Stacy Horn

I was watching the Grammys and I didn’t know it was coming when they announced that Kent Knappenberger won the first ever Grammy for “Music Educator.” I loved how they listed all the choirs he ever started (there were a lot of them). When asked how the award money was going to help initially he said, “Right now I have a student that wants to play violin, and our school doesn’t own a violin, so we got one on loan (from me).” Not a single violin!

This is such a great and important award. From Neil Portnow, President/CEO of the GRAMMY Foundation and The Recording Academy: “Many musicians would not be expressing their gift for creativity had it not been for the dedication and encouragement of a music teacher who inspired them to pursue a professional career.”

Very true. But I would not limit the rewards to professionals only. Anyone who has music in their life at any level benefits. So congratulations, Kent Knappenberger! You can nominate someone for next year, but you need to hurry. The deadline is March 31st.

Yesterday it was almost like spring, today this. 

My way down 11th Street was blocked by this fallen … bush thing.

Yesterday I was tweeting about all the helicopters in the sky and everyone said it must be for the Superbowl. This afternoon, I came up out of the subway and once again the sky in my neighborhood was buzzing. It wasn’t the Superbowl this time I learned, sadly. Philip Seymour Hoffman (who lived nearby) has died.

Right now his block is filled with police, news people, friends and neighbors.

A lot of people like football, I take it. These people were in front of a stage set up on Broadway, many waiting for autographs from I don’t know who. I want to say … football players?

Also set up on Broadway was this giant slide. There was a slide like this at a place called Adventurer’s Inn out on Long Island, except we’d go down it on burlap bags. I loved that slide. I’d go down it over and over. Adventurer’s Inn is long gone and it would have been so much fun to go down this slide, but as you can guess, there was a monster line.

I turned around and took a picture of the crowd watching, and sure enough, that one kid is looking at me like I’m some creepy stalker person.

Alright, technically it was nothing but insane football fans out there. But some of them were very cute. I went to Broadway and Times Square, which they are currently calling Superbowl Boulevard. It was a madhouse, I tell you!! The games they had set up for children were charming to watch though. I’ll post a few more shots tomorrow.

I don’t think I’ve got any more of the kids. I’m afraid if I take more then one or two their parents will think I’m some sort of creepy stalker person.

I desperately need to get out there and take some pictures. But I recently found this very very old photograph on Echo. We’re doing a big clean-up and consolidation of our machines, and I’ve been getting rid of old websites that people left behind as they moved on down the information superhighway.

This is a picture taken soon after Echo first started, so I’m guessing it’s around 1990. That’s a MAC SE on the right. I still have that. I also still have the plastic rat and Godzilla that can be seen in this shot. Those are modems on the left, sitting on red shelves. They must have been 1200 and 2400 baud!!

I wish it were more hi-res, but what are you going to do? Hopefully I will have some great shots when I get back. Although I suspect it’s most crazed football fans out there, and everyone else is in hiding.