GREENWICH – Bob Gustafson was 38 years old when Macaulay Culkin stared back at him from the video store shelves, a look of shock on the child’s face after being accidentally left “Home Alone” by his family on their Christmas vacation.

Gustafson, who today is 67, is old enough to remember when the Video Home System videocassette format – that is, VHS - was first introduced in North America and the subsequent VHS vs. Betamax format wars that followed.  During his time in the industry, he’s seen the bricks-and-mortar retail delivery of movies accompanied by the advent of things like Netflix and YouTube, Hulu and Amazon Prime, Thumb Drives, DVDs, Blu-ray, Digital Download, Cable TV’s Video-on-Demand, and a myriad of other movie streaming services.

“In June it will be 30 years since I started this,” says Gustafson flanked by the 10,000 or so titles inside his shop, Video Korner II. He estimates those titles are pretty evenly split between DVD’s and VHS tapes, which he still rents as two movies for two days at a rental cost of two dollars.  But, the clock is ticking; those days coming to an end.

After 30 years, he says, “I’m going to retire.” He was asked if he’s got any set plans following his retirement.  “Not a ding-dang thing,” he says with a laugh. “I’m going to take it easy for a while.”

Gustafson anticipates soon putting the store and the land he owns which it sits upon up for sale. He says he’s already got a person who is interested in the property, and that the proposal does not include the continuation of a video store.  

Gustafson first got in to the business in 1990 when he and a partner opened a 500-square-foot store at the far end of the village in Greenwich. The partners started their business with 500 movies and built our own shelves. A few years later, Gustafson bought his co-owner him out of the partnership and has been operating the business on his own ever since. In 2000, he relocated the business to Main Street, bought the land and constructed a free-standing building more than six times the size of the original store. He re-named it Video Korner II. Business was booming, and he says he paid off his 20-year mortgage in 4-1/2 years.   

“How many video stores are even left in this country today?” Gustafson asks. 

In July 2000, Billboard Magazine reported there were nearly 28,000 video rental storefronts in the U.S. By 2004, video rental lender Blockbuster was at its peak, boasting about 9,000 stores globally. Today, a Blockbuster store in the city of Bend, Oregon is the only one which remains. In December 2017, financial news and opinion company 24/7 Wall St. published an article on rapidly changing industries, and reported that about 86% of the 15,300 video rental stores that were operating in 2007 had, by a decade later, been shuttered.

 “I have people tell me they watch them on their telephone. How do you compete against that?” asks Gustafson, who despite the changing video retail industry says the state of the industry has nothing to do with his moving on. Simply, the time has come for him to retire.

“It’s time. It’s been the best job I ever had; there’s nothing like being your own boss.”  

As far as the movie titles and all those VHS tapes, Gustafson says he’s not sure what will happen with the inventory. For now, he’s letting his customers know of his future plans are and putting together a list of titles they’re interested in purchasing when a sale of the location is finalized.   

Video Korner II is located at 40 Main St., Greenwich, and is open 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — It was the second Sunday of the new decade, and Tulane Stadium in New Orleans was filled with more than 80,000 people. Jack Casson was one of them.

“There were about 12 of us, all ad agency people,” recalls Casson, of that Super Bowl IV week a half-century ago.

“The year before we all went down to Miami for Super Bowl III when Joe Namath and the Jets won,” he says. “In New Orleans we went down about a week before the game to play some golf, but the weather was just terrible. It got up to 60 degrees for gametime, but that was the highest reading we had for the whole week.”

The Super Bowl featured The American Football League champion Kansas City Chiefs - coached by Hank Stram and led by quarterback Len Dawson, against the National Football League champion Minnesota Vikings, who played under the direction of coach Bud Grant and boasted a defensive line nicknamed the “Purple People Eaters.”

By the time it was over that January day in 1970, the Chiefs had upset the Vikings by the score of 23–7.  It was the last Super Bowl that matched the AFL against the NFL – the two leagues merged into one at the conclusion of the game – and marked the last time the Chiefs appeared in the Super Bowl. That 50-year string will come to an end this Sunday, when the Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers.  

Casson settled in Saratoga in 1972. He grew up in New York City and in the late ‘60s worked for the Estee Lauder company. “I procured their promotional printing, mailings the stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bonwit Teller would do. Everything with Estee Lauder was high-end.”

While Super Bowl IV was memorable because of the Kansas City Chiefs upset, there was also a segment of the half-time activities that particularly stands out in Casson’s mind, attended the game with a dozen of his industry friends, one of whom had brought along a camera.   

Newspaper reports of the day document a “bizarre” military reenactment with booming cannons and thick blankets of smoke filing the air. There were marching bands. There was an on-field Mardi Gras parade. But, Casson and his friends captured something apparently out of the TV broadcast eye.  

"At halftime there was this big gondola with a Viking in it. It was kind of tied down but got loose when the wind took it. We saw it come right across (the endzone), right to our side, where we were like 8 or 10 rows up,” Casson says. “It got all tangled up. Some people got hurt. And several people were taken off in stretchers. I don’t know to what extent their injuries were..." 

The price of his ticket: “Twenty dollars! Now? forget it,” he says. Sports Illustrated reported this week that the average ticket for Super Bowl LIV is going for $6,390.  

“See, back then everybody could afford it. You didn’t have to be a big money-maker. The expense would be flying there, or getting transportation,” Casson says.

“I used to know a number of the (New York football) Giants in the ‘60s. Back then they had second jobs. Dick Lynch was the cornerback and he worked for an outfit out on Long Island. They were promotional printers and I used to do some business with Dick in the off-season. Another player was Andy Robustelli - he was defensive end and an All-Pro, and he worked for the Fugazi Travel Agency in Manhattan. When he retired, he opened up his own travel agency out in Stamford, Connecticut where he lived. And Alex Webster, he coached the Giants and before that he was a fullback, he worked for an outfit that made printing plates for the printing industry. So, they all did that. We’d sit around a table at a restaurant in a private room and ask him questions about the game,” he says.

“Baseball was the same way. In the ‘50s, the teams would play doubleheaders on Sundays, so I would get on the subway, get off at River (Avenue), come up and there was Yankee Stadium,” Casson recalls. “I’d go in and sit in the right-center field bleachers. The ticket was 60 cents.  I mean, can you imagine?”

City Mayor Meg Kelly Delivers State of The City Address
Parking Garage • City Hall Opens • Firehouse • Green Belt

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Accompanied by the members of the City Council and city supervisors, Saratoga Springs Mayor Meg Kelly on Jan. 28 led the annual State of The City address. 

Kelly referenced challenges faced during last year’s SOTC address, the status of those challenges, and city goals in the new year.    

 “At that time, we were facing the results of the lightning strike of 2018 - an extraordinary event that tested us - took us out of the safety and comfort of our workplace and moved us into a gym,” Mayor Kelly said, recalling the results of a mid-August storm which caused extensive fire and water damage to City Hall. The building housed they city’s government and its court system. Workers were relocated to the Vanderbilt Avenue recreation center, and the city court to Lincoln Baths – quarters where each have remained since. 

 “This year, we are facing a more positive challenge: a smooth return to a repaired City Hall that has been renovated to meet the needs of city government in the year 2020.” City departments have notified the Department of Public Works that they would be prepared to move back into the building at the end of February. 

“We plan to begin our transition back into City Hall at the end of next month,” reported Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco, whose department spearheaded the renovation and restoration of the near 150-year-old building.  A final price tag is not yet known, but previous estimates placed the renovation/restoration costs at just over $11 million, and an anticipation that the city would recover $4 to $5 million of those costs via insurance.   

The “new” City Hall will feature upgraded plumbing and electrical, an HVAC system providing temperature controls throughout the building, the installation of lightning protection to ensure such a strike never happens again, and realized energy efficiencies with LED lighting and the removal of window air conditioning units, Scirocco said. 

Additionally, the Music Hall will be preserved and enhanced and once again host events, and in its renovation project the city satisfied the state mandate for a second hearing room and adequate court space for a second full-time City Court judge. 

With the recreation center used to house city business throughout 2019, the Recreation Department responded to the loss of its space by fostering relationships with the YMCA, Saratoga Springs Schools, St. Clements School, Spa Catholic High School and Gavin Park in Wilton to regroup and reestablish programs for children and adults, Mayor Kelly said. “Hats off and endless thanks to the employees of the City of Saratoga Springs.”

Highlighted achievements during 2019 and plans for 2020: 

• The East Side Fire Station, currently slated to be sited on Henning Rd., is closer to realization than any time in recent history. 

• The Geyser Road Trail project, idling since 2008, is ready for groundbreaking. The resolution of Lawsuits that had stalled have been resolved, allowing the project to move forward. The planning department led the work to secure the funding, complete the bidding process, and prepare the contract for its construction.

 • The Code Blue emergency homeless shelter has found a new temporary home on Adelphi Street, where it will be sited for two years. Through strong working relationships among city, county and Shelters of Saratoga (S.O.S.) leaders, Mayor Kelly said: “We expect long-term solutions to homelessness to be built upon these relationships.”

• The development of the City Center Parking Structure and Flat Rock Centre is underway. 

• As part of the Uniform Development Ordinance (UDO), the city is updating the zoning ordinance to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan adopted in 2015. The draft UDO was recently presented to the City Council and was the focus of three public workshops. “This is another very important project that will continue into 2020,” Kelly said. 

• Workforce Housing: The city facilitated the purchase of two workforce housing units through the city’s Workforce Housing Program. Regarding affordable housing, the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority broke ground on The Promenade affordable housing project at Stonequist. The project includes 63 affordable housing units – 18 townhouses, and 45 apartments; Pre-construction efforts on two new buildings with 24 units of affordable housing at the Jefferson Street Terraces are underway; A project on the west side - called Intrada - includes 158 affordable housing units, as well as over 10 acres for public recreation. Two of the four Intrada buildings were completed.

• Saratoga Collaborative to End Homelessness: Staff and public officials will participate in both the design and leadership teams during the first 100-day “sprint cycle” of the Saratoga Collaborative to End Homelessness. The project is spearheaded by Shelters of Saratoga and Presbyterian New England Congregational Church. During this sprint cycle, specific solutions will be designed, tested, and implemented.

• In 2019, the Building Department reports there was a 12% increase in permit applications compared to the previous year, with 16% more permits issued. Inspectors performed 2,410 inspections in 2019, an annual increase of 9% over 2018. 

• On Jan. 21, Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled his 2020-2021 Executive Budget. Among the items listed, Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) aid for the city of Saratoga Springs has been eliminated. In 2020, the city anticipated receiving $2.3 in VLT aid revenue, which equates to 5% of the city’s general operating budget. As a goal, the city aims to have that aid restored. 

 • This year, the Canfield Casino in Congress Park will celebrate its 150th anniversary. DPW is planning a celebration of the milestone. The City Historian announced it will present a program on April 29 titled: Convention Hall 1893 – 1965. The program, part of a new series called “Rec Talks,” is designed to encourage members of the community to share their Convention Hall stories
and experiences.

• Newly elected Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton reported the police department is currently staffed with 74 sworn police officers, including three recent academy graduates and four recruits in the current academy, and five sergeants currently deployed on military duty. The police department employs 17 civilian employees, including 11 dispatchers, three Parking Enforcement Officers - two of whom are also Animal Control Officers, and 2 employees for records management. The police department responded to 29,394 calls for service in 2019; The Saratoga Springs Fire Department is staffed with 64 firefighters who provide both fire and EMS response services for the city. Last year the fire department received 3,670 emergency medical calls and responded to 67 fires. 

 • 2020 marks the start of a four-year, $4.2 million water infrastructure improvement plan to upgrade undersized water mains; the replacement of four and six-inch mains with eight-inch water mains will improve water delivery to the public. DPW will also undertake significant upgrades to the Water Treatment Plant this year. A planned water treatment intake valve replacement project will replace 3, circa 1800’s intake valves, bringing water from Loughberry Lake into the plant. A section of the intake lines and an overflow structure from approximately the 1870s will also be replaced. This replacement project represents a $2.3 million investment.

• At the county level, construction will continue on a new public safety facility in the town of Milton near the jail, to expand administrative space for the Sheriff’s Office, as well as to move the probation and Public Health departments to that space. Regarding VLT aid, the county stands to lose about $775,000 in revenue, and plans to bring a full board resolution to its February meeting to advocate for the funds. 

CRICKETS TAKE FLIGHT ATOP TRAMPOLINES. Spiders spin silky threads. Red ants juggle kiwis and corn and a dragonfly balances along the slender stalks of a plant.

Together, the graceful actions of all this energy in motion depicts an ecosystem bursting with life and the basis of the Cirque du Soleil show “OVO,” which takes the stage for six performances at the Times Union Center Jan. 29 - Feb. 2.

“I find the show very colorful and great for all kinds of audiences, especially for kids,” says Alexander Grol, who in his guise as a beetle in OVO’s Russian Cradle act has a unique point-of-view of the awestruck “insects” whose intense curiosity is heightened when a mysterious egg appears, representing the enigma and cycles of their lives.

“The show is quite good in its balance of the different things and I’ve heard people saying some very nice things about many of the different acts,” Grol says. “There are very strong acrobatics and when I have overheard people talking about their favorite acts, it’s usually about the slackwire performance, which is absolutely insane. There are very few people I’ve ever seen who can do that kind of act. Top-of-the-notch acrobatics,” he says. “Personally, I like what I do! I would say it’s my favorite, haha.”  

Grol’s job description of his role in the flying act segment?  “I throw and catch people for a living,” he says, with a laugh. “I’m the one throwing and catching the acrobats.” 

Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Grol was born into a traditional circus family. “Much of my life has been on the road, from the time with my parents when I was a boy. I grew up quite fast and they kind of integrated me into the show, which was the Moscow State Circus, traveling the U.K. for a while. That was the first circus I started in.”

He joined Cirque du Soleil in 2008 with the stage production of “Zaia,” which was based in Macau and represented the company’s first resident show in Asia. In 2011 he joined “OVO.” He says he’s on the road with the show a few months at a time, interrupted by occasional two-week breaks, and when not performing he enjoys reading, keeping in shape and exploring cities where the tour takes him.

“Every time we move to a different city, we have a day or two to go out and explore,” Grol says. The loudest crowds?  Latin America. “We had full houses every day and they were screaming their heads off! That was fun.”  He is partial to the west coast - California and Oregon specifically, the rich landscapes of Colorado, and the cultural sophistication of Japan.

OVO, which first premiered in Montréal in April 2009, celebrated its 2,000th show in February 2015 in Fukuoka. “Japan I like very much. The politeness is one reason.  And it’s super-clean there; neat and tidy. I found it very different from the rest of the world.”

The name OVO, which means “egg” in Portuguese, represents a timeless symbol of the life cycle and birth of numerous insects and depicts the underlying thread of “OVO” the show – which marks the 25th live production from Cirque du Soleil.  With an international crew representing 17 nationalities, “OVO” has visited more than 30 cities in six different countries as a Big Top show before transforming in an arena show in 2016.

The seeds of Cirque du Soleil were first planted in the early 1980’s, when a troupe of performers took their talent to the village streets on the shores of the St. Laurent River near Quebec City with a crew jugglers, dancers, fire breathers, and musicians. In 1984, the show traveled on a province-wide tour and three years later crossed the Canadian borders for the first time, with a tour of the U.S.

Today, it sites its headquarters - “a laboratory of imagination”- in Montreal where 1,300 artists hailing from 55 different countries form the current Cirque du Soleil team. Since 1997, all shows have been created at Cirque du Soleil’s International Headquarters.

One wing of the headquarters includes three acrobatic training rooms, a dance studio, a studio-theater, and a gym where preparatory training – which can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months – is conducted before joining a shows cast.

Each individual show features anywhere from 50 to 100 artists. The cast is nearly evenly divided between those who come from sports disciplines such as rhythmic and acrobatic gymnastics, those from circus arts disciplines, and those who come from various artistic backgrounds such as dance, music, physical theatre and street arts.

Every year the costume workshop uses more than 6.5 kilometers of fabric from around the world to create intricate stage outfits and sets, and the musical score is written by company composers, creating shows that feature original music

Cirque du Soleil “OVO” will perform the following dates at Times Union Center, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany:   Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 pm; Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7:30 pm; Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, Feb. 1 at 4 pm and at 7:30 pm; Sunday, Feb. 2 at 1:30 pm.  Ticket prices range from $38 adult/ $29 child to $129 and are available at the arena box office, or online at ticketmaster.com.