Visit Saratoga.com For Everything Saratoga

Month: June 2013

Note: Saratoga.com is not responsible for posts and comments written by non-staff members.

James Howard Kunstler’s “World Made By Hand”

Wayne Perras June 30, 2013

I used to say I knew Jimmy Kunstler when he still had a sense of humor, way back in the day, say late '70's, early '80's, when his first couple of books were in the category of slapstick comedy. His...

Ravi Coltrane at Skidmore’s Zankel Music Center, 6/25/13

Wayne Perras June 29, 2013

The posters I saw on Phila Street and Caroline advertising this event, part of the perennial Jazz Institute Concert Series each summer at Skidmore College, were quite compelling. Usually I note such concerts when they are already past, or they...

Fountain of Downtown Youth, 2013

Wayne Perras June 9, 2013

I turned 58 since I last penned any blogs, and some days I feel that old, some days I still feel 23 and a half. The night I will describe here was one of the latter, and I will tell...

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...