Getting set for DonnaPalooza and hanging out with Althea

Today’s the day when the Syracuse music community is going to pay tribute to the wonder that is Donna Colton. Donnapalooza will celebrate the music and personality of Donna Colton, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who’s been spreading her rich vibe of warmth in Syracuse and its surrounding counties through the decades. Donna has been…

Free Advice: How smart is smart?

Free Advice is a periodic feature in which I answer anonymous letters sent to markbialczak.com. Today’s reader asks for my opinion about the relationship between academic degrees and everyday intelligence. At least that’s how I interpret it. Dear Mark, I went to a very good college and have a high IQ, according to standardized tests.…

Crowd storms look pretty from the comfort of home, but …

As I get set to watch my Maryland Terrapins host the Michigan Wolverines at the Xfinity Center in College Park on my flat screen at noon today, I’m still smiling abourt the way my squad handled the No. 5 team in the country on Tuesday night. Yes, serving Wisconsin just its third loss of the…

Shade Of The Day

I know you guys know Angie from her Kentucky Angels blog. Well, this smart woman has started a second blog, and it’s a colorful one. Fifty Shades of Angie starts with a photo of her yarn. It’s a big batch. Needs to be seen. This story says we need to have hope. Perfect for this…

I feel inspired at my second blogging anniversary, so I pass it along

WordPress reminded me this morning that I’ve been toiling over a hot blog for two years now. Well, some posts heat up our WordPress world here more than others, obviously. That’s the nature of this give, where I sit here on my recliner in the Little Bitty I share with my dear wife Karen in…

The driving force behind St. Baldrick’s success in Syracuse

Originally posted on Jim McKeever:
Chow Downey, master of ceremonies at Syracuse’s St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser for pediatric cancer research, readies an encouraging fist-bump to a young “shavee” about to go bald for a good cause. It takes thousands of volunteers and donors to raise almost $500,000 for pediatric cancer research at one event. It also takes one…

I can still hang out with KP and Tater and talk about golf

It may take awhile until the golf courses of Syracuse are green enough and dry enough to accept these first spring steps. And I’ll pretty much play in the brown muck to get out there for initial swings with my longtime golf buddies KP and Tater. This February, though, has crushed our spirit in cold…

Martinfest generates another year of fun

Year three of Martinfest was not bigger in the numbers sense. The oh-so-cold and you-gotta-be-kidding-me snow just may have kept some folks away from the private get-together in the Syracuse city parking lot across the street from the official Winterfest. But the Martins — sister Michelle, brothers Scott and Kevin and cousin Jason — were…

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…