Monthly Archives: August 2014

A Summer Ends

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Memorial Day through Labor Day what we Americans call summer. When in fact summer is from June 21st through September 23rd. That really doesn’t matter, does it? Summer is most people’s favorite time of the year. The Beach, BBQ, Swimming and other water activities. It’s the only time of the year when you greet people you ask, “How is your Summer Going?” Nobody asks how is Your Winter Going?

While summer is not my favorite time of the year, I do enjoy it. I like Sunday Mornings reading in my backyard. I like that the traffic into Manhattan is not as heavy and I really do love the Summer Fashion. So before this weekend is over I will put away until Memorial Day 2015 all my two-toned shoes, seersucker suits, and bright summer ties and most sadly my Summer Hats. Two of my favorite hats will be put into their boxes and stored until next year and I know that very soon in a few more weeks the rest of my straw hats will go away for the winter as well.

However with everything that ends something else begins and if Labor Day means the end of summer it also means the Start of Autumn. My Favorite Season!! Why is it my favorite season of the year. Well here are some reasons (1) College Football Starts (2) NFL Starts, (3) NHL Starts, (4) NBA Starts, (5) Baseball Playoff, and (6) NASCAR Chase! The Autumn (or Fall) is a sports fan heaven season. While those reasons are good, there is also energy in the air, people are done with vacation and are ready to start their lives again, work becomes more important and people are just more focused. It’s the time of the year when I set all my Goals.

While all the reasons I love the autumn my three favorite things are:

  1. The Weather – Cool mornings, Warm afternoons, and Cool evenings. It the time of the year when you don’t sweat and you don’t freeze, the weather in my view is perfect.
  2. Day Light Savings Time Ends – I know I am in the minority on this one, but I really don’t care. I love when it gets darker earlier and earlier. I love the night. Simple it’s my favorite time of the day.
  3. The Fashion – The dark colors, the browns and tans is just awesome. I can break out my heavier suits and ties, sweaters and vests it’s just a wonderful time to be a little creative. As I stated earlier when something ends something begins; so when my straw hats go away for the winter, my fur felt hats come out. It’s FEDORA time. Most of my fur felt hats are Fedora’s and most of my straw hats are Pork Pies. It is a fun time of the year breaking out the old clothes and making purchases for the fall.

So yes Summer of 2014 has come and gone, but just think how nice a cool night on the Roof at Patroon with your favorite Pallys, Cocktail, and Cigar to enjoy a 45 minute vacation. There really is no place like autumn in New York and I will leave you with the Sinatra Classic.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

The VMA Awards – I AM GLAD I AM NOT YOUNG ANYMORE

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I am sure anyone who reads this blog won’t be shocked that I am not a big fan of MTV.  Never was, even when it launched in 1981.  However today is the VMA Awards and my curiosity was raised this year after last years Miley show and I decided I was going to watch the Red Carpet and the Show.  So at around 7pm this evening I went online to find out what channel MTV was on FIOS (I told you I am not a fan) and saw the Red Carpet was starting at 8pm.

I was glad because I was going to able to watch the end of the 1939 Classic “The Roaring 20s” on TCM starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.  When the movie ended I said to myself “Let the Freak Show Begin” and I changed the channel to MTV.  I made until about 9:20 and then I had to shut it off, because I just couldn’t take it anymore.  Now if I wanted to I could write a very long blog posts about the many young women in the music industry who are just outright PIGS!!  That’s right I Said It THEY ARE PIGS!

The boys and girls (I don’t care how old you are if you like them you are a child) that are fans of these PIGS should be ashamed of themselves.  I needed a shower of Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald to wash the filth and horrible talent that was on that show.  If anyone really believes that Nikki Minaj is more than just a BIG FAT ASS, then you too are a Big Fat Ass.

As I was watching the show, I turned to my wife and said “YOU KNOW, I AM GLAD I AM NOT YOUNG ANYMORE”

So tonight will be a short post and I will leave you with one of my theme songs by Maurice Chevalier’s hit from the Oscar winning Gigi “I am Glad I am not Young Anymore”

The Concept Album – Sinatra at his Best

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Last week, I went to the 21 Club with two young fine gentlemen who work at my Firm. One of my Partners also joined us. Spending time with these gentlemen gave me some hope that maybe someday the US will be restored and style will be back in the mainstream.  We discussed music and I was surprised at how little they knew about Sinatra’s music. Yes they knew the popular 20 hits that you here at every wedding and block party. So it dawned on me that maybe many of my readers have the same knowledge and I said to myself I need to change that.

During the 1050s while Sinatra was working at Capital Records he came up the idea (Yes it was his idea) of Concept Albums.  He would painfully layout songs and in what order they would be on the album in order to create a “concept” for that album.  What he created along with Nelson Riddle and other arrangers is just about the finest work of music ever recorded.  Here is a list of some of those concept albums.  I would encourage not only getting these albums, but you should listen to them the way Frank intended. Listen to them in the order Frank put them:

 

Album Name Company Year
A Swingin’ Affair Capital Records 1957
September of My Years Reprise Records 1965
Come Swing with Me Capital Records 1961
Point of No Return Capital Records 1961
Ring – A – Ding Reprise Records 1960
No One Cares Capital Records 1959
Come Dance With Me Capital Records 1958
Only The Lonely Capital Records 1958
Where Are Your Capital Records 1957
Songs for Swingin’ Lovers Capital Records 1955
In The Wee Small Hours Capital Records 1954
Close To You Capital Records 1957
Come Fly With Me Capital Records 1957
Nice and Easy Capital Records 1960
Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!!! And More Capital Records 1961
Swing Easy/Songs for Young Lovers Capital Records 1954

 

And let’s not forget “The Rat Pack Live at the Sands” on Reprise Records 1963

 

“THE GOOD OLE DAYS WEREN’T ALWAYS GOOD AND TOMORROW AINT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS”

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The title of today’s post comes from Billy Joel’s song “Keeping the Faith”. I know it’s hard for many of you to believe but not every musician I listen to is Dead! I spend so much of my time talking about how great the country “Used To Be”; I thought today I would talk about how great the country and the time we are living are today.

That’s right folks, I am going to be positive about America today and talk about the bad ole days.

Don’t get me wrong we have a lot of problems today and if we don’t fix them its only going to get worse. So let’s have a little fun and compare the old days to the new days:

Medicine – Let’s face it modern medicine is the best thing about living in 2014 vs. 1924. It’s really not even fair to compare, but I think Owen Wilson said it best in Midnight In Paris when asked to stay in the 1920s he said “Stay here in the 1920s, they don’t have even have Novocain.”

Music – Okay the popular music was better in the 1940’s and 1950’s than today, in 1955 you had Sinatra and Elvis, but you didn’t have Michael Jackson, Motown, Billy Joel and Elton John. Today we get to listen to them all so therefore it’s better today than 60 years ago.

Cars – Okay we go oooh and ahhh when we see a minted out 1957 Chevy drive by and whom a 1965 Corvette doesn’t excite? We all do, but did you ever drive one? They are dangerous, the handle like crap and ride even worse. Old cars a great nostalgia, but you wouldn’t want to drive one everyday.

Media & Entertainment – Like my comments on music, old movies are great my favorite Casablanca from 1942 and I believe there will never be a movie better. However look at the movies that I have seen in my lifetime in the theaters that someone who died in 1966 never saw:

  1. The Sting
  2. Arthur
  3. The Godfather Part I & II
  4. Jaws
  5. Animal House

With AMC, TCM, DVDs, and of course ITunes, we can watch movies from the 1920s through today. We have tremendous access to a huge family of films today.

Technology – Let’s face it today wins big. I am the first person to complain about social media and how people don’t communicate by talking to each other anymore, but you are reading my “BLOG” correct? I Tweet; I am on Facebook, and LinkedIn, so even though I prefer talking to people I love social media too. But forget about social media for a second. I have my entire music library on my iPhone 5s almost 4,000 songs. When I was a kid my bedroom couldn’t hold 4,000 records. Just the past 30 years has been amazing. When Reagan took office in 1981 VHS didn’t existed and today it’s outdated. In 1986 while working at Grumman Corporation my co-worker showed me this new machine it was called a facsimile. A FAX really, when was the last time you used a Fax?

Diversity – Can’t we all just get along? For the most part we do. Yes there are still stupid people in this world and you will never get rid of them. But just look how far we have come in a fairly short time.   There is diversity all over the place, in the work force, neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, and government. We still have work to do we are not perfect, but can someone tell me what would happen if Michael Sam came out in 1974 instead of 2014!

So many things in our society are much better than 50, 60, 70 years ago, but we still have work and we lost a lot of the good. Over the rest of my life, I hope we regain some of those things and I will be preaching about them in future Blogs. So let bring back some of the things from the Good Ole Days:

  • Class & Style – Men be Men and Women be Women. Let’s play dress up for no reason. Go out on a Saturday night and dress like you are going to a wedding.
  • Men treat women with respect, open the door for them, stand up when a women approaches or gets up from the table
  • Women don’t dress like a pig, dress like Cate Blanchett and not Lady Gaga, and don’t let men disrespect you.
  • Communicate with each other – let’s bring back the conversation amongst people. Put the Phone Down!! On a recent vacation we made a rule for all meals “NO PHONES ALLOWED”

I know things are changing and a lot of that change is for good, but let’s not change for the sake of changing there are some great qualities in the old way of doing things. Just think how great we as a nation could become if we take the good from the old like helping out our neighbors and combining with the new good of diversity. Where people let people live their own life yet can accept that the individual for being different. I know that I am probably a dreamer, but I am going to end this post with a song and no its not Imagine by John Lennon. It is “The House I Live In” by Francis Albert Sinatra.