Interview with Richard Daley of RD Horology

July 23, 2014
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Albany Gallery Interview

I recently saw really gorgeous photos of watches popping up on my Facebook and had to investigate. These watches were not only made by hand, but they were being made locally. RD Horology is watchmaker based in Albany that is returning the age-old art of the hand-built mechanical wristwatch.

I took some time to talk with Richard Daley, the man behind RD Horology to learn more about his product and process.

Horology, as an art and science, has a very in-depth and deep history. Is the historical element what drew you in? If not, how did you get into it?

RD: It is a mixture of both I would say. 5 years ago I never really wore a watch, I was given one as a gift and that is what sparked my interest. I have always been interested in the mechanics of how things work, so it felt natural to do research on the topic. I became obsessed in a way with mechanical watches, particularly complicated pocket watches from the 1800’s. After that, I began looking on auction sites for old, cheap and simple pocket watches to start disassembling and understanding.

Beat*Shot Music Festival: Photos and (Partial) Recap

July 14, 2014
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Albany Gallery Music

This past weekend was the Beat*Shot Music Festival, which is one of my favorite fixtures of the Albany-area music scene. The festival (which doesn’t involve mud, not showering or neon fuzzy boots) took place over at The Hollow on Pearl Street.

I showed up to the show with basically no knowledge of who was playing and just put my trust into the organizers of the show. Act after act was incredible and there almost no wait time between the acts. I was able to catch Taina Asili, Ses Da Great, Deca, Count Bass D, Blueprint, and Adrienne Mack-Davis. Every single one of them was incredible to watch and despite being unfamiliar with a few of them, easy to get into and even easier to enjoy. Seeing Blueprint and Count Bass D was a real treat.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the Saturday portion of the show. But as far as I have heard, Pharoahe Monch crushed The Hollow and all the other performers assisted. If you missed this years Beat*Shot Music Festival, you’ve missed the best one yet. Don’t make the same mistake next year!

Big shout out to everyone involved for making the show run so smoothly and for the absolutely impeccable line-up. Can’t wait until next year.

Checking out Brew

Yesterday I stopped into Brew to grab some coffee and check out their offerings. The shop, which is at 209 Lark Street is definitely an awesome and very welcomed addition to the area. For coffee alone, they bring a variety and quality of beans from roasters which weren’t present in our area before. From there, they’ve got 150 types of beer from 50 different breweries around the country, and there were a lot of labels and names I haven’t seen before anywhere. You have your choice of can, bottle or growler.

They’ve also got french presses, the Aeropress, Chemex coffee makers and all of the accessories and filters for those that you’d ever need. And on top of all of that they’re stocked to the teeth with home brewing supplies as well.

Grab a few cans of something you’ve never had before and enjoy the heat of the summer before it’s gone. Or if beer ain’t your thing grab an iced tea or cold brew coffee and do the same.

Rare Form Brewing opening today

Rare Form Brewing Company, located at 90 Congress Street in Troy will open their doors today at 4:30pm. The project started many months ago with a shell of a building which has been completely transformed into a gorgeous brewery. Jenny Kemp and Kevin Mullen with the help from a few friends have tackled almost all the work themselves, even the plumbing and electric. There’s a lot attention to detail in the brewery, such as the lights on the taps, the Rare Form colors on the bar, the custom tap handles, growlers and more.

The building that houses Rare Form has more going on than just the brewery. It will have four storefronts, with the other three being a deli, art gallery, and a restaurant/cocktail bar. Collar Works, the art gallery also opens today.

Check out Rare Form tonight during Troy Night Out and be sure to “test” all their beverages for science.

Brimfield Antique Show: Photos

May 20, 2014
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Gallery

On Saturday, I headed out to Brimfield, Massachusetts to check out the thrice-a-year Brimfield Antique Show. The Brimfield Antiques Show is the largest outdoor antiques show in the world, with over 6,000 dealers and 130,000+ visitors over the course of the week.

I didn’t really know what to expect other than a ton of people and a ton of things for sale. There was every sort of vendor present; from antiques, crafts, memorabilia, vintage clothing, type, and even restored outboard boat motors. One of the vendors I was chatting with was talking about fashion designers sending people to Brimfield to grab clothing as inspiration for new pieces. He said he talked to people from Japan, Sweden and France on opening day.

The weather on Saturday was beautiful and I walked around the entire show in a few hours, admittedly skipping whole sections because there was simply too much ground to cover. I’ll let the photos above do the talking when it comes to what I saw at the show, so flip through them.

The next installment is September 2-7, but be advised that if you want to see the whole show at once, go toward the end of the show as the opening of certain sections is staggered. More info on the official site.

Gallery

Interview with Richard Daley of RD Horology

Beat*Shot Music Festival: Photos and (Partial) Recap

Checking out Brew

Rare Form Brewing opening today

Brimfield Antique Show: Photos