The Voice

Frank Sinatra meant little to me for almost 40 years. His sound was not what I liked hearing when I began listening to popular music as a young schoolboy in the 1960s. When Sinatra retired from the music business while I was a teenager, I cared as little as I did when he made his comeback a short time later. Although I initially appreciated his hit song about my favorite city as I finished college, I tired of it by the time it became associated with a baseball team whose owner I despised.

Then, many years later, an older co-worker suggested I listen to Sinatra's recordings from the 1950s. Vince, a very likable New Jersey guy, even was nice enough to lend me CDs of some of Sinatra's classic albums from that period. So, I listened to In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956), Where Are You? (1957), Close to You and More (1957), A Swingin' Affair (1957), Only the Lonely (1958), No One Cares (1959), and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).

Wow. What great albums, full of first-rate songs performed to perfection! After appreciating these classic American recordings, I became a Sinatra fan. I began listening to a greatest hits collection from his Reprise Records era, an album I was given years earlier and hadn't bothered with. Sometime later, I bought a 3-CD set of songs he recorded for Capitol Records.

More recently, I've gained an appreciation for the weekend radio program on WNYC-FM of Jonathan Schwartz, a Sinatra aficionado who plays lots of rare and popular gems spanning Sinatra's entire 60-year career. Bob Dylan's album earlier this year of songs recorded by Sinatra is a favorite. I'm grateful for all the attention Sinatra's music and broader contribution to 20th century popular culture have generated as the 100th anniversary of his birthday is celebrated.  

To those who were fortunate enough to appreciate Sinatra at a young age from their family's music collection, good for you. If you weren't lucky to have a Vince help you eventually discover Sinatra's best recordings, it's not too late. One hundred years after his birth, 17 years after his passing, Sinatra's music lives on. It continues being as accessible today as it was to his fans many years ago. And, intertwined with the fabric of the great American songbook, the sound of his voice will remain around for many, many years to come.

A Christmas card

Your sentiments can be purchased from Hallmark

for $4.99 or more, 

or from another card company

for as little as 99 cents.

You can be politically correct with some people
and wish them a happy holiday,

or be forward with others

and repeat the merry Christmas mantra.

You can pay good money for the presents 

on the wish lists of family and friends,

and hope the gifts you receive are those 

on the list you thought hard about.

Is it the season 

to pick the right cards,

say the proper greetings,

to give and get the desired gifts?

Is it that time 

to make it to church,

recall fond childhood memories,

to get together with family and friends?

Is it another Christmas to celebrate 

the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem,

while trying to put aside for a while

the conflict that continues around the Holy Land?

It's Christmas around the world,

that special time of the year 

when Christians can celebrate the gift

that God gave to all who believe in salvation.

It can be all that,

or maybe little of it.

It's what you choose,

or what's expected from others.

Your sentiments can be purchased from Hallmark

for $4.99 or more, 

or from another card company

for as little as 99 cents.

Or...

In awe of big brother

My brother and his wife, both newly retired albeit at a younger than normal age, recently completed a journey that most people a third of their age would find too challenging: they walked nearly 500 miles from St. Jean Pied-du-Port in western France across northeastern Spain over a span of 35 days. That's right, they walked, carrying nothing more than a backpack with all their essentials, for five weeks.

For sure, it wasn't easy. My brother Lou began the journey with pain in his right heel. He then caught a cold. Early in the walk, he also injured an ankle and rib. After a few weeks, blisters in his feet, he found himself feeling so foul that Andrea, his wife of 35 years, suggested they consider abandoning the second half of the walk. 

Lou and Andrea had planned their "Camino de Santiago" adventure for nearly two years, and trained for it on paths around North Carolina, where they've lived for 30 years. Lou's been a lifelong walker, starting in his native New York City and then while living in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and going on to serve in the U.S. Army. Even as he became diabetic and needed frequent insulin injections to regulate his blood sugar, he picked up his pace enough to run four full marathons, including the New York City Marathon in 1991. 

Andrea has also enjoyed walking and hiking her entire life. In fact, her and Lou's paths first crossed while hiking in the Grand Canyon. Three years later, they married. After he retired from teaching and she from nursing, it was only appropriate they begin their "golden years" with the kind of walk that rarely makes it beyond the bucket lists of most hikers. 

Even with his ailments, Lou was determined to complete the walk with Andrea. Fortunately, after nearly calling it quits, he began to feel better and stayed the course.  The two of them walked triumphantly, if not a bit wearily, into Santiago de Compostela a few weeks later, and ended their stay in Spain by spending several days in both Madrid and Barcelona.

I've always been in awe of my big brother.  Lou's successful completion of his long walk with Andrea this autumn reminds me how special a person he is and how much this little brother has to look up to.

Voter apathy: a matter of communication?

Voter turnout in the New Jersey county in which I live was an all-time low this past Tuesday.  According to the Asbury Park Press, less than 21 percent of eligible voters in Monmouth County cast ballots in this week’s elections.

“Tuesday’s turnout numbers are even more dismal if you factor in the number of eligible voters who aren’t registered.  Nationally, that’s about one in three,” stated an APP editorial today. “That means about 15 percent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot on Tuesday.”

Granted, there were no state-wide offices or referendums on the ballot. Still, at a time when overall taxes in New Jersey are the second highest in the country, according to a nationwide survey and analysis published in the APP on October 30, and the state’s economic recovery seems to lag behind much of the country, why did so few voters bother to cast a ballot?

When New Jersey did have a state-wide office at stake in 2014, it ranked 40th in voter turnout on Election Day, with only 32.5 percent of registered voters casting ballots, according to a study released in March by Nonprofit VOTE, and reported in NJ.com. (The national rate was 37 percent.)

In years past, some experts have pointed out that being located between the New York and Philadelphia media markets has made it difficult for New Jersey residents to get news about elections in the state, thereby leading to voter apathy. I don’t buy that argument.

With the growth of social media and other on-line information sources in recent years, it’s easier than ever to quickly get news about almost anything and anybody. For those who don’t like to get their information from digital sources, there are still plenty of newspapers and radio stations around.  And, to the annoyance of many of us, telephones and postal mail are still used by candidates to disseminate their messages.  And, therein, may lie the cause of the problem.

Voter apathy in New Jersey is likely caused by the quality, not quantity, of communication about candidates and issues.  Even though some experts may claim negative advertising actually helps candidates beat their opponents, I believe what it does more than anything else is just turn people off to the whole election process itself.

Most communication around elections merely succeeds in belittling those in government or their opponents, reinforcing their general image as narcissistic liars or worse.  And, why would the average voter want much to do with that?  By the time a person reaches voting age in New Jersey and elsewhere in the country, they’ve learned to shut out political messages and not trust what candidates are saying.  This is largely true whether the communication is being received via social media, another on-line source, or more traditional mediums like television.

Obviously, the election process in New Jersey and across the U.S. needs some serious fixing if it is going to work the way it was intended: to represent the will of the majority of the people.  A good start is for candidates to improve the quality of their communication to the public. They should keep their messages simple, state them in positive terms, and demonstrate where they can make a difference.

Perhaps communication channels, especially those that profit from politicians, should be emboldened to only accept Election Day messages that help fix the problem, rather than make it worse.  Maybe, just maybe, some positive communication actions can help reverse the trend of voter apathy in the years ahead.

Grazing in the grass

At an event in the New York offices of an on-demand labor services company this week, a panelist stated “companies are putting older workers out to pasture, and replacing them with younger workers with different skill sets and pay levels.” He may have stated the obvious, but it’s a fact no major company is willing to admit.

Another panelist pointed out that unemployment statistics are misleading “because they don’t capture people who’ve been unable to get a full-time job, and have turned to freelancing and contract work.” Again, he may have stated the obvious, but it’s a fact few U.S. government officials will admit.

A CNN piece, “Workers over 50 are the ‘unemployables,’” provides a quick overview of the situation facing many displaced professionals with deep experience. It also includes a very telling comment from Michael Harper, a Boston University professor and leading authority in the area of labor, employment, and employment discrimination law.

”It’s very difficult to prove hiring discrimination, because unless somebody says, ‘you’re too old for this job,’ you don’t know why you weren’t hired,” said Harper.

The CNN piece also touches upon the experiences of a job seeker who is often told she is “overqualified” and wonders if that’s just a euphemism for “too old.” Like many of her contemporaries, she has taken on temporary jobs for the past several years.

A PBS segment, “The Unemployment Numbers as Sham: Where Are the Freelancers?” explores the misleading unemployment reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It includes insightful comments from Sara Horowitz, founder and executive director of Freelancers Union.

“The problem is that the unemployment numbers are wrong. They just aren’t keeping up with the changes we’re seeing in the new workforce,” said Horowitz, who also stated that over 42 million people were independent workers either by choice or circumstance. “That’s nearly one-third of the workforce. The BLS surveys haven’t kept up. They don’t capture this type of independent, variable employment because they’re not asking the right questions.”

The PBS segment concludes with the observation, “We do have an employment problem in this country, but we’re not going to figure out what it is until we start asking the right questions.”

At this week’s New York event, another panelist and investor in on-demand labor ventures sounded skeptical of U.S. politicians’ abilities to effectively address the impact of the changing workforce. “They’re not leading us,” he said. “We’re leading us.”

Yes, experienced professionals will continue trying to apply their knowledge and skills to challenges that business operations and other organizations face, even as companies question this wisdom and effort at a price. And, even if government officials aren’t recognizing the reality of today’s labor situation.

Ringer

A few fast claps of the hand

after my favorite soccer team

scored a third quick goal 

and off it slipped.

I looked down and saw it

catch the late afternoon

rays of the sun 

as it descended 

to the section of seats below

and bounce

and bounce again.

I fixed my eyes on its resting spot

and looked at the people 

sitting around it, unaware.

I paused for a whole second

before quickly making my way

down to retrieve it.

I rushed past the usher

and down a few rows 

to where it rested,

its gold skin still glistening,

and put it back on my finger.

"No way I'm losing my wedding ring

after 34 years with my wife

at a game where the Red Bulls 

are winning,"

I explained to a curious onlooker.

And just as quickly

I returned upstairs to my seat,

to be with my wife 

for the rest of the match

and, God willing, 

another 34 years with my ring.

Wowii!

When I watch a local band, Eastbourne, play around the Long Branch area this summer, I'm reminded of a group I enjoyed seeing in clubs during the mid/late-1970s, Wowii.  Like Eastbourne, Wowii was mostly comprised of young Latinos who created outstanding original music and performed great covers of familiar songs.  Wowii had a strong following of fans who appreciated the energy they projected from the stage, just like Eastbourne. Wowii's powerpop/glam-rock sound was different than Eastbourne's reggaeish-based sound, but the vibe to their young fans was similar.

Based in New Rochelle, N.Y. while playing in clubs throughout the New Jersey/New York City area, Wowii was comprised of Rafael Melendez (rhythm guitar, vocals), Heppi Pettit (lead guitar), Mark "Wolfie" Resnick (guitar), Peter "Zepol" Lopez (bass, vocals) and Chino Cabal (drums).  Mother's in Wayne and the Towpath in West Paterson were among the many New Jersey clubs they played at regularly during 1977-78.

After signing with a major label, Wowii's first album was never released. The band splintered by the early 1980s and, except for reunion shows in the Miami area many years later, they never got back together.  A Facebook page about them, Wowii Eightiesband, exists. 

Thanks to YouTube, some of Wowii's wonderful original music is still accessible, as are some photos of the band from their '70s' heydays.  In fact, old fans of Wowii can even enjoy a short documentary about the band:   http://youtu.be/Ln7oVj7duzc

Three Wowii singles available on YouTube are:

-- I'm So Bad: http://youtu.be/SSz1FY30iMY

-- Hoods: http://youtu.be/0JXlUGdP1fI

-- Rock 'n' Roll Singer: http://youtu.be/rmAqg90aWvM

A live version of another of the band's original songs, Dream Angel & Juranda, recorded at Trax in New York City, can also be enjoyed at http://youtu.be/DcO5aWTho1Q.

And, thank you, Eastbourne, for unknowingly rekindling memories of Wowii. Here's hoping you have much success with your first album and many more years of making great music!

(Wowii photo from limestonelounge.yuku.com)

"They played baseball"

Cap Anson was a racist
Sam McDowell, a hopeless drunk
And except for one no hitter
Bo Belinsky mostly stunk

John Rocker was a dumb ass
Ty Cobb was filled with bile
Samy Sosa had his cork
Joe Niekro had his file
Yeah, it’s on file

But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball

Dick Allen had detractors
Matt Stairs, his ups and downs
Ron Leflore had Jackson State
St. Louis had the Browns

Durocher had his lip
And Bob Welch his grapey wine
Piniella had his temper
Mendoza had his line
Oh, and it’s a fine line

But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball

Yeah, we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball

Scott Spiezio went psycho
Milton Bradley couldn’t take the stress
LaMarr Hoyt was a coke dealer
Poor Steve Howe was just a mess

And Barry Bonds had a swollen head
Cesar Cedeño may have killed
When Jose Canseco reached deck 5
I admit to being thrilled

Brooklyn called their own team The Bums
Mantle had his bum knees
The White Sox threw the Series
Lou Gehrig got his own disease
His own dang disease

And we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball

Now Mark Reynolds has his strikeouts
Delmon Young could be a boor
Ryan Braun’s confessing
And A-Rod, well he’s a, he thinks he’s a centaur

No need to idolize them
Or cut them too much slack
You take the bad times with the best
And keep on coming back
I’ll keep coming back

But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball

Yeah, we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball
--"They Played Baseball" words and music by Scott McCaughey, copyright 2014

To hear the catchy tune that accompanies these lyrics on The Baseball Project album, 3rd, click on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccqm2Bbj2Lc

A belated birthday wish for a friend

More than 30 years after we had last spoke, the sound of his voice brought a big smile to my face. And, joy to my heart.

"This is he," is what the voice said when I asked if he was the same Kevin Chisolm who went to grade school with me in New York during the mid-1960s. We proceeded to speak about the stations our lives had passed through since we last got together.  It was as if we were reconnecting after almost 33 days, or 33 weeks, not almost 33 years.

We agreed to get together a few weeks later, in the same neighboorhood in which we both grew up. I met his family and he met mine, which included a son who I named in fond memory of my childhood friend. We visited our playgrounds and walked past the apartment buildings in which we previously lived. When we stopped at the very spot in which he taught me how to play baseball, he astonished me by pulling out of his pocket a self-portrait I had sketched and mailed him shortly after moving to New Jersey while we were in sixth grade.

It was as if an old friendship had been rekindled. In truth, it was more like the continuation of a young friendship that had been interrupted by the nature of life in the pre-Internet age, when frequent phone calls to a different area code were beyond the means of most people.

In the 12 years since our reunion, Kevin and I have stayed in regular contact. We've met for coffee several times, enjoyed a few basketball games, a concert, and taken a ferry ride to a baseball game. We hooked up at a reunion of former classmates at St. Paul the Apostle School.  Our families have gotten together for visits. Mostly, we've spoken on the phone about the ups and downs of our lives, his happy times and challenges and mine.

I learned that while I was completing my high school and college studies in New Jersey, he was doing the same in the Bronx and Maine, respectively. As I was launching my communication career, he was starting his career in biology in New York City. He was also acting on television daytime dramas and in commercials.  I married and raised a family in New Jersey. Several years later, he did the same. In hindsight, our paths were destined to converge again.  Fortunately, our friendship has stayed on track as our careers have taken a few twists and turns and lives have gone through some other changes.

Just as he was a positive part of my life during our grade school years, his thoughtfulness, ambition, patience and positive outlook are an inspiration for me today.  His focus on being present in the moment, free from distraction, while we're together is refreshing in this age of smartphones (and watches). After we talk, even about some difficult topics, I feel a better person.

A day after his birthday, I thank Kevin for his good friendship -- before and after its 33-year break -- and wish him many more years of happiness and health.

A needed alternative to FIFA

Let's hope sports historians will look back at this week as the beginning of the end of FIFA, the organized crime family that has ruled global soccer competitions for decades. As if the arrests of some of its members on Wednesday wasn't sufficient evidence of how institutionalized corruption is within FIFA, the re-election of Sepp Blatter to a fifth term as president on Friday proves the organization can't be salvaged.

Now is the perfect time for major soccer powers around the world to withdraw from FIFA. Germany, Argentina, Holland, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, England and other countries -- including the United States -- should pull out of the qualifying rounds for the 2018 World Cup and organize their own tournament for 2017.

By withdrawing now, these countries will once and for all destroy whatever legitimacy FIFA retains after this week's events. The 2018 World Cup, cynically awarded to a country, Russia, where racism in soccer stadiums is among the worst in the world while FIFA was launching an anti-racism campaign, would be a shell of a competition without the top teams.  Major sponsors would pull their support, further making the tournament a huge money loser. 

Bankrupt by no longer having its World Cup piggy bank, FIFA would implode. The 2022 World Cup, its hosting rights sold to Qatar by corrupt FIFA executives, would never happen. The slave laborers building the 2022 World Cup infrastructure in Qatar would be liberated. 

Among the leaders who can help organize an alternative international championship tournament and governing body is Sunil Gulati, head of the United States Soccer Federation.  A bright and fair man not tainted by FIFA, Gulati nominated the opponent to Blatter this past winter and was among the 73 country soccer heads who voted against Blatter's re-election on Friday.  Along with major soccer powers, some of these 73 countries may jump at the chance to be part of an alternative to FIFA.

FIFA must be dismantled. It needs to be stripped of its power. Hopefully, when this happens, lovers of the beautiful game around the world will commemorate this week's events as the start of an era when soccer got rid of the relic known as FIFA.

Sunil Gulati with Charley Bruns, February 2015








(Deflated soccer ball photo from korifaeusmagazine.files.wordpress.com)

100 years ago. 100 years from now?

A hundred years ago, the three most popular spectator sports in the U.S. were horse racing, boxing and baseball. Although college football was played, it would be another seven years before the National Football League was founded. The National Hockey League wasn't launched until 1917, and the National Basketball Association not until 1949. The first significant professional U.S. soccer league wasn't established until 1921.

What were some of the major sports highlights of 1915?

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series by beating the Philadelphia Phillies, four games to one. A 20-year-old rookie pitcher named Babe Ruth led the team with four home runs in 42 games. More importantly, he won 18 games and lost only eight on the mound, completing 16 of the 28 games he started. He sat on the bench during the World Series, however, going hitless in one plate appearance and never setting foot on the mound.

Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, lost his title to Jess Willard on a 100-degree spring day in Havana, Cuba.  Johnson said he threw the fight in the 26th round, others felt age and heat finally got to his 37-year-old body. Many boxing experts felt the fight was indeed fixed, which was not uncommon at the time.

There was no triple crown winner in horse racing in 1915, but it was the only year that fillies won two of three legs.  Regret won the Kentucky Derby and Rhine Maiden won the Preakness Stakes, but neither filly competed in that year's Belmont Stakes, in which The Finn earned the lowest winner's share in the race's history, only $1,825.

No one could listen to these big events on radio, which wouldn't begin broadcasting sports for five more years.  Only those fortunate enough to have an admission ticket could experience them live.  Otherwise, bulletins posted in public or word-of-mouth is how news about them spread until the next newspapers were published or news reels screened in movie theaters.

Television wouldn't begin broadcasting sports events until the late 1930s, when hardly anyone had access to TVs, anyway. The World Wide Web wasn't a source of news until the early 1990s, believe it or not.  Periscope, the social media app used by many to watch this month's Floyd Mayweather, Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao fight, was launched just this spring!    

Although baseball remains popular today, few would argue that football, boosted by the rise in televised games during the 1960s and 1970s, commands greater attention from most sports fans in the country. Basketball and ice hockey follow, although a good case can be made for pro soccer matching the latter's popularity in the U.S. today, especially with cable television easily making many international matches available.

The years have not been as kind to horse racing and boxing. Aside from the Saturdays in which the triple crown is contested, interest in horse racing has declined. Tracks around the country now look to casino gambling and sports betting to save them. 

The number of boxing fans has decreased since before heavyweights like Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Mike Tyson were champions. In fact, the most intriguing figure in a ring these days for many people is neither a boxer or a heavyweight, but a Universal Fighting Championship bantamweight named Ronda Rousey.

Try imagining 100 years from now.

It's hard to picture pro football remaining the most popular sport in the U.S. by the year 2115. Perhaps basketball or soccer will continue their ascent and overtake football at the top. Maybe some extreme or hybrid competition that won't be organized until later this century will be more popular.  Or, as media continues evolving, will personal interactive entertainment make spectator sports as we know them today obsolete?

What do you think?

(Jess Willard versus Jack Johnson photo from fightsaga.com)

American muscle vs. Japanese might

On consecutive weeks this month, I had the pleasure of renting a Chevy Camaro convertible and Scion FR-S on business trips. It wasn't planned, it just worked out that way. Enterprise offered me a free upgrade to the 2015 Camaro when I got off a train in Albany, N.Y. Dollar tempted me by having the 2014 FR-S parked in front of its rental office by the St. Louis airport, and I took the bait for a few extra dollars.

What's a middle-age businessman and car buff think about these two very fine but affordable sets of wheels assembled in different parts of our world?  Well, let me tell you.

The Camaro convertible renewed my enthusiasm for American muscle.  It was a solid piece of metal, painted red to draw the attention of other drivers, pedestrians ... and police officers.  Fortunately, its cruise control was easy to use and prevented me from going much above the speed limit.

The Camaro's exhaust note made my smile even wider whenever the light turned green and my foot pressed the gas pedal.  Rolling through the Catskills on a spring day with temperatures in the 60s and the top down, I couldn't imagine a finer automotive experience.

Then, I drove the FR-S. Lightweight and nimble, this Toyota-Subara joint venture of a car just wanted to keep moving. And, like a great ride in an amusement park, I never wanted to step out of it. It also featured a great exhaust note and, better yet, a pair of paddle shifters within an easy grip of the steering wheel.

Wanna experience the joy of manual transmission and convenience of automatic?  Behind the wheel of the FR-S, you'll have the best of both worlds: easily pushing the six-speed transmission smoothly through its paces without having to continually press a clutch in crawling traffic.

To be sure, neither car is very practical.  Both have tiny trunks and laughable back seats.  A Camaro convertible just doesn't make sense to a lot of people today.  And, an FR-S might have many people feeling a bit claustrophobic after a while.  But, if you're traveling alone for a couple of days, who cares? The two cars made my two business trips that much more enjoyable.

It's impressive how refined the reborn Camaro is. GM should rightfully be proud of the justice it has done to the sports car which many American men recall fondly, if not lustfully. It's also impressive how two Japanese automotive giants can team up to make the FR-S so exhilarating. It will remind many Americans of the joy of driving they once felt, or always wished they could experience.

Which of the two would I choose the next time I want to smile and have some fun driving?  I'll take the Scion FR-S ... unless it's a perfect spring day and the road goes on forever.
 

"Vinnie Scelsa's on the radio"

Only the Ramones could get away with calling him "Vinnie." Actually, Vin Scelsa once described being mentioned in the band's 1981 song, "It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World)," as the most touching moment of his career.  Alas, it's a career that will end on Saturday night, May 2, when he signs off WFUV-FM a final time, two days after his last show on SiriusXM's The Loft.

During the past 47 years, Vin has done radio shows his own way on a number of New York-area radio stations.  He's had his highs, like being WNEW-FM's prime time disc jockey in the early 1980s, and lows, most notably his complete disappearance from the dial for a couple of years immediately afterwards.

Vin has mesmerized listeners with his mastery of musical segues, and frustrated others with his long talks on the air.  But, he's always stuck to his principles and been true to his muse. More importantly, he exposed the muses of many talented artists to an audience of music listeners.

Tom Waits was one such artist that Vin turned New York listeners onto in the mid-1970s.  I didn't know about Tom Waits until hearing Vin play him on Sunday mornings.  Waits' eclectic sound became music to my ears while in college, especially on mornings after long nights and little sleep.  When I heard "The Piano Has Been Drinking" for the first time on Vin's show, I not only started a new musical journey, but began a long, twisting trip through the FM dial.

Vin turned me on to loads of punk and new wave artists, like the Ramones and Patti Smith, after I'd had enough of most mainstream rockers.  He introduced listeners to new sounds, including those of John Prine and Black 47, and rekindled passion for some already established, like Bob Dylan. Vin brought personalities like Lou Reed into our homes with lengthy on-air interviews. He also made us laugh by sharing the hilarious tales of T-Shirt and Razoo Kelly.

Besides spinning all kinds of records on the air, he spun stories that were funny -- a fellow DJ's pilfering of the Beatles' White Album before its 1968 release from an E.J. Korvette store was my favorite  -- and others that were simply fascinating, e.g., standing next to Jimi Hendrix at a urinal.  He also shared stories that were touching, including some involving Townes Van Zandt and Joey Ramone.

Something Vin had little tolerance for, however, was being told what to do by radio station managers. His tenure on prime time at WNEW-FM ended shortly after the station began playing more mainstream music.  A brief stay with a Long Island new music station ended not long after Vin insisted on airing some old music.

When Vin began a 10-year stint at WXRK-FM ("K-Rock") in 1985, he didn't think twice about playing music his young daughter would enjoy.  Heck, he even convinced David Johansen to cover "Under the Sea" from the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, which he no doubt watched several times.

Like most of his long-time listeners, I've gotten to know Vin like a friend or family member over the years. I heard his stories about vacationing in Long Beach Island, and working as an expediter for the jewelry business of his wife's family.  I learned about him about running and losing weight, and then gaining weight back and becoming ill.  I even got to meet him once, at an HBO studio in midtown Manhattan for the screening of a Neville Brothers film hosted by Ed Bradley in 1989.

Being a radio celebrity, however, was not really Vin's thing.  Even though he hosted a number of singer-songwriter shows at The Bottom Line in Greenwich Village in the early 1990s, he preferred the solitude of a radio studio and stack of music he often brought in to share with listeners.  As he got older and technological advances made it possible, he didn't even leave his Roseland, N.J. house to do his shows; he hosted them from his home studio.

Vin didn't take requests on the air and rarely acknowledged listeners by name, but he didn't snub those who were in tune with what he was doing (and not doing).  In late 1978 I wrote him a long, rambling letter, ending it by asking him to play Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio." Sure enough, without mentioning me or my letter, he played the song to open his show the following Sunday night.

In 1986, after I saw Tom Waits perform in "Frank's Wild Years," in Chicago and mailed Vin the printed program, he shared information about the musical stage production and acknowledged receiving my correspondence on the air.  About five years later I got through to him on the phone in the wee hours of the morning while he was on the air just to thank him for playing great music. He seemed surprised that "Charley from Bloomfield" didn't request a song.  

Like many people who survived the 1960s, Vin has slowed down a bit over the years. In his prime, he often stayed on the air long past when his show was scheduled to end. A few years ago, he trimmed his four-hour WFUV-FM "idiot's Delight" show to two hours, between 8-10 p.m. Now, at 67, he'll be shutting off his microphone a last time to write and work a bit with his daughter.

Most radio listeners today have probably not heard of Vin Scelsa, but that's probably okay with him. Lots of people aren't familiar with Tom Waits, but he's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Those of us fortunate to ride along on Vin's musical journey over the decades will always remember how he enriched our lives, and will never forget him.

Vin Scelsa with Lou Reed 
(photo from WFUV-FM)

    

Is it baseball season yet?

Eventually, the weather around the New York City/New Jersey area will warm up.  Baseball fans will plan outings to Citi Field and Yankee Stadium without having to think about staying warm.  And, just maybe, the Mets will actually win more games than the Yankees.

Sports Illustrated thinks so.  The U.S.'s leading sports magazine predicts the Mets will finish 82-80 and the Yankees 77-85 this season.  That's not too much for Mets fans to get excited about, but it's been seven years since the city's National League team had a winning record.  Only once in the past 15 years have the Mets finished with more wins than their crosstown rivals -- and the Yankees beat them in the World Series that autumn.

Thanks to interleague play, the two New York teams will square off against each other at Yankee Stadium on April 24-26 and at Citi Field on September 18-20.  Optimistic Mets fans hope their team will still be in contention for a post-season spot during the latter series.

The Yankees hold a 56-42 advantage over the Mets in regular season games since interleague play began in 1997.  Mets fans, feeling their team is on the rise with the strength of its pitching staff, believe the Bronx Bombers are in decline and ready to cede most of the city's attention to Queens.  It's been 23 years -- when both teams finished in fifth place -- since the Mets have drawn more fans to home games than the Yankees.

Perhaps this is the year the Mets are once again a better team and attraction than the Yankees.  Maybe Sports Illustrated is right.  Then again, SI picks the Cleveland Indians to win this year's World Series -- which hasn't happened since 1948.  The last time SI picked Cleveland to win it all, in 1987, the Indians lost 101 games and finished in last place!  Don't bet on the Indians winning the World Series this year, either.

Charley's 2015 predictions:
NL East: 1-Washington, 2-Miami, 3-New York, 4-Atlanta, 5-Philadelphia
NL Central: 1-St. Louis, 2-Pittsburgh, 3-Milwaukee, 4-Chicago, 5-Cincinnati
NL West: 1-Los Angeles, 2-San Francisco, 3-San Diego, 4-Colorado, 5-Arizona
AL East: 1-Baltimore, 2-Boston, 3-Toronto, 4-Tampa Bay, 5-New York
AL Central: 1-Detroit, 2-Cleveland, 3-Kansas City, 4-Chicago, 5-Minnesota
AL West: 1-Seattle, 2-Los Angeles, 3-Oakland, 4-Texas, 5-Houston

What do you think, baseball fans?

Shipwrecked Pirates

Like the captain of the Titanic, I should've seen the iceberg coming as the Seton Hall University men's basketball team sailed deep into the winter part of its schedule.  But, I didn't.  It seems I never do.

The news of starting guard Jaren Sina's departure from the team is just the latest in a series of black eyes on the face of the school's basketball program over the years.  According to published reports, Sina's exit was the result of friction on the team between some of the established players like Sina, a sophomore, and a group of talented freshmen that includes guard Isaiah Whitehead, arguably Seton Hall's biggest recruit in almost 15 years.

In January, Seton Hall was riding upset wins over Villanova and St. John's to a top 25 national ranking.  Now, after losses in five straight games and eight of their last 10, it will take a miracle for the Pirates to qualify for the NCAA tournament.  The two-game suspension of leading scorer Sterling Gibbs today for elbowing an opponent in the face while he was on the floor during last night's rematch against Villanova is merely salt in the wounds. 

I wasn't yet alive to enjoy the 1953 NIT championship that remains the high point of Seton Hall basketball history.  I was too young to have been aware of the 1961 betting scandal that is the low point of the school's basketball program.  Unfortunately, I can recall too many other lows and too few highs during the past 40-plus years.

I should have known the first time I saw Seton Hall play that my experience as a fan would be a very rocky ride. While in high school during the winter of 1973, a friend and I went to the South Orange campus to see a fellow Bloomfield High School alumnus, Paul Lape, play for the Pirates. As a freshman that season, Lape started 22 of 25 games.  The game I saw, to my huge disappointment, was not one of them.  In fact, for reasons unknown to me, Lape was nowhere to be seen on the court that day.  At least, my first visit to the school was salvaged when Seton Hall beat Iona, 91-90, in double overtime.  It was one of only eight games the Pirates won that season. 

A few years later, as a student at Seton Hall and sportswriter for a daily newspaper, I saw Glenn Mosley, a tall, thin, quick center from neighboring Newark, play numerous times.  He was an instant star after sitting out the beginning of his freshman season for academic eligibility reasons.  A year later, the NCAA ruled that Mosley should have sat out his entire freshman season.  The NCAA punished Seton Hall -- and Mosley -- by making him sit out the end of his sophomore year and start of his junior season.

As a senior, Mosley led the country with a 16.3 rebounds per game average, finishing his Seton Hall career with a 15.2 career RPG average.  I wonder what kind of numbers he would've put up and how much stronger his all-around game would've been if he was able to play at least three full seasons in college for Bill Raftery, not just one.  Mosley went on to a short NBA career before playing overseas.

Oh, did I mention that cross-state rivals Rutgers University enjoyed an undefeated regular season in 1975-76, before losing in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament that spring?  Talk about salt in the wounds!

Loyal to a fault, I was a Seton Hall basketball season ticket holder for the inaugural Big East seasons between 1979-82.  Along with sharpshooting guard Dan Callandrillo, Howard McNeil was one of the stars of those teams.  That is, until he and two other players were declared academically ineligible for the second half of the 1981-82 season.  Before I knew it, the team that left the gate at 9-1 finished 11-16.

After that, life got uglier for McNeil, who shot and killed a friend while in high school.  He did have a stellar career as a professional player in Europe, South America and Israel but, in 1999, back in his home state of Pennsylvania, he was convicted of killing a Norristown crack cocaine dealer and sentenced 35 to 70 years in prison.

Fast forward to 1989.  Led by Coach P.J. Carlesimo, a resurgent Seton Hall squad beat Bobby Knight's Indiana, Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV and Mike Krzyzewski's Duke teams on its way to the NCAA championship game.  Seton Hall came back from a half-time deficit to force an overtime period against Michigan.  Leading by one point with three seconds left, Seton Hall guard Gerald Greene was called for a highly questionable foul by referee John Clougherty.  Michigan sank both free throws and the dreams of Seton Hall as the Pirates lost, 90-89.

During the next five years, Seton Hall made four more NCAA tournament appearances.  The Pirates won 25 games in 1990-91, and 23, 28 and 17 the following three seasons, making it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAAs the first two of those years.  But, some fans wonder if Seton Hall could've been even better if it wasn't for the premature departure of one Marco Lokar.

As a freshman in February of 1990, Lokar scored 41 points in an 86-81 win over Pittsburgh.  A year later, as the Gulf War was winding down, Lokar left the team, citing harassment over his decision not to wear the American flag that was part of everybody's basketball uniform that season.  According to reports, his wife was upset by threatening telephone calls and they decided to return to their hometown in Italy for the duration of her pregnancy.  He never returned.

After a few lean years, things looked promising again at Seton Hall with the arrival of Eddie Griffin in 2000.  The Tommy Amaker-coached team was rated among the country's best in pre-season polls and got off to a 10-2 start.  Then, the Pirates hit the proverbial iceberg.  Griffin got in a fight with teammate Ty Shine and the team underperformed the rest of the way, finishing with a 16-15 record and no invitation to the NCAA dance.

Griffin's story did not end well.  Named Freshman of the Year by The Sporting News, his skills and 17.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game averages in his one and only Seton Hall season quickly led him to the NBA.  He had a checkered 6-year career with the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, who waived him in March of 2007. That summer, at age 25, he was killed in a car crash in Houston. An autopsy revealed he had more than three times Texas' legal alcohol limit in his system.  

Then there was the Bobby Gonzalez era.  In his fourth season as Seton Hall coach in 2010, "Gonzo" led the Pirates to the NIT.  The day after Seton Hall was eliminated by Texas Tech, 87-69, a game in which Pirates forward Herb Pope was ejected for punching an opponent in the groin, Gonzalez was fired.  According to The Star-Ledger, Seton Hall officials were unhappy with Gonzalez' tendency to berate school administrators, referees, opposing coaches and players. They were also concerned about several incidents involving Gonzalez' players, including a DUI arrest of Pope when he was an underage freshman and the arrest of guard Keon Lawrence for injuring a motorist while allegedly driving the wrong way on a highway in 2009.  

Two other Seton Hall players ran afoul of the law during the Bobby Gonzalez era.  In March of 2010,  forward Robert Mitchell was involved in the gunpoint robbery of eight students in an off-campus house.  His partner in crime?  It was none other than former Seton Hall forward Kelly Whitney, who finished his Pirates career the season before Gonzalez replaced Louis Orr as coach.  Mitchell was sentenced to five years in prison.  In a separate trial earlier in 2011, Whitney pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Gonzalez?  He was arrested for shoplifting a $1,400 satchel from the Polo Ralph Lauren store at The Mall At Short Hills in the summer of 2010.  Later that year, NBC reported that Gonzalez was accepted into a one-year pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid a criminal record, perform 50 hours of community service and pay restitution.

It's now the fifth year of the Kevin Willard era at Seton Hall.  The first four were a welcome respite from the Bobby Gonzalez era.  This season, unfortunately, is not.  But, Seton Hall fans will keep the faith, hoping for better things in the future, perhaps a return to the NCAA tournament before too long.  Heck, we'll settle for a second NIT championship in the short term.  Just, no more icebergs in the middle of winter, please.

Bill Raftery photo from Pinterest.  Kevin Willard photo from ESPN.
  

The most exciting basketball player I ever saw

A series of comments on Facebook this week -- and the success a fresh-faced group of Seton Hall University basketball players is enjoying this winter -- is rekindling memories of a great young basketball player from another time: Paul Lape.  He handled the ball like no one else and, combined with his knowledge and instincts for the game, made it impossible for fans and opponents to take their eyes off him.

Paul Lape was an amazing basketball player for Bloomfield High School -- his dribbling and passing skills froze opponents and allowed him to drive past them to the basket, or enabled teammates to make open shots. One of only nine boys in the history of Bloomfield to score over 1000 points for the varsity basketball team, I've never seen a high school player quite like him.

Sure, Kelly Tripucka and Alaa Abdelnaby were virtually unstoppable Bloomfield players who went on to become college stars and enjoy long NBA careers. But Lape, who was under 6-foot tall and looked just like any another kid, was unique, leading Bloomfield to a New Jersey state championship in 1971.

Lape was a starter for Bill Raftery's Seton Hall University team for two seasons, averaging over seven assists a game both years.  In fact, he still holds the Seton Hall record for most assists in a game -- 17, as a freshman at Madison Square Garden against St. Peter's in 1973.  Lape left Seton Hall during his junior year and finished his collegiate athletic career at William Paterson in 1977.

Whenever I ran into Lape around Bloomfield years later, I would tell my young sons, "There is the most exciting basketball player I ever saw."