Snow Day Activities

I obviously did not venture outside today, but we received the announcement that NJIT will be open tomorrow.  No train delays, please.  Anyway, here is what I did today:

As usual, I spent some time surfing the web.  This is nothing new.

I did some reading:

Genovese, G., & Taylor, D. (2015). A Scout's report: My 70 years in baseball. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

I watched a rerun of Sports Jeopardy where Vinny won his 4th game.  I wish they would show some new episodes.

I listened to my police band radio

I played Wheel of Fortune with Lee

Random Comments of the Day

"Bob Dylan Wins The Nobel Prize" was one of the puzzles on The Wheel of Fortune tonight.

Today the temperature exceeded 60 degrees, but a big snowstorm is predicted for tomorrow.  At about 4:30 NJIT announced it would be closed tomorrow.  It is unusual that the announcement was made so far in advance.  Likewise at about 6:30 PM the mayor's office announced that the New York City school system would be closed.  It is nice to have a snow day once in a while.

Right now I am listening to Cousin Brucie as I usually do on Wednesday nights.  He doesn't get older, he gets better.  It is worth the subscription to SiriusXM just to listen to him.

Crazy Dreams

Everybody has dreams during rapid eye movement sleep.  Fortunately, most of the time we forget our dreams when we wake up in the morning.  Last night I had a dream about a train delay on New Jersey Transit.  Believe me, this is a dream that has come true many times over the years.  At least when I retire, I will not have to ride on New Jersey Transit again.  I'll have to ride on the New York City subways, but much less often.

Testimony - An Autobiography of Robbie Robertson That Ends Too Soon

This is an autobiography of one of the founding members of the Band.  The others are:

• Levon Helm
• Garth Hudson
• Richard Manual
• Rick Danko

Robbie and Garth are the only members of the group still living.

The book is very readable as it does not include many irrelevant details.  He talks about his family in Canada and how he met the other members of the groups as they became The Hawks who backed up Ronnie Hawkins.  The group broke off from Hawkins and toured with Bob Dylan in 1966 and 1974.

 

The final chapter covered the Last Waltz which was their final concert in San Francisco in November 1976.  But it ends 40 years too early!  What has Robbie done since then?

In the 1980s the Band reformed without Robbie Robertson.  I heard that he had a big fight with Levon Helm who was his biggest friend in the 1970s.  Robbie wrote some musical scores for Martin Scorcese and made several solo recordings.  This was not at all in this autobiography.  Why did he stop at 1976?

Ben's Deli, Ben's Best and The Comedian (Movie)

Although the Carnegie Deli closed there is still Ben's Best Deli in Rego Park and Ben's Deli with locations in Bayside, Long Island, and Manhattan.  The later is the restaurant where we hold the annual oldies meet and greet in November.  There has always been some confusion between the two.  Ben's Best with just one location has been in Rego Park since 1945.  While growing up, my mother would send me there on Sundays to get cold cuts and hot dogs for dinner.  I remember Ben, the original owner who passed away,  His son Jay Parker now runs it.   I believe the Ben's Deli of oldies meet and greet fame didn't open until the early 1990s.

Anyway, today we went to the Kew Gardens Cinema to see The Comedian starring Robert DeNiro.  He played an aging insult comedian named Jack Burke.  His brother played by Danny DeVito and sister-in-law played by Patty Lupone managed the deli.  Jay Parker appeared in a cameo role.  I highly recommend seeing this movie.

February 3, 1959 - The Day the Music Died

I almost forgot that today is the 58th anniversary of the airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper.  It is also known at the Day The Music Died.  With that thought in mind, here is I'm Gonna Love You Too by Buddy Holly.

Interviews of Herb Oscar Anderson on WPAT AM with Teddy Smith (Parts 1 and 2)