Happy, Healthy, and Safe New Year to Readers of Bruce's Journal

 

I may as well end the year by wishing everybody well for the new year.  Jackie Robinson made this famous quote that I see when I enter the rotunda at Citi Field.

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Likewise, a publication is not important except in the impact is has on other lives.

I have published over 5000 journal entries over 19+ years.  When people surf the web they want to be anonymous.  I am aware of a few of my Facebook friends who read it regularly.  I am certain there are others who don't want to reveal their identities.  It is a vanity press for me, but does it have an impact on anyone else?  Most of my entries are related to music and sports.  I am careful not to get too personal since many issues should remain private.

I will continue to write in 2025.

Bob Dylan and Jimmy Carter Talk About Each Other

 

Jimmy Carter smiled when the recording of Mr. Tambourine Man started.

I hope that Bob will come to Jimmy Carter's funeral on January 9.

Radio Log - Sunday December 29, 2024

I haven't done this in a while, but here goes.  I won't list the time of day:

• 1010 WINS on 92.3 FM - I just want to hear the basic news stories and weather forecast
• WCBS-FM - I just listen once a week for "old time sake" . No radio personality on Sunday mornings.  I don't care for the music mix
• Pirate Radio Key West - I like the syndicated show "The Acoustic Storm". I like to catch part of the show each week.  I think it would be a good fit at Q-104.3, but NYC stations usually don't air syndicated shows.
• Rewound Radio - I wanted to hear some of the listeners' choice for their favorite hits. Hey Jude was #1 while Like a Rolling Stone cam in at #23.  Thanks to Mike Riccio, Allan Sniffen and others who make it possible every year at this time.
• Beatles Channel on SiriusXM in the car on the way to Cunningham Park
• Elvis Radio on SiriusXM in the car on the way home.  This is Lee's favorite.
• Classic AT 40 with Casey Kasem on iHeart Radio.  He was playing the top hits of 1970
• Sunday Supper with John Platt on WFUV
• Pop Gold Radio - I caught the end of Tom Natoli's hits of 1974 and the beginning of That Thing With Rich Appel.
• 60s 70s show with Bob Radil.  I listened to part of Friday night's show that I missed.

 

Do These News Stories Really Affect Me?

 

Here are some of them:

• Luigi Mangione murdered the CEO of United Health Care
• The Guatemalan illegal immigrant set a homeless woman on fire
• Daniel Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide
• The Menendez Brothers are back in the news again.
• After 28 years we still don't know who killed Jon Benet Ramsey
• There is always something new about the British royal family

People talk about these stories, but do our conversations change anything?  Are they just silly conversation pieces?

I'd rather write about Bob Dylan or baseball.

There But For Fortune by Joan Baez - Featured in A Complete Unknown

Joan Baez played by Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown was a significant person in Bob Dylan's life in the early 1960s.  There But For Fortune was played in the movie.  Phil Ochs also covered that song.

 

We Saw A Complete Unknown at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square

This journal entry will be my comments on the film.  I will refer my readers to the review in the New York Times.  Here goes:

• A documentary must be completely factual, but in a biopic the filmmakers have the right to change the story around.  They can add or omit details to spice up the story.
• Andy Greene of Rolling Stone Magazine provided a fact-check and revealed 27 inaccuracies.  Likely there are more.
• The acting was excellent. Timothee Chalomet as Dylan and Edward Norton as Pete Seeger should get Academy Award nominations.
• I was glad to see that Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield were portrayed.
• Certainly, not every event in the 1961-65 period could be covered.  There should have been a mention of the Spring 1965 tour in the UK and his appearances at Carnegie Hall in 1963 and 1964.
• His girlfriend was named Sylvie Russo in the film since Dylan wanted to protect Suze Rotolo's privacy. in the film she appeared at Newport in 1965, but I am certain that their relationship was over by then.
• The film ends with Dylan riding a motorcycle and then the screen goes black and starts the credits.  This chapter of Dylan's career ended with his motorcycle accident in July 1966.

The theater was quite crowded and included mostly younger people.  Could they become new Dylan fans and buy his albums?  I am aware of many "Dylan Immigrants" who became his fans later in his career and "backtracked."

The Times Square area was very crowded.  We wanted to go to the Hard Rock, but the line to get in was very long.  We were able to get into Applebees, but that restaurant was also crowded.  I thought that people who observe Christmas stay at home and have a gathering and a dinner with their extended families.  Many just don't.

I Found Out There are Still Jewish Dances After I Thought They Were Long Gone

 

If you read some of my autobiographical journal entries there were mentions of Jewish singles dances in the 60s and 70s.  In NYC, there were Cometogether and Tempo dances.  A former friend of mine met his wife at a dance in 1972.  When I lived in northern New Jersey in the mid 1970s there were dances run by an organization call the Dunhams.

Yesterday I posted on a Facebook group Jewish Singles 65+ that back in the day there was always a Jewish Singles Dance on Christmas Eve or Night.  I thought that those miserable dances were gone for decades but a poster stated that there is a singles dance every year at this time called MatzoBall.  In any event this dance is not for me since the stated age range is 21-49.

Since I became a widower I have been very reluctant to get involved in dating again,