Cold wind rippin

 down the alley at dawn

And the morning paper flies
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes  (N. Young)

some of this may be news to some.......others know it all too well. The great bar rooms of the financial district are dead and buried....some died after 9/11 , others were killed in a long slow death by the China Flu shutdowns. Wall street used to buzz night and day with brokers and back offices side by side...and on pretty much every corner was a watering hole with a Mahogany alter....a place to do business or celebrate a job well done. A place to meet old friends and make new ones...some of those bars traced their origins to the great Depression and ultimately the end of prohibition. I used to love getting to these bara early in the day...and i would sit amongst the history and soak it in....i would let my mind wander and think about what tales and events these 4 walls witnessed......who was here when Pearl Harbour was attacked....and how many of them lived to raise a glass when we returned the favor on Hiroshima? Who came in off the street for a pint and a glimpse of the TV when they heard Kennedy was shot , and who spent an endless afternoon watching the Mets win the pennant over the astros in 86? Each bar had it's one place in my heart, united usually by the common thread of an old school irishman behind the bar.

I remember Monday august 23rd 1999......my first day at Instinet in the WTC.....i decided to walk North at lunchtime and ended up at the Reade Street Pub and could not believe that i had never been there before.....i remember they had a lunch special served only at the bar.....a burger with Blue Cheese and a pint of Guiness for $10.....a Black&Bleu .....i was in love......the woodwork cried out with the tales of 120 years.....the space at 135 Reade Street had been a bar since 1878...it became my favorite haunt....as i hired a team of friends around me at Instinet, i would take them to the Reade Street Pub for lunch on their first day...One time i brought a friend in for a pint and he stopped dead in his tracks as if he had seen a ghost after ordering a Guiness.....i asked if he was okay and he said the bartender was the spitting image of his father that had passed away years earlier....it was that kind of place, not scary, but the warmth of a million spirits seemed to float in and out......and i kept coming back....long after 9/11, if i found myself in that section of Manhattan i would stop in.......when Val and I would go to Wolfgangs for steaks at Christmas we would start with a pint at the Reade St......when i ran the Tunnels to Towers we would park on Reade Street and come back for rehydration after the race.....the space behind the bar along the mirror was a collection of memorabilia through the years....the last time i was there....pre pandemic.....amongst the patches from the first responders around the world...nestled in between the photos of various ticker tape parades was a green bumper sticker that stated SHAKEDOWN STREET.........yep, this place was dam close to home. I am sorry to report that in May of 2021 she closed her doors for good.........2+3=BEEER.........tomorrow i will share news of another gem that has fallen off the crown

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around

Mother doesn't go out anymore

 Just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes

But every weekend through the door
Come words of wisdom from the world outside (Joe Jackson)

just some stories or extra facts that may not have made the print edition of your local paper......

Dr Fauci, a career civil servant; saw his family net worth double between 2019 and 2021 according to Nonprofit "openthebooks" watchdog. The Good doctor is now worth over $12 million dollars. So while the bartenders, waiters and millions of other Americans were living on Payroll Protection subsidies because of his draconian shutdowns, this Bensonhurst Gindaloon was rollin in the dough.

Heart breaking story ho hum from the South Bronx.....3 little kids poisoned by fentanyl at their Daycare center....shocked everyone is....who could know that illegal aliens would setup a daycare center as cover for a drug ring ? well a quick interview with the people that lived on the block shows that pretty much everyone knew.......day care signs were in the windows for 18 months but NO KIDS were ever seen coming or going...according to one neighbor .....lots of visitors at all hours of the night, but no kids until a few weeks ago. I wonder how many of these concerned citizens called 311 or dropped a dime to the local Police ?  Police ? fuck the Police...

a CIA whistleblower claims that 6 of 7 analysts on a team of investigators concluded that the China Flu originated from the lab in Wuhan...and the CIA paid them hush money to change their story. Let that sink in....how is that not the lead story on every news station for every day until the guilty parties are hung on the National mall? 40 years ago i sat in a high school classroom and learnt about the evil soviet union and how the CCP owned the airwaves and newspapers and disseminated and reshaped the news that was allowed to trickle down to the masses. Today we are the Soviet Union of the 1980's.

A 53 year old New England Patriot Fan was punched in the face and collapsed and died during the Sunday Night Football game at Gillette Stadium. This poor bastard wasn't even cold before they started throwing shade on him. Was he drunk, did he start the altercation, did he have a medical condition.....as if any of it mattered ....rest assured the NFL lawyers and brain trust are hard at work trying to paint this picture in a more favorable light, they can not/will not let their brand take a well-deserved hit in the forum of public opinion..this victim will become the villian..the hard truth is that sports and sporting events in this country have become too violent. Frustrated drunk Fans are chasing their youth, thinking somehow they are actually part of the team and living in a fantasy world where they care more about winning than the millionaires donning the team colors in the arena. I regret my involvement in this ugly progression. I allowed my years of frustration as a Ranger fan ( in the years before 94 ) fueled by too much alcohol to manifest into ugly behavior. I took it personally if a fan of the opponent sat in section 419 . I went out of my way to curse and make them feel uncomfortable. I wish i had carried myself differently. I do not anticipate going to many professional sporting events in the future. 

Biden was hard at work yesterday forgiving more student debt and granting temporary work permits to 400,000 illegal immigrants.........well one truth remains      2+3=BEEER

 

Sunday papers, don't ask no questions

Sunday papers, don't get no lies

Sunday papers, don't raise objections

Sunday papers, ain't got no eyes

i pulled my harpoon outta

  of my dirty red bandana

I was blowin' sad while Bobby sang the blues (Kris Kristofferson)

i had to search this blog to see what i have already said about the man in the red bandanna.....and either the search feature is not working properly or by some horrible omission i have yet to share his story. Maybe it is because September is the month where i think the most.....but write and produce the least......truth is it is a month of painful memories and every year i try to fill the calendar with events to keep myself distracted and usually wake up depressed and cancel my plans.....I suppose the fact that i am aware/concious  of my mood swings is a good thing......anyway , let me tell you one of a zillion of the critically important stories from the disgusting aftermath of September the 11th 2001.

Welles Remy Crowther was born in Nyack NY in May 1977....as a young boy he used to watch his Dad getting ready for church by wrapping a comb in a red bandanna and placing it inside his pocket. When he was 6 his Dad gave him his first banadanna.....and it became his trademark. he would wear one under his sports uniforms and carried one with him to school every day. At 16 he joined his father as a volunteer Firefighter. He attended Boston College where he played Lacrosse and graduated with honors in 1999. He took a Job as an equities trader for Sandler O'Neill on the 104th floor of the South Tower.

When a plane hit the north tower, Welles called his mother and left her a message stating he was okay and would be evacuating, that was the last time they heard from him. Survivors told the story of a young man in the South Tower that was carrying victims down the stairs to the 78th floor lobby. He took control before the FDNY arrived , administering first aid and extinguishing small fires.....He Instructed all of the injured ."If you can stand up, do so now and assist those that are not standing" (Instant triage and a brilliant way to identify the seriously injured from the shocked and and marginally injured) and the young man went back up the stairs to retrieve more of the injured. After the second plane hit he was spotted carrying another injured victim down the stairs below and through and below the impact zone......and then back up he went.......nobody knew his name , but a few months later the NY Times printed and interview with several survivors from the South Tower and all they all talked about the "Man in the Red Bandanna" , they were praying he somehow survived.......when Welles mother read the article, she knew who it was.

In March of 2002 Welles body was found along with several firefighters in a command room of the south tower rubble, his body was found in tact, no signs of burns or other injuries...the NYC medical examiner concluded he was assisting the wounded as civilian usher as the building collapsed. In his apartment his parents and sisters found his nearly completed application to join the FDNY.......in 2006 Fire Commissioner Scopetta acknowledged Welles as an Honorary Firefighter. One of his signature Red Bandannas is on display at the 9/11  Musuem. Boston College keeps his memory alive with an annual Red Bandanna 5K, the football team dedicates one home game each year and wears red bandanna inspired uniforms with FOR WELLES in place of their names on the back of the jersey. i am sorry it took me so long to share this story, hopefully anyone that reads this already knows of his Heroics.

As i look around at the shithole NYC and this country have become, i can't help but think about the truly wonderful, Heroic, Funny, Brave, Upstanding members of our society we lost that day.....with a subtraction of so much greatness it's no wonder they left behind a black hole.

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose

Nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free
Feelin' good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues
Buddy, that was good enough for me
Good enough for me and Bobby McGee

Go out yonder

 peace in the valley
Come downtown, have to rumble in the alley

Oh, you don't know the shape I'm in (the Band)

in 12 short hours we will gather at the Temple Bar in the rear courtyard of the Dublin House, on the shores of the Navasink River in Red Bank NJ. Brought together by cold beeeer, comradery and the music of the BAND. We were all lucky to grow up in a rare period of time that was blessed with some of the greatest music the planet has ever enjoyed. I am not even swimming in hyperbole to say that. The era of Rock n Roll bands is surely over , the only pulse of that time is from carryover acts in their 80's like the Stones.

The music of the 1960's through the late 90's was so good and so plentiful that it has inspired cover acts to recapture the glory still today. The Boomers and Gen X have that incredible music in the fabric of our lives and it is a soundtrack to live by. I feel sorry for the kids of today , they were denied the opportunity to see the Dead, Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Led Zepplin, Elvis Costello, the Talking Heads and the Clash......all in the same summer.....and a thousand other bands besides.....

I am just counting my lucky stars today and waxing poetic for a time gone bye , tonight we listen to the music of the Band and drift back to 73rd street and 3rd Avenue.

2+3=Beeer

I just spent sixty days in the jailhouse
For the crime of having no dough, no, no
Now, here I am, back out on the street
For the crime of having nowhere to go

they took all the trees

 put 'em in a tree museum.

And they charged the people a dollar an' a half just to see 'em (Joni Mitchell)

from the theatre of the absurd comes congestion pricing part 2 thousand.

It takes a lot for me to spit out my morning coffee....shootings, stabbings, raping's, murders..... hurricanes, earthquakes, Tsunamis, Fires.....all far too commonplace to register a raised eyebrow these days. 

This morning i heard something that forced me to rewind the TV to the beginning of the story, for surely i either misheard the interviewer or i was confused as to whom was being interviewed......nope....i heard it correct.

The Head of the Port Authority Union said that Congestion Pricing was UNFAIR to his members because some of them have to arrive at work , or end their shift ; in the middle of the night.....and Public transportation was NOT a viable option........take a deep breath......the head of the union that runs the PATH said that Public transportation is not a viable option after the evening rush......last time i checked the PATH runs 24 hours a day between Newark and the World Trade Center (albeit very sparingly after 1:00 a.m.) and it was PATH themselves that decided to suspend service after midnight on the Hoboken to 33rd street line ( who's fault is that)? 

Even still.....up until now if a regular slob complained about the sketchy , inconsistent and unsafe service on PATH after midnight....he was politely told to GO FUCK him or herself.....but now because the MTA is going to charge 2 arms and 3 legs to drive into manhattan, well we are told that the Port Authority Union is the real true victim.

so we can surely expect that the Port Authority Union will soon join the list of people/groups exempt from Congestion pricing.....along with Cops, Fire, Sanitation, Transgendered Hispanics, illiterate blacks, radical moslems and anyone who claims to be coming into NYC daily just to visit the Holocaust Museum. 

who's left ?  the evil white male of course.

NYC is also testing a pilot program on the upper east side.....noise activated cameras to catch and fine noise polluters.....the community is excited to welcome this new program of big brother spying and taxation through fines, punishment and shame......no official word on who will be exempt but I am sure all the Motorcycle trikes that terrorize the rest of the city will in line for immunity.

Can't wait until this backfires and an eventual moslem mayor uses these same cameras against the self loathsome heebs that helped install them. the only problem with history is that it takes so long for the pendelum to swing.....but swing it will.....swing it will......until then 2+3=Beeer

we were watching the news the other night and there was an in depth story about brain surgeons saving valuable time by feeding symtoms into a computer realtime during a biopsy and relying on A.I to suggest a diagnosis..........can't wait until the autopilot brain surgeon suggests that 2+3=Beeeer

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise, put up a parking lot
(Ooh, bop-bop-bop-bop, ooh, bop-bop-bop-bop)

headin out to San Francisco

 For the Labor Day weekend show

I got my Hush Puppies on
I guess I never was meant for glitter rock 'n' roll ( Jimmy Buffet)

and so 45 years after that song was released, on another Labor Day weekend; Jimmy Buffet has taken his leave at the age of "76"....some would say that 76 is good age to die......as long as your last few months are enjoyable...as long as you can walk to the corner to pickup a coffee, an egg sandwhich and the NY Post, as long as you can enjoy the great outdoors with a cold beer and a jumpin tune........as soon as those things are taken from me.....well i too will take my leave.

Jimmy was an admirable character.....true to his image and he never changed his stripes. He was born on Christmas Day 1946 in the shipbuilding town of Pacgagoula Mississippi on the gulf of Mexico. I was fortunate to call Pascagoula home for 6 months in the spring of 1989. I fondly recall drinking in a laundromat called SUDS & BREWS.....a long bar on one wall....and washers and dryers on the other wall.......we drank ice cold bottles of DIXIE beer for $1.75 ......washed our uniforms and civilian clothes, and we watched Chris Jackson and the LSU tigers take on the likes of Dwayne Schintzuis and the Fla Gators on BIG Monday SEC basketball on local redneck tv  before ESPN ruined the world.......perhaps i digress.

Jimmy Buffet was a profound drinker and he wrote songs to tell us all about it.....he had a happy vibe.....it was impossible to be angry if his music was in the vicinity.......imagine a movie where a serial killer goes around slaughtering people while listening to Margaritaville ? it just wouldn't work.

In the early 70's he was playing his "country" music in the bars of New Orleans and Nashville when fellow musician and friend Jerry Jeff Walker took him to Key West for the weekend.......well.....salt meet pepper......if ever there was a match made in heaven this was it.....for the next 50 years his painted a beautiful portrait of this paradise....it is impossible to think of Key West without thinking about a Jimmy song

he had a great talent, his writing could make you laugh or smile and also bring a tear to your eye...sometimes in the same song.....sometimes in the same verse....and even the same line. He leaves a legacy behind that will not go anywhere soon, i think his music and message transcends generations and has a core value that most human beings can connect with (except moslems who don't drink...because after all the one true God wants us to be miserable and kill goats)  I was lucky enough to see him live , and it was fun to see parents and adult children singing along to his music and enjoying a cocktail and a laugh. He will be missed , but if you live anywhere near the ocean, the memories of him are everywhere if you look for them....after all there's Booze in the Blender.....2+3=Beeer

Haul the sheet in as we ride on the wind
That our forefathers harnessed before us
Hear the bells ring as the tight rigging sings
It's a son of a gun of a chorus

Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends
If I knew I might toss out my anchor
So I cruise along always searchin' for songs
Not a lawyer a thief or a banker

I'm just a son of a son, son of a son
Son of a son of a sailor
The sea's in my veins, my tradition remains
I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer