(J) Jonny Lang

Jonny Lang started playing the guitar at the age of 12.  Lang's noted for his unusual voice, which has been compared to that of a 40 year old blues veteran and for his guitar solos.
His genres are blues, jazz and gospel.


He came to my attention about two years ago when I heard his blues song "Darker Side", and this has become one of my favorite songs.

Lang has toured with the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, B.B. King, Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck and Sting.  In 1999, he was invited to play for a White House audience including President and Mrs. Clinton.  Lang also makes a cameo appearance in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as a janitor.  In 2004, Eric Clapton asked Lang to play at the Crossroads Guitar Festival to raise money for the Crossroads Centre Antigua.


If you like or at least appreciate the blues, you will enjoy the music of Jonny Lang.
http://www.jonnylang.com/

(I) I.S. 181 - Pablo Casals Middle School

I have fond memories and not so fond memories of my time in Middle School or as my school was called - Intermediate School.  This school is located in Co-Op City in The Bronx, New York.  It goes from grades 5 - 8.  It's sister school is I.S. 180 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams Middle School, also located in Co-Op City in The Bronx.  The reason there were two middle schools were the development was so large, it needed two middle schools and three elementary schools.

I made a lot of great friends in this school, most of us went on to the same High School (which was also in Co-Op City).  I was also bullied in school.  I learned how to play the Viola in the 5th grade and played it up until 10th grade in High School.  We performed concerts and played at occasions.  There was also a band.

Looking at the photo, I'm getting anxiety.  I can't say I miss being in school, any school.

When I was attending it was still pretty good. That was from 1978-1981.

Things seemed to have changed since those days.  The school now services 6-8th Grade only.  This school was given the grade of "B" which is not bad for a Public School in The Bronx.

Things that haven't changed...there is still an orchestra. My orchestra teacher was a great man. His name is Robert Silberbush.  He taught me the viola from 6th to 10th grade.  He is still a music teacher but no longer teaches at this school.  I wrote him some time back and he actually remembered me.  It was nice to talk to him.  He also plays the trumpet.

Robert Silberbush is the tall man on the left.

(H) History in Asphalt

History in Asphalt: The Origin of Bronx Street and Place Names, Borough of the Bronx, New York City by John McNamara


Non Fiction books are my thing, but I rarely read a book that is laid out like an encyclopedia.  I really have to be interested in the subject.  I am currently reading one of these type of books.

History in Asphalt is a book that lists every street, avenue, cul de sac...etc., and the origin of its name.  There are a lot of streets in the Bronx and they all are named after something or someone.

I haven't found another book that has such detailed information. This was defiantly a labor of love.  As you may or may not know, I'm a fan of New York City history and I love to read just about any book that deals with the city.

(G) Geneology

I have been looking into my family history for over 10 years.  I have been lucky to get a wealth of information.  Some of this information comes from ancestry.com, some from picking my mother's brain and my father's brain before he died.   The rest of my information came from family who have found me because of this endeavor.

Before I started, I had very limited information on both sides of the family.  Being an African American we tend to hit 'the wall' and we hit it early due to slavery and lack of records.  I've hit this wall on my mother's side because they hail from South Carolina.  The furthest I've been able to trace back on her side was to my great-great grandparents.  West King and Fannie Grabernale.  That was back to the year my great grandmother was born. My great grandmother was born on April 8, 1889 and her mother Fannie died on April 9, 1889.

However, on my father's side, I'm able to go back quite far.  Part of this reason is that they lived in New York and slavery ended in New York in 1824.  The furthest I've been able to go back is to my 3 time great grandparents on my father's side.  Gordon Salter was born a slave in 1785 in New York City.  He died a free man and that is most likely why I can find info on him.

My father's side was much easier to research.  I was able to find info on most of my 3 times great grandparents.  They had birth years that ranged from 1785 - 1833.

My family tree on that side not only goes far but wide.  I can't even input all the information I have on that side of the family.  My mother's side is not so far but it is wide.

Because of my 10+ year research family on both sides allowed  6 cousins to find me and we keep in touch.

The world gets even smaller when I learned one of my cousins works in the same company I do (In a different state).

And through them, I got some cool old pictures as well.

What does the ancestry.com commercial say?  "You don't have to know what you're looking for, you just have to start looking."

(F) Famous People who Resided in the Bronx

Lots of famous people lived in the Bronx. Some were born here.  Here is a short list of some of these people.  They are not in any order.  I only picked the ones out that people would know without having to go "who's that?"

Mark Twain (1835–1910) – author
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) – author and poet
E. L. Doctorow (born 1931) – author
Danny Aiello (born 1933) – actor
Alan Alda (born 1936) – actor
Woody Allen (born 1935) – film director and actor
Jennifer Lopez (born 1969) – singer,dancer and actress
June Allyson (1917–2006) – actress
Penny Marshall (born 1942) – actress and director
Garry Marshall (born 1934) – television and film director
Carroll O'Connor (1924–2001) – actor
Jerry Orbach (1935–2004) – actor
Al Pacino (born 1940) – actor
Chazz Palminteri (born 1952) – actor
Regis Philbin (born 1931) – media personality and television talk-show host
Rob Reiner (born 1945) – actor and film director
Red Buttons (1919–2006) – comedian and actor
James Caan (born 1940) – actor
George Carlin (1937–2008) – comedian
Tony Curtis (1925–2010) – actor
Peter Falk (1927–2011) – actor
Jon Favreau (born 1966) – film and television director and actor
Cuba Gooding, Jr. (born 1968) – actor
Neil Simon (born 1927) – playwright and screenwriter
Wesley Snipes (born 1962) – actor
Anne Bancroft (1931–2005) – actress
Ellen Barkin (born 1954) – actress
Tracy Morgan (1968-), actor, comedian
Mary J. Blige (born 1971) – singer-songwriter
Bobby Darin (1936–1973) – 1950s–1960s singer
Carly Simon (born 1945) – singer-songwriter
Ace Frehley (born 1951) – Kiss guitarist
Billy Joel (born 1949) – singer
Lou Gehrig (1903–1941) – Baseball Hall of Famer and New York Yankees first baseman
John Gotti (1940–2002) – crime boss

(E) Easter

Today is Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday).  In a few days it will be Easter Sunday.

We celebrate the religious aspect of it. We are in church on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Holy Friday and for the Easter Vigil.  I give myself a break on Easter Sunday.  That's the day we go secular.

My 13 year old daughter wants me to buy her an Easter basket.  I keep telling her she is too old, but she insists.  Here is her and her brother. She is 1 years old. My son is almost 21, no basket for him!!

(D) Documentary

I love reading non-fiction books and I love a good documentary.  One day, in my search for something good to watch, I came across this site  http://www.sprword.com/mustwatch.html.

There are so many documentaries on this page, it will take a while to get through.  Some of the ones I've watched from this site are:

Simply Raw Thin God on the Brain Secrets of the Occult I also watch them from other sources.  Some of my of my favorite documentaries are: Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead Triangle: Remembering the Fire Sweet Misery It Might Get Loud