About Me

Hi, I'm Marty Kupersmith (Kupe) who in my other life as a founding member of Jay and the Americans is known as Marty Sanders. To keep it short and sweet, I started this collection before Jay and the Americans re-formed.

If in listening, there seems to be little or no continuity, it's because there is none and as a fan of "free form radio" that was my goal from the gecko! Each song has its own characteristic and a corresponding character to play the part.

I grew up loving Hank Williams and Frank Sinatra and not having the audacity to emulate them, I do their songs as a from of homage and respect. Hope you Enjoy!

- MK

 

In My Other Life
"Every Little Bit Helps!"

First let’s get one thing straight; I am not a herpetologist having no degree in that science. I am, however, a herpetophile…one who has an interest in reptiles.

My knowledge and expertise come from personal interactions. Let's take for instance the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus Horridus) or as my friend, Randy Stechert, calls them: “buzz puppies.” This much maligned snake is actually our first national symbol; its image depicted on the first United States flag, the Gadsden Flag, with the motto, “Don't tread on me.”

The timber rattler and the copperhead are the only venomous snakes found in southern New York state. Timber rattlers can be found from southern New Hampshire to northern Florida and west into east Texas. Along the southern coastal plains in North Carolina is a variation called the canebrake rattler which grows larger.

Some time ago I was gifted with a small set-up of Central American lizards. Not knowing how to keep them, I contacted and became a member of the New York Herpetological Society which soon led to my first interaction with timbers on a field trip to Bear Mountain State Park. It was, if not love at first sight, an extreme enthusiasm.

Individuals from the same litter can come in two color phases: black or yellow. Both are equally impressive. Coming up on a rattler sunning on a ridge overlooking a green valley can place one into a primeval setting. I've sat relaxed among them on one of these ridges, a black phase coiled several yards to my left and a yellow to my right. I'm sure they were as aware of me as I of them, yet, not sensing any fear or danger from me stayed put soaking up sun and enjoying the day as I was. On these privileged occasions I feel a peaceful spirituality and oneness with my environment.

Now we come to my role as a nuisance rattlesnake responder. Through the auspices of the Department of Environmental Control (DEC) of New York and the recommendation of Randy Stechert, I am on record in several municipalities in Orange, Rockland, and the lower Hudson Valley counties as a responder. This means that if someone has what they believe to be a timber rattlesnake on their property instead of killing it (which could result in a fine) the local police are contacted. They in turn contact me or one of the other responders who happen to be around. My job (which by the way is voluntary) is to protect folks from the rattler, but mostly through education I wind up protecting the rattler from the folks.

I am often asked if I'm going to relocate a captured snake. The answer is “No.” Rattlesnakes can not be relocated. They live in ancestral dens often sharing them with other snake species. There they over - winter in a state of torpor and there the female gives birth to from four to a dozen live-born young in a litter. Adults emerge in early spring and travel up to a mile and a half along ancestral routes in search of food and water returning up to the den mid to late September (sometimes well into October). Males follow the female’s scent trails and mating occurs en-route.

- MK
Concerned Environmentalist