Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Shawn Stone
How Squatters Rights Affect Landlords
Forum Categories All Rental Property Investor · Clarkston, GA · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes 4y Member since 2021 · 25 posts · 10 votes 4y Benson, NC · Member since 2019 · 133 posts · 3 votes 4y Northville, MI · Member since 2014 · 44 posts · 6 votes 4y 4y Santa Barbara, CA · Member since 2015 · 644 posts · 17 votes 4y Specialist · Tarrant County, TX · Member since 2018 · 18 posts · 12 votes 4y 4y Specialist · Pelham, NH · Member since 2013 · 547 posts · 269 votes 4y Real Estate...
Dear Decaturish - Supporting Schroeder for Tucker council
We accept letters to the editor on behalf of candidates running in the Nov. 4 municipal election. Letters to the editor are opinions of the authors of the letter, not Decaturish.com. Everyone has an equal opportunity to submit a letter to the editor. Candidates were invited to submit up to three letters on their behalf. All letters must be signed and are typically between 500 and 800 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and content. We also reserve the right to publish longer letters.
Hitler The Bodybuilding Fan??
By Shawn Stone Physical culture took a sinister turn when it was co-opted by fascist regimes in the leadup to World War Two. Hitler's deep fascination with Ancient Greece and its ideals of beauty is evident in his writing in "Mein Kampf". "What makes the Greek ideal of beauty immortal," wrote Adolf Hitler, "is the wonderful combination of the most glorious physical beauty with a brilliant mind and the ...
How to help homeowners make the most of home equity
As home equity reached another record high this year, mortgage companies have a big opportunity to help homeowners understand how to better manage or leverage their home’s equity to improve their housing and overall financial outlook. Even as rates are slowly beginning to increase, cash-out refinancing options are still a relevant and potentially beneficial option for many as the amount of equity in homes reaches new levels.
Mildly amusing LEGO Batman keeps the franchise alive
Of all the sins committed by Zack Snyder in Batman v. Superman, the most ignorant was giving Superman a dark side. Ahem: Superman doesn’t have a “dark side.” He’s Superman.
The passion of Jacqueline Kennedy
“Intimate” seems inadequate to describe Jackie, in which Natalie Portman, as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, is on screen, often in close-up, in every scene. While there are flashbacks, Jackie is mainly set in the days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Natalie Portman, as the title character, spends a solid quarter of the picture in the bloody pink Chanel suit Mrs. Kennedy wore that day in Dallas.
How I became a woodworker
I am a husband and proud father of three boys. I love woodworking. It’s an escape from the busy life to recharge and refocus. It is truly therapy for me. My passion for woodworking really came by accident. I turned our breakfast room into a mudroom outfitted with coat hooks, benches and shoes cubbies which really got me hooked. My oldest son was young at the time and watching him mock me with a hammer and a screwdriver got me thinking about what kind of example I was setting for him.
What’s a memory worth? Blade Runner 2049 reviewed - The Alt
Blade Runner 2049 is a magnificent outlier to the Hollywood blockbuster sequel farm, and at the same time a victim of it. The two-hour-and-43-minute runtime allows director Denis Villeneuve to immerse the viewer in a familiar world that has aged 30 years since the first film. The neon advertisements that dotted the landscape in the original film are bigger, bolder, more interactive. The urban decay has increased.
Garry Tallent of the E Street Band discusses his new record - The Alt
Garry Tallent is the lone original member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band. Last year, Tallent released his first solo record Break Time, and just hit the road with his recording band, that includes Rensselaer native and member of Los Straitjackets Eddie Angel. The band is playing at The Hangar in Troy on Tuesday, May 9, 8 PM. Eddie emailed me, asking if I want to ask Gary any questions. Duh! Q: How’s the tour going so far? Any surprises?
Patrick Vaill: The Politics of Cabaret - The Alt
“Cabaret,” the musical, has been touring in an acclaimed revival that plays at Proctors in Schenectady May 9-14. It’s bringing actor Patrick Vaill back to the area after his appearance in “Hamlet” at Capital Rep two years ago, but this time in a show that has become politically charged by current events. “On election night, we opened in Charlotte, North Carolina,” he says, speaking by phone from the current stop in Buffalo, “and we were all very anxious, as you can imagine.
NYSUT’s endorsements appear at odds with its expanded advocacy on LGBT issues - The Alt
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) endorsed 34 candidates for New York State Assembly in 2016 who had a record of voting against the bill known as GENDA — which would prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression. The proposed law would specifically protect transgender people by adding gender identity to the list of identities protected under human rights law and hate crimes law. This year, 31 Assemblymembers endorsed by NYSUT voted against GENDA.
NY Senate blocks bill designed to force Trump to release tax returns - The Alt
The Senate Elections Committee voted 5-4 against a bill on Friday proposed by Democrats that would require presidential candidates on the New York State ballot to release their tax returns for the five previous years. The bill is aimed at President Donald Trump who has refused to release his returns. The committee was considering whether to advance the bill, possibly to a vote. The Assembly has yet to consider the bill.
Empire State Development has spent over $75K promoting its tweets since October - The Alt
Empire State Development, the state’s leading economic development agency, has spent more than $75,000 promoting its tweets since October, records obtained under a state Freedom of Information Law request show. Campbell Ewald, a Detroit-based advertising agency, made the purchases under its two-year, $100 million contract with ESD, which began in late 2015.
Neil deGrasse Tyson tackled America’s science problem at Proctors - The Alt
America’s science dad, Neil deGrasse Tyson, also known as the high school physics teacher you wish you had, came to Schenectady on Tuesday night, lecturing for hours to a rapt audience at Proctors. It’s a popular thing for journalists to do, when writing about Tyson, to mention that he’s the rock star of physics. He certainly was treated as such last night — several folks in the massive audience gave Tyson a standing ovation before Tyson had even started speaking, to his great amusement.
Win passes to Move Music! - The Alt
The Move Music Festival starts tonight with Sawyer Fredericks playing The Cohoes Music Hall. The festival will take place all weekend at venues across Albany, Cohoes and Troy and feature 100 bands. You can check out the details here. Want to win a pair of passes? Retweet this post with hashtags #thealtweekly and #movemusic. Winners will have to pick up passes from Proctors in Schenectady.
A cheerful evening of downer rock at the Egg with Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann’s deadpan banter matches perfectly her intelligently melancholy, intensely melodic songs. When she walked onto the stage of the Hart Theatre with bandmate Paul Bryan, she said “Welcome to the Buckingham Nicks tribute band . . . Tusker Du.” She then made some unapologetic comments about the nature of what we would be hearing over the course of the evening, and assured the audience, “I won’t blame you if you fall asleep.
Carolyn McLaughlin makes her case to be Albany’s next mayor - The Alt
On April 18 (Tuesday), mayoral candidate and current Albany City Council President Carolyn McLaughlin held a campaign discussion and Q&A at Level’s Banquet Hall on North Pearl street downtown with an enthusiastic and energized audience. McLaughlin, who served as second ward council representative for 12 years before being elected council president in 2009, is challenging incumbent Mayor Kathy Sheehan in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary.
Sawyer Fredericks heads Move Music Festival - The Alt
Sawyer Fredericks probably isn’t the person you think he is. The angelic-looking belter has been hearing from some folks that his new material is “darker,” that he’s maturing from his successful stint on The Voice two years ago. “I find that sort of funny,” Fredericks told me during a phone interview from his family farm in Montgomery County. “My style is not really changing. The stuff played on The Voice wasn’t my style. So I think people are finding out who I really am.
Citizen Cope gets acquainted with Troy - The Alt
“We’ll be here a while tonight, I think,” said a grinning Clarence Greenwood in his characteristic southern drawl. The singer-songwriter behind Citizen Cope played an acoustic solo show at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Friday night (April 21) to a jumpy, enthusiastic and rather vocal audience. “The solo show, it’s a little more intimate,” Cope told The Alt earlier that day.
Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day - The Alt
Saturday, April 29, marks the fourth anniversary of Independent Bookstore Day (IBD), a “one-day national party” at indie bookstores across the country. Inspired by the hugely popular Record Store Day, which has celebrated “the unique culture surrounding nearly 1,400 independently owned record stores in the US” for ten years now, IBD shines a light on indie bookstores and the communities that support them. What began as California Bookstore Day in 2014 spread nationwide in 2015.
The playwright’s the thing in The Official Adventures of Kieron and Jade - The Alt
“This is a triumph of postmodern meta-theater,” declares the character Kieron Barry, not to be confused with the playwright Kieron Barry although it’s understandable if you do.
Unagi Sushi: A delicious addition to Troy’s restaurant scene - The Alt
The true death of civilization began when food handlers in restaurants were forced to wear plastic gloves. There’s no question that the unclean walk among us and occasionally get their mitts on our grub, but this was yet another example of fear outstripping reason, with the consequence that a vital tactile component of professional cooking was proscribed. And it may be no more deeply realized than at the sushi-assembly level.
SPAC and Skidmore College welcome Cuban orchestra in June - The Alt
The last time a large Cuban orchestra toured the United States was before the Revolution. Now, in the changed political climate that has resulted since former President Barack Obama visited and opened relations with Cuba, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra is coming to America–and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and Skidmore College have partnered to bring them, and acclaimed pianist Simone Dinnerstein, to the Arthur Zankel Music Center on June 20 at 7 PM.
Collar Works: Solid future, new exhibit - The Alt
Founded in 2009 as an artist collective, Collar Works was created to give voice to the contemporary arts in the Capital Region. From the start, its mission was to “support emerging artists and underrepresented artists working in any media, exhibiting challenging and culturally relevant contemporary artworks.” At first, their exhibitions were presented in various vacant spaces throughout downtown Troy.
The reborn Cuban delights of Carmen’s Cafe - The Alt
When Carmen’s Café opened in 2005, it had a happy, haphazard look. A diner counter, a handful of tables, arresting artwork on the walls. The Cuban-inspired food was fairly simple, with a pork-and-pickles sandwich, the Cubano, a star of the lunches. Now that counter is made from carved slabs of ailanthus and there is flooring of birch and cherry and cedar, the handiwork of Jim Lewis of Springwood Studios. But only because he insisted.
Tonight at Putnam Den: Formula 5 - The Alt
Looking to begin your 4/20 festivities a few days early? Formula 5, who are ironically a four-piece band, will be bringing their iteration of jam band music to the Putnam Den this Saturday. The band have played all over the Northeast, making stops at jam-centered fests such as Buffalove and Catskill Chill, and fully encapsulate the modern state of the genre; melding everything the scene’s produced, from The Grateful Dead to Flying Lotus.
Spotlight on Albany Craft Beer Week - The Alt
If you’re looking for a way to simultaneously sample exclusive beers from renowned breweries around the New York State, and show solidarity for local restaurants, pubs, and cafes—then look no further, because Albany’s first annual Craft Beer Week is just around the corner. From April 17 to the 23, Albany Craft Beer Week will host several festivities sure to be keen to the lifestyle of any bonvivant. The week will serve as a teaser for the main Albany Craft Beer Festival on Saturday.
Tonight at Pauly's Hotel: Problem With Dragons, It’s Not Night: It’s Space - The Alt
Albany headbangers: looking for a cross between Pantera, White Zombie and Kyuss? The Massachusetts trio Problem With Dragons are just that and will be bringing their strange amalgamation of sludge, stoner and groove metal to Pauly’s Hotel this Friday.
Tonight at Caffe Lena: Pierre Bensusan - The Alt
The French-Algerian guitar master Pierre Bensusan celebrated his 40th anniversary last year, highlighting the enduring musical power and popularity of the musician often called “the Mozart of guitar.” His unique blend of jazz, folk and classical guitar idioms has proved both enduring and rewarding. And you can check him out this Friday at Caffe Lena.
Tonight at the Troy Music Hall: DADA People - The Alt
American trumpeter Dave Douglas and French pianist Frank Woeste have teamed up with bassist Yashushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn for DADA People, a jazz musical collective that looks to the early 20th century “anti-art” movement DADA for inspiration.
Tonight at the Tang: Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow - The Alt
Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow: Sound, Black Study, and the Multidisciplinary Artist is a two-night performance/exhibition culmination that pairs Sun Ra’s early art and archives with “contemporary sonic and sound-inspired artworks and performances.” The performances will feature “spoken, sonic and visual art by emerging and established legends of the avant-garde.” The performers on Thursday will be Joe McPhee, musician, composer and poet; Chris Corsano, musician (Bjork, Nate Wooley,...
Tonight at Cohoes Music Hall: The Felice Brothers - The Alt
If The Felice Brothers’ performance at a public market in 2013 was enough to wow this writer–at the height of his angsty metalcore phase, during which nothing but the chuggiest of breakdowns were worth his ears–then they must be pretty damn spectacular. The five-piece folk/country-rock band were born out of the NYC subway stations and have since amassed a 13-record discography and a reputation for rambunctious, genuine live shows.
Tonight at the Madison Theater: Beauty and the Boss - The Alt
The Pine Hills Film Colony continues to bring delightful, unheralded gems from Hollywood’s “golden age” to audiences at the Madison Theater. Roy Del Ruth’s Beauty and the Boss is precode bauble from the time before censorship was fully enforced, starring Warren William as a hard-driving captain of European industry who, in an effort to separate business from pleasure, hires a mousy, all-business young frump (Marian Marsh) as his secretary.
Peter Mulvey: 17th album from the quintessential troubadour - The Alt
Over the course of his 25-year career, Peter Mulvey has logged more than a million miles on the road and performed somewhere around 4,000 concerts. He’s the quintessential troubadour. Are You Listening?, his seventeenth album, was released on March 24 by Righteous Babe Records. Produced by his friend and fellow gutsy song-slinger Ani Difranco, Are You Listening? showcases both Mulvey’s penchant for quickly cutting to the core and his ability to mix the personal, the political, and the poetic.
Josh Coletto’s Pop-Up Flies - The Alt
It was an inspirational mission. Josh Coletto traveled to Montreal last week to dine at Joe Beef, a legendary French restaurant where reservations are elusive, and he returned with even more enthusiasm for the dinner he’ll be offering this Sunday.
Live action adds an admirable level of ick to Ghost in the Shell - The Alt
This one arrives with a lot of baggage. More about that later. Ghost in the Shell is good, and could have been a lot better. Most of the damage was self-inflicted. More about that later, too. The most interesting aspect of it is the way it’s an advance over the animated original, and that’s completely tied in with the world the story creates. It’s that dystopian future we all seem to be dreaming of, when humans are transhuman—part human, part machine.
Mitsuko Uchida made Mozart (and Schumann) come alive at Union College - The Alt
Robert Schumann’s mental volatility worked its way into the music he wrote not in a stormy Wagnerian way but as something that agitated in the heart of his romantic-era voice. His piano works erupt in storms of thick harmony, then lay back for the sparest of melodic sighs. His Fantasie in C, Op. 17, seems sometimes to boil with rage, even as that rage shimmers into exultation.
Love over all in a beautifully sung The Sound of Music at Proctors - The Alt
Never doubt Oscar Hammerstein. He’ll never let you down. Whether he was writing lyrics for music by Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern or, in his most famous collaborations, Richard Rodgers, Hammerstein was a true believer in and tireless advocate for the power of love. And not in some cutesy way, but in a profound, transcendent way. There’s a famous film version of this musical you may have heard of; it has its virtues, but it also clouds Hammerstein’s vision.
Oh yeah: Bryan Ferry at Proctors - The Alt
If you’d asked me what the chances were that Bryan Ferry would ever play the Capital Region, I’d have said, “zero.” I was happily proved wrong on Thursday (March 30th), when Ferry and his amazing band knocked out a crowd in beautiful downtown Schenectady. As the Roxy Music cofounder and longtime solo act explained in a recent Alt e-mail interview with Paul Rapp, he’s been playing cities he’s never visited before on this tour. And the hardy crowd that turned out were more than appreciative.
Slidin’ Dirty into Schenectady - The Alt
It’s taking longer than expected, this renovation, but, “we still feel pretty good about opening before the start of summer,” Tim Taney (pictured) says.
Tonight at the Egg: Pilobolus Dance Theatre - The Alt
Pilobolus Dance Theatre, a perennially popular and seriously athletic modern dance group, return to Albany Friday night to heat up this unusually cold spring we’ve not been enjoying. Pilobolus are known for “spectacular” and “colorful” displays of the human body, using the dancers as a “graphic and expressive medium.” And also fun: As critic Ken Ross wrote in a 2014 review of a show at UMass Amherst, Pilobolus dancers “have the grace and agility of acrobats.
Tonight: The Levin Brothers at the Van Dyck - The Alt
The Levin Brothers are seriously great musicians. Keyboardist Peter has taken a more jazz path, performing with legends like Gil Evans, Jaco Pastorius, Lenny White and many others.
Friday: Kate White, author of The Secrets You Keep, at Northshire Bookstore - The Alt
Kate White – Glens Falls native, New York Times bestselling novelist, and former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine – will visit Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs on Friday, March 31, and read from her latest book. The reading begins at 7 PM. White’s new psychological thriller, The Secrets You Keep, was released last week by Harper Paperbacks.
Woody Harrelson’s a well-meaning, slow learning jerk in Wilson - The Alt
How many times do you have to approach a stranger, get in their face, and possibly even insult them, before you learn to alter your behavior?
#SaveTheNEA: Freedom of Thought, Imagination, and Inquiry (for 46 cents/year) - The Alt
By now you’ve heard that the Trump administration’s “skinny budget” calls for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Series (IMLS), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Together, these programs represent 0.02 percent of federal spending.
David Salle: Bogus art, or a bogus view of art? - The Alt
David Salle’s March 23 talk at University at Albany, hosted by Joe Donahue and recorded by WAMC radio, was a promotional vehicle for Salle’s How to See: Looking, Talking and Thinking About Art, a new book of art criticism published by W. W. Norton. Beginning in the 1980s, Salle skyrocketed to fame as a painter, and his artistic reputation faithfully drew a crowd to UAlbany that allowed him to plug his art criticism, for which he has also been more quietly recognized.
Now through Sunday at the Madison: THEY LIVE - The Alt
You know a film has become a part of our cultural heritage when it’s reduced to an internet meme. So seeing a gif of Kellyanne Conway revealed as one of the hideous aliens from John Carpenter’s They Live is really no surprise.
Tonight at EMPAC: Isabelle Pauwels (discussion-screening) - The Alt
Canadian artist Isabelle Pauwels is currently in residence at EMPAC, prepping the Fall 2017 production of her next major “moving-image work” (movie?), If it bleeds. The original plan for Thursday’s presentation was for Pauwels herself to give a talk; there’s been a slight change. EMPAC curator Victoria Brooks will introduce Pauwels’ new project, discuss her work and screen ,000, the work Pauwels premiered at EMPAC in 2014. What’s the new project about?
A festival to celebrate New York’s growing craft beer industry - The Alt
The 4th Annual New York Craft Brewers Festival returns to Colonie’s Desmond Hotel this Saturday, a showcase for craft beers from every region of the state. “The first year we had a band,” Paul Leone remembers. “But everyone complained they were too loud. People wanted to talk about the beer.” So they got rid of the band. And they’ve continued to grow. This Saturday (March 25), from 4 to 8 PM, you’ll be able to sample the wares of over 60 breweries.
Beyond Color at The Laffer Gallery in Schuylerville - The Alt
At 5:20 PM, early by most standards for a Saturday night, Schuylerville’s Broad Street was already lined with cars. The village’s two major restaurants – Clark’s Steakhouse and Amigos Cantina – were standing room only, and The Laffer Gallery on 96 Broad was near capacity. For many in the area, downtown Schuylerville was the place to be on March 11. The Laffer Gallery is a fine art gallery and custom frame shop that represents established and emerging contemporary artists in the region.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Shawn
Contact Shawn, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack