The Super Bowl had already kicked off by the time Samadee and Lady Green got to Manhattan’s. A dozen people, a crowd that more than doubled by halftime, seemed to be cheering equally for the Steelers and the Cardinals, or maybe just acknowledging the good feeling from a game that was close and dramatic.

Reports of the tavern’s demise, like those of a similar fate for the print media, had been wildly exaggerated by one of the Hair Brothers at Pasta’s, a rumor that had recently spread at Wild Will’s. The locks had indeed been changed, but the reason turned out to be the breaking off of a key in the lock by a staff member. Lady Green asked why there wasn’t the usual music of a darker hue on the sound system...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Manhattans,Steelers,samadee,Electric Relaxation band,Wild Wills,Cheech and Chong’s,Springstein,Will Mathis,Super bowl

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After spending a hopeful Super Bowl with Will Mathis at Manhattan’s, hearing all the promoter’s plans to maintain the spirit on Hanover Square, Samadee and Lady Green stopped by the tavern to drop off copies of last week’s City Eagle, including this column’s squelching of the rumor that the last watering hole on that side of the Square had closed. Mathis had declared Manhattan’s would be open from 5 p.m. ‘til close Mondays through Fridays, with several highlighted regular featured activities, and maintained that, with three years left on the lease, there was no way they could be knocked out of the box. But the bar was dark at 5:30 on the weekday the carousers stopped by, and after chatting with neighbors on the Square, the pair found that lease or not, there is always a way...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: World,Hanover Square Syracuse,War of Gentrification,Samadee,The bull and bear

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It was church. The parking lot at Tucker Missionary Baptist filled early, and the lobby was all politics as candidates and handlers and constituents pressed flesh and talked policy. But it was church, so the lobby was cleared and the candidates worked the pews, cris-crossing the now congregation, awaiting a visit from the Rev. Al Sharpton to be preceded by a parade of local pastors. It was rally, as induction of a local chapter into Sharpton’s National Action Network, but the pastors would preach and Tucker’s Praise and Worship Team would eventually rock the house. So it was church, and as might happen on a Sunday morning, dignitaries were recognized. Bea Gonzales, Joe Nicoletti and Alfonso Davis were recognized as mayoral candidates...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: sharpton,Twiggy Billue,Tucker Missionary Baptist,Kennedy Square,Tucker’s Praise and Worship Team,N.A.N.,roachologist,Obama,Brooklyn,Moses,Madison Towers,Harrison House

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