Main Street and Roosevelt Ave in Flushing - My Choice for the Most Crowded Sidewalk in Queens

 

I just read this New York Times article Think N.Y.C.’s Roads Are Crowded? Good Luck on the Sidewalks.  It made me think about the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street in downtown Flushing.  Since the #7 subway line ends there with connections to numerous bus lines, that area is so crowded with pedestrians.  A few years ago the sidewalks were widened, but street vendors took over that space.  The police chased them away, but some came back.  You never know when there are bicycle riders on the sidewalk.  I read that the police confiscated some e-bikes on the sidewalk, but they can't get every bike.

This is a consequence of city life.

Braves 4 Mets 0

 

We went to a Saturday game at Citi Field for a change, but it was pretty boring.  The Mets could only get four hits off three Braves pitchers and gave up home runs by:

• Marcell Ozuna
• Matt Olsen
• Eddie Rosario

Game Recap

The Mets got some bad news as they found out that Kodai Senga will likely miss the rest of the regular season due to a calf strain.

The Bill Nowlin Bob Dylan Connection

 

I became acquainted with Bill Nowlin when I joined the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) about eight years ago.  I have fact-checked many of his contributions to the Games Project.  He must be SABR's most prolific writer with over 1000 publications with most of them concerning the Boston Red Sox and their players. Bill has written biographies of even the most obscure players for the Red Sox.  Some are in the SABR Bio project while others are complete books.

Bill was also one of the founders of Rounder Records.  I have a journal entry reviewing Vinyl Ventures My Fifty Years at Rounder Records.

He has just published a new book Bitten By the Red Sox Bug a Fan's Lifelong Passion.  I just started to read it today,  While I had to read up to page 958 in Barbra Streisand's to find a connection to Bob Dylan, but I only had to read to page 48 to find a Bob Dylan connection in Bill's book.  In 1963 he saw Bob Dylan at Cafe Yana next door to Fenway Park.  I used my expert research skills to find documentation of this concert.  There is also a reference to this concert in the April 19, 2023 edition of the Boston Globe that can be accessed through Newspapers.com.

It is a shame that Bill didn't sign Mr. Dillon to Rounder Records.

A Complete Unknown - a Bob Dylan Biopic will be Released in December

 

A Complete Unknown is an upcoming American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald.  Timothy Chalomet plays the young Dylan during the controversy when he gave up acoustic folk music.

The trailer was just released.  Since my local multiplex recently closed, I must travel somewhere to see the film.

If I Were a Carpenter - Versions by the Four Tops and Bobby Darin

 

A few days ago we discovered that Duke Fakir, the Four Tops' last surviving member, passed away at age 88.  This cover of a Tim Hardin song hit #20 on the Billboard Chart in 1968.  Bobby Darin had the bigger hit reaching #8 on Billboard in 1966.

An Atlas of Es Devlin at the Cooper-Hewett Museum

 

Instead of watching a ball game on TV, we decided to go to a museum on a Sunday afternoon.  Our last museum trip was last November at MOMA .  Our last visit to Cooper Hewitt was in August 2021.

The entire third floor was devoted to "An Atlas of Es Devlin,  an English artist and stage designer who works in a range of media, often mapping light and projected film onto kinetic sculptural forms. She has received several accolades including a Tony Award and two Olivier Awards. 

While I was in the museum I looked at my phone and found out about Biden's dropping of the race for President.

Both the Mets and Yankees lost this afternoon so we picked the right Sunday to go to a museum

There is a Barbra Streisand - Bob Dylan Connection

 

I finally finished the 966-page memoir of Barbra Streisand.  It was an excellent book, but I think she could have cut it down.  There was no mention of Bob Dylan until page 958 seen below.

You may have to download the JPG and enlarge it to read it.  In the 1970s Dylan sent her flowers and a note asking her to sing with him. It never happened but  I don't think that would have worked out since their voices would have clashed.  In 1983 when the film Yentl was released Dylan sent Barbra a letter saying there are songs on that album (I assume Infidels) that he thought she would like to do,  Which one? Jokerman? License to Kill? Union Sundown?  In any event, it never happened.

In 2020 a transcript of an unpublished interview from 1971 Dylan said "Lay Lady, Lay" was written for Barbra Streisand.