On The Back Steps Of Maple Hill High School

Early this month I spent a rather frustrating couple of days in search of the remnants of an old stone fence.....more about that in my next blog. After a long first day I checked into the Franklin Square Inn Suites in Troy , showered , shaved and got a bite to eat. I took an arthrotech at dinner so as I drove back to Schodack I was beginning to feel less pain from my back and knee. I set for awhile on the back steps of my old high school. Still had an hour and a half of light or so. I took some notes down on the day. Then as I sipped my Dunkin Donuts coffee my mind went back to my school yrs. We never really escape history. A fair chunk of my history was here. I have written about my high school in a couple of blogs. High School can carry some good memories sometimes a scar or two. I don't really ever want to go back in time to relive particular events. I never really liked taking an overload of orders so I parted this place relieved. Yet one of my hobbies is archaeology and history. The crumbling back steps that led to the old gym locker rooms where I set gave me a good view of the soccer field. Memories flooded back on those steps , fellow students , teachers , bus drivers etc. My semi history. Many people in my life then are dead or shall we say gone to their rest. Parents , teachers , nosy neighbors.I read the school is a top school in the area. That is good they even have taken steps against bullies. School administrators like Mike Nagal probably are now discouraged from slamming the "more difficult elements " against lockers. Oh well such were the days that some yearn for. As for me ............ this former shy , class clown , what does he miss........? Well , Maple Hill at that time had a poor track record of dealing with what we now call dyslexia and ADHD and other difficulties of learning. It was dealt with by trac system segregation. Simply put "smartest" to the "dumbest" were separated and theoretically taught in "separate but equal" classes. This was educational bullshit of course as I was to later learn in my graduate level Ed Psych courses. Professor Jan Abelseth taught me well at SUNY Albany. So my career path was set by watching what was going on around me to people. Can't say I missed that but it was instructive to my future. I believe I miss......my senior year. I had returned from another school , that I spent my junior yr in , "no it was not a reform school" it was a Prep School. I was glad not to be wearing a jacket and tie to class for one thing. I hooked back up with kids I had known since early elementary school. I was way tired of Prep School snobs. Anyway, Ron Kunicki and John Connolly and I were to hook up and pal around alot that senior yr. I returned with a back injury and a couple of concussive incidents from soccer the previous year. Jesus I was glad to be away from sports. Ron & John helped me come back and settle in, which took awhile. Anyway , school is often a forced socialization situation but I was glad to be back in familiar surroundings. That is what I miss , the people. If you liked each other or was in the wrong click you still knew them in a small town. People you knew for a long time. Being away gave me an odd new appreciation. People in all their differences. So that is what I miss.......the sometimes awkward memory of that early year of mine. People. I smiled on those school steps thinking about some of those times. Not all of course , just some. Music , TV , Garage Rock , Ripple wine , Ron's brothers P1800 Volvo with the electronic 5th gear switch which we often borrowed , my senior yr Christmas , Lizzie my short term girlfriend and the feeling that life was opening up beyond a small town. Friends. I still know Ron , he lives in Brooklyn and is an architect , have not seen John in 20yrs , he went on to be a teacher. We only had one reunion , to be honest I don't think educational segregation led to an abundance of closeness with my class. So it goes. But I remember that senior year as somehow special......my final go around before setting off on courses really unknown. Coffee gone , nicorette gum chewed. Time to continue elsewhere , starting with a good nights sleep. I left the steps of that past to soon look for another more remote past of someone else. BE SEEING YOU.

Bobby Thomson: In The Viceroy Hall of Records

Last night it was announced today, former home run hero of the New York Giants Bobby Thomson died. I was not around for the playoff winning homer against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951. Certainly heard the replay on baseball history shows. What I remember of Thomson when I was just a kid was commercials he did during the very early years of Mets games when they played in the old Polo grounds. It was sponsored by Viceroy cigarettes when those companies could still legally advertise on TV. It was titled Bobby Thomson : In The Viceroy Hall of Records. He would briefly discuss some aspect of the Mets or baseball in relation to some history of the game. Then he would hawk smokes. I think some of my enjoyment of history & baseball came from those little history moments. Certainly it was not from watching The Mets loose a multitude of games. So anyways here is to Bobby Thomson --- The Giants win the pennant ---The Giants win the pennant--- The Giants win the pennant. And thanks for the history.

Full Moon Over Schodack N.Y. 12162

July 24,2010 I was returning from a quick drop off visit to Schenectady NY. Stopped for dinner in my hometown of Castleton/Schodack N.Y. It was a warm beautiful evening. The kind of time that summer memories form a lasting sort of presence in the minds of vacationing children off from school. I took a few extra minutes and walked around my old high school track at Maple Hill High School damp from a brief shower that cooled things down. The moon was coming out in the early evening as I took my walk. The moon was full. This constant in our lives , looking no different than when our grandparents looked up at it as they held hands. The same moon young men saw before they left home for a distant war. No different from the moon Henry Hudson navigated by as he explored the someday named river for him and by many historians accounts came ashore in a yet to be named Castleton to meet with native inhabitants. Yet it is different , it no longer beckons us as it once did. Through much of my childhood and adolescence the moon was our national science goal. NASA formed in the Eisenhower Administration held our young attention. Men in space and with President Kennedy men on the moon. The space race as we called it then. We were going to beat the Soviet Union to the moon. We watched the blastoffs on TV at school. Alan Shepard , John Glenn became national heroes as Charles Lindburgh was to a previous generation. To those of us that liked science this was a great time punctuated every month by a full moon we could look up at. We were a nation under one moon. Our resources and our pride going towards that goal of landing and exploring. We of course circumnavigated the moon in Christmas of 1968 and the following summer landed to an all most undivided national and world attention. We all probably looked up at the full moon that night if we could see it. That beckoning moon we could now touch. The science that so touched our school yrs had come become a new reality. A new phrase sprang up "if we can send a man to the moon why can't we do....." As I drove back on the Taconic Parkway that evening towards 11509 the moon of Schodack became the moon of Chatham and Hyde Park etc. One thing struck me.As that time of my youth has passed so has much of the energy of the space program. We are not as energized as we once were by exploration. Been there done that. I know we will not return to that familiar object in my lifetime. No moon base or radio telescope on the dark side of the moon. In a sense the moon over Schodack has become a relic of my past.

LI Jones & Peters Dairy bottles discovered Castleton NY 12033

I have recently discovered 2 small milk bottles from Castleton / Schodack NY dairy's. LI Jones & Peters Dairy both labeled Castleton NY. Pre-zip code bottles. Peters dairy located on Brookview Rd and Jones located near Maple Hill Rd around the present day Maple Hill High School. The bottles held cream or were the single serving size bottles. I am actually old enough that I remember when one drank their school milk from such bottles. Discussing my recent finds with friends all agreed who remembered those milkmen days that milk tasted better in the glass bottles. The cartons never could match up in taste. The milk was of course fresher , right from the farm to the consumer in less than 24 hrs. Mrs Lillian Kunicki of the Schodack area told me of how she would leave the money for Jones on her kitchen table and Mr. Jones would come into the house early in the morning around 5:00 am put the milk in her refrigerator take the empties. Sometimes Mrs.K would leave little treats for Leslie on her kitchen table. Such were the days back then. A real family trust situation. Jones and Peters would often buy milk off of other farmers in the area when business was brisk. The farm of Lewis Hudson of Castleton & Ken Golden of Schodack Landing were 2 such farms that sold milk to these bottlers , especially to Jones. Jones left the milk business somewhere in the early to mid circa 1950's. The Peters family owned their farm holdings into the early 21st century. The days of the family farm have declined severely in the last half century in America. The town of Schodack NY has been no exception. Once dotting upstate New York were the farms , dairy, corn and other cash crops. Now there is but a few. One could not travel through the town without noticing the smell of manure. Schodack like many towns in the Capitol region of New York have become suburbs , channeling workers to the larger cities or suburban shopping malls. Such is the change 0f post World War II America.

Powder Ridge Music Festival 40 Year Anniversary

On July 31 2010 marks the anniversary of a failed musical event. The Powder Ridge Music Festival at what I believe is the now defunct ski resort in Middlefield Connecticut 06455. I was there , along with my 2 High School buddies. Freshly graduated from being seniors & looking for some fun. We bought tickets but a court injunction shut it down. Well we and perhaps 30,000 others came anyway. This is not going to be a remember the glory days piece. I am going to tell a few stories of what I can recall. There are a few pieces on this event one can Google. This is more personal , hopefully shedding some light on the proceedings.

After hitching 2 rides from B1 on the NYS Thruway we got lucky. A red haired kid who lived in Orange Ct who was working in Albany NY was heading home for the weekend to visit his girl friend. He took us near the festival gave us his address and said he would give us a return trip on Sunday if we would share some gas money. We agreed and off we were to Powder Hill Road.

We walked up with our back packs on Powder Hill Road. We could hear the crowd noise. It sounded exciting , we quickened our pace. We arrived near the stage area and the singer Melonie was singing. She was the only name act that defied the court ban all weekend. We listened to her last 3 songs , the crowd roared and she walked off stage and exited to the back of the stage. She walked right by us. She signed a couple of autographs and seemed to disappear into the night.

For some unexplainable reason we decided to make camp by a tree in back of the stage area. I guess we did not plan to sleep much. Ron , John and Me began to party. That first night seemed friendly enough. We were keeping the 60's alive or what we thought of as the 60's. A mass of people were there. Rumors were about other acts like Richie Havens , Grand Funk Railroad and maybe Led Zeppelin would defy the courts & be showing up on Saturday. How could they resist a crowd this size. I met a couple from Flagstaff , Arizona who had it on {good authority} from his brother who worked for Capitol Records that Creedance Clearwater Revival was on their way from NYC that night. Of course that was all some wild speculation. None of it would in the end pan out.

I cannot be sure when exactly when we hit our sleeping bags , I think the late night rain helped quiet things down considerably. It was probably around 3:00 AM. The next morning the sky still darkened with clouds we awoke to a rather over weight young lady walking around yelling "does anybody got some downs." A living breathing strung out alarm clock. She was persistent and loud so I presume someone filled her request. But she did awaken hundreds as she wandered about acting as a new era town crier. As we were to discover all was not well.

First of all I had a blistering headache. With my consumption of that bottle of Balli Hai wine & whatever else{ you get my point} I was not in great shape. Many reports of this failed festival turning into a drug fest are true. But do you think anyone had thought to bring a bottle of simple aspirin. The humidity was all ready rising , temps were climbing to the upper 80's that day. Water helped but I went in search of some simple pain killer. As luck or basic planning would have it the Red Cross set up an aid station on top of the hill leading out. It was there I was donated some aspirin by a rather jovial gentleman who seemed to find this event very amusing. I consumed 4 pills and then I saw a vision. A Salvation Army truck was handing out coffee & donuts. I struggled over and waited in line. The Salvation Army lady handing out the coffee was a wisp of a woman. No more than five foot one inch tall. She looked terrified of the people before her. I was clumsy and spilled half of my coffee on the way to my mouth. She handed me another cup and put her hands around mine and aided me in getting it to my lips. I took at hot sip & hope I said thank you. As an aside I never forgot that act of kindness and a Christmas never has gone by without a trip to the kettle.

I found a roadside log to set on ate my breakfast and drank my coffee. The world was looking brighter. The sun had come out my friends had rejoined me we were once again ready but for what. As we reentered the stage area a Mister Frosty truck was supplying power to the stage. Dealers were setting up drug booths...that's right drug booths. No bands had showed up , music supplied by a loud speaker blaring music from a turntable Any rumors of bands arriving were unfounded. Some MC giving the occasional announcement. What that place lacked in entertainment it tried to make up for in drugs.

Saturday was a day of wandering , on foot and in peoples minds. Mingling chaos. Some people tried to open a store at the outskirts near the ski lift. I obtained 2 packs of Winston cigarettes there. Food was scarce. Overdoses common from all reports. About 2:00 pm that afternoon and why I remember that time I will never know it occurred to me that this was no Woodstock. That festival seems to be considered the Gold Standard for these events. Later that afternoon our friend John decided to climb a tree in nothing but his underwear. It took us and a few others to coax him down. He was blitzed. I had a small portable radio with me so I had contact with the outside world. Remember no cells phones. For news I turned to WDRC & WTIC.. It seemed that the National Guard was on duty in nearby New Haven in case of civil unrest. They were also planning to move out crowds if we stayed past Sunday. It seems we were on a deadline. Frankly most were too stoned to even contemplate civil unrest of any sort. This event was not getting any good press and only a few jug bands and local acts to entertain.

By late in the afternoon the crowd seemed listless , a bored stupor in many cases. John , Ron and I pooled together our food resources had a light dinner and shared food with others. Near our little encampment some older bikers who seemed inspired by Brando in the Wild Ones were giving rides to kids on their motorcycles up and down the little hill leading to Powder Ridge Road.I walked deep into the woods looking for a place to go to the bathroom. The 6 or 8 portable johns were beyond full. I walked past atleast 3 dozen people tripping away the day. Daylight was leaving all seemed tired. The drug booths were running out of drugs. Two Connecticut State Policeman in an old WWII style jeep came through on patrol. No problem. They were trying to spread the word to go home the next day. The older officer was really taking a grandfatherly tone as best he could.

The evening of Saturday was more reserved than the night before. The drug booths were packing up , there was a true sense that the end was near. We partied in an exhausted manner but there was still fun. more little groups formed among the crowd. Some friends were made , numbers exchanged etc. I had a conversation with a Saint Lawrence University professor about the current political climate. The pendulum was swinging he told me. This place is just an echo of what could have been. Though stoned he seemed oddly resigned. It is soon to be time to face the winter of the north back in Canton N.Y. I did think it "neat" that he spent time talking to a kid fresh out of high school. But then again he was there from Saturday morning on. I believe he taught math.

Around midnight some fireworks , Roman Candles etc were set off to more applause than deserved. I found a guy selling Ripple , a wine sold in a screw shaped bottle I presume so one could hold on to it when hammered. It was uncapped and therefore untampered with. Unusual that weekend. So for our final consumption of the event we shared a bottle of cheap red wine. It seemed like home if you can understand that. Three friends who had known each other from around second grade bidding farewell to our lost weekend. Everyone deserves one. Around 2:00 am an unsettled quiet overtook the place. Sleep was needed for the return trip.

We woke around 8:30. Generally speaking people looked stunned , tired and finished. We packed up washed up in a little pond nearby. Spotted some high school guys we knew as they were pulling out. We pulled out around 10:30. We were on our way to Orange Ct. We did not want to be late for our hoped for ride back to our version of civilization. One ride got us within walking distance. We found the house , we got our ride {thank God}. I can't remember the red haired kids name but we were grateful. He owned an Opel Rally Sport I believe it was called. A semi sports car of the day , made in Germany & imported by Buick. Comfortable enough for the 2 + hour trip. With one pit stop for gas and drinks we were deposited on exit B1 of the Thruway by 5:30. Gave him $20.00 which he was happy with. Connolly who I don't think ever picked up a check did not contribute. We walked past the toll booths to stares from the toll takers. Went to a nearby diner. Pits stop , bathroom & coffee and tried to make ourselves more presentable. Walked to Ron's house. Called home....yes I was fine etc etc etc. When I got home , a long hot shower. My mother washed my clothes like they were radioactive. She a Republican office holder was not thrilled with my escapade. Anyway , a steak on the grill and some potato salad and I hit the bed. I awoke at around noon the next day.

So it has been forty years......one still hears of Woodstock but never Powder Ridge. This event was one of those moments in my opinion that marked the end of an era. Those days of the 60's were over. The day the music at the festival died. My wife of 30 yrs will read this or one of my 4 kids will & one of them will probably say something like "what the hell were you thinking" A phrase I myself have used.

Forty Years After Graduation Maple Hill High School 12033

Well it was forty yrs ago on a June 25th evening I and my class graduated from Maple Hill High School in the Castleton NY 12033 area. I casually observed the class of 2010 graduate. I was at a fair distance away , on a hill overlooking the soccer field. I had come of my most recent archaelogy project and was in a rough state of appearance. These ceremonies have changed remarkably little over the yrs. The quest speaker tries to give a moments sage advice. Parents and relations watch on with a mixture pride , anxiety and relief that their children have come this far. Many of the kids sitting in cap and gown wish to go and get to the beer at various graduation parties. How I remember. When I graduated , the audience was still populated with WWII veterans. People with memories of the great depression. No longer , now it's post 60's generation with a very different set of memories. The class of 70 graduated during the Vietnam war , this new class has far away conflicts some will personally face. I was struck how similar a feel it all had , with a few changes I could have been in those seats. A true Deja-Vu moment overtook me , all over again. Time to go , let this class go on to their lives.....hopefully some dreams fullfilled.

Sex and the City Brooklyn Apartment

Not that many would care but my friends apartment on DeKalb Ave in Brooklyn was used in the last 2 Sex in the City movies. I have had beer on Amanda's patio when I have visited and seen how the apartment was changed for the movie. OK , so no big deal. Ron and Catherine Kunicki did make money for set rental. Probably the money is already safely at MIT for their daughters education. Next year she travels for a semester to Cambridge , England so they can only hope for a trilogy......... I guess. Anyway , visiting that semi set is the closest thing I will get to showbiz.