Monthly Archives: May 2012
Ry Cooder
This piece originally appeared in the Syracuse New Times. * * * May 1973 Ry Cooder is no pop star. He was restringing his guitar between sets at Jabberwocky and was asked how he felt about Boomer’s Story, his latest album. “Oh, hey, I love that album,” he said. “Everybody else likes the first two, […]
Brewing Politics in New York
This piece was written for Great Lakes Brewing News in November 1996. * * * Brewing Politics in New York: The Franchise Bill of 1996 The growth of microbreweries and brewpubs in New York State made the organization of a craft brewers’ association an eventuality, but the small brewers got a rude shove in 1996 […]
Gully Road
May 8, 2004 Gully Road is high on the list of reasons I love to live here. Running between the Old and New Seneca Turnpikes, it passes through a marsh that could be a set for a vintage Hammer horror film, then a leafy forest glade, then by a silver surfaced pond where the occasional […]
Claude Bolling and The Mummy’s Tomb
This article originally appeared in The Syracuse New Times, April 7, 1982. * * * “All men who are really great can afford to be really human and to be shown so.” — Gamaliel Bradford * * * I am a stranger to my pajamas. It’s early Sunday morning, and I haven’t had a whole […]
Beer Cocktails & Beer Blends
This article first appeared in All About Beer magazine in 1996. It was revised in 2003. * * * To most brewmasters, their finished product is a masterwork, perfectly balanced and pleasing in every regard. To mix it with another beer, or worse, some foreign substance, is like whipping out a marker and drawing a […]
Three Millennia of Beer Styles
This article first appeared in a different format in All About Beer in 1999. * * * Three Millennia of Beer Styles in 4 Minutes and 32 Seconds As many people cannot remember when they last saw their car keys, it is not surprising that beer historians cannot pinpoint the exact date of birth for […]
Gusto Lives: Beer in Japan
This piece was written for All About Beer magazine in 1995. * * * Remember “gusto”? Can you recall the time in America when a voice from the clouds told you to “go for it”? Alas, the era of gusto seems as distant and faded as a tintype. Today, you can’t even drink beer on […]
Bait
November 2000 It is unfortunate for mice that Halloween occurs as the weather grows colder. A case in point: Last night, as I was fetching a log for the fire, a mouse flew by my feet into the shelter of our basement woodpile. He was cute, and I often identify with mice, small, timid, trying […]
Shorts
July 4, 2005 One hot day when I was a freshman at Syracuse University, John Fennessey, a resident advisor in Marion Hall, put his arm around my shoulders and said, “Kihm, I have some advice for you that you can use all your life… Don’t wear shorts.” From an aesthetic point of view, John was […]
On the Shoulder
September 1998 Whoever said the Kentucky Derby was the most exciting two minutes in sports has never traveled on Route 20 as a pedestrian. Granted, the majority of my walk to work is through the idyllic Village, but my office is about a quarter of a mile outside the Village gates, and the open road […]
Faithful Readers 