All Over Albany

9/11 rememberances led to reflection and soul-searching, Porco is up for appeal, it's almost bear hunting season

There were 9/11 memorials everywhere yesterday and people stopped to remember how that day changed their lives. [YNN] [TU] [Daily Gazette] [Fox23]

Vendors in NYC sold tawdry souvenirs. [TU]

Ten years later, Muslims still face fear and prejudice. [Saratogian]

That giant 9/11 memorial sculpture in Saratoga still hasn't found a home, but the new monument in Troy has been revealed. [Saratogian] [YNN]

Chris Porco's murder appeal will be partially based on statements his critically injured mother made to paramedics and police. [TU]

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My Exit: The intern edition

It's Monday, and that means tonight is My Exit night on WEXT. You'll need to catch the show online at exit977.org or through the HD2 stream of WMHT-FM. WEXT lost its antenna and power to its transmitter due to Irene. Update: They're back on the air!

This week, it's My Exit: The intern edition. Three WEXT interns take their turn and the mic.
Here's one of the folks you'll hear from.

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Looks from Discard Avant Garb 2011

Here's a great video piece from this past weekend's "Discard Avant Garb" show at the Grand Street Arts by Bryan Thomas. There were some really good (and crazy) looks this year.

[via Hidden City]

What to do with a junk car?

A question from AOA Greg:

We have a 1996 Corolla for which we're trying to find a final home. It's been a great car, but it's finally reached that point where the repairs would cost more than it's worth. (Steve at Larry's Foreign Auto advised us it was time to find a new car. Yep, his advice probably cost him work. Yet another reason why Steve is the best.)

So we're thinking there are three possibilities here:
1. Try to the sell the car on Craigslist. Maybe there's someone who'd want it. Might be tough, because it needs significant repair and it's old. Not the option we'd prefer.
2. Sell the car to a junk car service.
3. Donate the car to a charity.

Our preference is to donate the car -- sure, we'd like the money, but the sum would probably not be large. If we can help out a charity, great.

So, suggestions for local junk car services or charities looking for car donations?

Got a suggestion for Greg and Mrs. Greg? Please share!

Crowd picks for Tournament of Pizza 2011

Could there be a TOP without Pizza King?

Crowd voting for the 2011 Tournament of Pizza field ended last night -- and the results are in.

Here's how the brackets shape up so far...

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1 Englewood

The historic mansion at 1 Englewood Place in Albany (near Washington Park, you've definitely seen it) was sold for $275,000 at auction last week. [TU Places and Spaces]

- Mon 3:03 PM - 2 comments

The Pondshiners

Recently over at The Morning News, Albany resident Tobias Seamon writes about the "lost Pondshiners" -- a reclusive clan of people who once lived in Columbia County:

New York's Hudson Valley abounds in spooks, from the wailing Maid of Kaaterskill Falls, to the dreaded Horseman of Leeds, to ongoing rumors of a poltergeist in the Education Building in Albany. These, along with more familiar specters like Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman, prompted historian Maud Wilder Goodwin to write in 1919 that the Hudson River was "endowed [with] more of the supernatural...than haunts any other waterway in America." ...

But when it comes to aboriginal mysteries, the Hudson Valley has almost as many flesh-and-blood frights as it does phantoms. Strange backwoods clans have been found in hollows throughout the region, from the ornery so-called Jackson Whites in the Ramapo Mountains, to the Eagle Nesters--supposedly descended from Indians and escaped slaves--perched above Kingston, to the exceptionally blond-haired Van Guilders around Glens Falls. But maybe the most peculiar of these communities was the wild Pondshiners of the Taconic Hills in southern Columbia County.

The backstory is wild (in a few different ways). And highlights what a radically different place this area -- and the nation -- not even a century ago. (Here's the chapter about "The Frightened People" referenced from Grey Riders.)

Tobias Seamon will be at St. Rose October 27 as part of the Frequency North series. His latest book is The Emperor's Toy Chest, which "explores history, mythology, fantasy, and the magical borderlands between."

photo: Leif Zurmuhlen