Gee Whiz - The Mets beat the Pirates 7-3 Monday Night

Last night we went to Citifield and saw the Mets defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 as Dillion Gee improved his record to 5-0.  Josh Thole drove in two runs with a double to give the Mets the lead which they held onto.  They are now 25-28.

Box Score

Before the game started we passed by Section 338 and saw Gary Fishbein who works at the stadium.  Gary has attended most of the Meets and Greets of oldies enthuisasts and always wears his Mets uniform.  I have never seen him wear normal clothing.  When he saw me, he thought I was Alan Berman.

Today's Radio Log

WINS - news
WCBS-FM - Sue O'Neal
WAXQ - Breakfast with the Beatles
WLS-FM - Chicago - American Top 40 with Casey Kasem
BBC2 - Sounds of the 60s with Brian Matthew
WCBS-FM - Pat St. John
WCBS-FM - Big Jay Sorensen
Sirius/XM 60s on 6 - Cousin Bruce Morrow
WABC Rewound -Rewound Radio
WODS Boston - Lost 45s with Barry Scott
New Jersey 101.5 - Don Tandler

Random Thoughts on Memorial Day Weekend

This really was a staycation since I stayed home for more hours than I would have liked since I had to clean up our apartment.  It seems that I was in the habit of saving things that I no longer needed and then years later not remembering what I had.  I really don't need my 1978 income tax form, but I found a letter that I received from the later Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1966.  That went right into my safe deposit box.

I certainly enjoyed listening to the BBC radio specials honor Bob Dylan on his 70th birthday.  Pete Fornatale had  a 4hour special on Saturday featuring covers of Dylan songs.  His guest was a group called the Persuasions who recently released a collection of covers titled "Knockin' on Bob's Door."  I bought the mp3 version on Amazon.com.  All of the songs are acapella versions.

Back in 2001 there was a compilation CD called a Nod to Bob by various artists honoring him on his 60th birthday.  A new compilation for his 70th called a Nod to Bob 2 was just released.  This is next on my shopping list.

 My journal  entry for October 25, 2010  stated that I bought The Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair of a Mets Fan by Dana Brand.  I read in today's New York Times  that Dana sadly passed away at the age of 56.

I am certain that I discussed WABC Rewound in this journal before.  For several years it was broadcasted on Memorial Day on 770 AM.  This year the Musicradio WABC shows are online at Rewound Radio for the entire weekend.

Best Wishes to Gary Carter

I just read on Twitter that the family of Gary Carter say that doctors are 90% certain that his brain tumors are malignant.  A formal statement will be made shortly after Memorial Day.  I am certain that everyone in the baseball world wishes the best to Gary.  Hopefully he will beat the "Big C."

Gary certainly made things happen for the Mets in the mid 1980s.  He was the heart and soul of the World Champion Mets of 1986.  A few years ago at Riverfront Stadium in Newark I sat behind the dugout of the opposing Long Island Ducks managed by Gary.  I believe he is currently the coach of a college team in Florida.

We are rooting for you Kid!

Clearing Clutter in the Apartment

Believe me, my apartment was never as cluttered as the one in the photo above.  I spent previous staycations sitting on a park bench reading for pleasure like a retiree.  This time we decided to do something useful in clearing out much of the clutter in my department.  I just didn't realize how much stuff we saved over the years.  I actually found my old income tax returns back to 1978.  We found some photos of Lee from when he was a small child.  It is very difficult to make a decision of what to keep and what to discard.  I moved many of my old books to my garage.

There is an old cliche saying that "an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure."  In the future, we will have to examine our belongings and discard what we don't need or use anymore.

So What Did I do on Bob Dylan's Birthday

Since I am off from work this week Karen and I decided to do some spring cleaning.  We both have the bad habit of not discarding things that we no longer need.  We certainly threw out a lot of stuff that accumulated over the years.  Anyway, why we were doing this chore I was listening to WFUV.  Years ago the station used to feature all Dylan all day on his birthday, but now they have to comply with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.  Any station that webcasts is limited to how many songs by an artist they can play in an hour.  In any event event they played a good selction of Dylan songs and cover versions.  I spent some time listening to the BBC specials described earlier in this journal.  I ate dinner listening to Blonde on Blonde.

I would like to thank Bill Dilane for bringing to my attention this CBS News report on Dylan's 70th birthday.

Dedication for Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday

Where did all these years go?  It seems just yesterday that Bob Dylan was that angry young kid who sang protest songs.  He has been called the "voice of a generation."  But his popularity has transcended the generations.  When I go to his concerts I see people from teenagers to octagenarians enjoying his songs which have been covered by performers of almost every musical genre.  It would be very difficult to pick one Dylan song for this milestone birthday.  So I am dedicating Old Friends by Paul Simon to him.

Old friends, old friends,
Sat on their parkbench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends.

Can you imagine us years from today,
Sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,
Silently sharing the same fears

Time it was and what a time it was,
A time of innocence,
A time of confidences,
Long ago it must be,
I have a photograph,
Preserve your memories,
They're all thats left you...

Bob, you and I are certainly old friends going back to the early 1960s.  And thank you so much for the memories.  Perhaps you should begin to take it easy as you have reached 70.  May the Never Ending Tour never end.