A Google search revealed there are over 1800 versions of Hey Joe written by folk musician Billy Roberts in the 1950s. Below are versions from Jimi Hendrix, The Leaves, The Byrds, Tim Rose, and Johnny Rivers.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Remembering Roy Herschaft - New York Culture Has Lost a Friend
Roy Herschaft passed away on Saturday, October 18 after
being in failing health for a long time.
I was friends with him since our Forest Hills High School Days in the
1960s.
My first memory of him was walking to school talking about
the WABC and WMCA music surveys. He was
a big fan of the Supremes while I was a fan of Bob Dylan. I’ll never forget in October 1966 he came out
of his building beaming when You Keep Me Hanging on by the Supremes hit #1 on
the WMCA survey. In high school we were
in a program that emphasized the sciences.
After high school our paths diverged as Roy went to Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, to study architecture, while I studied
chemistry at the City College of New York.
We stayed connected through letters and phone calls.
After college Roy worked for the Peace Corps for a while and
lived in San Francisco for about a year.
After he returned to NYC, he worked for the Department of City Planning
where he stayed until he retired. For
about 50 years, he lived in an apartment in Brooklyn Heights.
Roy should be best remembered for his devotion to culture in
New York City. He was most passionate
about ballet. For many years he attended
ballet class and, for a short time, aspired to be a professional dancer.
He just loved movies.
He would go to a multiplex and stay all day seeing 3 or more films on one
admission.
He regularly went to museums and knew when the specific institution
offered free admission. Roy was also a
big fan of opera and collected artwork.
In later years Roy’s musical interests changed toward
classical music. I remember going to the
record department with him at J&R in lower Manhattan. Earlier in this essay I mentioned my enthusiasm
for Bob Dylan. Roy came with me to three
Dylan concerts at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre, and Forest Hills
Stadium. I bought a 2-LP set of the
Supremes Greatest Hits which he signed for me.
Roy was a very big enthusiast of the theater. He went to almost every Broadway show that
was out and always could find a bargain for tickets. He would stand in line for hours to get
tickets for Shakespeare in the Park.
Roy was an avid viewer of PBS programming and left money
in his will to WNET-TV
I was always a big sports fan, while Roy was completely
indifferent. I once had an
extra ticket for a Mets game, and he joined me at Shea Stadium. He appeared to be uninterested.
In recent years, I would always speak to Roy on the phone on
Sunday mornings. We would always discuss
our cultural activities of the past week. He always said that I watched
terrible movies. Since he just passed away, Sundays will just never be the same,
so I will conclude by posting hit by Spanky and Our Gang. I will certainly miss Roy.
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Whitney Museum - October 2025 Visit
Saturday, October 18, 2025
RIP Gary Fishbein New York Mets and Oldies Fan Extraordinaire

I Stand by the No Kings Protests Today
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Best of Luck to Future Riders of New Jersey Transit and Amtrak
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
It Was 20 Years Ago Today I Started Bruce's Journal
Actually, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play on June 1,
1947. On October 15,
2005 your truly started Bruce’s Journal.
My first entry was very brief as I just described the family going to
see a football game at Hofstra University.
At first, the journal was published as an AOL Journal, but when that
service was discontinued in 2008, the journal was transitioned to Blogger, a
service of Google. I was able to get a
domain with my name.
Over the years, I have just kept on writing. The entries ranged from the ridiculous to the
sublime. Some were thought out in
advance, while others were written spontaneously. The topics in no particular order include:
- Baseball – especially the New York Mets
- Oldies Music – On some days I post a song that comes to mind
- Bob Dylan
- Jeopardy
- Museum trips
- Movies
- Radio broadcasting
- Family outings
- Autobiographical Information
I rarely discuss politics, which I despise, especially over
the past 10 years. I try not to get too
personal, as I believe that certain issues should be private. I am always careful about what I write since
anyone can read it.
I have written 5289 entries over the past 20 years. This amounts to 264 entries annually,
or approximately 5 each week, which means that some days are not documented.
According to Blogger, there have been over 7 million hits,
but I sense that most of them are from robots.
I wonder how many of those hits are from real people. Blogger states that 45% of the hits were from
China. I am certain that all of those
hits are from robots.
I post most of my entries on Facebook, so I am aware of a some
regular readers. A few have contacted me
saying they read it regularly. I will
not ask for feedback as I know that most people are anonymous when they surf
the web. Many hits are likely from
Google searches.
Thanks for reading, and I will continue with Bruce’s Journal.
I will not post Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise