catesta

First job for me was working in dad's drug store. He was a fanatic about keeping things clean. No feather dusters allowed!!!! I had to remove each bottle and jar from the shelves and dust with a soft cloth, this was done almost daily, whether it needed it or not. I normally went home with him, but every once in a while if feeling nice, he would call my mother and say "come pick the statue up". I never seemed to move fast enough for him. He paid me something like $10-$15 per day in cash.

And no doubt, still tsk tsking....

and posts too, right? I have to display the dust on something, no?

dust

You are 100% absolutely... CORRECT!! Eddie's Sweet Shop Eddie's is still great too, even if it's technically in Forest Hills. That whole Ridgewood & Glendale corridor is fantastic. Tons of great food (did you ever go to the Forest Pork Store?), including a ton of grumpy Romanian cafes; the most amazing (the only) Bosnian hamburger joint in town; the superb Joe's of Ridgewood & a bunch of excellent Italian cafes & bakeries, etc. Glendale is rather whiter but hardly less WEIRD w/much still to be discovered. Do you think yr old man's shop is still a pharmacy? Metropolitan Clem I'm not sure. Seems like I went to check it out a few years back and it might have been a hair salon now. I'm going to try and search it out in November. There are condos now where my mothers family had their drug store for some 50+ years in NYC at 9th Ave & W. 42nd St. Some of my granfathers (father's side) funeral homes ares still standing... He was partners with James & Frank Romanelli. Some of the homes are still operated by the surviving family (Rockaway and Crossbay Blvds in Queens, 3rd Ave in Brooklyn) and some have been bought by national companies, like this... James Times change.

I consider myself very lucky. I've walked away from several serious accidents including a car rollover. Had major crack ups, I even fell off a ladder into a citrus tree, but never broke a bone in my body. The only thing for me was when I was about 5-6 years old, I was running in my socks across a freshly waxed wood floor and could not stop, smacked a double pane glass window with my head. Like ejp just a small scar (covered by my lovely hair ) is the only evidence.

uno) was this on Myrtle? dos) do you remember where you went for ice cream in Glendale, senor catesta? Ridgewood Clem Yeah bro it was on Myrtle, can't remember the exact address, but I could look it up. The store was called Glen Chemists. Ice cream, hmmmm...., I remember going to Eddie's.

Yep, that has got to be it. I've also become quite fond of George Coleman's version on "My Horns of Plenty".

Nice story, Chris. I'll have to dig up some pictures and see if I can figure out how to post them. The best part of my childhood was spent on many streets between NY (Bayside, Brooklyn, The Bronx) and Cleveland. My Italian family was large and very close. We (brother, sisters, cousins) would spend time as children between the homes of my grandparents and great aunts and uncles. It gave me the opportunity to experience life similar to my father's when he was growing up. I miss the little things like making a run to the little Italian grocer for my grandmother or just listening to them all talk while playing cards. Walking around the neighborhood with my grandfather was another highlight. He was very well known from being in the funeral business, so a walk could take ages since people always wanted to stop and talk. It was a nice time. The memories are still strong. Today I have one surviving great aunt from that generation, I was informed yesterday that her health is not good. I will have the good fortune of seeing her in November. When the pages turn, my father becomes the oldest family member. My father had a Pharmacy in the Glendale area of Queens. He also had a store on Mayfield Road in Cleveland. When the store in NY was sold I started attending school in Ohio. We lived on Tanglewood Trail in a suburb of Cleveland. I had some great friends and some great times there. My brother is seven years older than me, so I spent a lot of time tagging along with him and his rock band buddies. They would take turns stealing beer from different parents and smoke cigarettes in a network of self built forts . My life is ruined as a result of witnessing things like this. Electricity was piped in by running very long cords from the homes of un-suspecting neighbors. My brother used to con my mom into taking the wagon and going to construction sites to borrow various pieces of lumber, nails, tar paper, carpet and whatever else was there for the taking. This would happen everytime after my dad or someone else in the neighborhood would destroy one of the club houses. The area was great, a mixture of Irish, German, Italian, Polish, and the very rare but very funny family from West Virginia. My parents became very close to them, my brother made best friends with the son and my youngest sister with the daughter. The father was if I remember correctly in some kind of high tech business (what that meant in the 70's I have no idea). His partner lived up the street. I don't know exactly where he came from I think maybe Hawaii. I say this because after they had a business dis-agreement and dissolved the partnership, our neighbor (Mr. Cook) when ever he would see the other guy jogging or out in public, would drop whatever he was doing and start screaming the theme song from Hawaii Five-O. Hearing that from a distance would make you laugh your ass off. I could go on forever about the hot older girls that lived next door, the neighbors German Shepherd that I would feed salami and baloney to, jumping bikes over cardboard boxes, pink flamingos, ice cream on Cadillacs, our cats and "the great duck massacre of 1974", but I will yield for now.

I voted Ken Peplowski, if for no other reason, I've seen the guy live a few times and he plays his ass off.

Vincent Herring ain't bad.

Some for me... Count Basie at Newport (1957) Duke Ellington at Newport (1956) Duke's band also kicked ass on Ella and Duke at the Cote D' Azur Horace Silver - Doin' The Thing

I'm happy!

Most of the stories I had heard lately always seemed to be about h=how much better he was doing. I guess you never really know. RIP Supaman.

Young enough to still find THIS funny. 37, turning 38 later this month.

That one has got to be good.

Is that twue? That's not vewy nice. Soundtrack Madame Von Schtupp of Blazing Saddles fame. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Definitely one of the best vocal versions. Tenderly is one of my all time favorite standards. Bill Evans did it great, as did Dizzy Reece. Some others... Phineas Newborn Jr. with the long Ray Brown intro. Duke Ellington on "Indigos" with the sweet clarinet of Jimmy Hamilton. Oscar Peterson with Ray Brown and Barney Kessel on the 1952 JATP date.

Nice work Tom. Like that Marc Copland.

Yeah, but do you start with the crotch.

The dude in the picture looks more like he's 40 not 18! Or is that the cop?

It is a great movie. I don't have the DVD probably because they play it on cable almost every other week. However, this new DVD sounds like the one to get.

Thanks Bev. I did a search before stating the theard, but only went back a few months, silly me. B-)

I can get a 200 degree plate at just about any Mexican restaurant in town. As long as I order something with rice and beans or enchilada style. ($6.99-$9.99) I've got the burn marks on my hands to prove it.

Today while driving and listening to XM radio I hear a tune being played titled "Tramp Blues". It was Miroslav Vitous off this cd from 2003. Universal Syncopations It's sounds real good to me. According to AMG this is his first jazz release since 1992. Any thoughts/recommendations on this cd and the man?