Eli Cook will drive from Virginia to spread his vision of the modern blues

Eli Cook will point his vehicle north come two weekends from now and be excited about meeting new people. The solo trip from Virginia to Syracuse won’t be so bad when there’s a guitar in the back, songs in your heart and the tradition of a style of music to modernize and keep alive. And…

The Cheesecake Factory gets a second chance

After the bad shrimp scampi with clumped pasta and awful sauce, bitter and hard lettuce core, burned fry, dirty utensils, harsh ambulance lighting from the window, et al, what, you ask, would bring my dear wife Karen and I back to the Cheesecake Factory in the mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Detiny USA in…

On the wake of a farcical ‘Mortdecai,’ how do you prefer your movie humor?

Johnny Depp goes deep in his comedy closet in “Mortdecai,” while Gwyneth Paltrow as his wife is funny while using different tools. You can read my take about the farce directed by David Koepp from a screenplay by Eric Aronson as today’s weekly Film Blog review post on the Syracuse New Times site by clicking…

Everybody’s talking about ‘American Sniper,’ good and bad

Normally I’d shy away from leading my Thursday Film News blog with the same movie I reviewed to start the week. I can’t help myself in the case of “American Sniper.” To call the blockbuster about the life and death of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle increasingly controversial is somewhat of an understatement. To read today’s…

A little bit of Elvis aura to celebrate what would have been his 80th birthday

I saw a band from Albany play the songs of Elvis Presley at a bar in Syracuse last week. The Lustre Kings were on tour to celebrate what would have been the King’s 80th birthday. The rockabilly band led by guitarist and singer Mark Gamsjager had a fun time entertaining the fans at the Dinosaur…

‘American Sniper’ and all these feelings about war

I know I am a man for peace. And against war. I know I am a man who supports the soldiers who fight for our country, without question. The conflict within those two beliefs reared its emotional and complicated head in my stomach again as I sat with hundreds of other folks rapt in attention…

Before there was your Gravatar, there was ‘Avatar’

Are you happy with your Gravatar? I like mine so much I’ve given it a name. And The Head has taken on a life of his own, thanks to my friends here on WordPress and their artistic abilities. But I digress. It’s fun. Did you know that Gravatar comes from Globally Recognized Avatar, which really…

A good and Crunchy season

We had fun watching them from high above in the Carrier Dome in November. We had more fun from behind the goal in the Onondaga County War Memorial in December. On this Wednesday in January, I write about the successes of Syracuse Crunch for my weekly community blog for Syracuse Public Media site waer.com. You…

That’s not the movie I saw on the trailer

I really liked the trailer for “Inherent Vice.” It was fast, funny and loose. I saw the movie adapted from the 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon for today’s installment of my weekly Film Review blog on the Syracuse New Times site. You can read my review of the movie directed and written by Paul Thomas…

Now the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ are imaginary cartoon characters

I have to hand it to James Gunn, keeper of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” flame. While reading up on movie world happenings for this week’s installment of my film news blog for the awesomely attractive Syracuse New Times site, I came upon the Cinema Blend story that reported how the director had posted on…