Category Archives: Commentary

Flea Market Find – Album Of Marching Music

A Marching LP Album That Did Not Sell Many Copies

You never know what you’ll find at a flea market. Someone at the Stormville, NY Yard Sale in September had Marches Of The Israel Defense Forces. I took a picture of the LP but somehow deleted it. The photo below is from eBay.

Whatever possessed Columbia Records to release this?

Did this album sell even 100 copies?

So the only other thing to contemplate is what does the music sound like? Continue reading

Solving A Phone Booth Problem

A Little Person In A Phone Booth – 1977

photo APLake George, NY, Aug 5 – SHORT CIRCUIT
Three-foot high Ruthie Soucek solves her height problem by utilizing the shelf in a telephone booth at Lake George, NY.  She is a member of a performing group appearing in this community. – AP Wirephoto 1977

Another slow news day photograph. So if a newspaper had some extra column space to fill, this photo and caption might appear. Unfortunately the photographer is uncredited. Continue reading

A Baseball Record No One Wants To Break (Or Probably Will)

Stealing Lots Of Bases Means Getting Caught Stealing A Lot

The Record No Player Wants To Break – Caught Stealing

Rickey Henderson Owns The Most Career Steals & Caught Stealing Records

Pittsburgh’s Maury Wills is caught stealing third in the eighth inning as Giants third baseman Jim Ray Hart applies the tag, umpire Augie Donatelli signals Wills out. June 13, 1968  photo: Russ Reed

The new rule changes scheduled to go into effect in 2023 might result in more stolen bases. The bases will be physically larger increasing Continue reading

Who Would Watch “Forest Grump”?

What Happens When You Add An “R” To The Title Of A Movie?

Occasionally Reddit will have some funny topics, among them this query:

“What movie changes its plot if you add a random “R” somewhere in its title?”

Looking through a couple of hundred comments, many wrote the same obvious re-wordings; Planet of the Rapes, The Bartman, Beauty and the Breast, Troy Story and so on.

Continue reading

Old New York In Postcards #27 – The 10 Tallest Buildings In 1939

Skyscraper Race – The 10 Tallest Buildings In New York City In 1939

When the Park Row Building was completed in 1899, the 31 story office building was the highest in New York and the world at 382 feet. Less than seven years later it was no longer the tallest, with the Singer Building soaring 211 feet higher than the Park Row.

Today the Park Row Building, converted to residences, is not even among the 100 tallest buildings in New York. And the Singer Building was demolished over 55 years ago.

The constant desire by developers to top one another has continued and accelerated in the past dozen years.

The skyline is being overtaken by mostly nondescript glass boxes dwarfing other buildings and eclipsing many of the classic New York skyscrapers.

As of 2022 the ten tallest buildings in New York are:

Rank   Name                                 Height Stories Year Completed Address
1         One World Trade Center 1,776    94        2014                     285 Fulton Street
2         Central Park Tower          1,550     99        2021                     225 West 57th Street
3         111 West 57th Street       1,428     85        2022                     111 West 57th Street
4         One Vanderbilt                 1,401      73       2020                      1 Vanderbilt Avenue
5         432 Park Avenue              1,397      85       2015                      432 Park Avenue
6         30 Hudson Yards              1,270     103     2019                      500 West 33rd Street
7         Empire State Building      1,250     102     1931                      350 Fifth Avenue
8         Bank of America Tower   1,200       55      2009                     1101 Sixth Avenue
9         3 World Trade Center      1,079       69      2018                      175 Greenwich Street
10       The Brooklyn Tower         1,073       73      2022                      9 DeKalb Avenue (Brooklyn)

Recently looking at the 1939 World Almanac there was a list of the tallest buildings in New York.

Here are the top ten from that list-

All heights listed are the Almanac’s figures which may differ from modern estimates.

1. The Empire State Building is located on the site of the original Continue reading

Do American’s Obey Laws Because Of Religion?

Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen On Americans, Democracy, Laws & Religion

The late Clayton Christensen (1952-2020) of Harvard Business School made this one and a half minute video in 2014. Considering the breakdowns in civility and law we are witnessing today it is well worth watching.

My personal views not withstanding, a friend once said religion “is the opium of the people.” Oh, sorry that wasn’t my friend, that was Karl Marx in his critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of the Right.

My real friend said that religion prevents Continue reading

What Are Baseball Players Celebrating? Certainly Not Winning The World Series.

New York Giants Celebrate Winning The National League Pennant September 30. 1937

Or, How To Put Celebrating In Perspective

The way baseball players celebrate or more accurately carry on when they win a regular ball game makes me scratch me head. It also makes me a little nauseous.

C.J. Abrams gets a Gatorade shower after delivering a tenth inning game winning single over the Atlanta Braves for the last place Washington Nationals. photo: San Diego Union Tribune

On September 28, 2022 the Washington Nationals Continue reading

The Amazing Pat Benatar Can Still Belt Out The Songs At Age 69

Pat Benatar Performs Promises In The Dark Live In Albany July 2022

Pat Benatar performs live July 2022 Albany NYRocker Pat Benatar has been performing with her husband, guitarist and songwriter Neil Geraldo for over 43 years.

Musicians don’t fret that their skills will deteriorate the way singers do.

A powerful rock singer usually has no more than ten to fifteen years of prime vocal strength and then its a slow steady decline as their range and power diminish. The decline can be devastating to the singer and painfully sad for fans of a band. Ask Steve Perry of Journey or Lou Gramm of Foreigner.

Not so with Pat Benatar.

At age 69 Pat Benatar has been singing her heart out for over 40 years. This performance last month in Albany, NY shows that Pat can still hit her notes.

Husband Neil Geraldo is one of the most underrated guitarists in rock. His fluid style of playing does not get noticed by the casual rock fan. He is an amazing talent.

In this clip Pat tells the audience that the musical couple are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.

No hair dye.

No auto-tune Continue reading

When We Used To Manufacture Things In The United States

U.S. Manufacturing And Industry In Cities In The 1930s

When The U.S.A. Did Not Rely Upon Imports

See What 16 Cities Of The United States Used To Produce

Worker at furniture factory, Arthurdale, West Virginia 1937 photo: Ben Shahn via Library of Congress

As the Covid-19 debacle made clear to Americans we are now dependent upon foreign countries for many of the things necessary to conduct our daily lives.”Supply-chain” issues have been one of the main reasons given to explain the shortages of thousands of products. Continue reading