with a twist of Latin and a New York City groove.Be sure to listen to our interview with Robert Miller!TICKETS

Allyn Burrows, contributed photo.

“Allyn is thrilled to return to Shakespeare & Company as the company’s Artistic Director. He was an artistic associate here for several years and acted in numerous productions, including King John (King John), Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick), Henry V(Henry V), A Midsummer Night’s Dream(Oberon), Henry IV, Part 1(Hal), Measure for Measure(Angelo), Betrayal(Jerry), The House of Mirth(Lawrence Selden), Love’s Labours Lost(Berowne), Macbeth(Macduff), and The Compleat Works of Shakespeare. He was the Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston for 7  years. Directing credits there include Romeo & Juliet , Pericles, Jon Lipsky’s Living in Exile, Richard II, and The Tempest. Acting credits for ASP include The Winter’s...

Listen LIVE Thursdays from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Eastern, and get in touch by e-mail at [email protected]

Special Guest Host: Joseph Smith, North Adams!

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Top Left Corner! 

If you’re here for the first time, the Top Left Corner is a locally focused weekly live internet radio show and podcast based in Williamstown, Mass. 

We do our best to wade through the spin and biases and bring back the important stuff that most of us really care about. Every week, we’re going to tell you what we think about local current events and the national stories that directly affect the people of Williamstown and Berkshire County. We also interview amazing guests.

You can listen live—and participate live. You’ll find a chat box you can use to comment live–anonymously if you wish. We do our best to read and address everyone’s comments on the air: 

–Jay and Steve

FOR STARTERSStuff we might touch on during our opening banter.

Facing Loss of Supporters, Cuomo Gains Attention From Prosecutors

District attorneys in Manhattan and Nassau and Westchester Counties separately announced that they were investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s actions.

By Michael Gold and Jonah E. Bromwich, The New York Times

A day after the release of a devastating report concluding that he had sexually harassed 11 women, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo found himself increasingly isolated on Wednesday, with his most loyal supporters abandoning him and three prosecutors saying they would investigate his behavior.

By late afternoon, Mr. Cuomo had lost the backing of perhaps his closest political ally, Jay Jacobs, the head of the state’s Democratic Party, who has been the governor’s staunchest defender in recent months. In a statement, Mr. Jacobs said that the governor’s removal from office was “inevitable,” and that Mr. Cuomo’s refusal to step down ran counter to Mr. Jacobs’s advice.

LOCALCan you turn and point to where Mt. Greylock is, generally? Then we’re talkin’ ’bout you.

•

Arguments over Housatonic PCB cleanup may be held by videoconference

by Larry Parnass, The Berkshire Eagle

For the second time in four years, justices with the country’s top environmental court will hear arguments for and against a plan to pull toxins from the Housatonic River.

It’s a different plan this time. And the debate might play out online, rather than in person.

Above: The Pittsfield Generating Plant at 235 Merrill Road, Pittsfield. Mass, owned by Hull Street Energy; still image from the short documentary, The Peaker Plant Problem, by Ben Hillman, via YouTube.

Listen to the show live HERE Thursdays from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Eastern every week.

Send your questions and comments by e-mail to [email protected].

THE TOP LEFT CORNER for the week of Thursday, July 29, 2021

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Top Left Corner! 

If you’re here for the first time, the Top Left Corner is a locally focused weekly live internet radio show and podcast based in Williamstown, Mass. 

We do our best to wade through the spin and biases and bring back the important stuff that most of us really care about. Every week, we’re going to tell you what we think about local current events and the national stories that directly affect the people of Williamstown and Berkshire County. We also interview amazing guests.

You can listen live—and participate live. You’ll find a chat box you can use to comment live–anonymously if you wish. We do our best to read and address everyone’s comments on the air: 

–Jay and Steve

FOR STARTERSStuff we might touch on during our opening banter.

Baker says Massachusetts is different as other states impose COVID-19 protocols

Governor Charlie Baker said that he sees no need for Massachusetts to reinstate restrictions in response to rising COVID-19 cases, striking a contrast with President Biden, who is urging Americans to mask up again and requiring many federal workers to get vaccinated. But the governor did say he is considering mandating masks in public schools this fall.

LOCALCan you turn and point to where Mt. Greylock is, generally? Then we’re talkin’ ’bout you.

•

Shutting down “peakers” to protect public health.

Rosemary Wessel

TAKE ACTION TODAY to PUT PEAKERS IN THE PAST:

Sign the petition.Rosemary Wessel is Program Director of No Fracked Gas in Mass, a program of Berkshire Environmental Action Team. No Fracked Gas in Mass offers acts as a website, information and action-plan clearing house for activists opposing fracked gas and other combustion-based infrastructure development in the Northeast: connecting and advising community activists on its impacts, resistance through the project approval process and reducing demand through efficiency and renewables. No Fracked Gas in Mass’ current focus is in pressuring peaker power plants to convert to grid scale storage and clean energy sources.

Rosemary is also Clean Energy Coordinator for Old Stone Mill Center Zero Waste Maker Space in Adams, MA, which has vowed to remain fossil fuel free in its development. She’s a graphic designer, managing her Three Salamanders Design Studio in Cummington.