The 11th Annual Oldies Meet and Greet is set for Saturday November 12 at Ben's Deli

The 11th Annual Meet and Greet of Oldies Radio Enthusiasts will take place Saturday November 12 from 2 PM – 4 PM at Ben's Deli 209 West 38thStreet, New York, NY. Our gatherings in the past have attracted from 60 – 80 people. In the past radio personalities including Ken Dashow, Big Jay Sorensen, Broadway Bill Lee, Pat St. John, Sue O'Neal, Jim Kerr, and Carol Miller have attended. Bob Radil of Rewound Radio and Cool Bobby B of SiriusXM 50s on 5 are likely to attend. .We will announce if other radio personalities are coming.

This year there will be a choice of (sandwiches): Corned Beef, Roast Beef, Brisket, Pastrami, Turkey, Smoked Turkey, Chicken Salad,  Salami, , 2 Hot Dogs, Tuna Salad, Vegetable Burger, Pasta Primavera, House Salad with French Fries and Choice of Bottomless Fountain Soda or Iced Tea. There will be cole slaw, pickles and rye bread on every table.

The cost will be $16 per person which includes tax and gratuities. You must order a meal. We are making these changes so that people will get their food faster and there will no problems with splitting the check since everyone pays the same price.

You may state you are coming on Facebook or send an email to Bruce Slutsky (bruces8852@aol.com) or Jeff Scheckner (jmandjs@aol.com). Please feel to contact either one of us if you have any questions.

36 Bob Dylan CDs with All 1966 concerts will be released in November

This morning I got an email from the Bob Dylan fanzine ISIS announcing the release in November of a 36 CD box set featuring all of his concerts form 1966 which is my favorite year.  Later in the day announcements were made in Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times and other online publications.  It can already be pre-ordered from Amazon and Sony Records for the reasonable price of $150.  That turns out to be less than $5 for each CD.  I am concerned that the set lists for these concerts may be almost identical.  What the heck, I'll go for it.

Mets 17 Phillies 0 in The Last Regular Season Game at Citifield

It has certainly been a season of ups and downs for the Mets.  They have won 23 out of their last 34 games to take a slight lead for a wild card berth.  Last night they fell behind 10-0 early on, but chipped away closed the gap to 10-8 as a 9th inning rally fell short.  Today their bats really came to life as they beat the Philles 17-0 which looks more like a football score.  Asdrubel Cabrera hit a grand slam home run while Jose Reyes drove in 4 runs.   It was encouraging to see 7 shutout innings by Robert Gsellman.  He may have to start a game if the Mets make it to Division series against the Cubs.

There are now 6 road games left against Miami and Philadelphia.  It was so said to hear of the death of Marlin Jose Fernandez's death in a boating accident.  Their game today against Atlanta was cancelled.  It will be hard for the Marlins to concentrate on baseball this last week of the regular season.  It is similar to the untimely death of Yankee Thurman Munson in a plane crash in 1979.

Game recap

Afternoon with The Beatles

I must congratulate Ron Howard for putting together so much concert footage to compile this documentary covering Beatles concerts from 1963-66.  I have seen many Beatles films over the years including The Compleat Beatles, but I saw so many new scenes.  50 years later the Fab Four still has great appeal no musical act in all these years have impacted generations of listeners.

The documentary is now seen on HULU, a subscription based streaming service, but it is being shown in selective theaters including the Kew Gardens Cinema.  At the end of the film, The Beatles at Shea Stadium from 1965 was shown.

I highly recommend this for Beatles fans of all ages.  A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Uniden BC355N 800 MHz 300-Channel Base Mobile Scanner

You would think this guy has enough radios in his house.  Anyway after I got a little annoyed hearing mostly religious programs on the shortwave radio I got a few weeks ago I shopped in my beloved Amazon.com for a scanner.  I found this model at a reasonable price.  It is described as basic mobile scanner that's great for home or mobile use, with 300 storable channels, coverage of all the ""action"" bands, convenient features like ""close call"" and program lock, and a wealth of powering options for different applications. Receives conventional channels on the following frequencies: (25-54 MHz) (108-174 MHz) (225-380 MHz) (406-512 MHz) (806-956 MHz) (excluding cellular telephone bands.

I only had a little time before dinner to play with it.  It has bands for weather, police, fire and other emergency services.  I guess I have another toy.

Politically Incorrect Oldie - The Ten Commandments by Prince Buster

A few weeks ago I read about the passing of Prince Buster, a proponent of ska music in the 60s.  I first heard his hit Ten Commandments on Murray the K's show on WOR-FM.  Believe me it would not get any airplay if it was released today.

Biography of Prince Buster in the Wikipedia

Random Comments of the Day

This morning I took Lee to the endodontist (root canal specialist).  My plan was to leave for work when he was finished there.  I saw that there were terrible delays on New Jersey Transit as a result of the bomb going off near the Elizabeth station.  Rather than cope with commuter aggravation on a rainy day, I decided not to come in.  I have plenty of sick and vacation time and didn't have any meeting scheduled for today.

Later in the day I heard the police in Linden, NJ apprehended the perpetrator of recent terrorist bombings.  Thankfully nobody was killed, but what are these people trying to prove?

I took Lee to McDonalds for lunch where he heard Sunshine Superman.  He has picked out a Donovan CD to play during dinner tonight.

While I was home today I downloaded IOS 10 for my iPhone 6.  There are some subtle differences between versions of the operating system..

Yet Another Major Update from Microsoft

Microsoft gave everyone a year ending July 29 to get a free upgrade to Windows 10.  On August 2 they made an anniversary update available.  In both cases the user could pick the time to do the update.  Very often there are minor updates to Windows which may take about 10 minutes to download and install.  Today when I received an update, I thought it would just take a few minutes, but it took about 1 1/2 hours.  It turned out that is was Windows 10 Version 1607.

This week Apple offered IOS 10.  I have decided to wait a bit before I upgrade.

Mets 3 Twins 0

The Mets must sign Bartolo Colon to a contract for next season.  He also deserves some votes for the Cy Young Award.  He allowed only 3 singles in 7 innings as home runs by Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera lead the Mets to a 3-0 victory over the Twins in an interleague game.  The Mets now have a two game lead over the Cardinals for the second wild card berth and trail the Giants by only one game for the first wild card.

Game recap

Just Love the Basement Tapes

Every evening at 6:00 either Lee or I pick what CD to put on the player.  Today it was his turn and he picked The Basement Tapes with Bob Dylan and The Band.  Good Choice!  Below is an interview with Robbie Robertson who is talking about it.

Remembering Dad 19 Years Later

We lost my Dad, Irving Slutsky, on September 14, 1997 from pancreatic cancer.  I also remember how hard he worked to support his family.  For about 20 years he managed a woman's clothing shop in Mount Vernon (Westchester County) called Ruby Lane Stores.  He usually worked 6 days a week.

He was a big fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and on July 15, 1957 he took me to my first game at Ebbets Field.  He also took me to my first Met game at the Polo Grounds on May 30, 1962.  On the anniversay of his passing I light a Yahrzeit candle seen above to remember him.

Random Comments of the Day

The new season began today for Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is now seen on Channel 7 in NYC at 2 PM.  Since I am rarely home at that time during the week, we will have to watch it on the DVR.  Last season it was seen on WLNY - 55 at 4 PM.  I just signed up for the Jeopardy online quiz.  I guess I have nothing to lose.

I have been pretty lucky as I have not encountered any major train delays lately.  One of these days my luck will run out.

After I gave up on the Mets, they have won 15 out of 20 and are in contention for a wild card berth.  Even the Yankees have a shot at the playoffs.

Remember September 11, 2001

We all have come a long way in 15 years, but can never forget what happened.  Thank you to the police, firefighters, and first responders who made the supreme sacrfice to save the innocent victims.

LIU Post 43 New Haven 20 in Our First Football Game of the Season

 Baseball season is not yet over and both the Yankees and Mets have a chance of getting into the playoffs,  It was about 85 degrees, but we headed over to LIU Post in Brookville to see our first football game of the season.  It was close as Post was leading 22-20, but scored three unanswered touchdowns to defeat the University of New Haven 43-20.  We used to go to football games at Hofstra, but the school ended the program about 5 years ago.

Game recap

My Buddy for 24 Years

Next week I will observe my 24th anniversary working at NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology).  Sometimes it feels like it is forever, other times it feels like it was just yesterday when I took my first New Jersey Transit ride to Newark. It was my pleasure to take a photo today with the NJIT Highlander mascot.  Best of luck to all of the school's teams in their academic and athletic endeavors.

Two Radio Menches Rich Appel and Don Tandler Join Forces on Pop Gold Radio

Don Tandler of New Jersey 101.5 and Pop Gold Radio along with oldies enthusiast Rich Appel  have appeared many times in Bruce's Journal. That Thing with Rich Appel has been appointment radio for me since he started the show.  Likewise as time permits I listen to the countdown show Saturday afternoon on Pop Gold Radio.  Now the two have joined forces.

Until last week That Thing was heard on an oldies internet radio station run by a certain person who will go unnamed.  In a dictatorial way this person decided that Rich's show was no longer suited for his station and dropped it.  Don Tandler came to the rescue and now That Thing will be heard Saturday and Sunday evenings on Pop Gold Radio.  Thank you Don Tandler for doing a mitzvah by picking up the show.

The show can also be heard on about 50 internet and terrestrial radio stations.

Best wishes to Don and Rich for continued success.

Mets 5 Nationals 1 in Sunday Night Game.

This Labor Day Sunday game was supposed to start at 1 PM, but ESPN moved it to 8 PM so it could be the Sunday night game of the week.  I guess money talks and since ESPN pays Major League Baseball big bucks the time of the game was changed. Max Scherzer was supposed to start for the Nationals, but he was moved back one day so the Mets faced Reynaldo Lopez.  Seth Lugo who came to the starting rotation on account on injuries allowed only 1 run in 7 innings and was supported by two-run home runs by Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce was the winning pitcher.

The Mets have now won 11 out of their last 15 games and are now one game back in the race for the second wild card.  We'll see what happens.

Game recap

WCBS-FM is doing an All 80s Weekend

My radio listening habits have certainly changed over the years especially after internet radio came into being.  I used to listen to WCBS-FM for hours every day, but now I only listen for a few hours on weekends.  I just don't like the "Morning Zoo" type of morning drive radio that is heard on the "Big Show" with Scott Shannon.  When I was a lot younger they used to play hits from the 1950s to 1970s, but now they are trying to attract listeners aged 25 - 54 who are attractive to advertisers.  Thus most of the music heard is from the 70s and 80s and even a bit of the 90s.  The station is not interested in old people like me.

This weekend they are doing an all 80s weekend.  I listened for an hour or so on Sue O'Neil's show and was pleasantly surprised to hear hits that are not in their usual rotation.  I heard Handle With Care by The Travelling Wilburys, my favorite supergroup.  You just can't argue with success as the stations is consistantly #1 or #2 in the ratings.

Gee, It Is September 1 Already - Time Really Flies

As one gets older time passes more quickly.  It is already September 1 and Labor Day is coming up which means it is the end of the summer.  School begins next week which means the buses and trains will be more crowded as crowding very often causes delays.  There are two songs that convey the passing on time.  The first is Leaves That Are Green by Simon and Garfunkel.  The thoughts expressed in 1966 are still true today.

There other is Who Knows Where The Time Goes by Judy Collins.  Sandy Denny is the composer of this song.