The "A Love Affair & The Monkees'" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Monday, September 6, 1966 and my girlfriend Carol Baker and I were sitting in front of the small TV in my parent's living room watching a new TV program named "The Monkees".  We had our first date in the summer of '66 when our parents made the arrangements for me to stop at her place on my motorcycle and take her for a ride.  My dad and her mom worked together at Meiskey's Jewelry Store in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania and they thought we would enjoy a date with each other.  Well, I picked her up on my cycle and a few minutes later it began to rain so I brought her back home.  Stayed for a while and left knowing I would one day marry her.   Now, that's a true story, but not the one I will write about today.  Today's story still goes back to 1966, but it has to do with the wacky group known as "The Monkees".  In the early 1960s filmmakers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider had formed Raybert Productions and were trying to figure out how they could come up with a film like the Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night." They decided they would develop a TV show about a fictional rock and roll group.  In 1965 Screen Gems bought the idea from them and two other guys, Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, completed a pilot script by August entitled "The Monkeys".  About 400 hopefuls turned up for auditions to play one of the "4 insane boys" in the show.  Fourteen were called back and Raybert chose the final four after audience research.

The Monkees' as seen in 1966

 If you were living back in the 1960s you probably know by now that those four included Micky Dolenz who was the 10-year-old star of the Circus Boy series in the 1950s.  Another, Davy Jones, was an English actor and former jockey who had achieved some success on the musical stage appearing with the cast of Oliver! on The Ed Sullivan Show the night of the Beatles' live American debut.  Another member was Michael Nesmith whose mother had invented correction fluid and founded the company that became Liquid Paper.  Michael had served in the U.S. Air Force as Michael Blessing.  He showed up at the audition wearing a woolen hat to keep his hair out of his eyes when he rode his motorcycle.  That lead to his being nicknamed "Wool Hat."  And, if you remember, his hat became part of his wardrobe on the show.  Finally, Peter Tork who was recommended by Stephen Stills.  Peter was a skilled multi-instrumentalist who had performed at various Greenwich Village folk clubs.  Carol and I watched the show that first night and made it a weekly date at my parent's house, where I stilled lived, to see the show.  The show only lasted two years, but during that time the show won an Emmy for outstanding comedy series and the group placed seven songs in Billboard's Top 10.  Three of those songs, "I'm a Believer," "Daydream Believer" and "Last Train to Clarksville" reached No. 1.  So what ever happened to the group after the show was discontinued?  Davy Jones died at the age of 66 with a marijuana-like chemical in his system at time of death.  Michael Nesmith is living a quiet life in Carmel, California where he still works on his own music as well as with other musicians.  He is 76 years old.  Micky Dolenz will turn 73 in March.  After the show ended he worked in a few movies as well as doing directing work for films.  As for Peter Took, he was known as the goofy, lovable bass guitarist who was the group's best musician.  He played bass guitar, keyboards, banjo and lead guitar.  I saw his obituary in the newspaper a few days ago.  Peter died at the age of 77.  I read about these guys and how old they are or were when they passed.  How can they be that old?  Seems like only yesterday that we were watching them on TV.  Wow!  And then I realize I am the same age as these guys are.  As far as my love affair with Carol,  well, we have been married for 51 years now and still enjoy the songs of The Monkees'.  Rock 'n Roll is here to stay we were always told.  So be it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Technologically Challenged?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to figure out how to send a "tweet" on my iPhone.  You know ... where you first strike the tic-tac-toe button on the phone's keyboard and then type something after it.  You know how long it took be to figure out how to to get to the phone's keyboard?  I've been working on that since yesterday noon.  Well, I got that far, and then I faltered.  Asked my wife and she was just as much at a loss for an answer as I was.  "Why don't you Google it?" she said to me.  "Then we'll both know.  And, it's not called a tic-tac-toe button."  Then I replied, "I know.  I just said tic-tac-toe to make you laugh.  It's really a number sign and someone told me it's also called the pound symbol."  Then she said, "You don't know anything, do you, about your phone?  And, it's called a Hashtag!  

The Tic-tac-toe symbol.

Here, give it to me and I'll figure it out for you."  Well, I handed her my iPhone, knowing that in no time she would have it figured out.  Gonna make me feel like a fool once again, just when I thought I knew most of the features on my phone.  Heavens, I got it two years ago.  You'd think I'd know how to use it by now.  I know I can make calls on it; even figured out how to put all my friend's phone numbers into it and how to access the directory when I wanted to make a call.  Know how to take photos with the camera feature and even how to attach my new toy, a clip-on camera lens that will allow me to take close-up photos, wide-angle photos and fish-eye photos.  And, I even know how to send those photos to my MacBook Air that I am currently using to write this blog story.  I know how to use the Messages, Mail, Calculator, Calendar, Clock and Settings buttons, but then there are the other 22 buttons that I haven't had the chance or need to use, or haven't the foggiest idea how to use them.  When I'm stumped, I ask my wife who then tries to show me, or if she doesn't know, since she still has a flip-top phone and uses it maybe once a month, I call my granddaughter, Courtney, who lives in another state.  She can usually talk me through what I want or need to know, but then unless I use it constantly, I forget what she told me and have to call her once again.  Now, I will give my wife credit for the last thing she did for me when I gave her my iPhone and asked her to try and figure out how to type or write the names of a few of the waitstaff at a restaurant in St. Martin where we were eating at the time.  She hit the "Notes" button and then used her fingernail to write the names for me.  Years ago I was the one who knew all the answers to all the tough technological questions.  I knew where all the keys were on the new electric typewriters we had in typing class when I was a senior in high school.  I knew how to use the 8-track radio insert I had placed in my Henry J car in the early 1960s.  My friends were amazed!  When teaching, I taught students how to use the electronic copy camera we had in the darkroom that made negatives. Also managed to teach more than 20 years of photograph students how to use their high tech SLR cameras and light meters.  But, my damn iPhone is a complete mystery to me at times.  How can someone sit and look at that tiny screen for hours on end anyway?  How can they take endless selfies while making all kinds of faces at that tiny screen.  How can they type emails using letters and nomenclature that I have no idea what they mean.  And how ... Hey wait a minute ... my wife just figured out how to open a Twitter account for me so I can "tweet".  "Nah, I don't want you to open an account, I just wanted to know if I could do it by using the tic-tac-toe key," I told her.  "Just wanted to see if I could do something that Donald Trump can do all the time and make an ass of himself."  And, I'll bet his wife had to show him how to "Tweet" using that tic-tac-toe button also.  No way could he figure that out for himself.  Just betcha.  Hey!  Don't throw my iPhone at me!!"  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.     

The "No Soup For You!" Story

Carol is heating our Lobster Bisque made by The Original Soupman.

It was an ordinary day.  Having a bowl of Lobster Bisque for lunch.  Not just any bowl of soup, but a bowl of "The Original Soupman" Lobster Bisque made with 100% North Atlantic Lobster.  Happened past this free-standing display a week or two ago in the grocery store and as soon as I saw the face on the box, I just had to buy a box.  Many of you might not remember this guy or may not be old enough to remember "The Soup Nazi" episode on NBC's sitcom Seinfeld which was the sixth episode of the seventh season.  

The display at the supermarket.

It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.   For weeks everyone greeted one another with "No soup for you!"  Instantly, a New York City soup vendor was made famous.  Al Yeganeh was that soup vendor who inspired the show that Thursday night.  I can still remember hustling home from choir practice that night with my dad so I could watch my favorite TV show, "Seinfeld."  That night's show was inspired by Mr. Yeganeh who dished out soup in this place using very strick rules: "Pick the soup you want!  Have your money ready!  Move to the extreme left after ordering!"  If you did not stick to the rules: "No Soup for you!"  

Al Yeganeh in front of his store on West 55th Street in New York.

The episode on "Seinfeld" made Al a celebrity, but he detested the "Soup Nazi" label.  When Jerry Seinfeld and several members of his production team went to Soup Kitchen International for lunch weeks after "The Soup Nazi" aired, Yeganeh did a "triple take" and then went into a profanity-filled rant about the show had "ruined" his business and demanded an apology.  This was ironic, since whenever the re-run of the show ran, his normally long line would extend around the corner due to increased demand for his soups.  

A constant line in front of the soup kitchen.

Seinfeld was said to have given him an apology which was described as "the most insincere, sarcastic apology ever given."  Yeganeh yelled to him, "No soup for you!" and ejected them from the restaurant.  The Original Soup Man closed his Soup Kitchen International at 259-A West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan in 2004 and began the Original Soup Man chain which eventually led to his re-opening of Soup Kitchen International.  

Larry Thomas played Al on the Seinfeld episode.  He
was nominated for an Emmy for his efforts.

Some of his famous soups, as you may recall if you watched that Seinfeld episode, were: lobster bisque, mulliga- tawny, crab bisque and lentil.  If you have never seen the "Soup Nazi" episode, check on your TV programming and see if it doesn't offer Seinfeld re-runs.  Watching it once isn't enough though.  You'll get hooked on the episode, as Carol and I have, and will watch it time and time again until you can repeat just about every line in the half-hour show.  As for our bowl of Lobster Bisque we bought at the grocery store ... the show was better than the soup!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.