Happy Easter to All.
Now what about the Easter Bunny. Does the Easter Bunny only work on Easter?
What does he do the rest of the time?
I know he hippity hoppity hops down the Bunny Trail, where ever that might lead to.but
Do I have this right? The Easter Bunny lays Easter Eggs? What in the world, how does that happen?
Is there a chicken involved here? Somethin' strange is going on here.
There's an Easter Bunny layin ' Easter eggs and no Easter Rooster. Or is the Easter Bunny a guy and is layin' eggs? Now I'm really confused. Not to mention, when will he or she become an Easter Rabbit?
It has been a long time being a Bunny.
Maybe it is better not to ask these questions and just eat my chocolate Easter egg and go hunt for the colored real Easter eggs.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
funeral flowers and rocks 1 and 2
1) I went to a friend's father's funeral, at a church in Staten Island. I got there a little late, which is not unusual for me. I stopped to buy some flowers on the way. The mass already started. There was a big picture of my friend's father facing the people attending the service, a 2 flower arrangements. I guess all the flowers people send, were in the limos that will go to the cemetery following the service. So, what to do? I'm late, I have flowers, it would be improper to bring the flowers in. After all, no one brought flowers, and they were in the middle of the service, so I left a pot of flowers in the lobby. After the service as everyone is leaving, I picked up the flowers I brought and began walking out. I spoke to a few people, while holding my flowers. I could notice people looking at me, like "hey, he's stealing the flowers". This happened to have followed a similar "curb your enthusiasm" show where Larry actually stole flowers from a memorial area. So to try to clear up the situation, I told my friend's wife, what happened and gave her the flowers, so t hey wouldn't go to waste. She appreciated the thought. All in all, it was an embarrassing but funny situation.
2) I go to a Jewish cemetery to pay my respects. Jewish people make their visit known by leaving a rock on top of the grave. Rumor has it, that if flowers are left, they are stolen, so , rocks are left instead. The big problem is there aren't any decent size rocks available. No one has thought of the idea of selling rocks at Jewish cemeteries. Ahhh, my next brilliant idea for a business ! Designer Rocks for graves. Anyway, I had of relatives in this cemetery, even my great grandmother. I had no rocks. So , I did what any rockless grave visitor would do, I stole them off the adjacent graves. The first visit went well, I put a nice rock on my uncle's grave. However, the third grave rock placement, I was spotted by some people as I lifted the rock, off the top of the tombstone. So I casually dusted it off and put it back. Then they stopped looking at me and I walked off fast grabbing a nice rock and got the job done. It's so crazy having to steal rocks at the cemetery. It's crazier that people give you dirty looks for robbing rocks. Next time I'll bring rocks with me.
2) I go to a Jewish cemetery to pay my respects. Jewish people make their visit known by leaving a rock on top of the grave. Rumor has it, that if flowers are left, they are stolen, so , rocks are left instead. The big problem is there aren't any decent size rocks available. No one has thought of the idea of selling rocks at Jewish cemeteries. Ahhh, my next brilliant idea for a business ! Designer Rocks for graves. Anyway, I had of relatives in this cemetery, even my great grandmother. I had no rocks. So , I did what any rockless grave visitor would do, I stole them off the adjacent graves. The first visit went well, I put a nice rock on my uncle's grave. However, the third grave rock placement, I was spotted by some people as I lifted the rock, off the top of the tombstone. So I casually dusted it off and put it back. Then they stopped looking at me and I walked off fast grabbing a nice rock and got the job done. It's so crazy having to steal rocks at the cemetery. It's crazier that people give you dirty looks for robbing rocks. Next time I'll bring rocks with me.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
poop
what about poop?
well, for one thing it stinks. At least it stinks to me. Sometimes our own poop doesn't smell so bad to ourselves but it could kill someone else. Dogs on the other hand love the smell of poop. If dogs had cologne their best seller would be L'Eau De Poop. Horses don't have any opinion, and to step in their poop is good luck. But it has to be dry poop if you step in it, otherwise I think it's pretty bad luck. Especially if you are wearing ripple soul shoes. Q-tips are a great utility tool for cleaning stepped-in poop out of the grooves in the souls of your shoes and sneakers. In any case, all of our poops vary. They vary from day to day, from person to person. In Native Americans and Chinese Medicine the smell and color of one's urine is used to diagnose illness. I'm not sure if the smell of poop can be used to diagnose illness, but based on the smell of today's poop, i'm a very very sick person. Moving right along here, Some of us poop twice a day, some once a day, some once every few days. The once every few day people seem to fart alot. once or twice a day i think is a good thing. Get that stuff out of the system. Sushi poop, especially when you eat alot of fatty fish , like tuna belly, or yellow tail belly, or salmon, that really stinks. Some say if your poop floats, it means your eating healthy. I think I eat a balanced diet, I have some sinkers and some floaters. How about you? are you eating right? Sometimes I eat corn just to see the yellowy decorated poop. Yes poop is like art. It has it's own unique look and smell. No , I don't know about feel , except for dog poop. Dog poop is warm. I've picked up alot of that over the years. So, whenever you eat , you might want to think about how it will come out in the end. It's a fun thing to do. Poop games.
So, what about wiping? I assume everyone wipes. At times we may have to use big maple leaves or newspaper, or a T- shirt. Ordinarily we use TP aka toilet paper. I grew up using Scott. The cheapest stuff. I was a loyal Scott user. I hated the knew Charmin soft stuff. It would shred and you would lose some, with a good wipe. The aloe treated kind, will really mess up your glasses lenses or sunglasses. I discovered the new super strong Charmin and I like it. It doesnt rip easily, no shredding. You dont get much on a roll, but I like it. Some of us, use 2 sheets folded neatly. Others 8 sheets. I know a guy who uses one sheet, and says he gets the job done. Amazing. I think he has a good diet. Supposedly, if you eat correctly, you don't need too many sheets. I switched from the semi neat fold to the crunched up method, better wiping power. Do you look at the sheet after you do a wipe? Why? do you think you missed? or do you just check to see that your done wiping? What about colored toilet paper. I like white. But I've bought blue, pink and green. It's bizarre that they have colors.
So, that's it for today, Happy Pooping!
well, for one thing it stinks. At least it stinks to me. Sometimes our own poop doesn't smell so bad to ourselves but it could kill someone else. Dogs on the other hand love the smell of poop. If dogs had cologne their best seller would be L'Eau De Poop. Horses don't have any opinion, and to step in their poop is good luck. But it has to be dry poop if you step in it, otherwise I think it's pretty bad luck. Especially if you are wearing ripple soul shoes. Q-tips are a great utility tool for cleaning stepped-in poop out of the grooves in the souls of your shoes and sneakers. In any case, all of our poops vary. They vary from day to day, from person to person. In Native Americans and Chinese Medicine the smell and color of one's urine is used to diagnose illness. I'm not sure if the smell of poop can be used to diagnose illness, but based on the smell of today's poop, i'm a very very sick person. Moving right along here, Some of us poop twice a day, some once a day, some once every few days. The once every few day people seem to fart alot. once or twice a day i think is a good thing. Get that stuff out of the system. Sushi poop, especially when you eat alot of fatty fish , like tuna belly, or yellow tail belly, or salmon, that really stinks. Some say if your poop floats, it means your eating healthy. I think I eat a balanced diet, I have some sinkers and some floaters. How about you? are you eating right? Sometimes I eat corn just to see the yellowy decorated poop. Yes poop is like art. It has it's own unique look and smell. No , I don't know about feel , except for dog poop. Dog poop is warm. I've picked up alot of that over the years. So, whenever you eat , you might want to think about how it will come out in the end. It's a fun thing to do. Poop games.
So, what about wiping? I assume everyone wipes. At times we may have to use big maple leaves or newspaper, or a T- shirt. Ordinarily we use TP aka toilet paper. I grew up using Scott. The cheapest stuff. I was a loyal Scott user. I hated the knew Charmin soft stuff. It would shred and you would lose some, with a good wipe. The aloe treated kind, will really mess up your glasses lenses or sunglasses. I discovered the new super strong Charmin and I like it. It doesnt rip easily, no shredding. You dont get much on a roll, but I like it. Some of us, use 2 sheets folded neatly. Others 8 sheets. I know a guy who uses one sheet, and says he gets the job done. Amazing. I think he has a good diet. Supposedly, if you eat correctly, you don't need too many sheets. I switched from the semi neat fold to the crunched up method, better wiping power. Do you look at the sheet after you do a wipe? Why? do you think you missed? or do you just check to see that your done wiping? What about colored toilet paper. I like white. But I've bought blue, pink and green. It's bizarre that they have colors.
So, that's it for today, Happy Pooping!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Cowboys and our toy guns
In the 1950's and early 60's, Westerns were popular on TV. Actually they were my favorite shows. There was Wild Bill Hickock with his sidekick Jingles, there was Wyatt Earp and everyone knew the theme songs for each of these shows. "wyatt earp , wyatt earp , brave courageous and bold...", There was Yancy Derringer, where my favorite character was a pick pocket named Jodie and an "indian" aka native american name Pahoo Katiwa (wolf who stands in water). Have Gun Will Travel was a pretty cool show and had some very interesting Zen stuff going on , which I noticed years later. Maverick was a fun show where the main characters were always playing poker. The Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto was popular , the theme was the famous trumpet charge from William Tell overture. He used silver bullets. The Lone Ranger , Tonto referred to as Qui no sabe ( in spanish it means he who knows nothing), and Tonto , in spanish means stupid,, Go figure! Also , there was Lawman, Hotel de Paris, Hopalong Cassidy, the Cisco Kid. Of course Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and Gabby Hayes. Alot of shootin' up and killing. The bad guys usually wore black and the good guys always wore black. The crazy thing is all the kids watched all this killing. That was OK with everyone. But the TV Gunsmoke, was referred to as an "Adult Western", because there was never any killing or shooting in that show. James Arness was the sheriff, Miss Kitty was the bar hooker or something like that , but never any killing. That should have been the Children's western not the Adult western. Crazy world we live in.
As kids we had alot of toy guns. Kid guns in those days actually shot things. Today they just make sounds. Except for Paintball of course. The Mattel, Greenie Stickem cap guns were cool. Caps are a paper thing that has gun powder and when you hit it with a rock or hammer or something they explode with a loud sound. We used to buy rolls of caps and bang them with rocks. They had little dots of gun powder on this red paper. We also put them in "cherry bombs:, which were a rocket like plastic thing we threw up high and when they landed on the metal tip , it would explode a cap. Well, Greenie stickem caps went on the back of a bullet, so that when you pulled the trigger the cap would explode, sounding like a gun shot, and the plastic bullet head with fly out like a real bullet. We'd be shootin' each other all day long. Seeing who was the quickest draw. They had a cool little deringer that was built into a belt buckle. You breathe out hard and the gun would pop out and fire a bullet. We had rifles that fired corks, I had a machine gun that shot out wooden pellets. The Rifleman gun, was a rifle with a handle that you could load and shoot with one hand like a pistol. Was very cool and a cool TV show with Chuck Connors. Some of us had BB guns which shot BB's , or little metal balls. OUCH. Yeah later on , in junior high school , I mentioned in another post, we used to play in this guy's basement on Newport St, one of us had the BB gun the other two or 3 of us had ping pong rackets. Imagine trying to block a tiny metal ball coming at you at 60 miles an hour. The player who had the BB gun was definitely the winner. We would come home all dotted up with BB wounds.
Yep , no wonder we grew up so nuts.
As kids we had alot of toy guns. Kid guns in those days actually shot things. Today they just make sounds. Except for Paintball of course. The Mattel, Greenie Stickem cap guns were cool. Caps are a paper thing that has gun powder and when you hit it with a rock or hammer or something they explode with a loud sound. We used to buy rolls of caps and bang them with rocks. They had little dots of gun powder on this red paper. We also put them in "cherry bombs:, which were a rocket like plastic thing we threw up high and when they landed on the metal tip , it would explode a cap. Well, Greenie stickem caps went on the back of a bullet, so that when you pulled the trigger the cap would explode, sounding like a gun shot, and the plastic bullet head with fly out like a real bullet. We'd be shootin' each other all day long. Seeing who was the quickest draw. They had a cool little deringer that was built into a belt buckle. You breathe out hard and the gun would pop out and fire a bullet. We had rifles that fired corks, I had a machine gun that shot out wooden pellets. The Rifleman gun, was a rifle with a handle that you could load and shoot with one hand like a pistol. Was very cool and a cool TV show with Chuck Connors. Some of us had BB guns which shot BB's , or little metal balls. OUCH. Yeah later on , in junior high school , I mentioned in another post, we used to play in this guy's basement on Newport St, one of us had the BB gun the other two or 3 of us had ping pong rackets. Imagine trying to block a tiny metal ball coming at you at 60 miles an hour. The player who had the BB gun was definitely the winner. We would come home all dotted up with BB wounds.
Yep , no wonder we grew up so nuts.
Monday, March 14, 2011
The style in East New York, Brooklyn. 11207
It was 1961 and 1962, and George Gershwin Junior High School, decided that boy students must where ties. Girl students had to wear their skirts below their knees. NOno, i dont mean they had to pull their skirts down, i mean , NO MINI SKIRTS ALLOWED. Now, we really didnt want to wear ties. In East New York, Brooklyn, we were wearing our pants short and tight, kind of what is in style now for alot of people. Our shoes were called cha cha boots, they were like short boots, about 2 inches above the ankle. They had horseshoe shaped heels and we got taps put on them. The shirts that were in were poncho type shirts. The buttons came down to mid chest, you had to pull it over your head, but it was cotton and was a shirt. Orange was the big color, black was the other choice. I think madras shirts were in style also. They called them bleeding madras, i think the colors ran all over everything when you washed them. Our sneakers were Converse. Low black, or high white. Shoelaces were the color of your team. A few years later when I went to Thomas Jefferson High School, orange shoe laces were the school color. Our socks, well we wore two pairs of socks. the outer sock was long. It came almost to the knee. we then folded it down. I think the two pairs of socks made us jump higher. We used to go to Downtown Brooklyn, im not sure what it's called now, probably Cobble Hill north, or something. It was Flatbush near Atlantic, the store was Davega,, and possibly Modells, where you could buy Cons for half price. I think the price at the time was $35. When Keds were about $8. Pro Keds didnt exist yet. We used to make rings out of the links on dog chains, actually , that would be a good style now. Kinda Hardcore. Ok back to the ties.
Skinny ties were in, but we didnt want to wear them at school. So some of us revolted by wearing our father's hand painted, super wide silk ties. We thought we were being funny. Those ties would be worth some good bucks now. Then to satisfy the rule we wore a tie that was the least possible tie. Not a bowtie, although I have a 4th grade picture of me with a bowtie. We decided, and when i say we, it was most of the school. We wore cowboy string ties. String ties were pretty cool, I thought at the time, but the thing we needed was a different clasp that the tie went through. We found the perfect clasps. A new little car, started to get popular in 1959, and was real popular in 1961 and 1962. It was the Volkswagen Beetle. The car had a great emblem on the front hood. here's a link to it,
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Volkswagen_emblem.jpg
it was kind of similar to the Porsche. We didnt have a stinkin Porsches in East New York.
Someone figured out that with a screw driver you could easily pop off that emblem and the little clamps on the back fit the string tie perfectly. Now I say these cars were popular but there werent really that many of them. Not enough of them for all of the people who had string ties. It got to be the "cool" thing if you were wearing a VW emblem on your tie. After a short time we had to go to Canarsie, Flatbush, Mill Basin, and Coney Island to steal emblems off of the Volkswagens. They had a little castle on them with a wolf, really nice. We hit every volkswagen we could find, in the summer we would get every VW in Rockaway Beach. The early ones if I remember correctly had torquoise like castle, and the color changed in 1962. Well it was in that year, I think1963 that Volkswagen stopped making emblems for the front hood. What a drag that was. I truly believe that it was because of the crazy East New York Style, that the company got letters, complaining about the emblems being stolen. And they replaced it with NOTHING. The Volkswagen people decided it was better not to put any emblem. Amazing that a little neighborhood, although we thought we were the greatest neighborhood anywhere, and cooler than anywhere.,we created a change in car design. Well we were so used to stealing emblems, we notices some other nice ones out there. The second choice of emblem had nothing to do with ties. It was the Ford Thunderbird emblem. I'm not sure what years had the best emblems, but there were two round plastic emblems on the front fenders. No screwdriver was necessary, you just pop them out with your thumb. There weren't many T Birds around but enough to get a few emblems. I think it was the 1959 T-bird that we got most of them from. We them would drill a hole in the black plastic, and wear it on a chain, like a medallion. Then we expanded, I was obsessed with getting every emblem.
A Chrysler Lion, a "C" from a B-U-I-C-k, it was my initial. and of course the beautiflul Chevy Impala flags on the sides . Ford Galaxy had clear and gold plastic, located in same place on the car as the Thunderbird, but werent as nice. I had a nice collection of emblems. Too bad my neighborhood didnt have any Ferrari's. I still look at these emblems on cars and think of stealing them. But that would be NUTS , right?
A few years later, I started collecting signs. Stop signs, Street signs, subway posters, fallout shelter signs,Any sign that seemed hard to get , or looked cool we took. One day almost got caught on Broadway in Manhattan, by Rector St. Stealing a big old wooden sign , in front of a restaurant, it said "Ye Olde Chop House". My nickname at the time was Chops. So that sign had to go, It was huge. I took it off the hooks on the stand in front of the restaurant, and lifted it off. I knocked the stand over , and someone heard it and yelled out to me. They started chasing me, I dropped the sign and got away.But no sign. I'll always remember that sign. "The one that got away".
Skinny ties were in, but we didnt want to wear them at school. So some of us revolted by wearing our father's hand painted, super wide silk ties. We thought we were being funny. Those ties would be worth some good bucks now. Then to satisfy the rule we wore a tie that was the least possible tie. Not a bowtie, although I have a 4th grade picture of me with a bowtie. We decided, and when i say we, it was most of the school. We wore cowboy string ties. String ties were pretty cool, I thought at the time, but the thing we needed was a different clasp that the tie went through. We found the perfect clasps. A new little car, started to get popular in 1959, and was real popular in 1961 and 1962. It was the Volkswagen Beetle. The car had a great emblem on the front hood. here's a link to it,
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Volkswagen_emblem.jpg
it was kind of similar to the Porsche. We didnt have a stinkin Porsches in East New York.
Someone figured out that with a screw driver you could easily pop off that emblem and the little clamps on the back fit the string tie perfectly. Now I say these cars were popular but there werent really that many of them. Not enough of them for all of the people who had string ties. It got to be the "cool" thing if you were wearing a VW emblem on your tie. After a short time we had to go to Canarsie, Flatbush, Mill Basin, and Coney Island to steal emblems off of the Volkswagens. They had a little castle on them with a wolf, really nice. We hit every volkswagen we could find, in the summer we would get every VW in Rockaway Beach. The early ones if I remember correctly had torquoise like castle, and the color changed in 1962. Well it was in that year, I think1963 that Volkswagen stopped making emblems for the front hood. What a drag that was. I truly believe that it was because of the crazy East New York Style, that the company got letters, complaining about the emblems being stolen. And they replaced it with NOTHING. The Volkswagen people decided it was better not to put any emblem. Amazing that a little neighborhood, although we thought we were the greatest neighborhood anywhere, and cooler than anywhere.,we created a change in car design. Well we were so used to stealing emblems, we notices some other nice ones out there. The second choice of emblem had nothing to do with ties. It was the Ford Thunderbird emblem. I'm not sure what years had the best emblems, but there were two round plastic emblems on the front fenders. No screwdriver was necessary, you just pop them out with your thumb. There weren't many T Birds around but enough to get a few emblems. I think it was the 1959 T-bird that we got most of them from. We them would drill a hole in the black plastic, and wear it on a chain, like a medallion. Then we expanded, I was obsessed with getting every emblem.
A Chrysler Lion, a "C" from a B-U-I-C-k, it was my initial. and of course the beautiflul Chevy Impala flags on the sides . Ford Galaxy had clear and gold plastic, located in same place on the car as the Thunderbird, but werent as nice. I had a nice collection of emblems. Too bad my neighborhood didnt have any Ferrari's. I still look at these emblems on cars and think of stealing them. But that would be NUTS , right?
A few years later, I started collecting signs. Stop signs, Street signs, subway posters, fallout shelter signs,Any sign that seemed hard to get , or looked cool we took. One day almost got caught on Broadway in Manhattan, by Rector St. Stealing a big old wooden sign , in front of a restaurant, it said "Ye Olde Chop House". My nickname at the time was Chops. So that sign had to go, It was huge. I took it off the hooks on the stand in front of the restaurant, and lifted it off. I knocked the stand over , and someone heard it and yelled out to me. They started chasing me, I dropped the sign and got away.But no sign. I'll always remember that sign. "The one that got away".
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
DOO WOP
I guess I started liking rock n roll around 1955 , when Alan Freed was on the radio.. It was 1010 WINS on AM radio. It was on in the evening. Bill Haley and the Comets were rockin' with Rock Around the Clock. They say that song was the start of Rock and Roll. 1955 had a weird mix of music, Bill Haley, then non- rock and roll like the Four Aces singing Love is a Many Splendid Thing. A favorite of my parents. The Penguins doing the classic Oldie called Earth Angel. Chuck Berry doing Maybelline. Then Johnny Desmond doing a weird song like Yellow Rose of Texas. I would take my portable radio, a big Emerson and blast it. I remember that radio, it was light and dark brown plastic, it took flashlight batteries, and it had a plug that hid away inside it , when you wanted to go portable. We would carry these fairly big portables to school to listen to the World Series. I remember listening to the 1956 World Series when Don Larsen pitched a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. I think it was the only post season no- hitter EVER until 2010 when Roy Halladay did it. Back to radios and music. These radios were smaller than boom boxes, and they had tubes inside them. Then in 1959, my Uncle Jack bought me the most awesome radio. It was Japanese. It was a SONY. This was an unheard of company. All radios were American or German before Sony came along.This radio did not have tubes, it was an 8 transistor radio. It was so thin. Thinner than a pack of cigarettes About 5inches long, 1/2 inch thick maybe 3.5 inches high. That's about how I remember it, I could probably look it up and get the exact specs but basically this thing was small and cool.
It started the trend of tiny radios.It was an AM radio, FM existed but mostly for classical music. In 1956 Rock and Roll was really going strong, now most of the records playing were more to my liking. You had Little Richard singin Long Tall Sally, and Elvis Presley doing Hound Dog. The Dells singing O What a Night, the great Doo Wop tune In the Still of the Night by the 5 Satins. Frankie Lymon with Why Do Fools Fall in Love and I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent.Elvis had about 6 hits maybe more in 1956. Alan Freed was going strong. I'd keep a radio under my pillow, listening to Come Go With Me by the Del Vikings or Over the Mountain by Johnny and Joe. My mom would think i was sleeping but I'd be rockin' out. There were great Doo Wop type tunes before 1955, but I didnt know about them until the early 60s, songs like The Wind by the Diablos (1954), Goodnite Sweetheart by the Spaniels (1954) Sincerely by the Moonglows (1954). The 50s had the great DOO WOP hits. a few of my favorites were Could This Be Magic by the Dubs (1957), Tonite Tonite by MelloKings (1957), I'm so Young by the Students (1958), There Goes My Baby by the Drifters(1958), Teardrops by Lee Andrews and the Hearts (1957) Dedicated to the one I Love by the Shirelles (1959), 1000 Miles Away by the Heartbeats(1956) and Teenager in Love by Dion and the Belmonts (1959) .
OK , yeah I know I can go on and on with great songs. Time went on and from 1963- 1965 me and my friends discovered great echos in the hallways of the projects. There was a song i think by Billy Joel about "lookin for an echo". That was so true. All we wanted to do was hit harmony. 3 guys was good for harmony. You had a baritone and 2nd tenor and a 1st tenor. If we had a few more singers we had a bass, a falsetto, and a lead singer. The harmony was what counted. It was kind of strange but for our purposes we didnt need a lead singer with a great voice, we just needed him to lead us so we could do the background. The first songs most of us would do, were songs that we all sang the words to like Fine Little Girl by the Arcades, or You Baby You by the Excellents. We also liked to do songs like Roaches. " Roaches crawlin over my motherf'n walls tryin to get to my mother fn balls,etc
We used to hear some of the groups that made it , when we went to 35th St. beach in Rockaway and hear the Shangra La's ( leader of the pack) singing. Or around Manhattan Beach the Emotions singing Echo. Vito and the Salutations were real good and they sang Unchained Melody. There was a guy named Speedo from Canarsie who was the lead of the Impalas ( Sorry , I Ran All The Way Home) he started a group called The Caravelles, they were amazing. I went to see them in Bushwick at the 7 Martyrs Church. Me and my friends stood out in the crowd, since we were the only white folk there. But hey , it was harmony and we loved harmony. Joey and the Excitements were a fantastic ENY group. Nino and the Ebbtides were from ENY and had a hit called Jukebox Saturday Nite. Mike and the Holidays who were friends of mine had an album out. Mike had an amazingly great voice. One nite me, Elk, Moony, Woody, and Mike were singing in Elk's house. It was being recorded, we did When We Got Married by the Dreamlovers, it was absolutely amazing. That was the best harmony I was ever part of. My regular group was the Escapades formally Al and the Candlelites. I sang bass for that group. Did a thing like Bom Bom Dip Di Dip di Dip BoDoDDo Bom, that was my part when we did My Girl by the Eternals a fast version of it. That was me Fuzzy, Mass, Big Wick and Lil Wick. we had good harmony, but low harmony. When Me Mass and Woody hit harmony it was higher notes and really good. Me and a guy named Chup had good harmony together and with Woody hittin the high notes it was all good. We liked singing, " just to kinds of people in the world( by Little Anthony), Your Way ( Camelots). My group Johnny and the Pumps, well we did Sunday Kind of Love (DelVikings) one guy in the group had a heavy Brooklyn accent and the first line of the song said THROUGH with my old love and he would say TROO with my old love, if we didnt laugh we got through the song. That group was discoverd by this guy Frank , he became our manager and we recorded a few demos. We had high hopes of becoming famous. We sang and sang. Our friends Johnny and the Moonlites a Puerto Rican group was really good, we used to hear them sing at concerts in Bklyn and they got an album made. Most of the time we would meet up, and just sing backgrounds like bom bo bom shoobee doo wah, bom bo bom shoobee doo wah,,, we didnt need words, just notes. The song Bells of Rosa Rita by the Admirations was a good Doo Wop song because they would chime off "ring out , ring out ring out" several times in the song. When groups did that you could really hear the harmony. Cleveland Street Boys sang well, they used to do a song about Reindeers drinking from a crystal stream, was real nice. They were a neighborhood gang, and 4 or 5 of them used to sing. I sang with them a few times.
If we got some wine, aka "singin juice" oh it helped us hit the high notes, and it sounded better.
Singing was one of the main things we did. We loved it. And those of us who were into the singin, or the listening to the Doo Wop sounds, still love it. We used to go to Times Square record store in Manhattan to buy what they called "credit records". These were hard to get records, and they would put a price on them. Stormy Weather by the 5 sharps was worth $500. If you had it youd get that much credit in the store. Slim , Anita, and Harold worked there. It was famous for Doo Wop.
We used to steal alot of 45's from parties, and from record stores. My friend Crutch taught me that you dont steal one record, you should pile up a bunch and take 20 at a time. we had record stealing jackets, with big slits in the lining to just throw them in. Crutch was never suspected, because he was on crutches. That's the Polio dude I've talked about. He was the best. Anyway, we all had huge record collections. The singing Doo Wop even continued into the college days at LIU singing with a few of the guys "People Get Ready" by the Chambers brothers. And Super Bowl Sundays I still get together with Mooney , Woody and Chup and hit some harmony.
The Doo Wop lead singers had great voices. Then in the 60s, aside from Soul Music and Blues, the rock singers like Beatles, Stones ( who I love), etc, didnt have good voices, and couldnt hit harmony. They sang alot in unison , which is soooo not harmony. 50's groups all wore the same thing. All the bands dressed alike. That's why the movie "Up in Smoke" cracked me up when they needed outfits to play and they got waiter outfits , it was hilarious to me. The Stones were the first group I know of that went on TV, "the Clay Cole Show" and all wore different clothes, sweatshirts, jeans, t shirts, all wore different things. I really thought that was so great. Eric Burden and The Animals were the next ones to wear what they wanted ( House of the Rising Sun). Rock and Roll took a turn from Doo Wop, but it was a great turn.
The Danny and the Juniors song says it all " Rock and Roll is here to stay , it will never die"
It started the trend of tiny radios.It was an AM radio, FM existed but mostly for classical music. In 1956 Rock and Roll was really going strong, now most of the records playing were more to my liking. You had Little Richard singin Long Tall Sally, and Elvis Presley doing Hound Dog. The Dells singing O What a Night, the great Doo Wop tune In the Still of the Night by the 5 Satins. Frankie Lymon with Why Do Fools Fall in Love and I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent.Elvis had about 6 hits maybe more in 1956. Alan Freed was going strong. I'd keep a radio under my pillow, listening to Come Go With Me by the Del Vikings or Over the Mountain by Johnny and Joe. My mom would think i was sleeping but I'd be rockin' out. There were great Doo Wop type tunes before 1955, but I didnt know about them until the early 60s, songs like The Wind by the Diablos (1954), Goodnite Sweetheart by the Spaniels (1954) Sincerely by the Moonglows (1954). The 50s had the great DOO WOP hits. a few of my favorites were Could This Be Magic by the Dubs (1957), Tonite Tonite by MelloKings (1957), I'm so Young by the Students (1958), There Goes My Baby by the Drifters(1958), Teardrops by Lee Andrews and the Hearts (1957) Dedicated to the one I Love by the Shirelles (1959), 1000 Miles Away by the Heartbeats(1956) and Teenager in Love by Dion and the Belmonts (1959) .
OK , yeah I know I can go on and on with great songs. Time went on and from 1963- 1965 me and my friends discovered great echos in the hallways of the projects. There was a song i think by Billy Joel about "lookin for an echo". That was so true. All we wanted to do was hit harmony. 3 guys was good for harmony. You had a baritone and 2nd tenor and a 1st tenor. If we had a few more singers we had a bass, a falsetto, and a lead singer. The harmony was what counted. It was kind of strange but for our purposes we didnt need a lead singer with a great voice, we just needed him to lead us so we could do the background. The first songs most of us would do, were songs that we all sang the words to like Fine Little Girl by the Arcades, or You Baby You by the Excellents. We also liked to do songs like Roaches. " Roaches crawlin over my motherf'n walls tryin to get to my mother fn balls,etc
We used to hear some of the groups that made it , when we went to 35th St. beach in Rockaway and hear the Shangra La's ( leader of the pack) singing. Or around Manhattan Beach the Emotions singing Echo. Vito and the Salutations were real good and they sang Unchained Melody. There was a guy named Speedo from Canarsie who was the lead of the Impalas ( Sorry , I Ran All The Way Home) he started a group called The Caravelles, they were amazing. I went to see them in Bushwick at the 7 Martyrs Church. Me and my friends stood out in the crowd, since we were the only white folk there. But hey , it was harmony and we loved harmony. Joey and the Excitements were a fantastic ENY group. Nino and the Ebbtides were from ENY and had a hit called Jukebox Saturday Nite. Mike and the Holidays who were friends of mine had an album out. Mike had an amazingly great voice. One nite me, Elk, Moony, Woody, and Mike were singing in Elk's house. It was being recorded, we did When We Got Married by the Dreamlovers, it was absolutely amazing. That was the best harmony I was ever part of. My regular group was the Escapades formally Al and the Candlelites. I sang bass for that group. Did a thing like Bom Bom Dip Di Dip di Dip BoDoDDo Bom, that was my part when we did My Girl by the Eternals a fast version of it. That was me Fuzzy, Mass, Big Wick and Lil Wick. we had good harmony, but low harmony. When Me Mass and Woody hit harmony it was higher notes and really good. Me and a guy named Chup had good harmony together and with Woody hittin the high notes it was all good. We liked singing, " just to kinds of people in the world( by Little Anthony), Your Way ( Camelots). My group Johnny and the Pumps, well we did Sunday Kind of Love (DelVikings) one guy in the group had a heavy Brooklyn accent and the first line of the song said THROUGH with my old love and he would say TROO with my old love, if we didnt laugh we got through the song. That group was discoverd by this guy Frank , he became our manager and we recorded a few demos. We had high hopes of becoming famous. We sang and sang. Our friends Johnny and the Moonlites a Puerto Rican group was really good, we used to hear them sing at concerts in Bklyn and they got an album made. Most of the time we would meet up, and just sing backgrounds like bom bo bom shoobee doo wah, bom bo bom shoobee doo wah,,, we didnt need words, just notes. The song Bells of Rosa Rita by the Admirations was a good Doo Wop song because they would chime off "ring out , ring out ring out" several times in the song. When groups did that you could really hear the harmony. Cleveland Street Boys sang well, they used to do a song about Reindeers drinking from a crystal stream, was real nice. They were a neighborhood gang, and 4 or 5 of them used to sing. I sang with them a few times.
If we got some wine, aka "singin juice" oh it helped us hit the high notes, and it sounded better.
Singing was one of the main things we did. We loved it. And those of us who were into the singin, or the listening to the Doo Wop sounds, still love it. We used to go to Times Square record store in Manhattan to buy what they called "credit records". These were hard to get records, and they would put a price on them. Stormy Weather by the 5 sharps was worth $500. If you had it youd get that much credit in the store. Slim , Anita, and Harold worked there. It was famous for Doo Wop.
We used to steal alot of 45's from parties, and from record stores. My friend Crutch taught me that you dont steal one record, you should pile up a bunch and take 20 at a time. we had record stealing jackets, with big slits in the lining to just throw them in. Crutch was never suspected, because he was on crutches. That's the Polio dude I've talked about. He was the best. Anyway, we all had huge record collections. The singing Doo Wop even continued into the college days at LIU singing with a few of the guys "People Get Ready" by the Chambers brothers. And Super Bowl Sundays I still get together with Mooney , Woody and Chup and hit some harmony.
The Doo Wop lead singers had great voices. Then in the 60s, aside from Soul Music and Blues, the rock singers like Beatles, Stones ( who I love), etc, didnt have good voices, and couldnt hit harmony. They sang alot in unison , which is soooo not harmony. 50's groups all wore the same thing. All the bands dressed alike. That's why the movie "Up in Smoke" cracked me up when they needed outfits to play and they got waiter outfits , it was hilarious to me. The Stones were the first group I know of that went on TV, "the Clay Cole Show" and all wore different clothes, sweatshirts, jeans, t shirts, all wore different things. I really thought that was so great. Eric Burden and The Animals were the next ones to wear what they wanted ( House of the Rising Sun). Rock and Roll took a turn from Doo Wop, but it was a great turn.
The Danny and the Juniors song says it all " Rock and Roll is here to stay , it will never die"
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
ESPERANTO
I'd like to give a shout out to my readers in Czech Republic, Spain, Ukraine, Cambodia, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Holland, Italy Spain,Russia, Ukraine(my ancestors country) , Morocco, Israel, Japan and of course the U.S.
WIth such a diverse population reading the madness that comes out of me. I probably should be
writing in the language of Esperanto. The basic idea of Esperanto was to have a language spoken all
over the world. No political attachment, in the name of peace. It is an interesting language, and I might add
it to my list of languages that I speak a little of. Esperanto is spoken in 115 countries around the globe
and it is spoken by anywhere from 10,000 to 2,000,000 people actively or fluently. George Soros speaks Esperanto. There are many who speak it as their native language i.e. the language spoken at home.
ADIAUX POR NU KAJ DANKON
WIth such a diverse population reading the madness that comes out of me. I probably should be
writing in the language of Esperanto. The basic idea of Esperanto was to have a language spoken all
over the world. No political attachment, in the name of peace. It is an interesting language, and I might add
it to my list of languages that I speak a little of. Esperanto is spoken in 115 countries around the globe
and it is spoken by anywhere from 10,000 to 2,000,000 people actively or fluently. George Soros speaks Esperanto. There are many who speak it as their native language i.e. the language spoken at home.
ADIAUX POR NU KAJ DANKON
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