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Daily Update
From the Archives-Episode 209, April 6, 2018, Poetry Songs and History Songs-Words of famous poets including Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, are put to original music by Tom Staudle. The History Songs portray the life of American settlers during the American Revolution through original songs by Cosby Gibson. Sunday Podcast "37 Minutes"
New York State historian Devin Lander interview this Friday, January 28, 2022
Tomorrow, Monday, January 24, 2022- Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"
Tuesday, January 25, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-An Army plane crashed in Amsterdam during World War II
It was 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13 1943 when a twin-engine American Army bomber crashed in a rural section of Amsterdam’s South Side
Wednesday, January 26-From the Archives- March 29, 2019-Episode 259-Patricia Walsh Chadwick, author of “Little Sister,” a memoir about her childhood in which she was raised in a strict Roman Catholic community.
Thursday, January 27, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam barber a black political leader
Friday, January 28, 2022-Episode 407-New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Bob Cudmore at WMHT 89.1FM Public Radio Albany around 2015 when RISE the radio service for the blind added The Historians to the schedule, where it remains today, Thanks for the Go Fund Me help
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022
Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller
By Bob Cudmore
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 called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some 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, stated 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 frequently performed with Miller’s band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.
Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending 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, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers
“I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.
When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.
Everybody likes the Mooosess(we mean more than one)
The moose is the largest member of the deer family and the largest land mammal in New York State. Bulls weigh from 600 to 1,200 pounds and stand up to 6 feet tall at the shoulder.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the start of a new moose research project in the Adirondack region. This winter, 14 moose were fitted with GPS collars as part of a multi-year project assessing moose health and population.
https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6964.html
By collaring calves and monitoring their survival to adulthood, biologists will be able to investigate factors limiting moose population growth such as the effects of parasites on juvenile moose survival.
Sunday in Amsterdam
Mohawk Valley Weather, January 23, 2022
Today
Scattered snow showers, mainly after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 28. Calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tonight
Isolated snow showers before 9pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 0. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Monday
Partly sunny, with a high near 21. Wind chill values as low as zero. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Mohawk Valley News, Sunday, January 23, 2022
Daily Gazette
Nathan Littauer Hospital diverts ER patients to St. Mary’s
GLOVERSVILLE — Nathan Littauer Hospital was forced to divert incoming patients for at least 18 hours due to reaching full…
Marijuana possession cases set to be expunged as courts sift through thousands of records
Sevell Graham remembers being convicted of possessing marijuana in New York as if it were yesterday. But it was nearly…
SPAC summer classical: NYCB with full roster, Philadelphia Orchestra featuring new artists
The summer season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center will look a bit more traditional this year with the return…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
High schools: Amsterdam boys’ basketball dominates Queensbury
In Foothills Council boys’ basketball action, Amsterdam cruised to a 79-41 win Friday against...
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Make Us Part of Your Day
https://www.leaderherald.com/
View all episodes
By Bob CudmoreFrom the Archives-Episode 209, April 6, 2018, Poetry Songs and History Songs-Words of famous poets including Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, are put to original music by Tom Staudle. The History Songs portray the life of American settlers during the American Revolution through original songs by Cosby Gibson. Sunday Podcast "37 Minutes"
New York State historian Devin Lander interview this Friday, January 28, 2022
Tomorrow, Monday, January 24, 2022- Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"
Tuesday, January 25, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-An Army plane crashed in Amsterdam during World War II
It was 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13 1943 when a twin-engine American Army bomber crashed in a rural section of Amsterdam’s South Side
Wednesday, January 26-From the Archives- March 29, 2019-Episode 259-Patricia Walsh Chadwick, author of “Little Sister,” a memoir about her childhood in which she was raised in a strict Roman Catholic community.
Thursday, January 27, 2022-From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam barber a black political leader
Friday, January 28, 2022-Episode 407-New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Bob Cudmore at WMHT 89.1FM Public Radio Albany around 2015 when RISE the radio service for the blind added The Historians to the schedule, where it remains today, Thanks for the Go Fund Me help
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022
Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller
By Bob Cudmore
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 called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some 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, stated 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 frequently performed with Miller’s band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.
Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending 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, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers
“I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.
When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.
Everybody likes the Mooosess(we mean more than one)
The moose is the largest member of the deer family and the largest land mammal in New York State. Bulls weigh from 600 to 1,200 pounds and stand up to 6 feet tall at the shoulder.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the start of a new moose research project in the Adirondack region. This winter, 14 moose were fitted with GPS collars as part of a multi-year project assessing moose health and population.
https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6964.html
By collaring calves and monitoring their survival to adulthood, biologists will be able to investigate factors limiting moose population growth such as the effects of parasites on juvenile moose survival.
Sunday in Amsterdam
Mohawk Valley Weather, January 23, 2022
Today
Scattered snow showers, mainly after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 28. Calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tonight
Isolated snow showers before 9pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 0. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Monday
Partly sunny, with a high near 21. Wind chill values as low as zero. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Mohawk Valley News, Sunday, January 23, 2022
Daily Gazette
Nathan Littauer Hospital diverts ER patients to St. Mary’s
GLOVERSVILLE — Nathan Littauer Hospital was forced to divert incoming patients for at least 18 hours due to reaching full…
Marijuana possession cases set to be expunged as courts sift through thousands of records
Sevell Graham remembers being convicted of possessing marijuana in New York as if it were yesterday. But it was nearly…
SPAC summer classical: NYCB with full roster, Philadelphia Orchestra featuring new artists
The summer season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center will look a bit more traditional this year with the return…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
High schools: Amsterdam boys’ basketball dominates Queensbury
In Foothills Council boys’ basketball action, Amsterdam cruised to a 79-41 win Friday against...
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Make Us Part of Your Day
https://www.leaderherald.com/