Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Reconnecting with Butch Whom I've Never Met

Please follow this e-mail exchange to see how I reconnected with someone I never met.  His name is Alan, but popularly known as Butch

Butch to Bruce -Our histories about Camp Wel-Met are pretty similar. And your name seems so familiar. Wondering if you remember me--always known by my nickname Butch...

Bruce to Butch -Alan - I assume you read my blog entry at http://www.bruceslutsky.com/2009/02/camp-wel-met-1961-65.html where I detailed my years at Wel-Met.  I don't remember anybody named Butchback then. However in 1965 when I was on the Western trip there were two of my tent mates, Mark Solaway and Mitch (don't remember the last name) who constantly talked about a camper from previous years known as Butch and another Hazelcorn.  Butch met them when the bus returned to NYC at the end of the trip.  Perhaps you are that Butch.

Butch to Bruce - Indeed I am. Mitch Nagler is a childhood friend. I was I'n pioneer s with him I'n the same tent. Couldn't arrange to be on same bus for western trip. Your name was familiar bec. Of conversations with him. Hazelcorn was a close friend on that trip and lived I'n Brooklyn. I recall another guy named Wally from long island too. I am a lawyer I'n NYC. Wel met always promises the best memories. Marty wasserman is a familiar name. I used to be on 3 week trip at camp and think he was my counselor I'n group 4 or 5

Butch must have read my journal entry about my Wel-Met years.


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Hopefully the Worst is over the Mets

Since the Mets have split the 4 game serious with the Arizona Diamondbacks there is hope that the worst is over and that the Amazins have a chance at one of the wildcard spots.  There are 55 or so games left, so if the Mets get hot, there is a chance.  Within the next few days closer Frank Francisco and outfielder Mike Baxter will return from the disabled list.  Mike is certainly a hero after making the catch that saved the no-hitter for Johann Santana.  Hopefully he will return soon as well.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Today's Radio Log

I haven't done this in a while so here goes.  I will put the approximate time that I turned on the radio show that I list:

  • 6:10 AM - WINS news
  • 6:45 AM - WCBS-FM Sue O'Neal
  • 8:00 AM - WRNJ - The Rest of the Week with Rich Appel
  • 8:30 AM - WBGO - Saturday Morning Function with Bob Porter
  • 10:30 AM - WBGO - Felix Hernandez's Rhythm Review
  • 12:30 PM - WCBS-FM Broadway Bill Lee
  • 3:30 PM WCBS-FM Zack Martin
  • 4:00 PM WFUV - coverage of the Newport Folk Festival
  • 5:00 PM Pop Gold Radio with Don Tandler's countdown of the top hits from "Wibbage" Philadelphia July 28, 1964
  • 8:00 PM SiriusXM 60s on 6 - Cousin Brucie

Friday, July 27, 2012

It is the end of the season for Jeopardy

For 45 weeks of the year I religiously watch Jeopardy at 7 PM on Channel 7.  There would really have to be an emergency for me to miss it.  It used to be shown on Channel 55 from Eastern Long Island at 5 PM, but it was taken off when CBS bought the station.  For the next 7 weeks I'll have to find something else to do from 7:00 - 7:30 PM.  Back in 1983 there was a hit by the Greg Kihn Band called Jeopardy.  The next year there was a parody of that called I Lost on Jeopardy by Weird Al Yankovic.  Here goes:


Thursday, July 26, 2012

In Honor of Mick Jaggers Birthday



 This has to be one of my favorite hits by the Rolling Stones.  You Can't Always Get What You Want.... But if you try sometime, you'll find, you get what you need.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Random Thoughts of the Day

Yesterday I went to a professional meeting at METRO about project management.  I ran into Heidi Frank who left NJIT some years ago for a position at NYU.  It was good to catch up on things.

The Mets are still playing very badly as they have now lost 11 out of 12 games.  They are falling out of contention for one of the two wild card positions in the playoffs.  They have made some minor player moves within their organization, but they won't help very much.

There is just nothing much to report right now.  I guess the summer leads to writer's block.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Bob Shannon is officially out at WCBS-FM

Allan Sniffen, the moderator of the New York Radio Message Board reports that Bob Shannon is officially out at WCBS-FM.  No official announcement was made by the station, but it presumed that health issues led to his leaving.  He has not been on the air since January.  It could be company policy, that if health prevents an employee from discharging his duties, he must be let go after a period of time.  I sincerely wish Bob a speedy and full recovery.

My fondest memory of Bob Shannon was in March 1988 when he announced the birth of my son Lee over the air.  Back in the mid 1980s I used to send him questions to use on his Tuesday night trivia shows.  Back in 2005 when WCBS-FM was hijacked, he stood up for the listeners and the oldies format.  He has certainly been an asset to the radio business, and hopefully he will return.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Dodgers 8 Mets 5

Oy Vey.  The Mets have now lost 8 out of their last 9 and have slipped to a .500 record at 47-47.  Starting pitcher Miguel Batista faltered and was pulled after 3 innings.  The Mets were down 6-2, but rallied to cut the lead to 6-5.  Manager Terry Collins apparently had no confidence in his bullpen as he brought in starting pitcher R.A. Dickey to pitch the 9th inning.  He gave up a two run home run to Juan Uribe to make the final score 8-5.  We received an Edgardo Alfonzo bobblehead doll.  I have several dolls at home that I should give away.

Game Recap

Friday, July 20, 2012

Safe Trip to the Multiplex Today to see The Dark Knight Rises

We heard the terrible news this morning about the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado at a theater showing The Dark Knight Rises at midnight.  My condolences to the families of the deceased and my best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to those wounded.  Since it was raining most of the day we decided to see the film after hearing about the terrible incident.  You can't let a creep prevent you from doing something you really want to do.

We went to the first showing at 11 AM as the College Point Multiplex had four screens showing it.  I was likely one of the oldest people in the audience.  There were no incidents in the theater, but I saw on the TV news that there was police protection at theaters in Manhattan showing this movie.  There are just too many nuts out there who may be a copy cat.

When I visualize Batman, I see Adam West as the Caped Crusader and Burt Ward as Robin the Boy Wonder. I was 17 years old when they were on ABC TV in 1966.  I guess the current movie is suited for 17 year old kids as well.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Never Ending Tour Will Come To Brooklyn in November

More good news about Bob Dylan came yesterday.  I found out from reading Darren DeVivo's (WFUV radio personality) Facebook post that Bob Dylan will be coming to the new Barclay's Center in Brooklyn on November 21.  An article from Rolling Stone magazine states that this will be part of an arena tour with Mark Knopfler.  It will be the first time that Dylan will be playing in major arenas since 2006.  This will be the second time that I will see Bob in Brooklyn.  In August 2008 he played at Prospect Park.

I am looking forward to buying tickets for this as the Never Ending Tour goes on.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Radio News for New York and Baltimore

Back in the 1990s I would tape samples of radio stations when I visited other cities.  I amassed a very big collection of tapes.  Last year I moved about half of them to my garage.  Anyway, I brought a small radio with me and spent a little time checking out the Baltimore radio stations.  There is no oldies or classic hits station there, but the dreaded Jack format survived on WQSR at 102.7 FM.  There is a country music station WPOC at 93.1 FM.  I must presume that most of its listeners come from the suburbs.  There is ESPN radio on WJZ simulcasted at 105.7 FM and 1300 AM.  While I was there I dxed WFAN at night and heard how the Mets lost.

I missed a major format change at 101.9 FM while I was gone, but I found out about it from my iPhone.  This station changed from Alternative Rock to All News last summer, but it could not compete with the heritage news stations on WCBS and WINS.  So yesterday they went back to alternative rocks.  Some of the "experts" on the various radio message boards think that this is a temporary format and that station will become a news talk station like IQ 106.9 FM in Philadelphia owned by Merlin.  We will have to wait and find out.

New Bob Dylan Album to Be Released September 11


It was certainly useful to have internet access while I was on vacation.  Alan Berman was certainly on the ball when he e-mail and posted to my Facebook Timeline the announcement that the new Bob Dylan CD titled Tempest will be released on September 11.  The details were reported by Rolling Stone Magazine.  There will be a tribute to John Lennon over 30 years after his death.

The Dylan CD Love and Theft was released on September 11, 2001, the date of the terrorist attacks.  This new album will be released on Tuesday September 11, 2012 which I believe is the first time the anniversary of  9/11 is on a Tuesday.  It was also noted that the Tempest was the name of Shakespeare's last play.  It is amazing that Bob Dylan has recorded albums for 50 years.

Baltimore Vacation


I haven’t posted anything on Bruce’s Journal for several days since I was on vacation in Baltimore.  Instead of bringing my laptop on vacation, I bought my Amazon Kindle Fire.  There are certain things that I can not do on the Kindle like play games that require Flash or post using Blogger Software.  In previous years I posted for each day that I was on vacation, but this time I will give on long blog entry for the entire vacation.

I decided to drive from Flushing to Baltimore instead of  taking Amtrak.  It took about 4 hours going there, but 4 ½ hours returning since we hit traffic when we got to NYC.  We stayed at the Days Inn Inner Harbor which was convenient to Orioles Park at Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor tourist attractions.

 

On Saturday we saw the Orioles play the Detroit Tigers starting at 4 PM.  Before the game there was a ceremony honoring Jim Palmer who pitched for the O’s from 1965-84.  Each fan received a replica of a statute of him that was unveiled before the game.  It was a very exciting game as the Orioles beat the Tigers 8-6 in 13 innings after giving up the lead 3 times. The game lasted about 4:45, thus we didn’t eat dinner until close to 10 PM.

Game Summary




On Sunday we took a boat ride of the harbor.  After that we went over to the stadium to see the Orioles take on the Tigers again.  This game was some what boring as Justin Verlander shut out the O’s 4-0.

Game Summary



We wanted to take in some of the museums in the area  fro the rest of our trip.  On Monday morning we visited the Babe Ruth Birthplace just a few blocks from the stadium.It was small, but impressive.  There were actually 714 small plagues for each of the Babe’s home runs.




 
From there we walked over to the Sports Legend Museum at Camden Yards.   It had many artifacts from the Baltimore Orioles of today and other professional teams in Maryland.   There was a large section devoted to the Baltimore Colts and Ravens football teams. We spent the rest of Monday at the National Aquarium  .  It was very similar to the Aquarium we visited last year in Long Beach, CA.



We spent the last day at the Maryland Science CenterIt was very similar to the Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Park.





We returned on Wednesday, but I don’t have to return to work until Monday.  I’ll spend the next few days taking it easy at home.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Saw A No Hitter in Newark Today

Once a year a group of us from the NJIT Library goes over to nearby Riverfront Stadium to see the Newark  Bears of the CanAm league play.  This is a minor league not affiliated with Major League Basesball.  In the photo above there is Aron, Galen, Yacie, Bruce, and Maria before the big game.  The game started at 11 AM to accommodate day camps.

The Newark Bears committed 6 errors but the opposing Quebec Capitales could not score.  Meanwhile Mike Ness of Chatham, NJ pitched a no hit no run game as the Newark Bears won 3-0.  I certainly hope that there were major league scouts in the stands.  Perhaps Mike has a chance of signing and moving up.  Below is a photo of the team congratulating him at the end of the game.  I so Johann Santana's no hitter on TV, but this is the first live no hitter I have seen in my many years of going to ball games.

Game Recap

National League Prevails 8 - 0 in MLB AllStar Game

I watched part of the game last night as the National League shut out the American League 8-0.  David Wright was 0-2 and R.A. Dickey pitched one scoreless inning for the senior circuit.  It is a shame that he did not start the game.  Former Yankee Melky Cabrera was named most valuable player.  Now the National League pennant winner will have an extra home game in the World Series if it goes 7 games.

Game Recap

Monday, July 9, 2012

Random Thoughts on a Monday Evening

I really enjoyed the 40th Anniversary special weekend on WCBS-FM.  It was nice to hear some radio personalities whom I haven't heard in some time and hits from 1955-63.  I heard Walking With Mr. Lee by Lee Allan on Bobby Jay's show and Mr. Lee by the Bobettes on Don K. Reed's Show.

Right Now I am listening to Breakfast with the Beatles featuring the music of Ringo Starr for his 72nd birthday.  Two years ago we went to his 70th birthday party at Radio City Music Hall.

I read a review in the New York Times on a biography of Walter Cronkike.  It is over 800 pages, but I download for my Amazon Kindle.  It will probably take me forever to read

Brinkley, D. (2012). Cronkite. New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.


I just watched about 20 minutes of the home run hitting contest at Kansas City.  It gets boring after a while.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Quote from Today's New York Times

This quote was taken from an article by Aimee Lee Ball titled The Spotlight Dims and Shyness Sets In.  My readers can click on the link to read the entire article but here is the line taken out of context:

"Some shy people are able to find their voice after a glass of wine or with a lengthy blog post."

I don't drink much wine, so I say I find my voice during a long blog post.  I guess Tweets don't qualify.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Mets 3 Cubs 1

Home runs by Jordanny Valdespin and Ike Davis gave the Mets enough run support as they beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 at a steamy Citifield today.  It seems that Terry Collins didn't have much confidence in his bull pen as he left starter Dillon Gee in for 8 innings.  Bobby Parnell came in for the 9th to get the save.

Box Score

Friday, July 6, 2012

WCBS-FM Anniversary and other Activities of the Day

Today, I am really glad that NJIT is closed on Fridays.  I listened to Dan Taylor's morning show on WCBS-FM as he had several guests phone into the station.  I sent the station an e-mail recalling the Harry Harrison Birthday Book.  I obviously can't listen to the radio for the entire day, but Mary Shaw sent me an e-mail saying that after 10 AM Joe Causi mentioned my name.

From 6 PM - 7 PM we listened to Cousin Brucie's return to WCBS-FM.  Throughout the day it was really nice to hear 1955-63 hits rarely heard on the post 2007 version of the station.  I still like the station, but they play too many burnt out classic hits.

At 7 PM we turned on Jeopardy.  It has to be an extraordinary event for me to miss my favorite TV show.  I just hate it when Channel 7 interrupts for a news report which is usually not urgent.

Right now I am listening to Bob Radil's 60s 70s show on Rewound Radio.  I always try to squeeze in some time for his excellent show.  After I complete this journal entry it is on to the Mets vs Cubs.  The Yankees are playing the Red Sox at Fenway, but that will likely be a 4 hour plus game.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Congratulations to WCBS-FM on its 40th Anniversary

On July 7, 1972 WCBS-FM 101.1 became an oldies station.  I will refer my readers to the Wikipedia entry for a detailed history of the station. There is another fine article written by Vince Santarelli.  There will be plenty of special programming on the station for the anniversary.  The information below was reported by Jerry Barmash on his FISHBOWLNY  column.


Friday
Saturday–
  • Midnight to 3 a.m. — Charlie B. Smith (a.k.a. Ziggie, station’s voice)
  • 3 a.m. to 6 a.m  — Lenny Bloch
  • 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. — Mike Fitzgerald
  • 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. — Harry Harrison (taped from 1984 and 1991)
  • 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. — Randy Davis
  • 11 a.m. to noon — Ron Lundy (taped from 1984)
  • noon to 2 p.m. — “Dandy” Dan Daniel
  • 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Bill Brown (taped from 2002)
  • 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. — Joe McCoy
  • 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. — Dick Heatherton (taped from 1974)
  • 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. — Norm N. Nite   Top 5 Countdown–July 7, 1972
  • 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. — CBS-FM Returns 2007 Montage with Jack Spector (taped from 1993)
  • 9 p.m. to midnight — Jukebox Saturday Night with Bobby Jay
Sunday
  • Midnight to 1 a.m. — Max Kinkel (taped from 1994)
  • 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. — Top 20 Countdown with Jeff Mazzei
  • 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. — Jim Harrington (taped from 1978)
  • 10 a.m to noon — Steve O’Brien
  • noon to 1 p.m. — Dan Ingram (taped from 2001)
  • 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Ed Baer
  • 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. — Bob Shannon (taped from 2002)
  • 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. — Mike McCann
  • 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. — The Doo Wop Shop with Don K. Reed
  • 8 p.m to midnight — Dick Bartley‘s Classic Countdown
I am sure there will be more guests at least phoning in.

Here is a dedication to a radio station that should not have been taken away from us from June 3, 2005 to July 12, 2007.  This was absolutely the worst format change in the history of American radio.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The Amazing Spider-man Movie - 2012

We took a walk to the local multiplex to see the new Spider-Man movie .  For several months we have decided to see the 2D version of a movie, but today we forked over $4.50 more per ticket to see the 3D version.  The action scenes with Spider-man were greatly enhanced by the 3D, but I must still stick with my original thinking that the extra money for 3D is not justified.

This movie had Andrew Garfield as the main character instead of Tobey MacGuire.  It was interesting to see an elderly Sally Field as Peter Parker's Aunt.  I still think of her as the 19 year old actress in the TV series Gidget seen in the mid 1960s.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Never Ending Tour Update



I must thank Bill Pagel for maintaining the Boblinks web site which advises Bob Dylan fans of the status of the Never Ending Tour.  It also includes information on how to get tickets and reviews of the concerts.  The tour will come to the east coast at the end of the summer, but will not quite reach NYC. The closest venues are Bethel Woods in upstate NY and the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.  Let hope that in the fall Bob will play in NYC at a venue with seats.
 
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