Snow four dogs high

Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle’s got to walk. No matter how high the snow gets in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. On this weekend morning, the extreme cold of this February being a bit less crushing, my dear wife Karen joined us on the two-block loop to nearby Norwood Park. I asked her to…

Talking Springsteen, ‘SNL’ and Syracuse with blogger Phil Prehn

I’ll always jump at the chance for a live chat with somebody whose blog I follow. So when Phil Prehn emailed during this bitter Syracuse winter to set up a coffee get-together at Cafe Kubal, up James Street from my dear wife Karen and I’s Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, I…

Sitting in at the first Snow Plow Blues Festival heats things up

The wind chill was way into double-digit-negatives and the murky white banks flanking Syracuse’s James Street were way over your waist as the music fans some 150 strong braved their way into the Palace Theatre. Promoter and host Tom Honan had the right words to set the mood. “We were going to do it outside,”…

We’re quite stylish bowlers up there in fourth place

It’s been a good second half of the season for Cici’s Pizza so far in the Thursday Night Men’s League. I was the last to arrive of our fantastic five last night, having volunteered to fill the CX5’s tank for my dear wife Karen because she so graciously allows me to take advantage of the…

The Sing-Off soars live, and it’s all because of the voice

I hear it often when I decide to write about America’s continued fascination with the singing competition, whether it be “American Idol,” “The Voice” or “The Sing-Off.” But watch them I do, on FOX for the first through double-digit years now, and NBC for the last two for a shorter but equally devoted duration. Why,…

Word says ‘Star Wars 7’ will kill off a character

The latest round of speculation surrounding the seventh installment of the “Star Wars” frachise says a beloved character from the initial triology will not be left standing a the end of “Star Wars Episode Seven: The Force Awakens.” In my weekly Fim News blog today on the Syracuse New Times site, I quote writer Joseph…

Sometimes the record doesn’t have a thing to do with the game

They walked to the white dome through the frozen tundra. No sled dogs or igloos. It was Syracuse basketball fans heading through the cold and snow Saturday, destination Carrier Dome. They didn’t care that their Orange will not be playing in any postseason this year because of a self-imposed penalty that may or may not…

Odd couple, maybe, odd Oscar, definitely

Let’s talk about Oscar Madison. You know, the fictional sportswriter. Cigar-smoker, beer-drinker, poker-player, buddy to Murray the Cop. Forever cranky roommate to fussbudget Felix Ungar. Oh, yes, that is the crux of the long-lived male tale born in the mind of playwright Neil Simon for the 1965 Broadway production “The Odd Couple,” with Walter Matthau…

No secret: These Brits can figure out clues

James Bond had his decades, oh so many of them. Jack Ryan. Jason Bourne. Bring on Gary “Eggsy” Unwin. Yeah, “Kingsmen: The Secret Service” continues the long line of agent thrillers, but this young British hero has more to do with 007 than the rest, with gadgets and fighting and cool. You can read my…

Well it looks pretty nice

Things were looking pretty as Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle raced to do her morning thing off the back porch of the Little Bitty my dear wife Karen and I share in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Syracuse. The sun was inviting. Postcard alluring, perhaps. Vivid skies invited birds to the treetops off in the…