National D-Day Museum Update

The museum in New Orleans is scheduled to reopen to the public on Saturday, Dec. 3!

Katrina affect on the Museum

The National D-Day Museum is designated by Congress as "America's National World War II Museum."

It interprets the American experience during the World War II years and celebrates the American spirit, the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women who won World War II and promotes the exploration and expression of these values by future generations.

From an overview of World War II's economic and political roots to the build-up and military mobilization of Allied Forces in the 17 D-Days around the world.

The 70,500-square-foot Museum presents a collection of personal stories, preserves important materials for research and scholarship, and inspires future generations to learn life lessons -- teamwork, the value of democracy, unsung bravery -- from the most complex military operations ever staged.

Earlier Post on The Museum

Arlo Guthrie's ... 40th Anniversary

A fine time was had by all last night at Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Massacree 40th Anniversary show the NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J.

As you may have gathered from glimpses of Arlo's performances, half the fun of his show are the chats and digressions leading up to and away from the songs.

Guthrie told us of a scraggly visitor who came to his home, when the 13-year-old Arlo saw him, he invited him in and found he was looking for his father, Woody. The scrawny stranger visited Woody in the hospital and soon was rewriting folk music history. Arlo then thought he'd go visit his dad too, and well, maybe end up like that visitor fellow Bob Dylan.

Arlo, who compared songwriting to fishing, said he admired Dylan's song writing. He went so far as to suggest that Dylan throw the little ones back ... maybe for Arlo to catch.

Of course, I can't do justice to such a story teller. You should have been there. Or maybe you can catch him on the City of New Orleans Tour next month. It'll be a hoot.

Set list (approx.)

Ridin' Down the Canyon
Mr.Tambourine Man
House of the Rising Sun
My Darkest Hour
(Helluva Farewell - Hawaian instrumental)
Coming Into Los Angeles
The Last Train - (written & sung by Gordon Titcomb)
Alice's Restaurant
ENC: City of New Orleans (Steve Goodman)
ENC: My Peace (by Woody Guthrie)

Surprise opening act: Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
Opening act: The Mammals

Souvenir T-shirt

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Rising Son Records

The Mammals

Alice's High Seats

There are plenty of seats left to celebrate the next-to-last performance on the 40th Anniversary tour of Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie and friends.

Like I said before, the show is Friday evening at the NJ Performing Arts Center, in downtown Newark. There's convenient city parking (hardly free) across the street at Military Park parking garage.

And, anyway, what were you going to be doing this Friday night anyway?

Look for me. I'll be the guy humming along ... but never clapping.

This is posted as a public service message for all you folkies out there. Heck, I don't even get a free glass of wine at intermission out of the deal! But that's okay. I'm looking forward to a real good time singing them real old songs.

"Somebody tall must have put out the light 'cause it got real dark outside ..."
Previous Post on this subject
NJPAC Info They'll hold the tickets at the door. Mention this blog and they'll all step away from you on the bench.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

The last show of the 40th Annniversary Alice's Restaurant tour is on Saturday in New York City.

Read Jay Lustig's story in the Tuesday's The Star-Ledger, while it's available free online.

Arlo Guthrie's Web Site

Weblog Award Nominations

How are you going to keep Uncle Tonoose down on the train when he sat through an awards ceremony and nearly kept the proxy award for himself?

Solution: Nominate his web log (blog) for the 2005 Weblog Awards Nominations.

Perhaps the consternation arises when you have to decide which category this blog falls into.

Best Blog? Uncle Tonoose blogs about north Jersey

Best New Blog? Uncle Tonoose blog began in June 2005

Best Humor/Comics Blog? Uncle Tonoose thinks he's funny sometimes.

Best Media/Journalist Blog? Despite this blog, Uncle Tonoose is a professional journalist/writer/poet

Best Culture/Gossip Blog? Uncle Tonoose comments frequently on culture such as the Top of the Rock and GI Joe actiong figures

Best Photo Blog? Those random photos of Jersey City and Manhattan are the tops, no?

Voting will begin on Dec. 1, 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Thanks to Erin at Gigglechick for wanting to win this award

Hall of Fame induction, Nutley, N.J.

Frances Goodrich - Nutley Hall of Fame

The next time you watch that Christmas season film "It's A Wonderful Life" you should try to picture small town life in good old Nutley, N.J., about one hundred years ago.

By that time, future screenwriter, author and Pulitzer prize winner Frances Goodrich was already under the spell of our little town. As her nephew David L. Goodrich wrote in "The Real Nick and Nora ..."

"She was born on December 21, 1890, in Belleville, New Jersey, then a pretty village on the Passaic River, where, her mother wrote, "sturgeon leapt and lawns ran down to shining waters." ... the family moved to nearby Nutley, an equally pleasant village within easy distance of New York ... In Nutley, there were green fields, tree-lined roads, big comfortable houses, and another stretch of the clear, unspoiled Passaic...."

Okay, so maybe good old Nutley has changed somewhat. But much of the small town spirit is still here, and the next time you watch Frank Capra's film classic "It's A Wonderful Life," watch how many of the small town references apply to good old Nutley.

You see, by the 1940s, the screenwriting team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett had enough hit shows under their belt that Capra called for them to fix the shooting script for "It's A Wonderful Life."

The Goodrich filmography is infused with many of the good things about growing up in Nutley. You just have to look for them. On Sunday, the northeastern New Jersey township of Nutley inducted into its Hall of Fame two Pulitzer Prize winners: Frances Goodrich and Paul Goldberger, and eight other Nutleyites of amazing achievement.

Through myriad twists and turns in the past few months, the family of Frances Goodrich, when told that she would be inducted into the Nutley Hall of Fame, and being unable to attend the function, designated yours truly to accept the award on their behalf.

Apparently the family thought that one writer accepting an award for another writer was fitting.

For my part, I was asked by the HOF committee to say a few words on behalf of Ms. Goodrich, her family and her achievements.

So, through David's comprehensive book I once again tore, looking for nuggets that would enlighten and capture the dynamic spirit of Frances Goodrich and the talent that erupted when she teamed up with husband and partner Albert Hackett.

Four typed pages and several hours later, I was ready for my close up, so to speak. For good luck I carried my copy of David's "The Real Nick and Nora ..." and was soon secreted away to a back room with the other inductees or their award acceptors (three others, besides me.)

Funny, I thought, after all my visits to the Nutley Library, this was the first time I was wandering the back rooms of the second floor.

In the second-floor corner overlooking Vincent Place and Yanticaw Park across the macadam where the colorful downed leaves have fallen onto the hill rolling down to the Third River, we looked around the room, at the audio books on the shelves, at one another, no one really sure what to say to the other inductees.

This back place and the awkward talk among people getting to know each other reminded me a bit of that Twilight Zone episode where several characters were trying to get out of some sort of barrel. Those characters didn't know how they got there or where they were or where they were going.

Face it, if we scanned the press release about the event, we pretty much were trying to make sure they got all the info about ourselves right, and while we were greatly impressed with the credentials of the other awardees, it wasn't like we memorized the salient facts and recorded their profiles on the hard drive between our ears.

We had an advantage over the Twilight Zone characters, we all knew where we were and why we were here. Although we didn't know much about each other, in the next hour or so, we'd know plenty. And, as it turned out, my short chat about Frances Goodrich and her ties to Nutley were the first that the crowd would enjoy.


My concluding comment:

On behalf of Frances Goodrich and her family, thank you for inducting this deserving person-ality into the Nutley Hall of Fame. I’m sure she would have been honored to be so honored.

2005 Hall of Fame Inductees

Carol Blazejowski, Manager of the N.Y. Liberty

Dr. Nicholas L. DePace, Heart Disease Specialist

Ron Fraser of Miami University Fame

Paul Goldberger, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author

Francis Goodrich, Playwright “The Diary of Anne Frank”

Dr. Christine Elizabeth Haycock; Military Pioneer

Dr. Richard J. Jackson; Director Center Disease Controls

Reginald Marsh, A Controversial Artist of His Era

Dr. Andrew L. Pecora; Leader in Stem Cell Research

Dr. Ronald J. Scrudato, Director Environmental Research

The posthumous awards for Reginald Marsh and Frances Goodrich will be put on display in the library along with notes and other items from the 2005 Nutley Hall of Fame induction.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Commentary and observation is soley that of Anthony Buccino and does not reflect the Hall of Fame judges, administrators or honorees or their families. Buccino is greatly honored to have been asked to represent Frances Goodrich and her family in the ceremony.

Hall of Fame press release

Book Review The Real Nick and Nora - Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Writers of Stage and Screen Classics

Order THE REAL NICK And NORA

Notable Nutley, N.J. Writers

Goodrich Filmograph - IMDb

Up from Zero : Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York by Paul Goldberger

Reginald Marsh's New York: Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Photographs by Marilyn Cohen

Old Nutley

The Petite Cafe

Dock of the River

Low tide unveils gravel-bottom and storm-drain discharge at Hudson River and Exchange Place in Jersey City, N.J.

At the right, the exposed riverbed of the Hudson River. At left, the derelict holes in the public walkway - guarded, of course, by a protective railing.

Low tide view under J. Owen Gundy Park pier

This park has been a victim of neglect as the wood has dried out and the trees are skeletons. Conventional wisdom is that the city will let the area fall into further decay and expect the federal government or one of the deep-pocketed major companies located nearby foot the bill for restoration and renovation.


Commuter terminal at Jersey City, former Colgate/presently Goldman Sachs area

That's lower Manhattan in the distance across the Hudson River.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Gnomeland Security: J. Owen Gundy Park

South of Harborside

Harborside viewed from lower Manhattan, archive photos

JC Bees

The Hudson River seemed aswarm with giant bees on Thursday afternoon

A horde of yellow-jackets gather waiting for honey
Sentry Bees line up on the shoreline

Sorry, pal, those aren't giant bees lined up along the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. The hats were yellow, but the jackets were lime-green! Anyway, it's merely an evacuation drill for 101 Hudson ... so people know where to go when they leave their building and where to rally for the tally.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Escalator

Some of the improvements are beginning to show up on the Newark City Subway system. For instance, at the Branch Brook Park Station, the recent rain brought to life the modernist reflecting pool.Reflecting Pond at Branch Brook Station
Notice the tiny workman on the scaffolding at left finishing up highlights of 'Bare Naked Beach' a reproduction of the art decco mural in the underground station.At Penn Station: All right, who ordered the 8400-pound escsalator?
Progress ensues as parcels are delivered to replace the out-dated escalators at Penn Station. Commuters now enter on a different track and are already using one of the new escalators. New elevators are discretely hidden and will be available when NJ Transit SAYS they're available. Film at 11!


Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.Branch Brook Park Station Redesign (part one)

Branch Brook Park Station Redesign - Part Two

OLD NEWARK - Newark City Subway

Newark City Subway Album

Newark City Subway, images

Light Rail quick links

TrainWeb Travelogue

NJ Transit receives millions for Newark City Subway and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail

Jersey-ana

Here are few things you Jersey lovers might want to check out:The Poets of New Jersey - From Colonial to Contemporary
Jersey Shore Publications

Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival - 2006
Jersey Writers

Martha Stewart On Nutley
Stewart is scheduled to air a show about her hometown of Nutley, N.J., on Monday, Nov. 28, at 11 a.m., on WNBC.

Yours Truly on TV

I recently taped a show discussing the Belleville Sons Honor Roll. The show will begin to air Thursday, Nov. 17, on WBHS Channel 34 on the local cable network. The show is scheduled to repeat throughout the month, along with the film of a recent talk on the same subject to the eighth-graders at Belleville Middle School on Nov. 4. Catch both shows and tape them for your kids.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Honor Roll Memorial - Belleville, N.J.

Sunday, 2 p.m., November 13, 2005 -- Veterans Council dedicates the Union Avenue memorial which now bears the names of more than 150 Belleville sons who died in service to our country.

Let the people of Belleville forget none of the the 20 sons who died in WWI, the 117 who died in WWII, the 4 who died in Korea, the 12 who died in Vietnam, or those Belleville Sons who died in service during peace time.

"TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO SERVED - LEST WE FORGET"

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Belleville Sons Honor Roll

Veterans Day - Thank a Veteran

Veterans Day Ceremony, Nutley, N.J.

Annual Veterans Day Parade
Belleville, New Jersey

2 p.m. Sunday, November 13, 2005

Union Avenue, from Mill Street to the memorial near Fewsmith Church.

The Veterans Council will dedicate and unveil the section of the memorial bearing the newly engraved names of all the Belleville Sons who lost their lives for our freedom in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Sponsored by

American Legion - Amvets - Disabled American Veterans - VFW

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved

Belleville Sons Honor Roll

Nutley Sons Honor Roll

Action Figures

As the little girls in their winter dress-up dresses wandered in and fell into awe at the American Girl store in Manhattan earlier today, I wondered why little boys don't have a GI Joe store for themselves?

Little girls have their store and cafeteria and a store that sells all kinds of things that make little girls special and precious. Jeepers, it's right across from Rockefeller Center, a block or so away from where the little girls can spend a few hours watching the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes dance through a performance of their Christmas show.

But guys. What do we have?

They were ACTION FIGURES, not dolls. Call them dolls and I'll sock you!

I had a squad of GI Joe action figures. Mine were the original GI Joe action figures issued in the mid-1960s.

I had the IKE jackets, the boots, the rifles, machine guns, etc. We were ready for the Commies.

If I still had them, I could sell them and buy a second house in Nutley. However, when I reached a certain age, I gave them to a friend of mine who had been a Scout leader with me. He came from a large family and had a lot of little brothers yet to grow up. His dad had worked part time at the Two Guys From Harrison department store across the river in Harrison, N.J. The father worked in the sporting goods department and at the end of the season got to take home the tent models - which, fit perfectly to the GI Joe scale in those days.

So, I shipped out my troops and all their packs, rifles, machine guns, ammo boxes, utility shovels in a cardboard box to Bobby's house and that was the last I saw of them.

If there were a store that sold those memories, I think it would do quite well with the guys. At least us old guys who had ACTION FIGURES.

I still have my little men - the cowboys, Indians, Army guys, sailors, marines, horses and stuff. They are in an old battered cookie tin in the attic. You never know when you'll need to call out the troops.




Ernie Pyle by Hasbro

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
American Girl

Hasbro's GI Joe

Action Heroes

Master Collector

Toymania

Ernie Pyle - The Story of GI Joe

Let's Honor John Basilone - Nov. 10

At long last the stamp honoring Marine Sergeant John Basilone will be released on Thursday, in honor of Veteran's Day, the next day.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone of Raritan, N.J., was presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism on Guadalcanal.

On Feb. 19, 1945, after he volunteered to return to combat, he was killed by a Japanese artillery shell on Iwo Jima.

Hours earlier, under heavy enemy fire, he had single-handedly destroyed an enemy blockhouse, earning him a posthumous Navy Cross.

Check out the John Basilone documentary, I'm Staying with My Boys. To order this 45-minute film on DVD or video cassette, call 888-827-2762.

And above all, support the John Basilone stamp by purchasing it at your local post office.
Honor A True Hero
Sgt. John Basilone Home Page
Order Sons of Italy in America

When Good Servers Go Bad!

Many of you may have noticed rough going on the portal pages that lead to my regular web pages. We are aware of it and are working to correct that when we're not typing this.

Here are some shortcuts:

Nutley Sons Honor Roll

Belleville Sons Honor Roll

Anthony's World

Rambling Round

Harborside NJ

Old Belleville

Old Nutley

Nutley Historical Society

Italian American One Voice Coalition

Thanks for your patience.

How to order one of Anthony's books

Arlo Guthrie - 40 Years of Alice's Restaurant

With Special Guests
Abe Guthrie, Gordon Titcomb, and The Mammals

Friday, November 25, 2005

It started on Thanksgiving Day, 1965, when Arlo Guthrie first began work on a song that would take more than a year to complete (and take more than 20 minutes to sing).

That song, Alice’s Restaurant, became an international hit that inspired an entire generation’s commitment to social activism, and was adapted into a major motion picture (starring Arlo).

Now, after retiring the song over a decade ago, this folk legend will perform it again—along with a variety of his other classic hits, like "The Motorcycle Song," "Coming into Los Angeles" and "Ring-Around-a-Rosy Rag."

For this 40th anniversary Alice’s Restaurant tour, Guthrie will be accompanied by his band, which includes special guests Abe Guthrie and Gordon Titcomb.

NJPAC Ticket Information

Fallen Troops - Web Tributes

Today's Wall Street Journal has a column by Lee Gomes, The First Online War Honors Fallen Troops With Web Tributes.

I heartily recommend you read it. (Online the WSJ.com is available only to paid subscribers - so buy a copy at your news stand, or borrow a copy of the colum from a friend.)

Gomes discusses the Web sites now being created for the fallen troops of the Iraq conflict.

As some of you might already know, I've been creating online war memorials for fallen troops from my hometowns of Belleville and Nutley, New Jersey.

The Nutley Sons Honor Roll web site lists biographies of the more than 130 Nutley sons who died while in service to our country. The Belleville site lists more than 150 sons who died while in service to our country.

The one thing I've learned is that freedom is not free. I shall do my best to see that generations hence shall not forget the sacrifices of our fathers, uncles, brothers and friends to pay for our freedom.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Belleville Sons Honor Roll

Nutley Sons Honor Roll

A Brief History of the township Honor Roll Web
Sites

Pow Wow Paper - November 2004

The latest issue of this online literary magazine contains something new from Anthony Buccino. So check out the November 2005 issue soon.


Sign up for a free subscription (PDF).

Pow Wow Paper

NJ + Italian American = Slur

SONS OF ITALY REACTION TO "SCALITO" TAG

Washington - October 31, 2005 - A person's racial, religious or ethnic heritage should never be an issue in a Supreme Court nomination process. Calling attention to Judge Samuel Alito's Italian heritage is, therefore, highly inappropriate and trivializes the significant national, legalistic and historical matter at hand.

The facts are that President Bush has nominated a jurist of impeccable credentials to the highest court in the land, who happens to be of Italian descent. Judge Alito's ethnic heritage should be treated with respect rather than be used to further various political agendas.

OSIA has more than 600,000 members and supporters and a network of more than 700 chapters coast to coast. OSIA works at the community, national and international levels to promote the heritage and culture of an estimated 26 million Italian Americans, the nation's fifth largest ethnic group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. See www.osia.org .

Contact: Kylie Cafiero Director of Communications email: kcafiero@osia.org voice: 202/547-2900

Thank you, David Chase, for all you've done for all Italian Americans who ever lived in New Jersey.