Bad news in black and white makes me look inside again

A New York State Attorney General’s report carried discouraging statistics about discipline and the Syracuse City School District, I discovered when I read a story by James T. Mulder, a friend and former colleague of mine at the big daily. Included was the statistic that black students are disciplined at twice the rate of white…

Listen to music, watch the people, taste the food

For more than two decades, when I went out to hear music, music was my sole focus. My job was to review concerts for the big daily in Syracuse. Hey, people, I’m trying to hear a band here. Even when I went to local series and bars and such, I knew I’d be writing about…

Downtown living continues to bounce back

The resurgence of residential urban living has been on the minds of planners and developers for so long in Syracuse now that the annual Downtown Living Tour recently held its eighth edition. Builders are taking the old, forgotten, historic buildings and pumping new life into them with apartments and condos. The spots that used to…

I might even give it a catchy new nickname …

When I enjoyed my Saturday stretch with Ellie B, aka Dogamous Pyle, at Onondaga Lake Park last Saturday, I had ulterior motives. I wanted to take pictures for today’s installment of my weekly community blog for Syracuse Public Media site waer.org. I happen to think the facilities at Onondaga Lake Park deserves some boasting. The…

Here’s to another 500

Big wheels keep on turnin’, Proud Markie keeps on churnin’ … Rollin’ on the WordPress. I received the Big Blue 500 this morning. My story about Syracuse veteran guitarist Mark Doyle got me to that nice, round number. Not bad for a writer who pushed the button for his first markbialczak.com piece — “Yeah, I’ve…

Mark Doyle ready to set the mood with ‘Guitar Noir’

When I moved from suburban Washington, D.C., to Syracuse in the late summer of 1983, I was always on the lookout for good live music. I mean, during the six years I lived in suburban Maryland, I got to see local players like sizzling guitarist Danny Gatton, and blues kings The Nighthawks with top guy…

At this huge nursery, it’s easy to welcome spring

Last Saturday my dear wife Karen and I walked the aisles of Chuck Hafner’s Garden Center in North Syracuse for more than an hour, and I was a lot closer to getting bushed than I was to getting bored. Every year we take the drive from our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood to North Syracuse…

One more look at the Wine Tour that was

Two weeks ago my dear wife Karen and I hopped on a limo-bus hybrid for a group tour of five Cayuga Lake wineries and vineyards. I chronicled the adventure in words and photos here. I promised a couple more pictures. There you go. I also promised that I’d reveal which wines I liked best when…

Give us a good time, please, say Syracuse Chiefs fans

At the beginning of April in Syracuse, N.Y., the grass was not yet green. Not even at the big ballpark that the Syracuse Chiefs baseball team calls home. That did not stop 6,661 fans from welcoming the start of another Triple-A season to NBT Bank Stadium. But first, they had a pretty big party in…