Tuesday, June 7, 2005

"Grease, is the word...is the word...is the word" I had come back home to New York in the summer of 1972 making the jump from WRKO to WOR-FM as Program Director. Leaving Boston that summer was the hardest career decision I had ever made. I knew it would be hard if not impossible to have the same kind of success that I had in Beantown but it was just posssible that a kid from Brooklyn, radio-schooled in New York could come back and be a winner in his home town. One of my first memories that summer was attending the opening of a new Broadway musical that made its debut on this date 33 years ago today. When "Grease" opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 7, 1972 flared bell bottoms were the fashion order of the day, Richard Milhous Nixon was our President and gas was a mere 36 cents a gallon. If you were about to buy a house, you were about to pay $30,500 for that house but the good news was that you had your whole life (71.2 years) to pay it off. 1972 also gave us the following: Richard Bach's best seller, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"... "The Adkins Diet"... "The Peter Principal"... "I'm OK, your OK"... "Glitter Rock"... Frank Sinatra testifying about the (gulp) Mafia... "Sanford and Son"... "M*A*S*H"... "Deliverance"... #1 TV show: "All in the Family"... #1 at the box office: "The Godfather"... More June 7 Memories... 1955) "The $64,000 Question" premieres... 1966) The Mets pass up Reggie Jackson in the baseball draft... 1970) The Who perform "Tommy" at Lincoln Center... 1972) "Grease" opens on Broadway... 1982) The Mets draft Dwight Gooden, Roger McDowell and Randy Myers... 1993) Cleveland breaks ground for the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame"... Birthdays... 1940) Tom Jones... 1946) Jenny Jones... 1958) &%#$@, the artist formerly known as Prince... 1971) Mark Wahlberg... 1975) Allen Iverson... 1981) Anna Kournikova... Commentary... With his veto of the proposed Westside stadium Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver stood up to the mayor, deputy mayor, governor and Jets officals but more importantly spoke for the majority of New Yorkers opposed to the boondoggle plan that would have cost taxpayers in higher rents and taxes. Here is Mr. Silver in his own words: "The question is not whether New York City should host the Olympics, the question is not whether New York City should host a Super Bowl or eight Jets home games every season. The question is, what do we address first, our moral obligations or our ambitions?" Mr. Silver added: "Considering our constitutional obligation to provide each and every child with a sound, basic education, our moral obligation to rebuild and revitalize lower Manhattan, and our public obligation to provide a safe, affordable and efficient mass transit system, I cannot in good conscience cast my vote for the proposal before us today." Bravo, Mr. Silver...You are truly a New York City hero...