personal history
It’s a Tie
My uncle moved to Australia and all I got was this lousy tie. Actually, eleven ties, and not the slightest bit lousy: Italian, silk, that sort of thing, likely nicer than all the neckties I’ve collected over the years. The thing is, I just don’t wear ties very often. You could make a strong argument […]
My Little Corner of the World: Memories of Maxwell’s
It was 1997 and I felt like an ass. I’d moved to Hoboken from central Jersey three years earlier. It was closer to my job, closer to my East Village girlfriend, and there was Pier Platters and Maxwell’s: a world-class record store and one of the best rock clubs anywhere. Except Pier Platters—which was on […]
Happy 10th Anniversary, R.I.P.!
Bob Hope was dead, and I was feeling kind of responsible. It was Monday, July 28, 2003. Word had filtered in that the 100-year-old funnyman had finally passed away just the night before, after famously outliving his New York Times obituary writer. A couple of weeks earlier, my photo-editor friend David had given me a […]
My First Trip to Maxwell’s
In the mid-90s, my buddy Scott went to work for a new venture called New Jersey On-Line, now better known as nj.com. As I was a fellow music nerd and a Hoboken resident, Scott hired me as the fledgling site’s Maxwell’s correspondent. I added booker Todd’s numbers to my Rolodex: …and in late 1995 began […]
Thank You, Siskel & Ebert
It must’ve been 4th grade. Mr. Skadden asked the class if we watched anything on PBS. Ooh, me. I watch Sneak Previews. I recall being the only one who chimed in with that response. (I was already a bit of an oddball.) And I have no idea why I was watching. Basically all of I […]
Meatball Sandwich Review: Sanpanino
I know the intersection of Christopher and Hudson Streets very, very well. From 1994 through 2011, it was an important part of my daily commute: Get off the train at Christopher, cross Hudson, and be on my merry way—and the reverse in the evening. Still, I’ve never really “hung out” a lot over there. Sure, […]
Emails Found on my Old Computer, Episode #5
12/15/01 SUBJECT: it’s 5:06 a.m. …and i fucking hate myself. went to [name redacted]’s xmas party. [Redacted] is 27 and clean-cut and an absolute sweetheart. i kid myself thinking i could get her. i can’t get her. co-worker nancy brings her cute-and-sassy friend Melissa, who i met the night that I took care of the […]
Papal Days
In my mind, John Paul II is still the pope, though I guess he was a sequel too. I was nine years old when he… took office? I don’t even know what you call it. But everything I know about popes, I learned from him. Well, not quite. But let’s just say that there was […]
Roll On, Corolla: A Boy & His Car
I don’t want to get all Giving Tree on you, but the car and I really did go a long way back. All the way to October 4, 1991. On that day, at Jim Coleman Toyota in Bethesda, Maryland, I took ownership of a brand-new, end-of-model-year, light blue Corolla. The address we wrote on the […]
Jack Silbert, curator