Doing an enterprise like Ithaca Blog, there are always new things to write about, but there are also recurring things sometimes not to write about.
One is aware of Halloween each year, for example, but how much new is there to say about it?
We remembered writing here about Halloween a few years ago - in 2007, as it turns out, upon search. "The Meaning of Halloween," we called it. And that's what it was, for us.
Hunter S. Thompson once said that writers are in trouble when they steal from themselves. He didn't say what it meant when they cite themselves. So we'll do that. If you want to see our take on Halloween, just search "Meaning of Halloween" in the "Title" bar above.
Astute scholars will also see, in that posting, the literary genesis of our other blog, Brooklyn 3 New York: stories of Brooklyn we intend for a book, which we have been writing for a while now. A simple search for "Brooklyn 3 New York" will show you those, to your reading delight, no doubt.
Steve Burke
Ithaca NY Blog
and Brooklyn 3 New York
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Jimmy Breslin Hitting Stride in NY Daily News
Newspaper legend Jimmy Breslin is back, after a period of retirement that apparently didn't take. The octogenarian dean of New York columnists, and quintessential city-o, is writing a column once a week for the NY Daily News.
We love JB, #1, but will say that he seemed a little rusty, for a while. But this week's column is barbed, funny, and relevant to ordinary people in a way that 95% of stuff in any newspaper is not.
Rather than excerpt here, we will simply encourage you to check him out in this week's NY Daily News online, if you like good writing.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
We love JB, #1, but will say that he seemed a little rusty, for a while. But this week's column is barbed, funny, and relevant to ordinary people in a way that 95% of stuff in any newspaper is not.
Rather than excerpt here, we will simply encourage you to check him out in this week's NY Daily News online, if you like good writing.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Evil City String Band in Brooklyn's Best Bar, Sat. 22 Oct.
A reminder to all our friends in Brooklyn, and music fans everywhere who could see a trip to Brooklyn (autumn in New York, you know?), that Evil City String Band of Ithaca plays a gig at Rocky Sullivan's bar/restaurant in Red Hook on Saturday, 22 Oct., at 9 pm.
Rocky's is a great joint with a big music room, and music-loving owners, who have come to Grassroots Festival, and want our musicians down there.
We're hoping this will be a start of beautiful thing. Talk to any musicians you know about where they like to play in NYC, and they will say nowhere. It's all hassles and ripoffs.
Rocky's is different: convivial and lovely. A good crowd for this gig could create a scene of regular shows by Ithaca musicians there.
We hope you might make it, and will tell your friends.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Rocky's is a great joint with a big music room, and music-loving owners, who have come to Grassroots Festival, and want our musicians down there.
We're hoping this will be a start of beautiful thing. Talk to any musicians you know about where they like to play in NYC, and they will say nowhere. It's all hassles and ripoffs.
Rocky's is different: convivial and lovely. A good crowd for this gig could create a scene of regular shows by Ithaca musicians there.
We hope you might make it, and will tell your friends.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, October 10, 2011
Native American Day
Today is officially Native American Day in South Dakota. The state legislature established the designation in 1990, and called for a Century of Reconciliaton in the U.S.
"... they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories and I keep remembering
mine." - Lucille Clifton, American poet (1936 - 2010)
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
"... they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories and I keep remembering
mine." - Lucille Clifton, American poet (1936 - 2010)
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, October 09, 2011
"Occupy Ithaca" Has First Meeting, Sunday 9 Oct.
Occupy Ithaca is a group forming in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The group will hold an introductory meeting at 2 p.m., Sunday 9 October, in Dewitt Park.
The stated purpose is for prospective members to meet one another, and to discuss not ideology, but action.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The group will hold an introductory meeting at 2 p.m., Sunday 9 October, in Dewitt Park.
The stated purpose is for prospective members to meet one another, and to discuss not ideology, but action.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Friday, October 07, 2011
Sign On Wall Street
"I lost my job," the woman's sign said. "But I found an occupation."
Steve Burke
Ithaca NY Blog
Steve Burke
Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Indoor Entertainment At State Theater
Now that the outdoor entertainment season is over, the State Theater is ready to pick it up with, we've noticed, a great slate in their beautiful venue for the fall.
Among the looming luminaries are Richard Thompson, this week (Saturday 8 Oct.); Gillian Welch (Sun. 23 Oct.); Joan Baez and Kris Kristofferson (5 November); Drive By Truckers/Felice Brothers (16 November); and Ray Davies (26 November).
See details of these and other shows at www.stateofithaca.com. Tickets can be purchased there, conveniently, but with service charge. The theater also runs a convenient and convivial box office, with no service charges. The box office is open Monday - Friday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Among the looming luminaries are Richard Thompson, this week (Saturday 8 Oct.); Gillian Welch (Sun. 23 Oct.); Joan Baez and Kris Kristofferson (5 November); Drive By Truckers/Felice Brothers (16 November); and Ray Davies (26 November).
See details of these and other shows at www.stateofithaca.com. Tickets can be purchased there, conveniently, but with service charge. The theater also runs a convenient and convivial box office, with no service charges. The box office is open Monday - Friday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Friday, September 30, 2011
Singing Dog at Apple Fest
This weekend is the 29th annual Apple Festival in Ithaca, and what could be more wholesome?
It is a last opportunity to get out and party with your peoples before the cold weather sets in.
It is also an opportunity to see a singing dog. The closing act of all the entertainment, Sunday at 3:30, are Jomo and Johnnycake. They are humans, but Johnny also has a small dog, who enjoys performing, and can approximate singing. They almost made it onto the David Letterman show once, a happenstance I believe we chronicled here on Ithaca Blog.
So, don't start off fall season with regrets. Music, food, and entertainment await you on the Ithaca Commons and surrounding streets, from today through Sunday.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
It is a last opportunity to get out and party with your peoples before the cold weather sets in.
It is also an opportunity to see a singing dog. The closing act of all the entertainment, Sunday at 3:30, are Jomo and Johnnycake. They are humans, but Johnny also has a small dog, who enjoys performing, and can approximate singing. They almost made it onto the David Letterman show once, a happenstance I believe we chronicled here on Ithaca Blog.
So, don't start off fall season with regrets. Music, food, and entertainment await you on the Ithaca Commons and surrounding streets, from today through Sunday.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, September 26, 2011
NY Times Versus You and Woody Guthrie
We are following the demonstrations on Wall Street as avidly as possible, with the paucity of coverage in mainstream corporate media.
We got a kick out of this lead in the NY Times:
"Demonstrators who occupied Wall Street had many causes but seemed to have one thing in common: a lack of hard knowledge about the system they were fighting."
It reminded us of a quote by Woody Guthrie about music in the media, specifically, but really about the powers behind the media (substitute the word "story" for "song"):
"I hate a song that makes you think you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you are just born to lose...
"I am out to fight those songs...I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and if it has hit you pretty hard... I am out to sing the songs that will make you take pride in yourself and your work... [not] the kind that knock you down still farther and the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you think you've not got any sense at all."
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
We got a kick out of this lead in the NY Times:
"Demonstrators who occupied Wall Street had many causes but seemed to have one thing in common: a lack of hard knowledge about the system they were fighting."
It reminded us of a quote by Woody Guthrie about music in the media, specifically, but really about the powers behind the media (substitute the word "story" for "song"):
"I hate a song that makes you think you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you are just born to lose...
"I am out to fight those songs...I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and if it has hit you pretty hard... I am out to sing the songs that will make you take pride in yourself and your work... [not] the kind that knock you down still farther and the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you think you've not got any sense at all."
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wall Street As Tahrir Square
Thousands of protesters have mobilized on Wall Street in New York City, modeling themselves on the protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo who brought on a peaceful revolution against Egypt's leadership earlier this year.
The protest is slightly under-reported in the mainstream media. One of New York's leading papers, the Post, called it a "fizzle," because the protest is only many times larger than typical Tea Party events, which the Post covers with zeal.
The NY Daily News does not mention the protest at all, or at least not prominently enough to notice on their on-line edition. The leading story in the News today is about two boys in central Europe who claim to be human magnets.
The Wall Street protesters have gathered there to protest crimes in the financial markets, which are rarely punished by jail time, or in fact by anything other than small fines which are easily made up in the next fiscal year of malfeasance. They are protesting a system in which the top 400 citizens have more money than over the half the population - over 140 million - combined. They are protesting a poverty rate of 46 million people, and unemployment of 25 million.
The number of people protesting right now, live on Wall Street, is small. But so was the number in Tahrir Square, at first.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The protest is slightly under-reported in the mainstream media. One of New York's leading papers, the Post, called it a "fizzle," because the protest is only many times larger than typical Tea Party events, which the Post covers with zeal.
The NY Daily News does not mention the protest at all, or at least not prominently enough to notice on their on-line edition. The leading story in the News today is about two boys in central Europe who claim to be human magnets.
The Wall Street protesters have gathered there to protest crimes in the financial markets, which are rarely punished by jail time, or in fact by anything other than small fines which are easily made up in the next fiscal year of malfeasance. They are protesting a system in which the top 400 citizens have more money than over the half the population - over 140 million - combined. They are protesting a poverty rate of 46 million people, and unemployment of 25 million.
The number of people protesting right now, live on Wall Street, is small. But so was the number in Tahrir Square, at first.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Thursday, September 15, 2011
"Festival For Peace" This Weekend
Ithaca is a town of festivals, and of peace-lovers, and this weekend the two combine with the International Festival For Peace, at St. Catherine of Sienna's church in Cayuga Heights.
There will be arts and crafts, tabling by groups, speakers, food, and music. Participating musicians include Sim Redmond Band, Samite, and Revision, among others.
The festival is on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 257-2493.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
There will be arts and crafts, tabling by groups, speakers, food, and music. Participating musicians include Sim Redmond Band, Samite, and Revision, among others.
The festival is on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 257-2493.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, September 12, 2011
Vote in the Democratic Primary, Tuesday 13 Sept.
Yes, it's here already: the primary vote for the Democratic candidate for mayor for this November's general election.
Tuesday 13 September is the date. Polls are open from noon until 9 p.m.
It is sure to be a tight vote, with a slate of worthy candidates - J.R. Clairborne, Pam Mackesey, and Svante Myrick - each with a strong constituency. So, make sure your vote is part of the certain slim margin.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday 13 September is the date. Polls are open from noon until 9 p.m.
It is sure to be a tight vote, with a slate of worthy candidates - J.R. Clairborne, Pam Mackesey, and Svante Myrick - each with a strong constituency. So, make sure your vote is part of the certain slim margin.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Saturday, September 10, 2011
AIDS Ride For Life: Join the Riders For Dinner
The AIDS Ride For Life bike event takes place today in Ithaca, and surrounding roadways.
The event draws hundreds of riders who raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for AIDS research and care.
At ride's end, at 5 p.m., the participants convene in Cass Park, then take a "victory ride" through town, to Stewart Park, where there is a dinner.
The dinner is open to the public. Tickets are $5 and are available at Stewart Park.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The event draws hundreds of riders who raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for AIDS research and care.
At ride's end, at 5 p.m., the participants convene in Cass Park, then take a "victory ride" through town, to Stewart Park, where there is a dinner.
The dinner is open to the public. Tickets are $5 and are available at Stewart Park.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Seneca Big Splash: Big Bash to Fight Fracking
Sunday 4 September brings one of the biggest events yet to fight unsafe gas drilling in our region.
The Seneca Big Splash features 10 bands on 2 stages. Musicians include that ubiquitous Evil City String Band, with Willie Watson of Old Crow Medicine Show (an area native); plus the Burns Sisters, Sara Guthrie, and Jim Lauderdale.
The event goes from 11 a.m til 9 p.m. at the Hector Fairgrounds, just north of Watkins Glen at Rt. 414. See the attatched link for details.
There is a website for the event at http://www.fingerlakescleanwaters.org/.
Seneca Big Splash
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The Seneca Big Splash features 10 bands on 2 stages. Musicians include that ubiquitous Evil City String Band, with Willie Watson of Old Crow Medicine Show (an area native); plus the Burns Sisters, Sara Guthrie, and Jim Lauderdale.
The event goes from 11 a.m til 9 p.m. at the Hector Fairgrounds, just north of Watkins Glen at Rt. 414. See the attatched link for details.
There is a website for the event at http://www.fingerlakescleanwaters.org/.
Seneca Big Splash
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Labor Day Bash, Free Music and Food, Stewart Park
You can see what you will see if you see Evil City String Band in Brooklyn, in October (see previous post) by seeing ECSB on Monday at the free Labor Day picnic at Stewart Park.
You are invited to bring something to share, while the Tompknis County Workers Center provides free burgers and franks (including non-meat varieties) and soft drinks.
Evil City String Band performs at the Large Pavilion in the park. The event runs from 11 a.m til 3 p.m.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
You are invited to bring something to share, while the Tompknis County Workers Center provides free burgers and franks (including non-meat varieties) and soft drinks.
Evil City String Band performs at the Large Pavilion in the park. The event runs from 11 a.m til 3 p.m.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, August 29, 2011
Evil City String Band Plays Rocky Sullivan's of Brooklyn, Oct. 22
One of Ithaca's best bands plays one of New York City's best bars when the Evil City String Band visits Rocky Sullivan's in Brooklyn on Saturday 22 October.
Evil City String Band is a stalwart of the Ithaca music scene, including the GrassRoots Festival. The band comprises Richie Stearns on banjo, Paddy Burke on guitar, Rosie Newton and Steve Selin on fiddle(s), and Stephanie Jenkins on stand-up bass.
Rocky Sullivan's is well-known on the New York City scene.
A few years ago, Rocky's moved from Manhattan, after a decade or so, to more spacious quarters in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It has a fine bar, and an open kitchen featuring a wood-burning pizza oven.
Beyond the bar and restaurant space is a room for music, with a large stage, and some haphazard seating and tables.
There are also rooms for pool and darts. There is a multi-level rooftop patio with tables, chairs, a view of the harbor, and legal ashtrays.
Rocky's is music-friendly. Own of the owners is Chris Byrne, who plays uillean pipes, and was a member of the band Black 47.
Rocky's is known as one of the friendliest spots in the city and will be a happy meeting ground for Ithacans and city-o's on October 22.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Evil City String Band is a stalwart of the Ithaca music scene, including the GrassRoots Festival. The band comprises Richie Stearns on banjo, Paddy Burke on guitar, Rosie Newton and Steve Selin on fiddle(s), and Stephanie Jenkins on stand-up bass.
Rocky Sullivan's is well-known on the New York City scene.
A few years ago, Rocky's moved from Manhattan, after a decade or so, to more spacious quarters in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It has a fine bar, and an open kitchen featuring a wood-burning pizza oven.
Beyond the bar and restaurant space is a room for music, with a large stage, and some haphazard seating and tables.
There are also rooms for pool and darts. There is a multi-level rooftop patio with tables, chairs, a view of the harbor, and legal ashtrays.
Rocky's is music-friendly. Own of the owners is Chris Byrne, who plays uillean pipes, and was a member of the band Black 47.
Rocky's is known as one of the friendliest spots in the city and will be a happy meeting ground for Ithacans and city-o's on October 22.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Go Out And Buy New Music Without Getting Wet
It is a slow news day, if you don't count hurricanes. Ms. Irene is keeping anything else much from happening.
So it's a good day for Ithaca Blog to give a plug to its sort-of-sponsor, Angry Mom Records.
Two years ago, Small World Music moved in with Angry Mom Records in the basement of Autumn Leaves Books on the Commons.
Borders is gone, but we're still here, nice as ever, with a vast selection of new and used music on CDs and LPs.
Artists with recent releases on CD include Jeff Bridges, War On Drugs, Blue October, Kris Delmhorst, Steve Cropper, Fistful of Mercy, Joss Stone, and John Hiatt.
You can get here without getting wet (practically) by parking in the Green Street structure (free on weekends), and entering Autumn Leaves by the back door, about 20 paces from the covered stairs of the structure.
We're open Sundays til 6 pm. We open every day at noon. Closing times are 8 pm on M, T, Wed; 9 pm on Fri. & Sat.
Steve Burke
for Angry Mom Records/Small World Music
and Ithaca NY Blog
So it's a good day for Ithaca Blog to give a plug to its sort-of-sponsor, Angry Mom Records.
Two years ago, Small World Music moved in with Angry Mom Records in the basement of Autumn Leaves Books on the Commons.
Borders is gone, but we're still here, nice as ever, with a vast selection of new and used music on CDs and LPs.
Artists with recent releases on CD include Jeff Bridges, War On Drugs, Blue October, Kris Delmhorst, Steve Cropper, Fistful of Mercy, Joss Stone, and John Hiatt.
You can get here without getting wet (practically) by parking in the Green Street structure (free on weekends), and entering Autumn Leaves by the back door, about 20 paces from the covered stairs of the structure.
We're open Sundays til 6 pm. We open every day at noon. Closing times are 8 pm on M, T, Wed; 9 pm on Fri. & Sat.
Steve Burke
for Angry Mom Records/Small World Music
and Ithaca NY Blog
Friday, August 26, 2011
You Won't Miss Your Water This Weekend
It should be a good weekend for movie theaters, with threats of rain scaring everyone.
In New York City, they are pre-emptively closing the subways, which we don't think ever happened before.
We were planning on going to Binghamton to see a minor league game where the NY Mets major league star, Jose Reyes, is playing this weekend, on a re-hab assignment for a sore hamstring. But now, probably not.
So, Plan B, check your movie schedule. We really liked "Tree of Life," showing at Cinemapolis.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
In New York City, they are pre-emptively closing the subways, which we don't think ever happened before.
We were planning on going to Binghamton to see a minor league game where the NY Mets major league star, Jose Reyes, is playing this weekend, on a re-hab assignment for a sore hamstring. But now, probably not.
So, Plan B, check your movie schedule. We really liked "Tree of Life," showing at Cinemapolis.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, August 22, 2011
Hee-Haw Nightmare at Maxie's, Tuesday 23 August
On the old-timey scene in Ithaca, Hee-Haw Nightmare is as close as any band gets to the Holy Modal Rounders, the seminal band in 1960's New York that incorporated into their folk repertoire a good dose of the psychedelia of the time, and the noise and anarchy of the punk movement ahead.
The Rounders were not for everyone. I never heard a band booed as loudly as they, as an opening band one night at the Bowery Ballroom. The Rounders waved cheerfully from the stage as if they didn't understand, or care, or both.
At GrassRoots this year, Hee-Haw Nightmare were set to take the stage at the Dance Tent, and a middle-aged guy said to his wife, "Uh oh, Hee-Haw Nightmare. Let's get out of here." High praise, indeed.
The free show at Maxie's goes from about 6:30 - 9:30.
Steve Burke
Ithaca NY Blog
The Rounders were not for everyone. I never heard a band booed as loudly as they, as an opening band one night at the Bowery Ballroom. The Rounders waved cheerfully from the stage as if they didn't understand, or care, or both.
At GrassRoots this year, Hee-Haw Nightmare were set to take the stage at the Dance Tent, and a middle-aged guy said to his wife, "Uh oh, Hee-Haw Nightmare. Let's get out of here." High praise, indeed.
The free show at Maxie's goes from about 6:30 - 9:30.
Steve Burke
Ithaca NY Blog
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Leave Earlier This Weekend
Are you one of those drivers who mouth "Next time, leave earlier" at other drivers exhibiting impatience about time and circumstance on the road?
Good for you, because then it is not only me.
It's not our fault they decided do one last thing, like washing the cutting board, before leaving the house, is it? Of course not.
There is likely to be a lot of vehicular angst and vituperation this weekend in Ithaca, as freshman students and their families arrive at Cornell, lost, addled, and possibly going the wrong way on some of our cunningly deceptive one-way streets.
At the same time, NYSEG still has plenty of streets torn up, in a grid-laying project they were supposed to have finished by now, but haven't.
None of this, again, is your fault, or mine, but let's be kinder this weekend. There are going to be plenty of parents driving around who already feel like crying. We better leave even earlier, ourselves.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Good for you, because then it is not only me.
It's not our fault they decided do one last thing, like washing the cutting board, before leaving the house, is it? Of course not.
There is likely to be a lot of vehicular angst and vituperation this weekend in Ithaca, as freshman students and their families arrive at Cornell, lost, addled, and possibly going the wrong way on some of our cunningly deceptive one-way streets.
At the same time, NYSEG still has plenty of streets torn up, in a grid-laying project they were supposed to have finished by now, but haven't.
None of this, again, is your fault, or mine, but let's be kinder this weekend. There are going to be plenty of parents driving around who already feel like crying. We better leave even earlier, ourselves.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
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