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Did I tell you about the time I had dinner with OJ?

20155878_10154667819107541_3257643844984361583_n So OJ Simpson will be back on the streets October 1, he received parole from the Nevada prison where he has been incarcerated for the past nine years. This reminds me of the time I had dinner with OJ.

Well, it wasn’t really dinner, but we sat at the same table at a bar/restaurant in Miami many years ago. It was a neighborhood place and very crowded, there was a big football playoff game on and I guess that is what drew the crowd.

There were the usual tables around the place and the bar and at the back, there was one very large table, which consisted of a bunch of tables pushed together. There’s were we sat together. I was with a friend or two and we ate and drank and sort of across from me, maybe one person over, was OJ.

He just acted as if everything was normal. This was of course, after the murders, so I’m not sure how he would show himself in public, but there he was, cheering his team on. I wanted to talk with him, I never spoke to an alleged murderer before.

At one point, they turned to the weather channel, so I asked OJ why they changed to that from the game. He said, “We want to see what the weather is in Philadelphia, that’s where the next game is.” Then he explained some things about the current game that was going on.

20245465_10160282648890206_8744458707930521646_n That’s the extent to our conversation. At one point he got up, I guess to go to the bathroom and all these fools in the restaurant were falling all over themselves to get to him, he shook hands as he slowly walked to the bathroom, with is head up. No guilt, no shame. Just another OJ day.

The next day, my friend Victor who was with me said, “That was smart of you to agree with what OJ was saying, he knows what he’s talking about.” I looked at Victor and said, “Did you think I was going to disagree with him?”

I had seen him off and on a few more times when he lived in Miami. I saw him driving out of a school once, his kids went there and another time I saw him at the post office. After he left, the clerk at the counter said, “People are so excited. I guess they like seeing a murderer!”

Governors Island; a trip back through history

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Governors Island, where do I start?

I thought I knew all of New York City. I’m amazed that I am often finding myself in areas that I had never been before and this past weekend was no exception. A few of us went on an adventure, to another land, which was only 800 yards from downtown Manhattan. It’s so close, yet is its own world.

Governors Island was settled briefly by the Dutch in 1624 but its main claim to fame is being a military base from 1794 to 1996, when it closed. It was home to the US Army and then the US Coast Guard. In 2001, President Clinton established the 22-acre as a national park and in 2003, President Bush transferred the remaining 150 acres to the people of New York.

From being used as a base in the American Revolutionary War to a National Park today, is some transformation, yet so much of it is like going back in time. It remains like it has for 200 years or so.

The island is open from May 1 to October 1 each year and it’s a pity because Governors Island would be a perfect place for a pumpkin patch and Christmas village. It’s a bit Williamsburg, VA and a bit of old Boston. There’s a meadow you come upon and you swear you are in “Little House on the Prairie,” as you see no surrounding buildings. All at once, you come upon an old movie theater where you think you are on the back lot of “The Waltons,” and the houses – the colonial houses which surround a sort of green square takes you back to a simpler time – all this mere feet from Brooklyn.

And the fantasy of the whole thing is that you have to arrive by ferry! There are ferries from different areas of the city, so hop on one and head over. The ferry ride itself is a beautiful experience as you glide by New York’s skyscrapers and cruise under its many bridges.

Once you get to the island, there is more than enough to do. Take in the greenery and quaintness and history. This is real history all surrounded by nature.

There is free kayaking and picnic lunches and biking and food trucks and hammocks and mini golf and so much more; and the best part has to be what they call “The Hills.” There is one hill, which seems like a mini-mountain, it is 70 feet above sea level. It is sort of like climbing a pyramid. There are large pyramid-style rocks piled up and you climb to the top – the only way to get there. Once at the top the first thing you see is the Statue of Liberty right in front of you in the harbor, you feel as if you can reach out and touch her.

Turn around and there, sparkling in the distance is downtown Manhattan and Jersey City. The view is spectacular. I sat there on a large rock and just watched people’s reactions as they turned and saw the view for the first time. Amazing.

There are events throughout the summer like the Poetry Festival and the Scavenger Hunt, there are art exhibits and so much more.

You can spend each weekend there during the season and find something new to do each weekend. For more info, check out their website at: https://govisland.com

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Martin Landau, cartoonist?

As you may have heard, actor Martin Landau passed away this past weekend, he was 89. I always remember Martin from the Mission Impossible tv series. I remember watching it Sunday nights. I never really understood it, but I watched it, I guess to prolong the weekend.

I was surprised to learn that Martin was a cartoonist for the New York Daily News in the 1940s, before he became an actor. Mike Lynch has a lot about this in his blog today.

Martin: “I did that [cartooning] professionally, actually. I mean, I started on The New York Daily News as a kid when I was 17 years old, as a cartoonist and illustrator, and I was being groomed to be the theatrical caricaturist. And I know if I got that job, I’d never quit. So I quit.

Is this the first animated cartoon?

This is the first animated cartoon, released in July 1913, heck, it’s one of the first movies period. No, it’s not “Steamboat Willy.” That was 1928. And Gertie the Dinosaur was done in 1914.

It’s called ” The Artist’s Dream; The Dachshund and the Sausage.” It shows a live cartoonist, J.R. Bray, drawing the cartoon and then shows the animation.

Is it a Republican corner?

There’s a guy on the same corner every morning in New York City who sells the NY Daily News and the NY Post. I don’t think he has any other newspapers, just the News and the Post. And you can tell the political bent on people by what they purchase – Democrats mostly buy the News and Republicans mostly buy the Post. I’m a Daily News guy.

But although the stacks look to be the same quantity, every time I buy the paper, the guy grabs for the Post, sort of out of habit, as if he mostly does that all day, so I assume most people in this area, midtown East 50s, purchase the Post. He doesn’t really look up, so it’s not like he doesn’t recognize me from going to him daily, he just doesn’t pay attention.

I stopped reading The Post due to their negative political views, but to honest, I dropped them years ago when they dropped the comics page. How do you drop the comics page? It was the only reason I bought the paper. Their comics were small and black and white and they didn’t even have their own page, they were part of a page. The Post didn’t respect the comics when they ran them, but how do you drop the six or eight comics that you did have?

Oh, and to upend everything I have said here, I have to say that the Post has the better sports section. So it all could just be that. People are buying the Post for the sports section no matter what their party affiliation is.

Don’t call her Mrs. Putnam!

The New York Times posted this letter from Amelia Earhart. Isn’t it cool? You can read the story associated with it here.

amelia-earhart

Free subway library

subway I noticed on the New York subways that they have a Free Subway Library which is provided by the New York Public Library system along with the Brooklyn Library and Queens Library. It started in June. The MTA and Transit Wireless provide riders with access to hundreds of e-books and short stories.

Basically only the first chapters are available, enough to read on a train ride and then you can download the whole book at the library’s app.

Now when you’re on the trains you see so many people staring down at their phones either reading or playing games. I usually go through the photos I took during the day.

It’s a far cry from the days, not too long ago (10, 12 years?) where everyone seemed to have their heads buried in a newspaper or paperback book. Tabloid sized newspapers were created for subways and buses, their smaller size than the broadsheet made it easier to manage.

Colorizing history

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The BBC has an interesting little video. It’s about two minutes long, you can see it here.

See this photo? This is Lewis Powell, the photo was taken in 1865. This guy looks like a model whose photo was taken today! Lewis was involved in Lincon’s assination.

Almost reminds me of that “hot convict” Jeremy Meeks. He’s a good looking bad guy.

Marina Amaral from Brazil, colorizes black and white historical photos which really bring them to life.

I was thrown out of the New York Historical Society

So on my quest to see how the New York City museums work, I went to the New York Historical Society museum on the upper West side. I didn’t pay and I was sort of thrown out. A guard stopped me on the top floor and asked for my proof of payment.

I never had this happen before. I usually don’t wear the paper badge or pin at any of the museums after paying and no one ever stopped me.

To be honest, I have gone to the Historical Society Museum without paying in the past, only once, but it’s so easy to do as they don’t accost you at the door like the rest of the museums. The payment desk is far from the entrance, it’s almost hidden. But be sure that you may be accosted by a nosy guard up on the third or fourth floor.

I told him I would go down to pay, but since I didn’t see the Keith Harring work anywhere, I just left, I’ve seen the other stale exhibits 100 times so it wasn’t worthy paying and staying.

Fantastic original Spider-man art

spiderman1 — Original Spider-man art by John Romita

I went to the Spider-man exhibit at the Society of Illustrators with my cousin Michael. It consisted of the first ever exhibit of original art by John Romita and some pieces by Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-man with Stan Lee. Two floors are dedicated to the collection of art collector Mike Burkey.

Other aritsts presented include Gil Kane, Todd McFarlane, Ross Andru, Ron Frenz, Keith Pollard, John Buscema, Keith Pollard and John Romita Jr.

There are also rare comic strip pages along with the comic book art. Some fun work was where Spider-man mashed with Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” crew. Two comic icons meeting, done by Romita.

The exhibit is at the Upper East Side gallery until August 26, 2017. The Society is in an unassuming townhouse.

spiderman2

I was excited to see this. I had no idea the exhibit was just a few blocks from my hotel but a friend happened to post this on Facebook saying he wished he was in New York. I was! What a lucky break.

These original comic book pages are true works of art; pop art at it’s best. And valuable. Ditko’s Page 4 from the Amazing Spider-man #33 which is on display has an appraised value of $500,000.00!

The best part was having Michael with me, who is an expert in comic art. He does his own and he knows so much about the subject. As we walked from comic page to comic page, he had a story on each image – the technique, the differences in the pencilers working with different inkers and the stories themselves. It was a treat.

The Society of Illustrators is at 128 E. 63rd Street in Manhattan.