I Am Chuck the Writer

Chuck the Writer's blog is moving on up... to another location...

2009-08-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Today is moving day.

I normally hate moving - I moved around as a kid so many times, as the old joke goes, my local paper was USA Today.

But this is a big opportunity for me.

My blog has been accepted by the Times Union to join their family of blogs.

Which is a very nice touch. I appreciate joining the TU.

Right now, the stint at the TU is scheduled as temporary. We're going to see how everything works out. I get to kick the tires, test drive around the block, etc etc.

If it works out, the engagement between yours truly and the TU could extend indefinitely.

If it doesn't work out, I'll come back to this weblog, try to remember what my access password is, and resume my posts here.

Thus begins another chapter in my life.

Not as momentus as my other chapters... but an interesting new chapter nonetheless.

Oh yeah - change your bookmarks around for this link:

http://blogs.timesunion.com/chuckmiller

And see you over there!

K-Chuck Radio's Hit of the Day: Blotto, "I Wanna Be A Lifeguard"

2009-08-25T05:05:00.001-07:00

This song should have been a bigger hit than it was.

I know it sounds like a goofy surf tune, but it's a fun little track - and it could have been the first track from an Albany-based rock band to hit the national charts. As it was, it did get on a lot of college radio stations, and even the local Albany broadcasters like FLY 92 and 3WD gave it some love.

And if Blotto never recorded another track in their lifetime... there's always this song.

K-Chuck Radio's Hit of the Day: Stevie Wright, "Evie"

2009-08-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

While there are some fantastic three-minute pop songs out there, there's also a lot of love for songs that stretch to at least seven minutes of music. "Hey Jude" - "Layla" - "Stairway to Heaven" - "American Pie" - the list goes on and on.

But how about a song that clocks in at over 10 minutes of music - with three distinct and separate "movements" - and it actually hit #1?

Today I bring you "Evie," an Australian #1 hit by Stevie Wright. Wright was the lead singer of the Easybeats, who most non-Aussies know as the group behind "Friday On My Mind." He recorded this song in 1970, and it has three separate movements. The first movement is a hard rock track as the guy meets the girl; the second movement is a tender ballad as the guy falls in love with the girl and the baby they've made; the third movement is a frenetic rock song as tragedy strikes the young couple (the baby is stillborn).

So here's movement #1 -

and movement #2 -

and movement #3 -

I don't know how they got this all on one 45 - I would suspect two of the movements were moved to Side 2 of the record. But still, it's a helluva a mini-rock operetta. And it's here... on K-Chuck Radio.

K-Chuck Radio Hit of the Day: The Staccatos, "Half Past Midnight"

2009-08-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

Today we have some sweet baroque pop from The Staccatos, a five-man band from Ottawa. "Half Past Midnight" was a Top 10 hit in Canada in 1967, and won several awards. In America, the song was released on Capitol's subsidiary label Tower, but the song went nowhere in the States.

Here's the single version of "Half Past Midnight" on K-Chuck Radio:

As an added bonus, here's The Staccatos performing their hit on Montreal's CFCF television station.

The Staccatos eventually morphed into another group, Five Man Electrical Band, and had a monster hit with the song "Signs."

Chuck the Writer WINS HIS FIRST COMPETITIVE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD!!!

2009-08-22T12:34:00.001-07:00

Manchester Millrats v Rochester Razorsharks 2009 Playoffs Game 2
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

It's Saturday afternoon, and I'm trying to get my front lawn mowed before we get another rain storm. The mailman always drives up our street around Saturday afternoon, and he steps up to my porch with the mail, just as I'm flattening the last blades of grass.

He hands me the Saturday mail, and I can see in the distance two post cards. I know where they're from. Syracuse. And the New York State Fair.

I don't even want to look at the back of the cards. Each card has the name of the picture - in my cases, the postcards were designated "Washington Park After Dark" and "Action Under the Basket," the names of my two photos.

On the back of each card were three check boxes:

[_] WINNER [_] ACCEPTED [_] NOT ACCEPTED

I slowly turned the card over for the first postcard, "Washington Park After Dark.

[_] WINNER [_] ACCEPTED [X] NOT ACCEPTED

Darn.

Then I looked at the second card, the card that represents "Action Under the Basket," the photo you see above.

[X] WINNER [X] ACCEPTED [_] NOT ACCEPTED

I looked at it a second time.

[X] WINNER [X] ACCEPTED [_] NOT ACCEPTED

Oh my God in Heaven! I WON! My photo that I shot straight down from the rafters of Blue Cross Arena during the PBL Playoffs between Rochester and Manchester WON AT THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR!!

(you can't see it right now but I'm doing the Dance of Joy)

Now I won't really know what level I won - 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place or honorable mention - until I actually attend the Fair. So now I need to check my calendar and see what day I can actually get out to the Fair and do some celebratory basking!

Chuck the Writer notes Megan Hauserman was DAMN LUCKY Ryan Jenkins didn't become HER millionaire

2009-08-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Okay. Before I start this post, although I've got my full-fledged snark on, my sincere thoughts and prayers go to the friends and family of Jasmine Fiore. What happened to her should never happen to any one, and the sadistic and brutal and misogynistic evisceration was undoubtedly the shameful work of a sadist.

Without having to defend my appreciation of trainwreck reality television (yeah, if there's a hottie being pursued by 20 guys, or a rock star getting pursued by 17 hotties, and it's on VH1, I'm watching it), I've been following closely the Ryan Alexander Jenkins criminal manhunt.

Unless you've been living under a rock, Ryan was one of the 20 eligible millionaires looking to woo the heart of Megan Hauserman, the anorexic ferret-faced lazy-eyed Playboy cybergirl Paris Hilton wannabe whose 15 minutes of fame is bordering on 14:45 and ticking.

Anyways, the premise of this show is - after Megan got turned down by Bret Michaels, came in third place on the reality competition show I Love Money, and got her hair weave torn out by Sharon Osbourne in Rock of Love Girls: Charm School, VH1 gave her her own dating show, where she got to pick from several different eligible bachelors - each with at least a net worth of over a million dollars.

Anyways, among the trust fund babies and older-than-dirt Hollywood producers was Ryan Jenkins. Now if you haven't seen Megan Wants a Millionaire (it only had three episodes aired before VH1 pulled the entire show off the network), you don't know how Ryan Jenkins operated and interacted with Megan Hauserman.

Luckily for you... I have the three episodes on my computer.

No, I'm not going to post them here. Nice try.

What I AM going to do, however, is give you at least a word-for-word transcript of the conversations Ryan Jenkins had with Megan, with the other men in the dating house, and his "confessional" interviews (which I suspect, with all the VH1 dating and competition shows, were taped months after the series ended filming, and were interspersed with the original action).

So grab some popcorn - and since this is involving one of those Rock of Love girls, have some Bactine handy -

EPISODE 1: MEGAN WANTS A MILLIONAIRE

Megan stands in front of the obligatory VH1 mansion, waiting to greet her eligible suitors. After sixteen suitors arrive, Ryan Jenkins, the last suitor, steps out of the limousine.

RYAN: Hello, Megan.
MEGAN: Look... we're matching already. (both Megan's minidress and Ryan's button-down shirt are purple)
RYAN: We are matching. Have you met any Canadians before?
MEGAN: Never.
RYAN: Well, it's about time, don't you think?
MEGAN: Absolutely.
RYAN: Can I let you in on a little secret?
MEGAN: Please do.
Ryan brings Megan close and whispers in her ear.
MEGAN (to camera): Ryan whispers in my ear... you're going to love Canadian bacon. (giggling)
RYAN: Save me a spot for dinner, okay?

Later in the episode, Megan gives each suitor gifts - everything from fuzzy handcuffs (for a guy nicknamed "Sex Toy Dave") to a glittering piggy bank for one of the trust fund babies. Ryan is one of the last to receive a gift.

RYAN: I'm a little bit of a Prince Charming, a little bit of a bad boy.
MEGAN (to camera): Yummy.
Megan gives him his gift.
MEGAN: It's a pimp cup!
RYAN (to camera): I typically date girls that turn a lot of heads. I love the chase.

Later, Megan meets with several of the suitors in a social mixer.

MEGAN: So you think that you could leave Canada?
RYAN: Well, I can do my job anywhere.
MEGAN: So why do you live there?
RYAN: I can't legally work here unless I'm married.
MEGAN: Oh... So you're using me for a green card.
RYAN: I tell you this. When we get married - I won't get you to sign a pre-nup.
RYAN (to camera): Megan was definitely into me, and I'm definitely into her. And I'm definitely not going home tonight.

Ryan survives the first round of eliminations.

EPISODE 2: MEGAN WANTS A MILLIONAIRE

Megan asks the suitors to create a gift for her for Valentine's Day. Ryan gives her a card.

RYAN: I decided to appeal to all your senses, and first I'd like to start with your mouth.
MEGAN: My mouth is not a sense, though.
RYAN: So this is your mind -
MEGAN: That's not a sense either, but we'll go with it. Because you're so cute.

Not much of Ryan in this episode. But he stays on for another week.

EPISODE 3: MEGAN WANTS A MILLIONAIRE

The challenge for the rich dudes involved them designing a promotional campaign for Megan's pet chihuahua, Lily. We start the episode with Ryan chatting with two other suitors on a sunny lawn outside the mansion.

RYAN: There's a few different kinds of girls in my book, I narrowed it down to three. You got your Princess, you got your Betty, you got your Playa. My book's all about the three main types of girls you're gonna like, and the approaches you use with them.
RYAN (to camera): I've always rolled on kind of an echelon, and I've never really rolled with any girls that could keep up with me.
RYAN: Like working on the first draft or whatever.
RYAN (to camera): I need to hold a clinic for these dudes, just to teach them a little bit of game.
RYAN: You know what I'm calling it - The Ins and Outs: A Playa's Guide to Success.

Ryan's team wins the Lily challenge. As team captain, Ryan gets a solo date with Megan.

As part of the date, Ryan spent money to "upgrade" his date with Megan, so instead of a picnic, he takes her to an exclusive French restaurant, couriered in an Aston Martin DB-9.

RYAN: Look at you, gorgeous.
MEGAN: Hi, Ryan.
RYAN (to camera): I hear the click of Megan's heels on the hardwood floor, and I see her legs slowly emerge, and then boom, she's gorgeous, I know I've got the keys in my pocket to an extremely exotic car, and I know she's gonna be happy.

They go to the restaurant. Ryan orders a bottle of champagne and they drink the bubbly beverage in long slender glass flutes.

MEGAN: What do you plan on doing this summer?
RYAN: You'd look good in a bikini with sand stuck to your butt. And I'll rub some coconut oil on your back.
MEGAN: That's what I was thinking.

Although we don't get to see any other episodes, there are some clips in the "coming up on the season of Megan Wants a Millionaire" that bear noting. Ryan tosses a drink at another contestant (Al), who rips his shirt off and looks like he's about to throw down. Al later confides in Megan (while Al's massaging Megan's back) that Ryan may have bragged about other girls that he has conquered.

So were there signs right there on the TV show that Ryan Jenkins might have been a whack job? Or did he completely baffle everyone on the show - the producers, the directors, the other men in the house, Megan - convincing all of them that he was just a normal millionaire?

And there's one thing that's still unanswered. And it may never get answered.

WHO WAS THE MILLIONAIRE THAT FINALLY WON MEGAN'S HEART??

Personally, I'm betting on either Big Mike or Sex Toy Dave. Sounds like both of those would be right up her alley.

Chuck the Writer would LOVE to try this on I-787

2009-08-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine standing on a walkway across the Tricentennial Bridge... with your Guitar Hero game controller in hand... And just rocking out like these guys on Collegehumor.com did?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Of course if they really used I-787, most likely the only track fast enough to handle the cars would be something like "Colour My World."

Chuck the Writer's K-Chuck Radio: Stars on 45, "Medley"

2009-08-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to figure this one out. Work with me.

Around 1980, there was a bootleg 12-inch record that stitched together several recordings, all synchronized to the same clap-clap beat. One of those songs, the Shocking Blue's "Venus," caught the attention of Golden Earring drummer Jaap Eggermont, who had the copyright to that song and wanted to know who was making money off the recording without paying him.

So Eggermont decided to out-bootleg the bootleggers, and made his own licensed re-recording, using studio musicians to recreate the bootleg recording. The new track featured the intro to "Venus," as well as the Archies' "Sugar Sugar," and a ton of Beatles tracks. Whether it was because of the popularity of the Beatles recordings after the death of John Lennon, or the fact that you could hear 11 different songs stitched together in a single 3-minute track, "Medley" tore up the charts worldwide, and created a (thankfully) short-lived medley craze.

The Stars on 45 recorded a few more albums, but they were only a studio group and were never scheduled to tour. So I'm still trying to figure out who's performing as the Stars on 45 in this video clip.

I can't figure out which is funnier - the hyperactive dance team, or the audience members who are either asleep or trying not to admit they actually know the words to all the songs. But it's here... on K-Chuck Radio.

Chuck the Writer's K-Chuck Radio: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "Superrappin No. 2"

2009-08-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

You want to know why Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five deserve their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Then you gotta listen to this track and be convinced. This is from 1978 - before rap music ever hit the mainstream - and was recorded on tiny Enjoy Records. This was a monster hit in the boogie down Bronx, and is an extremely rare record to acquire today (especially the original 12-minute version, what you're hearing is the abbreviated 7-minute version).

The extended 12-minute version contains Melle Mel's rap track, "A Child is Born," which was later repurposed into the track "The Message" in 1983.

Chuck the Writer's K-Chuck Radio: Ol' 55, "Looking for an Echo"

2009-08-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you start surfing around international Internet radio portals.

I came across this version of the old Kenny Vance and the Planetones doo-wop classic, "Looking for an Echo," as performed by this 50's-retro group, Ol' 55 (named after the Eagles song of years past).

First, here's the original version by Kenny Vance and the Planetones:

And here's the version from Ol' 55:

And just for kicks, here's a really swank a cappella doo-wop version by the Persuasions, as performed in the Spike Lee joint "Do It A Cappella":

All here... on K-Chuck Radio.

Chuck the Writer's K-Chuck Radio: TISM, "Thunderbirds are Coming Out"

2009-08-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

TISM (short for "This Is Serious Mum") were an Australian rock-funk band who liked nothing better than to give an up-yours to society. They performed their songs while wearing obscuring masks, and many of the titles of their songs could not be repeated on a G-rated blog like this.

However, this track, "Thunderbirds are Coming Out," is a pretty cool song. The whole concept of the death of individuality by the acknowledgment of a classic 1960's children's TV series has a very strong vibe to it.

Now about this video. TISM invited several Australian rock bands to lip-synch to "Thunderbirds are Coming Out," and TISM (in their masks) show up in the final seconds of the clip - only to find that the song has ended without them.

Here's a clip of TISM, "Thunderbirds are Coming Out," on K-Chuck Radio.

And if you'd like to see what TISM look like actually PERFORMING the song, here's a clip from an Australian TV series, "Recovery," showing TISM in all their glory. Right here on K-Chuck Radio.

Chuck the Writer's K-Chuck Radio: The Shangri-Las, "Out In The Streets"

2009-08-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a classic from the 1960's. You might have heard of the Shangri-La's, the girl group whose songs of teen angst and emotion brought them legions of fans with hits like "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." They would later be inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and there are still people who want the Shangri-La's inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This track, "Out in the Streets," was not one of their bigger hits, but it is significant in that this performance, from the old tv series "Shindig," changed the image of the Shangri-La's from goody-good teenagers next door to - well, you see for yourself.

Here's the Shangri-La's, with "Out in the Streets," on K-Chuck Radio.

Chuck the Writer's K-Chuck Radio: Tony Carey, "I Won't Be Home Tonight"

2009-08-20T05:05:00.001-07:00

This is the first of what I hope will be several different trips back into the past, to provide some classic music that hasn't been heard in a long time - songs that should have been major hits, but for one reason or another fell through the cracks.

First off, I apologize for the bad video feed, this is the best I could pull up.

Tony Carey was originally a keyboardist for the band Rainbow; he later had some success with both a solo career and a concept project called Planet P. This track, "I Won't Be Home Tonight," was from the album of the same name, and was released on Rocshire Records back around 1983. The song actually charted into the lower regions of the Billboard Hot 100, and Carey had a second minor hit from that LP with "West Coast Summer Nights."

Unfortunately, Rocshire Records was a front for an elaborate embezzlement scheme, and the company is now a distant memory. Carey, however, moved to MCA Records, and had two Top 10 hits with "A Fine Fine Day" and "The First Day of Summer."

So here's Tony Carey with "I Won't Be Home Tonight" - here, on K-Chuck Radio.

Chuck the Writer Recalls his Photographic History: the Nikon CoolPix 800

2009-08-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

Before maybe 1998, I was not a photographer per se. I counted on other people to take pictures if I needed them for articles.

But in 1999, when Goldmine magazine tapped me to write a brand new record collector's guide, I needed to get a camera and learn how to use it - and fast. For this book, I would be required to come up with images for at least 600 rare and unique LP's and 45's. I could dodge the 45's issue by putting them on flatbed scanners and scanning them; 12-inch LP's, however, would not fit on commercial flatbed scanners, so they needed to be photographed.

So I scraped together my pennies and purchased my first camera - a Nikon CoolPix 800 - at the Ritz Camera kiosk at my local Boscov's store.

This is what a Nikon CoolPix 800 looks like (photo courtesy dpreview.com).

I used this camera to shoot images of album covers; whether they were from my own personal collection or if I had to travel somewhere and photograph someone's collection. Once the book came out, I used the camera to chronicle what I called my "world tour," which was a 35-city autograph tour once the book came out.

It was a good little camera, and eventually I added a screw-on telephoto lens to get long-distance shots (that lens was also the first purchase I made from B&H Photo, New York's camera superstore). I also used the CoolPix 800 to capture three separate Vocal Group Hall of Fame inductions, as well as concert photographs for several of my other Goldmine-related articles.

But in 2005, when the Albany Patroons returned to the Continental Basketball Association, I tried to use the CoolPix to shoot some early basketball practices before the season started. Not a great idea. This camera was ill-equipped to photograph anything that moved faster than a stalactite, and most of my shots had motion blur upon them.

The final blow came when Dianne Coyne, wife of the team's general manager, saw the photos and said to me, "Chuck, you really should get a better camera if you're going to do this, these photos are not that good."

Owtch.

So once again, I scraped together my pennies and purchased what would be my second camera, a Nikon D70 digital SLR. More on that in another post.

So whatever happened to the CoolPix 800?

Around the time that I purchased my second camera, a friend informed me that an animal shelter in New Hampshire had recently been burglarized - among the things taken was the animal shelter's camera, which was used by the shelter to document animal cruelty cases, and to photograph possible animal adoption candidates.

I acquired the animal shelter's address. Within 24 hours, the CoolPix 800, along with some CompactFlash cards and some peripherals, were in the post office, bound for New Hampshire. No questions asked.

I had a great time with the CoolPix 800; it did what it had to do, and in the end, that's all that matters. In fact, here's a small slideshow of some of the pictures I took with the CoolPix over the time it was in my possession. Enjoy!

Chuck the Writer recalls his days at 3WD

2009-08-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Growing up in Albany in the 1970's, I had my choice of many pop/rock radio stations on the radio dial. If I wanted Top 40 radio, I could listen to 1540 WPTR or 980 WTRY on the AM dial, and when I got my first FM radio I could enjoy the crystal clear sounds of 92.3 WFLY and 106.5 WPYX, as well as "Rock 99" WGFM, which we all know today as The River.

But one Sunday morning, around maybe 1977 or so, I was spinning the radio dial trying to get from one AM station to the other (American Top 40 was on in a few minutes) - and lo and behold, I came across a station I never previously knew existed.

It was a low-power AM facility from Schenectady, New York, 1240 AM WWWD (or "3WD", as they were more popularly branded). They played an eclectic mix of Top 40 hits and "soon-to-be" hits. They spent an entire month proving - and disproving - and reproving - and re-disproving the similarities between Klaatu and the Beatles. They played records right out of the box, even if it took months for America to decide that song was a hit. As an example, 3WD wore out Thelma Houston's "Don’t Leave Me This Way" - months before the song hit the Top 40 nationally.

My friends used to joke about the station's quirky call letters, calling the station "Three-didildy-dee," or "three-wheel-drive," but for me it was a station willing to program by the seat of their pants. Call in a request on 3WD, they'd have it on the turntable in 10 minutes or less. They even played local hits like Blotto's "I Wanna Be A Lifeguard" - imagine that, a local group’s songs in heavy rotation with the Bee Gees and Chic.

I was home from college for a weekend in 1983. Because of a long layover for my train in Schenectady, I had a couple of hours to kill. I walked down State Street, looking for the usual diversions - record stores, sporting goods stores, the like - and then I saw the sign in the window.

3WD - AM1240 - SCHENECTADY

Holy crap. It was the home offices of 3WD. I couldn't believe it.

I visited the 3WD station and spoke with two of the disc jockeys I remembered from my youth, and half-jokingly suggested that once I got out of college, I might join them in the multi-million dollar world of broadcast radio.

Four years later, in September 1987, I did join 3WD as an evening disc jockey. One of those same disc jockeys introduced me on the radio, I took my seat, and spent the next six hours in heaven.

Unfortunately, heaven lasted about two days. Then reality set in.

Low-power AM rock stations like 3WD were changing their formats to all-talk or all-sports or all-weather or all-farm reports, as people who wanted to hear the top hits wanted them in FM stereo. 3WD was being sold, so there was virtually no effort to promote the station. My 6-hour shift coincided with 3WD's other programming - which included New York Mets broadcasts, Syracuse University football and basketball games, and horse race results from Off-Track Betting. My thoughts of making "millions" in radio changed when I found out they take taxes out of minimum wage. And a snowstorm in October 1987 knocked half the radio stations off the air - guess which one was still on - and expected me to be at the studio on time for my shift? You got it.

And for all of you who've seen Play Misty For Me - trust me, when you’re on a low-power radio station, the women that call the request line would rather know the results from the fifth race at Aqueduct.

Still, I stayed with the station for six months, building up a small following with a 1950's oldies program (when it wasn't pre-empted for the Sugar Bowl-bound Syracuse football team). On March 17, 1988, my radio show was the last program aired under the 3WD call letters - the station was finally sold, was rebranded as WVKZ, and 3WD became the first station in the Capital Region whose entire broadcast day was delivered via satellite from another state.

I left 3WD with a lot of memories - some good, some not-so-good - and a sense that I had accomplished one of my dreams, being a professional radio disc jockey. Okay, the only similarity between me and Wolfman Jack is we both howled (my howls came from viewing my paycheck).

About six months later, while rifling through my local used music store, I saw boxes and boxes of records - all with "3WD" handwritten or stickered on the labels and jackets. They were all the records I remember playing, the hits and the misses and the smashes and the trashes, all branded with "3WD" to keep them in the studio in case somebody got sticky-fingered and left with their own personal record collection.

I asked the record store owner about them; they said somebody just dropped the whole lot off for twenty bucks. I bought about 100 singles and took them home, adding them to my growing record collection.

While 3WD was just another series of call letters in the whole spectrum of amplified modulation radio, to me it will always have a warm spot in my memory. In the one life we live, how rare it is that we get to fulfill our dreams and fantasies. And I did.

As far as I was concerned, they weren’t three-wheel drive to me.

Chuck the Writer does a Photo Day at the Altamont Fair

2009-08-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

"Which of these goats did you milk?"

The question seemed innocuous enough; I was photographing a person who was milking a dairy goat, when another voice shouted from the other side of the dairy goat enclosure.

"This one and Pam," the milker responded.

"Pam? YOU MILKED PAM?!?"

"Yeah."

"You weren't supposed to milk Pam! She's supposed to be judged in an hour!!"

And with that, I learned - as a third party observing this whole battle - that one does not milk a dairy goat, thereby removing all definition from that goat's udders and frame, just before it is to be judged on its ability to produce milk.

That was just one of several stories I gathered while spending all day Sunday at the Altamont Fair, the local agrarian / amusement exhibition production. I decided to arrive as early as I possibly could, and stay as late as humanely possible - and photograph as much of the atmosphere and exhibits of the day.

The photo trip included visiting the various animal exhibits and demonstrations, the demolition derby, the safety demonstrations, and the traveling amusement park.

Of course, I made the STUPID decision to attempt this photo day on one of the hottest days this year, with a 91-degree temperature and partly cloudy atmosphere beating down on me. By noon, I was getting winded. By 2pm, I was drinking water and diet soda and wondering if I had just developed heat exhaustion or heat stroke. By the time I left the Fair at about 930pm, my head felt like Michael Flatley had put on a pair of football cleats and practiced a "Riverdance" routine on my skull. Ow... ow... ow...

Still, even with all that, I was able to get a great series of photos from the fair. Here's a slideshow:

And if anybody has some aspirin or linament to get rid of a sunburn that makes me look like a beet, I accept all donations... ow... oh my head... mercy...

Chuck the Writer takes his chances with the New York State Fair

2009-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Yawn. Got in the Pontiac 6000 and headed off to Syracuse this morning, with two pictures in the back seat of the car.

While the Altamont Fair was a lot closer and at least displayed my artwork in their Fine Arts Building, I would be limited in the New York State Fair photography contest to two photographs - each one to be mounted on 16x20 foam board.

I arrived at the Harriet Mills Art Center on the State Fairgrounds campus, and as I unloaded the two foam-boarded photographs, I saw other people bringing in their own foam-boarded offerings - photos of bridges and kittens and sunsets.

I walked upstairs with my offerings, filled out the return postcards, added postage, attached the claim checks on each photo, and handed them to the fair volunteers who would catalog each entry.

"That's nice," she said as she received everyone's photo, most likely a noble sign of encouragement. "That's nice." "That's nice."

She took my photos. THe first one, my shot of Washington Park benches after dark, received the standard "That's nice."

Then she saw the second photo.

"That's n - oh my God, how did you get this photo?"

You mean this one??

Yes folks, it's the shot from last year's PBL playoff game between the Rochester Razorsharks and the Manchester Millrats. That's James "Mook" Reaves putting the ball in the hoop for Rochester, while his teammate Sammy Monroe (upper left), along with Sam Carey and Marlowe Currie from the Millrats, look on.

That's the one where I received permission from Blue Cross Arena in Rochester to photograph directly from the catwalk. I love catwalk action photographs, I've shot from the rafters at Centre Pierre-Charbonneau in Montreal, as well as from the upper balconies at Burlington Memorial Auditorium in Vermont.

On my way home from Syracuse, I thought about the response I received from the volunteer receiver. If she took a second look at the basketball photograph - maybe, just maybe, the judges will take a second look as well. And maybe, just maybe, I can pick up my first photography fair ribbon.

Chuck the Writer goes 0-for-4 at the Altamont Fair

2009-08-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

The good news... all four of my photos are on display at the Fine Arts Building at the Altamont Fair.

The bad news... there isn't a single ribbon near any of them. :(

I'll just have to try harder next time. That's all there is to it!

Chuck the Writer Discovers the 1981 "Answers Please" Trivia Team has a New Perspective

2009-08-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Background.

One of my greatest high school achievements (hell, one of the greatest achievements I've ever pulled off) was when my high school, Street Academy, defeated three consecutive schools on WRGB's high-school quiz show, "Answers Please." Yep, a little inner-city school with about 100 students demolished Albany Academy, Keveny Academy of Cohoes and St. Mary's of Hoosick Falls.

Most of the focus, as far as I can remember of the event, was Street Academy's crushing defeat of the ultra-expensive private school Albany Academy for Boys. It was like the Washington Nationals no-hitting the Yankees in both halves of a doubleheader. By defeating Albany Academy 145-105, we got to return the next week and take on a new opponent, Keveny Academy of Cohoes.

Keveny was no match. We clobbered them 185-105, and then finished off St. Mary's of Hoosick Falls 150-60 to retire undefeated (a school could only play for three weeks maximum).

So it was with great surprise to me that, while puttering along the information superhighway, I came across these two posts - from one of the students at Keveny Academy, the second of the three schools we clobbered. I don't know which of the four kids he is in this YouTube clip

but I'm pretty sure he's still gripping about getting faced almost three decades ago.

Here's his first post from October 2007.

If you don't have time to click the links, let me give you the Reader's Digest version of this.

There was a time when I could shoot facts from the hip. I knew it all. Years of Full Contact Jeopardy and Extreme Trivial Pursuit with the siblings trained me to be a lean, mean, answer machine. Blurting out the correct answers becomes so easy when you practice under the gun. By under the gun I mean sisterly body slams and brotherly head locks for wrong or untimely answers.

I knew, way before 1981 arrived, I had to make the show. Eldest sister was on it. And there wasn't a chance in hell that I would let her stand on that achievement podium solo. When Jim Labate was looking for contestants for Answers Please, I eagerly signed my name. It was time to take my trivial skills to the big time.

It wasn't a huge turnout for the tryout. Maybe ten. Eyeballing the competition, I reminded myself, "Yeah, they can be smart. They could be quick. But smarter and quicker than me, no bleeping way." Hey and if all that fails, I still have a forty percent chance of getting on the tube ...

And that's the team. Cathy Tremblay, me, and two others I can't recall without consulting the archives (Sorry!). We're on our way! Full of promises of Tim Welch accolades and local media glory! Our opponent would be the E Street Academy. I privately told myself that victory would be achieved in short order.

You know what? It was.

We get to the studio and I'm checking out the competition. Muttering to myself, "Idiot. Dullard. Simpleton...wait a minute. WTF?"

And there he stood. Rail thin, Wally Cox glasses, and a speech impediment. He fits the profile.

I turn to Cathy and utter, not the first time nor the last, "We're screwed."

The game is on and your heroes answer the first question with ease. I think we skated on the team question as well. From the very next question and continuing on for the next twenty two minutes, that villain with the Coke bottle glasses ruined Cathy, mine, and the two nameless folk's shot at immortality! Damn you Coke bottle glasses! Damn you to hell!

Wally Cox knew everything. And he knew he knew everything. Tim couldn't finish a question. Wally interrupted him.
Tim: What is the capitol of...?
Wally: Montpelier.
Tim: That is correct. Who holds the record...?
Wally: Joe Dimaggio.
Tim: Correct. What speech...?
Wally: (yawning) The Gettysburg Address
Tim: That is amazing! And correct.

And so it goes. Forever playing in my mind. A nightmare where I can't get a word in edgewise. A fever dream where I futilely press my buzzer while Einstein across the studio has locked me out. Oh how unfair! Oh the humanity!

"E Street Academy"? Funny, I did not know my teammates were Max Weinberg, Clarence Clemons and Patti Sciafla.

Apparently, there's a follow-up.

I don’t know where to begin with the comments ... The dude doing the talking for the Street Academy is the guy who soundly thrashed us all by his lonesome. Memory is failing, but I think the three gals there were mutes.

As for the Keveny Fab Four, the less said the better. My rocking mop could only be eclipsed via some serious Afro action. Thank you George. It’s nice to be vindicated on my earlier claim that Ms. Tremblay has not and will never be seen without a smile. Rock on, Cathy! It all came back to me Saturday night why I couldn’t remember the last member of the team. I think, I’m not sure, young Jimmy there got stage fright. He looks very quietly spooked down there on the end.

Oh well, your narrator does appear to be a little hopped up. There’s one instance in the video where they show both teams in split screen (with our man Chuck buzzing with the correct answer). I’m sitting there, not quite unlike a moron, nodding my head, ready to push my fist through the dais. It can never be checked conclusively, but I’m pretty sure I am saying “Motherf*cker!” right there on camera.

It could have been worse... You could have gotten smoked 150-60 like St. Mary's of Hoosick Falls did.

That... and we got the trophy!!

Chuck the Writer finds an old photo of the Armory

2009-08-12T08:42:00.001-07:00

Washington Avenue Armory, Albany
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

Back about two cameras ago, when I was shooting with a Nikon CoolPix 800, I got up one Sunday morning and snapped this photograph of the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany. The castle-like structure at the corner of Washington and Lark Streets was once a working munitions depot and armament center, as well as the headquarters for New York's 9th National Guard Regiment.

Of course, sports fans know the Armory as a mecca for professional and college basketball games, going back to at least the 1920's with the Albany Senators. Siena played their home games in the Armory for a long time, so did the 1940's Albany Green Devils and the 1980's-2009 Albany Patroons. It's also been used as the home hoops haven for Bishop Maginn basketball, Schenectady County Community College hoops, and several high school tournaments.

I took this photo in 2005, just before the Armory underwent a major restoration and face lift. This was just before the Albany Patroons re-joined the Continental Basketball Association after a decade-long absence from the league.

At some point I will get a new photograph taken, to at least show the "before" and "after" view of the Armory.

Chuck the Writer Waits for News on "The Altamont Four"

2009-08-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

The Altamont Fair just opened up.

Among all the agrarian and entertainment exhibits at the fairgrounds is a Fine Arts pavilion, where four of my photographs are on display, in competition with other photographers from the Capital Region.

Last Sunday, while I was at the Louis Saunders basketball tournament, a co-worker and friend of mine from the day job dropped off the four framed photographs for the competition.

I still don't know if any of them won or placed or showed or even received honorable mention ribbons. Yet.

So if anybody's going in that direction and happens to stop by the Fine Arts Building on the Altamont Fairgrounds and sees anything that looks like one of my pictures with a nice big ribbon or award attached to it... please hit me up?

Chuck the Writer Shoots a Basketball Charity Tournament and Pays His Respects as well

2009-08-10T03:31:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning. Ian McCarthy, the GM of the PBL's Manchester Millrats basketball team, had previously sent a global e-mail about his team's participation in an upcoming charity / money basketball tournament, the 2nd annual Louis Saunders Memorial Basketball Tournament, being held in Roxbury, Mass.

Having just acquired my Nikon D700 last month (and my new Souldier camera strap last week), I needed to make sure the D700 could handle action shots as well as my D70 could - and without me having to fiddle with the settings during the PBL season. So I let Ian know that I would be attending the event, and after clearing photo access with event promoter James Hall, I found myself driving at the crack of morn to Madison Park High School in Roxbury, for the two-day event.

While the Millrats had several PBL veterans on their squad, including Desmond Ferguson, Al Stewart and Kenyon Gamble, the tournament had several other PBL players scattered throughout their teams, including Sam Carey (Manchester), David Bailey (Halifax), Q Randall (Montreal) and PJ Young (Manchester / Quebec). So it was a great chance for me to check back with everyone that I had photographed last year and see how they were doing and what they were up to and whether they would return to the PBL or update their passports for overseas teams.

I ended up shooting a TON of photos over the two-day event, and some of the best ones can be seen on this slideshow.

I should mention that the D700 has a continuous rapid-fire shutter that allows me, should the need arise, to take as many as five photos per second - perfect for those slam dunks, blocks out of nowhere, and the like. The D700 also allows me to continue shooting in JPG (I had switched between JPG and Nikon's RAW .NEF format last season, but post-processing in .NEF takes forever). Both my 80-200 F/2.8 telephoto and my 85mm F/1.8 performed like champions, and I got some swank swank shots, as you can see from above.

As for the tournament itself, Manchester advanced to the final round, after pulling through the semifinals in double-overtime against a squad whose roster included Glenn "Big Baby" Davis of the Boston Celtics. Dayng. But they could not beat a team called "Mission Hill," who captured their second consecutive title in the tournament.

For those of you who do not know Louis Saunders, I received a lot of knowledge from people at the event, who knew him and remembered him. Louis Saunders coached basketball and football, and many kids who were previously at risk for a life of despair found hope and encouragement and empowerment under his guidance and coaching. He is still missed in the community, and I am certainly sure that over the weekend he was watching the game and smiling down on all those who played and attended.

Sunday morning, however, before the second day of play, I made my own pilgrimage of a different kind.

My beloved grandmother, God rest her soul, is buried in a cemetery that borders Saugus and Melrose - literally on the town line itself. So that morning, I got on Route 1, turned left at the baseball / miniature golf course, drove past Lowe's, turned around in the parking lot of Town Line Tenpins, and arrived at the cemetery. A few private words and some quiet moments of reflection with my grandmother and my grandfather, a prayer, a stone left on each grave marker. My grandmother took care of me when others could not or chose not to, and her care and love and support is a debt I can never fully repay.

Oh, and one more thing. If you ever find yourself in Roxbury and you're hungry for breakfast, go to this diner called the Silver Slipper. Great breakfast food there, and they've got those old 1970's R&B jams playing in the background.

Chuck the Writer Shoots the Madison Theater

2009-08-05T08:04:00.001-07:00

Madison Theater, Albany, New York
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

The Madison Theater is one of Albany's last neighborhood motion picture palaces (the Spectrum on Delaware Avenue is the other). Many of the other palaces in the Capital District have long since disappeared - the Strand and the Warner and the Ritz all were destroyed when downtown Albany was plowed over to build the Empire State Plaza; the Hellman became a medical office building; the Fox Colonie and the UA Center were repurposed for other uses; the Petit Cine 1-2 became a used car dealership; the Cine 1-10 is an abandoned building behind Northway Mall; the Mohawk Drive-In is now an office park... you get the picture.

That almost became the fate of the Madison; for many years it was the last single-screen cinema in the area, which meant that if the film wasn't a blockbuster you were playing to a house of empty seats. It closed down in the mid-1990's. A few years later, someone purchased the Madison, re-opened it as the Norma Jean Theater (with the "Madison" marquee still affixed atop the sign), and carved the Madison into five mini-cinemas. The place was profitable for a time, then it was shut down again.

Around 2002, a friend of mine, Jay Pregent, and his partners, purchased the Madison and currently run it as an independent 7-screen movie theater. They show the regular classics, as well as some documentaries and other family fare. During the summer, they're even showing some Bollywood films.

So last Saturday night I took the D700 out to shoot the Madison, and even got some of those cool red trailing lights from the cars traveling along Madison Avenue. Sweet.

Chuck the Writer Discovers Price Chopper AdvantEDGE fuel card loophole and exploits it

2009-08-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

I'm really not a fan of Price Chopper's AdvantEDGE program. In order to get any sort of a discount at their stores, you have to acquire an AdvantEDGE shopping card, which then gets swiped when you purchase items. You get a discount, but that AdvantEDGE card tracks your purchases - which, I suspect, then get reported to advertisers and insurance companies and whatnot. You wonder why your health insurance rates went up? Maybe it's because Price Chopper snitched on you for buying that carton of Winstons.

So about two months ago, Price Chopper added a new wrinkle to their AdvantEDGE program. For every $50 you spent with your AdvantEDGE card, you could get 10c/gallon off your purchase of gasoline at any participating Sunoco stations. There is no limit to the amount of discount you can achieve - you spend $500 and you can get $1.00/gallon off your fillup.

So, after begrudgingly acquiring an AdvantEDGE card, I tried a little experiment.

One morning, I saw a woman with about two full grocery carts up at the register. The cashier was ringing everything out, and I walked up to the woman and offered her the use of my AdvantEDGE card - she accepted, and she ended up with the discounted purchase, while I ended up with 40c/gallon off my next fuel purchase!

Hey, this thing might actually work in my favor. Not only will I get the fuel at a discount, but the computers tracking my purchases will get more scrambled than an egg in a blender. "Wait, the customer is purchasing cigarettes AND nicotine patches? He's buying black coffee AND decaf? He's buying diapers AND condoms? HELP!!!"

Well, this scheme worked for about a week. I made sure to ask the customer beforehand, in case they had their own AdvantEDGE card (don't want to take their fuel money away), and if they needed a card, I was only too happy to volunteer mine.

As I said, it worked for about a week. Then one day, I went in and saw someone with a ton of groceries and trying to ring everything out. I offered my AdvantEDGE card to the customer, he accepted. The cashier, however, looked at me as if I had insulted his mother.

"Sir, you can't use your AdvantEDGE card for someone else's groceries."

"Why not?" I asked. "When I didn't have an AdvantEDGE card before, the cashier either swiped their own store card or they asked someone in the line."

"You can't do that any more, sir."

Now the customer was getting miffed. "Why can't he do that? Why can't I get a discount for my purchases?"

"You have to get your own card, sir."

"I don't want my own card. Why can't I use his?"

"Then he gets the fuel points and you don't."

"So what? You mean to tell me you're going to make me pay $20-$25 for more for my food just because a good Samaritan isn't allowed to help me out?"

"That's right, sir."

I could see where this was going. The Price Chopper cashier probably caught hell from someone about "We need to make sure we track what purchases these people are doing," and he decided it was time to lay down the law.

Rather than cause an international incident, the customer and I agreed that this Price Chopper cashier was a tool; the customer finished his purchase, and we both left.

Eventually I had a discussion about this with a Price Chopper store manager, who informed me that yes, they didn't want people sharing their AdvantEDGE cards because it wasn't "in the spirit" of the promotion with Sunoco and the fuel discounts. However, he did give me a special one-time use 50c/gallon discount card for my troubles with the cashier, and said he would speak to the cashier about the appropriate way to handle future situations.

So what have we learned from this adventure?

1. When you get your AdvantEDGE card from Price Chopper, fill out the information with an intentional mispelling - i.e., if your last name is Schmidt, spell it as "Schmit" on the application. That way, when you get junk mail addressed to "Schmit," you can go back to Price Chopper and demand the reasons why they sold your name to a marketing company, and show them the proof.

2. If you want to share your AdvantEDGE card, make sure you do it in the morning when the lines aren't very long, and only do it if the person isn't reaching for their own AdvantEDGE card out of their purse or wallet. Don't just swipe your card on their purchase without asking first.

3. Look for sympathetic cashiers; don't give the cashier a hard time. Not every cashier is a tool; many cashiers are hard-working individuals who like to be treated with respect, and will reciprocate that same respect back.

And if all else fails...

4. Shop at Hannaford or Save-A-Lot, where the prices are much lower and you don't hvae to deal with customer loyalty cards.

Chuck the Writer Completes Work on "Project 3"

2009-08-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe I put this together.

I also still can't believe I didn't think of this sooner.

A little background.

I've covered the Vocal Group Hall of Fame inductions since the first one was held in 1998. In 2001, I started taking pictures along with my written coverage, both for Goldmine and Billboard magazines.

Last week, while puttering around through flickr, I discovered that Flickr had a partner company called Blurb, a company that could produce high-quality bound books.

So I thought about it ... and thought about it ... and decided that I would test out this Blurb software by creating a book containing the photographs I took of the inductions and concerts of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

First issue I needed to cover was to look through my archive and see if I could find the original DVD's that contained the source materials - my photographs. I also needed to make sure that the photos were of halfway decent quality (the first three years I covered the inductions with a Nikon CoolPix 800, the last few inductions were shot with my Nikon D70). Then, I needed to sort through the photos and pick the best of the best.

I decided that since I was most likely going to be paying for the publishing of this book myself, I would keep costs as low as I could - this book would be 7" by 7" (the same size as a 45 RPM record jacket), and would have 60 pages. Some artists I never got a chance to photograph (someone else took photos in the early inductions), other artists I didn't have the best quality photographs, etc.

But what I did have was some magic and rare photographs - bandmembers reuniting for the first time in nearly a generation. Groups giving their last recorded performance before the final surviving original vocalist retires or gets called to Glory. All-star jams featuring a blend of girl-groups or gospel harmonies or doo-wop elegance.

This morning, I put the finishing touches on "The Vocal Group Hall of Fame, Volume 1." I'm going to spend the next couple of days proofing it (and sending a digital copy to the Vocal Hall for review). Then up to the Blurb online printing company it goes. And then we go from there.

"Project 3" was chosen as a code name because it symbolized what would be my third published book. It would also be the first book in which I had complete autonomous control over the content, the photos and the text. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book, after publishing costs, will be designated for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Am I going to sell a million copies? Probably not. But this is a boutique project, and I know that the people who would be interested in purchasing this book will be appreciative of music, vocal harmony and classic pop and soul.

The hard part is done. Other than proofreading and confirming that everything is where it's supposed to be, I've got my third book in the pipeline and it should be printed and bound very very soon.

Damn... this feels good...

Chuck the Writer Receives Inspiration and begins "The Project 3"

2009-07-29T01:23:00.001-07:00

It was more than ten years ago when Greg Loescher, the editor of the music magazine Goldmine, recommended my name to his publishing company as a writer for a new line of music collector's guides.

My first guide, Warman's American Records 1950-2000, was an instant hit (the "Warman" was Eliot Warman, the author of an antiques collectibles guide; the publishing company branded his name on several different collectibles guides, similar to Hoyle authoring several books on card-playing games). Between that book and its 2004 sequel, I sold over 10,000 copies - a respectable number for a trade publication.

I also embarked on a self-promoted "Warman's World Tour," which involved me setting up book signings at various Borders and Barnes & Noble bookstores throughout the Northeastern United States (and a few Chapters bookstores in Canada).

While the thrill of being a published author is still a wonderful feeling, there were factors that eventually caused me to leave Goldmine and the publishing company, factors that I will choose not to repeat in this blog.

Flash forward to July 28, 2009 - and more specifically, last night.

As I'm drifting off to sleep, my subconscious mind starts thinking about those books, and how much excitement I felt in creating the text, rustling up the photographs of rare and expensive recordings, and the excitement of seeing the volumes in print. Would I ever go back to that publisher and do it all again? Not a chance, I mutter to myself as I start to drift into dreamland.

But then inspiration hits.

Who says I can't put together my own book - in this age of self-publication and online publishing companies, what's to stop me from assembling a new book on an entirely different topic? Maybe not music collecting, per se, but something involving materials I've created in the past?

All I have to do is rustle up the materials - if I stored them in the proper archival location - and maybe, just maybe, if all the stars are aligned properly, I might be able to put something of my own together.

And at that moment, I drifted off to sleep.

They say that our dreams are vibrant while we are asleep, but that once we awake, we only remember a small fragment of those dreams. At 3:00 a.m. I woke up. Those fragments were still there in my mind.

I quickly went from my bedroom to my home office and checked my archive discs.

Both DVD storage discs were still accessible and contained all the materials I needed.

This morning, I began work on what I will now refer to as "The Project 3."

Wish me luck.

I may need it.

Chuck The Writer Shoots the Waterfalls at Poestenkill Gorge

2009-07-25T14:29:00.001-07:00

Poestenkill Gorge waterfalls, Troy, New York
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

Of the four photos I wanted to submit to the Altamont Fair photo competition, one of the quartet just didn't grab me. Try as I might, I could not get a decent capture of the Oakwood Cemetery waterfall without climbing down a very unsafe ravine.

I wanted another waterfall shot, if for no other reason than I used the title I had originally assigned to the Oakwood Cemetery waterfall shot - "Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls" (Psalms 42:7) for the title of the photo - I needed another waterfall shot, without having to traipse all the way over to Buffalo.

What to do ... what to do ...

Solution - Last year I purchased a book that was written by the Rensselaer County Land Trust, and it featured hundreds of locations throughout the area. I ended up choosing the waterfalls at Poestenkill Gorge, right in the heart of Troy.

Saturday afternoon - sun was beating down like crazy, the UV index must have been above infinity. I had to climb down a very rocky and uneven path, until I came to the base of the Poestenkill Gorge. And staring right up at me was the waterfall, cascading over dark black shale rock.

Up with the tripod. Out with the D700. And with all five of my lenses, and with the nerve of someone willing to stand on the last semi-anchored rock with a $3,000 camera and hard-to-replace lenses, I got some fantastic shots of the waterfall. Although the trend now is to get rivers and waterfalls with long exposures, to give them a mystical, otherworldly look, I chose instead for an instant capture, with the goal of expressing the power of the waterfall as it splashed on the rocks.

So this photo - along with my captures of the RCA dog statue in downtown Albany, the D&H railroad bridge in Slingerlands, and the midnight shot of the park benches at Washington Park in Albany - will be my entries for the Altamont Fair photo contest.

Chuck the Writer Gears Up for June 2010

2009-07-24T10:40:00.001-07:00

I've had a love-hate relationship with Hamilton College. There were times when it was the most wonderful place in the world, and there were times when I felt like I was as out of place as the second trombone in a string quartet.

But over time, I've mellowed in my appreciation for the college. Two years ago, I sat transfixed to the TV set as the Hamilton College women's lacrosse team beat Franklin & Marshall on the CBS College Sports network, winning the NCAA Div III lacrosse title, Hamilton's first NCAA championship award.

I've returned for the 5th, 15th and 20th reunions (missed the 10th for reasons that completely escape me right now), and for the 20th I even hosted an Alumni College event (when former students return to the campus and show what they've learned).

Sometimes on long drives through the New York State Thruway, I'll absent-mindedly switch my radio dial to 88.7 and listen for about half an hour to WHCL, the college radio station. And on occasion, I'll even stop at the college and pick up a souvenir shirt or watch a basketball game on campus.

Next year my 25th reunion at the college will take place. This is a significant milestone, without a doubt. I'm hoping to host another alumni college, I'm hoping to meet up with old friends, and I'm hoping that any painful memories I had from my time at old Ham Tech are completely erased by the positives out there.

The 2010 reunion is less than a year away. If I'm going to do an alumni college, I'd better get started on the project right now. As opposed to pulling an all-nighter and cramming like crazy - which is how I got through most of my classes at old Ham Tech.

Chuck the Writer is Getting Into CTRL

2009-07-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

There's a new web-based 5-minute TV series, produced by NBC, called CTRL.

Here's a link to the episodes via Hulu.

The show is based on a 2008 Sundance film festival entry, in which a nebbish office worker discovers that, thanks to an accident involving spilled tea on his computer keyboard, now gives him the power to control life with the same control-function keys as used on the stained keyboard. [CTRL]+[Z] sends him back in time (a few minutes per keystroke), while [CTRL]+[B] initiates the "Bold" function - not to bolden the characters, but to make him more bold and assertive.

Of course, this is a comedy, so nothing on the keyboard goes exactly as planned. Sort of like the old joke about the guy staring at the magic mirror and saying, "Make my lovemaking equipment so long that it reaches the floor," and suddenly his legs disappear.

But it is worth watching, so take a look and let me know what you think.

Chuck the Writer Assists on a New Writing Project

2009-07-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

Robert Bradley is an expert in the history of professional basketball. He's the head person behind the Association for Professional Basketball Research, an organization similar to the SABR people who chart baseball's history.

So when he contacted me the other day and asked if I had any information on the Continental Basketball Association standings for his upcoming book project, and if I could help him out...

I couldn't pull up my statistical data fast enough.

I was able to get him the standings for the last ten years of the CBA, and then followed that up with statistics from the United States Basketball League, the Premier Basketball League, the Eastern Pro League - and this morning, I e-mailed him the scores from the 1947 New York State Pro League semifinal playoff round between the Albany Red Devils and the Cohoes Mastodons. And you think today's team names are goofy??

Anyways...

This is what research is for. It's similar to tracking your family tree, discovering your genealogy. Only in my case, it's involving the rediscovery of professional sports that had long since passed into the mists of the diaspora.

Just for example, here's a piece I wrote on Barney Sedran and Marty Friedman, the "Heavenly Twins," two basketball stars from the early history of pro hoops. In fact, at 5'4", Barney Sedran is the shortest professional player ever inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame!

Chuck the Writer loves this song "United Breaks Guitars" by Sons of Maxwell

2009-07-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely funny. And it's great. And it's ironic.

Here's the deal.

This musician, Dave Carroll, from the band Sons of Maxwell, was on tour and was waiting for his United flight to take off, when a passenger on that plane looked out the window and said that the plane loading crew were tossing guitars in the air. Apparently one of the guitars that was being tossed - and later damaged and broken - was Carroll's acoustic guitar.

He spent some time trying to get United to fix it, and went from call center to phone jail to runaround.

However, Mr. Carroll didn't let it stop there.

He wrote a song about it.

And he made a video for it

And he shows off his busted guitar in the video.

And I'm posting it right here because I want you to watch this - it's just that great!

And don't get me wrong - I'll fly United more than I would any other airline (and my wife, who loves Southwest, thinks I'm nuts for my brand loyalty), but if United ever damaged my camera equipment in transit, I better get some replacement and not just measly $50 travel voucher!

Go Dave Carroll! Power to the people!

Chuck the Writer FINALLY GOT THE D700!!!!

2009-07-05T07:47:00.001-07:00

I scrimped. I saved. I went without.

But on Friday, I was able to finally realize my goal.

Backstory.

From 2005 to the present, I worked with a Nikon D70 camera. I actually purchased this camera to replace my Nikon Coolpix 800, which I had owned since maybe 1999. At the time, the Albany Patroons were coming back to the CBA, and the camera I had just wouldn't work with action photography. So I bought a D70 from my local Ritz Camera and went from there.

Since then, I've used the D70 for four CBA seasons and two Premier Basketball League seasons, and have captured maybe 30,000 photos over that span of time. I also used it for various nature and outdoors photography.

But over time, I saw that my D70 wasn't as powerful a camera as I originally thought. I couldn't get the ISO above 800 without lots of grain. The kit lens that came with the D70 was barely adequate for my needs. In other words - I could go up to bat and hit a single, maybe a double, but the other batters were hitting home runs.

I had fantasized about acquiring Nikon's top-of-the-line D3 camera, but where the hell was I going to come up with $5,000?

Last year, however, out came Nikon's successor camera - the D700. It had the huge FX sensor like the D3, I could crank the ISO up to above 6400 (and maybe higher), and all my lenses would be completely compatible, meaning I didn't need to invest thousands in lens replacement.

The D700 retails for $3,000. Still way out of my price range.

But then came a Nikon rebate. That dropped the price to $2,700.

Then B&H Photo in New York City offered a D700 for $2,000 - factory reconditioned.

After a couple of calls to B&H to guarantee that the camera would be there, I hopped a Greyhound bus and rode down to New York City. I had to hurry - not only was it 4th of July weekend and I wanted to photograph the fireworks at the Empire State Plaza, I had to get to B&H before the place closed at 2pm. For those not aware of this, B&H is predominantly operated by Satmar Hasidim, and that means no work on Shabbat. So the place closes at 2pm and doesn't open back up until Sunday morning.

Got down there. Traded in my F/1.4 lens that I never use. Handed over whatever cash I had squirreled away. And all that, plus some wiggle room on one of my credit cards, and the salesperson opened up a cabinet, pulled out a box that said RECONDITIONED NIKON D700 and put it in a basket. "The only thing you won't like about this camera," he said to me, "is you won't want to stop using it."

Well if that's the only caveat...

Rode back home on the Greyhound. Poured through the operations manual like I was cramming for a midterm final.

On Saturday morning, I tested four of my five lenses on the D700. My F/1.8 action lens worked great. So did my E-series F/1.8, my Kiev wide-angle and my Kiev Fisheye. Even though the latter three weren't computer-based lenses with CPU connections, the D700 has a special command that allows the user to input data about those lenses so that the camera can meter properly. Wow...

Saturday evening. 9:15 pm, I'm on the roof of the Eagle Street parking garage, armed with my new D700, the Kiev fisheye lens, and the cheap-ass Quantaray tripod that I always fear is going to topple over in a stiff breeze.

So did my new camera pass the test?

You tell me....

Chuck the Writer's Latest Trivia Target - the Sea Unit

2009-07-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Competitive team trivia is just that - competitive. Everybody talks trash before the event starts, we all cheer if we get the right answer, we all grumble when the answer is horribly wrong, and in the end we congratulate the winning team, chat for a while, and go home.

Unfortunately, in the four-plus years I've played competitive team trivia, there have been a few sour apples that have really made team trivia less of a fun event and more of a grit-your-teeth-and-hope-the-guy-isn't-parked-near-your-car-afterward event.

Don't get me wrong - I talk trash just as much as anyone else. And if the host says that "Street Academy" is in the lead, and I hear a chorus of boos and groans, that's respect, man.

Unfortunately, some teams mistake respect for taunting.

With that, I'll introduce you to Dave. Dave is the captain of a trivia team originally called "See You Next Tuesday," and is now known as "C-Unit." For purposes of delicate sensibilities, I will rebrand that team as the "Sea Unit," rather than promote their purile pubic pecadilloes.

If Dave's team gets in the lead, he'll come over and start talking trash in the middle of the game at me. "We got you beat, Street Academy! You can't beat us, Street Academy!"

Hmm... A team of one (me) against a team of four or five (them).

I first met Dave's team over at Old Chicago, when his team scored a victory one week. I half-jokingly suggested they might have called a friend to get the answer, and Dave flew into a rage. "I had that answer, Street Academy, I knew that answer, you didn't know it, get over it!"

Oh... kay...

A couple of weeks later, I ran into the team at a trivia game at Recovery Room. I was in the lead at that time. Dave comes over to my table, and starts trying to chat me up - and while he's talking, he's helping himself to the french fries on my plate!

We talked afterward about keeping some decorum, and he agreed to tone it down.

That was until last night.

I was in second place, with a chance for the win, and the final question was "Strom Thurmond once ran as a third party candidate in an election that saw which person elected President?"

I didn't know the answer, so I was trying to calculate how old Strom Thurmond would have been to have been considered a successful candidate for a presidential election. Meanwhile, Dave runs up, slaps his answer slip on the host's table, and then starts shouting across the bar at me, "I got the answer, Chuck, you don't have the answer do you, or else you'd have brought it up already, I got the answer!"

Which completely threw my train of thought off the track. I calculated that Strom Thurmond, who was so old Methusulah once called him Pops, would have been a successful candidate in the late 1940's or mid-1950's, so that would have been either Truman or Eisenhower. I hedged my bet and figured he might have been in one of the two Eisenhower elections.

No such luck. It was Truman. So I lost the $50 bar tab - and the grand prize that night, which involved tickets to a Def Leppard/Poison/Cheap Trick concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

So at this point, Dave and the Sea-Unit team are now on my shit list. You better have your "A" game every time I see your team at trivia, because rest assured, I don't care if I come in 19th in a field of 20 teams - as long as your squad is in 20th place right behind me.

Or worse - in 21st.

Chuck the Writer's First Day on Facebook

2009-06-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

Normally, when I received invitations to join Facebook, I dismissed them as unrequested spam - especially when it was tagged as "your friend wants you to join..." without mentioning who my "friend" was.

Be that as it may, today was a surprise. I received ten different facebook requests - and all of them came from people I knew from working with the Premier Basketball League.

Ten people from the PBL - that can't be a coincidence.

So I decided - what the hell - let's give Facebook a trial run. Worst thing that could happen - I shut it off in six months.

But suddenly I realized that there were a tonload of PBL people on the board - owners and coaches and players and fans. And some of them even had my photographs on their homepage (and I know you've got my photo on your profile, Sam Carey! :) )!

One of the reasons I didn't initially join Facebook was because of the horrible experiences I had with MySpace. I always felt like MySpace was designed for the X-generation and not for the baby boomers like me. So I'm going to keep an eye on things regarding facebook. And I'm going to leave it to just "friend" my professional and sports contacts.

But I swear on a stack of floppy discs ... I ain't going to join twitter. Forget that.

Chuck the Writer's thoughts on the passing of Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

First off, thoughts and prayers go to the entire Jackson family.

During my years writing for Goldmine, I never did an interview with Michael Jackson or with the Jackson family, although I did meet Jackson's father Joe Jackson when the Jackson Five were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame (not much of a meeting, more like a "hi, how are you" kind of thing).

But during the time I did write for the music collector's biweekly, I did interview several people who either worked with Jackson, were influenced by Jackson, or in some cases parodied Jackson's work.

Here's some quotes:

From my Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff article (Gamble and Huff were the top R&B producers of the 1970's, working with the O'Jay's, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the Three Degrees and the Intruders)

In 1976, Detroit and Philadelphia met as one when the Jacksons entered 309 South Broad Street for the first of two Gamble-Huff produced albums. "Epic (Records) asked us if we wanted to produce the Jacksons," said Gamble. "In reality, we were trying to sign the Jacksons ourselves to our own label. No question we were trying to do that. But CBS had deeper pockets than ours. Those songs were released on a combined label, that's the first time they ever did that. The house band, MFSB, that played on that first album. The Jacksons didn't play, they just sang on the album."

"I think Tito played on one thing," replied Huff, "maracas or something like that. He did play on a couple of the things they did for themselves. They did cut a couple of songs on that album."

"It was a whole new world for all of them. They came into our world, Philly International was a different environment for them. They were welcome to participate in the production, they produced a couple of songs on their albums, so they had a lot more freedom here. It was trying times for them too, because Jermaine had just left the group, they were going through just a little bit of controversy there. Me and Huff, we had the songs for them, and that's the easy part. Getting in the studio and getting the right songs. I enjoyed working with Michael, because he had his own ideas about how he wanted himself to sound."

"Michael made our job a little eaiser. He was very clever. Plus, he could sing."

In 1996, I put together an interview with the members of Earth Wind and Fire. Here's Verdine White's comments about the state of music video broadcast channels:

In 1983, Earth Wind & Fire released the "Electric Universe" album. It was also their last release for four years. "The whole scene was changing," said Verdine. "There was an explosion of video artists. At that time, MTV wasn't playing black artists - the only black artists they played at that time were Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie and Prince. There was BET to play black videos, but they didn't have the same money behind MTV. It hurt a lot of those groups, because the audience didn't know who those groups were, and they only knew about groups that had the visibility. Rick James was the first black artist to really bitch about MTV, and he was right at the time. They were playing acts that hadn't had hit records, and he had hits at the time."

And finally, here's some comments taken from a Goldmine cover story I wrote on "Weird Al" Yankovic:

By 1984, Yankovic and his band were working on a new album, Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D [Scotti Bros./Rock n' Roll 39221]. The last song recorded for that album was a parody of Michael Jackson's rock hit "Beat It" as an ode to omnivorism, "Eat It." Getting permission from the King of Pop to make fun ofone of his biggest hits wouldn't be easy, but Yankovic gave it a try. [Yankovic's manager] Jay Levey contacted Jackson's representatives, and told them what he wanted. A few days later, Levey received a call back - the representatives said Michael Jackson gave his permission, thinking Yankovic's idea was good for a laugh.

"Eat It" became Yankovic's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #12, and winning a Grammy for Best Comedy Recording. The song's accompanying music video featured Al making fun of Michael Jackson's own video, turning Jackson's original "West Side Story" music video rumble into an all-out food fight (and eventually won an American Music Award trophy for Best Male Performance). Rick Derringer even added his own wacky take on Eddie Van Halen's "guest-starring" guitar solo. "If we are parodying this whole thing," said Derringer, "then my contribution as a soloist at that point would certainly be a parody of Eddie's. And that's what I tried to do, and that's why we blew up the guitar at the end of the video. Our version culminated in the guitar player whipping himself in such a frenzy that he exploded. Jim West did the solo in the video, but that's my guitar solo on the soundtrack."

By 1988, Yankovic adapted another King of Pop hit, rewriting Jackson's "Bad" into "Fat."

"I met Michael Jackson twice in person, and both times they were very brief. Once I went to a TV shoot that he was doing, and I got to talk to him briefly after that. He mentioned that he really enjoyed my movie UHF, and the fact that he would play it at his theater at the Neverland Ranch, and guests got a kick out ofit. And another time I was backstage at a Michael Jackson concert, and I presented him with a gold album for Even Worse (the album containing "Fat") and had my picture taken with him - and whoever took the picture had their camera stolen, so I never got that photo. In retrospect, I'm not sure that's the kind of thing that Michael Jackson really appreciated, another gold album for the pile."

Chuck the Writer - TWO MORE AWARDS WON!!

2009-06-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well, your man is happy. Very happy. Way happy.

I submitted two articles for the 2008 International Automotive Media Awards, and this afternoon I found out the final total.

"Diecast Dreams," the article from RoadKing, won a bronze medal in the magazines-entertainment category.

"Redlines, Orange Tracks and Blue Streaks," the article from Toy Collector Magazine, picked up the GOLD MEDAL in the internet-entertainment category!

Two big awards to add to the collection!

As can be seen here, I am celebrating my awards with Elaine Haessner, the person in charge of the International Automotive Media Awards. My sincere thanks to the IAMA's and their parent company, the International Society for Vehicle Preservation. I had a fantastic time at the awards, and I look forward to writing new articles that, in the future, might also earn similar recognition.

Oh... and after the awards, I had to do a little celebrating.

Because right next to my Red Roof hotel - was a chain restaurant featuring chicken wings, beer, and various other bar delicacies.

In fact... I got two of their "delicacies" to pose with me and my winning awards!!

And talk about stepping into the wayback machine - this Hooter's was having a competitive trivia night, something along the lines of "Are You Smarter Than a Hooters Girl?"

Of course I won. Come on. It's competitive bar trivia. You might as well ask Jack Nicholson if he ever did any acting in his career.

But in any case... I'm celebrating, baby! Two more awards for the Chuck Miller Creative Writing Service!

Chuck the Writer's Award Day: 7am, LaGuardia Airport

2009-06-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

The flight out from Albany to LaGuardia Airport was on a DeHavilland turboprop. Just what I need. Last time I flew on a turboprop, my wife and I were going to my daughter Cassaundra's high school graduation in Seattle, and the flight required a connecting flight from Albany International to Newark Liberty - hence the turboprop. Of course, we hit a ton of turbulence, and I'm going through every prayer I can remember, while my wife is going "Whee, what fun!" like she's doing her third run on the Comet at the Great Escape.

Anyways...

After I got in my seat on the plane, someone else asked if I could switch with them so that they could sit with a member of their party. I graciously agreed, and ended up sitting in one of the "exit" aisles. So now I had to pay attention to how to take the exit door off in case of an emergency - and this was LaGuardia Airport, where that plane crashed into the water a few months ago.

No matter - the flight was uneventful if a little turbulent, and after receiving a great overhead view of the '64 World's Fair globe, Arthur Ashe Stadium and Citi Field, the plane landed safely at LaGuardia International Airport.

But what they didn't tell me was that in order to get to my next connecting flight, I actually had to leave the terminal (US Airways) and walk 15 minutes to the main terminal for the next flight (American Eagle). Which meant I had to haul my gear 15 minutes in the muggy morning, and then go through another TSA security checkpoint. Everything in the basket. Back through the X-ray machine. And then down what looked like a subway corridor to the C terminals.

Interestingly, before you go through the terminals there are tons of high-end restaurants. In the C terminal, however, you get your dining choice of Auntie Anne's, Au Bon Pain or Hudson News. Not exactly Jack's Oyster House or Coulsons' News.

So I've got a couple of hours to kill before my next flight. So far so good.

Chuck the Writer's Award Day: 445am, Albany International Airport

2009-06-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

I've learned over the years how to fly light. Throw all my clothes into one carry-on bag (my commemorative Albany Patroons gym bag), pack my camera and a couple of lenses into the camera bag, and pack the laptop. The camera bag goes (hopefully) into the overhead compartment, while the laptop goes under my airplane seat.

As for going through the security gates, I've learned that everything needs to go into a scanning bucket. Everything means wristwatches, rings, keys, loose change, belts and glasses. Then I walk through the X-ray machine and hopefully don't hear any sort of BEEP that would require a more invasive search by the TSA.

In this case, the only thing the cute TSA security guard said to me was, "I like your necktie." I was actually wearing my ripple-rainbow tie, one of my personal favorites. I thanked her and asked her to wish me luck for today.

In a few minutes, I'll be boarding a DeHavilland turboprop with about 40 orange-shirted members of a church ministries group, all bound for Mexico. This way, I figure that if I do my usual pre-flight routine of reciting the 23rd Psalm as the plane takes off, I'll have a group of people who can help me out if I forget some of the words.

Next stop - LaGuardia International Airport in NYC.

Chuck the Writer's Award Day: 230am, Albany

2009-06-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

I can't sleep.

I've tried everything - soothing music, a cold drink, the knowledge that I won't ever have sextuplets just for the benefit of exploiting them on national television - but I can't sleep.

I've got everything packed for my trip to Detroit for the International Automotive Media Awards. My flight has been confirmed, my rental car is at the parking lot, my free room at Red Roof is all set to go (this is why I use their loyalty plan, stay a few nights at a Red Roof and you get a free stay).

I don't know if it's the anticipation of hopefully winning something at the IAMA's, or if it's that pre-Christmas Day excitement of hoping that whatever you've hinted for with your parents has actually come through in the end, all wrapped up and stuffed underneath the pine needle-dripping tree.

I know the award is for one of two car-themed articles I wrote last year - either for "Diecast Dreams," a feature article in RoadKing magazine, or for "Redlines, Orange Track and Blue Streaks," a cover story for Toy Collector Magazine. I just don't know which article received the award, or if both of them did - and if so, what level of award did I earn. Was it bronze, silver or gold? And if it was gold, did it eventually win best of division - and if so, did it win best of 2008?

I'm still kinda sweating it out. Hopefully, however, this trip to Detroit will be beneficial. Wish me luck. I'll post updates throughout the day.

Chuck the Writer's enjoying "Man vs. Cartoon" on Tru TV

2009-06-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

Okay... take one part Mythbusters, one part Monster Garage, mix in a bunch of college kids who actually go to college to STUDY (holy smokes), and give them a challenge to recreate a scene from a motion picture.

That's what I caught last night, on a show called "Man vs. Cartoon" on the TruTV network (what used to be Court TV).

Here's the premise. Engineering students at New Mexico Tech are given a challenge to recreate - and improve upon - a scene from a Road Runner cartoon, in which one of Wile E. Coyote's ACME mail order contraptions fails. Only the NMT engineering students have to make the contraption work.

Here's a clip from the show's intro:

Okay. So in one of the original Road Runner cartoons, the Road Runner is enticed by a tray of free bird seed. Wile E. Coyote fires a slingshot - which knocks over a watering can - which waters a flower - which grows, and upon whose stalk a match lights an explosive charge, sending an old shoe flying onto a see-saw - which releasee a mouse from a cage, which in turn takes some cheese off a balance scale, causing a weight to drop and trigger a shotgun, the bullet bounces off two targets, then ricochets off the barrel of a cannon. The cannon pivots into position, is lit by a nearby candle, and a cannon ball goes flying. Supposedly to hit the Road Runner - but as we all know, Wile E. Coyote's got as much of a chance of getting that Road Runner as I do of getting Megan Fox.

After watching the clip, the New Mexico Tech engineering students are challenged to put together the exact same Rube Goldberg-inspired contraption - only this time it has to hit the Road Runner. The six students are broken into three teams of two apiece, and are charged with working on each section of the contraption.

Personally, I would love to see these teams from New Mexico Tech go up against MIT or RPI to see which school's engineering or tech students could build a better roadrunner-killing contraption (they wouldn't stand a chance against either school), but it is a nice diversion to watch.

I wonder if they'll figure out how to make that special black paint that can be applied onto rocks and create instant tunnels.

Chuck the Writer has been Shooting in the Woods

2009-06-13T10:27:00.001-07:00

No bullets or wounded people, mind you... this weekend I've been traipsing over to the Pine Bush Preserve and testing out some of my lenses on nature photography. Some of the shots I took were processed into HDR shots; others were left as is.

Here's the link. Hope everyone enjoys it. I will be adding more photos later in the week, so keep an eye on this slideshow for more images.

Chuck the Writer visits some more old children's shows

2009-06-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

God sakes, I swear some of these shows are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

I forgot about such New York City-based children's show that appeared on my local cable system, including this gem called The Magic Garden on WPIX 11:

Meanwhile, over on WNEW 5, you could catch an episode of Wonderama:

Surprisingly, Wonderama used to get some popular guests to the show, including this early performance by ABBA:

And if that weren't enough, how about a children's show in New York City getting Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on the show - to compete in a game of marbles?? Wow!

WONDERAMA Feat. MUHAMMAD ALI Vs JOE FRAIZER - The best video clips are here

Any more fans out there?

Okay, Chuck forgot about ZOOM

2009-06-12T10:32:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I forgot about those rugby-shirt-wearing kids from Boston who were part of PBS's classic show ZOOM.

Here's a clip from the very first episode of ZOOM, complete with the WGBH intro:

Here's a clip from the second year of ZOOM, featuring Bernadette Yao doing that weird butterfly thing with her arms (at around 0:37 on the clip):

This is a clip from Season 5's intro:

And for those of you who complain about a PBS show not being 100% educational, let me remind you that ZOOM was one of the few PBS shows to feature bilingualism. So if you ever want to say you can speak Ubbi-Dubbi, here's your chance for a refresher course...

Chuck the Writer recalls rare TV kids' shows from the past

2009-06-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Trolling around YouTube this afternoon and came across video clips of some shows from back in ancient times:

This was Jabberwocky, a children's TV show that I used to watch when I visited my grandmother in Boston. Apparently the show only aired in the Boston area, and it had a catchy theme song that I still can't get out of my head today.

I suppose every major city had their own regional children's broadcast programs, so if you weren't a fan of Jabberwocky, you could always switch over to WBZ and see Rex Trailer and the gang on the children's western show Boomtown. Not much on the show on YouTube, but there is this tribute clip that has some classic footage:

Among the children's programs from the 1970's that aired on my local PBS station was this offering, "Vegetable Soup," whose entire show focused on racial tolerance and the stamping out of prejudice. Plus it had a cool psychedelic funky opening theme song, as seen here:

Another cool show from the 1970's was Big Blue Marble, which focused on international relations, featuring stories about children of all nations and nationalities. I wonder if the same people who composed the theme song for this show also put together that "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" commercial for Coca-Cola.

And last but certainly not least, a real gem of a television show, Vision On, featured 30 minutes of activities and funnies and great stuff - all designed to be seen by both hearing-impaired and able-bodied children!

Feel free to post your own memories of obscure children's programs from the 1970's. Really fun stuff.

Chuck the Writer uploads more Vocal Group Hall of Fame photos

2009-06-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

More photos recovered from my archives - this set of photos was taken at the 2001 inductions for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pa.

For those not familiar, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame is an organization devoted to honoring the famous vocal duos, trios, quartets, quintets and the like - from doo-wop to big band music.

The 2001 inductions, which were originally scheduled for September 11 (and were hastily rescheduled) included a reunion of past and present members of the Lettermen, as well as vocal performances from the Chordettes, the Lennon Sisters, the Miracles, and - for the first time in nearly 25 years - a reunion of the four original members of the Vogues. Way cool.

Although this was the third VGHF induction and concert that I ever attended, it was the first in which I was able to photograph and document the event, which I did so on what was then a state-of-the-art camera, my Nikon Coolpix 800.

Stop laughing.

I said stop laughing.

I worked that Coolpix 800 for at least a few more years, until it could go no further (I think around 2004) and then I went to my current Nikon D70 DSLR.

Anyways, I just recently received a DVD copy of the 2001 induction concert, and it was a fun show to watch. You can order your own copy by going to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame's website.

Chuck the Writer's 10 Favorite Shows of the 2008-09 TV Season

2009-06-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's summertime, and I'm thinking back to the TV shows I started to watch with great anticipation, only to give up on them halfway through their broadcast runs. And other shows that I still continue to watch, whether they be intellectually stimulating or just electronic comfort food from the glass teat, as Harlan Ellison would say.

The following is a list of my ten favorite TV shows from the 2008-09 season. These were shows that I would make a concerted effort every week to watch, or DVR, or call my wife when I'm not home and ask her to set the DVR for me. I am listing them alphabetically, and if I'm missing your favorite shows on this list - well, that's what the comments page is for.

The Big Bang Theory - Probably the only television show about geek culture that doesn't make geek culture seem less than appealable. The adventures of Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Wolowitz, along with their hot-but-clueless neighbor Penny, is just great television candy.
Deadliest Catch - I don't eat crab legs that often, but I enjoy watching the camaraderie and danger of those who work on the fishing vessels Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, Wizard and Time Bandit. It's one of my favorite "candid" reality shows.
Dollhouse - I never got into all that Josh Whedon fan-worship, but I really got into this series about programmable people who solve problems and then get their minds erased - sort of like "Rent-A-Person." The storylines keep you interested throughout the run. Plus, Eliza Dushku is Death Valley hot.
Flashpoint - Yes, it's another procedural drama from CBS, where you can't swing a cat without hitting a CSI or an NCIS or one of their spinoffs or clones. But Flashpoint is different, in that the show itself doesn't always have the cut-and-dry happy ending. Characters die. Characters get hurt. And for the men and women of the Strategic Response Unit, each case has after-effects that continue throughout the series run. Plus, it's fun to play "Spot the Canadian" - even though the show downplays its Toronto location, every so often (at least once per episode) there will be a reference to a Toronto street, neighborhood, or nearby Ontario location or local doughnut/coffee shop.
Friday Night Lights - How much do I love this family drama about a Texas town where high school football is all the rage? Let me count the ways. It's a great drama series, the acting and storylines are top-notch, and I deliberately avoided any spoiler alerts (as the series was first broadcast on Direct TV, which I don't have, so I had to wait patiently for the NBC broadcasts to air). Thankfully, the series will return for at least two more seasons.
Little Mosque on the Prairie - I have to watch this series through imported Canadian DVD's and YouTube postings, but it's hilarious and sweet. Imagine a culture-clash sitcom featuring a Muslim neighborhood in a Canadian prairie town. It sounds offensive, but when you watch the first couple of episodes you realize it's about as offensive as an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. And about as funny, too!
Pushing Daisies - One day in my life, I'll make a list of all the shows I used to love that were cut down too early in their prime - shows like Max Headroom and Dark Angel and the like. Pushing Daisies would be on that list. Whether it's the Tim Burton-influenced directing style or the delicate but definite wordplay, this show was fantastic. Screw the dumbasses at ABC for not giving it a decent sendoff.
United States of Tara - The last time I ever saw Toni Colette in anything, she was playing the frumpy teen Muriel (or was it Mariel?) in the film Muriel's Wedding. You know, the one that was full of ABBA songs before anyone ever heard of a Mamma Mia musical. In this show, Colette runs the gamut as a person with multiple personalities, playing every personality as if they had a life of their own - and convincingly so. A really funny show with lots of nuances.
The Venture Brothers - My favorite late-night cartoon skewers every action cartoon cliche, throws in about 50 pop culture references per episode, and is just a complete and unharnessed riot to watch.
VH1 Dating "Of Love" Shows - You know it's the same damn show over and over again, whether it's Flavor Flav or Bret Michaels or one of Flavor Flav's rejects or one of Bret Michaels' castoffs, or whether the castoffs are competing in "I Love Money" or "Charm School," these human trainwreck dating shows are completely addictive and fun to watch. It's like going to see the freak tent at the circus - see the guys with multiple tattoos and piercings! See the girls with Goodyear-inspired foobs! Watch as people get completely emotional and break down one day, and then are as chipper as a squirrel with a cachet of nuts the next!

There were a lot of shows I could have included on this list, but I have to catch up on DVR episodes of Lost and Fringe, and Heroes just fell off my radar. Plus, I could have added The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Escape to Chimp Eden, but then it would have been a Top 12 and this ain't college football, where you can have eleven teams in the Big 10.

Bumpy's Polar Freeze - Scream Until Mom Stops the Car

2009-06-01T12:47:00.001-07:00

Bumpy's Polar Freeze - Scream Until Mom Stops the Car
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

Sunday morning I captured this shot of an ice cream parlor off State Street in Schenectady. Gotta love the lettering under the main sign!

Chuck the Writer Gets Lit Up in Schenectady

2009-05-31T03:05:00.001-07:00

General Electric sign on GE Administration Building, Schenectady, New York
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

No, not "that" kind of lit-up.

Now that I've had my chance to experiment with HDR photography, I thought I'd take a shot at one of the Capital District's iconic illuminated signs - the sign above the General Electric headquarters in downtown Schenectady.

Of course, it's one thing to actually take the photo - but it's another to find a location suitable for shooting. My original plan was to get as close to the building as possible and shoot the sign from maybe the GE parking lot. No such luck - the building was wrapped in a green chain-link fence, which would have been right in front of my line of view.

I then decided to take a chance and drive straight up to the front gate and ask the gateman if I could shoot the sign from inside the fence. But before I could roll down my window, I saw a sign on the tollgate that said "NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING EQUIPMENT PERMITTED." I then asked the front gateman if there were any places one could shoot the sign without violating this rule.

"You could shoot from I-890," he said sarcastically, referring to the elevated highway. "Just don't get run over."

Unfortunately, even if I COULD shoot from I-890, there would be no way for me to set up a tripod and shoot on a federal interstate - especially with the prime shooting location devoid of a breakdown lane.

Reluctantly, I resigned myself to shooting the logo from Erie Boulevard, farther away than I would have liked.

At that point, as I was squeezing off photos and calculating exposures, a Schenectady police car pulled up next to me.

Oh shit, I thought. I probably violated some rule about photography on the city sidewalks, or something.

"What camera are you using," he asked me.

"Nikon D70," I replied.

"I've got a D60 myself, I use it to shoot my daughter's recitals and swim meets."

Ah... the cop speaks Nikon.

Actually, he was more interested in making sure I was safe. He also recommended that if I really wanted to capture the GE sign, I should walk up Erie Boulevard and access a pedestrian bridge that spans one of the side roads.

Great suggestion. And as you can see from the photo, it worked out better than I hoped. And as you can see... I actually got the shot I wanted.

Chuck the Writer tries his hand at HDR photography

2009-05-30T10:51:00.001-07:00

RCA Building, Albany, NY
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

So after I got my latest lens for the collection (a Russian Kiev Mir-20H fisheye), I took it out for a little test this morning.

And by test, I mean that I included a brand new attempt at photography. I had read about this "HDR photography," otherwise known as High Dynamic Range Imaging. I can't use it for sports photography, in that I have to take several shots from the same exact location - making sure that some of the shots are overexposed and some are underexposed - and then digitally blend them together into what you see here, a shot of the old RCA building with Nipper on top. The difference here is that you see the contrast of the building against the blue-white sky, which does look rather impressive.

I took some other shots in the HDR format, including St. James Church on Delaware Avenue and the old Third District Police Station in Albany's North End. I kinda like this style of photography... I may want to experiment with it more - as long as everything (like the buildings and such) stay still when I'm shooting. I don't think it would work if a basketball player was going up for a slam dunk.

If you want to see the other photos I took, click here and enjoy.

Chuck the Writer tests out his new lens

2009-05-22T06:56:00.001-07:00

Sommers Building sign, Albany
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

Flash back a couple of weeks. When I was working as an extra on that SALT movie, I met another extra - a college student from RPI. We talked for a little while, she said she was getting rid of some of her photography equipment - including a very large lens that she couldn't use any more. I offered to buy it from her, and came into possession of a 1970's era Nikon Zoom-NIKKOR 50-300 f/4.5 manual focus telephoto lens.

Despite its age, the lens looked good - and I was about to take it out for a test run when I looked inside the lens and saw a copious amount of dust and gunk inside the lens elements. This would have made any shot I took look like it was photographed through a marshland.

So I took the lens over to my camera tech at Cameraworks, a Latham-based photography repair shop. Guy does great work. A few days later, I was able to acquire my new lens and took it out for a test run.

This Friday morning, just before work, I took the lens down to Albany's Broadway area and used the telephoto lens to snap various building facades, including the one you see here. I also took it out to a little league game Thursday night (after making sure I cleared using the camera with the little league operators so that nobody would assume nefarious use), and discovered that although the lens is decent for long-distance telephoto work, it's not fast enough to handle sports photography. So if I'm shooting nature or architecture, it can come with me; other than that, it's staying home.

I'll see what this lens can do this evening, as well as maybe some shots tomorrow.

Chuck the Writer Wins Trivia for Cancer Relief

2009-05-21T05:18:00.000-07:00

Ed DerGurahian is a friend of mine from back in the days when both of us worked for the Albany Patroons (Ed dressed up as Lido, the Patroons' panda-costumed mascot). Ed and his fiancee, along with some of his friends, also play trivia as the team "A Few Cards Short of a Deck," mostly playing at McGeary's in downtown Albany.

Ed asked if I would like to play at a special "Relay for Life" cancer trivia tournament at the North Albany American Legion post Wednesday night, and despite it being my night for Brown's Brewing trivia, I figured at least I would show up, participate, make a decent showing for myself, and go home. Plus, it was a fundraiser to help find a cure for cancer, so it would be a $10 buy-in, a few dollars for some 50/50 raffle tickets, and the like. Plus, the winning team would receive $250 in cash.

I made it to the American Legion post, and was there when Ed and his team showed up. We shared a table in the Legion post's meeting hall. Other teams showed up, including the two-man "Sky Hawk" squad that often plays at Uno (like Ed's team and myself, "Sky Hawk" was one of the tough teams to beat when there was Tuesday night trivia at Albany's Hooters).

Questions came in fast and strong, and I started out slow. I used my double-chance option early (write down two answers to a question, if right, receive the points, if wrong lose DOUBLE the points) on what ocean Christmas Island may be found. I chose Atlantic and Pacific, apparently it was the Indian Ocean - whoops.

But after that I snagged several tough questions, including the major league baseball team who first played at Huntington Grounds (the Boston Red Sox); the director of the remake of Psycho (Gus Van Sant), the two highest Yankees retired numbers (44 for Reggie Jackson and 49 for Ron Guidry) - and by the end of 19 questions I had a comfortable lead.

Final question - Cable television.

What cable network began in 1988 with a broadcast of the film Gone With the Wind?

Figured it had to be a Ted Turner property, so that made it either TNT or Turner Classic Movies. And since I thought Turner Classic Movies came about so that there would be no commercial interruptions, which apparently were the norm for TNT, I went with TNT.

And was right.

And won $250 (minus $50, which I gave back to the cancer fundraising people). WHEE!!

There were several door prizes handed out - Ed and his team won some prizes, and Frank from the "Sky Hawk" team also won a raffle.

The 50/50 raffle, however, was won by our intrepid trivia host Baker - who promptly handed the proceeds back to the cancer society fundraisers.

In the end, the fundraiser garnered about $850 on the night, a sizeable and quality amount. And a good time was had by all who attended.

Plus... I'm now $200 closer to getting the camera of my dreams. YAY!

Chuck the Writer Shoots Some Ducks

2009-05-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

Ducks at Washington Park Boathouse, Albany
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

I wanted to test out some dusk photography last night, so I went to Albany's Washington Park to photograph the Lakehouse. As I was setting up my tripod and hooking up my camera and lens (I used my Kiev Mir-24H Russian lens on my Nikon D70), I saw a couple of people tossing bread chunks in the water to feed some ducks. I asked if they could throw some bread chunks over towards my camera frame, and I got this nice shot for my efforts.

Chuck the Writer Cheers on his College for a National Championship

2009-05-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

Before 2008, Hamilton College never won a national championship in any team sport. Never. And it wasn't for lack of trying, either - because Hamilton was part of an athletic conference called the New England Small College Athletic Conference, they were prohibited from playing in any postseason tournaments that commenced seven days after their last scheduled regular season game. So essentially all they had was the NESCAC tournament and that was it. In 1993, Hamilton and the rest of the "Little Ivies" in the NESCAC conference were allowed to show their stuff in NCAA postseason tournaments.

Last year, Hamilton claimed its first ever national championship, when the women's lacrosse team beat the snot out of Franklin & Marshall. Hamilton is ready to defend its title this weekend, as the Lady Continentals get to pummel Franklin & Marshall like whack-a-moles, and then get to take on the winner of the Gettysburg-Salisbury semifinals. The brackets are here; you can see the path the Continentals took to get to this point.

What was that old Hamilton College fight song again... oh yeah... Dear is thy homestead, glade and glen, we will beat Franklin & Marshall again...

Chuck the Writer Takes the Lead at Graney's Trivia

2009-05-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to knowing such minutiae as the third-largest city in Mississippi (Hattiesburg), and the three Van Halen albums comprised of either numbers or phoenetics (1984, OU812, 5150), I was able to finish Round 2 of Graney's Monday Night Trivia with a sizeable run. Another team, "That's What She Said," was nearly perfect, but they missed one of the VH albums.

I needed to clarify with the bar owners regarding if a team could win multiple times, they stated one set of tickets per team for the summer. I appreciate them letting me know about this now, kinda wish the Recovery Room could have done that.

So here's what Week 2 looks like after 19 questions:

Street Academy - 238 pts
That's What She Said - 210 pts
Baba Ghanoush - 186 pts
The Dragons - 174 pts

In other words... Street Academy IS NOW IN THE LEAD with two weeks left!

Chuck the Writer Finds a Blast From His Past on Google

2009-05-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Bear with me on this one.

I'm bouncing around Google's "Books" section, and I discover that Google has digitally scanned thousands of issues of Billboard magazine. So if you ever want to know what song was #1 on the pop charts in whatever year, chances are it's listed in one of the issues Google scanned.

And surprisingly to me... they scanned this issue.

Background. I was in college in the early 1980's; by my freshman year, I was working at the college's radio station, WHCL. It was an extremely low-powered station, its miserable 5-watt range meant you couldn't pick it up on the other side of the campus, and most of the record companies had completely given up on sending us any new records (and what few records anybody had disappeared out of the libraries as part of an unnamed "seniors get to take what they want" ethos). But for me, WHCL was a haven away from feeling like an on-campus fish out of water.

By my sophomore year, I had earned a couple of on-air timeslots (including a Friday night "Nightowl Radio Show," a mixture of whatever records I could scrounge from my own personal collection). Now at that time, Billboard ran an article about the benefits of college radio as a way to get that "new music" out to the airwaves, a chance to get untested and previously unheard tracks out to the general public. This was not unusual - despite its limited record company inventory, WHCL's DJ's kept the station listenable by, in many cases, bringing in their own music.

So, just for a lark, I wrote a short editorial about the benefits of college radio as a promotional tool for the music industry. I sent it off to Billboard and didn't think anything else of it.

Around mid-October, I received a telephone call. It was from the editor of Billboard's editorial department, asking me to send a photograph of myself, as the letter I wrote was going to be used as a guest editorial for Billboard.

It took a minute for that to sink in. But only a moment.

First I had to find someone who had a photograph of me (remember, this was back in the 1980's, there was no "digital photography" and you had to develop the film and blah blah blah). A campus friend did have a photo, and I immediately sent it off to New York.

Lo and behold, the article ran - but not in just any issue. It ran in Billboard's most popular issue of the year, the "year-end" issue with the cumulative charts for all of 1982. Hokey smokes.

Suddenly, our little radio station picked up some national notice. We started getting more and more records in the mail. And not just from teeny-weeny companies who accidentally had us on their mailing list. Warner Brothers started sending us stuff. So did RCA. And CBS. And Motown. And A&M. Eventually we started receiving material from Virgin - the UK version of Virgin. We received albums from Attic Records in Canada. And Festival / Mushroom records in Australia. The stuff was coming in faster than it could be cataloged!

Our station's broadcast frequency also improved. By 1984, we were up to 205 watts of power; a year later, we were thumping the dials at 270 watts, and could be picked up on the New York State Thruway between exits 30 and 33. Swank!

So I read that article once again, an article that preceded mp3's and DVD's and Compact Discs and the perceived death of the 8-track tape. I recalled all the old names of artists and groups we played back in those WHCL days, many of whom are still on my iPod today.

Some of the things seem so antiquated - a discussion of "tracking," a practice where radio stations would play both sides of an album, uninterrupted, which allowed listeners to "tape" the LP and never have to spend money to buy the album. At the time, a radio station in Washington, D.C. was tracking albums like crazy, while record companies like Chrysalis (who at the time had Blondie and Pat Benatar) were threatening to cut off the supply of fresh records to radio stations who "tracked" their product. And you thought Napster was original? Why do you think college kids bought chromium TDK and Maxell tapes? To archive their professors' lectures?

But something alone stands out from that article. something entirely.

That photograph of me.

Jeez o' Petes, I had one nasty, screwed-up hairstyle in college. And oh God, those godawful windshield eyeglasses. And is that a soul patch? Christ, I looked like Shaggy if he HADN'T dropped that acid and discovered that dogs could talk!

Chuck the Writer Goes Out for a Photo Shoot

2009-05-10T14:39:00.001-07:00

RCA Nipper dog with Terry Haggerty Tire, Albany
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I needed to get out of the house. So I grabbed my Nikon D70 and my camera bag, as well as my tripod, and went around Albany for a little photo walkabout. This time, I concentrated on using my Kiev Mir 24-H wideangle lens, currently nicknamed my "Commie" lens.

A little background. Last year I purchased a Kiev-19 SLR film camera and two interchangeable lenses, a Kiev Helios-81 (essentially the Kiev's "kit" lens) and a Kiev MIR-24H wide-angle. Little secret - Kiev lenses that are designed for Kiev's Model 17, 19 and 20 camera bodies are interchangeable with Nikon's F-mount SLR's and DSLR's, they just have to be shot with manual focus and manual exposure, and the camera photo's EXIF information won't list the camera lens (it'll either list it as unknown or "MF", most likely meaning manual focus).

The Kiev lens is a decent little shooter, but it's been kinda buggy. Quality control is lax in the Kiev Arsenal photo plant, so my lens needed to be re-aligned and re-oiled at my favorite camera repair shop, Cameraworks in Latham (Alan, the guy at Cameraworks, is as dependable as a sunrise, I highly recommend his work).

So it was me, the D70 and the Commie lens, traipsing around Albany and getting some nice photos here and there. Just like this one that you see here.

It looks like a giant dog is standing atop an old tire factory, guarding it like a sentry. Fact is, the dog "Nipper" is actually a remnant from the original tenant of the building behind the tire factory; Nipper was placed on top of the old RCA warehouse behind the tire factory in the mid-1950's. The building is now owned by a moving and storage company, who spent a ton of money to repaint and repair Nipper's outer shell.

If you want to see more of my photos around the Capital Region, click on this link. I may be adding to this slide show in the near future, so don't hesitate to visit it from time to time!

Chuck the Writer Crosses His Fingers for a third IAMA Award

2009-05-08T00:51:00.001-07:00

In 2004, my editor at RoadKing alerted me that she had submitted my "Convoy Rides Again" article on country musician C.W. McCall to the International Automotive Media Awards. The article claimed a silver medal, which greatly pleased me.

Last year, I submitted my article on the history of the Speed Racer animated series to the IAMA's, and was extremely surprised (and honored) to learn that it received a prestigious gold medal from the judges.

So this year, I decided to submit two articles to the IAMA's - "Diecast Dreams," a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Hot Wheels cars, for RoadKing; and "Redlines, Orange Track and Blue Streaks," an article about the collecting culture of Hot Wheels cars, this article for Toy Collector Magazine. I entered "Diecast Dreams" in the print media category, while "Redlines, Orange Track and Blue Streaks" was designated for the Internet category.

Now comes the waiting.

The IAMA Awards will be given out this summer, most likely in June at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan, within sight of The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. I had the opportunity to tour the Automotive HOF and The Henry Ford last year, and it was a fantastic experience.

The Hot Wheels articles were especially fun to write. I met several collectors of Hot Wheels cars and memorabilia, including Mike Zarnock, whose extensive collection is housed at the Children's Museum in Utica, N.Y. Really worth the trip to see these rare artifacts. From there, I went to the New York Toy Fair to see the 4 billionth Hot Wheels car ever built, a commemorative car laden with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of diamonds and rubies. Talk about pimping your ride!

Crossing my fingers... let's hope my hard work pays off!

Chuck the Writer's Experience with the new Angelina Jolie movie

2009-05-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Craigslist advertisement seemed too good to be true. I could make some money by being an extra in an upcoming Hollywood motion picture - a film for which scenes would be filmed in Albany.

Sounded like a good deal. So I submitted a picture of myself and my car (the world-famous 1991 Pontiac 6000) and received a call back a day later. The person I spoke to, who identified herself as "Tina from Columbia Pictures," gave me some dates that they were filming and asked me if I would be available on those dates. I said yes, and immediately realized that I was about to become part of a Hollywood motion picture.

The motion picture, apparently an action film called SALT, stars Angelina Jolie as a CIA agent accused of being a Russian spy. Part of the film involves a chase scene filmed around Albany's elevated Interstate 787, and there was a need for cars to simulate Washington, D.C. traffic on that highway as part of the car chase.

I showed up for work early on Saturday, April 25, at a warehouse down by the Port of Albany. I filled out a blue voucher for payment, and was informed that I would be receiving $85 for 8 hours of work per day, plus time and a half if it goes over 8 hours, plus double time if it goes over 12 hours - and I would also receive $35 extra for the use of my car in the film.

For me, this was a no-brainer - I could use the money toward some of my bills, and gather enough for a down payment on either a swank Nikon D700 camera or its equally sexy big brother, the Nikon D3 camera. Plus, the production fed me and all the extras breakfast and lunch.

The first three days would have certainly swayed anyone from being part of a Hollywood production. The majority of us were not used, and in fact stayed at the warehouse all day. By the fourth day of shooting (Thursday, April 30), we actually got out of the warehouse, and I found myself assigned to an entrance ramp onto I-787, parked behind a black Chevy Blazer and a silver Dodge Ram 4x4. Crew members and cameras were all around the parking lot. Next thing I know, an elderly crew member was behind my car.

I rolled down the window and asked him what he was doing back there.

He said, "I have to put this DC license plate over your New York plates, the scene is being filmed in DC and the cars need to look like they're from DC."

Fine by me. So for a few days my Pontiac 6000 is a veteran of the Beltway and not the Thruway.

Essentially my "scenes" involved me driving up onto 787 with the Blazer and the Ram, then the filming would stop and someone would say "Okay, reset!"

If you've ever been in a Hollywood film, "Reset" means get back to the original position you were in before filming began. Even if it means driving 40mph IN REVERSE down a curved access ramp. I did that about 20 times in one day. My transmission will probably remind me about it at a future time.

Did I get to see Angelina Jolie? Maybe for a split second, I was so far away from where they were filming the scene that I couldn't tell at times if it was Ms. Jolie or a stunt double.

However, I think the best part of the filming was to be able to meet so many different and varied people, all of whom were either chasing the dream of being in Hollywood, or at least being in the Screen Actors Guild (and boy did I catch on to such lingo as "meal penalties" and "NDB" real quick). Me - I was just looking forward to that paycheck. $85 for 8 hours of work, $35 for the car, and time and a half. Minus taxes, of course - but hey, that averaged out to a lot of money. It wouldn't buy the D700 or the D3 outright, but it would at least make a dent on a down payment. Plus, I made connections with several people for future freelance jobs or new future opportunities. There's plenty of positives in that.

After six days of filming, I thanked the PA's for the experience of working in a Hollywood film, even though I suspect my car will only be in about 3 frames of the finished product. I turned in my fake DC license plate (one of the PA's said I should have just driven home and kept it, but that's not me), and went home to wait for the checks to come.

The first check came... but that will be a topic for another post.

Chuck the Writer starts out strong at Graney's Trivia

2009-05-05T02:34:00.000-07:00

Well, my first night of the four-week Monday night trivia competition at Graney's Tavern worked out pretty well. Your man nailed question after question like Earl Anthony nailed strike after strike, having known such answers as the horror film that was Johnny Depp's debut film appearance (Nightmare on Elm Street), the singer whose 1996 debut album was called Tidal (Fiona Apple, natch) and who was People Magazine's sexiest man of the year for 2008 (Hugh Jackman, how easy was that). Had I known Matt Damon's and Ben Affleck's character names in the Ocean's Eleven series (I knew George Clooney was Danny Ocean, drew a blank on the others) or the birth state of the Jonas Brothers (who knew they were from New Jersey), I would have finished with the lead. As it is, I'm currently tied for third place.

The prize? Four swank choice tickets for a New York Yankees home game in their new multizillion dollar home park. Just like the Saratoga Trivia Tournament in the summer, each team's cumulative scores are taken after question #19; those totals will count toward the big prize four weeks from now.

So here's my competition and where everybody ranks at the moment.

Crappily Married - 120 pts
The Dragons - 114 pts
Street Academy - 108 pts
Baba Ghanoush - 108 pts
Mensapause - 96 pts
That's What She Said - 52 pts
Pussy Pizza Santa - 38 pts
Whack-a-Moles - 30 pts
Beat Farmers - 30 pts

Only 12 points off the lead, with three weeks to go. This is going to be fun...

Chuck the Writer Enters a New Trivia Competition

2009-05-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

True story.

Last year, the Recovery Room Sports Bar in Albany offered super-swank NY Giants and NY Jets tower suite tickets for the high scorer in trivia on their Wednesday Night trivia nights. So for six weeks, I was the team to beat, nailing three first-place wins and three sets of box seats.

Then one day I go into Recovery Room and the assistant manager says, "You're not allowed to win any more. It's not fair for anyone else. If you win, you will not be given the tickets. However, we will consider comping your bar tab if you win."

That was a kick in the face that still hurts to this day. I was being treated like a Las Vegas card counter - being kept away from the big prize because I was just too damn good at what I do. On the positive side, it allowed me to go to another bar (Brown's Brewing) and kick tush in trivia over there.

Now comes word that Graney's is offering four-packs of Yankees tickets for the monthly winners of trivia at their location. I checked my schedule. Monday nights are free for me. I checked with Graney's. They will allow a team of "one" to win tickets if they have the smarts to do so.

I've played at Graney's before, the food's decent. And the opportunity to see Yankees games without having to hear the nails-on-chalkboard voices of John Sterling or Suzyn Waldman sounds like a swank deal.

Let's see how this turns out.

Besides ... if I win the tickets... it will be the sweetest revenge for the way I was treated at Recovery Room.

Chuck the Writer Gets "Respect" at Trivia Night

2009-04-23T03:45:00.000-07:00

I've cut my trivia night particpiation down to twice a week - Tuesday night at Pizzeria Uno in Crossgates Mall, and Wednesday night at Brown's Brewing in Troy. Tuesday night I'm a solo lone wolf, Wednesday nights I have my teammates Mark and Jennie, but both nights I'm the "Street Academy" team, named after my old high school.

While I finally took my first win at Uno Tuesday night (and the $50 gift card that goes with it), Street Academy at Brown's is becoming an unstoppable force. With the ability to win bar tabs for 1st and 2nd place, as well as beer and food prizes for winning each round, Street Academy has decimated the opposition, taking three 1st places and three 2nd places in the past six weeks.

And after playing at Brown's for the past six months, I finally got something along the equivalency of "respect."

Here's the thing. When I started playing competitive bar trivia in 2005, the top team was "Lynch's Mob." They had won the first two Albany "Trivia Bowls," and their team won nearly every night. With that, they often earned a chorus of boos and jeers even at the host's mention of their name. They were the New York Yankees of competitive team trivia in Albany.

I show up with my little one-man operation, and in the first week, take a third place prize. Before long, I was able to catch some wins here and there, along with a lot of "How do you know those answers" and "Why don't you come over and join our team, we never win and we would like to win once in a while, give us the answers" and "God damn, Street Academy won again, how the hell does he do it" responses.

In the 2006 Trivia Bowl, I joined up with another team, Tres Hombres, in an attempt to dethrone the vaunted Lynch's Mob. We did quite well in the Trivia Bowl preliminaries, to the point when the captain of Tres Hombres, Dan Smith, went out at halftime for a smoke, some other teams came out and yelled at him for his team hiring a "ringer." A ringer? Moi?

During the Trivia Bowl, the combined Tres Hombres / Street Academy team were booed and jeered almost as loud as what Lynch's Mob received. Dan explained to me that he thought it was great, because booing means respect.

So what would happen at various trivia locations is that I would win (or at least show a solid run) and teams would boo me. They would grumble and snarl and chant "You Suck, Street Academy!" I would simply take the food prize or gift certificate and respond with a "Whoo!!!" that would make Ric Flair proud.

I say that story to background this story.

Last night at Brown's, my three-person Street Academy team of myself, Mark and Jennie, had won gift certificates for the past five weeks (two 1st places and three 2nd places). We didn't win the first round last night, but one of the teams that did had rebranded themselves as "Street Academy, Part Deux."

A-ha... I can dig that. I could use some motivation.

Another team, upon arriving at Brown's that night, saw me and said, "Hey Street, we brought our friends, we're going to beat you tonight!"

I can dig that too. More motivation for me.

Of course we eventually nailed several rounds, and the host announced that "Street Academy - The Originals," had won the night and another $50 bar tab. Yes me likey this place!

And after the game, as I'm heading back to my car, I meet up with the team that said they were going to beat me. "We'll get you next time, Street Academy."

I wished them luck - let them know my name was Chuck (it's like going up to Pink Floyd and asking which one of them was Pink) - and then got ready for another round next week.

Respect earned again.

Chuck the Writer finally gets THE PHOTO

2009-04-20T00:26:00.001-07:00

bat-roc-02-cm
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

In March 2008, I was at the PBL basketball finals between Rochester and Arkansas. At some point in the first quarter of the game, Rochester's Keith Friel went up for a basket, the ball didn't go through the cylinder, but Sammy Monroe and James "Mook" Reaves both went up to the rim for the putback - only to yank down the hoop in shards of glass. Players ran for cover, and some of the glass shards went into Mook Reaves' eye, almost blinding him.

I missed that photo. And I drove home cursing my Nikon D70 for missing the shot.

This year, Rochester was again in the PBL finals, this time facing Battle Creek. In the first quarter, Sammy Monroe made a steal and was ready to execute a two-hand reverse jam. He slammed the ball through the hoop - and the glass cascaded down again, almost drowning Battle Creek's Kenny Langhorne in shards. Langhorne was only slightly damaged, he finished the game.

And this time, I got the photo. And I take back every curse I ever made about my Nikon D70.

Another photo from Chuck the Writer

2009-04-18T17:14:00.001-07:00

bat-que-10-cm
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

I didn't get to see much of Battle Creek this season (heck, they only did one East Coast trip), but I did get plenty of shots, including this nice slam dunk.

Chuck the Writer's favorite PBL photo of 2009

2009-04-18T17:10:00.001-07:00

man-roc-2-cm
Originally uploaded by chuckthewriter

Probably my favorite photo from the 2009 PBL season. I had to get special permission from the security staff at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester to allow me to shoot from the catwalk, directly over the hoop. Really fun stuff.

Chuck the Writer and the Pontiac 6000

2009-04-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

So I've got my final PBL road trip of the season, going to Rochester Sunday for the PBL finals between the Rochester Razorsharks and the Battle Creek Knights, one game, winner takes all.

And in order to make sure there weren't any issues with me getting to the finals, I had my Pontiac 6000 over at DePaula Chevrolet for its annual NYS inspection.

Well... during the three-month season, with all my road trips to Montreal and Quebec and New Hampshire and Vermont and Rochester and Buffalo, I subjected my car to two oil changes, a transmission fluid change, headlight replacement and about three "little tree" air fresheners.

But when I took the car to my dealership for its inspection, apparently there were a few other things that needed to be taken care of. Like a coolant leak. And a transmission fluid leak. And a water pump replacement. And a blower fan replacement. Oh hell, I just threw in a pair of windshield wipers to make the day complete.

Bottom line - the car still runs, and I'm not giving it up any time soon. Yeah, it would have been SO nice to trade in the 6000 and walk out of there with may be a canary yellow '04 GTO with black racing stripes. But in this economy, can I really afford to purchase a new car?

Especially when my old car still runs, and just needs minor maintenance here and there?

And like I've said in the past - it's a Pontiac, manufactured in a factory in Oklahoma City by men and women earning a union wage and providing for their families. Better that I keep this car running and operational, than turn around and make car payments on a new vehicle.

Chuck the Writer mourns the loss of Harry Kalas

2009-04-13T11:43:00.001-07:00

So I'm reading one of my favorite weblogs, Can't Stop the Bleeding, and I came across a post that saddened me. Harry Kalas, the stentorian radio voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, passed away at the age of 73.

I was never a Phillies fan per se, but I appreciated Kalas' clear, slow dictation and concise descriptions of the action on the field. Sometimes I wished that there could have been a trade that sent Kalas to the Yankees in exchange for John Sterling, Suzyn Waldman and a crate of potato chips, but I digress.

It was Kalas, in fact, who inspired me during the 2007-08 CBA basketball season. At the time, the Albany Patroons were about to start their third game of the regular season, and all of a sudden someone noticed that the people who normally staff the scoring table had not shown up (there were some issues regarding who was getting paid or how much or whatnot). Instantly the Pats' GM at the time scrambled to staff the table, or else the Patroons would have to forfeit the contest.

At that moment, I stepped to the plate - er - to the microphone, and became, for a while, the team's public address announcer. Mind you, I had some prior radio and broadcast experience, so there was no problem with me taking the mic in that situation. However, I should let you know that the Patroons' home building, the Washington Avenue Armory, has enough echo throughout the building that if you talk very fast into the microphone, the audience will only hear your voice - and not the words. That's me in the center of the broadcast table, in the photo to the left.

So I did the PA announcing in the style of Harry Kalas - slow and deliberate, making sure every player's name on both teams' rosters were pronounced correctly. I didn't drift into the Ray Clay Chicago Bulls territory, but I did get the crowd revved up for the game - even when Albany's local player, Lucious Jordan, drained a 3-pointer or two - after his third 3-pointer, I said that the shot came "all the way from Lark Street," the cross-street adjacent to the Armory.

I did about 12 games as the substitute PA announcer that season for the Patroons, until they eventually hired another announcer to take over the microphone (I would later act as his replacement when his schedule had conflicts). Honestly, it was fun, it was great, and If I didn't follow the dictation and eloqution style of Harry Kalas, I would have been punted out of the table in a heartbeat.

Anyways... Thanks so much, Harry Kalas, for being a true voice of baseball - and for being a true voice in broadcasting.

Chuck the Writer gets some props from a PBL team

2009-04-12T04:41:00.001-07:00

The Vermont Frost Heaves of the Premier Basketball League finished their season with a very respectable 15-5 record, and an appearance in the PBL Play-In playoff game. During the PBL season, I photographed seven of the Frost Heaves' games - four at the Barre Municipal Auditorium, one at their other home venue, the Burlington Memorial Auditorium, and two road games (in Montreal and in Manchester). The Frost Heaves are owned by Alexander Wolff, one of the top writers for Sports Illustrated.

So it was a surprise to me when I did my morning google news search and pulled up this article from the Barre Montpelier Times Argus. Actually, let me get the paragraph that really made my day:

"The thing I was most pleased with was the tightness of control on how teams performed as businesses," Wolff said. "We had virtually weekly conference calls in-season that were largely devoted to making sure everybody was operating from the same page. There were some glitches early in the season that got worked out for the most part, and the PBL weekly reports that Chuck Miller would do were terrific. Pro basketball at this level has always had its challenges. Considering this is only the second year of the PBL, there were a lot of encouraging things."

Hokey smokes. A writer from Sports Illustrated likes my work. You can't see it from your screen, but I'm doing the Dance of Joy. Then again, maybe it's a GOOD thing you can't see me doing the Dance of Joy.

Anyways, thanks again to Alexander Wolff and the staff and team of the Vermont Frost Heaves, as well as Anna Grearson of the Barre Montpelier Times Argus, for the kind words. It's really great to be recognized for helping to contribute to the success of the Premier Basketball League.

Chuck the Writer Just Heard of a Promotion

2009-04-08T04:29:00.001-07:00

My daughter Cassaundra serves in the Army National Guard. Just heard Monday night that she received a promotion from PFC to Specialist. Congrats!

Chuck the Writer Published in Manchester NH Magazine

2009-04-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

During my thousands of miles driving here there and everywhere for the Premier Basketball League, I was able to snag several photographs of the Manchester (N.H.) Millrats. So when a Manchester-based lifestyle magazine needed photographs of the Millrats for their upcoming magazine...

To make a long story short, they used four of my photographs, including the one above of Al Stewart at the free throw line, with the Millrats' dance team in the background. Nice shot. They used three other photographs, including images of the Millrats' Desmond Ferguson, Scott Hazelton and Marlowe Currie in the three-page article.

The article can be read here; the Millrats piece starts on page 50.

Enjoy!

Chuck the Writer Loves Those Overhead Shots

2009-04-06T04:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon I was at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., photographing the PBL playoff game between the Rochester Razorsharks and the Manchester Millrats. Game was a hot affair, with the Rats taking a 116-110 victory over the Sharks to stay alive in the playoffs.

But for me, I wanted a different type of shot. I wanted that classic overhead shot, the one where someone's hovering over the basket and shooting straight down. I've gotten those kind of shots previously, but Blue Cross Arena security wouldn't let me attempt a shot like that previously.

Apparently yesterday they had a change of heart; I was able, with a security member in tow, to take photographs from the catwalks at Blue Cross Arena.

And as you can see from the photo at the upper right... it was worth the wait.

This photo was taken with my Nikon D70 camera and my 80-200 f/2.8 telephoto lens. Post-processing done with Nikon PicturePerfect software. You gotta love that shot!!

Chuck the Writer sends more records to Goodwill

2009-03-31T04:50:00.000-07:00

Two more crates of albums are now at the local Goodwill. I rescued a few recordings (anything with Dragon on it stays; I found an autographed copy of Din's "Great Traditions" that has special meaning for me), but the lion's share is now being picked through by bargain hunters.

This morning I boxed up another crateload of 45's, going through and transferring anything that I might want to listen to in the future to an .mp3 format. Surprisingly, I found a US stock copy of "Makin' Time" by the Creation, which is some serious freakbeat (albeit the copy is about a C+ with some scuffs and the owner's name written on both sides of the label). Also pulled out Buckner and Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" (the original version has never been released on CD or iTunes), Fred Knoblock's "Why Not Me" (which is going into my "Armor-Plated Heart" collection of songs I want to hear when I'm depressed beyond belief), and a bluesy version of "Sail On Sailor" by a 70's all-star group called KGB with lyrics that don't match the Beach Boys' hit. Nice stuff.

Also on the rescue block - "Benihana" by Marilyn Chambers on Roulette (yes, THAT Marilyn Chambers, proving that between her and Andrea True, there are no adult movie actresses that can sing), the mix of "Billie Jean" and "Do It Again" by Club House (somewhere I've got the Slingshot version that was actually the bigger hit in America, but I gotta find it), "Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)" by the Icicle Works, a 7" of "Breakdown" by Colourbox, and "I Can Dance (Long Tall Glasses)" by the Canadian group Shooter. Sweet.

All in all, my goal of clearing out what I don't need is progressing nicely. I think the only party who has an issue with me lugging boxes of heavy records off to Goodwill is my lower back.

Chuck the Writer Ain't Thrilled with Sunset Rec's Saturday Night Trivia

2009-03-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

The headline says it all. I won two pitchers of beer, an order of wings, and I'm not going back to that trivia competition ever again.

First off, let me say that I do enjoy playing competitive trivia. And when I heard that Sunset Recreation, an Albany-based bowling center, was hosting Saturday night trivia at its adjacent bar and grille, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Trivia started at 9pm, and was scheduled to go until 1 in the morning. Yikes.

Apparently the rules changed with each round, and I don't think the host was able to keep up with the rule changes that he himself was putting together. At one point he offered a question as to "how many different versions of Absolut are there?" (I guess there's 19 of them), and he gave points for each correct one mentioned. So that meant someone on another team was able to nab 8 or 9 points right then and there.

During one round, I tied with one team for best score, and the host brought a rep from both teams (my one-man Street Academy team meant that I went up there myself). Suddenly I noticed that the other team didn't feel like sending a representative, so someone from ANOTHER team stepped up to play. And they won, beating me 3-1 in "name that tune." So I lost to a team who couldn't even be bothered to send someone up from THEIR OWN SQUAD to play? STRIKE ONE

At around 10:00 p.m., the host asked people to write on the back of their answer sheets three TV shows and three movies that he would consider for trivia next week. Okay, what the heck, I wrote down three TV shows (including Friday Night Lights and Deadliest Catch), and three movies (including Ghostbusters and Animal House). Surprisingly, Ghostbusters and Animal House became categories THAT VERY NIGHT - in fact, I think the host was writing the questions in the middle of the trivia competition!

Which of course wouldn't surprise me, in that a round would take ten minutes to complete, then there would be 10 minutes of music - the scores would be read - then there would be ten more minutes of music before the next question was announced. I gotta wait 20 minutes between rounds? STRIKE TWO

In the end, however, I had an 8-point lead and looked like I could cruise to the finals. I also had coupons for two pitchers of beer, a dozen wings, and $100 off the host's DJ or karaoke services. Then all of a sudden the host changes the rules around - now, questions that had incorrect answers cost teams points. And he took off points for spelling! And in the end, my 8-point lead dropped to a half-point deficit - just in time for the house team to win the game.

STRIKE THREE - I'm out of there. Not even worth my time.

Chuck the Writer Practices What He Preaches

2009-03-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've been on my father-in-law's case about him hoarding junk all around his house. So last Saturday, my wife's aunt (his sister) and I went through his living room and, with the tacit understanding that we would look through things before indiscriminately throwing them out, we bagged up huge contractor bags full of garbage, we packed grocery bags full of old newspapers, and we boxed up two crates of old cassette tapes.

He was a bit upset about the procedure at first, but before long he was thanking us for our efforts. That, and the fact that he could now see his living room floor, was a big plus.

But later that afternoon, I realized something. I had tons of junk around my house as well. How could I, in good conscience, tell someone to clean up their junk when I had not done so myself?

And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [Matthew 7:3]

Bible on Hypocrisy

Quote from Quotations Book

So what did this mean?

Essentially, I had to practice what I preached.

And that meant I needed to get rid of stuff as well. Old books that I hadn't read in years - I looked at them with a critical eye, determining that if they weren't autographed or weren't part of something important in my life, they were headed to the Albany Public Library. Videotapes that I had laying around for ages were, unless they held family memories, going on their way to DVD, and from there to a digital format for quick storage (I started doing this with all my over-the-air copies of Tour of Duty - great show back in the day).

But it also meant that I had to finally decide what to do with the record collection.

Mind you, I have been collecting 45's, LP's, 78's and whatnot since the day my sainted Grandma Betty brought home a box of dusty 45's that were once found under the table at a flea market. That eventually led to a massive and burgeoning record collection, a ten-year stint with Goldmine magazine, interviews with everyone from James Brown to Weird Al Yankovic, and the authorship of two record collector's guides. Definitely worth marking on anyone's life list.

So that afternoon, two big boxes of records were delivered to my local Goodwill. And I've resolved that since then, anything regarding my record collection must be done in such a way so that by the end of the summer, my entire remaining collection should fit in a single shelving unit. No excuses.

If the record in question contains a song or songs that I would want to hear on my iPod, or to be burned onto a CD, I will transfer the recording digitally. About four or five years ago, I had my Technics SL-1200MK2 turntable modded so that, in addition to records that spin at 45 and 33 1/3 RPM, this bad boy can play 78's at the proper speed (and I can attach one of two different tonearm headshells, in case I'm transferring a regular 78 or a "hill-and-dale" Edison Diamond Disc). I hooked the turntable up to an amplifier, and in turn routed the amplifier to the back of my supercomputer. Voila!

So if the song does not exist on CD or on iTunes, and if it's a song that I will play in my car stereo to drive everyone else nuts, then it gets transferred over. Then the record gets put in the box with the other records I can't keep any more, and off to Goodwill it goes.

Now you're thinking, Come on, Chuck, you've been collecting for years, you must have one of those rare records that are worth lots of money!

Actually, I did have one or two of those. I had Nirvana's first 45, "Love Buzz." I also had George Enesco's Bach Symphonies and Paritas on the Continental label, of which maybe 100 copies were pressed. Those were sold off long ago. I also have some autographed albums - James Brown, Grandmaster Flash, Manhattan Transfer - those ain't getting sold. Those stay on the wall where I put them. 'Kay?

A lot of records were bought and sold as part of articles I worked on for Goldmine or for other publications. Some do have emotional attachments, others need to find new homes. And for me to even think of putting stuff up on eBay - you've got people who gripe about condition (you swore to me it was near-mint, I heard a tiny crackle on side 2, I want my money back you ripoff artist!), plus you gotta buy shipping materials, you gotta schlep it over to the post office, you gotta deal with PayPal, the whole 23 yards. If the record's going to cost me more to get rid of it than it would listing it on eBay, then it's not worth the trouble to me.

I essentially have to resign myself to the fact - shit gotta go. And if I'm going to expect my father-in-law to get rid of all his junk, then I gotta do the same.

Besides, if someone's looking for some records, go help out the Goodwill, they could use all the support you can provide. 'Kay?

Chuck the Writer Avoids a House Wiring Mishap

2009-03-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still working on my "Bob Vila meets Reddy Kilowatt" phase, so I went to Home Depot and picked up another set of lighted switches, as well as a ceiling light to replace a crappy-looking single-bulb fixture in my hallway. I was ble to sap out the switch with no trouble, but when I disassembled the fixture from my wall, I got the shock of my life.

No, not THAT kind of shock. I did have the circuit breaker off, so that wasn't an issue.

I did discover, however, that the wiring in the ceiling had become old and brittle; the rubbery casing that sheathed the copper wire had become brittle and crumbly. The casing fluttered to the floor, leaving some very exposed and dangerous wires in its wake.

So what did I do?

Real simple. I admitted to myself that I was entering territory that no Home Depot "1-2-3 Wiring" book would explain comfortably, so I called an electrical repairman.

He showed up about an hour later, chastised me for doing my own electrical work ("Do you know we have to study electric wiring for five years before we can even be certified?"), and then he looked at the ceiling, with the exposed wires - and immediately changed his tone. "It's a good thing you saw this," he said, "because in old houses like this, we come across a lot of deteriorating wire - especially if the light source, like a ceiling light, is too close to the ceiling itself, the heat actually causes the wire casing to harden up and break."

Since the circuit for the ceiling light would only affect a couple of bedroom lights, and not an important appliance like the refrigerator, we agreed to have him come back Monday, rather than have him work Saturday hours (and me having to pay Saturday rates).

Monday morning, right on time, another repairman showed up. He had already been briefed on the situation, he went up to the attic, replaced the wiring and the ceiling light housing, then he and I put the light fixture together. Two compact-florescent lights later, I turned on the circuit breaker, and the hallway lit up.

With light from the bulbs - not that "other" kind of lighting.

Honestly, while I'm not thrilled for getting chastised about doing my own work around the house, I am glad that when a situation arose that was outside of my comfort zone, I was able to make the right choice and call in a professional.

Plus, when my wife gets back from her trip, I think she'll really enjoy the new light fixture in the hallway.

Chuck the Writer Does Not Blow Up His House

2009-03-19T07:16:00.001-07:00

Whenever my wife gets angry at me for something, she brings up this little nugget -

"The reason we bought this house was that I thought I married a handyman who could fix or repair anything!"

Moi?

So while my wife is visiting my daughter in Seattle for a week, I decided this would be a good time to do some minor upgrades and repairs around the house - you know, little things that can be learned from reading "How-To 123" books from Home Depot and watching several "How-To" videos on YouTube.

First thing that needed fixing was a faulty light switch that powered the lights in the back hallway. The light switch at the top of the stairs wouldn't flip completely to the ON position, so the light could not be controlled upstairs (i.e., if it was on, I couldn't turn it off).

Trip to Home Depot. I purchased a Leviton 3-Way Lighted (15A-120V) light switch, along with some black electrical tape, a slotted screwdriver, some needle-nosed pliers and a white face plate. After turning off the circuit breaker to that part of the house, I unscrewed the fugly face plate, and pulled the burned-out switch out of its housing. There were three wires that needed to be connected to this unit - I disconnected the wires from the old, burned-out switch and connected the wires to the new switch. I wrapped the unit in black electrical tape, and screwed it back into the wall housing. I added the new bone-white face plate, turned on the circuit, and ...

Just so you know, I'm not typing this blog from beyond the grave. That should give you an indication that I ain't dead yet.

Not only did the switch work without any trouble, but it also is an "illuminated" switch in that the toggle switch itself lights up in the dark. So if the lights are out and you need to see what you're doing, you can find the switch and turn on the power.

Project #1 finished. Let me see what I can do for Project #2. Fa fa!!

Chuck the Writer nabs Second Place at Brown's Brewing - with his new teammates

2009-03-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

Those who know that I play competitive trivia know that I like playing as a lone wolf, a solo player among teams of 3 and 5 and 17 players. While that has worked for me in most trivia games around the Albany area, it hasn't worked as well at Brown's Brewing, my Wednesday night hangout.

That changed a few weeks ago, when Jennie and Mark joined my Street Academy team.

A bit of background. Jennie used to be one of the dancers for the Albany Patroons basketball team, she also danced for the Albany Conquest arenafootball2 team. Mark is her boyfriend. They used to play on a team called "Boats and Hoes" (yeah, I know it's probably spelled differently, but hey, kids might read this blog), until a disagreement occurred and they left the team. They played as a two-person squad for a week or so, until Jennie and I recognized each other (I was photographing the Patroons back when Jennie was on the dance team), and I invited them to join the Street Academy team.

To my surprise, they accepted - and showed up the very next week.

Their main goal was to beat the Boats 'n Hoes team, and every week we came close, but could never get past them. Last night, we had a near-perfect round (category was "Duos"), but all we did was tie Boats and Hoes. The next category was HBO, and there was a discrepancy with one of the questions -

How many HBO channels are there?

I asked the host if he was counting East Coast and West Coast feeds - he said yes. So you figure there's regular HBO, HBO2, HBOSignature, HBOFamily, HBOLatino, HBOZone, HBOComedy, then you multiply that by 2 for the West Coast feeds, and add HBO On Demand, that's 15.

Host said the answer was 7. So instead of pulling ahead, we were still tied with Boats and Hoes. By the fourth round, Boats and Hoes took a slight 2-point lead, and my teammates looked as if they wanted to crawl under a table.

But then the music round came in. The songs were all based on athletics, and surprisingly the third song played was "Basketball Jones" by Cheech and Chong, which I recognized instantly - while everyone else was going "huh??" I was also able to nail that the version of "Basketball" was performed by Bow Wow, as opposed to the original by Kurtis Blow, and Street Academy was back in the running.

The final round was supposed to be questions relating to - get this - Toxic Shock Syndrome. After the host figured out what is normally associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome - I bet he had to RELY on Wikipedia for answers - he changed the category to things associated with toxicity. We nabbed 9 out of 10 on that category (including Mark getting the Shakespeare play in which a king is murdered by someone pouring poison in his ear, and me knowing which president died of lead poisoning), but someone else hit 10 out of 10. That meant that my Street Academy team - as well as Boats and Hoes and another squad, who keeps changing their name to reflect some celebrity who recently died (some of their names included "Seizing on a Jett Plane" and "Rihanna Deserved It") finished in a three-way tie for the lead.

The captains for each team went up for a special quickie question, and in the end, Street Academy finished - after two tiebreakers - in second place, with Boats and Hoes finishing in third. For second place, my team earned its first $25 bar tab coupon; we also broke a tie from one of the earlier rounds (the music round) and garnered an order of beer pretzels for next week.

Personally, it's the best game I've ever pulled at Brown's - I've come in third three times, so it's nice to figure out how to use a bar tab coupon in this place. Plus, I'm glad that Mark and Jennie were able to be part of the team, without their help, Street Academy would not have gotten as far as it had.

Fantastic.

You think Street Academy's tough to beat before this - now your man has reinforcements, bay bee! (At least on Wedneday nights)

Chuck the Writer Crosses #87 Off Life List

2009-03-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

So here's the story. Last Saturday I drive up to Barre VT, home of the Vermont Frost Heaves of the Premier Basketball League. The plan was to get action shots of the Frost Heaves as they try to secure a wild card berth in the PBL, as well as get photographs of the new Montreal franchise that replaced the Montreal Sasquat'ch midway through the season.

Originally I would have gotten nice photos of Team Montreal at their home court, but since they weren't playing at Centre Pierre-Charbonneau any more, and the teams who visited Ecole Lucien-Page found the court unsuitable for a pro game, Team Montreal have become the league's "Travel Team," which meant that their home game against Vermont was changed to a road game in Vermont against the Frost Heaves.

So I'm getting set up, photographing the new Montreal players for their head shots, and I walk down one of the stairwells in the Barre Municipal Auditorium, and I overhear one of the Frost Heaves' directors of operations trying to get a hold of the person who was scheduled to sing the national anthem, and having no luck in doing so.

Now your man Chuck has sat through enough American Hockey League games in his life to know what the Canadian National Anthem sounds like. And I've survived ear-puncturing performances by Carl Lewis and Roseanne Arnold and others, to know what not to do with the American national anthem. I stepped to the plate and volunteered to do the anthems.

After he quickly checked to make sure I knew the words to both anthems (which I did, albeit the English version of the Canadian anthem), I was pressed into service. And at 4:15 p.m., I took the basketball court, and sang O Canada. I then turned, faced the American flag, and sang The Star Spangled Banner. The acoustics at the Barre Municipal Auditorium meant that I was hearing a half-second echo from what I was singing - which could have turned my performance of either anthem into a retro Max Headroom stutter. But I quickly covered one ear with my hand (similar to what Gary Owens used to do on Laugh-in) and finished the anthem without any trouble. Although those high notes were a prayer...

So I can now say that yes, I sang the National Anthem - two of 'em actually - at a professional sporting event. I can also say that I'm glad that no video footage exists of my performance. Ha ha ha!

There was, however, photographic evidence of my work... as you can see above.

Chuck the Writer and the Last Day of Circuit City

2009-03-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

First off, I've never really been a fan of Crapola City, but when the store declared bankruptcy and started selling off everything they had, I did pick up some nice bargains here and there - mostly memory cards, blank CD-R's and DVD+R's and the like.

Today was the final day of Circuit City's existence, so I went over to my local branch to see if there was anything left. That place was picked clean like carrion. Most of the fixtures were gone, sold for pennies on the dollar. There were a couple of display computer towers, but I would suspect they've probably got more viruses than an overpopulated day care center.

Still, it reminded me of the time when another store closed, and I bought what I thought would be a perfect addition to my house.

See, I love the aesthetics of a vintage Wurlitzer 1015 jukebox. You know, the kind with the bubble lights and curved glass domes, the kind that just scream "I am a jukebox and you will love music from me!"

Well, about 10 years ago this locla party supply store went bankrupt, and among the fixtures they were selling was a jukebox display that advertised these budget CD's of "Drew's Party Music." Drew's Party Music was actually a company that manufactures knock-off CD's that almost sound like your favorite artists, but I didn't care. The display unit would take six CD's in a tray, you plug the tray into the display cabinet, you could punch in your selection (track and disc) and the music would play. I paid $35 for the unit, had it disassembled (didn't realize how much particle board and pressboard it would take), loaded it into the car, drove home, unloaded it, and re-assembled everything in my home office.

I plugged in some CD's, and started the unit up. Everything looked great. I started the unit on its first track, Boston's "More Than A Feeling," and felt like I had accomplished something great.

90 seconds later, the machine jumped off the Boston track and went to the second track on the CD.

Hmm. Is there a scratch on my CD? I tried another CD in the set.

A minute and a half later, the song ended prematurely and the jukebox went to another track.

This isn't good. Unless I have this hankering for 90-second songs, I've got to figure out where the controls to this unit are, and what I can do to fix this.

And that meant putitng in a phone call to Drew's Party Music.

It took forever to find a phone number for the company, but sure enough I tracked down their home office. I called. "Drew's Party Music, How can I make you smile today?"

I explained my situation and asked if there was a way to disengage the 90-second feature on that unit.

"Oh sorry sir, you're not supposed to own those display units. Those aren't for public use, those are only for in-store display. When will you be sending that unit back to us?"

After we had a further discussion about why I WOULDN'T be sending the unit back to wherever they were located, I asked again about bypassing that 90-second delay feature. She explained to me that the 90-second feature was to make sure customers heard several different tracks from the Drew's Party Music catalog.

About a few weeks later, I disassembled the unit - looked for anything on there, like a dip switch or a settings conductor or a bypass connector - and found nothing. I eventually tossed the entire unit in the trash, and chalked it all up to a personal learning experience.

As the trashmen hauled away the disassembled pieces of wood and plastic and electronics, I thought to myself - this was probably the only way that Drew's Party Music would make me smile.

Chuck the Writer and Thursday night's PBL Matchup

2009-03-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

Unlike the PBL's Central Division, which the Battle Creek Knights have already sewn up, or the PBL's Atlantic Division, in which the Manchester Millrats could take the division title this weekend with two wins, the PBL's four-team Eastern Division is still too close to call. The Wilmington Sea Dawgs and Rochester Razorsharks are in a near dead-heat for the Eastern Division lead, while the Augusta Groove are only a game and a half back. The fourth team in the division, the Buffalo Stampede, have their own cross to bear - they need to win five of their final games to avoid having the worst PBL regular-season record ever (they're currently sporting a 1-11 record).

Tonight's game between Wilmington and Augusta is critical. The Sea Dawgs have kept a solid base together, with strength from returning vets Cedric McGinnis and Alexander Harper, and key off-season acquisition like Brian Leggett, Joseph King and Kadiri Richard. The Augusta Groove, having lost the league's leading scorer in AJ Millien, have rebounded, winning two of their last three games on the strength of scoring from Demetrius Howard, Donielle Davis and Kendrick "Modie" Johnson. The game will be at the Schwartz Center at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC.

Here's the playoff permutations. If Wilmington beats Augusta tonight, the Sea Dawgs take the lead in the Eastern Division, moving the Rochester Razorsharks down into the wild-card mix. A loss by Wilmington would help Rochester secure the Eastern Division lead, and could actually help make the wild-card race a more tightly-contested affair.

Right now, Wilmington and the Vermont Frost Heaves are the top teams in the wild-card run, in which the two teams with the best non-divisional record will advance to a "play-in" game for the playoffs. Other teams in the mix for those two wild card spots include the Halifax Rainmen, the Chicago Throwbacks, and the Augusta Groove, while the Detroit Panthers and Montreal franchise need minor miracles to make the postseason. And since God seems to be too busy with trying to answer Simon Cowell's prayers to keep Normund Gentile off American Idol, I don't think that divine intervention will provide a postseason for either Detroit or Montreal.

In other words - we're now getting into the final third of the season, in which every game is crucial for playoff positioning and participation.

Chuck the Writer and the new articles on RoadKing

2009-03-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

See that truck over on the right? That's part of my brand new article for RoadKing, "Tears For a Bulldog," which was just published this week. I traveled to Hillsborough, New Hampshire, where a local resident had collected over 100 different trucks, haulers, pavers, plows, bulldozers, etc. Click on the link above and read the article.

Actually, you can read two articles. This month's edition of RoadKing also contains "Good Vibrations," the story of the rise of electric football games. It's similar to an article I wrote for Toy Collector some time ago, and was a lot of fun to write.

Speaking of Toy Collector, don't forget to read my article on hockey icon and collectible figurine Peter Puck, and all the collectible toys, games and goodies associated with this little vulcanized chunk of rubber.

Yes, the old Chuckster's been busy of late... what with PBL road trips and magazine articles and the like. But it's fun. Keeps me out of trouble.

Chuck the Writer and another PBL road trip

2009-03-02T12:55:00.001-08:00

Well, what was supposed to be a quick trip to Montreal this weekend ended up becoming a more fulfilling trip to Quebec - and then to Burlington, Vermont - for two games of PBL action.

First things first. My original plan was to go to Montreal and take pictures of the new team that replaced the Sasquat'ch franchise. But on Friday night, I got the news that the game in Montreal had been moved from one venue to another - and eventually was canceled outright.

So after a little juggling and some last-minute phone calls, I decided to drive up to Quebec City and photograph the Halifax-Quebec game on Saturday night.

What a good decision that was. This was my third trip to Pavillion de la Jeunesse (the Quebec Kebs' home court), and that place had 2,000 fans and was as noisy as a rock concert. Every time one of the Kebs touched the ball, or even got near the hoop, the fans went nuts. Of course, there were some vans of Halifax Rainmen fans in the building, so there were plenty of alternating chants of "Go Kebs Go!" and "Let's Go Rain-Men!" back and forth.

Also, I finally resolved that this time in Canada I would find some decent poutine to eat. No, get your mind out of the gutter, poutine is actually French fries with cheese curds and a gravy-like sauce. I had an order of poutine at the Pavillion de la Jeunesse, it was quite good - and had another order of poutine at a restaurant on the way home, a truck stop called Restaurant Madrid, just off the Jean Lesage Highway.

To top things off, I decided to pick up a can of poutine sauce for the trip home. Of course, once I passed over the border into Vermont, and was asked if I was bringing any food over the border, I showed them the poutine sauce can and figured that hey, if I've got to declare ALL foods, I guess this counts too.

Burlington, Vermont has one of those old-school basketball arenas, the kind with a balcony that rings the court and a stage at the far end of the building. But that place was bouncing like crazy, as the Frost Heaves fans cheered their hometown heroes for a 126-72 win over the Kebs (yes, that was a 54-point margin of victory). The Frost Heaves play in two buildings in the Green Mountain State; I've been to their Barre home court twice, and this was my first time at the Heaves' Burlington location.

This building also has some great locations to shoot action shots, as you can see from this picture.

This shot was taken from the balcony of the Burlington Memorial Auditorium, with my Nikon D70 and my manual-focus 1970's-era F/1.8 Nikkor E-series lens. It was also published in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus, and was my second photo published in that publication. Whee!!

Then came the trip home. Because I'm not 100% familiar with the fastest way to get from one PBL city to another PBL city, I often rely on my TomTom One GPS navigation system. Normally it gets me from point A to point B without any trouble. This time, however...

I'm tooling down US 7, and all of a sudden it tells me to take a right. I then drive through three miles of windy road, and all of a sudden it says to me, "Take the ferry."

There is a ferry that runs from Charlotte, Vermont to Port Ferry, New York.

Only problem is - it doesn't run at night. And I wasn't going to sit by the dock of the bay and wait for the ferry to pull away in the morning.

So I doubled back. And normally, when I change directions and deviate from the GPS-programmed path, the GPS will plot a different course for me.

Unfortunately, this GPS was INSISTENT on me getting on the ferry. "Turn around when possible," it chirped at me. "Take the next legal U-turn." I put up with about 20 miles of this, when the GPS finally figured out I wasn't going to take the frickin' ferry.

It then decided to get even with me.

I ended up on about 40 miles of backroad, then crossed over a bridge from Vermont to New York, and ended up about 12 miles from Ticonderoga. Then the GPS took me on about 25 miles of windy Adirondack back roads, where the double-yellow no-passing lines were probably down to half a stripe, and the roads twisted and turned and raised and lowered as if I was riding at 25-mile long roller coaster. Eventually, however, the directionals finally got me back on the Adirondack Northway (Interstate 87), and I was able to safely find my way home from there.

Just for that, I'm going to leave the GPS in the car all night. I hope it freezes up in the snowstorm we're about to have.

Actually, I shouldn't complain about the TomTom GPS. If you really want to hear me complain, let me tell you about Verizon's VZ Navigator software and what a rip off that is.

But I'll save that for another post.

Chuck the Writer and the Pontiac 6000

2009-02-26T03:25:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I own a 1991 Pontiac 6000 and I absolutely heart my car. I actually had to take it away from my grandmother, who at the time was 92 and who possessed both near-blinding cataracts and a totally valid Massachusetts driver's license.

Of course, preventative maintenance is important when you're driving a 18-year-old car all over the Northeast, and something had been bothering me about the car of late. In the morning, or the first start of the day, the car would struggle a bit to get out of first gear, and then WHAM it would move into the next gear. For the rest of the day, everything in terms of gear shifting would be fine, but it was almost as if the car itself didn't want to wake up and go to the day job. "Yo Chuck man, let me sleep a bit and look cool in the driveway."

So I thought to myself, when was the last time I changed the transmission fluid in the car?

And for the life of me, I couldn't remember ever changing it - and the car's up to 134,000 miles driven!

Of course, this necessitated a trip to my local Valvoline center (for those of you who know me, I'm extremely particular about where I take the 6000 - it's either the Valvoline center for fluids like oil changes, DePaula Chevrolet for mechanical issues, and Sears Auto Center for tires and the like - after what happened with Pep Boys last November, I basically only use them for things like headlight bulb replacements). They hooked my car up to what looked like a vehicular IV machine, and shoved a tube down the car's transmission fluid intake valve.

Then the crew at Valvoline started up a pump, and I watched as cherry-red transmission fluid came out of the tube, and coffee-black transmission fluid was sucked out of my car. Apparently this is how one changes transmission fluid in high-end vehicles like Mercedes-Benz cars, so I went with it. 20 minutes later, my car had fresh transmission blood in it, and the car immediately seemed to respond well. The hard shift from first to second gear was not as hard as it once was, meaning I may have saved my car from the dreaded TTT - the Terrible Transmission Termination.

I went back to Valvoline the next day, and they topped off the fluids (apparently after it cycles through all the nooks and crannies of the transmission, it needs to settle, and an extra half a pint needed to be added). Just more preventative maintenance to keep the 6000 running for another photography road trip this weekend.

Chuck the Writer gets back on the road again

2009-02-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

This is going to be the eighth weekend that I will drive to various cities in the Premier Basketball League, in an effort to take action photographs and keep a photographic record of the action in the PBL's second season.

This weekend the plan is to actually hit two cities on one day. The Rochester Razorsharks are hosting the Mid-Michigan Destroyers at about 2:05 pm Saturday, while the Buffalo Stampede will welcome the Manchester Millrats on Saturday night at around 7:00 pm. I need to get to the MMich-Roch game, because I have yet to acquire head shots of the Mid-Michigan Destroyers (including their scoring sensation, Odgra Bobo, who is currently 2nd in scoring average in the PBL this season). I've gotten head shots of the twelve other teams in the league, so now's a chance to add the Destroyers to the list.

As for Buffalo-Manchester, the Stampede have added some new players and gotten rid of others, so I need to do an "update" and get new head shots of guys like Chuck Reed, Gallo Cham and Derick Payne.

Next week is another trip to Montreal, to photograph the Montreal Sasquat'ch against the Wilmington Sea Dawgs on Saturday. This is important, in that the Sasquat'ch lineup is entirely different from the last time I photographed them, so I need head shots of virtually the entire team.

The only other "scheduled" trip I need to take is on March 14, when the Halifax Rainmen come to Buffalo to play the Stampede. Halifax's lineup includes two players I haven't gotten shots of yet - AJ Millien, currently the league's leading scorer (he was with Augusta but was released before Augusta got close enough to a city for me to photograph them), and John Strickland (he played with the Albany Patroons a couple of seasons ago, he's a big beefy presence on the floor but his free throw shooting is scarier than Cloverfield).

The playoffs will be coming up soon after that, and hopefully I'll get to some of those rounds, as well as to the finals. Not discounting anything any team has done, I just hope that whoever does make the finals, that it's within driving distance for me (i.e., Rochester, Manchester, Vermont). Not that I wouldn't discount a finals between Battle Creek and Halifax, but those are going to involve plane trips (one-way from BC to HFX is over 1,400 miles - or 22 hours of straight driving).

Chuck the Writer with New Article in upcoming RoadKing

2009-02-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

As soon as the link is made available, I'll post it here -but here's the deal.

About two months ago, I got a tip about an open-air museum in Hillsborough, New Hampshire - Dick Kemp's Truck Museum. Dick Kemp passed on a couple of years ago, but hundreds of Mack Trucks and Sterlings and Dodges and Buffalo Springfields are all still on his property and still available for viewing. I took photos at the site, interviewed some of Kemp's close friends, and the article will appear in the next issue of RoadKing, which is scheduled for print on the first of March.

RoadKing is a free publication, available at all TravelCenters of America truck stops throughout the United States; the articles are also available at http://www.roadking.com. I've written for RoadKing for the past six years, and it's one of my favorite publications - it allows me to write articles about travel, car culture, and other fun things. It's the publication that helped me win my first competitive writing award, and they've always been in my corner when it comes to ideas for new articles here and there.

Chuck the Writer DOES NOT WIN the $2000 Elbo Room Tournament - but isn't griping about it much

2009-01-30T03:07:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you have to put everything in your life into perspective.

And essentially, that's what ended up happening last night. Reinforced by a third person, Ryan West, who graciously joined my wife and me on the "Street Academy" team, it was time to kick ass and take names at the $2,000 Elbo Room Trivia Tournament finals.

Did I know when John F. Kennedy was born? 1917. Yeps.

Did I know what city hosted the coldest outdoor Super Bowl (non-dome)? Super Bowl 6 in New Orleans. Yep.

Did I know why the 1968 Academy Awards were postponed? For the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. Uh Huh!

Essentially with one question to go, I was in the lead with 166 points, but the other seven teams were anywhere from 90 to 140 points, so there really was no way to throw in a safe bet.

The final question - geography.

In what corner of Wyoming is the capital city of Cheyenne? Northeast, Northwest, Southeast or Southwest?

For $2,000 they're going to end the game on a multiple choice question?

I had no freakin' clue where Cheyenne was in Wyoming. I said Southwest.

The host announced the first five teams to answer as Southeast. I knew I was fucked.

Then he announced Street Academy saying Southwest. There were cheers and taunts. That confirmed I was fucked.

I had the lead and blew it. Cheyenne is in the southeast corner of Wyoming, and that $2,000 floated away from me and landed in the pockets of Woo Hoo A Go Go.

Yeah, it stung like a kick to the gut. I had the lead and lost it all on one question. So what do you do? You do what I did. You shake the hand of one of the teammates of Woo Hoo, you congratulate them, and you pay your bill and go home. It's not like I had the $2,000 spent already (guess I'll have to wait a few more years for that Nikon D700... sniff...)

However, on the way home, I happened to notice something on my street. Mind you, we recently had another nasty snowstorm, and the City of Albany was under snow emergency rules (24 hours park on the even-numbered side of the street so the snowplows can clear the odd side of the street; then 24 hours later park on the odd side of the street, etc.). This woman was trying to get into her driveway, which was coated in ice AND was on an incline. And her van's tires were not snow tires or all-weather tires, and they looked about as bald as a pre-commercial Cy Sperling.

I parked my car (found one spot on the odd side of the street, which was where we were supposed to park in the second snow emergency) and offered assistance. I and three other Good Samaritans tried to get the van up the incline, but it was no use. The driveway was too slippery, and the van couldn't get any traction.

Just then I remembered something. I ran to my house (three doors away) and came back with the Home Depot bucket of ice-melt that I use for my walkway and driveway. I poured the ice-melt all over my neighbor's driveway, and as I poured it on the ice and frost, I could hear one of her kids comment, "It's crackling," meaning the instant melting properties of the ice-melt were actually working.

Even if it didn't dissolve the driveway ice in 15 seconds or less, it did allow for the van to gain enough traction so that the Good Samaritans and I were able to get her up the incline and, eventually, to the level part of her driveway so that she could park her van safely.

Yeah, I didn't win the $2,000. And I'm probably out $10 in ice melt. But in the end, I don't feel as bad as in previous championships, where I'd lose by one point on a question I should have known. I did my best, I played the game, and if the frickin' capital of frickin' Wyoming was in the frickin' Southwest, where it should have been ... easy, Chuck. Don't elevate the blood pressure.

It did feel much better, though, to help someone, you know, by doing a good deed for the day. Random act of kindness. Granted, I can't buy a Nikon D700 with it, but it does take the sting off a bit.

Besides, there's another $1,000 money Elbo Room tournament starting in a week. And even if I can't get that Nikon with the prize money from that game... it would make a nice down payment.

Chuck the Writer returns from the PBL road trip

2009-01-27T11:53:00.001-08:00

Yawn. Sunday morning. Up and at'em, rise and shine.

Got out of bed at the Days Inn in Montreal Centre-Ville, and immediately wanted to climb back in bed - it was just that cold. Nevertheless, I packed up, rebundled myself, and headed for a 4 1/2 hour trip to Manchester, New Hampshire for the PBL's Sunday afternoon contest between Manchester and Quebec.

Lots of blowing snow along Provincial Highway 15 to reach the Quebec-Vermont border, then more travel down I-89 to I-93. Drove through the Franconia Notch, and saw a sign for the Old Man of the Mountain historical site. Sad to know that there is no more old man of the mountain, except on the backs of New Hampshire state quarters.

Kept on driving, and eventually reached Southern New Hampshire University, home of the Penmen. I wonder if their cheerleading teams are known as the Ballpoints... but I digress.

Good solid game, the Millrats really took the Kebs all the way from first tipoff to final buzzer.

In fact, here's some photos from the game.

No, I didn't find any catwalks at SNHU, but I did find several levels of balcony to shoot from. Will definitely return to SNHU for future games.

Then it was another 3 1/2 hour drive back home. By the way, my "books on tape" series that got me through this entire trip from Albany to Montreal to Manchester to Albany was the Game of Shadows tome about Barry Bonds and the BALCO steroid scandals. Definitely a good book.

Chuck the Writer and another PBL Road Trip

2009-01-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

Up in the morning, ready to roll back to Montreal for another Premier Basketball League matchup. First things first - is it just me, or is every time I go to Montreal it gets colder??

Got to the Days Inn for my lodgings, and after stowing my gear in my room, I decided it was time for lunch. After my last attempt to enjoy a local meal turned out poor (the "smoked-meat sandwich"), I decided to head to the hotel's attached restaurant grille and order something on the menu.

After devouring a hamburger that was coated with a dollop of sour cream (surprisingly tasty), I was convinced by my server to ditch the side order of french fries and instead dine on poutine.

All right, get your dirty minds out of the gutter, poutine is NOT what you think it is.

Apparently poutine is french fries with cheese curd and a gravy-like coating. It's still not going to replace chicken spedies from Binghamton or Yocco's Hot Dogs from Allentown, but maybe I'll order it again the next time I go to Montreal. If the city ever warms up.

Here are some shots from the Montreal-Vermont game, all taken at the Montreal Sasquat'ch home building, Centre Pierre Charbonneau.

I'll post shots from the next game, the Quebec-Manchester game, later tonight. By the way, Centre Pierre Charbonneau is the fourth building in which I have shot a basketball game from the ceiling. The facility has an overhead catwalk, which allowed me to get some tremendous distance shots and a swank "over the basket" photograph or two. Centre Pierre-Charbonneau now joins the Butte (Mont.) Civic Center, the Yakima Valley SunDome and the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pa. as places at which I can "shoot from the roof." Rochester's Blue Cross Arena also has an overhanging catwalk, but they're not letting me shoot from the ceiling in that building - something about a security issue.

Maybe some day...

Chuck the Writer is now ready for the $2000 Elbo Room Finals

2009-01-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's now official. My one-man team, "Street Academy," is listed as the #2 seed for the 2009 Elbo Room $2000 Trivia Finals. The top eight teams make it into the finals, which is essentially these eight squads:

Big Red Machine
Street Academy
Woo Hoo A Go Go
Stern Fans
Mayhem
Beer Addled Brains
Tres Hombres
Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Rear
Brown Van Experience
Donna Martin Graduates
Clay Aiken's Skidmarks
40 oz. Bounce

Those teams in green have qualified for next Thursday's finals.

Realistically, if I don't know the information now, I won't know it next week. I just hope that I DO know the information that will be asked.

I'm not even going to say what I would do should I actually win. Don't want to jinx myself, you know, counting the cameras before I've shot the photos.

Just wish me luck.

I'm going to need it.

Chuck the Writer Regains First Place in the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

2009-01-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

With three weeks left until the final eight teams play in the one-night playoff, I'm pretty much set for the tourney. But I want to go in as the #1 seed. And this week, I was able to regain my top spot in the Elbo Roon Trivia Tournament, picking up a second-place win tonight (and its concomitant three points) to regain top seed overall. Not like it makes any difference, you don't get bonus points in the final week for being the #1 seed or the #8 seed. You do, however, get to play... which is more than the #9 seed will get. Tres Hombres returned and picked up 5 points; Stern Fans and Woo Hoo a Go Go tied for third and will split a point.

With three weeks go to, the teams in green are locked in. Teams in yellow are on the bubble; teams in red are on the outside looking in. So where are the scores? Here are the scores:

Street Academy - 25 points (+3)
Woo Hoo A Go Go - 23 1/2 points (+ 1/2)
Big Red Machine - 22 points
Stern Fans - 18 1/2 points (+ 1/2)
Beer Addled Brains - 15 points
Mayhem - 14 points
Tres Hombres - 10 points (+5)
Brown Van Experience - 6 points
Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Rear - 3 points
Donna Martin Graduates - 3 points
Clay Aiken's Skidmarks - 3 points
40 oz. Bounce - 1 point

So the only team that could still get mathematically eliminated would be the Brown Van Experience, but they would have to have a major swoon and one of the four "red" teams need to get hot quickly. Tres Hombres is still mathematically not out of the woods, but one of the red teams would have to take first place twice in a row AND the Brown Van Experience would have to pick up two second-place wins to knock Hombres completely out. So it's safe to say Hombres will remain at least the #7 seed for now.

Ironic thing, though ... Clay Aiken's Skidmarks had a chance to pick up a point for third place, they had the right answer and bet it all.

Oh wait... they thought they bet it all, but one of their teammates actually changed their "all" bet to a "one point" bet. And since the question was about 6 levels of easy (Until 2001, what Eastern city has a morning newspaper called the Constitution?), everybody nailed it - meaning that if the original "all" bet were allowed to stand, the Skidmarks would have been in the money.

It's not over yet.

For me ... I can relax for a change. Put my feet up.

Less stress for me.

Chuck the Writer's Premier Basketball League trip: Week 1

2009-01-07T04:03:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I began my first of what will be many trips this year for the Premier Basketball League. The PBL is a minor league circuit with 13 teams spread throughout the United States and Canada, and is entering their second season of operations. I currently freelance for the PBL, in both writing and photography.

So last weekend, which was the PBL's opening weekend, I needed to make sure that all 13 squads have their team's "head shots" and action shots. This means I must travel to several of the PBL cities and get as many good photographs as possible. With that, I plotted out the schedule and estimated which teams would be in which buildings, so that I could photograph everybody as early into the season as possible, while still minimizing my travel expenses.

So Week 1's schedule looked like this - drive from Albany NY to Montreal (3 1/2 hours) for a Saturday night game with the Montreal Sasquat'ch and the Halifax Rainmen; then travel to Quebec City for a Sunday afternoon contest between the Quebec Kebs and the Manchester Millrats. Then drive home.

Rule #1 of my PBL road trips - when entering Canada, make sure your car is cleaned out of any unnecessary junk. Make sure your passport is in order, and that all your electronic equipment (cameras, lenses, laptop) are registered with Customs and the Department of Homeland Security so that nobody gets accused of smuggling. So that when I made it to the border, I got through the checkpoint without any trouble.

Got to Montreal way early - much earlier than I originally estimated, so I did some time-killing at a nearby shopping mall and had lunch at a bar and grille called Nickels (it's going to take a while for me to get used to smoked-meat sandwiches). Then drove to the Pierre Charbonneau Centre, which is part of a sports complex near Olympic Stadium.

Really tight contest between Montreal and Halifax, it went into overtime and the crowd was really into the match. Here's a shot of the game, which Halifax won 127-125:

Then it was off to Trois-Rivieres, where I had a Days Inn reservation for the night (the MTL-HFX game ended about 10:00 pm, if I tried to drive to Quebec after that I would have reached the city limits at about 2:30 in the morning, so I needed a rest stop).

Like the Charbonneau Centre, the Pavillon de la Jeunesse is part of what appears to be a sports complex, with the Quebec Nordiques' old building, Le Colissee, nearby. Again, it was another tight and spirited match, with the Kebs fans cheering their team on with chants of "Go Kebs Go! Go Kebs Go!" There were some spectacular dunks and defensive expertise, and - oh yeah - here's another shot of the action, with Quebec's Michael Anderson trying to make his way to the hoop:

Quebec won the game and the fans went home happy.

I just went home. 7 1/2 hours home. Stopped at a duty-free shop to pick up some gifts for the way home (and to get rid of my Canadian coinage; I kept the bills for a future trip), and made it back to the ALB at about midnight.

Some minutiae about the trip:

Make sure you pack lots of tunes for the trip. I had 200 songs plugged into my iPod/car stereo combo, and that seemed to be enough for northern travel; but by the time I was on the road home, I was reduced to listening to archived podcasts of "Car Talk" and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me," which helped kill time a bit.
Once you get into Canada, go to an ATM and take your money out there; that way, you have the proper amount of cash at the current exchange rate.
The parking at the Charbonneau Centre is on an "honor" system, you have to put ten bucks into a kiosk computer and receive a little receipt that goes on your dashboard. Make sure you get this - you don't want to spend your weekend in Canada looking for the tow shop.
Great shooting angles in both places; the Charbonneau Centre has an upper level that doubles as a running track, and I got some great overhead shots in that location. The Pavillion's basketball court sits on a hockey rink (with boards separating the ice from the hoops floor), which provided me with lots of mobility in terms of shooting and setup.
The Kebs have a mascot called Dunky. It is a big green jumping frog. Of course, this team originally wanted to call themselves the "Jumping Frogs," but how many Quebecois would have supported a team with a nickname that would be the equivalent of the Munich Krauts?
This is going to be a really strong PBL season. I can tell from the competitive and close games that have already taken place on Opening Weekend.
Car held up nicely, camera and lenses worked out well.

So let's see. Head shots for Quebec, Manchester, Montreal and Halifax - done. Head shots for the other nine teams - Augusta, Battle Creek, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Mid-Michigan, Rochester, Vermont and Wilmington - on their way.

Chuck the Writer says Bye Bye to Old Chicago

2009-01-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

Man, did I kill another trivia bar?

The Old Chicago sports bar that opened in the summer of 2007 on Wolf Road in Colonie, and who offered Tuesday (and sometimes Thursday) night trivia was never the kind of place that would replace my Tuesday Night Trivia at the dearly departed Hooters, but it did have its own charm.

And it didn't take long for me to pick up win after win after win at the OC. Food wasn't anything to write home about, but I did like the fact that they set up a special single-person "champion's table" for me, halfway between the regular restaurant and the ancillary "Great Hall" that was also used for concerts.

Several of the veteran Hooters teams showed up at the OC, including Lynch's Mob, Clay Aiken's Skidmarks, Pimps from Oakland (rebranded as "A Few Cards Short of a Deck" and AtTax. Other teams popped in from time to time, including Tres Hombres and Pork is a Verb. Old Chicago did draw some new teams, including Surf Tulsa (who at one time invited me to their home trivia parlor, Noche, where I summarily won - before Noche shut down a few days later), Granny's One Night Stand, Bunga Bunga, Two Fat Guys, IDK, See You Next Tuesday (did they know their team's initials spelled SYNT?), Team Ramrod, Team Rawr, and My Couch Pulls Out (which in the past few weeks went through a name-change identity crisis of Paddle Faster I hear Banjos and Shut the Duck Up).

However, barely a year into its existence the ownership group for the Albany OC franchise declared Chapter 11. The restaurant stayed open for another six months, and I just heard that the place closed its doors over the weekend.

So let me see how this fits into Chuck's "I've Outlasted Your Trivia Parlor" scorecard -

HOOTERS (2005-07, won Trivia Bowl Championship and several first-places)
OLD CHICAGO (2007-08, won several times)
NOCHE (2007, won the only time I played there)
RECOVERY ROOM (still in existence, but I won so many times that other people complained and the management decided I was bad for business).

So whether or not I stay home on Tuesday nights (Brown's on Wednesdays and Elbo Room on Thursdays are still on), my choices for Trivia on Tuesday nights are McGeary's Pub (Irish bar downtown near Arbor Hill, decent parking availability), M Barley's on Madison and Quail (haven't been there since it was the meat market bar Lamp Post, probably no parking but decent neighborhood), and Pinhead Susan's (no way am I going to Schenectady for trivia unless they're offering money prizes).

Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions...

Chuck the Writer and the World of Sid and Marty Krofft

2009-01-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

My new article for Toy Collector Magazine just appeared today; this was personally one of my favorite interview projects.

I grew up watching lots of those Sid and Marty Krofft television shows, like H.R. Pufnstuf, the Bugaloos, Land of the Lost and all the rest. This article includes an interview with Marty Krofft, as well as Billie Hayes ("Witchiepoo") and Caroline Ellis (Joy from "The Bugaloos"), along with great photos and anecdotes.

You can read the article at this link; hope you enjoy it!

Chuck the Writer Visits Kemp's Truck Museum

2009-01-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

This is part of an upcoming article for RoadKing, so I'm not going to spill too many beans in this post. That being said, I spent last weekend driving up to Hillsborough, New Hampshire, for the specific purpose of investigating the remnants of a huge truck collection, assembled over the past forty years as a way-cool open-to-the-public attraction.

I was able to interview people involved in the truck museum as it was being assembled, and who are currently in the preparation stages of the proper dispensation of the collection now that its owner, Richard Kemp, passed away.

I was actually amazed by the number of trucks on the property, and had a blast taking photographs of everything from snow plows to bulldozers, hauling trucks and bread trucks and steam shovels and pavers. Really fun stuff.

This was also a personal milestone in that my 1991 Pontiac 6000, which suffered through the "Pep Boys thought it was an ignition module but it was really the fuel injectors" issue back in November, finally passed the test and was able to naviage successfully out of the 518 area code without any trouble at all. In other words... I think I got my car back in shape.

I was also very proud of one of the lenses from my camera collection. My Kenko 180-degree fisheye lens, which I normally leave in the bag because I have to attach it to another lens, then do some funky adjustments to even get a decent photo out of it, stepped up to the plate and got me this great shot.

And finally, I was able to naviage through the Franklin Pierce Highway using my Tomtom One, without losing any signal or reception. This is light years ahead of the absolutely crappy service I received from Verizon's VZ Navigator, which couldn't handle traveling through the White Mountains without completely crapping out and leaving me with no cell phone reception and no signal for the VZ Navigator to use. So major props to Tomtom, Kenko, and the team at DePaula Chevrolet for getting my Pontiac 6000 back into long distance driving shape!

And you can all look forward to the upcoming RoadKing that will feature this article... really great stuff!

Chuck the Writer takes stock of Trivia Season 2008

2008-12-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

Everyone who knows me understands that I have a jones for competitive trivia competitions. Maybe it goes back to 1981, when my Street Academy high school team annihilated three other high schools on a local television quiz show.

For the past three years, I've been playing trivia competitions at local bars, restaurants and taverns, playing as that one-man "Street Academy" team and winning my fair share of games. I've picked up victories this year at several bars in the Capital Region area, including Graney's, Old Chicago (several times), Elbo Room, Broadway Joe's, Brown's Brewing and Recovery Room.

How dominant was I at Recovery Room? After winning three times in six weeks, management told me I was ineligible to win there any more - because other people were complaining that it wasn't fair that I won all the time. Think about this for a second. This is like telling the New York Yankees that for the rest of the season, Derek Jeter has to wear a blindfold in the infield, Mariano Rivera has to spit the baseball over the plate, and Alex Rodriguez has to step in the batter's box with a table leg because someone on the Kansas City Royals squad whined too much that the Yankees were beating them too often. Frickin' crybabies.

This trivia season, however, has been a case of "just a few points short" in the major events. I missed the first $1000 Elbo Room tournament championship by one miserable point. I lost the 2008 Trivia Bowl on a question that nobody knew - and the only team that won put in a 3-point "safe bet" and took the trophy home. And after six weeks of hard-fought battle at the Saratoga Trackside Trivia Tournament, I missed one key question about the location of the first McDonald's and watched as Tres Hombres, for the second year in a row, got the end-of-track-season trackside barbeque and a race named after their team.

How frustrating was it? In July 2008 I tried out for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," aced the written test, aced the interview, aced a second interview - and six weeks later, received the generic post card that informed me that I was not selected to be a contestant. I rationalized the snub by figuring I fit in the demographic of the white 40ish slightly balding, slightly paunchy glasses-wearing college-educated contestants that would have taken all their money. Believe me, game shows learned their lesson after watching Ken Jennings run the table on Jeopardy! for the better part of two months, they don't want me repeating the feat.

So the ultimate dream for me in 2009 would be the following:

1. Winning this year's Elbo Room Trivia Tournament.
2. Winning the Trivia Bowl and getting the championship chalice back.
3. Winning the Saratoga Trackside Trivia Tournament, and cheering on the winner of the first annual Street Academy Stakes.
4. Finally getting my shot on a competitive trivia television show like Jeopardy! or Millionaire or even that 5th Grader show.

Can I do it - if I can't, it won't be for lack of trying.

Chuck the Writer debuts his new RCA mech boards

2008-12-24T04:37:00.000-08:00

Okay everybody, here they are. These are the newly repainted RCA Victor mech boards (what the turntable and tonearm sit on) that will be used for my first two restoration / "Chuck-i-fi-cation" projects.

First off is the "Petty" board, so named because the serial number on this RCA Victor 45-EY-2 phonograph has a "43" in it.

The board at one point looked like this...

Remember the rust stains and those annoying white paint specs? After a shot of Rustoleum primer and a couple of layers of blue spray paint... it now looks like this -

Now ain't that swank? You'll notice that some portions of the mech board weren't painted, those were because parts have to move or pivot on those points, and they can't be gunked up with paint. Those parts will be covered with tonearms and turntables and the like, so there's nothing to worry about.

Oh yeah, there's that other mech board, the one on my RCA Victor 45-J-2 non-amplifier player that I've called the "Sun" project...

When I first got the player, the board looked like this -

All together now ... EWWWWWWW

But, after some sanding, a shot of primer and some Rustoleum...

Now you know why it's called the "Sun" project!

And just to show you what it could look like as the project progresses, I "dry-fitted" the turntable, tonearm and brand badge back on this unit for a second, just to show a nice photograph of what this turntable might look like down the road...

Feel free to drool. :)

More to follow...

Chuck the Writer recalls those departed

2008-12-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

As 2008 winds to a close, I want to take this moment to remember those who have lived their life to the fullest. These are people who, in one way or another, have made an impact on my life.

This nice lady is my sainted grandmother, Betty Miller. She passed away in March. For the years when I did not have the support or caring from my parents, I always knew I could count on her for support, understanding and care. This is a woman who, even in her 70's, would take me on the weekends to the Boston Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, Larz Anderson auto museum, Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach, anywhere a family would go to spend some time. In addition to a tonload of wonderful memories, I still have that 1991 Pontiac 6000 that she bought - and barely drove - and by having that car, I still have a part of her in my life.

Next up is this young man here, Rich Mahady. What's funny is that I actually met Rich in 1992, while I was working on some research involving Albany-based sports teams. Apparently Rich was a season ticket holder for the departed Albany Choppers (International Hockey League), and we talked about the legacy of the Choppers - which I later turned into an article for Hockey Digest (his quotes are halfway through the article).

Fast forward to 2005, and I discover that Rich is "Trivia Rich," a former money-winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and a tough opponent on the "Lynch's Mob" team at the old Hooters Trivia nights. Eventually Rich left Lynch's Mob and joined my "Street Academy" team, and we won some considerable prizes together. This photo is the last time I saw Trivia Rich; I had acquired possession of the Trivia Bowl trophy, and wanted to make sure to take a picture of Rich with it. He is truly missed.

And finally...

I found Ruth Wallis' old LP's and 45's in my grandmother's basement. These records were my first introduction into "blue party" music, the songs that would NEVER get played on the radio because they were too risque. In 1997, I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Wallis for Goldmine magazine, and that article eventually led to an off-Broadway revue of her greatest songs and ballads, "Boobs: The Musical."

All these people will be missed. The Afterlife has three more angels in its population.

Chuck the Writer and Repainting RCA Mech Boards

2008-12-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

It was a very snowy weekend in Albany, a perfect time for me to work on my RCA Victor 45 RPM phonographs. Right now I've got two dissected and disassembled players - a 45-J-2 phonograph which I'm currently referring to as the "Sun" player (for reasons I will explain later), and a 45-EY-2 phonograph with amplifier that I've nicknamed the "Petty" player (part of the serial number has a "43" in it, in honor of Richard Petty).

Yesteday I took several of the internal parts from both units downstairs, where I applied copious amounts of Gojo pumice on each part, then scrubbed them off. Later on I'll add some 3M rubbing compound to polish the parts up, because as I was taught by the Kieronspal DVD videos, clean parts make for solid, dependable parts.

You should have seen these parts beforehand. They were black and greasy and sticky and gunky. They don't look sticky and gunky now, do they?

Now, I need to show you the two mechanical boards, the metal plates upon which the turntable and tonearm rest.

Here's the "Petty" board, complete with rust and pitting and those annoying white paint marks.

And the "Sun" board, with rust and pitting and gungus - and look, the "Sun" board still has the RCA Victor brand on the lower right corner.

Usually these RCA Victor brands are held on by three metal pin clips, which was the case with the Petty board. However, this one had the RCA Victor brand applied with what looked like a weld. After further discovery, I found out that the brand was being held with a backing of wax, which loosened up after I heated the bolt points with a small butane lighter. Then after that, it was a simple step to remove the RCA Victor brand from the Sun board.

Once both units were debranded and stripped of almost all necessary points (I couldn't successfully remove the reject pivot point), I sanded each mech board with 100 grit sandpaper, removing as much of the dried paint and rust and puckering and pitting on each mech board.

Then I taped up the reject pivot point and a couple of other parts on the mech boards, and gave each mech board a nice light coating of Rustoleum primer.

Results - here's the "Petty" mech board -

And the "Sun" mech board -

I'll be adding a second primer coat, then later will repaint each mech board with an enamel-based Rustoleum spray. More fun stuff to follow...

Chuck the Writer and Three Weeks to Go in the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

2008-12-20T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I get a three-week break, actually.

Due to the holidays, the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament won't gear up again until the first week of 2009. There will be three more weeks of qualifying, and then the top eight teams go to the finals on January 29. That's where the $2,000 prize comes in.

As of now, here are the standings. Those teams in green (including my one-man Street Academy team) are "locked in" - in other words, we have enough points to get in the championship round, even if we just answer "Bob Saget" for the rest of the preliminaries. Teams in yellow are still on the bubble; teams in red are on the outside looking in.

So where are the scores? Here are the scores:

Woo Hoo A Go Go - 23 points
Big Red Machine - 22 points
Street Academy - 22 points
Stern Fans - 18 points
Beer Addled Brains - 15 points
Mayhem - 14 points
Brown Van Experience - 6 points
Tres Hombres - 5 points
Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Rear - 3 points
Donna Martin Graduates - 3 points
Clay Aiken's Skidmarks - 3 points
40 oz. Bounce - 1 point

So I get a couple of Thursdays off. Good. I could use a breather.

Chuck the Writer and the RCA Victor Restoration Project

2008-12-17T10:32:00.001-08:00

Okay, this is the start of the restoration project.

As you might recall, this is the unit in its original "purchased from eBay" condition. Note the copious amount of white paint droplets and rust pittings on the baseplate.

As you can see from the serial number and information here on the right, this is an RCA Victor 45 RPM player, model 45-EY-2 (turntable with built-in amplifier and speakers in the base), powered by 115 volts, 60 cycles and 50 watts of power. It takes three electron vacuum tubes, modesl 35W4, 50C5 and 12AV6, of which will get replaced later on. This unit was designated with a serial number X824347. For the moment, until I can come up with a better nickname, I'm going to call this one the "Petty Player" in honor of Richard Petty, one of the greatest race car drivers that ever lived. Besides, he drove that #43 STP car for so many years, and I see a #43 in the unit's serial number, so there you go.

Here's a shot of the inside guts of this player. Looks okay, but there's a lot of dust and gunk in here, especially around the motor and chassis mounts and springs. This will definitely need a bit of a cleaning.

This morning I went through the unit and began disassembling it, pulling parts and screws and washers and clips off left and right. This is what the baseplate looks like after it's been stripped of things like - oh, I don't know - the turntable, the tonearm, the reject knob...

One thing I forgot to strip from this bad boy - the nameplate. Out it comes, like removing an incisor from the gums of a meth addict.

More to follow...

Chuck the Writer and the RCA Victor Restoration Project

2008-12-17T02:53:00.000-08:00

So I tore apart the first player I received through the mail, using it for spare parts.

What you see here is the first RCA Victor 45 RPM player I will attempt to restore. This is a 45-EY-2 player, with a built-in speaker and amplifier in its base. As you can see, the top plate is spotted with paint and rust, and I'm not even going to bother trying to plug it in - I was without power during the ice storm, I don't want to go back to that point.

On the positives, the bakelite chassis is in good shape, and that brown color won't be there for very long once I get finished "Chuck-i-fying" it. The volume knob is missing, but I'm going to poach a volume knob from another unit that's on its way to me. I have purchased replacement NOS vacuum tubes to replace the ones inside the unit now. I do not yet have a concrete idea as to what colors this bad boy will be painted or styled with, but I will come up with some ideas as the project evolves.