200,000 Page Views of Bruce's Journal

Bruce's Journal uses Blogger software provided by Google which gives me statistics on what entries are accessed. As of today there are 200,000 page views of this journal since October 2005.  I sense that only a few people who know me check in regularly.  Most people do a Google search and land on a single entry.

The entry that got the most hits (about 9000) was a short entry called TGIF.  Some of the posts were just Youtube videos of a song that came to mind. There were posts that were autobiographical while others reviewed books, movies, concerts, CDs, and museums.  I also documented sporting events that I attended and several vacation trips.

Thanks for dropping by.

Remembering Richie Havens

I heard the bad news today that Richie Havens passed away today from a heart attack at age 72.  I have written about Richie several times in this journal.  Murray the K introduced me to Richie when he was on WOR-FM in the late 1960s.  Pete Fornatale named a radio show after his seminal album shown above.  Mixed Bag is still heard on WFUV Saturdays from 4 PM - 8 PM and is hosted by Don McGee after Pete's untimely passing.

Richie is best known for his show stopper Handsome Johnny at Woodstock in 1969.  It seems since Richie was the only performer who arrived at Yasgur's Farm, he was allowed to start the show.  I remember Richie as one of the best interpreters of Bob Dylan's songs.  At dinner tonight we heard his CD Richie Haven sings Beatles and Dylan.  My favorite has to be Just Like a Woman.  Please see his performance at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert.  If there was a Folk Music Hall of Fame, Richie Havens would be one of the first inductees.




 Please also see this video of the late Pete Fornatale talking about Richie Havens.

Mets 2 Washington 0 and some Bob Dylan News

Today Karen, Lee and I joined Bill Dillane, Ken Dulberg, and Alan Berman at Citifield to see the Mets play the Washington Nationals.  I was not disappointed as Dillion Gee pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings followed by 3 2/3 flawless innings by the bullpen.  John Buck hit a home run that went 460 feet.

Box Score

It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour will be returning to the NYC area in late July with supporting acts Wilco, Richard Thompson and My Morning Jacket.  On Friday July they will play at the Pier A Park in Hoboken while on Saturday the 27th they will be at the Jones Beach Theater.  Since we have seen Zimmy at Jones Beach several times I am interested in the Hoboken venue.  However, I really don't want to go to a venue where I'll have to stand.  If general admission seats are announced for Hoboken, I'll go to Jones Beach.  I am getting a little old for standing up for a concert.

Happy Birthday Karen

On our very first date in August 1980 I found out that Karen's birthday was one day after mine, but not the same year.  She is older than 39, but I will not reveal her age.

64 Years Forever Young Tomorrow

I am posting this now since I will likely not get online until about 10 tomorrow morning.  I don't want anyone being mislead and be told that I am only 39 years old.  I will be 64 years forever young and will celebrating at Citifield.  I hope the Mets will give me a good birthday present by having a winning team this season.

Please disregard the first line of this song.  I am not losing my hair.

Images of America New York City Radio by Alec Cumming and Peter Kanze

In recent years I have purchased most of my books for the Amazon Kindle, but I bought the print version of this book.  I actually found out about this book by reading the New York Radio Message Board.  It usually takes me several days or even a week to read a book, but I actually finished this book in one sitting from 10:30 AM to about 12 Noon today.  Once I started it, I just couldn't put it down.  I met one of the authors, Peter Kanze, on the WABC cruise in June 2007.  I even spoke to him over the phone one year during WABC Rewound.

The old saying that a picture is worth 1000 words certainly applies to this book.  Most of the images belong to the personal collection of Peter Kanze.  Others were from the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland.  In all my years as a librarian, I have never heard of that collection.  Some years ago I regularly did research at the Performing Arts Center of the New York Public Library which has collections on radio.  I look forward to my retirement when I will have the time to return there to do more reading.

The photographs with their captions cover most formats and radio stations from 1920 to the present.  There are numerous pictures of radio personalities that I've known for years.  I highly recommend this book for all of my radio friends and congratulate Alec Cumming and Peter Kanze for a job well done.

By the way, I just found a photo that I took of Peter Kanze (tan jacket) and Rob Frankel at the WABC Cruise in June 2007.

Spotlight on Al Gordon

Above is a photo of radio friends Linda Cohen and Al Gordon.  Al is the proprietor of WJPR which is a low power radio station operating at 1640 AM from Highland Park, NJ.  Today at 8:10 AM he dedicated When I'm 64 by the Beatles in honor of my birthday which is Sunday.  More on my birthday in a future post.