Head in the Clouds: Aging, introspection in “Clouds of Sils Maria.”

April 30, 2015 | by Sammi Leigh Melville

Olivier Assayas delivers a breathtaking view into the mind of an aging actress with “Clouds of Sils Maria.”

Juliette Binoche plays Maria Enders, a renowned actress who lives for the art, not for the paycheck. But a role comes along that strikes a chord of dissonance.

After learning that a beloved director, Wilhelm Melchior (under whose direction she garnered her fame as the young, driven Sigrid in the production of “Maloja Snake”) has died, Maria is approached by a director doing a production of the same play. But Maria is now offered the role of Helena—the older, emotionally beaten character on the verge of suicide—while younger actress Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloë Grace Moretz) will take the part of Sigrid.

Maria still wants to play Sigrid, but accepts the role of Helena, dragging her feet all the way, much to the dismay of her personal assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart). As Maria continuously states that she despises Helena and doesn’t “feel good in her skin,” it becomes clear that her disconnection with the role has less to do with the character and more to do with the denial of her position in life. Valentine sums it up beautifully as the two run lines: “The text is like an object. It’s gonna change perspective based on where you’re standing.”

The film skimps a bit on production values here and there. It’s as if Assayas forwent perfecting the small details to make way for the intellect of the story. But, at its core, the film is a character study, and a fascinating one at that.

That being said, not everyone will like this film. It’s very self-analytical and relies heavily on the less glamorous, preparatory side of theatre. Its reliance on dialogue could (ironically) make it a better play than film, were it not for the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, which beautifully demonstrate the distance that Maria lacks to view her own life. But, for those not interested in a two-hour film about introspection, there is some respite. Binoche and Stewart unfold the scenes magnificently, breaking up the weight of the story with their antics and constructing such a familiarity between the protagonist and her assistant that even the most analytical of scenes feels comfortable.

This is a film that can teach you about the tricky nature of soul-searching. It’s well worth a watch, in my book. “Clouds of Sils Maria” is now playing at the Midtown Cinema.

Lack of Motivation

The Harrisburg Jewish Film Festival is drawing near.

This year, there will be 12 films that you won’t want to miss during the festival’s run at the Midtown Cinema—one of which is the delightful comedy “Zero Motivation.” I’ve heard it described as an Israeli, girl-centric version of “M*A*S*H,” and that description hits the nail on the head.

The film follows a handful of female soldiers whose main job is to push papers at an Israeli military base, more specifically focusing on best friends Zohar (Dana Ivgy) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar). Zohar is sarcastic and rebellious, and Daffi is spoiled and only dreams of living in Tel Aviv. Both are lazy and outside of the graces of their chief of staff, Rama (Shani Klein).

The soldiers continually get themselves into ridiculous situations. The story is silly, biting and surprising at times; the characters are bold and refreshing. This is certainly a gem of a film. Come see “Zero Motivation” and the other films at the festival.

Midtown Cinema May Events

Harrisburg Beer Week Presents
“Beer Wars” (2009 documentary)
Sponsored by Zeroday Brewing Co.
Wednesday, April 29, Thursday, April 30 & Friday, May 1, 7pm

Midnight Matinee Series
“Fight Club” (1999)
Saturday, May 2, 11:45pm (BYOB)

Contemporary Digital Theatre Series
National Theatre Live’s
“The Hard Problem,” Sunday, May 3, 4pm & Tuesday, May 5, 7pm
“A View from the Bridge,” Sunday, May 10, 4pm
“Showboat,” Sunday, May 31, 4pm

MOVIATE Presents
Black Mariah Festival
Sunday, May 3, 7pm

Down in Front!
Improv crew skewers
“Bloody Pit of Horror”(1965)
Friday, May 8, 9:30pm (BYOB)

Saturday Morning Cartoons
May 9, 9:30am-11:30am

Mommy & Me Matinees
Saturday, May 9

Classic Film Series
“Psycho” (1960)
Sunday, May 10, 6pm
Happy Mother’s Day! (BYOB)

3rd in the Burg $3 Movie
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
Friday, May 15, 9:30ish (BYOB)

Jewish Film Festival
May 15-21 (see story in TheBurg)

Family Film Series
“Mary Poppins”
Saturday, May 16, noon & Sunday, May 17, 2pm

Classic Digital Theatre Series
“Antony & Cleopatra”
Presented by Gamut Theatre Group
Sunday, May 24, 4pm & Tuesday, May 26, 7pm

MOVIATE Underground Film Festival at Artsfest
Guy Maddin, in-person
Screening his short films & “The Forbidden Room”
Friday, May 22, 8pm (free)

Documentary screening
Saturday, May 23, 8pm (free)

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)
New restoration!
Saturday, May 23, midnight (free)

David Fair, in-person
Screening his short films
Sunday, May 24, 7pm

Student Scribes: 3 Poems

April 30, 2015 | by Stephanie Rubright

Hidden in the Forest

The entrance to the walking trail
is framed by overgrown bushes. It is daunting,
spewing out its sinister aura into my backyard
as the forest tries, fruitlessly, to rid itself of an illness.

The entry looms whenever I stare
from my kitchen window. Years ago, deep along
the path, my hiking partner barked, a muffled cry
of thrill as she tried to lift a discovery with her teeth.

I approached, she dropped the skull; its hollowed
holes gazed up at me. Moving a fallen branch,
I made outbrittlehips and a shattered hand.
I kneeled with a hand over my nose,

anticipating a smell I knew
would not be there. Slices of a yellow fabric lingered—
clothing I’d find at a thrift store, tangled with bones, knotted
tendrils of hair still attached. I draped my jacket over

the butchered heap, a long forgotten killing;
my path felt poisoned.
The dog whined, tail eager, waiting for my consent to take
a cursed white stick home. My muscles stiffened,

I made us turn around, and we followed the trail
back without stopping.

Vesuvius

Sparks settle far along the fields below me.
The light lingers for a moment, dims, then sizzles
out as small puffs of smoke rise.

Beneath the earth’s crust, my heart pulsates
on newly born beats as my brood runs down the length
of me, crawling and swallowing all. My mouth billows smoke,

lava flowsfrom my veins. Blackened ground crumbles
as I crack the sky. Pumice falls down and a torrent of fire drenches
creatures, burning ash in their mouths as I bluster.

Panicked birds take flight as smothered screams replace their songs.
Flames shine down on my shadow’s residents as I make this land mine
again. Herculaneum will be their grave.

The world bleeds fire and dust. I can hear
the people calling out to their gods who suffocate beside them.
Heat scorches their eyes, blistering their skin.

Their ashen hands claw at their throats,
desperately trying to draw one last breath.
A silence soon comes, with bodies buried deep.

For centuries I stand, new pests making homes
upon my forgotten neighbors.Ruined villasand narrow,
uneven streets hide under legions of ash.

Had the winds blown differently, the city may
Have been spared and not filled lungs with stone.

Hunting Season

I treaded carefully in the snow.
The target struggled, its limbs branching
wildly before it abandoned
any hope of freedom. The salty
language that escaped its mouth made me certain
it would never speak again. Dragging my trophy, I headed toward the road.

The hunting-season climate emptied the roads,
and my animal is innocent, unguarded as the snow.
I loom behind them, remarkably tempted. They never move. I am certain
I have perfected the art in the undervalued quiet. Bare branches
conceal my shadow with theirs as I creep, eager for the assault.
My façade is abandoned.

It laid in my car unrestrained and drugged, abandoning
its fear. The meat goes bad when they die scared, alone on the road.
Three, seven, ten minutes of resistance and the bitter salt
would transform the meat into something inedible. Heavier snowfall
makes me drive slower. Makes my hunger thick, branching
throughout my body. The party tonight will be divine for certain.

I pluck, rip, twist the ocher skin in the certain
way that will ensure most of this creature will not go abandoned
in the trash. It’s a savage pleasure branching
into a civil skill that I have refined in the kitchen. It erodes
even the most vile aspects of the task. The grinded meat I cup like a snowball,
and when the oven beeps, I taste, then add some salt.

The broth is golden, with flecks of green parsley and salted
with cubes of white chicken breasts. Matzo ball soup is certainly
a suitable appetizer for tonight’s company. Snow
white spheres bob along the surface of the soup and I abandon
my apron for more suitable attire. Outside of my house, the roads
light up under headlights. The tenderloin with marrow sauce decorated like branches.

Rid yourself of the Soylent Green notion and enjoy. The branch
of a family tree trimmed for the meal; lamb saltimbocca with marsala sauce; salt
to taste. My table is set and the first course is a success. All roads
to hell must lead here certainly,
their innocence abandoned
out there in the snow.

I implore my guests to branch out, even if they may not be certain what
They are putting in their salted mouths, abandoning their instinct.
I enjoy the hunting season on my back roads covered with snow.

My kitchen is always open to friends.

Stephanie Rubright is a junior English major at Penn State Harrisburg.

April News Digest

April 30, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

Cameron Street Land Transferred

Harrisburg last month ridded itself of several blighted, city-owned lots, transferring ownership to the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority.

By a 6-1 tally, City Council agreed to transfer 28-36 and 38-40 N. Cameron Street to the authority, which is expected to try to raise funds to raze the run-down buildings on the lots and perform site remediation.

The structures were built in the 1920s as automobile-related businesses and later were part of the expansive Keystone Building Products complex, which occupied most of the unit block of N. Cameron Street.

The city took possession of the properties in 1990 and has owned them since. Over the years, several re-development plans were proposed but fell through, leaving the buildings increasingly dilapidated. Two years ago, the city put 38-40 N. Cameron on the market for $150,000, but no buyers stepped forward.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse has said that the properties have “negative value,” as the city estimates that it will cost at least $600,000 just to return the land to a buildable empty lot.

Appalachian Brewing Co. abuts 38-40 N. Cameron and has expressed interest in the property. However, CEO Jack Sproch has said that the brewery will not buy the land if it also needs to absorb the expense of demolishing the buildings and performing ground remediation.

City Seeks to Revoke Business Licenses

Harrisburg has notified three bars—the Taproom and the Third Street Café, located next door to one another in Midtown, and the Royal Pub in Uptown—that it intends to revoke their mercantile licenses.

“We’re revoking their business licenses on grounds that they violated their agreement to operate in an acceptable manner,” said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. “We consider a business license a privilege, not a right.”

Papenfuse said city police have documented repeated incidents of criminal activity in and around the bars, such as drug activity, though he would not state the exact claims against the bars.

Dave Larche, who has operated the Taproom for 23 years, said he would appeal the decision to the city’s Mercantile Licensing and Tax Appeals Board. Third Street Café’s owner Tony Paliometros said he also might appeal.

Recycling Program Changed

Major changes are coming to Harrisburg’s recycling program, the city announced last month.

The city no longer will accept glass in regular recycling, but will accept all paper products, which previously were not included. In addition, both residents and businesses will receive new trash and recycling containers.

Trash and recycling containers will be distributed to residents in June, while businesses will receive new containers in May.

Historic Homes May Be Saved

A pair of historic downtown homes may avoid the wrecking ball, as the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, which proposed tearing them down in a bid for more office space, has lowered the asking price.

Following opposition to the demolition proposal, PHFA agreed to offer the attached clapboard homes on the 100-block of Locust Street for $150,000, a bit below the $175,000 figure Brian Hudson, PHFA’s executive director, had cited at a previous planning commission hearing.

PHFA, which says it has outgrown the eight-story office building it has occupied at Front and Locust streets since 2004, sought to demolish the homes to clear the way for a new, 12-story, 160-foot office tower adjoining its existing structure.

Playground Grant Sought

Harrisburg last month applied for a state grant to improve five playgrounds, after City Council authorized the application.

The city is seeking $175,000 from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to begin the first phase of a project to rehabilitate the Norwood and Holly, 4^th and Dauphin, Penn and Sayford, Cloverly Heights and Royal Terrace playgrounds.

This grant would match a $175,000 grant already received from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, for a total of $350,000 for the first phase.

Most of the work would help shore up the playgrounds’ infrastructure in areas like drainage, green space, accessibility and signage. If the grant is received, the city expects most of the work to take place this fall.

The project’s second phase would cost another $350,000, which the administration also hopes to fund with grants.

Water, Trash Bills Separated

This month, Harrisburg residents will begin to receive separate bills for their water/sewer and trash.

The city last month announced that, beginning with this billing cycle, residents no longer will receive a combined utility bill. Instead, the city will mail a bill for sanitation services, while Capital Region Water will send a separate bill for water and sewer.

For decades, residents have received just a single bill. However, in late 2013, Capital Region Water was set up as a separate entity as part of the city’s financial recovery plan, necessitating separating billing and collections.

In addition to checks through the mail, Capital Region Water announced a number of ways for customers to pay:

Online through a secure customer portal at www.capitalregionwater.com
By calling the utility’s customer service number (888-510-0606)
In person, during regular office hours

“While some of our customers may consider the separation of bills to be an inconvenience, we see it as an opportunity,” said Capital Region Water CEO Shannon Williams. “We listened to our customers at town hall meetings, at our Customer Service Center and at community events. The number one request we heard: make paying bills easier. And that’s what we did.”

Residents can pay the city for sanitation services either in person or by mail.

Trail Improvement Planned

The Capital Area Greenbelt Association last month received city permission to raise money to improve a section of the Capital Area Greenbelt trail that runs through Harrisburg.

City Council voted unanimously to designate about six-tenths of a mile of city-owned property along South Cameron Street as public open space for recreation and part of the city’s public parklands.

The vote also authorized Harrisburg to enter into a cooperative agreement with Dauphin County and the Greenbelt Association to seek funding for construction of a permanent, all-weather trail surface on the property. The association also would be responsible for maintenance.

Oil Train Resolution Passes

Harrisburg City Council last month gave its unanimous consent to a resolution urging the federal government to reduce the risk to the city of oil trains.

The resolution urges Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation to review and update specifications and regulations for tank car design to reduce the risk of derailments. It also urges greater communication between local emergency management officials and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

About 25 trains pass through Harrisburg each week carrying crude oil from the Bakken fields in the upper Great Plains and Canada, said Councilman Brad Koplinski.

Changing Hands

Benton St., 607: L. Luis to D. Thomas, $66,000
Caledonia St., 1909: F. Arzuaga Sr. to L. & S. Torres, $112,900
Derry St., 1161 & 1163: Myers Home LLC to Able Property Management, $52,500
Edward St., 505: Freddie Mac to M. Brower, $94,900
Fillmore St., 610: Nationstar Mortgage LLC to Lucky Lan Properties LLC, $30,000
Fulton St., 1719: PA Deals LLC to M. Biscoe, $99,400
Green St., 1007: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to N. Sinclair, $37,235
Green St., 1912: T. Wadlinger to B. Ostella & A. Fortino, $190,000
Green St., 2131: K. & K. Martin to E. Haggans, $54,000
Green St., 2931: D. & N. Korn to R. Christ & D. Cole, $220,000
Green St., 2960: A. & R. Emerick to D. & C. Graeff, $321,500
Industrial Rd., 3500 & 3500A: Keystone Central Storage LP et al to Northeast Northwest LLC et al, $35,357,681
Logan St., 1733: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development et al to PA Deals LLC, $50,250
Kensington St., 2408: Fern Lane LLC to PA Deals LLC, $32,000
Kensington St., 2439: Fannie Mae to C. & A. Dellmuth, $30,000
Logan St., 2446: PA Deals LLC to M. & J. Sather, $104,300
Mulberry St., 1808: T. Ruth to J. Ramos & M. Gonzalez, $50,000
North St., 228: N. Landis to N. Andrejack, $112,500
N. 4^th St., 2627: D. Travers to M. Hochstetler, $35,000
N. 7^th St., 931: Sera Tec Properties LLP to 7^th Street HLW LLC, $340,000
N. 16^th St., 912: B. & V. Fields to C. Van Den Hazenkamp, $79,900
Penn St., 2334: A. Yates to N. Symons, $79,000
Pennwood Rd., 3224: C. Mondorff to L. Rowland, $60,000
S. 16^th St., 902: N. Holmes to B. Owens, $72,000
S 16^th St., 935: K. Prophet & K. Ortiz to K. Fiavi, $55,000
S. 17^th St., 629: F. Bramande et al to RPM Holdings LLC, $262,500
S. 18^th St., 1122: A. & S. Tolos to R. Muhamad: $50,000
S. 24^th St., 618: P. Sowers-Alton to R. Spence, $100,000
Susquehanna St., 1426: S. Nickliss to R. Walton Jr., $93,500
Susquehanna St., 1730: Bank of New York Mellon to V. Graham & Signature Rehab Services LLC, $51,000
Verbeke St., 112: J. Snare to J. Staloski, $105,500
Verbeke St., 233: S. Livingston & C. Morris to D. Varno & C. Johnson, $113,000

Harrisburg property sales for March 2015, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Uptown Dunk

April 29, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Harrisburg Police Officer Josh Hammer, left, and Michelle Landolfa.

The hoop appeared about three weeks ago—a red milk crate with the bottom cut out, affixed to a black backboard fashioned out of what looked like a small door.

Michelle Landolfa didn’t know who put it there, on a telephone pole near the corner of Penn and Woodbine streets Uptown, above a NO PARKING – STREET CLEANING sign. But on Tuesday night, around 8 p.m., she stepped out onto her back porch to smoke a cigarette, looked down at the hoop, and saw something unusual: a Harrisburg police officer playing basketball with one of the neighborhood kids.

“It was awesome,” Landolfa recalled. Through friends’ Facebook posts, she’d been following the riots in Baltimore after the death of a black suspect in police custody—a situation she described as a “little bit of a race war, little bit of cops-versus-civilians.” She took out her phone and, her battery dying, shot a series of short videos. Then she posted one to Facebook, writing above it “In light of Baltimore.”

“I thought, ‘Look who’s playing with your kids, though!’” she told me. “He was sweating, busting moves and playing ball.”

Landolfa has lived on her corner for about two years, at the end of a street people call “the bottom.” “Like, ‘Where you at?’ ‘I’m at the bottom,’” she said. Many of the blocks Uptown are lovely, with well-kept brick houses and flowering trees in the yards. The 2100-block of Penn is not one of them. In addition to the deteriorated housing stock—behind the hoop is a home with a crumbling porch and a boarded-up, busted window—the street is afflicted by crime, drugs and litter.

Of the 49 houses in this stretch, between Woodbine and Maclay, seven are owner-occupied. “There are as many abandoned as with people living in them,” Landolfa said. “I’ve counted.” Gary Neff, who owns six properties there, described it as “probably the worst block west of 3^rd Street.” He attributed its decline partly to a “feeding frenzy” before 2008, when inexperienced landlords were able to secure cheap financing and acquire units they couldn’t manage.

“There’s a lot of houses that’s not even—you can’t live in ‘em,” Lori Counterman, who has rented on the block for four-and-a-half years, told me. “We’re lucky. We have good landlords. But a lot of landlords that own houses that are boarded up and shut down—they’re like slumlords. They don’t want to fix anything. And then the people have to move out. And we lose good neighbors that way.”

In the morning, Landolfa showed the Facebook post to her mother, Sonja Lloyd. “She said, ‘Mom, look, my video has, like, 800 views!’” Lloyd recalled. They were getting ready for work, and when they looked again, the number had climbed past 10,000.

The officer in the video was Josh Hammer, of the Harrisburg police department’s street crimes unit. Hammer is white, with a stocky build, square face and short blonde hair. Landolfa recognized him from his visits to the Sunoco gas station a block away, across from the governor’s mansion, where she used to work. “He does have a good reputation on the street,” Lloyd told me.

By Wednesday afternoon, Hammer was back on the block, along with Police Chief Thomas Carter, Sgt. Milo Hooper of the street crimes unit, Landolfa, Lloyd and State Representative Patty Kim. Kim, who lives a few blocks away on N. 2^nd Street, had caught wind of the video earlier that morning. “It was refreshing to see something caught on tape with police that was positive,” she said. A “generous donor,” whom she did not name, had paid for a regulation hoop and several new basketballs.

While volunteers puzzled over assembly instructions, the officers milled about, talking to reporters. Hammer said he’d been passing by the block on a routine patrol and “saw some kids playing basketball, and it seemed like a good time to interact.” The boy in the video, a 10-year-old named Jeremiah, stood wearing a black polo, black slacks and a pair of Jordan sandals, studying a vein in his arm. “I just didn’t want to get embarrassed and lose in basketball to these guys,” Hammer said.

Chief Carter was asked what sort of directives, if any, had led to the outcome in the video. “I simply tell my people to treat people the way you want to be treated, or that you want other officers to treat your family member,” he said. “You gotta look at our youth growing up. A lot of them weren’t even born when we started having run-down houses, run-down churches, trash in the street, drugs all over the place. They have a feeling of hopelessness, you know?”

“We’re trying to change that culture,” he went on. “We’re a compassionate agency. And we’re trying to police that way, which simply means, you know, you’re out there, you’re listening, you’re talking to people, you’re understanding what their quality-of-life issues are, and you’re doing your best to try to change that.”

Down the block, perhaps two dozen people had come out on their porches, some of them eyeing the news crews with interest, others seeming not to notice them at all. A young man swept trash from the sidewalk into a litter-strewn gutter. Several kids picked up basketballs and started dribbling in the street for a cameraman.

Landolfa wore a white T-shirt with the words “I MATTER” written across the front. “It makes me proud,” Lloyd said. “Because here my daughter took a video, and through the video she’s able to have people donate and do something good for the kids.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Gary Neff, who owns properties on the 2100-block of Penn Street, as a “former city firefighter.” Although there is a Gary Neff who previously served as the city’s deputy fire chief, that Neff and the one in the article are not related.

Dock to Table: Get hooked on the fish at John B. Kelly Seafood Connection.

April 29, 2015 | by Stephanie Kalina-Metzger

John B. Kelly smiles as he describes his enthusiasm for fishing. To prove his point, he pulls out a treasured heirloom: a 9-pound whitefish fossil.

“I’ve always been into fish and fishing,” he said, admiring the piece. “My uncles took me fishing all the time as a kid and got me hooked. One brought this back from Venezuela.”

Kelly briefly entertained suggestions on how to display it at his new stand, John B. Kelly Seafood Connection, in the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. The retired educator moved into the space across from Hummer’s Meats in November and has since been cultivating a loyal following.

“We’re seeing a lot of regulars returning,” said Kelly.

The purveyor is often questioned about the provenance of his business, so he provides customers access to his backstory with ready fliers near the cash register. They tell the tale of how Kelly filled a seafood niche here in the midstate, and it all began with a pre-fatherhood, solo trip in 2003.

“I knew I’d be tied up, so I decided to take a lone journey, by myself, with nothing but a canoe, paddle, backpack and fishing and camping equipment,” explained Kelly.

Armed with an atlas, the Halifax resident determined his destination through a less-than-scientific approach.

“I went eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” said Kelly.

Fortuitously, the dart landed in the mid-coast area of Maine, where the Kennebec River dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. The avid outdoorsman allowed himself eight days to explore the area.

“During that time, I met a lot of the local fishermen while paddling my canoe along the rugged coastline in search of striped bass,” he said.

After the life-changing trip, Kelly yearned for Maine whenever he had time to travel. Because he worked at a school, his summers were free, so he scheduled three or four annual trips to the area.

The word spread quickly about the fabulous seafood Kelly was acquiring and soon he found himself lugging more than 600 pounds of lobster back for his friends and family. He realized he was onto something and made the decision to quit his job to sell seafood full time.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” he said.

Cakes & Shooters

Today, Kelly is doing a booming business supplying 18 different farmers markets around the area, with the Broad Street Market as his first storefront. Kelly has enlisted his girlfriend Sue Krankoski, his mother Mary Kelly, and his son John B. “Byrner” Kelly, 11, to lend a hand.

Kelly prides himself on the freshness of his product.

“We source our seafood straight from Maine from commercial fishermen whenever possible and are personal friends with some,” he said. “This is the key to getting the freshest product available. We stay away from FAS,” by which he means “frozen at sea.”

In addition to offering a wide variety of wild-caught, sustainably sourced seafood, ranging from lobsters to haddock, cod, dry scallops, Quahog clams and Jonah crab, Kelly offers crab cakes and fish cakes.

“They are $6 apiece and ready to cook,” he said. “The crab cakes are 80-percent crab and the fish cakes are 90-percent cod, and both are very popular.”

Also popular are soups and chowders and what Kelly calls “shooters,” which are, in essence, samples served in a small cup to be consumed on site, or packaged to go, so people can try before they buy.

For $2, people can savor the sushi shooter, made with fresh tuna, a splash of lemon and topped with wasabi ginger soy sauce made in house. Also offered are smoked salmon shooters, oyster shooters made with lemon juice, house-made cocktail sauce and a spice called “Smoke & Sass,” commissioned especially for J.B. Kelly through Robert Orth in Lemoyne.

“He hand-smokes Mediterranean sea salt with local hickory,” said Kelly. “We tasted four prototypes before deciding on this one.”

Wonderful & Authentic

Kaitlin Fleming heard of J. B. Kelly when browsing the Broad Street Market page on Facebook, so she made the trip on a recent weekend.

“My boyfriend and I switched to a pescatarian diet, and we appreciate the fact that his product is from the dock to the plate,” she said.

The Susquehanna Township resident added that she enjoys the shooters, along with the smoked salmon, wolf fish, cod, haddock and the sushi-grade tuna, which she describes as “difficult to obtain.”

Ken Apperson is also a fan and has a few recommendations, as well.

“The Quahog clams are just fantastic, as is the fresh swordfish, the crab cakes and the cod cakes. The dry sea scallops are wonderful and authentic,” said the Hummelstown man, describing how well dry scallops brown in the pan.

Kelly explains that many supermarket scallops are injected with a solution or frozen and therefore difficult to sear.

Jeanne Cranks learned of J. B. Kelly about two years ago when visiting the Hershey Farmers Market. She recommends the seafood chowder and is impressed with the variety of products.

“I also like the way he wraps the fish in three layers,” she said.

This summer, Kelly is planning to set up operations outside.

“We’ll have nylon mesh bags available and customers can choose mussels, clams, lobster—whatever they want,” he said. “We’ll put their seafood in a nylon bag, then stack and steam it outside to be cooked in their choice of flavor, like lemon pepper, Cajun or beer. People can eat onsite, or take it home in a bag, to save time and mess.”

Kelly is happy to be settled in with a storefront at Harrisburg’s popular market.

“I like the diversity,” he said. “You meet a lot of people here who have a lot of knowledge about seafood, and they share that information. The customers here are very loyal.”

J.B. Kelly Seafood Connection is located in the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. To learn more, visit www.jbkellyseafoodconnection.com.

Beer Here: Crave & Co. Cleared for Brewery

April 24, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

A few tables at Crave and Co., where you soon may enjoy homemade soup and home-brewed beer.

The interior of Crave & Co.

By this time next year, you may be sipping beer at Crave & Co., as the downtown Harrisburg eatery has received the city’s all clear to open a nano-brewery.

Owner Kristin Messner-Baker said today that the city reversed itself, deciding that the brewery could operate by right—without the need for a zoning variance.

“We were all shocked by this,” she said. “Now, we’re just really excited to start.”

Two weeks ago, Messner-Baker and brewer Kristen Richards received the approval of the city’s Planning Commission and were due to make their case before the Zoning Hearing Board.

However, in the interim, city Solicitor Neil Grover informed them that the city had determined that their planned nano-brewery at 614 N. 2^nd St. did not need special zoning permission to operate, said Messner-Baker. Grover could not be reached for comment.

Richards said she will simply move her existing, automated home-brewing system to the basement of Crave & Co., where she will produce fewer than 1,000 gallons a year, which will be sold only by the glass and in growlers for on-site consumption and take-away.

Messner-Baker said that the Crave & Co. Brew Works likely still will not open until early next year, as federal and state permissions will take time, as will the transformation of the empty Crave & Co. basement to beer-making space.

Separately, Crave & Co. plans to extend its hours starting in mid-June. The organic and vegetarian eatery will open for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. It currently closes at 2 p.m.

TheBurg Podcast, April 24, 2015

April 24, 2015 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

April 24, 2015: This week, Larry and Paul talk about PAC money and endorsements in the City Council race, and why glass is trash, paper is gold and beer is almost always good news. Also, they give a nod to City Beautiful H2O, a green-infrastructure and educational initiative from the folks at Capital Region Water.

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music. You can listen to his podcast, the PRC Show, on SoundCloud or in the iTunes Store.

TheBurg Podcast can be downloaded by clicking on the date above or by visiting the iTunes store. You can also access the podcast via its host page, here.

In Council Endorsements, Mayor, PAC See Eye to Eye

April 22, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

Councilman Brad Koplinski.

In 2013, they spent heavily on his mayoral campaign, helping him secure the Democratic nomination in the primary and cruise to victory in the general.

Now, as voters prepare to elect new candidates to City Council, the members of Harrisburg Capital PAC and Mayor Eric Papenfuse are again in step.

Though they have yet to make a formal announcement, the PAC will endorse the same three council candidates running for four-year seats—one incumbent and two challengers—that Papenfuse officially declared he was endorsing last Friday, according to J. Alex Hartzler, the group’s co-founder.

(Hartzler, a principal at WCI Partners, an area developer, is TheBurg’s publisher.)

The challengers Papenfuse and the PAC have endorsed are Westburn Majors, a lobbyist with Gmerek Government Relations, and Cornelius Johnson, a Susquehanna Township health officer. The incumbent they endorsed, Jeff Baltimore, is a former Harrisburg city economic development officer who was appointed to council in 2014 to replace Eugenia Smith, who died that April.

Papenfuse endorsed them during an appearance last week on TheBurg Podcast, a weekly news roundup produced by the magazine.

In explaining his endorsement, Papenfuse highlighted Johnson’s experience in municipal government, Majors’ connections at the statehouse and Baltimore’s background in economic development. He did not make an endorsement for the two-year seat, for which seven candidates, including Baltimore, are also running.

The PAC is endorsing the same three candidates, Hartzler said, because they “share our desire to make the city better.”

The PAC also sponsored a telephone survey earlier this month that was mentioned during a candidate’s night last week at Harris Street United Methodist Church, sponsored by Friends of Midtown, a neighborhood association.

During his remarks that night, Brad Koplinski, an incumbent candidate who has served on council since 2008, accused the poll of being specifically designed to test negative messages against him and no other candidates.

But John Jones, a partner at the WS Group, a Harrisburg-based political consulting firm that has contracted with Harrisburg Capital PAC since 2013, strongly objected to Koplinski’s description. He described the survey as a message-testing poll, designed to “get a feel of where the population is” in advance of the May 19 primary.

Jones said the survey, conducted by a “well-respected Democratic polling firm,” tested a mix of positive and negative messages on a variety of candidates and issues. Claims it was weighted unfavorably against Koplinski are “patently false,” he said.

The polling firm, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has worked on behalf of several high-profile clients, including Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio.

A representative at the firm did not return calls Wednesday.

The American Association for Public Opinion Research, a professional organization for survey and opinion researchers, distinguishes between legitimate message-testing polls and “push polls,” which are used to spread usually negative information under the guise of research and which the organization condemns as illegitimate.

The survey had around 300 respondents, according to Jones, a sample size more in keeping with a message-testing poll than a push poll, which would normally seek to reach huge swaths of the electorate rather than a representative sample.

Marie Ledger, a Midtown resident who took part in the telephone survey on April 2, said the call came from a Washington state number and lasted around 16 minutes.

During the call, the surveyor asked her to name three council candidates she was considering voting for. When her list included Koplinski, she said, the survey proceeded to ask whether the mention of various past votes or positions of Koplinski’s would cause her to change her mind.

“They didn’t have any problems with the other two, just with Brad,” Ledger recalled. “I started thinking, ‘What is this?’” When she asked who was conducting the survey, the surveyor “said he didn’t know, he was new on the job,” she said.

Papenfuse, asked about the survey Wednesday, said he was aware of the poll and had viewed its results. He denied, however, that he and Harrisburg Capital PAC were “coordinating” campaign efforts in the race for City Council. (The PAC contributed extensively to Papenfuse’s 2013 mayoral bid, spending $185,380 during that election cycle, $60,500 of which were direct contributions to the Papenfuse campaign, according to campaign finance filings.)

Even so, Papenfuse has made no secret of his distaste for Koplinski, who obstructed the mayor’s efforts to pass a citywide tax-abatement policy in late 2014 and earlier this year. He was the sole candidate the mayor bestowed with an anti-endorsement during his statements about the council race last Friday.

“We have to make sure that we don’t reelect Brad Koplinski,” Papenfuse said. “There has to be fresh, independent new voices.”

Koplinski, who has said he supports a more limited form of abatement than what the mayor proposed, tied the survey to his position on the policy, saying it had been paid for by “moneyed interests and developers” who sought to dislodge him.

Hartzler denied this, however, saying that Koplinski was simply trying to divert attention from his “personal failings” as a two-term council member.

“Elections aren’t about any one issue,” he said. “Politicians on the losing side of things try to make them about one issue.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the length of time Koplinski has served as a City Council member. He has been a councilman since 2008, not 2004.

Harrisburg Mayor Endorses 3 for City Council

April 17, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda and Paul Barker

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse today made endorsements for three candidates for next month’s Democratic primary for City Council.

Papenfuse gave his nod to incumbent Jeff Baltimore and challengers Cornelius Johnson and Westburn Majors for the three four-year seats on council.

He said that Baltimore, Johnson and Majors are the best choices of the eight residents running for the full council term. He did not make an endorsement for the single, two-year seat.

Johnson, Papenfuse said, is a “young man who has incredible experience and insight” from his time as a Harrisburg health inspector and as the director of the health department of Susquehanna Township. “He wants to bring those skills to bear on City Council,” he added, describing him as a “can-do person.”

Papenfuse said that Majors, a registered lobbyist for Gmerek Government Relations, would deliver knowledge of how best to work with the state government. He said that Baltimore, in his year on council, has shown himself to be conscientious, open-minded and fair.

He also gave an anti-endorsement to a single candidate, Brad Koplinski, whom he accused of needless obstruction on council, particularly regarding a bill for property tax abatement that the mayor proposed last year. “There has to be fresh, independent, new voices,” Papenfuse said.

The primary is set for May 19.The other candidates for the four-year seats are Jeremiah, Chamberlin, Ron Chapel, Brad Koplinski, Rhonda Mays and Ellis R. Roy. No Republicans are running in the primary.

Papenfuse made the endorsements while being interviewed as a guest on this week’s episode of TheBurg Podcast.

TheBurg Podcast, April 17, 2015

April 17, 2015 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

April 17, 2015: In a special extended edition of the podcast this week, Larry and Paul speak with their guest, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, about myriad issues from his first year-and-change in office. They discuss public safety, schools, mayoral power and Papenfuse’s political history and future ambitions – and also get the mayor’s endorsements for the 10-way City Council race this year. “Being mayor is a tough job,” he tells them. It “requires standing up for what’s right, pushing when you need to push, and trying to bring things into the public light when they need to be brought in.”

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music. You can listen to his podcast, the PRC Show, on SoundCloud or in the iTunes Store.

TheBurg Podcast can be downloaded by clicking on the date above or by visiting the iTunes store. You can also access the podcast via its host page, here.

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like