Between the snowfalls: In New York City for “MJ”

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We’ve recently had a couple of 5″ plus snow falls. I had some visitors over Christmas and in between the two snow falls (actually the day of the second) we went into New York City to see “MJ The Musical“. In case you’re not familiar with it the “MJ” refers to Michael Jackson. It was very good (especially the Tony winning choreography) and we had a great time. We walked back to Grand Central and on the way, I took pictures of Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

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Even though my friend would be driving, I don’t like being out on the roads when it’s snowing, so I rushed everyone to try to make it back home before the snow started. We failed and when we got back to the Ossining train station around 2-3 inches had already fallen.

Unfortunately, my friend had a craving for Thai food and the closest Thai restaurant to the train station/home was in Croton-on-Hudson: D Thai Kitchen (recently moved from Thornwood). In normal conditions it’s about 10 minutes’ drive away. Of course, these were not normal conditions, and it took much longer. However, we got home safely eventually.

How was the food? My friend seemed to like it. It appears that one of the reasons she wanted Thai was because there aren’t any Thai restaurants near where she lives. I love Thai food, and I’ve been to Thailand several times and perhaps I’m a bit more demanding. To me it was OK, but nothing special.

Taken with a Sony RX100 VII

The Gasman Cometh

by Posted in Machines, Music, Things Leave a comment
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I have an appointment tomorrow with Consolidated Edison (Coned) to inspect my gas meter. It seems that New York State Law requires them to do this periodically.

I was sitting reading, a few minutes ago and suddenly a song from my childhood came to mind. It was released in 1956 and was performed by a duo called Flanders and Swann and it’s called “The Gasman Cometh”. These are the lyrics:

T’was on the Monday morning, the gas man came to call,
The gas tap wouldn’t turn, I wasn’t getting gas at all;
He tore out all the skirting boards to try and find the main,
And I had to call a carpenter to put them back again!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on the Tuesday morning, the carpenter came round:
He hammered and he chiseled and he said “Look what I’ve found!
Your joists are full of dry rot, but I’ll put them all to rights!”
Then he nailed right through a cable and out went all the lights!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on a Wednesday morning, the electrician came:
He called me ‘Mr. Sanderson’, which isn’t quite the name;
He couldn’t reach the fuse box without standing on the bin,
And his foot went through a window, so I called the glazier in!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on the Thursday morning, the glazier came along
With his blowtorch, and his putty, and his merry glazier’s song;
He put another pane in, it took no time at all
But I had to get a painter in to come and paint the wall!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

T’was on a Friday morning the painter made a start,
With undercoats and overcoats he painted every part,
Every nook and every cranny; but I found when he was gone
He’d painted over the gas tap and I couldn’t turn it on!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do…

On Saturday and Sunday they do no work at all;
So it was on the Monday morning that the gas man came to call!

Inevitably there’s a video of them performing the song on YouTube. It’s worth watching to hear the performance and to also hear the lengthy and quite amusing introduction.

Taken with a Sony RX100 VII

An Organ Recital

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Last weekend I went to an organ recital at the Briarcliff Manor Congregational Church. I’ve been to some local events in the past and was not always impressed by the performances. I will not quickly forget a performance of Hande’s Messiah. The singers were whoever showed up and wanted to sing. I read that the orchestra was anyone who wanted to play. No auditions necessary.

But this was very different. The two performers clearly knew what they were doing and delivered an excellent performance. The organ is an amazing instrument, but it looks exceedingly difficult to play.

I really enjoyed it.

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Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 75mm f1.8 FE

An Evening at Rinis

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A friend recently invited me to go to a place called Rini’s in Elmsford. It’s an Italian restaurant that on certain nights has entertainment. On this night the entertainment consisted of a trio: one guy singing; one guy on drums; and another on keyboards who was clearly the leader of the group. It seems that way back when there was a group in The Bronx called “The Earls” who sang doo wop. I gather that this was largely an African American genre, but that there were a few successful white groups, one of which was The Earls. They had a hit with a song called “Remember Then“, which I had actually heard of. One of the members of the group was “T.J. ‘Butch’ Barbella”. He was the guy on the Keyboards who led the group, which I discovered was called “The Streets of the Bronx Band“. He started out as a music director and composer and wrote the score for Robert De Niro’s film A Bronx Tale. He was the music director for The Duprees, the Earls and the singer Dion. He wrote the original music for The Dukes, a 2008 movie about a once-famous band struggling to cope with changing times. Yesterday was a special day for him: it was his 80th birthday. The audience drank, ate, watched the band and danced (not me). The band was OK if a little heavy on the bass, so much so that sometimes I couldn’t make out the words. Everybody seemed to have a great time.

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Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 75mm f1.8 FE