When a post card cost 3 cents.
July 29, 2012—
BROOKLYN, N.Y.—-I never thought I would see her again. In the early autumn of 2007 I said so long and see ya’ later to Ruby’s Bar & Grill. It was an amicable parting. She wanted to dress up and move into a higher plane. I wasn’t getting any younger and I still liked old stuff like hearing the Drifters sing “Up on the Roof” on her jukebox that skipped a beat in the thick summer air.
Ruby’s opened in 1934 and became the oldest bar on the Coney Island Boardwalk. She closed in November, 2010.
There was no fancy exit threshold. Ruby always opened up to the great possibilities of the Atlantic Ocean with the [...]
July 20, 2012—
I can hardly wait. Soon I will have my favorite lady over to my house for a candlelight dinner. I will make my spicy jambalaya, well, because, it is the only thing I know how to make well. I will put on some romantic Curtis Mayfield smooth grooves in the background. On vinyl that crackles like a warm fireplace. And pour a glass of Super Fly Cabernet.
Yes , it is true. The man of the hour has an air of great power. The dudes have envied him for so long…… A line of three wines named after Mayfield hit songs will be out this fall.
Besides “Super Fly,” named after his 1972 number one hit, look for “Gypsy Woman Chardonnay” (pegged after the 1961 [...]
July 20, 2012-–
NEW YORK, N.Y.—Went vinyl digging in the rain at Bleecker Street Records and other ports of call before tonight’s Curtis Mayfield Tribute Concert at the Lincoln Center Festival.
Can’t wait to wrap the turntable around the double LP “Super Funk 2” with tracks like “Jelly Roll” by the Granby Street Development and “Monkey In a Sack” by Lil’ Buck & the Top Cats. While scouring the Bleecker basement (with a fat grey cat working the floor), the warm sound of Mayfield’s guitar—one that so perfectly complemented his falsetto—-washed over the room. I bought The Impressions “Check Out Your Mind!” for a new friend.
In a 1993 [...]
July 19, 2012—
HANNIBAL, Mo.—-The sleepy but spunky Hannibal, Missouri was built on escapism. Situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River along majestic limestone bluffs and caves, the town’s endless gateways caught the imagination of a young Samuel Clemens. Freight trains still run by the Mississippi River and Bear Creek and they, too have always been on their way to someplace bigger.
Like Dubuque.
On this humid Sunday evening in mid-July, Danville Dans assistant coach Trevor Hall would rather be anywhere than the historic Clemens Stadium on the south edge of [...]
