Marijuana is only one of many things that have been prohibited in America. So was prize-fighting. So was alcohol. So was gambling.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a national organization comprised of present and former cops and lawyers and judges who know that none of those previous prohibitions worked. And neither does the prohibition against marijuana. (Visit leap.cc.)

Central New York LEAP spokesman Peter Christ, a former Tonawanda police captain, spoke as a guest of the local Libertarian Party Oct. 17, at Liverpool Public Library. About a dozen attended.

One by one, Christ (pronounced KRISSED) listed the bans on boxing, booze and numbers rackets...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: BeVard Studio,John H. Mulroy Civic Center,LEAP,Marijuana,Peter Christ,Tonawanda police captain,War on Drugs,Diva’s Caribbean Restaurant,JGB Properties,Connections of CNY,Downtown Syracuse

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Kyle Fetterly finally graduated from college!

The 50-year-old CNY native donned robes and mortar board in May to accept a bachelor’s degree in retail management from the in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

Hey, it only took him three decades!

Fetterly first matriculated on the hill in 1977, but as his personal life sputtered his focus on academics waned. He answered an ad seeking a student manager for the SU football team. Because he’d played sports at Liverpool High School, Fetterly saw the job as a way to keep his hand in athletics. By 1983, he was overseeing SU sports’ entire equipment department, which services 20 different teams...

CATEGORY: Culture

TAGS: Syracuse entertainment,Kanjira,Pastabilites, the new school syracuse,Hospice of Central New York,Brian’s Art Gallery,Kyle Fetterly,John Gerard,Robbie Q. Telfer

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Thirteen years after the publication of Syracuse author Donna Woolfolk Cross’ novel, Pope Joan, it has finally been made into a movie!
Cross was in Germany the week of Oct. 22 for the film’s premiere in Berlin. The movie opened there because the book was a huge bestseller in Deutschland, and much of the early action takes place there.
Pope Joan stars 34-year-old German actress Johanna Wokalek as Johanna von Ingelheim, a 9th century woman of English extraction born in Germany who disguises herself as a man and ascends through the ranks of the Vatican.

Morocco = 9th century
“The movie was produced by Constantin Film and was filmed in Germany and Morocco,” Cross said...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Pope Joan, Pope Joan film,Constantin Film,Johanna Wokalek is brilliant as Joan,David Wenham,John Goodman as Pope Sergius,Donna Woolfolk Cross,Doug Brode,illustrator Joe Orsak,new Yellow Rose of Texas, a graphic novel,McFarland Press

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Downtown After Dark is where Russ Tarby highlights happenings of special note in and sometimes out of Syracuse, the heart of CNY.

“We’re showing off two of the finest exponents of jazz who just happen to live in our region,” said CNY Jazz Arts Foundation Director Larry Luttinger. He’s talking about Friday’s double bill pairing the multi-talented Syracuse saxophonist Joe Riposo with Ithaca guitarist extraordinaire Steve Brown.
Riposo and Brown will showcase their own compositions in concert with the CNY Jazz Orchestra, directed by trombonist Bret Zvacek, at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct...

CATEGORY: General Entertainment

TAGS: Upstate NY jazz legends,Lary Luttinger,CNYJAF concert series,CNY Jazz Orchestra,Sal Nistico, Nick Brignola, Sam Noto, Sy Simpson, Vincent Falcone, Danny D’Imperio, Phil Flanigan, Anna Marie Genovese, Calvin Custer, Tony Leonardi, Nancy Kelly, Jeff Stockham, Karen Oberlin,Joe riposo,steve brown,Daniel Hege,Gridley Building,Dan Klamm,Prime Steakhouse,Quinlivan Pierik & Krause,Mike Casale,Tony Riposo

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Downtown After Dark is where Russ Tarby highlights happenings of special note in and sometimes out of Syracuse, the heart of CNY.


Al Wolf’s hanging up his rock’n’roll shoes!
After 47 years of music-making here in Central New York, the talented electric bassist is retiring from show business.

Wolf will play one of his final live dates with Smokin’ from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at the Metro Lounge and Sushi Bar, 505 Westcott St., on Syracuse’s East Side; 428-0815...

CATEGORY: Entertainment News

TAGS: cinephile society,Spaghetti Warehouse,Murders in the Zoo (1933), Lionel Atwill,Randolph Scott;Mark of The Vampire,Phil Flanigan,Hanna Richardson,Bistro Elephant,Al Wolf,Smokin,Downtown After Dark,Russ Tarby, Metro Lounge,westcott nation,Marcia Rutledge,Doug Robinson,Syracuse Crunch,Delavan Art Center

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With swift skaters and savvy stickhandlers such as Stefan Legein, Maksim Mayorov and Alexandre Picard, the Syracuse Crunch should score scads of goals during the 2009-2010 American Hockey League season which got underway last weekend in Scranton.

Home opener Saturday
The home opener is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, against the Adirondack Phantoms, at downtown’s Onondaga County War Memorial...

CATEGORY: General Entertainment

TAGS: CRUNCH squad,Onondaga County War Memorial,Derek MacKenzie,Falcone-Cavallo, Bob Popyk,Frankly Just Between Us,Chuck and Gap Mangione, Sal Nistico, Nick Brignola, Sam Noto, Sy Simpson, Danny D’Imperio, Anna Marie Genovese,Calvin Custer,Tony Leonardi,Crunch Coach Ross Yates,Jerry Lewis, Jack Jones, Frankie Randall, Julius LaRosa, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Joe Piscopo,Tony Bennett,Sparky Town Restaurant ,Emmett Van Slyke,Glenn Gomez Adams,Annie & The Hedonists,Kanjira,James Cagney,Spaghetti Warehouse syracuse,Russ Tarby,hanna and phil flanagan,john rohde,Tony Riposo

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For a quarter-century now electric guitarist Ron Spencer has rocked righteously in any number of Central New York jam sessions, blues bands and studios.

He toured with Chicago blues diva Big Time Sarah, traded licks on stage with Rhode Island guitar great Duke Robillard and backed up Syracuse’s Godfather of Rock’n’Roll, Jimmy Cavallo.

A chance collaboration in 2007, however, has led Spencer down a new path on which “less is more.”

Memorable moment
Eleven years ago, Spencer brought his four-piece group, the Nite Crew, to national attention with the CD, Burnin’ Desire. After the turn of the century, he added formidable frontman Dugan Henhawk and a horn section to create Jumpstart...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Syracuse Cinephile Society,fall film series,Byron Stripling,Atlantic Flyway,Valkyrie club,Gonstermachers’ honcho Leo Crandall debuts his new band, Ambassadors of Love,Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Maple Leaf Rag, Mark Gibson,Ron Spencer, Jimmy Cavallo,pianist Andrew Russo,Julliard School of Music and,artist-in-residence,Le Moyne College,the Mill Bar & Grill,Valkyrie Adult Fantasy Club,Richard Curry fiddler Andrea Asprelli,saxophonist Chris Vadala,conductor Jeff Tyzik SSO jazz,Spaghetti Warehouse,Entertainment syracuse,1936 airport film, Thirteen Hours by Air

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