Albany Archives - Page 13 of 18 - Ramblin' with Roger

Coverville: All-Beatles covers Thanksgiving show for the 12th year in a row! “Track by track tribute to Rubber Soul for the 50th anniversary of its release, as well as a tribute to Paris with a full set of French-spoken Beatles covers.”

Chuck Miller wants to be buried with Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July”, which I consider his last great album.

Funnies

AV Club’s favorite graphic novels, one-shots, and archives of 2015.

Mark Evanier continues to list the twenty top voice actors in American animated cartoons between 1928 and 1968, including Paul Winchell (Tigger) and Howard Morris (Atom Ant) and Stan Freberg (Junior Bear), and Paul Frees (Boris Badenov, Professor Ludwig Von Drake, Poppin Fresh the Pillsbury Doughboy) and June Foray (Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale) and Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Captain Crunch).

Buster Keaton – the Art of the Gag.

Smilin’ Ed Comics by Raoul Vezina & Tom Skulan. Hardcover on IndieGoGo.

GOOGLE alerts (me)

Time to Ask Arthur Anything. He answered mine about Prez and Veep candidates and Ranking the Republican candidates and The USA’s gun problem.

SamraiFrog’s 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums.

Twing toustlers.

GOOGLE alerts (not me)

St Peter’s set for £1.2 million renovation. “Admitting to being “very nervous” about taking on the large-scale project, Friends chairman Roger Green, who this year won an award for his volunteering, has agreed to stay on and see through the changes, which are not likely to be complete until at least the end of 2019.”

U.S. Election Day is November 3, and you probably won’t vote

THE competitive race in Albany is the city school board, eight candidates for three slots.

I always vote. ALWAYS. There was a Democratic primary between two guys, both named Dan, for the county executive race in September, and that was the only race on my ballot. It was on a Thursday, which meant squeezing it in after coming home – the bus was a half-hour late – and then having to go back out to sing in the choir. But I voted, along with only 20% of the eligible voters on that day, because people have literally died trying to vote in this country.

And the struggle continues: “Alabama just closed 31 drivers license bureaus in counties with the highest percentage of Black voters. Every county with over 75% of registered voters that are African American will have their DMV office closed.” And when the feds come in to investigate – and they should – some will scream federal government overreach.

This November, there’s a dearth of interesting races in my town. One of the Dans won the county exec race and is unopposed, except by a Green Party person who has zero chance. Three of the four judges’ races have no opposition.

There’s a County Comptroller, County Sheriff, and two County Coroner positions up. As a lifelong Democrat, I nevertheless ALWAYS vote for the Republicans in the Albany coroner races. And since Albany is mostly a one-party town, the Democrats ALWAYS win, but it’s my little protest.

There are county legislator races up, but the incumbent in my district – I had to look up his name, he’s so impactful – will get reelected easily; if he has a competitor, I know nothing about him or her.

THE competitive race in Albany is the city school board, eight candidates for three slots, who will be debating on October 20. This is interesting that while I know only one of them personally, FOUR of them (not the guy I know) have invited me to “like” their Facebook campaigns. I met one of the other candidates at a public event recently, and she seemed quite pleasant; at that same event, TWO of my long-time friends told me she’s a crazy person.

Frankly, the school board is NOT a position that I would want. We had a terrible state commissioner of education, who got kicked upstairs to the federal level. Now that Arne Duncan is leaving as U.S. Secretary of Education, John King will be the interim Secretary. Arrgh!

Full circle

Early in June, I took a #10 Western Avenue bus downtown, then a #18 bus to Delmar to see my podiatrist at 8:20. When I caught another #18 bus to go to my doctor’s office to get a shingles vaccine, it was the same driver; not really a great surprise.

I took another #18 bus back to Albany with another driver. That same driver, about 15 minutes later, then took me out to Corporate frickin’ Woods, the #737, which I did find interesting.

As I may have mentioned, this past 109 months is the second time I’ve worked at CfW, the first time at Blue Cross/Blue Shield for 13 months in 1989-1990. The return there in 2006 did not make me happy. At all.

The first job I ever had in the Capital District was at the main branch of Albany Savings Bank in downtown Albany as a teller in February 1978, a job I did not enjoy, but I liked the locale. It DID become my bank as well, as it transitioned to Albank, Charter One, and now Citizens Bank.

It was confirmed that very same day of those coincidental bus trips that my office will be relocating downtown, likely in September, to the very same intersection I worked 38 years ago. I hear the offices served a former law firm, so they are supposed to be pretty nice. Collectively, the biggest add for us will be a fiber-optic network for connectivity. A really good thing will be that the walls go to the ceiling for private and semi-private offices, which will be HUGE for me.

(Put your rant about the dehumanizing effect of the office cubicle here.)

We have been encouraged to use some time in the summer to purge files of material we no longer need. After nine years, one gathers lots of stuff. This will take a while.

I’ve already asked some folks to take some print versions of Census data from 1990 through 2000 because it’s occasionally useful – I’ve referred to it three times in nine years – but if I could get OTHERS to store it…

I am happy. This will be the fourth move in this job in almost 23 years, and I’m sure, it’ll be my last because I’m likely to retire before another one.

98 Acres in Albany

David Hochfelder, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of History at UAlbany, is working on a research project titled “98 Acres in Albany”. Your help is requested.

The research team would appreciate any help you could give in connecting with people whose lives were affected by the demolition of the area and subsequent construction of the South Mall.

The goal of this project is to build a website that will reproduce the lost streetscape based on photos held at the Albany Institute of History and Art and the NYS Archives that document almost all of the 1,200 buildings demolished as well as map the demographic and public health trends in the 98-acre area and surrounding neighborhoods.

The research team has an advance book contract with SUNY Press to publish a companion volume of photo-essays. First drafts of those essays are on this WordPress blog.

The research team’s social media outreach is here:
Twitter
Facebook

Please reach out to Dr. Hochfelder and his research team if you have relevant stories to share. Please pass word on to others you know who may have stories to share.

Thank you for helping to document and preserve the voices of those who lived in the 98 acres of Albany that are now consumed by the South Mall. Help keep history alive!

April Rambling: Mr. Rogers, and SNL

“A wonderful experience, but it also tests the limits of human emotions.”

Here’s A News Report We’d Be Reading If Walter Scott’s Killing Wasn’t On Video. Also, from Albany: Chief Krokoff’s Retirement And The Ivy Incident.

Orioles COO John Angelos offers an eye-opening perspective on Baltimore protests. And from late 2013, David Simon: ‘There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show’.

Looking forward to watching the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight this weekend? I’m not.

Religious Freedom: Colorado’s sensible middle way. Also, ‘The Good Wife’ Defends Gay Marriage Against ‘Religious Freedom’ and Matthew Vines: “God and the Gay Christian”.

Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an” and Practicing Islam At A Catholic University.

Kitty Litter Shuts Down Sole US Nuclear Weapons Waste Facility.

20 photos that change the Holocaust narrative.

Not everyone has come to grips with the reality of that spring day in 1995.

Virginia is still imprisoning an almost certainly innocent man—even after he did the time.

Meryl Jaffe analyzes “March: Book 2” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.

Before Jackie Robinson.

Six things not to say to a mixed-race person.

The Radical Politics of Mister Rogers.

Jeb ‘Put Me Through Hell’. “Michael Schiavo knows as well as anyone what Jeb Bush can do with executive power. He thinks you ought to know too.”

In the “really sucks” category, my buddy Eddie Mitchell still has cancer.

Dustbury’s blog turns 19. I love that Steely Dan song. Speaking of which, he masterfully blends Meghan Trainor, Maya Angelou and Steely Dan in a piece about selfies.

ADD asks “How Do You Decide What’s Right and Wrong?”

Mark Evanier and his dad: on retirement.

Jack Rollins celebrates his 100th birthday. He has managed Harry Belafonte, Woody Allen, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Joan Rivers, Nichols and May, Tony Bennett, Jim Carrey, Dick Cavett, Diane Keaton, David Letterman, and a bunch more.

A telegram Joan Crawford sent to Rod Serling after she saw The Planet of the Apes (1968).

The Inside Story of the Civil War for the Soul of NBC News. Also, A DUMB JOB: How is it possible that the inane institution of the anchorman has endured for more than 60 years?

SNL is: Nora Dunn: “A traumatic experience. It’s something you have to survive.”. Also, “‘A wonderful experience, but it also tests the limits of human emotions”: Gary Kroeger looks back on his three seasons.

Frog explains how the filmmakers wrecked The Incredible Hulk movie.

What the critics wrote about the Beatles in 1964. And The least-celebrated Beatle is finally getting the respect he deserves.

Apparently, Dancing with the Stars and The Voice are using the arrangements of Postmodern Jukebox without acknowledging the group. Here are their versions of Wiggle (Jason Derulo/Snoop Dogg cover) and Creep (Radiohead cover).

Joni Mitchell is Not a “60s Folksinger”.

Percy Sledge.

SamuraiFrog ranking Weird Al: 115-101 and 100-91.

K-Chuck Radio: Guitars sound better with fuzz.

The Laughing Heart (Listen – it’s just one minute.) Never Let Go – Tom Waits Cover.

The top 100 movie number quotes.

Muppets: 40 minutes of “Sam and Friends and Tough Pigs has been collecting those Muppet Moments from Disney Junior and Aveggies: Age of Bon Bons and Cookie Monster, artist and Game of Chairs and one grouch’s trash is another grouch’s outfit and Taraji P. Henson on Sesame Street (sort of) and SamuraiFrog’s Toad Dweebie and Miss Piggy is recipient of prestigious New York museum award.

Passover, Rube Goldberg style.

GOOGLE ALERT (me)

After a hiatus of more than a year, the podcast 2political is back on a regular schedule! With Arthur (yes, THAT Arthur) and Jason, from DC.

Jaquandor answers a bunch of my questions.

Dustbury points out the Judgmental Map of Oklahoma City. He is also disinclined to get a smartphone.