Chuck The Writer

So after driving 8 1/2 hours from Albany to Warren, Ohio, here I am at the Vocal Group Hall of Fame inductions. The inductions take place on Thursday (today), but last night at the pre-induction dinner, there were plenty of moments where artists got together, hugged, shared memories and the like. What you’re seeing in…

Ah, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. My third cover story for Toy Collector Magazine has just been published, this time on the vintage (and currently resurging) sport of Electric Football. You can read the article at the link above. Or you can click here. Since I first started with TCM in the spring…

One of the drawbacks of a Nikon D70 is that if any dust gets into the CCD sensor, the pictures it takes will have spots on them. Noticeable spots. Spots that are too noticeable to use for quality photographs. Normally, one would send their camera away to a specialty camera shoppe, where they might charge…

Ah, it feels good to be back on top. My “Street Academy” one-man wrecking crew (with my wife along as my personal rooting section) is now back on top in the Elbo Room $2000 Trivia Tournament. By nailing such questions as “Which US President threw out the most Baseball Opening Day first pitches?” (Franklin D…

For those of you who want to see the lineup of concerts for the 2008 Vocal Group Hall of Fame – go to this link. I’ll give you more updates as the concerts and inductions get closer to showtime.

As I get ready for tonight’s next round of trivia at Elbo Room (and its $2,000 prize for the winning team), I am reminded that last week I didn’t do so well. Memo to self – watch a few more John Hughes 80’s teen films. I wasn’t into them when they came out, so to…

Normally I’m a creature of habit. If I like playing trivia at one bar or tavern or restaurant, I’ll keep coming back. That routine soured about a month ago when my Wednesday night trivia location, a sports bar called the Recovery Room, essentially told me I was not welcome there any more because I won…

About ten years ago, when I first worked for Goldmine magazine, the editor of the publication asked if anyone would be interested in covering the inaugural inductions of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania. I figured what the heck, eight hour drive, see a museum, write an article, no probbies. Actually, the…

I still can’t believe she’s been gone for 25 years. Even when one of the most wonderful, innocent, warm people ever could have their lives taken away like that – it still burns at me like heated barbed wire. Stacy Davis died 25 years ago. I’m kind of guessing you haven’t heard of Stacy Davis.…

Just couldn’t put anything together Thursday night at the Elbo Room tournament; used up both my skips within the first four questions, then wiped out on a 10-pointer (how the hell was I supposed to know that Ringo Starr has suddenly decided to curtail any autographs or fan mail?), and in the end I didn’t…