For Halloween - The Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett

 

Last Halloween, only one group of kids came to my door.  I bought a package of candy for them.  If the kids don't come, Lee and I will have to eat the candy.

I Value Medical Privacy on Social Media

 

Medical privacy involves the protection of an individual's health information, primarily through the federal HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which establishes national standards to safeguard protected health information (PHI).

I want to mention some indiscretions in social media regarding medical privacy.  Some people will detail their medical problems on Facebook and even show photos of themselves or close relatives in hospital beds.  I certainly would never do that.  I don't want to read about medical issues of Facebook friends whom I only "know" online. Thankfully, I am in good health

Sports Equinox Today

 Today marks the Sports Equinox, as MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL teams are in action.

Comments on Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere from a Bob Dylan Fan

 

Today we saw Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.  Over the years, I was so involved in my enthusiasm for Bob Dylan, Donovan, The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, and similar artists that I only developed a cursory interest in Bruce Springsteen.  I am familiar with his major hits but cannot identify his deep tracks.

I will compare it to recent Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown.  Both films only cover a short part of the artist’s respective career.  The Dylan movie covers 1961-65, while the Springsteen film covers only 1981-82.  The latter emphasizes how Springsteen came to conceive and record the album Nebraska, while the former covers Dylan’s time in NYC and his transition from folk to rock music.

Deliver Me from Nowhere features flashbacks to Bruce’s growing up in Freehold, NJ.  It would have been interesting to see accounts of Dylan’s growing up in Hibbing, MN., but the writers chose to exclude that.

Both films were partially fictionalized.  For example, Faye Springsteen’s girlfriend in the movie did not exist.  Likewise, Sylvie Russo was a fake name for the real Suze Rotolo.

Inaccuracies in A Complete Unknown

Inaccuracies in Springsteen:Deliver Me from Nowhere

Movie Review from the New York Times

I recommend seeing it, especially since there are so few movies out today suited for older adults.

Hey Joe Revisited

 A Google search revealed there are over 1800 versions of Hey Joe written by folk musician Billy Roberts in the 1950s.  Below are versions from Jimi Hendrix, The Leaves, The Byrds, Tim Rose, and Johnny Rivers.

Remembering Roy Herschaft - New York Culture Has Lost a Friend

 

Roy at a Forest Hills High School Reunion in 2017

Roy at My 60th Birthday Dinner in 2009

Roy Herschaft passed away on Saturday, October 18 after being in failing health for a long time.  I was friends with him since our Forest Hills High School Days in the 1960s.

My first memory of him was walking to school talking about the WABC and WMCA music surveys.  He was a big fan of the Supremes while I was a fan of Bob Dylan.  I’ll never forget in October 1966 he came out of his building beaming when You Keep Me Hanging on by the Supremes hit #1 on the WMCA survey.  In high school we were in a program that emphasized the sciences.

After high school our paths diverged as Roy went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, to study architecture, while I studied chemistry at the City College of New York.  We stayed connected through letters and phone calls.

After college Roy worked for the Peace Corps for a while and lived in San Francisco for about a year.  After he returned to NYC, he worked for the Department of City Planning where he stayed until he retired.  For about 50 years, he lived in an apartment in Brooklyn Heights.

Roy should be best remembered for his devotion to culture in New York City.  He was most passionate about ballet.  For many years he attended ballet class and, for a short time, aspired to be a professional dancer.

He just loved movies.  He would go to a multiplex and stay all day seeing 3 or more films on one admission.

He regularly went to museums and knew when the specific institution offered free admission.  Roy was also a big fan of opera and collected artwork.

In later years Roy’s musical interests changed toward classical music.  I remember going to the record department with him at J&R in lower Manhattan.  Earlier in this essay I mentioned my enthusiasm for Bob Dylan.  Roy came with me to three Dylan concerts at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre, and Forest Hills Stadium.  I bought a 2-LP set of the Supremes Greatest Hits which he signed for me.

Roy was a very big enthusiast of the theater.  He went to almost every Broadway show that was out and always could find a bargain for tickets.  He would stand in line for hours to get tickets for Shakespeare in the Park.

Roy was an avid viewer of PBS programming and left money in his will to WNET-TV

I was always a big sports fan, while Roy was completely indifferent.  I once had an extra ticket for a Mets game, and he joined me at Shea Stadium.  He appeared to be uninterested.

In recent years, I would always speak to Roy on the phone on Sunday mornings.  We would always discuss our cultural activities of the past week. He always said that I watched terrible movies. Since he just passed away, Sundays will just never be the same, so I will conclude by posting hit by Spanky and Our Gang.  I will certainly miss Roy.

Whitney Museum - October 2025 Visit

 

It was time for a return visit to the Whitney Museum.  The main attraction today was Sixties Surreal, an ambitious, scholarly reappraisal of American art from 1958 to 1972, encompassing the work of more than 100 artists. It recontextualizes some of the decade’s best-known figures alongside those only recently rediscovered..  Below are two of the many works we saw today.