Handbill Handout

Labor Day weekend has arrived. If memory serves me right, you’re not supposed to wear white pants or white shoes or something after Monday. This doesn’t really affect me as there was only one time in my life that I wore white pants. That would be the summer of 1989 when I worked as a vendor at soon-to-be-demolished Shea Stadium. I fell into the job via a friend who already worked there. Back then, that’s how Harry M. Stevens hired their crew for that facility. You had to be referred by someone that already worked there. I was looking for something different to do other than the deli job I had held down for close to four years at that point. I do have a habit of staying in unsatisfying employment for long periods. Must be the “Depression kid” mentality my parents drilled into me. In any event I kept both jobs that summer and it was a good thing I did given the amount of money I often failed to rake in at the ballpark. It sounded like a good deal when I went for the job. First o

Tomorrow is the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failure that nearly destroyed New Orleans. My feelings for the city have been made pretty clear on this blog. I'm not going to hop on a soapbox and preach about what should have been done or who screwed up where. Brighter minds than mine should be allowed to figure that one out. Politics is not my forte. I don't have a mind for sophism or a stomach for shrill yelling. Instead, I will humbly suggest that you plan a trip to the city yourself. Go there, eat the food, hear the music, see the bayous and the rivers and museums and the old buildings. Then decide for yourself if America is a better place because New Orleans exists. What are you waiting for? (8/31 addendum): If there's anything left after Tuesday they'll probably need even more tourist dollars than ever. I fear I might have written a eulogy here instead of a simple expression of affection. I hope Gustav misses as much of the popula

Only in Staten Island , friends. Only in Staten Island. If you don't understand what bearing the title of this post has to the linked article just google it. You'll figure it out. Speaking of fish, the Mrs and I were having one of our after-dinner walks out on the boardwalk the other night and saw someone reel in a shark that was roughly a foot and a half long. Guess that's still too small for good eating because they guy didn't keep it. It's an interesting little Island sub-culture we've discovered down there in the last few weeks. The old Italian guys at the bocce courts, the Russian families out as a unit walking their almost invariably very large dogs, the largely Hispanic but partly pan-European fishing pier denizens, people of all ethnic backgrounds running with their kids on the sand...my old home borough is getting more interesting all the time. Sadly the weather will only favor this activity for another month or two at the outside and we're wracking

Happy anniversary to my lovely wife. I like to think I've given her four of the happiest years of her life. Of course we were married on this date in 1990 so you can do the math on that one. But seriously folks....I'm very, very lucky to have her. I hope she's having as much fun as I am.

I just read this . I could not help thinking of this . This concludes my Olympic coverage.

Either yesterday or tomorrow (depending on what source you have) would have been Keith Moon's 61st birthday. In his honor, I will get smashed, take a handful of amphetamines and drive my car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool. Nah I won't. Too old for that stuff. Hell, I've already made it about 7 years longer than he did. Instead, how about a little music? The man himself. Another genius (accessible). Another genius? (inaccessible). An award show . Two tracks from Quadrophenia, one of Keith's finest recordings: The Rock Dr. Jimmy .

The cookie of my youth has returned . Must stock up while supply lasts. This makes my week.

Ken Freedman did a three hour radio show from a rowboat on a lake in Sussex County, New Jersey yesterday. Great concept, fascinating radio. A great reminder that radio can be more than a jukebox or a PA for spewing propaganda.

The blog has been quite Boring of late for this I Must apologize I will sincerely Rededicate myself to Being interesting Self indulgence is Not a way to keep people Happy or amused Ah the hell with it It's not like they are paying Admission for this

Here’s a story I heard on my trip. Not sure if I heard someone tell it or if it was just the voices in my head but does the authorship of any given folk tale really matter? No, no it doesn’t. I’ve written it down to the best of my memory but I may clean it up if I remember more details. For now, I hope you enjoy this fungal fable. Long before the age that mankind walked the earth or surfed the web the planet was completely devoid of natural cover. It was a naked orb of cooling rocks separated by vast oceans. Onto this world two Gardeners were dumped by the Creator. These two were given the task of covering the naked rock not only for practical reasons but for reasons of taste. In short, they were told to cover the earth and make it look like a nice place that the Lords of the Universe might like to stop off at for a cup of tea or perhaps a belt or two. The Gardeners were told to think ahead as the Creator might like to add lunch service a few eons down the road. The two Gardeners set a

Halle got a grooming. She also got her introduction to the boardwalk near our house last night. We walked her so much that when my father-in-law tried to get her out of bed for her walk this morning she stretched, turned around and went back to sleep. Halle tried to get our cat to play last night. She flattened herself on the floor in that dog "I'm ready to have some fun" pose and the cat looked disapprovingly and wandered out of the room. I think we have the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I wonder if some of us like both cats and dogs because they represent two desirable personality traits: the ability to live in the moment and experience pure joy and the ability to remain calm, aloof and in control of a situation at all times. I bet somebody could crank out a 300 pager on that, make some dough and get serious consideration for the front page of the New York Times book review. Not me though. I don't have the attention span.

One of the central elements of the American Inferiority Complex that periodically overtakes me when I travel is the fact that I am, for all intents and purposes, monolingual . Sure I've picked up a smattering of Quebec and kitchen French over the years and I can figure out a little bit of Italian from what I learned in high school but I lack the ability to come close to carrying on a conversation beyond maybe ordering some food or beer and saying thanks. So it impressed the heck out of me in my travels through Sweden and Finland to find that most of the people speak at least three languages if not more. Our guide for our day tour through Turku carried on conversations in Finnish, English and German and like most Finns I'm sure she also spoke Swedish. I can't even imagine what it must be like to try to remember all the historical details you need to know to be a tour guide much less how to hone them down into that "guide patter" in four or even more languages.

While I was recovering from jet lag, WFMU had its radio greats weekend . Lucky for me, everything ought to be archived. That'll help get me through returning to the work force after a 12 day absence. The time-zone jumping had one unexpected outcome over the last two days. It has made me a "morning person" if only temporarily. I'm not sure that that's a bad thing. I actually enjoyed being up at 6am on Sunday and strolling to the corner to buy warm bagels. It felt sort of healthy and righteous. Maybe my dad was right all those years about keeping the same hours on the weekend that you do during the week. Or maybe I'm just getting old and the early morning is "old people time". I guess if I start stalking the mailman I'll know which it is.

We are back in the States this weekend, and we came home to a very exciting event: my mother-in-law adopted a puppy-mill-rescue Lhasa Apso . Her name is Halle , and she's an adorable 20 pound furball . Halle met our cat today and they seemed to get along well enough. Hopefully those two have many get- togethers ahead of them. Today in history: 380 years ago, the Vasa sank. I wonder if they had anything special at the museum we visited last week. Life returns to its normal cycle tomorrow. When in Europe the bus drivers, line ladies and cell-phone tawkers disappear from one's mind replaced by metal kids, street performers and tourists of other nations. Wherever you go you can find characters if you look for them. All the world's indeed a stage as that guy from Rush said. I guess what's most exciting is that I can spell-check these entries again. When you're outside the U.S. google logs you in using the primary language of whatever country you're visi

We are back in Stockholm for the last full day of our trip. The cruise was very enjoyable, but it did teach me that a longer cruise is not for me. About a day is nice, after that I'd get antsy and bored. So it worked out perfectly when we driften up to the side of the same pier that we departed Saturday night. Pictures from the boat will get posted later. Now I just wanted everyone to see a fantastic garden. 'Cause today we braved damp, crummy, rainy weather to visit Milles Garden . Milles Garden was the most stunning place we have visited in this gorgeous city. I could go on about the concept of the Artist's Home that they have in Europe or give you information about the objects , but just looking is better. So here, just look at the pictures and realize that as nice as they are I completely failed to do the place any kind of justice.

In a few hours we'll board the Silja Line and leave Helsinki harbor to head for Stockholm. This will be the final connection with my late grandmother on this trip since near as we can tell she departed that same harbor 86 years ago to go to America. I haven't written much about Helsinki so far, but don't interpret that to mean there's nothing to say. Helsinki is a fast city like New York. Crowds of people moving at a quick pace by day, crowds of people enjoying the cafes and bars at night. While I have enjoyed all three cities that we visited, Helsinki feels the most like home. In a good way. In that "yeah, I could live here" way that say, Chicago gives me but New Orleans, much as I love to visit frequently, does not. Helsinki is also special because its literally the furthest I've been from home at about 4,100 miles . Oddly enough, I'm about to be 41 years old. There's a whole lot more world out there to see though, and I hope my 100 miles/year ra

Tonight, we took the 7:30pm beer tram from Market Square. Nice to roll around the city inside a pub. The video screen at the front of the tram shows you where you're going. There it goes, off into the (not quite yet) sunset after last call. Farewell pub tram, thanks for the ride.

I know, I've been posting from overseas for over a week with scarcely a mention of the food and you're all dying to know about it. Well, let's just say we haven't tried the McThai Shrimp yet.... ...nor have we gone the sandwich route...... This was the most tempting fast food offer yet. Ah yes, Kebabs, the true flavor of the Deep South. I love European interpretations of American junk food. Did I ever tell the one about the buffalo wings I ordered at the American Cafe in the Zurich rail station? They came with all the traditional dips: ranch, salsa, and thousand island dressing. We were going to buy a basket of berries at the market, but this guy cut in front of us. He didn't even pay! The nerve. The donuts are good. The coffee here is great! The Finns are damned serious about their coffee. Best of all, not a Starbucks in sight. Speaking of the coffee....below is a picture of the absolute best cappucino I ever drank. We bought them at Cafe Art in Turku. They&#