Martinfest heats up this year

They can take the chili cook-off out of Hanover Square, but they can’t move Martinfest out of the parking lot across the street. That special gathering of friends put on by the Martin family, naturally, went on last weekend, thankfully, even though a bother about permits and such according to a story on Syracuse.com moved…

He shoots, he scores at the AHL All-Star Classic

The best of the American Hockey League gathered in Downtown Syracuse Monday night for something all the banners and posters dubbed the All-Star Classic. And the old Onondaga County War Memorial rink was hopping. My dear wife Karen scored tickets Friday at SMG, and we were glad to take our two spots among the 5,710…

A skating day to the ‘T’

A business lunch took me to downtown Syracuse. I made sure I passed the ice rink in Clinton Square. A few folks were taking advantage of our warm upstate New York December weather on a weekday afternoon. It was unseasonably warm for a December day in Central New York. I was still wearing my winter…

What might you say thanks for this holiday?

As we prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I got to thinking about things I’ve taken in around the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood in the last year that have made my life richer in some way. In fact, I picked a dozen such memories I’ve written about over the last year —…

In Syracuse, we think of Paris

The night before, the tower in downtown Syracuse was lighted up all blue, the choice this month to signal the fight against diabetes. Saturday night crowds walking out of two adjacent buildings looked up at a different tribute. Some 6,000 people from the Syracuse Crunch hockey game and another 2,000 from the concert hall were…

Listen and learn with Nancy Kelly

The folks at CNY Jazz are all worked up about this weekend. Nancy Kelly is taking over their cozy downtown Syracuse theater Saturday and Sunday. The popular vocalist will host the organization’s fall Vocal Jazz Jam and Stars of Tomorrow Cabaret. Not only can guests see and hear Kelly’s distinctive voice and style, but they’ll…

A square with a water view

My dear wife Karen’s email asked if I’d like to meet her for lunch at Festa Italiana. I got there early enough to take out my iPhone 6 to share my view of the fountain at downtown Syracuse’s Hanover Square on a lovely 85º F mid-September afternoon. No mattter that Karen meant the next day…

The big stage still revs Jimmy Cavallo at 88

I’ve had the chance to talk to Jimmy Cavallo for a quarter century now. Back when I worked for the big daily, he and his bud Stan Colella even allowed myself and a photographer colleague to tail them around a downtown Syracuse joint called Styleen’s Rhythm Palace as they posed for the cover of their…