Saturday, July 18, 2015

A tour of the historic Brooklyn waterfront, with the Working Harbor Committee.

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On June 11 my wife and I went on another of the Working Harbor Committee's "Hidden Harbor" tours. A year ago we took one th...
Thursday, July 16, 2015

TBT: The Grateful Dead, "Cumberland Blues."

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I am not now, nor was I ever, a Deadhead. I will confess--it is a confession, as I have some friends among the rock cognoscenti  who make ...
Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Queen Mary 2 arrives in Brooklyn from England, celebrating 175 years of transatlantic service.

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In July of 1840 RMS Britannia inaugurated the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's transatlantic liner servic...
Wednesday, July 08, 2015

TBT: John Stewart, "July, You're a Woman"

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And I have not been known as the saint of San Joaquin... Last week my TBT was about the Kingston Trio , featuring a song from their earl...
Saturday, July 04, 2015

William Ranney, "The Battle of Cowpens."

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This painting, by William Ranney (1813-1857), considered one of the foremost American painters of the early nineteenth century, depicts a...
Friday, July 03, 2015

TBT: The Kingston Trio, "South Coast"

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I've written before about the Kingston Trio , who were favorites of mine in my youth, and whose music I still enjoy. Back when they we...
Thursday, June 25, 2015

TBT: Eddie Cochran, "Summertime Blues."

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Eddie Cochran had a hit with "Summertime Blues" (which is what the Mets are having now)  in 1958, when he was nineteen, and died...
Saturday, June 20, 2015

R.I.P. Wendell Holmes

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In the early 1980s some friends and I used to go to a place called Dan Lynch on Second Avenue between 12th and 13th streets (the location ...
Wednesday, June 17, 2015

TBT: Ornette Coleman, "Lonely Woman."

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Ornette Coleman , who died last week, was, along with Eric Dolphy and others, one of the jazz musicians who took the music a step beyond t...

Dare I keep being optimistic about the Mets?

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Let's see. They storm back from a bad outing by Gee, now designated for assignment, to win the rubber game of a series with the Braves. ...
Thursday, June 11, 2015

TBT: Jan & Dean, "Sidewalk Surfin' "

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It's not officially summer for another ten days or so, but it sure feels like it already, so here's some summer music. Well, truth...
Sunday, June 07, 2015

Of God, children, and she-bears.

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The Deity and I, you might say, got off in a bad way. When I was five or six, my mother would read to me from a book, published in the late...
Thursday, June 04, 2015

TBT: Harry Chapin, "W*O*L*D."

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Harry Chapin grew up in the neighborhood I've called home for the past 32 years, Brooklyn Heights. His singing skills were honed in th...

'Bout changes 'n' things.

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I first saw New York City in December of 1951. I was five years old, and my mother and I came here to embark on the S.S. Washington  for...
Thursday, May 28, 2015

TBT: The Bobby Fuller Four, "I Fought the Law"

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Back when I was in law school (1967-70) at this time of the year, as final exams were finishing, lots of calls went from my classmates to t...
Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Mets aren't toast...yet.

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Back on May 11 I blithely suggested that "[s]hould the Mets play .500 ball for the rest of the season, they would end with 86 wins, ...
Thursday, May 21, 2015

TBT: B.B. King, "Sweet Little Angel."

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B.B. King, who died one week ago , was perhaps the best known blues artist of the past several decades. He wasn't my favorite; I prefe...
Thursday, May 14, 2015

TBT. A salute to American Idol: the Dollyrots, "Because I'm Awesome."

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The news that American Idol will be going the way of all pop culture phenomena after one more season brought to my mind a delightful send...
Monday, May 11, 2015

Taking the Measure of the Mets at (almost) mid-May

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Quotation of the day: "This is the National League. You have to be on your toes." --Mets third string catcher Johnny Monell (...
Thursday, May 07, 2015

TBT: Ben E. King with the Drifters, "This Magic Moment."

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Ben E. King , born Benjamin Earl Nelson in 1938, who died one week ago today, is most remembered for the haunting ballad "Stand By Me...
Monday, May 04, 2015

You graduate; you don't graduate your school.

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For some time now I've been getting periodic email updates from a blog called "Law Prose" from Bryan Garner , who seeks to i...
Thursday, April 30, 2015

TBT: The Dovells, "You Can't Sit Down"

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Sometime in 1963 I was with the Robinson High School debate team at a tournament held on the campus of Florida State University in Tallaha...
Monday, April 27, 2015

South Street Seaport Opens for 2015 Season

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The South Street Seaport Museum has been an important part of my life since I arrived in New York as a permanent resident in 1973. At tha...