Benny the Barber

One of my favorite parts of growing up in a small town was the mom and pop businesses that helped make the community. In Stewart Manor we have a great little deli, card store, bagel store, hardware store and of course, a barber. Any guys around my age in the greater Stewart Manor area go to (or went to) Benny and Mike's Barber shop. I started going there as a kid and was there just last week getting my monthly hair cut. As a kid, Benny and Mike's was made up of three older gentleman straight off the boat from Italy. I always went to Benny. He was my barber when my mom would come to the shop with me, he fixed the mess I made of my hair with manicure scissors before our family vacation to California in '88 (yes I cut my hair with manicure scissors. What can I say? 8 year old boys are curious) and he cut my hair before my communion, confirmation and graduations from grammar school to college. I figured that Benny would cut my hair before my wedding but when the time came, Benny wasn't there. Since he often went home to Italy during the summer I figured that we just missed each other and that I would catch him for my "first day of school" hair cut.

When I went back in September, I learned that Benny had died. He had been sick with cancer and he went quickly over the summer. When I learned of this, I was both shocked and saddened. Benny was a genuinely nice man and although we weren't exactly friends we did have a relationship that covered 20+ years. He would often remind me that he had cut my hair "since I was this big" while holding his hand a few feet off the floor. My mom always told me that any time she passed the shop when walking down the avenue Benny would give her a wave. Time passed, the two other men retired but Benny kept working with his sons and grandson joining him in the shop.

A few months back, Benny's grandson was cutting my hair and we started talking about soccer, specifically the Champions League. His grandson was a fan of defending champion Barcelona who would be playing Inter Milan of Italy in the semi-finals. Since I had just watched Inter defeat English powerhouse Chelsea, I told him that I thought Inter was the team to beat. It was at that point that his grandson told me that Inter was Benny's favorite team. Although they hadn't won the European Championship since 1965, the combination of a great coach, a good team and Benny confirmed for me that Inter would indeed raise the cup in Madrid.

Yesterday was the final between Inter and Bayern Munich of Germany. Behind the plan of coach Jose Mourinho and two wonderful goals from Diego Milito, Inter Milan won the Champions League. Throw in winning Serie A (the Italian league) and the Italian cup and Inter did something that only 5 other European clubs have done by winning all three titles or the "treble" as it's known in world of soccer. After the match I couldn't help but think of Benny. Although he was no longer cutting hair on Covert Avenue, I'm sure he was somewhere celebrating the victory.

LCD Soundsystem @ Terminal 5

Most of the time, music can be easily defined. You can have your traditional four piece rock band, a DJ with an MC on the mic or even 5 pretty white boys singing and dancing in unison with the McDonald's drive thru microphones wrapped around their finally gelled hair. Music that is not easily definable? Well that's a horse of a different color! (did I really make a Wizard of Oz reference?) Finding this rare breed is not a common occurrence, but last night I found it and it was fantastic.

LCD Soundsystem played Terminal 5 last night (sold out shows through Sunday)and the show that I saw left me slightly confused, a little bit drunk and overall ecstatic at the performance. I was confused because my ears told me one thing but my eyes told me another. Upon listening to LCD Soundsystem you would immediately classify them (or more accurately HE, James Murphy who is LCD Soundsystem by himself in the studio but brings a band on the road) as dance music, which it absolutely is. But after seeing them up close I realized that they are much, much more. On stage you have Mr. Murphy and all the makings of a traditional "band" including guitar, drums, bass, keyboard and synthesizer. However when you hear the music they make (looping beats, heavy percussion, and synthesizer) your mind is drawn to dance music; then, it gets really weird. If you listen closely and move past the beats that are making you dance (awkwardly in my case) you realize that they're playing real SONGS complete with verses, refrains and stories about life and love. A rare combination that places LCD squarely in that area of "undefinable" which is a beautiful thing in both music and life.

This really was one of the best shows that I've been to in a while. In addition to the great music, we were perched up in the balcony which enabled us to look down at the crowd simultaneously moving to the beat. I've always found the idea of a large number of people (in this case 3,000) focused and committed to the same thing at the same time to be, in a way, quite inspiring. It's the beauty of music, bringing together the hipsters of Brooklyn and the social studies teachers of Queens.

LCD closed with an acapella version of "Empire State of Mind" complete with hundreds of balloons falling from the ceiling. A surreal end for a surreal show that made me appreciate live music that much more.

Hello Again

I haven't written anything in a month so I figured I'd write a quick blurb about baseball as I watch the Mets game.

Basic rule of baseball: If you don't take advantage of your opportunities you will not win games. It sounds simple but the Mets have become masters of this over the past four (miserable) years.

Although the game isn't over the Mets are currently losing 4-2. The big free agent acquisition Jason Bay has come up 2 times with a chance to drive men in and hasn't come through. After the Mets didn't come through, the Reds hit two home runs to take the aforementioned 4-2 lead.

As I'm typing this, David Wright hit a home run to make it 4-3 which just goes to show that I pretend like I know things when in fact, I'm just a boob.

Haven't posted in a while since work and life in general have been a bit busy but I plan on getting back into it.

Thanks for reading.

(I'm pretty sure I just said that to myself since no one reads this shite)