For 17 years, the Salt City Five (later known as the Salt City Six) reigned as one of the nation’s premier traditional jazz bands. The Syracuse-based combos appeared at nearly every major jazz club in the country as well as on radio and TV.
A new Web site, saltcity56.com, allows visitors to revisit that exciting jazz era.
The original band – trombonist Will Alger, clarinetist Jack Maheu, trumpeter Don Hunt, pianist Charlie French and drummer Bob Cousins – appeared on the nationally televised Arthur Godfrey Talent Show in 1952...

CATEGORY: General Society

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Years before Syracuse’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade first marched down South Salina Street in 1982, the Flyin’ Column had been celebrating the Irish saint’s day by playing an annual hooley at the Hotel Syracuse.
The hotel hooleys started in 1976.
Though the venerable Hotel Syracuse generally sits idle these days, Pascale’s Catering will open the lobby and the elegant Persian Terrace on parade day this Saturday, March 13.
And of course, the Flyin’ Column will crank out the tunes from “Kelly the Boy from Killan,” a rebel song, to “Danny Boy,” the lovely lament for a loved one far away...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Hotel hooley predates the parade,Hotel Syracuse generally sits idle these days, Pascale’s Catering,Hotel Syracuse entertainment in SYracuse,Syracuse University Brass Ensemble,Russ Tarby ,Jane Monheit

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On St. Patrick’s Parade Day last Saturday, I eyeballed a woman with carrot-colored hair among the throngs on South Salina Street. She wore a green jacket with the word “Celtic Cobra Society” embroidered across the back.
But didn’t St. Patrick chase the snakes out of Ireland?
I tossed my last plastic cup of flat suds in the nearest receptacle and hurried home to my computer. Google quickly revealed that although St. Pat reputedly drove the snakes out of Eire, geological research proves that, ever since the Emerald Isle separated from the European continent, it never had any snakes...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: St. patrick's day syracuse,russ tarby downtown after dark, tarby syracuse city eagle,Sen. John DeFrancisco,Dave Gates bassist,NCAA syracuse basketball,Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse,Cinefest,Jim Boeheim,Southern Comfort Band

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Lou Reed would be proud.
The former WAER DJ who went on to found the Velvet Underground would certainly applaud WAER-FM’s recent decision to recognize rock innovation. A new production, Real College Radio is airing on 88.3 FM at 8 p.m. on Saturdays.
The new four-hour program combines the efforts of WAER, an NPR affiliate, and Syracuse University’s independent student station, WERW.
WAER General Manager Joe Lee thinks it’s a natural collaboration.
“WERW has a unique radio product that deserves wider recognition,” Lee said...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Lou Reed, SU radio station,WAER,Russ Tarby,downtown after dark,entertainment syracuse,city eagle entertainment,WERW Station,Marina Zarya,Real College Radio is airing on 88.3 FM ,Andrew Graham,Rhythm-Airs big band, Syracuse Crunch,eliot spitzer,Syracuse Cinephile Society,Syracuse Suds Factory, Flying Home, guitarist Tom Bronzetti,trumpeter Maureen Clum

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James “Puddin” Jackson surveyed the empty floor of the Southwest Community Center (SWCC) gym Sunday, waiting for the bleachers to fill for the semi-finals of the Baby Boomers Basketball League (BBBL) championship tournament. He had played regularly as a sexagenarian the previous season for B&B; Lounge, but reflected that this year his role had been more administrative.

That left John “Daddy Wags” Wagner, at 63, retired after 30 years at New Process Gear, the oldest regular in the league. B&B;, down the block from SWCC, where players gathered after Sunday afternoon games during the season, would face Cuse Old Gees’ (an affectionate reference to the neighborhood’s old gangstas) in the opener.

“OGs’ have the age and experience,” Jackson noted...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: March Madness meditations,Walt Shepperd,James “Puddin” Jackson,Pony Bullock, Bobby Chestnut,Gary Sparks,Jamesville-DeWitt ,John “Daddy Wags” Wagner,The BBBL championship,Cuse Old Gees’,Ballard,Walt Shepperd,City Eagle city scuffle,City Eagle syracuse basketball,Southwest Community Center,Baby Boomers Basketball League

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