Should Roy and I Revisit 161 West Fourth Street?

My old friend Roy Herschaft brought this article in the Village Voice to my attention.  We reminisced about the time in 1966 or 1967 when we made a special trip to Greenwich Village to find 161 West Fourth Street where Bob Dylan lived when he moved to NYC in 1961.  The article  written by Rob Trucks commemorates the 50th anniversary of his arrival.  He states how unfortunate it is that so few of the landmarks integral to the Dylan legend still exist.  There is now a sex shop below the apartment that he shared with Suze Rotolo at 161 West 4th Street.

I remember walking around the Village in the late 1960s during the era of the Hippie.  I loved looking around the House of Oldies for rare records.  Back in 1966 they had a copy of the Butcher album for sale for only $20.  I could not afford it back then, but now it must be worth thousands.  After my last final exam in January 1968 at CCNY I bought the eagerly awaited Dylan album John Wesley Harding at the House of Oldies.

When I think back to Dylan and Greenwich Village I recall his Positively Fourth Street which was the followup hit to Like a Rolling Stone.  It is such a bitter song.

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that’s winning

You say I let you down
You know it’s not like that
If you’re so hurt
Why then don’t you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that’s not where it’s at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You’re in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don’t know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, “How are you?” “Good luck”
But you don’t mean it

When you know as well as me
You’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I’d rob them

And now I know you’re dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don’t you understand
It’s not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you

Copyright © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music

Another Facebook Article in the Sunday Styles Section of the New York Times

Let me discuss the article "Does Facebook Make Someone Social Offline?" by just analyzing the title.  My quick answer is no.  Very often people post things on Facebook that they would never say to someone's face.  I have many Facebook friends who also work at NJIT but I can pass them by on campus and nothing is said.  A few months ago there was the 5th Annual Meet and Greet of Oldies Fans.  A large percentage of the people were Facebook friends, but how many did I speak with that day?  Only a few.

There were two publications cited in this article:

Got Facebook? Investigating What’s Social About Social Media,” by S. Craig Watkins and H. Erin Lee, the University of Texas, Austin. Click on the link and the publication is available.  I just looked at it very quickly and observed a detailed statistical study.

Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York: Basic Books, 2011. Print.

 

This book looks promising.  I just noticed that it is available for the Amazon Kindle.  I'll have to read it when I get the time.

It's fundraising time for two excellent radio stations

I have encouraged readers of Bruce's Journal to support their favorite non-profit radio stations. WBGO and WFUV are having fund raising drives at this time. Since I donated to WFUV in the Fall, I gave a $100 donation to WBGO yesterday. Keep up the excellent programming.



Wilpons seek buyer for 25% stake in Mets

This was reported in Crain's New York Business.  Unfortunately it had something to do with the Bernie Madoff nonsense.  I think I am going to empty out my bank account including my retirement account and buy the entire franchise from the Wilpons.  If I am a little short I am sure that Alan Berman can help me out.

The first thing I will do is to lower all prices including seats and food to the 1964 levels when Shea Stadium opened.  I wonder if Jet Screamer will come to some games since he loves 1964, but hates all New York teams.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do?

Faith and Fear in Flushing - Book and Blog

A snow day provides time to engage in leisure activities. I do read on the commute to work, but with making changes from one train to another, I can usually read for only 20 minutes at a time. Today I spent a few hours with:

Prince, Greg W. Faith and Fear in Flushing: An Intense Personal History of the New York Mets. New York, NY: Skyhorse Pub, 2009. Print.

I had seen this book on the shelf of the Mitchell Linden branch of the Queensborough Public Library for at least a year. I always thought to myself that I have read all too many books about the Mets over the years. I thought that is there anything more I can learn about my favorite team? About two weeks I finally decided to take this book out and read after I finished my latest book about the Beatles.

I was pleasantly surprised that although the author Greg W. Prince did not offer new revelations about the Mets, he did present his book in a friendly and personal style. He was born on December 31, 1962 and suggests that he was conceived about the same time the Mets played their very first game. He became a Mets fan at age 6 and attended his first game in 1973. He describes how he took the Long Island Railroad to Shea Stadium and details many of the games he viewed at Shea Stadium or on television.

Greg certainly loved Shea Stadium although so many other people including Mike Francesa of WFAN described it as a dump. It was not the Taj Mahal, but it was our place for 45 years. I still miss its symmetry and find Citifield too corporate and more expensive than Shea.

I disagree with Greg on one issue. He hates the Yankees while I don’t and rarely yell out Yankees suck. I root for the Bronx Bombers except for the time that they play for the Mets. I must assume that Greg doesn’t have any children since there was no mention of any in the book. In my family “child is father to the man” since Lee is a bigger Met fan than I am. He saw his first Met game when he was 5. At age 22 he still wants to run over to hug Mr. Met.

The copyright date is 2009 so the author did not document whether he came to Shea Stadium as it was being demolished from October 2008 - March 2009. It was very sad for me to see it being deconstructed as I passed by on the #7 Flushing train or in my car. I will have to read his blog at http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/. It seems very wordy, so I’ll have to spend sometime with it.

I recommend this book to all Met fans especially those who miss Shea Stadium.

Snowstorm of the week

New York City was hit with about 15 inches of snow setting a record for total snowfall in January.  Overnight up to 3 inches an hour of snow came down.  NJIT is closed so I am home with a snow day.  In any event most public transportation is not running as of 8 AM.  You know the old saying "Everybody talks about the weather, bot nobody does anything about it."

Photo of My Two Heroes

Why did Lee have to wear his 3 Stooges t-shirt when he met Mr.Zimmerman?  What was Robin the Boy Wonder doing in the background?