Remembering concert series founder Arnold Black with a Squash Latkes recipe

Arnold “Arnie” Black was a composer, a violinist, and the founder of Mohawk Trail Concerts. To honor him in what would have been his centennial year, there will be a fundraising concert at the Charlemont Federated Church on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 3 p.m.

Arnold “Arnie” Black was a composer, a violinist, and the founder of Mohawk Trail Concerts. To honor him in what would have been his centennial year, there will be a fundraising concert at the Charlemont Federated Church on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 3 p.m. CONTRIBUTED

Arnold “Arnie” Black learned this recipe for Squash Latkes from his mother, who was born in Russia.

Arnold “Arnie” Black learned this recipe for Squash Latkes from his mother, who was born in Russia. PHOTO BY TINKY WEISBLAT

Draining the grated squash is an important step in making Squash Latkes.

Draining the grated squash is an important step in making Squash Latkes. PHOTO BY TINKY WEISBLAT

Two small Squash Latkes with a dollop of sour cream, as Arnold “Arnie” Black’s mother would serve them.

Two small Squash Latkes with a dollop of sour cream, as Arnold “Arnie” Black’s mother would serve them. PHOTO BY TINKY WEISBLAT

By TINKY WEISBLAT

For the Recorder

Published: 09-12-2023 7:19 PM

Food does much more than nourish us. It connects us to other people, in the present and in the past.

This week I’m using it to remember Arnold Black (1923-2000) of Charlemont and New York City. Arnie was a composer, a violinist, and the founder of Mohawk Trail Concerts. He was also an utter charmer.

Arnie would have turned 100 this year. Mohawk Trail Concerts will honor this anniversary with a celebration on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 3 p.m. at the Charlemont Federated Church.

This fundraiser will begin with a concert featuring works composed by or about Arnie. Those gathered will then move into the church social rooms to share refreshments and anecdotes about him.

The Federated Church is an appropriate location for this tribute. It was there in 1969 that Arnie came up with the idea for the concert series. He and his family were spending the summer at Singing Brook Farm here in Hawley in a cabin called Pudding Hollow.

Our neighbor, composer Alice Parker, asked him to play his violin at the church one Sunday.

Arnie lifted his bow that morning to begin a Haydn concerto and quickly discovered what members of the Federated Church had known for more than a century: the sanctuary had magnificent acoustics.

(The first time I sang a solo there, I was so impressed with my suddenly fabulous voice that I vowed never to sing in another venue. I’ve broken that vow since, but I never sound quite as good elsewhere as I do in the Federated Church.)

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Arnie and his wife, Ruth, decided that those acoustics warranted a concert series and, in the summer of 1970, Mohawk Trail Concerts was born.

From its first concert, Mohawk Trail Concerts threw musicians and community members together.

Folks from the church and the surrounding hills raised money, built stage platforms and occasionally even performed themselves. They showed that, for them as well as for the professionals, music was something you made and not just something you listened to.

Arnie and Ruth both had outgoing personalities and wonderful senses of humor. They encouraged musicians to linger after the concerts to get to know audience members. That interaction was perhaps the concert series’ greatest strength, one that continues to this day.

Returning musicians seem to look forward to the fellowship almost as much as the audience does. In particular, Bolcom & Morris, the duo made up of composer/pianist William Bolcom and mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, have made many friends in our community.

Bill Bolcom always appears a little surprised that I am now grown up. He met me first when I came to the concerts as a child. My parents took me to the very first Mohawk Trail Concerts performance. I have been a loyal audience member ever since, and I have volunteered frequently.

When Arnie died in 2000, Ruth took over the concerts. She retired nine years ago and handed the directorship to Mark Fraser. A cellist who lives in Montague, Mark continues the concerts’ traditions of excellent music, humor and accessibility.

When I was writing my first cookbook, I asked Arnie for a recipe. He gave me his formula for Squash Latkes. I made the latkes last week in preparation for the Mohawk Trail Concerts anniversary party. Being me, I also adapted them into my own version.

Interestingly, the squash disappears in both versions but leaves a little flavor as well as nutritional value. Two people who had known Arnie attended the party at which I served the latkes: composer Alice Parker and violinist Masako Yanagita.

Masako told me she remembered eating them with Arnie many times. For her and Alice, as for me, they represented a taste of a dear, talented man.

Anyone interested in attending the Mohawk Trail Concerts event on Sept. 23 is encouraged to email info@mohawktrailconcerts.org to reserve a place. The suggested donation is $75, but the public is welcome with a contribution of any amount.

Arnie’s Squash Latkes by Way of “The Steppes of Central Asia”

(to be eaten to Alexander Borodin’s music of the same name)

“My mother was from Russia,” Arnie told me. “She was a great cook, and many of her specialties were derived from Russian cuisine. Borscht (Hot: tomatoes, cabbage, beef; Cold: beets, sour cream, potatoes), Blini, Blintzes, Stuffed Cabbage, Stroganoffs...

“A vegetable dish which as a child in Philadelphia I found particularly delectable was ‘Squash Latkes,’ or ‘Squash Pancakes.’ She would serve them with a dollop of sour cream. Years later, living alone in New York and cooking for myself, I fondly remembered those wonderful Latkes.

“Thinking they might be within my modest ability, I called my mother for the recipe.”

To make things simpler, I used Bisquick for both recipes because Arnie’s recipe called for it. If you don’t have that mix, use 1 cup flour, 1½ teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt for each cup of Bisquick. Add a tablespoon of oil to the wet ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 good-size summer squash

1 egg

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup milk

2 cups Bisquick, plus a bit more if needed

Sour cream as garnish

Instructions:

Grate the squash; place it in a dish towel inside a colander to drain for 15 minutes or so. Place the grated squash in a mixing bowl and add the egg. Add the oil, the milk, and then the Bisquick, stirring but not beating. Add a bit more flour or Bisquick if the batter seems runny.

Spoon the batter into pancakes on a very hot, buttered griddle. Turn when bubbles start to appear. Serve with sour cream, maple syrup or both. This recipe serves four but can be doubled easily. I made tiny pancakes as an appetizer; I ended up with about 25 little cakes.

Tinky’s Squash Latkes by Way of the Steps of West Hawley

(to be eaten to “The Hawley Song”)

Ingredients:

2 good-size summer squash

2 eggs, beaten

A handful of dill, broken up into small leaves

¼ cup finely minced onion (I used red onion for color)

1 cup grated store cheese (aged cheddar)

1 cup Bisquick

Butter or extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying

Instructions:

Grate the squash; place it in a dish towel inside a colander to drain it for 15 minutes or so.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, the dill, the onion pieces and the cheese. Stir in the squash, followed by the Bisquick.

Spoon the batter into small pancakes on a hot griddle greased with butter or olive oil. Cook until they brown on one side; then flip them over. Makes about 20 little cakes.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.