'Giok'

I remember that concert at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady when Peerie Willie Johnson toured with the Boys of the Lough. And he playing on the very stage from which he'd heard live broadcasts all those years ago. Another magical night.

And closer to the end of an era than we knew. The radio station he had listened to from the Shetlands, WGY, was then still owned by General Electric Co.. Fifty thousand watts. And time was you could receive it in some faraway places when the atmospherics were right.

That station had nurtured a host of country and jazz artists (among others) when radio was live.

Now the thing belong to a mega-corporation (Clear Channel), is programmed from God-knows-where with right-wing drivel, and has as much local flavor as cheap beer. Sad.

Cool beans: If this thread survives another day or so, I'll post "I Can't Spell Schenectady," the lyrics at least.

BTW the real Mayor Stratton's dad - mayor himself and then congressman - was one of the first broadcast interviews I ever did. A gifted politician...way too gifted for a couple of wet-behind-the-ears college radio wannabes ! If Brian can do as well as his dad, Schenectady MAY thrive again (I wouldn't have his job for all the Martin Guitars in Nazareth PA).

Current folk venues within thirty miles of Schenectady: Old Songs, Caffe Lena, the Eighth Step (homeless at present) among others.

- George