What Was Your First 45 & Last Single?

What Was Your First & Last 45 Single?

My first 45 single was "Witch Doctor," by Dave Seville & the Chipmunks in 1958. Dad had it behind his back when he walked into the bathroom and I was in the tub. He took the record from behind his back and held it up, "Tommy, look what I got for you!" I was so excited I threw my head up and down and chipped my front tooth on the faucet.

The next two records were "Alvin's Harmonica," and "Little Darlin'" by the Diamonds. Mom liked that one, and later Chuck McCann used it in one of his puppet sketches.

Dad had a single of "Bolero." The cover with the dancing senorita knocked me out.

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My next to last single was Springsteen's "Fire." probably in 1989. I wanted the "B" side: a ten minute live version of "Incident on 57th Street. Longest single I ever owned. Don't scratch that one.

My last single was "Missionary Man,” with a cool cover by the Eurythmics.

What was your first single and last 45?

ps my favorite single of all time:

Robert Gordon & Link Wray "Fire."

"190!"

All SJU ruggers get the reference.

Baby Birds on the Fire Escape

Being born may be a beautiful thing but it’s also messy and incredibly stressful. And that’s if it happens in a hospital and you go home to a warm safe place. Mom focuses entirely on you and Dad has an intimate relationship with Duane Reade picking up diapers and other baby supplies.

So what happens if there’s no hospital, no safe warm place, no Dad and no Duane Reade? You make do. On a fire escape you build a nest of scraps in a corner against a window gate that hasn’t been opened in a hundred years.

I have no problem with pigeons, like all birds I enjoy their aerial shows. When I was a boy, the fellow on the fifth floor in my 83rd Street building had a large pigeon coop on our 517 roof. I loved watching his birds take off and come home.

When I saw the babies last week on the fire escape with the noticeably cautious mom right there with them, my wonderment kicked in, and I recalled the nest on my apartment’s fire escape when we moved into Yorkville on June 20, 1957. Mom didn’t like that. When she saw the birds she gave Dad a look, and took my brother & me for a surprise ice cream trip. The birds were gone when we came back. When I left the mom and babies last week, I wished them lots of luck.

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The next City Stories: Stoops to Nuts storytelling show on Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. at Cornelia Street Cafe. While you swim you'll hear great tellers and songsmiths, The Amygdaloids, Lindsey Gentile, Rachel Pertile Goldstein, Jed Parrish, Thomas Pryor and Andy Ross. It will change your life. I don't know how we do it, but we do. The Cafe requests $7 admission to cover their expenses then they turn around and give you a free drink, a swell deal.

Cornelia Street Café, @ 29 Cornelia St. between W. 4th St. & Bleecker St.