SfanGoch

Love my Deutsche Neue Welle. Falco was just plain cool.

One of my favorite bands is New Order, going back to their days as Joy Division. I was home on leave in November 1981 and saw them at the Ukrainian National Home, on the Lower East Side. This Youtube video is from the Nov. 18 show my friends and I attended. After the show, we hand the pleasure of hanging out with the band at Lys Mykyta, the bar in the place. It's always good to be friends with the owners who let us in.

Unless I choose to upload an existing image from my computer which is pertinent to a question I might have, it's a PITA. If I choose "Insert image from URL", I feel like I'm staring at a pair of X-Ray Spex watching that upload doodad spinning endlessly. Plus, in order to post an image from my computer, I have to download it first, adding to my agita.

I liked XTC up to "Black Sea". I wasn't crazy about their sound from "English settlement" onward.

I have fond memories of getting run out of Hammacher-Schlemmer in my youth. "Window shopping by little creeps like you doesn't pay my salary" is what the weaselly sales clerk with the hole in his hair told me and my friends on numerous occasions.

I'll wager that your wife did an online recon of Midtown and mapped out the locations of Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale's, Salvatore Ferragamo and Cartier. If you do take the Statue of Liberty tour, avoid the skels who will surround you and offer to sell you tickets. These greaseballs are peddling counterfeit tickets and are in no way associated with any tour office. Check out Statue Cruises for tour options and ticket prices. Since you'll be in Manhattan, choose "Departure from New York". after the tour, you could walk over to the South Street Seaport, on Fulton and Water Streets or walk to Chinatown and Little Italy for some great food. If you like Italian, let me recommend Grotta Azzurra, located at the intersection of Mulberry and Broome Streets. If you will be staying in or near Time Square, you can take the 1 Train from Time Square to South Ferry in order to get to the pier. You'll be in Battery Park once you exit the subway station. If you have the time, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, by Central Park, and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum at Pier 86, W. 46th St. and 12th Ave. It's a short walk from Times Square. PM me if you have any questions about some other places and things to do.

Take it from a city rat, NYC is a dead zone when it comes to hobby shops. The only hobby shop in Manhattan is Jan's Hobby Shop, on Lexington Ave. between E. 93rd and E. 94th Streets. You don't want to go there. You will pay anywhere from 35-100% over list price on kits there. You'd be better off getting ripped off at a streetside Three Card Monte game. You're already going to get fleeced in the world's biggest tourist trap, Time Square. I'm not being a smart aleck, just giving you the skinny on what to expect. If you're bringing kids, keep away from the dirtbags dressed as superheroes and Sesame Street characters. They'll harass you for money to take a picture with your children and they will pick a fight. If you want to have a good time, don't spend it in the Times Square area. It's nothing but a giant shopping mall and Disney advertisement. Take the subway to Greenwich Village, Chinatown or Little italy. The sights are more interesting and the food is better.

It's a cat yacht. Hammacher-Schlemmer sells them.

Not to mention "The French Connection".

I'm also an Eastwood fan. But, don't forget one thing. If it wasn't for his roles in "Revenge of the Creature", "Tarantula", "Francis in the Navy", "Highway Patrol" and, most importantly, "Mr. Ed", Clint wouldn't be the actor/director/producer/tough guy we know today.

How about that there John Waters? Not in the same class as others previously mentioned; yet, he is responsible for some cult classics. Ditto with Brian DePalma. Both have their places within the group of great directors.

My late friend from the neighborhood, David "Bosco" Danford, was the bassist for the Darby Crash Band in L.A. back in 1980. Unfortunately, they never recorded because Crash committed suicide later that year.

John, I missed the shows with Richard Hell. I did catch Television in April '75 and the Voidoids in October '76 at CB's and at Max's in '77, though. My friends and I lived at these clubs. Please Kill Me is a great book. I won a pre-release copy during a call-in contest during The New Afternoon Show, on WNYU-FM, in 1996. Still have it. Like I said, that was a golden era. I used to see Patti Smith, Wayne County, The Ramones, The Dictators, Blondie, etc. on any given day. The great part was that it was in small, hole-in-the-wall dives, not in Madison Square Garden. You would be up close and intimate with these bands because you could stand right near the stages and have a couple of beers with them at the bar after they finished their sets. There'll never be another time like it again.

Man, that is a classic! The '70s were a golden era for music venues in NYC. Got to see Johnny & the boys at CBGB's, Max's Kansas City and the Mudd Club.

One of my favorites is "Hard Attack" by MX-80 Sound

I should include one of his associates and contemporary, Irwin Winkler.

Martin Scorsese.

Say...ain't that menges tronges the French equivalent of the Three Stooges?

I prefer them over single entendre jokes because you get two for the price of one.

Only in countries that don't have more than three consecutive consonants in their names. In those that do, it is considered a prearranged marriage..

I use Zap Z-7 Debonder. It's jelled so there is no overspill and it doesn't melt the surrounding plastic like some other debonders do. http://www.supergluecorp.com/files/images/PT-16.preview.jpg

It really sucks when LHS won't budge from what is known to be an inflated price, Kevin. That's why these kits sit on a shelf or on the floor acting as doorstops. Jan's Hobby Shop has the Soar Art 1/35 Dora Rail gun for over 9 bills. Add the sales tax and you're looking at around a thousand bucks. I found a hobby/RC shop in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn selling it for $675. With tax added, it's still $300 less than Jan's. I bought the Trumpeter 1/16 King Tiger w/Henschel Turret when it was first released in 2008 for $269, including $9.00 shipping, from a store in Indiana. I received the kit two days after ordering it. Every other online store was charging $369.99 to almost $500. One has to show discipline and savvy whether buying in a store or online. The worst thing to do is buy on impulse because you just have to have it now. Do some window shopping, compare prices before buying and you'll have extra money for other things if you play it smart. All that paying more than it's worth adds up quickly.

You saved 3-5 bucks......You either really don't spend much time comparison shopping; or, you order from the usual shortlist of suspects like Sprue Bros., Squadron, etc. I order online from stores in the EU, Hong Kong and Japan and save three to five times as much, even with shipping. As an example, Sprue Bros. has the Rye Field Model RM-5003 1/35 Tiger I Early Production s.Pz.Abt. 503 Eastern Front 1943 (Full Interior) with a fabricated MSRP of $90.00 (the actual MSRP is only $79.99) and is offering it for $71.99, claiming a specious $18.01 savings. Even with the cheapest shipping option, I'd end up shelling out $83.49. On the other hand, Plastic Hobby, in the Czech Republic, sells the kit for $51.52, price excluding VAT. With $16.39 shipping stateside, the total is $67.91, which is a whopping $15.58 difference. I could go to Jan's Hobby Shop, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and ask them to order the kit; but, I won't. Jan's will charge me $115-$120 plus 8.875% sales tax, jacking up the already obscenely overinflated price to $125.21-$130.65. I can't justify paying $50, or more, over MSRP at a local hobby shop as a way of showing my support. Google truly is your friend when it comes to shopping for the best online deals available. The secret is checking more than the first page of results. The deeper you dig, the more you'll find. One also needs to research what the actual MSRP of any particular kit is. Best place to start is at kit manufacturers' sites which have online shopping such as R2, R-M, Dragon and others. The price indicated on the site for a kit is the MSRP. The kit manufacturers will charge full MSRP for their stuff with the exception of sale items which might or, in many cases, might not be subjects which interest you. Take that price and compare it to what is posted as MSRP by online retailers and you'll know if they are being straight up or are trying to run a line of s**t on potential customers who don't know better. An example of this is the AMT-900 PIRANHA SUPER SPY CAR. R2's price is $23.99. Now if, for instance, you checked out Squadron, it shows an MSRP of $28.99, five bucks more than R2 charges. Then, there is the "Best Price", which is $21.74, creating the illusion that you're "saving" $7.25 off what it purports to be MSRP. In reality, you'll save $2.25 (9.4%) off R2's actual MSRP. This is why you only save three to five bucks before shipping is included. To paraphrase the late, great clothing retailer Sy Syms, "An educated consumer is the best customer." My comments regarding LHS from another site:

Second that on Model Empire. I phone my orders in. Nice folks, great selection and prices and quick service.