Self-Absorbed Boomer

"[A] delightfully named blog", (Sewell Chan, New York Times). "[R]elentlessly eclectic", (Gary, Iowa City). Taxing your attention span since 2005.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Christina M. Rau's Brooklyn Bridge video.

As anyone who has followed this blog for some time (and if you have, may Procrastinatus, the god of blogs , shower you with blessings) know...

Friday, July 23, 2010

Untitled (Irish Hunger Memorial)

I'm sitting on a stone from County Armagh, facing New Jersey, listening to Van Morrison. Two young women climb the curving path, st...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

It's official.

The Mets suck .

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Some seashore music: Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, and the Tams.

Lest you think that Eliot Wagner and I only like music that critics hate , here are a couple of songs from Eliot's podcasts by critical...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Remembering Brooklyn native Barbara Stanwyck

Yesterday was the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Barbara Stanwyck , one of the most versatile, and perhaps influential, actresses of th...

The Brooklyn roots of Chicago, and some Garden State rock: Smithereens and Southside Johnny

As I mentioned in an earlier post , I've discovered in Eliot Wagner someone whose musical tastes are almost eerily similar to mine. One...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Tuli Kupferberg (1923-2010); Harvey Pekar (1939-2010); George Steinbrenner (1930-2010)

My wife, a good Episcopalian who believes in astrology, tarot, and ghosts, also believes that deaths always come in threes. The past several...

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Mets avoid sweep.

Yeah, it's kinda like "Unemployment rate stays below 10%." I take my comfort where I can. There are some nice things to say ab...

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Jefferson "Freudian slip" in draft of Declaration of Independence?

Today's AOL News includes a story by Lauren Frayer about a recent discovery concerning the Declaration of Independence, the 234th anni...

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Gina Villalobos, Second Dan, and the Del-Lords: thank you, Eliot Wagner!

Eliot Wagner has a great music blog called Now I've Heard Everything . I had the pleasure of meeting him at last week's Brooklyn Blo...

Friday, June 18, 2010

If I post this, will I doom the Mets?

All I had to do, it seems, is kvetch about the Mets' dismal performance on the road, for them to go on a tear and win six straight away...

Monday, June 07, 2010

David Markson, 1927-2010: another friend gone.

Some years ago, someone I knew (but I've now forgotten who) wrote an article for GQ magazine about the Lion's Head, the Greenwich V...

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Why can't the Mets do it on the road?

Last night's debacle in San Diego underscores the Mets' lopsided record this season: 19-9 at home, 8-18 on the road. On May 27, Joe...

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Librarians Discover Their Inner Lady Gaga

Students and faculty of the University of Washington's Information School do a send-up of the pop star. Thanks to Athenasbanquet for th...

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are a Brooklyn based rhythm and blues group that performs original songs in a style that evokes soul classics...

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Goodbye, Dennis Hopper

Another boomer icon is gone. Thanks to the Byrds for the song.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Perfect baseball night.

Mets beat Yanks . Pelfrey(!) gets the win, K-Rod the save. Savor the moment. Rays win , so my old home-town team opens up some division race...

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Do you curate? If so, you rate.

My Brooklyn Heights Blog colleague, Heather Quinlan, recently posted about a "pop-up-store" to appear in our neighborhood. She wr...

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Has the Venter Institute created artificial life?

In a sense, yes, but in my view, mostly no. Wall Street Journal: Heralding a new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created...

Monday, May 10, 2010

Sampling Brooklyn Brewery's lineup.

Having previously sampled the Sam Adams and Saranac lines of beer and ale, I've finally gotten around to what I should have written ab...

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Folk fest: Amy Speace, Buskin & Batteau, and a Mother's Day greeting from Christine Lavin

I first heard Amy Speace on a friend's CD about a year ago, and tagged her as a singer to watch. At the time, I couldn't find any ...

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Windy

Casements clatter; outside, trees do legless tarantellas as molecules schuss the isobar slope. Gas gives as good as it gets.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

¡Viva México!

Bob Sheidler reminds me that I almost let Cinco de Mayo pass unnoticed. Fortunately, he posted on Facebook the above YouTube clip of Los L...

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Mets rise to first in the NL East: can we really stop the season now?

So, all I had to do was ignore them for a while, and they rocket from the cellar of the NL East to first place, sweeping successive series ...

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Harvard Law Dean Martha Minow on the Stevens succession and other things.

Martha Minow is the twelfth Dean of Harvard Law School (not counting those who have served in an acting capacity) since the deanship was e...

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Joe Queenan is my kind of Yankee-hater.

Enough about me for a while. It's time to engage in one of my favorite pastimes: name dropping. Joe Queenan is a friend of a friend. I...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

In the Grand Central Food Hall

In the Grand Central Food Hall, I'm sampling wild boar salami while Jon Corneal asks the musical question: "Do you know how it f...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky take a tugboat ride.

This short, silent film was made in 1969, when Allen Ginsberg and his partner and fellow poet Peter Orlovsky were invited to ride on the tri...

Saturday, April 10, 2010

More morning walk photos: Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Cadman Plaza Park, Brooklyn. Looking north from Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian and bike path toward Foley Square, Manhattan (McKim, Mead ...

Monday, April 05, 2010

Mets win opener; Yanks lose theirs--can we stop the season now?

Oh, wait, the Braves and Phils both won, too. Why must life be so complicated? Last night we were visiting friends. After dinner, we watch...

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About Me

: I was born in a city renowned in Vaudeville humor, Altoona Pennsylvania. My dad was in the military, so we moved many times in my childhood. We lived in rural England from the time I was five until I was eight, and I began my formal education in a county council school, where my being American is likely all that saved me from having my bottom caned. When I was eleven my father retired from the Air Force, and we settled in Tampa.I graduated from the University of South Florida and Harvard Law School. Since then, apart from two years' active Army duty, I have lived in New York City; and have lived in the Borough of Brooklyn for many years. I'm married to Martha Foley, an historian and archivist. We are proud of our daughter, Elizabeth, and our granddaughters, Ada and Sigrid.

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