Randy Twizzle

It's been an overpriced tourist trap for years. A few years ago I visited an old college roomate who was staying there and I was appalled at the condition of the place. And it takes a lot to appall me. Dave Barry once wrote a column about a disasterous weekend there.

One of my prized possessions growing up was a copy of his book "The Establishment is Alive and Well and Living in Washington", autographed by Buchwald, wishing me a happy 14th birthday. My brother, a college student in DC at the time went up to Buchwald's office on Pennsylvania Avenue and he was gracious enough to sign it after my brother told him that his little brother was a big fan of his column.

Sorry I can't help you to upload videos and I resent being called a dope.

Watch out NYC, one of our buffoonish NJ assemblymen is out to take your money

The boss man over at bixbeiderbecke.com has been lobbying for years for a Bix stamp. I don't know much about stamp technology but a gin flavored stamp would be nice.

Looks like Randy wins the prize; the radio just said it was from a chemical facility along the Jersey shore. As for my original theory, they are saying that a temperature inversion yesterday morning (hot air on top of cold instead of the other way around) trapped the odor close to the ground. Looks like it was wind driven after all. Read the thread again. This is what I wrote in the first place, except they think it came from Secaucus - not Bayway. Sorry, once the prize has been awarded it can not be retracted. The last thing I want to do is to rob a fellow New Jerseyan of his rightful prize in predicting the source of an objectionable odor. Give it to 7/4

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Most people wouldn't call those with mental illnesses ''idiots'' -- but the New Jersey Constitution still does. Senate President Richard J. Codey on Monday proposed removing the archaic language, inserted in 1844, through a constitutional amendment. The measure would have to be approved by both houses of the Legislature and by voters in November. ''This is yet another big step toward removing the stigma of mental illness,'' said Codey, who has been an advocate of the mentally ill since his wife suffered postpartum depression 22 years ago. Codey wants to change a section of the state constitution that addresses who is eligible to vote, saying: ''No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage.'' The amendment would delete the ''idiot or insane person'' language and replace it with ''person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting.'' Luke Koppisch, a coordinator with the New Jersey Developmental Disabilities Council, which brought the idea to Codey to sponsor, said the language is insulting. ''It harkens back to an era when people with disabilities were treated like second-class citizens,'' he said. Six other state constitutions -- Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico and Ohio -- also contain the ''idiots and insane'' language pertaining to voting rights, according to the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, D.C.

When all is said and done, they'll find some way to blame it all on New Jersey.

I believe there might have been a regular posting in the Voice. That street (Bond Street?) was totally deserted at night. Desolate. Now there is probably a Gap there! There were also some listings in the Times as seen in these assorted "Events Today" notices from 1973 and 74

I'm terrible at remembering names and labels, but it was a five LP Earl Hines box set purchased at one of those down market stores like Disc-o-mat for all of $5 in the early 80s.

My ex-wife used to refer to my love for jazz as "Randy's sick sick perversion." When we were dating I once took her to a Cecil Taylor concert at Symphony Space. After 20 minutes she rushed the stage screaming obscenities and had to be forcibly removed from the hall. During our first year of marriage I once came home early from work and caught her scratching my LPs with a can opener. Whenever a jazz musician's obituary appeared in the NY Times she would scribble "GOOD RIDDANCE" in red ink across the article and put it under my pillow. Then things really started going downhill...

I think my New Year's Resolution just became to stay the fuck away from wherever you are!

Here's the original NY Times review

Here's an answer from: http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/questions.html#berternie Are Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie named for Bert the cop and Ernie the cabdriver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life"? Jerry Juhl, head writer for the Muppets for many years responded to a statement in San Francisco Chronicle writer Jon Carroll's column that Bert and Ernie were named for Bert the cop and Ernie the cabdriver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." Jerry Juhl writes: I was the head writer for the Muppets for 36 years and one of the original writers on "Sesame Street." The rumor about "It's a Wonderful Life" has persisted over the years. I was not present at the naming, but I was always positive it was incorrect. Despite his many talents, Jim had no memory for details like this. He knew the movie, of course, but would not have remembered the cop and the cabdriver. I was not able to confirm this with Jim before he died, but shortly thereafter I spoke to Jon Stone, Sesame Street's first producer and head writer and a man largely responsible for the show's format. (Jon, sadly, is no longer with us either.) He assured me that Ernie and Bert were named one day when he and Jim were studying the prototype puppets. They decided that one of them looked like an Ernie, and the other one looked like a Bert. The movie character names are purely coincidental.

Which town would have produced more interesting music, Bedford Falls or Pottersville? One was a sleepy white bread community and the other a wide open honky tonk town. Let's not be so quick to condemn old man Potter. I bet some swinging bands played in Pottersville while Bedford Falls probably had to settle for Mickey Mouse outfits playing country club dances. But then my favorite character has always been Violet Bick, the town slut.

No offense meant, but it seems like the best place to post this cartoon.

I truly wish to become more understanding of others. In the last few years I've become more and more resentful of the things that people do that clash with my idea of how things should be done. It's a not very attractive side of me and it profoundly bothers me . Some random daily examples: while waiting for my daily commuter train, I've developed a strong hatred of people who stand and vacantly stare in the direction that the train will be coming from, as if this will somehow make the train miraculously appear, even when it's not due for another 10 minutes. I also dislike the people who come to the station, see a bunch of people waiting for the train and then run to check the posted schedule, as if to really make sure that there is indeed a train due. What do they think we're all standing there for?... fuckheads! And how about those morons, who arrive at the station just as the train pulls in and then insist on using the highly inefficient ticket machine to buy a ticket instead of buying one on board (even if there is a $5 penalty). We're all supposed to sit and wait while these jerks try to figure out how to use the machine. Hey idiots if you don't have a ticket get to the goddamn station a little earlier so you don't have to hold up the train in order to save your precious 5 bucks. What a world of assholes... I wanna kill them all...

For some, she was Billie Halliday... but wait! who was "pigmeat markham"?

I used to feel that the world would have been a lot better off if I had never been born, but then my guardian angel came down and showed me that it would have only been a little better off.