Busker street musician playing for tips

I do not reveal names of family members on this blog, nor friends names much either, unless they are somewhat of a celebrity, such as the artist Tom Bintz. Anyway, there is a young violin student in the family. This morning he had his mother drop him off at Musicology in Watertown. His mission was to play outside the store for tips. He is 12 years old. (or is he 13?) No matter. Anyway, he played the few melodies he knows off and on for about three hours and collected well over $10.00. I was teaching guitar inside the store today and when he hit the $10.00 mark he interrupted my lesson with the exclamation, "I hit $10.00. I am going to Burger King!" and he throws his arms out wide as he says it. Then he points a finger at me and asks,"Do you want anything?" I say no and he turns to my student (a woman that has teen age kids) and asks her the same thing. She smiles and says no. One of the guys that works at the store said to me, "That kid's got balls!"

My guitar student told me upon entering the store she gave him a dollar and said, "You can really tell he is into it." When I arrived at the store for my first lesson he had all ready been out there for 40 minutes. A woman with two little kids was passing by., stopped to talk to him. I gave a listen while pretending to be occupied with my cell phone as if ignoring them. She says, "You sound a little rusty but I knew what you are playing." The little girls asks what was he playing. The mom replied, "Amazing Grace." Then the violinist told her he hopes to teach violin at the store some time in the future. What a riot!

Guitar recital at Depauville Library

I just got home from doing a guitar show at the public library in Depauville, NY. It went well. I played two nameless etudes by Francisco Tarrega, Lagrima, and Estudio en la Forma de minuetto also by Tarrega. I have to say those last two pieces I played particularly well.
After that I played guitar studies #2 and 4 from the Segovia book followed by Romance, then Sor Study #5, two pieces by Matteo Carcassi, and some Beatles tunes. Last night I wrote up a detailed description about this event and a personal critique of my performance. Tonight I discover it never publushed and all of my work was lost. Screw it!. I am not writing all of that over again. Here is the event videoe by the library and posted on YouTube.

Elvis in Buffalo NY Concert Poster April 1, 1957

Elvis concert at Buffalo, NY April 1, 1957. Photo by Gary Walts

It is always a great pleasure when I visit my friend, the artist Tom Bintz, because I never know what visual treat I will find. A couple days ago he had this Elvis Presley poster that I had never seen before. It is from an Elvis concert at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, NY. He was with the Jordanaires. Ticket price was $1.75!! Bintz said he has had the poster for years, stashed under a bed.

Elvis concert at Buffalo, NY April 1, 1957. Photo by Gary Walts

Almost all of us know Elvis, but who were/are the Jordanaires? Check out Ray Walkers official Jordanaires web site.

Learn more about the Memorial Auditorium. AND, lets not forget Elvis' official web site.

Elvis during his Buffalo NY show, April 1, 1957

See a couple more photos of Elvis in Buffallo, 1957 at elvispresleymusic.com.au

Painting front porch floor of rental house

I just finished cleaning, scraping and priming the front porch floor of my Franklin St rental house in Watertown. Next I will paint it red. The primer I used was Glidden Gripper, an interior/exterior white primer/ sealer. This is an excellent product that I recommend.

Coming Soon...?

A photo I snapped a couple days ago in Syracuse. I wonder what's coming? I can't take the suspense.

Today I did some banking for my mother and then photographed Syracuse University football practice for The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Over all not a an eventful day.

Rental property repairs

My brother R intsalling basement window at my Franklin St. house. 

I own a rental poperty on Franklin St. in Watertown, NY.  It has two apartments, one up, and ne down. When I first bought it I went to work and re-did the ineterior. I updated the electricity and plumbing, put in new kitchens and other odds and ends. About two years ago I put a new roof on the house. Other than that I have nit addressed the exterior. Mostly it needs painting and some minor exterior repars. So for the past two days I have been replacing the lattice work around the front porch and my brother R replaced one of the basement windows. As you can see from the photos the building needs to be painted. I plan to get that done in the next week or so. The window cost $60.00 and I paid him a hundred for the installation.

New lattice work on the front porch of the Franklin St. house. Next I have to fix up the railing and paint the house.

The lower apartment has been vacant since June. I may have trouble renting it because a large number of new rental units have come on the market in Watertown.

Praski cookies, Macedonian peach cookies

Today I went to St. George Church in Syracuse to photograph the start of thei Macedonian festiva. I was photographing it for The Post-Standard and syracuse.com. Of interest was a woman making Praski, which are Macedonian cookies decorated to look like peaches.
They are quite colorful.

Woman making "peach cookies" at St. George's Macedonian festival in Syracuse, NY. Photographed by Gary Walts for syracuse.com and The Post Standard.

Praski, cookies decorated to look like peaches, at St. George's Macedonian festival in Syracuse, NY. Photographed by Gary Walts for syracuse.com and The Post Standard.

This link takes you to a gallery of other photos from the event posted on syracuse.com
 http://photos.syracuse.com/4456/gallery/st_georges_macedonian_festival/index.html#/0

You can also view a video I made at the event by clicking on the link:

http://videos.syracuse.com/post-standard/2013/08/st_georges_macedonian_festival.html

Fireworks in Chaumont

I have had plenty going on in my life the last few weeks but simply have not had the ambition to post daily, or even weekly reports. Last night we had a fireworks show in our village of Chaumont. I had only the iPhone with me for a camera. Too bad because my Nikon could have made this photo a hundred times better.

I created this blog entry with the iPhone Blogger app so the photo was sent directly from the iPhone too, otherwise I would have tweaked it with PhotoShop. I will make PhotoShop adjustments later on. Right now I am at one of my Franklin St apartments taking time out for this post.

My Mother goes shopping today

My sisters C & S  are visiting from Tucson AZ. Today they and the Better Half are taking my mother shopping. She is 80 years old and this is just the first recreational outing she has taken since she nalmost died a year ago March first. I have been taking her to her doctor visits and each month she has an easier time getting in and out of my van and going up and down the stairs at her house. It is incredible because a year ago we were told she had six month at best to live and that she would never walk again. Amazing.
The photo I am inserting here was made with an iPhone, snapped through a dirty windhsield at sunset. The Better Half was driving while I snapped the photo. I used instagram to add some effects.

Sunset on RT 12E, Limerick NY, snapped with iPhone and filtered with instagram. Photo by Gary walts

We were returning home after a fun day at my mother's home in Calcium. We had a surprise 50th birthday for sister S from AZ.

Wolf spider with egg sack

I photographed this Wolf Spider with an egg sac with an iPhone 5. I recently had ten cord of wood dropped off in my driveway. My sister C happened to be visiting from Tucson, AZ and was helping me stack it. She picked up a piece of wood and revealed this spider. Ten minutes later we uncovered another one. The photo quality is under par for my liking. My Nikon would have been a better choice.

Wolf Spider with egg sack found while stacking fire wood.

Geneva on the Lake

The Better Half and I are at Geneva On The Lake which is on Lake Erie. We are visiting her family and are at the moment at The Firehouse Winery. I just snapped this photo there a few minutes ago.

Dodge Caravan Over heated

Today I am doing errands prior to tomorrow's road trip to Cleveland when my Dodge Caravan over heated. I pulled into a shady parking spot behind the old Globe Mini Mall to let it cool down. After a few minutes I folded upan old shirt and covered the radiator cap with it as I removed the cap. Good thing I did that. It was under a lot of pressure and the orange anti freeze shot up like a geyser. Am now waiting for friend Tom Bintz to meet me. He was going to the auto parts store anyway.