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Month: November 2014

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50 Thoughts on 30 Things, Thanksgiving Week, 2014

Wayne Perras November 22, 2014

First of all, delete or forget what I wrote in my last blog (!)... that was sentimental tripe regarding my affection for a ton and a half of loyal black metal...my old HHR. Now I have a newer EQUINOX,...

Elegy for my HHR…11-16-14

Wayne Perras November 16, 2014

"Everything that is is Alive"-- from an inscription on stone in Joe Bruchac's yard *** It was Groundhog's Day, 2006 when I last bought a car. At that point I'd been driving a large maroon Chevy Suburban which looked...

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...