"I'll Have None Of Your Shenanigans!"

The Nun whacked me. A moment before this St. Stephen of Hungary 4th grade photo was snapped Sister Adrianne slugged me off the top of my forehead with her open hand. See my face? It's still red. (Second row, last on the right). 

I think she was telling me, I should have had a V-8. The good news? She hit Pierre, too. That's why he has a rosy puss on his face. (Top row, second from the left).

Why'd she hit us? We were fighting over who'd sit next to Barbara O'Shea, the prettiest girl in our zip code (second row, fourth from the right).

Pierre had me in a full-nelson wrestling hold and I was biting his stomach. We worked our way to the top of the bleachers where we were lining up for our class picture. We thought the bleachers kept going, but after the fourth row, we stepped into thin air. No fifth row. We hugged and fell to the wooden floor. The nun ran around the bleachers and picked us up like a hockey referee breaks up a fight. After wringing us out, she gave us a look of enormous disgust and said, "I'll have none of your shenanigans." She slapped Pierre, then tried to hit me. I ducked. That's when I got the pop off the forehead.

I've always found it oddly exciting to duck and avoid that first shot. After you acquire "getting hit experience," you know the second shot's going to be a harder, more accurate blow, but you can't resist the instinct to duck the first one.

Pierre was banished to the top row, far away from Barbara. To torture me, the Nun put me in the same row as Barbara but three seats away sitting next to Mary Toth. To move the knife around, Sister Adrianne placed the best-looking guy in the class; Jean Paul Piccolo, to Barbara's left. Look at Jean Paul, new to our country from Milan, Italy, right next to Barbara. The dummy isn't even sitting heinie to heinie ~ there's no contact ~ Jean Paul's giving her space! I'd have made sure our apples were nestled together, cheek to cheek.

He was so cute it made me sick. Even Paul McCartney would look ugly sitting next to him. The final twist of the blade, everyone called him "John Paul." Not only named after a Beatle, he was named after two Beatles!

It was April 1964. My marks were up, but things looked grim.

My favorite writing compliment of all time about this tale from the incredibly talented Abbi Crutchfield. 

"Jean Paul's body language is certainly noticeable. I've decided you are a cross between Dave Sedaris and Frank McCourt. And I can't wait to read the book about your life."

Thank you, Abbi, xo, teepee

Do you like old New York City photos and street life stories? Then check out my 1960s memoir,"I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood."Available at Logos Book Store and online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

The book has 112 Amazon five star reviews out of 112 total reviews posted. We're pitching a perfect game. My old world echoes TV's "The Wonder Years" ~ just add taverns, subways and Checker cabs.

Storytelling Show at Magnet Theatre Tomorrow ~ Luke Kicking Ass in Brooklyn

Did I ever tell you the story involving 2 Air Canada stewardesses, 4 bras, Reggie Fleming & the 1960s Rock & Roll show Hullabaloo? I was 11, Steve was 12, it was Feb 1966 when all these things delightfully converged... Believe It or Not! 

I'm telling the whole story, tomorrow, Sunday, February 23rd at a FREE show concluding Adam Wade's Level 2 Storytelling class. That's 3:30pm, Sunday, Feb 23rd at Magnet Theater's TRAINING CENTER - 259 W. 30th Street in the Playtex Chapel on the 2nd floor.

Last night, I attended Luke Thayer's sold out late show at the Postmark Cafe in Park Slope. Luke was terrific, Abbi Crutchfield's opening set the table perfectly.

Everything works better with a solid partner in crime, Great show,Luke, super duper MC-ing, Abbi. Your crowd loved you.

Postmark Cafe, Brooklyn

Luke Thayer

Abbi Crutchfield

a happy customer

Abbi & Baseball ~ Two of My Pals

Thank you, Abbi Crutchfield for being a generous guest & friend. Last night's radio show was a hoot! We played The Platters & Rosemary Clooney. Rich music from our childhoods. Songs that were out there for a long time before us, that we found and tickled our ears and warmed us up the way quality music can do. The songs were jukebox staples for decades and it's no surprise when you find these songs still there on a tavern's jukebox, but no longer a dime away.
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If you'd like to listen to last night's show here is the link. Abbi tells a sweet, funny middle school reverse crush story, and I ask all good men to, "Bring Me the Head of Ira Chapman." Ira, Satan's messenger, lived on 83rd Street in 1969 and broke skin on my lower leg with his fangs just to say hello. Ira could talk, he was my chum. Listen in.

Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts 9/28/2010 with host Tommy Pryor & guest Abbi Crutchfield

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/

Abbi's two favorite guys, Luke & Max, listened in last night. Max is the prince pup bulldog, and Luke is Abbi's cool, basketball playing husband. Luke is a dynamite comedian and & Ms. Crutchfield's comedic partner. Their shows are amazing, check them out at the links below.

http://curlycomedy.blogspot.com/

http://comedianluke.com/

For Abbi, Luke & Max, The Platters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWHuZa1DxrM




















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Tomorrow night, Thursday, September 30th @ 10:30pm @ Thirteen @ Ch13 TV, I'm telling a Mickey Mantle story on "Baseball: A New York Love Story." It's the fifth episode titled: "Heroes."

My scorecard below is from Mantle's 500th Home Run game in May 1967. I dragged Dad to three straight games to make sure I saw Mickey hit it. Third game Sunday, he did it, and we were in the right field upper deck. I thought the ball was coming right to me and my glove, my heart was whacking my rib cage, when it dropped safely into the lower deck and the crowd roared, Dad and I jumped, hugged, and cried for five minutes.
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If you are watching the Ch 13 show, look behind Bob Costas head on the left, that's my scorecard, and my 1961 Yankees program and Mantle New York Daily News newspaper headlines are flying through the background during each broadcast.
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It was a blast pulling all my stuff together, and remembering my reckless obsession with sports that made me deliriously happy as a kid, and how connected all this made me to Dad. If we were talking sports, I couldn't lose.

http://www.thirteen.org/baseball/uncategorized/new-york-baseball/14/

Abbi Visits the Stoop Tonight @ 9pm @ Centanni!

Tonight on Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts radio, my special guest is Abbi Crutchfield. Abbi performs stand-up and sketch comedy all over New York City and is a staple of the underground scene. She produces The Living Room Show at Postmark Cafe in Brooklyn, Positively Awesome at Cellar 58 in the Lower East Side and Ladybits, a new all-female comedy show at Cornelia St Cafe in the Village. She has been featured on VH1 and MTV as well as several national commercials.
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You can catch her many parodies on
Youtube.com/curlycomedy and her hilarious one liners daily on Twitter.com/curlycomedy
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This will be a silly show, we're playing four heavy jukebox selections from the 1950s'. Songs that stood tall and stayed in the tavern's rotation right through the sixties. Songs that ate many of my dimes.

I feel like an Isley tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaO5tTmB35A&feature=related

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Thinking of my friends today. The picture on the left was taken on July 4, 1978 in upstate New York. It was a Yorkville Road Trip, one of the best ever. We played whiffle ball on the farm's front lawn where there was a huge salt lick for the deer that we used for a foul pole. We played full contact soccer until we bled. John Cupo starred as Giorgio Chinagila throwing his body around like he was a stage dummy, John approached street tackle on the York Avenue with the same reckless insanity. Genesee Cream flowed free. In the picture from left to right, John Cupo, Yvette Baez, Denny McMahon across three laps, Joe Menesick, Buddy McMahon & me on the floor. Picture below, Buddy & me, two weeks ago. Visited my parents and brother, Rory's grave at Calverton then spent a very nice time with the McMahons.

Sleep Comes Down ~ Tommy's Next Reading ~ this Fri, Apr 23rd @ 8pm @ Living Room, Park Slope

From 1968 through 1972, I performed weekdays at LaSalle Academy for classroom audiences of 40 students. At lunchtime, the East Village mob grew to 200 in the school's gymnasium. A tough crowd, I grew thick skin. I've invited a few of my LaSalle chums to roll down memory lane with me on Friday.

I'll perform a story this Friday, April 23^rd@ 8pm.

It’s part of Luke Thayer & Abbi Crutchfield’’s terrific comedy show ~ The Living Room at Postmark Café (free admission)

326 6th Street (between 4th & 5th Avenues)
Park Slope, Brooklyn.

3 blocks from the 9^thStreet R station & the 4^thAve/9^th St. F stop.

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Come down, throw fruit!

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Photo of me by Joseph Menesick Sr. ~ All other photos taken by Patrick Cullinan ~ see his fantastic photographic history from the 1960s through now:

http://pcullinan.smugmug.com/

Storytelling Show ~ Neighborhood Evolution @ Maxwell's Tomorrow, Feb 28 @ 3pm ~ Check Out the Talent

"What you looking at?"

"Hoboken."

"What's Hoboken?"

"A wonderful place."

"Can I see?"

"No."

But you can! Claudia Chopek, Debby Schwartz and I invite you.

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Come to our Neighborhood Evolution show tomorrow at Maxwell's at 3pm.

Check out the terrific storytelling talent below, and Andrew Tavani's story in nj.com.

http://www.nj.com/waterfrontjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1267082752300890.xml&coll=3

Songsmiths:

Claudia Chopek (with Ward White), Edward Rogers, Debby Schwartz (with Katie Gentile), Eddie Skuller (with Mike Fornatale), Lianne Smith, Amanda Thorpe

Storytellers:

Abbi Crutchfield, Philip Dray, Thomas Pryor, Naturi Thomas, Adam Wade

Bios

Abbi Crutchfield, a comedy virtuoso, keeps her plate full in NYC with writing, performing stand-up and improvisational comedy, creating original characters, and producing a live comedy hour called the Living Room in B

rooklyn. http://livingroomcomedy.blogspot.com/

She’s been seen on MTV and VH1, and she contributes regularly to the TheApiary.org and HipSlopeMama.blogspot.com. Abbi’s blog is: curlycomedy.blogspot.com

Philip Dray is the author of several books of American history including At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book, There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of American Labor, will be published in fall 2010. He's appeared at Maxwell's numerous times in groups such as: The Scene is Now, Information, Shackwacky, and I Ride the Bus.

Thomas Pryor’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, A Prairie Home Companion, New York Press, Underground Voices Magazine, Ducts, Opium Online and Our Town.

Naturi Thomas is a published writer of fiction, essay, and poetry. Her agent is shopping her memoir, How to Die in Paris. She lives right around the corner from Maxwell’s, which gives her about a 50% chance of making it to the reading on time.

Adam Wade is originally from New Hampshire and has proudly called Hoboken his home for the last seven years. He's a record 15-time Moth StorySLAM winner and 2-time GrandSLAM champion at The Moth. He's appeared on ESPN, NBC Sports, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Comedy Central. He's written for Glamour Magazine, New York Press, The New York Times and Hoboken Reporter. http://adamwade.com/

Jonathan Calvert (visual presentation), who prepared the neighborhood photographs projected as visuals during the program, is enthralled and inspired to be associated with these talented artists. A New Yorker with a love of neighborhoods and the diversity we find in our cities, he, too, is full of stories that one day will be told.

Songsmiths

Violinist Claudia Chopek has performed with artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen to The Jonas Brothers, as well as in orchestras, chamber music ensembles and Broadway musicals. Her playing and string arrangements can be heard on over 100 recordings, and she continues to split her time between high profile, international touring and working with local, independent musicians. In addition to the violin, Claudia is an accomplished violist, guitarist, and vocalist. Recently, she completed a five-week tour with Moby, culminating in a performance for PBS Soundstage, which will air nationally later this year.

Brooklyn based singer/songwriter/guitarist Ward White has released six albums, garnering praise from local and national press. Most recently, he collaborated with keyboardist Joe McGinty on McGinty & White Sing Selections From The McGinty & White Songbook, which has been featured on WFMU, and has been named on several 2009 "Best Of" lists, including New York Press, where critic J.R. Taylor named it one of the five best albums of the year. McGinty & White have made several appearances as the featured musical guests for Upright Citizens Brigade.

http://www.wardwhite.net/

Edward Rogers is earning brilliant reviews on his third solo album, Sparkle Lane ~ Rogers most ambitious and accomplished work yet, seamlessly merges hard-won lyrical insight with a lifetime's worth of classic pop influences. Sparkle Lane draws upon the talents of Don Piper, co-producer, Pete Kennedy, Sal Maida, Claudia Chopek, Konrad Meissner, and Keyboardist, Joe McGinty, the mastermind behind the long-running Losers Lounge series of all-star tribute shows. Rogers earlier solo efforts, Sunday Fables and You Haven’t Been Where I’ve Been, featured Roger McGuinn, Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, George Usher, and Marty Willson-Piper. Rogers also released two albums, Rendezvous and The Summer That Changed, as part of Bedsit Poets, his collaboration with Amanda Thorpe. http://www.edwardrogersmusic.com/

Since moving to NYC in 1986, Debby Schwartz has performed with The Summit Ensemble, The Aquanettas, Loser's Lounge, and P.G. Six band, among others. She plays her own music with Katie Gentile (violin) and Peter Stuart (bass). She is presently working on an album which she hopes to release before she dies.

Katie Gentile (violin) performs and records with the Hoboken band Special Pillow, and Debby Schwartz. She has also played on recordings with Tara Key and Rick Rizzo, Antietam, Sue Garner and Rick Brown, and Yo La Tengo.

Eddie Skuller has had a history with bad neighbors, confirming his belief that they indeed cause change in a neighborhood. Eddie's music, including his latest critically-acclaimed album The Morphine Berry Story, is available on iTunes. The record was produced by James Mastro. This alternative blues album, recorded in Hoboken, features nine original new tunes plus a fiery version of a song by blues legend John Lee Hooker. http://www.skuller.com/

Mike Fornatale has played and/or sung with The Monks, Mark Lindsay, Moby Grape, Kelley Stoltz, Richard and the Young Lions, Loser’s Lounge, Muck and the Mires, Misteriosos, Meagan Brothers, Keith Streng, Kerry Kennedy, Shaw’Nuff, Roman Eisener, Joe Hurley's Rogues' March, and basically whoever else asks him.

Lianne Smith's music dispenses with a panoramic shot in favor of zooming in on the bee and flower—grown-up songs about architecture, thieves, bicycles, the end of summer, and two roads that diverge in a wood. http://liannesmith.com/

Amanda Thorpe an English native, moved to New York in the 90’s and has seen the city go through a variety of changes, some drastic, some subtle! Her last album, Union Square, featuring appearances by Graham Nash, Martha Wainwright and Tony Scherr among other notables, captures areas of New York within the songs. Co-produced with Brad Albetta (the McGarrigle Sisters, Teddy Thompson). Amanda has received rave reviews in Billboard, People Magazine, and The Boston Globe to name a few. She is also known for her work with Wirebirds and Bedsit Poets. Currently, Amanda is finishing up her fourth solo recording, with several songs meandering through another borough, Brooklyn. Amanda's vocals continue to "balance brassiness and vulnerability with panache." (Variety).http://www.amandathorpe.com/index_content.php

Getting Ready for the Neighborhood Storytelling Show on Sun Feb 28th and the Rest of My Life

Friday night, I finished getting my stuff out of my old work office into my new work office, my home. 33 banker boxes, 11 Duane Reade shopping bags, and every left over Christmas shopping bag I could find. I like my stuff, fortunately, I have a little Felix Unger in me and though I'm a pack rat, I do eventually organize and neat my place up.

So exhibit 1, in black and white, was my place Friday night. Exhibit 2, is something near my dream writing space. Only time, sweat and lots of coffee will tell. I have a trunk of stories to unlock.



Neighborhood Evolution
Maxwell's, Sun, Feb 28th @ 3pm

This coming Sunday's storytelling show @ Maxwell's in Hoboken on Feb 28th @ 3pm will be terrific. The talent is deep and the streets, roofs and stoops are ready to talk to you and tell you their tales.

Easy Ride:

The Hoboken PATH station is ten to fifteen minutes from the following PATH stations in Manhattan: World Trade Center, 9th Street, Christopher and 33st/Penn Station. Maxwell's is ten blocks from the Hoboken PATH Station. It's a $ 4 cab ride from the cab stand @ the station. Maxwell's is five minutes from the exit of the Holland Tunnel if you drive from somewhere east of the Hudson River.

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You can also take the 126 NJ Transit bus from Port Authority to Hoboken, which stops one block from Maxwells, and it's only $2.55!"

Neighborhood Storytelling in Word & Song, Next Sun, Feb 28th @ 3pm @ Maxwell's in Hoboken

Neighborhood Evolution
Through Story & Song
Sunday, February 28th @ 3pm ~ Admission; $7
@ Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken

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Hoboken and New York artists burrow through their warrens, digging in the dirt, interpreting their neighborhood experiences, past and present. Through song and story, they rebuild places that don’t exist anymore or hide from plain sight. Wiggle inside an ash can to escape a bully. Lean out a window with a pillow under your chest and see a guy in a T-shirt running up a fire escape with a TV under his arm! Hurdle an air shaft on a roof just to feel your heart pound on the outside of your chest… or sit on a stoop.

The neighborhood’s awake and talented songwriters, musicians and storytellers are ready to paint characters and scenes for your eyes and ears. Here are the artists on the block:

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Songsmiths:

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Claudia Chopek (with Ward White), Edward Rogers, Debby Schwartz (with Katie Gentile), Eddie Skuller (with Mike Fornatale), Lianne Smith, Amanda Thorpe

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Storytellers:

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Abbi Crutchfield, Philip Dray, Thomas Pryor, Naturi Thomas, Adam Wade

Neighborhood Evolution ~ a Feb 2010 show ~ songs, art & tales from Hoboken & New York artists burrowing through their warrens

Claudia Chopek, Debby Schwartz and myself are planning a show to investigate the Hoboken ~ New York neighborhood connection. They'll be fabulous artists, musicians & storytellers to make you laugh, cry, think, feel.

The show will be in Hoboken in February 2010. As soon as we lock a date, venue and line-up, I'll let you know. I promise a great time. be well, Tommy
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the first three photos below, were taken at the Hoboken waterfront, the others are from midtown Manhattan.