They're Dancing on the Ceiling, They're Dancing on The Floor

To celebrate the last "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts radio show," we danced till the cows came home.

The dancing will continue tonight at Giovanna's @ 9pm to midnight @ 1567 Lexington Avenue between 100th and 101st Street.

Come down, have a drink, make noise! I showed up 26 straight weeks. This ties a personal record for starting and finishing a project.

My guest, John Lewis, and I are talking about the birth of radio and one of its richest pioneers, Ted Husing. He was The Radio Master. Listen here:

http://centannibroadcasting.com/

Our second hour will be anarchy, three free mikes are open for business. (Matt & Mary needed to cancel for personal reasons. I send them my best wishes).

If you get down to Giovanna's and have something to say... well, come say it!

See you later at the restaurant, be well, Tommy

I'm going back to school, received my Hunter College Alumni card today. Looking forward to using the college library for my work.

My first day at Hunter, September 1972, I'm on crutches. The previous week, during a Bronx Warriors football practice, my own teammate jumped on a pile I was under with the football after a tackle and the jerk landed full weight on my lower left leg breaking my fibula earning me a cast and crutches.

It was hot in Hunter, I was struggling in the halls to get between the 8th & 9th floors. I used the staircase to go up by hopping on one leg and holding the crutches. When I got to the floor landing, I made eye contact with a smiling Chinese kid. Thanking him with a nod, I put both crutches under my arms and started walking towards the giant open door with my head down.

As I felt the wind of the giant door coming towards my head, I figured out the Chinese kid wasn't smiling at me. The metal door he released smacked me in the noggin. I hopped backwards as carefully as one can to avoid going down a flight of marble stairs. I hit the wall several feet away and fell to the floor. Students rushed around me, late for class.

It was good to be back at Hunter today. I forget my work bag in the Alumni office when Laura sent me to the ID office in another building. I only noticed the bag was missing when I needed something in it 10 minutes later. John runs a pleasant ID office, he took my picture, I went back to Laura, who was expecting to see me, and went back to John to get the ID. It was ready when I arrived. Today, I have no cast and no crutches. I am off to an improved start at Hunter College.

Carl Schurz in Snow ~ Last Radio Show

On the day before the last day of the year, I mushed Carl Schurz Park and caught it sleeping under snow.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=251870&id=541978729

This coming Tues @ Jan 4th @ 9pm is my last "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts," radio show.

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/id56.html

My guests are: John Lewis, author of a terrific new book "Radio Master ~ the Life and Times of Sports Broadcasting Great Ted Husing," and Mary Crowley & Matt Knapp, wonderful songwriters and musicians. Come down to the show at Giovanna's @ 1567 Lexington Avenue for an old fashion house party. Take the #6 train to 96th street or 103rd Street stop and walk to the restaurant located between 100nd & 100st Street.

Christmas break 1967, after a snowfall similar to this one, I was sledding on Cherry Hill at 79th Street. Soaked, frozen and tired I headed home to 83rd Street and York. Moaning along, I turned back at Madison Avenue and saw a crosstown bus burst out of the park's transverse. I stood waiting my turn to get on and the bus driver stuck his head around a big lady's butt and said, "No sleds!" I gave him the finger and jumped off the bus.

At that point, I realized I had a pee. Bad. I ran home, straight down 79th Street, made a left on York, a right on 83rd, all the way down my block into my vestibule. Like a madman I rang the bell silly while circling the tight area. No answer. I kept trying. No answer. I looked down and saw my dungarees were mostly wet anyway and I let 'er go. I leaned against the mailboxes, it felt so good. While my eyes were closed, Mrs. Pucher walked into the hallway with packages and her 12 year old daughter, Lorraine, who was one year behind me in St. Stephen's. Mrs. Pucher and Lorraine definitely caught a look at the stream meandering down my leg, then both of them looked up at the ceiling while the mom fumbled for her house keys. I completely blocked out anything that happened next.

The Ghost in You

Inside you the time moves, and she don't fade.

Last night, I'm walking home from the radio show along Lexington Avenue with three of my guests, Eric, Alex and Marie. We're talking, we're laughing, enjoying the glow from the show. As we hit 96th Street a crosstown bus flies by going west and Marie takes off with her arm waving like it's a religious revival and Eric and Alex are close behind. I'm left on the corner alone, I smile to myself and keep walking.

The radio show was in the past, but my mind didn't know that. My four spontaneous guests, Marcia St. Clair, Marie Sicari, Alex DeSuze & Eric Vetter kept the spirit of "let's see what happens next?" going strong with exceptional support from Betty Eng when my laptop and music took an unexpected swim and sunk deep below the sea down to Davey Jones Locker and we improvised.

I didn't get a chance to play "The Ghost in You," by the Psych Furs last night before the accident, but I hummed it all the way home.

The ghost in you, she don't fade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMmA8PsTvPA

Thank you, folks, for a great next to last radio show.

Mia Berman, thank you for my amazing red striped socks from Oz that turned my dungarees into knickers. Smooch!

Please come down next Tuesday for the final Yorkville show, it will be a house party. My scheduled guests are John Lewis and Mary Crowley & Matt Knapp. I assure you others will join us to say goodbye.

hugs, Tommy

Yorkville Radio Signing Off ~ Next to Last Show @ Tonight @ 9pm

Tonight, is my next to last Yorkville radio show.

Next week will be my 26th show. I signed on to do 20 shows, had too much fun, so I extended six more into the coming New Year (January 4th is my last show with guests John Lewis, author of " Radio Master, The Life and Times of Sports Broadcasting Great: Ted Husing," & Mary Crowley and Matt Knapp, musicians & songwriters.

Thank you, everyone, who listened in. Tonight's show will be interesting. I have no scheduled guests and the odds of anyone getting to Giovanna's Restaurant with the weather conditions are dim. I'm playing lots of music and getting silly.

Received good writing news today, mood is tip-top.

Listen in @ 9pm on the Centanni link:

http://centannibroadcasting.com/

Whole Lotta Snow pix:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=249934&id=541978729

Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You:

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

Sometimes In Winter

If you like, listen to the show at the link below:

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/id56.html

During the show, I mentioned my worst Christmas gift ever.

When I was ten, after fattening me up for a few years (my brother and I called her refrigerator “Treasure Island”), my grandmother gave me a package on Christmas morning that looked like it was wrapped by monkeys. Fully expecting a toy I tore it open and found a shiny pair of HUSKIES dungarees, the three fold style with starch, stiff like a steamroller gave them a once over. The tag saying HUSKIES was so big you could read it from across the room.

I looked at my grandmother funny, and she asked,” Do you think they’ll fit?”

Wild In The Streets

On Lexington Avenue last night, inside Giovanna's Restaurant near the parish of St. Lucy's in East Harlem, Michele Carlo & I read from her terrific memoir, "Fish Out Of Agua." Michele's rich neighborhood tales are drenched in humor and pathos. We went back to 1944, and forward to the recent past. Always present in Michele's stories are family, friends, and characters, and the places we live that connect us all.

Thank you, Michele, for a great show, come back to Yorkville soon, Tommy

ps. a Garland Jeffreys song, "Wild In The Streets." Garland channels the spirit of New York City with ease and passion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RzBZsOeqOQ

photo above: 102st looking north on Lexington, all photos below Michele & I are bike ride scenes at or near the Battery this past Sunday.

Two Years Old ~ Still Learning to Walk

This week is "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts," second anniversary. I started the blog ~ October 2008. This is my 420th post. There are 2,000 photos up. I have a thousand more I need to scan, and a story behind each picture.

My intention is to continue to bring to life a working class neighborhood, it's places and people that evoke a lost era. A translation of the movie in my head of growing up in the 1950s & 1960s' and how interesting parts of that world are still here if you take the time to stop and locate them.

I hope to keep this blog alive until I kick the bucket. Thank you, for reading my stuff.

be well, Tommy

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Thank you, Jeanne Stahlman, for being a wonderful guest this past Tuesday night on the radio show. Your stories and rich memories of New York City & Boston knock me out. We played many songs, all of them keepers.

If you would like to listen to the show, here is the link to my archive page at the Centanni Broadcasting Network. Just click on the 10.5.10 show with Jeanne.

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/id56.html

Reminder: the "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts" radio show has been expanded to two hours! Tune in live on Tuesday @ 9pm to 11pm. Thank you, Betty, Divino & Johnny.