Items tagged with 'saratoga'
Megabus Saratoga Springs
The Megabus will be offering service from Saratoga to both New York City and Burlington, starting April 2. The currently posted schedule has Saratoga > NYC trips leaving at 7 pm, and Saratoga > Burlington trips leaving at noon. Tickets are currently $4 (as with all Megabus trips, that price will go up as date gets closer).
The Megabus website doesn't have a confirmed stop for Saratoga yet -- it says booked customer will get an email. The stop in Burlington is near the UVM campus. (Its website also says its departure stop in NYC will be moving mid-February.)
Megabus doesn't currently offer service between Albany and Burlington, so that's a new local connection on the bus line's map. And as Matthew Loiacono point out today, you can
[via Saratogian]
Earlier on AOA: The last time we ran through all the options for getting to/from New York City, Megabus was one of the best.
The dude abided in Saratoga -- and he wore a dinner jacket
The next time you call someone "dude," you'll remember this.
Apparently one of the earliest uses of the word, back in 1883, did not describe a bro. The word was used as a put down for a man who paid too much attention to clothing and fashion. Yes, the opposite of the Dude.
It turns out that the "King of the Dudes" back then was a guy named Evander Berry Wall, a multi-millionaire who reportedly drank champagne instead of water, wore a walrus mustache, had 5,000 neckties -- and like many wealthy East Coasters of the day, spent a fair amount of time in Saratoga.
Molly McGrath: The Last Five Years
Molly Rose Marie McGrath -- a coloratura in cowboy boots.
She's a coloratura who owns six pairs of cowboy boots and prefers show tunes and country standards to arias.
There is nothing stereotypical about Molly Rose McGrath.
Born and raised the the Capital Region, her voice teachers pushed her toward opera and encouraged her to head for New York -- but she prefers to stay close to home.
She's been performing locally for years, most notably as Annie Oakley at Albany's Park Playhouse and Patsy Cline in Saratoga.
Now she's trying her hand at producing with a dark, funny little cult show called The Last Five Years.
A quick scan of Andrew Cuomo's 2012 budget
Let me show you some PowerPoints...
Updated Tuesday at 6:30 pm.
Andrew Cuomo and his administration presented their proposed 2012-2013 budget this afternoon. The budget is a big deal for the state, because it's the Cuomo administration putting its money (actually, all our money) where its mouth is.
This year's presentation was less dramatic than last year -- there was no declaration of the state being "functionally bankrupt." Cuomo touted the measures taken in last year's budget for helping to make things easier this year. "We regained the public trust," he said, "That is a great gift and an awesome responsibility. Let's build on it this year, even higher, together." (pause for applause)
So, we watched the address and skimmed through the budget briefing docs so you don't have to. Here's a quick overview of Cuomo's proposed budget...
Bakeries that sell yule logs/Bûche de Noël for Christmas?
Kim asks a seasonally-appropriate question via Twitter:
Are there any bakeries in the cap region that sell yule logs/ buche de Noel for Christmas?
If you don't know Bûche de Noël from a bush, it's a traditional French Christmas dessert -- a sponge cake that's been frosted, rolled up, and then frosted and decorated to look like a yule log. [Wikipedia] [Serious Eats]
We had some vague memory that Mrs. London's in Saratoga makes Bûche de Noël (probably thanks to Ellen). So we gave them a call (581-1652 x303) -- and they do! Mrs. London's makes three types of Bûche, and each serves 10-12 people. They're $65 and must be pre-ordered and prepaid. Orders should be in at least a week before Christmas. And Mrs. London's is open until 4 pm on Christmas Eve if you want to pick up at the last moment.
Has anyone had the Bûche from Mrs. London's? We'd love to hear how it is.
And if you have a suggestion about other places for Bûche de Noël/yule logs, please share!
photo: Andrew Pendleton via Wikipedia
Bye, bye, Miss American Pie...
The Post-Star's Tom Dimopoulos had a fun article over the weekend about Saratoga-area legends, including the famous one about how Don McLean supposedly wrote "American Pie" at the Tin 'n' Lint on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, and then first performed it at Caffe Lena:
In most re-tellings, McLean was in town for a performance at Caffe Lena and had wandered into the Tin & Lint, where he spent the night alternately drinking and scribbling phrases like "American Pie" and "drove my Chevy to a levy" on a series of bar napkins, which were forgotten about and abandoned during the course of the evening, but rescued by one of the workers at the Tin & Lint that night.
So, is it true? Dimopoulos actually talked with Don McLean about the story -- and the musician had a definitive answer about whether it's correct.
(Thanks, spiritoflife!)
image via Wikipedia
TOP 2011: Round 2: Saratoga
We're back to Saratoga for the first matchup in Round 2 of the 2011 Tournament of Pizza, sponsored by Sunmark Federal Credit Union. The pizzerias facing off in this round of pepperoni pizzas:
Mama Mia's vs. Amore
How we got here: Mama Mia's posted one of the best-ever first round scores with a 75 in opening round pool play. Amore went through after edging out Marino's (Saratoga) and Clifton Park Pizza for the second spot with a 53.
This is on the of the wide open brackets because there's no returning winner. But Amore now occupies of the location of Nunzio's, last year's bracket champ. Could that be an advantage? Or will Mama post another a big score?
We're back at the Case Center on the campus of Skidmore College for the tasting...
Saratoga lip dub, a week later
The Saratoga lip dub remixed with a dubstep track. Posted by YouTube user BrothaMouzone1.
It's been just about week since the much-hyped Saratoga lib dub was released -- and it's been viewed a little more than 35,500 times on YouTube.
That's not bad, but as Drew pointed out recently, it doesn't even come close to the total number of views for that clip of drunk people knocking down the horse statue on Broadway. Two of the most popular postings of that video total more than 120,000 views. (Sure, those videos are much older, but if you check the stats, most of their views came shortly after they were posted.)
The lip dub's view count might not be notable if it weren't for the fact that Saratoga officials were aiming for a mark somewhat higher than 35k -- 10 million views. That figure was probably never realistic (at least, without a sneezing baby panda), but it gives a sense of the kind of hopes people had for this effort. And, we're guessing, the video wasn't cheap to make. [WNYT]
It's hard to create viral stuff -- and however much skill someone might develop for it, there's always going to be a certain amount of luck involved. The situation also highlights why it's important to not copy what other places have done. People -- especially people online -- love novelty. If you're the nth college/business/city to do a lip dub (or whatever), you'll have to fight a lot of lip dub fatigue.
In the case of the successful Grand Rapids lip dub, it was both relatively novel (for a city) and there was a strong reason for it to exist (a response to a claim that the city was "dying"). The Saratoga video lacked both novelty and a backing narrative.
Still, we give the organizers credit for trying something different than the usual regional marketing effort. And they were able to organize an impressive number of people who, by all accounts, had fun and generated some community spirit (that's something!). But they probably should have tried something even more different. And unique to Saratoga. And, yep, that's hard.
Also: next time, more "Yakety Sax."
TOP 2011: Round 1: Saratoga
That most august tradition -- the Tournament of Pizza, sponsored by Sunmark Federal Credit Union -- opens in Saratoga. And, as you well know, Round 1 is a contest of cheese pizzas. Simple? Perhaps -- but simple things are often the hardest to do well.
The pizzerias in the opening round pool here:
Crowd pick: Marino's - Saratoga
Renee's pick: Mama Mia's - Saratoga
Committee pick: Amore - Saratoga
Committee pick: Clifton Park Pizza - Clifton Park
There is no returning champ because Nunzio's is no longer in business. That leaves a wide open bracket. Who will step up?
The judges -- plus our guest judge -- gathered at the Case Center on the campus of Skidmore College for the tasting...
Best Cleaners Autumn Refresh: Asa Gismervik
Asa "all dressed up" for a cruise.
Well, the shopping, trimming and styling are done and it's time to unveil the results of the AOA/Best Cleaners Autumn Refresh.
We start with Asa.
First, we totally have to say what a great sport Asa was. He tried on clothes and shoes in stores all over Saratoga and Wilton and was open to whatever Erik suggested. As an IT consultant, Asa's work uniform is a red t-shirt and baggy jeans -- a look he carried over into the rest of his life. He wanted to move from his trademark t-shirt and jeans to a business casual look -- largely for the sake of his girlfriend.
We think she'll be impressed...
The Saratoga lip dub
The much-hyped Saratoga lip dub was released Tuesday night. The 8.5 minute video is set in downtown Saratoga Springs and includes a medley of songs by Train (the drummer for the band is from Saratoga).
The inspiration for the lip dub reportedly came from Emerson College's much-viewed lip dub -- the head of the Saratoga County chamber of commerce has a daughter who goes there and heard about it from her. The chamber is hoping the video will be a marketing vehicle for Saratoga. [Saratoga lip dub Facebook] [Post-Star]
Other cities have done this, too. A lip dub for Grand Rapids, Michigan is probably the most famous of that type -- it's been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube.
The Saratoga video was shot on September 1 -- about 1,000 people reportedly showed up for the recording. [Saratogian]
It's impressive that organizers were able to coordinate that many people. But one side effect of having a crowd that big is that people's faces fly through the frame so fast that it's kind of hard to tell if they're "singing" (or whatever it's called in a lip dub).
Update: The Idiots wonder what else the money spent on this video could have been used for.
Wandering through Yaddo
On Sunday, for only the 5th time in its 111 year history, the mansion and private grounds at Yaddo were open to the public. About 1,400 people wandered the rooms where people such as Langston Hughes, Leonard Bernstein, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, John Cheever and thousands of other artists gathered, ate, slept, held court and of course, created.
The house is gorgeous and filled with impressive antiques, but what we loved was being able to wander through a place where so many amazing and creative people have lived and worked. If there was ever a place we wished that walls could talk, this was it. We walked through the rooms imagining moments of inspiration, unguarded conversations and wondering what kinds of things might have happened in rooms full of so many creative people.
If you weren't one of the 1,400 who took the tour, here's the quick version...
A box of doughboys
There's really only one way to deal with crowding in this situation.
We encountered a box of doughboys from Esperanto last night.* It was a happy sight, the doughboys all lined up, hot sauce at the ready, waiting to be eaten.
Did you know there's now a dough cousin? As Esperanto posted on Facebook in August: "imagine a doughboy but with spinach, roasted red peppers and red onions, with feta and mozzarella cheeses."
That now brings Esperanto's dough family to three: the doughboy, the doughgirl (a doughboy without the chicken, with extra veggies), and the dough cousin.
When we talked with Esperanto a few years back, they told us doughboys made up 35 percent of their business. The Gazette reported recently that the shop sells as many as 1000 of them on a busy summer night.
By the way: If the doughboy craving hits you and you can't make the trip to Esperanto, Kristi has a recipe for making something similar.
* It's a longer story that we can detail in the not-too-distant future, but let's just say it speaks to the awesomeness of Bob Carlton.
Best Refresh II: autumn edition
Last spring fashion writers Kaitlin, Carey and Rob helped take Mike from camo to crush-worthy, and Emily from being buried in sweaters to total dish.
Well, it's a new season and we know some of you are looking in your closets and saying, "Yeah-- I have to change something up." So it's time for another refresh. If you, or someone you know, is in need of a little autumn wardrobe pick-me-up, AOA and Best Cleaners may be able to help.
The plan
Two winners -- one male, one female -- will get a shopping trip in Saratoga with style writers Kaitlin Resler (AOA, All This Happiness) and Erik Dollman. Each winner will get an outfit worth $250 courtesy of Best Cleaners. They'll also get a fresh hairstyle from Rebecca at V Salon.
So, up for a wardrobe refresh? Here's how to enter...
Yaddo opens for tours
The main mansion at Yaddo
The Saratoga artists retreat Yaddo has only opened to the public five times in the mansion's 100-plus year history. Founded by Spencer and Katrina Trask, the retreat has been a temporary home to 6,000 artists -- John Cheever, Sylvia Plath, Aaron Copland, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker and Susan Orlean, just to name a few.
More than 200 artists a year come to live and create at the mansion and in the cottages throughout the 400-acre grounds -- which is why they keep it so private.
But on September 18 Yaddo will be open for three public tours at 8:30 am, 11 am and 4 pm. Tours are two hours long and take you through the first and second floor of the mansion, the first floor of West House -- the residence where Katrina Trask lived after her husband died -- the Pigeon Barn Studios, and the gravesite of the first owner of the property, Jacob Barhyte. You'll be able to see, the collection of Tiffany stained glass windows in the main house and one in West House. There's an indoor fountain in the main house and a grand stairway that John Cheever is rumored to have slid down in an antique sleigh -- a gift to Katrina Trask from the Queen of The Netherlands.
Leslie Leduc, Yaddo's public affairs co-ordinator says you'll also be able to see a lot of the original furniture. "Most of the furniture in the main house and West House dates back to the period of the Trasks and it's used everyday. You might be walking by the chair that John Cheever sat in, or Leonard Bernstein."
The two-hour tours will cost $40 per person. Want more? Fifty people will be able to purchase tickets for the $200 deluxe tour on September 17, from 4-7 pm which includes a cocktail party at West House, where you'll get a glimpse at the second floor.
You can make reservations online. If you want to see it, we suggest getting your tickets ASAP. When tours were offered for the 100th anniversary of the main house back in 1993 they gave tours from 10 am until after dark and still had to turn away about 1,000 people. We checked with Yaddo today and they've sold more than half of the 1,400 available tour spaces already.
(Thanks, Jessica R!)
staircase photo: courtesy of Yaddo
The 2011 Saratoga racing season, by the numbers
The 2011 racing season at the Saratoga Race Course ended Monday. Here are the final numbers from NYRA:
Total attendance: 871,772
That's down less than one percent from last year, but this year's meet included only 39 days (instead of 40) because of the Irene-canceled day. (This number includes people who entered multiple times in order to score giveaways.)
Average daily attendance: 22,353
Up almost 2 percent from last year.
Amount bet at The Track: $121,101,664
The on track "handle" was up 5.6 percent from last year.
Daily average bet at Track: $3,105,171
Up more than 8 percent from last year.
Amount bet, all sources: $526,251,818
This is amount that was bet on Saratoga races both at the Track and from simulcast locations all over the nation. It was down 4.6 percent from last year. (But, you know, still half a billion dollars.)
Caffè Lena: folk history into recorded history
Jocelyn Arem meeting with Pete Seeger earlier this year. The Caffè Lena History Project includes photos of Seeger's first performance at the venue, in 1962.
"She was the first and last person I ever knew who would pay me more money than we agreed upon. One show I did in 1967, she gave me 300 bucks. My jaw dropped. She said, 'We did very well, so I wanted to share it with you."
-- Don McLean on Lena Spencer, founder of Caffè Lena
Lena Spencer loved musicians as much as she loved music.
Her cafe on Phila Street in Saratoga has been the stomping grounds for generations of folk musicians. Some, like McLean and Bob Dylan, became big stars and others spent a lifetime creating songs in relative obscurity. But they all found a home at Caffè Lena. Eventually Lena's commitment to musicians made the venue the oldest continuously running coffee house in the country.
Spencer died in 1989, on her way to a Spaudling Grey show. Since then a not-for-profit has kept the cafe going, continuing her legacy. Caffè Lena still puts on hundreds of events each year, and continues to work to capture the experimental nature of contemporary folk music.
These days the board at Caffè Lena is looking to its past as well as its future -- documenting the history of the historic cafe to preserve the moments that made it an institution.
The Caffè Lena History Project has gathered hundreds of hours of audio, video and oral history recordings. And they're still scouring the music community looking for more.
Musician Jocelyn Arem is the founder of the Caffè Lena History Project. We talked with her about a what the project has unearthed -- and where Saratoga's little caffè -- with two fs -- fits into music history.
SPAC orchestra tickets + Putnam Market picnic
Classy.
Update: We have a winner! Congrats Ellen.
One of the best ways to enjoy the Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC is on the lawn with a picnic and a bottle of wine. It's a relaxed, fun, classy way to spend a summer evening.
We're giving away four lawn passes for the orchestra at SPAC this season, and to class up the experience even more we're throwing in a picnic for four from Putnam Market, plus a bottle of red wine and a bottle of prosecco (courtesy of SPAC). Oh, and you'll also get VIP parking behind the Saratoga Auto Museum.
The winner gets to choose one of these performances:
+ Thursday July 28: "Casablanca Night" (screening of the classic movie with live orchestral accompaniment
+ Friday July 29: David Hyde Pierce / Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
+ Saturday, July 30: Celebration of an Artist Night with Emmanuel Ax
+ Thursday, August 4: "All Beethoven" with violinist, James Ehnes
+ Thursday, August 11: "From Russia with Love" with pianist, Gabriela Montero
To enter the drawing, answer this question in the comments:
What's the classiest thing about the Capital Region?
Maybe it's a really classy person. Maybe it's a piece of great architecture, a garden or a museum. Maybe it's a great restaurant or a way to enjoy the summer (or winter).
We'll draw one winner at random.
Important: All comments must be submitted by 5 pm on Wednesday (July 27, 2011) to be entered in the drawing. One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified via email by 10 pm on Wednesday and must respond by noon on Thursday (July 28, 2011). When responding, the winner must specify which night they will attend.
Yep, SPAC does advertise on AOA.
Hat Day at Saratoga
One of the things we love about Saratoga -- it's one of the few places left where you can still wear a hat. Not just a baseball cap or beret or something -- but an honest-to-god fancy hat. You see people sporting them all season long at the racecourse, but never more than on opening weekend.
Yesterday 175 people sported their millinery masterpieces both home made and store-bought, for the 20th annual Saratoga Hat Contest. The place was crazy with fun hats, and we got to join Steve Ammerman, Kristi G. and Ellen Z from WPYX in the judges box.
The hats ranged from "that's lovely" to, "hey, neat" to "whoa! look at that!" to "Wow -- they've got a lot of extra time on their hands."
Here's a little of what we saw:
Second Virgin Alexander screening added
After the first AOA-organized screening of Virgin Alexander at The Spectrum sold out in something like a day and a half, we started getting questions about whether there might be a second screening. And we now have an answer: yes!
The second screening will be the same day, August 3, at 9 pm. As with the 6:30 screening, the directors -- Sean Fallon and Charlotte Barrett -- will be there to introduce the film and answer questions afterward.
Virgin Alexander stars Rick Faugno, Paige Howard, Bronson Pinchot, and Mika Boorem. The indie comedy was shot last summer in Saratoga (Sean Fallon's a Saratoga native). Here's a recent review. The trailer is embedded above. You'll recognize a bunch of locations.
Tickets for the screening are available online. They're $9.25, the regular price for a movie at The Spectrum.
Earlier on AOA:
+ Virgin Alexander
+ An interview with Sean Fallon and Charlotte Barrett
Virgin Alexander at the The Spectrum
Update: We've arranged for a second screening the same day.
____
We've been curious to see Virgin Alexander, the indie comedy that was shot last year in Saratoga. So we organized a screening.
Virgin Alexander will screen at The Spectrum on August 3. Directors Sean Fallon (a Saratoga native) and Charlotte Barrett will be there for a Q&A. And the first 50 people to buy a ticket for the screening will also get an invite to an after-party at the New World Bistro Bar just down the block.
Tickets are $9.25, the regular price for a movie at The Spectrum.
Virgin Alexander stars Rick Faugno, Paige Howard, Bronson Pinchot, and Mika Boorem. Here's a recent review. The trailer is embedded above. You'll recognize a bunch of spots in Saratoga.
The film just screened in New York City this past weekend at VisionFest. It was nominated for five awards and won for editing.
This Spectrum screening is the first and only currently scheduled local showing of the film. You can buy tickets online -- and you should, if you're planning to go. We've heard a lot of people asking about a local screening, so we expect a full house. It should be a good time.
Earlier on AOA:
+ Virgin Alexander
+ An interview with Sean Fallon and Charlotte Barrett
Elton John at SPAC
Live Nation announced today that Elton John will be playing SPAC September 4 (that's a Sunday).
Tickets go on sale next Monday (June 27) at 10 am. They start at $35.50 (with fees), up to $205.50 (with fees).
Other boomer-tastic acts coming to SPAC this summer: Barry Manilow (August 25), Stevie Nicks (August 30), Journey (September 2).
Yep, SPAC does advertise on AOA, but this concert series does not.
Saratoga Jazz Festival at SPAC
Update: the winner has been notified!
We have two passes for the Saratoga Jazz Festival this weekend at SPAC. We're giving them away to someone. That person might be you.
To enter, answer this question in the comments:
Today is the longest daylight of the year -- if you could do whatever you wanted, how would you spend that sunlight?
We'll pick one winner at random from the comments.
The Saratoga Jazz Festival is this Saturday and Sunday at SPAC. The lineup includes Sharon Jones and Dap Kings (embedded above), Michael McDonald, George Wein and the Newport All Stars, Angelique Kidjo, and bunch of others. One day ticket start at $45.
Important: All comments must be submitted by 10 am on Wednesday (June 22, 2011) to be entered in the drawing. One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified via email by 5 pm on Wednesday and must respond by 9 am on Thursday (June 23, 2011).
Should I text a pic of my junk?
You would think that people -- especially public figures -- would have figured out by now that texting or messaging explicit photos of themselves to other people is a generally bad idea.
You would also be wrong.
There is, of course, Anthony Weiner. And on Thursday it came out that Saratoga Springs police chief Christopher Cole had texted an explicit picture of himself from his office in city hall. Not so bright, chief.
Clearly, people still have a few things to learn. Even people who should know better. So, at Siobhan's urging, we have created a flow chart -- a public service announcement, of sorts -- to answer the all important question:
Should I text a pic of my junk?
NYS Summer Writers Institute 2011
Rick MoodyThe New York State Writers Institute has released the lineup for this summer's reading series in Saratoga.
There are a lot of names on the list you might recognize, including Mary Gordon, Michael Ondaatje, Robert Pinsky, Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, Rick Moody, and (of course) William Kennedy...
... said Jenna about The quintessential Capital Region food?