Magical Summer Light

This sign always triggered my thirst

Here are photographs from around Manhattan, summer 2012. Magical summer light.

Cornelia looking toward W 4th

Bleecker & Cornelia

If you enjoy my stories please  check out my memoir, "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood." Available at Logos Book Store or online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

The book has 108 Amazon five star reviews out of 108 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. You can also purchase my photography portfolio, "River to River - New York Scenes From a Bicycle" on Amazon.

As Good As It Gets

with Prof. Robert White @ Hunter College, December 2010

My favorite teacher of all-time, Professor Robert White from Hunter College showed up unannounced at my Barnes & Noble event on Oct 17th.  I let out a high pitch yelp when I saw him from the podium. It was the second time I had seen Prof. White in 37 years (we briefly met at Hunter in 2010).

As lucky as I am to have Robert Lipsyte, Kevin Baker, Dave Hill, Barbara Turner & Thomas Beller say nice things about the book, and to have 35 five star reviews on Amazon, nothing makes me grin like the email I received from Professor White today.


Dr. Robert White to tp:


Dear Tom,

I will start this e-mail by telling you how much I enjoyed your Barnes & Noble reading. You were terrific. But as wonderful as that evening was, it paled before the pure joy I received from actually reading your book. It was wonderful to recall Rheingold beer (I still remember casting countless ballots for Miss Rheingold, in the grocery store rather than in a bar, as well as all the winners from the mid-forties to the mid-fifties), the Miss Subways, Horn and Hardart mac and cheese (which my family consumed every meatless Friday night), Spaldeens, and Brylcreem (a tube of which I kept next to my tube of Colgate until one evening in 1959 when I had a date and, in my haste to get ready, I grabbed the wrong one--Brylcreem on your teeth is disgusting beyond belief). Since I went to Regis High School from 1953 to 1957, I remember with fondness that strange orange drink they served at the Nedicks near the 86th Street Lexington Avenue No. 6 subway line, the Loew's Orpheum, and the RKO. My father, who boxed in the Golden Gloves, never missed Friday Night at the Fights unless he was playing pinochle with his buddies. I haven't thought about that for years.

I, too, had a Jerry Mahoney ventriloquist dummy. It was amazing how many of them were in American households from the early 50s on. But enough about me. Let me tell you my favorite chapters. I found "The Third Beer" and the account of your meeting with Luis Arroyo extremely moving, as I did the Sparky Lyle "Back in the Bullpen" chapter. It was fun to read "The Headlock That Won for the Giants" after hearing your reading of it at Barnes & Noble. "Beans in My Pocket" was a blast. My other favorite chapters (and, as you can tell, there were many of them) were "Trading Cards," especially your encounter with Carl Yastrzemski, since it justified the inordinate pleasure I derived from Derek Jeter's passing him in the 3000-hit club, "The Holy Cart" and "My First Area Rug," from which I gained an insight into your entrepreneurial side, "A Valentine for Nan" (remind me to tell you of the fight I had with Jackie Whittle which landed me in the hospital with a severed tendon when I was 13 years old), "His Master's Voice," and my two absolute favorites--"The Playtex Chapel" and "Mamma Mia."

"I Hate the Dallas Cowboys" has everything--humor, nostalgia, love. Thank you for writing this excellent book.

Fondly, Bob White

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Thank you, to everyone who's left a comment at Amazon on the book, I deeply appreciate your time and thoughts. If you have read the book or will read the book and have not left a comment it would mean much to me if you do, just a few honest words. hugs, tommy



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"Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts" is coming home to the old neighborhood on Thursday, December 4th for a terrific Holiday Show @ Ryans Daughter 350 East 85th Street @ 7 to 10pm. Our artists: Eric Vetter & his unplugged band, Michele Carlo, Lincoln C. Chinnery, Abbi Crutchfield, Walter Michael DeForest & Colin Dempsey.  FREE show, come on down!

If you can't make Yorkville on December 4th, Monday, December 1st I'm be telling a story in the East Village at We Three Productions Reading at 2A, 25 Ave A @ 2nd St. - Upstairs ~ FREE 

 
Tuesday, December 9th we have our next monthly "Stoops to Nuts" storytelling show at Cornelia Street Cafe with with these fine artists: Muneesh Jain; Margarita Pracatan; Elizabeth Rowe; Jeff Rose


Reviews on the book:

“Thomas R. Pryor has written a sweet, funny, loving memoir of growing up old-school in a colorful New York neighborhood. A story of sports, family, and boyhood, you’ll be able to all but taste, smell, and feel this vanished world.” 

 —Kevin Baker, author of the novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Strivers Row

“Tommy Pryor’s New York boyhood…was the mid-century coming of age of all of us. A rousing read.” 

—Robert Lipsyte, author and former city and sports columnist, The New York Times

“Pryor could take a felt hat and make it funny.” 

—Barbara Turner-Vesselago, author of Writing Without A Parachute: The Art of Freefall

“Pryor burrows into the terrain of his childhood with a longing and obsessiveness so powerful it feels like you are reading a memoir about his first great love.” 

—Thomas Beller, author of J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist

“I wasn’t alive for the New York Thomas Pryor writes about, but thanks to his brilliant, honest, and hilarious book, I feel like I was there.” 

—Dave Hill, comedian and author of Tasteful Nudes

Tommy Visits The Goddamn Dave Hill Radio Show Tonight, 10pm on WFMU 91.1 FM

art by Joe Dettmore

Tonight, I'm taking the PATH train to visit "The Goddamn Dave Hill Show" at 10pm on WFMU ~ 91.1 FM ~ or listen live online at http://wfmu.org/

I Hate the Dallas Cowboys 

tales of a scrappy New York boyhood 

Art work here by Joe Dettmore

My Book in This Week's Our Town Newspaper

This week's issue of Our Town newspaper ran a solid piece on my book, "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys tales of a scrappy New York boyhood," and last Friday's Barnes & Noble event.  Thank you, Our Town and Catherine Roberts! - the piece is not online yet only hard copy or read below.

My book is available at Logos Bookstore on York Avenue, Barnes & Noble 86 Street, and online at Amazon and B&N.

Timeless Yorkville Sunset ~ 1964-2014

If you were to compare photos from tonight's Yorkville sunset on the East River with photos taken fifty years ago, few things have changed. Imagine yourself younger strolling the Drive on a warm autumn night. A timeless evening on the river.

Join me with St. Stephen of Hungary's 4th grade at "I Hate The Dallas Cowboys: tales of a scrappy New York boyhood" ~ Thomas Pryor's Book Event @ Barnes & Noble 150 E. 86 Street. We will share our ageless Yorkville memories.

Two Stellar Reviews for "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood"

Two outstanding reviews from Kevin Baker and Robert Lipsyte for "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New york boyhood." They both loved the book.

In their words...

“Thomas R. Pryor has written a sweet, funny, loving memoir of growing up old-school in a colorful New York neighborhood. A story of sports, family, and boyhood, you’ll be able to all but taste, smell, and feel this vanished world.”

Kevin Baker, author of the novels "Dreamland," Paradise Alley," and "Strivers Row," as well as other works of fiction and nonfiction.


"Tommy Pryor's New York City boyhood was nothing like mine, a few
miles and a borough away, and yet in its heart, tenderness, and tough teachable moments
around Dad and ball, it was the mid-century coming of age of all of us. A rousing read."

Robert Lipsyte, author and former city and sports columnist, The New York Times

This book doesn't happen without the fine editing job by Francis Flaherty, New York's best story editor. Thank you, Frank.

"I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood" book release party @ Tuesday, October 14th @ City Stories: Stoops to Nuts @ Cornelia Street Cafe - followed by a book event at Barnes & Noble, 150 E. 86 St on Friday, October 17th @ 7pm in the Yorkville neighborhood on the Upper East Side."

LBI ~ Part Two

The ocean water is clean, seventy-four degrees and the surf, deceptively rough. The dog dug a hole, being a good guest; I joined Ricki in the hole. We stayed there covered with sand for an hour humming tunes, until a nosey pelican teased Ricki. We both rushed the bird. Exhausted from the two-block run, we went in the water to freshen up. When we came out, I fell on my back in the wet sand and Ricki rubbed my belly with her front paw. Then we switched and I rubbed her belly. Later, Ricki gave me an ear rub.

Our exhaustive mission left me sandy, breathless and sweaty. Ricki and I sniffed each other goodbye, and I returned to the backyard of the house to take my final outdoor shower. I’m going home today - that made me sad, but the shower softened my blues and I milked it like a final bite of a yummy pepperoni slice of pizza.

After I took my clothes off, I teased myself. I stuck one arm under the water, noticed the difference between the air temperature and the water’s temperature, played with it, then slowly passed my whole body through the shower. While the rope of water pounded my neck, my tension eased and I looked over the shampoo selection and noticed a purplish bottle with a frog colored top. I grabbed it and read the label,
“Herbal Essences - Totally Twisted - Curls and Waves Shampoo.”
If this was true, who knew what amazing things would happen to my hair? I read the back label, it talked to me.
“With a French fusion of lavender twist & jade extracts, I’m deliciously bent and your hair is, too.”
I couldn’t stop, my heart raced.
“Are you happy go loopy?”
That’s me! I’m in love with this amazing product.
“Happiness goes round. I’m essential to a curl’s life with a cleaning that’s totally springy.
My formula fuses French lavender and jade - makes curls and waves smooth, lush and defined. Use me: lather up, have a lush moment with your curls, rinse and repeat.”
I stretched my lush moment. I’d spent the last three days with hat head - my hair stuck flat to my brain’s roof, an area rug where a wavy plush oriental once laid. Poor shampoo choice. “Totally Twisted” promised curls and waves, I took a leap of faith.

Twenty minutes after drying off, my hair looked like a prairie. Waves, curls, I was bouffant; luckily it was a little windy and a bit humid, contributing to my full luxurious head of hair. I went to the LBI Chowder fest and the remarks thrown my way, made it clear, “Herbal Essences - Totally Twisted - Curls and Waves Shampoo” and me were going to be together for a long time.

At a red light, I heard two women crossing the street checking me out as they noticed me freshly showered behind the steering wheel.


“Holy crap!”
“Look, at those curls!”
“Did you see the waves on that guy?”