I missed the change in hours at the Rochester Public Library, Central Branch; ie. Rundel building and B & L buildings. They shortened their hours once again on May 7th. The new hours are:
The Library has already closed for the summer on Sundays and they will close on Saturdays after June 30th.
The next song to reach the top of the charts in 1962 was not a rock song. It was Stranger on the Shore by Mr Acker Bilk. Bernard Stanley Bilk got the nickname “Acker” from a slang term meaning “friend.” He wrote the song for his daughter, Jenny, and named the song for her. He was approached by a British TV serial and asked change the name of the song to match the series; “Stranger on the Shore.”
The song was the number song on the Cash Box list for the week of 13-19 May 1962 and then the number one song on the Billboard list for the week of 20-26 May.
Download songs from Acker Bilk
Acker Bilk is still preforming in Europe. Visit his website for photos, tour dates and more information.
History in the making…
A press release from the drupa printing convention in Dusseldorf says that Kodak’s digital technology will help to modernize digital document printing systems and increase value for the Sociedad del Estado Casa de Moneda (Society of the State Mint), the printing site of the Argentine government. Digital capabilities will improve the print production of security transactional documents like lottery tickets, catalogs, and other applications.
I got a notice from Kodak on Monday that their Kodak Gallery website will be shutting down on July 2nd. That is a result of the sale to Shutterfly. If you have photos on Kodak Gallery and don’t want to have them transferred to Shutterfly than you can “opt out” but that has to be done before May 28th. Then you would have to download the photos from Kodak or spend some money to create a DVD of photos from Kodak. In June, you will get an email with instructions for linking the Kodak account to an existing Shutterfly account. If you wait until July 2nd then a new Shutterfly account will be created. Kodak has been saying that there were 75 million users on Kodak Gallery but in fact only about 2 million users are active users. The rest of the users, me included, are inactive. According to various estimates, there are currently 5 to 9 billion photos on the Kodak Gallery website.
Also this week the Bankruptcy Judge in NYC allowed a lawsuit from Kodak against Shutterfly to go forward. Kodak has said that Shutterfly infringed of some of their patents. That case probably won’t start trial until 2013 at the earliest.
Kodak has lost a supplier for ink, Collins Ink Co. of Ohio. Those inks are used on the high end commercial printing systems that Kodak is staking their future on. Kodak is increasing internal ink production to offset the loss of ink from Collins.
The NY State Senate passed a bill on Tuesday, sponsored by Senator Joe Robach of Greece, that would create a health insurance program to cover Kodak retirees. The bill would cover the gap in insurance coverage for retirees under age 65. Then it was discovered that the wording of the bill said that the coverage would have to come from a Monroe County based insurance provider. The only insurer based in the county is Excellus. Other insurers have complained that they are being left out. The bill is on its way to the State Assembly where Assemblyman Joe Morelle says that it won’t pass without amendments allowing other insurers a chance to bid on the coverage.
Cinesite Ltd (UK), a division of Kodak, is being sold to the private equity firm Endless LLP for an undisclosed sum. Cinesite creates special effects. Some of the movies that they assisted on are Titanic, X-Men: First Class and all the Harry Potter movies. For TV, Cinesite worked on Band of Brothers, Rome and Into the Storm. The exiting management team at Cinesite will remain with the company.
American Ancestors has a blog called the Daily Genealogist and today they posted a column spotlighting on-line cemetery databases in Monroe County; Mt. Hope, Riverside, Holy Sepulchre and Webster Union Cemeteries. Go read the article by Valerie Beaudrault. While you are there you can also subscribe to receive future articles from American Ancestors for free either via email or by RSS feed.
Jason as Mitt Romney
Jason Sudikis is a comedian known best as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. This week on Who Do You Think You Are?, he is in search of his paternal grandfather. The preview mentions someone with two families. It also teases about an accident in a coal mine in Pennsylvania. It is known that Jason’s family was originally from Lithuania. He was born in Virginia but raised in Kansas.
Who Do You Think You Are? airs Friday at 9 p.m. (eastern and western) on NBC. Also don’t forget that you can see past episodes and some deleted scenes on the WDYTYA video page.
This video should how books should be respected in every library that you visit.
On Tuesday, May 8th (7:00 p.m.) there will be a talk on the Architecture of James Johnson by Mr. James Johnson given at St. John’s the Evangelist Church, 2400 W. Ridge Rd. in Greece. Mr. Johnson is a local architect, who is known for the many of his outstanding designs in the community, including Temple Sinai, Penfield Presbyterian Church, the Mushroom House, the Liberty Pole and in the Town of Greece, Our Lady of Mercy Rectory and St. John the Evangelist Church. Using video and images from past projects Mr. Johnson will discuss many of his local projects and the construction techniques used.
The public is welcome. Reservations are not necessary. Admission for Greece Historical Society members is free. A suggestion donation of $5.00 from others.
NOTE: There is no entrance to the church from Ridge Rd. The entrance is off Duxbury Rd. just east of the church property.
Activity at the Kodak booth in Germany
History in the making…
Kodak received approval on Monday from the judge in their bankruptcy case to spend about $13.5 million to try to keep a few hundred employees from leaving. The U.S. Trustee, Tracy Hope Davis, had objected to the plan. She had cited concerns the company had not shown that top management would be getting any of the bonuses. In the end, the Judge allowed the bonuses.
On Tuesday it was announced that the theater in Hollywood that was formerly the “Kodak Theatre” is now known as “Dolby Theatre.”It was also announced that the Academy Awards will be held there for the next 20 years.
Kodak will lay off another 141 employees in the Rochester area, according to a filing announced by the NY State Department of Labor on Thursday. Most of the employees who were notified of their termination will work through July 15.
Pradeep Jotwani, President of Consumer Business at Kodak, is resigning at the end of May. He also holds the titles of Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President.
Kodak is at the Drupa printing convention in Düsseldorf, Germany. That convention runs from May 3-16 and Kodak is demonstrating their expertise in commercial inkjet printing systems. It is so important to the future of the company that Antonio Perez (CEO) made a visit to Drupa. He also gave his first interview since Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US. Perez only talked about the company’s commercial digital printing and wasn’t asked any questions about the bankruptcy.
Last month, the bankruptcy Judge ordered a committee be created to represent retirees in negotiations with Kodak. Four men from Rochester, one man from North Carolina, another man from the Dayton, Ohio area and a lady from the Windsor, Colorado area will make up the committee. Their committee will give input to the Judge that could affect retirees, such as cuts to benefits.
Blue Book cover
The Rochester Public Library has added a collection of 16 “Blue Books” for the years of 1901 to 1940. In this case, these directories are a listing of the Society people of Rochester and surrounding area.People are listed alphabetically with married women’s maiden name shown in some of the volumes. Then is listed the address and a set of number corresponding to the Clubs that the person belonged to. For instance; in the 1926 “Blue Book” George Eastman is shown as belonging to these clubs:
Hard to believe that left any time for Mr. Eastman to take care of Kodak.
Below are links the “Blue Books.” These are PDF files and are about 4-5mb each so it would take a long time to download and view on slower internet connection. Also note that the full name of the “Blue Books”changed over the years but they are all similar.
Rashida Jones
This week on the series Who Do You Think You Are? Rashida Jones is searching her family history. She is currently on Parks and Recreation and has appeared in other movies and TV series. Rashida is also co-writer of a comic book series which will be made in to a movie in the future. If that isn’t enough; she has provided backing vocals on a few records.
Rashida’s father is Quincy Jones, composer, arranger and music producer. Her mother is Peggy Lipton, who is remembered as Julie on the TV series The Mod Squad, which ran from 1968 to 1973. Rashida wants to find more information on the origins of her maternal grandmother, Rita. Her family search takes her from NYC to Ireland and then to Latvia.