Here’s another interesting find, coming again by way of Robbie Leff. It’s a drummer doing what sounds like a spot-on accurate following of Ringo’s work on ‘Rain’.
Author: DOuG pRATt
Fall
Time goes by so quickly. It’s already autumn. While running today I was clonked on my cap numerous times by acorns, and the road is covered with shells from nuts consumed by ravenous squirrels. It’s days like today that I am truly grateful for everything that I have.
DogRat Love
What’s the worst song ever recorded? My wife says it’s ‘Muskrat Love’. Accept no substitutes!
Pennsylvania SICK-5000
When I was in New York this week, I stayed at the same place as the last time I was in the city — The Hotel Pennsylvania, across from Penn Station. My last visit literally left a bad taste in my mouth, because I became deathly ill with food poisoning, undoubtedly from a turkey club sandwich I’d had for dinner at Lindy’s, a restaurant in the Hotel Penn building that had been a favorite of Milton Berle, who I would have avoided had I ever seen him. I never cared for Uncle Milty.
My night in the Hotel Pennsylvania wasn’t cheap, but it’s less expensive than most of the midtown hotels. That’s because it’s pretty much a rundown dump, except for the lobby. Besides the relatively low cost, I have an attachment to the place, because it was where I stayed the very first time I visited New York, when I was sixteen years old. The occasion was the 1972 Comicart Convention, back when the hotel was called the Statler-Hilton.
My friend Morris drove us there with his (now ex-) wife and their infant daughter. They’re listed in the program book as “Human,” which is a typo, because Morris’ name is Hyman. If you enlarge the scan you’ll see my name and that of comic book art legend Joe Sinnott, his late wife Betty, and their son Mark. As I mentioned a while ago, Dennis and I were going to meet Joe and Mark in Boston next month, but Joe had hip replacement surgery on Friday. I sure do hope it went well.
The Hotel Pennsylvania is most likely not going to be standing for much longer, and having stayed there just a few days ago, I’m sorry to say that I think it’s time for it to go. The New York City Council has approved a plan to replace it with an office tower. With so much attention being given nationally to the proposed Islamic cultural center, this bit of real estate news has stayed mostly local to the Big Apple. But beware, New York, because the developer of the proposed Penn Plaza project, Vornado Realty Trust, is the same outfit that has left a huge hole in the center of Boston for years.
Get well wishes
Here’s wishing good luck to Joe Sinnott and to Michael O’Neal, who have medical appointments today.
Prue Bury’s new headphones
Prue said the headphones that British Airways has are too big. They slide down her head and she has to hold them up to her ears, so she wanted to find a better pair for listening to the movie on the flight to London today. Nothing fancy, like noise-canceling phones, just something that fits.
Mike O’Neal told us there’s a Radio Shack on West 57th Street, so Prue and I set off down Broadway on foot. Along the way, we passed an Apple retail store, and Prue said she wanted to go in and see an iPad.
I brought up Google maps, and in short order had a satellite view of Prue’s village in France on the screen. She was looking for a landmark so she could her trace the way to her house, when a sales guy showed up to “help,” and after much effort the screen ended up returning to a map of Manhattan. Well, that was enough of that.
We continued our search for Radio Shack, and when we found it there was only one style of headphones that wasn’t sealed in a blister pack. A sales guy was nice enough to take a pair out for Prue to try on. Without even adjusting the band they fit perfectly, so I bought them for her. The set included a pair of ear buds that Prue didn’t want, so I took those. I hope the headphones sound OK on the plane, but I won’t know until Prue gets home, after she stops to visit some old friends in London.
