Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello friends. Stan Hoodie, business editor with the Daily Gazette family of newspapers. Each week I travel across upstate New York's capital region and meet interesting people talking about exciting things happening in their lives. I also have the pleasure of working with a host of talented people covering a variety of topics week in and week out.
Some of these interactions begin as assignments, some as random meetings, but through these fortunate opportunities, I like to think that in some small way, each time they become friends. Last week I kicked off this podcast with my best friend Rita Garrett Hoodie for episode number one. Now that work has taken over, I'd like to introduce you to some of my fabulous co workers who bring you the news and features within the Gazette Media Group.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Ted Remsnider from the Daily Gazette John.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: Norris, pint sized reviewer Chad Arnold, reporter.
[00:00:58] Speaker D: With the Daily Gazette.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Ted and I shared our first ever experience as panelist and moderator for the Niskayuna town supervisor debate between current supervisor Aaron Cassidy Doran and former Niskayuna High School principal John Rickert. Here's Ted and I in the Gazette podcast studio.
[00:01:17] Speaker E: So thanks for coming on and. And we had, I think we can say we had fun.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:24] Speaker E: On Thursday.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: That's official.
[00:01:26] Speaker E: First as far as we're first ever supervisor debate for the town of Niskayuna and it was a first for everybody. I was the first time moderator, you were a first time panelist with Jesse Taylor from wamc. Andrew Puglis was first time kind of managing it in our expert timer.
How was the debate for you as really a participant?
[00:01:52] Speaker B: I think it went smooth.
I knew it was going to be a popular event when I walked in there about 45 minutes early and there were already about 10 to 15 residents sitting there.
So I kind of ratcheted up a little. I figured it was going to be a packed crowd, but it ended up being standing room only. They put in more chairs but it worked well. I mean considering we were all first timers, I think no one in the audience would have known that besides us, but because we were a bit nervous ahead of time. But I think it worked out well and the candidates responded and I think afterwards both candidates responded positively. So they thought it worked out well, probably for each of them. So I think all around it was as well as we could have expected.
[00:02:34] Speaker E: I think this having the conversation with Rita over the weekend because obviously she was there.
I don't think anybody, I don't think anybody lost any boats. I don't think anybody gained any votes. I think if you were in the Rickert camp You know, you were still solid and after you were in the supervisor camp, Cassidy Dorian, you know, I don't think anything changed.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I heard from people both ways that each thought that one or the other won the debate. So no one thought it was one sided that I heard. So I think that's good. You want the candidates to, you know, no one thinks they were targeted. Or of course, the supervisor, we asked pointed questions because she has to defend.
When you're the incumbent, you have to defend the record of what's happening in the town. So it's always a little harder for the incumbent in that case. But I thought we were fair with our questions. I thought both candidates were and their camps were happy with it ultimately. So it seemed they were both celebrating kind of after the debate like they had won. So I think that's a good thing.
[00:03:33] Speaker E: Any question or just the feedback heading into it? We crowdsourced, we took questions from Facebook and I said to people, a lot of the Facebook questions were already in your wheelhouse of questions you were developing. Is there anything you think that kind of stood out that people wanted to know about more one thing or another?
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought there was a good question about the long term vision of the candidates and there was one. There was a lot about the water and sewer rates that we were going to ask anyway. But yeah, there were some questions about the town's finances. We did get some good feedback from people. But yeah, we had our own list of, I don't know, 25, 30 questions and we got through most of them we were down to. We could have came up with some more, you know, based on what the answers were. But we got through most of. We got through all the big topics I think that we wanted to hit in an hour.
[00:04:23] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, it was interesting to see that type of passion. I think we saw two people that care about the communities they live in. You know, Mr. Rickert's been, you know, within the community as a principal, you know, and then the supervisor, Aaron Cassidy Dorian, you know, has been in the community and in the, in that building, you know, in her position.
Was it. What was it like? Because we saw that passion and in a sense it's for a one year term.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. That hasn't. There's a court case out now. That's right now it's technically for a two year term, but it could be reduced to one year based on the outcome of a court case, I believe, and depending on what the state wants to do. But that's kind of murky at the Time. But, yeah, they could be doing it again in a year with the same two candidates. Who knows? You never know, depending on who wins or loses this thing. But I think it's going to be a close race. It's hard to. Obviously, the Miscayuna is dominated by registered Democratic voters, but I think Rickard is an unusually strong candidate for them just because he's known in the community there. He's been in the district for 25 years or so. So it's not an unknown candidate that's coming in. So it's going to be interesting, which is one of the reasons why we did it, because it is an interesting race. And the supervisor was named about a year ago to replace former supervisor Puccioni. So there's a lot of interesting elements to this race.
[00:05:47] Speaker E: I think we're one and done. I think we don't have any more debates lined up. I mean, we joked around about some of the other communities.
You know, a media friend asked us, you know, for the mayoral debate in Gloversville and obviously Saratoga Springs. And then I had a conversation with Ashley Onion, our Montgomery county reporter, and four out of the five aldermen are contested races.
Is there an appreciation now that we've both been on the firing line, these things, of how hard these things are to pull off?
[00:06:16] Speaker B: Yeah, it was difficult.
I mean, yeah, as we said at the top, like, you know, the three of us, myself, Jesse and yourself hadn't been in that position before, so it was a little nerve wracking beforehand. But I think once it got going, it was just fun. Yeah, like, I, I, I wasn't nervous once it started. Like, it just got, you know, and the crowd was good. It was, there was no, you know, interruptions from the crowd. People were engaged, so. And they were enjoying your lightning round questions of those fun topics.
[00:06:47] Speaker E: So, yeah, my, my role was literally try to keep us on time and then interject a little bit of the podcast theme and the lightning round. And, and the one advice I got beforehand, I think we all agreed that it did, and I think it paid off in the first time we pulled it was there's a little bit of a tense moment. We were talking about some funding numbers and accounting. We went into the lightning round and once I got a laugh out of the audience, I think the candidates really took a breath and got to the point where, like, okay, we're all human.
It came at the right time, too, versus just carrying on for 45 minutes and then doing a lightning.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Yeah, the way we did it before. Or Miles Reid has Done it before is that we do the regular part of the debate and then just add on some fun questions at the end. But yeah, I did think this was better to kind of like lighten the mood in the middle. And then of course, I would always get the first question back, it seemed, when it was time for a more serious topic. But I tried to keep it to something like, you know, taxes or something as opposed to like something life or death after, after some of the questions about food or, you know, music or whatever.
[00:07:49] Speaker E: Yeah, I did, I did switch it up for you because when you mentioned that, I'm like, you know what, I'm looking at the rotation. I'm like, oh yeah, Ted's coming off every lightning round. I'm like, okay, hang on, let's switch it to Jesse. So we gave him that, we gave him that curveball. So.
Well, hey, thanks for stopping in and I think we did a great job and the feedback's been great.
Let's put a pin on debate prep for ourselves to next year.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: All right, thanks for having me.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: When he's not highlighting advertising opportunities for businesses within the Gazette media Group, John Norris visits craft brewers throughout the capital district, highlighting the beverages each week in his pint sized features. Here's John and I in the Gazette podcast studio.
[00:08:32] Speaker E: So this is that opportunity to sit back and crack one open as we bring you the first installment of what I've coined within the last 15 minutes, the pint sized chat with our own John Norris.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:08:47] Speaker E: And invited John to stop in and just briefly talk about some of the great craft beer places he's been at, talk a little bit about them and then also refer you to his written work in the Daily Gazette under his pint sized column. So, John, thank you for joining.
[00:09:03] Speaker C: Great to see you today, Stan.
[00:09:04] Speaker E: So where were you, you know, last Sunday?
[00:09:07] Speaker C: I stopped by the wonderful Single Cut Bruce Smiths in Clifton park and they're up off exit right off exit 10 on the Adirondack Northway. And they've got a, they're in an old estate, like a historical warehouse that's been not historic. It's probably built in the past 15 years, but Schmaltz Brewery was there for a long, long time and then Single Cut acquired it in 2018. They're from Queens.
They, yeah, they came up and they, they liked the, like the operation.
They, they bought Single Cut. They bought, yeah, they bought all, all the Schmaltz's operations and they opened, yeah, they opened open the tap Room and we're over there expanding the One from Queens. And then they also opened one recently in Manlius by Syracuse.
And it's really kind of.
They're really helping the craft beer scene grow here. They've got a great, kind of a really cool atmosphere.
It's pretty much a different dog. Family friendly. Dog family friendly. I know the bartender there is kind of joking that he mentions that they host a lot of baby showers and first birthdays. They go. Actually, a lot of these events, the person being honored isn't old enough to drink.
[00:10:21] Speaker E: Which is kind of.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: Kind of fun. Fun way to look at it. Yeah. So it's. It's a great atmosphere there. They've got some. Some. And they've got some interesting beers as well.
[00:10:29] Speaker E: So. So what'd you like? What was. What was like the. What was the medal winner if you had to give one out?
[00:10:35] Speaker C: They've got all the brew pubs do a super hoppy IPA.
You know, it's called the 18 watt IPA. It's citrusy, it's got citra hops. You know, I like that one an awful lot. There's also the Dean Mahogany Pale Ale.
That was kind of nice. That's a 6.5.6% alcohol, which is, you know, reasonable. And that was like an amber red beer. It was kind of nice.
And they also have a beer that they're really proud of, but they do it only periodically, so you can't get it this week or this month or probably not till next year.
It's called the Opening Act. It's a heaven of Easen beer.
And they really thought it was kind of interesting because they didn't expect it to turn out as well as it did.
That's kind of cool.
One of the really cool ones, though, was one it's called Softly Spoken Magic Spells. Okay.
[00:11:30] Speaker E: Good for October, right? Exactly, exactly. And that's a.
[00:11:32] Speaker C: It's an 8.66% hazy hazy imperial IPA.
[00:11:37] Speaker E: Okay. So 8.6 old Zeusy hops.
[00:11:39] Speaker C: Oh, he has a lot. Yeah. I would not have more than two or three of those, actually. Maybe after two you call. Call for an Uber.
And again, pint size brewing. A pint size or whatever column stands firmly behind, you know, safe driving.
Absolutely. As we all do. Anyway. I also have one called Heavy Boots of Lead Vanilla Imperial Stout.
That's 11% beer.
[00:12:06] Speaker E: Really?
[00:12:07] Speaker C: Yeah. It's got like vanilla. Vanilla cacao flavor. It's kind of nice. Okay. And it tastes like a dessert beer almost.
[00:12:14] Speaker E: Oh, really?
[00:12:15] Speaker C: And they said that they're. They're thinking about maybe the next. The next time they Brew it. Maybe having it available. Vanilla ice cream.
[00:12:22] Speaker E: Oh, okay. A little confection.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: Yeah, that'd be kind of a cool thing to do.
So, you know, that's, it's pretty interesting.
I know when I was there, I talked to the bartender. A bartender, he's been there a while. His name is Chris Naumann. And also the tap room manager, Teresa Campbell. And they really emphasized that the team, a lot of some of the folks from Schmaltz. The Schmaltz were retained when the folks at Simon Cut took over.
And that team has kind of brought forward some of the support for community activities. You know, they raise money for, for non profits locally and you know, and then donate a lot of profits to help the community.
[00:13:06] Speaker E: So it's good stuff.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Absolutely. All right.
[00:13:08] Speaker E: We're not gonna, we're not going to put a measurement out there to see how many, how many pints it deserved out of five.
But I think, I think it was another winner.
[00:13:17] Speaker C: This was a great place. And what's wonderful about talking to these people and people involved in this entire industry is they're all committed to what they're doing and it's a community of people who, they're not like software developers.
This is my fife. Them, this is my side, my fife. They all share, they all share ideas and they're like a nice open community, fun people to work with. Really. Definitely.
[00:13:43] Speaker E: And they're sharing craft beer.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: It's a win, win for everybody.
[00:13:47] Speaker E: All right, well, John, thank you for sharing.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:13:49] Speaker E: Your latest trip with your pint sized column.
[00:13:53] Speaker C: Look forward to talking to you next week.
[00:13:54] Speaker E: Fantastic. Thanks.
[00:13:55] Speaker C: And I think next week also a little different, maybe might be talking about Mead.
[00:14:01] Speaker E: Mead. Mead. Well, once again, I look forward to meeting you in the middle.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Conversations within the Gazette newsroom aren't always about hard hitting new subjects.
[00:14:13] Speaker E: Listen in.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: As Schenectady county reporter Chad Arnold and I talk about fictional heroes and his passion for graphic novels, including the celebration of Batman Day and more.
[00:14:25] Speaker E: Well, thanks for coming on.
[00:14:26] Speaker D: Thanks for having me, Stan.
[00:14:29] Speaker E: So I brought you in because I was excited that this week is local comic book store day.
And you did quick research, as you do. Mm. And they're kind of like no takers locally. But Saturday was a big day.
[00:14:46] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:14:47] Speaker E: So what was Saturday?
[00:14:48] Speaker D: Saturday was, was Batman Day. It was, it was Batman Day. It's a big, big event put on by, by DC Comics to kind of go with one of their most, probably their most popular superhero, that is Batman. And so they had a bunch of goodies, you know, some comic Book shops participated in locally where they kind of gave out limited edition variants for COVID variants, some freebie items, some reprints and stuff like that with the Batman Day logo on it. And so something that I've kind of been partaking in the last couple years. I mean, last year I went down to New York City to Midtown Comics. So I figured there's always something fun about New York City's nickname is Gotham. So go to Gotham on Batman Day.
I didn't do that this year. I decided to make better financial decisions for myself. So I drove up to Boston Spa to excellent adventures, and I picked up some free Batman comics. I picked up some other.
Some Thor comics written and illustrated by Walter Simonson. And I just had myself a good day.
[00:15:53] Speaker E: So to me, I didn't know there was Batman Day until this year because it populated throughout my social media feeds and everything.
We're on TikTok again. Myself and Rita had a blast on TikTok and then obviously all over Facebook daily and also on the Instagram. So when do you think. When did, like, Batman Day kick off? And, like, why they pick. Is it a special? Is it a number that I'm not aware of? Or is it just, you know, I.
[00:16:22] Speaker D: Don'T know exactly when it kicked off because I only been partaking in it for the last couple of years. But I think it's just kind of Batman is like this international symbol. Everyone knows who Batman is. You can go anywhere in the world and people would know who Batman is. So I think that's just the sheer popularity of. Of the character.
That's kind of why, you know, obviously pop culture, we see movies, we see TV series, we see. We've seen so much stuff. So I think it's just the company kind of trying to, you know, capitalize on the popularity of the character and, you know, if it's good for local comic book shops and stuff like that too, you know, why not do it?
[00:16:57] Speaker E: You say for dc, Batman is number one. But, you know, Superman did really well in the box office, is now on hbo. So I'm gonna ask you the Superman question.
You know what?
[00:17:10] Speaker C: You.
[00:17:10] Speaker E: You saw it like the opening?
[00:17:12] Speaker D: Yeah, I did. I actually, I saw it prior to the opening because there was a special through Amazon prime members. You get early tickets. So I ended up seeing it, like on a Tuesday. The movie didn't come out till like, Thursday or Friday.
So I was there early. I saw it very early and I loved it. The movie was fantastic. Superman by, by James Gunn Jam, David Corn Sweat. Fantastic all around. But I. I think the big thing is really, you know, Superman was obviously number one. Right. He was like the first superhero and everything. I think 1938, if I'm not mistaken. He go, he goes back. So he's been around for a while, a Man of Steel. But I think in recent years, you know, his popularity has kind of dropped off a little bit because he hasn't been in the. There has been these movies, instance of that nature. Right. We've seen obviously, you know, Christian Bale with his Batman movies. And, you know, Batman has just kind of been just repeatedly, you know, redone and done. And, you know, last iteration of Superman was Henry Cavill. It was man of Steel, which was, I don't think, the most popular take on the character.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:18:14] Speaker D: If you knew anything about the Superman lore in the comics, you probably didn't really enjoy the man of Steel movies. No offense to Henry Cavill or anything. It just, it was a darker take on it. And that's not what Superman is, if you read the comic books. So I think his kind of popularity has dropped off because he just hasn't been on the. The attention of the mainstream media. Not that he's a list important of a character. It's just more people recognize Batman because he's all over the place and he's just.
[00:18:37] Speaker E: He's just populating every couple years now. And. Yeah, and I think again, do you think it helps because of the cowl? We can insert different actors and it still kind of carries through as Batman. Whereas there's such that facial recognition of. I mean, there's only so much you can do with a curl.
[00:18:54] Speaker D: Yeah. I mean, like that. There's so many takes you can have on. On Batman. So, you know, if you've seen like the. The Christopher Nolan takes with Christian Bale that came out a couple years ago, these are really great movies. But if you go watch, you know, the latest iteration that came out in 2022 with Robert Pattinson, written and directed by Matt Reeves, it was more of a noir detective style stuff. And he's kind of both. Houston's in that. Right. But there's also kind of can be fantastical where he's up on like Justice League headquarters, on a satellite orbiting earth and stuff like that. So Batman can be kind of everything, you know what I mean? And I think there's been some criticism of that. The fact that he's just everything, you know what I mean?
But you can't go wrong with. To me, a good Batman story is just. It's good, good all around.
[00:19:38] Speaker E: As our resident comic expert, we are rolling into a local Comic Con season.
[00:19:47] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:19:48] Speaker E: So looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend.
Saratoga's Con is coming up. So, you know, I know you've made some purchases outside of the area.
[00:19:59] Speaker D: I have.
[00:19:59] Speaker E: And is there anything that you're looking for for this holiday season to add to the collection?
[00:20:05] Speaker D: I started this by saying I made a good financial decision, and I made the good financial decision on the heel of numerous terrible financial decisions. So next month for me, I will be going out of town. I'll start on October 11th. I'll be going to New York Comic Con down at the Java center down in Manhattan.
And I will be picking up a couple of commissions that I paid more than I care to say. I got one from Lee Weeks. It's a daredevil commission, and I got another one from Klaus Johnson, and it's going to be kingping Wilson Fisk. So I have this idea of him going on two of them kind of displayed on a wall that I have, and I want to make kind of like a bookcase display, kind of thin. I have a vision for it.
When I get a photo, when I get it done, I'll take a photo and I'll show you.
But on top of that, there's another artist called Cully Hamner. He had a sale on his original artwork. And so he had. He did a commission of Elektra in the same size, nine by 12. So I grabbed that as well. I bought that and then so some pricey pieces of artwork that I did on my part. But then the following week, after New York Comic Con, the very next week, I will be going down to Baltimore, and I'll be going to Baltimore Comic Con. I'll be there Thursday night.
The show starts on Friday. I'll be there Friday, I'll be there Saturday, and I'll be coming back on Sunday.
And I'll be staying, I guess, two nights, three nights, whatever it is, down at the Inner harbor down in Baltimore. Always a good time. I've gone to that show about two or three times in the past. I skipped last year, but I'm back this year.
So another pricey.
Another pricey thing for me, but always a good time, I would say.
[00:21:49] Speaker E: All right, well, thanks for coming on as the new iteration, the standing friends, and look forward to having you on again as we get into everything else.
Dg, not dc, but Daily Gazette related. But also, we'll touch bases on your trips, travels, and expenditures.
[00:22:10] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. Keep track of me on that one, please.
Keep me in check, please.
[00:22:15] Speaker E: Will do. Thanks.
[00:22:16] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: The Stan and Friends podcast could not be possible without the help of a few of my friends, including Ted Remsnider.
[00:22:25] Speaker D: From the Daily Gazette, Chad Arnold, reporter.
[00:22:29] Speaker C: With the Daily Gazette, John Norris, advertising.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: Guru at the Daily Gazette, Shenandoah Brayer, the promotions coordinator for the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp.
Rita Garrett, hoodie, aka Mrs. Stan, or Stan's wife.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Thank you for listening, and thanks to all my friends, old and new, who have made this possible. Until next time, be well.
