Job Fair for 2019 Summer Meet at Saratoga Race Course in June
SARATOGA SPRINGS - The New York Racing Association, Inc. will host a two-day job fair on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 for those interested in working at Saratoga Race Course during the 2019 summer meet.
The job fair will be held for the second consecutive year at the Embassy Suites at 86 Congress Street in downtown Saratoga Springs. Interviews will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The annual meet at Saratoga supports the employment of approximately 2,350 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers.
Opportunities at this year's job fair will include: hospitality ambassadors; hosts/hostesses; guest services; cashiers; parking attendants; Bets Squad representatives; white caps/ushers; box office; betting clerks; turf work/general labor; security guards; porters; cooks; waitstaff; bussers; merchandise clerks; concessions supervisors and cashiers; cleaners; and warehouse workers. Positions are available with NYRA, Integrated Staffing, Centerplate, American Maintenance and Union Square Events.
Applicants must be at least 15 years of age with New York State Certified Working Papers; prospective security guards, cashiers and betting clerks must be at least 18 years of age to apply. Security guards must have a high school degree or GED to apply. All applicants must bring a photo ID and social security card or I-9 alternative.
The 2019 Saratoga meet begins on Thursday, July 11 and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 2.
For more information about Saratoga Race Course, visit NYRA.com/Saratoga.
Sit-down Chat with Elliott Masie
Elliott Masie is on the move, setting the GPS satellites to dancing across the constellation.
Masie left his home in Saratoga Springs and landed in Florida to deliver a keynote address. Two days later, he was in Shanghai to give a speech to 3,000 people about how the Internet affects daily learning. Next week, he will return to the island of his youth and take his seat at Radio City Music Hall to watch the 73rd Annual Tony Awards unfold. Two of productions with which he has been involved– “The Prom,” and “The Cher Show” – have collectively been nominated for 10 awards.
“I like to do different things. The two things that drive me? Learning and curiosity,” says Masie, who moved in the mid-1990s to Saratoga Springs, where he built the 10,000 square foot Masie Center - a facility that serves as an international Learning lab and focused on how organizations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce.
“The Tony Awards are a fun, big deal and it’s an honor to be nominated. We’re excited and we’ll be there. Tuxes and gowns. And win or lose there’s a party afterwards,” says Masie, who with his wife, Cathy, has been involved in theater as a producing partner for several years.
“We’ve always been theater audience fans and along the way we thought: Oh, I wonder what it would be like to be involved in a production. We started modestly and it kept growing. We grew more intrigued. And what happens in life is you do one thing and you suddenly start to hear from others.”
Among their show credits are “Kinky Boots,” “An American in Paris,” and “SpongeBob The Broadway Musical.”
This year, “The Prom” has received seven Tony nominations, including Best Musical. The show tells the story of an Indiana high schooler barred from bringing her girlfriend to the prom —and the group of eccentric Broadway folk who infiltrate the town in an earnest, misguided attempt to fight the injustice, according to Playbill.
Masie has taken his turn as a producer meeting fans of the musical at the stage door following performances. “The reason ‘The Prom’ is so important to us is that every day there’s an LGBTQ kid who comes to the stage door to say ‘hi’ to one of our actors and who then whispers in their ear: ‘that’s my story too,’ and often they’ll say, ‘and I’m now telling my parents my reality.’”
By his own definition, Masie is a researcher, educator, analyst and speaker focused on the changing world of the workplace, learning and technology.
He is the editor of “Learning Trends by Elliott Masie,” an Internet newsletter read by over 52,000 business executives worldwide, the author of 12 books, and over the past 35 years estimates he has presented programs, courses and speeches to more than 2 million professionals around the world. With his wife, Cathy, he had presented annual learning conferences in Florida whose past keynote speakers have included Bill Clinton and Laura Bush, Colin Powell, Anderson Cooper and Michelle Obama, among others.
“At The Masie Center, we are a research and a learning organization that looks at how employees learn to their jobs, no matter what the job is. How are jobs changing? What new skills are employees needing to succeed in the world?” Masie explains. “We’re best known for having explored and advocated that the role of the Internet and of technology could be one of the things that could help people learn.”
Masie is credited in some circles as being among the earliest pioneers to use the term ‘eLearning.’ In the mid-1990s, at the Saratoga Springs City Center, he staged the first-ever conference in the world on elearning.
“At the center (in Saratoga Springs) we host seminars and sessions, so probably every month we’ll get 30 to 40 corporate leaders from around the world coming in.”
The $2 million facility is equipped with workstations, tablets and a platform network providing learning examples from organizations around the globe. There are dedicated rooms that function as virtual teaching studios and allow for audio, web-based and broadband video collaboration, as well as a wide range of mobile devices, video cameras and new and emerging robotic technologies.
“I feel very fortunate that we’ve been successful in different places and also been able to make a social difference, support things like Franklin Community Center,” he says.
Earlier this month, Cathy and Elliott Masie gifted a $50,000 donation to the Franklin Community Center to support the center, whose programs and services provide, among other things, a food pantry, a free after-school prevention program for city School District children, and affordable housing for low-income individuals, as well as assistance with furniture, clothing, and household needs.
Masie was one of the prominent voices raised against siting an emergency homeless shelter at the nearby Shelters of Saratoga properties on the west side, whose residential properties provide affordable housing options for those in need.
“We were one of the first new commercial buildings there when we built on the corner of Franklin and Washington and we did it knowing and being supportive of our neighbors being Shelters of Saratoga and Franklin Community Center, so we were excited about putting a business there,” Masie says. “It was an interesting and difficult moment when the proposal was made to put the Code Blue right there in that space. We’ve always supported the shelter, but that was not the best place to do it, for lots of reasons. Do you want to put a shelter that’s open to anybody right next to a place where there are some pretty strict and good rules with people in recovery and transition?” he asks. “At the end of the day what were excited about is that there are a lot of entities – including the shelter and churches and what we see going on with the Mercy House and for building some creative solutions and alternatives coming downstream. “
“What drives me is two words: learning and curiosity. I worry when I see folks who go into business on the assumption or the theory that they’re going to get rich. Some people do and some people don’t. But most of the people who have been really successful, they didn’t do it to get rich. They did it because they had a curiosity, a desire to change something, to solve a problem. I think curiosity and learning are the two key words. And you have to be a good business person and not give it away.”
His dream gig?
“There are really two things. The first is I would love to be a conductor on a railroad train. Someday I’m going to have to find a way to do it. I think that would be incredible. The bigger dream gig is to look at how you creatively solve problems that are in front of us which involves people having to cooperate, collaborate, communicate. Look at an alternative way of doing something; Is there a different way?
“I’m drawn to seek how we create things in a place where people can communicate and collaborate. Even if we disagree, we can listen to each other, we can resolve problems. I love addressing things that are complicated and complex. And I think the other piece is you want to help make the world a slightly better place.”
City OK's Sale of Bottled Water by Kids at Saratoga Race Course
SARATOGA SPRINGS – This week, city Accounts Commissioner John Franck announced a minor track exemption would be in effect this summer aimed at “offering entrepreneurial opportunities to the youth of our community,” by allowing kids to continue the longtime practice of selling bottles of water and pencils outside Saratoga Race Course.
“We’re continuing what we started last year, to encourage minors to become entrepreneurs,” explained Franck, who during his childhood years had sold pencils outside of the racecourse.
The prevailing practice of kids selling water for a buck-a-bottle to patrons outside the entry gates of the Saratoga Race Course faced elimination at the close of the 2017 summer season when the city’s then-Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen said he has fielded numerous complaints connected with the issue. Code Enforcement officer Jack Donnelly supplied a letter that cited numerous complaints involving kids obstructing traffic, older folks – not just kids – selling and refilling multiple coolers of water, and families arguing with one another about their “spot,” to the point where the police had to intervene.
The act was never legal to begin with, with no sales tax charted, and no licensing involved. Vendors are typically required to obtain a license to sell their wares in Saratoga Springs. A 1934 ordinance exempts from the city’s licensing ordinance only the sale of milk, periodicals and newspapers.
“Unless the City Council acts otherwise, this illegal activity is not going to take place in 2018,” Mathiesen said, in late 2017.
A few months later, the council, led by Accounts Commissioner John Franck, worked on a proposal that delivered a compromise to allow the kids to sell water, but prohibit certain areas - such as the publicly congested sidewalk near the main gates on Union Avenue – where they may do so. Prior to the start of the 2018 meet, the City Council passed a resolution to allow a minor track exemption as part of the city's Peddling and Vending ordinance.
The exemptions specify designated areas and times where water and pencils may be sold and parents or guardians must file an application with the city’s Department of Accounts to register. The city will subsequently issue an ID badge, which must be worn by the minor at all times. For more information on how to do so, visit the city’s offices at 15 Vanderbilt Ave., call 518-587-3550, or go to: saratoga-springs.org.
Annie & the Hedonists “Bring It On Home” with Album Release Party at Caffe Lena May 31
SARATOGA SPRINGS – A rollicking piano, nicely harnessed by a sturdy rhythm section, channels alongside the vocal sass of Annie Rosen and launches into Tommy Johnson’s 1928 “Big Road Blues,” introducing the sixth album by Capital/Saratoga region favorites Annie and the Hedonists.
Produced by Grammy award winner, Joel Moss and recorded at the legendary Dreamland Studio in Woodstock, the new album - “Bring it On Home” – features 12 vintage blues and jazz tracks from the 1920s through the 1950s, as well as a trio of original contemporary blues songs.
On Friday May 31, the band will stage a record release party at Caffe Lena.
The Hedonists - comprised of core members Annie and Jonny Rosen, Donald Young and Peter Davis - are accompanied by drummer Jerry Marotta, who spent two decades Jerry dividing his time between recording and touring with Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Tears for Fears, Joan Armatrading, Paul McCartney, and countless others. With “Bring it On Home,” the band is amiably assisted by guest musicians John Sebastian (yes, that one), Dave Davies (no, not that one), and Randy Reinhart.
“This record differs from the other five,” says guitarist Jonny Rosen, “in that we decided to focus on two related genres of music, as opposed to our previous albums which were an eclectic mix of folk, country, bluegrass, blues and jazz.”
The 12-song release features tasty renditions of a mid-20th century Parisian waltz (“Under Paris Skies”), a cornet and trombone mating that weaves through the sultry 1924 tune “Prescription for the Blues,” and a musical re-make of the Depression-Era protest song “The Panic Is Own,” whose updated lyrics include themes of the plight of the immigrant, the (lack of) gun control, rising oceans, Russian hackings and the ever-widening gap of economic inequality in a new world.
“Bring it On Home” also features a smattering of original tunes – from the Davis and Moss co-penned 12-bar blues femme homage “Bring It On Home To Mama,” to the love lost sorrow-cholic “Long Distance Call,” and “Who’d be knocking (Knocking on my door/ so late at night)” penned by Davies about one particularly strange pre-dawn awakening when the songwriter was startled from his slumber to find a stranger standing over his bed.
Annie & the Hedonists album release concert will stake place 8 p.m. Friday May 31 at Caffé Lena, 47 Phila St. Special guests: Randy Reinhart and Dave Davies. For reservations or more information, call 518-583-0022 or visit Caffe Lena. org.
City Adopts Resolution in Support of Paris Climate Agreement
SARATOGA SPRINGS – In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the City Council on May 21 adopted a resolution in support of the Paris Climate Agreement.
“This resolution represents the city’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, in which nation’s around the world recognize the threat of global warming and are committed to take action,“ said Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan, who introduced the resolution during the City Council’s meeting Tuesday night.
“From the Spa Solar Park to the in-process plans to ensure city buildings are more energy efficient, the City Council has already taken a variety of proactive steps that recognize and address our concerns about climate change,” said Madigan, adding the future-looking statement that with the city’s 2020 budget, she intends to increase the city’s financial commitment to sustainability - specifically referencing a desire to increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations on city-owned property as well as modernizing the city’s fleet of vehicles.
The Spa Solar Park - a 7,992 panel, 2.5-megawatt solar array built on the city's former Weibel Avenue landfill – was energized in August 2017. As of February 2019, 3.82 million kilowatt hours were generated providing more than $66,000 of budgetary savings for the city.
The resolution, Madigan said, commits the city to continue its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. “The resolution references the creation of a Climate Action Plan and we are currently having internal discussions on how best to proceed,” she said.
The council subsequently unanimously also approved a Local Law to establish a sustainable energy loan program in the city, as well as authorizing the mayor to sign a municipal agreement with the energy improvement corporation ("Energize NY Open C-PACE Financing Program").
The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015, according to the United Nations Treaty Collection. In June 2017, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord - the procedures of which may begin in November 2019. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation aimed at preventing Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.
New York has mandated a statewide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050.
Local Idol Needs Your Vote
“Oh my goodness. thank you thank you THANK YOU. top 3. holy moly guacamole. I hope to make you proud next week. Thank you for believing in me. thank you for seeing something in me that I didn’t see myself.”
– Instagram post from Madison VanDenburg, after learning she is
one of three finalists on ABC’s “American Idol.”
ALBANY – Her greatest passion is singing.
Seventeen-year-old singer/songwriter Madison VanDenburg has played the piano and guitar most of her life. The classically trained 11th-grade student at Shaker High School first realized the promise of her talents performing karaoke as a 10-year-old alongside the sounds of Celine Dion – whom she calls one of her biggest musical inspirations.
VanDenburg recently released her debut single, is currently writing new songs for her first EP and performs live across the Capital Region. Sunday May 19 may prove to the biggest moment, if not the most memorable of the young singer’s career when she performs as a finalist on ABC’s “American Idol.” And like fellow “American Idol” contestants Laine Hardy – of Livingston, Louisiana, and Alejandro Aranda - of Pomona, California, returned to her native roots this week.
Her homecoming tour kicked off with a Pep Rally at Shaker High School and continued with a parade and performance at The Crossings of Colonie, where she and played guitar in front of a supportive Capital Region crowd who chanted her name. The Capital District Transportation Authority also got involved by providing transportation shuttle service to concert goers, and Stewart’s Shops introduced a chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream flavor in her name.
“As a singer, your instrument is yourself. More important than being on ‘Idol,’ is being a whole, authentic person,” says Clifton Park’s Modern Day Music vocal coach Lesley O’Donnell, who has taught VanDenburg and Moriah Formica - who appeared in 2017 on NBC’s “The Voice.”
“Both have been like the little sisters I never had,” says O’Donnell, whose interview appears in the Home & Garden edition of Simply Saratoga magazine, a Saratoga TODAY publication that is available May 16. “Keeping the whole self - healthy and grounded - is first and foremost.”
The national singing competition show “American idol” first broadcast in 2002. Some of the show’s previous winners have gone on to extensive show biz careers - Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, among them. Adam Lambert was a runner-up during the eighth season of American Idol in 2009.
The season finale airs 8 p.m. Sunday. A nationwide vote will be held during the live finale simulcast to determine who will be crowned the next American Idol. Weezer, Carrie Underwood, Kool + The Gang and all three Idol judges - Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, are expected to perform during the season finale, according to Billboard Magazine. Dan + Shay are slated to perform “All to Myself” and “Speechless” with VanDenburg.
On Sunday: A Remembrance and Celebration of the Life of Greg Haymes
ALBANY – Greg Haymes flipped through the memories in his brain of the earliest days of the band Blotto. Their recording of the tongue-in-cheek song "I Wanna Be A Lifeguard" had been picked up by legendary DJ Vin Scelsa of WNEW-FM, was played on the Dr. Demento Show, and the song’s accompanying video was shown by MTV on its first day of broadcast in 1981.
“The Blotto concept was always about the party,” he remembered in the days preceding the band’s return to Saratoga Springs in 2015 for a New Year’s Eve gig at the City Center.
“Back in our heyday we would have beach parties, pajama parties, and those Halloween parties which were called Blottoween.” He had performed onstage as everything from Dracula to Alfred E. Newman and a rhinestone-studded Elvis, to donning a blue dress with white polka dots and a blonde wig and taking the stage at a roller rink that would later become JB Scott’s Theater.
“That year we went dressed as the Go-Go’s and I went as Belinda Carlisle,” he said. “If you’re not enjoying yourself on stage, how can you expect anyone in the audience to have fun?”
Haymes will be remembered by some in the MTV video logs as Sarge Blotto – the stage name the adopted with the band Blotto in the 1980s, and recalled by many others - particularly those in this region’s music community - as Greg Haymes: writer, poet, musician, artist.
His bands included Blotto, the Star Spangled Washboard Band, Ramblin’ Jug Stompers, and others; His artwork was displayed across the Capital Region - Firlefanz Gallery, Albany Center Gallery and Spectrum 8 Theatres, among them, and for several decades his words graced the printed pages and websites of the Albany Times Union, the Daily Gazette, Metroland, and most recently Nippertown.com.
Born in Buffalo in 1951, Haymes died April 10 from complications of metastatic lung cancer. He was 68.
A remembrance and celebration of his life will be held 4-6 p.m. Sunday, May 19 at The Egg, at Empire State Plaza. Those wishing to attend are requested to RSVP with name and the number of people attending at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Doris Day: Renowned Actress and Singer was a Dancer at First
Doris Day and Gene Nelson in the 1951 film “Lullaby of Broadway.” Day, a 1940s singer-turned-actress enjoyed a 20-year career in films, from the 1940s til the ‘60s, and starred in the TV sitcom, The Doris Day Show, from 1968 to 1973. Born Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff in April 1922, she died May 13 at the age of 97.
The poster of the film, which is from Denmark, is one of more than 100 different posters from the Mike Kaplan collection on display at The National Museum of Dance in the new exhibit “Art of the Dance: Posters from Hollywood’s Golden Age from The Mike Kaplan Collection.”
“You know, it’s not as well known that Doris Day wanted to be a dancer at first, but she got into a car accident (in 1937) going to Hollywood to dance. She injured her leg, recuperated for a year, and at that time began singing,” Kaplan said, following the news of Day’s passing.
Kaplan, who attended the opening of the exhibition in Saratoga Springs on May 10, estimates he has 3,000 to 4,000 posters in his collection. The National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame is located at 99 So. Broadway.
Under Review: This Week’s Developments – City Hall, Affordable Housing Complex, Parking Garage
SARATOGA SPRINGS - The city’s Design Review Commission is this week considering a historic review of renovations to City Hall.
The structure, which opened in 1871, was struck by lightning in August 2018, resulting in extensive fire and water related damage to the structure. The majority of city business has since been temporarily relocated to the Vanderbilt Avenue recreation facility.
Improvements are being made to the infrastructure of the building – from electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning, to communication, security systems and offices. A state mandated expansion, or additionalal court room, is also in the works.
The restoration and renovation work extends across all the building’s floors, including the upper-level Saratoga Music Hall. This week, the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation released a statement to say it does not support the proposed change to the vestibule that alters the entry into the interior of City Hall and does not find the proposed treatment of the Music Hall appropriate.
Department of Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco is expected to provide an update of the City Hall renovation project at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Last November, city officials reported that the cost to reconstruct and restore City Hall is anticipated to carry an approximate $11.2 million price tag, with insurance proceeds expected to cover roughly half of the total project cost.
Intrada
The city’s Planning Board, meanwhile, is considering a site plan modification to an approved multi-family residential project at 247 Washington St.
Named “Intrada,” the multi-unit affordable housing facility will be comprised of four buildings and more than 150 residential units. It will be located on Washington Street by the Saratoga Springs train station. The 19-acre property was purchased for $3.7 Million by the Vecino Group from Saratoga Route 29 Plaza Ltd.
Newly proposed modifications presented to the Planning Board include: screened fencing to provide privacy for patios, the addition of an egress door on the east side of building 1 on Washington St., a reduction in the number of parking lot poles – from 21 poles to 16 poles, bollard lights – from 31 poles to 11 poles, and decorative street lights – from 17 to 16. The landscaping plan was also reduced from the planting of 98 trees to 75 trees, and shrubs – from 198 to 159.
Flat Rock Centre Parking Structure
Hundreds of pages of prepared documents pertaining to the City Center parking garage project have been submitted to both the Planning Board and the DRC. Both Land Use Boards are staging an advisory discussion on the proposed parking structure.
Included among the documents is a letter submitted by assistant building inspector and zoning officer Patrick Cogan stating that while he recommends the city seek an advisory opinion from the DRC, such review would be non-binding, and that the proposed action is exempt from the provisions of the city’s Zoning ordinance and that it “may proceed without requirements for approvals from the city’s Land Use Boards.”
A second letter, submitted by Sustainable Saratoga, expresses concerns regarding the current design. Specifically, the organization cites that the structure would abut the Maple Avenue property line for over 200 feet and not be set back 50 feet from the property line of adjacent streets as recommended in the Zoning ordinance, potentially creating a “dead and unproductive street life.” Additional concerns include: that the first floor of the parking garage should include commercial and civic spaces, and that the pedestrian bridge designed to cross over Maple Avenue is both, undesirable and unnecessary.
David Cassidy Celebration 2019 to Be Staged May 19-20
Last year, several dozen David Cassidy fans – some of whom embarked on their journey from a few thousand miles away – descended on the Spa City last year to celebrate the life of David Cassidy. The popular singer died in November 2017 at the age of 67.
The inaugural event, billed as “A Celebration of David Cassidy’s Life,” was initiated by Cassidy fan Samantha Cox, from her home in Indiana. “I chose Saratoga because he was into horse racing and he mentioned it as his favorite place in the world,”said Cox, adding that she took on as her New Year’s Resolution a mission to do something to honor Cassidy’s life.
Cassidy appeared on The Partridge Family TV series, which aired on ABC from 1970 to 1974, and subsequently launched a solo music career. He charted more than one dozen Top 100 hits in the early 1970s, both as a solo artist and in his role as a member of the Partridge Family. Cassidy’s passion for equines frequently brought him to Saratoga, where he bought his first yearling and where in 2001 he purchased a home.
This year, a gathering to honor Cassidy will be held May 19-20.
Sunday May 19
10 a.m. - Re-dedication of the David Cassidy Benches at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Union Avenue, Saratoga Springs.
6 p.m. to midnight - Author Johnny Ray Miller will sign copies of his book “When We're Singin',” and will be joined by Michael V. Pomarico – the multi-daytime Emmy Award winner who for over 27 years directed the soap opera “All My Children.” Live music will be performed by 45rpm and the event will include a silent auction. Up for auction: a boat once owned by David Cassidy, donated by his friends Dr. Jerry Bilinski and his wife, Darlene. Horse trainer Gary Contessa is also scheduled to perform on stage for a couple of numbers. Location: King Neptune's Pub, 1 Kurosaka Lane, Lake George. Tickets: $35.
Monday May 20
Noon to 4 p.m. at King Neptune's Pub - Johnny Ray Miller and Michael V. Pomarico will return for a brunch catered by King Neptune's Pub. The celebration of David Cassidy's life will take place with people giving testimonials of how much David meant to them, live and on video. The silent auctions will also continue. Tickets: $50. Proceeds will go to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Columbia Greene Humane Society, Adirondack Save A Stray.
For more information on all events and to purchase tickets, go to: www.kingneptunespub.com.
