{"id":73315,"date":"2020-06-13T10:34:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T08:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whisnews21.com\/?p=73315"},"modified":"2021-01-10T09:28:14","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T09:28:14","slug":"jack-blanchards-column-going-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/13\/jack-blanchards-column-going-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Blanchard’s Column: Going Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jack Blanchard’s Column<\/strong>: Going Home<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/h4>\n

GOING HOME.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the mid-1970s we took a trip back to our home town, Buffalo, New York.
\nSomebody had been rearranging the scenery.
\nFirst, I missed the arching elm trees that were wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease.
\nThose DAMN Dutch!
\nBuffalo without the majestic elms was like seeing your grandmother in her underwear.
\nThere were little new trees being held up by sticks and wire.
\nI hoped I would live long enough to see them full grown.<\/p>\n

We were driving our motor home and stayed at a KOA on Grand Island,
\na big chunk of land in the Niagara River that was rural in my childhood,
\nbut was now looking suburban.
\nThe temperature was in the low 40’s,
\nand the wind across the island was fierce.<\/p>\n

Accompanied by my old buddy Bob Egan and his girlfriend Mary Lou,
\nwe made the rounds of the nightspots and dayspots.<\/p>\n

I noticed that people had an obsession with “improving” pianos.
\nMost of the grand old upright pianos had been cut down
\nin an attempt to make them into spinets. It didn’t work.
\nThe shape always came out sort of hunchbacked.
\nThey stuck to it, though,
\npainting them with pink or white enamel, and putting mirrors over the keys.
\nI could never play a piano with mirrors over the keys.
\nI can’t stop watching the hands in the mirror.
\nIt’s like trying to talk with an echo on the telephone line.<\/p>\n

Each night we started out at a Grand Island tavern
\nbuilt into the downstairs floor of an old house.
\nThe large screened porch covering the front of the building had storm windows up.
\nIt was late autumn, and no place for sissies.
\nThe Roast Beef sandwiches on Weck, a Buffalo specialty, were perfect.
\nThat’s about all I ate while in town.<\/p>\n

The tavern had an old upright piano,
\nthat was a bit out of tune and was missing some ivories.
\nIt looked as though it needed some Ragtime,
\nso we played some every night.<\/p>\n

We also went to Dinty Moore’s Restaurant at Elmwood and Kenmore Avenues,
\nwhere they had a piano bar and a dance floor.
\nMisty danced with Bob, who looked funny in my huge brimmed cowboy hat.
\nThat’s the first time we’ve been bar hopping in a 38 foot motorhome.<\/p>\n

In the daylight, we took in Delaware Park, the zoo,
\nthe houses where we used to live, some old landmarks
\nAll things wood must be covered with Formica,
\nand a big picture window must be gouged out of every house front.
\nCrinkly shingles of various colors were tacked on to houses I used to like.
\nThe solid wood counter on the upstairs porch was now wrought iron railing.
\nSatellite TV dishes pop out of the wall like giant toadstools,
\nand our wonderful sunporch was replaced by the mandatory picture window.<\/p>\n

Before we said goodby,
\nwe had a couple of get-togethers in a North Tonawanda tavern,
\nplayed music, and had fun.
\nMost of those friends and relatives are gone now,
\nbut we still see them in our memories of that visit,
\nand in the fading snapshots that were taken.<\/p>\n

I learned something…
\nIt’s not so much the the way it looks, or the economic situation,
\nor even the great food
\nIt’s the feeling… the aura,\u00a0 that makes Buffalo unique.
\nThe soul, the energy, and the personality are still there.<\/p>\n

LATER: In 2010 We visited Buffalo again and found it better than ever.
\nMany of our old haunts had ignored time and were the same, but with new people.
\nThere were new improvements and the city looked great.
\nBuffalo has its unique energy and personality.
\nWe’d love to visit again sometime,
\nbut we don’t live there anymore.<\/p>\n

Jack Blanchard<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan..
\nVideos:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/jackandmisty<\/a>.
\nFacebook:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jackandmisty<\/a><\/span>
\nBillboard Duet of the Year, Grammy and CMA Finalists.
\n<\/span>Home Page:\u00a0http:\/\/www.jackandmisty.net<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a9 Jack Blanchard, 2020.<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jack Blanchard’s Column: Going Home GOING HOME. In the mid-1970s we took a trip back to our home town, Buffalo, New York. Somebody had been rearranging the scenery. First, I missed the arching elm trees that were wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease. Those DAMN Dutch! Buffalo without the majestic elms was like seeing your grandmother in her underwear. There were little new trees being held up by sticks and wire. I hoped I would live long enough to see them full grown. We were driving our motor home and<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73315"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73585,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73315\/revisions\/73585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}