Joseph Gunn Writing

Aug 23, 2020

I see that official movie review critics are being tough on The High Note, and user reviews are all over the place. I really enjoyed this movie (9/10), enough to have already watched it multiple times because … gasp … it really made me feel good. In a recent interview, Dakota Johnson, the lead actress in the movie, said she had just watched Notting Hill and pointed out, “There are not many movies made like that anymore. Movies where they take their time and the pacing is more languid and it’s about light-hearted escapism and wishful thinking. When I was growing up, I loved those movies so much. There’s something really nice about making something that makes people just feel good and get out of their lives for a second.” Amen. And a fine description of The High Note, if I may add.

Written by Flora Greeson and directed by Nisha Ganatra, the plot focuses on Dakota Johnson’s character Maggie Sherwood, a personal assistant to an aging-out pop diva superstar named Grace Davis, played by Tracee Ellis Ross. But Maggie also has secret ambitions to be a music producer, and in this other role she discovers and works with a young talented singer / songwriter named David Cliff, played by Kevin Harrison Jr. Drama, romance, and humor ensue. There’s also a very nice soundtrack featuring multiple original tracks.

Dakota has an easy, laid-back charm that helps her character Maggie come across as likable, vulnerable, confident, and ambitious all at the same time. It’s a good trick, and she pulls it off with subtle nuance because she’s a talented actress. Tracee Ellis Ross and Kevin Harrison Jr. are also excellent, as is their chemistry with Dakota. The supporting cast shines as well, with Ice Cube as Davis’s manager, Bill Pulman as Dakota’s father, Zoe Chao as Dakota’s roommate, and a very interesting turn by Eddie Izzard as male musical diva Dan Deakins.

The story shifts gears frequently between high intensity sequences and quiet, introspective ones that allow the action sequences to “breathe,” as one reviewer put it, and I agree. The more reflective scenes were particularly moving and held my attention. And while the plot is admittedly feel-good fantasy formula, it nevertheless veers from what you’re expecting in a number of ways, and these veers mostly worked for me. 

It’s a ‘small’ movie, and I particularly enjoyed so many of its small moments, like a kiss that morphs into a handshake. The charisma, chemistry and understated acting by the leads elevates these small moments into something higher than the words on the page might have suggested.

One of my issues with the story – which I haven’t seen any other reviewers mention – is that Dakota’s Maggie misrepresents herself to Harrison’s David throughout most of the film. In simpler terms, she lies. I get that Maggie is ambitious and willing to push the envelope, but this is not very nice. Nor honorable. And because Maggie’s likability as our sympathetic lead is critical, this was a problem for me. And honestly, I don’t see why this running deception was necessary to sustain the primary plot lines. Yes, it creates dramatic tension, but at what cost to our lead character’s character? Am I the only viewer who felt this way?

Overall though I enjoyed The High Note a lot a lot a lot. It made me feel good. And what’s wrong with that? Kudos to director Nisha Ganatra and writer Flora Greeson.

 

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Jan 8, 2021

About ten years ago when I was in my mid-fifties, I was enjoying a cup of coffee at a table at Starbucks, reading the paper and minding my own business, when I looked up to find a young girl about fifteen years old standing in front of me.

“Can I help you?” I said in my gentlest voice.

She seemed a little shy, but she pressed on: “Are you Harrison Ford?”

I smiled. “No, I’m not.”

“Oh,” she said. “Because me and my friends, we thought maybe you were.” And with that she turned towards a large window behind her, where three girls stood outside with their faces pushed up against the glass and their hands spread to block the glare.

I cracked an even bigger grin as I shook my head. “Sorry. But yeah, I  get that sometimes.”

Apparently I have a face that reminds folks of any number of movie celebs. My sister says I look like Jeff Daniels. I can see the resemblance. Some people say I look a little like Richard Gere. I’d like to say I see the resemblance. More recently, people say I look like Steve Martin. Sometimes people are just wrong. Back in the 80s there was a popular TV show called Quantum Leap, and the show’s lead, Scott Bakula, actually did look like me. Scott went on to star in a Star Trek spin-off series, but that was a long time ago. No one ever tells me I look like Scott Bakula anymore. 

But the Harrison Ford thing has endured. Even though he’s fifteen years older than me, people must think of Ford as he “was” more so than as he “is”, that is, an old guy landing his plane on a taxiway at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California rather than on the active runway, and then asking the controllers whether the commercial airliner he just flew over was “supposed to be there.” But I digress.

I was once in a Friendlies restaurant with my family. When I went to the counter to settle the bill the cashier said:

“You’re not Harrison Ford, are you.”

Again, I smiled. “No, I’m not.”

The cashier continued, “That’s too bad. Because the whole place is talking about how Harrison Ford is in the house. And they’re sure of it, because somebody heard someone at your table say ‘Harrison.’”

“Well they heard it right. That would be my son – Harrison.”

“Oh. That’s really too bad. So any relation to the real Harrison Ford?”

So it’s true that I’ve had my share of Harrison Ford sightings over the years. But when I mentioned  this to my coworkers twelve years ago when I started a new job, they just rolled their eyes – and I didn’t protest. But apparently there is a God. One night after work our staff met at a club in Huntington, called Strawberrys. I was a little late, and when I arrived they were already standing at the bar. No sooner had I joined them when a tall, attractive young woman walked straight up to me. She didn’t say a word, but she handed me a pen and pulled down the hem of her white tee shirt nice and tight. Plastered across its front were the words “Indiana Jones” and the mischievous smile of you-know-who wearing his classic fedora. I could almost hear jaws drop. But not mine. I nonchalantly grabbed her pen as if I’d been doing this my whole life, and signed “Harrison” across the bottom. I handed her pen back, she flashed me a smile, and off she went. Not a word was spoken. Later that evening I joined two of my coworkers for a go at the karaoke microphone, singing “I Should Have Known Better” by the Beatles. As I returned to the bar the young woman stepped forward, and this time she spoke: “Don’t quit your day job!” Ouch! But fair enough. Because I’m not Harrison Ford, and I sure as hell can’t sing!

She looked something like this. Really.

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Above: The author cruisin’ on Elm Street, North Merrick, circa 1966.

Dec 31, 2020

Introduction

I grew up in the 1960s in North Merrick, New York, a cozy little  neighborhood located  twenty-five miles east of New York City along the southern shore of Long Island. My childhood was an era before computers, video games, cable, internet, DVDs, smart phones, facebook – and blogs like this one. Yet without all these “conveniences” we somehow managed just fine. In fact, more than just fine: it was idyllic. Recently I started working on a memoir, and it’s amazing what you remember. Here are a few stories from my youth that help paint a picture of that innocent, bygone era. I hope you enjoy!

Made In The Shade

Unlike later generations, us kids were pretty much on our own when we walked out the door. A “play date” wasn’t in our vocabulary. Summer days began with the gang gathering on a wooden fence railing in front of Ronnie and Richie’s house on Sycamore Avenue. One by one we showed up in accordance with our individual rhythms: Ronnie, Richie, Ricky, Tommy, Ian … and me.  I was rarely among the first wave. Our days were filled with activity, but invariably they started out a little slow. In a sleepy voice someone would mumble, “So whadda you guys wanna do today?” Someone would respond, “I dunno, whadda you wanna do?” This would go on for quite some time, the whole luxuriously-long summer day stretched out before us, just waiting to be filled – but we were in no hurry. Eventually we’d figure it out. Perhaps we’d start the day riding our bikes up and down Elm Street, then move on to war, baseball, trucks, and a little wood carving action with our pocket knives in a tree overhanging the brook, our activities interrupted only by brief retreats home for lunch and dinner. Perhaps after dinner we’d recruit the younger and older kids in the neighborhood – and even girls – for a game of kickball on Elm Street, right where our day had begun so many hours before. And at dusk we’d put the cherry on our day – literally – with the evening appearance of our Good Humor ice cream man. We had it made in the shade!

The Brook In Wintertime

We were lucky to have a brook in our neighborhood that ran behind the homes across the street on Sycamore Avenue. It was six feet wide and a few inches deep. One cold winter’s day when I was about five I went out to play with my friends. Mom gave me strict instructions to stay away from the brook, yet somehow that’s where I ended up. And not just near it, but in it. Literally. I broke through the ice, fell forward, and got soaked. Knowing I’d get in trouble when I got home, I just didn’t go home. Obviously that plan had shortcomings. When I finally did return home, my clothes were so frozen I couldn’t even raise my arms enough to knock on the door, let alone  open it. So I just twisted back and forth until my arms swung out wide enough to bang the door. I don’t recall if I got in trouble that day, but what I do recall is Mom pulling off my frozen clothes in front of the warm oil burner in the basement, and then making a cozy fire in the living room to help me thaw out.

The Book That Was Too “Hot” To Handle

One day my friend Ronnie, two years older, stole a Playboy magazine from the Park Avenue Deli. I had never seen pictures like this before, and considered this to be incredibly hot contraband.  My friends and I withdrew to hidden nooks and crannies to check it out. (Years later Mom said she saw a group of us suspiciously reading something under the bushes with our butts sticking out.) We hid “the book,” as we code-named it, under a pile of grass clippings down by the brook. Occasionally we’d visit to “make sure it was okay,” but eventually decided it was just too hot to keep around. So we shredded the magazine into small pieces, page by page, and threw it all into the brook, expecting the current to carry the remnants far away. But for weeks afterward, whenever we played down by the brook – which ran for hundreds of yards beyond our neighborhood – we found the evidence scattered all along the shore, teaching us that some deeds leave large footprints.

A Bully Gets His Comeuppance

When I was in third grade, a fourth grader started bullying me for no particular reason. I was small in stature and perhaps he just perceived me as an easy target. On repeated occasions he grabbed my books when I was on the swings and played keep-away with his friends as I tried to get them back. It always happened on school grounds and I didn’t know what to do about it. One day when I got home I confided in Mom. She gave me unusual advice. First she asked me if I thought I could take the kid. “Maybe,” I replied. Then she said, “Then I guess that’s just what you’ll have to do.” Imagine getting permission to beat up a kid from your mother! So the next time this kid started the keep-away thing, when he tossed my books to his friend, instead of veering off to chase them as I normally did, I held my course and literally ran him over. After a tussle on the ground I ended up on top and pinned him until he gave up. And that was the end of that problem – and the highlight of my year!

“I Don’t Wanna Get Stitches!”

The grass had just been mowed, and my friends and I were running around trying to stuff grass clippings down each other’s shirts. I was hiding against the side of the house in the corner under my sister’s bedroom window when someone turned the corner with a handful of grass and surprised me. I wheeled and started to run but immediately crashed into a giant plastic garbage barrel. The barrel rolled over with me on top and tossed me into a basement window well. As I flew through the air my bare shin scraped the lip of the metal encasement and tore off a wad of skin the size of a quarter, right down to my shin bone. It was pretty gross. Dad carried me into the kitchen and laid me on the floor. As Mom cleaned me up she said I would probably need stitches. “I don’t wanna get stitches! I don’t wanna get stitches!” I yelled. Mom also removed my bloody socks and put on clean ones so I would look nice for the doctors. Dad drove me to the emergency room. While the doctors were working on me, a young woman gasping for air was wheeled in and parked right next to me. As the doctors shifted gears to attend to her, I thought she was going to die right in front of my eyes. But she didn’t. I returned home that night sporting five stitches under a medical wrap. A few days later I was hobbling around in the street playing football and probably re-opened the wound. And that’s why to this day there’s a sensitive shiny smooth pink scar the size of a quarter on my right shin.

Stickball – And A Close Encounter With Two Punks

I loved playing fast-pitch stickball at Park Avenue Elementary School. Usually we played one-on-one, occasionally two-on-two. We used chalk to draw a rectangular strike zone on the school wall, our bat was a sawed off broom handle, and a tennis or pink rubber ball was our baseball. We mostly threw fastballs but mixed it up with a few curves, sinkers and changeups. For some reason we didn’t use a mitt. The pitcher doubled as umpire to call balls and strikes, and we employed imaginary base runners. If a hit reached the basketball poles on the fly it was a double, and further landmarks designated triples and home runs. Catching a ground ball cleanly was an out, and following this with a quick “strike” to the plate doubled up any forced runners. Catching a ball on the fly was of course an out. If a ball was fouled off onto the two-story roof, no problem, we had ways of getting up there. I wonder if our parents had any idea what we actually did throughout our days.

One evening I was playing stickball with my cousin. Around dusk two punks a few years older slithered up on their bikes and started busting our chops about something. Eventually we left just to get away from them, and rode our bikes across the field heading home. But then we got the bright idea to stop at the gate on Walnut Avenue and started yelling not-such-nice things at them. It was pretty dark by now and we really couldn’t see much – until we realized they were tearing across the field at full throttle and coming right at us. Yikes! We took off in a heartbeat. But by the time we reached top speed they were right on our tails. When we reached Oak Street I hung a sharp left – the shortest route to my house – and my cousin continued straight toward his house. “Good Luck!” we yelled. Like a scene from a movie, one of the punks stayed on my cousin’s tail and the other stayed on mine, literally ten feet behind. “I’m gonna kill you!” I heard him yell. When I reached Sycamore I hung a hard right at full speed, barely checking for traffic. He was still there. When I reached my house I swerved into the driveway, kept flying across the front lawn, pulled two more right turns around the side of the house and flew into the back yard. He was still there! When I reached the back door I jumped off at full speed, bounced up the steps and dove through the door. My dad had been lying on a recliner on the patio and yelled at me as I flew by, “That’s no way to get off a bike!” A split second later the punk saw my dad, made a sharp u-turn and got out of Dodge before my dad  had even a glimmer of what had just happened. When I caught my breath we called my cousin to make sure he got home safe. He did. Close call!

The  Boy Who Shoulda Said “Yes!”

Although I wouldn’t admit that I liked girls until high school, I had crushes on two girls in my class from first grade through sixth. Lynne Morrison was the pretty, bright, perfect-student type who seemed way out of my league, while Diane Testa was the cute, friendly, girl-next-door type. I don’t recall ever saying a word to Lynne, but I sensed early on that Diane liked me. In particular I remember a day in third or fourth grade when Diane, who sat directly behind me, followed me when I went to the back of the classroom to get a drink of water. We returned to our seats. Then she went back and I followed her. Giggling and flirting ensued. Back and forth we went. We must have been really thirsty.

Then came the day when I dropped the ball. Big time. Each year we interrupted our normal gym class schedule to inject a two-week program of square dancing. I suspect this was more about developing socialization skills than athletic prowess. On the first day of these sessions the boys and girls sat on the floor in two lines facing each other six feet apart. This was our opportunity to ask a classmate to be our partner for the next two weeks – otherwise we’d be assigned randomly. To start things off a few girls asked a few boys to partner up, and aw shucks the boys refused. Then Diane asked me … and I turned her down, too chickenshit to be the first boy to say “yes.” Eventually Sean Donnelly said “yes” to someone, and then a few more boys followed suit. At this point in time the right thing to do – in fact, the ONLY thing to do – was to apologize to Diane, ask her to be my partner, and hope that she wasn’t holding a grudge. Of course that’s not what I did. I just sat there like a rock, incredulously hoping that Diane would ask me again. Funny how that worked out.

Looking back, it seems reasonable to speculate that if Diane and I had paired up that day, things might have progressed nicely in our little friendship. Which might have given me the experience and confidence to be a little more assertive around girls I liked in junior high and high school. But instead I took the “shy” route and waited all the way until my senior year Homecoming Dance before asking someone out. If I could go back in time and do it differently, I’d say “Yes!” to Diane Testa.

Above: My fourth grade Park Avenue Elementary School class picture (1965 / 1966). That’s me in the first row, second from left, with the white socks. I’m sure it’s a coincidence (?), but  Diane Testa is sitting right behind me, second row far left, wearing a purple dress. As for Lynne Morrison: third row, third from right (blue dress).  Two of my neighborhood pals that  joined me on summer mornings to plot out our days are also in this picture: Tommy D’Amico (first row far left), and Ian Hunter (third row far left).

My full class: front row (seated on ground, left to right): Tommy D’Amico, Joe Gunn, Jimmy Dawson, Tom Campagnola, Andrew Foreman, Sean Donnelly. Second Row: Diane Testa, Annette Cinelli, Leonora Simonetti, Laurel Johl, Beverly Lloyd, Jackie Weisenberg, Joan Harrer. Third Row: Ian Hunter, Faith Briskie, Yvonne Sandtorv, Kathy Luby, Kim Benoit, Cheryl Dry, Lynne Morrison, Diane Smithok, Margaret Carrington. Forth Row: Rich Del Maestro, Robert Flannery, Gary Beckert, Doug Nelson, Doug Toback, Robert Forge, Jim Sannerud  – Fourth grade Park Avenue Elementary School 1964 / 1965, teacher Mrs. Oberhoff, North Merrick / North Bellmore School District, Long Island, New York. 

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What Is This?

This is a comprehensive, technical description of how a three speed bicycle gear system  works when the gears are hidden inside the rear axle.  It’s surprisingly complex from both a theoretical and mechanical perspective, and well worth a deep dive for folks who find beauty in engineering marvels. The specific gearset I describe is the Sturmey Archer AW.  The intended audience is folks relatively new to this application, although vets of the field may find points of interest, especially in the diagrams I’ve created to explain how it works. My writing strives to be concise and on-point … except perhaps in the introduction, where I explain in story format how I became so interested in this topic and why I chose to write this post. To get an idea where this is heading, consider first scanning through to the end.  And for those who just want the short version, you’re in luck.

continue  reading

 

 

 

Two years ago I was thinking of buying my grandson a string-pulled gyroscope. I googled the term and- oh my god – fell into a world I had no idea existed. Of course google showed me gyroscopes. But it also showed me a nearly endless cascade of precision-crafted spinning tops made of copper, brass, stainless steel, bronze, aluminum, titanium, gold, iron, nickel, zirconium, and … well, you get the idea. Many were simple and elegant; others were stunningly intricate; all fell under the general category of art.  I realized I was in trouble. Because, for better or worse, I have a soft spot for precision-crafted gizmos that go well beyond what anyone actually needs. 

A small sample – from among hundreds of offerings – of what’s out there:

  Remember the spinning top totem featured in the movie Inception? Well, I found that one, too. As you can see, Leo is truly wondering if his top will ever topple over:        Pushing the envelope, I even found tops that levitate, courtesy of  powerful magnets.       So,  getting back to my gyroscope idea, I eventually decided to pass,  realizing that my grandson was too young for the gyroscope world.   But,  I did purchase something for myself – a tiny EDC keychain stainless steel spinning top –  just to see what this world of spinning tops  was all about:    When the top arrived, it was  smaller than I imagined, and I thought it would spin for maybe a minute. I fired it up on a hardwood waxed table, and it did not disappoint:  two minutes. After a few more throws  I was in the three minute range.  I was  impressed. I was also surprised by how mesmerizing it was to watch this little thing do its thing.     So I decided to upgrade. I learned that, in general, tops made from heavier metals  generate more momentum and consequently spin longer. I also learned that the better tops did not come to a point on their bottoms, but rather featured a half-dome of  hard, polished ceramic.   After spending more hours than I care to admit, I finally narrowed my search down to one model. But even then I was still left with a ridiculous selection of metals to choose from –  and not only solids, but metals in a wide variety of combinations. (If you’re shaking your head, I understand.)  

My final selection:

Beautiful, isn’t it? The specs:

• • • Brushed copper and stainless steel
    • 1.19 inch diameter, 1.18 inch height, 45 grams
    • $ 55, at (made by)  Kemnerdesign.com  (under category “two step”)

Upon arrival I immediately took note of the top’s impressive heft for its size. And the workmanship was exquisite. I couldn’t wait to fire it up. 

When I launched the top  on the same hardwood tabletop I used for the keychain top, I expected dramatic results. But what I quickly learned was that I had a Maserati in my hand – and I was trying to race it on a beach. Specifically, the ceramic half-dome base created not less, but more drag on the wooden surface than the little top with the  metal point at its base. As a result,  I was getting spins on the order of 90 seconds.  

My panic was short-lived, however, because  next I launched the top on a six-inch-diameter mirror. In no time at all I was getting nine minute spins!  The manufacturer’s website advertised typical spin times in the six minute range, and I would have been more than happy with that. But nine?  Wow! 

There was a difficulty, however. The top would slowly travel across the mirror if it wasn’t perfectly level. And what surface in your home is perfectly level? And so, what I had to do was  gently adjust the height of one corner or another to continually bring the spinning top back to  center.  This was fun – for a while. But soon enough I realized the value, and necessity really, of purchasing a base specifically designed for spinning tops:

The specs:

• • • Silica glass base, 3 1/2 inch diameter, stainless steel perimeter, 4 inch total diameter.
    • The glass base is slightly concave, so it keeps the top from drifting off.
    • $ 39, from foreverspin.com.

The base is beautiful in its simplicity, and it too has significant heft for its size. And it works! When the top is launched on the base, it will typically and elegantly circumnavigate the base around the center while maintaining a slight incline  toward the center (and who taught the top how to do this?).  How the top leaves your hand will determine if it travels in a large circle around the center,  or in a tighter circle. In either case, the circle will ever-so-slowly tighten, and eventually the top will end up in  the center, so still and steady that it’s hard to believe it’s actually spinning. 

My personal best timed spin  with my Kemnerdesign  top and Foreverspin base:

Eleven Minutes and Fifteen Seconds  !

Wow! And of course it’s possible (likely)  that I’ve had spins even longer than  that. Honestly, I  found the entire experience  slightly addictive,  chasing the high of  trying to improve my  personal bests over and over.  

Along the way I discovered something else: Watching one of these beautiful,  precision spinning  tops do their thing  is like staring into a fire. It has the effect of focusing your mind on this one narrowly-focused activity. Your other thoughts, worries and distractions  fade into the distance. And by the time the top topples over – which is what they eventually do in the non-Inception universe – you’ll likely find yourself feeling very still, very tranquil. It’s like a meditation session, but without all the rules.  And if it’s bedtime and your mind is racing, well, you could go for a warm glass of milk, or reach for the medicine cabinet, or … you could spin up a top and see what happens. 

I’ve had my Kemnerdesign top now for two years, and I’m delighted that I discovered this little niche world.  They say “you don’t know what you don’t know,” and I had no idea there were highly skilled craftsman out there creating art from metal in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors that perform at levels beyond imagination. Mesmerizing really is the right word – for their design, and for their performance.  

I’m happy to report (for those who might feel a little concerned about my well-being) that I’m now over the infatuation phase.  But my Kemnerdesign top IS prominently displayed  on a shelf  in my living room, and I still fire it up from time to time to rekindle the wonder, or just to clear my mind. My grandson, on the other hand,  is not so impressed – yet. But I think he’ll come around.  Don’t tell him, but there’s a nice precision spinning top somewhere in his future. 

A few final observations:

1) One of the features of a finely crafted top is that it will eventually settle into a perfectly motionless spin, with absolutely no wobble or oscillation, at the center of a finely crafted  spinning base.  What I learned the hard way, however, while attempting to film my spinning top (see video below), is that in order to achieve an absolutely wobble-free  center spin, the spinning base must be resting on an absolutely level surface – and I mean absolutely level. The spinning base is designed so that its concave surface reaches its lowest point directly at center. But if  the base is sitting on even the slightest inclined surface, the top will continually try to  reach what it thinks is the lowest point, which may be a few fractions of a millimeter from the true center. And hence the top will wobble, or oscillate, between this point and the true center of the base.  If it’s pronounced enough, you’ll see the wobble with your naked eye. But if it’s very subtle, you might not notice until playing back video at higher magnification. And if you’re trying to capture  the perfect spin for posterity, well, you’ve got some adjustments to make to  your setup.  

2) When I’m going for max spin times, it’s fairly hard to launch the top onto a small surface like my four-inch base  and keep the top from immediately flying (crashing) off. It often takes me five to ten throws. Maybe that’s just me. But when the top does stay on the base with my max-effort throws, my typical spin times are in the seven to eight minute range, with maybe one in ten throws reaching the nine-plus minute range.

3) If, instead of going for max spin time,  I give the top an easy spin,  it  usually stays on the base on the first or second try. These easy spins typically last five to six minutes, and would be amazingly impressive to anyone who doesn’t know better. 

4) There must be a science to  proper spin technique – arm angle, hand angle,finger grip, follow-through, etc. – but if there is, I couldn’t find it online.  If anyone has something to say on this topic, please comment below. I have found, however, that some of my longest spins have come from launches that were less than max effort. I imagine it’s like hitting home runs in baseball: it’s not about trying to hit the ball hard as much as it is about having a fluid, effortless swing. 

5) The spinning disc portion of my top is copper. Over time it has lost its sheen and is developing a soft patina. That’s how copper works, and  I’m fine with that. There are, of course,  cleaning agents that can be used to maintain the sheen. I suspect that’s in my future. 

6) Copper is a relatively soft metal, and the lower edge of my spinning disc is nicely dinged from hitting the stainless steel base after hundreds and hundreds of unsuccessful launch attempts. The dings are evenly distributed around the disc and don’t seem to affect the top’s performance in either spin time or balance.  While this of course takes away from the out-of-the-box look, I don’t mind: this is a “working” top that’s been put to work!  

I can see the allure of collecting precision spinning tops in various styles and metals, and  at some point  I’ll probably expand my collection. But for now I’m content with my Kemnerdesign little guy. He has far exceeded all expectations, and is still going … and going … and going.

Below are four videos I hope you enjoy:

• • 1. My Kemnerdesign top in action, shot by me. 
    2. My EDC keychain top, shot by me. 
    3. How to make a levitating top.
    4. A really cool introduction to this crazy world of spinning tops, including close-ups of insanely  machined works of art, presented by the colorful Jim Skelton.

Prepare to be  amazed …  even mesmerized. And make sure your audio is up.  

V I D E O  –  My   Soothing, Hypnotizing 
Kemnerdesign Top – With Music

V I D E O  –  My  EDC Keychain Top

V I D E O – How To Make A Levitating Top

 

V I D E O  – Intro to Spinning Tops 
(Jim Skelton)

 

For the record, I have no affiliation with any of the manufacturers or sellers of any of these products. 

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June 13,2019

Introduction

Who doesn’t look up from time to time and wonder where an airplane is coming from, where it’s going, or how high it’s  cruising?  It turns out that there’s a free program named flightradar24 that provides live, incredibly detailed flight radar tracking data for flights anywhere in the world.   With just a few clicks you can zoom in on your neighborhood and magically watch aircraft fly across your computer screen while simultaneously watching – for real – out your living room window. Click on the plane and you’ll discover its origin, destination, airline, flight number, aircraft model, altitude, speed, and heading – along with a trail showing its entire flight path from where it’s been, and where it’s going. Click on the 3D option and your perspective will shift from looking down from the heavens,  to a birds-eye view from inside the cockpit or from behind the tail.   You can also listen to air traffic controllers and pilots communicate in real time (for free) using another website tool named liveatc.net. When you put these two capabilities together – tracking the planes and listening to the controllers and pilots – it puts you right in the middle of this exciting, demanding,  fast-paced world.

I discovered all this six months ago, and found it mesmerizing. I also happen to live just 35 miles east of the second-busiest airspace in the world – New York City. And because New York City is home to three major airports – John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia – there’s a lot going on in my back yard. And so it became my passion to learn the approach and departure patterns for these three airports by observing flights using flightradar24.

In this post I share what I’ve learned:

• • Detailed runway layouts and descriptions for JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports
  • Approach and departure patterns for all three airports
  • Introduction to flightradar24 for tracking planes, and liveatc.net for listening to controllers
  • A video containing radar tracks of approaches to JFK, Newark and LaGuardia played at 24 times normal speed, along with sample air traffic controller / pilot communications

• Whether you’re just curious about what’s “up” there, or whether you’re a flightradar24 enthusiast looking for detailed information on New York City’s airspace, I hope you find this post helpful and interesting. Caution: entry into this world can be addictive!

Above Left: Airliner low over Cold Spring Harbor on the north shore of Long Island,  heading west and banking left to line up for final approach to JFK Runway 22 Left. Above Center: Similar aircraft, same spot and heading, being tracked on flightradar24 –  it’s Delta Flight 1512, Las Vegas To JFK, Boeing 755, 2,000 ft, 164 kts, heading 268 degrees.  Above Right: Delta 1512, same spot, in flightradar 3D view, looking north-west over Oyster Bay. Pretty cool!

DISCLAIMER: All information and diagrams in this post were compiled by / generated by  the author and are NOT OFFICIAL sources of information. I say this in part because pilots are visiting this page and providing  positive feedback.  I take this as a compliment, but just to be clear!

New York City Airports: JFK, LaGuardia, Newark 

The New York City airspace is home to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK),  Newark Liberty International Airport,  and LaGuardia Airport. All three are located within a 12 mile radius of Manhattan. The New York City airspace also encompasses an additional half-dozen  smaller regional airports that my post and charts do not address, although of course the local controllers have no such luxury.

The New York City airspace is the second-busiest airspace in the world  – second only to London – moving 138 million passengers and 1.3 million flights per year,  which is 3,500 flights per average day. Given the combination of this volume and how tightly these three major airports are packed together, New York City is arguably  THE most complex airspace in the world.

Above: The greater New York City region, showing the relative locations of JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports. To understand how it all works, you need to understand how each airport’s runways are aligned; how they are named; and how they are configured.

Above: A six second loop played at 120x speed of all air traffic over New York City and surrounding airspace on 7/8/21, courtesy of flightradar24.

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

JFK is located 12 miles south-east of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the largest airport gateway between North America and the rest of the world, and is the 22nd busiest airport overall in the world (Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson in the United States is number one).

JFK’s runway configuration is show below:

JFK  has two sets of parallel runways. One set runs approximately along the headings of 40 degrees and 220 degrees – depending on which way you are pointing – and the other runs approximately  130 degrees / 310 degrees.

By convention, there is a unique identifier for each runway for each direction you are heading. If you were approaching JFK from the south-west  on  a heading of approximately 40 degrees and lining up with the runway on your right,   in air traffic control lingo you’d be landing on runway “4 Right.” Runway identifiers use the first two digits of the runway heading, rounded to the nearest 10 degrees,  and  this particular runway’s magnetic heading is 44 degrees, which is the heading that pilots would  steer when lining up with this runway. (The “44” is rounded to “40” and then truncated to “4.”)

Similarly, if you were taking off on this runway and heading in the same direction (44 degrees), you’d  be taking off on runway 4 Right. If you were approaching this runway from the opposite direction, you’d be landing on runway 22 Left, heading approximately 220 degrees  (actually 224 magnetic) and landing on the left runway from your perspective.

When you need to refer to a runway as just a hunk of pavement regardless of which way you are heading, the convention is to name the runway using both directions, hence the pavement in the example above would be runway “4 Right / 22 Left.”

Active runway  landing and takeoff configurations are selected so that, to the greatest extent possible, aircraft take off and land heading into the wind. The increased lift over their wings helps them take off and land at  slower ground speeds.  If the prevailing winds were from the south-west at JFK, then planes would be primarily taking off  on 22 Right and landing on 22 Left, essentially facing into the wind in both cases.  At JFK, the runway closer to the terminals is 22 Right (technically, “4 Left / 22 Right), and that is the runway primarily used – in either direction – for takeoffs, as it has extra taxiways  allocated for long lines for planes waiting to take off.

The most commonly used configuration at JFK appears to be departures on 22 Right and arrivals on 22 Left. This also appears to be the preferred configuration when winds are light to none.  Departures on 4 Left and arrivals on 4 Right also see a lot of action.  In either of these two configurations, sometimes airliners will use both parallel runways for landings when convenient.

When planes  are landing or taking off on 31 Left, the start of the runway is actually north-west of the physical end of the runway, so that it doesn’t interfere with the crossing 4 Left / 22 Right runway. Controllers  refer to 31 Left as “31 Left Shortened” to highlight that the start / touchdown point is not the physical “end” of the runway.

JFK’s  near-in approaches are shown above. Depending on where aircraft are coming from, they will merge into these approach routes somewhere along the paths shown.

Note that the approach patterns for 13 and 4 are aligned in a clockwise rotation off the southern shore of Long Island, while the approach patterns for 31 and 22 form in a counter-clockwise rotation. This  affects the flight paths that airliners will take as they join the New York City airspace.  Specifically, for aircraft arriving from the north-west, when 22 and 31 are being used for arrivals, they will fly south over Manhattan  (west of JFK) and will then turn east to merge into the counter-clockwise approaches for these runways; but if runways 4 or 13 are being used for arrivals,  aircraft arriving from the north-west will fly past the airport and  then turn south over Long Island  (east of JFK), and will then turn west to join the clockwise approach patterns for these runways.

In general, approach routes for JFK stay as far away as possible from the approach and departure routes for Newark and LaGuardia. In particular, the super-tight  right turn required for approaches to 13 L and  13 R is considered one of the tightest turns required for large aircraft in the United States. But this is necessary to keep aircraft away from the approach routes to LaGuardia.

Runways at major airports have Instrumented Landing Systems (ILS) that transmit electronic beams  (“localizers”) that guide aircraft through their final glide path. The localizers at JFK are shown above. Each localizer has a specific frequency that pilots tune into, and also have named “fixes” along their path that controllers can refer to. The final fix  for each localizer is called the Final Approach Fix (FAF), and is typically about six miles out and two thousand feet in altitude.   This is where pilots start their final descent glide slope.  Note that JFK runway 13 Right does not have a localizer. Instead, pilots rely on navigational beacons at ASALT and DMYHL to support their approach, as shown in the diagram above.

Newark Liberty International Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport is located 8 miles south-west of Manhattan. Its two primary runways are parallel and aligned  with one of  the parallel runway pairs at JFK: 4 Left, 4 Right, 22 Left, 22 Right. Newark also has a shorter,  less-used runway aligned in a mostly east/west configuration: 11 and 29.   The runway closer to the terminal (4 Left / 22 Right) is primarily used for departures, and the adjacent runway (4 Right / 22 Left) is primarily used for arrivals. As with JFK, sometimes airliners will land in parallel on both runways.  The 3-letter identifier for Newark Liberty is “EWR”.

Newark’s near-in approach routes for  22 Left / Right and 4  Left / Right are shown above. Note that their rotations are opposite those at JFK.

LaGuardia Airport

Laguardia airport is located 6 miles north-east of Manhattan. Its runways are oriented in the same direction as JFK’s, but with  only one runway in each direction instead of two. The runways cross, and are simply designated 4, 13, 22 and 31. LaGuardia’s runways are extremely short, and pilots note that landing at LaGuardia is like landing on an aircraft carrier.  Larger airliners – referred to as “heavies” or “supers” in controller lingo – such as Boeing 747s and Airbus 380s, respectively, don’t land at LaGuardia. The three letter identifier for LaGuardia is “LGA”.

At peak load times, when winds are light to moderate,  LaGuardia is typically configured to have planes  land and take off on separate, criss-crossing  runways, instead of on the same runway. This allows controllers to maximize the number of arriving and departing aircraft within a given period of time.

Laguardia’s near-in approaches are shown above. Because LaGuardia is sandwiched  between Newark and JFK, it’s approach paths are squeezed and complex.

As the upper-left and lower-left panels indicate, planes landing on runway 22 mostly approach the airport from the south, fly past the airport, and then make a sharp 180 degree turn to line up with the runway. If planes are taking off on runway 13 ( upper-left, heading south-east),  the planes on approach to 22  will pass the airport on the opposite (west) side before looping back clockwise for runway 22. If planes are taking off on runway 31 (lower-left, heading north-west), the planes on approach will pass the airport on the east side before looping back counter-clockwise for runway 22. Runway 22 appears to be the most frequently used runway at LaGuardia for arrivals.

Similarly, there are two approach paths for runway 31. The simpler, shorter route (center top) has planes approach the airport from the south-west and then bank left to line up with the runway. But when traffic is heavy, the approach route is stretched out (center bottom) by having the planes fly past the airport heading north-east, then make a figure-eight style turn by banking right and looping around until they line up with the runway.  Because this approach  doubles back and crosses over itself,  the planes on final approach are at a lower altitude than the planes still heading north-east.

Runway 4’s approach pattern,  center-bottom,  is simply straight in from the south.

Runway 13 appears to be rarely used for landing, but its approach route is shown in the panel lower-right.

New York City Air Space – The Big Picture

The flightradar24 screen capture above shows all international and domestic flights originating from AND heading to JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia airports at 3:25 PM local time on a routine Monday, 25 March 2019.

Zooming in closer, the screen capture above shows “just” inbound traffic to JFK, Newark and LaGuardia on that routine Monday afternoon. In each of the circled areas – Cleveland to the west, Washington to the south, Albany to the north, and Boston to the north-east – air traffic controllers for these regional “Centers” handle aircraft just passing through their airspace at high altitude for distant destinations.

But for aircraft nearing their destinations, each of these Center controllers merge flights from different directions into corridors specific for each destination airport. For example, the Cleveland Center controllers  above are receiving flights from the south-west, west, north-west, and north, each of which may contain flights heading to JFK, Newark and LaGuardia. By the time the flights leave the Cleveland Center airspace, all  JFK-bound flights will be in one route;   Newark-bound flights in another; and  LaGuardia flights in a third. Specifically, the JFK route is on top; Newark under that; and LaGuardia under that.

Zooming in even more tightly over the New York City airspace, individual flight paths for approach AND  departure are clearly visible.

The diagram above, when broken down, looks like this:

Above: Planes approaching the New York City airspace have already been organized into flight paths specific for each destination airport.   JFK approach routes are shown in red, LaGuardia in green, and Newark in purple. Blue flight paths are departure routes from the New York City airspace, regardless of airport origin.

New York Approach – Getting Closer

When aircraft reach the greater New York City airspace, they will already be under the control of New York Center controllers, and they will already be  slotted into airport-specific flight paths.  Eventually, New York Center controllers will hand flights off to the approach controller(s) for each individual airport.

The main task for the airport-specific approach controllers is to receive traffic arriving from multiple directions and merge them into a single, well-spaced  flight path  for the specific runway(s) currently in use at that airport. As the flights get closer and closer to the airport, the controllers will gradually reduce both altitude and speed while maintaining spacing as they guide the pilots through the pattern.

Note that the initial legs of these approach patterns are the same regardless of which runways are in use. But as flights get closer to the airport, the flight paths become runway-specific. When the aircraft are lined up on final approach for the runway, about eight miles out, they are handed off to the airport’s Tower controller for final clearance to land.

The somewhat-simplified diagrams  above show runway-specific approach patterns into JFK 22 (Red), LaGuardia 22  counter-clockwise (Green), and  Newark  22 (Purple).

Above: This diagram  merges the individual approach diagrams for JFK 22 (red),  LaGuardia 22 counter-clockwise (green), and Newark 22 (purple) into one composite view, illustrating the complex  interplay between  the patterns.

In a few places, the approach patterns must cross. This is handled by having the flight paths cross at different altitudes. For example, the east-bound LaGuardia approach crosses the north-bound Newark  approach at 12,000 feet, with the Newark pattern well below at 7,000 feet. Likewise, the south-east bound JFK approach crosses directly over Manhattan at approximately 16,000 feet, staying well clear of all arrivals and departures, and then descends sharply once reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

In the diagram above, all three airports are landing aircraft on the same heading of approximately 220 degrees. In moderate-to-heavy wind conditions, all three airports will typically be configured to receive aircraft in the same direction to the greatest extent possible. In lighter wind conditions, however, there is a greater variety of configurations, and the total number of permutations across all three airports is significant.

The following diagrams illustrate other integrated approach configurations for JFK, LaGuardia and Newark.

Above: JFK 31 (red), LaGuardia 22 counter-clockwise (green), Newark 22 (purple)

Above: JFK 4 (red), LaGuardia 22  clockwise (green), Newark 22 (purple)

Above: JFK 13 (red), LaGuardia 4  (green), Newark 22 (purple)

Above: JFK 31 (red), LaGuardia 31  (green), Newark 4 (purple)

To see LARGER versions of the above set of integrated approach diagrams, click HERE.

Dynamic approach views

Above: A 6 second loop of aircraft from the west, south and east merging into final approach to JFK Runway 22L on 7/8/21, viewed at 64x speed (all other aircraft have been filtered out of this view).

Above: A 6 second loop of aircraft on approach to JFK 22L, Newark 22L, and LaGuardia 22 on 7/8/21, viewed at 64x speed (all other aircraft have been filtered out of this view).

To view extended approach videos, see the link at the end of this post!

Approach Corridors

When aircraft are approaching a major airport,  before their flight paths becomes runway-specific they fly along corridors that have names.  The approach routes to JFK are shown below, with names like ROBER to the east, CAMRN to the south, and LENDY to the north.

Deep Dive – Final  Approach to JFK Runway 22 Left

The following sections provide a detailed breakdown for final approach to JFK Runway 22 Left.

The pattern for JFK 22 Left (and Right) takes shape about fifteen miles south of the airport, over the Atlantic Ocean. Then, in a counter-clockwise rotation, the pattern sweeps up over Long Island east of the airport, turns left in the general vicinity of the north shore of Long Island, and finally lines up with 22 Left for final approach.

Above Left: Joining the pattern from the west and north-west, these aircraft, which may originate from Dallas, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Chicago, Boston, and all points in between, fly over Manhattan at about sixteen thousand feet before descending sharply once over the Atlantic.

Above Center: Joining the pattern from the south and south-east, from locations such as Miami, Washington DC and Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

Above Right: Joining the pattern from Europe and Asia.

While most landings in this pattern are on JFK 22 Left, sometimes JFK 22 Right is also used, especially during peak loads.

Above Left: The localizers are displayed for 22 Left and 22 Right, with two aircraft on the 22 Right localizer (one almost landing) and three on the 22 Left localizer. Note that even though they are on different, parallel tracks, the aircraft on both localizers are still spread out for safe spacing.

Above Right: A wide angle view of the approaches to 22 Left (purple) and 22 Right (blue). Note that the 22 Right pattern sweeps further to the north than  the 22 Left pattern.

Above: The size of the approach pattern  into JFK 22 Left and 22 Right expands or contracts based on the density of traffic: the greater the density, the larger the pattern.  During light to normal traffic loads, the pattern will look like the purple track above.  During peak loads, as shown in yellow,  the pattern will extend north-east all the way to East Northport; will curve west along the north shore of Long Island over the towns of Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor; and will then turn left for final approach over the town of Oyster Bay. In super-heavy loads, the pattern will extend even further north, into  the Long Island Sound.

A sample approach to JFK 22 Left follows:

The illustration above  tracks a JFK-bound flight from the southern approach route CAMRN  through a landing at JFK runway 22 Left. The corresponding  communications between controllers and pilot are portrayed below.

In this example, the approach controller  workload is spread out between two controllers, as is often the case during peak loads at JFK.  The first controller (large green circle) is responsible for merging all JFK inbound flights from the approach routes CAMRN to the south, ROBER to the east and LENDY to the north, into a single, properly spaced flight path.  (Spacing between airliners is typically about four miles, which means they will eventually land 80 to 90 seconds apart.) The approach controller will then hand off each flight to the JFK “Final” Approach Controller (smaller green circle) as they near Long Island’s south shore barrier beaches.

The Final Approach controller will  direct each aircraft through the necessary maneuvers as he slows them down, reduces their altitude, and lines them up  with the runway before handing off to the JFK Tower Controller (red oval).

The Tower controller will then clear the aircraft to land, and will issue taxi instructions once on the ground until they are clear of all active runways.

Scenario  Dialogue:

A: American flight 320 is approaching JFK from the south along the CAMRN4 corridor, and has just been told by the New York Center controller to contact the JFK Approach controller.

Pilot: “New York Approach, American three-two-zero with you out of thirteen-thousand for eleven-thousand speed three hundred at CAMRN with Victor.” (The pilot identifies his flight, announces his current altitude (13,000 ft) and the altitude he is currently heading towards (11,000), his location (CAMRN), his speed (300 kts), and a letter code that identifies the latest weather information he has last accessed – in this case “V” for “Victor”. Weather is updated hourly, and each new weather package has a new letter identifier. In this case, the next weather update will be “Whiskey.”)

Approach: “American three-two-zero, expect ILS two-two left approach, altimeter three-zero-point-one-five, head zero-four-zero descend and maintain seven-thousand.” (The controller is advising the pilot which runway is in use (22 Left), giving him local barometric pressure, giving him a new heading (040 degrees) and advising him to descend to and maintain an altitude of 7,000 feet.)

Pilot: “Expect two-two left, head zero-four-zero down to seven-thousand, American three-two-zero.” (Pilot repeats instructions.)

B: Approach: “American three-two-zero, turn left heading zero-two-zero down to four-thousand speed two-niner-zero.” (New heading, altitude, speed … pilot acknowledges.)

C. Approach:   “American three-two-zero, contact final one-three-two point four.” (The controller is telling the pilot to switch to the Final Approach controller frequency on 132.4 … pilot acknowledges.)

(Pilot switches to JFK Final Approach frequency 132.4)

Pilot: “Approach, American three-two-zero with you at four-thousand.” (The pilot just joined the final approach frequency and is announcing his altitude.)

Final Approach:  “American three-two-zero, turn left heading zero-one-zero descend and maintain two-five speed two-two-five.” (Down to altitude 2,500 ft, reduce speed to 225 kts  … pilot acknowledges.)

D / E : More course  / altitude / speed  adjustments as the controller guides the plane through the pattern and reduces altitude and speed to 2,000 ft and 200 kts.

F: Final Approach: “American three-two-zero, turn left heading two-five-zero, five miles from ZALPO, maintain two thousand until establish the localizer, clear to ILS two-two left approach.” (Controller gives pilot new heading, advises  he is five miles from the localizer’s  final approach fix  position named ZALPO (H), maintain altitude of 2,000 until lined up with the localizer … Pilot acknowledges.)

G: Pilot intercepts 22 L localizer and lines up for a 22 Left approach.

Final Approach: “American three-two-zero, maintain  speed one-niner-zero through ZALPO, contact tower one-one-niner point one.” (The controller is telling the pilot to maintain speed of 190 knots until reaching positional fix ZALPO and to change to the Tower frequency 119.1 … Pilot acknowledges transmission.)

(Pilot switches to JFK Tower frequency 119.1)

Pilot: “Kennedy tower, American three-two-zero  two-two left.” (Pilot is announcing his presence on the tower frequency for a 22 left approach.)

Tower: “American three-two-zero, Kennedy Tower,  following Airbus three-twenty,  winds two-six-zero at one-five gusts two-five clear to land runway two-two left.” (Pilot acknowledges.) The tower is telling the pilot that he is following an Airbus 320 (re: turbulence),  winds are blowing in from 260 degrees at fifteen knots gusting to twenty-five, clear for landing. Note that planes are routinely “cleared for landing” even as other planes in front of them are still on approach, and even as planes on the ground are also getting ready to take off on the same runway.

H: Pilot passes through positional fix ZALPO at 2,000 feet 190 knots and  begins his final descent onto runway 22 Left. Pilot lands at 130 kts.

After the pilot lands the tower controller will direct the plane off the runway and will eventually hand off to a ground controller – see Ground Operations section.

Holding Patterns

Aircraft on approach to airports are sometimes placed in holding patterns. The holding patterns may be established within ten or twenty miles from the airport, or hundreds of miles away. Holding patterns may be required for a variety of reasons, including:

• • The number of planes heading towards an airport  exceeds the  number of planes that can be safely sequenced into the final approach pattern.
  • Adverse weather conditions, including heavy rain, snow, sleet, very heavy winds, wind shear, and fog may shut down landing operations.
  • A mishap on a runway may leave a runway non-operational.
  • A change in the landing / takeoff pattern at the airport may lead to temporary holding patterns as the controllers re-route  planes into a new pattern.

Some holding patterns are designated on air traffic control maps so that controllers can refer to them by name.  These patterns are often  elliptical in shape, and may have many planes sharing the same pattern. Other times holding patterns are more ad-hoc  and may have a more haphazard appearance.

When planes are held in holding patterns for too long, depending on their fuel reserves, they may eventually have to divert to an alternate airport. Planes holding south of New York City often divert to Philadelphia, and planes holding north or close to New York City often divert to Boston.

The five holding pattern tracks shown above are actual flight tracks, each for a single plane, captured using flightradar24. The panels in the upper left and lower right, both taken east of JFK over Long Island, show that the planes eventually diverted (to Boston). In the upper right and lower left panels,  six and three planes, respectively, are sharing the same holding pattern.  In the lower-middle display, the plane made a few loops to the right, then a few to the left, before continuing to JFK.

Aborted Approaches, Missed Approaches, and Emergency Approaches

Above Left: If an aircraft aborts its landing approach while on final, either due to its own problems or due to a command from the controller for whatever reason, in coordination with the controller it may break out of the final approach vector and rejoin the approach pattern again. In the diagram above left, while on final approach to JFK runway 22 Left, the aircraft did precisely this.

Above Middle: Other times, if an aircraft needs to abort its approach, the controller may tell the aircraft to “fly the runway heading,” meaning to continue on and fly directly over the runway, and then loop around to rejoin the pattern. This would be considered a “go-around.”  This often happens when pilots receive a wind shear indication from their cockpit at the last minute.  Similarly, if an aircraft attempts to land but aborts due to an inability to line up safely, wind gusts,  pilot error or whatever, the pilot will gun the engines to rejoin the approach pattern for another attempt. This would be considered a “missed approach.” The middle panel above shows  a go-around for a missed  approach to LaGuardia runway22.

Above Right: If a pilot declares an “emergency,” the  aircraft will receive immediate priority handling for whatever it needs, whether this means diverting other aircraft or opening up another runway. In the panel above right the highlighted aircraft declared an emergency and was given priority handling to cut in front of other aircraft, giving it the shortest, quickest route to JFK 22 Left.

Departures

Air traffic control for departures is not as complicated as arrivals. When aircraft are approaching the New York City airspace, they are coming from all directions and must be sequenced into specific flight paths for each airport. For departures the reverse dynamic is at play: the aircraft are moving into less-constricted airspace. The environment is more forgiving.  Eventually, departing aircraft from all New York City airports merge  into flight paths  corresponding to their general destinations, regardless of which airport they came from.

Approach flight paths near airports are fairly low, around 4,000 feet, until aircraft begin their final descent.  One of the main ways that departing aircraft stay clear of approaching aircraft is that they usually ascend very quickly after takeoff, so that when they cross  approach flight paths they are already well above them. This is especially true at a congested air space like New York City.

The diagram below captures the general flow of departing aircraft from JFK  runway 31, Newark 4 and LaGuardia 4 as observed using Flightradar24.

Of course, it gets more interesting when arriving flights are also shown:

The above diagram illustrates flights on approach to JFK 22 Left (red) and departing from JFK 22 Right (blue). In general the departing flights ascend quickly to get above flights on approach, but the departing flights heading south-west pass UNDER flights on approach from the north-west, as this approach path is extremely high over Manhattan (16,000 feet) and these flights have not yet had enough time to descend to 4,000 ft.

As with approach paths, the flight paths for departing aircraft, once they get out of  runway-specific flight patterns, have names.  The departure flight paths for JFK are shown below:

Detailed Approach / Departure Charts Integrating JFK, Newark and LaGuardia

When I started using Flightradar24, I began to chart  flight paths to and from JFK, Newark and LaGuardi on a single map for a single viewing session. Because the flight patterns vary for each runway configuration at each airport, the combinations across all three airports are extensive. That said,  I still – somewhat obsessively –  managed to capture the basic patterns at each airport using five maps.  One of these maps is shown below. Approach flight paths are shown in black, and departure flight paths are red.   Altitudes are shown in units of thousands of feet (4K means 4,000 feet). While of course “not official” and subject to my own limitations, these charts nevertheless capture the overall interplay between JFK, Newark and LaGuardia in a way that I haven’t seen before. Maybe that’s just me. Anyway, I hope you find them interesting. (The whole inspiration for this post began with the notion of just sharing these diagrams. Then I got carried away.)

Above:

JFK: 31 Left Approach (black), 31 Right Departure (red)
LGA: 31 Approach (black), 4 Departure (red)
Newark: 4 Right Approach (black), 4 Left Departure (red)

Above Right:

A tight-in zoom of a small section of the detailed chart above, showing one of the more interesting approach patterns into LaGuardia runway 31 when traffic is heavy. Most aircraft approach the airport (lower left, in black) on a north-east heading at an altitude of about 4,000 feet, turn right and fly past the airport on an easterly heading a little south of the airport, then make a half-figure-eight loop to the right as they descend and loop around until they fly under the tail of their own approach as they line up for final. This pattern stretches out the approach to allow more aircraft to fit into the pattern. It also allows aircraft to join the pattern from the north by entering the loop in its southward segment. The panel above left illustrates this pattern with a flightradar24 screen capture.

The diagram also shows that sometimes aircraft from the north-east (from Boston, etc)  join the pattern by flying westward directly over LaGuardia at about 4,000 feet, turn south parallel to the northbound approach, and then make a sharp left turn to join the  pattern. In the example above, there is an immediate opening for the flight to cut in.

If there is no immediate opening to cut in, these flights from the north will continue to fly south parallel to and west of the northbound approach flights until an opening occurs, and then will execute a very tight 180 degree turn to the left to cut into the pattern.  This technique of flying parallel to and in the opposite direction of an approach path, and then cutting in when an opening occurs, is a common technique I’ve observed in other approach patterns for airports in other cities.  In the New York City airspace, however, I’ve only seen this employed on approaches from the north to LaGuardia 31 and LaGuardia 4.

Additional Approach/ Departure Plates:

Click Image Above or HERE to view  ** FIVE **  Detailed
Approach / Departure Plates in High Resolution – or to download them Ground Operations

After a plane lands, the Tower controller will instruct the pilot where to go using a lexicon of letters that designate taxiways. On the airfield, the pilots will see signs that say “J” for example, but verbally the controllers and pilots will refer to the “J” taxiway as “Juliet.” The full alphabet is as follows:

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Pappa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, Xray, Yankee, Zulu.

Some taxiways are a concatenation of two letters, e.g. “FA”  for “Foxtrot Alpha.”

Using Flightradar24 you can zoom in so tightly on an airfield that you can monitor the movements of  planes on runways and taxiways as you listen to  tower controllers via liveact.net. To understand what the controllers are telling the pilots, you need to know the taxiway map for that airport. Below is an official (downloadable) schematic map for JFK:

If you’re running flightradar24 with satellite imagery as the background map option – as I typically do – it’s helpful to see the taxiways labeled on satellite imagery rather than on a schematic diagram. I’ve created the following map for JFK below.

Click HERE to see the map in full page mode. Or, download it and then zoom. As with all information in this post, this diagram was generated by the author and is ** NOT AN OFFICIAL DIAGRAM **.

Note that two taxiways are aligned in concentric rings around JFK’s terminals. The inner taxiway, Alpha, carries traffic in a clockwise rotation, and the outer taxiway, Bravo, carries traffic in a counter-clockwise rotation.

At JFK,  tower controllers handle all aircraft on final approach and stay with them until they are clear of all active runways before handing them off to Ground controllers. This means that all taxiways between runways 4 Left / 22 Right and 4 Right / 22 Left are under tower control when those runways are active.

Tower controllers at JFK also handle all aircraft before they roll onto an active runway for take-off; they issue final  take-off clearance to departing aircraft; and then rather quickly hand them off to Departure Controllers.

After a plane lands on  JFK runway 22 Left, the taxiway instructions the Tower controller issues to the  pilot might sound like this:

Tower: “American three-two-zero,  exit Juliet, Zulu, Golf, hold short runway twenty-two right.”  Translated: exit the runway  turning (right) onto taxiway “J” (Juliet), turn (right) onto taxiway “Z” (Zulu), turn (left) onto taxiway “G” (Golf), come to a full stop before reaching runway 22 Right (so as  not to interfere with planes taking off on 22 Right).

Then, after departing planes are clear  of runway 22 Right, the Tower Controller will tell the pilot to proceed:

Tower: “American three-two-zero, cross runway twenty-two right no delay, left Alpha contact ground one-two-one point niner.” Translated: cross runway 22 Right without delay, proceed straight ahead to taxiway “A” (Alpha), make a left  onto taxiway Alpha, and contact the ground controller on frequency 121.9.

The taxiway route in the dialogue above is  illustrated above. The purple route shows landing on runway 22 Left, right turn onto Juliet, right turn onto Zulu, left turn onto Golf, hold short runway 22 Right (at the blue bar). The green route shows crossing runway 22 Right, proceeding to taxiway Alpha and making a left onto Alpha.

When planes leave their gates and head toward their takeoff runways, they are guided by ground controllers and then handed off to tower controllers. They will “hold short” of the takeoff runway until they are directed to “line up and wait,” which is a command to taxi onto the takeoff runway, line up, and wait for clearance to take off. “Clear for takeoff” is the command to begin rolling down the runway.

JFK Airport:

1 – Aircraft on final approach JFK Runway 22 Left
2 – Aircraft “lined up and waiting” for takeoff – Runway 22 Right
3 – Aircraft taxing on ramp Bravo
4 – Aircraft taxing on ramp Alpha
5 – Aircraft on taxiway Hotel, holding short of runway 22 Right  after having landed on runway 22 Left
6 -Aircraft on taxiway Juliet, holding short of runway 22 Right  after having landed on runway 22 Left

Tracking Helicopter Operations – Police, Sea Search, & Ambulance

When viewing a flightradar24 map, helicopters are distinctly recognizable from other aircraft because their icons depict spinning blades. Even at incredibly zoomed-out perspectives such as the entire  north-east sector of the United States,  individual helicopters are still distinctly noticeable. And as with all aircraft displayed on flightradar24 maps, when you click on a helicopter you’ll see a track of its entire flight history. For helicopter operations such as sea-based search, police criminal search operations and emergency air ambulance runs, the tracks reveal powerful stories, which can be viewed both in real-time, and in fast-forward playback mode.

Helicopter Police Search: When the cops are looking for bad guys, their flight paths render crazy visuals. One sure-fire way to find these flights in real-time is to look in urban areas such as Baltimore in the wee hours of the morning on a Friday or Saturday night. If you see a helicopter, click it to reveal whether it’s associated with a police force or hospital or whatever and to display  its flight path. Or, use flightradar24’s playback feature at fast-forward speeds to visit these areas after the fact, in which case you’ll see the aircraft’s entire flight path both before and after the “current” time.

Above: Police helicopter search over Baltimore.

Helicopter Air Sea Search: flightradar24 can be used to track helicopter (and airplane) sea rescue searches in both real-time and in playback mode. As the two search diagrams below illustrate, these rescue operations start with very concentrated search patterns and gradually expand to cover greater regions.

Above Left: A first responder  helicopter searches for a man that fell overboard in Huntington Bay along the north shore of Long Island. Above Right: The track of a second helicopter that arrived on the scene after the first helicopter departed, revealing a much broader search pattern.

Above Left To Right: Widening search tracks along the south shore of Long Island for three successive helicopters that arrived on the scene looking for a missing boater.

Air Ambulance Helicopter Runs

Above: A helicopter air ambulance track, likely transporting a motor vehicle accident victim to a hospital. Unfortunately, these tracks appear most frequently  in the wee hours of Friday and Saturday night.

Using Flightradar24

The program that I used to explore air traffic control patterns over New York City is called flightradar24. I have no affiliation, other than as a very satisfied customer of the entry-level paid subscription plan.  All of the screen captures in this post are from flightradar24.

Flightradar24 collects real-time flight information for thousands of flights throughout the world, including flight number, aircraft model, airport origin, airport destination, altitude, heading, speed, and rate of ascent / descent. The detailed flight path of each flight is also available, along with a history of all flights that stretches back days, depending on your specific plan.

Flightradar24 essentially presents two view options.

The first view option is like a virtual radar that shows an icon for each aircraft superimposed over a map. The map can be shown in multiple formats, including satellite imagery that enhances as you zoom in tighter. The aircraft icons are both scaled in size and shape to match the specific aircraft model, right down to engine positions, and are oriented in the current heading of the aircraft. The maps update about once a second, although performance will depend on the power of your computer and the bandwidth of your internet connection. When on the ground, if you zoom in tight enough, you will see aircraft icons positioned and moving along  taxiways at airports, right up to their gate.

The second flightradar24 view mode is called 3D.  When you select a specific aircraft (by clicking on it) and then switch into three dimensional view mode, you viewpoint will move to behind a simulated 3D avitar of the model aircraft you have selected – right down to the paint job for the specific airline – and the background will present as daylight pre-recorded satellite imagery rendered to match your viewing perspective.  As the plane moves along, turns, descends and ascends, the background imagery will refresh in real time. By moving the cursor you can swing your perspective around the aircraft 360 degrees in both the horizontal and vertical plane, meaning you can watch from off the left wing, for example, or you can look straight down from above.  As you get closer to the airport, you will see the runways and terminals and, if you choose, you will see other aircraft on the ground (and in the air). Once on the ground, you will be able to follow “your”  aircraft along the taxiways. Another 3D option is to view the action from a virtual cockpit.

The flightradar24 user interface is clean, intuitive, and powerful, and allows you to customize a wide variety of features.  Four of the most useful features – all applicable in radar view – are as follows:

• • Aircraft Labeling: You can select what information, if any, about each aircraft you want displayed next to the aircraft. (How much information can be displayed varies by subscription plan, see below.) You basically have four lines to work with, and useful information to display includes aircraft handle (what air traffic controllers use to talk to and identify a specific aircraft), altitude, speed, ascent / descent rate, heading, airport origin / airport destination, and aircraft model. I typically display aircraft handle on line 1, altitude on line 2, and speed on line 3 (and leave line 4 blank to reduce clutter). As you zoom out further, flightradar24 will automatically reduce or fully eliminate how much information is displayed.
  • Aircraft Track / Detail: If you click on an aircraft, you will see the track for that aircraft – including diversions, holding patterns, etc.- all the way back to when it left its gate at its airport of origin, and all the way to its destination gate (if it has already gotten there).  And, a pop-up window will appear to the left that shows a picture of the aircraft with the airline’s specific paint job, and detailed information about that flight including heading, speed, altitude, rate of ascent / descent, origin, and destination. All of this information will update in real time until you deselect the aircraft.
  • Aircraft Filters: Filters allow you to select which aircraft are displayed or hidden on the radar view. The number of filters available depends on the subscription plan, see below. You can set a filter for aircraft between two altitude settings, for example, or for aircraft going to JFK, or departing JFK, or for going to AND departing JFK. In the New York City airspace, I usually watch the action by setting three filters: aircraft going to JFK, aircraft going to LaGuardia, and aircraft going to Newark.
  • View Aircraft On The Ground: This is a setting within the “Visibility” tab of the Settings page. When toggled on, it will show aircraft on the airport tarmac, and when off, it will not. When watching aircraft movements on taxiways this of course must be turned on, but when viewing aircraft in flight, if this setting is on, you will see a jumble of up to dozens of aircraft icons all piled on top of the airport position, which is not very attractive.

Other flightradar24 features allow you to display the planned track for a selected aircraft all the way to it’s planned destination; to view flight history radar tracks going back days; and to view history in fast-forward mode, eg. twelve-times speed, twenty-four times speed etc. You can also dynamically set filters while playing back history, so that, for example, you could just watch flights on approach to JFK and LaGuardia at 36x speed from four days ago. At high playback speeds, the playback shows what’s going on in ways that are hard to perceive in real-time.

Above Left: A basic flightradar24 radar view, zoomed in over the greater New York City airspace, with filters set to display aircraft only on approach to JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, with no aircraft labels selected for display and no specific aircraft currently selected for amplification.

Above Right: The same airspace, with a particular aircraft selected for detailed amplification. The aircraft track is displayed (it’s on approach to JFK runway 4 R), and the aircraft model and paint rendering is displayed in the pop-up window, along with additional flight information. Also shown in the display at right,  aircraft labels have been turned on and customized to show call sign, altitude, and speed.

Above: British Airways Flight 117, a Boeing 747, on final approach to JFK runway 4R as it approaches and then flies over Breezy Point before landing, as rendered using flightradar24’s 3D view. At the time of the first picture, the aircraft was at 1775 feet altitude, 171 knots speed, and heading 30 degrees.

flightradar24 provides four subscription plans, with rates (as of April 2019) as follows:

• • Basic: This is the free version. It provides very substantial capabilities, but has the following limitations: only one filter can be set at a given time; only one line of information can be displayed as part of an aircraft’s radar label; and only a few 3D sessions can be initiated per month.
  • Silver: Allows multiple filters, multiple lines of aircraft label information, unlimited 3D views, greater aircraft history. $ 1.49 / month or $ 9.99 / yr.
  • Gold: $ 34.99 / yr, more features; see the flightradar24 website for details.
  • Business: $ 499 / yr, additional features, see flightradar24 website for details.

I am running the Silver Plan and find the value phenomenal.  This is a beautifully designed and kind of addictive program.

The only feature I have found a little “glitchy” is I believe a limitation not of the program itself but of the flight information that is provided to the program. Occasionally a flight will continue straight ahead on the radar view (or 3D view) because the program is dead-reckoning its position in absence of updated position data. This sometimes happens during flight, and so what may appear as a controller allowing two planes at the same altitude to get way too close will – hopefully – be just a lag in the data update rate for one of those aircraft. When the data comes in, the plane will smoothly jump to its correct position.  Related to this, it appears that once on the ground, aircraft data is not always provided in real-time, and so an aircraft may just continue to fly past the end of the runway before snapping back to a position on a taxiway.  This limitation is dependent on both the equipment at the specific airport, and  on the equipment on board the specific aircraft. Unfortunately this happens virtually every time at JFK for planes after they land .

Listening To Live air traffic control Radio  Using LiveATC.net

LiveATC.net is a free website that allows you to listen to air traffic controllers throughout many areas of the world.  I typically use it to listen to approach and tower controllers for JFK as I simultaneously watch aircraft on approach using flightradar24.

To view the various frequencies applicable to a given airport, type in the airport code in the upper left box. (Google it if you don’t know the code you need.). All associated frequencies will appear below, along with a few options for how to launch your audio media player. The above screen capture shows just the first few frequencies applicable  for JFK.

Some options combine frequencies, such as tower and ground. Not all frequencies are always in use. At JFK, the number of controllers sharing the workload will vary depending on the load and time of day. At peak loads, there may be multiple approach and tower controllers. At very slow times, the tower controller may be handling final approach and departure as well as landings and takeoffs.

To help gauge which frequencies are currently in use, look at the number of “listeners” for a given frequency. It sometimes takes a little trial and error to find what you’re looking for.

If you want to be able to switch immediately from an approach controller to the tower controller when an aircraft is ordered to switch over, you should have a media player ap already running for each of the two frequencies. Use the mute / unmute toggles to turn one on and the other off. (Do not use “pause” – if you do, then when you resume that ap, you’ll be resuming audio that is now “history.”)

If you’re interested in viewing and listening to aircraft movement on the ground, turn off any “approach only” or “departure only” filters, and turn on the option to view planes on the ground (Settings -> Visibility).

If you’re tracking flights on radar while listening to  controllers, you’ll want aircraft call signs displayed, but you’ll also want to know the most common airline codes so that you know who the controllers are talking to (e.g. the controller will say “Air France” but the aircraft call sign label will show “AFR”). Some of the most frequent  handles that appear over New York City include:

• • AAL – American Airlines
  • ACA – Air Canada
  • AFR – Air France
  • BAW – British Airways
  • DAL – Deta Airlines
  • DLH – Lufthansa
  • FFT – Frontier Airlines
  • JBU – Jet Blue
  • SWA – Southwest Airlines
  • UAL – United Airlines
  • UAE – Emirates Airlines

Also note that if you have a filter active for aircraft on approach to JFK, for example, and you can’t locate an aircraft that controllers are talking to, it might be because the aircraft does not have JFK as an originally-planned destination – which is what the filters look at. If an aircraft was heading to Philadelphia and was then diverted to JFK, for example,  it wouldn’t appear on your filtered radar display. Turning off all filters would “reveal” all mystery planes on the radar view. Another reason why you might not be able to see an aircraft that controllers are talking to is because that aircraft does not have the transponder equipment onboard that feeds the information that flightradar24 uses to display it.

Views From Long Island

Three altitudes:

• Left – On approach to JFK 22 Left, est. 2,000 ft,  over Cold Spring Harbor along the north shore of Long Island
• Center: On departure from JFK, est. 10,000 ft, over Northport along the north shore of Long Island
• Right:  Just passing through: est. 25,000 ft, heading north-east over Northport, in the general direction of Boston

Above: Busy Sky: High-altitude flights westbound over Cold Spring Harbor.

Above: A “heavy” heading west on approach to JFK 22 L, 2,000 ft over Huntington Village along the north shore of Long Island.

Above: Kids Don’t Try This At Home: this photo is NOT zoomed.  Est. 200 ft, seconds from touchdown on JFK Runway 22 Left,  taken by me from as close as you can get to a JFK runway on (semi?) public ground (don’t ask).

Video

Click HERE to watch an eight minute TIME-LAPSE video  that contains a 24-speed playback of radar tracks for JFK, Newark and LaGuardia from in close and afar. The video also contains air traffic controller communication with pilots  merged with the corresponding flightradar24 radar displays.

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November 5, 2018

Mindfulness is one of the most important things I’ve learned late in life. I appreciate that it’s not for everyone, but I also think it’s greatly misunderstood, in large part because the field is loaded with fancy and lofty terms which often trigger eye-rolls and quick dismissal. Which is unfortunate. This post is my attempt to introduce mindfulness as I would have liked it to have been introduced to me. Without all the mumbo jumbo.

Mindfulness

Some ten or fifteen years ago I read the book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, And It’s All Small Stuff, by Richard Carlson. And while the title is catchy at the expense of being deceitful (of course it’s not all small stuff, which the author acknowledges between the covers), the book lays down principles that are at the core of peaceful and mindful living. I’ve read a small trove of books in the self-help arena since then, and I’ve learned to walk the mindfulness walk with some success, mostly by keeping it simple. The end result: more peaceful feelings, less anxiety.

For me, the essential principles of mindful living center on the following points:

We’re nearly always thinking. Oftentimes, the thinking is “invisible” to us; it’s just happening, randomly, without conscious awareness. It’s like breathing: we’re always doing it, but we’re not aware we’re doing it until someone points it out – like right now.

Whatever we’re thinking about delivers to our mind and body an emotional packet. If we’re thinking about a stressful situation at work, or a frustrating experience with a friend, you can’t help but feel the stress that comes with the thought. Likewise, if you’re thinking about lying in the sun on a quiet island, you can’t help but feel the tranquility.

The aggregation of our thoughts and their delivered emotions over time – I’m talking hours, not weeks – will shift our overall mood.

Negative thoughts, and the emotions they deliver, hurt. It’s an emotional hurt rather than a physical hurt – at least initially – but it’s a hurt. Depending on the specific pattern, we interpret this as anxiety. Or anger. Or guilt. Or … pick a negative emotion.  Buddhists would call this “suffering.”

We all get lost in negative thinking. The deeper and longer we sustain it – like a snowball rolling downhill – the harder it is to get out of the thought pattern, and the greater the effect on our emotions.

Thanks to the ego, when we are engaged in negative thinking, we feel justified in our thinking. We feel it’s the appropriate thing to be thinking about.

But here’s the key question to ask ourselves: How would I be feeling if I wasn’t thinking about this negative stuff? And the answer is almost always …. BETTER !

And the second key question is: Do I want to feel better? And as much as the ego likes the drama, ultimately, if your answer is YES, then perhaps you might want to proactively change the channel in your brain.

And that becomes a CHOICE: To consciously decide to change the channel in your brain, to stop the negative ruminating, and to think about something else. In a word, to take responsibility for what you’re thinking about,  instead of having the thoughts just happen to you.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t think about things that are stressful or upsetting, like “How am I going to make my rent this week?” It just means that you do the thinking “mindfully,” that is, in a way that you purposely choose to do.

Mindful practice is about many things, but includes:

• Learning to become “aware” (more often) about the thought processes that are always (and often invisibly) going on in your brain.
• Learning to identify and label “negative” thought processes throughout a broad spectrum of mental habits (many of which you might not currently think of as “negative”).
• Understanding how the ego works, and recognizing its classic patterns within your own mental habits.
• Developing the skill to change your mental thoughts to a more desirable channel.
• Identifying what your personal “triggers” are that cause you to instantly react in undesirable ways in certain situations, and developing the mental skills to intercede before you react.
• Appreciating that living in the current moment – being “present” – is often (usually) a better place to be than whatever random thoughts are flying through your head at the moment. For example, as you walk through a beautiful park on a peak foliage fall day (theoretically), are you appreciating the beauty and smelling the roses, or are you lost in thought, perhaps thinking about your grocery shopping list.

This is all much easier said than done. And I’m not presenting myself as a guru. Just someone who has discovered, rather late in life, one of the most important things I have learned in life –  and who has found a way to make it work for me.

Note to reader: The first version of this post began with a little story about me getting all worked up about the weather not cooperating with me. If you’re curious, it’s located HERE.

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Photo Essay on carpe diem themes.

Tuck-ins ’n Premonitions
Sentimental musings of a father on the passage of time.

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October 8, 2018

Kate and Emma Williams were strolling across Main Street in Huntington Village, Long Island, when a photographer caught their image from across the street. Judging by their attire and the short shadows at their feet, it must have been around noon on a summer’s day. I know the spot well. Just a stone’s throw away stands a Hart bus stop and bench I often visit as I sip my coffee and watch the world go by. I’ve logged many hours on that bench, but I’ve never seen Kate or Emma. That photograph was taken in 1900, one hundred eighteen years ago. That’s fourteen years before Babe Ruth would make his major league debut. So much has changed between then and now. But the biggest change? All new people.

In the movie Dead Poets Society, there’s a scene that poignantly captures the passage of time, the changing of the guard, and more broadly, the sentiment of carpe diem.  Actor Robin Williams, playing an English professor at an all-male prep school, takes his class of seniors into the school lobby to get up close and personal with portraits of students from yesteryear. He gathers the boys close to the wall and says (paraphrasing):

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying. And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying. The Latin term for this sentiment is carpe diem.  Seize the day. Why does the writer use these lines? Because we are all food for worms, lads. Because believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die. You see, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. If you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy. Go on, lean in. Listen. Do you hear it? (whispering) Carpe … Carpe … Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.

Then the camera pulls in tight and lingers over a single boy’s portrait (above) as the soundtrack goes eerily quiet.

During my college years in the mid ‘70s I was a member of a fraternity. When you entered the house lobby you’d find yourself standing opposite a large framed collage of current house members. Distributed around the lobby walls were three more collages from the previous three years. And in the adjacent dining room you’d find an additional half-dozen collages spanning even earlier years.

At the beginning of each fall semester a new collage went up containing the newly minted sophomores, juniors and seniors, and the previous lobby collages were shuffled to make room. The overflow collage was demoted to the dining room. As an upperclassman  you’d notice that the collages in the lobby had been shuffled, but you wouldn’t notice that the oldest collage in the dining room had been  …  well, you wouldn’t notice.

When I was enjoying my meals in the dining room, I would occasionally glance up at the faces on the walls, which went all the way back to the mid-sixties. Compared to us, these young men looked ridiculously clean cut, with their short cropped hair and clean-shaven faces. It seemed like an eternity ago, and it was hard to connect the dots from then to now. Honestly, I didn’t even try.

Then one afternoon I ran an errand to the attic. It was my first foray to the fourth floor. And up there I stumbled upon the graveyard of all graveyards  – scores of old collages, stacked vertically on the floor, row upon row, going back how far I don’t know – but the fraternity was founded in 1820!  I realized in a heartbeat that each time a new collage went up in the lobby, a collage came down from the dining room. And by ‘down’ I mean ‘up.’ I was looking at the future eternal resting place of all evidence I had ever lived in this house.

I now acknowledge two hard facts. One: By the time I was a young father at age thirty-two – which really didn’t seem like such a long time after college  – the last of my collages had already been shuffled to the attic.  And two: That was thirty years ago. It gives one pause.

Huntington At The Turn Of The Century

I enjoy looking at old photographs, and especially old photographs of my home town of Huntington. Huntington is located 30 miles east of New York City, in the rolling hills along the north shore of Long Island. Huntington’s deep-water harbor, which bears the town’s name, fueled the local economy in the 1700s and 1800s, and by 1900 Huntington was a major regional hub. Huntington’s well-defined downtown was also a favorite destination for photographers.

When I look at Huntington street scenes from the early 1900s, my eye is drawn towards the people more than the landscape, and my mind drifts towards themes of carpe diem. When the shutter opened for that split second, the townsfolk were just going about their day. And now they’re not. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I can summarize in five: “We’re all just passing through.”

In the spirit of photo gazing and carpe diem ruminating, I’ve put together a small collection of pictures of Huntington near the turn of the century. Some photos are candid and some are posed, but in all cases my focus is on the people. Because once upon a time these townsfolk did all the living and working and playing and dying in this little hamlet.  And if we lean in close, perhaps we can hear their legacy.

Kate and Emma Williams again – this time in wide lens, and close up, circa 1900. The ladies are crossing Main Street, walking north to south between Wall Street and New York Avenue. Nearby, Sam Shadbolt drives a horse-drawn tank wagon sprinkler to keep the summer dust down along the roadway.

A young girl heads west along Main Street, just west of the south-west corner of Main Street and New York Avenue, as two women chat near the corner, circa 1900. The young girl is passing what was then the Suffolk Hotel Annex, on the second floor, and is approaching the hotel’s main entrance.

A bustling scene: looking south-east through the intersection of Main Street and New York Avenue. The storefronts form what was known as the “Brush Block” along the south side of Main Street. Trolley tracks run along New York Avenue, connecting the Huntington depot of the Long Island Railroad two miles south, with Halesite,  one mile to the north. The fare was a nickle.

On February 27th, 1907, a one ton sled with fifteen men aboard begins a one mile run from atop Cold Spring Hill (now Lawrence Hill Road) in what would be the first of many “Winter Carnivals” the town would host. The road had been iced the previous night, and sleds from as far away as Canada gathered in Huntington to race down Main Street to compete for speed and distance.

The tall gentlemen with the megaphone is Harry Willets (1870-1948), the event organizer, who would become known as the “King of the Carnival.”  Willets enjoyed a reputation as a  flamboyant fellow, and he had an interesting childhood story: When he was fifteen and growing up in Camden, New Jersey, an old and decrepit Walt Whitman – the world-famous poet and native Long Islander – hired Willets to provide “protection” from street urchins that mercilessly  harassed  him. The rate was  two cents a day. The gig worked.

In 1908, the bobsled “Yankee” flies through a crowd of spectators lining Main Street on the eastern edge of the village. The Yankee would take honors that year for both fastest time and longest “stretch.” Behind the spectators stands the town’s library, and on the hill beyond that lies The Old Burial Grounds cemetery.  The cemetery contains the remains of Huntington residents dating back to the early 1700s, which would make the residents lining this sled run of relatively recent vintage.

In 1915 the riders of an “all-girl” sled named Greyhound smile for the camera during Winter Carnival festivities, here pictured in a non-racing sitting position along with pilot / owner Thomas Haggerty. In addition to competing for speed and distance, the sleds  competed for best appearance, and fittingly, these Greyhound riders were wearing matching sweaters embroidered with the golden insignia G. H.

In 1920, disaster struck. While the Greyhound was making its final practice run, as the sled approached Saint Patrick’s School a photographer called for the riders to look over. The women instinctively obliged, causing the sled’s center of gravity to shift. The sled hit a rut, pilot Haggerty lost control and the sled slammed into a tree. Five women sustained serious injury – concussions, broken ribs, serious lacerations – but thankfully no loss of life or limb. That was the last year the Winter Carnival was held.

Two ladies enjoy a little ice skating at Hecksure Park while four skaters to the left form a human chain. In the background, the steeple of The Old First Church stands tall, about a quarter mile east of the finish line of the bobsled races. Circa 1920.

Up close and personal:  a photograph of a mother and daughter, from an old Huntington family album.

Then And Now

I’ve recreated a few of the photographs in this collection by  reshooting the same location from the same angle. Of course it’s interesting to note the changes in the landscape, and I supply the necessary words. But mostly it’s the people I’m interested in. It’s powerful to imagine the folks in the old photographs having once walked the very spots we walk today. When I look at each “then / now” pair, my eye shifts between a person then, and the same spec of geography now. There … gone. And I can’t help but think, “carpe diem.”

1900: One hundred eighteen years ago Kate and Emma Williams crossed Main Street as Sam Shadbolt watered down the road with his tank sprinkler.

2018: The north-east corner of Main Street and Wall Street today is home to Spice Village Grill. Just to the east stands London Optical and the IMC Restaurant. The entire block from Wall Street to New York Avenue (to the right) was razed and rebuilt since 1900.

The light pole next to the Williams ladies has been recently replaced with a look-alike, but it appears to be standing in about the same location, which gives us an orientation for where Kate and Emma were walking.

1900: The south-west corner of Main Street and New York Avenue.  The girl in the white dress is walking west past the Suffolk Hotel Annex on the second floor.

2018: The store that until recently occupied this prime real estate corner was Aerosoles. The spot is now “Available.” In today’s geography the girl is walking past Aerosoles and approaching  Zachary’s Jewelers, Spa Adriana and Michelle’s.

1907: During Winter Carnival, a men’s sled races through a crowd of spectators lining Main Street in front of the old town library.

2018: Today, the old library is simply the Soldiers And Sailors Memorial Building, which is affiliated with the Huntington Historical Society. It appears that time has left this handsome structure mostly untouched. In the background lies the Old Burial Grounds, where some of these cheering fans and sledders perhaps now rest.

The View From The Hill

Once or twice a year I take a little time-out from the world to sit atop the Old Burial Grounds. It’s a quiet little patch of earth that overlooks the very spot where a sled of fifteen men once raced through a crowd of spectators.

Today the grounds are littered with hundreds of tombstones in all stages of decay. With some, the lettering is weathered smooth. For others, headstones lie in crumbled heaps. Time has had its way with them, and they are now mostly forgotten.  But once upon a time there was a moment when, for every marker on this hill, friends and family gathered to solemnly witness a loved one laid to rest.

Nowadays the hill is quiet. There are no new interments. Occasionally I see a few high school kids hanging out, but I doubt they’re in a reflective mood. Usually it’s just me.  Sometimes I read a few headstones. It’s a humbling experience.  For family plots, you witness an entire family’s history laid bare across the generations, etched in cold stone. And there, right in front of you, lie father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter.  It makes one grateful for being on this side of the earth; for being able to breathe fresh air; to smell freshly fallen leaves; to feel the warmth of a cup of  coffee in your hands.

I like to imagine that the hill’s permanent residents don’t find my presence an intrusion on their solitude, but rather that they welcome a living, breathing soul who has climbed the hill for a few moments of quiet reflection; who appreciates that once upon a time these townsfolk walked the same streets we walk today; and who understands that the essential difference between the hill’s permanent residents and its visitors is just a matter of time.

Additional Photos of Huntington

Up close and personal: the vanguard of the “all girl” bobsled “Greyhound,” at the starting line on Cold Spring Hill, 1915 – five years before their tragic accident.

Men’s bobsled racing down main street, circa 1909.

Somewhere in the middle of these spectators lies a bobsled course (notice that those on the left are facing right, and vice versa), circa 1909.

1888: The Great Blizzard of ’88 began Sunday night on March 11, 1888, and continued through Thursday, resulting in the worst snow storm on Long Island since 1719. Eleven-year-old Maggie Crossman, of West Neck, wrote to a friend:  “Main Street in Huntington was filled up for ten or fifteen feet … When Main Street was dug out only narrow roads just wide enough for one way were dug. If it is later than usual before you get this you will know the storm was the cause of it.”  This picture was taken on Main Street, looking west from New York Avenue. It’s the oldest photograph in this collection.

May 30, 1896.  Men of the Huntington Fire Company pose for a photographer in front of the fire house, located on the east side of Wall Street, just north of Main Street. Fire fighting equipment in that era consisted of a horse-drawn wagon, hand pumps and leather buckets.  It would appear that mustaches were very much in vogue at the time.

1898: The south-west corner of Main Street and New York Avenue. The Suffolk Hotel stands behind  the trees.

Huntington Trade School sewing class, early 1900s, currently the Huntington Historical Society.

Then / Now:

Left: Circa 1900: The church is the Main Street Methodist Church, built in 1864. The building on the far left published the Long Islander, which was originally founded by poet Walt Whitman.

Right: 2018: The Long Islander building still stands, but The Long Islander publishing operation has relocated. The first floor tenant of that building is now Rosa’s Pizza. Where the church once stood is now Clinton Place. A Verizon office stands on what was once part of the church grounds.

Then / Now:

Circa 1905: Huntington House, located on the north-west corner of Main Street and Wall Street, built in 1819, was a social center for the village. Andrew Finnegan was the building’s last proprietor, for the years 1913 – 1920. In 1912, Mr. Finnegan established Finnegan’s Restaurant And Taproom, located on Wall Street – conveniently across from the Fire House.

2018: Starbucks now occupies the corner, and Sapsuckers Bar And Grill sits a few doors to the west. Finnegans is still in operation as the oldest  restaurant in Huntington.

Then / Now:

1889: The Brush Block Building, just completed after a fire leveled the entire block, was located on the south-east corner of Main Street and New York Avenue. A trolley (far right) ran along New York Avenue from the Huntington Long Island Railroad station, two miles south, to Halesite,  one mile to the  north. The fare was a nickel.

2018: At some point during the 20th century the third floor and distinctive tower of the Brush Block Building had been removed, but the bones of the first and second floors are still intact. Today, a Cactus Salon operates on the corner’s first floor, and Crabtrees Restaurant resides on the second floor. Trolley service is of course long gone.

Circa 1900: Main Street, looking west .

1902: Charles Diffendorf, chauffeur, drives past the old library.

July 4th, 1910: Main Street, looking north-east from the center of town.

Watch Robin Williams wax philosophical about carpe diem in  Dead Poets Society (1989). This scene is particularly poignant with the passing of Williams in 2014.

NOTE TO READER

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Acknowledgements

The title for this post – “One Hundred Years From Now, All New People” – is inspired by a chapter title from one of my favorite books, “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, And It’s All Small Stuff,” by Richard Carlson.

Most of my Huntington historical pictures are scans made by me from the soft-cover journal  “Huntington At The Turn Of The Century,” Christopher R. Vagts, Huntington Historical Society, 1974.

All  2018 images of Huntington were taken by the author.

Other posts you might like

 

Growing Up in 1960s Long Island
We had it “made in the shade.” Short stories and anecdotes. [Memoir]

Harrison Ford Sightings In Huntington,
Long Island
Or … just some guy. [Humor]

Dreams of Saint John’s
A young hockey player finds romance on a frozen moonlit pond.
[Semi-autobiographical short story fiction]

Ode To Author Richard Bode
Author of “First You Have To Row a Little Boat”.
[Biography / Excerpts]

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September 25, 2018

The 1960s were pretty special – musically, culturally, politically. The decade came in with songs like Elvis Presley’s number one hit “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” and went out with Woodstock. And in between, a lot happened. I was an eight-year-old kid growing up on Long Island when The Beatles debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, 1964, and no offense to Elvis, but they really shook things up. And I had a front row seat to it all.

This post contains twenty-four songs that capture the look and feel of the ‘60s as I remember the decade. The collection is  skewed towards music I liked,  void of  music I didn’t, and generous to one-hit wonders. Major band omissions are not an oversight. It’s an odd list, I’ll admit.

If you’re a certain age, you know these songs. That binds us together. And that’s pretty cool.

If, on the other hand, you’re a different sort of age, you probably don’t know most of these songs. That’s part of my grand design. You might find this post … enlightening.  Or … terrifying. No doubt quite a few of these songs and the whole look of the era will seem ridiculous to you. That’s fair. Then again, we’ve got The Beatles!

I’ve uncovered some pretty interesting stuff in this effort; it’s in the details if you have the time and inclination. Enjoy!

MY VIDEO COMPILATION

24 Song Video Compilation

Click ABOVE to watch and listen to a montage  of all 24 songs in this post, 15 to 30 seconds each  – it will open in a separate tab. And then come back! Because there’s much more …

(1962: When I was age 6)

1962 – The Cascades – Listen To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain

In 1962 the American folk group The Cascades released “Listen To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain.” It captures the innocence and simplicity of the early ’60s sound. Written by the group’s lead vocalist, John Claude Gummoe (2nd from right), the song reached Number Three on US Billboard Hot 100. It would be the group’s only major hit. The band broke up in 1975. Listen here.

1962 – Shelley Fabares – Johnny Angel

Shelley Fabares was a singer, TV and film actress. From 1958 thru 1963 she played daughter Mary on TV’s The Donna Reed Show. (Donna Reed was Jimmy Stewart’s wife in the film It’s A Wonderful Life.) Fabares co-stared in three Elvis Presley movies, and continued acting primarily in television throughout her adult life. As a singer she had one hit, “Johnny Angel,” written by Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss. The song hit Number One on US Billboard Hot 100. Listen here.

(age 7)

1963 – The Beach Boys – In My Room

The Beach Boys sang about surfing, cars, and girls. Formed in 1961 in California,  they were one of the most critically acclaimed, influential and successful bands of the rock and roll era. Clockwise from bottom right:  band leader / primary composer / arranger Brian Wilson;  lead singer Mike Love; lead guitarist Carl Wilson; rhythm guitarist Al Jardine; drummer Dennis Wilson.  All of the band members lent their voices to The Beach Boys’ distinctive harmonies. The Wilsons were brothers; Mike Love was a cousin; Al Jardine was a friend. Dennis was the only band member that actually lived the beach surfing life style. Over their career the group had eighty songs chart worldwide, thirty-six reaching US Top 40. Their nine singles that charted Top Five on US Billboard Hot 100:

• 1963 – “Surfin’ U.S.A” – Number Three
• 1964 – “Fun, Fun, Fun” – Number Five
• 1964 – “I Get Around” – Number One
• 1965 – “Help Me Rhonda” – Number One
• 1965 – “California Girls” – Number Three
• 1965 – “Barbara Ann” – Number Two
• 1966 – “Sloop John B” – Number Three
• 1966– “Good Vibrations” – Number One
• 1988 – “Kokomo” – Number One

Brian Wilson suffered from debilitating mental illness throughout much of his adult life, but is presently back to writing and performing. Mike Love and Al Jardine continue to perform. Dennis Wilson was practically living on the streets when he drowned in 1983 at age thirty-nine. He was a heavy drinker, and drinking was believed to be a contributing factor to his death.  Carl Wilson was the de-facto band leader for decades when Brian Wilson was dealing with his health challenges. Carl died of lung cancer in 1998 at age fifty-one.

“In My Room,” written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher, was released in 1963. It was one of The Beach Boys’ slower songs, and one of my favorites. It peaked at Number Six on US Billboard Hot 100. Listen here.

1963 – Lesley Gore – It’s My Party

Leslie Gore was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At age sixteen her hit “It’s My Party” (And I’ll Cry If I Want To) hit Number One on US Billboard Hot 100 and became a cultural anthem for teenage girl angst.  The song was written by Walter Gold, John Gluck Jr., and Herb Weiner. Gore went on to release a number of hits before age eighteen. As an adult she continued to act, write and advocate for LGBT rights: she was openly gay way before it became an accepted lifestyle. Gore died of lung cancer in 2015, at age sixty-eight.

Listen to “It’s My Party” here.

1963 – The Angels – My Boyfriend’s Back

In 1963 the American girl band The Angels released their single “My Boyfriend’s Back,” written by Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer, with eighteen year old Peggy Santiglia Davison singing lead.  The song would chart Number One on US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, and to this day is one of the most recognized and featured one-hit-wonders from the era.  Listen here.

1963 – Lesley Gore – You Don’t Own Me

Lesley Gore had another huge hit and favorite of mine in 1963, this time at age seventeen, with “You Don’t Own Me,” written by John Madara and David White. It would peak at Number Two on US Billboard Hot 100 and hold for three weeks.  It would be Gore’s last Top 10 hit. Listen here.

1963 – The Crystals –  Da Doo Ron Ron

The single “Da Doo Ron Ron” was released by The Crystals in 1963, and peaked at Number Three on US Billboard Hot 100. The lead singer was Dolores “LaLa” Brooks, the song was produced by Phil Spector,  and was written by Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. The phrase “da doo ron ron” was initially just a placeholder in the lyrics until proper words could be found, but Spector liked the sound and rhythm so much that they kept the lyric as is. The Crystals had a number of top hits, including “Then He Kissed Me,” which would come out the following year.

Shaun Cassidy would rerelease “Da Doo Ron Ron” in 1977, and his version would chart at Number One on US Billboard Hot 100.

Listen to The Crystals original version of “Da Doo Ron Ron” here.

(age 8)

1964 – The Beatles – If I Fell

The Beatles are widely regarded as the most successful and influential musical band in history. Their influence helped launch not just a musical revolution but also a world-wide cultural revolution. Fifty-four years after making their US debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, 1964, playing to a record audience of seventy-three million viewers, the four lads from Liverpool are still internationally known by just their first names across multiple generations. Band leader John Lennon played rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney bass guitar, George Harrison lead guitar, and Ringo Starr drums.

The Beatles wrote nearly every song they performed.  Their early originals were credited (by contract) to “Lennon / McCartney,” and we were all led to believe at the time that their songs were a collaboration, with McCartney handling the lyrics and Lennon handling the music. This was a ruse. If fact, McCartney wrote his songs, and Lennon wrote his songs. Of course there was some collaboration in the writing process, and certainly in the arrangements, but the efforts were mostly solo achievements. McCartney also wrote and handed off a number of songs to other acts, where they often became major hits for someone else (two are included in this compilation).

Lennon and McCartney’s writing styles were distinctly different. McCartney’s songs were highly melodic and vertical, whereas Lennon, in the words of musical historian Ian MacDonald,  “instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, coloring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony.” Consider the melodies that accompany these lyrics:  “There were bells, on a hill, but I never heard them ringing,” vs “Standing in the dock at Southampton, trying to get to Holland or France.”

George Harrison also composed, and when Lennon and McCartney deemed his songs good enough, his work became part of The Beatles’ cannon. His songs were credited solely to him. Some of Harrison’s songs are considered by many to be among The Beatles’ very finest work. I agree.  I particularly liked his early songs, like “Don’t Bother Me.”

As stunning as The Beatles’ songs were, what make them stand apart even more was their evolution. As described by Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz:

In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionized the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll’s doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era’s most influential cultural forces, but they didn’t stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock’s stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band’s increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk, rock, country,  psychedelic, and baroque pop.

As of 2017, the Beatles were the best-selling band in history, with estimated sales of 800 million physical and digital albums worldwide. They hold the record for most Number One songs on US Billboard Hot 100, at twenty,  had thirty-four US Top 10 hits, and seventy-one songs chart on US Top 100. They released seventeen albums in the US: fourteen peaked at Number One, and the remaining three peaked at Number Two. Their seventeen US albums:

• 1964 – Introducing The Beatles – Number Two
• 1964 – Meet the Beatles – Number One
• 1964 – The Beatles Second Album – Number One
• 1964 – A Hard Day’s Night – Number One
• 1964 – Something New – Number Two
• 1964 – Beatles ’65 – Number One
• 1965 – Beatles VI – Number One
• 1965 – Help! – Number One
• 1965 – Rubber Soul – Number One
• 1966 – Yesterday and Today – Number One
• 1966 – Revolver – Number One
• 1967 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Number One
• 1967 – Magical Mystery Tour – Number One
• 1968 – The Beatles (“The White Album”) – Number One
• 1969 – Yellow Submarine – Number Two
• 1969 – Abbey Road – Number One
• 1970 – Let It Be – Number One

I have lots of company when I say The Beatles are my favorite band of all time.

For people of a certain age, the question, “Where were you when the Beatles debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show?” is as relevant – if not as grave – as the question, “Where were you when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated?”  For the former, I was an eight-year-old boy, glued to my home’s TV set, waiting to get my first glimpse of this “British Invasion” that was saturating the news for days. My reaction: “They look like girls! And they’re great!”

Tidbid: There’s an interesting backstory to how the Beatles acquired  their long hair  look.  Astrid Kirchherr was a photographer’s assistant  in Hamburg in 1960 when her boyfriend Klaus Voormann found himself mesmerized by a young British rock group of five musicians.  When she met the group, recently renamed The Beatles, “it was like a merry-go-round in my head, they looked absolutely astonishing … My whole life changed in a couple of minutes. All I wanted was to be with them and to know them.” And she succeeded, quickly becoming the girlfriend of bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. Soon enough Sutcliffe was wearing colarless jackets inspired by Voormann’s wardrobe, which became a staple of the Beatles ‘look’ the world would soon come to know. And then there was the small matter of  hair styles. Voormann wore his hair stylishly long to cover his large ears. Kirchherr liked the ‘mop top’ look and in short order  Sutcliffe started wearing his hair long. The other Beatles eventually followed suit. And the rest is history. So in accordance with the principles of the ‘butterfly effect,” a relatively obscure young woman from Hamburg played an instrumental role in ushering in a major fashion trend that would take the world by storm in the 60s – the long hair, not so much the collarless jackets. Kirchherr died in 2020 at age 81.

The Beatles played together from 1960 to 1970, at which time they broke up. John Lennon continued as a solo performer. He was shot and killed by a deranged fan in 1980, at age forty.  George Harrison also continued with a distinguished solo career. He died of lung cancer in 2001, at age fifty-eight. Paul McCartney’s career continues and flourishes to this day, and he is considered one of the most successful composers and performers in modern history. And supposedly he can not read music! Ringo also continues to perform with his own band.

My musical tastes are admittedly not sophisticated, and I favor The Beatles’ earlier, simpler sound more than their later evolutions. And so I’m choosing a Beatles song for my ’60s compilation that was from their earlier years that I always liked but that only charted fifty-three on US Billboard Hot 100. The song is “If I Fell,” from their album and film A Hard Days Night. Listen  here.

Bonus: Paul McCartney toured the US in 2005. A documentary of the tour was released in 2006 titled The Space Within Us. The documentary contains an amazing rendition of Paul McCartney, at age sixty-three, singing “Please Please Me.” Watching fans cry as he performs speaks volumes to what The Beatles meant to my generation.  Listen here.

1964 – The Dave Clark Five – Glad All Over

The Dave Clark Five were a British band in the mold of The Beatles, but with saxophone, organ and heavy drum beat. The band formed in 1957, and followed the Beatles as the second major British Invasion band to strike the US. While their fame and recognition have surprisingly faded over the years, they were very big at the time – big enough to have appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show eighteen times! Clockwise from top, band leader Dave Clark (drums), Lenny Davidson (lead guitar), Denis Payton (saxophone), Mike Smith (lead vocals and organ), and Rick Huxley (bass guitar). Clark and Smith were the principal composers for most of their songs.

Even though I really liked the Beatles as a young kid, it was considered kind of girly to “openly” admit to liking them. (The same could be said for my attitude about girls in general.) And so my second-favorite group at the time was my publicly-declared favorite: The Dave Clark Five. My sister brought the  Beatles albums into the house, and I added a few Dave Clark Five 45’s to the stash. These are the songs that I played all the time on our record player, and these are the songs that probably drove my parents crazy:

• 1964 – “Glad All Over” –Number Six (US Billboard Hot 100)
• 1964 – “Can’t You See That She’s Mine” –Number Four
• 1964 – “Bits and Pieces” – Number Four
• 1964 – “Because” – Number Three
• 1965 – “I Like It Like That” – Number Seven
• 1965 – “Catch Us If You Can” – Number Four
• 1965 – “Over And Over” – Number One

The band broke up in 1970. Tragically, organist / lead singer Mike Smith – my favorite band member – suffered a horrific accident in 2003 at age fifty-nine. While attempting to climb over a seven-foot gate, he fell and broke his spine, leaving him paralyzed below the waist and in one arm, with only partial function in his other arm. He died in 2008 at age sixty-four, from pneumonia. Sax player Denis Payton died in 2006 at age sixty-three, from cancer. Bassist Rick Huxley died in 2013 at age seventy-two, from emphysema. Dave Clark and Lenny Davidson continue to work in the music industry.

Listen to “Glad All Over” here.

1964 – Herman’s Hermits – I’m Into Something Good

Herman’s Hermits were a squeaky-clean British rock band from Manchester that achieved stardom in the mid ‘60s. The band originally consisted of  lead singer Peter Noone (center in the picture), Keith Hopwood, Karl Green, Derek Leckenby and Barry Whitwam. In 1964, when Noone was just fifteen, they released their first hit, “I’m Into Something Good,” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Their top US hits on US Billboard Hot 100 included:

• 1964 – “I’m Into Something Good” – Number Thirteen
• 1965 – “Mrs Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” – Number One
• 1965 – “I’m Henry The Eighth I Am” – Number One
• 1967 – “There’s A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World)” – Number Four

The band did not write their own music. Surprisingly, they were well received in the US from ’64 thru ’67 and then dropped off the charts, while in the UK their popularity peaked in the ’67 thru 70’s era.  Noone left the group in 1971, but in recent years he began touring again.  Lead guitarist Leckenby (dark glasses) died of non-hodgkin lymphoma in 1994 at age fifty-one.

Listen to “I’m Into Something Good” here.

1964 – Peter And Gordon – A World Without Love

Peter and Gordon were a British pop duo featuring Peter Asher (right, with glasses) and Gordon Waller. They teamed up in 1962 and achieved international fame with their very first single “A World Without Love,” released in 1964. The song hit  Number One on US Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million copies worldwide. The song has an interesting back story:

Peter, Paul, and Jane: In 1964 the band signed their first recording contract and needed a few songs for their fast-approaching recording session.  Peter’s younger sister, Jane Asher, had a twenty-one year old boyfriend named Paul McCartney who was living in the Asher home and sharing a bedroom with Peter. One day, while sitting in the bedroom with Peter,  Paul sang a little song he had written when he was sixteen. Paul had no plans to release the song himself – he said his Beatles partner John Lennon said it wasn’t good enough – and so Peter asked Paul if he could use the song for his recording session. He also asked Paul to finish the song; it was missing a bridge. Paul complied, and  just in time for the session. “A World Without Love” is officially credited to Lennon / McCartney, but it was Paul’s song.

Peter And Gordon  recorded several other McCartney tunes Paul gave them, including “Nobody I Know” (US Billboard Hot 100 Number Twelve), “I Don’t Want To See You Again” (hitting Number Sixteen), and “Woman” (hitting Fourteen). Overall the duo had ten US Top 40 hits.  Their last hit was in 1967, and they broke up in 1968.

Jane Asher would continue to date Paul McCartney from 1963 through 1968, and was Paul’s inspiration for a number of his Beatles’ love songs, including “And I Love Her.” They were engaged in 1968 when Jane called it off. Jane has gone on to lead a very successful life both professionally as a business woman, and personally.

Peter Asher went on to have a successful career as a manager and producer for acts such as Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. Gordon made his living in sales, publishing, and sporadic composing and recording.  In 2005 the duo reunited and occasionally performed together.

Gordon Waller died in 2009, at age sixty-four, from a heart attack.

Listen to “A World Without Love” here.

(age 9)

1965 – Lulu – Shout

Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie is a Scottish singer, actress and TV personality who took on the stage name “Lulu” when she was fourteen. At fifteen she had her breakout hit with a cover of The Isley Brother’s “Shout,” which hit Number Seven on UK charts (Ninety-Four on US Billboard  Hot 100). I’ve included “Shout” in my ‘60s compilation because I’m a huge fan of her major 1967 hit “To Sir With Love” (see later), and because I just really enjoy this spunky, confident performance of “Shout” that she delivers  – even if just lip synching –  on a TV band show.

Besides “To Sir With Love,” Lulu sang the title song for the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun. Through the decades she hosted a number of BBC music-themed shows, and continues to perform sporadically today. Because her  name is so well-known to folks who grew up in the ‘60s,  it’s surprising that her “hits list” is rather sparse.

To listen and watch fifteen year old Lulu perform “Shout” click here.

1965 – The Seekers – I’ll Never Find Another You

The Seekers were a pop quartet from Melbourne Australia with an up-tempo sound that was deemed by some to be  “too pop to be folk, and too folk to be rock.” They were Australia’s first band to score big in the UK and US. Formed in 1962, from left: Athol Guy on double bass and vocals, Bruce Woodley on guitar and vocals, Judith Durham lead vocals, and Keith Poger on twelve-string guitar and vocals. They mostly did not write their own music. They had ten top hits on US Billboard Hot 100, including:

• 1964 – “I’ll Never Find Another You” – Number Four
• 1965 – “A World Of Our Own” – Number Nineteen
• 1967 – “Georgy Girl” – Number Two

The Seekers are a prime example of a band I did not know by name or sight back in the day or even recently, yet I instantly recognize and love their two biggest hits listed above. Matching their names and faces to their music was a nice “discovery”  for me.

Durham left the group in 1968 to pursue a solo career. The band continued sporadically with other female leads, and in 1993 Durham reunited with the band’s original lineup. They continue to perform today.

Listen to “I’ll Never Find Another You,” written by Tom Springfield,  here.

1965 – We Five – You Were On My Mind

We Five was a folk rock musical group from San Francisco, California that scored big with their 1965 hit “You Were On My Mind,” which was a cover of an Ian and Sylvia song. It reached Number Three on US Billboard Hot 100, but it was their only hit. Beverly Bivens was the lead singer, and Michael Stewart, wearing glasses above, was the group’s founder and arranger. Bivens left the group in 1966, but the band continued on in various configurations for a number of years. Stewart then worked as a musical producer and computer programmer. He reportedly took his own life in 2002.

Oops: We Five was offered and turned down the opportunity to first record “Daydream Believer,” written by John Stewart of The Kingston Trio.  The song went on to become an international hit for The Monkees.

Listen to “You Were On My Mind” here.

1965 – Sonny And Cher – I Got You Babe

Sonny and Cher were a husband-and-wife American singing duo who performed together from 1964 thru 1975. They met in a coffee shop in 1962  when “Cherilyn Sarkisian” was sixteen years old and Salvatore Bono was a twenty-seven year old music producer and composer working for Phil Spector. They paired up both romantically and professionally. Their break-out song was “I Got You Babe,” released in 1965, which hit Number One on US Billboard Hot 100. They grew from there, and hosted two variety shows on US television from 1970 through 1975. They consequently held very high public profiles throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Bono was the author and arranger for most of their songs, including their top hits, and Cher brought her powerful voice and distinctive style to the act. Their body of work as a duo includes the following top songs on US Billboard Hot 100:

• 1965 – “I Got You Babe” – Number One  – written by Bono
• 1965 – “Baby Don’t Go” – Number Eight – written by Bono
• 1967 – “The Beat Goes On” – Number Six – written by Bono

Sonny And Cher broke up in 1975 following a divorce. Cher would go on to have a monster career as a solo musical performer spanning her entire life. She also starred in a number of major Hollywood movies for which she received high praise, including Silkwood (nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress In A Supporting Role, 1984), Mask (nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress, 1985), and  Moonstruck (Winning an Oscar for Best Actress In A Leading Role, 1988).

Sonny Bono became a US Republican Congressman representing the state of California. He died in a skiing accident in 1998, at age sixty-two.

Listen to “I Got You Babe” here.

(age 10)

1966 – The Seekers – Georgy Girl

The Seekers earn a second entry in my ‘60s compilation. In 1966 they performed the title track from the British film Georgy Girl. The song was the group’s biggest US hit, peaking at Number Two on US Billboard Hot 100. The lyric was by Jim Dale, music by Tom Springfield.

Listen to “Georgy Girl”  here.

(age 11)

1967 – Lulu – To Sir With Love

Lulu also gets a second nod in my ‘60s compilation. The film To Sir With Love, released in 1967, starred Sidney Poitier as a new, tough, black teacher who inherits a class of white, lackey seniors, and ultimately wins them over. Lulu played one of those students, and in the movie she sings the title song in tribute to Poitier. The song was a monster hit, reaching and holding at Number One on US Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks in the autumn of 1967. Don Black penned the lyrics; Marc London composed the music; and Lulu hit it out of the park. The song made Lulu a household name. It’s one of my favorite “oldie” songs.

Listen to “To Sir With Love” here.

Bonus: In 2007, at age fifty-nine, Lulu again hit it out of the park in one of my favorite then / now performances of any song, at any time. Watch here.

1967 – The Tremeloes – Silence Is Golden

The Tremeloes were a British band originally founded in 1958, featuring lead vocalist Brian Poole.  They mostly played covers, and in 1967 had their biggest hit, a cover of the Four Season’s  “Silence Is Golden,” which charted Number Eleven on US Billboard Hot 100. They had four top-forty US songs. The band went through many lineups but continues to play today.

Oops: Late in 1969 The Tremeloes were offered an original song named “Yellow River,” written by song writer Jeff Christie. The group recorded it, but then passed on releasing it. Big mistake. Christie rerecorded the vocals using his own voice, and released the song under his own name. It sold thirty million copies and charted Number One in  twenty-six countries. See “Beyond The Sixties” at the end of this post for more.

Listen to “Silence Is Golden” here.

1967 – The Monkees – Daydream Believer

The Monkees were a US musical group originally formed as the cast for a Saturday morning half-hour sit-com targeted for children. The show, titled The Monkees,  featured  four young musicians in a little rock ‘n roll band that dreamed of stardom. (I watched regularly.) The show aired from 1966 through 1968. The fact that they weren’t a “real” band didn’t stop The Monkees from selling 75 million records worldwide and becoming one of the most successful bands of the ‘60s.

The Monkees are one of the few ‘60s bands where nearly everyone of a certain age knows the real names of the band members, putting them in a league with …. The Beatles?  From left (above): Michael Nesmith (guitar), Mickey Dolenz (drums, lead singer), Peter Tork (guitar), and Davy Jones (lead singer).

Davy Jones / Oliver: The first member to be cast in the show was British performer Davy Jones, who arrived with bona fides: he played the role of “The Artful Dodger” in the original London and  Broadway versions of the hit Oliver, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. The rest of  the Monkees’ cast / band was filled out with a general casting call. Jones was originally envisioned as the sole lead singer, but Dolenz emerged as a lead singer in his own right for a number of  their songs, including major hits.

In the early years the band’s songs were written by distinguished songwriters such as Neil Diamond and Carole King, and they were extremely successful, with six top-three-or-better hits on US Billboard Hot 100. Nesmith wrote one of their minor hits (“Mary, Mary”), and also penned “Different Drum” in 1965, which hit Number Thirteen  for the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt. Later on the band members fought for and gained musical control, and that didn’t work out so well. Their major hits on US Billboard Hot 100:

• 1966 –  “Last Train To Clarksville” – Number One – written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
• 1966 – “I’m A Believer” – Number One – written by Neil Diamond
• 1967 – “Daydream Believer” – Number One – written by John Stewart (of the Kingston Trio)
• 1967 – “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” – Number Two – written by Neil Diamond
• 1967 – “Pleasant Valley Sunday” – Number Three – written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King
• 1967 – “Valleri” – Number Three  – written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart

The band was active during the years 1966 – 1971, and then intermittently in various configurations from 1986 forward.

Nesmith forged an interesting post-Monkee career. In addition to song writing, he is a musical producer, novelist and film maker, and is credited with being one of the earliest pioneers of both country rock and “music videos.”

Davy Jones died in  2012 from a sudden heart attack, at age sixty-six. The remaining members still performed after his death.

Peter Tork died in 2019 from cancer, at age seventy-seven.

Listen to “Daydream Believer,” sung by Davy Jones, here.

Bonus: Watch Davy Jones as “The Artful Dodger,” from the Broadway play Oliver, perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, here.

(age 12)

1968 – Gary Puckett And The Union Gap – Young Girl

Gary Puckett And The Union Gap was an American pop band active from 1967 through 1971. Gary Puckett (center, above) was the band leader and lead singer. Their distinctive uniforms and band name were based on Union soldier uniforms during the US Civil War, and Puckett grew up near a region of the conflict known as the “Union Gap.” The band’s producer, Jerry Fuller, wrote most of their hits.

The group had four high-charting songs in the US: “Woman, Woman,” “Over You,” “Young Girl,” and “Lady Willpower.” “Young Girl” was released in 1968, charted Number Two on US Billboard Hot 100, and was written by Jerry Fuller.

All of the group’s hits sound remarkably similar to me,  but they earn a spot on my compilation list not so much because I like them so much, but because they were hitting the radio airwaves heavy right around the time I must have started listening to radio regularly, and “Young Girl” in particular (which I do think is a nice song)  is eternally etched in my ‘60s soundtrack memory.

Eventually Puckett tried to assert greater control over the group’s music, which led to a breakup with Fuller. That mostly was the band’s death knell, and the band broke up in 1971. Puckett carried on with a solo career for a few years, then studied dance, and then has been touring and singing his ‘6os hits since.

Listen to “Young Girl,” performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, here.

(age 13)

1969 – The Archies – Sugar, Sugar

In 1941, US cartoonist Bob Montana created a comic book character named Archie. From 1968 through 1978 the CBS television network aired a Saturday morning animated show based on this comic series. In the show the characters created a garage band called The Archies, made up of the fictional characters Archie, Reggie, Jughead, Jughead’s dog Hot Dog, Betty, and Veronica. To give musical voice to the cartoon band, producer Don Kirshner assembled studio musicians to create a virtual band. Ron Dante (above), who was the lead singer for the (real) band The Cuff Links, was selected to provide male vocals for the virtual band.

Most of the songs sung by “The Archies” achieved little commercial success, except one. “Sugar, Sugar,” written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, would not only hit Number One on US Billboard Hot 100, but would end up US Billboard Hot 100’s Number One Song Of The Year! It’s the only time a fictional band achieved that honor.

“Sugar, Sugar” represents the epitome  of the “bubblegum” pop era, and – shamefully –  it’s still stuck in my head from 1969. Listen here.

1969 – Edison Lighthouse – Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)

Edison Lighthouse was a studio-only and one-hit wonder English pop / bubblegum band formed in London in 1969. Tony Burrows (above) was the lead singer in the band’s original configuration, and they scored right away with “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes),” written by Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason.  The song hit Number One in the UK and held for five weeks, and reached Number Five on US Billboard Hot 100. It’s one of my favorites of the era.

Burrows left the band after “Love Grows.” The band broke up in 1977.

Tony Burrows? Tony Burrows is perhaps one of the more famous singers you don’t know. Besides “Love Grows,” he also sang lead vocals for several other one-hit wonders under different group names, including White Plain’s “My Baby Loves Lovin'” (1970); The Pipkin’s novelty song “Gimme Dat Ding” (1970); The Brotherhood of Man’s “United We Stand” (1970), and The First Class’ “Beach Baby”  (1974), which hit Number Four on US Billboard Hot 100. You know “Beach Baby” ––   “… Beach baby, beach baby, give me your hand, give me something that I can remember …” Yeah, that’s Tony.

Listen to “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” here.

1969 – Mary Hopkins – Goodbye

Mary Hopkins was a Welsh folk singer who was one of the first musicians to sign with The Beatles’ Apple label. She is best known for her 1968 single “Those Were The Days,” an old folk song produced by Paul McCartney, which hit Number One in the UK and Number Two on US Billboard Hot 100.

Paul McCartney Again: Hopkins’ second single was “Goodbye,” written by Paul McCartney and released in 1969, which reached Number Two in the UK and Number Thirteen on US Billboard Hot 100. It’s very familiar to me, and I’m surprised it only charted at thirteen in the US.

In the following years Mary Hopkins hosted a series of British musically-themed shows. She continues to write and perform today.

Listen to “Goodbye” here.

1969 – The Flying Machine – Smile A Little Smile For Me

The Flying Machine was a one-hit wonder British band formed in 1969 by singer / guitarist Tony Newman. They scored a hit right away with “Smile A Little Smile For Me” (Rosemary),  written by Tony Macaulay and Geoff Stephens,  which hit Number Five on the US Billboard Hot 100. It did not chart in the UK. I sang this song regularly as a kid while cutting the lawn, and it’s still stuck in my head.

Listen to “Smile A Little Smile For Me” here.

– – –  B E Y O N D    T H E    SIXTIES     – – –

Here are three “finds” that fall beyond my self-imposed ’60s delineation, but I’m sharing them anyway.

(age 14)

1970 – Christie – Yellow River

Of all the old songs I encountered during my research for this compilation, “Yellow River” is  the song I had never heard that I liked the most. The song was written by British fledging songwriter Jeff Christie. He offered the song to The Tremeloes, and was ecstatic when they recorded it. But then the band decided it was too pop for the new “progressive” sound they wanted, even though they acknowledged the song was both great and a perfect fit for their current sound.

To salvage the song,  producer Mike Smith backed out the Tremeloe vocals and had Christie lay down new vocals. “Yellow River” was released in 1970 under the label “Christie,” a band name they invented on the fly. The song hit Number One in twenty-six countries, including the UK, with global sales of over  30 million. But the song only reached Twenty-Three on US Billboard Hot 100. And that’s why I (and probably you if you live in the US) never heard it.

Christie was active from 1969 through 1976, and again from 1990 to present, with only marginal commercial success after that massive first hit.

Listen to “Yellow River” here.

1970 – Mungo Jerry – In The Summertime

Mungo Jerry was a British rock band formed in 1970 by lead singer Ray Dorset (above). The band immediately scored a hit with “In The Summertime,” written by Dorset, which went straight to Number One in the UK for seven weeks,  hit Number One in twenty-six countries, and sold over 30 million copies. It charted Number Three on US Billboard Hot 100.

The band went through several configurations over the years, but was always headlined by Dorset. The group had a few additional hits that fared better in the UK than in the US. The band continues to play today.

I’m highlighting this song because I kind of forgot about it, and I’m glad I rediscovered it. I dare you not to smile or nod your head to the beat as you listen to “In The Summertime” here.

(age … 53)

2009 – Stuart Murdoch – God Help The Girl

Singer / songwriter Stuart Murdoch, of the British duo Belle And Sebastian, has a musical style reminiscent of the ‘60s, incorporating simple arrangements and simple themes. In 2009 Murdock  wrote a series of songs intended for a female voice.  The resulting album was named God Help The Girl. Catherine Ireton provided the vocals.

In 2012 Murdoch ambitiously decided to develop a major motion picture loosely structured around the album. With no movie-making experience, he wrote the script, attained financial backing, and directed the movie,  titled God Help The Girl. Actress Emily Browning landed the starring role as a troubled young woman who forms a musical band in Gasglow, Scotland. Browning sings the songs in the film.

 The movie was released in 2014 with little fanfare and limited distribution, but I discovered it, and loved it. I particularly enjoyed Browning’s performance, both theatrical and musical. With her voice backing the music, it’s like a brand new suite of great ‘60s songs were air-mailed to the twenty-first century, with a modern twist. And that’s why I’m giving it a shout-out. My four favorite tracks from the film God Help The Girl:

• •  “God Help The Girl” Theme
  • “Come Monday Night”
  • “I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie”
  • “A Down And Dusky Girl”

To see my mini-review of the film God Help The Girl,
click here.

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My 5 Favorite Movies You Probably Never Heard Of

My Top 5 Movies, By Genre

My Favorite Arya Stark Scenes
From Game of Thrones

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July 23, 2018

Most of all I loved being a Dad. And of all my Dad moments, most of all I loved tucking in my children at bedtime. In our house we simply called these activities “tuck-ins.” Tuck-in routines began when my daughter moved from crib to bed, and continued well into her tween years, when it became occasional rather than ritual. For my son, two years younger, the run was about the same. It was a good run.

Our tuck-in traditions included the customary activities of story reading and quiet conversation,  with stories gradually progressing from ABC books through The Lorax,  and ending with Calvin and Hobbes.

I have a vivid memory of a tuck-in with my daughter when she was about two. She was under the blankets with her stuffed animals neatly arranged to her left, and I was lying on my side to her right. With my right hand at thigh level I tapped and scratched the wall behind me. Then I looked at her with surprise and said, “Mouses! I think we’ve got mouses in the wall!” I tried to make it sound curious rather than scary, and the con worked. Over and over. Looking back, one realizes how much our little ones are at our mercy.

In 1993, when my children were about six and four, I had a surreal, nearly out-of-body experience. It was a little past eleven o’clock in the evening, and I had just returned home from playing tennis. I pulled into the garage, threw the transmission into park, and with the engine still running, looked out the window to my left, where I saw my children’s two little bikes leaning against the wall. And then, somehow – magically – I felt like I had just been transported in time  from some distant future. It was as if I was seeing these two little bikes for the first time in … forever. I thought to myself, “Oh yeah, the little red bike! And the little blue one! Look how tiny they are!”  And then it dawned on me – still in my time traveler state of mind – that all I had to do to see the four and six year old versions of my children was to walk through a door, down a hallway, and into their bedrooms. And they’d be right there!

I wouldn’t say I felt like I had literally time-traveled,  but that moment did not feel like a day dream, and it did not feel like a simple musing. It felt like an altered state. I recall feeling incredibly present, tranquil, and grateful.

I don’t know how long the experience lasted – perhaps a dozen fleeting seconds – but I know that when it passed, I walked straight down that hallway and  into those bedrooms, where I found two little sleeping angels.

The interpretation is simple: Even back in 1993, I possessed a deep appreciation for how special those early years were, and that the day would come when I’d yearn for one more chance at a tuck-in. And now that day has arrived, and I’d pay a king’s ransom for that chance. But as my son replied when I once asked him to stop getting bigger, “That’s not how life works!” Indeed.

Now my daughter has two little ones of her own. And while tuck-ins in her home are reserved for parents, when I visit overnight – which is often – I’m  treated to “wake-ups”  in the morning, as in “WAKE UP POPS!” I love it. And I’m grateful. Because some day this too shall pass.

Update: In a way, my time travel fantasy has been fulfilled, as I’m now frequently called upon to perform tuck-in routines with my daughter’s ‘three’ little ones. And it’s magic. Because sometimes magic is real.

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We had it “made in the shade.” Short stories and anecdotes.  [Memoir]

One Hundred Years From Now,  All New People
Photo Essay on carpe diem themes.

Dreams of Saint John’s
A young hockey player finds romance on a frozen moonlit pond.
[Semi-autobiographical short story fiction]

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