Illustrations by Jeanne Benas

Bob Cudmore on AM 1570, WVTL, The Valley's Talk Leader

Bob hosts a talk show weekday mornings on 1570 AM, WVTL in Amsterdam, N.Y. Click to learn more - www.1570wvtl.com

Enjoy Bob Cudmore's humorous and poignant tales of life in Nero, a declining Upstate New York mill town, where the creek used to smell and the mills have moved south. It's a place where fault-finding is so common that "I don't blame you" is a compliment. The City of Nero was named for an arsonist Roman emperor because all the good classical names had been commandeered by other upstate communities by the time Nero was founded. You'll laugh and you'll cry when you visit Nero, the city where cheerfulness is not a common emotion.

Bob Cudmore's book about Nero, You Can't Go Wrong: Stories from Nero, NY & Other Tales, is available at retail locations and can be purchased by mail direct from Nero Publishing Company for only $5.

In You Can't Go Wrong, you'll find that people in Nero speak their own language -- "you can't go wrong," describes a $2.99 dinner special; "it never fails," acknowledges the inevitability of life's catastrophes and "you've got to take care of your own" are words to live by in any multi-ethnic location.

New Stories from Nero
Since publication of You Can't Go Wrong in 2000, Bob has written more than 15 new Nero stories for the Sunday Gazette in Schenectady. Check out a sampling of New Stories from Nero, New York.

Amsterdam Area History
Bob writes articles on Amsterdam area history for the Sunday Gazette, click here for the latest stories.

Amsterdam History Documentary
Bob Cudmore is co-producer of Historic Views of the Carpet City, the WMHT-TV documentary on the history of Bob's hometown, Amsterdam, New York.

Mary Cudmore Memorial
Also on this website is an ongoing tribute to Mary Cudmore, who died on March 4, 2001. We hope you'll add your memories of Mary to this special page.

bobcudmore@yahoo.com