Rant #1,142: 50 Years Ago ... In My Own Life

The past few days I have written about the Beatles, and what their presence on the scene did to our world.

I am happy to say that I was around 50 years ago. Some people are embarrassed to admit their age, I revel in it.

As I have looked back at the past 50 years, with the Beatles as the centerpiece, my experience 50 years ago has kind of been in the background.

However, all of this has forced me to look at where I was way back in February 1964 and during the year in general. It was a significant year in what was then my young life.

I was six years old, and would be seven in a little more than two months.

I was in first grade. It is incredible, but thinking back, Mrs. Gold's class at P.S. 165 in Flushing went through two cataclysms in the same year: the death of JFK and the coming of the Beatles. We went from a very low low to a very high high in the span of three months.

My family and I lived in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, where I lived from the time I was about one year old until I was a little past seven. During 1964, in July, we would move to South Jamaica, Queens, to a place called Rochdale Village.

But for right now, we were in an apartment in Kew Gardens Hills.

I had lots of friends there, but I can only remember a few of their names now. Danny, Julie, David, Debbie, and another girl, Carla Maybloom, who used to pick on me endlessly.

She was a big girl, and was something of a bully.

I remember one time running into the house all in tears, because she had picked on me again. My father told me to go outside and let her have it. I was hesitant to do so.

He said to me, "Who are you afraid of, Carla or me?"

Without hesitation, I said, "Her!"

I was very much into comic books. I taught myself to read with them, and I bought them whenever I could. Heck, I had a 25 cents allowance, and during those days, that would be good for two comic books, as they had just risen to 12 cents an issue from a dime a year earlier.

I remember that in school, a pipe burst and we had to leave our classrooms in ankle deep water.

I also remember Mrs. Gold, an old teacher who actually had taught college previously, tripped over the wire of a movie projector, broke her leg, and was never heard from again about 95 percent through the school year.

There was a lot going on in my neighborhood back then.

It was the center of the dope sniffing craze, and every Friday night, the police would herd teens out of the basement of our building, as they were found trying to get high sniffing airplane glue.

About a block away, a beautiful woman named Alice Crimmins lived with her husband and two kids. One day, her kids were found in a garbage dump, both dead, and this led to one of the most horrific trials in New York City history, pitting this absolutely beautiful, photogenic woman against charges that she murdered her kids.

Yes, it all happened about a block away from where I lived.

But heck, I was six years old, not worldly at that age at all--nor should I have been--and my world was pretty much my apartment, my school, and my friends.

That was all to change later in the year, when we moved to a new development called Rochdale Village.

I have waxed poetic about that place, but that is where I consider that I grew up. Kew Gardens Hills was just another step toward that place. It is but a memory in my mind, but I do remember lots of things about it, as I have presented to you today.

When we moved in July 1964, little did my family and I know what we would be facing for the next seven years. But we went in wide-eyed and bushy tailed, as all the families that moved there did.

Now that was an experience I will never forget, and it all started in 1964, which, when I look back, was one of the most important years in my life.

1964 was an incredible year for everyone, too. It served as the true gateway to what was going to happen for the rest of the decade, everything from the emergence of the civil rights movement to our escalation in Vietnam.

So 1964 wasn't just about the Beatles, not for me anyway, although that was a seminal moment in history that no one will ever forget.

1964 was quite a year for me and for the world, and I will never forget it.

Rant #1,141: That Night, 50 Years Later

Fifty years ago, my family and lived in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York.

And at 8 p.m., we had our old black and white Dumont TV tuned to "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS, as we always did on Sunday nights. Yes, back in those days, families watched TV together. Not every show, of course, but certainly on Sunday nights, it was Sullivan.

There was a wide group of performers on the show, from novelty acts to somebody by the name of Tessie O'Shea, two guys who would become international stars within the next two years, impressionist Frank Gorshin (as the Riddler on the "Batman" TV series) and David Jones, who played the Artful Dodger as part of the Broadway cast of "Oliver" which appeared on this show. Of course, David morphed to Davy Jones, and he had as much to be thankful for on this particular show as anyone did.

Because the headliners of the "real big show," as Ed usually said, were the Beatles.

And once they came on the show, things were never the same again.

Last night, CBS ran a special which channeled the excitement of that show through today's music stars, and although Ringo and Paul were also on this show, sorry, you guys really dropped the ball on this one.

CBS should have gotten together with Sofa Productions, which owns the Sullivan shows, and actually ran the entire one-hour show that the Fab Four were featured in on that night 50 years ago, February 9, 1964.

And to add insult to injury, the new show was taped in Los Angeles about a week ago, depriving it of that live, New York vibe.

This was a total turnoff to me, so to complete my own 50-year circle, I watched that entire, original show, on DVD, just about to the minute that I watched it as a six year old 50 years ago.

As a six year old, I was truly mesmerized by what I saw: these four guys with long hair playing a different type of music and with all the girls yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs.

I just don't think you can get the vibe that was set that very night 50 years ago without watching the original show from the beginning to the end.

Highlights simply will not do.

The Beatles opened the show, but they did not close it, as many people think.

There was some type of European novelty act that closed the show, twisting and turning their bodies in every contortion you can think of.

Even though that was something in itself, they really couldn't follow the Beatles, nor could the guy with the card tricks who followed them earlier in the show. In fact, his segment was the only one that was taped for the particular show. Everything else was done live.

I decided to take some photos as I watched this show, and they really show that everybody who was there was having a fine time.

Whether anybody thought that the Beatles' appearance, their manner, and their music would be world changing back that night is anyone's guess.

But what I saw as I watched this show 50 years later was something incredible, something that we now know changed the world.

As a six year old kid, there is no way I could have envisioned that, and even as a 56 year old, it is hard to fully contemplate that night within its own context.

Sure, I bet the show that CBS did show yesterday night was fine for what it was, but kids, if you are reading this, go to YouTube or get the video of the actual show, and that goes for you oldsters too.

You cannot get the full thrust of what was going on on this show--and why it was so earth-changing--without watching it from the first minute to the last.

Through the cast of "Oliver" through Gorshin through Mitzi McCall and Charley Brill through the novelty acts through Tessie O'Shea, you saw a changing of the guard right before your eyes.

And it was all in spectacular black and white.

John and George are gone, Paul and Ringo carry on the legacy, but back then, we were all young, wide eyed, and ready for anything.

That "anything" was the Beatles, and boy they were something, weren't they?

Rant #1,140: The Night That Changed Everything Forever

I told myself that when this date would come, I would speak minimally about it, because the music really spoke louder than any mere words I could put together.

Let me see if I can live up to that goal.

Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964 was an evening that will live in the annals of recorded history as one of the most important, cultural, social and whatever else you might call it nights that changed the world.

Four musicians took the stage of "The Ed Sullivan Show" in New York, played a few songs, put the younger members of the audience in a complete frenzy, and the world was never the same again.

Convention was completely thrown out the window for good.

The Beatles had arrived, and things would never be the same again.

I think it is hard for younger people today--anybody under 50, in this case--to really understand what happened that night.

In the pre-high-tech age, our high tech was television. It was the way the word got out, the way the word was delivered electronically to us.

And that night, it was delivered loud and clear.

Out with the old, in with the new.

A lot of people thought that this was just a trend, and we would go back to the old way of doing things within time.

It never happened.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr saw to that by writing and playing music that put the bar higher that it had ever been, at least in the 20th century.

They also saw to it that every social norm of the previous generations--or at least most of them--didn't matter anymore.

They created a revolution without raising a weapon.

Having been there, having watched this thing unfold as a six year old, I cannot tell you how much this thing influenced everything from that time on.

Our country had been in a collective depression with the death of JFK still so fresh in our minds.

The Beatles brought hope to us, hope for a better future that JFK had promised.

The interesting thing is that 50 years after the fact, the Beatles remain among the hottest commodities on the planet. Their music is still heard every minute of every day, their images still encrusted on our brains.

What more can I say?

It is hard to believe that 50 years have passed. I went from a mere babe to a teenager to a young man to a married man with kids during this period. It is amazing, isn't it?

And it all started with this funny looking guy introducing four long-haired moptops on his stage.

Simply amazing.

P.S.: To see my Beatles Picture Sleeve 45 collection--including possibly the most important record ever released, as shown above, please visit Facebook at this address:

https://www.facebook.com/LarryLapka/media_set?set=a.10203036060400736.1073741834.1181924642&type=1

Rant #1,339: It Never Ends

My personal misery continues.

January has morphed into February, I thought that everything would return to relative normalcy, but I have found that it's the same old, same old, when it comes to the luck that my family and I have had this year.

We haven't had any. None. Nil.

The latest negative escapades are again, relatively minor, but they are nuisances that we could live without.

As you know, my car's front driver's side door hasn't had a working door handle in about a month. One day, I went to open the door, and it broke off in my hand. It is still on the door--I was able to get it back in--but it does not work.

I have been trying to get another one ordered through Kia for weeks now.

The first time, I was going in for an oil change, I put it in my online order, even called the place, and they told me that although they didn't do that type of work on a Saturday, I should bring it in anyway.

They did not hook me up with the service department, so, of course, when I brought it in, they did not have the part, but the service manager told me he would order it. He also told me the exorbitant price it was going to cost to get this thing done--nearly $300 for a part that actually costs $26.

Well, several days passed, I did not hear from Kia, so I called them, and they told me that the part was never ordered. I told them the above story, they apologized, but they did not have the part.

The service department person told me he would order the part for me, and he asked me to call again the following week, which was yesterday, to check back.

I called, and guess what? Even he was amazed that the part was never ordered.

He told me, "I swear I ordered this part," but, of course, he did not.

Well, I tried to be calm and patient, but the crux of the matter is, and still is, where is the part?

He said he would personally order it again for me. I told him that that is what he said the last time.

I said that due to my inconvenience, maybe he could do something for me. I was thinking of price, maybe lessening the price a bit.

He said to me, "I will have the part painted, so when you come in, you don't have to wait for that."

Whoopee do.

He also asked me the question of the day. He said to me, "How are you getting into the car?"

Well, I could have told him that I took a saw and made my own sunroof to drop myself into the car, but I told him that I have been entering the car either though the front passenger door or through the back.

Duh.

He has told me to call back to see if the part is in. It won't be, I am sure of it.

Yes, I think it is time to call Kia directly, and I mean their main office. I will have to look the number up.

(I did just that, called them after writing this Rant. I told them the whole story, and let them know that I wanted to be "accommodated," if you know what I mean. I hope that they got that, too. Let's see what happens.)

Anyway, I got up today at my normal 4:30 a.m. time, went into the shower, and found that we have no hot water.

I guess that is just throwing cold water on this whole thing, but I am really wondering what is going to happen next.

It is all nonsense, but these nuisance types of things really tear at you.

It's like whatever can go wrong has gone wrong--what can happen next?

Maybe if I can enter my car like a normal person can I can tell you.

The way it is going, when that will actually happen is anyone's guess.

Rant #1,338: More, More, More

I looked out the window today, and yes, we got another bushel of snow overnight.

I watched the news on TV, and traveling is treacherous right now.

I was told at work yesterday that one of the higher ups said that she was "sick and tired" of paying people who were staying home and not coming to work due to the storms we have had.

Well, let me cry over her proclamation.

I would rather be home with my family than take a chance on the roads as they are.

But to work I will go later today, when I can do it, and not before.

Anyway, I think the refrain of a popular song during the disco era pretty much reflects what we are going through in my neck of the woods this winter.

"More, more, more

How do you like it, how do you like it ... "

Remember the song? It was "More, More, More," one of the most remembered--and most notorious--songs of the disco era, by the Andrea True Connection.

Even if you hated disco like I did, you had to have heard or known of this song, if for nothing else than its connotation to the era that it came from.

True was born in Nashville as Andrea Marie Truden, and actually was a singer who had done a couple of commercials once she moved to New York.

But it is what she did to support herself during rough times that made this tune so notorious.

She had somehow glided into XXX-rated films, and was in a movie where this music was used during sex scenes. True had written the song.

The music had such a good beat that the Andrea True Connection recorded it on the Buddah Records label--yes, the same label that spawned the 1910 Fruitgum Co. and the Ohio Express--and the song went to No. 4 in 1976, the year of the country's Bicentennial.

The song was all over the radio, and True's fortunes changed from porn star to hitmaker.

The Andrea True Connection had several followups, including "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing," which reached No. 27 in 1977, but when disco waned, so did this act, and by 1978 or so, they were done.

She tried several musical comebacks, but could not return to her former popularity, although she did make lots of money off the royalties of that song, which was featured in numerous films, TV shows, and even commercials.

She lost the ability to sing due to illness, and died in 2011 at her home in Woodstock, New York.

But that song has "True-ly" outlived her, and you still hear it all the time.

When I look out my window, for whatever reason, that was the only thing I could think of.

But like the disco era, this onslaught we have been getting from Mother Nature will someday end, too.

When is the question, and I hope that it is really soon.

But for now, it really is ...

"More, more, more

How do you like it, how do you like it ... "

Rant #1,337: "The Pain ... the Pain!"

Remember the TV show "Lost in Space?" Wasn't that something Dr. Smith used to say to the robot?

Well, I am saying that to you now.

I thought that the end of January would be the end of my and my family's personal pain, but February has started off where January left off.

My wife worked this entire weekend--which is a pain in itself--so I figured I would be in for an extremely dull weekend, a do-nothing weekend after a real rough week.

Well, that did not happen.

After doing the food shopping in the morning, I was putting away the groceries and my son came into me and said that he had no Internet.

This has happened before, so I figured I would finish putting away the groceries and take a look at the matter.

I did, he did, in fact, have no Internet, and then I checked the very computer that I am typing this Rant on, our lone desktop computer.

Well, it did not have Internet either.

I called our provider, and as I was attempting to call, I noticed that we did not have a dial tone on the phone.

Since we have a "triple play" with our provider, I checked the TV, and lo and behold, we had no TV either.

I used my cell phone, called the provider, and for the first time, I got someone on the other line that I suspect was from India.

I have no problems with those from India, but he had such a heavy accent that I wished my provider wouldn't contract out such services (that is another story for another time).

He had me do a couple of things to try to restore what we had, but to no avail.

And yes, a few times, I had to stop him and tell him that I could not understand him because of his accent.

Anyway, he said that they would have to send a repairman over on Monday. I told him that that was not good enough, I wanted someone sent over today, which was Saturday. I hemmed and hawed, told him that it was Super Bowl weekend and that I wanted to watch the game (hah!), and yes, they did schedule someone to come over.

A few hours later, the technician came to the house, checked a couple of things, and put in a new battery, which he said was the culprit.

Everything worked fine, until the end of the Knicks game that I watched that evening. They lost, and as the game was winding down against the Miami Heat, we lost, too, this time everything again.

I immediately called our provider, and they said that since it was so late at night--after 11 p.m.--they could not guarantee that they could get someone over on Sunday.

I used the old Super Bowl ruse again, but it did not work this time.

They told me to call back on Sunday, and they would see what they could do.

I did just that, used the Super Bowl ruse again, and a technician was scheduled to come to my house to look at the problem on Sunday.

And he did just that.

He said that not only did the battery have to be replaced, but our entire box had to be replaced, the one that the battery sits inside of. He replaced it, bid us farewell, and since then, we have been fine with everything.

Why the first technician did not see this is anyone's guess.

So it was a completely wasted weekend.

My wife came home from work on Sunday, we watched a movie--sorry about the Super Bowl ruse--and we went to sleep.

We woke up the next day, and we had our latest blizzard outside.

The problem was that as I said last week, I had to take the day off to attend to some business yesterday, and we had to go out east to mid-Suffolk County to do so, a good 40 mile trip.

We took my wife's Jeep and somehow made it through without incident. Everything was taken care of, and when we returned, we waited awhile, and then shoveled up everything.

Now the reports are that our latest blizzard is supposed to come tomorrow, followed by another one on the weekend.

Thank goodness February is a short month, but it has not started out very well.

I still don't have a handle to my car door, and who knows when the car place will have that and when they will be able to fix my car. They gave me no assurances on that one, either.

What will happen next? I simply don't know, but I am asking the heavens, please, I have suffered enough, how about some smooth sailing for at least a little while?

I know that is a lot to ask, but really, I have had enough.

Back to work today, back to school for my son, let's start everything over like the other stuff never happened.

It might be a dream, but it is a dream that I can really get into now.

Rant #1,336: Bust ... err ... Best of Ranting and Raving

Here is a Rant from 2010, Rant #331, September 13, 2010. 
And don't forget the update at the end!

"... Sheyla Hershey lives!

Who the heck is Sheyla Hershey?

She was trying to achieve fame for having the largest breasts in the world through implants. Her quest ended last week, when she underwent surgery to have her M cup implants removed due to sickness caused by the implants.

She wanted to become so huge that she actually traveled overseas to Brazil to have the surgery done. Implants as large as hers are illegal in the U.S. In fact, to achieve this size, she actually had two implants in each breast!

So Hershey--supposedly an actress of some renown on Spanish TV-- traveled back to her country of birth to have the operation, but after it was performed, Hershey became seriously ill and has since been closely monitored by a cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Ron Bucek, and an infectious disease expert, Dr. Shazia Gill, in Texas.

Before the most recent surgery to remove the implants, Bucek performed two other operations to help drain the infected areas, and a special vacuum had been suctioning the infection from Hershey’s body 24 hours a day for months.

She was quoted as saying, "I decided to go smaller--a lot smaller. I just want a normal size like a normal housewife has. I know it's going to be a lot of pain on me because I love to have them, but I realize that my family comes first and I love my daughter and son and they come first. Even though I love to have huge breasts ... I'm going to try to live without it. Hopefully I will be done then and be happy and just running around with my kids!"

How wonderful, how gallant, how brave this woman is!

There are photos of her on the Internet. She is not an ugly woman by any stretch of the imagination. I am sure she had a nice figure before disfiguring herself.

But why do this, and do this to such astronomical proportions?

Look at the photos. The woman looked like a freak of nature.

Why did she feel she had to do this? To please someone else, to please herself?

I just don't get it. I don't understand why women do this to themselves.

And speaking as a male of the species, there is nothing more beautiful than natural breasts--no matter what the size. And nothing phonier than fake ones.

So why do women do this to themselves?

I have no idea. But if this woman isn't one of the most absolutely stupid people I have ever heard about, I don't know who is.

She risked her life to have enormous breasts that look phonier than a $3 bill. And she risked the well-being of her kids, who by all accounts, are fatherless, or at least don't have a father in their lives--and nearly didn't have a mother, either.

All for huge breasts!

This woman is mentally ill. I don't know what she spent on these implants, but first, shame on the doctors who performed these surgeries, and second, I hope she has money left over to spend for psychiatric counseling.

She definitely needs it."


Follow-up:

According to Wikipedia: "On February 16, 2011, it was reported that Hershey was in a coma after taking a lethal dose of prescription pills the day before, in reportedly her second alleged suicide attempt in a two-month period, just days before a scheduled breast surgery to re-enhance her bustline back to size 38KKK. After Hershey recovered from the coma, in an interview with British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Hershey is stated as having said that she was allegedly distraught over feeling "so ugly" without her world record implants, but was still considering having a breast re-enhancement surgery done on her by plastic surgeons in Mexico. On February 20, 2011, it was reported by Hershey on her official website that not only were the reports and rumors false, but that she also had a bad reaction to the medication that she had been taking, and that she was fine at home recuperating from treatment for the reaction to the medication.

"In September 2011, Hershey had another breast surgery to reconstruct her breasts, also adding 2500 cc of saline implants, gradually filling them to 4300 cc by November 2011, and increased again with additional injections to 5500 cc in 2012, for a goal size she described as 38MMM. In addition, early 2012 rumors have it that she still wanted to increase her breast size to an even larger size."