ARTICLES, STORIES & POEMS - Page 5

Some Things Never Change (2007)

Thirty-five years ago this winter, my wife and I had three meals in a row at the County Girl Diner in Chester, Vermont. We had been living in Connecticut for two years and wanted to see what the Green Mountains looked like, so we took a week off and just drove around. We had no … [Read more...]

Saturday Night At The Movies In Solomons Island (2007)

I lived the last half of my childhood in Solomons Island and Dowell, Maryland. I was known then as Howard Manning. My father, also Joe, was a marine biologist at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, and my mother, Betty, worked there as a librarian. I lived in the Washington, … [Read more...]

Springfield (Vermont) Factory To Be Partially Demolished (2008)

The Fellows Gear Shaper Company was formed in Springfield, Vermont, in 1896. Its founder, Edwin R. Fellows, was born in Torrington, Connecticut, in 1865. From 1889 to 1896, he worked for the Jones & Lamson Machine Company in Springfield, helping to design turret machinery. … [Read more...]

Remembering Two Great Ladies (2008)

The first time I saw this photograph of Lynn Massman and her baby, I thought of my mother, who passed away four years ago this month (1-22-04). There are 75 photos of the Massman family on the Library of Congress website. They were taken for the Office of War Information. The … [Read more...]

To All Personnel (2008)

From 1964 to 1966, I served my final two years in the Air Force at the Air Force Academy Hospital in Colorado Springs. I was a medical corpsman, working mostly on the maternity ward, where wives of Air Force men had their babies. It was a cool assignment, and I enjoyed living … [Read more...]

The Man With The Hairy Chest (October 2007)

My projects always seem to start with a story from North Adams native Carl Robare, one of my best friends since I started visiting the city 11 years ago. It’s the one about the guy with the hairy chest. "Back in the early 1950s,” Carl says, “I used to work at the Strong-Hewat … [Read more...]

From David Byrne To Wilco: 14 Years In North Adams (September 2010)

"On the drive up here, I was imagining what this place could be. I thought it would be a place that people would travel some distances to see. I'm just dreaming here. It's some years off, but it's nice to be in on the ground floor." -Artist and singer David Byrne, at the opening … [Read more...]

Stranded On The Porch In The Great Flood of ’27 (March 2011)

On Nov 2, 1927, the afternoon sky grew ominously dark as residents of River Street received the daily North Adams Transcript. Thirty-six hours later, over six inches of soaking rain had fallen, carrying a few tenement houses into the raging water. The Marshall Street bridge broke … [Read more...]

Call Me Mr. Blue (2009)

"Our guardian star lost all his glow/The day that I lost you/He lost all his glitter the day you said no/And his silver turned to blue/Like him, I am doubtful that your love is true/But if you decide to call on me/Ask for Mr. Blue." November 1959, College Park, Maryland: The … [Read more...]

Henry Brooks: First Artist At The Eclipse Mill (December 2011)

"As far as my Uncle Henry nailing his name in the floor, that sort of sounds like something he would do. He was a man with a great imagination. He always had a mischievous glint in his eyes. He always looked like Peck's Bad Boy. He would be smiling at you like he had a secret he … [Read more...]

Capturing Memories Of Park Street School (2008)

I grew up in the tiny southern Maryland village of Solomons, and attended Solomons Elementary School. After college, I moved to New England. Twenty years ago, I returned to my home town for a high school reunion and discovered that my little elementary school had been converted … [Read more...]

Bang On A Can: A New North Adams Tradition (June 2012)

It's almost nine-thirty. It has been storming on and off all evening, rip-roaring blasts of thunder shaking the thick walls of Mass MoCA's Hunter Center, while torrents of rain pelt the roof. A grainy black and white film is on the screen, showing disturbing views of apocalyptic … [Read more...]

25 WORDS OR LESS

I think of these at the strangest times - at 3:00 in the morning, in the shower, on a long drive, or in the middle of a boring phone conversation. Perhaps they are words of wisdom; perhaps they mean nothing at all. At least, I keep them to 25 words or less. Rivers may run to … [Read more...]

ARTICLES, STORIES & POEMS

Click the photos to read my articles, stories and poems NORTH ADAMS ARTICLES DINERS, RESTAURANTS & SMALL TOWNS BASEBALL, MUSIC, RADIO & MORE … [Read more...]

When Baseball Was Just A Game (2002)

"I remember my Grandpa, his hat in his hand/The 'Star Spangled Banner' being played by the band/The roar of the crowd as the pitcher took aim/When baseball was just a game." I grew up in Maryland in the ‘40s and ‘50s. My paternal grandparents lived in Beltsville, a small town … [Read more...]

Toll Taker 47, Hog Heaven, & Jack And Jill: The Final Chapter

Toll Taker 47 was inspired by a glorious moment of serendipity experienced by one of my daughters. Hog Heaven was inspired by a radio conversation about eating. Jack And Jill: The Final Chapter came to me from out of nowhere while I was riding on the New York … [Read more...]

Dumb Ideas

I call this section Dumb Ideas for a reason that will become immediately obvious. I often think of these things during my wacky weekly breakfast conversations with my best friend in North Adams. Salad bars in funeral homes "While you're waiting, help yourself to our … [Read more...]

Vibrant Music Scene In North Berkshire Spawns Graceful CD (2002)

Windsor Lake, the glorious new CD by The Flying Garbanzos, is the result of the kind of offhanded collaboration that can only thrive in a rich and diverse music scene. In the last decade, that scene has been quietly cultivated in North Berkshire. Dale Ott, 50, started playing … [Read more...]

Reed’s Landing, Coxsackie, New York (2008)

June 20, 2008: My family has been taking daytrips to Greene County, New York since the early 1970s. My wife grew up in Long Island. In the 1950s, her family often vacationed at a lakeside camp of cottages in the tiny town of Craryville, just a few miles east of the Taconic … [Read more...]

Grandfather, Reunion, & Bunky Hipple

Grandfather is about my paternal step-grandfather, who was my best friend when I was young. Reunion was inspired by a huge January snowstorm a few years ago, and a girl I had a crush on in high school. Bunky Hipple (that was really his name) was sort of a legend in my hometown, … [Read more...]