1) New York Icons
Howard Stern is running out of time in his current contract with Sirius Radio. Last week, he did two amazing interviews with Jay-Z and Billy Joel. Great radio. The interviews were sincere, candid, and compelling. Both Jay-Z and Billy answered Howard's questions openly and thoroughly, and answered questions about their creative process. Jay-Z is promoting a book, and the interview served its purpose as I'd love to read the book now. The Billy Joel session made me realize just how talented Billy Joel is, regardless of whether or not his music is your cup of tea. (I'd say the same about Jay-Z, except I already realized how talented he is.)
Overall, I reflected on the fact that these three figures were so compelling, as all three truly are New York icons. All three were born and raised in New York. All three are icons for our generation (maybe Billy Joel a little earlier than us), and all three have built their legacies on their own terms. None of the three are conventional, and none of the three sound like people we'd heard before them. They are all influential and have rich careers that have lasted years. All three still work and reside in New York primarily. To me, they are three people that are unquestionably different facets of New York People, who did it their way.
2) Derek Jeter
Recently, our own blogger Moon was on Facebook lamenting the treatment of Derek Jeter by the New York Yankees. Moon feels like Derek Jeter is a New York icon as well, and the Yankees are doing him a disservice by not treating him as such. Has Derek Jeter earned a substantial contract extension that might be a "thank you" of sorts for being the face of the franchise for so long?
3) Randomness...
(a) Blake Griffin absolutely shit on the Knicks last night, even though the Knicks won. These highlights rank up there with the athletic dunks of Dwight Howard, Shawn Kemp, etc... He is worth the hype and we can probably give him Rookie of the Year right now. Some manly shit from a guy with an un-manly first name.
(b) Your own WCF is laying down the groundwork to go back to school for a Ph.D. I do not want to reveal the details yet (superstitious, until it all works out), but stay tuned.
(c) Would any of your Teaneckites consider raising your family and settling in Teaneck? All of us seem pretty attached to Teaneck... why did most of us move to other places? Thanksgiving makes me think about how all of us attempt to reunite even as we have entered our 30s... and therefore that the allure of meeting up in our hometown still pulls at all of us... and I am bummed out that my knee keeps me from participating in the annual Toilet Bowl football game.
3 comments:
Blake will have to smell his own shit...they lost!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and btw Amare had 39 and 11 and Gallo had 31...psst no d)
Those dunks were unbelievable.
I listened to that Jay-Z interview on youtube and it was good stuff.
I don't think I would raise a family in Teaneck. The schools have really gone down hill while property taxes seem to climb. I don't think it's ghetto now, or anything, just not ideal. But, there could be worse places to raise a family.
I'm sortof Billy Joel neutral. I don't hate him, and I list a couple of his songs among my favorites, but I think he really is derivative. Also all of his songs are either fantastic or terrible. And most of them are terrible.
It's strange, I had the same thought the other day. I loved growing up in Teaneck and it was fantastic, but I know with certainty that I couldn't raise my family there.
I identify really strongly with New Jersey on the whole, but I'm pretty confident in saying I don't think I could live anywhere in the state.
Post a Comment