Poster Archive, Happy Birthday

From time to time, I have posted posters from my archive here highlighting some music memories.
As I am proud to write, I am a WBNY 91.3 FM Buffalo State College veteran from 1984-85, and had a great time DJing, talk show hosting and producing. We had a lot of great shows at WBNY, and one of them was "Vinyl Underground," hosted by two friends and music lovers, John Hudson and Bill Woelfel.
Since today is Bill's birthday, I thought it was time to photograph and show you an old, coffee-stained WBNY poster promoting their show, a great listen for many of us.

West Side Encounter, Lost Dog Edition

As I closed the driveway fence gate after going to the Post Office and Price Rite, a woman about age 25-30 was sitting on the lawn across the street with a small dog, but she would not get too close and the dog was not paying close attention to her.
She yelled to me that the dog was a stray that had been seen in the neighborhood for the last 2-3 days, and that the dog would not let her pick it up and occasionally growled at her. She added that she read the number on the collar to contact, but that the telephone number was disconnected.
A neighbor who started to talk to the woman asked me if we had any extra dog food; I had just bought a few cans, so I opened one up, put some in a disposable plastic dish and carried the dish and can outside.
The neighbor, who was calling the SPCA, said that the woman and dog had gone around the corner from Norwood Avenue and were going down Bryant Street toward Elmwood Avenue. We proceeded to go that way while the SPCA told him that if we could drive the dog to them, they would handle her, but that they could not come to pick her up; that would be the responsibility of the Buffalo Animal Shelter, if we called them.
At this point, as we came to Bryant and Ashland, we saw the original woman across the street on Bryant, leaving a residence where two other women were standing outside; she had found the owner and friend of the owner of the dog and returned the dog to its home. The woman said that the dog had gotten out of the house and under the (backyard?) gate and had been missing for a few days.
Relieved, I headed home with a dog food can in one hand, open dish of dog food in the other, while the two residents of the house asked my neighbor if he could move a table for them.
As I neared home, a woman was walking her dog toward me. "Yes, there is a reason why I am walking with an open can of dog food," I said to her. "There was a stray dog on our street, but her owner was found." The woman smiled and replied, "Good."

More West Side Encounters

Today's walk by Walker Evans and I provided more reasons to enjoy and note the variety of life on Buffalo's West Side.
The next block of Norwood Avenue, between Bryant and Summer, was hosting several yard sales, at least seven by my count, but it seemed like we had more people by holding ours two weeks ago, during the Garden Walk.
As we walked past the Richmond-Summer Apartments building (where my grandmother Hilda Connelly lived about 35-40 years ago), a woman was talking/yelling out her sixth-floor window to a woman in a car across the street, at relatively loud volume:
"You didn't return my call," the woman in the window said.
"What?" the woman in the car replied.
"You didn't return my call."
"What?"
"You didn't return my call. Did you check your phone?"
"I have it right here. Let me check...no, no calls."
"Huh?"
"I don't have any calls."
"No, not that phone, your real phone."
"My what?"
"Your real phone. Check your real phone"
"This is my real phone. See?" She held the phone out the car window.
"No, your real phone. The one at home."
Walker and I finally made it out of earshot of this engrossing philosophical debate.
Later, as we walked down York Street near 16th Street, a woman was watering some flowers and plants with a garden hose, including flower pots at the corners of that intersection. As we came to the intersection, she stopped hosing the plants so we could walk by dry.
I smiled and said to her, "I actually wouldn't mind being hit by the hose," so she smiled, raised the hose, aimed up a bit and turned it on. It just barely reached my left arm, but the spray felt nice on a hot, sunny day.

New Wave (Still) Pays

Yet another classic new wave song being used in a television commercial caught my attention last night.
The amazing, battered version of "Money (That's What I Want)" by the Flying Lizards is being used in a Taco Bell television commercial, which I saw several times while watching new editions of "Storage Wars" on A&E last night.
Besides being a great cover, the Flying Lizards' deconstruction of "Money" is looked on with approval by some Situationists and Dada/Fluxus fans, and its use in a commercial brings a wry smile to many of our faces.

What Next, Burma-Shave?

Disclaimer: If you don't shave your face or head, this post may not interest you.
After using Edge Gel for years, I decided to try Barbasol shaving cream for the first time ever this week, and damn, does it work good. Not only was my shave closer than with Edge, but I barely nicked myself using the Beard Buster version.
I realize that this may not seem like big news to most of you, but for someone who shaves his face and head and has had trouble accomplishing just the closeness and almost always cuts himself, this is big news.
On the other hand, between using Barbasol and being this thrilled at shaving results, I think I have planted both feet squarely in middle age, at least fashion/appearance wise. Maybe Tom Waits will write a song about it. Oh, and Wikipedia has a pretty extensive page on Barbasol.

Demographic Inaccuracy...Some

I have started getting some spam recently concerning my "personal" life, and at least it makes me laugh.
At about 4:15 p.m. today, Saturday, August 6, I received an email from ChristianMingle.com, "The Community for Christian Singles" (a descriptive term apparently so catchy that it is trademarked). I have nothing against people who identify themselves primarily or solely, or even eventually, as Christians, but have I ever indicated that I am looking for someone who upholds alleged Christian values pertaining to romance? Does anyone believe I ever looked for a dating or romantic partner who believed in waiting until marriage for sexual activity? Right.
Tuesday, August 2, I received an email from SeniorPeopleMeet.com, offering to help me "Meet Other 50+ Singles." I may be 50 years old, but does anyone that age have to limit himself or herself to interest in other 50-year-olds?
Of course, on top of everything, I have been incredibly happily married for more than 9 years to my loving wife, Val Dunne, and am listed everywhere I have submitted any personal information as married and have since June 23, 2002.
Finally, if someone wants to be creative and maybe find a niche in the singles market, start a "Singles Who Listen to the Clash, B-52s, Blasters, Public Image Limited, X, David Bowie, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Gurf Morlix, Lucinda Williams, Hank Williams, Tom Waits, Sonic Youth, Rosanne Cash, Blue Rodeo, Bruce Springsteen and Richard Thompson Singles Club." Fortunately, I still won't be joining it.