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Parrish

Maxfield Parrish; as seen in Claverack (NY).

Mystery fire

These remains of what appears to have been a recent, intense, but (mercifully) contained fire can be seen from the public parking lot in the 600 block of Union Street, adjacent to the former Elks Club.

Trees, furniture and a post of a porch attached to that building have been either badly scorched or reduced to rubble. The frame of what must have been either a container (like the one at left in the topmost photo above) or some other type of storage unit is also visible.

The fire occurred in a paved area which extends from the back of the former Elks site, which was acquired in recent months by Eleanor Ambos. A good deal of antiques and other unusual objets are stored outdoors alongside the building.

As this site has yet to see any news coverage of a recent fire at that location, anyone with information about what occurred (and when) is encouraged to either leave a comment or send an email with details.

The Steinbrenner exception

They say to speak no ill of the dead... But I’m gonna exercise a rare exception here for an unusually obnoxious and even destructive character.

Amid the understandable nostalgia for a bona fide legend, and the bemused reminiscences about his more benign foibles, it may largely be ignored that Steinbrenner also had a pretty seedy side to him—bad behavior which went well beyond amusing.

For example:

http://www.time.com/time/2007/presidential_pardons/7.html

“Indicted on 14 criminal counts on April 5, 1974, the owner of the New York Yankees plead guilty to obstruction of justice and conspiring to make illegal contributions to President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. Steinbrenner, a major Republican donor, allegedly knew the money he was donating was not going through regular election procedures.”

(GOP Saint Ronnie pardoned him.)

And:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/74260-8-reasons-why-bud-selig-should-be-fired-today

“If you don’t remember, Steinbrenner was banned for life from Major League Baseball by then commissioner Fay Vincent for conspiring against Dave Winfield. Steinbrenner supposedly paid a known gambler and Mafia member to dig up dirt on the Hall of Famer.”

And:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,961112-2,00.html#ixzz0taLc3jYn

“Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner aimed RICO against investment partners whom he charged with selling him their interests in a joint venture without informing him of all necessary facts. Dubious charges of racketeering are especially common in takeover attempts.”

Then of course, on the baseball side, there are lists like these:

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/steinbrenner.html

Steinbrenner's idea of leadership was to call up his PR flack Howard Rubenstein and issue a stinging press release about his own team's lackluster play, intended to motivate his players to greater heights. Unfortunately that actually seem to work for him all too often.

Now, one can’t begrudge Yankee fans their sadness for Steinbrenner's passing... After all, he’s been a force of nature in baseball for many fans' entire lives. But there is a legitimate case to be made that the guy was bad for the game. He was committed to winning, yes—but mainly in the two least creative and skillful ways imaginable, by throwing money at problems and throwing tantrums.

I readily admit that George Steinbrenner enriched the lives even of Sox fans, by providing a constant source of both amusement and amazement at his antics. He gave us a bogeyman to rail against, which probably deflected the amount of venom we aimed at individual Yankee players.

Steinbrenner’s comparatively gentler later years remind me of that classic line delivered by John Huston from Chinatown:

Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

Thanks, Athens

Saturday's fireworks from the other side of the river, as viewed from upper Warren Street in Hudson (NY).

Font designed by the Sun

Spotted in Hudson (NY).

Typo Phile: Quailty is job one

It's raining

Latrine

Illusory optics

Puddle—Hudson (NY) alley.

Making the rounds (7/4)

ANNANDALE » Roberta Smith files an extensive review of two shows—the Eisenberg collection, and a Philippe Parreno retrospective—at Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies. 

CLAVERACK » Speaking of music, local resident Melora Creager of Rasputina was profiled in The Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago.

HUDSON » And speaking of reviews, a big New York City publication is said to be readying a piece on the Hudson music “scene,” with Dan Bunny among the reluctantly-featured scenemakers.

NEW LEBANON » June 25th » A minor accident caused some local law enforcement to discover some unusual cookies in a Nassau man’s car.

MARYLAND & HUDSON » June 28th » Cumberland, Maryland forestry expert Bernie Zlomek compares the views from Green Ridge along the Potomac to those overlooking the river in his hometown of Hudson.

TEXAS & HUDSON » July 3rd » An obituary for NASA engineer and Hudson native William Dayton Dodge, Jr., appeared in a San Antonio newspaper.

HILLSDALE & HUDSON July 4th » A horticultural piece in The Wall Street Journal by Hillsdale resident Bart Ziegler features bearded irises in the garden of his neighbor Peter Cipkowski, plantings which have been handed down to him all the way from his grandmother’s Hudson garden.

ATHENS & HUDSON » July 10th » Public tours of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse will also take place Saturday, as well as on August 14th, September 11th, and October 9th. Details are pending at the Society’s website. The annual Athens street fest is also next Saturday, with fireworks at 10 pm (easily visible from Promenade Park in Hudson); the raindate is Sunday.

RHINEBECK » July 31st » Chelsea Clinton will get married at the former Astor estate off River Road.

COLUMBIA COUNTY » July 1st » Ken Flood, the Planning Director for the County, tells Mid-Hudson News that “a large portion of the jobs in his county are in the tourism industry,” pegging the number at 6.5%, which actually sounds like an underestimate. But Flood says this “percentage is much higher than any of the other counties in the Hudson Valley.” Wonder how those numbers are put together.

Land of the Free V

Hudson (NY). Submitted by Bob Mechling.

Note: Steve Patch passed along a link to this site by Norm Magnusson for many more hours of appreciating our freedom.

Dales Bridge Road