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Bruce Luyendyks trip to Marie Byrd Land about 30 years ago
Two smart men from the Mohawk Valley
By Bob Cudmore
https://www.dailygazette.com/
The story posted today in The Gazette and Recorder, here on The Historians tomorrow, Sunday, January 14, 2024
Amsterdam’s Bill Hojohn was very smart, according to his longtime friends.
Local history fan Emil Suda said William Walter Hojohn was born in Amsterdam in 1906
A Saturday story from Bob
Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller
A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy. I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.
Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native.
The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton's given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch. His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.
Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.
HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.
Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s which was called Pals of the Saddle according to HillbillyMusc. However, the band was referred to as Pals of the Range in newspaper advertisements.
He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs. Patton was drafted during World War II. HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie "Swing in the Saddle" which featured music by Nat King Cole's trio.
Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez's song "Nature Boy" which became a hit.
Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones's song "Ghost Riders in the Sky" to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949. However, Jones's biography failed to mention Patton.
Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band. At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores.
From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.
A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW. A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.
Roamin' Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, reported Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.
The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.
Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later. He had purchased a recording studio there.
My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.
Miller's brother in law Barry Frank performed with Miller's band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.
Miller had a day job stocking cigarette machines in the area. In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers.
Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton's Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.
The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam's Bob's Tavern. Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.
Miller's last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam's myriad characters, from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers.
"I like country music because it shows life as it is," Miller said.
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, January 13, 2024
45 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:06AM
Rain likely before noon, then a chance of showers, mainly between noon and 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 36 by 5pm. Breezy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph.
Sunday
A chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
M.L.King Day
Partly sunny, with a high near 24. West wind around 10 mph.
Mohawk Valley News
The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown.
https://www.dailygazette.com/
View all episodes
By Bob CudmoreTwo smart men from the Mohawk Valley
By Bob Cudmore
https://www.dailygazette.com/
The story posted today in The Gazette and Recorder, here on The Historians tomorrow, Sunday, January 14, 2024
Amsterdam’s Bill Hojohn was very smart, according to his longtime friends.
Local history fan Emil Suda said William Walter Hojohn was born in Amsterdam in 1906
A Saturday story from Bob
Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller
A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy. I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.
Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native.
The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton's given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch. His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.
Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.
HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.
Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s which was called Pals of the Saddle according to HillbillyMusc. However, the band was referred to as Pals of the Range in newspaper advertisements.
He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs. Patton was drafted during World War II. HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie "Swing in the Saddle" which featured music by Nat King Cole's trio.
Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez's song "Nature Boy" which became a hit.
Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones's song "Ghost Riders in the Sky" to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949. However, Jones's biography failed to mention Patton.
Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band. At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores.
From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.
A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW. A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.
Roamin' Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, reported Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.
The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.
Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later. He had purchased a recording studio there.
My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.
Miller's brother in law Barry Frank performed with Miller's band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.
Miller had a day job stocking cigarette machines in the area. In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers.
Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton's Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.
The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam's Bob's Tavern. Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.
Miller's last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam's myriad characters, from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers.
"I like country music because it shows life as it is," Miller said.
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, January 13, 2024
45 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:06AM
Rain likely before noon, then a chance of showers, mainly between noon and 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 36 by 5pm. Breezy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph.
Sunday
A chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
M.L.King Day
Partly sunny, with a high near 24. West wind around 10 mph.
Mohawk Valley News
The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown.
https://www.dailygazette.com/