We lost a lot of theaters in the Capital District over the past few decades. Several theaters were knocked down to make the Empire State Plaza. Several drive-ins were repurposed for the expansion of urban sprawl. The few regional theaters in the Capital District have been chopped up into multiplexes. There’s a building on Central…
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Recovering the Trophy – and Restoring it
Tuesday morning, July 27. I received a phone call from Anthony Clement, the principal of Harriet Gibbons High School. As those who follow this blog know all too well, Harriet Gibbons HS was the former Street Academy of Albany, my old high school. It’s also the former alternative high school that was shut down earlier…
Read MoreMore on the “Little Red Schoolhouse” / “Answers Please” project
Got a decent response to my Friday blog post about the history of WRGB’s “Little Red Schoolhouse” / “Answers Please” high school quiz show. Over the past few days, I’ve put in plenty of dates and information from various sources – indicating, wherever possible, dates and times the show aired, opponents, who won, who retired…
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Remembering WRGB’s “Little Red Schoolhouse” and “Answers Please”
From 1963 to 1989, the Capital District’s top students looked forward to their day in the sun – a chance to compete on WRGB’s 1960’s televised quiz show “Little Red Schoolhouse,” which was later rebranded “Answers Please” in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In its nearly 30 years of existence, the show’s format remained relatively the…
Read MoreBillboard magazine, Christmas 1982
NOTE: This is a post I wrote from my old blogspot blog. But hey, I feel like sharing today. Bear with me on this one. I had a great time last night at the Times Union “Meet The Bloggers” event at the Albany Pump Station. TU bloggers Kevin Marshall and J. Eric Smith did a…
Read MoreRemembering Ralph Vartigian and the “Good Ship News”
It’s the early 1970’s, and we’re in the era of B.C. (Before Cable). Since there weren’t any “morning news” shows in 1972, our entertainment for the morning – before catching the school bus – was an assortment of Popeye the Sailor and Three Stooges cartoons, maybe even some single episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle. But…
Read MoreThe History and Legacy of “God Bless America”
NOTE: I wrote this article for Goldmine magazine; it was published in October 2001, just immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks. I worked with Richard K. Hayes of the Kate Smith Commemorative Society on the original article. This article has been updated for this blog post reprinting. They stood at the steps of the…
Read MoreCountermanding The Revisionist History of the Albany City School District
I didn’t think I could get more angry about the Albany City School District and its complete excision of the history of the Street Academy / Harriet Gibbons High School. From the school’s annexation into the District in 1974, until its conversion into a 9th grade academy in 2005, the Albany City School District treated…
Read MoreRemembering the 1991 Professional Soccer Championship in Albany
One of the players on the Skidmarks, a trivia team I play against at Elbo Room, is a huge soccer fan. He loves the English squad Arsenal, and he is hoping that when Thierry Henry plays for the New York Red Bulls, he can be in the stadium cheering it on. He also has been…
Read MoreA Memorial Day Blog Post: Victory Music
NOTE: I wrote the following article, which was originally published in Goldmine magazine in February, 1999. I wrote this piece after interview several members of the original V-Disc project, a program designed to bring music to World War II soldiers and sailors throughout the theater of battle. It is being reprinted here as part of…
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Chuck The Writer 
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