Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, Janaury 31, 2024-32 degrees in The City of Amsterdam on the last day of January. Scattered flurries before 9am. Cloudy, with a high near 38. Light and variable wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. Southwest wind 3 to 5 mph. Thursday A slight chance of rain and snow showers between 9am and noon, then a chance of rain showers. Cloudy, with a high near 39. West wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. Scroll down for The Story of The Secret Cord

Holiday IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_45_act

The Historians Podcast with Bob Cudmore - February 2024 Here’s the schedule (subject to change):

Friday, February 2, 2024-Episode 508-Jerry Madden discusses his historical novel Steel Valley: Coming of Age in the Ohio Valley in the 1960s.  Madden sets his story in the Rust Belt in cities like Steubenville, Ohio, where the steel mills have moved out.   

Friday, February 9, 2024-Episode 509-Highlights Edition from 2023 and 2024` with excerpts from podcasts on Civil War volunteers from Saratoga,  the story of Benedict Arnold, an ancient elephant tusk found in Maine and much more.

Friday, February 16, 2024-Episode 510-Former Albany Politico bureau chief Terry Golway is author of I Never Did like Politics: How Fiorello La Guardia Became America's Mayor, and Why He Still Matters.  Golway tells the story of LaGuardia’s life through colorful episodes that sound familiar to people today.

Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through the buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

Amsterdam's "Hallelujah" Connection
By Bob Cudmore

There is a connection between Amsterdam and singer Jeff Buckley, who recorded the most popular version of Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen's anthem "Hallelujah."

Cohen, who died in 2016, recorded "Hallelujah" himself in 1984. The song took a long time to gain popularity.

After hearing a cover version by John Cale, Jeff Buckley recorded his own "Hallelujah" cover at Bearsville Recording Studio in Ulster County, releasing the song in "Grace," a 1994 album.

Jeff Buckley's father was musician Tim Buckley III who spent his early years in Amsterdam and Fort Johnson.

Tim Buckley III died in 1975 of a heroin and morphine overdose at age 28 in Santa Monica, California. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Music critic David Browne wrote, "Jeff Buckley, who grew up barely knowing his father and being resentful of it, himself died in 1997 from drowning in Memphis, in the Mississippi River. A sad story, almost a Greek tragedy." Jeff Buckley's death was ruled accidental.

Browne is author of the book "Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley."

Jeff Buckley's recording of "Hallelujah" did not become popular until after his death. Buckley's version has been featured in film and television dramas. His "Hallelujah" was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2014.

AMSTERDAM BUCKLEYS

The first member of the Buckley family to settle in Amsterdam was Tim Buckley, Tim III's grandfather and Jeff's great-grandfather,

Tim Buckley had come from Ireland in the early 1900s. He and Frank Graff briefly operated an auto repair shop on Mechanic Street called Buckley and Graff. Buckley and his wife Charlotte lived on Mechanic Street and Buckley, a World War I veteran, was house steward at an American Legion post.

Son Tim II, whose nickname was Buck, was born in 1916. Buck worked at the Strand movie theater and later at Bigelow Sanford Carpet.

Browne wrote, "In 1942, Tim II was drafted and served in the Screaming Eagles (a paratroopers division) in Europe, receiving a Purple Heart but also a head injury that resulted in a head plate, and many psychological problems, like thinking he was still in the war decades later.

"Tim Buckley III--the singer, also known as Timothy Charles Buckley III--was born (on Valentine's Day 1947) in the District of Columbia, where his father stayed after World War II."

Tim II, his wife Elaine Scalia Buckley and their son moved back to Amsterdam and lived on Garden Street. Tim II worked for General Electric. Tim III's mother was a Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra fan who introduced her son to jazz recordings.

Browne wrote, "In 1955, the family moved to Fort Johnson. When Tim III was in second grade, the family moved again--this time to Southern California, where Tim Buckley's music career began to take root, resulting in a string of albums and tours between 1966 and his death in 1975."

Buckley did not find commercial success, but is admired for musical innovation and vocal ability. Buckley's first album in 1966 was mainly folk music. Later he incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul and a sound in which his voice was used as an instrument.

Tim Buckley fan Charles Frank of Niskayuna said, "He seems to have had a five octave range to his voice and liked to show it."

Jeff Buckley's relationship with his father figures in a movie called "Greetings from Tim Buckley" produced in 2012. Penn Badgley played Jeff Buckley and Ben Rosenfeld portrayed his father Tim. "Variety" reported that the film included a train trip to Amsterdam where Jeff's father once lived.