The Force Awakens within me, and I get Star Wars

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is worth all the fuss. And you don’t have to be one of the diehard followers of the franchise birthed in 1977 from the mind of George Lucas to appreciate the seventh installment, the one long-awaited by fans of IV, V and VI. (Yeah, I, II and III were prequels,…

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…

A little holiday light on the Little Bitty

I came home from work one night and the lights caught my eye right away. Good Neighbor Tim and his Wonderful Wife Lorraine had chosen to decorate a nice bush toward our side of their house for his holiday season. A multi-colored string of lights provided the festive touch. I liked it. Very much. And…

Jason Bean goes deep, Eddie Z digs it stripped down

Jason Bean, Mudfish Records Black Then Blue Then Gray Syracuse singer-songwriter Jason Bean thought he’d had emptied that musical well after he’d written, recorded and released his fourth album, Twenty Seven, in 2012. “My songwriting had become so personal, and in some cases, personal, that I walked away,” Bean says. A people person, he got…

Now, now, play nice

Taking a big loop around the Little Bitty in Syracuse neighborhood of Eastwood, Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I strayed over the line into Lyncourt. One neighbor was into the holiday spirit with mixed legends. Ellie B turned her nose up at the tumult, but I envisioned quite a Donnybrook the night before, an…

Working hard to get it exactly right

Kimberly Schad will throw a big party Friday night in Syracuse, at The Palace Theater on James Street, where everybody can come and appreciate her performing her music for free. It’s a release celebration for her EP, The Mystic Kingdom. Schad started recording an album five years ago, and didn’t like the final result. She…