(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on April 10, 2021)

The reason this looks a little rough on the middle edges is that it was part of a spinner that attached to the coin on the sides. You’d sit the spinner on your desk and when you had a difficult decision to make, you’d just spin the coin. According to some listings, it’s possibly from the 1940s.

Here are a couple of those spinners:

 

Also showing heads and tails, is this 6” boot mug from The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ:

 

The first car I remember my mother driving was a 1954 Mercury, so that might be where this came from:

 

Hmmmmm………….did she drive the Merc with Dad to McAfee, NJ, to pick up MORE PLAYBOY STUFF at the Playboy Resort and Country Club at Great Gorge? Let’s see………..we have Playboy writing paper and envelopes, Playboy postcards from the Resort/Country Club (I’ve copied and superimposed the postcard blurb onto the writing paper so you can read it) and – of course – a Playboy ashtray:

 

Meanwhile, a little pilfering also went on at the HKH. I wonder what happens when you hang both of these from your hotel room door:

 

Words of wisdom from Salada Tea:

 

This is an odd find: a Sal Mineo bubblegum card (it IS from Topps). Is this Mom’s?

 

These are definitely Mom’s. What’s with the Princess phone obsession? (and why does one have a diaper pin?):

 

This pen is definitely mine. We went on a driving vacation in 1958 that included Catskill Game Farm, Niagara Falls, Canada, Ausable Chasm and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY:

 

I have no idea to whom this tube and exciting contents belongs:

 

Risque 1960s Father’s Day card?

 

These were t-shirt iron-ons from The New York Daily News Sunday comics section in 1975 that my mother must have saved for some reason. Apparently, none of her kids were interested in them:

 

I think these space-related items were also hers:

By the way, Wally Schirra was from Oradell, NJ, where I went to high school, but he was born in Hackensack, which gave him a parade in 1962………….and Mom was there to take this picture of him (he’s to the immediate right of the man on the left who’s eyeing Mom suspiciously):

 

Oh, Lord………I just found two of my baby toys: Raggedy Andy and Chief Wahoo:

Andy’s looking a bit……well, raggedy. The Chief – shown here holding someone’s scalp – is no longer the Cleveland Indians’ mascot due to current perception of him as being racially-insensitive. If anyone would like to register a complaint regarding this subject, kindly address it to Mr. Fred Reinert, as listed on the back of Wahoo’s scalp:

 

Little Green Sprout was NOT my toy (it’s way after my time), so maybe a sibling may recall it as being theirs (though I think it’s after their times too):

 

So I found this little 3” square box that had a little weight to it:

 

and look what’s inside:

My mother was not a judge, but she DID work in a court. This was also a very popular comedy phrase on TV’s “Laugh-In” in 1968.

 

This is a pair of my mid-to-late 60s cufflinks:

Pretty snazzy, huh?

 

These interesting-looking necklaces were also in that little box. I couldn’t tell you anything about them, but maybe my sisters can:

 

This necklace was too bulky to fit in that box. I know nothing about this one either and can’t decipher anything on the back:

 

I’m gonna finish this up with something I hadn’t been able to find for a long time. Fortunately, Mom saved a bunch of things from my career and since she had the Daily News delivered to her door every day, this was a particularly easy one to save.

This is the centerfold of the March 12, 1976 New York Daily News. Most of it is devoted to a concert at Madison Square Garden the night before by The Who:

 

This is the left half of that centerfold. It might be hard to read, but the photo credit says that the pictures were taken by Richard Corkery, who I’m sure was a nice man, but he was no concert photographer. I used to see him at a lot of concerts and he always looked so bewildered and uncomfortable. He was not in his element and neither was the Daily News (look at that dopey headline!)

And look at Mr. Corkery’s blurry, faceless pictures. This man was right in the photo pit in front of the first row. He had no obstructions and no excuse to not produce stunning images.

Yes, I shot the same show, but I was in the audience. I’m not going to post what I shot here, but if you’re curious, go to https://bobleafe.com/, look for The Who listing and scroll down to 1976, where you’ll find a half-dozen shots from that night.

Richard was a bit better at shooting crowd shots. He turned around in the pit and shot this, which was an accurate accounting of the crowd that night:

 

But the bonus in all this is found in the middle right of that picture. That’s me and my then-girlfriend Debbie in the fourth row. I’m taking those pictures you saw on my site. Debbie has one of my cameras, but looks too overwhelmingly joyous to shoot:

As far as I’m concerned, that’s Richard Corkery’s best concert shot ever, so thank you, sir, and thank you Mom for saving this photo from the only time I ever made it to the centerfold of the New York Daily News.

 

Debbie – unfortunately – is no longer with us and I have not been able to reach anyone connected with her, but I will continue to try to find someone – maybe her daughter – and get these images to her.

 

So that’s it………WAIT – there’s late-breaking news and an image coming over the wire………………………after months of waiting, it’s finally happened!

This was two days ago (April 8, 2021) and I’m writing this the next day because I’m home feeling achy – a normal reaction to the second Moderna dose. In two weeks’ time, I’ll be immunized as much as I’m gonna get from these shots and I’ll be able to hug other immunized people without a mask……….but only SOME people, as per my shirt.

I guess my gastroenterologist will be the initial beneficiary of that since I’ll be undergoing upper and lower endoscopies the next day, with cameras coming in from both ends and meeting in the middle. I hope he’ll give me a print of that shot to post! (“C’mon, Doc………….I’ll give you a hug if you do.”)

 

“Umm………get dressed first, Bob”.

 

 

(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on April 20, 2021)

 

I don’t know how many years ago I saved this, but I figured it would be the case thereafter…………..and, so far, I’m right.

Remember the Grandpa Curly Kibbe post from 5 months ago? If not, go here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=11782

 

I found that to be somewhat humorous………….until I recently found this:

 

They did it to her father, so she does it to her son:

 

I guess I was kinda curly at one point:

Well, at least Mom didn’t box 10” dreads (nothing wrong with dreads, but if I had them, I would have preferred it to have been as an adult).

 

So I found this in a new bag of stuff that was a bit overwhelming: lots of things to post and a ton of pictures and ephemera for the extended family:

 

Inside the box was my baby book – none of whose contents, thankfully, is included in this post (do you really need to know how tall I was at age 3 years and 4 months?). But all the papers under the book were much more interesting:

Between the bag and the box, I had so much stuff that I had to sort everything out on the floor. Each past relative’s pictures and papers were in their own little pile:

There are resumes, last wills & testaments…………..even a 16-page family history for one family of cousins that went from the 1600s to the 1800s and is titled “Appendix J”. God help me if the rest of the alphabet shows up!

 

I think I’m gonna show the items first and then the rest of it.

 

Here’s something I haven’t seen in a long time:

I didn’t know WHAT to expect to see. I think I recall something like these that showed somewhat…………um………risqué images.

That was definitely NOT the case here. These showed my mother and her mother at a dinner somewhere (these are the two best ones):

 

Switching grandmothers to the paternal side, I present these spoons:

 

A closeup of one appears to show a last name of “Seymour”:

Nana’s father’s first name was Seymour, so I’m guessing that someone before him may have had that as a last name. I don’t have her family history handy, but if I find it and that’s the case, I’ll make the necessary corrections.

 

Nana’s maiden name was Dorothy Dunbar, so that would be the “DD” spoon, whose bowl says, “Hannibal, MO”. I don’t know what the connection was with a town in Missouri. The “D” spoon’s bowl says “1902”:

 

Moving on to her son (Dad), you may recall that his first automotive job was with a Studebaker dealership in Bergenfield, NJ. This scraper doesn’t identify any dealership, but it’s the most-likely place he would have gotten it:

Wait! Stop the presses! Super-close examination shows some very worn raised letters on the handle.

I can make out:

T  D  ‘S         V

4                                        AVE

Bergenfield, N.J.

It has to be:

Teddy’s Service

(a number that begins with a 4 with “S. Washington Ave” following it)

Bergenfield, NJ

It IS from where Dad worked.

 

Similarly, this item probably came from one of his two Chevrolet dealership associations:

 

It’s obvious which dealership these came from (and where he probably ate lunch):

 

The strange thing about this cufflink is that I only found one of them:

Just what you want on your wrists: a tiny metal business card.

 

The secret side of Dad? (well, it sure ain’t Mom’s):

 

I’m trying very hard, but nothing pops out (I’ll bet Mom disabled it):

 

Speaking of disabled, it took a while to get this stamp unstuck from its pad:

 

A couple of my items………from the first half of the 1960s:

(I’ve GOT to clean that football more often!)

 

I’ve shown this pic before (one of my favorites) and I know exactly when it was taken (my last day of being 10 years old and in-between vacation visits to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Niagara Falls), but I could never remember the name of the place………..

 

……………until I found this item:

 

 

This has an interesting story. So I’m in Manhattan in the 1990s with a just-arrived music collectibles expert from Bonhams Auction House – London and his lady friend and we’re on our way to Yankee Stadium.

We started talking about toys and I mention one I had a long time ago that had something like a yo-yo with magnetic center protuberances that ran along metal tracks in one direction and then the other direction based on your hand movements.

He didn’t seem to know what I was trying to describe.

We were in midtown and had to catch the #4 subway to the Stadium. I don’t think either of them had experienced the subway before.

No sooner do we get on the train when we encounter a guy who’s selling the EXACT toy I was talking about (except this one had a musical component). Of course, I bought one and we entertained ourselves with it all the way to the Bronx. And here it is:

What an unbelievable coincidence!

 

 

Paper stuff:

It’s kinda hard to envision your parents as FANS of anyone – they’re far too sophisticated………….and OLD! But it DOES happen and they actually WERE young once………..and they DID get replies:

 

Let’s start with the 1938 envelope from the New York Journal-American newspaper. A little background: In 1938, my father was a senior at Teaneck High School and was the editor of the school’s newspaper – the Te-Hi News. Under his yearbook picture, it said that he wanted to be the editor of a big NYC newspaper.

Apparently, he had just turned 17 and wrote to a columnist at the Journal-American. She wrote back (and bumbled his middle initial):

Don’t recognize the signature? Ever watch What’s My Line? back in the 50s? I did.

Maybe this’ll help (from Wikipedia):

In 1936 Kilgallen competed with two other New York newspaper reporters in a race around the world using only means of transportation available to the general public. She was the only woman to compete in the contest and came in second. She described the event in her book Girl Around The World, which is credited as the story idea for the 1937 movie Fly-Away Baby starring Glenda Farrell as a character partly inspired by Kilgallen.^[2]

In November 1938, Kilgallen began writing a daily column, the “Voice of Broadway,” for Hearst’s New York Journal-American, which the corporation created by merging the Evening Journal with the American. The column, which she wrote until her death in 1965, featured mostly New York show business news and gossip, but also ventured into other topics such as politics and organized crime. The column eventually was syndicated to 146 newspapers via King Features Syndicate.^[1][2] Its success motivated Kilgallen to move her parents and Eleanor from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where she continued to live with them until she got married.

Kilgallen became a panelist on the American television game show What’s My Line? on its first broadcast, which aired live on February 2, 1950. The series was telecast from New York City on the CBS television network until 1967. She remained on the show for 15 years (until her death).

 

I could be wrong, but even if you don’t know her, people seem to remember the name Dorothy Kilgallen.

No word on if my father ever dropped in on her to say “Hello”.

 

I DO know that Dad once interviewed Jimmy Durante in a Broadway theater during his high school years (Dad’s – not Jimmy’s). I’ve seen the exchange and when it pops up again……………

 

………….AND it just popped up along with two friends!

The friends:

 

The 4-14-37 interview:

I realize the interview is kind of small (I just found it on my hard drive from years ago), but whenever I come across it again, I’ll re-scan large.

 

The 1946 WNBC reply that newly-married Mom got (addressed to her at 523 BUMBERLAND Ave) – just as she was turning 24 – came from someone named Bob Smith, apparently a DJ at WNBC.

Mom had sent in a request for a song to be played on her birthday. Bumbling Bob scheduled it “for her birthday on Tuesday December 17” (Mom’s birthday was on the 18th):

 

But Bumbling Bob had a much more recognizable name a few years later that some of you might know (I sure do): “Buffalo Bob Smith” from “The Howdy Doody Show”, which I was on once………….maybe due to Mom’s “connection”? (“Hey – remember me? You played a song for me on my birthday, but you did it on the wrong day. You owe me – put my son in The Peanut Gallery!”).

 

 

Let’s finish up with the time that I – a 5-year-old boy – was taken to the police station by my own mother and fingerprinted!

“For the fun of it”, says the FBI application! It also says that my age was “5 4/5” Nice math, Mom!

 

My criminal classification? “Interested boy” – a likely story. I had to do a little redaction…………..I ain’t postin’ no prints!

 

And what did I get out of the deal? An ID card that expires……AT ONCE! What the hell good is THAT?

 

And now my prints have been on file at the Teaneck Police Department ever since, but I got the last laugh.

They never ONCE got the chance to pull them out for a case.

I’ll bet they feel silly now………..or they would if they were still alive.

 

That’ll learn ‘em!

 

 

 

 

                                                   (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on May 10, 2021)

 

You may recall a post about the 367 invites I saved from publicists, clubs, etc., in (and surrounding) the 80s (if not: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=11021).

Currently, the invites and shoots are a little different………….and I don’t mind: http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php/topic,4010

 

What follows is a post I added to that last link because I’m not putting this blog post there:

I remember driving up and down Main St. every night back when it was originally 2-way in the mid-late 60s. It’s where we showed off our hot cars and met girls. A big chunk of my social life was a result of “cruisin’ the drag”. It sounds sad when I hear myself saying that, but it was a LOT of fun.

About two-and-a-half years ago, I decided to try and see if I could find one of those “girls”. I wasn’t having much success until one day when I got home and found a message on my voice mail from someone who had moved away and thought the switch to 2-way had already happened:

 

That was a 70-year-old woman who sounded exactly like she did when she was 19!

Last week, I invited her to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but she no-showed.

Maybe her ’64 Chevy Impala was in the repair shop.

 

                                                                           (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on May 25, 2021)

 

I came across these two cardboard boxes recently. One looked like it might be interesting (“Color magic in Glass – HOUZE ART”) and the other did not:

 

Let’s open them up:

 

The interesting one contained 4 glasses, but no “Color Magic”…………..just white. The boring one held 6 glasses that appeared to be blank (double yawn).

 

Closeups – Interesting Glasses

What was shown on these glasses was advertising and classified ads from almost 100 years ago as they appeared in our local newspaper, but there’s already an error on the first glass. It says “As Advertised in 1925-1929 The Record”.

Our local newspaper IS The Record, but in 1925-1929, it was The Bergen Evening Record. It didn’t become The Record until 1960:

 

The rest of that glass showed ads for overcoats, suits, and A&P supermarkets (cigarettes for $1.15 a carton!):

 

The next glass was the Classifieds. Note that it says “The Record on the first pic and “Bergen Evening Record” on the top of the second one. The date of this paper was October 31, 1925:

 

Glass #3 was all about Fords and ladies’ winter coats. It was hard to read what was printed under the car and blowing that part up (bottom of the second image) didn’t help much:

 

The last glass was all about real estate lots for sale on this side of the proposed “Fort Lee Bridge” over the Hudson River (which eventually became the George Washington Bridge).

Note that it says that the lots are in Westwood – between Englewood and Hackensack”. Westwood is NOT between Englewood and Hackensack (Teaneck is) and the area where it says, “PROPERTY TO BE SOLD” appears to cover Bergenfield, Dumont and New Milford (it’s of little consequence to out-of-staters, but the locals will be up in arms…………..trust me).

I’ve included a couple of blowups of the map:

I have an extensive GWB collection and have a section of a blog post about it that covers this investment frenzy, if anyone’s interested: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=8341

 

Well, so much for the “good” box, which I’m guessing was a maternal acquisition.

 

Alright – let’s get this boring box of 6 blank glasses over with……………………….

WAIT – THERE’S SOMETHING ON THEM!

 

OMIGOD -a 1965 Chevy Impala!

 

A Chevy II……..

 

A Chevy truck!

 

A Chevelle! (I had almost forgotten about this car):

 

A Corvair Monza! (I had totally forgotten about this one):

 

A CORVETTE!

 

 

Sorry, Record – you lose to the 56-year-old paternal acquisition. That could be why I didn’t bother washing the foursome (but did the six-pack).

 

 

I guess good things DO come in small (blank) packages.

 

 

                      (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on May 31, 2021)              

 

I recently found more pictures of my father from his time in the Army during WWII and after just finishing scanning them today – Memorial Day – thought it might be an appropriate time to post them.

 

This photo is undated, but it had to have been taken within a couple of years before he joined the Army – most likely senior year of high school or the year after:

 

Corporal Leafe, January, 1943, unknown location (click twice for full enlargement):

 

Same guy (and rank), July 3, 1943 – this scan came from a very dark and muddy-looking print………….this is the best I could get out of it. I’ve never seen him or any pictures of him with his hair parted in (or near) the middle. Who’s his barber, Moses?

 

The 4 corner pix are from the same January, 1943 shoot as two pix above. Click twice to fully enlarge and look real close just below the sun’s reflection in that front bumper and you might be able to make out the forms of 3 people – one of whom may be female).

 

The sideways middle left pic is dated May 2, 1944 at Scofield Barracks. Looking online, I found it listed as both “Scofield” and “Schofield” Barracks, with the latter being predominant. In any event, they’re both in Hawaii.

 

As you can see the sideways middle right shoulder-shrug shot has no date or location:

 

I found a cardboard folder from Denis Studio and inside was this undated photo of my father – in uniform – looking like he was wearing rouge. This used to happen a lot with hand-colored photos, but it also looks like it was applied to his forehead, chin, neck and most of his lower lip:

 

I unapplied the makeup:

 

The only information was found on the back of the folder (a date would have been helpful). Fort Ord was in California:

 

He made it out – uncaptured!

 

………………..but not for long:

 

 

                                             (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on June 10, 2021)

 

I’m pretty groggy when I get up at 7:30, so 5am? Oy!

I was almost hoping that it would be real cloudy so I could go back to bed. On top of that, I’m still without my apartment’s roof access, so I have to hope that I can see the sunrise from two possible windows – one of which isn’t openable because of a window A/C.

When I saw where first light was, I realized that I’d have to shoot through glass with both windows.

I set up a tripod on a radiator below the north window and took the first 7 shots – a sequence that turned out rather nice, thanks to some thin clouds:

 

As the sun rose diagonally, a chimney started to get in the way:

 

I had to move to the other window. From THAT angle, the sun had to clear the tower of the old Sears building in Hackensack:

 

I had already been shooting at the fastest shutter speed and the smallest aperture available to me, but the sun was now way too strong to shoot. Of course, I never think about buying any densely-colored eclipse glass to shoot through beforehand, so I started scouring my apartment for ANYTHING that might work.

I remembered my old darkroom print scale and contrast filters. Maybe if I use the 3 darkest filters, that might help:

 

AND, maybe if I tried to shoot through the darkest black pizza slice on the print scale – a pretty small slice – THAT might work (as the clouds rolled in):

 

The cloud situation was getting insurmountable, so I tried the 3 filters one last time (the moon was about to exit the sun):

 

Finally, I combined the 3 filters AND the black slice to get my final shot of the event:

 

As I write this, it’s 3 hours later and the sky is completely overcast, so I’m fortunate that the conditions at sunrise were photo-friendly.

Arising before sunrise was worth it.

 

All photos are ©Bob Leafe.

 

 

 

                                   (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on June 18, 2021)

 

Thirty-seven years ago tonight, something happened that I seem to be a bit known for in certain circles and even got mentioned/quoted about it recently in a YouTube video that was posted on June 4, 2021. It was about an insane (but fun) show I shot that I call “The Judas Priest Riot Show”.

Six years ago, a story about the event came out in Ultimate Classic Rock magazine, which you can read here: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/judas-priest-madison-square-garden-ban/

In that article, they link to my site’s photos of Judas Priest that includes that night in this sentence: “Photographer Bob Leafe was at the show and hired by the venue to take pictures of the damage, which you can see here”. In the article, click on “see here”.

Pictures 7-9 are from that night. You can see what I originally wrote, what I wrote 4 years ago, what I wrote this month………..oh yeah – and an email I sent 6 years ago.

And since the new video isn’t clickable on my site (and who wants to bother copying-and-pasting it?), click here instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr-jOT_0mP8

One of my shots that’s in the video is extremely weird and out of focus because it was taken from my site and is only 300 pixels on the long side. You can’t take a file that small and expect it to look good when blown up to video size. If you saw that in the video and thought “What a crappy photographer that Leafe guy is!”, maybe you’ll like this better (there are at least 5 seat cushions flying through the air in this shot):

As I mentioned in my site article, I found one particular video comment from someone named Bob Schneider to be interesting:

“I was at that show. I barely remember that stupid DJ, and his version of events was 100% false. He did announce the upcoming Garden shows (first on that list was the Joe Jackson show that took place the following week, for which MSG was barely able to replace the seats). But everything else he said was false. Instead, the real version of events was the 2nd one you detailed.”

That would be my version.

Just found another supportive comment:

“I was there. Stone is full of shit it wasn’t fireworks . They pulled the cushions out of the chairs. I did. Halford said it was the 1st heavy metal trampoline because there were so many cushions and the show didn’t end early because I seen the same show a few days before I will tell Stone to his face he is full of shit . All they did was boo when he announced the acts. What a liar.”

 

I emailed Perry Stone 6 years ago when the article came out to express my unhappiness with his BS:

Dear Mr. Stone,

Just found your story about Judas Priest and you at Madison Square Garden in 1984 – what an absolutely incredible pile of CRAP!

Assuming you were really there, no firecrackers, M-80s, cherry bombs, or beer bottles were thrown at you. No chairs started flying around as a result of anything you may or may not have said on stage. And the show was definitely not cancelled! I will concede, however, that the crowd probably did boo you when you introduced yourself. Maybe they had a premonition about this “story” of yours.

How do I know all this?

I was in the pit and photographed both opening act Great White and the full Judas Priest show that night.

If anything like what you describe was thrown before Priest went on, I would have gotten hit with it because not everyone’s aim or arm strength lets them reach the stage. Trust me – the photographers would not have stayed in the pit if we were in the path of flying glass bottles and explosives. We would have raised a huge stink about it just as soon as we got out of the hospital if that had actually happened – something the survivors still would be talking about today.

The only things thrown in the direction of the stage were soft foam seat cushions towards the end of Priest’s set. I documented the whole thing on my site in words and pictures.

Being promoter John Scher’s house photographer that night, I also documented the damage caused by the crowd for insurance purposes after the show. THAT’S what got Priest banned from the Garden.

Since nothing was thrown at you, I’d like to see documentation that proves you were banned from the Garden for life for announcing wussy acts.

Oh yeah………………….unless there’s a vehicle that sells all-beef patties and doubles as a prison taxi, there’s no such thing as a police “patty wagon”.

It’s “paddy”.

And you should be paddy-whacked for this steaming load.

All the best,

Bob Leafe
http://bobleafe.com/

 

 

Guess who never bothered to reply……..and UCR takes the word of this asshat over a defender of the faith?

Sad.

 

The way I originally found out about the Ultimate Classic Rock article and the video is somewhat unusual: through my site’s statistics.

I don’t get the names of anyone who visits my site, but I usually can get a country and city of origin, the number of pages viewed and the hits (which, in this case, usually corresponds with the number of pictures viewed).

Around this time 6 years ago, I started getting a very high number of 1-16s (pages – hits) in my stats. This has happened every year since for a few days before, on, and after June 18. I don’t recall how I connected them to UCR – it may have been when I clicked on UCR’s link after I had noted what my overall stats totaled and noted that the total increased by 1-16, but it has occurred without fail every year………..and from all over the world (UCR’s reach is almost as huge as metal’s is).

But this year, I started getting a lot of 1-16 listings earlier than usual, so I googled “bob leafe” and “judas priest” – with the quotes – and came across the new video, which – as I write this – already has almost 38,000 views. It was posted on June 4, 2021.

Today, June 18, 2021, I’ll probably get a whole shirtload of 1-16s.

Hopefully, some of you will add to it.

 

Since you already saw my Priest shots on my site, I’m adding this one that no one’s ever seen before:

 

When the show ended, people filed out. You can see from my view from the pit that a couple of folding chairs were damaged. There’s a cop standing 5 or 6 rows from the stage, but he’s just observing people leaving and there are no fights going on (but people ARE still throwing seat cushions around…………..like I said, it was FUN):

 

After the show, promoter John Scher hired me on the spot to take pictures of the damage for insurance purposes. In this shot, you can see some seat damage near my position, but what I find interesting is that all the cushions on the stage were swept into the pit and the wall that separated the pit from the audience was then taken down, showing the huge number of cushions that accumulated in the pit and onstage. I’m not sure, but it also appears that someone onstage is throwing a cushion (in the air on the right):

 

Then it was time to head upstairs to check out the damage there. In this section, it looks like every seat was slashed. You don’t see any cushions, so they were all thrown down toward the orchestra seats by the seat-slashers:

 

So, I had fun shooting the show. It was HILARIOUS in the pit trying to shoot everything that was going on……….and then I couldn’t find my camera bag (buried by cushions) AND I got paid to shoot the aftermath.

…………and then it was on to the party, where I shot some way-too-serious guys from Anthrax and Raven and then Kenny with two babes I used to see at most shows (just don’t ask me their names):

 

Ain’t rock and roll a blast? And to think I could have still been working in a chem lab inhaling dangerous chemicals.

Not much fun there.

 

 

(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on June 28, 2021)

 

This was welcome news: my hometown of Teaneck, NJ, AND its next-door neighbor, Englewood (where I lived for 3 years in the 70s) were BOTH going to rename (actually, add a name onto) streets on the same day in honor of the Isley Brothers, who lived in both towns.

That day was June 24, 2021.

Yeah, I didn’t have a pass or any press credentials for proper access, but – come on – it’s the Isley Brothers! (well, two of them: Ron and Ernie). Let’s see if I can still come away with some worthwhile shots.

The Teaneck ceremony was scheduled for 2pm with the very-nearby Englewood one starting at 3:30.

Their Teaneck house was on Van Arsdale Place (near the Teaneck Armory, for all you locals). It should be easy to just go there, park and enjoy the ceremony. After all, how many people are free on a Thursday afternoon? If they wanted crowds, they could have waited 2 or 3 days.

Well, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Police cars were blocking Van Arsdale and a couple of other streets. I finally found a space 3 or 4 blocks away.

As I walked up Van Arsdale, I saw people taking a picture of a house and I was told it was where the Isleys lived. Here’s the house:

 

Up ahead, I could see quite a few people at the intersection of Van Arsdale and Van Cortlandt where the ceremony was to take place (click to enlarge):

 

The tent with the two peaks was where the brothers sat. Unfortunately, the front-center was reserved strictly for dignitaries and press. By the time the ceremony started, there were twice as many press tripods in that line that no one was allowed in front of:

 

So I shuffled off to the right and took this shot of Press/Dignitary Row. By the way, the gentleman near center in the blue shirt, gray hair, baseball cap and with his back toward you is Teaneck Mayor James Dunleavy:

 

Here’s a much-wider panoramic shot (click to enlarge):

 

The place was still filling up, so before it got too crazy, I took a couple of establishment shots to show unobstructed images of where I thought most of the action would take place.

Almost straight across from me, on the left side, was the podium where all the speakers would be (this is probably why I picked the right side). I should mention that the Isleys named their label T-NECK Records in 1964, so that’s why it’s on the sign:

 

To my right was the corner where the street sign unveiling would take place. I made a mental note to be on the other side of it – the sun side – when that happened:

 

Gotta have music, right? Behind me was the DJ. And – again for all you locals – the big structure in the back is the Teaneck Armory, where my father took me to see the 3Q midget car races when I was a kid (and where David Bowie rehearsed for his Sound & Vision tour in 1990):

I’m glad I took this before it all filled in with humanity (Note: the crowd at that intersection was later estimated to be 500 people).

I also noticed a drone was flying around before and during the ceremony, but I’ve yet to see any video from it:

 

Prior to all the tribute speeches, there was entertainment provided by the Teaneck Twirlers (what were they twirling?):

 

…….and members of the Garden State Chorale chapter sang “Oh Happy Day”. Here are the Twirlers, the Chorale and a little boy clapping along:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-qlsViIpxA

 

Then came the speeches and some were quite long. I didn’t shoot everyone, but let’s start with the two mayors…….James Dunleavy of Teaneck:

 

………and Michael Wildes of Englewood:

 

Bergen County Clerk John Hogan (at the mic) and Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton (far left):

 

Teaneck resident Ira Buckman, who had the idea two years ago to honor the Isleys in this manner and got it done:

 

There were also assorted former band members, friends and neighbors who spoke, but then it was FINALLY time for the honorees to show their faces.

Lots of people rushed in from the sides to squat down in the center and not block the press tripods. Somehow, I got swept along (yeah, right).

Here are Ron (l) and Ernie (r) Isley:

 

It looks like I’m pretty close, but this is where I really was:

 

Two more shots of R&E:

 

ISLEY FAMILY PHOTO TIME! Everyone is now standing and CLOSE:

 

Time to raise my camera……….except for one head, not bad:

 

I’ve now eliminated the head, but seem to have grown some lovely fingers and luscious lips:

 

Finally! A shot that makes it look like I’m the only camera in the house:

 

And now the grand unveiling – the man seems to be having a bit of trouble getting the cover off:

 

At the risk of repeating myself………..FINALLY!

 

That’s odd…………..how did I wind up on someone else’s phone screen?

 

I took that last picture at 3:27pm and – having gotten what I needed – beat it out of there quickly before the traffic jam started.

Englewood’s ceremony was supposed to start at 3:30………..I’ve had enough for today.

 

I think the old guy with the pocket camera did OK.

 

                                               (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 2, 2021)

 

This will be short, but not sweet.

Recent events that have transpired and unforeseen revelations have forced me to make a difficult decision: I’ve come to the conclusion that you should hear this directly from me rather than find out about it elsewhere.

It concerns a photo that has recently come to light that shows me in a group of about 40-50 other guys. I don’t know who took the picture and I certainly don’t recall it being taken, but it now makes it impossible for me to deny being there. I have to own up to the facts.

I was also stupid enough to write about it and post it and that photo is in the full-disclosure link that can be found below.

I know that this revelation may be a career-killer, but I really have no choice. In the end, it’s the right thing to do and – in the name of patriotism – this Fourth of July weekend is the right time to do it.

I didn’t EVER think this image would surface because I didn’t know it existed. But now that it has, my choice is this: look bad now or look much worse later.

And so it is with deep regret that I must inform you of what this picture shows:

Yes, I admit that I was at the US Capitol building in Washington, DC with – as I said above – about 40-50 other rebellious types. I didn’t hurt anyone or break anything, but I was there. I was also at the White House the same day and was dumb enough to also post a picture of that in the below link, wearing the same organizational top, so I really can’t deny my presence at either location.

The picture is at the end of this event link: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=272

I deeply apologize. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me and I deserve any comments you choose to post here.

Thank you.

 

                             (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 5, 2021)

 

For over 30 years, I was able to go on my roof via my personal roof door from a bedroom until 2 years ago when my relatively new – and out of his mind – landlord decided he didn’t like me and blocked my roof door from being able to open.

It kills me because of all the varieties of photography I was able to indulge in from there and all I can say now is that the battle isn’t over.

But it especially galls me around the 4th of July when I was able to see the pyrotechnic displays from at least a dozen surrounding towns AND the Macy’s fireworks (10-15 miles away), whether their barges were on the Hudson River or the East River (though I prefer the much-nearer Hudson).

Here’s a typical shot that I took ten years ago. I’m in Hackensack. The fireworks were in Englewood – 2 towns away!

 

Since this stupid ban, my fireworks photography has been severely reduced, but at least I had a shot at the Macy’s ones last night………..until the clouds and haze rolled in at dusk.

Hackensack’s fireworks got COVIDed last year and this year and that display was practically in my lap from my living room window, so that loss probably hurts the most.

Some local amateurs shot their own off last night, but the better ones were to my west, meaning I could only shoot them through a dirty window in my kitchen with my camera on a tripod that had to be in my sink!

My kitchen has old French (crank-out) windows that each have 6 segments, so I actually only have one of those little segments to shoot through, which really limited how high my frame would be, resulting in something like this:

 

Or something would slip in the sink during a time-exposure and……..oops!

 

I almost got lucky with this one:

 

Enough – I’ll take my chances with my east-facing living room window. Unfortunately, it seemed to be mostly occasional amateur fireworks in nearby towns with no way to time them, resulting in crappy shots like these:

TOTAL waste of time.

 

I was about to pack it in when I suddenly heard a bunch of little explosions VERY nearby. I looked out the window and saw what I guess were firecrackers going off in small bunches in the new parking lot:

 

Suddenly, something a bit bigger was going off in a corner of a credit union parking lot about a block away:

 

Bigger things started happening in the parking lot right below my window – mostly from parking space #125. Keep the package that’s parked there in mind:

 

When it stopped, I could see an awful lot of smoke covering the lot. By the time I got the framing, focusing and exposure done, some it had dissipated, but you can still see enough of it to get the idea:

 

Meanwhile, yet another group was doing things on a smaller scale in the corner of the lot to my right:

 

They had shot off firecrackers in traffic cones and launched what appeared to be bottle rockets from those same cones. At one point, a police car showed up and I figured they’d get chased away. The cop left, the guys stayed and shot off more stuff, including this time exposure of a bottle rocket taking off from Cape Cone-naveral:

You’ll see more of them in the video.

 

So the night wasn’t a total loss. It was fun trying to capture everything going on right in front of me.

 

When I got up this morning, I looked out the window to see if the lot was fire-scorched or explosion-scarred. It wasn’t, but I DID see this in space #125:

 

I had just gotten up and hadn’t had breakfast yet, but I decided to go out and document whatever was left behind in this lot and the credit union lot before someone cleaned it all up. This lot (space #125):

 

Credit union lot:

 

Back to this lot (the firecracker/bottle-rocket crew):

 

And if you want to join the Space#125 club, it’s 40 bucks a pop:

 

But you may have to go out-of-town to get one (or six):

 

Oh yeah………………..the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFBu62VCrvc