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.

2010  (fall):  Phish performs a show in Utica at Utica War Memorial.

 Trey Anastasio mistakenly mentions "Genesse beer factory" which is an old beer from Rochester but meant "Matt Beer Factory" in "Cities"

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."

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.

Thanksgiving Pilgrim Chocolate Lollipops

This morning I ordered the cutest Thanksgiving chocolate lollipops for kids and kids at heart.  For a number of years I brought them to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Last year I couldn't find them in the store, but this year I changed heart and ordered direct from Mom N Pops in the foothills of the Catksills.  Yes, I am savvy.

Pilgrim girl and pilgrim boy lollipops, how cute!  Milk and white chocolate blend, all made right here in the grand-ole U.S. of A. They mold 'em right there up in New York State.  Locally-sourced!

2009.  The Wolfman with his 1st cousin Goobers and Pilgrim children pops

2009.  1st cousin Goobers with girl Pilgrim pop and her dad, my bro-in-law .  Go Blue!

2010.  The Wolfman and the Wolfman's Brother with boy Pilgrim pop

2010.  Concealed Light with 1st cousin Miguelita and a Turkey pop (also from Mom N Pops)

2011.  1st cousins Goobers and Miguelita with Concealed Light.   Didn't think ahead and had less fun foil-wrapped chocolate turkeys.  Way more pricey, too.

2011.  1st cousins Concealed Light and Miguelita still have fun even no pilgrim pops.

This year, we plan to rage the Thanksgiving parade scene with our pilgrim pops!  Did I say already that I put in my order at 7am despite the busy-ness of my life?

They are worth ordering online despite the high shipping fee ($16 for 16 pops!) since you will likely not find these in your local store.

Mom N Pops
834 Brooks Street
New Windsor, NY  12553
1-866-FOTOPOP

"Good Yuntiv, My Son"

Simply loved this scene as a Gen X-er growing up.   Hollywoodized as it is, I loved it.   The cantorial chanting is pretty much authentic.

 May we all have a meaningful fast!  I'll take this opportunity to ask for all of your forgiveness and I will try to do better next year.

And here's the original with Al Jolson

Street Shofar NYC

Happy New Year - may it be filled with blessing, healthy, renewal, light, prosperity.

Yiddish Tunes. You read that right.

When you've got a resident Yiddish speaker and musician at your disposal (as if the world is clamoring for such a gem), what better way to spend a Labor Day Sunday than to upload some Yiddish tunes courtesy of our lovely Stango?

Since we're missing our khaverim at the Golus Festival at Yiddish Farm this weekend and just couldn't make it upstate, we dedicate these videos to them.

If you wanna get really fancy, check out the descriptions below each of these videos (on the YouTube page itself) for the transliterations and translations of the songs.

Let Our Salvation Come



Our Tune

Let there be songs to fill the air

This remains, in two words, and two words only:  timelessly classic.

My Very Own Blueberries for Sal AudioBook...on YouTube!

Something I have been wanting to do for a long time!

Listen to mama reading this classic.




Of course, my favorite books on record were produced by Weston Woods as a child.  I love love loved their imagery of the green pine trees as their logo.  I loved seeing all of those records stacked in the light wood record holder in the library, and flipping through them to see what titles they had that day.  We got great classics like "The Snowy Day" and "Whistle For Willie."  Later, Weston Woods went onto video and then DVD.    Unbeknownst to me that Weston Woods was headquartered only a few towns over from where I grew up.  I can still smell that musty dank smell in the children's room of our public library, reaching the high shelves on the kick stool.  I am so not surprised that Weston Woods is now owned by Scholastic.

Gwyneth Paltrow I am not, but I think my homegrown Blueberries for Sal is pretty darn good!

Melvin Kaminsky, Where Have you Been My Whole Life?

The guys in high school I hung out with loved it.

The guy I married loves it.
It is a great movie.
The guy I dated in college went to high school with Mel Brooks' son, Max.

So, as a supposed comedy fan, why did it take me so long to even watch some YouTube clips of the classic comedy "Blazing Saddles" let alone the film in its entirety?

Mel Brooks, I hope you're alive, well and kicking.
May you live till 120.

We were listening to his hilarious performance yesterday as a baby in "Free to Be You and Me" and I realized that I just haven't gotten around to seeing some of Mel's best work.

 What have I been doing the last 40 years exactly?