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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Utica Club Beer & A Concert

Far from being a beer-lover, I wonder where exactly did my fascination with Utica and its epynomous beer begin?



1999:  When I worked for LexisNexis, I went to Utica, New York for a business trip that included a two-night stay.


Needless to say, the best hotel in town wasn't the Four Seasons.  At the time I wasn't aware of the Matt Brewing Company.




Matt brews the more contemporary Saranac Beer.  I could have gone to the brewery after my work day of training attorneys on executing legal research on a fun brewery tour, but to no avail.


 Instead, I drove out to the local suburb of New Hartford that my mother (who grew up in Syracuse) told me about and found little excitement.  Not much going on in Utica...why I didn't know about Matt Brewing Company then is beyond me!




2000:  Stango and I drove through Utica to enter the Adirondack State Park, and I shopped at a Kmart for a last-minute bathing suit.



2009:  Sat next to a guy at a Phish show wearing an original vintage Utica Club delivery shirt.  Nice specimen!  Thought I might procure a similar one on Ebay, to no avail.  Sadly I didn't take his photo.



2010 (January) The New York Times features Utica's Union Station, which still stands.



2010 (summer):  Meet older gentleman in former community house in town of Bloomingdale, NY who runs antique store.  He grew up in Utica and grew up drinking this beer.


He didn't like big city life and married a girl from the Adirondacks where he raised a family and retired.  He had his wedding ceremony in this community house (looked like an old social hall) 50 years earlier.






2011, 2012:  Look in many stores in Adirondacks for Utica Club, to no avail, it is not found.



We bought a Genesse beer instead and I used it in my cholent last week.



I know there is something brewing with Utica Club, I just can't say exactly what!


Indeed, I just learned that.moe, a jam band I have never seen perform, (but have listened to a bit and like) is playing near Utica this weekend, sponsored by the Matt Brewing Company.  Last weekend they played at the brewery itself.

Smith Opera House
82 Seneca Street
Geneva, NY  14456
315-781-LIVE

You can get tickets here


Boobz and The Geek and the Panties

My glorious autumn run the other day through the wooded suburbs of Philadelphia was rudely interrupted by this CD I picked up off the ground entitled "Boobz."



I promptly crushed the CD, symbolically destroying Internet porn that warps healthy images of sexuality.   It's a serious, scary issue, and it's time we get some Internet filters installed at home (no, we don't have any yet!  I know, very very not good!).  But that's my one little contribution towards just saying no to old news:  breasts aren't just for breastfeeding, but when folks call them "boobz" and litter established tree-lined streets with this narishkeit, I draw the line.

The root of it is that (heterosexual) men are fascinated with the female body and will do anything and everything to access a piece of it. 

Case in point, one of my favorite movies, 16 Candles.  If it could only be this "innocent."





Sunday, October 14, 2012

My "Me" Book from 1979

I have the best mother.  She saved my 1st grade "Me" book all of these years.  And now it is in my ownership.  The book was a collaboration between my first grade teacher and my art teacher, Mrs. Hollinger.  Myrna Hollinger was a renegade art teacher.  She taught me that coloring books have no place in a child's life.  The facade of her house was covered in all sorts of buttons and pins.  At one point she sold her eclectic upscale jewelry at Neiman's or Barney's.  I last saw her when I was in college and worked at a gourmet food store, back in the nineties when they were still called gourmet food stores.  She bought a ficelle.

Always striving for less-is-more living, currently I am in purge mode (can you say 8 bags to the Junior League thrift shop last week?) so another object, though replete with nostalgia, is exactly what I don't need.

If I only did this for my own children...

I love this connecting of history...my own 5 year old, The Wolfman's Brother, with his mother's creation from 35 years ago


My memory of going to the movie theater with Rachel Rezak, a couple of friends, and her dad, is so sweet.  We went to Mario's for pizza afterwards and everyone was able to get half a can of soda.  You know what?  That's all a child really needs, if any.  But those were the days before we drank water, so I was likely thirsty from the pizza.  We didn't know any better.

The word daven was yet to enter my lexicon.



Gelt.  Now that is a good thing to give kids for Hanukkah gifts.



We used oil with the paint in water to create the paper on which the drawings were glued.