I did not know that Andrew Cuomo, invited Donald Trump, to his bachelor party. That's interesting to know. And, that is a sign of a comfortable relationship. On top of that, when Trump couldn't go, Trump sent a video which included this advice, “Whatever you do, Andrew, don’t ever, ever fool around.” We'll never get to see that video, but how did Trump ever say that without winking, because clearly, Trump was not even taking his own advice. I can imagine the attendees at Cuomo's party, had a big laugh at that line.
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@Tuxedo
Presumably someone else invited Trump, as is the custom for bachelor parties. And the plan all along might have been for Trump to simply send a video.
I live in a carriage house in the West 40s that the New York Times called “the most haunted spot in Manhattan” in an article published on October 29, 1993 titled “A Gang of Ghosts in Gotham, Ready to Rumble. It’s been written up in several other publications and books about ghosts in NYC.
@PBW, yikes! I just read the article in the archives. I hope you don't have to actually climb the stairs there.
If I ever have to visit anyone there, I'll be sure to bring along my fold-up Polly Holliday/ Gremlins deluxe chair lift.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3cbrfpVmK8
It seems SO MUCH safer than using the steps in your building. And just in case, luckily, the building's not far from my doctor on 46th and 10th.
RE "And Finally" and New York ghosts -
It's been reported and included in NYU course material that the "Ghost of Henry Miller" hangs out on West 43rd Street since the "Henry Miller Theatre" was re-done as the "Stephen Sondheim Theatre."
"Losing My Sign" - NYU course material for History of New York
http://ahistoryofnewyork.com/2010/06/losing-my-sign/
I did this very low-budget, never imagining NYU might even find it - but my vocal as Henry Miller had been heralded by my MAC-award-winning neighbor who left a nice note noting "the low notes are truly ghostly" [or maybe she wrote "the low notes are truly ghastly" but I never followed up].
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Another Broadway ghost:
"Alan Jay Lerner's worried Ghost" has been hanging out nervously watching all the changes to the books of his shows like "My Fair Lady" and "Gigi" and "Paint Your Wagon" and two different tries in ten years for "On a Clear Day."
I got an exclusive musical interview (it's audio, no cameras were allowed) back in 2010, when Lerner's Ghost was hanging out at Vassar in Poughkeepsie, while they tried out the "On A Clear Day" revisal when they tried making Daisy Gamble (Barbra's role) into Davey Gamble - which eventually (in 2011) starred Harry Connick on Broadway,
"What Did It Lack That It Has Now?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt9VtE_1TY8
WEATHER OR NOT
This morning the various weather services
Reported what made us all nervouses.
The feeltemp, they solemnly went and thundered,
Was 39 degrees. Really? we wondered.
On hitting our Brooklyn street we found
The TV news was less than sound.
The sun was shining, the birds were sunning
And not a single nose was running.
No wind, no breeze could be detected,
And talk of a freeze was entirely rejected.
In fact, the day was wholly balmy,
And everyone looked very calmy.
Furthermore, on careful inspection,
We learned the whereabouts of the section
In which the weather folks came up with their mark--
It turned out to be Central Park.
So what did we learn this winter day?
From Central Park--Stay away!
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@Leon, as in the past one the years, this one seems in my mind like the words for a vivid coffee table page-turning picture book (like the ones for kids, but all ages). I have no idea how this would physically be accomplished in the real world; but in my head, even while laughing, I can see the photos just from your words! (maybe a video, but that wouldn't make any money)
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To Billy from Brooklyn, about the song in the Diary played by the teacher - who sings what and how they sing it can change a lot, as in Doris Day's version, that same song feels funny and a possible good life lesson, like "Don't Worry, Be Happy" did years later.
What I find interesting is that the record of Doris Day's that people sit and sway to with big smiles is "Que Sera Sera," or "whatever will be, will be!" Or as we said in the South (that is, Luna Park in southern Brooklyn), "Whatcha gonna do about it?" And the Doris Day characters in hit comedies like "Pillow Talk" and "Lover Come Back" had a lot of edge, career ambition and sharp intelligent wit but both had a warm, romantic ending.
Doris Day - "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdMWHB6Kz3A
(I linked this also at the Diary page, but I think many don't read both pages' comments, at least so far.)
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I knew someone who worked for a short amount of time at the Merchant's House Museum on East 4th Street here in Manhattan, and the reason he worked there for a short amount of time is because things were going on that definitely fell into the range of paranormal.
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Re the Morris-Jumel Mansion: "People have tried to exorcise the ghost (without permission), including voodoo devotees who killed chickens on the lawn and a would-be arsonist who tried to burn down the house."
A statistic: More Americans believe in ghosts than in the law of gravity. And therefore it's no wonder that we're in the pickle we're in. On the other hand, perhaps the arsonist was a developer who wanted the land so that he could build an apartment building.
(And as always when I see a news piece about Jumaane Williams: I'd rather have a conservative who doesn't hide his beliefs than a so-called progressive whose hidden agenda includes opposition both to terminating a pregnancy and to marriage equality for gay people.)
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@B., the Public Advocate is a perfect position fro what you describe, in that it looks like they deal with the law as written.
Of course, we're seeing it's a stepping stone for later elective office. (Tish James of course, and the current Mayor)
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Metro Diary--
Thomas, you are correct. Kids were terrified in the early sixties, as both the government and the Board if Ed seemed to believe that it was imperative that they impress the children of the danger. Boy, did they ever.They had us drop and roll under the desks twice a week. In school they showed a film where buildings were devastated by a nuclear blast, the wind and fire enveloping the buildings. They scared the living heck out of us, with these films and the air raid sirens.
My thirteenth birthday was Oct 22, 1962---the same day that Kennedy went on TV to advise the public of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Talk about taking the air out of a party. We were all expecting a nuclear strike any day. It adversely affected our daily lives.
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Well I remember those days as well. I was in high school (Erasmus Hall) and taking earth science. Our teacher told us that there would be a test on the following Tuesday. Someone said, “why should we study, we aren’t going to be here...” then we all laughed. Thinking about that in later years, I always thought that if we really had believed that, we wouldn’t have laughed. But I never forgot it.
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@Billy from Brooklyn
I, too, remember ducking under my desk at P.S. 154. And I remember my parents stockpiling cans of food in our basement. Many, many years later, they got rid of the cans, muttering "Probably botulism in there."
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I'm a few years younger than you, but I remember those scary drills during which we had to couch under the desk in public school.
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