Bob Dylan's Number One Fan is Mel Prussack

Alan Berman keeps refering to me as Zimmerman's #1 fan.  In all honesty, I can not make that claim.  Without any doubt in my mind that honor must go to Mel Prussack of Old Bridge, NJ.  Mel has been a fan of Dylan since 1965, but has distinguished himself by building a shrine to Bob at his home.  I suggest my readers take a look at these two web sites for more details:

http://web.me.com/dylanshrine/The_Dylan_Shrine/Welcome.html
http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/personalities/the-dylan-shrine.html

You Can't Fire the Team So You Fire the Coach

Knick coach Mike D'Antoni resigned today after 3 1/2 years as coach of the Knicks.  His record over that time was 121-166.  It wasn't all his fault since he was stuck with players that Isiah Thomas brought to the team who were just misfits.  After the Linsanity wore off the Knicks lost 6 in a row.  I think it takes time for the players to mold as a team.  I didn't like the high scoring games that took place under Mike D'Antoni.  I fondly recall the chants of "Defense" in MSG years ago when the late Red Holtzman was the coach.

Mike Woodson was named interim coach.  Perhaps if the Knicks make the playoffs and advance, he will be retained.  I think that owener James Dolan, who is in my opinion the root of all the problems, may try to lure Phil Jackson out of retirement.  I was just pissed this season with the outrageous ticket prices and the dispute between Time Warner Cable and MSG.

Mini Staycation Today

The third week of March has always been Spring Break week at NJIT.  There are no classes, but the administrative staff including the librarians are expected to come in.  I have plenty of vacation time, so I took the day off.  Luckily, it was unseasonably mild, so I drove out to Alley Pond Park, took a long walk, and then sat down to read yesterday's New York Times.  Back to work tomorrow.

I have Reached 100,000 Page Views

I added a widget that tells me how many page views Bruce's Journal has received.  Just today I reached the 100,000 mark in almost 6 1/2 years.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped by even if it was just once.  The statistics that I get indicated that about 85% of the visitors just stop by for 10 seconds or less.  I have a few regular visitors, but most people do a Google search and find one page and then move on to something else on the internet.

Review of This is Where I Came In - Autobiography of Brian Matthew

Matthew, Brian. This Is Where I Came in. London: Constable, 1991. Print.

As a science/engineering librarian I have reviewed many new technical books in my career. It seems very strange reviewing a book that is over 20 years old. For many years I have been an enthusiast of the popular music of the 1960s and am especially interested in specialty radio shows playing the music of that era. Too many radio station play the same burned out oldies over and over. About 8 years ago a poster on an oldies message board talked about Sounds of the 60s with Brian Matthew on BBC2. The show airs Saturday mornings from 8 AM - 10 AM in the UK which is 3 AM - 5 AM on the east coast of the USA. Fortunately for me each show is archived for a week.  You can find it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2

I really feel in love with the show which is a good blend of British and American Oldies including rarities and the staples of oldies radio. I regularly listen to the archived version on Sunday mornings. On two occasions Brian played my requests. One was Niki Hoeky by P.J. Proby while the other was a dedication to my wife Karen I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love by Petula Clark. I wrote to Brian stating that I must be America’s most avid listener of his show.

I really wanted to find out more about Brian. His name sounded familiar, but I could never could place it until I heard Sounds of the 60s. Very recently I discovered a Facebook Group dedicated to the show. A poster briefly discussed the autobiography. I thought that if it wasn’t too expensive I would try to obtain a copy. I went to Amazon.com and ordered the book from a used book dealer for only $12 including the shipping. The dealer stated that book was mailed on February 2. When I reported that I hadn’t received the book on February 23, the dealer presumed the book was lost in the postal mail and gave me a refund. I then ordered the book from another dealer and received it in a short time. However, the other day the book came from the original dealer, so I have two copies. There are only two libraries in the USA (Library of Congress and Penn State University) that hold the book. It is possible that I have 2 of the 4 copies in the United States.

Many autobiographies are done by ghostwriters, but This is Where I Came in was written by Brian Matthew himself. I must admire Brian for his exceptional memory of so many events in his life. He was very sincere as his was not afraid to talk about the setbacks in his life. His first love was the theater as he was a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in the UK. His went to the Netherlands for his first job in radio. He later came to the BBC and spoke proudly of seeing the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965 and interviewing them. He spoke of his experiences with Saturday Club and Round Midnight. It is very hard to be successful in show business, but Brian made his mark as an actor and as a broadcaster.

The book ends somewhat abruptly when on page 223 he says he got the job in a theatrical production of Lynchville by Snoo Wilson. It’s difficult for the reader to ascertain if he enjoyed acting or the radio most.

Since the book was published in 1991, it didn’t discuss Sounds of the 60s, so I must refer my readers to the Wikipedia entry.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_of_the_60s ) . I am not aware of any other acting or radio gigs over the last 22 years. Perhaps readers of this blog entry can fill me in. I always admire radio personalities like Cousin Brucie, Bob Shannon, Bob Radil, and Pete Fornatale among many others who know the music and the recording artists. Brian Matthew seems to be a walking encyclopedia of British rock of the 1960s. I am sure that he gets help from his producer Phil “The Collector” Swern.

Brian Matthew is now 83 years old and does the show every week. I was concerned when Brian was ill between September 2006 and February 2007 as Johnnie Walker and others filled in. I wish Brian the best of health and to borrow a line from Bob Dylan, “May he stay forever young.”

Bulletin - Bob Dylan is Reported to be Recording a New Album

New Musical Express, a reliable British publication, reports that Bob Dylan is recording an album of new material in a Los Angeles studio owned by Jackson Browne.  There is not much information available about this, but hopefully there will be a big ado for his 50th anniversary of his first album with Columbia.  I will post more information when it is available.

Thinking about Time Songs on the Weekend We Spring Forward

I remember that years ago daylight savings time began at the end of April and ending the last weekend of October.  Now it begins the second Sunday in March and ends in early November.  For a few weeks at least it will be dark when I wake up at 6:10 but will be bright when I get home.  Bob Radil has been playing time and clock songs on tonight's 60s 70s Show.  Let me post one of my favorite time songs that Bob played tonight.  I believe Bob played the Irma Thomas version.