Al's Blog-o-Sphere

In 1968, I was still in High School. I remember vividly the times, the Vietnam War, the protests, the music. I remember, on the weekend of Woodstock wishing I could go. I remember the news reports of the traffic jams on the Thruway, the fence jumpers, the eventual anarchy. I remember the war protests and the way everyone was a little shocked when they came to happen at UB and police used tear gas here in Buffalo. That was a bit of a reality check for Western New Yorkers. It’s different when it’s LA or Detroit, but this was home.

I’m watching a documentary, CSNY / Deja Vu, and it got me thinking of all that. How much has changed and how much things have stayed the same. Continue Reading…

I was at the hospital and of course the TV in the room was on a quality news source – Fox News (that was sarcasm, folks) and they were talking about the cease-fire, or lack thereof, between Russia and Georgia. The nurse commented that she didn’t even know that Russia had invaded Georgia. When told that it had started almost a week prior, she was flabbergasted. Which only goes to show how little impact it has on the American public. Continue Reading…

Look at the lyrics to Elvis Costello’s Watching The Detectives. Start by changing the word ‘detectives’ to ‘olympics.’ You don’t have to change a whole lot else. It’s just waiting to be picked by Weird Al Yankovic for his next song parody…

We’re sitting here watching the Mens’ Scynchronized Cannonball (Platform Diving) and wondering how far they can go to dream up more made-for-TV sports to take attention away from the real sports taking place.

First of all, in my opinion, if it can’t be measured by time, distance, or points (i.e. real points caused by something physical like a ball or person crossing a line, not a judge’s impression.) it isn’t a sport. It might be art, it might be a dance, but it’s not a sport. Continue Reading…

Riders On The Storm rode in on a storm and took Lockport by storm.

While rainy weather threatened to dampen the concert, rain up until nearly the start of the show didn’t stop it from going on. The weather Gods relented and the rain blew by leaving the Ulrich City Center cool and clean as the sun poked through the clouds. Only a short delay of about a half hour as tarps were removed from the stage and the sixth Canal Concert of 2008 was off.

The number of concert goers was up from all previous weeks, at least judging by the early turn-out. When Mo Porter Band took the stage, they had a sizeable crowd ready for their show. And the crowd was ready for the Buffalo band’s bluesy rock sound. They played a number of original, well written songs. I hadn’t seen them play before, but I was impressed and hope to see thm play again. They have a CD which was available at the show, but I didn’t see any ordering information on their website, so you’ll have to get to a show if you want one. Continue Reading…