Recently…

Aloha

All due respect to my brother in law Richie, a Maui resident, this is something else. Her name and face jumped off the page. Alphabetically the first person listed in the Times Union obituaries on December 1, she bore the unforgettable name of Aloha Coleman.  ALBANY – Aloha C. Coleman, 65 of Albany, passed away…

Last lagging leaves Leap off trees And tumble, spin and spiral To crash on stiffened ground Slippery, sneaky, snarly snow Got next

Judge Woody

1966, San Angelo, Texas. Summer, or what felt like it on the sun-hammered flat wide. Late afternoon, a dive bar that mixed low-alcohol beer with Tabasco and tomato juice in its trademark “red bird.” A bartender responded with innocent surprise when a patron remarked that dousing bowls of popcorn with chili powder revved up drinkers’…

Some Blues Guys

This summer, I’ve mostly been reviewing live shows for Nippertown, several a week. http://www.nippertown.com. But I’m talking here about a blues show Aug. 18 in Springfield: Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Backroads Blues Festival co-starring Buddy Guy and Christone Kingfish Ingram. My friend Dennis treated me to the show as a birthday gift. Dennis leads a posse…

Remembering Zevon

When music buddy Stephen-in-the-Adirondacks asked about Warren Zevon last week, memories and music ganged up on me, starting with a 1978 Page Hall show – and not just because he jumped off the piano. He climbed to his feet slowly then, with painful effort. “I think I hurt myself, doing that Michael Jackson shit,” he…

Wise Ass Wednesday

Late edition – Contrite Thursday… I did it, and I’m SO sorry. I admit it; I caused that ugly snow-mess on Tuesday morning. You know: trees and utility lines down, power out, traffic signals dead and everybody driving like cowboys late for the rodeo. Let me point out that others helped me; I know I…

Bonnie Raitt and NRBQ Pulsate the Palace

Live Review Good Friday can feel grim for many, but Friday felt very good indeed for mostly-boomer-vintage rock fans filling Albany’s Palace Theater to see Bonnie Raitt and longtime friends NRBQ. Compressing 12 songs into just 40 minutes, NRBQ introduced new numbers from “Dragnet,” their 37th album since 1968, and hopscotched around through so many…

Wise-Ass Wednesday

“They always disappoint us,” cynically mused a veteran campaign operative character on “The Wire” after helping elect an insurgent Baltimore mayor to replace an entrenched corrupt one. Hello, Kathy Hochul – and that sure didn’t take long. While making herself readily available to big donors, our new-ish governor ignores the pleas of St. Clare’s Hospital…

Wise Ass Wednesday

Word Patrol Edition Mini-splits: what? “Mini” means small, or smaller than usual; and “split” means divided, usually in two parts. So, bowling? A narrow split between pins left after the first ball? HVAC supplier Fujitsu’s web-site says mini-splits are heating and cooling systems with separate temperature control outputs in different rooms. They’re heat pumps with…

Road Trip

I went to Northampton to see some music: what happened?