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…

An old friend from the music world shares some hard news

I got one of those emails on Sunday that makes you … Well … I got one of those emails Sunday that makes you think about life, and its ups and downs and the people that you meet and the ways that your paths cross and how relationships grow and how you can cherish friends…

Pale Green Stars enters NPR Tiny Desk Concert contest

Jeff Jones was always a good, smart guy to be around when I worked the music and entertainment beat for the big daily. Leading the historic glam-rock band Dracula Jones. Fronting the Americana band Pale Green Stars. Being a citizen of Syracuse. I like the guy. He’s sent over a couple of emails of late,…

For 50 bucks, maybe your winter Destiny does await

Always on the lookout for new stuff, my iPhone 6 came out of my pocket as I approached the parking-lot-side entrance to the pedestrian bridge at Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA. The windows to their world were pitching the winter entertainment this time around. Quite the idea, thought I. Throw down…

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…

A delightful flash of Cardinal red in winter

I’ve spent the two summers since I’ve started this blog ready to grab my iPhone or iPad for its camera whenever the Cardinal red flashed by the backyard of the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood Little Bitty shared by my dear wife Karen and I. I’ve never been quick enough to get a good shot.…

Feeling negative from the start

I heard the furnace running before I opened my eyes. I did not hear the furnance stop. I heard my dear wife Karen open the door to the back porch to step out and open the back porch door so Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle could do her Tuesday morning thing and felt the dog…

Come back to the Market Diner, Jimmy Dean

So who’d you like to have breakfast with given a free hand? Pancakes with Pavlov and ask him to bring his dogs? Oatmeal with Oliver Stone so you can explain why everybody’s against you? Eggs over easy with Ella Fitzgerald so you tell her how much you admired how she always made hitting the hard…

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…

Cashing in on the gift cards puts us in the Red

My smart and beautiful daughter Elisabeth and her terrific boyfriend George know I like lobster. My stepson Daryl knows I like lobster. My sister Dory knows I like lobster. I squirreled away their presents from my December birthday and Christmas for one big night with my dear wife Karen. I figured the $100 total plus…