6.23.2006

EVERY 30 YEARS OR SO

In January 1978 – on John’s radio show at Upsala, with Tom, I knew then that Tom wrote better poems. Mine, from his, were very different. And I don’t use that word ‘very’ lightly here.


John said I was a Romantic. I didn't know what to make of that.
Tom had it right – off to count sheep on the Falkland Islands, after that thing with the Submarine crew. He was doing just fine, too, until the war came along. He sold his story to the TV crew so he could pay his way home.

He ended up in Japan, teaching English, I think, with a Japanese wife. Then he died. And where are his poems now? The one about the lumberjack I especially enjoyed.

When John had us on the radio, he made a tape of our appearance. I had him make me a new cassette ten or fifteen years ago when the first one crumbled. I was planning to ask for yet a third copy, after all these years, just a few years ago, when I heard that John, too, had died.

Maybe we’re better off that the audio is lost. I feel bad that Tom’s poems are gone. Maybe John & Tom are together somewhere reliving their days in Mexico City or some other beat adventure about which I never heard the rest of the details.

Hold on a second. Someone's bashing at the door, something about my poetic license, whatever that is. Must be the word police!

"Turn in your pens, pencils, cameras and keyboards, and walk away, slowly, and forever."

Every thirty years or so, I publish some poetry – maybe we’ll meet again.

And he sat back never again to write another line.


Copyright © 2006-2016 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Like this is chopped liver?
Yountakah Country

No Time For Rhyme

Frankly, nobody's been asking for an update here in almost a month so there's nobody to ask to pardon my continued exile... thanks for stopping by if you're a newbie


A volume of poetry, Days You Knew Me, was published in 1976. It is safely out of print.

Jimmy Boyce Photos of John Narucki

first publishd 6-23-2006

6.18.2006

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

This is post 260.

In case anyone was wondering, this blog has been up about a year.

What do you think so far. Should I keep going or should I get a life?

Just asking you to put your two-cents in.


You can use the link at right to privately email your comments.

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

6.09.2006

PF FLIERS, PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS ...

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
One of the first things to catch my eye when I opened the Vermont Country Store catalog was the Simple-to-Use Smith Corona Electronic Typewriter, Efficiency Without High-Tech Headaches.

Now there’s a headline to get you out of the 21st Century and back into the good old days.

No wonder. The Electronic Typewriter is being sold by a Rutland, Vt.-based company that sells things we remember from the good old post-WWII growing up days.

Think Lifeboy or Sweet Heart soap, or PF Fliers- the high tops! Ipana toothpaste (as if your spell check would have a clue if Ipana was spelled right!) Adams brand Black Jack and sour apple gums.

My first typewriter was a portable Smith-Corona. My second typewriter was an electric Smith-Corona. There wasn’t really a lot of difference between the two, besides the obvious electric plug. The keys and characters were all about the same.

The manual typewriter used man finger power to move the bars and levers to make an impression through a ribbon of ink. The electric used electricity to power the levers. Instead of a return bar the electric had a button you pushed.

The manual typewriter had a hard case, made of steel or kryptonite. You could stand on the case – with or without the typewriter in it – and reach things on the top shelf. The electric typewriter had a vinyl cover with a zipper.

Next to my Datsun B210, my Smith-Corona electric typewriter was the most powerful tool I owned in the 1970s. In fact, I still have it.

But I digress from the Vermont Country Store catalog.


Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

6.07.2006

ROMANCE ON THE RAILS - Part Duh

"You're Beautiful" is working its way through your hit parade.

This heart-rending song by singer-songwriter James Blunt tells how he falls in love with a beautiful woman who smiles at him while they are riding on the subway.

But alas, "She was with another man. But I won't lose no sleep on that, 'Cause I've got a plan."

This song tells another side to
Blossoming Rail Romances.

If you visit his web site and watch the video, the young singer sits calmly while removing most of his clothes and emptying his pockets. I think he might be able to come up with a better plan to win the beautiful woman.

The truth is in his line: "I saw your face in a crowded place/And I don't know what to do/ 'Cause I'll never be with you."

So, please, you beautiful women out there, don't go smiling at the boys out there, unless you enjoy breaking strangers' hearts...

As for you dreamy guys out there, read a newspaper!


BTW - Blunt told The Early Show on CBS on Tuesday that the song was inspired by a real life. He was riding the underground and saw his ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend which he didn't know she had. He said the song addresses living a lifetime in a moment.

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

6.06.2006

NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM - NEW ORLEANS, LA.

Courtesy The National World War II Museum
The National D-Day Museum in New Orleans was recently designated by the U.S. Congress as the country's official National World War II Museum.

The National D-Day Museum 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.

Opened: June 6, 2000

Location
945 Magazine Street
(Corner of Magazine St. and Andrew Higgins Drive)
New Orleans, LA 70130

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Source: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, La.

Belleville Sons Honor Roll - WWII
Nutley Sons Honor Roll - WWII
Veterans History Project
American Battle Monuments Commission

6.05.2006

BROOKDALE SODA - LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS

I was looking for Brookdale Beverage stuff and your sight came up.

My father was the plant manager for Brookdale for as long as I can remember.

My brothers & sisters used to run around the plant while my father waited for his last driver(s) to come back to the plant.

Brookdale was part of so many families back then.

He was with them until shortly before they folded, he passed away.

If you know of anyone with Brookdale stuff for sale please E mail me

-- Diane
We got Diane's letter earlier this year.
It's been almost 30 years since we wrote Memories of Brookdale Soda. Who knew way back in July 1976 that those were just the beginning of memories of this and that?
Last August, early in our blog career, we posted Brookdale Soda - The Saga Continues as a continuation/update of what's been happening since the soda story came up on the Internet.


BROOKDALE SODA

Who could wait to drive
the family sedan or wagon
To the Brookdale soda depot
on 6th Street or Sylvan?
Empty cases in the trunk
Scooting through tree-lined streets
To the back yard driveway off
Sylvan Avenue in Bloomfield
or the Allwood Circle cross town
Or off to downtown at Heller/Heller
Grab a hand cart and an empty case
Splintering wood and later dark-blue plastic –
Go through the stacks of cases and fill them:

Birch beer – two or three, Kola, cream,
ginger ale, Cheers – don’t forget quinine too
Blood red cherry and cherry-pit, another birch
and fill it out with root beer, more Kola, too
and orange soda, cream, and bright green lemon-lime
Life never got any better than this,
and we wouldn’t know that for a long while


VISIT OUR BROOKDALE SODA BLOG

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

6.02.2006

ITS RAINING BLOGS

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Ask.com has a "new blog search engine...to conduct keyword searches across 1.5 billion blog postings and more than 2.5 million so-called feeds."

Jessica E. Vascellaro led off the article saying: "The Blogosphere contains an estimated 41 million blogs, and the number has been doubling every six months."

Really, now, who has time to COUNT all those blogs?

In April I wrote: "Panelist
Jay Rosen, director of School of Journalism, NYU, cited 19 million web logs and growing."

And: "On Saturday,
Danny Schechter allowed that there were 21 million blogs."

So, you better get out your reading glasses and cancel all your appointments and catch up on those blogs - start with the ones in the right-hand column here.


Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

NATIONAL HUNGER AWARENESS DAY: JUNE 6

On behalf of the 270,000 food-insecure households in New Jersey, the FoodBank and faith leaders from many denominations will hold an Interfaith Convocation on National Hunger Awareness Day, June 6.

The public is invited to join Governor Jon Corzine and Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperas at:

The Community FoodBank
31 Evans Terminal Road
Hillside, N.J.