Thursday, November 29, 2007

Alan B is counting the hours and minutes

I was watchng the Knick game but they were losing badly to the Boston Celtics 37-18 in the middle of the second quarter.  The chants of "Fire Isiah" will be heard when the Knicks return to MSG.  Instead of watching a crummy game I decided to listen to 50s music not heard on WCBS-FM through XM that I get through AOL.  Right now they are playing Reet Petite by the late and great Jackie Wilson.

Anyway Saturday at 2 PM we will be celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of Saturday Night Oldies (SNO) at Ben's Deli in midtown Manhattan.  As of now it is 40 hours and 41 minutes away. Alan B, SNO's most avid listener, probably will not be able to sleep until he enters the restaurant.  He will be so excited that he will forget to order his pastrami on rye.  It look likes today is the day for me to write about readers of this journal.  Anyway, this will also be a belated celebration of the return of oldies or should I say classic hits to WCBS-FM.  The station is skyrocketing in the ratings.

Let me trace the history of gatherings of oldies enthusiasts.  I was very active in an AOL folder for WCBS-FM listeners.  Mary S, Linda C, Walt P, Al G and a few others posted there regularly.  In 2000, 2001, and 2003 we had small gatherings at Mendy's a strictly kosher restaurant on East 34th Street.  Since Al is orthodox, we had to accommodate him.  In June 2006 with the help of Jeff S I organized a gathering at Ellen's Stardust Diner for the first anniversary of the demise of the original WCBS-FM.  Frank D, another reader of this journal organized the highly successful gathering at Bens just a year ago for the first anniversary of SNO.  Alan B became the greatest enthusiast of these get togethers.  Many of us got together at a WABC Rewound cruise last June.

Anyway Jeff S organized the 2nd anniversary party for SNO on Saturday.  I will take photos and report in this journal.  I will be sure to take photos of Alan so readers of Facebook will know what he looks like.  Jeff reports that 70 or more people could be there.

Mazel Tov Din

Congratulations NETSJETFAN, long time reader and poster to Bruce's Journal,  for being accepted to the UMDNJ medical school.   Galen F who lurks here told me the good news.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Multitasking on a Weekday Evening

Let me report what I did tonight after returning from work.

1.  I turned on the CD player and finished the WFUV CD which I got from them after my yearly donation.  After that I started Levon Helm's new CD, called Dirt Farmer.  Levon belonged to the legendary Band.  One of these days I'll have write an entry about The Band.

2.  Karen, Lee, and I watched Jeopardy.  I think I documented my interest in Jeopardy in this journal.  Absolutely nothing stops me from watching Jeopardy.  I will never answer the phone while I am watching it.  Thank goodness for VCRs

3.  I surfed the Web.  Wrote and recieved e-mails from Alan B, Jeff S, and Dave D,

4. I phoned my mother.  Since she is 88 years old, I make it my business to call her once a day.  You never know what could happen to an elderly parent.  She had a little cold.

5.  I received a phone call from Alan B, world's greatest Saturday Night Oldies enthusiast.

6.  I watched Channel 13, the local PBS station that I had a show featuring Eric Clapton and other Blues guitarists.

7.  I downloaded the lastest Theme Time Radio Hour featuring songs about dreams

8. I worte a comment to Dave D's new journal

9.  I wrote this entry in my journal.

10.  In about 15 minutes I will turn off the computer and listen to Ron Parker on WCBS-FM.

11.  At 11:00 PM I will watch the TV news.

Then it is Zzzzz time.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Knicks Won Last Night 113-109

The Knicks beat the Utah Jazz last night  113-109 to improve their record to 4-9.  I guess I never discussed my interest in the Knicks in this journal.  I go back with them to the early 1960s when I watched the game on TV with my dad.  As a high school student in the mid 1960s we could purchase Knick tickets at the old 50th Street Madison Square Garden for $1.25.  Back in those days you could even see an NBA doubleheader on Tuesday Nights.  In the early 1970s when cable TV was in its infancy Knick home games were on the MSG Network which could only be seen in parts of Manhattan.  I remember the 7th game of the 1970 championship when our fraternity had an induction dinner in Brooklyn as we listened to the game on radio.

Knick tickets are very expensive these days.  Someone has to pay the multimillion dollar salaries of the players who can't win with any consistency.  In recent years I have only bought tickets to one or two games.  It is $45 for a seat behind the basket in the 300 level of MSG.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Funeral Today

Today was the funeral for Karen's uncle Irving Kanis who passed away on Thursday.  Karen said that it was ironic the he died on Thanksgiving since several times in the 1980s we went to his house in Brooklyn for dinner.  He moved to Florida in the 1990s so I hadn't seen him much in recent years.  The last time I saw him was in 2001 at Lee's Bar Mitzvah.  He made to toast to Karen and me at our wedding in 1983.  I will miss him.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Mark Simone made friends with me on Facebook

Facebook is a social networking site on the web.  At first it was usued exclusively by college students but now anybody can sign up.  When I logged in today I was surprised to see that WABC's Mark Simone asked to be my friend.  How can I say no.  I noticed that Mark had also made friends with Saturday Night Oldies enthusiast Pete Ritzert.  I know that Frank D and Alan B, two of the shows biggest fans also read this journal.  Anyone can join Facebook at http://facebook.com .  You can make friends with me, Mark or anyone of millions of members.

Friday, November 23, 2007

I'm Not There (but this is Black Friday)

Today is Black Friday, the biggest day of the year for shopping.

 

J. C. Penney was open at 4 AM – I’m Not There

Macy’s opened at 6 AM – I’m Not There

 

We left the house by 9:30 AM to get to the Lincoln Square Cinemas for the 11:00 show of my favorite movie.  Since we got there a little early we browsed around the Best Buy just a block away.  We entered the theater at 10:40 and got good seats in the middle.

 

I am not a film critic by trade or avocation. There have been many reviews of the movie written to date.  Let me make my comments as a Dylan fan since 1965.  Many readers of this journal were not born yet in 1965.

 

You must know at least something about Mr. Zimmerman before you can enjoy or even understand the complexities of this movie.  Whenever I read a biography or see a biographical movie I hope the author uses a chronological approach.  For example Walk the Line (Johnny Cash) and Ray (Ray Charles) were chronological with the same actor playing the subject.  Filmmaker Todd Haynes was anything but chronological in his approach to Dylan.  The movie moved from one time frame to another.  Let me make some disconnected comments:

 

  1. There has always been an “alias” theme in Dylan’s songs.  He assumes the identity of others in his sounds.There was even a book titled Alias Bob Dylan by Stephen Scobie.  In the movie Pat Garrett and Billie the Kid, Dylan’s character was named Alias. Haynes using the reverse alias theme here since the 5 actors and actress have different names.  There are other characters in Dylan’s life including Joan Baez, Albert Grossman, and Sara Lowndes (his first wife) who have other names in the film.  For some strange reason actors portraying Allen Ginsburg and Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) appear with their own name.
  2. The segments with Kate Blanchett as Dylan were shot in Black and White.  Much of these scenes represented the D.A. Pennebaker documentary Don’t Look Back about the 1965 tour of England.  There was a scene where Nashville Skyline Rag (1969) was heard in the background while Dylan was talking to 4 men looking like the Beatles who were being chased by fans as they were in A Hard Day’s Night (1964) another Black and White Film.
  3. Marcus Carl Franklin, the young Dylan named Woody, was thrown off a freight train into a river.  He was rescued by a couple that brought him home.  There they received a phone call saying that a kid from Minnesota was missing. (Hi Louise)
  4. Later in the film one of the Dylans visited the ailing Woody Guthrie in the hospital.
  5. As I write this journal entry, I am listening to the movie soundtrack that is Dylan Covers plus Dylan singing I’m Not There.  In the actual movie there are several songs that were actually sung by Dylan.
  6. There were no references to Dylan’s career after the born again Christian period of the late 1970s.  Cold Iron Bounds from the 1990swas on the soundtrack.
  7. Lee was disappointed that there were no references to Johnny Cash.  At age 19 he was the youngest person in the audience.
  8. As I mentioned before it is impossible to cover anything, but there was no reference to Dylan’s defense of boxer Ruben Hurricane Carter in the mid 1970s.
  9. There was a funny scene when the dubbed voice of Lyndon Johnson on a television screen said, “The Sun is Not Yellow, It’s Chicken”, a line from Tombstone Blues sung earlier in the film by Richie Havens.  I wish he would have said, “Even the President of the United States must have to stand naked” from It’s Alright Ma.
  10. I know some of my oldies enthusiast friends are reading this journal.  The only Top 40 hit in the movie was “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” by the Monkees sung by former WCBS-FM DJ Micky Dolenz.  I had a little chuckle here.  The Monkees!  Why not Donovan or the Byrds or Crosby Stills and Nash?
  11. Karen, Lee and I among many others in the theater stayed until all the credits rolled.

 

I will definitely see I’m Not There again.  Most likely, I will wait until it comes out in DVD.  I will then be able to pause it while I make some explanations to Karen and Lee.  I have seen Don’t Look Back umpteen times over the last 40 years.  Whenever you see a movie again, you always see something else you missed the first time.   I would like to send hearty congratulation to Todd Haynes for a job well done.  If it wereup to me I would give him an academy award for best picture.

 

After the movie we walked up to the Barnes and Nobles on 66th Street and Broadway.  I bought Bookends about Simon and Garfunkel by New York radio personality Pete Fornatale.  The copy was even autographed by Pete.  I also bought another book about Dylan called Million Dollar Bash concerning Dylan, the Band and the basement tapes.  The song I’m Not There was recorded by Dylan and the Band but was lost until used in the film.  I bought a CD Dirt Farmer by Levon Helm who was an integral member of the Band for many years.  My final purchase was a Jeopardy calendar.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Bob Dylan is no Turkey

On most Thanksgivings we go to my sisters house on Long Island, but since this year she went to her in-laws, Karen, Lee and I had Thanksgiving dinner at Ben's Deli in Bayside.  Early in the afternoon we watched the No Direction Home DVD since we wanted to see the real Bob Dylan not any actors or actresses playing him.  The Cable TV channel VH1 Classic is feturing a Dylan marathon today featuring No Direction Home, Don't Look Back, and Dylan Unplugged on MTV.  I will view the latter at 9:30 PM.  My radio enthusiast friend Alan sent me this link to a review in the Village Voice.  I'm Not There will be especially confusing to anyone not familar with Dylan.

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0747,hoberman,78422,20.html

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

I'm Not There - Preliminary Thoughts

Today I'm Not There opened nationwide.  Over the years I have read several biographies of Bob Dylan.  No Direction Home by Robert Shelton, the first one that I read emphasized the 1960s.  There were other biographies by Robert Spitz, Howard Sounes, and Clinton Heylin.  Dylan wrote an autobiography titled Chronicles.  No biographical work can be exhaustive.  Since Dylan rarely gives interviews the biographies must rely on interviews by the author.  Chronicles was somewhat vague and left some imagination to the reader.  For example everyone knows that Dylan was married to Sara Lowndes in 1965, but his biographer report that in the 1980s he married Carolyn Dennis, one of his background singers.  In Chronicles Dylan says, his wife, but doesn't mention either one by name.  I do expect I'm Not There to be vague and open to interpretation.  It will be interested to see if filmmaker Todd Haynes empahsizes any particular era of Dylan's career.  Bob is a very private person so I really don't think much of his personal life will be revealed in the film. Below is the review from the New York Times.  Friday will be the big day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Side of Bob Dylan, and Another, and Another ...

BYLINE: By A. O. SCOTT

SECTION: Section E; Column 0; The Arts/Cultural Desk; MOVIE REVIEW '
I'M NOT THERE'; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1369 words

From Andy Warhol to Lonelygirl15, modern media culture thrives on the traffic in counterfeit selves. In this world the greatest artist will also be, almost axiomatically, the biggest fraud. And looking back over the past 50 years or so, it is hard to find anyone with a greater ability to synthesize authenticity -- to give his serial hoaxes and impersonations the ring of revealed and esoteric truth -- than Bob Dylan.

It's not just that Robert Zimmerman, a Jewish teenager growing up in Eisenhower-era Minnesota, borrowed a name from a Welsh poet and the singing style of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl troubadour and bluffed his way into the New York folk scene. That was chutzpah. What followed was genius -- the elaboration of an enigmatic, mercurial personality that seemed entirely of its moment and at the same time connected to a lost agrarian past. From the start, Mr. Dylan has been singularly adept at channeling and recombining various strands of the American musical and literary vernacular, but he has often seemed less like an interpreter of those traditions than like their incarnation.

His persona has been as inclusive as Walt Whitman's and as unsettlingly splintered as that of Herman Melville's Confidence Man. Vulnerable as Mr. Dylan is to misunderstanding (''I couldn't believe after all these years/You didn't know me better than that'' in ''Idiot Wind''), he also actively solicits it (''Something is happening here/But you don't know what it is/Do you, Mr. Jones?'' in ''Ballad of a Thin Man''). So it is only fitting that Todd Haynes, in ''I'm Not There,'' his incandescent rebus of a movie inspired by Mr. Dylan's life and music, has chosen to multiply puzzles and paradoxes rather than solve them. Not for nothing does one of Mr. Haynes's stories take place in a town called Riddle.

Among its many achievements, Mr. Haynes's film hurls a Molotov cocktail through the facade of the Hollywood biopic factory, exploding the literal-minded, anti-intellectual assumptions that guide even the most admiring cinematic explorations of artists' lives. Rather than turn out yet another dutiful, linear chronicle of childhood trauma and grown-up substance abuse, Mr. Haynes has produced a dizzying palimpsest of images and styles, in which his subject appears in the form of six different people.

Not one is named Bob Dylan (or Robert Zimmerman), though all of them evoke actual and invented points in the Dylan cosmos: Billy the Kid, Woody Guthrie, the Mighty Quinn. They're not all musicians: One is a poet named Arthur Rimbaud; another is a movie star.

These divergent visions of Dylan are played by two different Australians (Heath Ledger and Cate Blanchett); a young British actor (Ben Whishaw); a prepubescent African-American named Marcus Carl Franklin; Richard Gere; and the most recent Batman. Their stories collide and entwine, adding up to an experience that is as fascinating and inexhaustible as listening to ''Blood on the Tracks'' or ''The Basement Tapes.''

It is unusual to see a masterwork emerge from one artist's absorption with the work of another, though Mr. Haynes came close with ''Far From Heaven,'' his 2002 homage to the director Douglas Sirk. And while ''I'm Not There'' is immersed in Dylanology, it is more than a document of scholarly preoccupation or fan obsession.

Devotees of Dylan lore will find their heads swimming with footnotes, as they track Mr. Haynes's allusions not only to Mr. Dylan's own music but also to the extensive secondary literature it has inspired, from books by David Hajdu and Greil Marcus to films, including D. A. Pennebaker's 1967 documentary, ''Don't Look Back,'' some of which Mr. Haynes remakes shot for shot.

But the film is anything but dry, and like Mr. Dylan's best songs, it is at once teasingly arcane and bracingly plain-spoken. Mr. Haynes, switching styles, colors, film stocks and editing rhythms with unnerving ease (and with the crucial help of Jay Rabinowitz and Edward Lachman, the editor and the director of photography), has held his cerebral and his visceral impulses in perfect balance. ''I'm Not There'' respects the essential question Mr. Dylan's passionate followers have always found themselves asking -- What does it mean? -- without forgetting that the counter-question Mr. Dylan has posed is more challenging and, for a movie, more important: How does it feel?

As you watch the mid-'60s renegade folk singer Jude Quinn -- embodied in Ms. Blanchett's hunched, skinny frame and photographed in silvery Nouvelle Vague black and white -- pinball through swinging London, subsisting on amphetamines, Camel straights and gnomic talk, it feels like a pop earthquake. The '60s, man! As Mr. Ledger's character and his wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) meet, marry and fall apart, it feels like the heartbreaking aftermath of a moment of high promise and possibility. (That would be the '70s.)

Riding the rails in 1959 with a pint-size, wisecracking hobo who calls himself Woody Guthrie (Mr. Franklin) and saddling up with Mr. Gere's Billy the Kid in Riddle, Mo., in the 19th century, you feel a piercing nostalgia for a pastoral America that probably existed only in legend. With Christian Bale, playing a star of the Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene who resurfaces as a Pentecostal minister in Los Angeles years later, you experience a prickle of confusion and morbid curiosity. As it all unfolds, there may be other feelings too, including awe at the quality of the performances and occasional exasperation at Mr. Haynes's sprawling, hectic virtuosity.

Still, I would not subtract a minute of this movie, or wish it any different. Nor do I anticipate being finished with ''I'm Not There'' anytime soon, since, like ''Subterranean Homesick Blues,'' it invites endless interpretation, criticism and elaboration. Instead of proposing a definitive account of Bob Dylan's career, Mr. Haynes has used that career as fuel for a wide-ranging (and, if you'll permit me, freewheeling) historical inquiry into his own life and times. In spite of its title, ''I'm Not There'' is a profoundly, movingly personal film, passionate in its engagement with the mysteries of the recent past.

''Live in your own time.'' That's the advice young ''Woody Guthrie'' hears from a motherly woman who offers him a hot meal and a place to sleep. It's sensible advice -- he's daydreaming of the Depression in the middle of the space age -- but also useless. It's not as if anyone has a choice. To slog through the present requires no particular wit, vision or art. But a certain kind of artist will comb through the old stuff that's lying around -- the tall tales and questionable memories, the yellowing photographs and scratched records -- looking for glimpses of a possible future. Though there's a lot of Bob Dylan's music in ''I'm Not There,'' Mr. Haynes is not simply compiling golden oldies. You hear familiar songs, but what you see is the imagination unleashed -- the chimes of freedom flashing.

''I'm Not There'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has sex, swearing, brief violence and drug use.

I'M NOT THERE

Opens today nationwide.

Directed by Todd Haynes; written by Mr. Haynes and Oren Moverman, based on a story by Mr. Haynes; director of photography, Edward Lachman; edited by Jay Rabinowitz; production designer, Judy Becker; produced by James D. Stern, John Sloss, John Goldwyn and Christine Vachon; released by the Weinstein Company. In Manhattan at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.

WITH: Christian Bale (Jack/Pastor John), Cate Blanchett (Jude Quinn), Marcus Carl Franklin (Woody Guthrie), Richard Gere (Billy), Heath Ledger (Robbie), Ben Whishaw (Arthur Rimbaud), Kris Kristofferson (Narrator), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Claire), David Cross (Allen Ginsberg), Bruce Greenwood (Keenan Jones/Pat Garrett), Julianne Moore (Alice Fabian), Michelle Williams (Coco Rivington), Richie Havens (Old Man Arvin), Peter Friedman (Morris Bernstein), Alison Folland (Grace), Yolonda Ross (Angela Reeves), Kim Gordon (Carla Hendricks), Mark Camacho (Norman), Joe Cobden (Sonny) and Kristen Hager (Mona).



 

Monday, November 19, 2007

Experiences with cheapskates

I am famous for having a good memory so let me recall some experiences I;ve had with cheapskates in my life.  I will use initials to protect the privacy of my frugal friends.

1.  RH and I are alumni of Forest Hills High School  class of 1967 which had a 35th year reunion in 2002.  I paid $45 for the reunion, but RH came along, didn't pay, and told the organizers that he would hang around until the food came.

2.  When RH goes to the movies he tries to get free passes.  If he has to pay at a multiplex he usually goes to two or more movies when paying for only one.

3. Some years back RH and I went to the American Museum of Natural History.  A donation of any amount was required.  I gave $5, but RH gave a nickel.  In recent years his donation has increased to a quarter.

4.  When RH goes to the theater or to a ballet he buys the cheapest ticket.  He makes friends with the ushers and moves to better seats at the intermission.

5. When HK took his car with friends he would always ask for money for gas even if he went a few miles.

6 When HK invites people to his house in the winter he keeps the thermostat so low that all his guests freeze

Enough for now

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Taking Advice from A Cheapskate

Regular readers of this blog know that I am gretaly anticipating the release on Wednesday of I'm Not There, the biopic of Bob Dylan.  When I got the New York Times this morning there was a one page ad for the film in the Arts and Leisure section.  I had originally thought that it open only in the Film Forum but it will play at several theaters in the NYC area.  It will actually play in the Kew Gardens theater which is not too far from me at Queens.  We have been to that theater before, but it is very small and old.  I called my friend Roy, the "Culture Vulture" to ask him if we should see it at the Film Forum in Soho or the Lincoln Plaza Cinema uptown.  His answer - you may as well see it in Kew Gardens since it will be cheaper there.  We will have to check the times for Friday and decide which one is most convenient and decide if we want to hang around the Lincoln Center area or Soho.  One of these days I'll have to write a blog entry about Roy.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

First Basketball Game of the Season

For the past several years we have gone to many college basketball games at either Hofstra, Queens College, or CW Post.  The Knick games at Madison Square Garden are expensive that we can afford only one or two games a season.  Today we went to Hempstead, LI to see Hofstra play Manhattan College.  In a thriller Hofstra won 73-71 in overtime.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Adios Din

No se lo que esta biblioteca haria sin Din.  Yes, when I listened to Cousin Bruce Morrow on the radio in the 1960s I studied Spanish at Russell Sage Junior High School and Forest Hills Hills High School.  Anyway, Din, I wish you well at your new job at Rutgers and in all your future endeavors.  I wish I could leave the land of lunacy, hypocrisy, mediocrity, and prejudice, but it is very difficult to make a move when you reach my age.  It is such a shame that the staff is so factionalized.  Thanks for reading and posting comments to this blog.

Terrific Websites for NYC Radio Enthusiasts

At home and at work yours truly is always looking for new websites.  Today I discovedre http://wabctribute.com .  It includes links to video airchecks on YouTube of:

Cousin Bruce Morrow on WABC in 1967

Charlie Greer on WABC in 1967 with the famous Denison commercial

The Beatles in NYC - WABC coverage in 1964

Yesterday I found another one http://richmerritt.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/cousin-brucie/

This is actually Rich Merritt's blog where he gives links to 6 YouTube sites with Cousin Bruce Morrow's appearance on November 1, 2007 at a Barnes and Nobles bookstore in Manhattan promoting his new book.  I believe that I reported a few weeks ago that I bought it on Amazon.com

 

Check it guys.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Shopping today at Macys, Radio Shack, and Itunes

I always hate to go shopping but it is mid-November and I need some winter clothes.  We drove out to Macy's in Douglaston and bought a winter coat, some long sleeve shirts, and a hat.  We returned home and decided to eat lunch at McDonalds.  From there we walked over to RAdio Shack where I bought some blanks CDs, CD cases and the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire DVD game.  Millionaire is my second favorite game show after Jeopardy.  Since it is on 12:30 weekdays, I only watch it once a week after Karen records it on the VCR.  I also downloaded from Itunes the Flowers album released by the Rolling Stones in 1967.  I bought it years ago on an 8 track tape.

Mark Simone interviewed Harry Harrison tonight.  Lee really wanted to hear this interview since from his birth till age 15 he listened to Harry every morning.  Harry even announced Lee's Bar Mitzvah on his show in 2001.  We played back the tape at the reception.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

The Rolling Stones in 1967

Younger readers of this blog may not know what an LP is.  It is a Long Playing Record (vinyl) that existed many years before tapes, CDs, and MP3 files.  Anyway, on the way home from work today I was reading Goldmine Magazine (http://www.goldminemag.com)  which is for collectors of popular music.  In 2007 there were several articles commemorating the summer of love in 1967 including Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band.  In this week's issue there was an article about the 3 LPs that the Rolling Stones issued in that year:  Aftermath, Their Satanic Majesty's Request, and Flowers.  I still have the first two two in vinyl but bought Flowers on a 8 Track Tape.  Many years ago I discarded the 8 tracks I did own since I no longer had a player for them.  Tonight instead of listening to an internet radio station, I decided to listen to Aftermath.  My vinyl copy is still in pretty good condition and I still have a turntable.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Meeting a Radio Friend at Ellen's Stardust Diner

When I got my first computer in 1994 Prodigy was the premier online service.  Back in those days the Internet was in its infancy.  There were several radio boards on Prodigy that predated the famous New York Radio Message Board moderated by an unpopular dentist.  I met some interesting radio enthusiasts like Vic from Yonkers (now in Florida), Walt from Philadelphia, Andrea from Brooklyn, and Jonathan from Maryland.  Since that time I have always hooked up with Jonathan when I went to an American Chemical Society meeting in Washington.  Likewise, when he came to NYC, we would always get together.  Today he is in town for a lawyer's convention, so I met him for dinner.  We went to the famous Ellen's Stardust Diner at Broadway and 51st Street.  That restaurant is famous for its singing waiters and waitresses.  About a year ago I took Karen and Lee there.  On June 3, 2006 there was a gathering of oldies radio enthusiasts there.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Passing of a Colleague

Today I found out that my colleague Veronica Calderhead passed away after fighting soft cell sarcoma for several months.  Since I don't discuss work related issues that much on my blog let me explain that I am chemistry/chemical engineering librarian (among other subjects) at NJIT in Newark.  Veronica was the physical sciences librarian at the Dana Library of the Rutgers-Newark campus which is about a city block away.  I joined NJIT in 1992 while Veronica joined Rutgers in 1994, so I knew her for about 13 years.  We worked together for years while our respective bosses feuded.  She regularly came to the METRO Science Librarians group (http://www.metro.org/collaborate/index.php/Science%2C_Technology%2C_Medical_Librarians ) which I organized in 2000.  My condolences to her family.  She will be sorely missed.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Hofstra Football

It was somewhat windy today, but we drove out to Hofstra today to see their football team.  Due to the weather, we left after the third quarter.  It was a one-sided game anyway with Hofstra beating William and Mary 38-14.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Biographies of Musicians

I certainly spend enough times in libraries especially the No Joke Is True Place.  On the way home from work today I stopped into the local branch of the Queensborough Public Library.  Whenever I go there I use a very low tech approach and just browse the shelves.  I don't even go near a computer.  By luck today I picked up I Walked the Line by Vivian Cash, Johhny's first wife.  I just finished reading the autobiography of Eric Clapton which I bought from Amazon.com.  I certainly have plenty of musician's biographies in my personal collection especially of Mr. Zimmerman.  Heather, maybe I should compile a list and show it to our favorite managers :).
 
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