Brief Comments on Two Biographies that I Just Finished

Keith uses a thematic rather than chronological approach to this memoir.  He is not a professional writer but did get editorial assistance.  He talks about his growing up in Northern California and his relationships with his father and brother.  There is much talk about his baseball career in the minor leagues and with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Although there are sections relating to his experiences in broadcasting for the Mets, there is a minimal discussion about his career playing for them in the 1980s.  This my disappointment with the book.

Paul did spend much time with biographer Robert Hilburn.  It was quite unfortunate that Art Garfunkel refused to be interviewed for this book.  A chronological approach is used by the author tracing Simon's career from his early days in Queens to the present.  His conflicts with Art were well documented.  The author balances Paul's personal and professional lives.  Reading the book encouraged me to view some music videos of some of Paul's songs.

You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon - Video Featuring Chevy Chase

I am currently reading the new biography of Paul Simon written by Robert Hilburn.  I bought the Kindle version which is usually cheaper than the print book.  One advantage of reading on the Kindle Fire is that I can digress and see the video of a song that is discussed in the text.  I did that for You Can Call Me Al from the Graceland album.

David Bowie Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum

This exhibit presents artifacts from David Bowie's personal archives. It includes original costumes, handwritten lyric sheets from his hit songs, original album art, photographs, and videos, all tracing Bowie’s creative process from his teenage years in England through his last twenty years when he resided in New York City.  All visitors are given headphones that allow for an immersive multimedia experience.  The exhibit area was extremely crowded as I had to buy the tickets 3 weeks in advance.

I highly recommend this for all music fans.  It closes on July 15, so if you are interested, please keep that in mind.

I Spent Bob Dylan's Birthday at a "Covers Concert" at Town Hall

On April 12, 1963, I was an 8th-grade student at JHS 190 while He's So Fine by the Chiffons was the number one song.  At that time I hadn't yet heard of Bob Dylan played his first major concert at Town Hall on West 43rd Street in Manhattan.  The original concert is archived at https://archive.org/details/BobDylanLiveNYCCityHall4121963

The songs played at that concert were "re-imagined" last night at the same venue as stated by Steven Bernstein, the musical director of the performer.  Back then Dylan just played with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, but last night's show was done by an ensemble with over 12 musicians.  I always feel that when a performer covers one or many of Dylan's songs the new version should be different from the original.  This was certainly the case last night.  I do feel that a few of the songs were overdone as the words were masked by ornate music, but in most cases, the musical arrangement
enhanced the song.

Setlist

• Ramblin’ Down Thru The World
• Bob Dylan’s Dream
• Talkin’ New York
• Ballad Of Hollis Brown
• Walls Of Red Wing
• All Over You
• Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
• Boots Of Spanish Leather
• Hero Blues
• Blowin’ In The Wind
• John Brown
• Tomorrow Is A Long Time
• A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
• Dusty Old Fairgrounds
• Who Killed Davey Moore?
• Seven Curses
• Highway 51
• Pretty Peggy-O
• Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag
• Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
• Hiding Too Long
• With God On Our Side
• Masters Of War
• Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie

What Do These 3 Distinguished Gentlemen Have In Common?

Ethan Shapiro who is my grand nephew of Walnut Creek, California

Rich Appel of Wayne, NJ.  Radio Host of That Thing with Rich Appel

Bob Dylan - I think I have written enough about him

All three are celebrating birthdays today.  Ethan is 3 years old, Rich is 61, and Bob is 77.  May they all stay Forever Young.

Adventures in Movie Going

For the last two days, I tried to see one movie but ended up seeing another.  On Tuesdays, the AMC Bay Terrace theaters offer all movies for $5.00.  The only film over there that was aimed at an older audience is Book Club with Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton.  When I arrived at the theater there were about 10 seniors on the line.  When it was my turn, the seller said that there were only seats in the first row.  Since I didn't want to sit so close to the screen, I decided to drive back home and check the College Point Multiplex.  I found a film called Overboard which seemed a little silly after I viewed the trailer.  It wasn't the worst movie that I ever saw, but I found out that it was a remake of a movie with the same name in 1987 starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.

Early this morning I had to take Lee to the doctor for a routine checkup.  Everything is OK.  I got home at 11 AM and thought that I had plenty of time to get to the Angelika Film Center in Greenwich Village to catch the 12:25 showing of On Chesil Beach.  The #7 train was somewhat slow (what else is new) so I knew I couldn't get there in time.  I decided to stop at the IFC Center where there was a 12:45 showing of Let The Sunshine In, a French film with English subtitles.

Sooner or later I'll get to see Book Club and On Chesil Beach.

Thinking of Taxes in May

I am the Taxman and you are working for no one but me.

Since I retired I get income from TIAA (my pension) and Social Security every month.  I indicated a certain amount of New York State and federal taxes to be deducted from TIAA, but I can't get anything deducted from Social Security.  In February I received a payout for unused sick time over 25 years.  I was concerned that I had too little withheld this year, so I consulted with my accountant today.  He suggested that I send estimated taxes to the state and federal governments in June, September, and January.  This way I would not get hit with a big tax bill in 2019.  I was also afraid that I could get a big penalty if I underpaid.