May Week Two-Week Four Albums.
May 9th: New Again, Taking Back Sunday
familiarity: we are now entering the territory of TBS albums that I have not heard yet
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: New Again, Summer, Man; Swing, Where My Mouth Is, Cut Me Up Jenny, Capital M-E, Carpathia, Everything Must Go
May 10th: Taking Back Sunday, Taking Back Sunday
familiarity: happy birthday to me! we’re breaking into the self-titled album today.
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: Faith (When I Let You Down), Sad Savior, Since You’re Gone
May 11th: Happiness Is, Taking Back Sunday
familiarity: Funnily enough, when I was studying abroad in Ireland back in 2014, I checked in on TBS and - instead of checking out all the albums in between this one and the last one i remembered - i jumped straight to this one. don’t regret it! this album feels like a slight turn from their older stuff, but it was a direction i really enjoyed and it reminds me of long, evening walks around the University of Limerick’s campus.
favorite(s) before/after listen: Flicker, Fade; Stood a Chance, Beat Up Car, It Takes More, Better Homes and Gardens, Like You Do, Nothing At All
standout lyric: the bridge and outro of “Flicker, Fade” is [chef’s kiss]
May 12th: Tidal Wave, Taking Back Sunday
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: Homecoming, I Felt It Too, Call Come Running, I’ll Find A Way To Make It What You Want
May 13th: Dance Fever, Florence + The Machine
familiarity: [bangs on pots and pans] new Florence album!! NEW FLORENCE ALBUM!!!
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: King, Free**, Choreomania, Girls Against God, Dream Girl Evil, Cassandra, Heaven is Here, Daffodil, My Love
standout lyric: the bridge of Free, my friends. that’s what it feels like to be a creator of any media of art. that’s just the meaning of life right there.
May 14th: Monsters, The Midnight
familiarity: discovered The Midnight through Julien Solomita. he uses their song “Good in Red” a lot on his streams, and I would highly suggest their Horror Show EP. it’s an album for driving at dusk with the windows down. figured, since I enjoyed it so much, might as well check out an album!
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: ((gonna be honest with you. i am filling each of these days out right now and i usually like the songs that i like the most on spotify so that i remember but i don’t have any liked on this album. but i remember enjoying this album so i think i just thought the whole album was a vibe overall. maybe, someday, if i have an extra hour, i’ll relisten and update this with specific songs but...until then...I’ll just give it a thumbs up!))
May 15th: Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain
familiarity: No familiarity with the artist but I ran into a tiktok on my fyp that included a snippet from the scream in Ptolemaea and I was like,”Sign me up!”
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: American Teenager, A House in Nebraska, Family Tree, Thoroughfare, Ptolemaea, Televangelism, Sun Bleached Flies, Strangers
standout lyric: "What I wouldn't give to be in Church this Sunday / Listening to the choir, so heartfelt, all singing / God loves you, but not enough to save you / So, baby girl, good luck taking care of yourself”
May 16th: Back of My Mind, H.E.R.
familiarity: I am going to see my favorite boys, Coldplay, on the 28th, so we are officially entering the preparation stretch of the month. H.E.R is one of Coldplay’s openers. Also, should be noted, I will be skipping the song on this album that features a certain abuser.
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: We Made It, Damage, I Can Have It All, Slide
notes: Since I am getting to these write-ups so late, to the point that the concert has come and gone, I can say that H.E.R was amazing on stage. This album was pure R&B, which I enjoyed, but she was up on stage, shredding on the electric guitar and playing the drums and just rocking out. Loved that style from her!
May 17th: FANDOM, Waterparks
familiarity: had an extra day in my concert preparation to slip in a random album. I know Waterparks from their song “I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore”, a Scanlan Shorthalt anthem, but felt compelled to check out the rest of this album after hearing another song on a playlist. also, i gotta be real here. didn’t realize that this album came out in 2019. it has the vibe of the mid-00s emo/punk scene.
favorite(s) before listen: I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore
favorite(s) after listen: I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore, Watch What Happens Next, High Definition, Telephone, Turbulent, [Reboot]
May 18th: Gallows (Deluxe), DRAMA
familiarity: another one of Coldplay’s openers.
favorite(s) before listen: N/A
favorite(s) after listen: Barely Friends, Falling, Missing
May 19th: Parachutes, Coldplay
familiarity: ah, and here it begins, the album where my love for Coldplay began. I used to “steal” the CDs for this album and A Rush of Blood To The Head from my dad’s car and listen to them on our 5-CD boombox in the basement. I listened to “We Never Change” with all the wistful melancholy that a prepubescent child can possess.
favorite(s): Since I love Coldplay and they are My Boys™, I feel entitled to wax at length about my feelings on each album. because I have opinions. That being said, there are only two Coldplay albums that I consider to be true “No Skips” albums and Parachutes is very close...but not one of them. I would still highly recommend it to be listened to from start to finish. There’s no true “duds” on this album, just a couple songs that take some warming up to. While Yellow is, of course, a classic, I would pick a live version of it over the album recording any day. my personal favorite picks from this album are...Don’t Panic (one of their best and my favorite from this album), Shiver, Trouble, We Never Change, Everything’s Not Lost
standout lyric: "Oh, all that I know / There's nothing here to run from / ‘Cause yeah, everybody here's / Got somebody to lean on”
May 20th: Harry’s House, Harry Styles
familiarity: Taking a break from Coldplay to check out the new Harry Styles album
favorite(s) before listen: As It Was
favorite(s) after listen: As It Was, Music For a Sushi Restaurant, Late Night Talking, Little Freak, Matilda, Day Dreaming, Keep Driving, Satellite
standout lyric: not a lyric, but the outro to As It Was where, after the bridge, he brings in wedding bells...that shit changed me fundamentally
May 21st: A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay
familiarity: remember when I said that I only have two Coldplay albums that I consider to be perfect? This is number #1 out of the 2.
favorite(s): There’s not a single song on this album that I would ever dare to skip. This album should be enjoyed front-to-back often and with reverence. Not only are these songs all amazing on the album recording, but this album is best known for having the most songs that are staples to Coldplay live performances to the point that I was disappointed when songs like In My Place and God Put a Smile upon Your Face were not included on the setlist for their current tour. That’s the problem with having a 20+ year discography. You can play a 2-hour long show and still not be able to fit in all your best hits. In particular, those two aforementioned songs MUST be enjoyed alongside their live versions. God Put a Smile upon Your Face, especially. I love this album so much that I even struggle to pick a favorite. I long dream of them embracing this sound again but, at the same time, you could never replicate this album..Just...You Gotta Listen To This Album. That is my platform. That is my truth.
standout moment: I think I’m gonna hand my honorable mention to the bridge of Politik. life-changing bridge. Also, See You Soon, a song from this era that was never officially released but has a live recording is one of my absolute underrated Coldplay songs. Highly recommend.
May 22nd: X&Y, Coldplay
familiarity: notoriously the most hated Coldplay album by Coldplayers. if someone names this album as their favorite, it’s one of the most surefire ways to out yourself as not really listening to Coldplay. that being said, this album holds a lot of sentimental value to me and, as such, I think quite a few songs that I love like Low and The Hardest Part would be scoffed at by more reasonable fans.
favorite(s): My favorite from this album is Swallowed in the Sea. It’s attached to be a very specific and personal childhood memory for me, and I am very protective of it. I think we all have a song like that. Which is to say, seeing it crop up on Fjorester playlists all throughout CR2? Drove me mad. How dare you reduce it to a simple love song when it means so much more than that!! Other notable mentions from this album are X&Y (listen, and listen close, the lyric is “YOU become my best friend” not “SHE become my best friend”. Coldplay uses gender neutral pronouns more often than not which is why they are beloved among the queer community, you fools!!) and A Message.
standout moment: When the bridge hits in A Message and Chris’ adds on, with absolute devastation and heartbreak, “And I love you, please come home” to the chorus lyrics. yeah. We should talk about it more.
May 23rd: Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay
familiarity: and here we have it -- the second perfect Coldplay album. I may be biased because this is the era where I saw them in concert for the first time and when I actually felt like I was a part of the Coldplayer community, but I think every song from this era -- Prospekt’s March and all the B-sides -- are worthy of praise as well. though I could take or leave most of the “remixes”. After X&Y, this album was a huge comeback for Coldplay. X&Y almost tore them apart, and every inch of this album is built on togetherness and love between four best friends who chose each other and the music they loved to make. Like A Rush of Blood to the Head, it has such a unique and distinct sound to it that, as much as I’d love to see it, I know that it’s not replicable.
favorite(s): My favorite from this album is 42, but my underrated favorite is Yes. Do the people know? Do they know that Yes is one of Coldplay’s sexiest and most sensual songs? Do they know? Also, the best version of Viva la Vida can be found on their live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft, only now available on Spotify as of this year.
standout lyric: My standout lyric is actually gonna go to “Gravity, release me and don't ever hold me down / Now my feet won't touch the ground” from Life in Technicolor ii from the Proskept’s March EP. I can’t explain it; it’s just always meant a lot to me.
May 24th Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
familiarity: Coldplay’s official entrance into the pop genre, and -- Damn, they did it with style. It was also the introduction the Xylo bands at concerts -- now a Coldplay staple. This is another album that has a lot of sentimental value to me. The first single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”, came out the day of my high school graduation and it was also the day that we had to put down our childhood cat, Annie. The full album was released on the day that we had to put down our childhood dog, Ellie. It was an album that was there for me during a year where it felt like I was having to say goodbye to my whole childhood. This album also saw a huge boom in the Coldplay fandom on tumblr. It’s since died down, but those were fun days.
favorite(s): My favorite song from this album is Charlie Brown. You know when you’re at a concert and suddenly everything seems to slow as you look around at the thousands of people who are there with you? Confetti rains down around you. Every nerve in your body is buzzing. You are elated and bright-eyed. and every single person is experiencing the same moment as you. all of you, together. and you are just hit with a wave of total adoration and affection for every single one of them? Yeah, Chris Martin captured that feeling with the last 35 seconds of Charlie Brown in 2011, and I have never emotionally recovered. Honorable mentions go to Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, Hurts like Heaven, and Up With The Birds. Major Minus is also majorly underrated.
standout moment: when the instrumental shifts in Up With The Birds, and Chris sings “Might have to go, where they don't know my name / Float all over the world just to see her again”....yeah...i cry every time....
May 25th Ghost Stories, Coldplay
familiarity: ah, the divorce era. I honestly don’t have a lot to say about Ghost Stories. I see it as the yin to Mylo Xyloto’s yang. It was an intimate era -- quiet and subtle -- compared to the big, loud explosions of color that were the trademarks of MX. and, I think a lot of Coldplayers view it in the same way. It’s not an album for discussion and Opinions. it’s just an album for listening and nodding understandably.
favorite(s): My favorite song from this album is Oceans. When I went to see Coldplay live in 2016, our show got rained out, but they went out with a bang by playing A Sky Full of Stars. The energy in the stadium that night was and remains unmatched. To this day, 3 minutes and 3 seconds of ASFoS hits and I tear up....I just...love Coldplay so much...
standout lyric: “You’ve got to find yourself alone in this world” are the lyrics for the one and only tattoo that I am dead-set on getting one day
May 26th A Head Full of Dreams, Coldplay
familiarity: another notoriously hated album by Coldplay fans. which is a fact that I’m glad I found out much later because this album carried me through the worst years of my life. Coldplay really said “When you’re in pain, when you think you’ve had enough / Don’t ever give up” and I sobbed on the interstate, driving 70 mph, because I knew they were right.
favorite(s): Up&Up has my heart. It’s what hope sounds like to me. A Head Full of Dreams deserves to be used in some kind of cyperpunk/sci-fi media -- 1:50 and onwards? Perfect sci-fi ambience. I am in space. We are the universe and the universe is us. Birds is beloved amongst Coldplay fans, and for good reason. I also have a soft spot for Adventure of a Lifetime. It should also be noted that Everglow is only valid when it’s played live; the album recording is meh.
standout lyric: Gotta give it up to “When you’re in pain, when you think you’ve had enough / Don’t ever give up”
May 27th Everyday Life, Coldplay
familiarity: After the more pop-rooted sounds of the previous three albums, this album was a return to their more alternative sound -- with a lemon wedge of pop. In a lot of ways, this album listens to me like the culmination of all their previous eras. There’s elements of Parachutes, elements of A Rush of Blood to the Head, elements of It’s also the first album where Chris Martin let himself say ‘fuck’; we were all very happy for them.
favorite(s): My favorite song is Champion of the World. Honorable mention to Arabesque. The sax solo goes on just a little too long, but it’s otherwise perfect. I love any Coldplay song where they go a bit harder, dig a bit deeper with their sound, and Arabesque is definitely one of those songs. You also can’t go wrong with Sunrise, Trouble in Town, Orphans, Èkó, Everyday Life, and Old Friends.
standout lyric: when Chris sings “I guess we’ll be raised on our own then” in Orphans
May 28th Music of the Spheres, Coldplay
familiarity: It’s the day of the concert, and we have reached the most recent Coldplay album! This album is very hit-and-miss for me. Songs like Colortura and People of the Pride are easily two of the best amongst their entire discography, but they’re stuck on an album that feels very sparse and mid-tier. Out of all the albums that they’ve released before now, this one has felt the most incomplete and poorly executed. Coldplay always puts on a great show, but this album was truly saved by the graces of its best songs.
favorite(s): The moment Coldplay dropped that minute-or-so long trailer video for Music of the Spheres and I heard that snippet of People of the Pride, I was in love. The moment I heard People of the Pride on the album, I knew I needed to hear it live. The moment I heard it live, I lost my goddamn mind. People of the Pride is easily one of the best Coldplay songs, and it makes saying this album isn’t that great so hard lol. If Coldplay would just release an album that’s full of songs like God Put a Smile upon Your Face and People of the Pride, they would be unstoppable, and I believe this whole-heartedly in my heart and soul. Colortura is also a masterpiece. It’s over 10 minutes long, and it should be. When the music box instrumental starts at 5:34, I ascend to a higher plane of being. I was so disappointed that they took it off the setlist of the tour, but also I would have been sobbing in that stadium if they’d kept it. Honorable mention to Infinity Sign for immortalizing the “Olé Olé Coldplay” chant, which is the best Coldplay chant, and to Humankind. Biutyful won me over eventually, mostly because it comes right after People of the Pride and I listened to People of the Pride so much, but it’s mostly saved by Chris’ solo vocals at 2:12.
standout lyric: “We’re only human / But we’re capable of kindness / So they call us Humankind”. Also, the last 30 seconds of My Universe are the best part. I love when it just sounds like they’ve having fun.
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Breaking Ground
by Amy Catania
Not long ago, buildings were made to last. With care and a little luck, places were passed down to the next generation. And so it wasn’t uncommon to celebrate the birth of a new building.
During the booming years of Saranac Lake’s TB economy, cure cottages sprouted up all around town, and impressive commercial buildings went up at an astonishing rate downtown. New buildings were commemorated with special ceremonies and etched cornerstones, like the Masonic Temple on Broadway.
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise diligently covered groundbreaking ceremonies, printing photos of local citizens, grinning with shovels. Famous people were invited to make the occasion extra special. Remarkably, in 1890, the President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, attended the groundbreaking of the first Saranac Lake High School. In the summer of 1921, theatrical star Olga Petrova turned the first shovel of earth for a housing project on Lake Street. Saranac Lake’s elementary school now bears her name.
Trudeau Institute opened in 1964 with a formal dedication event. A photo of handsome young Dr. Frank Trudeau, grinning while he ceremoniously opens the front door for the first time, is a lasting reminder of the importance of this new institution in the community.
Groundbreaking ceremonies tend to be held for public buildings; people commemorate homes in more personal ways. In 2003, Howard Riley interviewed Olive Lascore Gardiner, who lived at 56 Riverside Drive (now 135 Kiwassa). Olive’s father was a carpenter, and he carefully built the house for his family of six daughters. Olive remembered the night the house was completed in the winter of 1923. She and her mother walked across the ice on Lake Flower to the new house, carrying a Bible and a freshly baked loaf of bread. Olive’s mother placed the items in the attic rafters and said, “This house will never be without faith or bread.” Olive Gardiner lived in the house her whole life, and she died one year after telling Howard her story.
Down the street from Olive Gardiner is Christy Fontana’s house at 164 Kiwassa (now 3 Kiwassa). A while back, Christy brought us a dime-sized medallion she had found tucked in the foundation of her home. The medallion shows a tiny Star of David over an image of a Torah. Today, we save it in our collection, a symbol of a family’s faith and hope for a happy life in their new home.
Many buildings don’t have a history of their beginning. Either the story has been lost over the years, or like the last sibling in a large family whose photo doesn’t appear in the family album, life was too busy to stop and recognize the occasion.
In 1893, Dr. Trudeau lost his home and makeshift laboratory to fire. A new house and laboratory went up quickly the following year. As a young doctor struggling with his own case of tuberculosis, in a remote place and a difficult climate, there was no time for a ceremony for either the new home or the laboratory. Trudeau moved right in and got to work.
For 125 years, Trudeau's home on the corner of Church and Main was a busy place. Three generations of doctors Trudeau practiced medicine there. For a while, Garry Trudeau’s grandmother lived upstairs. Dozens of beloved doctors and nurses cared for countless patients. When HSL bought the building from Medical Associates in 2018, Dr. Tony Waickman was still doing house calls with his old fashioned medical bag.
Today, the Trudeau Building stands as a rather forlorn vinyl-clad version of its former self. But it was made to last. We are fixing it up to hand down to the next generation as a museum that preserves Olive Gardiner’s story, Christy Fontana’s Star of David, and so much more. This time, it’s getting a groundbreaking. We hope to see you there on August 1.
All best,
Amy Catania
Executive Director
JOIN US AUGUST 1!
3:00-4:00 OPEN HOUSE - This is your last chance to get a "before" view of the future expanded museum. Everyone is invited to drop in and take a look! Some sneak preview photos of the future planned exhibits will be posted throughout.
4:00-4:30 GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY - All community members are invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Trudeau Building Museum Expansion project! Join us for a group photo taken in front of the building!
4:30 -- CELEBRATE IN THE HOTEL SARANAC GREAT HALL - Come celebrate with us in the beautiful Hotel Saranac. In honor of the building that will soon be red again and once was called "Big Red," there will be a special drink featured at the cash bar... the "Big Red!" Anyone attending the celebration at the Hotel is welcome to park in the Hotel lot.
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