Off Main Street: Colbert got a jacket
The offbeat side of the news
Jon Stewart can’t get the University at Buffalo out of his head. The host of "The Daily Show" was photographed in New York City last weekend pushing a stroller with a child who appeared to have outgrown strollers a long time ago. The photo was posted on the Web site jezebel.com.
But what’s noteworthy around here is what’s on his head: a baseball cap bearing the words University at Buffalo with the word BULLS above it.
When Stewart spoke at UB in November, he referred to Buffalo as the “gateway to Fort Erie.”
At least he liked the hat.
Mr. Butterworth?
Our very own Sen. Charles E. Schumer and affable movie star Vince Vaughn have something in common: an intense love of maple syrup.
Fans of the Vaughn film oeuvre will recall that his character in “Wedding Crashers” proclaims his love for putting maple syrup on pancakes, on pizza and even in his hair as a styling aid.
Not to be outdone, it turns out New York’s senior senator is a big fan of maple syrup himself—New York-produced syrup, that is.
Schumer’s office recently sent out a press release calling on the International House of Pancakes chain to start serving real New York maple syrup in its Empire State restaurants.
IHOP had agreed to serve Vermont syrup at its Green Mountain State locations, and Schumer said the chain needs to do the same for New York.
Our syrup is better than Vermont’s syrup anyway, Schumer told Off Main Street, and he should know.
“I love maple syrup. I could almost drink the stuff,” he said.
For whom the tolls pay
It was not a good week to announce that you work for the state Thruway Authority.
Grand Island toll taker David Zelonis learned Friday he was suspended from his job for 30 days without pay. Zelonis allegedly sent a series of harassing e-mails to Rus Thompson, who has led efforts to do away with tolls on the island.
A day earlier, Alex Koschtschuk, the head of the Chosen Few motorcycle gang, was arrested on charges connected to a feud with a rival gang. He was identified by police as a Thruway Authority employee who is currently off work because of a disability.
Maybe this is all part of the authority’s plan to increase sales of E-ZPasses.
Welcome visitors
Last week, we noted that the same week we had a Brad Pitt sighting in Niagara Falls—across the border, of course—Angelina Jolie was making a capital spectacle of herself in Albany.
So we wondered: Which half of Brangelina would you rather see visiting Western New York? Or would you rather catch a glimpse of the original Mrs. Pitt, Jennifer Aniston.
We waded through hundreds of e-mails and found that most were solicitations for pharmaceutical products. But of the handful of people who answered the question, most had other ideas:
• Pope Benedict XVI
• Jane Goodall or Jean Michel Cousteau
• Barack Obama
Our favorite response came from a reader who said there was someone other than a celebrity he would like to see: “How about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company coming to announce the new headquarters downtown?”
Written by Bruce Andriatch with a contribution from Stephen T. Watson.
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