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Month: June 2012

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Happy Hour, Ten Miles Out…circa mid-2012

Wayne Perras June 29, 2012November 8, 2017

O how things have changed. A Friday eve like this, anytime in my life more than 20 years ago, I would not have been rushing home at 6:30 or 7pm to catch the last hour of light in my...

Decatur Related to Saratoga, Part 2

Wayne Perras June 24, 2012

In retrospect, the way in which Saratoga is superior as a vacation destination to Decatur is simply the nightlife. While the Decatur Arts Festival was an overwhelming revelation of accumulated talent and visual splendor, the music scene after hours was...

Upon Return: Decatur Related To ‘Toga

Wayne Perras June 3, 2012November 8, 2017

In retrospect, the way in which Saratoga is superior as a vacation destination to Decatur is simply the nightlife. While the Arts Festival was an overwhelming revelation of accumulated talent and visual splendor, the music scene after hours was really...

For 4 full decades I've lived (mostly) in and around Saratoga Springs, NY after being introduced to the town via SPAC concerts while still in high school, and then getting the real native view of things from my best friend at Colgate, who grew up here & had roots on both the east side and west side of this town. He moved elsewhere (and is now an accomplished photographer in in the D.C. Metro area) but I stuck around...and saw innumerable changes take place since.

Before he left Dave and another friend of ours put a magazine together called The High Rock Review... referring not to music but to the most sacred original site in Saratoga Springs... in the extended park area of The Farmer's Market. When I was 23 and renting a big old Victorian on Woodlawn Ave with a group of friends, I crossed Broadway many times to just sit and think-- or not think--in that park. So in 1980, that's what inspired the magazine name.

Back then Saratoga was lively as ever in the summer months, but otherwise a hip, bar-filled college town that could be desolate in the off-season, like most of upstate NY... But we saw it had something that was attracting creative types as the place had a magical draw-- We were trying to celebrate what we called "latent native talent" back then, which is in ample supply now in this thriving mini-metropolis, an oasis just north of the Capital District.

This place has taken off in such a big way while I've lived and worked here, that I must record my observations on a more regular basis, so here we go...