Posted on 07/24/2025 9:13:55 AM PDT by ViLaLuz
I used to love going to the NYS Fair. Lately there’s “gay pride” in your face and people openly smoking dope, so I haven’t gone anymore. It used to be really nice. I was born abroad but spent many years in the Utica/ Rome/ Syracuse area.
That worked out well! What a blessing. Great memories I’m sure.
They didn’t tell us that the worse thinking about aging is losing you contemporaries.
Utica..Stanley theatre...been there,done that...
LOL... the Sin City of Upstate NY
I hope your gig goes well tonight. Playing the trumpet in the band and orchestra was the most fun I had in school. I practiced 3 hours a day, every day in addition to classroom and events. Music from Chicago and Herb Alpert (TJ Brass) were among my favorites.
Thanks. Prayer is often more effective than some of the flagellating that occurs as medical treatment. My parents arranged for orthodontics to fix my misaligned teeth. The first visit installed brackets with no wiring. I went home to practice and had to peel my bloody lip off the brackets. A rather direct hop from 1st seat trumpet to the baritone section for 3 weeks to build a callous. Once the callous was built, I had to challenge my way back to first seat. It was worth the effort.
I started with a 1909 Holton cornet. In 9th grade, my dad purchased a Holton trumpet. A nice upgrade. Since then I have acquired some other trumpets and a fluegelhorn from Austin Custom Brass. Having recently retired, I will have time to enjoy those instruments again.
Born in Rochester, but have lived in the Utica-Rome area for many years. My father worked on the NY Central Railroad, so the family rode free on the train. Every year on Labor Day we'd go to the State Fair. My Dad liked the Stock Car races, and they were always held at the fairgrounds on Labor Day, which back then was always the last day of the fair. We'd leave him at the race track, and my mother would take us kids to the midway until it was time for us to meet our father for the train ride home.
Probably 12 or so years ago, my youngest son who was about 40 at the time, wanted to go to the fair because we hadn't been since he was a teenager, so we drove out there one day. We walked around. There was no place to sit down and take a rest. It was hot, and very crowded. After a few hours we left. He said: "Mom, if I ever ask you to go the fair again, please, just say no." I still laugh about it.
Check this out. These are brand new this year.
Cannot remember which year, but went to Whitewater and it seemed half the corps were playing charts from "children of sanchez"...Mangione was one of the best co-host's for DCI finals('83?).
"they got'a burn on"...indeed.
I went home to practice and had to peel my bloody lip off the brackets.
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Ooooow I cringed reading that. You are a dedicated musician!
Thanks for sharing your story of the good old days in CNY. I was just to the DMV in Utica earlier this week. Surprisingly it’s in the historic Utica train station! They’ve kept it maintained and it’s gorgeous. There’s also a restaurant there and a venue for wedding receptions, banquets and such. I believe it’s still a operational Amtrack station as well. We used to ride the train between Rome and Utica often when I was a kid.
I love the music he created for the Olympics. What a talent.
Ha! Great story!
That’s the beauty of music, you can lose yourself and find yourself in it. The rodeo people were fun last night, they know how to party, and I had a nice convo with a lady from Sweden who told me basically everything is free there, which cracked me up but I pretty much kept a straight face. She was very nice actually. I hope you find a way to keep exploring music, once it’s in you it tends to stay.
As a kid living in Rochester, from time to time our parents took my brother and I to New York for a weekend. The train would leave at midnight, and we’d arrive around 7 in the morning, in time for breakfast. I remember going to Horn & Hardart’s Automat for that. We’d stay at the Piccadilly Hotel Saturday night. I see that hotel was demolished in 1982. We’d take the train back on Sunday, and it was always dark when we came through Rome. We’d make sure our father let us know when we were getting close so we could see the large Paul Revere light on the Revere Copper and Brass Building, of him riding his horse to alert all the people that the British were coming.
Awesome! The historical animated sign is still there but no longer light up.
yes all of us sooner or later
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