Pizza, Bowne Park. Football and Match Game

When I went to the BBC2 web site, Sounds of the Sixties was not listed.  Apparently there was some technical difficultie in putting the show on the web so I am listening to the Loft on XM Radio.  It was quite mild for the end of November so the family walked over to the local pizzeria.  Lee and I had sausage on our slice when Karen had her usually spinach.  From there we walk about one mile to Bowne Park and sat around for a while.  When we got home we saw the last waurter of the Jet game as they beat the Houston Texans 26-11.  After dinner we turned on the Giant game and saw they were ahead 21-0.  It turned out that the Tennessee Titans rallyed an won 24 -21.  At 8 PM, the Game Show Network had a one hour show about the history of the Match Game.  I watched it way back in the 1970s, but the Game Show Network shows the reruns featuring Gene Rayburn, Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Bret Sommers.  I have stated in this blog that we are big fans of Jeopardy, but we watch other game shows as well.  Back to the lunacy, hypocrisy, mediocrity and prejudice tomorrow.

Another Bob Dylan DVD

We went to the movies today and saw Deja Vu with Denzel Washington.  When we got home there was a package for me with a DVD that I ordered titled Tangled Up In Bob.  The producers traveled to Bob's home town of Hibbing, Minnesota and interviewed people who knew him when he was growing up in the 1950s.  For more details check out http://www.tangledupinbob.com .  When we were at the movies there was a trailer for a forthcoming movie called Rocky Balboa.  It seems that the boxer played by Sylvester Stallone is being revived.  When we got home Karen check our video collection and noted we had recorded on VHS the original Rocky movie and Rocky II.

Islanders Hockey game today

For the first time in a few years the family took in an Islanders hockey game at Nassau Coliseum.  Over recent years, I haven't shown much of an interest in hockey.  It has the reputation of being a cult sport.  The Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3 - 1.  Even though today is "Black Friday", I did not go near a shopping mall.  I will watch the Knicks play the Celtics on TV in a little while.

Soggy Thanksgiving

There was a misty rain all day today.  We drove to Forest Hills to pick up my mother.  Fromn there we drove to Dix Hills, Long Island where my sister Joyce, her husband Keith and sons Scott and Adam live.  The highlight of the day was playing with Sasha, the dog.  Lee even sent Sasha a birthday card a few weeks ago.  She is 12 years old which would be about 84 years in people years.  We watched the football game for a while as Lee played the word game Lingo online.

Beatles Love CD and DVD

Back in the 1960s it was a big thing when a Beatles album was released.  The top 40 radio stations at the time had to fight over playing it first.  They would even play Beatles songs that were only released in the UK.  Back then we had to scrape up our allowance money to buy the album.  The Beatles disbanded in 1970, but John, Geoge, Paul and Ringo recorded as solo artists for many years.  Starting in the 1980s Beatles albums were re-released and reissued as CDs.   This week a Beatles CD was released.  Producer George Martin and his son re-mixed Beatles songs for the Cirque du Soleil show now playing in Las Vegas.  I picked up the CD and DVD on the  way home at the Kmart in Penn Station.  I guess these new releases bring Beatles music to a new generation of listeners.  I still have many  Beatles  albums on vinyl and even have a turntable to play them.  Beatles albums in mint condition are collectors items and have some monetary value.

Gotta Go to Mo's

Last night we were watching the Knick game on TV and saw David Lee play.  I thought my son Lee would like a Knicks uniform with the name Lee on the back.  We walked to the local Modell's, but there were no Knick uniforms or tee-shirts.  Anyway, we each got a new pair of sneakers.  From there we walked to Macy's where I bought a few long sleeve shirts.  We got home in time to watch the second half of the Jet game.  They lost to the Chicago Bears 10-0.

Sean Connery is the James Bond

I am not an expert on movies, but I do post about them from time to time.  Since the 1960s I have seen every James Bond movie.  I even remember back then reading the Ian Fleming novels featuring 007.  Today we saw the new version of Casino Royale featuring Daniel Craig as James Bond.  It made me miss the original movies featuring Sean Connery as 007.  Looking back I would say that Goldfinger is my best James Bond movie.

Review of Dylan Concert from Newsday

Modern Times’ Dylan fakes out his flock

BY GLENN GAMBOA
Newsday Staff Writer

November 16, 2006

Part of the thrill of a Bob Dylan concert is never knowing what to expect.

His moods, his musical approaches and his set lists all vary so wildly that trying to predict one of his shows is like trying to pick election winners two years in advance. Dylan's live shows are known for their volatility, so how does he shake that up? He delivers a show so amiable, so avuncular that you keep waiting for a sharpened twist that never comes.

His 110-minute show at Nassau Coliseum Monday night was stylish and pretty, occasionally rocking in an elegant, gentlemanly way befitting a band dressed in suits and hats. It was also like waiting for the sky to fall. And what could be a more accurate metaphor for our "Modern Times" than that?

Dylan and his impressive five-piece band opened with a "Maggie's Farm" that was polished and devoid of protest. "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more," was more of a dinner-table declaration than a slogan for marchers in the streets.

The encores "Like a Rolling Stone" and "All Along the Watchtower" confounded those who wanted to sing along because Dylan's delivery was so light and understated that the screaming audience would blow right past him. While the audience bellowed "How does it feel?" in ham-fisted 4/4 time, Dylan's voice fluttered around the lyrics and the expected timing, as if he was just fooling around, as if he was asking the audience, "How does that feel?"

Even the arrangements were musical head fakes, as the usual fiery guitar solos on "Watchtower" were replaced by Denny Freeman's scratch guitar which owed more to '60s soul than the raucous '60s rock Dylan helped build.

One of Dylan's major victories in recent years is his ability to escape audience expectations. "You think I'm over the hill, you think I'm past my prime," he sang in "Spirit on the Water," from his new album, "Modern Times" (Columbia). "Let me see what you got. We can have a whoppin' good time."

Dylan isn't interested in giving his audience what they want. He gives them what they need.

He doesn't want them to dwell in the past. He doesn't want to give them flashbacks to their wild, radical youth. His interest is in the present, and his unpredictable live show is designed to make them appreciate their current surroundings, even if it means easing back on "Tangled Up in Blue" or filling "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" with some Chicago blues.

Dylan provided a healthy sampling of the excellent "Modern Times," though he did stick with the more listener-friendly songs ("Spirit on the Water") instead of the more controversial ones ("Workingman's Blues #2" and "The Levee's Gonna Break").

Maybe he will tackle those -- just as masterfully, no doubt -- when he's in a different mood.

BOB DYLAN. Putting up signs of "Modern Times." With the Raconteurs. Thursday night at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.; Next Monday at City Center in Manhattan. Seen Monday night at Nassau Coliseum.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Last night's Dylan Concert

Here is the set list from the concert as posted on http://www.boblinks.org :

Uniondale, New York Nassau County Coliseum November 13, 2006

1.	Maggie's Farm
2.	She Belongs To Me
3.	Honest With Me
4.	Spirit On The Water
5.	It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
6.	When The Deal Goes Down
7.	High Water (For Charley Patton)
8.	Visions Of Johanna
9.	Rollin' And Tumblin'
10.	Ballad Of A Thin Man
11.	Tangled Up In Blue
12.	Nettie Moore
13.	Highway 61 Revisited
	(encore)
14.	Thunder On The Mountain
15.	Like A Rolling Stone
16.	All Along The Watchtower

Band Members Bob Dylan - keyboard, harp Tony Garnier - bass George Recile - drums Stu Kimball - rhythm guitar Denny Freeman - lead guitar Donnie Herron - electric mandolin, violin, pedal steel, lap steel

The only bad thing about last night was the weather.  It was a little drizzly, but it certainly didn't put a damper on the concert.  Bob played my favorite, Maggies Farm, and Lee's favorite, Tangled Up in Blue.  Bob is now 65 years young, but you never know when he could stop touring. When he comes back to the NYC area again, we'll be there.

Getting Ready for the Big Night

Tonight Bob Dylan is playing at Nassau Colisseum.  Since he is 65 years old, you never know when he may stop touring.  We last saw him a year and a half ago at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan.  I decided to take a personal day off from work.  I don't want to go to the concert tired from the day's work and the long commute.  I am checking the set lists from the tour each day at http://www.boblinks.org .  We will pick up Lee at his afterschool program about 4:45, go out to eat and then to the concert.  Check this blog tomorrow for the details.

Another Quiet Sunday

The rained held off in the morning so I took Lee to Cunningham Park to shoot baskets.  In the early afternoon we saw the movie Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell.  When we go home we saw the second half of the Jet game as they beat the New England Patriots 17-14.  I read the New York Times for a while and then at 5 PM we listened to the latest Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan as the DJ.  After that we listened to Modern Times the latest Dylan CD in preparation for tomorrow nights concert at Nassau Colisseum.

Hofstra Football again

We drove out to Hempstead again today and saw Hofstra lose to Northeastern 34-24.  This will be our last football game of the season.  Tonight I took the subway to Manhattan to meet Jon Binstock for dinner.  I became acquainted with Jon about 10 years ago on the Prodigy radio boards.  Neither of us is in the radio business; we just follow it as a hobby.  We went for dinner at the Carnegie Deli on 7th Avenue and 55th Street.  I had a wopper of a pastrami sandwich.  We were talking about radio aand the woman sitting next to us said she had worked for Clear Channel radio some years back, but since then had gotten out of the radio business.

Saturday night oldies was only on from 6-6:30 tonight since WABC was carrying a hockey game.  At that time I was in Manhattan with Jon.  Someone has already downloaded it and posted it to a message board.  I am listening to a recording of it.

 

The Times They Are A Changin' is closing

Hi Erin!

I don't care what the critics think.  I enjoyed this musical.  I guess Broadway is a very tough nut to crack.  The main criticism was that there was no story and an incongruity between the songs and the dancing.  I bought tickets for a preview because I sensed that it could close early as many "jukebox musicals" have.  I guess the Tee-Sirt that I bought from the show will be a collectors item

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A musical set to the songs of Bob Dylan will close less than a month after it opened on Broadway, the show's public relations firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Times They Are A-Changin" -- which was critically panned -- will have its final performance on November 19, closing after 28 performances, a spokesman for Shaffer-Coyle Public Relations said.

The closure of the show, conceived and choreographed by Twyla Tharp who successfully transformed Billy Joel's songs into Tony-award winning musical "Movin' Out," follows failures like last year's flop "Lennon" about the late Beatle.

In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley called the Bob Dylan show "the latest heart-rending episode in Broadway's own reality soap opera, 'When bad shows happen to great songwriters.'"

 

The iconic Dylan approached Tharp three years ago but the critically acclaimed choreographer failed to woo critics, who said her fable about a struggling circus did not capture the magic of Dylan's songs.

New York columnist Michael Musto called the closing a "mercy killing."

"Dylan and Tharp didn't cohabit well in a circus setting, especially with a nearly incomprehensible storyline," he said. "But both are artists and will survive long after this becomes a camp footnote."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

College Football today

If you read my biography you will see that I got a masters degree in chemistry from the University of Rhode Island (URI) in 1974.  Back then I just had to get away from my family to build my own identity.  Kingston, RI was a college town about 30 miles south of Providence.  The life style in a small town was much different than that of the big city.  Anyway today the URI football team came to the area and played Hofstra.  URI won the game 20-13.  At $8 a ticket how can you go wrong.

Start of the NBA Basketball Season

The Knicks were pretty bad last year with a 23-59 record and fired Coach Larry Brown. The new season started last night with Isiah Thomas as the coach.  The Knicks had a  19 point lead against the Memphis Grizzlies at the beginning of the 4th quarter, but regulation ended with a tie.  Finally in 3 overtimes the Knicks won 118-117.  Since Memphis is a weak time, it is safe to say that the Knicks did not perform well.  It is long season and this is only one game.