Thank you for making me happy for so much of my life, David Bowie and Glenn Frey

I took my time thinking what I wanted to say about the passing of David Bowie. So many folks jumped right in to give this master musician his just due. He deserved every word, photograph, screen roll. I wanted to get it right. The man born 10 years before me held my attention from the…

Irv Lyons delivers his songs with love

Irv Lyons Jr., , Wonderland Syracuse guitarist and singer Irv Lyons Jr. obviously put his heart and soul into his new album Wonderland. The 10-song collection bursts with love songs touched with his rich guitar work, innermost lyrical poetry and plenty of help from his Syracuse music community friends. The veteran member of standout blues…

Ice Cube, Kevin Hart do more than Ride Along in 2

Ice Cube and Kevin Hart bring out the best in each other, for sure this time. And that makes Ride Along 2 better than its predecessor, which was a pretty good buddy movie in the first place. We find Hart’s Ben Barber and Cube’s James Peyton a week away from officially becoming brothers-in-law in this…

Let the gift-dining commence

One traditional gift on my giving list is a great Christmas combo cooked up by the folks at the Delta Sonic gas station. In a pretty little blue box they fold in three coupons for a car wash and one worth $20 toward dinner for two at Applebee’s. Every year I give one to my…

One family member loves the snow

I’ve fully chronicled my wish that the snow stay away from the our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. The reasons are many. Snow removal of course is high on my list, right up there with my aversion to driving in it, on it, through it. This week’s storm came through the…

Catching the corner

So you want to know how high the flatbed carts are in the retail store where I’m working as a cashier? Shin-high. My shin, anyway. I’m not always the most nimble working my way from the register to the carted merchandise that must be scanned with the portable shooter. Apparently. Yes, I felt it right…

Going for the green

Every year at this time, I turn on the Golf Channel and wish. Wish I were in Hawaii. Wish I were really good at golf. Wish I could be playing really good golf in Hawaii right now. Of course — pun intended — I have to be content with clicking on The Golf Channel and…

Whaddya know, the sky is falling

The news folks like to talk about snow in Syracuse, N.Y. How much are we going to get? How much have we gotten? How much of this have I heard since I moved here in August of 1983? Plenty. After all, Syracuse is the snowiest top 100 population city in the United States. And so…

So far, not so good for the Orange

Syracuse sports fans will gather round their screens and hope for the best tonight. The Orange men’s basketball team will trot onto the court at Boston College and try very hard not to fall to 0-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. That 0-4 start is not good news here in the heart of upstate…