Al Gritzmacher's Blogosphere

My friend, Scott Leffler, will agree with that statement, I’m sure. Let me explain why I’m mad and why I make that statement.

All over the news today has been New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, who made a special trip to Buffalo to announce what he’s been doing to curb child pornography and while he was at it, take time to take a cheap shot at one of the few locally-run technology companies we have, Localnet.

First of all, let me say, I don’t support child pornography, or any form of pornography, in any way. No one is, or at least will admit in public that they are. That’s one of the techniques politicians use to gain support for their personal agenda, though. They take a sacred cow, like child porn, or breast cancer, and use it as a cloak to wrap their real purposes in and get a knee-jerk response in their favor from the majority of the people who don’t take the time to really look at what they are doing. Continue Reading…

First of all, if you’re not up for some serious geekiness, tune out now…

I’ve spent the last few days building up an new computer. Did I need one? Probably not, but this one is unlike any I’ve made before in several ways and it didn’t cost a whole lot either. It’s, so far, turned out well, though not without some tribulations along the way.

Here’s a photo of the finished CPU. It is the smallest computer I’ve built. It’s a Mini-ITX formfactor with a motherboard only about 8 inches square. Continue Reading…

You may have seen me or talked to me about the photos I’ve been taking. One of the cool things I do with them is submit them to Buffalo.com’s Spotted galleries. I’ve been a Spotted Photographer for a year or so, and although I haven’t been very active of late, it’s a fun thing to do. Continue Reading…

Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lynrd Skynrd move over, your heir-apparent is here!

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band brought their blistering blues style to Lockport this week and warmed up an already hot summer night crowd.

I stayed up front close to the stage for this one. I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to, there were so many music fans packed in front of the stage to see the self-taught, Louisiana guitar prodigy Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Front man, Noah Hunt, sang and got the crowd into it and the rest of the band was top-notch too, but the highlight was guitarist Shepherd. They put on a show that would have been huge in any of the area venues right here in Lockport. I couldn’t judge the crowd pinned to the front of the stage area, but I must have been the biggest so far.

See all the photos from last night.

Continue Reading…

In some sort of promotional scheme that made no sense to me, the Canal Concert promoters put the best band of the night on first, before many fans arrived.

No, actually, it probably wasn’t their fault. Flyin’ Blind Blues Band, fronted by Lockport natives, Damien Brady and Benny Provenzano, was originally scheduled to play second after the band Switch. But due to some kind of snafu, they were asked to play first and another band, Navigator, was brought in to replace the other band. Continue Reading…

WordPress › Blog » WordPress 2.6.

I’ve updated the WordPress program to version 2.6. No hitches that I see and some really cool new features for me. Things should look the same to you.

I started this post off by using one new feature, the Press This feature that allows me to reference another site and start blogging about it with the click of a link button on the browser bookmarks bar. Continue Reading…

The second Lockport Canal Concert came off without any apparent hitches this past Friday. The weather, although somewhat cloudy, was kind to us and the attendance looked to be even better than the opener.

If you are a Blood, Sweat and Tears fan, you got a great show. Rave about them all you want and I won’t disagree, but I still stand by my wish for some bands that are still currently writing new material, still evolving, not on a Greatest Hits Tour. There are plenty of musicians, nationally-known, that fit in that category. You’d think some would be available… Well, we’ll see a couple later in the season. Continue Reading…