Category Archives: Commentary

The End of the Parking Meter in New York City

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Out with The Old, In With The New – NYC Parking Meters Replaced by Muni Meters

Old baaaaad- parking meter

They are all gone now. At least from Manhattan. As of September 19, 2011, all the parking meters have been replaced by Muni Meters. The parking meter, which allowed you to park in many commercial areas of New York City for a designated amount of time, will soon be a memory. Like rotary phones, telephone booths and those red  fire alarm boxes attached to lamp posts, parking meters have become obsolete. Continue reading →

AC/DC Riff Raff – Live in Glasgow 1978

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Bon Scott and Angus Young With A Blistering Version of Riff Raff

Rock n’ roll was meant to be dangerous and a live performance should reflect that.

In the late 70’s as AC/DC were on the way to conquering the world with a relentless tour schedule and knockout performances, they filmed a few shows for posterity. This one at The Apollo Centre Theatre in Glasgow Scotland on April 30, 1978 does not have great footage, nor is the sound quality all that good. What is exceptional is the dynamic tension that is displayed in this show. AC/DC is ready to blow any other band off the stage. And you can feel it. Continue reading →

Cliff Burton’s Death and Metallica’s Commercial Popularity

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Metallica’s Cliff Burton Died 25 Years Ago, September 27, 1986

In 1984, I already owned a 51 minute, soon to be thrash classic called Kill ‘Em All. So when I played a new cassette tape for my father and told him “this is the best heavy metal album I ever heard and one day this band will be acknowledged as great, although they will probably never be popular,” I was sure he would agree with me.

He agreed with one part- that they would never be popular and years later we would both be proven wrong. They did become very popular.  The band was Metallica and the cassette tape was Ride The Lightning.  My father couldn’t understand how I could listen to it.  Too fast, too loud, too much screaming. His hard rock tastes stopped somewhere between Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper.  Getting no radio airplay, Continue reading →

The Death of New York Rock Radio

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WRXP-FM (101.9) Becomes All News WEMP-FM

Commercial FM album rock radio is dead. Period.

That slow death began when WPLJ-FM flipped to CHR in 1983. It has been in a steady decline since then. The WRXP-FM flip to all news in August confirms that no station programmer can succeed in New York in the capturing of a dedicated rock listening audience large enough to satisfy the bosses.  These behemoth, chain radio station owners care about three things and they are: ad dollars, ratings and demographics.

The remaining rock commercial stations in the tri-state area: WAXQ-FM (NYC Classic Rock) , WBAB-FM (Long Island Rock) and WDHA-FM (Dover, NJ Rock) play the same rotation of old songs, with few new artists mixed in, so how is that going to attract new listeners? Satellite radio (narrowcasting), ipods and streams have hastened that death.

But the real underlying reason is, is that kids are not being introduced to rock n’ roll for the most part, except through the few parents who know how important it is to explore music with their children. Otherwise they will listen to the junk that all their friends listen to. Rock n’ roll has lost a generation of listeners that I fear cannot be recovered. The few young people who do listen to rock, are the exception.

Reaching A New Low in Identity Theft

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Woman Steals Identity of 8-Year-Old Girl Killed in an Auto Accident 30 Years Ago

This story out of Delray Beach, Florida confirms that identity thieves are the scum of the earth.

Juliet Sherry-Ann Smith Mahabir the “alleged” identity thief, was caught when the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud received a tip that Mahabir had “fraudulently obtained” a U.S. Passport.

Yes, besides being an identity thief, Mahabir is apparently an illegal alien.

I can only imagine what the deceased girl’s family whose identity Mahabir stole must be feeling.

After reading this – I have only two questions:

1- Why was she released on such low bail?

2- She is an illegal alien – shouldn’t she be deported?

Q: Where Can You Buy Hires Root Beer? A: Nowhere. Killing A Product – The Demise of Hires

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Hires – The First Root Beer, Dying A Slow, Prolonged Death

(This article is from 2011 and has updates at the end through 2025)

I know soda isn’t good for you. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and many nutritionists would like to slap a soda tax on sugary beverages.

I try not to drink a lot of soda, but I have a sweet spot in my heart for Hires Root Beer. I love the stuff. It is by far the best root beer ever made and I have tried many of them:  IBC, Stewart’s, Mug, A&W, Dr. Brown’s and about a dozen or more other smaller regional brands, and none compare to the unique, smooth taste of Hires.  But I have not had a sip of Hires in over six years.

I did not forsake Hires.  Instead the brand has slowly been vanishing off the shelves of supermarkets in an ever widening circle over the past 20 years. It is now unavailable in most portions of the United States and Canada.

How did the oldest continually produced soft drink and for many years, most popular root beer Continue reading →

The Garage Antique Flea Market Closing (Make That – Closed)

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Famous Chelsea Flea Market Hub To Close And A History of The Chelsea Area Flea Markets (see update)

UPDATE November 2014: The flea market has finally closed three years after we reported the imminent closing and demolition is underway. The remaining outdoor flea market on 25th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway charges $1 admission for a sub-par experience.  Below the update is our original story on the history of the flea markets in the Sixth Avenue corridor.

UPDATE December 24, 2011: The flea market thankfully remains open. Dealers don’t seem to know what the future holds. Speaking to several exhibitors they have not been told how long they will remain. So keep your fingers crossed, maybe Extell will not build until market conditions improve.

According to a dealer at The Antiques Garage at 112 West 25th Street, the last stalwart of what was once a thriving antique center in Chelsea, is closing in the near future.

The Antiques Garage which has over 100 dealers selling all sorts of merchandise every Saturday and Sunday will be torn down and replaced by a hotel and condos.  The developer, Extell Realty bought the garage in 2006 for $42.7 million.  The dealers who exhibit have been told that Extell will soon begin demolition and this month is to be their last.

In the mid 1980’s the parking lots and vacant lots in Manhattan from 24th to 27th Streets, just east and west of 6th Avenue, had developed into a weekend cornucopia of junk and treasure. Lower end antique dealers, second hand junk collectors, and abandoned storage unit scavengers set up shop, providing the public with endless browsing and purchasing opportunities. You could find everything from mundane items to rare and valuable objects. Continue reading →

Stupid Baby Names Outlawed in New Zealand

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New Zealand’s Birth Registrar bans “Lucifer” “Messiah” “General” and “*”  as Names

As reported in the West Australian newspaper on July 19 and other news outlets down under the New Zealand  registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages have compiled a list of 102 names (so far) of names they will not allow parents to name their bundles of joy.

It might seem an arbitrary list, as they allowed one set of parents to name their child “Violence.”

Wouldn’t it be easier to just change your own name rather than embarrassing your offspring with your own idea of a unique name?

This is probably a case of the government overstepping their boundaries, but I am astounded by the number of stupid names American parents give their babies.

In New York City, a teacher I know who taught in the lower income South Bronx, actually encountered two children (from different families) with incredibly unique names.  Continue reading →

Rise in Graffiti Reported Across USA

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Graffiti is Vandalism, Not Art

The New York Times story on the rise of graffiti in cities both large and small is disturbing. For those who say graffiti is art, I would like to be invited to your home and I will splash paint over your entire home inside and out Jackson Pollack style, dripping and splashing it everywhere I can. If you don’t like it too bad, I’m not cleaning it up.

But you say that’s not art. I say that it is.

You say, what right do I have to come to your home and deface it?

That is exactly my point.

Our cities and public surroundings are our homes and no one has the right to deface public or private property.

The majority of graffiti artists are not frustrated artists but are in reality criminals, juvenile delinquents and gang members, who have a compulsion to etch, paint, mark or deface public property. Continue reading →

ESPN “Improves” Baseball With Incredible Technology

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A Strike Box, Called K-Zone, So Viewers Can Have their Main Focal Point Completely Obscured

I watched ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball for the first time this season for a few minutes. The Yankees were battling the Reds in interleague play.

For those baseball fans who don’t know where the strike zone is or question the umpire’s judgment, the brilliant minds at ESPN have put a rectangle superimposed over the home plate area to point out what was a ball or a strike. It was on the viewing screen for every pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning.

I quickly turned off the game before it ended and put on the radio. It was unwatchable. Continue reading →