A granddaughter pitches in about my Polish memories

The Polish in Me bubbled out in May when I wrote about a great spot in my memories, a resort in the Catskill Mountains my father Frank reveled in taking our family. I poked around the recesses of my gray matter from more than four decades ago to bring back that time when I was…

A rocking party to celebrate a special album

Many of you took the time to comment about my Friday review of Castle Creek’s new recording “The Only Life,” so I thought you might like to share the vibe of the duo’s Sunday night CD release party at Syracuse’s cool room Upstairs at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. I had my iPhone 6 warmed up and…

So, a Hollywood love story doesn’t have to be sappy

There is still room in Hollywood for a big love story. Gina Prince-Blythewood proved it to me with “Beyond the Lights.” I have to admit I was a little gunshy after taking in my first Nicholas Sparks movie ever a while back with “The Best of Me,” but I chose this first-run drama and music…

Of Mr. Met, BlogHead and Captain Poblano

Way back in spring 2013, I had my best friend KP snap a shot of me at the golf course during our first round of the season. You bet I was a happy guy. I decided to use it as the primary head shot for this here blog of mine, what with my black straw-ish…

Football, basketball and a signed book for Christmas

The college basketball season started last night. Around here, Syracuse walloped a team from Kennesaw State, 89-42. If you’re interested, you can find a report about the game here. College football cranks up again today. Most teams have three games left in the regular season, then conference championship games before the first-ever four-team playoff to…

A lake shore alive with holiday lights, you can count on it

I counted 117 million light bulbs ablaze with holiday fever along the shore of Onondaga Lake in the Syracuse suburb of Liverpool on Wednesday night. Now that would be a frustrating chore, wouldn’t it? Seven million eight hundred thousand eight six … dang, lost count, I have to go back to the start! In Syracuse,…

Two weeks down, Nano Poblano, time to hop in and volunteer

The fun continues as week two of Nano Poblano concludes, Team Pepper. Interesting posts abound. My click finger may never be the same. Our three Little Pepper Blog Hops are still jumping between squad members. As you recall, Fish of Gold started our ball rolling with a short story opportunity. I came in thereafter with…

New rooms, familiar players, cool release … and I still dig the Syracuse sound

Back when I covered the Central New York music scene for the big daily, I always had it in the back of my mind somewhere that these voices, these talents, these people I was hearing, seeing, watching, following, talking with, tracking, well, they were as good as the folks other people doing this job in…

Can an actor make you laugh with just one word?

A few times now, the funny-looking man at the front desk of a big city hotel has recited his name and a word that you don’t hear much these days. It’s a trailer for a movie that’s opening on Jan. 23. The make-up job is good, because the actor is Johnny Depp. He’s the title…

On Nov. 11, in Syracuse, N.Y., we played sunny golf

I’ve had a new saying lately. Syracuse is the new South Carolina. What I mean is … The periodic bursts of warm weather we’ve been getting this fall has been knocking me out. On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day 2014, it reached 65 degrees in Syracuse, N.Y. That, my friends, is not the usual sort…