No one loved American comic heroes more than our earliest immigrants. Across the board, almost without exception, the neighborhoods of our new Americans fell in love with the bigger-than-life characters who single-handedly were there, on this good earth, for the sole purpose of protecting them. CIRCA 1930 At a time when little or nothing was…
Humbly forwarded without your request, a simple opinion of the “what’s missing in today’s society” and perhaps, also the “what’s missing in the new flick 42.” I haven’t seen the movie yet, but God forgive me I’ve become one of the things I dislike most, a critic. The only difference between me and the other…
Even non-coffee drinkers will admit to enjoying the first smell of coffee as it wafts its way to wherever they happen to be. Think about it, when have you ever heard someone complain about the awful aroma of that stinking dark black stuff? Walk into any recording studio early in the morning and the usual…
(PssSt, I certainly did.) Now playing, for your listening enjoyment, the one and the only Ella Fitzgerald, “The Bird, Charlie Parker,” Benny Goodman’s “Jazz at Carnegie Hall,” Mr. Lionel Hampton, Harry James, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and Lena Horn. CIRCA 1948 — Dorsey High School — my alma Mater Many years later, I can rhapsodize,…
Seek the best rulers; People do know that they exist. They love and they praise; Next they fear, Or, for many, soon to be reviled. When they do not command the people’s faith, Some will lose what little faith they had in them forever. They resort to oaths! But, of the best when their task…
We had a kid at P.S.233 in Brooklyn, New York who was our confirmed hero and leader. His name (for short) was Newtie. Newtie was big for his age and had the courage in his soul to match his God-given size. When you’re eight, or ten, an eleven year old is for sure one of…
Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that people are capable, and will ask an almost stranger almost anything – this one is for you, baby. I was asked, by an inquisitive and incredibly self-needy person of the opposite sex, (I assume) one of the more innocuous questions ever to be heard or to even…
Following the completion of my nightly chat with a higher power, and unexpectedly as my eyes began to close – pending sleep was no more than a minute or two away… Some nights are different. This night was different than most. Stepping towards me, she displayed a special look always reserved for anguish. It wasn’t…
*Unable to perceive differences of musical pitch accurately. It’s not a disease, though there are many of us (not me) who have it; some are frightfully impaired while others are merely limited to a small extent – dependent on what you think small means. It’s kind of like explaining what is, is. I have a…
They’ll think you mean something like _____* sex. That’s what I did mean. Well, you just can’t say that. People will think you’re thinking about it. What people are you talking about? You mean the adults out there who are thinking about the same thing or things I happen to be thinking about? Did you…