I was heard on another radio station tonight

TJ Lubinsky is best known for producing PBS oldies specials. He also hosts a radio show Sunday nights on WJRZ from Toms River, NJ. Since the Lost 45s on WODS Boston is pre-empted by Christmas programming, I thought I'd give his show a listen. Tonight he was taking requests so I phoned in and asked him for Killer Joe by the Rocky Fellers. TJ who is quite knowledgable about the oldies told me that Killer Joe is actually the boxer Joe Frazier. Today's radio log:

WINS
WCBS-FM HD2
WFUV
BBC2 - Sounds of the 60s with Brian Matthew
WAXQ
WJRZ

Transporter 3 - Real or Fantasy?

Since it rained all day today we went over to the local multiplex to see Transporter 3. Here is the synopsis taken from the Internet Movie Database.

Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.

IMHO a movie should project reality or fantasy not both. There were several scenes in this movie where the main character Frank Martin performs stunts that are physically impossible. I can understand a comic book character like Superman, Batman, or Spiderman performing unnatural students, but not a normal human being. Let me give an example:

Frank Martin is sitting in a car on a bridge over a river. His adversaries pushed him and the car into the river. He is then seen breathing air out of the tires and using the tire air to inflate a raft he has in the trunk to lift the car out of the water. He then gets a friend to help him start the car after it had been immersed in water for a long period. He then drives his car (the tires seemed OK) about 100 MPH to catch up with the thugs.

It's only a movie.

From Canal Street to Soho to Greenwich Village

We got off the subway at the N train station on Canal Street. It was a very crowded shopping area. I hate crowds and shopping so we walked north toward the Rock Hall Annex as described in the previous post. Soho was also quite congested with many restaurants and shops. As we walked uptown we entered Greenwich Village. My eyes lit up as a saw Bleeker Street Records, a record store the way they ought to be. This store specializes in rarities. Since I had to watch my money, I bought the following three items:

1. DVD collection of Traveling Wilburys videos
2. CD of a Johnny Cash concert at Madison Square Garden in the 1970s
3. CD of Jimi Hendrix at Monterrey Pop

From there we walked by another rarity, a Barnes and Nobles bookstore. Karen bought here cats calendar and a Jeopardy calendar.

Rock Hall of Fame Annex in Soho

If you check back to my June 2008 entries, you will see that we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland then and in 1998. Just this week an annex to the Rock Hall opened in Soho (in lower Manhattan). Lee insisted that we go today. As you walk in there is a wall with bricks listing all of the inductees. When an excerpt is heard the brick of the inductee is illuminated. The next stop is a short film featuring clips from several of the inductees. They even played Dylan's Maggies Farm, my favorite. You are then given a "Walkman typoe device" As you approach an exhibit, the music from that artist is played. You must stand in the same spot to hear the entire song. There was a small exhibit featuring the Clash.

We enjoyed our time at the Rock Hall Annex, but it was very small. We felt that $26 admission was high when we completed the tour in just under two hours. I was able to get a discount since I joined the Rock Hall when I was in Cleveland last June.

It was Literary Friday for me

Today is known a Black Friday when everyone goes shopping. There was a tragic incident in nearby Valley Stream where a a Wal-Mart employee was literaly trampled to death by shoppers breaking down the doors trying to get bargains. What was especially sad was that the agressive shoppers actually jumped over the medics who were trying to save the poor man. Anyway, I wanted no part of shopping malls today, so I spent some time reading.

Let's start out with John Lennon by Philip Norman. There have certainly been numerous biographies over the years written on the group and its individual members. This current tome with over 800 pages certainly presents some revelations that I never read about or just didn't remember from previous accounts. This volume was certainly well researched and provides details of Lennon's personal and professional life. This book is so heavy that I couldn't schlep it on the subway, so I had to read it at home. I have about 150 pages to go.

Noted sportswriter John Feinstein wrote this book about the pitchers Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine during the 2007 season. This season was disappointing for both. Glavine won his 300th game during the season for the Mets but collapsed as the Mets blew a 7 game lead in the National League east with 17 games to go. In the last gaem of the season he gave up 7 runs in the first inning.

Just today, I went to the library and picked up "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity" a biography of infuenetial TV personality and author Bill O'Reilly. For more information on Bill I suggest my readers check out Dave DuBrow's World Journal File. I hope that Dave with his very busy schedule will find time to read it.

Queens may be losing another kosher deli

Please note, that Ben's Deli has several locations on Manhattan, Queens and Long Island. The situation described in this article from the Queens Courier applies only to the Bayside restaurant.

Ben’s Deli Bay Terrace deal is dead
BY VICTOR G. MIMONI
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 8:50 PM EST
The 15-year run of Ben’s Deli at the Bay Terrace shopping center will end on the last day of January, now that nearly two years of negotiations have failed to produce an agreement between the kosher deli and landlord, Cord Meyer development.The first word of the impasse came on Friday, November 14, when Ben’s released an “open letter,” saying that the deal was “killed,” with Ben’s spokesperson Scott Singer declaring, “Cord Meyer pulled the plug at the eleventh hour.”One week later, Cord Meyer issued a statement in response, “to provide the patrons of our Bay Terrace Center and the community at large with the facts relating to that matter and to assuage disappointment and concerns created by the unfortunate characterization of events.”“We can sincerely say that in the 104-year history of our company, we have never made a greater effort to accommodate a tenant or spent more time and thoughtful effort to bring a lease transaction to fruition,” they said.

The two sides have different interpretations of the facts on which they agree. Ben’s insists they “could not afford the pay the 86 percent rent increase that Cord Meyer demanded.”Cord Meyer related that the deli owners told them “Our customer base is moving out of the neighborhood, and we can’t afford any rent increase at all. We may be able to hang on for another 5 years.”According to the landlord, “Our organization felt that there was a need to have a kosher restaurant with a fine reputation to continue to service the community.”Both parties agree that ultimately, negotiations focused on a new location in the upper level of the shopping center, in the new construction around the Loews Movie Theater.In addition, both agree that the proposed agreement included a highly-unusual move for a landlord, “building out” the new space to suit the tenant and providing the financing to do so.Singer conceded that “It was a unique deal - [landlords] don’t normally do that,” although he also pointed out that “The landlord would “get the money back with interest in the form of increased rent.”

A Cord Meyer spokesperson confided that “The unique provisions we made added to the complexity of the lease and is one of the reasons we asked them to bring in an attorney months ago, but they didn’t.”The lack of legal counsel may have led to the collapse of the negotiations in the final analysis.The Cord Meyer spokesperson insisted that “we were very close,” to striking a deal and there were “just a few items to be clarified.” Singer however suggested that Ben’s felt insecure because “they took the first store and leased it out from under us.”What followed was an email directly from a principal at Ben’s, which led Cord Meyer to conclude that they were “insincere” - and end negotiations.“After all our above-and-beyond efforts to accommodate Ben’s and serve the community,” the Cord Meyer spokesperson said, “The tone and substance of the email struck senior management as having a lack of good faith in us.”

For all the disappointment, Singer seemed conciliatory. “I can understand the landlord has to make a profit,” he said adding, “Negotiations get contentious, sometimes.” He insisted that it was “just about business,” declaring “Nobody ever said anything to me to make me feel otherwise.”Kosher deli lovers can take comfort that both parties are actively looking to fill their needs.Singer revealed that Ben’s is actively searching out a site nearby. Cord Meyer also declared they were “committed to our patrons and shall continue to strive to see that a kosher food menu will be available,” from another tenant.

But in Bay Terrace shopping center, it’s bye-bye Bens.

A New York Radio Tradition Continues the Thanksgiving

For many years Alic's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie was played once a year on WNEW-FM. Since that station no longer exists, the tradition was continued by WFUV. I heard it today at 12 noon.