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The Smiths at the Haçienda, February 1983

Tony Fletcher — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:17:22 +0000

As we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Smiths as recording artists, with ‘Hand In Glove,’ let’s go back three more months to the gig that produced its B-side: The Haçienda, Manchester, February 4 1983. It was just their third show, only their second with Andy Rourke on bass. As I note in A Light [...]

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The Smiths at the Haçienda, February 1983

The Smiths. It was thirty years ago this week.

Tony Fletcher — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:20:35 +0000

It was like they were saying, ‘You ARE on your own, but there’s a lot of you out there.’ The 30th anniversary of the release of ‘Hand In Glove’ provided the BBC with an opportunity to come out with yet one more mini-Smiths documentary this past weekend. The Culture Show special – The Smiths: Not Like [...]

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The Smiths. It was thirty years ago this week.

Coming this July 4… Boy About Town

Tony Fletcher — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:11:49 +0000

I was no longer fitting in at school. I was unsure of my friends, and they were increasingly unsure of me. I wanted to be a rock star – a punk rock star, if need be. But while all around, voices were starting to break, acne beginning to appear, facial hair sprouting, I remained all [...]

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Coming this July 4… Boy About Town

Springtime in New York

Tony Fletcher — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:59:10 +0000

At lunch Friday with a magazine editor friend who has a place in Phoenicia, I was asked why I would want to spend a beautiful spring weekend in NY City when I could be in the Catskills. He had a point. But these were some of the things I could not have done at home [...]

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Springtime in New York

All Hopped Up (and Ready To Go): April playlist and audio file

Tony Fletcher — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:57:02 +0000

Here is the playlist and the audio file for my latest radio show, broadcast on the last Wednesday of every month on WGXC. This show went out April 24, though for once I had to record it the night before, as I was otherwise engaged at a school board meeting the evening it was broadcast. [...]

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All Hopped Up (and Ready To Go): April playlist and audio file

Shame on the Senate (the Senate as Sham)

Tony Fletcher — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:05:21 +0000

“I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither.” Gabby Giffords. Yesterday was an awful day to pretend to have faith in the American political system. In the wake of overwhelming support for the mildest of common sense gun laws – an expansion [...]

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Shame on the Senate (the Senate as Sham)

Boston Blues

Tony Fletcher — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:00:26 +0000

The last time I had this many people check in on my well-being was September 11, 2001. I guess a lot of friends know that I have run the Boston Marathon and that I talk so highly of it. I first ran it in 2010, and it was one of the absolute very best days [...]

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Boston Blues

Sonoma Winter WINEland 7: Mazzocco

Tony Fletcher — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:33:31 +0000

(Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6) After our trip to Ridge, we still had time to squeeze in one more winery on the Winter WINEland tour before the supposed 4pm cut-off. Back at Taft, earlier in the day, we’d been recommended to visit Mazzocco, which was fortuitously located almost next [...]

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Sonoma Winter WINEland 7: Mazzocco

The Day That Margaret Thatcher Dies

Tony Fletcher — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:47:19 +0000

Since moving upstate in 2005 I have tried desperately hard to become a better person. In the nature of the Woodstock environment, I have taken up zazen at the local Buddhist monastery, and along the way, I have tried to always see the good in others, tried not to be consumed by negative energy, tried to [...]

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The Day That Margaret Thatcher Dies

Background Check. A Meeting with Our Congressman on Gun Legislation

Tony Fletcher — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:58:58 +0000

On Wednesday April 3, along with Nick Alba, from the Shandaken Democrats, and Marybeth Mills, proprietor of the renowned local restaurant Peekamoose and a mother of small children, I met with my Congressman, Chris Gibson, at his new office in Kingston, to discuss the issue of gun legislation. Nick Alba had set up the meeting with [...]

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Background Check. A Meeting with Our Congressman on Gun Legislation