Dreamgirls (the Movie)

We stayed close to home today and went to the multiplex and saw Dreamgirls.  Back in the early 1980s I saw the Broadway show.  The strangest part of the movie was seeing Eddie Murphy in a serious role.

Eventful Friday

The family started the day by going to the Museum of Television of Radio on West 52nd Street.  We saw:

1. Batman episode with Julie Newmar as the Catwoman

2. The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 with the Beatles.

3. A James Brown special that was originally on the air in 1968

4. A show about Teenagers on TV series over the past 50 years.

From there we walked to the Times Square area to eat dinner.  I originally wanted to go to Ellen's Stardust Diner on 51st Street and Broadway but there was a very long line at 5 PM.  As expected there were mobs of people, most tourists, in the Times Square area.  Instead of waiting on line we walked to West 38th Street where we ate at Ben's Deli.

We walked to Madison Square Garden and got tickets for the College Basketball doubleheader.

Game 1 - St Josephs beat Boston University 58-53

Game 2 - Hofstra beat St. Johns 63 - 51

It was a shame that the crowd was so small.  It seems there is very little interest in College basketball even with 2 New York schools in the finals.  At $15/ticket, it was realy a bargain for Madison Square Garden.

David Crosby Book

It's nice to have the week off.  I don't have to schlep to Jersey to stare out at a computer lab and cope with the lunacy, hypocrisy, mediocrity and prejudice of the management.  I stopped in the Queens Public Library branch down the street from where I live.  I have very low expectations of this small branch.  I don't even go near the computers there.  I use a low tech approach by just browsing the shelves for a book that may be of interest.  Today, I found the book David Crosby: Since Then:  How I survived Everything and Lived to Tell About it.  David Crosby was an original member of the Byrds and Crosby Stills Nash (and Sometimes Young).  This book is a  sequel to Long Time Gone: The Autobiography of David Crosby published in 1988.  Today, I read the first 30 or so pages.  I looked through my vinyl collection and found one LP of David Crosby as a solo artist and several of Crosby Stills Nash and their various permutations.

We Are Marshall (the movie)

Movies are generally the only businesses that are open on Christmas Day so we walked over to the local multiplex and saw We Are Marshall.  The movie was about the tragic loss of the football team in a plane crash at Marshall University in 1970 and how the community reacted to it.  It was very touching.  The movie complex was crowded for Christmas Day.  Maybe many kids get tired of their new toys by the early afternoon and ask to go to the movies.

Walking around Little Neck Bay in Douglaston

It was very mild for Christmas Eve.  We just took a walk around Little Neck Bay in Douglaston as we did on August 13.  This time we didn't take the digital camera.  the Giants lost to the New Orleans Saints 30 - 7.  Nothing much new.

Rocky Balboa - the movie

From 1976 - 1990 there were 5 Rocky movies staring Sylvester Stallone as the fictional boxer.  He just released a new movie titled Rocky Balboa where a 60 year old Rocky fights a young boxer named Mason Dixon.  The movie was enjoyable but conceptually did not offer anything new.  It seems that Hollywood will release sequel movies as long as money can be made.  My wife Karen taped the first two Rocky movies years ago.  She found a VHS version of Rocky III in the local public library.  We dug through my old vinyl collection and found the soundtrack for the first Rocky movie.

College Basketball St. Johns vs NJIT

This season the NJIT men's basketball team is making the transition to Division I.  Tonight they lost to the St. John's Red Storm 68-50 at the Carnesecca Arena in Queens.  I didn't go to the game, but I listened to most of it on the radio.  I worked at the St. Johns University library from 1990-92 while I have been at NJIT since 1992.  St. Johns had been a nationally ranked team.  Their famous coach Lou Carnessecca retired at about the same time I left.

Just Love that British Rock of the 60s

Regular readers of this blog should have observed that every Sunday night when I write a blog entry I am listening to Sound of the Sixties on BBC Radio 2.  Long time British DJ Brian Matthew normally hosts the show, but he has been ill for a number of months now.   Several different British personalities have substituted for him.  I enjoy listening to British hits that did not get radio play in the USA back in the 60s.  American hits are also featured.  Today with saw the movie Pusuit of Happyness with Will Smith.

Men's Basketball at Queens College

Tonight the family took a quick drive over to Queens College to watch a game with CW Post.  Queens is in Division II and now plays in the East Coast Conference (http://www.eastcoastconference.org) Of course the facility is just a simple college gym, but you can't find entertainment for less that $4/ticket these days.  Queens College won 82-72.  When we got home we saw the end of the Knick/Denver Nugget game.  With about a minute to go a flagrant foul was committed and a big fight ensued.  I presume there will be several suspensions and fines.  These pro players make millions of dollars a year and just can't sho good sportsmanship.  The Nuggets won the game 123-100.

Womens College Basketball at St. Johns

Since professional basketball is so expensive the family takes in several college games every season.  Today we took a short drive over to St. Johns and saw their womens team beat Nicholls State College 63-50.  I had worked at St. Johns library from 1990-92.  To make a long story short, it was a very disappointing experience.  I had my problems with the Happy Hungarian.  With 20/20 hidnsight the only good thing about the job was the proximity to home.  Since 1992 I've had to schlep from Queens to Newark.  Next week the NJIT basketball team which for the first year is in Divison I is playing the St.Johns team at Alumni Hall now known as the Carnesseca Arena.

Random Thoughts

Yesterday was my colleague Jackie's last day at NJIT before going on family leave since she is expecting a baby at the end of January.  We had a nice party for her in the afternoon.  I woke up at 5:30 this morning.  It seems that as I've aged I need less sleep.  I got out of bed at about 6:00 and listened to Mark Simone's morning talk show on WABC.  When the rest of the family awoke at 6:40 we got ready to have breakfast out at Uncle Bill's Diner   I had my pancakes with sausages.  Later in the afternoon we saw the movie Holiday featuring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet.  Saturday night oldies was recorded tonight.  Mark Simone interviewed Dan Ingram whose theme was Tri Fi Drums.  I have an MP3 version of that which I e-mailed to 10 listeners who asked for it on the message board.

Bruce and Mark Simone

Let's go back to Saturday afternoon's Meet and Greet for Saturday Night Oldies Fans.  Mark Simone was nice enough to take pictures with his fans.  Here is a picture of yours truly with Mark who also worked for WPIX-FM, WNEW-AM, and WMCA.  We are really hoping that the management of WABC keeps the show on the air.  In recent weeks the show has been pre-empted for sports coverage.  Six months after the CBS radio executives changed format on 101.1 FM WABC put the oldies show on Saturday nights.  At least WABC management has an appreciation for the heritage of the station.

A slow Sunday

Didn't do all that much today.  Lee's afterschool group met at AppleBees for lunch so I just took a walk in Forest Park in the morning.  Karen and I went to the local pizzeria for lunch.  I read the New York Times, listened to Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC-FM, and watched last quarter of the Jets game as they won 38-10.  When Lee returned we listened to Bob Dylan's ThemeTime Radio which featured songs about Tennessee.  Plenty of songs about Nashville and Memphis, but not Chatanooga Choo Choo.  It seems that Bob usually picks old standards and country songs for his Theme Time Radio Show.  3 more weeks of work until the Christmas break.

Saturday Night Oldies Meet and Greet

We finally had our Saturday Night Oldies Meet and Greet at Bens Deli on West 38th Street in Manhattan.  This event could only be organized by the new information technologies.  On June 3, 2005 WCBS-FM dropped the oldies format after 33 years and flipped to the dreaded Jack format.  On December 3, 2005 WABC partially filled the void by placing Saturday night oldies from 6 - 10 PM.  From 1960-82 WABC was the premier top 40 station in the USA if not New York.  I am grateful that the management of WABC appreciates the heritage of the station and put oldies back on the air even only 4 hours a week.  I helped Frank, Jeff, Alan and Cara plan this event to celebrate the first anniversary of the show.  It was nice to meet Mark Simone the DJ and his producer Frank Marano.  Several people brought digital cameras.  Frank took a picture of me with Mark.  So hopefully, he will send it to me soon so I could post it.