📩 Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe — and join the more than 6,000 of your neighbors who never miss a thing.

🀄 Mahjong corner
🚨 Tomorrow’s Guided Play
At 2 p.m. tomorrow, everyone who has taken our beginner class — and other new mahjong players who’d like some teacher guidance — is invited to a two-hour Guided Play. What’s more fun than playing games for the first time with a teacher right there to ask all of your questions?

All classes now at McGregor Links Country Club!

📚 FIRST LOOK

You know Will Levith from the fantastic writing he did during his years at Saratoga Living — or because you went to school with him here or know his long-time Saratogian parents.

And now this Saratoga native with connections to seemingly everyone in town has some huge news.

“I finally found a home for the Saratoga music history book that I’ve been researching and writing for the past decade: the State University of New York Press!” he says. “It’s a hybrid oral/narrative history, which is tentatively entitled Spa Rock City: How Saratoga’s Folk & Pop Music Explosion Sparked Its Second Coming.”

AT: When you say “finally,” what are we talking here?
WL: I’ve been working on this book since 2018. I did roughly 50 interviews for it, including rock stars; music execs; and many, many Saratogians, past and present. 

AT: Got any juicy teasers for us?
WL: Despite it being “debunked” in 2011, I researched the origins and validity of what I’m calling the “Saratoga legend” — that Don McLean wrote “American Pie” at the Tin & Lint and performed it the next day at Caffè Lena. I interviewed McLean for the chapter, and came to some intriguing conclusions.

AT: Do you have a fave interview of a local?
WL: For a chapter in which I talk about music in the ‘80s in Saratoga, I interviewed a local woman, who was a Girl Scout mom at the time, about her and her friends’ chance encounter with Whitney Houston after a SPAC show in 1987. It’s such a feel-good moment in the book; it gives me all the feels every time I read it!

AT: When do we get to read it?
WL: If everything goes as planned, the book should be out in 2028.

👉 For more on Will’s story, read his full account — including a nod at the Saratoga music books that came before him — on his personal Substack, Drafts + Cuts.

📸 PARTY PICS

Photos by Ironglass Productions

Saratoga PLAN’s PLAN for the Future event at Saratoga Winery netted $110,000 through event ticket sales, event sponsorships, silent auction, paddle raise — and a lively live auction that saw Jen Allen and Bethany Khan working overtime from the loft to make sure no second-floor bidder was left behind.

Joanne and Thomas Klepetar were honored as Conservation Heroes for protecting 444 acres of forestland in the Southern Palmertown Range; Katie Odgen and Matthew Harris, and Rick Higgins also received the same honors. Alex Milton was named Volunteer of the Year, and Maria Trabka was honored as Conservation Champion for a 40-year career in conservation.

🗓️ WHAT TO DO

While I figure out a new events calendar format (I’m taking my sweet time, I know), let’s all thank Slice of Saratoga for stepping up to the plate and curating these delicious fall activities — 10 great ones — for this weekend. Click on the pumpkins to start planning!

These aren’t your father’s crime fiction novels. We’re talking power and intrigue in Hollywood and right here at Lake George. Ashley Winstead (Hot Girl Murder Club) and popular local celeb Nicolas DiDomizio (A Murder Most Camp) and I will be opening up the bar at UPH at 3:30 this afternoon— and the chat starts at 4.

See you there!

📌 ICYMI…

🏠 ON THE MARKET

A downtown landmark that was built in the 1860s — and has belonged to one family for more than a century — is for sale. The Putnam Building-now-Walbridge Building is listed for $14.9 million with Roohan Realty, represented by Tom Roohan and Amy Sutton

Now home to a whopping five businesses — including The Merc, Lifestyles and Tin & Lint — its past includes former hotspot Lillian’s and Professor Moriarty’s.

The Dispatch is free to read — and only possible because of our paid subscribers. Upgrade today for as little as $8/month!