"Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think"

Two years ago,  The New York Times  published my piece below. It remains relevant.

October 1962, my parents mood was grim. Lot of whispering between them.The newspaper headlines were bold and twice their normal size like World Series headlines. All I heard from just about everybody, "The Russians are coming." This raised the hair on the back of my neck. The Cuban Missile Crisis commanded television and radio's full attention. I tried to shut it out of my mind. I was eight years old in third grade at St. Stephen of Hungary on East 82nd Street. Starting our music period, our teacher, Mrs. Francis, put the needle on the record and said, "class, sing along!" The worried mood, still here.


"Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.
enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink."

At the time, I was oblivious to the meaning of the lyrics we were singing.
I liked the tune. Thinking back, it was not a prudent selection for young children to sing in fall 1962 when their world was in peril. No mystery as to why this memory came back to me.

A Lost Hope Remembered

54 years ago, my father took this photo of RFK with my grandmother, Ann Pryor Rode, on the right smiling looking down at me, 10 years old, in the crowd at his rally for NY Senator on the s/w corner of 78 St. & First Avenue in 1964. My grandmother, Yorkville's Democratic District Leader, worked hard for Bobby in his 1964 senator run and again in 1968 in his campaign for President. In 1967, RFK sent Nan a congratulatory letter signing it, "Bob." Tomorrow's a sad day for our fractured country marking what might have been.

Swimming to Stoops to Nuts & Other Travel Options

It's raining, its pouring, the old man is...  heading to "City Stories: Stoops to Nuts" tonight, Dec 9th @ 6pm @ Cornelia Street Cafe. A merge of storytelling and narrative song ~ a love letter to street life, the neighborhood and the characters in it. Our artists: Muneesh Jain; Margarita Pracatan; Elizabeth Rowe and  Jeff Rose.

$ 8 admission includes a free drink. I'm your host and I'm telling one from my new book,  "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood." 

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I'm at my window, the driving rain is doing its best to not hit the sidewalk, its swirling around, going mostly sideways until it finds an unprotected dressed so wrong person to smack in the face. The rain plans to stick around for a few days so I'm trying to figure out a way to get some people to "Stoops to Nut"s tonight. 

I've consulted Rory. He suggested I double check with Popeye for an updated Colorform weather report. I did.  Popeye says wear a Mac, a Morton Fisherman storm hat and Yellow matching water proof boots (disclaimer: my Colorform set when I was young had boots, updated set shown here fired the boots).

I'm thinking of friends that live within a five block radius of Cornelia Street Cafe. I'm calling in all chits. Also locating friends that swam varsity or sail. When I head down later, I'll pass through Central Park and pick up a few turtles, ducks and geese.

This is the kind of weather you pray for when that movie you've been waiting to see on the Turner cable channel is on tonight at 6pm, so you can say to your friend, "I'm so sorry, I missed your show. I have no rain gear and my lumbago's been acting up."

Or... you could look at it as a challenge, you know... kind of like hitting every puddle on the way home from school, what's your mother gonna say?

"Why didn't you dodge the rain?"

Below, today's weather report in photos.

Give My Regards to Broadway ~ Stoops to Nuts show tonight @ 6pm @ Cornelia St Cafe

Ed Sullivan Theatre @ 2.9.14

Walked through the theatre district and Central Park Sunday night in the snow before The Beatles TV tribute. Saw some nice things, Ed Sullivan Theatre, George M. Cohan and Robert Burns.

George M. Cohan told me he heard "City Stories: Stoops To Nuts" was so good he's coming back from the dead to attend. He'll be nursing a hot toddy at a rear table. Have a pop with the real Yankee Doodle Dandy. His mother thanks you. His father thanks you. His sister thanks you. And he thanks you.

George M. Cohan

Tonight Tuesday, "City Stories: Stoops to Nuts," at Cornelia Street Cafe. February 11th @ 6pm come listen to Sherryl Marshall, Agatha Nowickiand Regina Ress. Agatha and Regina are telling, and Sherryl is singing her stories in a special showcase set.

Admission is $8 and that includes a free drink. I promise a good time or I'll eat my straw hat.

Time Out Magazine says, "Stoops to Nuts," is a smashing experience not to be missed. No they didn't, but they do say it's a cool thing to do.

Robert Burns

It's Snowing Here

Yes it is, it's true. Yes it is, it's true. Snow!

John Jay Park at Dusk ~ Photo Exhibit Opens Oct 1st @ Yorkville Creperie

If you were looking for your softball somewhere near this fence & wall on 76th Street, odds were high someone had just hit a home run. South end of John Jay Park.

I was down the park doing some thinking and writing last week at the end of a day and sat there till dusk settled over. The river was gorgeous through the silhouettes of the trees.

The reason Yorkville ended up with a second park on the river between 76th and 78th Street is that property's footprint was the original site for the bridge to Queens. When they later choose 59th Street and built the bridge there, the city gave the John Jay property to the Parks Department and it tied in perfectly with the Suburban Houses across the street built between 1901 and 1909. Yorkville's political might out of the the Cherokee Club at 334 E. 79th Street was a city-wide force with 4,000 due paying members prior to 1950.

Yorkville Creperie at 1586 York Avenue is currently hosting an exhibit of my photography. The work will be on display through the end of this year. All framed work is for sale and my photographic prints are available for purchase @ Thomas R. Pryor Photography. There is a price list on the wall at Yorkville Creperie. The manager has a flyer describing the exhibit with the price list and my background. Please ask your Creperie server or the manager for a copy.

Also on display are photographs of the Creperie storefront and The Saloon storefront from 1960 and 1962 when they were known as Joe's Candy Store and the Old Timer's Tavern. One is my first photo of Dad and his pals in the bar looking out, and the other is my Dad's shot of my cousin Bobby, Rory and I on Christmas Day with my first two wheeler. That bike and Dad's camera kicked off my interest in photography when we rode all over Manhattan every weekend we could.

There's an opening reception for the exhibit on Tuesday, October 1st @ 7pm to 9pm next door the Creperie in The Saloon. Everyone is welcome, refreshments will be served. Come visit Yorkville, we'll have a nice time.

Stoops To Nuts Tonight - Bowery Island Summer

"City Stories Stoops to Nuts" storytelling show @ Cornelia Street Cafe ~ Tonight, Tuesday @ December  11th @ 6pm. Our artists: Barbara Aliprantis, Nicole Ferraro, Amanda Thorpe and Adam Wade. 

Our special guest, Jim Hawkins, will tell a fine seasonal yarn then shoot back home to study for his semester finals at Power Memorial. 

Admission is $8, that includes one free drink.

Took photographs on and about The Bowery last summer on the Lower East Side.  Here are a few along with a fiery sunset on East 86th Street.

The NY Daily News recommends tonight's show.

A PRYOR ENGAGEMENT. Acclaimed author Tom Pryor hosts “Stoops to Nuts,” an evening of storytelling and song, at the Cornelia Street Cafe. Also on the bill: Barbara Aliprantis, Nicole Ferraro, Amanda Thorpe and Adam Wade. 6 p.m. $8. 29 Cornelia St. (212) 989-9319.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/events/free-cheap-new-york-tuesday-dec-11-article-1.1217053#ixzz2ElW7cfxi