Tomorrow, bright and early, there will be an estate sale at the old Toll Gate Ice Cream parlor in Slingerlands. This will be the first and only chance to purchase memorabilia and fixtures from the old ice cream parlor in the nine years since it closed its doors. The listings, courtesy of Empire State Sales,…
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Patriotic Duty: The 1942 American Hockey League All-Star Game
NOTE: This article originally appeared in 1997, in the pages of Hockey Ink! magazine. Before American troops were part of World War II, ice hockey already felt the effects of Europe’s terrible conflict. Canadian soldiers were already sailing to protect England, to help liberate France, to do whatever was necessary to stop the advancing Axis…
Read MoreAmerican Zoo – a frightening documentary on the Catskill Game Farm
If you grew up in the Capital District, at one point in time you visited the Catskill Game Farm. You saw all the animals in the cages, you visited the petting zoo, and you had a great time doing so. In 2006, the Catskill Game Farm permanently closed. The animals were auctioned off (I think…
Read MoreH.R. Pufnstuf, Witchiepoo, Joy the Bugaloo, and me
I’m re-posting this blog entry from 2010, after the recent passing of Sid Krofft. I’m also updating many of the links, which have expired in the sixteen years hence. The recent passing of H.R. Pufnstuf puppeteer Van Snowden brings a tinge of sadness. I was fortunate to interview him in 2008, as part of an…
Read MoreKate Smith, Irving Berlin, and God Bless America
I wrote this article about 25 years ago for the music magazine Goldmine, and felt like dusting it off this morning for all of you. In recent weeks, the collectible value of “God Bless America” has risen. The original 78 (Victor 26198-A), which previously had a near-mint collectible value of $4, has risen to nearly…
Read MoreHip Pocket Records: Lighter than Air
I wrote this article for a 1999 edition of Goldmine magazine, and am reprinting it here. It was almost like finding a prize in a box of cereal. You bought a music magazine, and inside was an honest-to-goodness record. Not a vinyl or styrene record, mind you – a flexi-disc that could bend or twist…
Read MoreOh, so THAT’s where the new Albany Center Gallery is now located!!
It’s a synergy, I tell you. It has to be. Yesterday, after I posted my blog about taking my artwork The Shooting Star to the new Albany Center Gallery location, one of my friends, Roger Green, messaged me to suggest I list ACG’s new address, as they have moved from their former location to this…
Read MoreMaybe they need to replace the armrest.
The Albany-Schenectady-Troy area has a rich movie theater history. Many of those theaters were part of national or regional theater chains. Now I can’t speak for the theaters that operated before my birth – I do know we had some RKO theaters and Stanley Warner and Fabian theaters in the area – but by the…
Read MoreIn honour of wins by Mark Carney and the Sudbury Five …
As you probably heard by now, Canada recently had a major election, and Mark Carney – who ascended to the Prime Ministership after Justin Trudeau stepped down – won a full term as the country’s leader. Basically, he rallied the country with a campaign that was part “elbows up” and part “we’re not America’s 51st…
Read MoreWhen It Played in Albany: March 5, 1981
There’s a specific reason why I picked this date. There’s a reason why I’m traveling back 44 years in time. But we’ll get to that in a moment. On occasion, I’ll pick a specific date in Albany’s history, and then I’ll find out what movies were playing at the local theaters and drive-ins on that…
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