Nancy Goldstein's Comments

my grandmother was pretty wealthy; her father a big builder (she called him "an architect" a la George Costanza). anyway, in about 1970 we were driving on east 14th street with my grandmother and as we passed The Fillmore she casually announced "oh, there's the theatre that Dad built." - anyway...before we moved into our house in 1956 on 137th street, our address was 77-17 138th street; just half a block from the school. lots of photographs (will eventually post) from there (stoop, old cars). are you in the music business or just a fan? i went to lots of concerts from 1970 on: Capitol Theatre in Port Chester (James Gang and Savoy Brown; 1970) Mountain with Leslie West 1970 Central Park, Led Zeppelin's 3rd american tour (madison square garden 1971). todd rundgren carnegie hall 1972. as a family we went to alot of Broadway shows too. i was in a band in high school in long island; gig locally now solo.

I just checked my guest list. Your cousin's son was at my son's Bar Mitzvah.

nancy, scrolling around some of the comments and those 'white chairs' you spoke about ("the janitors put out for the mothers to gab for the summer") were, i believe "Adirondack Chairs." I remember my mother, when visiting some of her garden apt friends would sit on one. there was a real class division in the neighborhood. private houses as compared to the apt situation you spoke about (parents on fold-out in living room/multiple sibligs sharing a room). also, notice some Fillmore (East) comments. i have a fab historical story on that; related upon request.
peter

In 5th grade I went to see the Beatles at Shea with Jay Sessler. In 6th grade I took Jimmy Morales to the Beatles concert at Shea. My aunt worked for Sid Bernstein, the promoter.
I'm not sure if it was with Herzlich or Chaykin I saw the Airplane at the Fillmore. Herzlich and I saw the Mothers at the Fillmore many, many times, also the Incredible String Band. And then Chaykin and I saw Dead at the Fillmore and we arrived home at like 5 a.m. and had a ball game at 7 a.m. But the best show, by far, was the first time The Band played the Fillmore. Herzlich and I had fourth row center. It stands out as the best convert I've ever seen.

Nancy, I thought you might like the article at the following website. It is http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A638408. The Austin Chronicle is the free paper. It has all the music venues, reviews restuarants, etc. By the way, the article is about Alejandro Escovedo - enjoy.

He really doesn't have any memories of you cousin's son.
I don't see the other Dylan any more. Last time I saw him he gave such an uninspired performance it was really depressing. His backup band played with all enthusiasm of a road gang showing up for their first day of hard labor.
I remember Bobby Farkas from 164 and little league, but we weren't friends.

appalachin, on Penn. Ave. has got some good hills to climb.My grandmother, may she rest in peace, lived in liberty. i was in the area a lot. we also have camped on Mongoup state park. Irv laffed(LOL), when i told him i called you.he really got a kick out of you quoting one of his lines. Want to come down in July to see Dylan in Bklyn with me and him. did you know bobby farkas?

Yep. My son certainly does know Dylan.

Your aunt lives on Binghamton's West Side. I probably know her too, maybe through temple, or just through the community.
Apalachin, you may know, used to be a big Mafia hangout back in the late 50s.

Darn it. I could have so easily stopped over at the Regency Sat night. I live on Binghamton's Southwest side. If I was ambitious, I could have walked. I am really sorry I missed you. That would have been a pleasant diversion.
Judy says your cousin's son knows my son - from temple or baseball? Do you know? What's the last name?
Did I go to Hebrew school at the JCKGH? To quote Irv: "Does Steve know Edie?" Yeh, seven long years. I have a thread with Jeff Marcus discussing some of the finer points of that experience.
Anytime you and Irv want to come up, you're always welcome.

I was at the Regency on the Chenango River Sat. nite for my cousin's 2nd trip to the altar. I could have used some diversion from the disco music. Maybe I'll come up this summer with Irving. NOw that would start the wires burning,nu? Did you go to Hebrew school on Main St.?

To borrow an old Eddie Goldbetter line: "Well I'll be deep fried in horse manure!!"
You were about 15 miles west of me. I got the message way late - on Monday evening.
Because this weekend was pretty hectic - ball games for my son, setting up grad party invitations for my daughter, a huge gardening job on Father's Day, I didn't listen to any of my voice mail messages. Too bad. I could have spared some time on Sat. night.
Next time you're in town we'll connect, that is if you do come up and visit again.
I called your cousin's home on Monday evening. He said you had left on Sunday morning.

I would like to go to the reunion, but one daughter will be graduating from college and the other from high school and it will be right around that time. I really won't know until dates are set for the graduations. It's funny you mention San Antonio as having a music festival. Maybe because I live in Austin, but I never heard of SA having any music festivals. We have some great ones Austin City Limits (ACL), South by Southwest (SXSW), Antone's Blues Festival and a few more. Of course, I heard of Alejandro Escovedo and yes he is great! I really love the "Blues". In regards to the bands I book, one is called "Mulholland Drive" and the other one is called "Mopac and the Blue Suburbans". Their websites are http://www.myspace.com/mulhollanddrivetx and http://www.bluesband.com. Check them out. They have music on their websites. Check out Austin City Limits website for the music festival. They are going to have something like 130 bands on 8 stages, over three days 9/26-9/28. The website is http://www.aclfestival.com/lineup.aspx. Oh yeah, Alejandro Escovedo will be there.

we didn't have a terrace,that would have been a luxury. it was a one bedroom, my parents slept in the living room on a pullout couch. the 3 of us kids slept in the bedroom until i was 10. w moved to71st ave and main for 5 and 6th grades and i had to walk a 1/2 to 164! to this day i know every back street anywhere i live or work so it really tickled me that you wrote "rarely took the surface route. i almost bought a coop back in the apts. there when i was in my 30's but a simple twist of fate brought me out to lawn island, job, marriage, house and kid altho not nessecarily in that order. i certainly remember ira chaykin. i may have had a crush on him or vice versa. my brother lived at 164 playground and knew all you ballplayers. but he graduated in 69.Kevin was a scary kid. my father always warned me that if i didn;t do well in school i'd end up like Kevin. do you remember the time he caught a huge turtle in park drive east lake and tied it to the flagpole in front of the kindergarten entrance and dropped it. or is that an old wives tale. who needed video games when you had kevin in the hood. let's hope he made it. can't say i remember anyone running around the yard without a t shirt. i was running and biking around from 164 to park drive east all day every day.don't remember any looky's lawn service. i remember in the spring/summer the custodians(?) of the apts. would take out the big, white wooden chairs and put them in the middle of the courtyard and the mothers would sit and gab all day.did your parents move away? those basements were the spookiest places ever when i was a kid.

Ah! We didn't live on the same block: mine was the smaller block next to yours, bordering directly on Vleigh Place. But I know exactly where you're talking about - I used to deliver newspapers in your courtyard when you were little. The Piazza's must have moved there later. Or maybe they just used our block for batting practice. Did you have a terrace?

My wife and I moved to your block after I got out of college - and after we lived for a year in one of the apartments overlooking Park Drive East - when I was around 22. We lived in the corner apartment on 141st St. and 77th Ave. You were probably still around, and we may have seen each other down at the schoolyard, where I resumed playing bball with Ira Chaykin and whoever'd show up. I played sometimes in long jeans, no shirt, and suspenders, if that rings any odd bells.

But all that is either here or there. The real connection here is you knew Kevin Daley! There's a name I didn't think I'd ever hear again. Kevin and I hung out a bit, off and on in my teens and then again when I moved back and started playing bball at the schoolyard again. That admission may not do much for my social standing, and rightly so I guess. Don't know if you recall Kevin's "gang" - the Black Scorpions, I believe their t-shirts said - but partly out of summer boredom, partly to protect myself, I made weapons for the Black Scorpions (a zip gun, a nasty blowgun, etc.). I remember an afternoon with Kevin better spent, setting fire to several Revelle plastic models we both had - a battleship and a couple of planes.

Kevin kind of went from bad to worse around the time I went away to school, but he was doing okay when we renewed acquaintances later. I'd love to hear that he was happily married now and taking his kids to little league games...but I dunno.

Before we leave the block completely - do you remember Looky's Lawn Service, on the other side of your block - facing 77th ave, almost down to the school? His truck was always around. I used to work for Looky - his wife (oh! what was her name?) was in my class at PS 164.

Anyway - you had a great block, with wonderful brick arches to climb on and interesting basements to run through (we rarely went surface route when I was a kid). Nice to meet you after all these years!

ps: you know the McAlevey's and my family were friends, right? I'd be surprised if we didn't run into each other at some point.

Hi Nancy - I don't know that we ever knew each other (I graduated in '61), but I did know the Piazza's, and they lived on my block too: the garden apt's off of Vleigh Place. Mr. Piazza was always out back in the summer, throwing wiffle balls for Robbie to hit. So I'm thinking you lived on my block, bordered by 77th ave, 141st St. and Vleigh Place, with the big open courtyard in the center. My address was 77-25 141 st., second floor on the corner over the entrance to the backyard nearest the stores on Vleigh, if that makes any sense. You must have known the Ginsberg kids, maybe the Goldfine's? Where was your apartment?

Yes Alice did say very nice things. It was the comment before that was funny, like I didn't know where she got that from yknow?
D

check out the message your sister sent me.
I explained the situation to her

Hi Nancy,
Alice's scene may be too foreign for Sophia- they are so extreme.
I really liked Kibbutz. There's alot of programs you can look into in Israel-pretty life transforming for me!
I can also see Sophia in one of those wilderness survival camps. They learn how tough life can be, and she is in good shape for that!
Most teens need to be in therapy too. Life is complicated and I guess it helps them sort things out. Don't worry she will out grow it all with a great mom like you! Donna