Schenectady Today

In & Around the Capital Region

Now In Our 20^th Year!

Guest Line Up for the next four weeks of filming. (May be subject to change)

www.SchenectadyToday.com

Below you will find listings for our interesting on-air guests for the next four weeks.  Check out the lists below for our great variety of topics.  We start filming at 10 am at Proctors Underground on Tuesday. A live audience is always welcome and there are plenty of seats. You can meet the guests in person and learn more about their projects or even get involved yourself1

December 12, 2017 #1012

Scheduled Topics on the Show with Guests

(Listed alphabetically – subject to change)

Information below has been provided by the Guests or from their websites

~~~ Segment ONE ~~~

Long Term Care Services – Schenectady County

Cathryn Bern-Smith

• Organization: Schenectady County Dept. of Senior & Long Term Care Services
• Mission: The Schenectady County Department of Senior and Long Term Care Services promotes the long term health and wellbeing of Schenectady County residents and assures that they receive the necessary community based services that they are entitled to in order to remain safely in the community. These services are provided without regard to age, race, creed, color, sex (including gender identity or expression), national origin, sexual orientation, military status, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status or domestic violence victim status.
• Contact Information: Cathryn Bern-Smith at 518-382-8481 x 9313 or [email protected]
• Facebook: Yes “Schenectady County”
• Twitter: @Sch’dyCountyNY
• Website: www.schenectadycounty.com/SLTC

 ~~~ Segment TWO ~~~

Civil War Letters & Memories

Wanda Burch, Historian & John Kenosian, Singer/Songwriter

            “Soldier mortals would not survive if they were not blessed with the gift of imagination and the pictures of hope,” wrote Confederate Private Henry Graves in the trenches outside Petersburg, Virginia. “The second angel of mercy is the night dream.” Providing fresh perspective on the human side of the Civil War, this book explores the dreams and imaginings of those who fought it, as recorded in their letters, journals and memoirs. Sometimes published as poems or songs or printed in newspapers, these rarely acknowledged writings reflect the personalities and experiences of their authors. Some expressions of fear, pain, loss, homesickness and disappointment are related with grim fatalism, some with glimpses of humor.

The Upcoming Event: Even with all the sorrow that hangs, and will forever hang, over so many households; 
even while war still rages; even while there are serious questions yet to be settled – ought
it not to be, and is it not, a merry Christmas?” Harper’s Weekly, December 26, 1863. For a nation torn by civil war, Christmas in the 1860s was observed with conflicting emotions. Nineteenth-century Americans embraced Christmas with all the Victorian trappings that had moved the holiday from the private and religious realm to a public celebration. But Christmas also made the heartache for lost loved ones more acute. As the Civil War dragged on, deprivation replaced bounteous repasts and familiar faces were missing from the family dinner table. Soldiers used to “bringing in the tree” and caroling in church were instead scavenging for firewood and singing drinking songs around the campfire. And so the holiday celebration most associated with family and home was a contradiction. It was a joyful, sad, religious, boisterous, and subdued event. Accompanying readings from correspondence and journal entries will be original songs, written and composed by singer/songwriter John Kenosian, based on the stories of the soldiers and their loved ones in Wanda Burch’s 2017 book: The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs, (McFarland Publishers). Wanda Burch and John Kenosian received an artist performance grant from Saratoga Arts for the presentation of performances in Montgomery County in 2017. The final performance will focus on Christmas letters written by soldiers and families in the Civil War.  Saratoga Arts made the performances possible with an individual Community Artist Grant funded by the NYS Council on the Arts with the Support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature.

Historian Wanda Easter Burch is a retired site manager of an 18th century house museum. Her articles on 18th century history have appeared in various journals, her articles on dreams and imagery in various women’s and self-help magazines. She lives in Glen, New York.

Publication of book accompanied by a program of original songs written and composed by John Kenosian based on Civil War soldiers’ letters in the book. Publication of Wanda Burch’s new book: The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs [McFarland, 2017]

• Event: Home Voices: Christmas in the American Civil War through Words and Music
• Location of event:
• Date/Time: Sat. Dec. 16 at 3 pm
• Cost: Donation to sponsor a veteran on Honor Flight
• Contact Information: Wanda Burch; www.wandaburch.com
• Facebook: Yes: “Wanda.Burch1” and “TheHomeVoicesSpeakLouderThanTheDrums”
• Twitter: @RonWanBurch
• Website: www.wandaburch.com

~~~ Segment THREE ~~~

Musical Tools for Schenectady Schools

• Karen Johnson, Jazz on Jay Organizer
• Robert Aronstein, Oneida MS Music Teacher
• Steven Weisse, Former Pres. Friends of Music

We collect instruments all year and give them to Schenectady City Schools.  Drop off may be Proctors Box Office at any time and they will be repaired, if needed, and given to the school district where need is greatest.

• Organization: Schenectady Friends of Music & Schenectady Musicians’ Union & Jazz on Jay
• Mission: To get instruments in the hands of every Schenectady City School District Student who wants to play.
• Contact Information: 518-382-3884×114 or 518-281-6709
• Facebook: Yes “Jazz on Jay” & “SchenectadyFriendsOfMusic’
• Twitter: @SchenectadyFriendsOfMusic

~~~ Segment FOUR ~~~

A Taste of Lark: Chili & Chowder

Shauna Collins, Executive Director

            From their website: Taste of Lark: Chili and Chowder Edition will be held on Lark Street in Albany in conjunction with the wildly popular Santa Speedo Sprint on December 16, from noon to 4PM. Enjoy $1 samples of chili and chowder from area restaurants and vote for your favorites as you stroll through Albany’s classic Lark Street neighborhood, fully decked out for the holidays!

Entry to this event is free. Tasting tickets will be sold in Dana Park on the day of the event, and discounted Day Pass tickets will be available at participating Lark Street restaurants during the week leading up to the event. Exchange your Day Pass in Dana Park for tasting tickets to every booth! This event is open to the public.  Over a dozen restaurants.

• Event: A Taste of Lark: Chili & Chowder
  
• Date: Dec. 16 from noon to 4 pm
• Location: Dana Park and Lark St.
• Website: www.LarkStreetBID.org

~~~ Segment FIVE ~~~

Carla Page – New Year’s Eve Celebration

Miss Carla Page, Performer

            Carla’s entertainment history goes back over 40 years when she started as a budding performer singing in front of her audience of trees in her front yard. None of them every “leafed” J.

Carla and the Carla Page Show Band will be performing at the Renaissance Restaurant on New Year’s Eve. The $49 includes Dinner & Champagne Toast & Great Entertainment. Dinner is a Prime Rib dinner, chicken buffet, side dishes, salads etc.  Champaign toast will be included at midnight. Noisemakers and hats will be provided.

The entertainment will be provided by the Carla Page Show Band. The band will be performing music of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s & 80’s. A variety of classics hits & audience participation, dancing is always welcome. We are a four piece group with all seasoned musicians & singers.

Our band also performed last Labor Day weekend (Sept 3^rd, 2017) as the opening act for the legendary “Drifters” at the Schaghticoke Fair. This will be our 4^th engagement at the Renaissance. After 8:00, Attendees will be charged $20.00 each for show only with Champaign toast at midnight.

• Event: New Year’s Eve Party
• Location of event: Renaissance Restaurant at 820 Eastern Ave. in Sch’dy
• Date/Time: Dec. 31 from 9 to midnight
• Cost: $49 per person, $20 per person after 8:00 PM, Show Only
• Contact Information: For Reservations call 518-344-6384
• Facebook: Yes. “Renaissance Restaurant at the Hall”        

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December 19, 2017 #1013

Scheduled Topics on the Show with Guests

Human Rights Commission – Events in Review

Ang Morris, Executive Director

Kwanzaa Celebration

•             Miki Conn, Organizer
•             Betty Harper,  Organizer

Let’s Talk Nutrition – Getting through the Holidays!

•             Lester Rosenzweig MS, RD, CDN (Nutrition Educator)
•             Rosie Urkevich, Nutrition Intern

MopCo – New Year’s Eve Event

Michael Burns

Music by:

            Mike Purcell, Performer

December 26, 2017 & January 2, 2018 #1014

Scheduled Topics on the Show with Guests

Armenian Traditions

•             Stepanos Doudoukjian
•             Others TBA

Hannukah Traditions

•             Marc Weintraub, Executive Director
•             Judy Ben-Ami

Italian Traditions

•             Angelo Santabarbara
•             Others TBA

Music:

Featuring Entertainer, Mike Purcell