Photo 101: A gallery for Sammy

The weekend assignment for Photography 101 was to set up a gallery. Friday night I shot plenty at the Syracuse Area Music Awards at the Palace Theatre. In fact, I had two previous years of iPhone photos from the Sammys stored in my iPad Air, too. Sammys Gallery, here we come. You can click any…

Catching up with Julia Goodwin’s story

I told you how excited I was about my latest piece of freelance writing for Central New York The Good Life Magazine. Baker High School junior Julia Goodwin’s smiling face makes the cover extremely attractive, does it not? And I think editor Linda Bien and graphic designer Peter Allen put together a most memorable package…

The past and the present embrace Syracuse’s big music

Generations of Syracuse music hugged Friday night at the Palace Theatre on James Street. Literally. Nick Zobrio, winner of the Best Jazz recording Sammys Award, couldn’t make the ceremony to honor the best, so he sent his father to read his hand-written note, which acknowledged his teachers, his parents and his siblings. Nick Frenay, winner…

CNYJO returns for a rare public performance

They enjoyed the vibe at the Oneida Scholastic Jazz Fest so much that the members of the Central New York Jazz Orchestra decided it was time to make their music for the public of Syracuse again. The cool ensemble will play at 4 p.m. Sunday at Jazz Central at 400 E. Washington St., Syracuse. The…

Photo 101: Finding solitude a third of the time

Day five of Photo 101 brings from Cheri the combination of Solitude and The Rule of Thirds. This first Friday in March being a day for a big three: Picking up the monthly prescriptions from my friend Jen at Dougherty Pharmacy 35 miles down the road in Morrisville, writing a magazine feature story and attending…

I had to recycle my Blue Bin story on the phone

My dear wife Karen and I try to be good citizens of our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood and our dear planet Earth. So we follow the spirit of our local recycling laws, tossing our plastic and paper and cardboard and glass into the city-provided Blue Bins, which are picked up along with the regular…

No matter the adjectives, it won’t be the Oscars

The MTV Movie Awards are on the horizon. Coming up April 12, in fact, and the cable network that used to play music videos is determined to be different. And of course that’s good. We don’t need another replay of the Golden Globes or the People’s Choice of the Oscars. In today’s installment of my…

Photo 101: Finding bliss in The Little Bitty

Assignment No. 4 in Photo 101 is Bliss. Open up the door a little wider, Cheri. What brings me happiness in life? Much, hopefully. Great grown daughter Elisabeth. Love to write, for this blog and the freelance opportunities elsewhere. Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle. My dear wife Karen on a line of her own. And…

Photo 101: Water everywhere, including the kitchen sink

No matter the assignment on this third day of Photography 101, I was determined that my post was not going to include one flake of snow. And then comes the word. Water. Horizontal view of water. Vertical view of water. Perspective included, reminds instructor Cheri about lesson two, because this month’s instructions are meant to…

Syracuse music, with The Works

And the winner is … Friday night, 13 best-of category recipients will be announced at the Syracuse Area Music Awards annual ceremony at the Palace Theatre. There also will be shiny black trophies handed out for the Brian Bourke Award for best new artist, hall of fame inductees (including Chris Goss of Masters of Reality)…