Tag: William Kennedy

May rambling: the Great Society

No one wants a permanent gerontocracy

LibrariansHeather Cox Richardson: “On May 22, 1964, in a graduation speech at the University of Michigan, President Lyndon Johnson put a name to a new vision for the United States. He called it ‘the Great Society’ and laid out the vision of a country that did not confine itself to making money, but rather used its post–World War II prosperity to ‘enrich and elevate our national life.’ That Great Society would demand an end to poverty and racial injustice.”

Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical

Structured Settlements & Factoring Companies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

FOTUS claims Congress said yes to his big dumb arch—102 years ago

No one wants a permanent gerontocracy

Newark’s Mayor Arrested at Protest Outside ICE Detention Center; Gov. Sherrill denied access to facility; migrant jail detainees launch hunger, labor strike over conditions behind bars

Elon Musk is mad that mythological movie characters aren’t white

Tennessee Man Jailed for Sharing Charlie Kirk Meme Receives $835K Settlement. Larry Bushart missed the birth of his granddaughter and lost his job as a result of his 37 days in jail.

Anderson Cooper’s emotional farewell to 60 Minutes after 20 years

Veteran 60 Minutes Journalist Sharyn Alfonsi Says ‘Wall Has Come Down Between Editorial Independence and Corporate Interests’

Mark Evanier’s Trip Back East, mostly to see Jack Kirby’s name on a street sign, and a story about his  Uncle Nathan

Kobe Bryant + Kyle Busch =/= Abraham Lincoln + John F. Kennedy

“He Breathes, He Writes”: The Voluminous Memory and Deep Empathy of Ironweed Author William Kennedy

Is Kingston The New ART CAPITAL of Upstate NY?

Only In Monroe with Stephen Colbert

The Most Valuable Background Actor in History? and Don’t Let the Moose Lick Your Car and The Day America Locked Canada Out of Its Garages

I’ve been away

I’ll likely write about it in dribs and drabs. But this was oddly relevant.

Wordle 1,800 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩AROSE 94

🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩CLIME 4

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩NIECE

Wordle 1,801 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜AROSE 97

🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜TULIP 1

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 VISIT

MUSIC

Paul McCartney’s Joyous Performance in the Finale of ‘The Late Show’

Orion and Pleiades by Toru Takemitsu

Laurie Anderson: Tiny Desk Concert, May 22, 2026

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists (Series Four) #4: This Heat (And Related Artists) and #5: Jonathan Richman

Top Of The World – Greenvines Duo

I Can’t Stand The Rain  – Ann Peebles (1974)

Coverville 1581: The Janet Jackson Cover Story and 1582: The Bob Dylan Cover Story IX

Come On – The Rolling Stones

West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys

K-Chuck Radio: S-S-S-S-S-Saigon…

Nik Durga: New Zealand Music Month and the songs I didn’t grow up with

Greatest Love Of All – Whitney Houston

WHERE THE HELL IS OUR CONGRESS? | A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Thankful month, part 1

friends from kindergarten

I decided to write a blog post for thankful month. Lazily, I picked November 2025. I’m not including the Thursday night choir rehearsals or Sunday morning church services, both of which would qualify. Then the exercise appeared to run too long. So this is part one. I realize it’s rather diaryish, but that’s how it wrote itself. 

DATE: Monday, the 3rd. Back in April 2021, I had lunch with three of my oldest friends—I’m talking KINDERGARTEN at Daniel S. Dickinson in Binghamton, NY — Carol, Karen, and Bill, along with Karen’s old friend Michael, whom I’ve known for a good while. That first lunch in Latham, NY, after we had gotten our COVID shots, was replicated at a diner in Albany. It’s strange when you have friends for 67 years, I suppose. But some memories diverged, which is expected after so many years.

DATE: Tuesday, the 4th. I had already voted the previous week. Before early voting, I would get up extremely early and be the first or second person in line. I miss it a little, but not enough to return to the tradition.

At the FFAPL author talk, Peter Balint discussed his memoir, The Shoe in the Danube: The Immigrant Experience of a Holocaust Survivor. This was a fascinating book. His father, a Hungarian Jew, died in the Holocaust; he, his older sister, and his mother, a German Catholic, survived. There’s a lot about personal identity that I found relatable.

I got to see one of my housebound friends. After I dropped off some prescriptions, we had another lovely conversation.

The shopping cart

Then I went to my local Market 32 Price Chopper to buy some food and get a new shopping cart. My existing transport was beginning to wear out.  I did not realize that the cart required assembly. So at the end of the counter, I’m struggling to put this thing together. The cart was made in China, as were the instructions.

The young man who had rung me out was trying to help me, but he also had customers. He asked if he could turn off his aisle light, and he helped me assemble it. Or so we thought. As I was rolling it out of the store, filled with groceries, the doohickey holding the back tires together sprang off. The young man came and helped me tighten those whatchamacallits, with some advice from the security guard, who had been busy protecting the produce.

DATE: Wednesday, the 5th.  I participated in a community reading of a William Kennedy book for the third time. Two years ago, it was for the book Ironweed, and last year for Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game. This year, we are reading Legs, the fictional account about the very real gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond, who lived in Albany and was murdered in the 1930s.

This year, the event made the New York Times. Participating in this event makes me feel more Albanian; that’s pronounced ALL-bah-nee-an, not AL-bah-nee an. Michael Huber, the communications guy for the New York State Writers Institute, and a truly swell guy, wrote: “In a time of desperate need, this marathon reading of Legs raised $1,605 for the food pantry at Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, which was Kennedy’s childhood parish.”

Zooming to France

Then I went home and talked with my dear friend Deborah, whom I met in NYC in the summer of 1977, on Zoom. My wife and  I went to Deborah’s and Cyrille‘s wedding in western France in May 2023.

DATE: Friday, the  7th. I attended a lovely flute and piano concert by the Hardage Chirignan duo, featuring two women named Mel, for First Friday at First Presbyterian Church in Albany.

DATE: Sunday, the 9th: I attended a meeting to learn more about how to address ICE activities. Zoom call with sister Leslie. I was going to write about the Northeast blackout of 1965 on my blog, but I forgot; at least I touched on it in 2005.

DATE: Monday, the 10th. It was 50 years since the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Someone I know thought the event had taken place long before then. Kelly wrote about it.

My wife went out with her friends for dinner, so I went out and had a lovely conversation with a member of my church choir, which touched on some similarities and at least one revelation.

More on Thanksgiving.

Calendar post: November 2025, et al.

Underground Railroad Education Center

I love my little calendar post. I’ll probably do one of these monthly, if only so I can keep it straight in my own mind. My choir has been rehearsing quite a bit for the December 14 concert. I suppose I should read the tome before my book review. 

ITEM: Marathon public reading of Legs by William Kennedy. Noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5. Albany Distilling Co. Bar, 75 Livingston Avenue, Albany, NY 12207 518-949-2472

Want to join the reading? Readers are asked to sign up and select a time slot by Friday, Oct. 31. Just want to listen? No registration is needed to attend. The event is free and open to the public. Drop in anytime from noon to 8 p.m. 

Support a good cause: Donations will be collected at the door to benefit the food pantry and free meal outreach at Sacred Heart Church in Albany, Kennedy’s childhood parish.

The event is the third in a series of public readings of Kennedy’s novels. We read Ironweed in 2023 and Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game in 2024. (I participated in both, and will again this year.)

ITEM: Roselee Blooston, who will be speaking at APL in December, provided this info about her new book, Including the Periphery: 

Main Street Magazine’s author profile, which you can read HERE. She was also included in  Chronogram’s “5 Hudson Valley Books to Read in September.” She will be at:

The Ballad of the Brown King

ITEM:  There will be a concert on Sunday, December 14, at 3 pm at First Presbyterian Church, 362 State Street (corner of Willett) in Albany. The FPC choir will perform in partnership with the Festival Celebration Choir. It will feature a chamber string orchestra (plus harp). Half of the concert will feature carol settings by Alice Parker, including her Seven Carols for Christmas. The second half will feature the cantata The Ballad of the Brown King by Margaret Bonds, one of the most significant black woman composers of the 20th century, with lyrics by Langston Hughes.

ITEM: Connections That Feed Hope – FOCUS Churches Breakfast Club. Donate if you can.

ITEM: Stand with the Underground Railroad Education Center as a sponsor or attendee of the upcoming Arias in the Afternoon: Lifting Every Voice on December 14, 2025, from 1 to 3 pm, at the New York State Museum. Arias in the Afternoon brings Handel’s Messiah together with the Smithsonian’s Voices and Votes exhibit for a powerful experience combining music, history, and inspiration.

ITEM: The current Art at APL exhibit — “Sight Specific” — is on view at the Pine Hills Branch until Nov. 8.

The exhibit is curated by Opalka Gallery and funded by the Friends & Foundation of APL, with additional support in 2025 from the Arts Thrive and Grow grant through The Arts Center of the Capital Region.

Stay tuned for information about the next Art at APL exhibit — “Countenance: The Contemporary Portrait” — which will debut on Dec. 5.

Another book review (moi)

ITEM: Events at the Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Avenue, on Tuesdays at 2 pm in the large auditorium.

October 28 | Special Program: Andrea Nicolay, Executive Director of APL, will discuss APL and Current Events.

November 4 | Author Talk | Peter Balint, retired international businessman and former US Army officer, discusses and reads from his memoir, The Shoe in the Danube: The Immigrant Experience of a Holocaust Survivor.

November 11 | Author Talk: Ryane McAuliffe Straus, formerly professor of political science at St. Rose College and now an Empire State Fellow, discusses and reads from her book Divided by Choice: How Charter Schools Diminish Democracy.

November 18 |Book Review | On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder.  Reviewer:  Mark Lowery, retired from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

November 25| Book Review | Everything is Tuberculosis:  The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green.  Reviewer:  Roger Green, business librarian retired from the NY Small Business Development Center.  (Not related to John.)
ITEM: Remember to make a plan to vote and take advantage of Early Voting if you can! 
In New York State:
Saturday, October 25 – Sunday, November 2, 2025
Saturday & Sunday: 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Monday & Wednesday: Noon – 8:00PM
Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 9:00AM – 5:00PM

 

Early Voting Locations for 2025 in Albany County 
You may vote at ANY of the following sites during Early Voting only:

Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Parish Hall) 
85 Elm Ave., Delmar, NY 12054 

Albany County Board of Elections
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church
Boght Community Fire District
Pine Grove United Methodist Church
East Berne Volunteer Fire Company
Guilderland Public Library
Scams

ITEM: 🚨REPOST PSA🚨

The Albany Police Department’s Center and South stations have received numerous calls regarding scams. Please remember:

The scammers may:
🚨Claim you owe money.
🚨May identify themselves as an officer of APD demanding arrest if you do not pay the amount owed.
🚨Demand payments through gift cards.

Just a reminder:
🚨APD will not call you and demand payment over the phone.
🚨APD will not ask for personal financial information over the phone.
🚨Do not provide any personal information over the phone

If you receive a suspicious call, hang up and report it to the police.

November rambling: Hatred is Not the Norm

Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game

Love thy neighbor“Hatred is Not the Norm”: For a 1964 Multi-Faith Civil Rights Rally, Rod Serling Pens “A MostNon-Political Speech” – delivered by Dick Van Dyke

A Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas ERs

Lee Greenwood: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Trudeau announces sharp cuts to Canada’s immigration targets

Sorry, world. The toxic Rep. Elise Stefanik, the next UN ambassador

Landmines

What Now? with Trevor Noah: Have We Missed The Message? Bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates joins Trevor and Christiana to discuss his new book about how the stories we tell, and the ones we don’t, shape our realities. They also unpack the jaw-dropping CBS interview that followed the book’s release, and our elusive search as a people to see the humanity in others.

CSICON: Island of Reason in a Sea of Madness

Magic Johnson’s new achievement

Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey Dancer of ‘Power and Radiance,’ Dies at 81

The Capital Region of New York State will become home to a national semiconductor research center, a major part of the federal government’s effort to boost the semiconductor industry in the United States.

I see your pawn and raise you a queen.

NAICS Changes Will Begin to Be Reflected in the Census Bureau’s Economic Surveys and Programs. Impact of Changes to the North American Industry Classification System. You may be amazed at how interested I am in this particular geeky subject.

Intimacy Coordinators Unanimously Vote to Join SAG-AFTRA

The Copyright Office frees the McFlurry machine.

Tobacco To School and Nightmare on Sesame Street and The Batman of Baltimore
I GOT NOTHING

I have written very little about the topic of the election because I have nothing fresh to say. I’ve read seemingly every single analysis of who’s to blame and what the what is the turning point, blah blah blah. It’s kind of overwhelming and, frankly, a little exhausting.

It’s also true that I’m having difficulty writing anything else, even putting together a links post. Most of the items I’ve posted of late were previously created. I have five blog posts in some form of draft, which is terrible for me because I can’t finish anything. It’s not that I don’t know what I want to write; I just can’t find the energy. I am dumfungled.

I’m sad about the passing of Nancy Frank, our church’s organist emeritus. A group of us will be honored to sing at her funeral on Saturday at 2 p.m. I’ll certainly write about her afterward; writing obit-like pieces should be limited to once a week. 

Still, I will recommend Jon Stewart on djt’s win and What’s Next w/ Heather Cox Richardson | The Weekly Show, specifically: 18:14 – Comparison to Steve Bannon’s takeover of Breitbart 21:20 – Groups of voters, motives, and strategies; and 40:40 – Reactionary Movements 41:53 – Propaganda vs. Reality. “Hero is somebody who keeps trying to do the right thing, even when they know the walls are closing in… we can all do that.” Oh, and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver for 11/10/2024.

BILL KENNEDY

Probably the highlight of the month thus far was participating in the 2nd Annual William Kennedy Marathon Reading on November 7, starting at 11 a.m. at the Albany Distilling Co. The reading was of the 1978 novel Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, “an odyssey through the speakeasies and pool halls of Albany’s grimy and glittering underworld.” 

I got to see Mike Huber and Paul Grondahl from the New York State Writers Institute. Bill Kennedy came during the fourth speaker and sat up front. He seemed to appreciate the readings by the 5th (me) and 6th (Frank S. Robinson) readers. 

MUSIC

The entirety of Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium I, featuring the hits plus four then-new songs

Subways Of Your Mind – FEX. A mystery solved.

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: The Specials

Le Rappel des Oiseaux by Jean-Philippe Rameau

Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears. HQ. Ultimate 12-inch extended mix

Coverville 1508: The Yes Cover Story II and 1509: Covers of Daryl Hall, Low, and Ween and 1510: The Quincy Jones Tribute

Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) by Billy Ocean

Spooky music

When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis

Ironweed’s 40th, Lux aeterna, RISSE fundraiser, FFAPL gala

Requiem and other texts

Here are four events coming in the next month that I want to plug. I avoid noting these here because most people reading my blog don’t live in New York State’s Capital District. Still, they’re all events I have a special attachment to. I’ve mentioned the last one before.

The NYS Writers Institute is celebrating Ironweed’s 40th anniversary with the first-ever marathon public reading of the novel written by Albany’s native son, William Kennedy, which won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and put the author’s hometown on the literary map.

The special event will begin at noon and continue through 8 p.m. on WEDNESDAY, November 1 (NOT Thursday, Nov.1, as the flier suggests.)

“It will be hosted at the Albany Distilling Co. Bar and Bottle Shop, maker of Ironweed whiskey, at 75 Livingston Ave. in the North Albany neighborhood where the author grew up and where some of the fictional scenes in the Depression-era narrative set in 1938 take place.”

To sign up for a time slot as a volunteer reader, visit: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084AAFA72FA3FAC52-45194995-albany#/

The final chapters of Ironweed will be read on stage by the novel’s author and invited VIP guest readers, beginning at 7 p.m. at Capital Repertory Theatre, 251 N. Pearl St., adjacent to Albany Distilling Co. Reservations are required. Go to: https://capitalrep.org/event/ironweed/

The ticket prices are a donation of $10, $25 or $50. All proceeds will go to benefit the food pantry and free meal outreach at Sacred Heart Church, 33 Walter St. in Albany, which was Kennedy’s parish when he was growing up.

“The novel takes place across three days — All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls Day — in the jagged, heartbreaking journey of Francis Phelan, an alcoholic vagrant and former Albany professional baseball player.”

Neighborly

Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE) Annual Fall Fundraiser: Homecoming Open House

Sunday, November 12th, 2023, 2:00 – 4:00 pmRISSE, 715 Morris Street, AlbanyJoin RISSE as “we celebrate our newest neighbors and the newcomers who have made the Capital Region their home. The event will showcase performances and food from a variety of cultures from around the world.

“Learn more about RISSE, our partner agencies, and our collective work welcoming refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers to the Capital Region.”

Click Here to Register Now!

This event is free and open to the public. However, donations are appreciated and encouraged.

Lux Aeterna is a 1997 five-movement piece by Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) perform. As First Pres’ music director, Michael Lister, noted: “It is a sensitive and moving setting of the Requiem and other texts and will be a time for us as a community to remember and honor those of who we have lost from our community over the several past years.”

First Presbyterian Church is located at 362 State Street, Albany, at the corner of Willett Street, across from Washington Park.  There is parking on the street and in the park. The music will be in the sanctuary on Friday, November 3, at 6 p.m., while the art display in the adjacent room will start at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. 

Century

The Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library (FFAPL) look forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 21st, as we celebrate 100 years of the Albany Public Library!  The Centennial Celebration will be held at the newly-expanded Café Madison at 1108 Madison Ave. Albany, NY, from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Cocktail attire is suggested. Tickets are available via the link above.

The evening will feature music, a silent auction, a mystery wine pull, stationed hors d’oeuvres, and an open bar. FFAPL has partnered with Harding Mazotti’s Rideshare Home Program to provide free rides home from the event! Scan a QR code at the event to get a free Uber voucher for pick up at Café Madison (Up to $200).

If you plan on driving to the event, street parking and nearby parking lots are available after-hours, including the Pine Hills Library.

If you are not able to attend the event but would like to support Albany Public Library, please check out the online auction showcasing unique products and experiences from local businesses.

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