The Death of Jamaica Avenue Queens NYC.

Where it all began. My old neighborhood.

TWISTED SISTER - Live North Stage 1982 (Full)

Back in the late Seventies and early Eighties of the Twentieth Century, I was an "SMF'. An SMF was an NSFW term for the ardent fans and followers of the rock band Twisted Sister. The band achieved some brief national notoriety with an over-the-top stage act and a powerful rock voice that appealed to folks that happily identified as "SMFs". Good music, good booze, good times.



In 1982, after signing a record deal, the band would head off to England to record what they hoped would be their entre into the big time. This was their last concert before heading off to the U.K.



Now, we are into the second decade of the twenty-first century, the band has only recently finished their latest farewell tour after years of on-again-off-again activity. All of us are now older and wiser(?), and we live in a YouTube world, where one can stumble upon concerts like this one, as I did a few nights ago. I was browsing YouTube on my SmartTV, reclined in my bathrobe in an unflattering position on a recliner in my living room on Long Island. My two teenagers ignoring me and my wife in another room reading, with a Home Shopping channel on for background noise.



Early in the concert, someone in the crowd hands the lead singer, Dee Snider a copy of "Kick-Ass Monthly", a fanzine newsletter. I remember knowing the guy who published it. A nice fellow named Bob Muldowney I had met back then through a good friend of mine named Mark Salomon. We were all metalheads and big fans of Twisted. I hadn't thought about Bob or Kick-Ass Monthly in years, Bob had passed away some years back, gone too young and way too soon. But there was Dee, holding up the newsletter and riffing on his cover picture. I guess Bob was at this show! I settled in to watch, remembering the good times and marveled at how it all looked so familiar. As I said, I was a card-carrying SMF, I had seen Twisted countless times back in the days they played in clubs throughout the tri-state area. 



The show was terrific, all of their songs done in the speed frenzy that Twisted Sister was known for. It was so much fun to watch and reminisce about those times. For their big finale, they would do their only cover song of the set, the Stones'  "I Know It's Only Rock 'n Roll", but it would be done their way. While the Stones version seemed almost laconic, Twisted sped it all up until it was a raging celebration of the freedom that the best rock songs could inspire. It was always a Twisted show highlight.



As usual, the band would pause in the song to interact with the audience with a call-and-response interlude (When I say "I Know, it's only Rock and Roll", you say "I LIKE IT! ) interspersed with patter about the band's philosophy and mission. The audience would react as one, with a howl of joy ("I LIKE IT!!!!!) as we had all done so many times before, in so many dives over the years.



During Dee's cajoling of the crowd, the camera angle shifted to a side view. As the stage lights would alternate the spotlights, I did a double-take. Could it be? Was that ME I just saw in the audience? I was gobsmacked. I had to stop and rewind the video a couple of times to be sure, but it was unmistakable. There I was, close up to the stage right next to my friend Mark as we were yowling along with the writhing crowd!



On the one hand, I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, I really did see a lot of Twisted back then. I didn't specifically remember this show, but this was a mind-numbing 38 years ago! This was Reagan -was-President, Disco-sucking, hair on my head 38 years ago! Me and Mark, as we were, probably 20 years old, just barely older than my daughter is now. DAMN!



A lot of water under the bridge since then. I showed the video to my family (mostly unimpressed) but I was saddened to think that I could not call Mark to show him and share the shock, he passed away a few years ago. But there he was, probably a bit drunk, but still on his feet at the end of Twisted's show, handing out copies of Kick-Ass Monthly.



I was moved to reopen this blog, to mark this occasion. I can't talk about it with Mark, so the internet will have to do. It was the internet that brought back this memory for me, so I suppose it's probably poetic justice.



I probably should spend less time in the damn recliner also.

Pastor Jeffress, Alien

I think we can guess that this Trump supporting pastor is from another planet.

Bruce

                                       

The long awaited "Springsteen on Broadway" concert film is now showing on Netflix for the price of a subscription, or free if you are on a limited trial. It is the bargain of the year, as the film is a wonderful recreation of the live experience of being at the show.

The original Broadway engagement, with its famously pricey tickets, also happened to be the bargain of the year for his die-hard fans, of which I am one. I was fortunate to get a ticket last January through the byzantine TicketMaster "Verified Fan" distribution setup. Even that was, in retrospect, well worth it.

The show I saw back in January was, as I described in my most certainly biased way, was absolutely transcendent. It was achingly intimate, with a connection between performer and audience that was beyond raw. It was an emotional joining between Bruce and his fans that was impossibly ramped up from the already intense bond with his audience he has always achieved during his "regular" arena shows.

The film has received great reviews, and deservedly so. I have an annoyingly critical eye, so the one or two jarring edits are probably imperceptible to most people, and except that I have mentioned them, are not worth mentioning(!).

Even as an old guy now, with my rock show days mostly in my rear view mirror, the film brought me back, with nostalgia and pathos, to those halcyon days when the road ahead was mostly an unknown. As Bruce tells it, at this stage of the game, and with more pieces of the puzzle in hand, looking back at the examined life is well worth the pain. And the tears.

Jello Pudding Pops and Tic Tacs

  


Sexual predators have certain defining characteristics. Often they have economic power over their prey. They isolate their victims when they strike. The scenario too often becomes a "he said, she said" affair. Humiliatingly enough, the victims are often blamed as the instigators, or their stories are simply not believed.

Bill Cosby is on trial now for raping a one-time protege of his. Apparently, his behavior goes back decades, as a string of victims has come forth with eerily identical stories of Cosby's methods of sexual abuse.  Trump's methods were caught on tape during his Presidential campaign, as he bragged about his style of victimizing women.

In Cosby's case, the accuser is a woman, and her story is being picked apart by high priced lawyers. The outcome of the case is still to be determined, but Cosby is now and will forever be known as a serial sexual abuser.

Trump's accuser, curiously enough is a man, James Comey, ex-head of the FBI. While not a case of sexual abuse, the methodology is strikingly familiar. In seeking to obstruct an investigation into his one-time  National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, Trump sought to isolate and intimidate Comey into doing his bidding.

Comey was savvy enough to document Trump's attempts to thwart justice and being fortunate enough to be a man, his story will carry a great deal more weight than if he were a woman. Such is the sorry state of our culture that a victim's gender would determine how their account of their victimization would be received.

Oddly enough, during testimony from Comey today, Senator Diane Feinstein wondered of Comey, "Why didn't you tell anybody about this?" She sounded just like a male police officer admonishing a female rape victim that her skirt was too short.

I guess you haven't come a long way, baby. 

Things Unneeded

                             

Marketers have been trying to sell unneeded things to gullible consumers for years.




Believe it or not, people buy the oddest things.



Why do people buy such unnecessary things?



Sometimes it's just a dumb fad.



Sometimes it's just a con job.

TodayTix, the mobile app that caters to millennials that don't know how to buy Broadway theater tickets, now, after raising their fees, offers to sell tickets to shows up to thirty days in advance. That's a remarkable development in the same way that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Who knew that a service that offers LESS than the primary ticketing platforms could trumpet the fact that their services are, without exception, duplicative and unnecessary, yet spin them as innovative and novel?




I guess it's just all in the marketing.

Swamp Thing

                                        


There's a scam that homeowners are warned about every now and then. Crews working neighborhoods ring bells and offer to do some sort of work, yard work, plumbing, anything like it. They will say that they have a special deal, but that it's a one day special, that they need to close the deal quickly so the work can begin.

As you may guess, when the job is paid upfront, the work may not ever get done. Or, more cash will be required because of unexpected difficulties in the job. Senior citizens are most often targeted for this con, but it can happen to anybody that will fall for it.

During his campaign for the Presidency, a signature issue for Donald Trump was that he'd build a wall on the southern border and "Mexico would pay for it".

Well, Donnie Boy wound up winning and he's trying to get something accomplished as the first one hundred days of his Presidency are coming to an end. Since Mexico has stated, in no uncertain terms, that they will most definitely not pay for Trump's Wall, the Donald is trying to have billions of dollars appropriated from a finance bill that is necessary to keep the government from running out of money. Trump wants American taxpayers to front the money for his wall, and he'll somehow get Mexico to pay us back down the line.

Once a con man, always a con man. How is this any different from the home repair scam? Convincing folks that they need work done and squeezing more and more money out of them to get the project done is a known and typical fraud. Looking at his record, it's clear to see that Trump is just as much of a fraud. 

Looking Out for Number One

                             

"How can Trump be in bed with the Russians when he just called them out for their ties to Syria? It doesn't make sense! He himself has called the relationship with Russia to be as bad as at the height of the cold war!"

You might think these were logical questions and statements that put the investigations into Trump's campaign ties to Russia and the sentiment of U.S. intelligence services conclusion that Russia did interfere in the U.S. Presidential elections into a whole new and skeptical light.

Well. logic be damned. Let's look at the facts.

Donald Trump has a long checkered and documented past of self-dealing in every way imaginable. From stiffing private contractors to abusive use of lawsuits, Trump is a known devious and dishonest manipulator. Just because the Russians may have helped him or simply preferred him to Hillary Clinton doesn't mean that when the chaos and ineptitude of Trump's still less than one hundred days old and derailing administration  that a nifty turn to military action in Syria and diplomatic name calling of the Russians wouldn't be just the tonic for the embattled Trump Administration.

Even now as he pushes out his buddy Steve Bannon, Trump will do what he must to survive. Skip out on payments to small businesses in Atlantic City? Check. Declare bankruptcy multiple times, leaving co-investors holding the bag? Check. Even throw your Russian patrons under the bus, in spite of having the election tilt your way with their help? No problemo.

It's just about the Donald, and it doesn't matter who he betrays when the going gets tough. And besides, the Russians may be crafty, but that doesn't make them smart. Getting in bed with the Trumpster may have felt good at the time, but now that Donnie-boy has shown a propensity for launching cruise missiles without the lawful assent of Congress, maybe Vladimir might be starting to have a bit of buyer's remorse right about now.

Just like a wistful bride with her hunky but abusive husband, maybe Vlad thought he could change him. We know how that scenario tends to play out, don't we?

Fool Me Once

Donald Trump has nominated for the Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch is a Federal Judge pre-approved by the radical conservative special interests that Trump was pandering to during his presidential campaign. Gorsuch is nominated for the slot that Senate Republicans denied to Merrick Garland, an Obama nominee, that resulted from the death of Antonin Scalia. The Supreme Court has been working short-handed for over a year.

It is in this toxic situation that Republicans hope to secure for themselves the "Conservative slot" of Scalia on the Court for themselves, by way of Gorsuch.

First off, this is a fiction wrapped in a lie. There is no such thing as a "Conservative slot", and the unconstitutional actions of the Republican majority were an embarrassment to this country. The Republican majority denied Judge Garland a hearing and a vote, and now, with the prospect of a Democratic filibuster to prevent Gorsuch the 60 votes needed for confirmation, there is talk of the "nuclear option". That would be a change in the Senate rules that would negate the right to filibuster by the minority and allow approval of a Supreme Court nomination with a simple majority.

The Republican majority can do this. They can change the rules. The Democrats did this when Republicans blocked all of President Obama's nominations for all manner of positions. The Democrats left in place only the sixty vote requirement for the Supreme Court.

With Democrats now a powerless minority, they have no way to prevent the Republicans from simply changing the rules on the Gorsuch nomination. Some are counseling the Democrats to hold off on the filibuster on the Gorsuch nomination. The rationale is that Gorsuch isn't so bad, that it's just a replacement for a "Conservative slot" on the court. They should save their filibuster for when Trump gets the opportunity to replace a liberal judge.

No, No, and NO!!!

Yes, it's true that the Democrats can't stop the Republicans from putting Gorsuch on the bench. But who in their right mind thinks that come some future situation, perhaps when the elderly and not in great health Judge Ginsburg retires or dies, that the Republicans won't use their majority to set rules that would allow yet another corporatist Conservative onto the court? Who in their right mind believes that the wretches that comprise the Republican majority in the Senate wouldn't gladly take Democrat acquiescence now and strong arm another horrendous Conservative cretinous nominee into the "Liberal slot" down the line?

This sort of strategy is exactly how the Democrats have allowed the gerrymandering of the country and created the sort of culture of losing that has long vexed the party.

The Democrats MUST stand united in resistance and defiance to any and all attempts by the Trump administration to hack away at the very foundations of our American values and culture. Have they learned nothing from the Republican debacle in their idiotic attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare? The Republicans are a party not at all interested in governing, and the Democrats must stand against their entire program. Democrats must use the Republicans own ineptitude against them.

If the Republicans want to ram through Gorsuch, let them. The Democrats can not be a part of the political appeasement of Trump or his minions.

As the country becomes aware of the results of Trump's platform, as it is implemented, there are two ways things may go. The country will either continue its descent into chaos, or there will be a new awakening to what has been taken from us. The rising up of the real majority, no longer in its comfortable stupor, will take back this country and restore its true greatness.

Sadly, the first option is set into motion so far. 

Now It's In Public

                             

Now we know what's been going on behind closed doors in the Trump Organization all these years. Lies and duplicity, disloyalty and all manner of slimy behavior. The stories about Trump and his business dealings are legion, and now that he is President, all of his worst machinations are on display for the country, and the world, to see.

The business world is run in a dog eat dog, Machiavellian way. No news there. The fact that Trump has operated his business through multiple bankruptcies, the stiffing of private contractors, and the bullying use of lawsuits has worked well for him in the private realm, clearly has no analogous method in the realm of governance.

All that's left, after a mere two-plus months into his tenure is the ragged and pervasive stench of failure with more than a pinch of corruption and treason. And instead of behind closed boardroom doors, it's all out in public view.