Aretha Franklin still qualifies as the Queen of Soul

The Queen of Soul still holds courts on a stage. Aretha Franklin took the 10,000 and more folks who pressed onto the campus of Onondaga Community College for her finale set of the M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest and showed them a thing or two about proper soul singing Saturday night. And it was very, very…

A Big Band jump start to the M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest

Into every M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest a little rain must fall. So it seems sometimes in the history of this big party to celebrate good music and hopefully fine times in Central New York. On the first night of the 33rd edition of the summer event on the campus of Onondaga Community College, the precipitation…

The Magnificent Mrs. Johnson

The lovely chapel on the Syracuse University quad resonated with chuckles. Some of the hundred people inside from the shining July sun dabbed their cheeks from tears. We listened to pretty guitar and stately organ music. We celebrated the 92 years of Vivienne Jean Johnson beautifully in Hendricks Chapel on a lovely Thursday afternoon as…

Pete Rose, the sight of you makes me sad, and a bit angry

As all of baseball returns to the diamonds across America today to commence the races for division titles and wild cards and the playoffs that will lead us to the World Series, I’d like to take one more deep All-Star Break breath and ponder Pete Rose with you all. Yeah, the American League team will…

Sublimely, the seven savor the 6 p.m. sun …

Enough about the slow play and the waiting and setting sun and my grouchiness about all of the above. This week the little golf league got off on time, both foursomes from the first tee at Northern Pines on the northeast outskirts of Syracuse. Yes, there was a bit of a bottleneck at the second…

It’s the weekend to welcome Wynton and Aretha

It’s a huge weekend for music where I live. Wynton Marsalis leads the Lincoln Center Orchestra onto the stage of the M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest as the headliner Friday night. If you’ve never had the opportunity to sit in the same place as, oh, a couple dozen of the best jazz players on the planet…

The girls let us get away with them to Jamesville Beach

Every year in August, my dear wife Karen packs her bags and says see ya. Almost a decade ago, her great friend at work, Chris, invited her to join a trip to Alexandria Bay for a weekend, an annual getaway in which a group of women who’ve known each other since high school age tell…

Our usual boyhood shenanigans are interrupted for this important announcement

My blogging friend Scott from Snoozing on the Sofa has not-so-secretly been working on a second life from raising with his beautiful wife those three boys that help make his every post such a delight to read. Scott Nagele also is a novelist. And he’s worked years on his new one, A Housefly in Autumn.…

Minions makes me chuckle, but the yellow pills can’t get inside my head

The three little yellow dudes have a good sense of humor and all that, but I can’t say I’m in love with their sense of timing. Minions drew a decent crowd for the Saturday matinee in the Regal Cinemas theater in Syracuse’s mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA. And the little ones exclaimed…

Guest Post by Paul Curran: From Squirrels to Space Travel

My friend Paul Curran has dropped by today with his weekly Cuppa post usually earmarked for Willow’s excellent blog on the other side of the big pond. Welcome from Canada, Paul. And I hope you are well in the U.K., Willow. My, this is an international Sunday. Without further prattle from me … If We…