Today it's a quick 'road trip' post; well, more like a quick 'railroad' trip post, as I review Friday night's trip to the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn to see the Islanders pre-season game.
Most of you know that my sons and I are the true definition of 'fans' of the Islanders (remembering that 'fan' is a derivative of 'fanatic'), we bleed orange and blue - which has our physicians greatly concerned!
Since this is the last year of a full regular season at the Nassau Coliseum, we wanted to see the new home ice before the team moves there, so we can decide if we take another partial season ticket plan next year. Doesn't make sense to spend big dollars on a place you've never seen. So thanks to 'Stubhub', we picked up three tickets at a reasonable price to the Islanders vs. Devils game last Friday. Here's the rundown:
The trip to Brook-A-Leen: Met Bill and Tom at the Hicksville LIRR station to catch the 5:29. Tom very thoughtfully had 3 24 oz. cans of Bud waiting for us, so that was a nice way to start the trip. The train was on time (well, at least according to the LIRR's definition of on time), we got seats and settled in. We noticed that there were a LOT of Islander fans on the train. Quick trip to Jamaica, change to the train to Brooklyn on track 3; LIRR had people on the platform directing us to the correct train. On to East New York, Nostrand Avenue, and finally Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn. Less than an hour from when we boarded in Hicksville.
The walk to Barclay's: Up the stairs at Atlantic Terminal, hang a left, go half a block or so, and you're at Atlantic Avenue. Look across the street - there's Barclay's Center. 

Spotted lots of pubs, restaurants and other interesting places around Barclay's, it'll be an easy place to grab a bite before, or after, games. Cross Atlantic Avenue, and you're on a lovely, large spacious plaza leading up to the building. Plenty of room to meet your party, benches to sit on, food carts to grab a snack, a very well done approach to the building, and very different from the Coliseum, which sits alone in the midst of all those acres of parking. Speaking of which, we didn't see much parking near Barclay's, and would have to agree that driving there probably isn't the way to go.
Barclay's Center: Well, you're not at the Coliseum any more. Long line to get into the building at the main entrance, due to security screening. At Nassau, the security guys stand outside the building and use the 'wand' to clear fans to go in. At Barclay's, security is just inside the door, and consists of airport style walk through metal detectors. Each person has to empty their pockets and place their stuff in a basket, then walk through. A guard with a wand does a second check if you set the thingy off (as Bill's steel toed work boots did). Immediately beyond the security checkpoint is the ticket taker, who lasers your ticket and passes you in. Considering that we were at the entrance almost an hour prior to game time, and it was not a sellout, I wonder how long we'll be waiting outside in the cold of winter once the Isles move here and we get a big crowd?
Okay, inside we go, and it's quickly apparent that this place is NICE. Wide, spacious attractive concourse, loaded with all sorts of concessions and fan friendly kiosks. 

Got on line for food, and was impressed with the quickness of the service, the line moved very quickly. Three 'jumbo' Nathan's dogs, two orders of Nathan's fries, and three beers; $60. About what you'd spend at Yankee Stadium, but at the Stadium, the dogs are much bigger, and they give you about 3 times as many fries. Over to the condiment stand, disappointed with the 'Gold's' mustard, the same poor quality blend we get at Duck games; relish, ketchup, sauerkraut, and sliced banana peppers round out the choices. MINUS: one mustard pump already not working.
Off to the seats. Wow, there's an escalator up to our seats in section 221! Of course, as we rode it up, we realized that we're about three times as high off the ice as we'd be in the 300 section of Nassau. Walk three or four sections over, and we arrive at our section. Nice usher insists that he needs to see at least one ticket before he'll let us up to our seats. Lovely, but all three of us are juggling beer and food in our hands. Tom finally manages to get his ticket out, and up we go to aisle 12, seats 1, 2, & 3. Oh my, I wonder how many people will get nosebleeds up here? Yeah, it's one of those steep/high arenas, like so many others that we've been in (Dallas, Anaheim), but this one doesn't seem to be angled as badly as those are. Seats are nice, comfy, well cushioned, and we're in a section that has a good view of the goal the Isles will shoot at twice. 

Because Barclay's was built specifically for the Nets, it's a basketball arena, and the hockey rink has to be set up off center to fit within the footprint of the main floor. The result is that the scoreboard is slightly off center, and there are a LOT of seats behind the Isles goal that are very obstructed - you can't see anything between the end board and the face off circle without standing up - yes, that includes the goal.
Other than that, we find the acoustics to be worse than awful; we're catching one out of about every five or six words the p.a. announcer says, and the seating area is rather dark. A quick look around shows there are NO lights up above us as there are in the ceiling of Nassau, so even during intermission, you're in a very dimly lit area.
Game action is pretty good, despite rather chippy ice (it hasn't been down long), the scoreboard is huge, very clear, and really dominates the building. The crowd tries to get noisy a few times, but even though they claim 11,800 fans were there, the building swallows up all but the most hearty and loud chants - this place is cavernous, a dramatic change from the very low ceiling at the Coliseum.
Between periods we go out to the restrooms. The wide, spacious concourse is now a bad twin of the ones at the Coliseum, as the lines from the many concession stands have swelled to close down the walking space to one barely wide enough to accommodate one person at a time. It seems as if the service which we found to be quick and efficient at the stand downstairs, is not being maintained upstairs! The restroom however, is a pleasure. Large, well lighted, clean, and with no line at all. They appear to have more than 3x the number of urinals that the ones at Nassau have, which should make getting in and out somewhat faster.
Food stands we spotted included the typical hot dog/fries/pretzel/popcorn stuff, plus the following; Brooklyn Burger; Calexico (Mexican); David K's Deli; Fatty 'Cue BBQ; Paisanos The Butcher Shop; L&B Spumoni Gardens (!); Buffalo Boss; Junior's Cheesecake; Fresco by Scotto; Habana; Nathan's; Abigael's Brooklyn; Boomer & Carton Kitchen. Quite a selection, and all supplemented by many portable carts, selling everything from craft brew beers, to popcorn, peanuts, you name it.
Beer guy comes around, $9.50 for a 12 oz. Bud or Bud Light - same as the Coliseum last year, and .25c less than Yankee Stadium.
The game: Pretty good game, the Isles, as they usually do, get off to a 2 goal lead, then get caught from behind, and regulation ends 2-2. A scoreless overtime leads to a shoot out (which the boys and I decide we all HATE), and the Isles win it on Brock Nelson's goal. Success, we saw them win!
Going home: Out of the building, easy access through a staircase at the back of the concourse, and on to that great plaza. Now, at 10:15, there's even more activity there, as the number of food carts has increased, and with it being a lovely late summer night, it's more like being in a public park than coming out of an arena.
Quick two minute walk to the LIRR terminal (which also has the 2,3,4,5,B,D,N,Q,R subways), catch the 10:29 to Hicksville, and we're on our way. After having too few trains last year for the pre-season game, the LIRR has committed to adding several 'extra' trains to the schedule after Isles games. We get seats, there are lots of happy Islander fans on the train (and a few pissy Devil fans), and we ride straight through to Hicksville without having to change at Jamaica.
Overall? Well, as Bill said, after going to the game at Barclay's, he was even more irritated and annoyed that the local pinheads let this team get away. As nice as Barclays is, and it is indeed very nice, it's not 'our' building yet. And it's not truly representative of Long Island - which is where this team was born, raised, and lives. It's a shame that what once was the center of the highest level of professional sports, an arena that hosted one of the last great dynasties in the NHL, which was "major league" all the way, is now 'hoping' to get a minor league team. Really? Talk about lowered expectations and a real lack of commitment to excellence. Thank you Kate Murray and the rest of the two bit politicians who lost this team.
But I digress. Will we go back? Of course - we are fans (see above for what that means), and this is our team. Loyalties don't fade like the old felt pennants we buy and hang on our walls, instead, they grow stronger over time, and old memories fuel the hopes for the new season; something we share with our sons and daughters, and eventually grandchildren. The true fan never loses their passion for the game, and for their team, it becomes a lifelong endeavor, rooting for 'your' team. So yes, we'll be taking that partial plan at Barclay's, maybe not 22 games again, but something that will bring us to see Our Team on a regular basis.

Back when I was 'just a kid', I joined the Boy Scouts, with a few of my buddies. There were several troops in our little Village, most of them had been in existence for a long time, and they met mostly in various churches or small private schools. Of course, the troop I joined was a fairly new one, and met not in a church or small place, but in the gymnasium of Stratford Avenue School, the place where I attended grades 3 - 6. 
I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that we were a 'new' troop, with fairly new, inexperienced leaders, or because we met in a large room that was conducive to running around like a bunch of wild indians (yes, I know, not politically correct - too bad), or because we had mostly a bunch of kids who were too familiar with each other from living in the same neighborhood, but this was one WILD troop! Meetings would start out innocently enough, with the presenting of the flags, announcements, etc., and the leaders would usually make an attempt at a demonstration or lecture about some Scout skill that we needed to learn, but most weeks that deteriorated pretty quickly into a non-authorized game of 'keep away' with someone's hat, neckerchief, shoes, or whatever.
Despite all of the stuff that went on, or maybe because of it, we had a pretty good time, and not too many kids ever dropped out; none of us ever advanced very far either, but we gained an appreciation for some of the things we learned, and some of us developed a lifelong love of going camping and enjoying the great outdoors.
So what brought on this little treatise about the Scouts? Well, I had a short road trip this week, out to Buffalo NY to do some tweaking on the Buffalo State College pool. Now, from Long Island, it's close to 430 miles each way to Buffalo, and you can route yourself out through NJ and PA (80W to 380N to 81N to 90W), which a lot of folks do, since all of those roads are large, fairly straight interstate roads, and you can make decent time on them.
The Alternative is to go over the Tappan Zee to the NY Thruway, and pick up old Route 17 through the Catskills, hook up with 81N at Binghampton, then grab 90W at Syracuse. This route is about 1 mile longer, and MapQuest says 10 minutes slower than going out through NJ and PA. But I always take this route, even though there are some slow zones, and you need to watch carefully for the State Troopers who do speed enforcement along the way.
Why do I go this way? Simple, when I was in Scouts, we'd go camping several times a year at Camp Onteora, in Livingston Manor NY, right off exit 98 on Route 17. And Dad, who was one of the Assistant Scoutmasters, would drive us up and back to camp on 17.
I can remember it like it was yesterday. He'd have worked his usual 50 - 60 hour week, come rumbling up the driveway in his little Valiant station wagon, and instead of popping a beer or two and finally relaxing a bit and resting up from the week's work, he'd start packing tents and sleeping bags, camp stoves, all sorts of stuff in the car.
Mom would have dinner ready, or we'd get a pizza, and right after we ate, off we went to meet the Troop. Dad would take one or two additional Scouts and their gear into the car, and the journey began.
Leaving Long Island on a Friday evening to go upstate was as much or more of a challenge back then than it is today. Traffic was awful, the car wasn't air conditioned, all you had to listen to was an AM radio, and with Dad's chain smoking and short temper in traffic, well, it was an experience that not too many kids are going to have today!
Now, Livingston Manor is about 140 or so miles away, and driving at the speed limit, you can get there in maybe 2 hours, 2 and a half if you go slow. But back then, with 50 mph speed limits on most of the roads, and the limitations of the cars, it was always four hours or more to get there. And not much to do on the way up there, either. Not a lot of roadside attractions to look for; in fact, not too many service stations either. We'd have our landmarks along the way, the Throgs Neck bridge, then the Tappan Zee (right by Sleepy Hollow!). Then there was a castle like building on the Rockland County side, way up on the mountain; Monticello Raceway, the hospital; the VFW post on the west side of 17; then finally Willoweemoc Creek and the Willoweemoc Motel, and we're there!
Turn right off of 17, follow the road for about 5 miles, then left into the camp. Come up on the narrow old wooden bridge, Dad would say "I hope it doesn't collapse like it did to those guys last month", and then we'd hear the wood creaking and silently hope he was kidding!
Pitch the tents in darkness, hoping that we'd wake up and find we had a 'good' campsite, one equally close to the lake and the latrines, and away from the stream that runs through the place, loaded with trout, and known to attract black bears.
Run ourselves into exhaustion on Saturday, get to bed late after a campfire and some silly 'horror' stories, and on Sunday morning, wake up to Dad's coffee, sausages/bacon and eggs. Of all the Scoutmasters, Dad was the only one who insisted on cooking breakfast both Saturday and Sunday. Other kids would be having corn flakes and milk, and we'd have this great hot breakfast. He always said, especially when you're outdoors, that hot breakfast set the tone for the day.
Pack the cars, and now we'd get to fight the traffic going back towards NYC. Remember, this was the mid 1960's, and lots of the Catskill resorts and camps were still very active, and the traffic on 17 on a Sunday could be as bad as it is today on the Belt Parkway at rush hour. So the trip home would be not four hours, but closer to five or five and a half. Finally back on Long Island; drop the other kids off, get home, unpack the car, take the tents into the back yard, clean them, hang them on the clothes line (you young kids can ask me for a definition of 'clothesline'), clean the cooking gear, and finally, just around dinner time, he'd be done, and he'd get his Schmidt's or Rhinegold as his reward.
And so, I take 17 whenever I can. And I look for the sights just like I did when I was a kid. The Throgs Neck is $7.50 one way now, instead of .50c; the castle place is long gone, the hospital is a lot bigger, Monticello Raceway now has slot machines and other 'casino' games; there are gas stations and convenience stores along the way, and the VFW Post is also gone; having been remodeled into a faux log cabin, it's been 'for rent' now for several years; the Willoweemoc Motel has closed it's doors, and even the "Lazy Beagle" pub, which was a Livingston Manor landmark for years is gone.
The camp is still there, and better than ever. The Nassau Council helped fund a new dining hall several years ago. The lake is still pristine and beautiful, the stream is still loaded with trout, and that old wooden bridge is still scaring kids with it's creaking and squeaking when a car rides over it. I know, because years later, I drove my sons, and their Scout buddies to that very same camp. And I hope that one day, they'll be blogging, or whatever they'll call it in the future, about some fun memories they have of going up good old 17 with their Dad.
As for me, once in a while, I look in the rear view mirror of the car, and I can swear I see a little wisp of cigarette smoke and a faint smile looking back at me.

Today, we're going to take a little time and review a pretty good concert that came through Westbury last night.
Billed as the "British Invasion Tour", the show celebrates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of The Beatles, and all of the British acts which followed 'the lads' across the pond. This tour has been making the rounds of the East Coast, and looks like it's about over; they have a couple of more shows here in the east, then head out to CA.
Upon entering the Theater last night, we were greeted with a sign that said "Gerry Marsden of the Pacemakers will not be appearing at tonight's show; Terry Sylvester of The Hollies will be replacing him". Well, that was a disappointment, as Gerry & The Pacemakers were one of the best groups to come over after The Beatles. It was later announced that Gerry has had to miss the entire tour due to being hospitalized. During a break in the show, a video clip of an old performance by the Pacemakers was played.
So, off to the show! First up, Terry Sylvester, long time member of the Hollies, who joined that group when Graham Nash left. His set was pretty short, just 5 songs, and only three Hollies tunes; I Can't Let Go, Bus Stop, and Carrie Anne. His last two songs were ones he'd performed as a member of the Swingin' Blue Jeans, You're No Good (the Ronstadt song), and Hippy Hippy Shake. Unfortunately, Terry was not in great voice, particularly on I Can't Let Go. His rather off pitch performance was made even more noticeable by the excellent background vocals provided by the band. Still, the first and last songs he did were good, high energy tunes, appropriate for the 'opening act'.
Up next was Mike Pender, lead vocalist for The Searchers. Now 73 years young, he played a nice lead guitar and did most of the Searchers hits; Sweets For My Sweet, Don't Throw Your Love Away, Sugar and Spice, When You Walk In The Room, Take Me For What I'm Worth, Needles and Pins, and Love Potion #9. Mike sounded pretty good, and though he seemed to be having problems hearing his guitar on stage, it sounded fine to the audience, especially the cool licks on When You Walk In The Room. Good performance of some very popular hit songs; the only one some of the audience was unfamiliar with was Take Me For What I'm Worth, which I don't recall as getting a lot of airplay here in the States.
Closing out the first half of the show was Chad and Jeremy, who did another short set of 5 songs, including an a capella version of You Are She, followed by Distant Shores, Yesterday's Gone, No Other Baby, and A Summer Song. Upon entering the stage, Jeremy, dressed to the nines in a lovely black suit and Chad, dressed in a fine "Canadian Tuxedo" as he called it (faded jeans, faded jean jacket, black shirt, casual shoes) picked up the excellent harmonies from 50 years ago as if they'd never been apart. Intertwined with some cute stories of appearing on 'Batman' and 'The Dick VanDyke Show', the performed their hits perfectly sounding almost exactly like their records. It was obvious to all that they were enjoying themselves as well, which only enhanced their performance. I was only disappointed in the shortness of the set, as they were easily the best vocalists to appear.
The second half of the show was opened by Billy J. Kramer, who his hits with the band The Dakotas. Several of these were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and Billy told a few short tales of being in the studio with John when he gave Billy "Bad To Me", and of being managed by the late Brian Epstein, who was also The Beatles manager. Billy has been living here on Long Island for the last 30 or so  years, and I actually met him years back when we had him appear at the Garden City Gazebo. His set opened with a song he just recorded called I Won The Fight, which he explained had to do with being able to survive in the music business as long as he has. I'll Keep You Satisfied, another Lennon-McCartney tune was up next, followed by From A Window, Do You Want To Know A Secret (which he recorded before The Beatles, and which was a #1 hit in England), I Call Your Name, Trains & Boats & Planes, Liverpool With Love (a tribute to Brian Epstein & The Beatles), Little Children, Bad To Me, and The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore. All in all, Billy  sounded okay; his voice has gotten deeper over the years, and he can't quite sing in the keys the songs were originally recorded in, so they sound a little 'off'. But he had a lot of energy on stage, and was really giving it a great effort. His closing song, The Walker Brothers Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore was easily his strongest, and best, vocal of the night. Great ovation for him, the crowd really took to him.
Closing the show was Denny Laine, original lead singer of The Moody Blues, and later on, a founding member and lead guitarist with Wings. Denny did a short, but energized set, comprised of I'll Go Crazy (James Brown cover), Say You Don't Mind, and Go Now. His voice was good, Go Now was spot on, and his guitar work was excellent. For his closing number, he did the Wings tune Band On The Run, and for the final verse was joined onstage by the rest of the performers. Band On The Run was a dead on cover of the Wings version, albeit lacking in Paul's familiar vocal. Too short a set would be my only complaint about Denny's performance.
Can't go without mentioning the excellent backing band, who played behind each of the 'stars'. They were a very tight knit band, with a terrific drummer who had the 'British Beat' down pat. The guitarists were all quite good, and the fellow who played guitar and keyboards was very talented.
It may have been 50 years since these artists first came over here, and the years have certainly caught up to them in some ways, but for a couple of hours on Sunday night, it WAS 1964 again, and the songs, the memories, and the smiles came flowing back easily and with great joy. This is a show which is highly recommended!

Happy "Monkees Day" everyone! No, it's not an official holiday (yet), but today is the anniversary of the broadcast premiere of The Monkees television show back in 1966. For many of us who were young kids at the time, 7:30 on Monday nights became appointment television for the two seasons of first run shows.
Unlike many other shows which featured teenagers or kids, The Monkees broke new ground in several ways.
First and foremost, there was no 'parent' or 'adult figure' involved in the show. Yes, the pilot had an adult type record shop owner who acted as the guys manager, but that plot feature was quickly abandoned, and the four young men were on their own.
Second, this was the first show to bring the 'mod' look into America's living rooms. Young men with long hair, wearing hip clothes, using current slang, and all in a positive light. Until The Monkees hit, most portrayals of 'hippies' and 'mods' were as troubled or trouble making kids on shows like "Ben Casey", "The Defenders", and the like. These shows did not cast these characters in a good light; in most cases, they were portrayed as troublemakers, or juvenile delinquents. The Monkees may have gotten into some sticky situations, but they were never mean, evil, or intentionally caused trouble. 
Their effect on the culture of the country was immediate and strong.
Of course, it didn't hurt that all four guys were so likable, and strong performers. Say what you will, the show still stands up today because of these talented individuals. And for the most part, they stayed away from really strong topical humor, so the episodes aren't as dated as shows like "Laugh In", which contained much material based upon the news of the day and the current events.
Lastly, there was the music. While much has been made of the fact that the guys were not featured on the first two albums, that story is very overplayed, and doesn't reflect that many of the top groups of the day were represented by studio musicians on their recordings. Given the opportunity to write, produce, and play, some pretty good music was turned out by the guys. And give Kirschner and his gang their due, they crafted some of the very best tunes of the era, such as "I'm A Believer", "Clarksville", "Daydream Believer", and "Pleasant Valley Sunday".
For those of us of a certain vintage, The Monkees were, and for some, still are, a big part of our growing up process. Their music remains popular to this day, and although Davy has passed on, Micky, Mike, and Peter, through their solo and group concerts, allow us to relive those special times.
So give at least a passing thought today to four guys, who were thrown together almost randomly, in a business proposition that should probably have failed, but which went amazingly right.

And enjoy this clip of the guys doing "Mary Mary", written by Mike, on their 1967 USA Tour. This cut is from the Phoenix AZ show in January of that year.

Hi gang, just a short post to bring you up to date on things here in blog-land. I've been back in NY for almost two weeks now, and doubtless you've noticed that I hadn't posted anything new.
For those of you in the family, you know why; for those who don't, we had a very sad passing the weekend before Labor Day. My brother in law Bob was involved in a canoe accident near his home in PA, and tragically drowned while attempting to swim to safety.
In addition to being a great brother in law to me, Bob had also been a good friend. He gave me lots of good advice through the years, about business dealings, computer issues, and just life in general. Although we hadn't visited in person much in the last couple of years, we were in touch through email and messaging. In fact, until just this past March, Bob had been helping me out with my business web site.
Bob's family put together a lovely memorial service for him last weekend, and it was as we all think Bob would have liked; family and friends celebrating his love of life, of exploring new things, of 'adventuring'. So we're doing our best to move on, all the while remembering how important it is to keep memories of him alive.
As the days move on, I'll be getting back to posting thoughts on the usual topics that I cover here, though it may take a little while before things are really back to 'normal'; whatever that is.
For now though, I hope all of you who read this blog will take a moment or two to reflect on all of the blessings you have in your lives, to give thanks for them, and to commit to not wasting one precious moment of your lives on silly, inconsequential, or hurtful things. Embrace and enjoy every second of every day, as we all have seen in our lives, one never knows when those seconds will run out.