(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 7, 2021)

 

As you may know, I started doing these bi-annually last year because it’s WAY too big a job to do once a year. It’s not that I take SO many wonderful pictures – it’s just that I take a LOT of pictures (almost 6,000 from January through June) and it’s quite time-consuming to go through them all, pick out what I like, watermark them individually (no batch-watermarking – every watermark has to be placed in different parts of each image), run them all through a file-size-reducing program, write everything up and post the pictures sequentially. It takes about a week to complete.

Posts like these help explain the blog’s name. I still write a good number of music-related posts, but I AIN’T JUST MUSIC.

That said, it’s time to prove it.

 

JANUARY

Jan. 2 – From the Bloomberg Building down to Hudson Yards, with the Empire State Building still wearing Christmas colors. Click to enlarge (whenever I write that, click once or twice to fully enlarge, start scrolling side to side if necessary and hit your back button to return).

 

 

Jan. 4 – Two photos:

a. Sunrise in Fort Lee, NJ, just south of the George Washington Bridge (the buildings are The Modern 1 and 2). Taken from my living room in Hackensack, about 6 miles away.

 

b. This scene is just to the left of the above picture (and zoomed in). On the far left, you can see the top of the New Jersey tower of the GWB (but only when the leaves are off the trees).

 

 

Jan. 5 – A more spectacular sunrise showing both areas covered by the previous two images.

 

 

Jan. 8 – Geese above and Hudson Yards below

 

 

Jan. 9 – Three photos:

a. It must be Pizza Day in Hackensack.

 

b. Interestingly-put-together person

 

3. Photo-stitch of the Manhattan skyline (Click to enlarge)

 

 

Jan. 10 – Two photos:

a. Looks like the sign had to P.

 

b. This photo-stitch shows a new project in Bogota, NJ, on the banks of the Hackensack River. It replaced a Hess oil tank farm (quite an improvement). Click to enlarge.

 

 

Jan. 11 – I get a lot of weird photos from this source that range from looking like anything from a tornado to a massive explosion. Truth is, it’s just steam coming from a PSE&G power plant in Ridgefield, NJ – next to the New Jersey Turnpike. Hudson Yards in Manhattan is behind the plume.

 

 

Jan. 23 – It was just a picture of a woman taking clothes to the cleaners, but got an added component 9 minutes later on her way back.

 

 

Jan. 24 – I love these Sunday-go-to-church outfits. By the way, that’s my building’s reflection in her car windows………….AND the large window on the far left is my living room window – from where I took this picture.

 

 

Jan. 30 – Three pictures:

a. Sort of a windier repeat of the PSE&G plume/Manhattan Yards image from 3 pictures ago.

 

b. Here’s an innocent picture of a nice couple dutifully feeding the meter after parking…………THE WRONG WAY ON A ONE-WAY STREET! They had to drive down that street to get to that space – how could they be so oblivious?

 

 

c. This is looking straight down out my living room window near sunset as the sun only hits the tree and some of the parking spaces.

 

 

Jan. 31 – No comment……….. but, EGAD! And I’ll let you look up the UFFU on the hat.

 

 

 

FEBRUARY

 

Feb. 2 – Looking straight down out my living room window…………the garbage never looked so good.

 

 

Feb. 3 – See caption on photo.

 

 

Feb. 4 – Two Photos: a young girl gathers some snow and chucks it.

 

 

Feb. 6 – Two shots:

 

a. Wide shot of sun, clouds and The City (in the distance)

 

b. Comets and………….Christmas pants? In February?

 

 

Feb. 7 – Five shots:

 

a. Gradual snowstorm intensity

 

b. Wipers assume the position.

 

c. Setting sun illuminates snow on tree.

 

d. Variations on a theme

 

e. Mini-snow-plow caravan

 

 

Feb. 8 – PSE&G’s NJ steam and NYC’s Hudson Yards at sunset

 

 

Feb. 9 & 16 – Same building, different waves

 

 

Feb. 10 – Stopped at a light, I shot this in my rearview mirror. I could have flipped it to look normal, but sometimes, normal is boring.

 

 

Feb. 16 – I shot the top row of curtain hooks while lying on a table getting an ultrasound. Back on my feet, I shot the same row from a slightly different perspective and flipped it so it almost looks like a mirror image with a different background.

 

 

Feb. 18 – Two images

 

a. Taking a break outside during a snowstorm doesn’t seem like the best idea.

 

b. Shooting the full arc of a sidewalk snowblower from a block away in my warm living room was a much better idea.

 

 

Feb. 20 – The snow, the tree, the weird light coming from inside the building all combined to make this a shot I wanted to take.

 

 

Feb. 21 – Four photos (all taken on the Hackensack Walkway by the Hackensack River at Fairleigh Dickinson University):

 

a. A little inlet filled with frozen waterfowl

 

b. Like the caption says, “Moon Over MLK”

 

c. From the Teaneck side of the campus

 

d. On the connecting pedestrian bridge over the river

 

 

Feb. 25 – Read the photo’s caption.

 

 

 

MARCH

 

March 3 – I saw these two containers in the ice cream freezer at my supermarket and couldn’t believe that they’d think someone might want to buy either of them. It looks like someone started to clean one of them up and then said, “Why bother?”.

 

 

March 5 – I didn’t care about overexposing the moon because I wanted to be sure the NJ tower and cable lights of the George Washington Bridge would be clearly visible.

 

 

March 7 – Complimentary curvature – the only way to do it (my watermark disagrees)

 

 

March 9 – The one moment in the day to shoot this light switch

 

 

March 11 – Two pix:

 

a. A mile high and a mile long (not really)

 

b. Personally, the two most important pix of the year – Moderna 1 & 2 vaccines on March 11 and 28 days later on April 8

 

 

March 13 – Four pix

a. Messagewear

 

b. Hudson Yards/PSE&G power plant flyover by a Teterboro Airport-bound plane (I live 3-4 miles from the airport)

 

c. Enthusiastic gulper

 

d. I ordered a case for my new iPhone because I liked the ring and the look of the back, plus it came with TWO “tempered glass protectors”. It did, but the “protectors” were smaller than the back and didn’t fit anything, making the whole package completely useless. I got my money back when I threatened them and kept the package.

 

 

March 14 – Two signs you don’t see every day, but I not only saw both on the same day…………they were just 3 photos apart in two very different locations.

 

 

March 20 – Five pix

 

a. Happy head balloon watches over the kids.

 

b. Over-pampered dog (I’m guessing………)

 

c. Just got my complimentary Pylon box set with the 200-page hardcover book in it and the picture I took in 1980 on the cover……….

 

d. ………..and celebrated at Burger King? (I don’t think so)

 

e. Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck), tree, Hackensack River at sunset

 

 

March 21 – Six pix

 

a. Church ladies meet a guy on an Indian motorcycle (who has ever seen THAT before?).

 

b. Went for a LONG walk (all the rest of today’s pix), starting with a closeup visit to the balloons I always shoot from home.

 

c,d. Crossed the river to a park in Teaneck, where I saw these two oddities:

 

e. From there, I saw something else I really wanted to shoot, but it was back across the river in Hackensack. It was a long walk and I hoped it would stick around until I got there.

It did (but took off before I could get in a good position):

 

f. On the walk home, an outlandish motorcycle with a really loud sound system rode past me and later parked on the sidewalk. I noticed it when I was across the street and took this quick pic. The message on it is, “I’m Working On Myself”. I’d say he’s working on a parking ticket.

 

 

March 25 – Interesting clothing/adornments………….personally, I’d be happy with the Hard Day’s Night shirt that – for some reason – says “Hackensack” on it.

 

 

March 27 – Sticking his tongue out at his dog? Shame on him!

 

 

 

APRIL

 

April 1 – Goose and fish crow friends watch construction from on top of a church.

 

 

April 2 – Three images:

 

a. Found behind a supermarket……..A-OK with you?

 

b. For me, the drop coming off his beak makes this picture. The radiating rings set up what comes next – repeating rings.

 

c. I’m guessing you saw the COVID shirt I wore at my second vaccination. This is the shirt I bought with it.

 

 

April 3 – Two pix

 

a. Read the picture caption.

 

b. Big fan of fans?

 

 

April 4 – Ohboyohboy! They’re waving at ME! This is the best Easter EVER!

 

 

April 5 – Strange scene in the hallway

 

 

April 6 – Strange knife found in my parents’ possessions

 

 

April 7 – Five more strange pictures:

 

a. Strange place to keep shopping carts

 

b. Strange 6-wheel vehicle

 

c & d. Strange exterior of odd building from two weird angles

e. VERY strange game where two kids would race each other to be the first to slap their sitting friend’s hand. One kid kept losing – can’t imagine why…………strange.

 

 

April 8 – Two photos

 

a. This was the day of my second COVID vaccine and this is what else I photographed there.

 

b. I’m gonna shut up about this one because the truth is incredibly boring. The picture looks better if you don’t know nuthin’.

 

 

April 10 – Me too, lady!

 

 

April 11 – The church ladies always dazzle.

 

 

April 14 – He looks rather phonely.

 

 

April 16 – Two pix

 

a. The caption’s almost as bad as the backside (did you get “Graham Crackers” out of that?).

 

b. A more informative caption

 

 

April 17 – Three pix

 

a. This is the municipal parking lot 7 floors below my living room window. It’s going to be transformed into……….a parking lot – just more modern. I had to take 3 pictures to get the complete electronic message. One of them has a slight problem………..

 

b. In case it wasn’t obvious what the problem was…………

 

c. Parking meter chairs. For some reason, one of them says, “These chairs tilt when meter runs out” (Oh-so-clever).

 

 

April 18 – Two pix

 

a. Nice closeup

 

b. Ugly non-closeup – I took this as the last shot of the old lot before work starts on it.

 

 

April 20 – Lot work begins – Two pix

 

a. Not sure what this guy’s doing

 

b. I KNOW what this guy’s doing! (and so do you)

 

 

April 21 – Three pix

a. This was the center island main light of the lot. I knew it would be coming down, but not when. I wanted to capture it in mid-fall, so I was pretty disappointed when I later saw it broken and dead on the ground. Oh, well.

 

b. This looks like a high-wire act except the wire is a thick wooden plank that sits on the ground. BTW – these planks will be used to make curbing.

 

c. From above, I saw all these long gouges in the lot with pipes running through them and some sort of red tape on them that I couldn’t read from that far away, so I waited until after hours, went downstairs and found a roll of the stuff that posed for me.

 

 

April 22 – Two interesting photos

 

a. Over the last couple of months, I’ve seen dozens of dumps of dirt, crushed stone, asphalt, etc., into holes or trucks, but there’s always a problem when I’m shooting from so far away: bad angles, obstructions, bad lighting (and many more), but I think this is my favorite. It’s got everything I wish all those other shots had: action, direction, sharpness, unusually-great lighting and even what’s being covered up is visible.

 

b. Did you know that squirrels also like to watch cement being poured? Nice to have some company up here.

 

 

April 26 – Oh, DARN! I had my heart set on parking on that pile of dirt and rocks! It was smart of the city to spend money on an electronic sign to keep all the rock/dirt pile parkers away. Otherwise this area would look………….just like it does now.

 

April 27 – This is how curbing is created.

 

 

April 30 – Two pix

 

a. I had to take a break and get to the drug store to quickly pick up a prescription, but it wasn’t quick at all………

 

b. When I got back to my car, I saw this license plate on the car parked in front of me. I decided to take a picture of it.

 

Before I could, a woman immediately bounded out of the car and sternly asked, “CAN I HELP YOU?”

Unfazed (and trying to keep a straight face), I said – rather loudly – “Yes – I’d like to take a picture of your SCHNOODLE. Is that OK?”

“Yes”, she said in a very tiny voice, jumping back into her vehicle.

 

 

 

MAY

 

 

May 4 – Three pix

 

a. This shows a pretty red helicopter flying past the steeple next door. It turned out to be a US Coast Guard chopper. I have no idea why it was here.

 

b. I had to see my cardiologist at Hackensack Hospital for some sort of test where I had a blood pressure cuff on each arm and one on each ankle. I don’t recall why or what else was involved, but when the person administering the test left the room for a few minutes, I took a picture of the screen. Now you know what I look like naked except for 4 blood pressure cuffs. Whatever it was, I passed the test.

 

c. In a stairwell on my way out of the hospital, I noticed that people were attaching their hospital passes to a Fire Department inspection tag. It looked kind of ridiculous, so I took a picture of it. When I went back a week later for my test results, I expected to see a thousand passes there, but there were none, making this a VERY rare shot that no one cares about.

 

 

May 5 – Cleaning the parking lot workers’ outhouse

 

 

May 7 – Three pix

 

a. This was a big day in Hackensack – Main St was being converted back to two-way traffic after decades of being one-way. Chairs were set up in the middle of the street for all the guests and dignitaries. There were speeches, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and finally, Mayor John LaBrosse stood in the middle of Main St and sent an old and a new classic Chevrolet in different directions for the first time in ages.

 

b. HAD to get a shot of the HPD bikes………..

 

c. REALLY had to get a nice shot of that ’62 Impala (my favorite shot of the event).

 

 

May 8 – Sunset after rain from my kitchen sink

 

 

May 9 – There was just something strange about two guys – one of them with a pink bicycle and matching shirt – checking out the entrance to a Port-O-John.

 

 

May 10 – Two pix

 

a. Love this shot. It looks like he’s shooting sparks out of his…………saw.

 

b. How slow was this concrete? While it traveled from halfway down to the end, I got 5 shots off. Click to enlarge.

 

May 12 – Two shots (actually, four)

 

a. Read the caption.

 

b. I like the shadows.

 

May 14 – Two shots

 

a. A lot of shapes and items I haven’t seen before

 

b. I wonder what he’s eating……………and why his safety vest is on backwards.

 

 

May 15 – Two shots

 

a. Old signs

 

b. Contradictory signs

 

 

May 21 – Right next to the lot is the playground for the pre-school kids in a residential building. They only had ONE graduate? And that graduate got paper balloons? Oy!

 

 

May 24 – Someone else who can’t read signs

 

 

May 26 – Blazing sunrise over the old Sears building

 

 

May 27 – This was the monster machine that was brought in to dig up the parking lot.

 

 

 

JUNE – when I discover the Panoramic (PANO) photo setting on my iPhone. Click to enlarge on all PANOs.

 

 

June 1 – Five pix

 

a. (PANO) Busy day as trucks line up to cart away dirt, rocks, old concrete pieces and the old surface as it starts to get chewed up by the Monster (my name for it).

 

b. It’s interesting what little details you can capture from 7 floors up.

 

c. The Monster starts chewing and spewing…………and loses its aim at one point (fortunate that I was already focused on that spot when it happened).

 

d. Meanwhile, life goes on………

 

e. (PANO) The lot at the end of the day – chewing was restricted to two strips of lot under which electric power was installed.

 

 

June 2 – (PANO) The heavy equipment poses for me after work.

 

 

June 3 – (PANO) After work (and a couple of hours after a light rain)

 

 

June 4 – Two photos

 

a. (PANO) After work and during rain.

 

b. Strange lights coming from inside 389 Main – a block away and across State St from the lot…………..and also during rain

 

 

June 5 – Four photos

 

a. Sidewalk photo studio outside of 389 Main?

 

b. Laundry day?

 

c. “What the hell am I wearing?”

 

d. Three-parter: 1. Guy parks behind vehicle that’s picking someone up at an apartment building. There is ABSOLUTELY NO PARKING on that side of the street. Guy doesn’t bother looking for signs and exits to be away with his lady for an hour. 2 and 3. You know the rest.

 

 

June 6 – (PANO) The back of my building is one floor lower than the front for basement access. The house next door – naturally – is one floor higher than our “back yard” and their back yard was set up for what looks like a child’s birthday party. I had never seen this before and wanted to see what the PANO setting could do with it. I like it.

 

 

June 8 – A storm moves in over Hudson Yards and the World Trade Center.

 

 

June 9 – Weird clouds (speeding and standing still?)

 

 

June 10 – The Solar Eclipse

 

The story and all the pictures exist as another post. Go here to see and read everything: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=13443

 

The only thing that’s different is I now have the first four photos as a four-picture sunrise sequence with all times given………….and that’s here:

 

 

June 11 – Two photos

 

a, b. Concrete pouring

 

 

June 12 – Two photos

 

a, b. Interesting-looking people

 

 

June 13 – Five photos (all taken on the Hackensack River Walkway)

 

a,b. Crushed nuts, etc., are put out along the walkway surface for all the boids and squoils (or in this case, red-bellied woodpeckers, house sparrows and chipmunks).

 

c,d (PANO). The Walkway is not without its beauty.

 

e. Ever see a tree eating a guardrail?

 

 

June 15 – Interesting vehicle

 

 

June 19 – Two pix

 

a. Curbalance

 

b. Well, since they parked right next to the Port-O-John, adding “DUMPO” seems appropriate, no?

 

 

June 20 – Four pix

 

a,b. This woman was walking around the parking lot next to the church (on a Sunday!) and SCREAMING non-stop into her phone, but I couldn’t understand a word she said. She gesticulated, did anger-inspired, 180-degree hops to change direction……….oh, and her hat said “FBI JESUS”. Nothing abnormal here………..

 

c. At the other end of the lot, I shot this PANO on State St.

 

d. This gentleman appears to be trying to read whatever flyer that is on the sidewalk without stopping.

 

 

June 23 – Four pix

 

a. Isn’t it easier to pull the cart rather than push it?

 

b. Lot landscaper spreads EZ-Straw Seeding Mulch…….

 

c. .………and then packs it in for the day

 

d (PANO). Overhead view of the Seeding Mulch distribution

 

 

June 24 – Six pix (Busy: Paving Day and Isley Bros. Day)

 

a. Lot is half-paved

 

b. Off to Teaneck for Isley Brothers tribute day (street named for them) – the Teaneck Twirlers started off the entertainment.

 

c. Isley family picture………the full story is posted here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=13492

 

d. Van Arsdale Place in Teaneck can now be called “Isley Brothers Way”. The camera in the lower left shows me taking this picture.

 

e (PANO). Back home, the lot paving is complete.

 

f. The perfect capper to a full photo day – the full moon sits on the clouds.

 

 

June 26 – Four pix (The lot’s makeup is applied)

 

a (PANO). Everything is mapped out on the lot early in the morning and the first few parking space stripes have been applied on the far right.

 

b. Family walk

 

c. Some oblivious idiot drives the wrong way on State St. Personal note: he just passed my 23-year-old Chrysler Sebring coupe with almost 27,000 original miles on it.

 

d PANO. The parking lot is finished and so am I for the first half of 2021.

 

 

See anything you liked?

 

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

 

There’s so much STUFF in this latest bag of parental goodies that it’s taken me a couple of months to get through it all to scan. Some of it may require their own posts.

There’s not gonna be any rhyme or reason to this, so here goes…………

 

Link Frames:

 

Well, this looks nice……….and appropiate, considering Mom and Dad had 4 kids. Let’s open it up.

Out of the box, they’re stacked and look who’s on top – the first-born in his ugly 8th-grade graduation photo:

 

Let’s check out my siblings:

Uh, Mom……….is there something I should know about our family?

 

Exotic Black Coral

One 5”-tall piece on 2 different backgrounds

It came wrapped in this 4-page brochure (the piece is shown again on the last page to fill up space between the 2 tape marks).

 

More Cowbell!

 

Dad Cards

Invite to Dad’s 1938 high school graduation:

 

This is suspicious. His mother divorced his father in 1940 and then married a captain in the Little Ferry, NJ, police department, who then gave my father a Get-Out-Of-Getting-A-Ticket-Free card. Hmmmmm……….…tryin’ to win the kid over?

 

Cards for various jobs Dad had that I know next to nothing about (though I DO remember something about some sort of interaction with Gloria Vanderbilt), except that the Studebaker one probably prepped him for the Chevy career:

 

Gavel

This HAD to be Mom’s. She worked in the Violations Bureau of the Teaneck Police Department and I seem to recall a picture of her parking in the judge’s space, so I don’t know if someone was goofing on her with this gavel or if it might have been wishful thinking on her part:

 

And this is definitely mine:

 

Coins, Pins, Medals

Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority coins

 

1994 Australian 50-cent piece with unusual depiction on the back:

 

Coin-like “wooden nickels” from Teaneck PD (why did Mom have a box of them?):

 

Inside this little box:

 

…were 2 pins – Dad’s “Ruptured Duck” Honorable Discharge pin…

 

…and this other pin that only says “Hazard Zet Forward” (‘No matter the risk, move forward’). What did Dad get this for?

HE DIDN’T! IT’S FROM SETON HALL UNIVERSITY! IT’S MINE! (though I don’t remember it or why I have it. I thought maybe it was for ROTC, but research seems to indicate it’s more of a Seton Hall thing than a military thing.)

 

This is definitely Dad’s:

 

Wait…………he had to PURCHASE his military awards and decorations? I thought if you EARNED them, they were given to you:

 

This is definitely Mom’s. I vaguely remember her selling these brushes when I was little (or was it Fuller Brush?):

 

The one on the left is obviously mine (and “1955” was the year the school was founded – NOT when I went there), but I have no idea what the one on the right signifies. Anybody know?

 

Catchin’ Dinner

I know nothing about this 5” x 4” piece other than the image appears to be painted on the back of the glass and the hanging mechanism isn’t the classiest one I’ve ever seen. But it looks like they’ll be eating well tonight:

 

Writing Accessories

This pen says “Edward Todd & Co. 1 NY “ on it. I think the handle is mother-of-pearl, but I know nothing else about it other than it’s not a fountain pen:

 

Such an elegant pen deserves these 19-cent pocket savers……….

 

……..and only the finest in writing paper, such as these cheap pads from The Grand Hotel in Taiwan or the Playboy Resort and Country Club in Great Gorge, NJ:

 

Speaking of the Playboy Club, I can’t believe I’m still finding MORE stuff from there in my conservative parents’ possessions:

 

Mom was the roller-skating queen, so we know to whom this belongs:

 

I used to have a wallet like this, but this is NOT mine. Medical privacy reasons prohibit me from revealing who the owner was, but I was sure happy to find it!

The contents included 3 Old Glory flag stamps (Forever stamps) and 3 Imodium A-D capsules (is there a connection between them?):

But what put a smile on my face was the $71 dollars I found within (no pictures – it’s already spent).

 

Post Yarns

This is a little (3” x 4.5”) war-oriented booklet of cartoons from the Saturday Evening Post in 1945. A few are funny – the rest are corny. “Post Yawns” might have been a better name:

 

Postcards from me 25 years apart

I sent these home from Washington, DC and Dallas, Texas in 1962 and 1987, respectively. The earlier one came from a paperboy who won a trip there. The other one came from a rock photographer who was shooting the Texxas Jam in the Cotton Bowl:

(Why didn’t I flip those first two lines? I would have had a nice little rhyme going on…………)

 

Chevy Stuff

Gotta have some Chevy items, right? We’ll start with the cheap stuff:

 

Never heard of the Chevrolet Atlantic Coast before. Was this a giant floating El Camino jammed with Chevy dealership husbands and wives?

 

Kind of a non-specific , 2.75” x 2.75” x 1” Lucite award from the CBM at Chevrolet:

 

Talk about non-specific! The only thing I’m sure of (I think) is that it comes from Chevrolet. What is the “100% Award”? What does the “6” stand for? Did the CBM become the BMC? This monster is almost a half-inch tall!

 

Probably not Chevy-related:

 

Early Reading Material

I might have read one of the three, but still haven’t figured out what the lesson of the last image is……….always wear your skeleton?

 

Another Viewer

We’ve seen a couple of these here before, but those showed people we knew. This is rather generic:

 

Anybody Remember Freedomland?

Do you know where Co-Op City is in the Bronx? That’s where Freedomland was from 1960-1964. I went there that first year and wrote a paper about it in 8th grade. I scanned these large so they were readable, so click to enlarge – especially on the cover picture (Geez – even then, I was trying to tell stories with pictures!):

 

THINK!

So I find this 9.5” x 12” hardcover book in a crumbling paper cover…

 

I removed the cover and found:

 

This tells you exactly what it is:

 

And with a name like “Think”, you know it has to be from IBM:

 

There are a zillion pictures from WWII in it, which made it difficult to pick one or two pages, so I picked two side-by-side pages that each had a lot of pictures, but these were all related:

If anyone’s interested, there are a lot of these for sale on eBay and they’re not expensive.

 

The things your mother saves!

I found this rather crumpled-up cut-out from a 1979 college newspaper, showing a picture of me and my girlfriend Ronnie (yeah, right). It told of my life as it was in early 1979. It has some silly misspellings and omissions in a list of performer names.

What is doesn’t/couldn’t tell you was that by the end of that year, I was outta there and had switched job allegiances to you-know-what.

 

I’m gonna wrap this up with another cutie who was definitely NOT my girlfriend. This one worked in a bank in 1973 and the bank thought this almost-19-year-old should represent them in newspaper ads……………but why would my mother save this?

Because it’s her daughter, Geri! (which would make her…………)

 

 

 

                    

                                (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 15, 2021)

 

If you told me last week that I’d now be posting/punning about traffic cones/pylons, I’d have made you an appointment with the men and women in white coats.

Oh, yeah – BIG controversy. What do YOU call them – traffic cones? pylons?

Me? Traffic cones. To me, a pylon was always part of an airplane’s wing. In Georgia (or at least parts of it), it’s pylon.

Maybe this explains it better:

 

When that last comment mentions that he “got into Pylon” when he was 14, he was referring to a band named Pylon – a band I’ve mentioned on this blog a couple of times, mostly here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=11749

 

And look what’s on the cover of their box set:

(Shameless plug: I wound up with the cover of the included 200-page hardcover book.)

 

As a result of all that, I’ve become internet-friendly with Vanessa Briscoe Hay, the band’s vocalist, who’s on the blog mailing list.

A photo I took on the 4th of July that was in a recent post about local fireworks caught her attention because a bottle rocket was shot from a traffic cone that I dubbed “Cape Cone-averal” (“Cape Pylonaveral” just didn’t work):

 

She asked me if she could post it in her photo file on Facebook. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/1118402520/posts/10224357765627924/?d=n

Since I’m not on FB, she was kind enough to send me a screen shot of the usage, which included other images of cones/pylons sent in by her Facebook friends:

That got me thinking that I’ve probably taken a few cone/pylon pix over the years – especially with all the construction/destruction projects I’ve shot that wound up on the Hackensack city historian’s site that I moderate (http://www.hackensacknow.org/), but I’ve never actively collected them – you know, intentionally kept them together in a folder.

If I was that big a cone collector, I’d have hung out in Fort Lee, NJ, during Bridgegate:

 

But I’m not, so heavy-duty research was in order. I spent two days going through every photo folder I created in the past 10 or 11 years. Fortunately, traffic cones are easy to spot quickly and the 6 or 7 I thought I’d find grew into 100! Semi-fortunately for you, I’ve whittled that down to 60.

I didn’t want to overwhelm Vanessa with something that I couldn’t view, so I’m making a post about a subject I never thought I’d post about: traffic cones/pylons.

Vanessa – the inspiration for this post – can show the post link for this remote contribution on her FB page and everyone’s (hopefully) happy.

The pictures range from the years 2014 to 2021 and will be shown by year. And – with two exceptions – they were all taken in Hackconesack. I’ve also added comments where appropriate.

 

Here we go………….

 

2014

This might be the most unusual one in the whole lot. Besides 8 cones in the background, 2 more are reflected in the base – on which a sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr., is about to be attached at Fairleigh Dickinson University – Hackensack:

 

7 floors down from my living room:

 

This was an odd one. I’m in my car stopped at a light and I see this woman across the street wearing this tall, patriotic-looking hat. It’s the morning after the 4th of July, so maybe she’s on her way home after a long night of partying. As soon as she cleared the cone, I had my shot – just before the light turned green:

 

2015

From my living room:

 

2016

The back of my building, where people throw out strange things:

 

2017

Looks like the little girl failed her Parallel Parking With A Stroller test when she knocked a cone over:

 

“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” to insure your car or your cone:

 

This was taken from my roof looking straight down 7 floors to the street:

 

2018

I never saw so many cones used to protect a few feet of painted curb:

 

I’m sorry, but is there ANY thought that comes to mind when you look at this picture other than lighting farts?

 

This looks a little less dangerous:

 

2019

This was taken on the pedestrian bridge across the Hackensack River between the Teaneck and Hackensack campuses of Fairleigh Dickinson University:

 

Dunno what these are, but they’ve got Grade A pylon protection:

 

I saw this in front of the Hackensack YMCA and went into immediate shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mode. Never did get an answer:

 

Strange cone alignment that doesn’t seem to do much:

 

Had to shoot fast with a large vehicle coming at me and blocking more cones the closer it got. Strange-looking wave in the middle of the road, but the bonus for me (and all you locals) was the red sign just below the traffic light, “White Manna Hamburgers” – a super-famous burger joint that’s about 3 blocks from where I live and was featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” on the Food Network Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9RRsUbDV0U&t=176s

I had to shoot this before the white truck that just got the green light got closer and blocked the sign (see how many calculations go into “just taking a picture”?)

 

Buried alive (almost):

 

Main St, Hackensack:

 

No idea what these 3 are guarding:

 

Because this guy steals cones…………

……….you gotta nail’em to the street:

 

This was located at the 389 Main project, which is across the parking lot from me:

 

Cone abuse:

 

I don’t think I wanna know where these cones are supposed to go (or where they’ve been):

 

2020

I shot this from one of my bedrooms during a power outage. The traffic light’s not working and some drivers aren’t functioning well either (poor baby cone):

 

At the 389 Main project from my living room:

 

The cone seems a bit out of place here:

 

No idea what’s going on here………..it just looked unusual:

 

Why are we importing cones from a city that’s 30 miles away?

 

Dead cones – don’t let small children look at the second one (it’s gruesome):

 

Cone protects a surveyor at the 389 Main project:

 

Traffic island removal near 389 Main:

 

Traffic island removal from the 389 Main roof:

 

From atop 389 Main…….showing Main St just south of that location:

 

Mercer St:

 

Anderson St, looking east:

 

What better way is there for a cone to depict the horrible year of 2020 than this shot? Had it contracted COneVID-19? And I did NOT set this shot up………..it was found this way:

 

2021

This is the year when it was decided that the old parking lot with meters outside my LR window would be transformed into…………..a new parking lot without them.

These 3 pylon pix were taken in May, June and July:

 

Recently, I saw this elderly woman wandering around the parking lot – which has not opened yet – and she seemed lost. She found the one central machine where everyone supposedly will be paying to park and appeared to be trying to do something on the keyboard (as the pylon silently watched). Nothing’s hooked up yet and there are no lights or sounds coming from the machine. Maybe she thought it was an ATM……….or a phone so she could call for directions out of the lot.

She eventually found her way out – but not her way, as she was stopping and looking in every direction before she went out of sight. I hope she’s OK.

 

This one seems to be caught on the new fence between the parking lot and my building:

 

Garbage on Main St:

 

Here’s one of the two exceptions to the all-Hackensack locations: RAIN next door in Teaneck. What’s RAIN? Look here: https://www.rainonwaterevents.com/

 

I think this one had something to do with 389 Main:

 

Second cone is in door reflection. I hear the Riv has opened once again. Go have a beer with the dancers, but read the Yelp reviews first – pretty funny (and pretty scary):

 

Are these guys contemplating hitting the Riv?

 

And we end the regular pictures patriotically last Valentine’s Day in Teaneck (the other non-Hackensack pic):

 

For the grand finale, I present two large photo stitches taken in 2019. The first one covers an entire block and shows a concrete pumper with a very long reach that is being fed by a concrete mixer truck. In the middle is the dome of Holy Trinity Church, where I was baptized. On the far right is Sears, which closed last year. Along the bottom are 7 cones. CLICK TWICE ON BOTH STITCHES TO FULLY-ENLARGE AND START LATERAL SCROLLING (not much to scroll). Hit your return button to get back:

 

Let’s finish with a photo stitch of an odd scene I found one day on Main St. Obviously, an accident had occurred there, but it was just laid out so neatly. You’d think the driver would have taken the bumper………or at least the license plate:

 

 

So, THANKS A LOT, Vanessa. I’m now probably gonna feel like I have to take pictures every time a see a cone/pylon…….(OR – as no one calls it – a cone-lon?)

 

 

 

                                     WHAT DID I TELL YOU!!!

 

12 hours before I made this post, I saw this parked next to my building!

 

Make that “61” now (I feel like Roger Maris).

 

 

Uh, sorry Roger……….I just hit #62 from my living room window – 8 hours before I post this. Barry Bonds is starting to get nervous………..

 

 

Post time: Your record’s safe, Barry.

 

Everyone else: name your next child Beldar.  

                                                                                   

 

 

 

 

 

                          (ignore April 20, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 23, 2021)

 

In that previous bag of goodies, I found this small plastic bag. When I saw the contents, I had to set it aside because I realized that it was its own post:

 

It contained documentation from what I always considered to be the best family vacation ever (from August 1958), though a third of our family wasn’t there (the 8-month-old stayed with relatives and the other one wasn’t conceived yet).

We went to MANY places in New York state and stepped foot in Canada for a day (or maybe just overnight).

I feel bad that I don’t remember everywhere we went and everything we did, but it WAS a few years ago. And it’s not like I knew this stuff 30 years ago and have since lost my mind. I guess a lot of it was fun, but just didn’t register.

From what I can tell from this little bag’s contents, we drove north through New York state’s Catskills and western Adirondack mountains, dabbled a toe in Canada, made a sharp right to the eastern Adirondacks and another right straight back down to NJ……….at least that’s what I think I can piece together from this fairly-thorough collection Mom put together and a few photos I found from this trip – starting with………..

 

 

CATSKILL GAME FARM

 

A great place that no longer exists……

I have to start by saying that the prices of admission on this entire trip seem incredibly low (a family of four gets in here for $3.00?):

 

I found two photos. In them, my 4-year-old sister Geri gets a helping hand from the men in the family:

 

Strangely enough (or not), the ONE lasting memory I have of this place was in the area where very large bison were kept. I noticed a lot of large piles of something on the ground that looked bright green.

Yes – they were exactly what you think they were. I just didn’t know it came in that color…………and in such volume!

 

 

HOWE CAVERNS

 

How do I not recall this place? I love this stuff! I’m starting to suspect that my mother collected brochures from a travel agent – intending to go to these places, but we never got there:

 

 

RESTAURANT/DINER PLACEMATS

 

Well, I’m pretty sure she didn’t get these from a travel agent, so maybe we really were there (big whoop).

Chase’s Restaurant, Waterloo, NY

These can NOT be found online, so this must be worth at LEAST a quarter.

 

The place doesn’t exist anymore, but I did find a small picture of it:

Not exactly memorable……..

 

 

Here’s another placemat that doesn’t seem to be from any particular eating establishment, but does seem to be an advertisement for the upcoming 350th Champlain Anniversary Festival in 1959 (sorry – we won’t be able to make it due to our own massive celebrations for the birth of sister Lorraine):

 

 

 

TOTEM INDIAN VILLAGE

 

Absolutely zero memories of this place, but we have $2.80 in admission receipts, so we must have been there:

 

I found an online picture of one of the featured attractions within. You’d think a sight like this would leave an impression in one’s mind…………..nada:

Maybe I was way too revved-up about the next stop to give this place a chance.

 

 

 

THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME – COOPERSTOWN, NY

 

What could be better………..getting to finally see the HoF……….and on my birthday, no less!

 

And here’s our proof: admission receipts for 2 adults and………..one child?

Did we leave Geri at the Totem Indian Village? It’s not like Mom to not have saved EVERY receipt.

 

Putting that aside for the moment, LOOK HOW MUCH IT COST TO GET ME IN! FIFTEEN CENTS!!

 

Wondering how much the same admission might cost today, I found the answer to that question (and to the one about Geri):

If I was still the same age, it would cost ONE HUNDRED times as much for me to get in today! And if it costs nothing for a child aged 6 and under today, it was nothing back in ’58, so Geri was NOT still enjoying the amenities of Totem Village’s Bear House.

Instead, she spent her time at the Hall introducing herself to old, dead players:

 

…….while I hung out with The Babe:

 

 

Our big expenditure of the day appears to be a postcard that describes its flip-side-picture as being “TROPHIES presented annually to members of team winning World Series”:

I didn’t know you could wear a trophy around your finger.

 

 

I’m guessing we spent the night at this swanky resort (I think I remember staying the next night on the Canadian side of the Falls):

 

Since Dad smoked (and there are 3 matches missing), I’m also guessing that this item is his contribution to Mom’s collection:

 

 

 

NIAGARA FALLS

 

 

I don’t know why, but we did NOT go on this. Maybe it had something to do with the U.S. dock being temporarily closed (so why didn’t we board on the Canadian side when we were there?):

 

And I’m quite sure we didn’t go to Great Gorge (click these two images TWICE to fully-enlarge and hit back button to return):

 

Whatever it was we DID do that day, the ladies look tired:

 

Rainbow Bridge runs between the U.S. and Canadian sides of Niagara Falls. Given the date on the receipt, this might have been for when we re-entered the U.S.

 

Besides the Falls, I don’t know that we saw any of these things…………maybe (click ONCE to enlarge both):

 

This picture may have been MY contribution to the festivities (but since I was pretty short at that age, they really should have had me standing on something, so more of the Falls would have been visible:

This is probably the only picture I’ve ever taken in Canada (and don’t the parents look thrilled to be there?).

And since you asked (?), I’ve taken a few pix in Mexico and some video in England, so that’s the extent of my international photography. From Tijuana:

 

 

THE RAINBOW TOWER CARILLON AND ONTARIO’S PARLIAMENT

 

I don’t recall if we saw these places or if Mom just picked these up to make us think we did:

 

 

ADVENTURE TOWN

 

Now back in the U.S., I don’t really remember this place:

 

……….but I feel like I might, based on the fact that I’ve been familiar with my “stockade” shot for a few years now. I’ve posted it elsewhere on this blog because – based on my profession – it feels like it was rather prophetic:

 

Dad and some cowgirl leave the Widow Wilson’s Chuck Wagon:

 

Some saloon babe is looking for her handsome gunslinger:

 

And here he is! (the dope went to the wrong saloon):

 

 

 

AUSABLE CHASM

 

From what I remember (or think I remember), this is where I had the most fun. I seem to recall riding rapids, but not any of the other stuff (click to enlarge both pix):

 

Two more items were in Mom’s collection, including a synopsis:

 

…..and something I don’t think I’ve ever seen at any other vacation stop: a guide on how to maximize your photo skills in the facility’s various attractions. Quite thoughtful (and beneficial for their Camera Counter sales):

(So why are there NO pictures from this place, Mom?)

 

I have ONE last item. It’s 11.5″ x 8″ and I purposely acquired it – probably on eBay – many decades after this trip. I imagine I bought it as a tribute to the most fun I had on the best family vacation that – for the most part – is a blank:

 

 

Well, I hope YOU enjoyed the trip!

 

 

 

 

 

                                                       (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on July 26, 2021)

 

If only I had waited a week………….

I just came across the answers to most of my fogginess about this trip from none other than the Queen of Details herself – my mother, who wrote about EVERYTHING going on in her life (plus all birthdays, anniversaries, dog sneezes – you name it – of everyone SHE knew) in her DailyAide book.

You wanna know anything that happened in our lives in 1958? It’s all here:

 

These daily planner books were about an inch-and-a-half thick when she bought them and 2-3” thick when the year was over because she crammed them with newspaper clippings and god-knows-what-else.

I think if she knew that the news clippings would turn every page they touched an ugly brown, she would have added two pieces of Saran Wrap to each to prevent them from touching the pages.

 

Note: I scanned the pages all in B&W to make them more readable.

 

ANYWAY……………I went straight to August. The vacation started on the 16th, but the entries began on August 1, when her youngest sister volunteered to take care of my 8-month-old brother during the vacation. “What a gal!”, wrote Mom.

 

August 16 – And so it begins! You wanna know departure and arrival times, how many miles we drove, where we went and where we spent the night (not to mention how many beds/cots our family of four had each night)?

It’s all here:

 

The main difference between this and what I wrote is that we apparently DID go to Howe Caverns.

Hey! She forgot Chase’s Restaurant!

 

August 17 – But she would NEVER forget Sunday Mass! Looks like I had the Cooperstown sequence reversed. An hour and 10 minutes at Indian Totem Village? Must have been a real exciting place. The Christopher Motel was the following night (and Mom misspelled “Seneca”? Unheard of!). And “two beds” for the 4 of us on 3 of the last 4 nights?

 

August 18 – The night light display at the Falls sounds vaguely familiar……….

 

August 19 – I guessed incorrectly about the Rainbow Bridge receipt. It’s from when we entered Canada – not exited. Kingston is not close to Niagara Falls (a little more than the toe dabble I previously mentioned), so we apparently did a lot more driving than I thought in Canada. What? No brochure from the Evergreen Motel Cabin?

 

August 20 – I thought we went to both Adventure Town and Ausable Chasm the same day, so the vacation was actually a day longer than I thought. “Beach-n-Lawn Motel”? I’d like to see what THAT brochure looked like, but there’s nothing online about a motel with that name (though I DID find a “Town-n-Beach Motel” listing there).

 

August 21 – Ausable Chasm – a fitting grand finale. By the way: “wall clock as T.U.” refers to a thank you gift to my aunt for taking care of my brother, Ed, while we were away.

 

So – overall – I don’t think my sleuthing was too far off, given what little detail was available when I wrote it up. But now – with details up the wazoo – it’s as Mom would have wanted it.

Frankly, if I knew all this stuff beforehand, I think it might have ended up being a bit too straightforward (i.e., boring).

 

So let’s end this with only a semi-boring fact, courtesy of Mom and a calculator.

Total trip driving distance: 1,309.8 miles! (Yes – she calculated it to the tenth of a mile!)

 

What a gal!

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

GOTTA start with a ridiculous sticker, right? I think this one from 1977 qualifies.

 

Continuing in the mammals-with-nice-racks vein, I give you these two bumper stickers from Roslyn Heights, NY in 1979 – big moose country on Long Island:

 

NO idea why I have these:

 

Big surprise: the rest of these stickers are music-related, beginning with radio stations.

 

I got this one when I was in Fort Myers, FL in 1979:

 

Since I used to shoot for NEW, I have a bunch of these:

 

All the rest: WPLJ was in NYC, WPLR is in New Haven, CT, WFMU was a college radio station originally out of Upsala College in East Orange, NJ, and I must have picked up the 95YNF sticker when I was on the road with a band in Tampa, FL in 1990:

 

I don’t recall where I got this unopened R’n’R sticker:

 

I DID shoot for MTV for a while, so I guess that’s why I have this:

 

I also used to shoot for:

 

Faces magazine, based in River Edge, NJ:

 

The Uncle Floyd Show (for a long time) – lots of music and laughs:

 

Mega-promoter John Scher (for an even longer time) – unparalleled music excellence in LOTS of venues, including the two below. You can read about all that if you hit the red whowhatwhy link at the top of this post:

 

And – of course – here are a few bands’ stickers that I don’t recall picking up.

 

Kill Van Kull is a metal band from Staten Island, NY. It’s also the name of a 3-mile strait between Staten Island and Bayonne, NJ. I’ve never seen or photographed either one, so I have NO idea where I got this:

 

I remember the Michael Stanley Band, but no particulars, so I had to go digging. Turns out I photographed them opening for Jeff Beck in 1980 and I also shot Michael on the Robert Klein Radio Hour in 1981. Both shoots occurred on October 7 in consecutive years (I didn’t realize that until today):

 

Either I got this from a counter-protester at a Defund the Police rally that I didn’t go to or A&M Records gave it to me (most likely):

 

Not sure where I got these three, but Hunter/Ronson tours were always something to look forward to:

 

 

CREEM OF THE STICKER CROP

 

Ever read CREEM magazine? If you were ANY sort of rocker back in the day, you did. Remember the back page where you would ALWAYS see some well-known musician imbibing a “Boy Howdy!” beer?

Hey – I got Uncle Floyd in there! (he happens to be an excellent musician)

 

How come you could never find that brand in any liquor store when you wanted to be as cool as those guys in CREEM?

 

BECAUSE IT NEVER EXISTED! THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A CAN OR BOTTLE OF “BOY HOWDY!” BEER! CREEM, ROCK STARS AND THOSE SHADY ROCK PHOTOGRAPHERS CONSPIRED TO DECEIVE YOU!!

 

You’ve heard of a flat beer? Well, “Boy Howdy!” was literally flat! How do I know? I happen to have one right here:

 

In fact, I happen to have a whole bunch of them:

 

They’re stickers, but not for your bumper. If you took the backing off, you could stick it around a soda or beer can: instant “Boy Howdy!” beer can!

CREEM would send me a few periodically, but I never removed the backing. It was easier just to have the subject hold it wrapped around the can and then use it over and over. I kept a few in my camera bag in case I wound up shooting a whole band of guzzlers.

 

Here’s another Uncle Floyd shot from that shoot:

 

If you look closely in this blowup, you can see the bottom edge of the sticker below the can………..bad wrapping!

 

Here’s another much-more-mellow subject:

Anybody remember this guy’s “name”? (same as his band) – Guess in the comments section.

 

I’ve got one more lucky subject: old pal Stiv Bators from the Dead Boys and Lords of the New Church, whom I did a funny shoot with about 4 years earlier when I got him together with the Runaways (it’s on my site):

He showed up one day at an Uncle Floyd Show taping in Newark, NJ. We devised this “Boy Howdy!” shot in the bathroom down the hall. It could be an ad for recycling:

Surprisingly, CREEM didn’t print it.

 

But Trouser Press did, superimposing a big TP on the sticker:

 

Sometime after that, I got another package of stickers from CREEM, but there was something different about these. The design was exactly the same, but the gray background was a lot less reflective…………and they came with a note from the art director:

 

She hated them, but I liked them. If you look at the first Stiv shot, you can see a strong flash reflection top-to-bottom in the middle of the can. That wouldn’t be a problem with the duller, flatter backgrounds on these stickers.

Too bad I never got a chance to try them out (actually, I was hoarding this rare version).

 

CREEM was a lot of fun. Too bad they weren’t based in NYC (they were located in Birmingham, MI).

 

Here’s their 1981 Christmas card with an added “Boy Howdy!” cancellation mark:

 

Though they weren’t based in NYC, I DID make my initial connection to the magazine at an NYC event – a 1977 (I think) rock and roll flea market where I was selling pix. My table was next to the table of the legendary (and highly-troubled) CREEM editor, Lester Bangs. He saw my work and gave me this:

 

I found all these stickers standing together in the front of a dresser drawer because their size and shape made it easy to accumulate them that way as time went on.

Mixed-in with them was something else of a similar size and shape: a 15” x 3.5” drawing on cardboard by my mid-1970s teenage girlfriend:

 

The “Just for you” message on the back seemed strikingly similar to the one on the last bumper sticker that I’ve been saving for just this moment:

 

I hope THAT one didn’t come from an ex-girlfriend!

 

 

 

 

                       (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on August 14, 2021)

 

One good thing about taking pictures for most of your life is that you’re always uncovering folders from decades ago that you’ve forgotten about and that have some cool shots in them (slightly-biased opinion).

I just found some me-related images that cover a 15-year period (1976 to 1991). Most are work-related (though sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference…………it WAS a fun job, you know), but the first two are at-home fun pix.

 

1976 – Two fuzzy cats living in a house in River Edge, NJ with a lead guitarist in one band (and his wife), a lead singer in another band, and that singer’s other 346 cats. The flash did evil things to Spike’s eyes:

 

1979 – Speaking of eyes, I was at home in my Ridgefield Park, NJ, apartment, recovering from an eye operation, when my very health-conscious girlfriend decided to go against everything she believed in and made me an eye-poppingly-unhealthy treat and took a great picture of the treat and the treated:

 

 

1980 – That same girlfriend met Todd Rundgren and his lady backstage at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, dressed as a Rely tampon (WHAT?).

If you’d like to know the insanely-wild story about this and how she wound up on two stages in two different states that night (in front of wildly-cheering audiences), you’ll have to go to https://bobleafe.com/ and enter “RELY” in the search box AND check the “Search Descriptions Also” box.

And I took all the pictures, so I was working.

 

 

1984? – In 1982, I was named the official photographer of the Uncle Floyd Show. If you’re not familiar with John Lennon’s and David Bowie’s favorite US comedy show, go to my site and look under “Uncle Floyd”.

Besides taking all the pictures of the studio tapings, live shows in four states and the Uncle Floyd Show Album, I also:

– posed on the studio set (someone’s standing next to me)

 

– wrangled props in front of the Broad St, Newark, NJ studio

 

– AND appeared in bits (this one was a takeoff on the old “College Bowl” TV show, but instead of smart college students, we were supposed to be dopey high school students (I know…………I look pretty convincing):

 

On September 14, 1984, I shot the first MTV Viewer Music Awards. All that stuff’s on my site, but when I finally got home, I still had to load my B&W film into film developing tanks while it was still dark out. The roll that was still in my camera had two shots left, so here are shots #35 and 36:

 

 

1985 – I took this shot at the very first Farm Aid Benefit concert at Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana on Sunday, September 22, 1985.

In the story on my site, I mention how it was probably the most difficult show I ever shot. From my site:

I wasn’t in the pit for this show. A couple of us decided to be in the audience against the barrier in front because we had been told we’d be rotated in the pit and we didn’t come all that distance to miss any bands. This decision meant that we’d be giving up backstage and STAGE access and all the amenities, like food and shelter.

Unfortunately, it also meant STANDING in one spot from 8am until 1am the next morning (17 hours!) with little food and no bathroom through a morning downpour wearing plastic garbage bags over our heads and cameras. It was extremely hot and humid inside them and you couldn’t see through the constantly-fogged eyepiece, which you would try to dry off with a sweat-soaked shirt.

Thoroughly exhausted after the show, we then had to walk at least a mile with 50-pound packs, hop in a car and drive 150 miles north to Chicago for an early-morning flight home.

 

This photo I found shows that ONE SPOT against the barrier that we could not move from. It also shows exhausted colleagues Chuck Pulin and DebraTrebitz:

 

Three months later (12-16-85), things had returned to “normal”. I shot KISS at Madison Square Garden and the after-show party was at the Playboy Empire Club.

In this photo by colleague Larry Busacca, bunny Lorraine Mascara and I switch jobs as she takes pictures of me before I drop the tray:

 

 

1986

Another Larry Busacca image from sometime in 1986 finds me in a fog at some show, probably at Madison Square Garden, where I managed a smile before passing out (just kidding):

 

Probably the biggest show I shot in 1986 was the Amnesty International “Conspiracy of Hope” concert at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, which you can read about and view on my site.

After I got home from this all-day event, I took a selfie. Now I had never, ever worn a photographer’s vest before (or after), but I thought it might be a good idea for this show (don’t ask me why).

I also had never worn a headband before (or after), but people found it interesting because of the brand………….something about “Fruit”?

 

 

On October 10, 1986, I shot The British Invasion Tour 1986 at the Felt Forum (Madison Square Garden’s “theater”). There’s a shot on my site where I managed to get all 20 or so of the band members together on some stairs and this is what I wrote under it:

Various members of Freddie and the Dreamers, The Mindbenders, Chad and Jeremy, The Searchers, Gerry and The Pacemakers.

Personally, this was very special to be able to gather all these ’60s musical heroes to pose for me. Later, at the after-show party at The Saint – appropriately on the site of the old Fillmore East – I had a drink with Freddie (bottom left with the toothpaste grin) and chatted with him for a while.

It was quite strange to be talking to the guy I remembered seeing on TV in the ’60s, flapping arms and legs to ‘I’m Telling You Now’, while we at home followed along, singing ‘I’m Milking A Cow’.

 

And here’s the shot of Freddie Garrity and me:

 

 

1987

 

Here’s a shot of me taken backstage somewhere after some show by somebody:

 

 

1989

 

Part of my job is to watch out for my fellow photographers (concert work can be dangerous). I took this shot of Ron Akiyama and Lisa Lake (who doesn’t appear to be overly concerned) on 7-7-89 at the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, NY:

 

 

Me, Jimi and Johnny…………not sure where this was – possibly The Ritz? – or what year it was taken (pretty sure it was in the 80s) or how many sheets to the wind I was:

 

Perfect ending for the 80s, no?

 

 

1990

 

I was on the road in Florida with Danger Danger for a few shows. This event was connected to their show in Tampa. They did an in-store in St. Pete (I think) and I took this rather confusing shot outside the store:

The girls (and the big balloon) were connected to a radio station in Tampa. The ridiculous-looking “Dr. Paul Bearer” (how original) was with a St. Pete station (according to his hearse’s door).

Competing stations getting along? Ridiculous!

 

After shooting KISS again at Madison Square Garden on 11-9-90, the after-show get-together was a little more sedate this time at Charlie O’s – an MSG bar. I’m with my former agent, the late Virginia Lohle:

Geez – the photographer could have waited until we finished chewing!

 

 

1991

 

This was taken at the Great Falls in Paterson, NJ, by Tamara Singer:

If you look closely, you can see her pink top reflected in my shades.

 

If you think I’m making this up, I happened to take one of her as well at the same place:

And here’s what I wrote about her on my site:

Great Falls Chasm Bridge, Paterson, NJ 1991

I met Tamara when we were both shooting the Clash of the Titans tour (Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth, Alice in Chains) at the Orange County (NY) Speedway. She was cute, fun to be with, and has the distinction of being the only Jewish girl to fill me with Christmas spirit.

 

I think that’s a nice note to end this on.

 

 

 

 

 

(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on August 17, 2021)

 

 

Oooo – I know this one! It was a Sunday and it was pouring rain in Teaneck, NJ! I know this because it was the first day of my existence.

And exactly one year later, I acquired my first vehicle. It was a 1948 Rocker convertible in red, white and blue with golden-brown seats and dash. I added the arrow to my mother’s writing to avoid confusion that my convertible might be anything other than brand new:

 

 

Of course, I don’t get much use out of it these days, so I lease it to my constantly-drinking roommate:

 

Yeah – I showed this picture earlier and also with me riding it, but it was tiny:

(Whaddaya mean, “filler”?)

And centuries later – to the day – here I am writing about it.

Nah – changed my mind………..too corny.

 

(Editor: you DID delete that, right?)

 

 

NOTE

This is COMPLETELY unrelated………..

If any of you were fans of the old Uncle Floyd Show, you should know that he and Scott Gordon have been doing something called “This WAS the Uncle Floyd Show” on StageIt.com where they run an old show – usually from the 80s – plus some selected bits. Floyd and Scott are there to comment on what’s shown and also answer questions from the viewers in a chat that runs alongside the screen.

The shows run once and that’s it – no archiving and no reruns. A limited number of $5.00 tickets are for sale for each show, which starts at 8pm every Tuesday (TONIGHT!). Total running time is 50 minutes.

Recent shows have included performers like Cyndi Lauper, the Ramones, Paul Simon and more.

To be honest, some shows are better than others, but some recent ones have been absolutely hilarious (whaddaya want for 5 bucks?).

If you’re interested, go to https://www.stageit.com/uncle_floyd_and_scott_s_video_clip_club_live/this_was_the_uncle_floyd_show_28_with_uncle_floyd_and_scott_gordon_live/100548 and grab a ticket.

See you there!

 

 

 

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

 

“Animals” for a title is boring (except for a Pink Floyd album). Somebody in my life must have called them “animules” a lot, so that’s what you’re stuck with for this post.

I found an “Animals (real ones)” folder in a pile of non-music folders that used to be in my file cabinets with all my music stuff. The words “real ones” had to be added because of the band folder that preceded it:

 

The same situation exists on my site. I shot The Animals once and an “Animals (real ones)” listing follows it. BTW – there are 24 more pictures of animals there, so if you like these, you may like the site ones even better.

But because my file cabinets were bursting, I had to pull all the non-music folders and pile them somewhere where I’ve ignored them for years. Plus, I’d like to sell the music archive some day, so it makes sense to just have only music stuff in the cabinets.

 

All of these were shot from 1976 – 1986 in NJ, NY, TN, FL, and CA.

I’m starting off with 4 pictures I took from my bedroom window in Teaneck NJ between 1981 and 1985…………SQUOILS!

 

This one’s doing pullups:

 

This guy looks stuck:

 

I never saw a squirrel scratching his back before, have you?

 

This one is interesting and was quite difficult to SEE, let alone capture on film. It was raining and dark out (but not at night). Somehow, I saw this guy doing what I guess squirrels do when it’s raining: Curl up on a branch against the main part of a tree, tuck his head in and put his tail over his back and head as a sort of useless umbrella:

 

The next two were taken in 1977 in that house in River Edge, NJ, I shared with a couple of friends and a bunch of cats (NOT mine!). Some looked evil and some were cute:

 

I photographed this dog in 1980 in the huge metropolis of Piney Flats, TN – a place you’ve probably never heard of:

 

I might need some help identifying these former animals (hot dogs?) I came across in 1981 while coming off Mt Tamalpais in Marin County, CA, right near the Golden Gate Bridge:

 

These next four pictures were taken in Florida in 1979.

TWO dolphins at once!

 

One dolphin feeding close up:

 

Not sure where in Florida I took these two:

 

I took this one in the vicinity of Montauk, NY, in 1977:

 

In 1978, I shot this on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan, somewhere in the west 50s. Seems like an odd place to hitch up horses:

 

The next seven pictures were taken at the San Diego Zoo in 1981.

Zebras:

 

I think this is a gazelle (corrections always welcome):

 

Pretty sure this is a red panda:

 

Rhino:

 

Orangutan:

 

An elephant sprays itself:

 

Searching for McNuggets:

 

Back to the bedroom window in Teaneck in 1986:

 

And back to Florida in 1979. Pelican appears to be singing and then expecting either applause or money:

 

Three pix of flamingoes in the San Diego Zoo in 1981…………

This is the only non-pink flamingo I saw there………..looks like it’s quite young. It must be really hard to learn how to walk with those backwards knees:

 

This one appears to be either hiding or snoozing on the left and then primping on the right:

 

This might be a female peafowl strutting past a pool full of lawn ornaments:

 

I saw a wild (smiling?) alligator from a boat I was on in some waterway in Florida in 1979. I’ll bet he’d like to be in that pool with a dozen pink flamingoes……….

That’s it.

Once again, check out the “Animals (real ones)” listing on https://bobleafe.com/ if you like this sort of thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                       (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on August 23, 2021)

 

AND done in equal quantity: 10 in-the-ring photos each.

For the most part, these came from another old and ignored photo folder from the early 1980s simply-titled, “WRESTLING”.

Chronologically, the male side begins with two not-in-the-ring images. The first one – curiously enough – begins on the Uncle Floyd Show in 1982. If you had ANY interest in wrestling back then, you probably recall two-time WWE champion Larry Zbyszko.

For some reason, the Uncle Floyd Show was starting to attract wrestlers to the show and Larry was on more than once. Just like in the ring, he created a feud with certain UFS individuals, including puppets (!).

I found this online:

The show continues to grow in popularity as personal appearances draw huge lines everywhere. The show begins to be constantly mentioned on radio by Vin Scelsa, Tony Pigg, Meg Griffin, Don Imus, Lynn Samuels and host of college stations. Wrestlers start to visit including Classy Freddie Blasie and Larry Zbyszko who at one point attacks Hugo.

 (Hugo is a puppet.)

 

I took the below double picture on June 28, 1982, during one of Larry’s visits. As usual, it started out nice and friendly, but also as usual, that didn’t last long.

In the photo on the left, that pair of legs behind Floyd and Larry belongs to cast member Scott Gordon, whom Larry had just thrown against the back wall. In the right photo, Larry’s attacking Looney Skip Rooney, who looks like he’s really trying hard to defend himself (what’s he doing……..trying to blow his nose into Larry’s hand?):

 

About 5 months later (November 10, 1982), Scott invited me to go to a wrestling event a few miles away at Fair Lawn High School that had a couple of big names: Bruno Sammartino (Sr. and Jr.) and – you guessed it – Larry Zbyszko.

Larry was the only one I recognized, so I had no idea who else I was shooting until the following April when UFS fan and Fair Lawn resident Brian Shapiro sent me the official lineup (thank you, Brian):

 

Unfortunately, that only helped me identify two more people: whoever Larry and Giant David were up against (you’ll see in the pix why it was easy to pick out big Dave).

So here’s what I shot that night, ending with Larry:

This felt almost exactly like shooting concerts: easy candids.

 

On to the distaff side of the equation……………

I have to tell you up front that – unlike the male side – the female side is rated R. Maybe that’s why I shot TWO such events in 1981. Actually, I had to shoot two because the substance in which the reactions took place differed (my chemistry background finally comes in handy). To be photographically – and historically – complete, I had to shoot the mud AND the chocolate pudding versions. Life is tough.

You buying this?

 

It all starts off innocently enough:

 

…..but then things quickly went uphill……um, I mean downhill:

I think I recall the play-by-play announcer calling this move a “two-cheek peek”.

 

Before I show you the rest of the images, you should be made aware that mud wrestling pictures are now considered to be an art form (or so says Fine Art America):

(boy – I was lucky to find that excuse!)

 

The rest of the sophisticated art:

 

So, whaddaya think? Swank magazine liked them:

 

 

Did you figure out which of these were filmed in mud and which were chocolaty?

 

No fair licking the screen.