The Luna Park Gazette

I was walking toward my gym in lower Manhattan much too early one morning when I saw a line of trailers stretching down Warren Street. I knew instantly that this was a film crew setting up a location shoot. They tend to pop up around the city like small villages and if you’ve lived here long enough you barely give them a second look. It was so different when I first moved back to New York 16 years ago. I had returned to the city after a decade of working at small town newspapers and while I had regularly visited New York during that time, now I was an actual resident of the Big Apple. It was strange relocating to my hometown after all those years. I swapped my car for the subways and began readjusting my vision to take in the huge buildings, massive traffic jams, and endless waves of people. Initially I felt like a hybrid, one part savvy city dweller who knows all the angles and one part Gomer Pyle, who’s just so amazed at all the bright lights and purty women. Naturally I ...

My aunt had a simple question for me yesterday that got right to the point. “Can you believe this hideous week?” Hideous is probably the best way to describe what’s been going on in this country recently. And no, I can’t believe it. In the span of just a few days we experienced the Boston Marathon bombing, the murder of an MIT police officer, the massive explosion in West, Texas, and the U.S. Senate’s appalling rejection of sensible gun control amendments. The images coming out of Boston were horrific with innocent people being murdered or maimed by a pair of sibling psychopaths. While the loss of life doesn’t match the number of deaths this country experienced on 9/11, it’s a grim reminder that the same demented, hateful minds are still among us. Is this going to be the new normal? We will have to worry about being blown to pieces anytime we gather in public? I was walking through the Times Square subway station on Monday afternoon and I caught myself looking for…I’m not s...

I was riding on the bus to work one morning last week when a chill passed through me. My hand shot up to my chest and a quick pat down confirmed what I already knew to be true: I had forgotten my work ID. I shook my head in disbelief. How could I have been so stupid? I always check to see that I’ve got my ID card before I go out the door. Except for today. I wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with and this only helped to bring me down a few notches lower. It didn’t mean the end of life as we know it, of course, but if you’re looking for reasons to be unhappy you’ll never be disappointed. It’s a pain in the neck to get around my office without the ID badge. I have to show it to the security guards in the lobby in order to enter the building and then I need it to unlock the door on my floor so I can reach my desk. The card also comes in handy when I want to get to the men’s room. I pictured myself standing in the elevator bank like a lost puppy relying upon the kindness of co...

I stood in line at the CVS store on Fulton Street one morning and witnessed a classic battle of man versus machine. The man was deranged, probably homeless, and the machine was a self-serve cash register speaking in a female android voice. I couldn’t see what the guy was trying to purchase but the sale obviously wasn’t going well. “Please swipe your Extra Care card,” the register said with mechanized warmth. “Mind your own business!” the man shouted at the inanimate object. “I wasn’t talking to you!” I’ve gotten annoyed with these registers myself but I’ve never tried arguing with one. I usually just fume under the “Help is On The Way Sign” until one of the staffers comes over and wipes the register’s memory clean. It was kind of funny watching someone engage in this pointless confrontation. The machines can’t hear us, but sometimes you just have to resort to insanity in order to prove your humanity. Being pointless is the whole point. I had resisted using these cash regist...

It happened one night nearly 50 years ago. March 2, 1967. Bobby Darin, the artist who gave us “ Mack the Knife ” and so many other fabulous recordings, took to the stage to perform a number with…the Supremes. Yes, you read that right. One of my favorite singers teamed up with the greatest girl group of all time. And it was incredible. Bobby Darin was hosting an NBC show called “Rodgers and Hart Today” aka “ The Kraft Music Hall ” and he joined the Supremes to sing “ Falling in Love With Love ” from the show “The Boys From Syracuse.” And if that somehow isn’t enough for you, then consider this: backing up this incredible ensemble was-oh, God help me-Count Basie and his Orchestra. Are you freaking out yet? Are you jumping up and down in unrestrained ecstasy? If you’re not doing these things, have you checked your pulse recently? I found this recording on YouTube when I should’ve been doing something else. I spend far too much time on this site checking out miles of mindless...