Dodgers 4 Mets 2

 

This season the Mets are having a problem with hitting with runners in scoring position.  Last night they were facing Clayton Kershaw who is arguable the best pitcher in baseball.  Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker hit doubles but were left on base.  Granderson hit a triple in the 8th inning to drive in the tieing run, but was left on base.  The game was tied going to the top of the 9th, but for the second appearance in a row Jeurys Familia was ineffective and allowed 2 runs to let the Dodgers win.  He is usually "lights out" but has faltered badly in his last two outings.  Pitchers like batters can go into a slump.

Game Recap

Bill Dillane Interviews Rich Appel

I highly recommend my radio enthuisast friends watch this interview of Rich Appel by Bill Dillane.  I didn't realize that That Thing With Rich Appel is heard on 41 radio stations.  You must listen to this show!

Remembering Bill Bernstein My Sigma Beta Phi Fraternity Brother at City College of New York

I rarely read the New York Times during the week, but on the way home this afternoon I saw a copy of today's paper on my seat.  I picked it up, read a few articles and perused the obituary page.  There was a listing for a William Bernstein.  A person by that name perished on September 11, 2001, but it wasn't my fraternity brother from CCNY.  When I saw that this William Bernstein was a graduate of CCNY, I knew it was my old friend Bill.  There is another obituary of him in the Downtown New York City Magazine.

I must say that he had a very distinguished job history.  I last saw him in early 1974 just after I returned to NYC from the University of Rhode Island.  I had no contact with him for 42 years and never knew until now what became of him.

I always remember him at the Sigma Beta Phi fraternity house.  We had one house on 6th Avenue between 27th and 28th Street in Manhattan.  When we were kicked out, we moved to another house at Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn which we shared with a house plan known as Tremaine.  Please read more about my CCNY years at this blog entry.  Bill was always a big card player.  There was a contingent of fraternity brothers who stayed at the house and played cards while others like myself went to singles dances looking for dates. Those were the days.  A few years later Bill and Joe Viel shared an apartment in Queens Village.

It is a shame that he died at age 64.  My condolences to his family.

Buzzy Cohen - Jeopardy's Latest Superstar and Comic

Buzzy Cohen is getting up there as he has now won 9 games with a total of about $167,000.  He is not quite a big a winner as Dave Madden, Julia Collins, or Ken Jennings, but I think he has the potential to be one of the all time big winners.  He will certainly be invited back for the next Tournament of Champions.  I enjoy his sense of humor as he makes a goofy remark about Alex Trebek in the Final Jeopardy round if he was won in a runaway.  However my favorite Jeopardy comic has to be Vinay Varadarajan as he turned the tables and interviewed Dan Patrick on Sports Jeopardy.  I am really rooting for Vinay to come to the regular Jeopardy show,

Bob Dylan News on His Birthday

Rolling Stone magazine compiled a list of Bob Dylan's 100 greatest songs.  I persused the list quickly, and don't have any issues with the songs or the order.  I don't know what criteria the editors used to rank the songs.  Like a Rolling Stone was ranked number one.

I highly recommend that readers of Bruce's Journal do not read the New York Daily News.  Some turkey wrote an article today stating that Bob at age 75 years of age should retire.  This reporter has a right to his opinion, but don't trash the man on his birthday.

Happy 75th Birthday To Bob Dylan - Do What You Like

I'll never forget seeing this Peanuts strip in 1971.

Back then 30 was considered old.  Certainly times have changed as Bob Dylan is now 75 years forever young.  On the way home today the Blind Faith song Do What You Like came to mind.  My wish for you Bob is to "do what you like."  If you choose to retire, you are leaving some legacy.  Please enjoy whatever time the good lord has given you.  Every day should be unrapped like a prccious gift as stated by radio personality Harry Harrision.  We are all looking forward to seeing you on July 8th at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium.

Do right, use your head

Everybody must be fed

Get together, break your bread

Yes, together, that's what I said

Do what you like

Don't fight, use your head

It's all right every night

Do what you like, that's what I said

Everybody must be fed

Do what you like

Open your eyes

Realize you're not dead

Take a look at an open book

Do what you like, that's what I said

Do what you like

Here is the song that runs over 15 minutes.  Most of it is an instrumental by Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech and Ginger Baker.

Mets 3 Brewers 2

After the Mets lost ugly on Thursday night against the Nationals they really needed a shot in the arm.  They certainly got it last night from Steven Matz who pitched 7 brilliant innings to improved his record to 6-1.  Michael Conforto's two run homer in the 6th inning gave the Mets the lead which was protected by Addison Reed in 8th inning and Jeurys Familia in the 9th.

This game was part of the 13 game package we bought in the spring.  Since it was a Friday night we go another t-shirt.

Game recap

Remembering Richard Sweeney for His Kindness

Today I tried to get to work a little early as it was the day of the Chemistry Olympics at NJIT. When I got to the library I observed some commotion by the circulation staff, but I couldn't pay attention to it as I was in a hurry to get to the competition. I started out as usual but at 9:30 I got an email from Davida saying that Rich Sweeney was hit by a car as he was crossing the street after parking his car. He was hurt very badly and was taken to the hospital. About two hours later Cindy Wos from the chemical engineering department came in to say that he died from the injuries he sustained in the accident.

Just after lunch I returned to the library as the staff huddled together comforting each other. President Joel Bloom and Provost Fadi Deek came by to comfort the staff and brought a few people from the counseling center.

I must remember Richard Sweeney for the kindness he should the staff over the 20 years he was University Librarian. Just after he assumed the position he invited the entire library staff to his home for a barbeque. It always a tradition for him to take people out to lunch for their birthdays. Sometimes it would be in a group while other times he would take one person out. He was especially kind to me in September 1997 when he went out of his way to attend my father's funeral. On several occasions he went to funerals of family members of staff. He always liked to make small talk with me about the New York Mets.

He will be certainly be missed by the entire NJIT and library communities. My sincere condolences to his family.

To quote radio personality Harry Harrison “Every day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.”

The Unoriginal Bob Dylan - What Bob sings when he doesn’t sing his own songs.

There was a special issue of New York Magazine with the title "What We Wore" which was an overview of the history of fashion.  I thumbed through it relatively quickly until I came to the "Culture Pages" where the article was titled "The Unorginal Bob Dylan."

The author ranked Dylan's cover albums with World Gone Wrong  as #1 and Self-Portrait was the worst at #9.  There was also a list of Dylan's most played covers at concerts.  Not Fade Away originally done by Buddy Holly was played at 138 concerts.  There was even a list of songs that Dylan covered just once in concerts.  This included:

• (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay
• Here Comes the Sun
• Yesterday
• Stand by Me.

I really suggest that these Dylan concert covers be used for a future Bootleg Series set.

This issue of New York may be found at http://nymag.com/nymag/toc/20160516/ .  The specific article will go online within a few days.

May 16, 1966 Pet Sounds and Blonde on Blonde are Released

On April 30 I discussed the 50th anniversary of Blonde on Blonde so it is not necessary to repeat the discussion.  On the same day the seminal Beach Boy album Pet Sounds was released.  I didn't buy it when it was first released, but I bought a vinyl reissue several years later.  I don't have a CD of it.  Many consider it Brian Wilson's masterpiece.  Part of the recent movie Love and Mercy described the making of Pet Sounds in 1966.  There is a very detailed discussion of the album in the Wikipedia.
My favorite cut is "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times".

Yankees 2 White Sox 1

I planned to go to only two Yankee games today but my NJIT colleague Maria Denaro had two tickets for today's game she couldn't use so she gave them to me.  I bought the third ticket so the family could go together.  It turned out to be a pitchers duel between Ivan Nova and Jose Quintana.  For the first time the Yankees used "The Big Three" in the bullpen to close out the game.  Dellan Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman combined for 8 strike outs in the final 3 1/3 innings.  This was the first time that the three pitched in the same game.

Game recap

Fallen Angels - First Listen of the New Bob Dylan Album

Today I was able to hear a preview of Bob Dylan's new album Fallen Angels that was put on the web by NPR.  The album will be released on May 20.  Since I bought tickets for his July 8th concert at Forest Hills Stadium, I will get a copy of the CD for free.  The songs are:

Young at Heart
Maybe You'll Be There
Polka Dots and Moonbeams
All the Way
Skylark
Nevertheless
All or Nothing at All
On a Little Street in Singapore
It Had to Be You
Melancholy Mood
That Old Black Magic
Come Rain or Come Shine

These are all adult standards and are not songs written by Dylan.  The best thing about listening to Dylan is to analyze his songs and even take them apart word by word.  The last Dylan album with his compositions was The Tempest which was released in 2012.  Has Dylan ceased writing songs?  Certainlyover the years hundreds if not thousands of recording artists have covered Dylan songs.  I guess turnabout is fair play and Dylan has chosen to cover adult standards written by others.

Congratulations to Rita Houston of WFUV

A hearty congratulations to Rita Houston who was #4 on a list of the Top 25 Rock Radio Programmers compiled by Billboard magazine.  I wish there was more time in the day to listen to WFUV, but when it comes to listening to the radio, I am all over the place, but I always find time to listen to WFUV.

No listener will ever be burnt out by listening to a tight playlist.  It is my number one source on terrestrial radio for Bob Dylan's music.  I contribute to the station every year.

You Don't Miss Your Cable TV, Phone and Internet Until the System Goes Down

I have been a subscriber to Time Warner Cable since October 1986.  I remember staying home from work on the day the parade celebrating the Mets World Series win waiting for the installation.  I must say that over the years the service has been pretty good with few outages.

When I got home from work today at about 5:45 the system was down.  Lee was able to watch the broadcast TV channels, but the phone and wifi were out.  This article from CNN states that a cable cut accidentally by third party construction caused the failure.  By 7 PM everything was restored.  All's well that ends well.

Bartolo Colon Hits Home Run as the Mets Beat the Padres 6-3

Pitchers who must bat in the National League are rarely very good at it.  Bartolo Colon has spent most of long career in the American League but has 228 lifetime at bats according to Baseball Reference.  His batting average is .092 while he has struck in over half of his at bats.  Last night a "miracle" happened as he hit a two run homer in the second inning.  You can see it and hear Gary Cohen's called in the video above.  He is now the oldest player to hit his first home run.  A lifelong Met fan living in southern California caught the ball and gave it back to Bartolo as described in this article in the New York Daily News.

Wonders will never cease.

On Your Feet on Broadway

Karen and I always go to a Broadway show to celebrate our birthdays in April.  This year we had to wait until after Passover to see a show.  I left it up to Karen this year and she chose On Your Feet which tells the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan.  It was very enjoyable and I recommend it for my readers.

Thank You to The Essex County Proseutor's Office, the NJIT and Newark Police Departments for a Job Well Done

The NJIT community received an email today stating:

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has charged two men in the slaying of Joseph Micalizzi, an NJIT junior from Freehold who was shot in the course of a burglary early Monday at the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) house at 317 MLK Blvd. One of the men, an 18-year-old from Irvington, is in custody, while his accomplice, a 22-year-old from Newark, is being sought.


We read too many stories when police act inappropriately, but we know that the police are always very diligent in doing their job in protecting their respective communities.  Kudos to all involved in capturing one of the perpetrators.  I am certain the second one will be captured shortly.

WCBS-TV News reports the second suspect was also captured.

Random Comments of the Day

I moderate two groups on Facebook:

• Fans of Cousin Brucie
• Fans of Harry Harrison

Recently people's accounts have been hacked while the culprit posts porno on these sites.  It is really a shame.  I guess some people have nothing better to do.

I am really rooting for the NJIT and Newark police departments to catch the two criminals who shot and killed a student at a fraternity house this past week during a burglary.  The student was awake at 3 AM studying for final exams and is killed.  How sad.

It seems that for this season so far the Mets are the hot team in NYC while the Yankees are cold.  The Yankees should not have given long term contracts to players in their thirties.  Any athlete's skills will erode as they age.

Remembering Lou Mintz of NYPL

Here I go again googling people I haven't seen in many years.  Regular readers of Bruce's Journal likely saw my stories about finding out that Valerie and Harvey whom I knew in the early 1970s had passed away.  For some strange reason today I thought about Lou Mintz whom I knew at the New York Public Library where I worked from 1983-1990.

I worked in the Science and Technology Division while Lou was the Chief of the Stack Maintenance Divison.  He was responsible for maintaining miles and miles of book stacks as NYPL is one of the largest research libraries in the world.  He supervised many young pages who would retrieve books and periodicals for library patrons.  As the collection grew he had to move the books around to make room for new arrivals.  My experiences with him were always very pleasant.

Today I found a post written by his son Gary in a blog titled Faith an Fear in Flushing by two Met fans named Greg Prince and Jason Frye.  Here is what Gary said about his dad who sadly passed away in 2003.

My dad was Louis Mintz. Family man, librarian at the New York Public Library for over 40 years, father, Giants Fan. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him. He was always upbeat with an infectious smile that stayed with him even as cancer ravaged his body. Nobody ever said a bad word about him, the testament to his greatness. He loved my mom, loved his three boys, my wife, and worshipped the ground of his three granddaughters (his girlies, my daughters) and his grandson.

Then there were the Giants. His love of the New York Giants somehow continued when the orange and black moved to San Francisco. I, wanting to be like him, started following the San Francisco Giants in 1969. Up until 2010, I claimed it was the only wrong thing my father ever did. That all changed of course when Nelson Cruz swung and missed on a Brian Wilson pitch on November 1, 2010. It was the most compelling moment of my sports life as a fan. Forty-one years I waited, forty-one years!! In one night, all the hurt and pain was suddenly gone. Then viola!! The Giants stun the baseball world by winning it all again in 2012. Two World Championships in three years!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Then 2014!! Make it three World Series championships in five years!!

My only regret is that “Sweet Lou” wasn’t around to savor it with me as he passed in 2003.

See more at: http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2015/06/21/the-fathers-days-of-our-lives/

In all the years that I knew Lou, I can never remember talking about baseball with him.  I didn't know that he was a big fan of the New York Giants.

I was trying to think of a song that I could associate with Lou.  He always called me Cousin Bruce and as far as I can remember he was the last one who did that.  So in memory of Lou I am posting the Four Seasons singing the Cousin Bruce theme.

Giants 6 Mets 1

It rained all morning and it seemed doubtful if the Mets would play.  We left the house a little after 12 noon and took the bus and #7 train to Citifield.  When we entered the gate we were surprised to get Curtis Granderson socks as this giveaway was limited to the first 15,000 fans.  I heard that people arrived at the stadium several hours before yesterday's game to get a Noah Syndergaard gnome.

The game started on time as there was a light drizzle throughout.  The announced attendance in  the box score was 39,000 but obviously there were many no shows.  It was a matchup of two pitching aces Noah Syndergaard against Madison Bumgarner.  The Mets had won 8 in a row, but the hitting just wasn't there today.  Granderson and Duda were rested as the Mets were facing a left hander.  Michael Confort who has been as hot as fire went 0-5.  The Mets lost 6-1.

I just hate it when a pitcher is brought in to face just one batter.  The Giants had a substantial lead, but manager Bruce Bochy made several lefty right switches.

Box score